Analysing the EU's collective securitisation moves towards China

This research responds to an increasing volume of scholarly literature unpacking the recent dynamics of EU foreign policy discourses and practices vis-Ã -vis China. Drawing on the theoretical approach of collective securitisation, this article shows that EU foreign policy towards China since the mid-2010s has witnessed increasing collective securitisation moves directed at multiple policy frames, including Asian regional security frame, economic security frame, political security frame and information and technology and cybersecurity frame. The EU's attempts to securitise China as an existential threat across multiple issue areas have been triggered by a combination of long-term trends and specific sets of precipitating events, which contributed to galvanising the EU's collective securitising discourses and subsequent policy initiatives. However, this research finds that the EU's securitising moves and relevant speech acts have not resulted in a coherent audience response among the EU member states. The divergent views held by the EU's internal audience on whether China should be perceived as an existential threat have hampered the implementation of the EU's collective policy outputs. 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.</p

Convergence of DNAPL Source Strength Functions with Site Age

Dissolution of dense nonaqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) source zones can be accurately predicted based on appropriate characterization of the source zone architecture, which controls the rate of mass discharge or source strength function. However, the architecture changes temporally as the source zone mass is depleted by dissolution. To generalize comparisons between contaminated sites with different porewater velocities or contaminant solubilities, site age is defined in terms of the fraction of contaminant mass that has been eluted from the source zone by aqueous dissolution. Here changes in DNAPL architecture during dissolution of a source zone were measured by light transmission visualization in laboratory flow chambers. Architectures measured at ages corresponding to initial conditions, 20, 50, and 90% mass removal were used in an equilibrium streamtube (EST) model to accurately predict subsequent dissolution. It is shown both experimentally and theoretically that as DNAPL contaminated sites age, fractional reductions in contaminant discharge and mass converge to become equal, regardless of the initial architecture. This behavior is a consequence of convergence from log-normal to exponential behavior. Analysis of errors in dissolution predictions suggests that the age of many contaminated sites is likely sufficient that architecture and source strength function characterization may not be necessary as it can be assumed with reasonable accuracy that future dissolution will follow an exponential decay model

Computation of photoelectron and Auger-electron diffraction I. Preparation of input data for the cluster calculation PAD1

Abstract We describe the theory and implementation of multiple scattering cluster calculations of angle-resolved core-level photoelectron and Auger-electron diffraction intensities based on a concentric-shell algorithm (CSA). In this paper, we describe the first of a series of three computer programs which implement the calculations. In the present program, sorting algorithms are used to arrange atoms by their symmetry groups and into a series of concentric shells, as required by the CSA. For maximum ... Title of program: PAD1 Catalogue Id: ADHZ_v1_0 Nature of problem PAD1 generates a concentric shell cluster and switch parameters which will be used as include and control files for the second and third programs, PAD2 and PAD3 respectively, of this suite. The latter programs perform multiple scattering cluster calculations of angle-resolved core-level photoelectron and Auger electron diffraction intensities via a concentric-shell algorithm (CSA). Versions of this program held in the CPC repository in Mendeley Data ADHZ_v1_0; PAD1; 10.1016/S0010-4655(98)00030-7 This program has been imported from the CPC Program Library held at Queen's University Belfast (1969-2018

Reactive Tracer Tests To Predict Dense Nonaqueous Phase Liquid Dissolution Dynamics in Laboratory Flow Chambers

Reactive tracer tests were conducted to evaluate the relationship between contaminant mass reduction, Rm, and flux reduction, Rj, in laboratory experiments with porous media contaminated with a dense nonaqueous phase liquid (DNAPL). The reduction in groundwater contaminant flux resulting from partial mass removal was obtained from continuous and pulsed cosolvent and surfactant flushing dissolution tests in laboratory flow chambers packed with heterogeneous porous media. Using the streamtubes concept, a Lagrangian analytical solution was applied to study the contaminant dissolution. The analytical solution was independently parametrized using nonreactive and reactive tracer tests and the predicted dissolution was compared to the observed data. Analytical solution parameters related to aquifer hydrodynamic heterogeneities were determined from a nonreactive tracer, while those related to DNAPL spatial distribution heterogeneity were obtained from a reactive tracer. Reactive travel time variance, derived from this combination of tracers, was used to predict the relationship between Rm and Rj. Predictions based on the tracer tests closely matched measured dissolution data, suggesting that tracers can be used to characterize the DNAPL spatial distribution heterogeneity controlling the dissolution behavior. Experimental results demonstrated that increased reactive travel time variance led to greater flux reduction for a given partial mass removal

Formation and corrosion of a 410 SS/ceramic composite.

