Historic turning point or just another chapter? The results of a foreign-policy summit. EPC Post-Summit Analysis, 24 March 2014

The March 2014 European Council could enter the history books as a turning point, not only in the EU’s relations with Russia but also in its role as a foreign policy actor. Events in Ukraine inevitably dominated the Summit, with EU leaders adopting a balanced approach aimed at achieving three key objectives – de-escalation, containment/deterrence and cooperation – based on political and economic support for Ukraine, increased but limited pressure on Russia, and moves to strengthen ties with other EU neighbours. The Summit also discussed a range of economic and environmental policy issues, with the situation in Ukraine casting a long shadow over the discussion on energy policy, but failed to reach agreement on the EU’s climate goals to 2030, or to put more flesh on the bones of calls for a European “industrial renaissance”. However, two other developments were particularly significant: the creation of the second pillar of the future banking union, establishing a single regime for winding down failing banks; and changes to the savings tax directive, bringing years of negotiation to an end.

Economic policies in the EU at a turning point. EuropEos Commentary No. 8/28 March 2011

Culminating an almost unprecedented tour de force of Council meetings in various formations, the European Council reached agreement on a comprehensive economic policy package on March 24-25th that effectively completes the economic arm of economic and monetary union (EMU) and, if consistently applied, holds out the promise of ending stagnation and dismal employment performance throughout the European Union.

Stone's river, the turning-point of the Civil War,

Mode of access: Internet.

Betwixt spaces: student accounts of turning point experiences in first year transitions

‘Not belonging’ is becoming a prevalent theme within accounts of the first-year student experience at university. In this study the notion of not belonging is extended by assuming a more active role for the idea of liminality in a student’s transition into the university environments of academic and student life. In doing so, the article suggests that the transition between one place (home) and another (university) can result in an ‘in-between-ness’ – a betwixt space. Through an interpretative methodology, the study explores how students begin to move from this betwixt space into feeling like fully-fledged members of university life. It is concluded that there is a wide range of turning points associated with the students’ betwixt transition, which shapes, alters or indeed accentuates the ways in which they make meaningful connections with university life. Moreover, transitional turning point experiences reveal a cast of characters and symbolic objects; capture contrasting motivations and evolving relationships; display multiple trajectories of interpersonal tensions and conflicts; highlight discontinuities as well as continuities; and together, simultaneously liberate and constrain the students’ transition into university life.

The French Communist Party and the Algerian war : an ideological turning point?

The subject-matter of this thesis is the interaction between the Parti Communiste Français and the National Liberation struggle in Algeria , and the debate that ensued within the Party itself.For a detailed study of the Party ' s line on the war, PCF publications were contrasted with the texts produced by the opposition.Three main axes were identified crystallising discussion within the Party during the Algerian war: The relationship between France and Algeria and the Party ' s attitude to the French nation; The nature of the Algerian nation and its genesis; France's military engagement in Algeria.The dichotomy between the Party's national and internationalist responsibilities is shown to have resolved itself by the fundamental integration of the PCF into the political structure and value system of the French Republic. This study demonstrates the birth of a substantial internal opposition to the PCF during the Algerian war.

Refractive index sensitivity characteristics near the dispersion turning point of the multimode microfiber-based Mach–Zehnder interferometer

The turning point of the refractive index (RI) sensitivity based on the multimode microfiber (MMMF) in-line Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI) is observed. By tracking the resonant wavelength shift of the MZI generated between the HE11 and HE12 modes in the MMMF, the surrounding RI (SRI) could be detected. Theoretical analysis demonstrates that the RI sensitivity will reach ±∞ on either side of the turning point due to the group effective RI difference (퐺) approaching zero. Significantly, the positive sensitivity exists in a very wide fiber diameter range, while the negative sensitivity can be achieved in a narrow diameter range of only 0.3 μm. Meanwhile, the experimental sensitivities and variation trend at different diameters exhibit high consistency with the theoretical results. High RI sensitivity of 10777.8 nm/RIU (RI unit) at the fiber diameter of 4.6 μm and the RI around 1.3334 is realized. The discovery of the sensitivity turning points has great significance on trace detection due to the possibility of ultrahigh RI sensitivity.

High sensitivity sensors utilising characteristics of dispersion-turning-point of long-period gratings in B/Ge co-doped fibre

Systematically investigated the waveguide dispersion characteristics of LPFGs. It has been revealed that the coupled cladding modes resonating in the dispersion-turning-point region are intrinsically sensitive to the external perturbation. Thus, LPFG-based application devices requiring good stability should avoid this region. On the other hand, this mode ultra-sensitive-zone can be explored to realise sensors and tuneable filters of high efficiency.

Self-interrupted regenerative metal cutting in turning

A new approach is used to study the global dynamics of regenerative metal cutting in turning. The cut surface is modeled using a partial differential equation (PDE) coupled, via boundary conditions, to an ordinary differential equation (ODE) modeling the dynamics of the cutting tool. This approach automatically incorporates the multiple-regenerative effects accompanying self-interrupted cutting. Taylor's 3/4 power law model for the cutting force is adopted. Lower dimensional ODE approximations are obtained for the combined tool–workpiece model using Galerkin projections, and a bifurcation diagram computed. The unstable solution branch off the subcritical Hopf bifurcation meets the stable branch involving self-interrupted dynamics in a turning point bifurcation. The tool displacement at that turning point is estimated, which helps identify cutting parameter ranges where loss of stability leads to much larger self-interrupted motions than in some other ranges. Numerical bounds are also obtained on the parameter values which guarantee global stability of steady-state cutting, i.e., parameter values for which there exist neither unstable periodic motions nor self-interrupted motions about the stable equilibrium.

