Theorising Europeanisation in European Literature: Conceptualisation and Operationalisation

There has been an extensive academic debate on the impact of the European Union on its member states, on the candidate countries for EU membership and the countries in its geographical neighbourhood. This paper analyses the notion and working conceptualisation of ‘Europeanisation’, which is to say, the EU’s impact on domestic political systems, when EU rules, norms and laws are first defined and consolidated in the making of EU decisions and then incorporated in the logic of domestic discourse, identities, political structures and public policies. The paper suggests to analyse the Europeanisation process in three ways. Moreover, the article elucidates the gradual development of the Europeanisation theory from so called “internal” to “external” Europeanisation, whereby the EU tries to transfer its Acquis Communautaire (the legal order of the European Union) to the international level. However, research on the Western understanding of Europeanisation confirms that the analysis of the process, when the European neighbourhood states adopt the EU acquis (the objectives of the European Union, its policies and the rules governing these policies) from the viewpoint of institutional framework has significant limitations. To deal with some of these issues, the paper outlines the conceptualisation of Europeanisation and examines the difference between Europeanisation and European Integration

Is there a room for optimism for the near-future enlargement of the European Union?

The sense of optimism for the enlargement of the European Union in the near-future has been evaporating. A new strategy paper on EU enlargement which was issued by the European Commission in February 2018 seems to still be based on a ‘fatigue from expansion’ approach to enlargement, even though it states that Serbia and Montenegro ‘could potentially be ready for membership [by] 2025’. This paper discusses the bumpy road the Western Balkan states have faced towards EU accession from the early 2000s to the present day. In addition to more challenging domestic political and economic conditions, these states have also been required to meet tougher and more variable accession conditions in comparison to the post-communist states that joined the EU in and after 2004. The inconsistency and vagueness of the EU approach to the accession of the Western Balkan states remains the most important factor behind the continued postponements of their accession dates

Inverse modeling of tight gas reservoirs

In terms of a considerable increase the quality of characterization of tight-gas reservoirs, the aim of the present thesis was (i) an accurate representation of specific conditions in a reservoir simulation model, induced after the hydraulic fracturing or as a result of the underbalanced drilling procedure and (ii) performing the history match on a basis of real field data to calibrate the generated model by identifying the main model parameters and to investigate the different physical mechanisms, e.g. multiphase flow phenomena, affecting the well production performance. Due to the complexity of hydrocarbon reservoirs and the simplified nature of the numerical model, the study of the inverse problems in the stochastic framework provides capabilities using diagnostic statistics to quantify a quality of calibration and reliability of parameter estimates. As shown in the present thesis the statistical criteria for model selection may help the modelers to determine an appropriate level of parameterization and one would like to have as good an approximation of structure of the system as the information permits

Experimental study of 199Hg spin anti-relaxation coatings

We report on a comparison of spin relaxation rates in a $^{199}$Hg magnetometer using different wall coatings. A compact mercury magnetometer was built for this purpose. Glass cells coated with fluorinated materials show longer spin coherence times than if coated with their hydrogenated homologues. The longest spin relaxation time of the mercury vapor was measured with a fluorinated paraffin wall coating.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, submitted to JINS

A method to localize gamma-ray bursts using POLAR

The hard X-ray polarimeter POLAR aims to measure the linear polarization of the 50-500 keV photons arriving from the prompt emission of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). The position in the sky of the detected GRBs is needed to determine their level of polarization. We present here a method by which, despite of the polarimeter incapability of taking images, GRBs can be roughly localized using POLAR alone. For this purpose scalers are attached to the output of the 25 multi-anode photomultipliers (MAPMs) that collect the light from the POLAR scintillator target. Each scaler measures how many GRB photons produce at least one energy deposition above 50 keV in the corresponding MAPM. Simulations show that the relative outputs of the 25 scalers depend on the GRB position. A database of very strong GRBs simulated at 10201 positions has been produced. When a GRB is detected, its location is calculated searching the minimum of the chi2 obtained in the comparison between the measured scaler pattern and the database. This GRB localization technique brings enough accuracy so that the error transmitted to the 100% modulation factor is kept below 10% for GRBs with fluence Ftot \geq 10^(-5) erg cm^(-2) . The POLAR localization capability will be useful for those cases where no other instruments are simultaneously observing the same field of view.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figure

