Hedging its bets? Portugal’s diplomatic strategies for a post-Brexit Europe

The United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union has deeply impacted politics in the continent. While affecting all European countries, the strategic challenges raised by Brexit have been particularly acute for smaller EU members due to their vulnerability and greater dependence on the Union. This article explores the diplomatic strategies smaller EU member states have pursued to meet the challenges stemming from Brexit. Drawing on the theoretical literature on small states it focuses on the case of Portugal, an under-researched country, which, as a core EU member sharing a historical alliance with Britain, is significantly exposed to the effects of Brexit. In an empirically grounded way, the analysis shows that Portugal has been hedging its bets to balance a steady EU commitment with the protection of relevant links with the UK. Like other smaller EU countries, the new context of increased uncertainty led to the adoption of more proactive and sophisticated diplomatic strategies. The study provides evidence of the novel political dynamics in Europe spurred by Brexit and highlights the importance of international institutions, such as the EU, for small countries. These results contribute to the literature on contemporary Portuguese foreign policy and small European states’ diplomacy.The authors wish to acknowledge comments received on earlier versions of this article at the Instituto Português de Relações Internacionais, Lisbon, May 2019; ‘Europe as a Global Actor’ International Conference, Lisbon May 2019; UACES Annual Conference, Lisbon, September 2019. This work was supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT); under Grant UIDB/CPO/00758/2020; and under Grant SFRH/BPD/99579/2014

Portugal’s strategic response to Brexit: enduring Europeanisation?

Portugal is an often neglected country in the literature on small European states and one which is significantly exposed to the effects of Brexit. While being a core EU member, Portugal has a historic alliance with the United Kingdom, sharing with it an Atlanticist outlook. Drawing on the literature on small states, New Institutionalism and Europeanisation, this article deals with the effects of Brexit on Portugal’s European strategy. More specifically, it examines the country’s coping strategies vis-à-vis Brexit, the underlying drivers of these diplomatic responses, as well as their implications for the Europeanisation of Portuguese foreign policy. It is argued that Portugal has hedged its bets to balance a firm EU commitment, the protection of important ties with the UK and a strong NATO engagement. In so doing, the country has exhibited an enduring but limited foreign policy Europeanisation, even more cautiously pragmatic than in the past.This work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) [SFRH/BPD/99579/2014, UIDB/CPO/00758/2020]

Small EU member states and Brexit: introduction

This Special Issue seeks to provide a better understanding of the strategic responses to Brexit from small EU member states. To this end, it links different streams of research and presents innovative inquiries into how ten states positioned themselves in the face of the British exit and with what foreign policy ramifications. More specifically, the collection examines the different countries’ coping strategies vis-à-vis Brexit, the underlying drivers of these responses, as well as their implications for patterns of national foreign policy Europeanization. After presenting the rationale and aims of the collection, this introductory article outlines the comparative framework used by the different contributors in their country studies. It then offers an overview of the main research findings derived from the individual articles. Subsequently, it summarises the comparative findings, with all contributions pointing to significant ‘sheltering’ within the EU, while ‘hedging’ strategies receive greater visibility for the countries most directly affected by Brexit. The overall results also evince a limited Brexit impact upon the foreign policy Europeanization of the countries examined. Finally, this introduction offers a reflection on the main conceptual and empirical ‘pay-offs’ of this Special Issue, closing with some avenues for future research

Molecular dynamics simulations of ballistic annihilation

Using event-driven molecular dynamics we study one- and two-dimensional ballistic annihilation. We estimate exponents $\xi$ and $\gamma$ that describe the long-time decay of the number of particles ($n(t)\sim t^{-\xi}$) and of their typical velocity ($v(t)\sim t^{-\gamma}$). To a good accuracy our results confirm the scaling relation $\xi + \gamma =1$. In the two-dimensional case our results are in a good agreement with those obtained from the Boltzmann kinetic theory.Comment: 4 pages; some changes; Physical Review E (in press

Fire effects on soil after an experimental burnt

5th International Conference of Fire Effects on Soil PropertiesThe impacts of forest fires are multiple (economic, human, social, environmental and on landscape - in the trees, the shrubs and herbaceous vegetation, on soil, on soil organisms, in birds and mammals, in the air, water, etc) and complex (direct, indirect, cumulative, immediate, subsequent, etc). Depend on factors as varied as the magnitude, intensity, duration and frequency of fires, the size and composition of the stands, fuel volume, concentration, distribution and characteristics, soil nature and characteristics, among many other factors. One of the most significant impacts of these catastrophic events in Portugal, occurs at the level of the soil (physical and chemical properties, hydrological and erosive effects, hydrophobicity, etc.). Consequently, we intend to present and discuss in this work the results of experimental burns held in May 2014 in Santo Tirso (NW Portugal), in a eucalyptus stand and in shrub lands. This experimental burning was intended to reduce the fuel material, using different fire driving techniques and is the result of a cooperation between the University of Minho and the Municipality of Santo Tirso. In this sense, we sought to evaluate the effects of fire on the ground by different conditions of progression of the fire, evaluating the temperature at different depths of the soil and its physical and chemical characteristics

