European Core Research Articles

Regional and Sectoral Effects of a Common Monetary Policy: Evidence from Euro Referenda in Denmark and Sweden

This article provides empirical evidence for the (anticipated) net costs and benefits of a common monetary policy that varies across regions depending on the industry mix. The paper is the first to approach the issue of the regional and sectoral effects of a common monetary policy by using empirical spatial models to analyze referenda. Here, the referenda examined are the 2000 and 2003 referenda held in Denmark and Sweden regarding participation in the EMU. We find that voters in regions with a high proportion of interest-sensitive sectors and low international integration tend to oppose participation in a currency union. The opposite is true for non-interest-sensitive sectors with relatively high integration. These findings are in line with the hypothesis of rational voters maximizing utility. Furthermore, perceived net costs are found to increase with distance from the European core and with the age of voters, indicating that a national currency represents an experience good. These results are robust to spatial dependencies and are not driven by broader forms of Euro-skepticism.

Regional convergence platforms in Europe—Innovation for space through technology partnerships

Upcoming European and national space exploration programs and projects require new capabilities and scientific-technological solutions, and therefore external contributions to innovation. On the other hand European core (industrial) regions are searching of partners for innovation to strengthen their regional economy. In this context the German-based company European Space Innovation AG (former Adam Alva Neil)—highly experienced in the area of convergence activities between space and other sectors—has developed the model of regional convergence platforms (named ‘SpaceInnovation’). These platforms are designed to foster technology partnerships between regional companies and institutes from ‘non-space’ and the space sector (agencies/industry). The article reflects this regional approach and shows examples in three different directions: • SpaceInnovation Saar, an benchmark convergence platform initiated by the Saarland region. • SpaceInnovation Europe, an European regions network approach. • European SpaceInnovation Agent, an interface approach for systematic and sustainable convergence activities.

Foreign Patenting in Germany, 1877-1932

In this paper, we use both patents’ individual life span and foreign patenting activities in Germany to identify the most valuable patents of the 21 most innovative countries (except for Germany) from the European Core, the European periphery and overseas between 1877 and 1932. Our empirical analysis reveals that important characteristics of the international distribution of foreign patents are time-invariant. In particular, the distribution of foreign patents across countries in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was as highly skewed as it was in the late twentieth century – and even dominated by the same major research economies. Our analysis suggests that firms’ technological advantages were influenced both by exogenous local factors, such as the countries’ resource endowment, and by endogenous factors, such as the national education and research system or the countries’ actual stage of economic development.

Explaining the world as a system: can it be done?

Explaining the world as a system: can it be done?

Transnationalism and the Novel: A Call for Periodization

Nearly a quarter century after Benedict Anderson's Imagined Communities, the novel seems to be less a national subject than a flexible citizen. But before Ian Watt's The Rise of the Novel, most novel histories took the mobility of prose fictions for granted; writers had long recognized and detailed the history of romance and then novel translations and adaptations. This essay takes stock of this return to translative novel history and calls for a more rigorously historicized use of the term transnational. When the novel became a modern, national literary phenomenon by the end of the eighteenth century, it also began its course as a transnational genre for the first time. Its transnationality was an effect of a particularly modern set of practices and attitudes about translating fiction in the European core. Thus transnationalism describes a new period in prose fiction's mobility that sets it apart from a premodern praxis of transmission—a historical juncture that has been occluded by novel theory. The novel was not always transnational, but its emergence as a modern genre depended on it.

Operating wavelengths optimization for a spaceborne lidar measuring atmospheric CO_2

The Advanced Space Carbon and Climate Observation of Planet Earth (A-SCOPE) mission, a candidate for the next generation of European Space Agency Earth Explorer Core Missions, aims at measuring CO(2) concentration from space with an integrated path differential absorption (IPDA) lidar. We report the optimization of the lidar instrument operating wavelengths, building on two performance models developed to assess measurement random errors from the instrument, as well as knowledge errors on geophysical and spectral parameters required for the measurement processing. A promising approach to decrease sensitivity to water vapor errors by 1 order of magnitude is reported and illustrated. The presented methods are applicable for any airborne or spaceborne IPDA lidar.

