Northwestern European Countries Research Articles

EU Citizen support for climate-friendly agriculture (Farm) and dietary options (Fork) across the left-right political spectrum

ABSTRACT This paper aims to improve understanding of how EU citizens’ left-right political positions and ideological polarization on climate change affect their views on both agriculture and diet in the context of climate change policy. It uses the methods of survey research and quantitative analyses of the data (principal components and regression analysis). The work combines the Farm- and Fork-related branches of Eurobarometer 93.2 (2020) and focuses on citizens’ responses to a more climate-friendly agriculture and their ideas about ‘eating a healthy and sustainable diet’. The analysis revealed different degrees of citizen support for a more climate-friendly agriculture and climate-friendly dietary options (including meat reduction). Citizens’ left-right political position correlated negatively with support for a more climate-friendly agriculture and support for climate-friendly dietary options, but only in the Northwestern European countries. In these countries, the expected positive correlations between level of education and pro-environmental variables were found, but these correlations were not observed among the right-leaning participants. However, the positive correlation between support for a more climate-friendly agriculture and support for climate-friendly dietary options was less strongly affected by left-right political positions. Hence, public opinion is moving in the direction of EU climate policy over time; however, citizens did not fully acknowledge the priority of meat reduction in this context.

Meta-analysis: A useful tool to assess infection prevalence and disease ecology of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato in nymphal ticks in North-Western Europe with recommendations for a standardised approach to future studies

Lyme borreliosis is a vector-borne disease of concern in Europe. While neuroborreliosis data are reportable at EU level, it can nevertheless be difficult to make comparisons of disease risk between neighbouring countries. This study used proportion meta-analyses to compare environmental markers of disease risk between woodland sites in two countries in North-Western Europe (Ireland, Scotland). 73 site-visits from 12 publications were analysed, resulting in a significantly higher pooled nymphal infection prevalence (NIP) in Ireland (8.2% (95% CI: 5.9–11.4%)) than Scotland (1.7%(95% CI 1.1–2.5%)). All other analysed parameters of disease risk were also higher in Ireland than Scotland. Subgroup-meta-analyses and meta-regressions were used to assess the influence of environmental variables on NIP. NIP increased significantly with increasing woodland size in Ireland, but not Scotland, which may be accounted for by Ireland's highly fragmented landscape.Assuming the application of strict inclusion/exclusion criteria and control of variables, proportion meta-analysis can provide useful insights in disease ecology, as it allows for the achievement of high study powers incorporating samples collected across multiple sites, which is otherwise often a prohibitively difficult and resource-heavy feat in environmental studies in disease ecology. A standardised approach to data collection is recommended to achieve more robust meta-analyses in future in conjunction with additional research on environmental factors affecting Lyme borreliosis risk in Europe, particularly pertaining to the impact of host species on NIP.

Gastric cancer incidence and mortality trends 2007-2016 in three European countries.

BACKGROUND : Increased awareness of gastric cancer risk, easy access to upper endoscopy, and high definition endoscopes with virtual chromoendoscopy may have led to the increase in early diagnosis of gastric cancer observed in recent years in Europe, which may be associated with improved survival. Currently, no data exist on the impact of early diagnosis on survival at a populational level in Europe. Our aim was to assess gastric cancer incidence, early diagnosis, and survival in northwestern and southern European countries with a low-to-moderate incidence of gastric cancer. METHODS : Data on 41 138 gastric cancers diagnosed in 2007-2016 were retrieved from national cancer registries of Belgium, the Netherlands, and northern Portugal. Age-standardized incidence and mortality rates were assessed and expressed per 100 000 person-years. Early diagnosis was defined as T1 tumors. Net survival estimates for 2007-2011 vs. 2012-2016 were compared. RESULTS : Age-standardized incidence and mortality decreased over time in Belgium, northern Portugal, and the Netherlands (relative incidence decrease 8.6 %, 4.5 %, and 46.8 %, respectively; relative mortality decrease 22.0 %, 30.9 %, and 50.0 %, respectively). Early gastric cancer diagnosis increased over time for all countries. Net 1-year survival improved significantly between the two time periods in all countries, and at 5 years in Belgium and Portugal. CONCLUSIONS : This is the first study comparing trends (2007-2016) in gastric cancer incidence and mortality in some European countries. We found an increasing proportion of T1 gastric cancers and a decrease in age-standardized mortality over time, supporting the use of secondary prevention strategies.

