Model-driven design of geo-information services

This thesis presents a method for the development of distributed geo-information systems. The method is organised around the design principles of modularity, reuse and replaceability. The method enables the modelling of both behavioural and informational aspects of geo-information systems in an integrated way. This thesis introduces the concept the Geo-information Service Infrastructure (GSI)

Strategic development in the petrochemical industry

Imperial Users onl

Russia’s New National Security Strategy: Towards a ‘Medvedev Doctrine’?

A new Russian National Security Strategy was approved on 12 May, replacing the 2000 National Security Concept. The ‘National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation until 2020’, approved by President Medvedev on 12 May, establishes a new framework for Russia’s security policy. It is based on national strategic priorities in the areas of defence, security of the state and society, and sustainable development. The main changes from the 2000 National Security Concept are a greater emphasis on the need to improve the quality of life of Russia’s citizens and a less hostile attitude towards the US and NATO. The National Security Strategy combines elements of continuity and change, assertiveness and pragmatism strongly influenced by the willingness to ‘reset’ a good relationship with the US in order to overcome the negative effects of last summer’s war in South Ossetia. This ARI describes the process of reviewing the previous documents on National Security, the new military and non-military threats and the goals and a check-list for assessing the National Security Strategy’s results

There will be no winners in Ukraine if the new political leadership fails to protect the interests of all citizens

The Ukrainian Parliament has voted to remove the country’s president Viktor Yanukovych from office, with an arrest warrant also being issued over his role in the death of protesters last week. Javier Morales writes on the complexities of Ukrainian society, arguing that without acknowledging the country’s ethno-linguistic and cultural divisions we run the risk of underestimating the consequences of recent events. He writes that any new political leadership will need to take on board the interests of all citizens, including those in eastern and southern regions who have supported Yanukovych

Emergent dynamics of the Kuramoto ensemble under the effect of inertia

We study the emergent collective behaviors for an ensemble of identical Kuramoto oscillators under the effect of inertia. In the absence of inertial effects, it is well known that the generic initial Kuramoto ensemble relaxes to the phase-locked states asymptotically (emergence of complete synchronization) in a large coupling regime. Similarly, even for the presence of inertial effects, similar collective behaviors are observed numerically for generic initial configurations in a large coupling strength regime. However, this phenomenon has not been verified analytically in full generality yet, although there are several partial results in some restricted set of initial configurations. In this paper, we present several improved complete synchronization estimates for the Kuramoto ensemble with inertia in two frameworks for a finite system. Our improved frameworks describe the emergence of phase-locked states and its structure. Additionally, we show that as the number of oscillators tends to infinity, the Kuramoto ensemble with infinite size can be approximated by the corresponding kinetic mean-field model uniformly in time. Moreover, we also establish the global existence of measure-valued solutions for the Kuramoto equation and its large-time asymptotics

El (probable) retorno de Putin: impacto en las relaciones con Occidente

El actual primer ministro ruso, Vladimir Putin, que ocupó la presidencia en 2000-2008, ha anunciado en el último congreso del partido Rusia Unida que se presentará a las elecciones presidenciales de 2012. La candidatura de Putin –quien como primer ministro ha conservado unas elevadas tasas de apoyo popular, superiores a las del presidente Dmitri Medvedev– significa casi con certeza que regresará al Kremlin tras las elecciones; y por un período que, tras una reciente reforma constitucional, será esta vez de seis años y con la posibilidad de otro mandato posterior. ¿Qué consecuencias tendrá esta nueva fase para las relaciones de Rusia con Occidente? En el presente ARI se examina el contexto interno de la sucesión en la presidencia y se ofrecen cinco razones por las que no es probable que ésta suponga, per se, una ruptura con la etapa actual de la política exterior