Assessing Nature? The Genesis of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)

International audienceBased on an anlysis of the creation of an IPBES, our contribution addresses the progressive stabilization of an institutional design for assessing Nature. As regards the implementation of new forms of environmental governance, social science literature has zidely promoted norms of transparency, openness and participation. But so far, few researchers have focused on the way this disclosure model now concretely weighs down on real institutions and institutionalization processes. Little attention has been paid to the way this requirement can combine with other requirements or older models of action. In the case of IPBES, our goal is to question how the requirements of participation and transparency are put into practice. We will highlight the role of UNEP (United Nations Environment Program) in the institutionalization process of IPBES and see how the disclosure model is combined with other requirements which simultaneously involve the re-creation of "enclosure" (i.e. the need for academic sound science, or the usual way in which things are done at UNEP, i.e. bureaucratic practices). OUr work is based on an empirical study including documentation analysis and interviews

Producing 'Human Elements Based Medical Technologies' in Biotech Companies: Some Ethical and Organisational Ingredients for Innovative Cooking

This article is based on the findings of an EU-funded qualitative research project, entitled 'From GMP to GBP: Fostering good bioethics practices [GBP] among the European biotechnology industry', which seeks to improve the understanding of bioethical issues through the observation of the daily practices in European biotechnology companies and proposes a methodology approaching ethical issues. The comparative study was carried out in biotech companies in France, Italy, Sweden, Hungary and Belgium which develop a wide range of new technologies, all of them involving human materials or where human subjects participate (in clinical trials). Based on our findings in these local settings, we suggest that the notion of bioethics and the way its production is theorised need to be re-conceptualised. We argue that material practices and moral statements are intermingled in inextricable ways that render the formation of bioethical concerns fully dependent on the organisational landscape in which it is embedded. More precisely, the here presented co-production model of moral statements and organisational practices presents a set of common factors that influence how bioethical discourses are shaped, despite the heterogeneity of their epistemic cultures. For example, the procedural design of cell-based-products, the modes of collecting and storing biological specimen, the relationship between patients and companies and technological transfers to emerging countries are defining components that contribute to the shaping process of bioethical concerns. Thus, the path dependency of bioethical concerns relies on an already existing, specific infrastructure and existing relationships within and outside a company rather than on external judgement subsequently applied to its objects, or a collection of processes of reasoning coming from external institutions

Signals for a Transition from Surface to Bulk Emission in Thermal Multifragmentation

Excitation-energy-gated two-fragment correlation functions have been studied between 2 to 9A MeV of excitation energy for equilibrium-like sources formed in $\pi^-$ and p + $^{197}$Au reactions at beam momenta of 8,9.2 and 10.2 GeV/c. Comparison of the data to an N-body Coulomb-trajectory code shows a decrease of one order of magnitude in the fragment emission time in the excitation energy interval 2-5A MeV, followed by a nearly constant breakup time at higher excitation energy. The observed decrease in emission time is shown to be strongly correlated with the increase of the fragment emission probability, and the onset of thermally-induced radial expansion. This result is interpreted as evidence consistent with a transition from surface-dominated to bulk emission expected for spinodal decomposition.Comment: 11 pages including 3 postscript figures (1 color

Response of CsI(Tl) scintillators over a large range in energy and atomic number of ions (Part I): recombination and delta -- electrons

A simple formalism describing the light response of CsI(Tl) to heavy ions, which quantifies the luminescence and the quenching in terms of the competition between radiative transitions following the carrier trapping at the Tl activator sites and the electron-hole recombination, is proposed. The effect of the delta rays on the scintillation efficiency is for the first time quantitatively included in a fully consistent way. The light output expression depends on four parameters determined by a procedure of global fit to experimental data.Comment: 28 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Nucl. Inst. Meth.