Core curriculum for the heart rhythm specialist: executive summary

Heart rhythm (HR) management is rapidly developing as a subspecialty within cardiology, and it is imperative to promote and ensure sufficient and homogeneous training and qualification amongst professionals in Europe. This has led the European Society of Cardiology, through the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA), to organize a European Core Curriculum for the HR specialist through the following: definition of the scope of the HR speciality (Syllabus), development of minimum standards and objectives for training in HR management (Curriculum), development of a model to certify HR professionals and teaching units (Accreditation), and development of a Registry for European HR accredited professionals and teaching units and its activity (Registries). The duration of the training period should be of a minimum of 2 years following general cardiology training. During this period, the trainee must develop the required knowledge, practical skills, behaviours, and attitudes to manage HR patients. The trainee must be involved in a minimum number of different procedures and achieve specified levels of competence. The training centre should be integrated within a full-service cardiology department. Assessment of the trainee and the training programmes should include reports by the training programme supervisor and the national society HR organizations, a logbook of procedures, written examinations, and assessment of professionalism. The EHRA presently requires the trainee to pass the EHRA accreditation exams (invasive EP and cardiac pacing and ICDs). Continuous learning and practice are required to maintain standards and practice and because substantial changes may occur in clinical practice or the health-care environment.

Core curriculum for the heart rhythm specialist†

Heart rhythm (HR) management is rapidly developing as a subspecialty within cardiology and it is imperative to promote and ensure sufficient and homogeneous training and qualification among professionals in Europe. This encouraged the European Society of Cardiology, through the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA), to organize a European Core Curriculum for the HR specialist through the following: definition of the scope of the HR speciality (Syllabus), development of minimum standards and objectives for training in HR management (Curriculum), development of a model to certify HR professionals and teaching units (Accreditation), and development of a Registry for European HR accredited professionals and teaching units and their activity (Registries). The duration of the training period should be of a minimum of 2 years following general cardiology training. During this period, the trainee must develop the required knowledge, practical skills, behaviours, and attitudes to manage HR patients. The trainee must be involved in a minimum number of different procedures and achieve specified levels of competence. The training centre should be integrated within a full-service cardiology department. Assessment of the trainee and the training programmes should include reports by the training programme supervisor and the national society HR organizations, a logbook of procedures, written examinations, and assessment of professionalism. The EHRA presently requires the trainee to pass the EHRA accreditation exams (invasive EP and cardiac pacing and ICDs). Continuous learning and practice are required to maintain standards and practice because substantial changes may occur in clinical practice or the health-care environment.

London Calling?

Preferred emigration destinations among adolescents reflect images and stereotypes of other countries that continuously emerge in a multitude of local and global discourses and from concrete experiences with other countries. The affinities of Icelandic adolescents are split among the islands of the Northern Atlantic, continental Nordic countries, European core countries and North American countries. If they had to leave Iceland, however, the largest proportion of Icelandic adolescents would want to move to the United States. Girls are more likely to choose the Nordic countries, in particular Denmark, and boys English-speaking countries with a reputation for economic and military power, such as the United States and Britain. Adolescents are more likely to prefer migrating to Europe rather than North America if they are proud of their Icelandic nationality, live in cohesive communities, have more educated parents and feel closer to Europe. Adolescents who want to move abroad are, in contrast, most likely to have North American destinations in mind. Recent geopolitical changes, however, may shift the attention of Icelandic adolescents eastward towards the European continent.

The Logic of Structured Dialogue between Religious Associations and the Institutions of the European Union

Aside from the controversy surrounding the proposed inclusion of an Invocatio Dei in the preamble to the European Union's (EU's) defunct Draft Constitution, a more muted controversy centred on the inclusion of a provision for structured dialogue between the institutions of the EU and communities of faith and conviction. This provision for dialogue, previously Article I.52.3 of the Draft Constitution, was retained in the Lisbon Treaty of 2007 as Article 17.3. The following article evaluates the logic for the inclusion of such a dialogue provision, focusing on the rationale of the European Commission body tasked with its coordination, as well as its potential role in intercultural understanding, the crystallisation of a European identity and core values, and the promotion of religious freedom and social justice. The putative imperatives examined are found to be insufficient to justify a differentiated dialogue provision.

