Corruption provokes much anger in the Middle East and North African (MENA) and was important in the Arab Uprisings; it was government corruption that sparked the greatest anger among the population. ...The argument of this Report is (a) that corruption is a major and obvious breach of trust, (b) that the same is true for ‘civil’ corruption – ‘wasta’ in employment, business corruption – (c) that as well as not trusting their government and its institutions, MENA residents do not trust each other either, to the detriment of maintaining functional nation states without coercion, and (d) that corruption is a special case of breach of the Rule of Law which is essential for a decent society. The initial focus on corruption leads to consideration of what people think they can reasonably expect from government and from each other. Ultimately, corruption divides the society into those who extort bribes or dispense favours and those who are required to pay bribes and are excluded from favour – in other words, there is a breakdown of social inclusion. Further, it destroys trust between people and trust in social institutions, which breaks the cords that hold modern societies together - it is an attack on social cohesion. The article is based mainly on the Arab Transformations Survey, carried out in six developing MENA countries in 2014, three years after the ‘Arab Spring’.
Abstract
Which conditions affect whether a state will choose to repatriate forcibly displaced populations residing within its borders? One of the most pressing issues related to the protracted Syrian ...refugee situation concerns the future of over 5 million Syrians who sought shelter in neighboring states. With host countries pursuing disparate strategies on Syrians’ return, the existing literature has yet to provide a framework that is able to account for variation on host states’ policies toward refugee repatriation. In this paper, we expand upon the concept of the refugee rentier state to theorize inductively upon the conditions shaping states’ policymaking on repatriation. We draw upon multi-sited fieldwork across the three major refugee host states in the Eastern Mediterranean (Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey) to establish that a refugee rentier state's strategy is driven by domestic political economy costs related to the hosting of refugee populations as well as its geostrategic interests vis-à-vis these refugees’ country of origin. Using a comparative case study approach, we note how a state is more likely to pursue a blackmailing strategy based on threats if it faces high domestic political economy costs and adopts an interventionist policy vis-à-vis the sending state, as in the case of Turkey. Otherwise, it is more likely to pursue a backscratching strategy based on bargains, as in the case of Lebanon and Jordan. We conclude with a discussion on how this framework sheds light on refugee host states’ repatriation policies on a global scale.
In this paper, we consider the dynamic and controlled operation of an integrated natural gas fuel processor system (FPS), a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEM-FC), and a catalytic burner (CB). ...The FC provides power based on the electrochemical reaction of hydrogen. The FPS generates the hydrogen from natural gas through catalytic partial oxidation (CPOX) and the CB provides the energy for preheating the FPS inlet flows by burning any excess hydrogen from the FC exhaust. The coupling of these three systems poses a challenging optimization and control problem. Optimization is performed to generate the air and fuel flow intake setpoints to the FPS for various load levels. The optimal flow setpoints are used in a static feedforward map that ensures maximum efficiency at steady state. Linear quadratic techniques are then used to develop a controller to mitigate hydrogen starvation in the fuel cell and regulate CPOX reactor temperatures. We show in simulations that the designed observer-based feedback controller, which relies on temperature measurements of two reactors, speeds up the transient response fourfold, as compared to the baseline when the static feedforward controller is employed
Cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS) is an emerging tool for the rapid production of difficult-to-express proteins as well as for identifying protein synthesis bottlenecks. In CFPS, the biotic phase is ...substituted by extracts of living cells devoid of any of their own genetic material. The main advantage is that these systems delineate cell growth from recombinant protein production, enabling the expression of targets that would otherwise place too big a burden on living cells. We have conducted a techno-economic analysis of a CFPS system to produce monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) using extracts of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. We compare the performance of the CFPS system with two alternative production strategies: stable and transient gene expression in CHO cells. Our assessment shows that the viability of CFPS for mAb production requires a significant increase in the product yield and the recycling of high-cost components such as DNA. Nevertheless, CFPS shows significant promise for personalized medicine applications, providing a platform for on-demand production and simplified supply chains.
A hybrid solid oxide fuel cell and gas turbine (SOFC/GT) system exploits the complementary features of the two power plants, where the GT recuperates the energy in the SOFC exhaust stream and thereby ...boosting the overall system efficiency. Through model based transient analysis, however, it is shown that the intricate coupling dynamics make the transient load following very challenging. Power shutdown has been observed when the load is changed abruptly in the generator. In this work, a novel closed-loop reference governor controller is proposed to mitigate the shutdown phenomenon. The reference governor utilizes the region of attraction of a reduced order SOFC/GT model to determine if an incremental step change is allowable, i.e., it does not cause a shutdown. It is shown that with a moderate computational cost, the speed of the hybrid power system response can be improved significantly compared to the fastest conventional load filter. Several design parameters, such as the sampling rate and incremental step-size, are also explored to understand the trade-offs between computational complexity and performance improvement.
In this work, a dynamic model of an integrated autothermal reformer (ATR) and proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEM FC) system and model-based evaluation of its dynamic characteristics are ...presented. The ATR reforms JP5 fuel into a hydrogen rich flow. The hydrogen is extracted from the reformate flow by a separator membrane (SEP), then supplied to the PEM FC for power generation. A catalytic burner (CB) and a turbine are also incorporated to recuperate energy from the remaining SEP flow that would otherwise be wasted. A dynamic model of this system, based on the ideal gas law and energy balance principles, is developed and used to explore the effects of the operating setpoint selection of the SEP on the overall system efficiency. The analysis reveals that a trade-off exists between the SEP efficiency and the overall system efficiency. Finally the open loop system simulation results are presented and conclusions are drawn on the SEP operation.
