Addressing non-traditional security threats under climate change conditions ; towards a new research agenda on norm diffusion in EU-Asia security relations

While scholarly work and policy speeches have mostly dealt with the EU’s capabilities and performance in traditional security issues like wars and war- like intrastate conflicts, the EU’s source of influence in Asia-Pacific seems rather to lie within its vast amount of expertise and technology concerning those threats that are most imminent in the Asia Pacific region: non- traditional security threats such as water, food, energy (in-)securities and potential conflicts arising over access to scarce, transboundary resources and impacts of growth policies – intensified by the consequences of climate change. Drawing on previous research on diffusion mechanisms in EU security policies towards the Asia- Pacific region, this paper will make the case for enlarging norm diffusion research in EU-Asia relations to non-traditional security threats (NTS) and will demonstrate its theoretical as well as social relevance

European Contributions to Secure Peace and Stability in Asia-Pacific?

Next to traditional security challenges, defence ministers at the 2013 Shangri-La Dialogue emphasised the new prominence of “non-traditional” security threats facing the Asia-Pacific region. With a security environment predominantly shaped by a “realist” paradigm, rising tensions are calling into question the ability of the existing institutional architecture to manage regional security. Stability in the region and keeping maritime routes open are also key interests for the Europeans. Amid growing potential for conflict, there are still more declarations than deeds in EU-Asia security cooperation; Europe’s role is constrained by colonial baggage and a “tyranny of distance” – and a primacy of trade. This paper argues that Europe and Asia-Pacific, facing many of the same challenges, can learn from each other and find particularly in the field of non-traditional security challenges promising areas for cooperation, exchange and confidence building. Having been presented at the 27th Asia- Pacifc Roundtable in Kuala Lumpur in June 2013, this paper identifies areas in which the EU and its Member States could act as a source of inspiration, expertise and technology as well as partners for Asian-Pacific states and organisations in addressing both traditional and non-traditional security challenges

Security in an interpolar world

Eff ective multilateralism has always been a goal the EU has pursued by promoting its norms and paradigms in international relations. As the world becomes more interdependent and multipolar- what is often characterized as ‘interpolar’- Asian powers are increasingly gaining signifi cance. The EU has worked with China and India, two emerging key players, with growing intensity. However, has the EU’s approach worked? Have these and other Asian countries adopted EU norms, adapted to them, or possibly even rejected them? What are the reasons behind their responses? What shapes Asian perceptions of the EU? In an attempt to explore these questions, the following NFG Working Paper outlines the research agenda of the NFG Research Group “Asian Perceptions of the EU”

Non-Equilibrium Dynamics of Correlated Electron Transfer in Molecular Chains

The relaxation dynamics of correlated electron transport (ET) along molecular chains is studied based on a substantially improved numerically exact path integral Monte Carlo (PIMC) approach. As archetypical model we consider a Hubbard chain containing two interacting electrons coupled to a bosonic bath. For this generalization of the ubiquitous spin-boson model, the intricate interdependence of correlations and dissipation leads to non-Boltzmann thermal equilibrium distributions for many-body states. By mapping the multi-particle dynamics onto an isomorphic single particle motion this phenomenon is shown to be sensitive to the particle statistics and due to its robustness allows for new control schemes in designed quantum aggregates.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Electron Transfer in Donor-Acceptor Systems: Many-Particle Effects and Influence of Electronic Correlations

We investigate electron transfer processes in donor-acceptor systems with a coupling of the electronic degrees of freedom to a common bosonic bath. The model allows to study many-particle effects and the influence of the local Coulomb interaction U between electrons on donor and acceptor sites. Using the non-perturbative numerical renormalization group approach we find distinct differences between the electron transfer characteristics in the single- and two-particle subspaces. We calculate the critical electron-boson coupling alpha_c as a function of $U$ and show results for density-density correlation functions in the whole parameter space. The possibility of many-particle (bipolaronic) and Coulomb-assisted transfer is discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Finite-temperature time-dependent variation with multiple Davydov states

The Dirac-Frenkel time-dependent variational approach with Davydov Ans\"atze is a sophisticated, yet efficient technique to obtain an acuurate solution to many-body Schr\"odinger equations for energy and charge transfer dy- namics in molecular aggregates and light-harvesting complexes. We extend this variational approach to finite temperatures dynamics of the spin-boson model by adopting a Monte Carlo importance sampling method. In or- der to demonstrate the applicability of this approach, we compare real-time quantum dynamics of the spin-boson model calculated with that from numerically exact iterative quasiadiabatic propagator path integral (QUAPI) technique. The comparison shows that our variational approach with the single Davydov Ans\"atze is in excellent agreement with the QUAPI method at high temperatures, while the two differ at low temperatures. Accuracy in dynamics calculations employing a multitude of Davydov trial states is found to improve substantially over the single Davydov Ansatz, especially at low temperatures. At a moderate computational cost, our variational approach with the multiple Davydov Ansatz is shown to provide accurate spin-boson dynamics over a wide range of temperatures and bath spectral densities.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure

Chalk cliff retreat in East Sussex and Kent 1870s to 2001

The retreat of chalk cliffs fringing the eastern English Channel contributes shingle to the beaches which helps to protect the cliffs and slow down erosion. Conversely, cliff retreat endangers settlements and infrastructure on the clifftop. Rates of retreat have been calculated by a variety of methods over the past century, but no attempt has been made to provide a complete coverage that allows for a true comparison of retreat rates over the entire coastline. Using historic maps and recent orthophotos, cliff retreat rates have been calculated for consecutive 50 m sections of chalk cliff along the English side of the entire eastern English Channel for a period of 125 years. The chalk cliffs of East Sussex erode at an average rate of 0.25 - 0.3 m y−1 while those in Kent at a rate of 0.1 m y−1

The Cryptococcus gattii species complex:Unique pathogenic yeasts with understudied virulence mechanisms

Members of Cryptococcus gattii/neoformans species complex are the etiological agents of the potentially fatal human fungal infection cryptococcosis. C. gattii and its sister species cause disease in both immunocompetent and immunocompromised hosts, while the closely related species C. neoformans and C. deneoformans predominantly infect immunocompromised hosts. To date, most studies have focused on similarities in pathogenesis between these two groups, but over recent years, important differences have become apparent. In this review paper, we highlight some of the major phenotypic differences between the C. gattii and neoformans species complexes and justify the need to study the virulence and pathogenicity of the C. gattii species complex as a distinct cryptococcal group.</p