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We present observations of 50 deg2 of the Mopra carbon monoxide (CO) survey of the Southern Galactic Plane, covering Galactic longitudes l = 300–350° and latitudes |b| ⩽ 0.5°. These data have been taken at 0.6 arcmin spatial resolution and 0.1 km s−1spectral resolution, providing an unprecedented view of the molecular clouds and gas of the Southern Galactic Plane in the 109–115 GHz J = 1–0 transitions of 12CO, 13CO, C18O, and C17O.

We present a series of velocity-integrated maps, spectra, and position-velocity plots that illustrate Galactic arm structures and trace masses on the order of ~106 M⊙ deg−2, and include a preliminary catalogue of C18O clumps located between l = 330–340°. Together with the information about the noise statistics of the survey, these data can be retrieved from the Mopra CO website and the PASA data store.

HESS J1614–518 and HESS J1616–508 are two tera-electron volt γ-ray sources that are not firmly associated with any known counterparts at other wavelengths. We investigate the distribution of interstellar medium towards the tera-electron volt γ-ray sources using results from a 7-mm-wavelength Mopra study, the Mopra Southern Galactic Plane CO Survey, the Millimetre Astronomer’s Legacy Team-45 GHz survey and [C i] data from the HEAT telescope. Data in the CO(1–0) transition lines reveal diffuse gas overlapping the two tera-electron volt sources at several velocities along the line of sight, while observations in the CS(1–0) transition line reveal several interesting dense gas features. To account for the diffuse atomic gas, archival H i data was taken from the Southern Galactic Plane Survey. The observations reveal gas components with masses ~103 to 105 M⊙ and with densities ~102 to 103 cm−3 overlapping the two tera-electron volt sources. Several origin scenarios potentially associated with the tera-electron volt γ-ray sources are discussed in light of the distribution of the local interstellar medium. We find no strong convincing evidence linking any counterpart with HESS J1614–518 or HESS J1616–508.

Near-infrared (1-3μm) emission lines of molecular and ionized hydrogen are excellent tools for investigating the morphology, energetics and kinematics of planetary nebulae, especially those PNe which contain large amounts of dust and are thus obscured at shorter wavelengths. The southern planetary nebula NGC 3132 was imaged with UNSWIRF (University of New South Wales Infrared Fabry-Perot) and IRIS on the 3.9m AAT Images in the H2 v=1-0 S(1) and H2 v=2-1 S(1) lines at 2.12μm and 2.25μm, and in Hii Brγ at 2.16μm are presented.

There is heated debate over the wisdom and effect of secrecy in international negotiations. This debate has become central to the process of foreign investment arbitration because parties to disputes nearly always can choose to hide arbitral outcomes from public view. Working with a new database of disputes at the world's largest investor-state arbitral institution, the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, the authors examine the incentives of firms and governments to keep the details of their disputes secret. The authors argue that secrecy in the context of investment arbitration works like a flexibility-enhancing device, similar to the way escape clauses function in the context of international trade. To attract and preserve investment, governments make contractual and treaty-based promises to submit to binding arbitration in the event of a dispute. They may prefer secrecy in cases when they are under strong political pressure to adopt policies that violate international legal norms designed to protect investor interests. Investors favor secrecy when managing politically sensitive disputes over assets they will continue to own and manage in host countries long after the particular dispute has passed. Although governments prefer secrecy to help facilitate politically difficult bargaining, secrecy diminishes one of the central purposes of arbitration: to allow governments to signal publicly their general commitment to investor-friendly policies. Understanding the incentives for keeping the details of dispute resolution secret may help future scholars explain more accurately the observed patterns of wins and losses from investor-state arbitration as well as patterns of investment.

In consequence of the decision made by the Fifth General Assembly of the I.A.U. I have been entrusted, from January 1936, with the direction of the Central Bureau for the International Service of Latitudes.

I am much indebted to Prof. Kimura, who preceded me as Director and to Prof. Kohlschütter, Director of the Geodetic Institute of Potsdam, for information and advice, which has been of great assistance to me; therefore I desire to acknowledge to them my deep gratitude.

The values given below are those published in each annual report of the international latitude work. They were calculated from the observations at five stations, except the last part of 1934 which was made without Kitab, because the observation books from Kitab since November 1934 have arrived too late at the Central Bureau.

Conditions on the high Antarctic Plateau would appear to be extremely favourable for a wide range of astronomical research. Before a decision can be made on constructing an observatory, data are required on site conditions at the most promising locations. To enable these data to be collected, a Lockheed Automated Geophysical Observatory is being purchased. This facility will be fitted with a suite of astronomical site-testing instruments, and deployed to several sites on the Antarctic Plateau. This program will allow a definitive assessment of the site conditions to be made by the end of this century.

