The article analyses the concept of conflict prevention (a comparative analysis of the approaches & strategies) of the European Union (EU) & the Organization for Security & Cooperation in Europe ...(OSCE). The analysis is based on a methodological framework consisting of two parts: first, structured interviews with high-level civilian bureaucrats/experts within the EU/OSCE and, second, an analysis of primary & secondary sources (legal & other documents related to conflict prevention in the EU/OSCE). The primary results of the analysis show that the approaches & strategies of the EU/OSCE are adequately defined on the normative level (in addition, the EU/OSCE have a wide spectrum of mechanisms & instruments for conflict prevention available), but the concrete conflict prevention measures/actions of the EU/OSCE are not always applied when needed to avert bloodshed. Therefore, the article analyses the policy of conflict prevention since inconsistent policy is the core "problem" of conflict prevention in the modern era. Namely, the analysis reveals that it is not only the lack of political will for active conflict prevention that is the main obstacle to averting conflicts, but the lack of co-ordination among the EU & the OSCE is also problematic in that respect. If better co-ordination is achieved, the chances of preventing more conflicts would rise because both actors have important comparative advantages in the area of conflict prevention. The analysis also demonstrates that both the EU & the OSCE are likely to have recourse to such conflict prevention measures/actions that do not "incite" influential countries (we label this phenomenon as "pleasing conflict prevention"). The article concludes with recommendations to make the conflict prevention of the EU/OSCE more successful. Adapted from the source document.
Conflict Analysis: Macedonia Grizold, Anton; Zupancic, Rok
Teorija in praksa,
05/2008, Letnik:
45, Številka:
3-4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The article analyzes the genesis & the development of the intra-state, violent inter-ethnic conflict in Macedonia in 2001. Until 2001, the decade after the disintegration of Yugoslavia, Macedonia has ...been quoted as a positive example of a relatively successful co-existence of the two ethnic groups, Macedonian & Albanian. Furthermore, Macedonia was the only republic of the former Yugoslavia, where violent struggles did not erupt after the independence of the country has been declared. The article also analyses the circumstances that have led to the situation in which the inter-ethnic tensions have developed into an armed struggle between the security forces of the Macedonian state & Albanian rebels. Besides that, the analysis includes conflict-resolution & post-conflict management of the problem in the wake of new international security environment. References. Adapted from the source document.
The object of this study was the investigation of the influence of cooling methods of hot electric arc furnace (EAF) slag from stainless steel production on the leaching behaviour of the slag. EAF ...slags from four different grades of stainless steel were sampled and water or air cooled. Leaching tests were done according to the SIST EN 12457-4:2004 one-stage batch test. It was confirmed that the cooling method has a significant effect on the leaching behaviour of slags. In EAF water cooled slag samples, a decrease of Ca, Al, Ba and Se concentrations in the leachate was observed. On the other hand, water cooling caused an increase in leaching concentrations of Si and Mg.
To assess the influence of acquired auditory control on some voice parameters in deaf children and adults after cochlear implantation.
Prospective clinical study.
Tertiary referral center.
...Twenty-nine prelingually deafened children and 11 postlingually deafened adults.
The samples of a vowel /a/ were analyzed with an Multi-Dimensional Voice Program (Kay Elemetrics Corporation, Lincoln Park, NJ) before and 6 to 12 months after the cochlear implantation.
The average fundamental frequency (F0), the short-term variation of F0 (JIT) and the amplitude (SH), the very long-term variation of F0 (vF0) and the amplitude (vAm), and the noise-to-harmonic ratio (NHR) were determined and compared for both age groups. The results of the acoustic analysis performed before the implantation were compared with the results after the implantation for children and adults.
