The European Administrative Space - A Discussion of Administrative Integration in the Enlarged European Union

Europeanization investigates how political integration in Europe affects the domestic power structures and policies. Less research has been carried out on what impact the EU has on national public administrations. It is in fact disputed whether administrative Europeanization even exists. Furthermore, there is no explicit European model of administration; no blueprint that the EU can enforce in its member states or candidate countries. It was recognized that the candidate countries in Central and Eastern Europe had too poor administrative capacity to be able to implement and enforce the EU legislation. Therefore, something had to be done, and Twinning was the answer, now extended to additional countries. Twinning is a program in which a public administration official from a member state is chosen to assist the beneficiary country for a period of time, usually two years. The Commission supervises and finances the programme. The responsibility of reaching a sufficient administrative capacity thereby lies partly on the shoulders of the MS and the Commission. Two questions arise. Are peculiarities in the CEEC administrations accepted by the member states and by the Commission? And does the Twinning programme result in Europeanization of administration, and if so, how? I have answered these questions by studying theoretical literature of Europeanization. Such literature takes its stand in the theoretical perspectives of ?new institutionalisms?. Rational Choice Institutionalism and Sociological Institutionalism are the most common reference points, but I have included Historical Institutionalism for a wider understanding. I have also analysed evaluations of the Twinning programme conducted by both MS and Commission actors, to reveal the attitudes of different EU actors upon administrative integration. I have used the theoretical literature to draw up ideal types to be used for analysing the evaluations. My conclusions are that: 1. Norms and values are being Europeanized within a framework of existing institutional norms and values but this does not necessarily result in tangible convergence of administrative structures. 2. The administrative legacies from the communist past of the CEECs to a great extent hamper even modest reform programmes such as Twinning. 3. Peculiarities of CEEC administrations are viewed upon with scepticism even in cases where they do not hamper good administration

Rüdiger Klein: Reading the guideposts for axon guidance

Klein uses genetically modified mice to study how axons find the right targets to innervate

Search for Low Mass Exotic mesonic structures. Part I: experimental results

Recently, several papers discussed on the existence of a low mass new structure at a mass close to M=214.3 MeV. It was suggested that the $\Sigma^{+}$ disintegration: $\Sigma^{+}\to$pP$^{0}$, P$^{0}\to\mu^{-}\mu^{+}$ proceeds through an intermediate particle P$^{0}$ having such mass. The present work intends to look at other new or available data, in order to observe the eventual existence of small narrow peaks or shoulders in very low mesonic masses. Indeed narrow structures were already extracted from various data in dibaryons, baryons and mesons (at larger masses that those studied here).Comment: 7 pages 11 figure

A small new species of Crenicichla Heckel, 1840 from middle rio Xingu, Brazil (Teleostei: Cichlidae)

A new species of Crenicichla is described from the middle rio Xingu and tributaries, upstream from Volta Grande do Xingu. The largest specimen measured 47.8 mm SL. The new species can be distinguished from all other Crenicichla species by the combination of the following character states: presence of serrae on supracleithrum (diagnostic of Crenicichla wallacii species group), large caudal blotch centrally located on caudal lateral line (shared with C. urosema and C. virgatula), vertical dark stripes on the caudal fin and up to three series of teeth on premaxilla and maxilla (vs. more than four series of teeth). The new species described herein is the eleventh species of Crenicichla listed from the rio Xingu basin. Similarities of color pattern among small species of Crenicichla is discussed. © 2015, Sociedade Brasileira de Ictiologia

Evaluation of the Finnish CERN activities: panel report

The Academy of Finland decided in November 2000 that Finnish CERN-activities should be evaluated. The first ten years of the Finnish membership in CERN have been successful. Also in the future, Finland has great opportunities and benefits of the collaboration with CERN. The Finnish presentations clearly show the rapid development in experimental physics since the joining of CERN. Still, Finland can be considered as a relatively young Member State in CERN, but one of the most dynamic new partners for CERN

How does the design affect the use of the housing estate? : a study of four housing estates in newly built areas

Syftet med den här kandidatuppsatsen är att undersöka om, och i så fall hur, ge-staltningen av en bostadsgård påverkar gårdens användning. Uppsatsen utgår således från följande frågeställning: Påverkar gestaltningen av en bostadsgård användningen av gården, och vilka faktorer i utformningen är det i så fall som har betydelse? Studien appliceras på fyra bostadsgårdar i nyanlagda områden i centrala Uppsala. En inventering genomfördes för att få en uppfattning av går-darnas utformning. Med det som grund gjordes en SWOT-analys som en summe-ring av gårdens eventuella styrkor, svagheter, möjligheter och hot. En enkätundersökning och samtal med de boende genomfördes, vilket gav en upp-fattning om de boendes användning av gården. Slutligen utfördes samtal med de gestaltande landskapsarkitekterna för att få deras syn på gestaltningsprocessen och den färdiga gården. Vårt resultat visar att sju faktorer tycks påverka använd-ningen av gårdarna. Dessa är vegetationen, avskildheten, de sociala ytorna, bal-kongen, ljudnivån, lekplatsen och solläget. Resultatet tyder dock på att gestaltningen av bostadsgårdar i nyanlagda områden präglas av många begräns-ningar, och då framförallt att de byggs på bjälklag. Det råder svåra förhållanden, med grunt jorddjup, vilket begränsar möjligheten att få upp stora vegetationsvo-lymer. Så även om gestaltningen påverkar användningen, begränsas gestaltningen påtagligt av de rådande förhållandena, vilket i sin tur påverkar användbarheten. I uppsatsens diskussionsavsnitt behandlas brukarnas preferenser och argument rörande gårdarnas olika delar.The aim of this Bachelor’s thesis is to investigate whether, and in that case, how the design affects the use of the housing estate. In order to specify the purpose this question at issue was used: Does the design of the housing estate affect the use, and in that case, what factors in the design affect the use? We started our project by choosing four housing estates which were as different from each other as possible. An inventory was made of each housing estate to get an idea of the design. By using the inventory we were able to make a SWOT analysis of the housing estates and look at potential strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. A web survey was carried out followed by conversations with the resi-dents to get an idea of how they use their housing estate. Finally, we had conver-sations with the creative landscape architects to hear their point of views. The results show that seven factors in the design seem to affect the use of the housing estates. These are vegetation, privacy, social areas, balcony, noise, playground and sunny areas. However, the results indicate that the design of housing estates in the newly constructed areas are characterized by many restrictions, especially the fact that they are built on beam joists. Shallow soil means poor vegetation conditions. Thus, although the design markedly affects the use, it gets limited by the prevailing conditions, which in turn affects the use of the housing estate. The residents’ preferences and arguments relating to the different parts of the housing estates are processed in the discussion