Development of an Environmental Law Curriculum for Kosovo Universities

This paper aims to improve environmental problem solving in Kosovo by introducing an environmental law course to the Kosovo university system. No school in Kosovo currently teaches environmental law and lawyers practicing environmental litigation are nonexistent. There are not many experts who can be consulted or who can help draft the environmental laws Kosovo must enact in order to harmonize its laws with those of the European Union. Lawyers having proper and formal training for doing the Environmental Impact Assessment are also extremely limited in number. The first part explains the rationale for proposing an environmental law course at law schools within Kosovo. The objective is to convince the Kosovo Ministry of Education, the highest university authorities, and potential donors, that Kosovo requires the introduction of a new environmental law course. To help teachers and curriculum authorities see environmental law education as a part of the bigger picture, this part includes an overview of environmental legislation, current state of the environment, summary of the major environmental problems in Kosovo, and a characterization of the educational system in Kosovo. The second part of the paper is mostly university oriented and explains how the course should be taught. The third part outlines what the course’s subject matter will be and, more specifically, how students will benefit from the new course. Harmonization of Kosovo laws with those of the European Union will impose substantial burdens on the Kosovo Government and local experts. An overall reform of environmental education in Kosovo is needed, especially in the field of environmental law, to provide the experts who can satisfy both the international community requirements and Kosovo citizens’ expectation for the economic development which will respect their rights to a clean and healthful environment

Food supply chain network robustness : a literature review and research agenda

Today’s business environment is characterized by challenges of strong global competition where companies tend to achieve leanness and maximum responsiveness. However, lean supply chain networks (SCNs) become more vulnerable to all kind of disruptions. Food SCNs have to become robust, i.e. they should be able to continue to function in the event of disruption as well as in normal business environment. Current literature provides no explicit clarification related to robustness issue in food SCN context. This paper explores the meaning of SCN robustness and highlights further research direction

Geometrically exact planar beams with initial pre-stress and large curvature: Static configurations, natural frequencies, and mode shapes

AbstractWithin this paper, an analytical formulation is provided and used to determine the natural frequencies and mode shapes of a planar beam with initial pre-stress and large variable curvature. The static configuration, mode shapes, and natural frequencies of the pre-stressed beam are obtained by using geometrically exact, Euler–Bernoulli beam theory. The beam is assumed to be not shear deformable and inextensible because of its slenderness and uniform, closed cross-section, as well as the boundary conditions under consideration. The static configuration and the modal information are validated with experimental data and compared to results obtained from nonlinear finite-element analysis software. In addition to the modal analysis about general static configurations, special consideration is given to an initially straight beam that is deformed into semi-circular and circular static configurations. For these special circular cases, the partial differential equation of motion is reduced to a sixth-order differential equation with constant coefficients, and solutions of this system are examined. This work can serve as a basis for studying slender structures with large curvatures

Testing galaxy formation models with the GHOSTS survey: The color profile of M81's stellar halo

We study the properties of the stellar populations in M81's outermost part, which hereafter we will term the stellar halo, using HST ACS/WFC observations of 19 fields from the GHOSTS survey. The observed fields probe the stellar halo out to a projected distance of ~ 50 kpc from the galactic center. Each field was observed in both F606W and F814W filters. The 50% completeness levels of the color magnitude diagrams (CMDs) are typically at 2 mag below the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB). Fields at distances closer than 15 kpc show evidence of disk-dominated populations whereas fields at larger distances are mostly populated by halo stars. The RGB of the M81's halo CMDs is well matched with isochrones of ~ 10 Gyr and metallicities [Fe/H] ~ -1.2 dex, suggesting that the dominant stellar population of M81's halo has a similar age and metallicity. The halo of M81 is characterized by a color distribution of width ~ 0.4 mag and an approximately constant median value of (F606W - F814W) ~ 1 mag measured using stars within the magnitude range 23.7 < F814W < 25.5. When considering only fields located at galactocentric radius R > 15 kpc, we detect no color gradient in the stellar halo of M81. We place a limit of 0.03+/-0.11 mag difference between the median color of RGB M81 halo stars at ~ 15 and at 50 kpc, corresponding to a metallicity difference of 0.08+/-0.35 dex over that radial range for an assumed constant age of 10 Gyr. We compare these results with model predictions for the colors of stellar halos formed purely via accretion of satellite galaxies. When we analyze the cosmologically motivated models in the same way as the HST data, we find that they predict no color gradient for the stellar halos, in good agreement with the observations.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures. Accepted to Ap

Dirt Jumper: A New and Fast Evolving Botnet-for-DDoS

Abstract-In July 2011, a fairly new and rather aggressive strain of botnet-for-DDoS malware, named Dirt Jumper, was identified by Arbor Networks. Since then, numerous incidents of DDoS attacks involving this strain of malware have been reported. In this paper, we first give a general overview of Dirt Jumper&apos;s history, structure and operation as it has been documented on the Internet. Subsequently, we present the results of our own analysis of Dirt Jumper, conducted using the GFI Sandbox environment. We also provide an overview of Pandora DDoS toolkit -the latest offspring coming out of the Dirt Jumper family, which appeared on the black botnet marked in the early 2012. We conclude the paper by outlining some areas of continuing and future work

