European Democracy and its Critique - Five Uneasy Pieces

democracy; European Court of Justice; fundamental/human rights; Germany; institutions; integration theory; interest intermediation; multilevel governance; national interest; supranationalism

Creep of Bulk C--S--H: Insights from Molecular Dynamics Simulations

Understanding the physical origin of creep in calcium--silicate--hydrate (C--S--H) is of primary importance, both for fundamental and practical interest. Here, we present a new method, based on molecular dynamics simulation, allowing us to simulate the long-term visco-elastic deformations of C--S--H. Under a given shear stress, C--S--H features a gradually increasing shear strain, which follows a logarithmic law. The computed creep modulus is found to be independent of the shear stress applied and is in excellent agreement with nanoindentation measurements, as extrapolated to zero porosity

China’s foreign oil policy: genesis, deployment and selected effects

China is a rising global power with a growing role and impact on the world’s energy markets as well as on the Earth’s climate system. China pursues its development in an essentially non-confrontational manner, a vision encapsulated by the notion of peaceful rise which is viewed positively in the world’s major capitals. Nevertheless, China’s rapid growth represents a genuine global challenge and raises many questions. How is China dealing with its growing need for imported crude oil? What is the impact of China’s rise on the global oil market, notably in terms of oil price developments? Are Chinese actions on oil markets different from those of other major importers? What opportunities and risks arise as a result of china’s growing role on the global oil market from the viewpoint of other global players? In this report we seek to offer some answers to those questions with a review of China’s developing energy policy, of the actions and revealed preferences of its national oil companies, and of broader economic and geopolitical analyses of the impact of China’s growing oil consumption on other global players.Crude oil, energy security, oil security, China, foreign oil policy

Waltz Entrancing

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/2618/thumbnail.jp

Press conference to announce Bipartisan Patient Bill of Rights

Press conference to announce Bipartisan Patient Bill of Right

Shape optimised geometries for ductile damaging materials

Shape optimisation is utilised to generate damage resistant structures. By means of a variational approach, the analytical gradients for an elasto-plastic material model with regularised damage properties are derived. Due to the complexity of the underlying material model, the application of the variational approach requires additional handling of the history field. The gradients are then used for Sequential Quadratic Programming (SQP) which is applied to shape optimisation and thus generation of damage optimised geometries

Consistency and Change in Participatory Action Research: Reflections on a Focus Group Study about How Farmers Learn

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on our efforts to balance consistency in our multi-year participatory action research study with the need to adapt our research protocol to what we are learning along the way. While both are important, we share several examples of how our flexibility and openness to adapt our protocol to our research findings has lead to methodological refinements and serendipitous learnings. We discuss implications for both agricultural education and research

Two-scale shape optimisation based on numerical homogenisation techniques and variational sensitivity analysis

This contribution presents a theoretical and computational framework for two-scale shape optimisation of nonlinear elastic structures. Particularly, minimum compliance optimisation problems with composite (matrix-inclusion) microstructures subjected to static loads and volume-type design constraints are focused. A homogenisation-based FE2 scheme is extended by an enhanced formulation of variational (shape) sensitivity analysis based on Noll’s intrinsic, frame-free formulation of continuum mechanics. The obtained overall two-scale sensitivity information couples shape variations across micro- and macroscopic scales. A numerical example demonstrates the capabilities of the proposed variational sensitivity analysis and the (shape) optimisation framework. The investigations involve a mesh morphing scheme for the design parametrisation at both macro- and microscopic scales