The Joint Way Forward on migration issues between Afghanistan and the EU: EU external policy and the recourse to non-binding law

in Cambridge International Law Journal (2017), 6(2),

The EU increasingly uses non-binding agreements as part of its response to the ongoing migration crisis. The preparation and implementation of such agreements are conducted in imprecise circumstances in ... [more ▼]

The EU increasingly uses non-binding agreements as part of its response to the ongoing migration crisis. The preparation and implementation of such agreements are conducted in imprecise circumstances in terms of institutional responsibilities and they are subject to limited, if any, parliamentary control and judicial review. Taking the topical Afghanistan–EU Joint Way Forward as a focus point, this article raises the question whether the increasing recourse to non-binding instruments may be interpreted as a way of circumventing the constitutional allocation of powers to and within the EU. It highlights substantial issues related to the protection of fundamental rights and the allocation of the EU's financial resources stemming from the Joint Way Forward. It shows a number of legal drawbacks to this trend of using such non-binding instruments and argues in favour of more transparency and procedural clarity in their negotiation and implementation. [less ▲]

Probabilistic Analysis of Low-Criticality Execution

Scientific Conference (2017, December)

The mixed-criticality toolbox promises system architects a powerful framework for consolidating real-time tasks with different safety properties on a single computing platform. Thanks to the research ... [more ▼]

The mixed-criticality toolbox promises system architects a powerful framework for consolidating real-time tasks with different safety properties on a single computing platform. Thanks to the research efforts in the mixed-criticality field, guarantees provided to the highest criticality level are well understood. However, lower-criticality job execution depends on the condition that all high-criticality jobs complete within their more optimistic low-criticality execution time bounds. Otherwise, no guarantees are made. In this paper, we add to the mixed-criticality toolbox by providing a probabilistic analysis method for low-criticality tasks. While deterministic models reduce task behavior to constant numbers, probabilistic analysis captures varying runtime behavior. We introduce a novel algorithmic approach for probabilistic timing analysis, which we call symbolic scheduling. For restricted task sets, we also present an analytical solution. We use this method to calculate per-job success probabilities for low-criticality tasks, in order to quantify, how low-criticality tasks behave in case of high-criticality jobs overrunning their optimistic low-criticality reservation. [less ▲]

Mechanical strength assessment of a drilled hole in the contralateral cortex at the end of the open wedge for high tibial osteotomy.

in Journal of Experimental Orthopaedics (2017), 4(1),

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate, by means of finite element analysis, the effect of a drill hole at the end of a horizontal osteotomy to reduce the risk of lateral cortex fracture while ... [more ▼]

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate, by means of finite element analysis, the effect of a drill hole at the end of a horizontal osteotomy to reduce the risk of lateral cortex fracture while performing an opening wedge high tibial osteotomy (OWHTO). The question was whether drilling a hole relieves stress and increases the maximum correction angle without fracture of the lateral cortex depending on the ductility of the cortical bone. METHODS: Two different types of osteotomy cuts were considered; one with a drill hole (diameter 5 mm) and the other without the hole. The drill holes were located about 20 mm distally to the tibial plateau and 6 mm medially to the lateral cortex, such that the minimal thickness of the contralateral cortical bone was 5 mm. Based on finite element calculations, two approaches were used to compare the two types of osteotomy cuts considered: (1) Assessing the static strength using local stresses following the idea of the FKM-guideline, subsequently referred to as the "FKM approach" and (2) limiting the total strain during the opening of the osteotomy wedge, subsequently referred to as "strain approach". A critical opening angle leading to crack initiation in the opposite lateral cortex was determined for each approach and was defined as comparative parameter. The relation to bone aging was investigated by considering the material parameters of cortical bones from young and old subjects. RESULTS: The maximum equivalent (von-Mises) stress was smaller for the cases with a drill hole at the end of the osteotomy cut. The critical angle was approximately 1.5 times higher for the specimens with a drill hole compared to those without. This corresponds to an average increase of 50%. The calculated critical angle for all approaches is below 5°. The critical angle depends on the used approach, on patient's age and assumed ductility of the cortical bone. CONCLUSIONS: Drilling a hole at the end of the osteotomy reduces the stresses in the lateral cortex and increases the critical opening angle prior to cracking of the opposite cortex in specimen with small correction angles. But the difference from having a drill hole or not is not so significant, especially for older patients. The ductility of the cortical bone is the decisive parameter for the critical opening angle. [less ▲]

Buchrezension: "László Marosi, Eeva Saarela, Reiner Hobe und József Csikota Frigyes Hidas, Biography. Memories. Programme Notes, AMICUS AUCTORIS MUSIKVERLAG, Bergatreute 2014"

Report (2017)

