Monetary and Financial Integration in North America

Trafikverket förfogar över närmare 4000 järnvägsbroar i olika skick och ålder runt om i landet. Beståndet är i ständigt behov av underhåll och erfordrar kontinuerliga kontroller. Den här rapporten är utformad som en skadeutredning på en enkelspårig järnvägsbro söder om Solvarbo i Säter kommun. Järnvägsbron är i drift och här passerar över 10 000 tåg/år. Allt från snabbtåg till godståg. Bron är av typ balkbro, fritt upplagd över väg. Rapporten är gjord i samråd med företaget Reinertsen Sverige AB. En utredning av bron utfördes 2013 av Reinertsen Sverige AB i vilken beskrivs att ena landfästet kläms mot överbyggnaden till följd av rörelse. De skador som då noterades var att de rörliga lagren var kraftigt snedställda, överbyggnaden var i kontakt med grusskifte samt att en avsevärd uppsprickning av landfäste hade skett. Skadorna bedömdes påverka konstruktionens funktion och ansågs behöva en fortsatt utredning där brons rörelser och skador studeras mera för att kunna ta ställning till framtida åtgärder. Målet med detta arbete är att analysera hur bron har förändrats sedan upprättandet samt att besvara vad som kan ha föranlett förändringarna. Rapporten tas fram som underlag för att kunna ta ställning till framtida åtgärder enligt ovanstående. För att fastställa hur bron rört sig utfördes en inmätning med en totalstation. Därefter upprättades aktualiserade ritningar över bron som sedan jämfördes med befintliga originalritningarna. För att visa vad som kan föranlett förflyttningen gjordes en glidningskontroll med olika laster. Utöver det utfördes en kartläggning av skador på konstruktionen som sedan utvärderades. Jämförelsen visar en kraftig förflyttning av det östra landfästet mot det västra. Rörelsen av landfästet har gjort att de båda frontmurarna lutar i vertikalled.  Glidningskontrollen slår fast att det inte föreligger risk för glidning av enbart jordtryck men att det föreligger risk för glidning vid belastning av tåg samt bromskraft från tåg. På grund av slitage samt bristande underhåll har skador åsamkats på konstruktionen. De synliga skador som återfunnits på bron är sprickor, kalkutfällningar, snedställning av lager samt korrosion av lager och synlig armering. Det som kunde fastställas är hur bron har förflyttat sig i horisontal- och vertikalled och att en orsak till det östra landfästets förflyttning är de horisontella krafter som de passerande tågen för med sig. Genom att undersöka de skador som uppkommit på bron och jämföra dessa med de krav som Trafikverket har på sina broar kunde det fastställas att några av dessa skador beror på bristande underhåll.The Swedish Transport Administration manage nearly 4,000 railway bridges in different condition and age around the country. These bridges is in constant need of maintenance and requires continuous inspections. This thesis is designed as a damage investigation on a single-track railway bridge south of Solvarbo in Säter municipality. The railway bridge is in operation and serves over 10,000 trains a year, everything from speed trains to freight trains. The bridge is built as a beam bridge, simply supported over a road. The report is made in consultation with the company Reinertsen Sweden AB. An investigation of the bridge was carried out in 2013 by Reinertsen Sweden AB, which describes that the abutments lean onto the superstructure due to motion. The damage noted was that the movable bearings are seriously tilted, the superstructure is in contact with the breast wall and several cracks were found on the abutment. These damages were considered to affect the function of the structure and found needing further investigation to consider possible future actions. The objective of this thesis is to analyze how the bridge has changed since it was built and to find what may be the underlying causes to these changes. The report is aimed to constitute a foundation and a decision basis for further measures. To determine how the bridge has moved a surveying with a total station was performed. Thereafter updated drawings of the bridge were established and later compared with the existing original drawings. To understand why the bridge has moved a sliding control was performed with different loads. In addition an inspection of structural damages was carried out and evaluated. Comparing the drawings showed a significant displacement of the eastern abutment towards the western. The movement of the abutment has made the two bearing walls tilt. The sliding control showed that there is no risk of sliding when only earth pressure is considered, but when loads of the trains are applied there is a risk of sliding. Wear of the bridge has caused several damages in the bridge structure. The visible damages found were cracks, efflorescence, bearing misalignment and corrosion of bearings and visible reinforcement. What could be determined was that the bridge has moved horizontally and vertically and one reason for the movement in the eastern abutment could be the horizontal forces brought by a passing train. By examining the damage caused to the bridge and compare them with the requirements of the Swedish Transport Administration it could be established that some of these damages have raised due to lack of maintenance