Not the Far-Right Only: Which Parties Occupy the Niche of Cultural Protectionism in the EU Countries?

In the 2010s many moderate parties in Europe began to use the agenda of the far-rights, competing with them on the same field. This article is devoted to the problem of inter-party competition in European countries amidst the rise of far-right parties. We also intended to check if the far-right profile is the same for all EU countries. To achieve the goal of the study, we used two databases on party positioning - MARPOR (Comparative Manifesto Project) and CHES (Chapel Hill Expert Survey). The study revealed that the consolidated family of the far-rights exists only in the countries of North-Western Europe, while in the countries of East-Central Europe the agenda of the far-rights is less consolidated and regionally heterogeneous. The mainstream competitors of the far-rights included mostly conservatives in North-Western Europe, and various parties, including the Social Democrats, in East-Central Europe. The study confirmed the hypothesis about the serious influence of the far-rights on mainstream politics. At the same time, it questioned the traditional approach which attributes the far-right profile only to far-right parties and ignores both regional differences and the factor of spatial competition.

Soybean response and profitability upon inoculation and nitrogen fertilisation in Belgium

The recent introduction of soybean cultivation in Belgium and several other north-western European countries holds great potential for sustainable agriculture. Agricultural practices must be fine-tuned to optimise yield and quality before soybean will become a profitable crop for Belgian farmers. The effect of inoculation and N fertilisation on crop yield, protein content and relative profitability of soybean in Belgium was studied. Trials with nitrogen (N) fertilisation and inoculation of soybean were performed during two seasons (2016 and 2017) at two locations (Geel and Merelbeke) in Belgium. Nitrogen was applied as mineral fertiliser at different doses (0 N, 35 N, 70 N or 140 N) at the day of sowing and/or at the R1 stage. Highest yields and protein contents were obtained upon inoculation, showing that inoculation is the most appropriate practice to increase yield and protein levels of soybean in Belgium. Inoculation also increased thousand grain weight and improved several biophysical parameters calculated from chlorophyll a fluorescence measurements. Additionally, inoculation and N fertilisation raised chlorophyll content of the soybean leaves and N content and N uptake of the aboveground biomass. Application of N inhibited nodulation of inoculated soybeans. Tolerance to lodging and oil contents were lower upon inoculation or N application. Relative profitability (RP) of inoculated soybeans was higher than for non-inoculated soybeans. Application of N fertiliser to soybeans did not significantly increase RP. Optimisation of inoculation and nodulation is the best approach to maximise yield and protein content and thus to improve the economic viability of soybean cultivation for Belgian farmers in the short term.

Immunotherapy for Metastatic Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Real-World Data from an Academic Central and Eastern European Center.

Immunotherapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) recently became the standard treatment for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Here, we present the first results of a real-world observational study on the effectiveness of ICI monotherapy in patients with advanced NSCLC treated at a single academic center in a Central and Eastern European (CEE) country. Overall, 66 consecutive patients with advanced NSCLC treated with ICIs in everyday clinical practice, either with first-line pembrolizumab (26 patients) or second-line atezolizumab, nivolumab, or pembrolizumab (40 patients), from August 2015 to November 2018, were included. All data were retrieved from a hospital lung cancer registry, in which the data is collected prospectively. Included patients had a median age of 64 years, most were male (55%), 6% were in performance status ≥2, and 18% had controlled central nervous system metastases at baseline. In first-line, the median progression-free survival (mPFS) was 9.3 months, while the median overall survival (mOS) was not reached. The 1-year overall survival (OS) was 62%. In second-line, the mPFS and mOS were 3.5 months and 9.9 months, respectively, with a 1-year OS of 35%. In the overall population, adverse events of any grade were recorded in 79% of patients and of severe grade (3-4) in 12% of patients. The first real-world outcomes of NSCLC immunotherapy from a CEE country suggest comparable effectiveness to those observed in clinical trials and other real-world series, mainly coming from North America and Western European countries. Further data to inform on the real-world effectiveness of immunotherapy worldwide are needed. Immunotherapy is a standard treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The real-world data on immunotherapy are still limited. This article presents the first data on the effectiveness of mono-immunotherapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors for patients with advanced NSCLC treated at a single academic center in a Central and Eastern European country. The survival rates and toxicity are comparable to those achieved in randomized clinical trials and other real-world series, coming mainly from North American and Western European countries. There is a pressing need to gather further data on the effectiveness of immunotherapy in everyday practice worldwide.

The academic resilience of native and immigrant-origin students in selected European countries

ABSTRACT Socio-economic disadvantaged students are not equally vulnerable: some of them are defined as ‘resilient’ students because they are able to ‘beat the odds’ and achieve positive academic outcomes. Using data from the last two editions (2015 and 2018) of OECD-Programme for International Students Assessment, we aim to analyse the academic resilience (i.e. the 25% most socio-economically disadvantaged students who achieve an adequate level of proficiency in reading, science, and math) of native and immigrant-origin students. We focus attention on the comparison between resilient students in three Southern European countries (namely Greece, Italy, and Spain) that have only recently become destinations of migratory flows, and those in four North-western European countries (namely France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom) characterised by consolidated migratory traditions. Empirical findings show that self-efficacy beliefs, positive home environment, and language attitudes at home promote good academic adjustments among immigrant-origin students. Furthermore, the ‘double origin gap’ (socio-economic and migratory) of students makes them more dependent on the school environment and climate than their native peers. Specific strategies at school may be further developed (such as improving extra-curricular activities) in Southern countries to promote the inclusion of migrants and reduce their vulnerability.

A two-parameter hazard function to describe age patterns of mortality in ancient Northwestern Europe

When seeking to describe the age patterns of mortality for ancient populations, researchers are often confronted with small sample sizes or with missing data for several age groups. The traditional approach to dealing with these challenges is to smooth or complement such patterns by matching them to a model life table, either directly or through the Brass logit transformation. This procedure requires an appropriate model life table, which may not be available. We propose a hazard model that is both flexible enough to accurately describe an age pattern of mortality in ancient Northwestern Europe and restrictive enough to complement incomplete data. This paper presents a hazard function that contains four free-to-choose parameters. Tested against a large collection of life tables for northwestern European countries from the 17th to the 21st century, the number of free-to-choose parameters is stepwise reduced from four to only two. Compared with the Brass logit transformation with the Princeton Model West as its reference, the presented two-parameter hazard model is shown to fit the abovementioned dataset much better. The mean fitting error is found to be half the size. Moreover, this model is shown to fit a 13th-century mortality age pattern much better. The proposed two-parameter hazard model is capable of fitting a wide range of age patterns of mortality more closely than the traditional approach can. We therefore conclude that the proposed model facilitates the smoothing and the completion of age patterns of mortality in ancient Northwestern Europe even if they deviate substantially from well-documented patterns.

