The Continuous Challenge of Enlargement. EIPAscope 01/2011

The ‘big bang’ enlargement of 2004, followed by the accession of Romania and Bulgaria in 2007, has profoundly altered the way the European Union functions. But with hindsight, it turned out that none of the often apocalyptic scenarios predicted before 2004 has materialised: neither was the EU-15 widely swamped with a flood of migrants from its new member countries, nor was the EU budget blooded to death, nor have its structures become paralysed. However, public opinion – and thus politicians – in the old member states give little credit to enlargement, and there is limited appetite for promoting the accession of further member states. This article tries to analyse the reasons behind the lack of appetite of most EU member states for further enlargement. It will challenge some of the conventional perceptions of enlargement and propose a double approach to get the process back on track: by tackling political challenges from a technical angle and by paying more attention to the perception of enlargement related problems

The New Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA II): Less Accession, More Assistance?. EIPA Working Paper 2014/W/01

The EU enlargement engine seems to have run out of political steam. Support within the member countries for future enlargement is at all-time low, while some of the candidate countries have also seemed to put the enlargement process on the backburner. However, at least rhetorically, the EU is still committed to the enlargement process and maintains its entire enlargement tool box, such as the Instrument for Pre-Accession (IPA) – one of the most important EU external financial instruments. The new IPA regulation (IPA II), adopted in March 20141, clearly reflects the fact that the enlargement process is on a holding pattern

Streamlining of Policies or Additional Level of Complexity? The Impact of the EEAS on EU - Western Balkans Relations

Through the creation of a European External Action Service (EEAS) the EU has attempted to increase the consistency and visibility of its external action abroad. However, in the Western Balkans the impact of this new diplomatic service of the EU is not always obvious: EU enlargement, as the dominating policy framework, remains outside the EEAS’ scope of competence. In Kosovo and Bosnia, with their strong CFSP dimension, synergies are still limited. Whereas the mutation of the EC Delegations into EU Delegations under the authority of the EEAS (but with a strong Commission component) had the benefit of raising the EU’s visibility in the Western Balkans, questions remain about internal coordination and the risk of a possible hijacking of the new service by member states. Although the EEAS can facilitate the streamlining the EU’s external action in the Western Balkans, such an outcome depends more on the behaviour of the actors involved than on institutional arrangements

Undergraduate Education with the Rutgers 12-Inch Cyclotron

AbstractThe Rutgers 12-Inch Cyclotron is a research grade accelerator dedicated to undergraduate education. From its inception, it has been intended for instruction and has been designed to demonstrate classic beam physics phenomena and provides students hands on experience with accelerator technology. The cyclotron is easily reconfigured, allowing experiments to be designed and performed within one academic semester. Our cyclotron offers students the opportunity to operate an accelerator and directly observe many fundamental beam physics concepts, including axial and radial betatron motion, destructive resonances, weak and azimuthally varying field (AVF) focusing schemes, RF and DEE voltage effects, diagnostic techniques, and perform low energy nuclear reactions. This paper emphasizes the unique beam physics measurements and beam manipulations capable at the Rutgers 12-Inch Cyclotron

Tunable subpicosecond electron bunch train generation using a transverse-to-longitudinal phase space exchange technique

We report on the experimental generation of a train of subpicosecond electron bunches. The bunch train generation is accomplished using a beamline capable of exchanging the coordinates between the horizontal and longitudinal degrees of freedom. An initial beam consisting of a set of horizontally-separated beamlets is converted into a train of bunches temporally separated with tunable bunch duration and separation. The experiment reported in this Letter unambiguously demonstrates the conversion process and its versatility.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, 1 table; accepted for publication in PR

Evaluation of 2.1µm DFB lasers for space applications

This paper presents the results obtained in the frame of an ESA-funded project called “Screening and Preevaluation of Shortwave Infrared Laser Diode for Space Application” with the objective of verifying the maturity of state of the art SWIR DFB lasers at 2.1µm to be used for space applications (mainly based on the occultation measurement principle and spectroscopy). The paper focus on the functional and environmental evaluation test plan. It includes high precision characterization, mechanical test (vibration and SRS shocks), thermal cycling, gamma and proton radiation tests, life test and some details of the Destructive Physical Analysis performed. The electro-optical characterization includes measurements of the tuning capabilities of the laser both by current and by temperature, the wavelength stability and the optical power versus laser current

Inferior ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction Associated with Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TCM) is usually characterized by transient left ventricular apical ballooning. Due to the clinical symptoms which include chest pain, electrocardiographic changes, and elevated myocardial markers, Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is frequently mimicking ST-elevation myocardial infarction in the absence of a significant coronary artery disease. Otherwise an acute occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery can produce a typical Takotsubo contraction pattern. ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) is frequently associated with emotional stress, but to date no cases of STEMI triggering TCM have been reported. We describe a case of a female patient with inferior ST-elevation myocardial infarction complicated by TCM

Upgrades of beam diagnostics in support of emittance-exchange experiments at the Fermilab A0 photoinjector

The possibility of using electron beam phase space manipulations to support a free-electron laser accelerator design optimization has motivated our research. An on-going program demonstrating the exchange of transverse horizontal and longitudinal emittances at the Fermilab A0 photoinjector has benefited recently from the upgrade of several of the key diagnostics stations. Accurate measurements of these properties upstream and downstream of the exchanger beamline are needed. Improvements in the screen resolution term and reduced impact of the optical system's depth-of-focus by using YAG:Ce single crystals normal to the beam direction will be described. The requirement to measure small energy spreads (<10 keV) in the spectrometer and the exchange process which resulted in bunch lengths less than 500 fs led to other diagnostics performance adjustments and upgrades as well. A longitudinal to transverse exchange example is also reported.Comment: 16 p

Sodium Chloride and Freezing Temperatures Increasing the Weathering of a Shale Bedrock Channel

Studies on erodibility in shale channels attribute slaking as the primary weathering mechanism, and consider chemical weathering mechanisms as a secondary agent (Tinkler and Parish, 1998). This research examines the roles of freeze-thaw, cation exchange, and slaking mechanisms. The objectives of this study were to determine if slaking is the primary mode of weathering in a shale bedrock channel, investigate the cumulative effects of cation exchange, freeze-thaw and slaking upon weathering and ascertain the contribution of chemical weathering due to anthropogenic sources. The impact of slaking, freeze-thaw and geochemical weathering on Georgian Bay Formation (GBF) shale was assessed in the laboratory using shale samples collected from Humber Creek (Toronto, Ontario). A modified version of the slake durability test (Franklin and Chandra, 1972) and the weatherability test (Unrug, 1997) was employed to investigate the slaking characteristics of the shale. Three-way ANOVA tests revealed that significant effects from air temperature, NaCl concentration and the interaction effect of the two conditions on Weatherability Index and Inverse Slake Durability Index. The results of this study indicate that slaking is not the primary weathering agent in shale bedrock channels and suggest that changes to water quality from anthropogenic inputs may be increasing the erodibility of these channels. Despite its exploratory nature, this study offers conditional insight into possible revisions required to the conceptual model of erosion and erodibility within a shale bedrock channel environment