Significantly greater JIT, SH, vF0, and vAm were detected in the children than in the adults before and after the implantation. The prelingually deafened children significantly improved the control of their phonation after 6 to 12 months' use of the cochlear implant (JIT: p=0.014, SH: p=0.011, vF0: p=0.014, vAm: p=0.031). In the postlingually deafened adults, no significant improvement was found in any of the studied voice parameters after the implantation. F0 showed little or no change after the implantation in children and adults.
As expected, the voice quality of the prelingually deafened children was significantly worse than that of the postlingually deafened adults. After cochlear implantation, the children significantly improved their short-term and long-term F0 and amplitude variability. In adults, no significant improvement was detected. We suppose that the improvement is a consequence not only of the acquired hearing control but also of the adaptation ability of neuromuscular phonation control and the maturing of these control mechanisms in children. In adults, better phonation quality in general and lesser improvement after the implantation can be the results of well-developed and stable phonation patterns.
The paper deals with an analyse and control design of thermal flows in buildings. With a complex room model which was developed in Dymola-Modelica environment we made several open loop and closed ...loop experiments using a very efficient combination of Matlab-Simulink and Dymola-Modelica environments. Namely Dymola-Modelica is superior for 'physical modelling'. On the other hand Matlab-Simulink is superior for the design of control schemes but also for more sophisticated analyse and design experimentations: linearization, optimization, control design. The model itself is not described (see references), so the emphasise is given to the experimenting possibilities using the room model. On the bases of open loop analyse of the model simple control algorithms (proportional and proportional-integral) for indoor temperature were developed and tested for the reference and disturbance elimination modes. The results confirm the usefulness of the model and the whole experimental environment as well. Finally both used environments are briefly discussed and some ideas for the future work are given.
Efficient use of energy in buildings is very important. Special attention is given to the use of passive energy resources as the costs for heating and cooling can be significantly reduced and living ...conditions at the same time improved. Modelling of thermal and radiant flows and illumination is very important in this area and so many models with different aims and complexity were developed in the past. Traditional models have a significant lack of object orientation which represents an important disadvantage, because it is difficult or sometimes even impossible to reuse model components. This paper deals with some activities about a simulator which models thermal and radiation flows in buildings. It was originally developed in Matlab/Simulink environment. With the reimplementation in object-oriented Dymola Modelica environment the quality of simulator was significantly improved in different aspects. However, since distribution of radiation flows is mostly geometrical problem, the reusability is not gained implicitly by using Modelica as it is when using models described by DAE. Additional efforts were needed to make components fully reusable. The proposed solutions significantly increased the possibilities for more complicated building structures modelling.
An intelligent dynamic building's envelope is a promising concept for future low-energy building design. For assuring pleasant living conditions multiple quantities have to be controlled and due to ...complexity and diversity of systems (living and working rooms), the corresponding control can become very complicated. A good reusable model can play a crucial role in a successful control design procedure. This paper presents the model which can be efficiently used for the design of low-energy buildings. Fully reusable components enable the modelling of different rooms' configuration. This was achieved by building's thermal-dynamics model in object-oriented environment Dymola-Modelica. The computation of illumination was implemented in the Radiance lighting simulation tool which was also integrated in Dymola-Modelica environment.
Multi-domain modelling becomes a very modern expression for approaches which support so called physical modelling when combining components from different application areas. Physical modelling means ...in this contest a modelling when a computer aided approach is used with the basic aim to keep the physical structure of a real system or its topology as much as possible in the model. Bond graphs represent a very efficient and traditional approach. However new object-oriented and multi-domain tools based on Modelica language are more appropriate for industrial staff or for the people who do not have a deep insight into modelling and simulation. In the paper we describe some experiences obtained with several education and industrial application projects using Dymola-Modelica environment. Mostly advantages obtained with object oriented approach and a special connection implementation will be presented. However such advanced tools bring also potential dangers: namely when users can develop complex models with powerful libraries they often forget that validation is still the most important part of a modelling cycle. The second problem appears from the complexity which is usually obtained. These problems directed our research activities and will be briefly presented at the end of the paper.
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