Climate change and species decline: Distinct sources of European consumer concern supporting more sustainable diets

This study explored whether EU's new Farm to Fork strategy (F2F)—which aims to tackle climate change, protect the environment and preserve biodiversity in the pursuit of more sustainable food practices—moves in a direction that matches consumer concerns about global issues. A key point is that the traditional differences between the policy approaches related to climate change mitigation and to biodiversity protection, respectively, correspond to differences between environment-based and nature-based attitudes at an individual level. Data from Eurobarometer 92.4 (2019) provided a set of environmental concerns and two food-related pro-environmental actions (buying local products and making a diet change to more sustainable food). Consumer responses to the latter option were assumed to indicate steps in parallel with F2F. Two multinomial regression analyses were carried out separately in Northwestern European countries, and in Eastern and Southern European countries. In both analyses, climate change and species decline were distinct sources of consumer concern, which were—independent of one another—more strongly related to reporting both options than to one option only. It was concluded that the F2F policy is in line with consumer concerns about environment and nature and that this may create important new perspectives for policymakers, businesses and consumers.

Perceived beneficiaries and support for the globalization of higher education: a survey experiment on attitudes toward international students

AbstractForeign students are one of the most significant immigrant categories in many North American and Western European countries. Yet, as their numbers have swelled, many governments have experienced increasing pressures to cap their entry. This is true despite the sizable benefits that foreign students bring to host countries, and despite standard political economy concerns about immigrants—that they take away jobs or abuse public entitlements—not applying to foreign students. We field a nationally-representative survey experiment in the UK, one of the top destinations for foreign students, to examine potential activators of public support for capping the number of foreign students. Results show that support for caps is most activated when citizens are primed to think about foreign students competing with domestic students for scarce admissions slots at universities.

Exploring food consumers’ motivations to fight both climate change and biodiversity loss: Combining insights from behavior theory and Eurobarometer data

Using data from Eurobarometer 83.4, this study combines the two branches of research that address climate-related and biodiversity-related opinions and actions of individuals in the EU. The literature shows that the differences between climate-related and biodiversity-related policies correspond, at an individual level, to a person's basic attitudes towards environmental protection and towards nature protection, respectively. The contribution of this study is to demonstrate how these attitudes can influence behavior that has environmental repercussions for both issues, such as food consumption practices. The analysis focused on two Eurobarometer questions about buying local and seasonal food (to fight climate change) and about buying organic and local food (to protect biodiversity and nature). The results of two multinomial regression analyses, separately in Northwestern European countries and Eastern and Southern European countries, demonstrated that climate-related and biodiversity-related attitudes were, independent of each other, related to the adoption of these purchase behaviors. The results may support Europe’s new Farm to Fork (F2F) strategy and indicate that improving food consumption practices can enable individuals to better play their part in fighting climate change and biodiversity loss simultaneously, which opens up interesting new perspectives for policymakers, businesses and consumers.

Alien plants of Europe: introduction pathways, gateways and time trends.

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) pathways classification framework used in the implementation of the European Union’s (EU) Regulation 1143/2014 on invasive alien species (IAS Regulation) has recently been adopted by the European Alien Species Information Network (EASIN), the official information system supporting the implementation of the IAS Regulation. In the current paper, the result of an alignment of the primary introduction pathways of all alien plants in Europe included in the EASIN catalogue is presented, based on the CBD framework. In total, 6,250 alien plant taxa (marine plants excluded), both alien to Europe (native range outside Europe) and alien in Europe (native range partially in Europe) are reported. Altogether 5,175 plant taxa had their primary introduction pathway aligned based on the CBD framework, while for the rest the pathway remains unknown. In addition, the taxonomy, year and country of its first record in the wild are provided for each taxon. Our analyses reveal that the main primary introduction pathways of alien plants into Europe are linked to accidental escapes from ornamental and horticultural activities. Northwestern European countries seem to act as the main gateway areas of alien plants into Europe. Recent first observations of new alien taxa growing spontaneously exhibit a contemporary accelerating trend for plants alien to Europe, particularly linked to ornamental and horticultural activities. On the other hand, the number of new plants alien in Europe seems to have stabilized over the last few decades. The present work can assist in the prioritization of introduction pathways control, with the target of slowing down the rate of alien plants introductions into Europe, following also the requirements of the IAS Regulation.

