Ensuring Energy Security in Europe: The EU between a Market-based and a Geopolitical Approach. EU Diplomacy Paper 03/2013

The question of energy security of the European Union (EU) has come high on the European political agenda since the mid-2000s as developments in the international energy sector have increasingly been perceived as a threat by the EU institutions and by the Member State governments. The externalisation of the EU’s internal energy market has in that context been presented as a means to ensure energy security. This approach, which can be called ‘post-modern’ with reference to Robert Cooper’s division of the world into different ‘ages’,1 however, shows insufficiencies in terms of energy security as a number of EU energy partners belonging to the ‘modern’ world do not accept to play the same rules. This consequently poses the questions of the relevance of the market-based approach and of the need for alternative solutions. This paper therefore argues that the market-based approach, based on the liberalisation of the European energy market, needs to be complemented by a geopolitical approach to ensure the security of the EU’s energy supplies. Such a geopolitical approach, however, still faces important challenges

Bringing Electricity to Alafiarou: The Solar Microgrid Project

Despite the great technological advancements and discoveries that have been made throughout the last century, 1.2 billion people still live without access to electricity, 95% of which live in Sub-Saharan Africa and developing Asia.1 In this paper, we discuss how we designed and implemented a self-sustaining, affordable and highly replicable solar microgrid in order to accelerate the electrification of rural communities in the most environmentally conscious way possible. Our project focused on developing a microgrid for a small community of 10 households in rural Benin that previously had no access to electricity. We travelled to this village in December of 2015 and successfully installed our design. Direct current (DC) was used to transmit power and the microgrid consists of a central power station containing a photovoltaic array, batteries and a charge controller to power light bulbs and cell phone chargers for the villagers. Our hope is that the installed microgrid will serve as a template for the electrification of nearby communities

Growth Models and Models of Turbulence : A Stochastic Quantization Perspective

We consider a class of growth models and models of turbulence based on the randomly stirred fluid. The similarity between the predictions of these models, noted a decade earlier, is understood on the basis of a stochastic quantization scheme.Comment: 3 page

Stratégie de rupture basée sur des innovations radicales : Etude du cas de l'entreprise Salomon à la lumière de ses compétences et capacités organisationnelles

This paper concentrates on the analysis of organizational resources, competencies and capabilities as well as on the organizational architectures which facilitate their acquisition and use. On the basis of these concepts, the paper proposes an analysis grid which is then applied to a case study of Salomon, world leader in the winter sports equipment market. This grid is used to gain an understanding of Salomon's success in implementing breakthrough strategies based on radical innovations. Focusing on the study of internal resources leads to an investigation into Salomon's learning capabilities.organizational competency; organizational capabilities; innovation; Salomon

Characteristics of heavy metals and their evaluation in suspended sediments from Piracicaba river basin (São Paulo, Brazil)

Fluxes of the particulate heavy metals like chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), zinc (Zn) and lead (Pb) were determined along the Piracicaba River basin. Suspended sediments from the main channel and tributaries were sampled during January 2005 (high water period) and analyzed for total concentrations after extraction by alkaline fusion procedure. The average concentrations showed a significant increase pattern from upstream to downstream for Zn, Cr, Ni, Cu and Pb, except for Co, in which only a small variation was noted. The specific fluxes of Zn, Cr and Ni were slightly higher (79.9, 33.3 and 20 kg km-2 yr-1, respectively) in comparison to other industrialized regions in Asia, Europe, North and South America. Significative correlations between organic matter and Cr, Cu and Co, observed in the suspended sediments along the Piracicaba River basin, revealed that heavy metals were adsorbed or complexed by the organic matter, while Ni and Pb were significatively correlated with Fe oxide. The geo-accumulation index (Igeo) used to evaluate the pollution degree of the Piracicaba River sediments, revealed a medium to strong pollution for Zn in the entire basin and moderate pollution for Cr and Ni at downstream direction around an important area covered by sugar cane plantations and urban areas influenced by domestic sewage

Fracionamento seqüencial de metais pesados em área degradada tratada com lodo de esgoto.

O lodo de esgoto pode ser empregado na recuperação de áreas degradadas devido à sua capacidade de melhorar atributos químicos, físicos e biológicos do solo. Porém, as doses de lodo indicadas para obter o efeito desejado são, em geral, de 5 a 10 vezes maiores do que a empregada em áreas de uso agrícola. Nesta condição, o aporte de metais tóxicos e potencialmente tóxicos ao solo é elevado e pode apresentar risco ambiental. O monitoramento da área e o conhecimento da forma em que os metais se encontram na fase sólida do solo constitui uma informação importante para avaliar a sua disponibilidade de absorção pelas plantas e seu potencial de lixiviação. O presente estudo teve como objetivo realizar o fracionamento seqüencial de metais pesados em uma área degradada tratada com diferentes doses de lodo de esgoto. Após um ano de aplicação e plantio de espécies arbóreas não houve variações significativas de pH e matéria orgânica entre as parcelas. O fracionamento sequencial mostrou que mesmo para metais cuja introdução foi desprezível com a utilização do lodo, tais como Cr e Pb, a introdução de matéria orgânica do lodo no solo alterou a forma que esses metais ali se encontravam. Para todos os metais estudados, com execeção de Cd e Ni, as alterações observadas promoveram o deslocamento desses metais para frações mais disponíveis às plantas e potencialmente mais sujeitas à lixiviação, especialmente para a fração matéria orgânica. O uso de lodo no tratamento de áreas degradadas é uma alternativa interessante, mas o monitoramento da área é imprescindível para evitar impactos ambientais indesejáveis

Decaying grid turbulence in a rotating stratified fluid

Rotating grid turbulence experiments have been carried out in a stably stratified fluid for relatively large Reynolds numbers (mesh Reynolds numbers up to 18000). Under the combined effects of rotation and stratification the flow degenerates into quasihorizontal motions. This regime is investigated using a scanning imaging velocimetry technique which provides time-resolved velocity fields in a volume. The most obvious effect of rotation is the inhibition of the kinetic energy decay, in agreement with the quasi-geostrophic model which predicts the absence of a direct energy cascade, as found in two-dimensional turbulence. In the regime of small Froude and Rossby numbers, the dynamics is found to be non-dissipative and associated with a symmetric and highly intermittent vertical vorticity field, that displays k(h)(-3) energy spectra. For higher Rossby numbers, fundamental differences with the quasi-geostrophic model are found. A significant decay of kinetic energy, which does not depend on the stratification, is observed. Moreover, in this regime, although both cyclones and anticyclones are initially produced, the intense vortices are only cyclones. For late times the flow consists of an assembly of coherent interacting Structures. Under the influence of both rotation and stratification, they take the form of lens-like eddies with aspect ratio proportional to f/N

Determinação de metais tóxicos em cosméticos

Neste trabalho determinou-se o teor dos metais crómio, níquel, Chumbo e cádmio em produtos cosméticos. Foram analisados produtos de quatro categorias diferentes: cremes (de corpo e de rosto), protectores solares, batons (de cor e de tratamento) e lápis para olhos. Os produtos foram adquiridos em grandes superfícies e em “lojas chinesas”. Alguns produtos são de marcas conhecidas e outros são de “marca branca”. A determinação de metais foi efectuada por Espectrometria de Absorção Atómica com Câmara de Grafite (GFAAS), após digestão ácida das amostras. O estudo revelou a existência dos referidos metais na maioria dos produtos analisados. Os metais pesados detectados em maior concentração nas amostras foram o níquel e o crómio. Os produtos onde se verificou maior concentração de níquel e crómio foram os batons de cor e os lápis para os olhos. O cádmio foi o metal detectado num maior número de amostras, mas em concentrações muito baixas. A concentração mais elevada de chumbo foi detectada num protector solar. Com os resultados obtidos pretende-se demonstrar a existência de crómio, níquel, chumbo e cádmio em produtos cosméticos, apesar de a legislação proibir a sua presença. Esta legislação revela ser inadequada pois não impões a análise à presença de metais e não define limites máximos para estes, impondo a concentração zero relativamente à presença de metais pesados, o que para alguns produtos é irrealista. A presença de metias pesados nestes produtos revela-se preocupante pois estes são aplicados directamente na pele e muitos deles em zonas sensíveis como lábios e olhos. O facto de alguns dos metais detectados terem efeitos nocivos para a saúde humana torna este assunto merecedor de futura atenção por quem os regula

Metamodel-based importance sampling for structural reliability analysis

Structural reliability methods aim at computing the probability of failure of systems with respect to some prescribed performance functions. In modern engineering such functions usually resort to running an expensive-to-evaluate computational model (e.g. a finite element model). In this respect simulation methods, which may require $10^{3-6}$ runs cannot be used directly. Surrogate models such as quadratic response surfaces, polynomial chaos expansions or kriging (which are built from a limited number of runs of the original model) are then introduced as a substitute of the original model to cope with the computational cost. In practice it is almost impossible to quantify the error made by this substitution though. In this paper we propose to use a kriging surrogate of the performance function as a means to build a quasi-optimal importance sampling density. The probability of failure is eventually obtained as the product of an augmented probability computed by substituting the meta-model for the original performance function and a correction term which ensures that there is no bias in the estimation even if the meta-model is not fully accurate. The approach is applied to analytical and finite element reliability problems and proves efficient up to 100 random variables.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables. Preprint submitted to Probabilistic Engineering Mechanic

The Effects of Biogeotextiles on the Stabilization of Roadside Slopes in Lithuania.

Soil erosion, Water erosion, Soil conservation, Geotextiles, Geotextile mats, Roadside slopes, Vegetation cover, Biogeotextiles , Palm mat geotextiles - Borassus aethiopum - Mauritia flexuosa - Buriti mats - BORASSUS Project - LithuaniaBiogeotextiles constructed from the leaves of Borassus aethiopum and Mauritia flexuosa are investigated at the Kaltinėnai Research Station of the Lithuanian Institute of Agriculture, which is participating in the EU-funded BORASSUS Project. Biogeotextiles are potentially excellent biodegradable and environmentally-friendly materials useful for soil conservation. Field studies on a steep (21–25°) roadside slope in Lithuania suggest biogeotextile mats are an effective and sustainable soil conservation technique. Biogeotextiles have a potential as a biotechnical soil conservation method for slope stabilization and protection from water erosion on steep industrial slopes and may be integrated with the use of perennial grasses to optimize protection from water erosion. The investigations demonstrated that a cover of Borassus and Buriti mats improved the germination and growth of sown perennial grasses. The biomass of perennial grasses increased by 52.0–63.4% under cover of Borassus mats and by 18.6–28.2% under cover of Buriti mats. Over 2 years, the biogeotextiles (Borassus and Buruti, respectively) decreased soil losses from bare fallow soil by 90.8% and 81.5% and from plots covered by perennial grasses by 87.9% and 79.0%, respectively