Legal analysis on the relationship between the AU/AEC and RECs : Africa lost in a "spaghetti bowl" of legal relations?

Includes bibliographical references.In Africa, the regional trade agreements (RTAs) are commonly known as regional economic communities (RECs). Currently, fourteen regional economic communities operate on the African continent. However, in the quest for a more systematic approach to promoting "a strong and united Africa", only eight RECs were officially recognised and designated to serve as the essential building blocks towards the formation of the African Economic Community (AEC). Africa's continental community AEC is envisioned as the overall objective of the African regional integration process in the Abuja Treaty. The concept of the pursuit of sustainable development through RECs is not doubted in Africa. The Abuja Treaty proposed a gradual step-by-step approach where RECs play an important role during the first stages, but then have to lead "somehow" to one big coherent continental regional economic organisation – the overall goal of the African Economic Community. Neither the Abuja Treaty nor the Constitutive Act of the African Union (CAAU) includes concise provisions on how to establish the continental AEC. The relations between the different integration players, such as the AU, AEC and RECs, that exist now or should exist in the near future, are not defined legally. Until these "relational issues" are resolved, it seems difficult and even impossible to accelerate Africa's economic integration on the way towards the AEC. Thus, it is crucial for an accelerated integration process to discuss the scarce existing legal framework with its significant lacunas and develop solutions that allow filling in the legal blanks through the adoption of new treaties and amendments as well as protocols. The African continent with its multiple and overlapping RECs still looks like a "spaghetti bowl" instead of a "cannelloni". Thus, the question of rationalisation is still without definite answer

GW-Sat: GW\u27s First Satellite with Propulsive 3-Axis-Stabilization

The George Washington University’s proposed satellite mission, GW-Sat, was one of the 34 missions selected by NASA as part of the CubeSat Launch Initiative program. The CubeSat will be built entirely by students from different departments and schools at the university. GW-Sat is a 3 U CubeSat and its primary mission is to validate its propulsion system based on in-house built Micro-Cathode Arc Thrusters. The thrusters will be used to provide the spacecraft with 3-axis stabilization and the ability to perform station-keeping maneuvers, and therefore, increase the mission’s lifetime. In addition to this, the CubeSat will be used to perform secondary science missions, which include relaying information from a remote ground station using the store-forward architecture and the effect of the thruster’s plasma discharges on radio communications

Developing a Program for Calibrating and Streaming from a Software-Defined Radio

https://digitalcommons.mtech.edu/urp_aug_2018/1000/thumbnail.jp

Studien zur mittelalterlichen Baugeschichte der Pfarrkirche Hollenburg

Die Diplomarbeit befasst sich mit der Herangehensweise mittelalterlicher Bauforschung am Beispiel der Pfarrkirche von Hollenburg. Die Ergebnisse meiner Baufugen- und Mauerwerksuntersuchungen werden in einem Baualterplan zusammengefasst. Dadurch wird die Abfolge der einzelnen Bauabschnitte dokumentiert. Ergänzt wird diese Darstellung durch das Ergebnis der durchgeführten archäologischen Grabungen im Kircheninneren. In chronologischer Reihenfolge werden die einzelnen Bauphasen analysiert und anhand von Vergleichsbeispielen datiert und mittels einer dendrochronologischen Untersuchung auf ihre Richtigkeit hin überprüft. Folgende Bauphasen werden in der Arbeit dargestellt: Aufgehendes römische Mauerwerk, Grundriss einer romanischen Kapelle mit quadratischem Chorabschluss und die Bauphase einer ersten gotischen Erweiterung des Langhauses sowie das Untergeschoß eines Beinhauses, welche durch die archäologischen Grabungsarbeiten sichtbar wurden. Es kann angenommen werden, dass das erste gotische Langhaus bereits dreischiffig angelegt war. Der Westturm war mittig dem Langhaus vorgelagert. Dieser erster gotische Bau kann um 1300 angesetzt werden. Der Haupt- und Nebenchor kann durch die dendrochronologischen Untersuchung des Chordachstuhles mit 1429/30 angegeben werden. Bis zum gotischen Umbau zu Beginn des 16. Jahrhunderts überragten der Chor und auch der Westturm das erste gotische Langhaus. Erst nach dem Anbau der Sakristei im Süden wurde der Ausbau des Langhauses in Angriff genommen. Eine Inschrift am Nordwestpfeiler des Mittelschiffes trägt die Inschrift „1513“. Zu einer entsprechenden Erhöhung des Turmes im Verhältnis der neuen Dimension des Langhauses ist es nicht mehr gekommen. Dadurch werden das östliche Schallfenster und der südöstliche Wasserspeier ganz vom Langhausdach verdeckt

Continuously Healthy, Continuously Used? – A Thematic Analysis of User Perceptions on Consumer Health Wearables

Along with the miniaturization of digital devices, consumer health wearables (CHWs) further decrease the distance between users and devices, allowing users to continuously track their personal health information (PHI). While this provides more control to users, history has shown that users’ potential concerns (e.g. privacy) can lead to devices not meeting users’ expectations and failing market diffusion. The existing literature has mostly focused on particular aspects that could foster or hinder adoption of CHWs but the big picture is still missing. Drawing upon the previous literature, we use a rigorous iterative thematic analysis to provide a comprehensive picture of any potential benefits and deficiencies that users associate with CHWs. We take the example of fitness trackers and conduct 16 semi-structured interviews that help understand the determinants on which users assess the benefits and deficiencies of CHWs related to their continuous usage. We identify 11 subthemes that we can attribute to three main user determinants (perceived benefit, deficiency, and privacy). Our results not only show the failure to meet privacy expectations as a particular potential hindrance factor, we further propose a new theoretical construct (perceived relativity) as well as a novel tracking motive (social tracking), both of which can benefit future research on PHI disclosure. We enable both researchers and practitioners to uncover and visualize user perceptions of fitness trackers, on which future design decisions can be oriented and user expectations be better met. Available at: https://aisel.aisnet.org/pajais/vol11/iss1/5

A neurocomputational model of the mammalian fear conditioning circuit

In this thesis, I present a computational neural model that reproduces the high-level behavioural results of well-known fear conditioning experiments: first-order conditioning, second-order conditioning, sensory preconditioning, context conditioning, blocking, first-order extinction and renewal (AAB, ABC, ABA), and extinction and renewal after second-order conditioning and sensory preconditioning. The simulated neural populations used to account for the behaviour observed in these experiments correspond to known anatomical regions of the mammalian brain. Parts of the amygdala, periaqueductal gray, cortex and thalamus, and hippocampus are included and are connected to each other in a biologically plausible manner. The model was built using the principles of the Neural Engineering Framework (NEF): a mathematical framework that allows information to be encoded and manipulated in populations of neurons. Each population represents information via the spiking activity of simulated neurons, and is connected to one or more other populations; these connections allow computations to be performed on the information being represented. By specifying which populations are connected to which, and what functions these connections perform, I developed an information processing system that behaves analogously to the fear conditioning circuit in the brain