Carnistic Colonialism: A Rhetorical Dissection of “Bushmeat” in the 2014 Ebola Outbreak

This article argues that a fusion of critical animal studies and postcolonial critique affords food systems scholars a richer understanding of Western media narratives regarding a “bushmeat problem” during the 2014 Ebola outbreak. To do so, I perform a rhetorical analysis of expert, journalistic, and editorial texts disseminated through outlets with high economic and/or social capital in North American and Western European countries. My analysis demonstrates three overarching themes in these texts regarding the intersections of bushmeat and Ebola, which I describe as: 1) biosecurity; 2) conservation; and 3) development. By invoking an ethic of anti-speciesism and decoloniality, I not only demonstrate the colonial logics at play in the 2014 Ebola outbreak, but also name an insidious ideology fundamental to food systems discourse in postcolonial contexts: carnistic colonialism.

Migration and Integration: A Study of Immigrants in Spain

This paper traces the history of the Moroccan, Romanian, Ecuadorian and Chinese immigrants in Spain. It focuses on two dimensions of integration: access to the labour market and the level of discrimination faced by immigrants. By analysing the socio-economic and political changes taking place in these sending countries it seeks to understand the diverse factors that propelled migration. Migration to Spain is predominantly economic. In order to understand the integration of immigrants in Spain it is essential to analyse the labour market mobility in conjunction with the protection against discrimination as this reflects equality of opportunity coupled with a positive attitude towards inclusion in society. The 20th century led to economic growth and an increased demand for low skilled labourers prompting migration towards Spain. Lack of employment opportunities and political instability in the home countries, larger changes in the world such as the Oil Crisis, creation of Israel, discontinuation of labor recruitment by North-western European Countries were major push factors. Immigrants face discrimination in their access to the labour market. Unequal treatment is experienced by most immigrants except the Chinese who are respected for their hard work but mocked for their appearance.

A Credit System to Solve Agricultural Nitrogen Pollution

A Credit System to Solve Agricultural Nitrogen Pollution

Early spring influx of adult Long-tailed Skuas Stercorarius longicaudus in northwestern Europe in March 2021

The Long-tailed Skua Stercorarius longicaudus is a trans-equatorial migratory seabird that migrates between wintering areas off southern Africa and South-America to circumpolar, (sub) Arctic breeding grounds (Gilg et al. 2013; van Bemmelen et al. 2017). Long-tailed Skuas usually migrate far from land (Wynne-Edwards 1935; Pollock et al. 2000) and the species is therefore usually only seen in small numbers in northwestern Europe. In some autumns, influxes of exceptional numbers of Long-tailed Skuas occur along European coasts (van der Ham 1989; Dunn & Hirschfeld 1991; Vanloo 1996). Numbers seen during spring migration in Scotland fluctuate greatly depending on westerly and northwesterly winds, with up to three-figure daily counts in some springs (Wynn et al. 2014). However, influxes away from Scotland and in early spring have not been documented before. In March 2021, a small but remarkably early influx occurred in western Europe, with adult Long-tailed Skuas turning up in France, the United Kingdom and The Netherlands (but not in other northwestern European countries). Here, I describe the spatial and temporal pattern in these records.

Onroerend erfgoed, van verliezen tot ‘bevriezen’. De bescherming van historische stads- en dorpskernen in Vlaanderen (19de-21ste eeuw)