Several authors have contributed to this report: L. Blitz (Section V), W.B. Burton (Sections IIIB and IVB), J. Einasto (Section VII), B. Fuchs (Sections VIC and VID), W. Hermsen (Section VIF), G. Lynga (Sections IIIA and IVA), M. Mayor (Section II), M. Miyamoto (Sections VIB and VIE) and R. Wielen (Sections I, VIA, and editing). The layout of this report follows previous practice. The galactic center is included in Sections IV and V. The references are, as far as possible, coded by their numbers (VV.CCC.NNN) in the bibliography “Astronomy and Astrophysics Abstracts” (AAA). VV identifies the volume of AAA, while CCC.NNN gives the subject category and the serial number within that volume.

Our knowledge of the universe comes from recording the photon and particle fluxes incident on the Earth from space. We thus require sensitive measurement across the entire energy spectrum, using large telescopes with efficient instrumentation located on superb sites. Technological advances and engineering constraints are nearing the point where we are recording as many photons arriving at a site as is possible. Major advances in the future will come from improving the quality of the site. The ultimate site is, of course, beyond the Earth’s atmosphere, such as on the Moon, but economic limitations prevent our exploiting this avenue to the degree that the scientific community desires. Here we describe an alternative, which offers many of the advantages of space for a fraction of the cost: the Antarctic Plateau.

Infared polarimetric and photometric mapping observations at K(2.2 μm) and H(1.65 μm) have revealed an extended dust envelope around the late-type star IRC+10216. The observations were made on the 3.8-m United Kingdom Infrared Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, in 1985 December and 1987 January and February. The polarization observations were made by emplying the Kyoto polarimeter (Sato et al. 1987). Great care was taken to check the contamination by stray light in the telescope and instruments as the source on peak was extremely bright (K~0 mag). From the observations of normal stars, we found that the polarized intensity (degree of polarization times the intensity) was a good measure of the envelope, free from contamination by stray light, although the intensity and the degree of polarization suffered from the contamination separately.

The motivation for holding Special Session 2 at the 25th IAU GA is described, together with an outline of the rational for pursuing astronomy in Antarctica.

The SPIREX telescope, located at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, was a prototype system developed to exploit the excellent conditions for IR observing at the South Pole. Observations over two winter seasons achieved remarkably deep, high-resolution, wide-field images in the 3-5 μm wavelength regime. Several star forming complexes were observed, including NGC 6334, Chamaeleon I, η Chamaeleontis, the Carina Nebula, 30 Doradus, RCW 57, RCW 38, as well as the Galactic Center. Images were obtained of lines at 2.42/μm H2, 3.29/μm PAH and 4.05/μm Br α, as well as 3.5/μm L-band and 4.7 μm M-band continuum emission. These data, combined with near-IR, mid-IR, and radio continuum maps, reveal the environments of these star forming sites, as well as any protostars lying within them. The SPIREX project, its observing and reduction methods, and some sample data are summarized here.

In late 2011 the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries reported an increase in confirmed laboratory diagnoses of salmonellosis in dairy herds. To identify risk factors for herd-level outbreaks of salmonellosis we conducted a case-control study of New Zealand dairy herds in 2011–2012. In a multivariable analysis, use of continuous feed troughs [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 6·2, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2·0–20], use of pelletized magnesium supplements (aOR 10, 95% CI 3·3–33) and use of palm kernel meal as a supplementary feed (aOR 8·7, 95% CI 2·5–30) were positively associated with a herd-level outbreak of salmonellosis between 1 July 2011 and 31 January 2012. We conclude that supplementary feeds used on dairy farms (regardless of type) need to be stored and handled appropriately to reduce the likelihood of bacterial contamination, particularly from birds and rodents. Magnesium supplementation in the pelletized form played a role in triggering outbreaks of acute salmonellosis in New Zealand dairy herds in 2011–2012.

The main part of this paper is concerned with observations obtained using the Princeton ultraviolet telescope-spectrometer on the Copernicus satellite through the Princeton guest investigator programme. These observations provided high resolution ultraviolet spectra of the bright southern shell star η Cen, which are now being analysed in detail. A short description of the new η Cen spectra and a progress report on the data analysis are presented below. In the second part of the paper we describe visible-region spectra of the northern Be stars γ Cas and φ Per obtained with a cross-dispersed echelle spectrograph on the 36-inch Yapp telescope at the Royal Greenwich Observatory.

