Steering Capacity Research Articles

Weapons of the Weak: How African States Counteract Homegrown Jihadi Salafism

Abstract Why has homegrown jihadi Salafism emerged as a major security challenge in some African countries, but not in others? This article draws attention to the organizational playing field in which Islamic activity manifests itself. It argues that states with institutional regulatory mechanisms in the Islamic sphere—state-led national Islamic associations—can counteract jihadi propaganda and recruitment. State-led national associations are organizational entities through which state elites delegate the authority to monitor religious practice to those Islamic leaders who are most accommodating of state authority. Cooperation with local Islamic leaders allows state elites to react to jihadi recruitment and mobilization at an early stage. It further enables state actors to target potential security challenges without alienating their Muslim community. States that fail to create steering capacity in the Islamic sphere instead react to jihadi Salafism with indiscriminate violence, thereby provoking the further radicalization of the Muslim faithful. Using a small to medium-N research design, this article provides empirical evidence supporting this claim from two East African countries and seven additional countries from across the African continent.

Tools of regime stability: the political economy of sovereign wealth funds in Gulf rentier states

Why have Gulf resource-dependent countries transformed the role of their sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) from passive global investors to ubiquitous drivers of economic development? How does this role-change operate amidst fiscal scarcity, confounding macroeconomic expectations of commodity-based SWFs? Beyond a narrow view of funds as apolitical economic actors, this article puts forward the logic of SWFs as tools of regime stability to explain SWF development in Gulf rentier states. This logic advances that SWFs are adaptive strategies through which rentier states respond to evolving external pressure without compromising the fundamental pillars of regime stability underpinning allocative frameworks. Drawing on the Saudi case, the article finds that SWFs create de-risking pathways to mobilize private finance capital through environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices and market-based instruments like green bonds. Simultaneously, SWFs allow incumbents to revisit rentier governance by enhancing economic steering capacity while upholding, but restructuring, patronage networks. By shedding light on the political role of SWFs, this article contributes to debates surrounding rentier states and financialization literatures. It highlights how the elasticity of rentierism as financialized forms of state-led economic development does not erode state capacity but rather empowers ruling elites with a new range of tools and resources to upgrade rentier governance in times of economic transitions.

Design of a Wideband, High Steering Angle and Low Side-Lobes Levels Matrix Antenna

This paper presents the use of pixel-type radiating elements in the context of broadband beam steering. The elements are composed of a resonant cavity topped by a frequency selective surface, fed via a patch antenna and filled with dielectric substrates. This pixel antenna has a wide -10 dB matching band from 1.22 to 1.61 GHz, which corresponds to a 27% fractional bandwidth. It has an angular aperture greater than 124° and a realized gain between 3.3 and 3.8 dBi over the whole matching band. An array composed of 5 elements has been simulated and allows a steering on a range of ±60° in the E plane while keeping the gain variation below 3 dB. A prototype has been manufactured and presents a steering capacity between -56 and 53° on the whole band with side-lobes levels lower than -8.1 dB whatever the angle.

Global Path Planning Method for Parks based on Complete Coverage Cleaning Task

In this paper, based on a small driving sanitation platform of an enterprise, the global path planning method in the unmanned decision system is studied and designed for the characteristics of the park environment and the task requirements. The operation space of the sanitation platform is divided into rectangular square cleaning area and lane cleaning area based on the task demand of full coverage of the park. For the sweeping task of the lane area, multiple parallel sweeping reference paths are generated by raster erosion of the lane map; for the sweeping task of the rectangular square, this paper proposes an improved bow-shaped full coverage algorithm combining forward and reverse based on the steering capacity constraint of the sanitation vehicle. Finally, the path articulation algorithm is used to connect the sweeping paths of suboperating areas to form a global reference path for the sweeping operation of the park.

Governing Europe's Recovery and Resilience Facility: Between Discipline and Discretion

AbstractThe EU's Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) represents a bold integrationist step in European economic governance. Besides the size of the fiscal envelope, the novelty also lies in the new governance. Member states prepare integrated investment and reform plans and need to fulfil milestones and targets to access funding. This article assesses the balance of power in negotiating the plans and the effect on domestic policymaking. Based on five case studies, we show that the RRF has enhanced the steering capacity of the European Commission on reforms and investments, while member states remain ultimately in charge of the plans. Second, we argue that, while the RRF enhances the efficiency of the policymaking process and allows the fast-forwarding of reforms, it has also led to a contractualization of the relationship with the EU and a centralization of decision-making processes within member states. This latter aspect may hamper ownership and legitimacy in policy implementation.

