The amazing synchronicity of the Global Development (the 1300s-1450s). An institutional approach to the globalization of the late Middle Ages

In a new approach to a long-ranging debate on the causes of the Late Medieval Debasement, we offer an institutional case-study of Russia and the Levant. Avoiding the complexity of the “upstream” financial/minting centres of Western Europe, we consider the effects of debasement “downstream”, in resource-exporting periphery countries. The paper shows the amazing synchronicity of the worldwide appearance of the early modern trading system, associated with capitalism or commercial society. The centre-periphery feedback loop amplified trends and pushed towards economic and institutional changes. This is illustrated via the Hanseatic-Novgorodian and Italian-Levantine trade – under growing market pressure of the exploding transaction costs, the oligopolies gradually dissolved and were replaced by the British-Dutch traders. In this case-study the late-medieval/early-modern monetary integration served as the transitional institutional base for reducing transaction costs during a dramatic global shift. Highlighting centre-periphery links, a new trading outpost of Arkhangelsk rose synchronously with Amsterdam

Chapter 6 Norwegian–Russian political relations and Barents oil and gas developments

The political relationship between Norway and Russia will influence the development of Barents Sea oil and gas. The state plays a decisive role in both the Norwegian and Russian parts of the sea. It does so as a regulator, through taxation, and through the national oil and gas companies, Gazprom, Rosneft, and Statoil. Thus, if the two states have a good relationship characterized by mutual trust, they can coordinate, search for complementarities, and mitigate issues that arise. Furthermore, due to the rising cost of oil and gas production in the Arctic, many oil and gas fields there may deliver small returns on investments. Scale economies brought about by coordinated development, joint infrastructure, and information sharing can tip projects from being commercially unviable to viable. But this depends on the ability and willingness of the two states to actively work together

China in World and Regional Politics: History and Modernity

Since 2019, the U.S. Administration has included the Arctic into its overall China containment policy. Iceland and Greenland attract its special attention as traditional U.S. allies, which play key roles for the control over NATO’s vital maritime communications in North Atlantic, but which have lately developed vibrant contacts with PRC. Greenland has been on the radar in Washington since World War II, regarded within the framework of the Monroe Doctrine, which, although voided officially, still influences the American foreign policy thinking. Now this approach is reinforced by the growing U.S. activities in the Arctic at large and by the global confrontation with Beijing. The key current interests of the United States in Greenland include the security of the strategically important Thule Air Base, preventing large Chinese investments, which would involve the island into the Polar Silk Road initiative, and a potential extraction of rare earth elements. Since mid-2019, the U.S. have launched several major initiatives related to Greenland, the most famous one is President Trump’s offer to purchase it from Denmark. While China focuses on large scale mining projects which Greenland needs to obtain economic independence, and people-to-people contacts, the U.S. concentrate on public policy measures indicating a clear desire to put Greenland under a tighter American control bypassing Copenhagen. Denmark, although a close NATO ally of the United States, is concerned by the activities of both great powers and tries to become a good patron for Greenland to prevent its secession. Meanwhile, the Greenlandic authorities confirm their intentions to struggle for a full-fledged statehood, reflecting the moods of 2/3 of the population. The article suggests three medium-term scenarios, with Greenland remaining in a gradually looser union with Denmark, moving into the U.S. domain or acquiring independence and thus becoming subject to a hard international competition. The next few years may be of special importance for further development, which will also affect Russia as the biggest Arctic nation

Time Domain Mapping of Spin Torque Oscillator Effective Energy

Stochastic dynamics of spin torque oscillators (STOs) can be described in terms of magnetization drift and diffusion over a current-dependent effective energy surface given by the Fokker-Planck equation. Here we present a method that directly probes this effective energy surface via time-resolved measurements of the microwave voltage generated by a STO. We show that the effective energy approach provides a simple recipe for predicting spectral line widths and line shapes near the generation threshold. Our time domain technique also accurately measures the field-like component of spin torque in a wide range of the voltage bias values.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. Supplement included: 7 pages, 6 figure

Micromagnetic simulations of persistent oscillatory modes excited by spin-polarized current in nanoscale exchange-biased spin valves

We perform 3D micromagnetic simulations of current-driven magnetization dynamics in nanoscale exchange biased spin-valves that take account of (i) back action of spin-transfer torque on the pinned layer, (ii) non-linear damping and (iii) random thermal torques. Our simulations demonstrate that all these factors significantly impact the current-driven dynamics and lead to a better agreement between theoretical predictions and experimental results. In particular, we observe that, at a non-zero temperature and a sub-critical current, the magnetization dynamics exhibits nonstationary behaviour in which two independent persistent oscillatory modes are excited which compete for the angular momentum supplied by spin-polarized current. Our results show that this multi-mode behaviour can be induced by combined action of thermal and spin transfer torques.Comment: 7pages, 2 figures, submitted JAP via MMM 200

Angular Dependence of the Superconducting Transition Temperature in Ferromagnet-Superconductor-Ferromagnet Trilayers

The superconducting transition temperature, $T_c$, of a ferromagnet (F) - superconductor (S) - ferromagnet trilayer depends on the mutual orientation of the magnetic moments of the F layers. This effect has been previously observed in F/S/F systems as a $T_c$ difference between parallel and antiparallel configurations of the F layers. Here we report measurements of $T_c$ in CuNi/Nb/CuNi trilayers as a function of the angle between the magnetic moments of the CuNi ferromagnets. The observed angular dependence of $T_c$ is in qualitative agreement with a F/S proximity theory that accounts for the odd triplet component of the condensate predicted to arise for non-collinear orientation of the magnetic moments of the F layers.Comment: 4 + \epsilon pages including 4 figures. To appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Chapter 6 Norwegian–Russian political relations and Barents oil and gas developments

The Arctic region contains large amounts of natural resources considered necessary to sustain global economic growth, so it is unsurprising that it is increasingly susceptible to political, economic, environmental, and even military conflicts. This book looks in detail at the preconditions and outlook for international cooperation on the development of Arctic petroleum resources, focusing on Norwegian–Russian cooperation in the Barents Sea towards 2025. The authors provide a cross-disciplinary approach including geopolitical, institutional, technological, corporate and environmental perspectives to analyse the underlying factors that shape the future development of the region. Three future scenarios are developed, exploring various levels of cooperation and development influenced by and resulting from potential political, commercial and environmental circumstances. Through these scenarios, the book improves understanding of the challenges and opportunities for Arctic petroleum resource development and promotes further consideration of the possible outcomes of future cooperation. The book should be of interest to students, scholars and policy-makers working in the areas of Arctic studies, oil and gas studies, energy security, global environmental governance, environmental politics and environmental technology. Chapter 1 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 license. https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/tandfbis/rt-files/docs/Open+Access+Chapters/9781138783263_oachapter1.pdf Chapter 2 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 license. https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/tandfbis/rt-files/docs/Open+Access+Chapters/9781138783263_oachapter2.pdf Chapter 6 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 license. https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/tandfbis/rt-files/docs/Open+Access+Chapters/9781138783263_oachapter6.pd