An end to Nordic exceptionalism? Europeanisation and Nordic development policies

The Nordic countries have traditionally been praised for their generous and advanced development policies. Recently, however, it has been claimed that the Nordic model has faded: that the Nordic donors have become more similar to other European donors. One possible reason for such trends is influences from EU policies, that is, Europeanisation. This article critically evaluates such claims by presenting arguments for and against Europeanisation effects. We argue that changes have indeed taken place. The Nordic exceptionalism has been eroded. At the same time, a convergence of European aid policies has occurred. The question is if this is the consequence of Europeanisation – or is it rather a result of Nordicisation (the Nordic countries influencing the EU), or perhaps like-mindisation (a broader set of progressive member states having impact upon EU policies)? We suggest that Europeanisation has been extremely weak while there is strong evidence of Nordicisation but also, and increasingly, of like-mindisation. Today, a core group of mainly northern member states, including the Nordics, are the main driving forces behind European aid convergence

Special functions and twisted LL-series

We introduce a generalization of the Anderson-Thakur special function, and we prove a rationality result for several variable twisted $L$-series associated to shtuka functions

Reconocimiento de una situación jurídica relativa al estatuto personal válidamente creada o modificada en el extranjero: Francia

In the French legal system, recognition of status is a classic issue that attracts diverse responses, depending on the circumstances, from procedural recognition of judgement to conflict of laws and conflict of authorities. In the light of this classic scheme, many foreign statuses are recognised in France without any difficulties, provided that they were legally obtained abroad. However, many obstacles to recognition remains and the current changing legal context in favour of a new subjective right of free movement including the status of persons, has been provoking active academic discussions among French scholars and unprecedented judicial developments. For these reasons, it is important to rethink globally the issue of recognition of status in a broad perspective within the French legal order.En algunas materias relacionadas con el estatuto de la persona, la jurisprudencia del TJUE y del TEDH ha fomentado el reconocimiento por parte de los Estados de las situaciones jurídicas válidamente creadas o modificadas en otros Estados. Esta jurisprudencia ha cambiado y está cambiando la metodología y práctica propias del Derecho internacional privado de producción interna. Este trabajo analiza los efectos de esta jurisprudencia europea sobre el Derecho internacional privado francés cuando este se enfrenta a una situación jurídica relacionada con el estatuto de la persona que ha sido válidamente creada en el extranjero y que se quiere hacer valer en Francia

AN APPROXIMATION METHOD OF DESCRIBING FUNCTION FOR SOME HYSTERESIS NONLINEARITIES IN HYDRAULIC SERVOSYSTEMS

The describing function method is a more convenient procedure in the investigation of nonlinear feedback control systems. An important condition to use this method is the determination of the describing function of nonlinearity in question. This paper deals with some hysteresis type nonlinearities which are usually encountered in many hydraulic servosystems, and gives a set of suitable approximating formulae in form of very strongly convergent series

The Rheology of Striated Muscles

Striated muscles are actuators of animal bodies. They are responsible for several biomechanical functions critical to survival and these include powering the cardiovascular system and modulating the mechanical interactions the body has with its surroundings. Nearly two centuries of active research on muscle phenomena has led to detailed insights into its microscopic composition, but accurate predictive models of muscle at larger scales remain elusive. This thesis reports on efforts to accurately capture the mechanical properties of striated muscles based on current knowledge of actomyosin dynamics. Specifically, this thesis derives the rheology of striated muscles from the dynamics. Muscle rheology is a characterization of the forces that it develops in resistance to externally imposed changes to its length, i.e. its mechanical behavior as a material. For example, the rheology of elastic solids is stiffness and that of viscous fluids is a damping coefficient. Detailed analyses of actomyosin dynamics suggest that the smallest functional units of striated muscles, half-sarcomeres, are viscoelastic and can function as either a solid-like struct or a fluid-like damper depending on time-durations of interest and neural inputs. Such adaptability may underlie the vastly different biomechanical functions that striated muscles provide to animal bodies. Furthermore, muscles are active structures because their properties require metabolic energy and depend on neural inputs. Striated muscles can therefore exhibit rheologies and functions that elastic springs and viscous fluids cannot. The analysis presented in this thesis may extend beyond muscles and biomedical applications. It may help to engineer muscle-like actuators based on principles of tunable properties and to understand the physics of other materials that can similarly transition between being solid-like and fluid-like

Koku musen nettowaku ni okeru tagen akusesu ni kansuru kenkyu

制度:新 ; 報告番号:甲3356号 ; 学位の種類:博士(国際情報通信学) ; 授与年月日:2011/3/15 ; 早大学位記番号:新567

DYNAMICS AND RELIABILITY OF A MAN-MACHINE SYSTEM

This study deals with the dynamics and reliability of a man-machine system with the technical part containing a hydraulic servomechanism. A new method has led to some interesting results of use for both analysis and synthesis of such system. Furthermore, with a convenient modification these results may be generelized for studying other structural systems. Investigation of the system reliability is based on concept of multistate system analysis