Abstract
How do labor migrants serve as instruments of leverage against countries of destination across the Global South? Although international studies scholars are paying increasing attention to ...the interplay between power politics and cross-border mobility, scant work exists on the intricacies of South–South migration. This article expands research on migration interdependence by examining the range of strategies available to countries of origin, and the factors that determine their success. The argument put forth is two-fold. First, weaker countries of origin can use two sets of strategies to coerce stronger countries of destination, namely “restriction,” the curbing of the outflow of labor migrants, or “repatriation,” the forced return of labor migrants. Second, target countries’ degree of compliance is determined by their migration interdependence vulnerability, with repatriation being more potent than restriction. We test this empirically by drawing on a variety of primary and secondary sources as we examine how the Philippines successfully coerced the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait between 2014 and 2021. Selected within a least likely research design, the two cases demonstrate how a weaker country of origin may use labor migration as a successful instrument of leverage against two stronger countries of destination. Overall, the article adds a missing component to existing theorization of migration interdependence, enhances existing understandings of cross-border mobility and power politics, and provides original insights into overlooked processes of South–South migration.
¿Cómo sirven los migrantes laborales como instrumentos de presión contra los países de destino en el sur global? A pesar de que los especialistas en estudios internacionales prestan cada vez más atención a la interacción entre las políticas de poder y la movilidad transfronteriza, apenas existen trabajos sobre los entresijos de la migración Sur-Sur. En este artículo se amplía la investigación sobre la interdependencia migratoria analizando las diversas estrategias de que disponen los países de origen y los factores que determinan su eficacia. El argumento planteado tiene un doble enfoque. Por una parte, los países de origen más vulnerables pueden utilizar dos tipos de estrategias para coaccionar a los países de destino más poderosos, en concreto, la “restricción,” es decir, el freno a la salida de inmigrantes en busca de trabajo; o la “repatriación,” es decir, el retorno forzoso de los inmigrantes en busca de trabajo. Por otra parte, el grado de cumplimiento de los países de destino depende de su vulnerabilidad de interdependencia migratoria, siendo la repatriación más eficaz que la restricción. Para comprobar esto, nos basamos en diversas fuentes primarias y secundarias y analizamos el modo en que Filipinas logró coaccionar a los Emiratos Árabes Unidos y a Kuwait entre 2014 y 2021. En los dos casos, seleccionados en el marco de un diseño de investigación poco probable, se demuestra cómo un país de origen más vulnerable puede utilizar la migración por motivos de trabajo como instrumento de influencia contra dos países de destino más poderosos. En general, en este artículo se incorpora un componente que faltaba a la teorización existente sobre la interdependencia de las migraciones, se mejora la comprensión actual de la movilidad transfronteriza y la política de poder, y se aportan ideas originales sobre los procesos de migración Sur-Sur que se han dejado de lado.
Comment les migrants du travail servent-ils d'instruments de levier contre les pays de destination dans les pays du sud? Bien que les chercheurs en études internationales accordent une attention croissante à l'interaction entre politiques de pouvoir et mobilité transfrontalière, peu de travaux existent sur les intrications entre migrations sud-sud. Cet article étend la recherche sur l'interdépendance migratoire en examinant l’éventail des stratégies à disposition des pays d'origine et les facteurs qui déterminent la réussite de ces stratégies. L'argument avancé a un double enjeu. D'une part, les pays d'origine plus faibles peuvent employer deux ensembles de stratégies pour exercer une coercition sur les pays de destination plus forts, à savoir des stratégies de « restriction » consistant en une limitation de l'exode des migrants du travail, ou des stratégies de « rapatriement » consistant en un retour forcé des migrants du travail. Et d'autre part, le degré de conformité des pays cibles dépend de leur vulnérabilité à l'interdépendance migratoire, le rapatriement étant une stratégie plus puissante que la restriction. Nous mettons cet argument à l’épreuve de manière empirique en nous appuyant sur diverses sources primaires et secondaires en examinant la manière dont les Philippines ont réussi à exercer une coercition sur les Émirats arabes unis et le Koweït entre 2014 et 2021. Choisis dans le cadre d'un modèle de recherche du cas le moins probable, les deux cas montrent comment un pays d'origine plus faible peut utiliser la migration du travail comme un instrument de levier efficace contre deux pays de destination plus forts. Globalement, cet article ajoute une composante manquante à la théorisation existante de l'interdépendance migratoire, améliore les compréhensions existantes de la mobilité transfrontalière et des politiques de pouvoir et offre des renseignements originaux sur les processus négligés de migration sud-sud.
Given the complicated mechanisms associated with the operation of the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), mathematical models developed to capture the SOFC’s dynamic characteristics often result in high ...order and complex dynamics that make the model unsuitable for control design and analysis. In this paper, the minimum Gibbs free energy (MGFE) method is exploited to simplify the calculation of the mass balance dynamics of the fuel flow in the SOFC in an effort to develop a control oriented model that achieves appropriate trade-off between model accuracy and simplicity. The simplified model is compared with a baseline model where dynamic governing equations are derived for the mass balance of each of the six gas species in the fuel flow. The implications of the MGFE method on the modeling performance are investigated through numerical simulations and frequency domain analysis. The MGFE method leads to the elimination of 5 out of 11 states in the baseline model, thereby resulting in a significantly lower order model. Critical parameters that may influence the accuracy of the simplified model are also identified. The study concludes that the accuracy of the reduced-order model is acceptable at normal conditions for both steady-state and transient operations. Noticeable model errors are only observed in steady-state responses at extreme conditions, where the fuel inlet has a high fraction of CH
4 and the fuel cell has low fuel utilization, and in transient when the inputs change at high frequency.
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