On a geometric framework for Lagrangian supermechanics

in Journal of Geometric Mechanics (2017), 9(4), 411-437

We re--examine classical mechanics with both commuting and anticommuting degrees of freedom. We do this by defining the phase dynamics of a general Lagrangian system as an implicit differential equation ... [more ▼]

We re--examine classical mechanics with both commuting and anticommuting degrees of freedom. We do this by defining the phase dynamics of a general Lagrangian system as an implicit differential equation in the spirit of Tulczyjew. Rather than parametrising our basic degrees of freedom by a specified Grassmann algebra, we use arbitrary supermanifolds by following the categorical approach to supermanifolds. [less ▲]

On Partial-Sum Processes of ARMAX Residuals

Scientific Conference (2017, December)

General and versatile results are established regarding the limit behavior of the partial-sum process of ARMAX residuals. Illustrations include ARMA with seasonal dummies, misspecified ARMAX models with ... [more ▼]

General and versatile results are established regarding the limit behavior of the partial-sum process of ARMAX residuals. Illustrations include ARMA with seasonal dummies, misspecified ARMAX models with autocorrelated errors, nonlinear ARMAX models, ARMA with a structural break, a wide range of ARMAX models with infinite-variance errors, weak GARCH models and the consistency of kernel estimation of the density of ARMAX errors. Our results identify the limit distributions, and provide a general algorithm to obtain pivot statistics for CUSUM tests. [less ▲]

Locating and quantifying a transnational cultural object. Reims as a European hub for sports (1925-1940)

Scientific Conference (2017, December)

Isolation of nucleic acids from low biomass samples: detection and removal of sRNA contaminants

E-print/Working paper (2017)

Sequencing-based analyses of low-biomass samples are known to be prone to misinterpretation due to the potential presence of contaminating molecules derived from laboratory reagents and environments. Due ... [more ▼]

Sequencing-based analyses of low-biomass samples are known to be prone to misinterpretation due to the potential presence of contaminating molecules derived from laboratory reagents and environments. Due to its inherent instability, contamination with RNA is usually considered to be unlikely. Here we report the presence of small RNA (sRNA) contaminants in widely used microRNA extraction kits and means for their depletion. Sequencing of sRNAs extracted from human plasma samples was performed and significant levels of non-human (exogenous) sequences were detected. The source of the most abundant of these sequences could be traced to the microRNA extraction columns by qPCR-based analysis of laboratory reagents. The presence of artefactual sequences originating from the confirmed contaminants were furthermore replicated in a range of published datasets. To avoid artefacts in future experiments, several protocols for the removal of the contaminants were elaborated, minimal amounts of starting material for artefact-free analyses were defined, and the reduction of contaminant levels for identification of bona fide sequences using 'ultra-clean' extraction kits was confirmed. In conclusion, this is the first report of the presence of RNA molecules as contaminants in laboratory reagents. The described protocols should be applied in the future to avoid confounding sRNA studies. [less ▲]

100 Jaar Prandtl-Wig: De draagkrachtfactoren

in Geotechniek (2017), December

In 1920 publiseerde Prandtl een artikel over het bezwijken van een materiaal onder een strookbelasting. De bezweken grondmoot is hierbij verdeeld in drie zones, die tezamen de zogenoemde Prandtl-wig ... [more ▼]

In 1920 publiseerde Prandtl een artikel over het bezwijken van een materiaal onder een strookbelasting. De bezweken grondmoot is hierbij verdeeld in drie zones, die tezamen de zogenoemde Prandtl-wig vormen. Prandtl heeft nooit aan de funderingstechnische toepassing gedacht, maar geotechnici vertalen deze oplossing nu als een analytische oplossing voor de draagkracht van de grond onder een strookfundering. Deze oplossing is uitgebreid door Reissner met een bovenbelasting naast de funderingsstrook en door Keverling Buisman en Terzaghi voor het grondgewicht. Terzaghi schreef dit als eerste met drie gescheiden draagkrachtfactoren en Meyerhof als eerste met “inclinatie-” en “shape” factoren, voor de drie afzonderlijke draagkrachtcomponenten; cohesie, bovenbelasting en het grondgewicht. Deze schrijfwijze werd later door Brinch Hansen overgenomen. In dit artikel zijn een groot aantal numerieke berekeningen gemaakt om het bezwijkmechanisme van de Prandtl-wig en de bijbehorende draagkrachtfactoren te controleren. Het blijkt dat het Prandtl-wig bezwijkmechanisme juist is, maar niet in alle gevallen. Ook blijkt dat de analytische oplossingen voor de draagkrachtfactoren die tegenwoordig worden gebruikt, alleen juist zijn voor grond met een onrealistisch hoge dilatantiehoek. [less ▲]

La réglementation des conseillers en vot

in Revue des Sociétés (2017)