Antecedents of low carbon emissions supply chains

Purpose: A low-carbon economy is the pressing need of the hour. Despite several efforts taken by the government and large corporations, there is still research to be conducted exploring the role of top management commitment in translating external pressures into responses that help to build low-carbon emissions in supply chains. Design/methodology/approach: The authors have grounded their framework in institutional theory, agency theory and contingency theory. On the basis of existing literature, four hypotheses were drawn. To test these hypotheses, a questionnaire was developed and pre-tested. Finally, statistical analyses were performed to test the research hypotheses using 176 samples gathered using a pre-tested questionnaire following Dillman’s (2007) total design test method. Findings: The results suggest that coercive pressures and mimetic pressures under the mediating effect of top management commitment have a significant influence on organizational response to low-carbon emissions. The authors further note that supply base complexity has moderating effects on the link between top management commitment and organizational response towards low-carbon emissions. Originality/value: This study offers valuable insights to those managers and environmental consultants who view supply base complexity as a limitation. However, the results indicate that supply base complexity may help to enhance the effectiveness of the top management commitment on organizational response towards low-carbon emissions

Carbon Management Strategy and Carbon Disclosures: An Exploratory Study

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a concept aimed to ensure that corporations conduct their business in an ethical manner by taking care of their environment and human resources in addition to their economic impact. Often times, CSR refers to the steps undertaken by a corporation to measure its efforts to improve the environment and social well-being. One of the aspects of CSR pertains to the disclosure of emission information and carbon management strategy (CMS). Carbon Management refers to analyzing and focusing on those areas within the corporation where cost reductions can be made via energy reductions, waste management and reduced resource consumption. In this paper, we examine the role of an effective CMS on the emission disclosure behavior of firms. We utilize the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) surveys to find that firms adopting an effective CMS are more likely to disclose the information about both direct and indirect emissions

Cross-sections of large-angle hadron production in proton- and pion-nucleus interactions VII: tin nuclei and beam momenta from \pm3 GeV/c to \pm15 GeV/c

We report on double-differential inclusive cross-sections of the production of secondary protons, charged pions, and deuterons, in the interactions with a 5% nuclear interaction length thick stationary tin target, of proton and pion beams with momentum from \pm3 GeV/c to \pm15 GeV/c. Results are given for secondary particles with production angles between 20 and 125 degrees. Cross-sections on tin nuclei are compared with cross-sections on beryllium, carbon, copper, tantalum and lead nuclei.Comment: 68 pages, 13 figure

PKSB1740-517: An ALMA view of the cold gas feeding a distant interacting young radio galaxy

Cold neutral gas is a key ingredient for growing the stellar and central black hole mass in galaxies throughout cosmic history. We have used the Atacama Large Millimetre Array (ALMA) to detect a rare example of redshifted $^{12}$CO(2-1) absorption in PKS B1740-517, a young ($t \sim 1.6 \times 10^{3}$ yr) and luminous ($L_{\rm 5 GHz} \sim 6.6 \times 10^{43}$ erg s$^{-1}$ ) radio galaxy at $z = 0.44$ that is undergoing a tidal interaction with at least one lower-mass companion. The coincident HI 21-cm and molecular absorption have very similar line profiles and reveal a reservoir of cold gas ($M_{\rm gas} \sim 10^{7} - 10^{8}$ M$_{\odot}$), likely distributed in a disc or ring within a few kiloparsecs of the nucleus. A separate HI component is kinematically distinct and has a very narrow line width ($\Delta{v}_{\rm FWHM} \lesssim 5$ km s$^{-1}$), consistent with a single diffuse cloud of cold ($T_{\rm k} \sim 100$ K) atomic gas. The $^{12}$CO(2-1) absorption is not associated with this component, which suggests that the cloud is either much smaller than 100 pc along our sight-line and/or located in low-metallicity gas that was possibly tidally stripped from the companion. We argue that the gas reservoir in PKS B1740-517 may have accreted onto the host galaxy $\sim$50 Myr before the young radio AGN was triggered, but has only recently reached the nucleus. This is consistent with the paradigm that powerful luminous radio galaxies are triggered by minor mergers and interactions with low-mass satellites and represent a brief, possibly recurrent, active phase in the life cycle of massive early type galaxies.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Why the paper CERN-PH-EP-2009-015 (arXiv:0903.4762) is scientifically unacceptable

The paper CERN-PH-EP-2009-015 (arXiv:0903.4762) by A. Bagulya et al. violates standards of quality of work and scientific ethics on several counts. The paper contains assertions that contradict established detector physics. The paper falls short of proving the correctness of the authors' concepts and results. The paper ignores or quotes misleadingly pertinent published work. The paper ignores the fact that the authors' concepts and results have already been shown wrong in the published literature. The authors seem unaware that cross-section results from the 'HARP Collaboration' that are based on the paper's concepts and algorithms are in gross disagreement with the results of a second analysis of the same data, and with the results of other experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure

