Comparing and Inter-Relating the European Union and the Russian Federation : Viewpoints from an international and interdisciplinary students' project

Over the years Russia has become one of the most important partners of the European Union. Due to this fact a more democratic and modern Russia would have great benefits for the EU and might contribute to the stabilization of the European continent. But existing problems like terrorism, organized crime and environmental pollution are central challenges for the relationship and their solution demands for intensive cross-border cooperation. Therefore a clear strategy is needed in order to establish a successful cooperation. What strategy have the European politicians pursued and which influence have their plans exerted on the actual policy of the European Union? The European Union clearly accentuated the meaning of common values for the relationship towards the Russian Federation in the early and fundamental documents. However, it becomes more and more evident that in day-to-day policy there is a tendency to tolerate even substantial violations of the norms which originate from the concept of common values. One of the main causes for this behaviour is the strong economic interest of the EU towards Russia. For example, the Russian Federation supplies the EU with most of its energy resources, such as gas and oil. On the other hand the EU is the major trading partner of the Russian Federation. The notion of the common shared values is based – as stated in the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) and in the subsequent documents – on the principles of the Helsinki Final Act and the Charter of Paris. Because such principles are easily stated in a document their impact on the real policy has to be called into question and must be examined further in this essay. --

Entwicklung eines Schädigungsmodells des Delaminationsprozesses von Polyurethanbandagen bei Schwerlasträdern

Räder mit weichelastischen Laufflächen verdrängen in logistischen Anwendungen aufgrund ihrer Laufruhe, guten Kraftübertragung und ihrer Fähigkeit, Stöße zu absorbieren, zunehmend Räder aus Stahl, Grauguss oder Aluminium. Bei den Bandagen von diesen Schwerlasträdern haben sich massive Polyurethane wegen ihrer besseren mechanischen gegenüber Kautschukprodukten durchgesetzt. Aufgrund des unterschiedlichen Dehnungsverhaltens des elastischen Belages und des metallischen Trägerkörpers ist die Fügezone zwischen beiden Komponenten eine Schwachstelle. Die Ablösung des Elastomerbelages eines Schwerlastrades von der Nabe ist eine der häufigsten Ausfallursachen, die unerwartet auftreten kann. Stillstandszeiten von logistischen Systemen oder Produktionsstätten können durch diesen unvorhergesehenen Ausfall zu großen wirtschaftlichen Schäden führen. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wird auf Basis experimenteller Untersuchungen ein Schädigungsmodell entwickelt, das den Ablösungsprozess der Polyurethanbandage von der metallischen Nabe in der Teilfuge von Schwerlasträdern beschreiben kann. Für diese Untersuchung werden mit Musterfehlern präparierte Räder hergestellt, die Delaminationen von definierter Größe aufweisen. Diese Räder werden bei unterschiedlichen Belastungsparametern auf einem dafür speziell entwickelten Versuchsstand belastet. Vor und nach den Belastungsintervallen wird die Teilfuge zwischen PUR-Bandage und Nabe mittels zerstörungsfreier Prüftechnik auf den Fortschritt der Delamination hin untersucht. Dabei werden Einflussfaktoren für ein Fortschreiten eines Fehlers in einem vorgeschädigten Rad identifiziert und quantifiziert. Aus den Ergebnissen der experimentellen Untersuchungen wird schließlich ein Schädigungsmodell abgeleitet, das unter definierten Randbedingungen Aussagen über den Ablösungsprozess erlaubt

Comparing and Inter-Relating the European Union and the Russian Federation : Viewpoints from an international and interdisciplinary students' project

Over the years Russia has become one of the most important partners of the European Union. Due to this fact a more democratic and modern Russia would have great benefits for the EU and might contribute to the stabilization of the European continent. But existing problems like terrorism, organized crime and environmental pollution are central challenges for the relationship and their solution demands for intensive cross-border cooperation. Therefore a clear strategy is needed in order to establish a successful cooperation. What strategy have the European politicians pursued and which influence have their plans exerted on the actual policy of the European Union? The European Union clearly accentuated the meaning of common values for the relationship towards the Russian Federation in the early and fundamental documents. However, it becomes more and more evident that in day-to-day policy there is a tendency to tolerate even substantial violations of the norms which originate from the concept of common values. One of the main causes for this behaviour is the strong economic interest of the EU towards Russia. For example, the Russian Federation supplies the EU with most of its energy resources, such as gas and oil. On the other hand the EU is the major trading partner of the Russian Federation. The notion of the common shared values is based - as stated in the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) and in the subsequent documents - on the principles of the Helsinki Final Act and the Charter of Paris. Because such principles are easily stated in a document their impact on the real policy has to be called into question and must be examined further in this essay

Technology and (Post-)Sociality in the Financial Market

The article takes issue with recent influential work on the paradigmatic relevancy of technologically induced modes of communication and sociality on the financial markets. According to Karin Knorr Cetina and Urs Bruegger, the technological infrastructure of the global financial markets engenders novel forms of sociality and social integration: intersubjectivity with non-present others and (post)sociality with (imagined) objects. The article differentiates these hypotheses by way of confronting them with results from interviews conducted with financial market professionals such as asset managers and financial analysts. They reveal that financial professionals attribute the role of technology a varying meaning and engage in divergent technological practices depending on their market positionality: while, for instance, intraday traders report on an intimate and quasi-social relationship with the technologically institutionalized "object" of the market, equity analysts display a more distanced stance toward the market and attribute the technological nature of mass communication (especially the real-time circulation of information) paramount importance. In conclusion the paper calls for a nuanced and contextualized understanding of the impact of technology upon changing social relations