To design regulatory policies, agencies depend on information from the industries they are tasked to regulate. Therefore, agencies can organise consultations with the aim of obtaining information from different perspectives. This article focuses on stakeholder diversity in agency public consultations. We ask to what extent is information provided by stakeholders other than the regulated sector, such as other business interests, experts or nonbusiness interests? Stakeholder diversity is relevant as it may prevent agencies to become exposed to one-sided information and capture by specialised interests. Are there consultation design factors that foster consultation diversity? Or, is (a lack of) consultation diversity structurally shaped by the context in which an agency operates? Analysing a wide range of public consultations organised by European Union regulatory agencies indicates that most information agencies receive via consultations comes from regulated interests and that the limited participation of nonregulated interests is highly tenacious.

In their pursuit of political influence, interest groups face the choice to contact policy elites directly or to generate pressure indirectly by appealing to the public at large. This article examines whether interest groups should prioritize inside or outside lobbying tactics in order to materialize their policy objectives, with a specific focus on European Union legislative policymaking. This article demonstrates that outside lobbying is not inherently more or less successful than inside lobbying; rather, the effect of inside or outside lobbying is conditional on the extent to which additional lobbying tactics are adopted and on the type of policy issues a lobbyist seeks to influence. The empirical approach of this article consists of an extensive media analysis and over 200 interviews with policy practitioners active on 78 policy proposals. The results indicate that outside lobbying leads to policy success when the lobbyist’s policy position enjoys popular endorsement within media debates and when the lobbyist engages in a coalition with other organized interests.

Using kerf-free wafering technologies material losses in semiconductor manufacturing processes can be reduced drastically. By the use of externally applied stress, crystalline materials can be separated along crystal planes with clearly defined thickness. Nevertheless, during this process striations caused by the crack propagation occur. These crack growth features are river and Wallner lines. In this work, we demonstrate a process for spalling that scales favorably for large-area semiconductor substrates with a diameter up to 300 mm. To get rid of the crack growth features, a laser-conditioning process with a high numerical aperture at photon energies below the material bandgap energy, using multi-photon effects is utilized. The process affords a surface roughness Ra after spalling of <1 µm.

Effects of temperature and interference were examined in a replacement series experiment with cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L. 'Stoneville 213′), spurred anoda Anoda cristata (L.) Schlecht. # ANVCR), and velvetleaf (Abutilon theophrasti Medic. # ABUTH). Plants were grown in controlled-environment greenhouses at day/night temperatures of 32/23 or 26/17 C, and harvested 14 or 39 days after planting. Height, dry weight, and leaf area at both harvests, and dry matter production and leaf area duration for the harvest interval were significantly greater in all species at 32/23 C than at 26/17 C. Interference reduced the dry weight per plant and leaf area at day 39, and dry matter production for the harvest interval. Cotton was somewhat superior to both weeds as a competitor at 32/23 C, while spurred anoda was somewhat superior to cotton and velvetleaf at 26/17 C.

Sicklepod (Cassia obtusifolia L. ♯6 CASOB), hemp sesbania [Sesbania exaltata (Raf.) Cory ♯ SEBEX], and showy crotalaria (Crotalaria spectabilis Roth. ♯ CVTSP) were grown in controlled-environment greenhouses with day/night temperatures of 23/17, 26/20, 29/23, and 32/26 C. Plant height, leaf area, and total dry weight at 53 days after planting increased significantly with temperatures between 23/17 and 29/23 C in sicklepod and showy crotalaria, and between 23/17 and 32/26 C in hemp sesbania. In all species, leaves were produced more rapidly as temperature increased. Axillary branch leaf production was greatest at 29/23 C in sicklepod, and at 29/23 and 26/20 C in showy crotalaria; hemp sesbania showed little axillary branch development. Total dry-matter production in all species was closely correlated with leaf area duration, but not with net assimilation rate. Differences in total main stem leaf area in all species were primarily due to differences in leaf number rather than to differences in leaf size at maturity.