An assessment of the use of sediment traps for estimating upper ocean particle fluxes

Author Posting. © Sears Foundation for Marine Research, 2007. This article is posted here by permission of Sears Foundation for Marine Research for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Marine Research 65 (2007): 345–416, doi: 10.1357/002224007781567621This review provides an assessment of sediment trap accuracy issues by gathering data to address trap hydrodynamics, the problem of zooplankton "swimmers," and the solubilization of material after collection. For each topic, the problem is identified, its magnitude and causes reviewed using selected examples, and an update on methods to correct for the potential bias or minimize the problem using new technologies is presented. To minimize hydrodynamic biases due to flow over the trap mouth, the use of neutrally buoyant sediment traps is encouraged. The influence of swimmers is best minimized using traps that limit zooplankton access to the sample collection chamber. New data on the impact of different swimmer removal protocols at the US time-series sites HOT and BATS are compared and shown to be important. Recent data on solubilization are compiled and assessed suggesting selective losses from sinking particles to the trap supernatant after collection, which may alter both fluxes and ratios of elements in long term and typically deeper trap deployments. Different methods are needed to assess shallow and short- term trap solubilization effects, but thus far new incubation experiments suggest these impacts to be small for most elements. A discussion of trap calibration methods reviews independent assessments of flux, including elemental budgets, particle abundance and flux modeling, and emphasizes the utility of U-Th radionuclide calibration methods.WG meetings and production of this report was partially supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation via grants to the SCOR. Individuals and science efforts discussed herein were supported by many national science programs, including the U.S. National Science Foundation, Swedish Research Council, the International Atomic Energy Agency through its support of the Marine Environmental Laboratory that also receives support from the Government of the Principality of Monaco, and the Australian Antarctic Science Program. K.B. was supported in part by a WHOI Ocean Life Institute Fellowship

An assessment of particulate organic carbon to thorium-234 ratios in the ocean and their impact on the application of 234Th as a POC flux proxy

Author Posting. © The Authors, 2006. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Marine Chemistry 100 (2006): 213-233, doi:10.1016/j.marchem.2005.10.013.Thorium-234 is increasingly used as a tracer of ocean particle flux, primarily as a means to estimate particulate organic carbon export from the surface ocean. This requires determination of both the 234Th activity distribution (in order to calculate 234Th fluxes) and an estimate of the C/234Th ratio on sinking particles, to empirically derive C fluxes. In reviewing C/234Th variability, results obtained using a single sampling method show the most predictable behavior. For example, in most studies that employ in situ pumps to collect size fractionated particles, C/234Th either increases or is relatively invariant with increasing particle size (size classes >1 to 100’s μm). Observations also suggest that C/234Th decreases with depth and can vary significantly between regions (highest in blooms of large diatoms and highly productive coastal settings). Comparisons of C fluxes derived from 234Th show good agreement with independent estimates of C flux, including mass balances of C and nutrients over appropriate space and time scales (within factors of 2-3). We recommend sampling for C/234Th from a standard depth of 100 m, or at least one depth below the mixed layer using either large volume size fractionated filtration to capture the rarer large particles, or a sediment trap or other device to collect sinking particles. We also recommend collection of multiple 234Th profiles and C/234Th samples during the course of longer observation periods to better sample temporal variations in both 234Th flux and the characteristic of sinking particles. We are encouraged by new technologies which are optimized to more reliably sample truly settling particles, and expect the utility of this tracer to increase, not just for upper ocean C fluxes but for other elements and processes deeper in the water column.Individuals and science efforts discussed herein were supported by many national science programs, including the U.S. National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Energy. S.F. and J.C.M. acknowledge the support provided to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Marine Environment Laboratory by the Government of the Principality of Monaco. T.T. acknowledges support from the Australian Antarctic Science Program. K.B. was supported in part by a WHOI Ocean Life Institute Fellowship