An endoscopic detector for ultracold neutrons

A new versatile detector for ultracold neutrons (UCN) has been built and operated which combines multi-pixel photon counters and GS10 lithium-doped scintillators. Such detectors can be very small and can be used to monitor UCN inside storage vessels or guides with negligible influence (of order 10−6 on the UCN intensity itself. We have shown that such detectors can be used in a very harsh radiation environment of up to 200Gy/h via the addition of a 4m long quartz light guide in order to place the radiation-sensitive photon counters outside the hot zone. Additionally we have measured the UCN storage times in situ in this harsh environmen

A highly stable atomic vector magnetometer based on free spin precession

We present a magnetometer based on optically pumped Cs atoms that measures the magnitude and direction of a 1 $\mu$T magnetic field. Multiple circularly polarized laser beams were used to probe the free spin precession of the Cs atoms. The design was optimized for long-time stability and achieves a scalar resolution better than 300 fT for integration times ranging from 80 ms to 1000 s. The best scalar resolution of less than 80 fT was reached with integration times of 1.6 to 6 s. We were able to measure the magnetic field direction with a resolution better than 10 $\mu$rad for integration times from 10 s up to 2000 s

PicoTesla absolute field readings with a hybrid 3He/87Rb magnetometer

We demonstrate the use of a hybrid 3He/87 magnetometer to measure absolute magnetic fields in the pT range. The measurements were undertaken by probing time-dependent 3He magnetisation using 87Rb zero-field magnetometers. Measurements were taken to demonstrate the use of the magnetometer in cancelling residual fields within a magnetic shield. It was shown that the absolute field could be reduced to the 10 pT level by using field readings from the magnetometer. Furthermore, the hybrid magnetometer was shown to be applicable for the reduction of gradient fields by optimising the effective 3He T2 time. This procedure represents a convenient and consistent way to provide a near zero magnetic field environment which can be potentially used as a base for generating desired magnetic field configurations for use in precision measurements

An Improved Search for the Neutron Electric Dipole Moment

A permanent electric dipole moment of fundamental spin-1/2 particles violates both parity (P) and time re- versal (T) symmetry, and hence, also charge-parity (CP) symmetry since there is no sign of CPT-violation. The search for a neutron electric dipole moment (nEDM) probes CP violation within and beyond the Stan- dard Model. The experiment, set up at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), an improved, upgraded version of the apparatus which provided the current best experimental limit, dn < 2.9E-26 ecm (90% C.L.), by the RAL/Sussex/ILL collaboration: Baker et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 131801 (2006). In the next two years we aim to improve the sensitivity of the apparatus to sigma(dn) = 2.6E-27 ecm corresponding to an upper limit of dn < 5E-27 ecm (95% C.L.), in case for a null result. In parallel the collaboration works on the design of a new apparatus to further increase the sensitivity to sigma(dn) = 2.6E-28 ecm.Comment: APS Division for particles and fields, Conference Proceedings, Two figure

Constraining interactions mediated by axion-like particles with ultracold neutrons

We report a new limit on a possible short range spin-dependent interaction from the precise measurement of the ratio of Larmor precession frequencies of stored ultracold neutrons and $^{199}$Hg atoms confined in the same volume. The measurement was performed in a $\sim$1$\mu$ T vertical magnetic holding field with the apparatus searching for a permanent electric dipole moment of the neutron at the Paul Scherrer Institute. A possible coupling between freely precessing polarized neutron spins and unpolarized nucleons of the wall material can be investigated by searching for a tiny change of the precession frequencies of neutron and mercury spins. Such a frequency change can be interpreted as a consequence of a short range spin-dependent interaction that could possibly be mediated by axions or axion-like particles. The interaction strength is proportional to the CP violating product of scalar and pseudoscalar coupling constants $g_Sg_P$. Our result confirms limits from complementary experiments with spin-polarized nuclei in a model-independent way. Limits from other neutron experiments are improved by up to two orders of magnitude in the interaction range of $10^{-6}<\lambda<10^{-4}$ m