'Workshop for Nagoya Protocol and Plant Treaty National Focal Points in Latin America and the Caribbean’

The capacity-building Workshop for National Focal Points in Latin America and the Caribbean on Mutually Supportive Implementation of the Nagoya Protocol and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, was held 25-28 September 2018 at the International Potato Center (CIP), Lima, Peru. The workshop was attended by over 60 participants, including National Focal Points for the Nagoya Protocol to the Convention on Biological Diversity and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources (CBD) for Food and Agriculture (Plant Treaty), from 16 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. The workshop was also attended by representatives from the Secretariats of the Plant Treaty and CBD, the International Seed Federation, farmer and indigenous peoples organizations, national and international agricultural research organizations and experts from the region who have been working for decades on access and benefit-sharing policy issues. The objectives of the workshop were to: 1. Strengthen network ties between National Focal Points within each country and across the regions; 2. Analyse challenges and opportunities for implementing the Plant Treaty and the Nagoya Protocol in a mutually supportive manner, and in ways that advance complementary policy goals, such as climate change adaptation, and improving the livelihoods of indigenous peoples and local communities; 3. Equip participants with tools to help address ‘real life’ scenarios where mutually supportive implementation is important, and 4. Identify the kinds of additional support that countries need to implement the Plant Treaty and Nagoya Protocol in mutually supportive ways

Charginos and Neutralinos in the Light of Radiative Corrections: Sealing the Fate of Higgsino Dark Matter

We analyze the LEP constraints from searches for charginos $\chi^{\pm}$ and neutralinos $\chi_i$, taking into account radiative corrections to the relations between their masses and the underlying Higgs-mixing and gaugino-mass parameters $\mu, m_{1/2}$ and the trilinear mass parameter $A_t$. Whilst radiative corrections do not alter the excluded domain in $m_{\chi^{\pm}}$ as a function of $m_{\chi^{\pm}} - m_{\chi}$, its mapping into the $\mu, m_{1/2}$ plane is altered. We update our previous lower limits on the mass of gaugino dark matter and on tan$\beta$, the ratio of Higgs vacuum expectation values, in the light of the latest LEP data and these radiative corrections. We also discuss the viability of Higgsino dark matter, incorporating co-annihilation effects into the calculation of the Higgsino relic abundance. We find that Higgsino dark matter is viable for only a very limited range of $\mu$ and $m_{1/2}$, which will be explored completely by upcoming LEP runs.Comment: Version to appear in Phys. Rev. D., 21 pages in LateX, including 10 encapsulated postscript figures; uses epsf.sty.; Figures modified (one deleted), conclusions unchange

Thermomechanical testing techniques for high-temparature composites: TMF behavior of SiC(SCS-6)/Ti-15-3

Thermomechanical testing techniques recently developed for monolithic structural alloys were successfully extended to continuous fiber reinforced composite materials in plate form. The success of this adaptation was verified on a model metal matrix composite (MMC) material, namely SiC(SCS-6)/Ti-15V-3Cr-3Al-3Sn. Effects of heating system type and specimen preparation are also addressed. Cyclic lives determined under full thermo-mechanical conditions were shown to be significantly reduced from those obtained under comparable isothermal and in-phase bi-thermal conditions. Fractography and metallography from specimens subjected to isothermal, out-of-phase and in-phase conditions reveal distinct differences in damage-failure modes. Isothermal metallography revealed extensive matrix cracking associated with fiber damage throughout the entire cross-section of the specimen. Out-of-phase metallography revealed extensive matrix damage associated with minimal (if any) fiber cracking. However, the damage was located exclusively at surface and near-surface locations. In-phase conditions produced extensive fiber cracking throughout the entire cross-section, associated with minimal (if any) matrix damage

Which Anthropocene is it to be? Beyond geology to a moral and public discourse

•The Anthropocene goes beyond geology and needs a moral and public discourse •Anthropocene science needs a genuine and real synthesis •Anthropocene science requires strategically designed researc

A comprehensive study of infrared OH prompt emission in two comets. I. Observations and effective g-factors

We present high-dispersion infrared spectra of hydroxyl (OH) in comets C/2000 WM1 (LINEAR) and C/2004 Q2 (Machholz), acquired with the Near Infrared Echelle Spectrograph at the Keck Observatory atop Mauna Kea, Hawaii. Most of these rovibrational transitions result from photodissociative excitation of H_2O giving rise to OH "prompt" emission. We present calibrated emission efficiencies (equivalent g-factors, measured in OH photons s^(-1) [H_2O molecule]^(-1)) for more than 20 OH lines sampled in these two comets. The OH transitions analyzed cover a broad range of rotational excitation. This infrared database for OH can be used in two principal ways: (1) as an indirect tool for obtaining water production in comets simultaneously with the production of other parent volatiles, even when direct detections of H_2O are not available; and (2) as an observational constraint to models predicting the rotational distribution of rovibrationally excited OH produced by water photolysis

The Quartic Higgs Coupling at Hadron Colliders

The quartic Higgs self-coupling is the final measurement in the Higgs potential needed to fully understand electroweak symmetry breaking. None of the present or future colliders are known to be able to determine this parameter. We study the chances of measuring the quartic self-coupling at hadron colliders in general and at the VLHC in particular. We find the prospects challenging.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure