Considerations on potential determinants of structural and cohesion funds absorption

The importance of ensuring high levels of absorption for the structural and cohesion funds, especially in the deprived regions, is crucial. In such a context, there have been identified the drivers of and possible difficulties associated to the absorption capacity of a Member State and its regions, following the processes currently taking place in Romania. The purpose of the paper is to identify and analyze the drivers that optimize the use of the absorption capacity of structural funds as well as the main problems that affect the absorption capacity and full use of funds in certain regions and institutional environments.structural funds, absorption capacity, financial allocation, regional development

Capacity of Phare and structural funds absorption: pre-accession versus post-accession

The capacity of structural funds absorption is a priority for the member states of the European Union which accessed the EU in 2004 and 2007, but slowing rates of the absorption capacity of these funds were noticed in comparison to the absorption rates of pre-accession funds. Within the context of “pre-accession versus post-accession” analysis, we present the gradual flexibilization of the process of EU funds absorption, the transfer of responsibilities for funds management towards the member states, as well as the differences between the two financing instruments used by the European Union function of different coordinates. The accession of the new member states from Central and Eastern Europe testimonies for the efficient ways of conditioning the aid for modernization offered to these countries, creating a reference framework whose coordination by proactive measures should continue during the post-accession period too. The success of the positive conditionality during the pre-accession period should be preserved by focusing on endogenous aspects specific to the assumption of responsibility for structural funds absorption by every new member state.Absorption capacity, positive conditionality, structural funds, European funds, new member states

ROMANIA - IN SEARCH OF THE EU LOST FUNDS

During the 2007- 2013 programming period Romania has been granted 19.6 billion euro of the EU Structural and Cohesion Funds and 8,3 bn euro of EU Agricultural and Fisheries Funds. Unfortunately, the Romanian’s level of absorption of Romania is the lowest in the EU. The paper focuses on the poor Romanian’s absorption capacity, on main causes, consequences and on some of the proposed measures to increase the amount of paid EU funds.European Union, Structural Funds, Absorption, Administrative capacity.

Measurement of wavelength-dependent extinction to distinguish between absorbing and nonabsorbing aerosol particulates

Measurements of spectral transmission factors in smoky optical transmission paths reveal a difference between wavelength exponents of the extinction cross section of high absorption capacity and those of low absorption capacity. A theoretical explanation of this behavior is presented. In certain cases, it is possible to obtain data on the absorption index of aerosol particles in the optical path by measuring the spectral decadic extinction coefficient at, at least, two wavelengths. In this manner it is possible, for instance, to distinguish smoke containing soot from water vapor

DETERMINANTS OF INCREASING EU FUNDS ABSORPTION CAPACITY IN ROMANIA

The study found that, during the early post-accession years, Romania failed toattract European funds, at least to the same extent to the national contribution at thecommunity budget, registering a net expenditure as an EU member. The determinants ofincreasing EU funds absorption rate are related, among other, to the availability of internalresources for projects co-financing, adequate administrative capacity at central and locallevels, appropriate inter-institutional coordination and public-private partnerships, highskills and motivation of human resources working in operational programs ManagementAuthorities and intermediary bodies. Activating these determinants could be an opportunityfor sustaining economic growth of Romania and recovering the development gap, which issupposed to alleviate also the adverse effects of international financial crisis on EU countries.economic development, EU integration, structural funds, determinants of absorptioncapacity, absorption rate, operational programs.

Simulation of an absorption based solar cooling facility using a geothermal sink for heat rejection

An important issue of solar cooling facilities based on absorption cycles and sometimes not given the necessary attention is the recooling process of the absorber and condenser. This is critical in the overall behaviour of the facility because the condensation and absorption temperatures will affect the COP and cooling capacity of the chiller. Most of the time the recooling process is made by using a wet cooling tower in a closed loop through the absorber and condenser. The use of a wet cooling tower gives good results in terms of cooling capacity and COP, but presents some health risk, like legionella, and its use is restricted to the industrial sector and places where water scarcity is not present. This paper presents the modification of the already validated TRNSYS simulation of a solar cooling facility, implementing a geothermal heat sink instead of the wet cooling tower in order to dissipate the heat generated internally in the absorption chiller. Simulation results shows that a geothermal heat sink composed of 6 boreholes of 100 meters of depth should be sufficient in order to substitute the wet cooling tower, for a typical Spanish single family dwelling.Universidad Carlos III de Madrid - ITEA Research GroupPublicad

Tone-burst technique measures high-intensity sound absorption

Tone-burst technique, in which narrow-bandwidth, short-duration sonic pulse is propagated down a standing-wave tube, measures sound absorbing capacity of materials used in jet engine noise abatement. Technique eliminates effects of tube losses and yields normal-incidence absorption coefficient of specimen

Formability evaluation of double layer circular tube as a device with energy absorption capacity

Recently, earthquakes frequently occur in Japan. It is desired to promote seismic isolation technology of building. It has been found that newly designed composite material filled with low rigidity material to high rigidity material has significant energy absorbing capacity. However, it must have higher energy absorption capacity in order to respond to a large scale earthquake. Therefore, we have proposed an energy absorbing device with a double layer circular tube as a cell. In previous work, it has been shown that hysteresis occurs and absorbs the energy by friction that is generated between the outer layer and the inner layer. It is effective when inside shape of inner layer is defined as floral pattern. In this study, we considered to form the inner layer circular tube by forward and backward extrusion and to assemble with the outer layer circular tube at the same time. After forming, it is necessary to generate hysteresis around the entire circumference of the circular tube. Ideally, the inner layer circular tube is tightened to the outer layer circular tube. In this research, it was aimed to know the contact state between the outer layer and the inner layer after forming. Therefore, the influence of the presence or absence of the outer layer circular tube on formability was investigated. As a result, there was a tendency for large elastic strain to remain at the contact portion between the circular tubes when the outer layer circular tube was set. This means that the outer layer circular tube hinders elastic recovery of the inner layer circular tube. Therefore, it was confirmed that the inner layer circular tube was tightened by the outer layer circular tube. The same result was obtained when the inner shape of the inner layer circular tube was a flower pattern