We present spectral data cubes of the [CI] 809 GHz, 12CO 115 GHz, 13CO 110 GHz and HI 1.4 GHz line emission from a ~1° region along the l = 328° (G328) sightline in the Galactic Plane. The [CI] data comes from the High Elevation Antarctic Terahertz telescope at Ridge A on the summit of the Antarctic plateau, where the extremely low levels of precipitable water vapour open atmospheric windows for THz observations. The CO data comes from the Southern Galactic Plane Survey being conducted with the Mopra telescope. Emission arises principally from gas in three spiral arm crossings along the sight line. The distribution of the emission in the CO and [CI] lines is found to be similar, with the [CI] slightly more extended, and both are enveloped in extensive HI. Spectral line ratios are similar across the entire extent of the Galaxy. However, towards the edges of the molecular clouds the [CI]/13CO and 12CO/13CO line ratios rise by ~ 50%, and the [CI]/Hi ratio falls by ~ 10%. We attribute this to sightlines passing predominantly through the surfaces of photodissociation regions (PDRs), where the carbon is found mainly as C or C+ rather than CO, while the gas is mostly molecular. This is the signature of dark molecular gas.

We present observations of the first 10° of longitude in the Mopra CO survey of the southern Galactic plane, covering Galactic longitude l = 320–330° and latitude b = ±0.5°, and l = 327–330°, b = +0.5–1.0°. These data have been taken at 35-arcsec spatial resolution and 0.1 km s−1 spectral resolution, providing an unprecedented view of the molecular clouds and gas of the southern Galactic plane in the 109–115 GHz J = 1–0 transitions of 12CO, 13CO, C18O, and C17O. Together with information about the noise statistics from the Mopra telescope, these data can be retrieved from the Mopra CO website and the CSIRO-ATNF data archive.

Why do some decision makers prefer big multilateral agreements while others prefer cooperation in small clubs? Does enforcement encourage or deter institutional cooperation? We use experiments drawn from behavioral economics and cognitive psychology—along with a substantive survey focused on international trade—to illustrate how two behavioral traits (patience and strategic reasoning) of individuals who play key roles in negotiating and ratifying an international treaty shape their preferences for how treaties are designed and whether they are ratified. Patient subjects were more likely to prefer treaties with larger numbers of countries (and larger long-term benefits), as were subjects with the skill to anticipate how others will respond over multiple iterations of strategic games. The presence of an enforcement mechanism increased subjects' willingness to ratify treaties; however, strategic reasoning had double the effect of adding enforcement to a trade agreement: more strategic subjects were particularly likely to favor ratifying the agreement. We report these results for a sample of 509 university students and also show how similar patterns are revealed in a unique sample of ninety-two actual US policy elites. Under some conditions certain types of university student convenience samples can be useful for revealing elite-dominated policy preferences—different types of people in the same situation may prefer to approach decision-making tasks and reason through trade-offs in materially different ways.

We present the first results from a new carbon monoxide (CO) survey of the southern Galactic plane being conducted with the Mopra radio telescope in Australia. The 12CO, 13CO, and C18O J = 1–0 lines are being mapped over the $l = 305^{\circ }\text{--} 345^{\circ }, b = \pm 0.5^{\circ }$ portion of the fourth quadrant of the Galaxy, at 35 arcsec spatial and 0.1 km s−1 spectral resolution. The survey is being undertaken with two principal science objectives: (i) to determine where and how molecular clouds are forming in the Galaxy and (ii) to probe the connection between molecular clouds and the ‘missing’ gas inferred from gamma-ray observations. We describe the motivation for the survey, the instrumentation and observing techniques being applied, and the data reduction and analysis methodology. In this paper, we present the data from the first degree surveyed, $l = 323^{\circ } \text{--} 324^{\circ }, b = \pm 0.5^{\circ }$ . We compare the data to the previous CO survey of this region and present metrics quantifying the performance being achieved; the rms sensitivity per 0.1 km s−1 velocity channel is ~1.5 K for ${\rm ^{12}CO}$ and ~0.7 K for the other lines. We also present some results from the region surveyed, including line fluxes, column densities, molecular masses, ${\rm ^{12}CO/^{13}CO}$ line ratios, and ${\rm ^{12}CO}$ optical depths. We also examine how these quantities vary as a function of distance from the Sun when averaged over the 1 square degree survey area. Approximately 2 × 106M⊙ of molecular gas is found along the G323 sightline, with an average H2 number density of $n_{\text{H}_2} \sim 1$ cm−3 within the Solar circle. The CO data cubes will be made publicly available as they are published.