ECONOMIC COOPERATION BETWEEN THE WESTERN BALKAN COUNTRIES A KEY STRATEGIC APPROACH OF IMPROVING THEIR RELATIONS AND AN IMPORTANT REQUIREMENT TOWARDS THE EU ACCESSION

The economic interdependence and cooperation among the Western Balkan countries is a key strategic approach of improving their relations as well as an important requirement towards the EU accession. The long term view is to restructure relationships so that Western Balkan countries would have an incentive to see each other prospering, this because the well being of “the other” has a direct impact on the well being of “the self”. The prospects of improving neighbor relations between the Western Balkan countries should be an incentive in order to provide a lasting stability and development in the region, as well as in order to be able to join the EU. According to Olli Rehn, a former European Commissioner for Enlargement, the development of regional cooperation is in the best interests of all the western Balkan countries: it is a key factor for establishing political stability, security and economic prosperity. It corresponds to a commitment made by the countries of the region at the EU–Western Balkans Summits of Zagreb (2000) and Thessaloniki (2003). Regional economic interdependence and cooperation among the Western Balkan countries is an integral element with regard to the EU accession requirement. The EU has made it clear in many occasions that improving relations between the western Balkan countries is in their best interest, not only for the reason that it encourages economic development, but also because it encourages stability and security among them. This scientific research will try to illustrate some of the major implications with regard to economic interdependence and cooperation among the Western Balkan countries. The basic approach related to improving relations among the Western Balkan Countries has to do with building incentives to cooperate with each other. Regional interests are best met by mutual cooperation in a range of long established linkages and incentives to cooperate with each other. Understanding that development initiatives may have direct impact with respect to joining the EU as well as with respect to improving relations among the Western Balkan Countries, efforts should be made to ensure adequate support for this approach. Based on my field research as well as on my extensive reading on this subject I have come to realize that, regional cooperation is an important strategic approach of building positive relations. In this research paper therefore, I will analyze economic factors such as: regional cooperation, economic cooperation and other interdependent economic factors of vital strategic importance with respect to joining the EU as well as with respect to improving relations among the Western Balkan countries

STUDIES OF LOW-LYING STATES IN 94ZR EXCITED WITH THE INELASTIC NEUTRON SCATTERING REACTION

The aim of nuclear structure studies is to observe and describe the structures and associated symmetries in nuclei, which in turn help us in understanding the nature of nucleon-nucleon interactions in a nucleus as a many-body quantum system. The protons and neutrons as constituents of a nucleus and their interactions are responsible for nuclear properties. The evolution of nuclear structure as a function of valence nucleon number, i.e., the number of nucleons beyond a magic number, can be inferred from the experimental level scheme and transition rates. In particular, the studies of low-lying, low-spin excited states in stable nuclei provide valuable information on the interplay of valence neutrons and protons in nuclear structure. The decay scheme and knowledge of transition strengths in the low-lying states become a benchmark for testing theoretical model predictions and understanding the underlying microscopic foundations of nuclear structure. Along with the experimental techniques, theoretical models have been developed to explain and describe the observed nuclear properties, e.g., shell model, Fermi-gas model, optical and liquid-drop models, and several “collective” models. 94/40Zr50 nucleus with 2 protons and 4 neutrons above the shell closures of the 88/38Sr50 core nucleus is considered as a nearly spherical nucleus. Such nuclei present a vibrational structure; surface vibration of the nucleus about a spherical shape. In addition to the symmetric excitations, in which proton and neutron oscillations are in phase, there are another class of excitations in which the wave function is not fully symmetric with respect to the exchange of protons and neutrons. These states are so called mixed-symmetry (MS) states. Such excitations have been observed in the N= 52 neighboring isotones. In this study, the low-lying structure of 94/40Zr has been studied with the (n, n\u27ƴ) reaction at the University of Kentucky and Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratories (TUNL) facilities, to identify symmetric and MS excitations in this nucleus. A decay scheme has been established based on excitation function and coincidence measurements. Branching ratios, multipole mixing ratios, and spin assignments have been determined from angular distribution measurements at En= 2.3, 2.8, and 3.5 MeV. Lifetimes of levels up to 3.4 MeV were measured by the Doppler-shift attenuation method (DSAM), and for many transitions reduced transition probabilities were determined. The experimental results were used for the identification of collective symmetric and mixed-symmetric (MS) multiphonon excitations. The 2+/2 state at 1671.4 keV has been identified as the lowest MS state in 94Zr; B(M1; 2+/ms → 2+/1 ) = 0.31(3) μ2/N. This state has an anomalous decay behavior, i.e., B(E2; 2+/ ms → 0+/1 ) = 7.8(7) W.u., which is unusually large compared to the B(E2; 2+/1 → 0+/1 ) = 4.9(3) W.u. More anomalies were identified in the states above the 2+/ms state. For example, the 4+/2 state at 2330 keV decays strongly to the 2+/1 state, B(E2; 4+/2 → 2+/1 ) = 20+3/−2 W.u., compared to the 4+/1 state at 1469 keV, B(E2; 4+/1 → 2+/1 ) = 0.878(23) W.u. The experimental results revealed additional interesting and unusual properties of the low-lying states in 94Zr. Shell model calculations were performed with the Oxbash code, using the Vlow k interaction. Also, the IBM-2 predictions in the vibrational limit were compared with the experimental results. The results from neither of these nuclear models were in good agreement with the observed transition strengths, e.g., the B(E2; 2+/ms → 0+/1 ) value. These observations may indicate that the contributions of valence nucleons in the low-lying excited states of 94Zr differ from what has been perscribed by the shell model and the IBM-2 model. The effects of the Z = 40 and N = 56 subshell closures should be also considered. In a simple interpretation, the excited states are classified in two distinct categories, i.e., those populating the 2+/2 state and those decaying to the 2+/1 state. This approach suggests that in 94Zr the low-lying states may be related to two-configurations coexistence

