The Lurking Costs of Green Technology Metals in a Global Market

As the global market faces the challenge of responding to climate change, including how to convert to a green economy that uses renewable resources, it is critical to examine domestic and international legal frameworks implicated at various points in the life cycle of metallic ore resources employed in “clean” or “green” technology. Although the products themselves may or may not be environmentally-sound because of their source production or their transformation into waste at the end of their life, consumer demand for the green labeling will continue to drive the production of such technology. International law and policy frameworks must take into account the consequences of environmental “solutions” by negotiating protective measures against the pollution created at various stages of the life cycle of these metals and creating incentives to induce responsible trade practices to prevent a “race to the bottom” by governments willing to mine, process, and ultimately dispose of spent materials

Cold- and light-induced changes in the transcriptome of wheat leading to phase transition from vegetative to reproductive growth

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>For plants to flower at the appropriate time, they must be able to perceive and respond to various internal and external cues. Wheat is generally a long-day plant that will go through phase transition from vegetative to floral growth as days are lengthening in spring and early summer. In addition to this response to day-length, wheat cultivars may be classified as either winter or spring varieties depending on whether they require to be exposed to an extended period of cold in order to become competent to flower. Using a growth regime to mimic the conditions that occur during a typical winter in Britain, and a microarray approach to determine changes in gene expression over time, we have surveyed the genes of the major pathways involved in floral transition. We have paid particular attention to wheat orthologues and functional equivalents of genes involved in the phase transition in <it>Arabidopsis</it>. We also surveyed all the MADS-box genes that could be identified as such on the Affymetrix genechip wheat genome array.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We observed novel responses of several genes thought to be of major importance in vernalisation-induced phase transition, and identified several MADS-box genes that might play an important role in the onset of flowering. In addition, we saw responses in genes of the Gibberellin pathway that would indicate that this pathway also has some role to play in phase transition.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Phase transition in wheat is more complex than previously reported, and there is evidence that day-length has an influence on genes that were once thought to respond exclusively to an extended period of cold.</p

Crop Updates 2007 - Cereals

This session covers twenty six papers from different authors: CEREAL BREEDING 1. Strategies for aligning producer and market imperatives in cereal breeding in Western Australia, R. Loughman, R. Lance, I. Barclay, G. Crosbie, S. Harasymow, W. Lambe, C. Li, R. McLean, C. Moore, K. Stefanova, A. Tarr and R. Wilson, Department of Agriculture and Food 2. LongReach plant breeders wheat variety trials – 2006, Matu Peipi and Matt Whiting, LongReach Plant Breeders WHEAT AGRONOMY 3. Response of wheat varieties to sowing time in the northern agricultural region in 2006, Christine Zaicou, Department of Agriculture and Food 4. Response of wheat varieties to sowing time in the central agricultural region in 2006, Shahajahan Miyan, Department of Agriculture and Food 5. Response of wheat varieties to sowing time in the Great Southern and Lakes region, Brenda Shackleyand Ian Hartley, Department of Agriculture and Food 6. Response of wheat varieties to time of sowing time in Esperance region in 2006, Christine Zaicou, Ben Curtis and Ian Hartley, Department of Agriculture and Food 7. Performance of wheat varieties in National Variety Testing (NVT) WA: Year 2, Peter Burgess, Agritech Crop Research 8. Flowering dates of wheat varieties in Western Australia in 2006, Darshan Sharma, Brenda Shackley and Christine Zaicou, Department of Agriculture and Food 9. Prospects for perennial wheat: A feasibility study, Len J. Wade, Lindsay W. Bell, Felicity Byrne (nee Flugge) and Mike A. Ewing, School of Plant Biology and CRC for Plant-based Management of Dryland Salinity, The University of Western Australia BARLEY AGRONOMY 10. Barley agronomy highlights: Time of sowing x variety, Blakely Paynter and Andrea Hills, Department of Agriculture and Food 11. Barley agronomy highlights: Weeds and row spacing, Blakely Paynter and Andrea Hills, Department of Agriculture and Food 12. Barley agronomy highlights: Weeds and barley variety, Blakely Paynter and Andrea Hills, Department of Agriculture and Food OAT AGRONOMY 13. Agronomic performance of dwarf potential milling oat varieties in varied environments of WA, Raj Malik, Blakely Paynter and Kellie Winfield, Department of Agriculture and Food 14. Sourcing oat production information in 2007, Kellie Winfield, Department of Agriculture and Food HERBICIDE TOLERANCE 15. Response of new wheat varieties to herbicides, Harmohinder Dhammu, Department of Agriculture and Food 16. Herbicide tolerance of new barley varieties, Harmohinder Dhammu, Vince Lambert and Chris Roberts, Department of Agriculture and Food 17. Herbicide tolerance of new oat varieties, Harmohinder Dhammu, Vince Lambert and Chris Roberts, Department of Agriculture and Food NUTRITION 18. Nitrogen Decision Tools – choose your weapon, Jeremy Lemon, Department of Agriculture and Food DISEASES 19. Barley agronomy highlights: Canopy management, Andrea Hills and Blakely Paynter, Department of Agriculture and Food 20. Barley agronomy highlights: Leaf diseases and spots, Andrea Hills and Blakely Paynter, Department of Agriculture and Food 21. Fungicide applications for stripe rust management in adult plant resistant (APR) wheat varieties, Geoff Thomas, Rob Loughman, Ian Hartley and Andrew Taylor; Department of Agriculture and Food 22. Effect of seed treatment with Jockey on time of onset and disease severity of stripe rust in wheat, Manisha Shankar, John Majewski and Rob Loughman, Department of Agriculture and Food 23. Rotations for management of Cereal Cyst Nematode, Vivien Vanstone, Department of Agriculture and Food 24. Occurrence of Wheat Streak Mosaic Virus in Western Australian grainbelt during the 2006 growing season, Brenda Coutts, Monica Kehoe and Roger Jones, Department of Agriculture and Food 25. Development of a seed test for Wheat Streak Mosaic Virus in bulk samples of wheat, Geoffrey Dwyer, Belinda Welsh, Cuiping Wang and Roger Jones, Department of Agriculture and Food MARKETS 26. Developing the Australian barley value chain, Linda Price, Barley Australi