Self-interrupted regenerative turning

A preliminary study of self-interrupted regenerative turning is performed in this paper. To facilitate the analysis, a new approach is proposed to model the regenerative effect in metal cutting. This model automatically incorporates the multiple-regenerative effects accompanying self-interrupted cutting. Some lower dimensional ODE approximations are obtained for this model using Galerkin projections. Using these ODE approximations, a bifurcation diagram of the regenerative turning process is obtained. It is found that the unstable branch resulting from the subcritical Hopf bifurcation meets the stable branch resulting from the self-interrupted dynamics in a turning point bifurcation. Using a rough analytical estimate of the turning point tool displacement, we can identify regions in the cutting parameter space where loss of stability leads to much greater amplitude self-interrupted motions than in some other regions.

I. Singular perturbation problems involving singular points and turning points. II. On the averaged Lagrangian technique for nonlinear dispersive waves

In Part I a class of linear boundary value problems is considered which is a simple model of boundary layer theory. The effect of zeros and singularities of the coefficients of the equations at the point where the boundary layer occurs is considered. The usual boundary layer techniques are still applicable in some cases and are used to derive uniform asymptotic expansions. In other cases it is shown that the inner and outer expansions do not overlap due to the presence of a turning point outside the boundary layer. The region near the turning point is described by a two-variable expansion. In these cases a related initial value problem is solved and then used to show formally that for the boundary value problem either a solution exists, except for a discrete set of eigenvalues, whose asymptotic behaviour is found, or the solution is non-unique. A proof is given of the validity of the two-variable expansion; in a special case this proof also demonstrates the validity of the inner and outer expansions.

Nonlinear dispersive wave equations which are governed by variational principles are considered in Part II. It is shown that the averaged Lagrangian variational principle is in fact exact. This result is used to construct perturbation schemes to enable higher order terms in the equations for the slowly varying quantities to be calculated. A simple scheme applicable to linear or near-linear equations is first derived. The specific form of the first order correction terms is derived for several examples. The stability of constant solutions to these equations is considered and it is shown that the correction terms lead to the instability cut-off found by Benjamin. A general stability criterion is given which explicitly demonstrates the conditions under which this cut-off occurs. The corrected set of equations are nonlinear dispersive equations and their stationary solutions are investigated. A more sophisticated scheme is developed for fully nonlinear equations by using an extension of the Hamiltonian formalism recently introduced by Whitham. Finally the averaged Lagrangian technique is extended to treat slowly varying multiply-periodic solutions. The adiabatic invariants for a separable mechanical system are derived by this method.

Care Leavers’ Experiences of Transition and Turning Points: Findings from a Biographical Narrative Study

This paper reports on the findings of a PhD research project that set out to explore how young people leaving out of home care experienced and made sense of their transition to adulthood. Using the Biographical Narrative Interpretative Method, in-depth accounts were collected and analysed for eight care leavers. The data suggest that in addition to care leavers living their lives as a series of biographical events, their ‘care career’, they also experience changes in the way they make sense of their lives which form a ‘subjective pathway’. Influenced by the literature on resilience, the research had anticipated that ‘turning point’ events would play a significant role in the young people’s subjective pathways. But the findings show a more gradual, phased shifting of subjectivity. It is suggested that legislation, policy, services and care practices need to facilitate this more drawn out ‘subjective pathway’. Attachment, resilience and humanistic social psychology are proposed as useful theoretical underpinnings for that work

Turning points : meaning-making and its association with psychological well-being, academic achievement and parental relationship quality among adolescents

There is substantial research linking meaning-making ability and psychological well-being in the context of turning point events. Still, an important research question remains: whether individuals who report meaning-making and psychological well-being were already better adjusted psychologically, prior to the experience of their turning point. In addition, the role of meaning-making on academic achievement and parental relationship quality has received little empirical attention although both variables have been shown to be positively associated with positive adjustment among adolescents. This longitudinal study examined differences in psychological well-being, academic achievement, and parental relationship quality between adolescents who reported meaning-making (lessons or insights) and those who reported no meaning-making within their turning point narratives. Participants were 803 (52% female) grade 12 adolescents, 26% (N = 209) of whom had reported experiencing a turning point. Participants also completed measures on the outcome variables (psychological well-being, academic achievement, and parental relationship quality) 3 years prior, when they were in grade 9. MANOVA results indicated that, of the participants who experienced a turning point, adolescents who reported meaning-making reported significantly higher psychological wellbeing and more positive parental relationship quality than adolescents who reported no meaningmaking. Importantly, these two groups did not differ on the outcome variables prior to their experience of a turning point event when they were in grade 9. Academic achievement scores did not differ significantly between adolescents who reported meaning-making and those who reported no meaning-making. These findings highlight the importance of meaning-making in relation to positive adjustment subsequent to a turning point among adolescents.

The Colombian Constitution of 1991 as the Starting Point of a new Constitutionalism in Latin America

The objective of this article is to show that the Colombian Constitution of 1991 has certain traits that clearly differentiate it from Western constitutional tradition. Some of these traits would later be included in constitutional processes and constitutions in Venezuela (1999), Ecuador (1998 and 2008) and Bolivia (2009), in a process collectively known as Latin American Neo-Constitutionalism. This paper intends to demonstrate how the text of the Colombian Constitution represents a turning point that marks the beginning and establishes the foundations for the development of a home-grown constitutional form in Latin America over the last two decades.