High sensitive quasi freestanding epitaxial graphene gassensor on 6H-SiC

We have measured the electrical response to NO$_2$, N$_2$, NH$_3$ and CO for epitaxial graphene and quasi freestanding epitaxial graphene on 6H-SiC substrates. Quasi freestanding epitaxial graphene shows a 6 fold increase in NO2 sensitivity compared to epitaxial graphene. Both samples show a sensitivity better than the experimentally limited 1 ppb. The strong increase in sensitivity of quasi freestanding epitaxial graphene can be explained by a Fermi-energy close to the Dirac Point leading to a strongly surface doping dependent sample resistance. Both sensors show a negligible sensitivity to N$_2$, NH$_3$ and CO

Exploring pathways for sustainable water management in river deltas in a changing environment

Exploring adaptation pathways into an uncertain future can support decisionmaking in achieving sustainable water management in a changing environment. Our objective is to develop and test a method to identify such pathways by including dynamics from natural variability and the interaction between the water system and society. Present planning studies on long-term water management often use a few plausible futures for one or two projection years, ignoring the dynamic aspect of adaptation through the interaction between the water system and society. Our approach is to explore pathways using multiple realisations of transient scenarios with an Integrated Assessment Meta Model (IAMM). This paper presents the first application of the method using a hypothetical case study. The case study shows how to explore and evaluate adaptation pathways. With the pathways it is possible to identify opportunities, threats, timing and sequence of policy options, which can be used by policymakers to develop water management roadmaps into the future. By including the dynamics between the water system and society, the influence of uncertainties in both systems becomes clearer. The results show, among others, that climate variability rather than climate change appears to be important for taking decisions in water management

Захисні лісові насадження – важливий структурний елемент у формуванні національної екологічної мережі

Описано роль і значення захисних лісових насаджень як важливого структурного елементу при формуванні національної екологічної мережі.Описана роль и значение защитных лесных насаждений как важного структурного элемента при формировании национальной экологической сети.Role and meaning of forest protective stands as an important structural element for national ecological network formation is described

Direct magneto-optical compression of an effusive atomic beam for high-resolution focused ion beam application

An atomic rubidium beam formed in a 70 mm long two-dimensional magneto-optical trap (2D MOT), directly loaded from a collimated Knudsen source, is analyzed using laser-induced fluorescence. The longitudinal velocity distribution, the transverse temperature and the flux of the atomic beam are reported. The equivalent transverse reduced brightness of an ion beam with similar properties as the atomic beam is calculated because the beam is developed to be photoionized and applied in a focused ion beam. In a single two-dimensional magneto-optical trapping step an equivalent transverse reduced brightness of $(1.0\substack{+0.8-0.4})$ $\times 10^6$ A/(m$^2$ sr eV) was achieved with a beam flux equivalent to $(0.6\substack{+0.3-0.2})$ nA. The temperature of the beam is further reduced with an optical molasses after the 2D MOT. This increased the equivalent brightness to $(6\substack{+5-2})$$\times 10^6$ A/(m$^2$ sr eV). For currents below 10 pA, for which disorder-induced heating can be suppressed, this number is also a good estimate of the ion beam brightness that can be expected. Such an ion beam brightness would be a six times improvement over the liquid metal ion source and could improve the resolution in focused ion beam nanofabrication.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, 1 tabl

Совершенствование региональных целевых программ – инструмента управления социально-экономическим развитием Одесского региона и его конкурентоспособностью

Розглянуто регіональні цільові програми розвитку Одеського регіону; виявлено недоліки діючого підходу до розробки й оцінки програм на регіональному рівні; подано рекомендації щодо загальних підходів до програмного управління, експертизи проектів; запропоновано експертний метод оцінки ефективності цільових програм із точки зору управління процесом розробки та реалізацією програм, своєчасного прийняття рішень. Ключові слова: регіональні цільові програми, соціально-економічний розвиток, регіон, управління, конкурентоспроможність.Рассмотрены региональные целевые программы развития Одесского региона; выявлены недостатки действующего подхода к разработке и оценке программ на региональном уровне; даны рекомендации по общим подходам к программному управлению, экспертизе проектов; предложен экспертный метод оценки эффективности целевых программ с точки зрения управления процессом разработки и ходом реализации программ, своевременного принятия решений. Ключевые слова: региональные целевые программы, социально-экономическое развитие, регион, управление, конкурентоспособность.The paper considers the regional target programs of Odessa region development. Shortcomings of the present approach to the development and evaluation of programs at the regional level are shown, recommendations on common approaches to program management and project appraisal are given; expert method for evaluating target programs is proposed from the view of managing the process of development and implementation of programs, timely decisions. Keywords: regional target programs, socio-economic development, region, management, competitiveness

