Megasonic Enhanced Electrodeposition

A novel way of filling high aspect ratio vertical interconnection (microvias) with an aspect ratio of >2:1 is presented. High frequency acoustic streaming at megasonic frequencies enables the decrease of the Nernst-diffusion layer down to the sub-micron range, allowing thereby conformal electrodeposition in deep grooves. Higher throughput and better control over the deposition properties are possible for the manufacturing of interconnections and metal-based MEMS.Comment: Submitted on behalf of EDA Publishing Association (http://irevues.inist.fr/handle/2042/16838

The Planar Tree Packing Theorem

Packing graphs is a combinatorial problem where several given graphs are being mapped into a common host graph such that every edge is used at most once. In the planar tree packing problem we are given two trees T1 and T2 on n vertices and have to find a planar graph on n vertices that is the edge-disjoint union of T1 and T2. A clear exception that must be made is the star which cannot be packed together with any other tree. But according to a conjecture of Garc\'ia et al. from 1997 this is the only exception, and all other pairs of trees admit a planar packing. Previous results addressed various special cases, such as a tree and a spider tree, a tree and a caterpillar, two trees of diameter four, two isomorphic trees, and trees of maximum degree three. Here we settle the conjecture in the affirmative and prove its general form, thus making it the planar tree packing theorem. The proof is constructive and provides a polynomial time algorithm to obtain a packing for two given nonstar trees.Comment: Full version of our SoCG 2016 pape

Insurgent Asylum Policies in European Cities: A Multi-Level Governance Perspective

Cities worldwide operate on the frontlines to support forced migrants. Some of these cities even overstep their formal prerogatives by refusing to comply with, and at times overtly subverting, the prescriptions of national authorities. This article builds a conceptual framework to understand such forms of insurgent urban asylum policy-making. We argue that insurgency depends on how city governments mediate the constraints and opportunities that emanate from the horizontal and vertical dimensions of multi-level governance, which capture city-level political dynamics as well as intergovernmental interactions. To illustrate our framework, we compare asylum policy-making in Barcelona, Milan, and Munich during the 2010s "refugee crisis." While Munich invested in rather uncontroversial integration programs, Milan and Barcelona overstepped their jurisdictional boundaries and supported migrants considered "illegal" by national governments. These insurgent responses were enacted as a "remedy from below," stemming from a sense of urgency that was not as pressing for Munich's policy-makers because of the greater capacity of Germany's asylum system.ISSN:1078-0874ISSN:1552-833

Determination of Gd concentration profile in UO2-Gd2O3 fuel pellets

A transversal mapping of the Gd concentration was measured in UO2-Gd2O3 nuclear fuel pellets by electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (EPR). The quantification was made from the comparison with a Gd2O3 reference sample. The nominal concentration in the pellets is UO2: 7.5 % Gd2O3. A concentration gradient was found, which indicates that the Gd2O3 amount diminishes towards the edges of the pellets. The concentration varies from (9.3 +/- 0.5)% in the center to (5.8 +/- 0.3)% in one of the edges. The method was found to be particularly suitable for the precise mapping of the distribution of Gd3+ ions in the UO2 matrix.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables. Submitted to Journal of Nuclear Material

Symposium: The Future of Law and Development, Part IV

This Symposium has been a wonderful forum for identifying a number of challenges that Law and Development will face going forward. Like many of the contributors, I have thought about these issues as both an academic and as a practitioner/government adviser. I have concluded that the Law and Development movement suffers from both an inability to get good results (if we could figure out what “good” results actually are) and a lack of follow up regarding implementation efforts. As to the former, it is not clear to me that those of us in the field actually know what results we want to achieve—or that we can actually (and accurately) measure them. Mariana Prado noted that in some areas it is easy to gauge success, such as in antitrust or telecoms. If telecom prices go down, Prado suggests, the antitrust suit is successful. I would argue that quantifying success is not so easy, even in these areas. In many cases, looking at easily quantifiable measures such as case counts or the number of successful prosecutions does not in fact measure success. Agencies might bring lots of small but unimportant antitrust cases to raise their number of wins. Moreover, agencies might bring a “winning” case even if the underlying economics behind the case do not mesh with any real consumer loss. For example, in a given developing world country, competitors might push the agency to bring a series of vertical restraints cases against efficient competitors. Finally, even if lower telecom rates result from an antitrust win, is such a win really a success of Law and Development? We have serious endogeneity issues in trying to attribute reduced telecom rates to a particular technical assistance intervention. It could be that rates would have gone lower regardless of the antitrust case. Foreign entrants, changes in technology across platforms (such as voice over internet or wimax), or a change in tariff policy by the telecom regulator may have affected telecom rates

Motility and family dynamics: current issues and research agendas

'Das Mobilitätskapital oder die 'Motilität' ist ein essentieller Bestandteil der sozialen Integration in sehr modernen Gesellschaften, in denen die Zahl der Möglichkeiten, sich durch Raum und Zeit zu bewegen, zunimmt. Dadurch wird die simultane Präsenz von Menschen bzw. sozialen Akteuren sichergestellt. Möglichkeiten der strategischen Auswahl und Differenzierungen in der Mobilität sind heute an die Stelle der räumlichen Beschränkungen getreten. Es ist unser Argument, dass die Motilität eine gute Ausgangsbasis ist für die Analyse der Motivationen, der Entscheidungsprozesse und der Beschränkungen, die die Nutzung des Raumes bestimmen. Wir beabsichtigen dadurch aufzuzeigen, dass Motilität sich innerhalb der Familiensphäre konstituiert und keinesfalls ein reines Persönlichkeitsmerkmal ist, das wiederum von angeborenen Fähigkeiten oder individuellen Strategien abhinge. Somit ist die Motilität ein Motivationsfaktor, der das Funktionieren und die Strukturen der familialen Sphäre bestimmt. Nach Vorstellung des Motilitätskonzeptes und Darstellung der Implikationen, die sich daraus ergeben, werfen wir einen Blick auf die Effekte, die die Familienstrukturen und die Funktionsweise der Familie auf dem Erwerb der Motilität sowie auf dem Zeitpunkt haben, zu dem die Kinder das Elternhaus verlassen. Danach untersuchen wir die Zusammenhänge zwischen dem Wohnort und dem Motilitätserwerb und den Spannungen, die diese Zusammenhänge zwischen Wohnkontext und dem Funktionieren der Familie hervorrufen können. In unserer Schlussfolgerung werfen wir im Lichte unserer Forschungsergebnisse nochmals einen Blick auf die Räume, die von der Familie besetzt werden.' (Autorenreferat)'Mobility capital or 'motility' is an essential part of social integration in very modern societies, that, in turn, experience an increase in the number of ways in which people can move through time and space, and thereby ensure the simultaneous presence of human beings or actors. Today, strategic choices and mobility differentiations have taken the place of spatial constraint. We argue that motility is a good basis for the analysis of motivations, decision-making processes, and constraints that dominate the use of space. In doing so, we intend to show that, far from being a purely personal trait that essentially depends on innate skills or individual strategies, motility is construed within the family sphere. As such, it is a factor of the motivations that govern the functioning and the structures of the family sphere. After presenting the concept of motility and illustrating its implications for family life as well as for its spatial manifestations, we take a look at the effects of both family structures and family functioning on the acquisition of motility and on the point in time children leave home. We continue with an exploration of the links between residential location and the tensions that these links can produce between the residential context and the functioning of the family. As a conclusion, we take a renewed look on the spaces that are occupied by the family in light of our research findings.' (author's abstract