Dental Education in Europe

Dental Education in Europe

INTRODUCTION TO SPECIAL ISSUE OF TRAMES “REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES OF EU BORDER REGIONS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE INTERACTION BETWEEN THE EU AND COUNTRIES OF ITS IMMEDIATE NEIGHBOURHOOD”

The land border between the EU and the countries covered by the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) has increased since 2004 from 1300 to 5100 kilometres. This border demands efficient management and security measures; but it is also characterised by the history of economic and cultural cross-border contacts that need to be preserved and developed further for the sake of cohesion. ENP aims to create a new cooperation framework for the EU and thus combines two sets of goals--external policy objectives to keep good neighbourly relations with countries located on EU borders and EU Regional Policy's quest for social and economic cohesion in the European peripheral regions in the context of enlargement. ENP also discusses the need for cooperation in the fields of security (e.g. migration and readmission agreements), although this is seemingly a lesser priority. Central to the EU enlargements and ENP has always been the notion of conditionality--a system of carrot and stick where soft and open borders constitute a reward for progress in meeting European standards. Well-behaving neighbours can count on better market opportunities in a more stable economic and political environment. As the EU's boundaries has shifted geographically, it is necessary to investigate the extent to which meaningful forms of conflict prevention, problem-solving and other forms of collective action are emerging in Central and Eastern European border regions. In what ways could cross-border regionalisation in these countries contribute to European multilevel governance? As enlargement presents a major political, economic and social challenge for the EU it has also far-reaching effects on the acceding countries (and their regions) which, while striving to adopt the acquis communautaire, have to deal with fundamental societal transformations and rapid structural change. In the course of several enlargement waves (e.g. Greece 1981, Austria, Sweden, Finland 1995, Big Bang 2004 with inclusion of Romania and Bulgaria in 2007) the EU has reached the borders of the Balkans, Turkey and Russia. It is mostly at the regional level where the manifold challenges posed by EU enlargement, including institutional adaptation, conflict prevention, as well as diversity of interests and heterogeneity, come together with magnified intensity. As such, border regions appear to be key elements in facilitating the European integration and enlargement process. They are seen as flexible vehicles for cross-border mobilisation of collective action in addressing social, economic and environmental issues. In cases where new borders have emerged or the old ones tightened, euroregions, economic partnerships, twin-city initiatives, cross-border urban networks and similar forms of interaction have also come into being. These cooperation patterns reflect the attempts to use border as a resource for economic and cultural exchange as well as for building coalitions for regional development purposes. The first cases of cross-border cooperation (CBC) within the European Community appeared already in the 1950s and since then CBC has developed into a variety of institutionalised forms. In the course of time and due to the continuous European enlargement process, similar activities attempting to transcend the barriers to trade and people-to-people contacts have emerged more intensively at the external borders. Nevertheless, it is important to emphasise that regions at the EU's eastern borders represent a considerable challenge to national development policies as well as to European cohesion. These regions are, by and large, peripheral areas, not only far from the dynamic European core but often distant from prosperous national centres. Many of them continue to suffer from out-migration, de-industrialisation, and negative demographic trends. In addition, neighbouring regions on the other side of the border are similarly disadvantaged, resulting in 'double peripheries' within a wider European context. …

Testing the goodness of supplementary feeding to enhance population viability in an endangered vulture.