Strong neutron pairing in core+4n nuclei

The emission of neutron pairs from the neutron-rich N=12 isotones C18 and O20 has been studied by high-energy nucleon knockout from N19 and O21 secondary beams, populating unbound states of the two isotones up to 15 MeV above their two-neutron emission thresholds. The analysis of triple fragment-n-n correlations shows that the decay N19(-1p)C18∗→C16+n+n is clearly dominated by direct pair emission. The two-neutron correlation strength, the largest ever observed, suggests the predominance of a C14 core surrounded by four valence neutrons arranged in strongly correlated pairs. On the other hand, a significant competition of a sequential branch is found in the decay O21(-1n)O20∗→O18+n+n, attributed to its formation through the knockout of a deeply bound neutron that breaks the O16 core and reduces the number of pairs

Quasi-free neutron and proton knockout reactions from light nuclei in a wide neutron-to-proton asymmetry range

The quasi-free scattering reactions 11C(p,2p) and 10,11,12C(p,pn) have been studied in inverse kinematics at beam energies of 300–400 MeV/u at the R3B-LAND setup. The outgoing proton-proton and proton-neutron pairs were detected in coincidence with the reaction fragments in kinematically complete measurements. The efficiency to detect these pairs has been obtained from GEANT4 simulations which were tested using the 12C(p,2p) and 12C(p,pn) reactions. Experimental cross sections and momentum distributions have been obtained and compared to DWIA calculations based on eikonal theory. The new results reported here are combined with previously published cross sections for quasi-free scattering from oxygen and nitrogen isotopes and together they enable a systematic study of the reduction of single-particle strength compared to predictions of the shell model over a wide neutron-to-proton asymmetry range. The combined reduction factors show a weak or no dependence on isospin asymmetry, in contrast to the strong dependency reported in nucleon-removal reactions induced by nuclear targets at lower energies. However, the reduction factors for (p,2p) are found to be 'significantly smaller than for (p,pn) reactions for all investigated nuclei.German Federal Ministry of Education and Research | Ref. BMBF 05P2015RDFN1German Federal Ministry of Education and Research | Ref. 05P15WOFNAEuropean Commission | Ref. FP7, ENSAR, n. 262010Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología (CICYT) | Ref. FPA2012-32443Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología (CICYT) | Ref. FPA2015-64969-07387Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología (CICYT) | Ref. FPA2015-69640-C2-1-PSwedish Research Council | Ref. 621-2011-5324National Science Foundation, EE. UU. | Ref. n. 1415656Department of Energy, EE. UU. | Ref. n. DE-FG02-08ER41533Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia | Ref. PTDC/FIS/ 103902/200

Quasifree (p, 2p) Reactions on Oxygen Isotopes: Observation of Isospin Independence of the Reduced Single-Particle Strength

Quasifree one-proton knockout reactions have been employed in inverse kinematics for a systematic study of the structure of stable and exotic oxygen isotopes at the R3B/LAND setup with incident beam energies in the range of 300-450 MeV/u. The oxygen isotopic chain offers a large variation of separation energies that allows for a quantitative understanding of single-particle strength with changing isospin asymmetry. Quasifree knockout reactions provide a complementary approach to intermediate-energy one-nucleon removal reactions. Inclusive cross sections for quasifree knockout reactions of the type OA(p,2p)NA-1 have been determined and compared to calculations based on the eikonal reaction theory. The reduction factors for the single-particle strength with respect to the independent-particle model were obtained and compared to state-of-the-art ab initio predictions. The results do not show any significant dependence on proton-neutron asymmetry

Effective proton-neutron interaction near the drip line from unbound states in 25,26 F

Background: Odd-odd nuclei, around doubly closed shells, have been extensively used to study proton-neutron interactions. However, the evolution of these interactions as a function of the binding energy, ultimately when nuclei become unbound, is poorly known. The F26 nucleus, composed of a deeply bound π0d5/2 proton and an unbound ν0d3/2 neutron on top of an O24 core, is particularly adapted for this purpose. The coupling of this proton and neutron results in a Jπ=11+-41+ multiplet, whose energies must be determined to study the influence of the proximity of the continuum on the corresponding proton-neutron interaction. The Jπ=11+,21+,41+ bound states have been determined, and only a clear identification of the Jπ=31+ is missing. Purpose: We wish to complete the study of the Jπ=11+-41+ multiplet in F26, by studying the energy and width of the Jπ=31+ unbound state. The method was first validated by the study of unbound states in F25, for which resonances were already observed in a previous experiment. Method: Radioactive beams of Ne26 and Ne27, produced at about 440AMeV by the fragment separator at the GSI facility were used to populate unbound states in F25 and F26 via one-proton knockout reactions on a CH2 target, located at the object focal point of the R3B/LAND setup. The detection of emitted γ rays and neutrons, added to the reconstruction of the momentum vector of the A-1 nuclei, allowed the determination of the energy of three unbound states in F25 and two in F26. Results: Based on its width and decay properties, the first unbound state in F25, at the relative energy of 49(9) keV, is proposed to be a Jπ=1/2- arising from a p1/2 proton-hole state. In F26, the first resonance at 323(33) keV is proposed to be the Jπ=31+ member of the Jπ=11+-41+ multiplet. Energies of observed states in F25,26 have been compared to calculations using the independent-particle shell model, a phenomenological shell model, and the ab initio valence-space in-medium similarity renormalization group method. Conclusions: The deduced effective proton-neutron interaction is weakened by about 30-40% in comparison to the models, pointing to the need for implementing the role of the continuum in theoretical descriptions or to a wrong determination of the atomic mass of F26

Systematic investigation of projectile fragmentation using beams of unstable B and C isotopes

Background: Models describing nuclear fragmentation and fragmentation fission deliver important input for planning nuclear physics experiments and future radioactive ion beam facilities. These models are usually benchmarked against data from stable beam experiments. In the future, two-step fragmentation reactions with exotic nuclei as stepping stones are a promising tool for reaching the most neutron-rich nuclei, creating a need for models to describe also these reactions. Purpose: We want to extend the presently available data on fragmentation reactions towards the light exotic region on the nuclear chart. Furthermore, we want to improve the understanding of projectile fragmentation especially for unstable isotopes. Method: We have measured projectile fragments from C10,12-18 and B10-15 isotopes colliding with a carbon target. These measurements were all performed within one experiment, which gives rise to a very consistent data set. We compare our data to model calculations. Results: One-proton removal cross sections with different final neutron numbers (1pxn) for relativistic C10,12-18 and B10-15 isotopes impinging on a carbon target. Comparing model calculations to the data, we find that the epax code is not able to describe the data satisfactorily. Using abrabla07 on the other hand, we find that the average excitation energy per abraded nucleon needs to be decreased from 27 MeV to 8.1 MeV. With that decrease abrabla07 describes the data surprisingly well. Conclusions: Extending the available data towards light unstable nuclei with a consistent set of new data has allowed a systematic investigation of the role of the excitation energy induced in projectile fragmentation. Most striking is the apparent mass dependence of the average excitation energy per abraded nucleon. Nevertheless, this parameter, which has been related to final-state interactions, requires further study