The C4 weed johnsongrass [Sorghum halepense (L.) Pers. ♯3 SORHA] and the C3 crop soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr. ‘Ransom’] were grown separately and in inter- and intraspecific competition at 350 and 675 ppm CO2 in controlled environment chambers with 29/23 C day/night temperatures and 950 μE·m-2 · s-1 PPFD (photosynthetic photon flux density). In the absence of competition, the higher CO2 concentration stimulated dry matter accumulation, leaf area expansion, net assimilation rate, and leaf area duration of soybean more than that of johnsongrass. The plant relative yield (PRY) of soybean in competition with johnsongrass increased, and the PRY of johnsongrass in competition with soybean decreased, as the CO2 concentration was increased from 350 to 675 ppm. Thus, the competitiveness of the C3 crop with the C4 weed increased with increasing CO2 concentration. Relative yield totals were not significantly different from 1.0, indicating that the two species were competing for the same resources. With the increases in global atmospheric CO2 concentration predicted for the next 50 to 100 yr, the competitiveness of C3 crops with C4 weeds could be increased.

There is consensus in the literature that policymaking in the United States (US) and Europe generates different lobbying styles. Two explanations for these differences have been developed so far. The first posits that distinct lobbying styles reflect different political cultures. The second attributes distinct lobbying styles to variation in the institutional context in which lobbyists operate. Studies that have analysed lobbying within the US and Europe and assessed the relative importance of these arguments are problematic because both explanations are consistent with observed differences in lobbying style. In this article, we circumvent problems of observational equivalence by focussing on European and American lobbyists who are active in a similar institutional venue – that is, international diplomatic conferences. Relying on evidence collected at World Trade Organization Ministerial Conferences and United Nation Climate Summits, we tested the relevance of alternative explanations for the variation in lobbying styles between European and American lobbyists. Our results give robust support to the institutional argument.

The degree to which interest groups gain access to policymakers has often been explained by focusing on the exchange of resources in a dyadic relation between interest groups and policymakers. This article argues that the position an interest group occupies within a coalition and the relations it has outside its coalition substantially affect the likelihood of gaining access to policymakers. Our empirical focus is on the Dutch interest group system for which we examine how coalitions among groups and the network position of interest groups within and between such coalitions shape access. The analysis, based on data collected among 107 Dutch interest groups and 28 policymakers, leads to the conclusion that network positions count differently for elected and non-elected officials, and that network ties that bridge different coalitions add significant explanatory leverage to resource-based explanations of access.

The openness of the World Trade Organization (WTO) towards non-state actors has led to much debate among scholars and practitioners. The objective of this paper is to add empirical knowledge to this ongoing debate. In particular, we examine the effects of allowing interest groups to participate at WTO Ministerial Conferences (MCs) during 1996–2009 by analyzing a novel dataset of 1992 interest organizations that attended seven MCs. The data we present demonstrate that, in contrast to what many expected, the WTO did not attract a more diverse population of interest groups since these organizations were allowed to participate at MCs. Moreover, we observe an increasing overrepresentation of some specific issue-related interests, especially agriculture, and a strong presence of Northern American and European interest organizations attending MCs. Another important observation is that MCs are not particularly dominated by business interests at the expense of NGOs (non-governmental organization), who are also consistently well represented at the WTO meetings. Yet, the high levels of volatility observed at the level of individual organizations suggests that, although it is rather easy to start lobbying at WTO MCs, only a relatively small number of interest organizations keep a long lobbying presence at this level.