BackgroundHuman-predator conflicts are directly or indirectly threatening many species with extinction. Thus, biologists are urged to find simple solutions to complex situations while avoiding unforeseen conservation outcomes. The provision of supplementary food at artificial feeding sites (AFS) is frequently used in the conservation of scavenger bird populations currently suffering from indirect poisoning, although no scientific studies on its effectiveness have been conducted.Methodology/Principal FindingsWe used a long-term data set of 95 individually marked birds from the largest European core of the endangered bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) to test the long-term effects of specific AFS for bearded vultures on their survival rates (by CMR models) and population dynamics (by Monte Carlo simulations) in an area where fatalities derived from illegal poisoning and the use of other toxics like veterinary drugs have increased over the last several years. Our data support the positive relationship between the use of AFS and survival. However, contrary to theoretical predictions (e.g. high and more stable adult survival among long-lived species), the use of AFS increased only survival of pre-adults. Moreover, AFS buffered the effects of illegal poisoning on this age-class, while adult survival decreased over years. Our simulations predicted a maximum value of extinction probability over a time horizon of 50 years. Population projections run with survival rates expected in scenarios without poisoning predicted the situation of least conservation concern, while including only AFS can maintain a large floater surplus that may delay population decline but fails to reduce poisoning risk among adults.Conclusions/SignificanceAlthough AFS are not effective to save bearded vultures from an expected population decline, they delay population extinction and can be a useful tool for prolonging population viability while combating illegal and indirect poisoning. The eradication of different sources of poisoning is of top priority to ensure the long-term viability of this and many other species.

Tengeri közlekedés és globális gazdasági kapcsolatok – A tengerhajózás fejletlenségének következményei Kelet-Európa világpiaci kapcsolataira

A globális gazdaságba integrálódás, a világpiacon való megjelenés szempontjából még az infokommunikációs/posztindusztriálisnak titulált társadalom kibontakozásakor is meghatározó szerepe van a nagyteljesítményű tengeri szállításnak. Kelet-Európa kereskedelmi kapcsolataiban egyre nagyobb arányt képviselnek a távoli világrészek beszerzési és értékesítési piacai, azonban mind az export, mind az import áruk tengeri szállításában a hazai flották összeroppanása óta a volt szocialista országok kiszolgáltatottak az idegen hajózási társaságoknak. Kelet-Közép-Európa tengeri kereskedelmének feltűnően nagy hányada a viszonylag távoli északi-tengeri megakikötőkön és csak kisebb részben a jóval közelebbi kelet-európai beltengeri kikötőkön keresztül áramlik. A cikk a régiónkbeli tengerhajózásban kialakult aránytalanságokkal és kedvezőtlen következményeikkel foglalkozik.

European curriculum recommendations for training in adult respiratory medicine: crossing boundaries with HERMES

Preventing, curing or alleviating suffering from respiratory diseases has always been part of the European Respiratory Society's (ERS) mission. In that respect, promoting and providing state-of-the-art medical education, in order to achieve the highest possible standards of practice in respiratory medicine and to improve harmonisation of training across Europe, is a major priority for the ERS. In 2005, in order to support these ambitious objectives, the ERS School established the HERMES initiative (Harmonisation of Education in Respiratory Medicine for European Specialists). The aim of the first project under this initiative was to improve the harmonisation of training in adult respiratory medicine across Europe. This project was led by a Task Force of 13 international experts. The first phase of the project, undertaken during 2005 and 2006, was to obtain a Europe-wide consensus to develop a European core syllabus for training in adult respiratory medicine. The syllabus was produced and published in 2006 by the HERMES Task Force 1, 2. The extensive coverage that was dedicated to the 2006 syllabus throughout Europe certainly confirmed the merit and validity of the initiative. A survey performed across 18 countries in December 2007 revealed that seven countries had already proceeded to implementation, one was undergoing implementation and the remaining 10 countries already had plans of implementation in place. In addition, the syllabus is available on the ERS website in 24 languages and has been published in several national publications and on various national society websites 3–5. The syllabus has also been presented and discussed at 14 national and regional congresses. Between 2006 and 2008, the HERMES Task Force moved on to the second phase of the project. The aim was to add to the syllabus by producing consensus recommendations for the development of a full European curriculum for training …

Proposed re‐dating of the European ice core chronology by seven years prior to the 7th century AD

Progress in the study of past climate change requires integration of historical documentation, tree‐ring data and ice‐core chemistry. Larsen et al. (2008) re‐evaluate volcanic acid signals in the Dye‐3, GRIP and NGRIP ice cores and identify large eruptions at 529 ± 2 and 533–534 ± 2; the latter claimed to cause the ‘dry fog’ of 536–537 and environmental consequences to 550; this conflicts with previous suggestions of a two stage environmental event; one in 536, the second c.540. Understanding the full range of natural hazards requires critical evaluation of the happenings in the mid‐6th century. This paper will show that 4 spaced tree‐ring responses to extreme environmental conditions in the 6th century can be used to re‐locate 4 key ice‐acid dates. Moving the ice‐core chronology forward 7 years places two large volcanoes in 536 and 541 explaining the extended duration of the 536–550 effects and anchoring the ice chronology.