Metodologia para Determinação da Área a Partir da qual a

One of the aims of the Regional Forest Planning is the definition of the minimum area of the management units, which will be compelled to base their management in Forest Management Plans (PGF), elaborated according to the rules defined by the Decreto-Lei nº 205/99 of 9 of June. The use of forest management plans is already a reality in part of the forest area of Alentejo. The option for this instrument of management decision was taken by the majority of the management units where dimension and complexity converge. Some agro forest management units, where the effects of the economy of scale are present, are examples. The non generalization of this type of instrument to support management is essentially due to the fact that the gains attained are null or even negative when the management units are in a lower baseline of dimension and complexity. In order to define, in an adequate way, the minimum area above which is profitable to a management unit to adopt a management procedure based on a forest management plan an analysis, based on the agricultural e enterprise level of income, was carried out

Application of a high-throughput process analytical technology metabolomics pipeline to Port wine forced ageing process

Metabolomics aims at gathering the maximum amount of metabolic information for a total interpretation of biological systems. A process analytical technology pipeline, combining gas chromatography–mass spectrometry data preprocessing with multivariate analysis, was applied to a Port wine “forced ageing” process under different oxygen saturation regimes at 60 °C. It was found that extreme “forced ageing” conditions promote the occurrence of undesirable chemical reactions by production of dioxane and dioxolane isomers, furfural and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, which affect the quality of the final product through the degradation of the wine aromatic profile, colour and taste. Also, were found high kinetical correlations between these key metabolites with benzaldehyde, sotolon, and many other metabolites that contribute for the final aromatic profile of the Port wine. The use of the kinetical correlations in time-dependent processes as wine ageing can further contribute to biological or chemical systems monitoring, new biomarkers discovery and metabolic network investigations.The author Castro C.C. (SFRH/BD/46737/2008) gratefully acknowledges her Doctoral grant to the Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT). This research was funded by the projects PTDC/BIO/69310/2006, PTDC/AGR-ALI/121062/2010, FCOMP-01-0124-008775 through FCT, and partially supported by CBMA, IBB and ESB/UCP plurianual funds through the POS-Conhecimento Program that includes FEDER funds through the program COMPETE (Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade)

Development of image analysis methods to evaluate barley / malt grain size

It is known that the barley / malt grain size is an important factor regarding the uniformity of malting process and hence the brewery process. For that purpose an image processing and analysis system was built for the evaluation of grain / malt size, on the ImageJ public domain platform. A programme was developed for the barley / malt images treatment and determination of several morphological parameters as well as the grain size distribution. The results showed that for the Prestige and Scarlett barley varieties good correlations could be obtained between the standard weight distribution and the proposed image analysis method. For the Esterel malt and barley as well as for the Nevada barley reasonable to good correlations were also obtained upon the introduction of a density correction factor

Effect of Aging on the Lower Limb Kinematics in Karate Practitioners: Comparing Athletes and Their Senseis

With the life expectancy increasing, older adult population has gained the attention of many researchers. Aging is known to lead to a general decline in bodily functions, which affect the quality of life. The aim of this study was to analyze how the aging process affects veteran active karate practitioners, in the kinematic and temporal structure of the frontal kick. Nine black belt karate practitioners over 50 years old and 24 black belt karate practitioners, aged between 20 and 30 years old, all male, performed the frontal kick mae-geri. Results showed that knee is the structure that holds most differences between young and veterans, both for linear and for angular variables during the mae-geri performance. Statistical differences were found in linear velocity for the knee; linear acceleration of the knee, hip, and RASIS; maximum angular velocity for knee and hip; maximum angular acceleration for ankle and hip; and in the range of motion of knee. The temporal variables show differences, between groups, in maximum linear velocity, maximum linear acceleration, and maximum angular acceleration. However, no differences were found between groups for the time before contact in the maximum linear and angular acceleration, which allow us to remark both the effects of the aging process and the effect of training. This study corroborates the ability of older people to achieve benefits from sports practice, achieving higher efficiency than the younger adults in task execution, but using different motor control strategies.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio