Keep capital markets union simple. ECMI Commentary No. 38/July 2015

A few additional initiatives will need to be taken before a European capital markets union is able to unleash its full potential. The main problem is fragmentation, arising from the deep differences existing from one country to another in the structure of markets, user preferences and the availability of well organised, long-term saving schemes. Several attempts have been made to address these barriers, but with limited or uneven success so far

Tajikistan: a chronic stagnation. OSW COMMENTARY NUMBER 200/15.03.2016

Since gaining its independence Tajikistan has faced severe political, economic and social problems. The last several months has seen a clear increase in their intensity. This is in part caused by the deteriorating economic situation in Russia and the significant fall of remittances from the Tajik labour migrants in Russia, as well as by President Emomali Rahmon’s rising authoritarianism. Despite this intensification, qualitatively speaking Tajikistan’s problems have been unchanged for years. Besides the state’s structural weakness, the main cause is the ongoing neo-colonial dependence on Russia, which effectively limits Dushanbe’s room for political manoeuvre and keep Tajikistan in Russia’s sphere of control. This dependence on the one hand protects the country from collapsing, but on the other it precludes the development of the state, resulting in Tajikistan’s enduring stagnation. Similar processes also take place in other countries of post-Soviet Central Asia. However, in the case of Tajikistan the dependence and stagnation it causes are the strongest and their mechanisms most easily observed.

Father, Mother, Child? Eight Trends in Family Life for Policymakers to Keep in Mind. Summary

The family is the first context for a child’s development, and the most important. This is where children begin to develop their own identities and first experience a sense of closeness, community and security. Family is a domain where learning takes place – for all generations. In their daily interactions, children, mothers and fathers learn from and with one another. They develop empathy and a sense of responsibility, and learn to deal with conflict. Values, beliefs and norms, passed on from parents to children, evolve in the course of everyday life. Thus parents exert an enormous influence on their children’s educational opportunities and overall life chances – as research in Germany and other countries has clearly shown.

EU-Spotlight: Keep calm and carry on. What Europeans think about a possible Brexit.

From the Executive Summary. A majority of Europeans would like the UK to remain a member of the European Union (EU), but at the same time they do not think that a Brexit would be the end of Europe. Whereas age or gender do not have a pronounced effect on how one views these matter, one factor clearly does: the more people support their own country’s membership in the EU, the more they want the UK to remain a member as well. The opposite is not true, however. Eurosceptics are not rooting for the UK to leave. These public opinion trends are demonstrated by the Bertelsmann Stiftung’s latest eupinions survey. eupinions conducts regular polls in all European member states to explore what European citizens think about current political issues. The latest wave of the survey is devoted to their views on the British referendum on membership in the EU.

Pavement roughness evaluations using a Mays ride meter. Final report.

Mode of access: Internet.

Calibration services for pavement survey equipment. Executive summary. Final report.

Federal Highway Administration, Office of Engineering and Highway Operations Research and Development, Washington, D.C.

Pavement friction measurements on nontangent sections of roadways. Volume III. Appendices. Final report.

Federal Highway Administration, Structures and Applied Mechanics Division, Washington, D.C.

Computer simulation of the effect of road roughness on tire-pavement forces for an articulated vehicle performing braking and cornering maneuvers. Phase report.

Federal Highway Administration, Washington, D.C.

Roadway lighting handbook, addendum to chapter six: designing the lighting system using pavement luminance. Final report.

Federal Highway Administration, Implementation Division, Washington, D.C.

Pavement friction measurements on nontangent sections of roadways. Volume II: comprehensive report. Final report.

Federal Highway Administration, Structures and Applied Mechanics Division, Washington, D.C.

Instrumentation for measuring pavement-vehicle interaction. Volume IV: specification sheets, lists of drawings, and sensor wiring schematics. Final report.

Federal Highway Administration, Structures and Applied Mechanics Division, Washington, D.C.

Evaluation of selected softening agents used in flexible pavement recycling : final report /

April 1978.

A complete treatise on the art of retouching photographic negatives and clear directions how to finish & colour photographs.

Mode of access: Internet.

Evaluation of retroreflective markings to increase rail car conspicuity -- safety of highway-railroad grade crossings.

Transportation Systems Center, Cambridge, Mass.