Development of a management tool for the equal evaluation of economic, social and ecological effects of adaptation scenarios for attenuating the effects of climate change induced flooding

Climate change is expected to influence river flooding which may have important implications for socio-economic and ecological systems. Changed flood risks require a proper policy. Water managers need to develop and select those adaptation scenarios that maximise welfare. Doing so requires addressing various challenges; integrating climate change effects in flood modelling, development of assessment methods for flood risk to social and ecological systems, development of methodologies for the assessment of non-flood related impacts from adaptation scenarios and, finally, integrating all effects, both positive and negative, related to an adaptation scenario in a comprehensive decision framework. The ADAPT project, which is financed by the Belgian Science Policy (BELSPO), aims to tackle these challenges by the development of a practical methodology, for assisting decision making about adaptation scenarios for attenuating the effects of climate change induced flooding, that builds on the integrated evaluation of economic, social as well as ecological effects. The study builds on two case studies, located in the two major Belgian river basins, for both the development and the illustration of the methodology.status: publishe

Oblique stacking of three-dimensional dome islands in Ge/Si multilayers

The organization of Ge "dome" islands in Ge/Si multilayers has been investigated by cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy. Ge domes are found to spontaneously arrange in oblique stacks, replicating at a well-defined angle from one bilayer to the next. The formation of oblique island stacks is governed by a complex interplay of surface strain, generated by the already buried islands, and surface curvature, caused by the inherent tendency of large domes to carve out material from the surrounding planar substrate. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics

The Nonproliferation Treaty and the New World Order

The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT or Treaty) faces either extinction or extension in 1995, when the NPT signatories will meet to decide its fate. Given the rapid changes in today\u27s nuclear technology and political environment, many states have expressed reservations about extending the Treaty. This Note considers the implications of those reservations as well as arguments favoring extension. This Note reviews the birth of the atomic age and the terms of the NPT and examines the Treaty\u27s strengths and weaknesses. The author concludes that the Treaty should remain in force and suggests strategies for maintaining the support of member states and attracting other states as the 1995 extension conference draws near

Competitiveness of entrepreneurs and salaried workers

We measure the willingness to compete of entrepreneurs and salaried workers in an experiment. Participants can choose between a piece-rate and a tournament scheme either in private or in public. We find that in the private condition entrepreneurs are less competitive than salaried workers, but that in the public condition this ordering is reversed. Survey data suggest that perceived norms of appropriate behavior, along with beliefs about the instrumental value of competitiveness for professional success, can explain why entrepreneurs are more competitive when decisions are publicly observable. We also find that the latter condition improves the quality of experimental decisions

Alloy oxidation as a route to chemically active nanocomposites of gold atoms in a reducible oxide matrix

While nanoparticles are being pursued actively for a number of applications, dispersed atomic species have been explored far less in functional materials architectures, primarily because composites comprising dispersed atoms are challenging to synthesize and difficult to stabilize against sintering or coarsening. Here we show that room temperature oxidation of Au–Sn alloys produces nanostructures whose surface is terminated by a reducible amorphous oxide that contains atomically dispersed Au. Analysis of the oxidation process shows that the dispersal of Au in the oxide can be explained by predominant oxygen anion diffusion and kinetically limitedmetalmass transport, which restrict phase separation due to a preferential oxidation of Sn. Nanostructures prepared by oxidation of nanoscale Au–Sn alloys with intermediate Au content (30–50%) show high activity in a CO-oxidation probe reaction due to a cooperative mechanism involving Au atoms as sites for CO adsorption and reaction to CO2 embedded in a reducible oxide that serves as a renewable oxygen reservoir. Our results demonstrate a reliable approach toward nanocomposites involving oxide-embedded, atomically dispersed noble metal species

A high-reflectivity, ambient-stable graphene mirror for neutral atomic and molecular beams

The following article appeared in Applied Physics Letters Volume 99, Issue 21, 21 November 2011, Article number 211907 and may be found at http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/apl/99/21/10.1063/1.3663866We report a He and H2 diffraction study of graphene-terminated Ru(0001) thin films grown epitaxially on c-axis sapphire. Even for samples exposed for several weeks to ambient conditions, brief annealing in ultrahigh vacuum restored extraordinarily high specular reflectivities for He and H 2 beams (23 and 7 of the incident beam, respectively). The quality of the angular distributions recorded with both probes exceeds the one obtained from in-situ prepared graphene on Ru(0001) single crystals. Our results for graphene-terminated Ru thin films represent a significant step toward ambient tolerant, high-reflectivity curved surface mirrors for He-atom microscopyWork performed in part at the Center for Functional Nanomaterials, Brookhaven National Laboratory, which issupported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, under Contract No. DE-AC02-98CH10886. Work supported by the Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia through projects CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010 on Molecular Nanoscience (CSD 2007-00010), FIS2010-18847, and byComunidad de Madrid through the program NANOBIOMAGNET (S2009/MAT-1726)

Alloy oxidation as a route to chemically active nanocomposites of gold atoms in a reducible oxide matrix

While nanoparticles are being pursued actively for a number of applications, dispersed atomic species have been explored far less in functional materials architectures, primarily because composites comprising dispersed atoms are challenging to synthesize and difficult to stabilize against sintering or coarsening. Here we show that room temperature oxidation of Au–Sn alloys produces nanostructures whose surface is terminated by a reducible amorphous oxide that contains atomically dispersed Au. Analysis of the oxidation process shows that the dispersal of Au in the oxide can be explained by predominant oxygen anion diffusion and kinetically limitedmetalmass transport, which restrict phase separation due to a preferential oxidation of Sn. Nanostructures prepared by oxidation of nanoscale Au–Sn alloys with intermediate Au content (30–50%) show high activity in a CO-oxidation probe reaction due to a cooperative mechanism involving Au atoms as sites for CO adsorption and reaction to CO2 embedded in a reducible oxide that serves as a renewable oxygen reservoir. Our results demonstrate a reliable approach toward nanocomposites involving oxide-embedded, atomically dispersed noble metal species

Spawning and early development of captive yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares)

In this study we describe the courtship and spawning behaviors of captive yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares), their spawning periodicity, the influence of physical and biological factors on spawning and hatching, and egg and early-larval development of this species at the Achotines Laboratory, Republic of Panama, during October 1996 through March 2000. Spawning occurred almost daily over extended periods and at water temperatures from 23.3° to 29.7°C. Water temperature appeared to be the main exogenous factor controlling the occurrence and timing of spawning. Courtship and spawning behaviors were ritualized and consistent among three groups of broodstock over 3.5 years. For any date, the time of day of spawning (range: 1330 to 2130 h) was predictable from mean daily water temperature, and 95% of hatching occurred the next day between 1500 and 1900 h. We estimated that females at first spawning averaged 1.6−2.0 years of age. Over short time periods (<1 month), spawning females increased their egg production from 30% to 234% in response to shortterm increases in daily food ration of 9% to 33%. Egg diameter, notochord length (NL) at hatching, NL at first feeding, and dry weights of these stages were estimated. Water temperature was significantly, inversely related to egg size, egg-stage duration, larval size at hatching, and yolksac larval duration