The Promotion of Regional Economic Integration in the EU’s Neighbourhood: CEFTA 2006 and the Agadir Agreement. Bruges Regional Integration & Global Governance Paper 5/2009

Regional integration scores alluringly high on the hit list of the most promising cures for the world’s major problems. Undoubtedly, the European Union has considerable experience in developing a sophisticated regional integration scheme – but does it possess the ‘magic formula’ for fostering integration in other parts of the world? This paper asks how and why the European Union promotes regional economic integration in its neighbourhood and to what extent it is successful. We argue that as a ‘normative power’ the EU aims both at exporting its norms and values and at increasing its security by stabilising its neighbourhood. We assess the EU’s success in promoting the regional trade agreements located in the Western Balkans (CEFTA 2006) and the Mediterranean (Agadir Agreement). The findings of these two case studies show that the EU pursues different political objectives with its support on a general political level as well as through concrete financial and technical assistance programmes. Although the existence of an EU membership perspective has an influence, the Union is not necessarily more successful in promoting regional economic integration among (potential) candidate countries

Planning for Space Station Freedom laboratory payload integration

Space Station Freedom is being developed to support extensive missions involving microgravity research and applications. Requirements for on-orbit payload integration and the simultaneous payload integration of multiple mission increments will provide the stimulus to develop new streamlined integration procedures in order to take advantage of the increased capabilities offered by Freedom. The United States Laboratory and its user accommodations are described. The process of integrating users' experiments and equipment into the United States Laboratory and the Pressurized Logistics Modules is described. This process includes the strategic and tactical phases of Space Station utilization planning. The support that the Work Package 01 Utilization office will provide to the users and hardware developers, in the form of Experiment Integration Engineers, early accommodation assessments, and physical integration of experiment equipment, is described. Plans for integrated payload analytical integration are also described

Lesen

Die theoretische Fundierung des Tests zur Erfassung der Lesekompetenz basiert im Rahmen des DESI-Projekts auf einer prozesshaften Betrachtung des Lesens. Die Grundlagen dafür sind primär von der Leseforschung, der Sprachrezeption und indirekt auch von den Arbeiten zu Sprachproduktion, wie sie zusammenfassend in den beiden gleichnamigen Hogrefe-Enzyklopädien vorgestellt werden (Friederici 1999;Hermann/Grabowski 2003), gelegt worden. (DIPF/Orig.

Quantifying MyCiTi supply usage via Big Data and Agent Based Modelling

The MyCiTi is currently generating large volumes of raw transactional information in the form of commuter smartcard transactions, which can be considered Big Data. Agent Based modelling (ABM) has been applied internationally as a means of deriving actionable intelligence from Big Data. It is proposed that ABM can be used to unlock the hidden potential within the aforementioned data. This paper demonstrates how to go about developing and calibrating a MATSim-based ABM to analyse AFC data. It is found that data formatting algorithms are critical in the preparation of data for modelling activities. These algorithms are highly complex, requiring significant time investment prior to development. Furthermore, the development of appropriate ABM calibration parameters requires careful consideration in terms of appropriate data collection, simulation testing, and justification. This study serves as strong evidence to suggest that ABM is an appropriate analysis technique for MyCiTi data systems. Validation exercises reveal that ABM is able to calculate on board bus usage and system behaviour with a strong degree of accuracy (R-squared 0.85). It is however recommended that additional research be conducted into more detailed calibration activities, such as fine-tuning agent behaviour during simulation. Ultimately this research study achieves its explorative objectives of model development and testing, and paves a way forward for future research into the practical applications of Big Data and ABM in the South African context

Sub-cycle time resolution of multi-photon momentum transfer in strong-field ionization

During multi-photon ionization of an atom it is well understood how the involved photons transfer their energy to the ion and the photoelectron. However, the transfer of the photon linear momentum is still not fully understood. Here, we present a time-resolved measurement of linear momentum transfer along the laser pulse propagation direction. Beyond the limit of the electric dipole approximation we observe a time-dependent momentum transfer. We can show that the time-averaged photon radiation pressure picture is not generally applicable and the linear momentum transfer to the photoelectron depends on the ionization time within the electromagnetic wave cycle using the attoclock technique. We can mostly explain the measured linear momentum transfer within a classical model for a free electron in a laser field. However, corrections are required due to the interaction of the outgoing photoelectron with the parent ion and due to the initial momentum when the electron appears in the continuum. The parent ion interaction induces a measurable negative attosecond time delay between the appearance in the continuum of the electron with minimal linear momentum transfer and the point in time with maximum ionization rate

Freezing vegetables (2003)

"Information from Human Environmental Sciences Extension.""Food preservation."Reprinted 6/03/5M

Freezing unusual fruits and vegetables (2003)

"Information from Human Environmental Sciences Extension.""Food preservations."Reprinted 6/03/5M

Applicability of 100kWe-class of space reactor power systems to NASA manned space station missions

An assessment is made of a manned space station operating with sufficiently high power demands to require a multihundred kilowatt range electrical power system. The nuclear reactor is a competitor for supplying this power level. Load levels were selected at 150kWe and 300kWe. Interactions among the reactor electrical power system, the manned space station, the space transportation system, and the mission were evaluated. The reactor shield and the conversion equipment were assumed to be in different positions with respect to the station; on board, tethered, and on a free flyer platform. Mission analyses showed that the free flyer concept resulted in unacceptable costs and technical problems. The tethered reactor providing power to an electrolyzer for regenerative fuel cells on the space station, results in a minimum weight shield and can be designed to release the reactor power section so that it moves to a high altitude orbit where the decay period is at least 300 years. Placing the reactor on the station, on a structural boom is an attractive design, but heavier than the long tethered reactor design because of the shield weight for manned activity near the reactor