We report on a direct comparison of the effect of the atmospheric contaminants on a-Si:H and μc-Si:H p-i-n solar cells deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) at 13.56 MHz. Nitrogen and oxygen were inserted by two types of controllable contamination sources: (i) directly into the plasma through a leak at the deposition chamber wall or (ii) into the process gas supply line. Similar critical concentrations in the range of 4-6×1018 cm-3 for nitrogen and 1.2-5×1019 cm-3 for oxygen were observed for both a-Si:H and μc-Si:H cells for the chamber wall leak. Above these critical concentrations the solar cell efficiency decreases for a-Si:H solar cells due to losses in the fill factor under red light illumination (FFred). For μc-Si:H cells the losses in FFred and in short-circuit current density deteriorate the device performance. Only for a-Si:H the critical oxygen concentration is found to depend on the contamination source. Conductivity measurements suggest that at the critical oxygen concentration the Fermi level is located about 0.05 eV above midgap for both a-Si:H and μc-Si:H.

Neofunctional, supranationalist, and constructivist scholars studying European integration hypothesize that social interactions cutting across national borders lead individual actors to shift their allegiance toward the European level. This strong socialization hypothesis presumes that, as a result of prolonged exposure and interactions, individuals adopt role conceptions that promote a sense of “we-ness” and that fit into a view of the European Union (EU) as an autonomous level primarily designed for finding policy solutions in the interest of a common, European, good. In contrast, this article offers an institutional understanding of role enactment that argues that socialization—that is, the adoption of role conceptions—is considerably shaped by actors' embeddedness in multiple European and domestic contexts. Based on quantitative interview data, I demonstrate that, in contrast to the strong socialization hypothesis, extensive exposure to the European level does not necessarily lead to supranational role playing. On the contrary, domestic factors, rather than European-level conditions, positively affect the adoption of supranational role conceptions.Thanks to Ambassador Frans Van Daele and Ambassador Philippe de Shoutheete de Tervarent, who allowed interviews on aspects of this article. I also express my gratitude toward the ISPO-team of the University of Leuven, Belgium, for their help in doing the fieldwork, and to Jan De Bock and Vincent Mertens de Wilmars for the crucial information they provided. Data collection was made possible by a grant from the Fund for Scientific Research–Flanders (Belgium) and was supervised by Guido Dierickx (University of Antwerp, Belgium). Special thanks go to the participants in the various IDNET-workshops and the ARENA research seminar (April 2002), to IO editors Thomas Risse and Lisa Martin, two anonymous reviewers, and Karen Anderson, Morten Egeberg, Jeff Checkel, Alexandra Gheciu, Jeffrey Lewis, Marianne van der Steeg, Mark Rhinard, Jarle Trondal, and Maarten Vink for their extensive and constructive comments.

In populations of herring (Clupea harengus) or sprat (Sprattus sprattus), one typically observes a pattern of schools forming at dawn and dispersing at dusk, usually combined with vertical migration. This behaviour influences interactions with other species; hence a better understanding of the processes could contribute to deeper insight into ecosystem dynamics. This paper reports field measurements of the dispersal at dusk and examines two hypotheses through statistical modelling: that the vertical migration and the dissolution of schools is determined by decrease in light intensity, and that the dissolution of schools can be modelled by diffusion, i.e. active repulsion is not required. The field measurements were obtained during 3 days in March at one location in the Baltic Sea and included continuous hydroacoustical monitoring, trawl samples, and hydrographical CTD data. Echogram patterns were analysed using the school detection module in Echoview® and local light intensities were calculated using a model for surface illuminance. The data and the analysis support that schools migrate upwards during dusk, possibly trying to remain aggregated by keeping the local light intensities above a critical threshold, that schools initiate their dissolution when ambient light intensity drops below this critical threshold, and that fish subsequently swim in an uncorrelated random walk pattern.

The efficiency-wage-hours model allows for efficiency effects from both wages and working hours. It is shown that it is essential for static-comparative results to distinguish between working hours per worker and the number of workers in an efficiency-wage-hours model contrary to the basic efficiency-wage model. The wage rate and working hours increase with increasing non-wage labour costs while the employment level decreases. This yields the possibility to influence these variables by means of government action. There does not only exist an efficiency wage but also an efficiency working time. Both are invariant with respect to changes in productivity.