Effect of the intermediate velocity emissions on the quasi-projectile properties for the Ar+Ni system at 95 A.MeV

The quasi-projectile (QP) properties are investigated in the Ar+Ni collisions at 95 A.MeV taking into account the intermediate velocity emission. Indeed, in this reaction, between 52 and 95 A.MeV bombarding energies, the number of particles emitted in the intermediate velocity region is related to the overlap volume between projectile and target. Mean transverse energies of these particles are found particularly high. In this context, the mass of the QP decreases linearly with the impact parameter from peripheral to central collisions whereas its excitation energy increases up to 8 A.MeV. These results are compared to previous analyses assuming a pure binary scenario

Neutron-induced Light Ion Production From Fe, Pb And U At 96 Mev

Double-differential cross sections for light-ion production (up to A=4) induced by 96 MeV neutrons have been measured for $^{nat}$Fe, $^{nat}$Pb and $^{nat}$U. The experiments have been performed at the The Svedberg Laboratory in Uppsala, using two independent devices, MEDLEY and SCANDAL. The recorded data cover a wide angular range (20º - 160º) with low energy thresholds. The work was performed within the HINDAS collaboration studying three of the most important nuclei for incineration of nuclear waste with accelerator-driven systems (ADS). The obtained cross section data are of particular interest for the understanding of the so-called pre-equilibrium stage in a nuclear reaction and are compared with model calculations performed with the GNASH, TALYS and PREEQ code

Study of intermediate velocity products in the Ar+Ni collisions between 52 and 95 A.MeV

Intermediate velocity products in Ar+Ni collisions from 52 to 95 A.MeV are studied in an experiment performed at the GANIL facility with the 4$\pi$ multidetector INDRA. It is shown that these emissions cannot be explained by statistical decays of the quasi-projectile and the quasi-target in complete equilibrium. Three methods are used to isolate and characterize intermediate velocity products. The total mass of these products increases with the violence of the collision and reaches a large fraction of the system mass in mid-central collisions. This mass is found independent of the incident energy, but strongly dependent on the geometry of the collision. Finally it is shown that the kinematical characteristics of intermediate velocity products are weakly dependent on the experimental impact parameter, but strongly dependent on the incident energy. The observed trends are consistent with a participant-spectator like scenario or with neck emissions and/or break-up.Comment: 37 pages, 13 figure

Nucleon-induced reactions at intermediate energies: New data at 96 MeV and theoretical status

Double-differential cross sections for light charged particle production (up to A=4) were measured in 96 MeV neutron-induced reactions, at TSL laboratory cyclotron in Uppsala (Sweden). Measurements for three targets, Fe, Pb, and U, were performed using two independent devices, SCANDAL and MEDLEY. The data were recorded with low energy thresholds and for a wide angular range (20-160 degrees). The normalization procedure used to extract the cross sections is based on the np elastic scattering reaction that we measured and for which we present experimental results. A good control of the systematic uncertainties affecting the results is achieved. Calculations using the exciton model are reported. Two different theoretical approches proposed to improve its predictive power regarding the complex particle emission are tested. The capabilities of each approach is illustrated by comparison with the 96 MeV data that we measured, and with other experimental results available in the literature.Comment: 21 pages, 28 figure

Measurements of sideward flow around the balance energy

Sideward flow values have been determined with the INDRA multidetector for Ar+Ni, Ni+Ni and Xe+Sn systems studied at GANIL in the 30 to 100 A.MeV incident energy range. The balance energies found for Ar+Ni and Ni+Ni systems are in agreement with previous experimental results and theoretical calculations. Negative sideward flow values have been measured. The possible origins of such negative values are discussed. They could result from a more important contribution of evaporated particles with respect to the contribution of promptly emitted particles at mid-rapidity. But effects induced by the methods used to reconstruct the reaction plane cannot be totally excluded. Complete tests of these methods are presented and the origins of the ``auto-correlation'' effect have been traced back. For heavy fragments, the observed negative flow values seem to be mainly due to the reaction plane reconstruction methods. For light charged particles, these negative values could result from the dynamics of the collisions and from the reaction plane reconstruction methods as well. These effects have to be taken into account when comparisons with theoretical calculations are done.Comment: 27 pages, 15 figure