Western Europeans and Others: The Making of Europe at the United Nations

This article examines the emergence of the so-called Western European and Others Group as well as that of the caucus of European Communities at the General Assembly of the United Nations based on a study of documents from Nordic foreign ministries in the period 1945 to 1975. It shows that the global entanglement of Western Europe both stimulated and inhibited the development of closer subcontinental collaboration during the Cold War, and it demonstrates that a European core was necessary for facilitating common political action. The hesitant and reactive evolution of Western European collaboration at the United Nations, the arbitrariness of its geographical scope, and the alienation of its members provide a key to understanding European identity in the second half of the twentieth century.

Suez 1956: A European Intervention?

This article does not analyse events in the Middle East. It is concerned with the structural background of the Suez Crisis. The Cold War bargain of 1949-50, and thus the Western bloc architecture, was challenged in 1956 and 1962-63. The Suez Crisis and the SKYBOLT Affair are classic examples of intra-bloc conflict. This article focuses on inter-allied conflict during the Suez Crisis. The crisis year 1956 witnessed a European challenge to the bipolar order of the Cold War. It is the hypothesis of this article that the mystique of the Suez Crisis unravels, if the events are interpreted as a clash of conflicting world views. The article attempts to enhance our understanding of the crisis by exploring the impact of the formation of a European core on the transatlantic pluralistic security community. The article will thus re-evaluate the architectural debate within the Western partial system. It is the aim to shed new light on the almost unexplored European foreign-policy co-operation within the Western European Union (WEU) in the crisis year 1956.

European vocational education and training: a prerequisite for mobility?

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the internationalisation of nearly all spheres of society and the process of European integration will be leading to the development of a European vocational education and training (VET) architecture.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis of the “Copenhagen process” is based on the EU documents on the realisation of a European Qualifications Framework and a credit transfer system.FindingsThe result of the study shows that the strategy adopted by the European Union for the establishment of a European area of vocational education is confronted with a dilemma. The European Qualifications Framework is highly abstract since any reference to real educational programmes and qualifications and any concrete provision for the transition and for the transferability between educational levels and sectors (vocational and higher education, initial and continuing training) was avoided in order to adhere to the anti‐harmonisation clause. The result is an abstract, hierachically structured one‐dimensional qualifications framework that lacks any reference to existing VET systems and that contradicts all scientific insights from VET research and knowledge research.Practical implicationsThe implications for VET policy are far‐reaching. A European area of vocational education can be established only on the basis of European open core occupations and an open VET architecture, which ensures that vocational education becomes an integral part of national educational systems. The qualification of employees for the intermediary sector can be realised only as a European project.Originality/valueThere are only a few contributions available that undertake a conceptual analysis and critique of the European Qualifications Framework.

Identification of variant alleles at AmpFlSTR SGM Plus STR loci in a sample population of Bangladesh

DNA profiles obtained from 442 individuals using AmpFlSTR® SGM Plus™ PCR amplification kit (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA, USA) were screened for variant alleles not included within allelic ladder provided by the manufacturer. A total of 5 distinct variants were identified at 3 of the 10 European core STR loci tested. This study identified one variant at D16S539 locus (allele 7), two variants at D21S11 locus (allele 29.3 and 34.1) and two other rare variants at D19S433 locus (allele 11.2 and 18). Of these 5 alleles, variant 29.3 and 34.1 found at D21S11 have been previously reported in Caucasians and African Americans. The rest three variants (allele 7 at D16S539, allele 11.2 and 18 at D19S433) have been separately reported in STRBase (http://www.cstl.nist.gov/biotech/strbase), but no published reports are available. All these alleles fell within the allelic range of the allelic ladder except allele 18 at D19S433 locus, which fell outside the range.