1,456 research outputs found
TOWARDS REGIONAL DIFFERENTIATION OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT POLICY IN THE EU
In this study a comparative analysis of the Rural Development Plans (RDPs) in four intermediate rural regions (Northern Netherlands, Lower Saxony, Wales and Emilia Romagna) and four most urban regions (Southern Netherlands, North Rhine-Westphalia, Flanders and Lombardia) is made. Such plans are designed in the scope of the second pillar of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). In particular, the focus was on the question whether the menu approach of the second pillar enables EU member states and regions to design Rural Development Plans with a tailor-made set of measures which address their specific rural development needs. The findings of this study suggest that the current menu of rural development measures is sufficient to suit the wide range of socio-economic, ecological and physical circumstances in the EU regions. The analysis also revealed that there is some overlap between the three rural development priorities of the second pillar. Therefore, an outline of future rural development priorities and measures in the EU is designed, in which it is attempted to avoid overlap between the various rural development priorities and in which each measure contributes to the achievement of one development priority only. In addition, it is proposed that regions would select only those measures in their Rural Development Plan which really address the rural development needs in their region, even if this results in a Rural Development Plan with only one or two rural development measures. Such an approach of selecting rural development measures according to regional needs will result in a large variation in rural development measures implemented and may be considered regional differentiation of EU rural development policy.Agricultural and Food Policy,
A Mechanism for Cutting Carbon Nanotubes with a Scanning Tunneling Microscope
We discuss the local cutting of single-walled carbon nanotubes by a voltage
pulse to the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope. The tip voltage (~3.8 eV) is the key physical quantity in the cutting process. After
reviewing several possible physical mechanisms we conclude that the cutting
process relies on the weakening of the carbon-carbon bonds through a
combination of localized particle-hole excitations induced by inelastically
tunneling electrons and elastic deformation due to the electric field between
tip and sample. The carbon network releases part of the induced mechanical
stress by forming topological defects that act as nucleation centers for the
formation of dislocations that dynamically propagate towards bond-breaking.Comment: 7 pages, 6 postscript figures, submitted to PR
The asymptotic regimes of tilted Bianchi II cosmologies
In this paper we give, for the first time, a complete description of the
dynamics of tilted spatially homogeneous cosmologies of Bianchi type II. The
source is assumed to be a perfect fluid with equation of state , where is a constant. We show that unless the perfect fluid is
stiff, the tilt destabilizes the Kasner solutions, leading to a Mixmaster-like
initial singularity, with the tilt being dynamically significant. At late times
the tilt becomes dynamically negligible unless the equation of state parameter
satisfies . We also find that the tilt does not destabilize
the flat FL model, with the result that the presence of tilt increases the
likelihood of intermediate isotropization
Gluon confinement criterion in QCD
We fix exactly and uniquely the infrared structure of the full gluon
propagator in QCD, not solving explicitly the corresponding dynamical equation
of motion. By construction, this structure is an infinite sum over all possible
severe (i.e., more singular than ) infrared singularities. It reflects
the zero momentum modes enhancement effect in the true QCD vacuum, which is due
to the self-interaction of massless gluons. It existence automatically exhibits
a characteristic mass (the so-called mass gap). It is responsible for the scale
of nonperturbative dynamics in the true QCD ground state. The theory of
distributions, complemented by the dimensional regularization method, allows
one to put the severe infrared singularities under the firm mathematical
control. By an infrared renormalization of a mass gap only, the infrared
structure of the full gluon propagator is exactly reduced to the simplest
severe infrared singularity, the famous . Thus we have exactly
established the interaction between quarks (concerning its pure gluon (i.e.,
nonlinear) contribution) up to its unimportant perturbative part. This also
makes it possible for the first time to formulate the gluon confinement
criterion and intrinsically nonperturbative phase in QCD in a manifestly
gauge-invariant ways.Comment: 10 pages, no figures, no tables. Typos corrected and the
clarification is intoduced. Shorten version to appear in Phys. Lett.
The efforts of direct support professionals to facilitate inclusion:The role of psychological determinants and work setting
BackgroundVarious studies have found that direct support professionals (DSPs) play an important role in determining the degree to which people with intellectual disabilities (ID) are included in society. However, less research has been conducted on the psychological processes that may influence the behavioural intentions of DSPs to actually engage with and invest effort in supporting their clients' inclusion. Five possible psychological variables are identified in the literature: attitudes, social norms, experienced competencies, identity and meta‐evaluation. In our research, we tested whether these processes influence the (intended) efforts DSPs make to facilitate their clients' inclusion.MethodA structured questionnaire was sent to 927 DSPs working in one of three different locations (an ordinary non‐segregated setting, a reversed non‐segregated setting and a residential facility). Of these, 336 DSPs completed the questionnaire.ResultsSeveral variables revealed differences between the three locations, specifically in efforts to facilitate inclusion, attitudes, social norms, experienced competencies and professional identity. Looking at the overall means, we found (relatively) high scores for the experienced competencies, role identity and meta‐evaluation. In contrast, the means were relatively negative regarding the DSPs' attitudes to inclusion and their assumed social norms.ConclusionsDirect support professionals' efforts to facilitate inclusion depend on their attitude towards inclusion, the experienced competencies, their role identity, the DSPs' meta‐evaluation and, indirectly through attitudes, also on the assumed social norms of the relevant stakeholders. Organizations responsible for supporting people with ID and which may want their DSPs to make greater efforts to facilitate inclusion should pay attention to these psychological variables
Mid-Infrared Instrumentation for the European Extremely Large Telescope
MIDIR is the proposed thermal/mid-IR imager and spectrograph for the European
Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). It will cover the wavelength range of 3 to
at least 20 microns. Designed for diffraction-limited performance over the
entire wavelength range, MIDIR will require an adaptive optics system; a
cryogenically cooled system could offer optimal performance in the IR, and this
is a critical aspect of the instrument design. We present here an overview of
the project, including a discussion of MIDIR's science goals and a comparison
with other infrared (IR) facilities planned in the next decade; top level
requirements derived from these goals are outlined. We describe the optical and
mechanical design work carried out in the context of a conceptual design study,
and discuss some important issues to emerge from this work, related to the
design, operation and calibration of the instrument. The impact of telescope
optical design choices on the requirements for the MIDIR instrument is
demonstrated.Comment: for publication in SPIE Proceedings vol. 6692, Cryogenic Optical
Systems and Instrumentation XII, eds. J.B. Heaney and L.G. Burriesci, San
Diego, Aug 200
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