Boosting the Figure Of Merit of LSPR-based refractive index sensing by phase-sensitive measurements

Localized surface plasmon resonances possess very interesting properties for a wide variety of sensing applications. In many of the existing applications only the intensity of the reflected or transmitted signals is taken into account, while the phase information is ignored. At the center frequency of a (localized) surface plasmon resonance, the electron cloud makes the transition between in- and out-of-phase oscillation with respect to the incident wave. Here we show that this information can experimentally be extracted by performing phase-sensitive measurements, which result in linewidths that are almost one order of magnitude smaller than those for intensity based measurements. As this phase transition is an intrinsic property of a plasmon resonance, this opens up many possibilities for boosting the figure of merit (FOM) of refractive index sensing by taking into account the phase of the plasmon resonance. We experimentally investigated this for two model systems: randomly distributed gold nanodisks and gold nanorings on top of a continuous gold layer and a dielectric spacer and observed FOM values up to 8.3 and 16.5 for the respective nanoparticles

Frozen thermal fluctuations in adsorbate-induced step restructuring

Ammonia adsorbed on a Pt(443) surface causes meandering of the initially straight edges at 300 K. Based on density-functional theory calculations and on kinetic Monte Carlo simulations it is shown that the meandering is not an equilibrium structure stabilized by the larger adsorption energy of ammonia at step and kink sites. Rather the meandering has to be interpreted as a frozen thermal fluctuation caused by ammonia which strongly reduces the stiffness of the step edges at intermediate ammonia coverages

Stomach cancer and occupational exposure to asbestos: a meta-analysis of occupational cohort studies

BACKGROUND: A recent Monographs Working Group of the International Agency for Research on Cancer concluded that there is limited evidence for a causal association between exposure to asbestos and stomach cancer. METHODS: We performed a meta-analysis to quantitatively evaluate this association. Random effects models were used to summarise the relative risks across studies. Sources of heterogeneity were explored through subgroup analyses and meta-regression. RESULTS: We identified 40 mortality cohort studies from 37 separate papers, and cancer incidence data were extracted for 15 separate cohorts from 14 papers. The overall meta-SMR for stomach cancer for total cohort was 1.15 (95% confidence interval 1.03–1.27), with heterogeneous results across studies. Statistically significant excesses were observed in North America and Australia but not in Europe, and for generic asbestos workers and insulators. Meta-SMRs were larger for cohorts reporting a SMR for lung cancer above 2 and cohort sizes below 1000. CONCLUSIONS: Our results support the conclusion by IARC that exposure to asbestos is associated with a moderate increased risk of stomach cancer

Harnessing Wicked Problems in Multi-stakeholder Partnerships

Despite the burgeoning literature on the governance and impact of cross-sector partnerships in the past two decades, the debate on how and when these collaborative arrangements address globally relevant problems and contribute to systemic change remains open. Building upon the notion of wicked problems and the literature on governing such wicked problems, this paper defines harnessing problems in multi-stakeholder partnerships (MSPs) as the approach of taking into account the nature of the problem and of organizing governance processes accordingly. The paper develops an innovative analytical framework that conceptualizes MSPs in terms of three governance processes (deliberation, decision-making and enforce-ment) harnessing three key dimensions of wicked problems (knowledge uncertainty, value conflict and dynamic complexity). The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil provides an illustrative case study on how this analytical framework describes and explains organizational change in partnerships from a problem-based perspective. The framework can be used to better understand and predict the complex relationships between MSP governance processes, systemic change and societal problems, but also as a guiding tool in (re-)organizing governance processes to continuously re-assess the problems over time and address them accordingly