This study addressed the possible use of alloy/ceramic composite waste forms to immobilize metallic and oxide waste streams generated during the electrochemical reprocessing of spent reactor fuel using a single waste form. A representative composite material was made to evaluate the microstructure and corrosion behavior at alloy/ceramic interfaces by reacting 410 stainless steel with Zr, Mo, and a mixture of lanthanide oxides. Essentially all of the available Zr reacted with lanthanide oxides to generate lanthanide zirconates, which combined with the unreacted lanthanide oxides to form a porous ceramic network that filled with alloy to produce a composite puck. Alloy present in excess of the pore volume of the ceramic generated a metal bead on top of the puck. The alloys in the composite and forming the bead were both mixtures of martensite grains and ferrite grains bearing carbide precipitates; FeCrMo intermetallic phases also precipitated at ferrite grain boundaries within the composite puck. Micrometer-thick regions of ferrite surrounding the carbides were sensitized and corroded preferentially in electrochemical tests. The lanthanide oxides dissolved chemically, but the lanthanide zirconates did not dissolve and are suitable host phases. The presence of oxide phases did not affect corrosion of the neighboring alloy phases

Nonlinear behaviors of gear shifting digital phase locked loops

Applying gear shifting algorithms to the implementation of Phase Locked Loops (PLLs) can significantly improve their performances. However, the behaviors of gear shifting digital PLLs (GSDPLLs) have not been fully studied due to the existence of newly adaptive control parameters. These parameters play a very important role in the design of GSDPLLs. In this paper, various nonlinear behaviors of GSDPLLs including the steady state periodic behaviors, divergent behaviors and chaotic behaviors, are studied. In particular, the effects of the initial conditions of GSDPLLs on their dynamical behaviors are investigated. The obtained results are useful for the design of GSDPLLs. Numerical simulation results are presented for illustrations. © 2012 World Scientific Publishing Company.</p

QSAR study on the antimalarial activity of <i>Plasmodium falciparum</i> dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (<i>Pf</i>DHODH) inhibitors

<p><i>Plasmodium falciparum</i>, the most fatal parasite that causes malaria, is responsible for over one million deaths per year. <i>P. falciparum</i> dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (<i>Pf</i>DHODH) has been validated as a promising drug development target for antimalarial therapy since it catalyzes the rate-limiting step for DNA and RNA biosynthesis. In this study, we investigated the quantitative structure–activity relationships (QSAR) of the antimalarial activity of <i>Pf</i>DHODH inhibitors by generating four computational models using a multilinear regression (MLR) and a support vector machine (SVM) based on a dataset of 255 <i>Pf</i>DHODH inhibitors. All the models display good prediction quality with a leave-one-out <i>q</i>² >0.66, a correlation coefficient (<i>r</i>) >0.85 on both training sets and test sets, and a mean square error (MSE) <0.32 on training sets and <0.37 on test sets, respectively. The study indicated that the hydrogen bonding ability, atom polarizabilities and ring complexity are predominant factors for inhibitors’ antimalarial activity. The models are capable of predicting inhibitors’ antimalarial activity and the molecular descriptors for building the models could be helpful in the development of new antimalarial drugs.</p

Co-expression analysis of long non-coding RNAs and mRNAs involved in intramuscular fat deposition in Muchuan black-bone chicken

1. The intramuscular fat (IMF) content in meat products is positively correlated with meat quality, making it an important consumer trait. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play central roles in regulating various biological processes, but little is currently known about the mechanisms by which they regulate IMF deposition in chickens. 2. This study sampled the breast muscles of chickens with high (H) and low (L) IMF content and constructed six small RNA libraries. High-throughput sequencing technology was used to profile the breast muscle transcriptome (lncRNA and mRNA) and to identify the differentially expressed lncRNAs (DELs) and mRNAs (DEGs) between the H and L groups. In total, 263 DELs (118 up-regulated and 145 down-regulated lncRNAs) and 443 DEGs (203 up-regulated and 240 down-regulated genes) were identified between the two groups. 3. To analyse the DELs-DEGs interaction network, co-expression analysis was conducted to identify lncRNA-mRNA pairs. In total, 19270 lncRNA/mRNA pairs were identified, including 16 398 significant correlation pairs that presented as positive and 2872 pairs that presented as negative. The lncRNA – mRNA network comprised 263 lncRNA nodes and 440 mRNA nodes. 4. Pathway analysis, using the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes, indicated pathways associated with fat deposition and lipid metabolism such as the MAPK, PPAR, GnRH, ErbB and calcium signalling pathways, fatty acid elongation and fatty acid metabolism. Overall, the study identified potential candidate lncRNAs, genes and regulatory networks associated with chicken IMF deposition. These findings provide new insights to help clarify the regulatory mechanisms of IMF deposition in chickens which can be used to improve the IMF content in poultry.</p

Computation of photoelectron and Auger-electron diffraction III. Evaluation of angle-resolved intensities PAD3

Abstract In this paper, we describe the third part of a suite of computer programs for the computation of Auger- and photoelectron diffraction intensities, using the so-called concentric shell algorithm (CSA). The function of the present program is to calculate the diffraction intensities capable of being measured in a variety of different experimental configurations. The present program takes as its input the cluster transmission matrix calculated in the second part of this sequence of programs, as w... Title of program: PAD3 Catalogue Id: ADIB_v1_0 Nature of problem Multiple scattering cluster calculation of angle-resolved core-level photoelectron diffraction and Auger electron diffraction via a concentric-shell algorithm (CSA). Versions of this program held in the CPC repository in Mendeley Data ADIB_v1_0; PAD3; 10.1016/S0010-4655(98)00032-0 This program has been imported from the CPC Program Library held at Queen's University Belfast (1969-2018