Demonstrating adequate safety for a concrete column exposed to fire, using probabilistic methods

Demonstrating adequate safety for exceptional designs and new design applications requires an explicit evaluation of the safety level, considering the uncertainties associated with the design. The recently published PD 7974-7:2019 provides five routes to demonstrating adequate safety through probabilistic methods but does not include worked examples. The case study in this paper presents three state-of-the-art approaches for demonstrating achievement of an absolute safety target (acceptance concept ‘AC3’ in PD 7974-7:2019) for a concrete column in an office building with stringent reliability requirements. The case study shows how fragility curves listed by, for example, industry organizations can support probabilistic approaches and a more comprehensive understanding of design performance

Exploratory study into a safety format for composite columns exposed to fire

Current performance based structural fire engineering approaches evaluate structural behaviour under prescribed fire scenarios. The mechanical properties of the materials, the load conditions and geometric parameters are all however fraught with uncertainty, and there is currently no clear safety format ensuring the reliability of the design solution. In this contribution, a safety format is explored for evaluating the fire resistance of composite columns, following results obtained in earlier studies on uncertainty quantification. Using the safety format, a single nonlinear finite element evaluation of the fire resistance time is combined with a global safety factor, defining its design value. Under the assumptions derived from earlier work, the safety format works well, but additional parameter studies indicate that good performance is limited to relatively low ambient design utilization ratios. The results thus highlight the importance of uncertainty quantification and the limitations of basing a safety format for structural fire design on limited studies. It is concluded that detailed studies into the probabilistic description of the response of composite columns exposed to fire are required to generalize the results to a broadly applicable design rule

Metalanguage and Learning Grammar among Iranian EFL Learners

This research was conducted on Iranian EFL learners in Tehran Institute of Technology (The West Branch) to examine the effect of teachers’ metalanguage on learners’ learning of grammatical points. In each level of elementary and intermediate, two groups were chosen, an experimental and a control group. In the experimental group, the teachers used metalanguage to teach grammar points. However, in control group the teachers used examples to teach grammar points. The result indicated that the metalanguage had impacted the learners’ learning of grammatical points. The effect was more obvious with regard to the learning of grammatical points where the intermediate learners remarkably did better than the elementary ones

Development of an efficient procedure for the preconcentration of copper(II) after solid phase extraction on modified sawdust

A sensitive and selective preconcentration method has been developed for copper(II) using modified sawdust as an adsorbent. Sawdust was chemically modified with diethylenetriamine. Copper as CuCl42- was retained by the adsorbent in the column, eluted by nitric acid and subsequently determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometer. The effect of pH, chloride concentration, volume of the sample and diverse ions on the recovery of the analyte was investigated. A preconcentration factor of 250 was achieved using optimum conditions. The calibration graph was linear in the range 1-150 ng mL-1 copper in the initial solution. The detection limit (3Sb) was 0.2 ng mL-1 and the relative standard deviations were 2.7 and 1.2% for 5 and 50 ng mL-1 respectively (n = 10). It was revealed that after ten cycles of adsorption and desorption, the adsorbent retained its promising adsorption ability. The method was successfully applied to the determination of copper(II) in different water samples. Obtained results showed that the developed method is relatively simple, accurate, sensitive and selective. KEY WORDS: Copper(II), Preconcentration, Modified sawdust Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2014, 28(3), 321-328.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v28i3.

The Relationship between Recast and Noticing Sensed by Basic Level EFL Learners

The role of corrective feedback, especially recast, has become a highly controversial issue in language learning. In this study, the researcher intended to see which kind of recast resulted in better noticing on the part of learners. In doing so, 32 EFL learners at the elementary level participated in the current research. They were divided in two different groups, one included 18 and the other 14 learners.  The study aims to help teachers to better understand the effectiveness of full recast and partial recast. Chi Square and Paired-Samples t-test were run to analyze the data. The hypothesis was retained, thereby showing there is no difference between full and partial recast in improving the learners’ noticing ability