Performance of TCP/UDP under Ad Hoc IEEE802.11

TCP is the De facto standard for connection oriented transport layer protocol, while UDP is the De facto standard for transport layer protocol, which is used with real time traffic for audio and video. Although there have been many attempts to measure and analyze the performance of the TCP protocol in wireless networks, very few research was done on the UDP or the interaction between TCP and UDP traffic over the wireless link. In this paper, we tudy the performance of TCP and UDP over IEEE802.11 ad hoc network. We used two topologies, a string and a mesh topology. Our work indicates that IEEE802.11 as a ad-hoc network is not very suitable for bulk transfer using TCP. It also indicates that it is much better for real-time audio. Although one has to be careful here since real-time audio does require much less bandwidth than the wireless link bandwidth. Careful and detailed studies are needed to further clarify that issue.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, ICT 2003 (10th International Conference on Telecommunication

EU enlargement into the Western Balkans: a gloomy prospect gets gloomier

Fast zwei Jahrzehnte, nachdem die EU in der Agenda von Thessaloniki 2003 erklärt hat, dass alle westlichen Balkanstaaten "integraler Bestandteil eines vereinten Europas" sein werden, ist Kroatien der einzige von ihnen, dem es bisher gelungen ist, dieses Ziel zu erreichen. Von den übrigen westlichen Balkanstaaten haben nur Montenegro und Serbien die Beitrittsverhandlungen mit der EU aufgenommen, wenn auch mit sehr geringen Aussichten, in absehbarer Zeit alle über 30 Verhandlungskapitel abzuschließen. Die anderen sind nicht so weit; sie warten entweder noch auf die Aufnahme von Beitrittsverhandlungen (wie die beiden anderen offiziellen EU-Beitrittskandidaten Albanien und Mazedonien) oder sogar auf die Erlangung des vollen Kandidatenstatus (Bosnien und Herzegowina und Kosovo). Angesichts der "Erweiterungsmüdigkeit" nach 2004/07 und zahlreicher interner Probleme und Krisen seit Ende der 2000er/Anfang der 2010er Jahre scheinen die politische Elite und die breite Öffentlichkeit der EU, insbesondere in den Kernmitgliedstaaten, jegliches Interesse an einer weiteren Erweiterung und an der Unterstützung der Beitrittskandidaten aus dem westlichen Balkan, um Teil eines "vereinten Europas" zu werden, verloren zu haben. Die Aussichten auf eine Beschleunigung des Beitrittsprozesses eines westlichen Balkanstaates in den 2020er Jahren sind sehr gering

(What about) the Further Enlargement of the EU? In between European Enlargement Fatigue and Balkan Instability Challenges

Despite an initial delay in post-communist reforms and opening the EU accession process, Bulgaria and Romania have already succeeded in becoming EU members while Croatia is just a ‘step away’ from full membership status. Although considerably behind these three, the remaining (Western) Balkan states have been progressing fairly well in the association negotiations (i.e. Stabilisation and Association Process) with the European Union since the early 2000s and expect to officially open negotiations for accession (as is the case with FYR Macedonia) or get full candidate status by the end of 2009 or in 2010 at the latest. However, on their way to Europe, these countries have still to overcome some challenges which the previous EU membership candidates from post-communist Europe faced to a significantly lesser extent or not at all. Focusing on the problems of the increased toughness of EU accession criteria due to the declining public support in the ‘old’ EU member states for further EU enlargement and on the interior political instability in the countries of the Western Balkans, caused primarily by their still ‘undefined’ statehood status, this paper investigates the character and strength of the remaining obstacles for further enlargement of the European Union into the Balkan region

Serbia on its way to EU membership – the remaining challenges and obstacles

Fifteen years after the European Union (EU) promised all the Western Balkan states an EU future by adopting the Thessaloniki agenda in 2003,1 Croatia is the only Western Balkan state to have succeeded in joining. Although Croatia’s journey to EU accession was not quick and smooth (especially when compared with that of its ex- communist counterparts from East Central Europe and the Baltics who joined in 2004 and 2007), Serbia and other Western Balkan neighbours of Croatia have had an even harder and (much) bumpier road to the EU. Western Balkan accession had been effectively stalled for several years due to the emergence of enlargement fatigue in the mid-2000s. It was briefly re-activated with Croatia’s accession and the launch of the so-called Berlin Process in 2014 (Juncos and Whitman, 2015; Petrovic and Wilson 2018; and Mtchedlishvili, 2018 in this Special Issue). However, the accession process stalled again in 2016 and early 2017 with the shock of Brexit and the migration crisis. As of 2018, Western Balkan accession has returned to a prominent place on the EU enlargement agenda

The EU’s Eastern enlargement as an opportunity for increasing trade and socio-economic relations between the EU and New Zealand

After the signing of the New Zealand - China Free trade agreement in 2008, New Zealand’s trade withthe EU has seen less substantial growth. From being the second largest partner, the EU has becomeNew Zealand’s third largest trading partner, behind China and Australia. Moreover, the recentdeparture of the UK from the EU threatens to further downgrade the importance of the EU as NewZealand’s trade partner and its relevance in terms of tourist origin to New Zealand. On the other hand,although still marginal, New Zealand’s trade and tourist relations with the new EU member statesfrom Central and Eastern Europe have seen a remarkable expansion. Focussing on the examinationof current trends in the volume of trade and tourist exchange between New Zealand and this group ofstates, this paper assesses their importance for New Zealand - EU relations and prospects for theirfurther expansion

Serbia’s relations with its Western Balkan neighbours as a challenge for its accession to the EU

Serbia, as the second regional frontrunner (after Montenegro) in the EU accession process, hopes to be able to meet the required conditions and join the EU by 2025 which the European Commission 2018 enlargement strategy declared as the earliest possible date for the admission of new EU members. However, some of the EU’s expectations and requirements which Serbia has to meet, particularly those regarding the ‘normalisation’ of its relations with Kosovo and the resolution of ‘bilateral disputes’ which it has with some other neighbours, seem to be very tough and challenging for the Serbian government. The article discusses the recent developments in Serbia’s relations with its ‘most problematic’ neighbours and critically assesses the strength of problems in these relations as an obstacle for Serbia’s accession to the EU. The article shows that thanks to EU assistance and the commitment of interested parties to find a common ground, Serbia’s relations with Kosovo may become even less of an obstacle to its accession than its relations with its three western neighbours, particularly Croatia