Steering ‘green’ innovation policy toward sustainability? Lessons from implementing EIP-AGRI in Sweden

This article critically examines the state's steering capacity of ‘green innovation’ programs using Sweden's implementation of the agricultural European Innovation Partnership (EIP-AGRI) as a case representing part of the EU's Green Deal. The innovations should promote the competitiveness of rural areas and contribute to national environmental protection and climate goals.We found that despite expectations, implementation rests on compartmentalized networking within the agricultural sector, prioritizing increased ‘competitiveness’ before ‘green’ development, and interpreting ‘innovation’ mainly in the technical sense. The results indicate that the state´s steering capacity of ‘green innovation’ programs meets several obstacles: the overall goals from the top tend to be both too many and too vague, leaving it to the administration to interpret what kinds of features should be prioritized from below. The state's steering in the case of EIP-AGRI relies mostly on internal agricultural expertise contrary to previous research that suggests a recent ‘de-compartmentalisation’ of European agricultural policymaking.

Steering Smart Mobility Services: Lessons from Seattle, Greater Manchester and Stockholm

This paper explores how three cities (Seattle, Greater Manchester and Stockholm) have approached the governance of smart mobility services in the early stages of their introduction. The research finds that cities have limited steering capacity, and when they do steer services this is done on the assumption that smart mobility will deliver wider social, environmental and economic good. While broad-ranging benefits are yet to materialise to any identifiable degree, the potential for smart mobility to tackle some of the challenges of automobility undoubtedly remains, and the new services are acting to change mobility patterns in cities, at least for some people. We focus on the need to develop clear accountability arrangements between the public and the private sector, which we see as a necessary element of a collaborative governance approach that allows both sides to identify shared goals and maximise their achievement. However, we stress that developing a collaborative approach requires cities to govern with intent, which means that services need to be deployed or permitted with clear objectives and an understanding of their anticipated impacts.

Low-Intensity Focused Ultrasound Neuromodulation for Stroke Recovery: A Novel Deep Brain Stimulation Approach for Neurorehabilitation?

Stroke as the leading cause of adult long-term disability and has a significant impact on patients, society and socio-economics. Non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) approaches such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) or transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) are considered as potential therapeutic options to enhance functional reorganization and augment the effects of neurorehabilitation. However, non-invasive electrical and magnetic stimulation paradigms are limited by their depth focality trade-off function that does not allow to target deep key brain structures critically important for recovery processes. Transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS) is an emerging approach for non-invasive deep brain neuromodulation. Using non-ionizing, ultrasonic waves with millimeter-accuracy spatial resolution, excellent steering capacity and long penetration depth, TUS has the potential to serve as a novel non-invasive deep brain stimulation method to establish unprecedented neuromodulation and novel neurorehabilitation protocols. The purpose of the present review is to provide an overview on the current knowledge about the neuromodulatory effects of TUS while discussing the potential of TUS in the field of stroke recovery, with respect to existing NIBS methods. We will address and discuss critically crucial open questions and remaining challenges that need to be addressed before establishing TUS as a new clinical neurorehabilitation approach for motor stroke recovery.

Non-compliance and non-enforcement: An unexpected outcome of flexible soft densification policy in the Netherlands

In many urban areas, governments are struggling to curb urban sprawl while simultaneously trying to keep up with growing pressures on the housing market. As a result, housing developments increasingly take place within the existing housing stock through soft densification in the form of subdivisions. Municipalities aim to regulate this type of densification because of growing pressure on existing infrastructure, neighborhood cohesion, and (rental) prices. This contribution looks at the city of Utrecht in the Netherlands as a case study, where small-scale private investors increasingly bought up owner-occupied homes to subdivide into rental homes. As a result, the executive council of the municipality introduced new subdivision regulations in 2016. It explores how the interests of the investors influenced the negotiations that took place during the policy formulation and implementation phases. Using a neo-institutionalist approach, we found that policy negotiations gave rise to an increased number of flexible rules on subdivisions, allowing municipal authorities to make decisions on a case-by-case basis. While official subdivisions have reduced drastically as a result of the new policy, investors have moved towards other less regulated opportunities or even illegal subdivisions. These findings highlight that while flexible implementation may provide more steering capacity for municipalities, it may also lead to non-compliance as an unexpected byproduct.

