Is China a Responsible Stakeholder?
Whether China is a responsible stakeholder is evaluated from employing three sets of standards: normative, ‘aspirational’ ones (that which make a good community member and an upstanding citizen); rational choice (acting in line with shared or complementary self-interest); and power analysis (whether China is upsetting an established world order or contributing to the formation of a new one?). In the process, not merely China but the standards themselves are examined.
Resetting EU–China relations from a values-based to an interests-based engagement
The relationship between the European Union (EU) as an international actor and The People's Republic of China is currently in crisis whose root causes are more than just Eurozone instability but extends into important policy domains including global governance, trade reciprocity and bilateral investment. This article argues that underlying these tensions has been too great an emphasis by the EU on a primarily values-based engagement model that has collided with historically resonant hostility and different social norms to create obstacles that now need to be overcome. In so doing, it moves beyond the theory of defensive normativity, instead proposing that only when European interests can be intersected with China's predominantly realist world view will successful negotiating outcomes begin to be forged. An exploration of China's core national interests is overlapped with the EU's engagement patterns to help explain past failures and illustrate possible future strategies for resolving challenges.
Ceramic microwave antennas for mobile applications
Due to their medium to high permittivity values, ceramic microwave materials are attractive as building blocks for miniaturised antenna solutions. Further advantages are low dielectric losses and an excellent temperature stability of standard ceramic materials. Yet, the permittivity of the ceramic material also has a strong influence on the radiation efficiency and bandwidth of the antenna. This implies that in the design process a suitable compromise has to be found between the degree of miniaturisation on the one hand and the antenna efficiency and bandwidth on the other. We describe two approaches towards efficient miniaturised ceramic microwave antennas: the dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) with partial metallisation and the shorting post patch antenna. We focus on design steps taken to ensure both a high degree of miniaturisation and high values of the radiation efficiency, the choice of the ceramic material and the experimental performance of the antennas.