Spectral particulate attenuation and particle size distribution in the bottom boundary layer of a continental shelf

Spectral attenuation and absorption coefficients of particulate matter and collocated hydrographic measurements were obtained in the Mid-Atlantic Bight during the fall of 1996 and the spring of 1997 as part of the Coastal Mixing and Optics experiment. Within the bottom boundary layer (BBL) the magnitude of the beam attenuation decreased and its spectral shape became steeper with distance from the bottom. Concurrently, the slope of the particulate size distribution (PSD) was found to increase with distance from the bottom. Changes in the PSD shape and the magnitude of the beam attenuation as functions of distance from the bottom in the BBL are consistent with particle resuspension and settling in the BBL, two processes that are dependent on particle size and density. For particles of similar density, resuspension and settling would result in a flattening of the PSD and an increase in the beam attenuation toward the bottom. In both fall and spring the magnitude of the particle attenuation coefficient correlates with its spectral shape, with a flatter shape associated with higher values of the attenuation. This observation is consistent with idealized optical theory for polydispersed nonabsorbing spheres. According to this theory, changes in the steepness of the particle size distribution (particle concentration as a function of size) will be associated with changes in the steepness of the attenuation spectra as a function of wavelength; a flatter particle size distribution will be associated with a flatter attenuation spectrum. In addition, the observed ranges of the beam attenuation spectral slope and PSD exponent are found to be consistent with this theory

Community Worker Perspectives on the Use of New Media to Reconfigure Socio-spatial Relations in Belfast

Cyber enthusiasts as far back as Rheingold have suggested that cyberspatial technologies such as the Internet have the potential to transform space–time relations and create new social spaces, thus ameliorating social conflict in contested areas. However, a more sceptical view of cyberspatial communication is provided by Hampton, who argues that on-line interactions cannot be artifically separated from their off-line contexts. This article will analyse whether these technologies are changing the nature of territorial disputes and patterns of social interaction between Protestant and Catholic interface communities in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Interviews were conducted with nine community workers to investigate this issue. Focusing on the possibility of using social media to facilitate intergroup contact, the paper argues that on-line interactions alone do not appear to have the potential to build mutual understanding and trust between rival interface communities. Indeed, community workers fear that may young people use these sites to exacerbate intercommunity tensions

Foreign policy fusion: Liberal interventionists, conservative nationalists and neoconservatives - The new alliance dominating the US foreign policy establishment

Several tendencies in US foreign policy politics generated a new foreign policy consensus set to outlast the Bush administration. Three developments are analysed: increasing influence of conservative organizations – such as the Heritage Foundation, and of neoconservatism; and, particularly, democratic peace theory-inspired liberal interventionism. 9-11 fused those three developments, though each tendency retained its ‘sphere of action’: Right and Left appear to have forged an historically effective ideology of global intervention, an enduring new configuration of power. This paper analyses a key liberal interventionists' initiative – the Princeton Project on National Security – that sits at the heart of thinking among centrists, liberal and conservative alike. This paper also assesses the efficacy of the new consensus by exploring the foreign policy positions and advisers of President-elect Barack Obama and his defeated Republican rival, Senator John McCain, concluding that the new president is unlikely significantly to change US foreign policy