Income-based greenhouse gas emissions of nations

Accounting for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of nations is essential to understanding their importance to global climate change and help inform the policymaking on global GHG mitigation. Previous studies have made efforts to evaluate direct GHG emissions of nations (a.k.a. production-based accounting method) and GHG emissions caused by the final consumption of nations (a.k.a. consumption-based accounting method), but overlooked downstream GHG emissions enabled by primary inputs of individual nations and sectors (a.k.a. income-based accounting method). Here we show that the income-based accounting method reveals new GHG emission profiles for nations and sectors. The rapid development of mining industries drives income-based GHG emissions of resource-exporting nations (e.g., Australia, Canada, and Russia) during 1995–2009. Moreover, the rapid development of sectors producing basic materials and providing financial intermediation services drives income-based GHG emissions of developing nations (e.g., China, Indonesia, India, and Brazil) during this period. The income-based accounting can support supply side policy decisions and provide additional information for determining GHG emission quotas based on cumulative emissions of nations and designing policies for shared responsibilities

Excitation quenching in chlorophyll-carotenoid antenna systems: 'coherent' or 'incoherent'

Plants possess an essential ability to rapidly down-regulate light-harvesting in response to high light. This photoprotective process involves the formation of energy-quenching interactions between the chlorophyll and carotenoid pigments within the antenna of Photosystem II (PSII). The nature of these interactions is currently debated, with, among others, ‘incoherent’ or ‘coherent’ quenching models (or a combination of the two) suggested by a range of time-resolved spectroscopic measurements. In ‘incoherent quenching’, energy is transferred from a chlorophyll to a carotenoid and is dissipated due to the intrinsically short excitation lifetime of the latter. ‘Coherent quenching’ would arise from the quantum mechanical mixing of chlorophyll and carotenoid excited state properties, leading to a reduction in chlorophyll excitation lifetime. The key parameters are the energy gap, Δ=Car−Chl, Δ ε = ε C a r − ε C h l , and the resonance coupling, J, between the two excited states. Coherent quenching will be the dominant process when −<Δ<, − J < Δ ε < J , i.e., when the two molecules are resonant, while the quenching will be largely incoherent when Chl>(Car+). ε C h l > ( ε C a r + J ) . One would expect quenching to be energetically unfavorable for Chl<(Car−). ε C h l < ( ε C a r − J ) . The actual dynamics of quenching lie somewhere between these limiting regimes and have non-trivial dependencies of both J and Δ. Δ ε . Using the Hierarchical Equation of Motion (HEOM) formalism we present a detailed theoretical examination of these excitation dynamics and their dependence on slow variations in J and Δ. Δ ε . We first consider an isolated chlorophyll–carotenoid dimer before embedding it within a PSII antenna sub-unit (LHCII). We show that neither energy transfer, nor the mixing of excited state lifetimes represent unique or necessary pathways for quenching and in fact discussing them as distinct quenching mechanisms is misleading. However, we do show that quenching cannot be switched ‘on’ and ‘off’ by fine tuning of Δ Δ ε around the resonance point, Δ=0. Δ ε = 0. Due to the large reorganization energy of the carotenoid excited state, we find that the presence (or absence) of coherent interactions have almost no impact of the dynamics of quenching. Counter-intuitively significant quenching is present even when the carotenoid excited state lies above that of the chlorophyll. We also show that, above a rather small threshold value of >10cm−1 J > 10 c m − 1 quenching becomes less and less sensitive to J (since in the window −<Δ< − J < Δ ε < J the overall lifetime is independent of it). The requirement for quenching appear to be only that >0. J > 0. Although the coherent/incoherent character of the quenching can vary, the overall kinetics are likely robust with respect to fluctuations in J and Δ. Δ ε . This may be the basis for previous observations of NPQ with both coherent and incoherent features

Molecular hydrogen abundances of galaxies in the EAGLE simulations

We investigate the abundance of galactic molecular hydrogen (H$_2$) in the "Evolution and Assembly of GaLaxies and their Environments" (EAGLE) cosmological hydrodynamic simulations. We assign H$_2$ masses to gas particles in the simulations in post-processing using two different prescriptions that depend on the local dust-to-gas ratio and the interstellar radiation field. Both result in H$_2$ galaxy mass functions that agree well with observations in the local and high-redshift Universe. The simulations reproduce the observed scaling relations between the mass of H$_2$ and the stellar mass, star formation rate and stellar surface density. Towards high edshifts, galaxies in the simulations display larger H$_2$ mass fractions, and correspondingly lower H$_2$ depletion timescales, also in good agreement with observations. The comoving mass density of H$_2$ in units of the critical density, $\Omega_{\rm H_2}$, peaks at $z\approx 1.2-1.5$, later than the predicted peak of the cosmic star formation rate activity, at $z\approx 2$. This difference stems from the decrease in gas metallicity and increase in interstellar radiation field with redshift, both of which hamper H$_2$ formation. We find that the cosmic H$_2$ budget is dominated by galaxies with $M_{\rm H_2}>10^9\,\rm M_{\odot}$, star formation rates $>10\,\rm M_{\odot}\,\rm yr^{-1}$ and stellar masses $M_{\rm stellar}>10^{10}\,\rm M_{\odot}$, which are readily observable in the optical and near-IR. The match between the H$_2$ properties of galaxies that emerge in the simulations and observations is remarkable, particularly since H$_2$ observations were not used to adjust parameters in EAGLE