“A monument is not alone”. This catchphrase was coined in the Low Countries during the European Architectural Year in 1975, which aimed to develop a common European policy for the protection of architectural heritage. One of its key concerns was to criticize the piecemeal protection of isolated monuments. In the sixties and seventies, a wave of legislative initiatives hit Northwestern European countries, introducing heritage laws that were tailored to the safeguarding of urban areas, often entire villages or city centers, including groups of buildings, infrastructure and open spaces. Early examples are Beschermde stads-en dorpsgezichten in the Dutch Monumentenwet (1961), Secteurs sauvegardés in the French Loi Malraux (1962) and conservation areas in the British Civic Amenities Act (1967). In Flanders too, this principle was echoed in a new legal instrument to protect urban landscapes (1976) : “stads-en dorpsgezicht”. Contrary to popular opinion in the seventies, however, the concern for the architectural context in Flanders was not a recent phenomenon. In this essay, we explore the evolution of the care for architectural ensembles in historic cities, towns and villages in Belgium and Flanders from the nineteenth century onwards, considered both from a legal and application-oriented perspective. In other words, we examine the gradual juridical embedment of the attention to architectural ensembles and its relation to regional, national and international societal trends. Finally, we elaborate upon the consequences of these developments for the conservation of architectural ensembles today. It turns out that these ensembles are currently not protected in the most appropriate manner possible. This way, we contribute to the history of cultural heritage and urban planning, while also indicating particular present-day problems in the management of architectural ensembles in historic cities, towns and villages that need urgent fixing.

Past and Future Alcohol-Attributable Mortality in Europe.

Although alcohol consumption is an important public health issue in Europe, estimates of future alcohol-attributable mortality for European countries are rare, and only apply to the short-term future. We project (age-specific) alcohol-attributable mortality up to 2060 in 26 European countries, after a careful assessment of past trends. For this purpose we used population-level country-, sex-, age- (20–84) and year-specific (1990–2016) alcohol-attributable mortality fractions (AAMF) from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study, which we adjusted at older ages. To these data we apply an advanced age-period-cohort projection methodology, that avoids unrealistic future differences and crossovers between sexes and countries. We project that in the future, AAMF levels will decline in all countries, and will converge across countries and sexes. For 2060, projected AAMF are, on average, 5.1% among men and 1.4% among women, whereas in 2016 these levels were 10.1% and 3.3%, respectively. For men, AAMF is projected to be higher in Eastern and South-western Europe than in North-western Europe. All in all, the share of mortality due to alcohol is projected to eventually decline in all 26 European countries. Achieving these projected declines will, however, require strong ongoing public health action, particularly for selected Eastern and North-western European countries.

Immigrant earnings returns to post‐migration education: Evidence for Canada, 1999–2013

AbstractUsing the recently created Canadian Employer–Employee Dynamics Database (CEEDD), we analyze the earnings returns to investments in post secondary education by immigrants made after arrival in Canada. Fixed effects estimation results suggest that postsecondary education (PSE) in Canada increases annual earnings of men and women by 21.9% and 32.8%, respectively, for those enrolled full time and by 11.2% and 21.0% for those enrolled part time, respectively. Earnings effects of PSE are larger for immigrants admitted in the skilled worker category relative to family class immigrants and to refugees and are increasing in the level of education of the immigrants at landing. Immigrants from non‐traditional source countries generally have larger returns to PSE than immigrants from English‐language source countries, such as the US and the countries of Northwestern Europe.

The Temporal Nature of Mobile Push Notification Alerts: A Study of European News Outlets’ Dissemination Patterns

Push notifications provide news outlets with direct access to audiences amid concerns around information overload, disinformation, and heightened competition for reader attention. Such news distribution is relevant because it (a) bypasses social media and news aggregators, reaching readers directly; (b) alters the agency and control of temporal news personalisation; and (c) reinforces mobile as the locus of contact between news organisations and audiences. However, push notifications are a relatively under-researched topic. We explore news organisations’ use of alerts, considering whether they attempt to integrate with existing mobile-user behaviour patterns or seek to be a disruptive element, garnering attention when audiences are not typically using devices. Through quantitative content analysis, this study examines the temporality of push notifications (n = 7092) from nine Northwestern European countries, comprising 34 news outlets. These data allow for comparisons at two levels: publisher type and national context. The study shows how the temporal patterns of push notifications’ dissemination align with existing news consumption behaviours; concepts of content-snacking and audiences’ rhythms and rituals are a useful lens through which these immediate, concise texts can be considered. Our findings show that news organisations use the mobile channel for attracting and maintaining users’ attention, with varying interpretations of temporal customisability.