Felületi Ultragyors Plazmon Dinamika = Ultrafast Surface Plasmon Dynamics

We investigated surface plasmon (SP) waves in the junction of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM). The SP waves were generated on a thin Au film and their near-field was locally probed by the tip of the STM. The temporal structure of the observed tunneling current signal revealed information on the physical mechanisms which regulate the interaction of the electric fields in play. We estimated the magnitude of the local electric field enhancement on surface nanostructures by taking advantage of the nonlinearity of the tunneling junction. The mapping of the plasmon field to the surface topography delivers experimental evidence for the localization of SP waves in narrow gaps of a few nanometers width and/or at grain boundaries. The results gained can directly be utilized e.g., in the development of nanoscale geometries for high-energy electron sources where electrons are accelerated in the electric field of surface plasmons

Safety Concept and Partial Factors for Military Assessment of Existing Concrete Bridges

Military traffic often utilizes bridges designed and maintained by civilian authorities. These bridges are located not only in home and allied countries, but also in foreign theatres of operation. The use of civilian bridges by military vehicles is in the NATO countries regulated and governed by STANAG 2021. This standard, however, does not fully deliver the essential aspects such as defined safety concept or specified values for partial factors that are important for a safe and reliable crossing of military vehicles over existing bridges. This work is aimed at investigating the military loads and developing a suitable safety concept that can be utilized during the military assessment of concrete bridges. A number of factors must be taken into account, including target reliability index and probabilistic models related to dynamic amplification factor, static load due to military vehicle and applied load effect model. The calculated partial factors for semi-probabilistic safety concept are significantly dependent on the selected crossing condition. The results show that the military partial factors for assessment of existing bridges can be generally considered lower than those factors listed in modern structural codes for bridge engineering

Projects of Improvement, Continuities of Neglect: Re-Fragmenting the Periphery in Southern Rural Jordan

This paper analyzes projects of improvement and continuities of neglect found in two peripheral regions in the rural south of Jordan. These areas have been framed as poverty pockets and singled out for special attention. Yet, despite the multitude of improvement projects targeting them since 1990, they have remained on the periphery. I argue that this has resulted from certain dynamics found within current strategies of intervention. These put people in their place as "locals" and render their concerns inferior to "national" or "global" interests. Accordingly, the transformations witnessed are best described as a socio-spatial re-fragmentation of governing strategies

Performance and Usability Analysis of Varying Web Service Architectures

We tested the performance of four web application architectures, namely CGI, PHP, Java servlets, and Apache Axis SOAP. All four architectures implemented a series of typical web application tasks. Our findings indicated that PHP produced the smallest delay, while the SOAP implementation produces the largest

Learning from the Jordan Compact

Analysis of the implementation of the Jordan Compact offers three key lessons: governmental approval is important but not sufficient, the incorporation of critical voices is crucial, and meeting numeric targets is not the same as achieving underlying goals

Explaining the Popularity of Integrity Policies in Times of Critical Governance : The Case of Conflicts of Interest Policies for Ministers in the EU-Member States

Current critical governance trends raise important questions for scholars in the field of integrity policies. Currently, scholars agree that governance trends show declining trends in the fields of democracy, human rights, justice, rule of law, corruption, conflicts of interest, politicization, protection of privacy, equality, and freedom of the press. These trends exist in many countries, albeit to a different degree. On the other hand, one can also observe an expansion of integrity policies. In the field of conflicts of interest (CoI), for more than a decade, CoI-policies have become ever more comprehensive and sophisticated. Countries implement ever more policies, introduce stricter standards and invest more in the implementation of CoI policies. CoI policies become more complex and the institutionalization and management of CoI policies more professional. In view of these seemingly paradoxical trends, the purpose of this article is to discuss the relationship between these critical Governance trends and integrity policies. We discuss the case of conflict of interest policies for Ministers/Secretaries. We conclude that trends toward critical governance fit with the expansion of integrity policies for various reasons, but mostly because they are (increasingly) used as useful political instruments for various political interests.©2021 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

The implementation of conflict of interest policies for Ministers in the EU Member States : More, stricter and institutionalized – but less effective?

All countries agree that Holders of Public Office are role models, should exercise ethical leadership and accept highest ethical requirements. If countries want these standards and requirements to be effective, they must invest in the institutionalisation, implementation, monitoring and enforcement of ethics policies. In the field of Conflicts of Interests (CoI), countries continue to introduce ever more and ever stricter standards and requirements. They also invest ever more resources in the institutionalization of CoI policies. Because of the sophisticated nature of these policies, the effective implementation remains a challenge. This article explains the lack of effectiveness, drawing on longitudinal insights derived from two studies conducted by the authors in 2007 and 2020. We rely on data generated in an expert survey with public officials from 18 EU Member States. Our results show that countries regulate ever more CoI issues, broaden CoI concepts and introduce tougher behavioural standards, shifting the focus towards an individualised “bad person” logic instead of systemic or institutional approaches. If CoI scandals emerge, the focus is almost always on individual misbehaviour. Although Member States invest more in the implementation of CoI policies, they shy away from enforcing policies and rules against ministers. As such, policies become more complex, the institutionalisation of CoI policies more professional (yet also more fragmented) and the management of CoI ever more resource intensive. Overall, formalism, administrative burdens and the politicization of CoI policies are increasing. As such, we conclude that CoI policies have not become more effective.fi=vertaisarvioimaton|en=nonPeerReviewed