Actris acsm intercomparison – part 1: reproducibility of concentration and fragment results from 13 individual quadrupole aerosol chemical speciation monitors (q-acsm) and consistency with co-located instruments

As part of the European ACTRIS project, the first large Quadrupole Aerosol Chemical Speciation Monitor (Q-ACSM) intercomparison study was conducted in the region of Paris for 3 weeks during the late-fall-early-winter period (November-December 2013). The first week was dedicated to the tuning and calibration of each instrument, whereas the second and third were dedicated to side-by-side comparison in ambient conditions with co-located instruments providing independent information on submicron aerosol optical, physical, and chemical properties. Near real-time measurements of the major chemical species (organic matter, sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, and chloride) in the non-refractory submicron aerosols (NR-PM1) were obtained here from 13 Q-ACSM. The results show that these instruments can produce highly comparable and robust measurements of the NR-PM1 total mass and its major components. Taking the median of the 13 Q-ACSM as a reference for this study, strong correlations (r(2) > 0.9) were observed systematically for each individual Q-ACSM across all chemical families except for chloride for which three Q-ACSMs showing weak correlations partly due to the very low concentrations during the study. Reproducibility expanded uncertainties of Q-ACSM concentration measurements were determined using appropriate methodologies defined by the International Standard Organization (ISO 17025, 1999) and were found to be 9, 15, 19, 28, and 36% for NR-PM1, nitrate, organic matter, sulfate, and ammonium, respectively. However, discrepancies were observed in the relative concentrations of the constituent mass fragments for each chemical component. In particular, significant differences were observed for the organic fragment at mass-to-charge ratio 44, which is a key parameter describing the oxidation state of organic aerosol. Following this first major intercomparison exercise of a large number of Q-ACSMs, detailed intercomparison results are presented, along with a discussion of some recommendations about best calibration practices, standardized data processing, and data treatment

Depoliticization at the EU Level : Delegitimization and Circumvention of Representative Democracy in the Government of Europe

International audienceThis article defends the hypothesis that depoliticization practices in the European Union stem from the EU's institutions and actors's relationship, both singular and longstanding, with "the political" and representative democracy. We thus propose to take a perspective opposite to a dominant reading that regards depoliticization as a recent response to a critical juncture in EU integration, and in particular to the growing objections to which the EU is subjected. To do so, this article starts by highlighting the omnipresence of the logics of depoliticization and listing its main methodsexpertise, informal negotiation, permanent consultation of interest groupsin making European policies. Trying then to identify what feeds these depoliticization initiatives, it underlines a relationship of distrust regarding the mechanisms of representative democracy, which, far from being the exclusive prerogative of "euro-officials", is widely shared among Europe's professionals and closely linked to the genesis and institutionalization of the European field of power (Georgakakis, Rowel, 2013)

The Europeanization of gender equality policies: A discursive–sociological approach

This article argues that a discursive–sociological approach to study Europeanization is particularly apt for understanding the dynamics of policy change in Europe. It oes so by bringing closer the agenda of discursive institutionalism (DI) and gender policy analysis, drawing upon the recent sociological and discursive turns in the study of the domestic impact of Europe, and the long-term interest of gender policy analysis for discursive framings, norm diffusion, actors’ interactions and EU soft policy instruments. Challenging the limitations of Europeanization studies that only focus on convergence, the article explores the contribution that both Schmidt’s DI and discursive gender approaches make to the understanding of policy change in Europe. While seeing the two approaches as complementary in the study of Europeanization, the article discusses the added value of gender approaches for improving our understanding of policy change in Europe

Does European integration theory need sociology?

International audienceIn this introduction to the special issue, we make the case for a greater use of sociological theories and methods across major approaches in European integration theory, a strategy which we call ‘mainstreaming sociology'. Although sociology as a discipline has, in contrast to political science, shown a late and so far modest interest in the European Union (EU) as a research object, a growing number of scholars is tapping into sociological notions and empirical work conducted by sociologists to expand the realm of concepts, methodologies and terrains available in EU studies. We identify four dominant theoretical approaches in European integration theory to which sociological concepts, methodologies and findings could make a distinctive contribution: constructivism, institutionalism, multi-level governance and intergovernmentalism. Our objective in doing so is not to sketch out a sociology of the EU but to evaluate how useful sociological insights can be incorporated in the political science of the EU