Dynamic Characteristics of New Mechanical Rotary Steerable Tool in Directional Drilling

The characteristics of a drill string system have an essential influence on the performance of directional drilling. The appropriate control method of a drill string is important to drilling efficiency and downhole operation safety. Therefore, based on a new mechanical rotary steerable tool (RST), this paper aims to analyze the Dynamic Characteristics of RST in Directional Drilling. First, considering the thrust force generated by the RST and bottom hole assembly (BHA), the governing vibration equations of a drill string system are established. Furthermore, connected with fields drilling parameters, including the effects of a new RST on a drill bit and wellbore, as the boundary and initial conditions, the dynamic characteristics of a drill string system are compared and studied in directional and straight drilling. The results show that the axial vibration of the drill string increases extremely in directional drilling process, while the weight on bit (WOB) and inclination force change in small range. Moreover, the torque and azimuth force tend to be stable soon, even its initial fluctuations are significantly. Also, the new RST can effectively enhance the steering capacity, increase the drilling efficiency, and improve drill bit force performance. The research results can provide reference for developing directional drilling technologies, including related tool design and optimization.

How does a Network Platform Work for Participating Actors Towards Integrated Care Governance? A Case Study of a Dutch Hospital Region.

Network platforms are interesting for integrated care governance as they seek solutions for the problem of competition and tensions between networks. In this paper, we analyse how a network platform functions for the actors involved, and how it is used in their work. We employed a case study in a Dutch urbanised hospital region, and conducted 17 interviews with hospital physicians, directors, and supporting staff who are involved in a network platform called "BeterKeten" (BK). Actors assign different functions and purposes to BK: facilitating and legitimising professional (learning) communities; adapting to a changing policy context; enlarging professionals' and the networks' circle of influence; and extending governing possibilities. Network platform' dynamics and frictions entail changing professional and managerial practices; embedding a BK network in a partner network; and alignment of (conflicting) network platforms. Network platforms are a promising strategy to govern, facilitate, and nurture network-building actions to enhance integrated care, offering new ways of working to cope with its multi-level nature. BK is a dynamic actor with steering capacities that enables the co-existence of multiple purposes. Further research could pay attention to how network platforms are able to develop modalities of integrated care governance that suit healthcare system's networked character.

Real-Time Predictive Control of Path Following to Stabilize Autonomous Electric Vehicles Under Extreme Drive Conditions

A novel real-time predictive control strategy is proposed for path following (PF) and vehicle stability of autonomous electric vehicles under extreme drive conditions. The investigated vehicle configuration is a distributed drive electric vehicle, which allows to independently control the torques of each in-wheel motor (IWM) for superior stability, but bringing control complexities. The control-oriented model is established by the Magic Formula tire function and the single-track vehicle model. For PF and direct yaw moment control, the nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) strategy is developed to minimize PF tracking error and stabilize vehicle, outputting front tires’ lateral force and external yaw moment. To mitigate the calculation burdens, the continuation/general minimal residual algorithm is proposed for real-time optimization in NMPC. The relaxation function method is adopted to handle the inequality constraints. To prevent vehicle instability and improve steering capacity, the lateral velocity differential of the vehicle is considered in phase plane analysis, and the novel stable bounds of lateral forces are developed and online applied in the proposed NMPC controller. Additionally, the Lyapunov-based constraint is proposed to guarantee the closed-loop stability for the PF issue, and sufficient conditions regarding recursive feasibility and closed-loop stability are provided analytically. The target lateral force is transformed as front steering angle command by the inversive tire model, and the external yaw moment and total traction torque are distributed as the torque commands of IWMs by optimization. The validations prove the effectiveness of the proposed strategy in improved steering capacity, desirable PF effects, vehicle stabilization, and real-time applicability.

Personalisation in disability policy and practice: an analysis through the lenses of professional actors

ABSTRACT ‘Personalisation’ is nowadays a very popular concept in disability policy and this article – drawing on my PhD research project in the English and Lombardian context of social care services for disabled people – aims to explore the translation of personalisation from policy into practice; hence the ways in which personalisation policy makes its way into disability services. In particular, drawing on street-level-bureaucracy, policy practice and network theories, personalisation is analysed here through the lenses of professional actors. The application of a mix of qualitative research methods brought me to two main conclusions: 1) narrow approaches to personalisation coexist with broader ones, leading to very different roles for professionals charged with translating personalisation policy into practice; 2) power differences and asymmetries are at play among different professional actors, with some having stronger discretional and policy steering capacity compared to others when it comes to informing person-centred care practice.

Enhanced-Stopband Dual-Polarized Filtenna Without Extra Circuit for Tile Array Applications

In this communication, a dual polarized (DP) stacked patch filtenna (filtering antenna) with a wide stopband is developed for tile array applications. The bandpass filtering property is realized by improving the feeding network and patch without adding extra bandpass circuit or size. An elaborate feeding structure with complementary pair of a short-circuited stub and an open-circuited stub (CSSOS) is developed, which generates two transmission nulls effectively enhancing the selectivity and suppressing the harmonic. Moreover, CSSOS has a small size and broadens the impedance bandwidth apparently by introducing an in-band resonance. By properly etching four U-shaped slots on the driven patch, a radiation null in the upper stopband is also generated. The nulls generated by the two approaches can be adjusted independently in wide ranges. For further harmonic suppression, bandstop striplines (BSSs) with ultralow insertion loss are developed. Measured results show that the filtenna performs a wide operating band (3.10–3.95 GHz) and a wide stopband up to 8 GHz with a rejection level higher than 16 dB. Besides, a 32-element tile phased array employing the filtennas is also fabricated and measured. A compact configuration, high selectivity, and good beam steering capacity are exhibited.

Design and Simulation of Wideband, High Gain Matrix Antenna with Beam Steering and Low Side-Lobe Levels Features

In this paper, a matrix antenna composed of radiating pixels elaborated in meta-materials is presented. The pixels are surmounted with a frequency selective structure and closed with four metallic walls. The cavity is excited by a radiating patch and filled with dielectric. This dielectric makes it possible to reduce the overall width of the pixel by increasing the dielectric length of the cavity while maintaining the performances of the pixel. The pixel is reduced to a width of 50.96 mm (0.34*λ) at 2 GHz. The -10 dB fractional bandwidth of the pixel is 22% (2-2.5 GHz). The pixel is then placed in a 17 elements matrix to achieve high steering angles. The optimization focuses on the steering capacity, the bandwidth and the side-lobes levels. On the whole band, the steering angle is more than 70° and the antenna achieves low side-lobes levels at less than -9.9 dB. A device to reduce the mutual coupling between the elements by using soft surfaces is also presented. These surfaces allow to widen the matching band while the steering is produced.

Design of Nonsmooth Groove Tire Bioinspired by Shark-Skin Riblet Structure.

As one of the major causes of traffic accidents on wet roads, hydroplaning is prone to occur when the traveling speed of a vehicle rises so high that the hydrodynamic pressure between pavement and tires equals inflation pressure. In this condition, the vehicle nearly loses braking and steering capacity. Inspired by the superior drag reduction function of shark-skin riblet, the purpose of this study is to arrange bionic nonsmooth structures at the bottom of longitudinal grooves to promote the hydroplaning performance without affecting other tire performances. A finite element model of 185/60R15 tire was employed and its accuracy was verified by loading tests with CSS-88100 electronic testing instrument. Meanwhile, a fluid domain model was founded by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method. The simulated critical hydroplaning speed was in accord with that obtained by the NASA empirical formula. Inspired by shark-skin riblet, three kinds of nonsmooth surfaces were exploited. In addition, the drag reduction rate, shear stress, and flow velocity distribution were compared for different grooves. Then, the optimized nonsmooth structure with the best drag reduction effect among three nonsmooth surfaces was arranged at the bottom of longitudinal grooves for bionic tire. Simulation results demonstrated that the bionic tire obviously decreased hydrodynamic lift and increased flow velocities. With these improvements, the critical hydroplaning speed was effectively improved for the bionic tire. These research results can be applied to the promotion of hydroplaning performance without degrading other tire performances.

Hydraulically Steerable Micro Guidewire Capable of Distal Sharp Steering.

Current steerable catheters or guidewires often cannot advance into small diameter vessels due to their large diameters or lack of sharp steering capacity. This paper proposes a hydraulically steerable guidewire with 400 μm diameter, which can access 1 mm diameter vessels whose branching angle is larger than 90 degrees. The designed steering mechanism consists of a flexible eccentric tube with inner micro patterns, which can bend in two different curvatures when pressurized. Its distal sharp curve of the 2 mm segment allows access to small diameter vessels because it provides a large steering angle even in confinement inside the narrow vessels. Its proximal gradual curve of the 9 mm segment allows access to relatively large diameter vessels because of its large steering distance. Fabrication of the steering mechanism uses a template and does not use adhesion or division. A 3D printed cylindrical template is patterned by stamping and chemically removed after silicone coating. The performance of selective insertion of the proposed guidewire is evaluated in a blood circulatory system specially developed to mimic human arterial environment. It emulates viscosity, pressure, and flow velocity inside the blood vessels as well as bifurcation geometry. Experiment result shows that the proposed guidewire can access 1 mm diameter vessels with 128 degrees of bifurcation angle. The developed guidewire uses only biocompatible materials including driving fluid.

Millimeter-Scale Soft Continuum Robots for Large-Angle and High-Precision Manipulation by Hybrid Actuation.

Developing small‐scale soft continuum robots with large‐angle steering capacity and high‐precision manipulation offers broad opportunities in various biomedical settings. However, existing continuum robots reach the bottleneck in actuation on account of the contradiction among small size, compliance actuation, large tender range, high precision, and small dynamic error. Herein, a 3D‐printed millimeter‐scale soft continuum robot with an ultrathin hollow skeleton wall (300 μm) and a large inner‐to‐outer ratio (0.8) is reported. After coating a thin ferromagnetic elastomer layer (≈100–150 μm), the proposed soft continuum robot equipped with hybrid actuation (tendon‐ and magnetic‐driven mode) achieves large‐angle (up to 100°) steering and high‐precision (low to 2 μm for static positioning) micromanipulation simultaneously. Specifically, the robot implements an ultralow dynamic tracking error of ≈10 μm, which is ≈30‐fold improved than the state of art. Combined with a microneedle/knife or nasopharyngeal swab, the robot reveals the potential for versatile biomedical applications, such as drug injection on the target tissue, diseased tissue ablation, and COVID‐19 nasopharyngeal sampling. The proposed millimeter‐scale soft continuum robot presents remarkable advances in large‐range and high‐precise actuation, which provides a new method for miniature continuum robot design and finds broad applications in biomedical engineering.

The compliance of land-use planning with strategic spatial planning – insights from Zurich, Switzerland

ABSTRACT Although many planning systems are based on a combination of traditional land-use planning and strategic spatial planning, the interplay between the two approaches remains insufficiently investigated. Focusing on the Canton of Zurich, we applied a qualitative content analysis to extract strategic planning intentions from the Cantonal Structure Plan (1995). We quantitatively analysed the compliance of changes in municipal land-use plans between 1996 and 2016 concerning the extracted planning intentions. The overall low rate of changes was accompanied by few active contradictions of land-use planning. Minor deviations from the strategic plan were seen in the spatial allocation of new building zones. Considering the socio-economic dynamics of the region, surprisingly few changes were detected regarding the permitted building density for residential and mixed-use areas. This leads us to the conclusion that the Cantonal Structure Plan (1995) was very successful in quantitatively limiting the expansion of building zones. However, it showed a limited active steering capacity regarding their allocation and the regulation of building density. Our analysis showed that margins of discretion play a key role in multi-level planning systems, balancing flexibility for locally adapted solutions against statutory boundaries to prevent their misuse, as such they need to be considered in planning evaluation.

Disciplinary effects of capital accumulation: Exploring the steering and fiscal capacity of the state in Italy and Spain

Calls against austerity have entered the political agenda of very different actors in the political spectrum – from social democratic to right-wing populist parties. In this article, we argue that the main failures in realizing these claims and thus overcoming austerity can hardly be explained only in terms of (lacking) political will. We rather approach this problem complex in the two emblematic cases of Italy and Spain by foregrounding the disciplinary effects of capital accumulation in both the countries through a long-term historical reconstruction of the fiscal and steering capacity of their respective state institutions. Despite key specificities in the respective fragile accumulation regimes, the main findings point to the fact that the structure of accumulation has imposed strong constraints in both Italy and Spain. An unstable and crisis-prone capital accumulation characterized by low productivity, a lack of sectoral diversity, regional fragmentation, as well as high levels of exposure and dependency within variegated capitalism have restricted state capacity – a tendency only ruptured in temporary boom-cycles. This, we argue, entails some major implications, first, to address the present failures of social democratic forces and second, to gauge the concrete transformative potential at the politico-economic level of populist calls for ‘breaking the chains’ of austerity.