Genetic diversity of pseudomonas syringae pv. Syringae isolated from sweet cherry in southern and northern regions in Serbia

Bacterial canker and leaf spot caused by plant pathogenic bacterium Pseudomonas is among the most destructive cherry diseases worldwide. Nowadays in Serbia, sweet cherry production significantly increased and the new plantations, mainly grown from imported planting material are being raised every year. During spring, 2018 and 2019, occurrence of bacterial canker and leaf spot symptoms was observed on a newly planted sweet cherry plantations in two localities, Zitorada (Southern region) and Karavukovo (Northern region-Vojvodina). Typical P. syringae colonies were isolated on Nutrient Sucrose Agar supplemented with 5% sucrose (NSA). A total of fifteen isolates were selected and identified. Results of the LOPAT test (+---+) determined them to belong to fluorescent Pseudomonas Group Ia, while results of G(+)A(+)T(-)Ta(-) tests indicate presence of Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae. Pathogenicity was confirmed on immature sweet and sour cherry fruitlets by forming of black, sunken lesions for all tested isolates. Genes syrB and syrD were successfully detected in all tested isolates. DNA sequencing using gapA, gltA, gyrB and rpoD housekeeping genes determined tested isolates to belong to P. s. pv. syringae using the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) nucleotide BLAST. The Serbian isolates shared 99.47% to 100% (Zitorada) and 99.38% to 100% (Karavukovo) identity with bacterium P. s. pv. syringae. Phylogenetic analysis grouped isolates from Zitorada in one tree cluster, separate from the Karavukovo isolates,indicating presence of two genetically diverse groups of causal pathogen P. s. pv. syringae, obtained from two geographically distinct localities in Serbia. Phylogeographic analysis grouped isolates from Zitorada in multilocus haplotype coded as REz and isolates originated from Karavukovo in multilocus haplotype coded as REk. Considering that during last few years P. syringae continuously occurs mainly in young sweet cherry plantations, where imported material is used for raising, health status check is recommended to be included as obligatory measure when nursery material is used from import

Robustness- and complexity-oriented characterization of supply networks’ structures

In the past period the efficiency aspects of production were emphasized, sometimes even overemphasized. As a result, the vulnerability of production structures was put in the background, and consequently, by now, it is usually beyond its acceptable degree. The frequently changing and uncertain environment which manufacturing companies are facing in our days requires robustness on every level of the production hierarchy from the process / machine level, through the system and enterprise levels, up to the level of supply chains and networks. As to the supply networks, the question may arise, what level of complexity is required for achieving a certain degree of robustness while, naturally, keeping the efficiency aspects in mind as well. In order to be able to give appropriate answers to this question, it is indispensable to quantify the robustness and complexity of supply chains and networks. Structural (static) and operational (dynamic) robustness and complexity are distinguished in the paper, which focuses on the structural aspects. A complex network approach is used for this purpose, namely the structural - both robustness and complexity - nature of the networks is described by applying graph theoretical concepts. Appropriate, quantitative graph measures are introduced and their applicability for characterizing the robustness and complexity of supply chains and networks is investigated by using structures of three types, namely real and artificially generated ones, and structures taken from the literature. Finally, it is illustrated how a decision support system based on the approach described in the paper can contribute to the design and redesign of supply chains and networks striving for an appropriate balance between the robustness, complexity and efficiency aspects of the problem

GHOSTS I: A New Faint very Isolated Dwarf Galaxy at D = 12 +/- 2 Mpc

We report the discovery of a new faint dwarf galaxy, GHOSTS I, using HST/ACS data from one of our GHOSTS (Galaxy Halos, Outer disks, Substructure, Thick disk, and Star clusters) fields. Its detected individual stars populate an approximately one magnitude range of its luminosity function (LF). Using synthetic color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) to compare with the galaxy's CMD, we find that the colors and magnitudes of GHOSTS I's individual stars are most consistent with being young helium-burning and asymptotic giant branch stars at a distance of 12 +/- 2 Mpc. Morphologically, GHOSTS I appears to be actively forming stars, so we tentatively classify it as a dwarf irregular (dIrr) galaxy, although future HST observations deep enough to resolve a larger magnitude range in its LF are required to make a more secure classification. GHOSTS I's absolute magnitude is $M_V = -9.85^{+ 0.40}_{- 0.33}$, making it one of the least luminous dIrr galaxies known, and its metallicity is lower than [Fe/H] =-1.5 dex. The half-light radius of GHOSTS I is 226 +/- 38 pc and its ellipticity is 0.47 +/- 0.07, similar to Milky Way and M31 dwarf satellites at comparable luminosity. There are no luminous massive galaxies or galaxy clusters within ~ 4 Mpc from GHOSTS I that could be considered as its host, making it a very isolated dwarf galaxy in the Local Universe.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap