Funding Information: Funding and additional information—This work was supported by EMPIR programme in Research Project 15HLT02 ReMiND cofinanced by the Participating States and the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (to N. L.). Work was also supported by WisTa Laboratories Ltd. (to V. M., D. L., M. M., C. R. H., G. R., C. M. W., F. T., and K. S.). Conflict of interest—This work was sponsored by WisTa Laboratories Ltd., an affiliate of TauRx Therapeutics Ltd. C. R. H. and C. M. W. are employees and officers of TauRx Therapeutics Ltd. ; Peer reviewed ; Publisher PDF
AbstractThe recent financial crisis and the way it was handled by European Union (EU) received a great deal of media coverage, and since the media has a tendency to alter public opinion, it is safe to assume that it has affected some Europeans' attitudes towards the EU. In order to test that assumption, a model was built around the theoretical framework of "media malaise," and »political support«. It was found that the media certainly affected and shaped public opinion; however, study revealed that consuming media has not made people more cynical towards the EU. Based on secondary data analysis of Eurobarometer the study reveals positive relationship of media mobilization effect with European's political attitudes and identity.
Acknowledgement: The University of Malta would like to acknowledge its gratitude to the European Commission, Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs for their permission to upload this work on OAR@UoM. Further reuse of this document can be made, provided the source is acknowledged. This work was made available with the help of the Publications Office of the European Union, Copyright and Legal Issues Section. ; "Innovation is viewed as a multi-dimensional concept, which goes beyond technological innovation to encompass, for example, new means of distribution, marketing or design. Innovation is thus not only limited to high-tech sectors of the economy, but rather is an omnipresent driver for growth." - Commission Communication of March 2003 on Innovation Policy. The EU has placed innovation at the heart of its economic policy objectives since the mid 1990s. This growing emphasis culminated in the new strategic goal - set by the Lisbon European Council in March 2000 - that the European Union (EU) should become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustaining economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion by the year 2010. The Commission Communication of March 2003 on Innovation policy sets out a vision of innovation which integrates diverse factors into a coherent whole. This whole will embrace scientifi c research, technology development, product design, marketing, organisation structure and training and development. It is against this model that the CC7 countries must measure themselves. This study set out to examine and analyse the current framework conditions for innovation in the Helsinki group of candidate countries. This group consists of Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Slovak Republic and Romania, (the CC7). It was the second of two such studies: the fi rst study was carried out during the period June 2000 to September 2001 and covered the so-called Luxembourg Group (the CC6). This second study was carried out during the 15-month period from October 2001 to December 2002. ; N/A
The ombudsman tradition originated in Sweden in 1809 and spread throughout the world in less than two hundred years. The progress of development of independent human rights institutions in the 20th century was remarkable. Since 1981, when the institution of Ombudsman for Children was established in Norway, more than 200 institutions have been created and exist today. They are of different forms, but share the same role: to ensure that governments and other state institutions, public and private bodies implement the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Ombudsman (ombudsperson) is the key player in promoting and protecting children's rights and best interests. The main task of ombudsman institutions is to close the gap between the rights rhetoric and the realities of children's lives, ensuring that rights are translated into law, policy and practice. The author analyses the Norwegian model of a specialised ombudsman institution, as this model was influential in western European countries and Nordic countries with democratic governance and strong individual human rights traditions. On the other hand, the author examines the advantages and disadvantages of an inclusive model, which was chosen by some eastern European countries, often in the context of democratic transition and usually integrated in general (parliamentary) ombudsman institutions or human rights bodies. Bearing in mind that the integration of children's rights issues into a broad-based human rights institution may face particular challenges, the author concludes that every country must establish an effective independent institution for promoting and protecting children's rights and best interests.
The ombudsman tradition originated in Sweden in 1809 and spread throughout the world in less than two hundred years. The progress of development of independent human rights institutions in the 20th century was remarkable. Since 1981, when the institution of Ombudsman for Children was established in Norway, more than 200 institutions have been created and exist today. They are of different forms, but share the same role: to ensure that governments and other state institutions, public and private bodies implement the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Ombudsman (ombudsperson) is the key player in promoting and protecting children's rights and best interests. The main task of ombudsman institutions is to close the gap between the rights rhetoric and the realities of children's lives, ensuring that rights are translated into law, policy and practice. The author analyses the Norwegian model of a specialised ombudsman institution, as this model was influential in western European countries and Nordic countries with democratic governance and strong individual human rights traditions. On the other hand, the author examines the advantages and disadvantages of an inclusive model, which was chosen by some eastern European countries, often in the context of democratic transition and usually integrated in general (parliamentary) ombudsman institutions or human rights bodies. Bearing in mind that the integration of children's rights issues into a broad-based human rights institution may face particular challenges, the author concludes that every country must establish an effective independent institution for promoting and protecting children's rights and best interests.
"1646-5954/ERC123483/2016" ; The research about the concept of influence on Twitter is still underdeveloped. This work is a theoretical and empirical approach on how politicians are engaging with citizens and/or journalists, and how these social conversations are framed under specific topics and users. The idea of new influentials on political communication in the new media ecosystem, as some studies found (Dang-Xuan et al, 2013), can offer empirical pursuit of the suggested 'two-step flow model' as applied to the agenda-setting process (Weimann et al., 2007) in the case of the microblogging for campaigning online. Following the recent research about how politicians try to reach their potential audience (Vaccari and Valeriani, 2013; 2013a), this paper analyses the social conversations on Twitter driven by politicians, the main topics in these political conversations and the kind of flows of communication (direct or indirect) between politicians, journalists and citizens. This research explores the differences and similarities about influence on Twitter during European elections in two countries with similar political and economic contexts: Portugal and ...
The sensitivity of a marine dispersion model for non-conservative radionuclides, pre viously developed and validated for the English Channel, to parameters describing the exchanges between the liquid and solid phases (suspended matter and bottom sediments) has been studied using a Monte Carlo method. A probability distribution is assigned to each parameter. They are sampled to obtain a set of model parameters and a model run is carried out. This process is repeated to obtain a distribution of model outputs. Partial correlation coefficients are calculated to assess the relative influence of each parameter on model output. Errors are also assigned to model results. Three situations are studied: an instantaneous release of radionuclides, a continuous release and the case of a contaminated sediment behaving as a long-term source of radionuclides. Calculations have also been carried out for two radionuclides with different geochemical behaviour: 137Cs and 239,240Pu. The results indi cate that all parameters are relevant, depending on the phase we are interested in obtaining the result and on the source term (instantaneous, continuous or due to sediments). However, parameters that are, in general, more influential are kinetic rates, mixing depth in the sedi ment and mean radius of suspended and sediment particles. This suggests that including sev eral particle sizes in future radionuclide dispersion models could lead to an improvement in model results. Differences have also been found with respect to the relevance of some para meters depending on the geochemical behaviour of the radionuclide. ; European Union (EU) FIGE-CT-2000-00085
BMWFW (Austria) ; FWF (Austria) ; FNRS (Belgium) ; FWO (Belgium) ; Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) ; Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) ; Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ) ; Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) ; MES (Bulgaria) ; CERN ; CAS (China) ; MoST (China) ; NSFC (China) ; COLCIENCIAS (Colombia) ; MSES (Croatia) ; CSF (Croatia) ; RPF (Cyprus) ; MoER (Estonia) ; ERC IUT (Estonia) ; ERDF (Estonia) ; Academy of Finland (Finland) ; MEC (Finland) ; HIP (Finland) ; CEA (France) ; CNRS/IN2P3 (France) ; BMBF (Germany) ; DFG (Germany) ; HGF (Germany) ; GSRT (Greece) ; OTKA (Hungary) ; NIH (Hungary) ; DAE (India) ; DST (India) ; IPM (Iran) ; SFI (Ireland) ; INFN (Italy) ; MSIP (Republic of Korea) ; NRF (Republic of Korea) ; LAS (Lithuania) ; MOE (Malaysia) ; UM (Malaysia) ; CINVESTAV (Mexico) ; CONACYT (Mexico) ; SEP (Mexico) ; UASLP-FAI (Mexico) ; MBIE (New Zealand) ; PAEC (Pakistan) ; MSHE (Poland) ; NSC (Poland) ; FCT (Portugal) ; JINR (Dubna) ; MON (Russia) ; RosAtom (Russia) ; RAS (Russia) ; RFBR (Russia) ; MESTD (Serbia) ; SEIDI (Spain) ; CPAN (Spain) ; Swiss Funding Agencies (Switzerland) ; MST (Taipei) ; ThEPCenter (Thailand) ; IPST (Thailand) ; STAR (Thailand) ; NSTDA (Thailand) ; TUBITAK (Turkey) ; TAEK (Turkey) ; NASU (Ukraine) ; SFFR (Ukraine) ; STFC (United Kingdom) ; DOE (USA) ; NSF (USA) ; Marie-Curie program (European Union) ; European Research Council (European Union) ; EPLANET (European Union) ; Leventis Foundation ; A. P. Sloan Foundation ; Alexander von Humboldt Foundation ; Belgian Federal Science Policy Office ; Fonds pour la Formation a la Recherche dans l'Industrie et dans l'Agriculture (FRIA-Belgium) ; Agentschap voor Innovatie door Wetenschap en Technologie (IWT-Belgium) ; Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MEYS) of the Czech Republic ; Council of Science and Industrial Research, India ; HOMING PLUS program of the Foundation for Polish Science ; European Union, Regional Development Fund ; Compagnia di San Paolo (Torino) ; Consorzio per la Fisica (Trieste) ; MIUR Project (Italy) ; EU-ESF ; Greek NSRF ; National Priorities Research Program by the Qatar National Research Fund ; Science and Technology Facilities Council ; MIUR Project (Italy): 20108T4XTM ; Science and Technology Facilities Council: ST/M005356/1 GRIDPP ; Science and Technology Facilities Council: GRIDPP ; Science and Technology Facilities Council: ST/I005912/1 ; Science and Technology Facilities Council: ST/M004775/1 ; Science and Technology Facilities Council: ST/J004901/1 ; Science and Technology Facilities Council: ST/K001604/1 ; Science and Technology Facilities Council: ST/L005603/1 ; Science and Technology Facilities Council: ST/L00609X/1 GRIDPP ; Science and Technology Facilities Council: CMS ; Science and Technology Facilities Council: ST/K003542/1 ; Science and Technology Facilities Council: ST/L00609X/1 ; Science and Technology Facilities Council: ST/K003844/1 GRIDPP ; Science and Technology Facilities Council: ST/I505580/1 ; Science and Technology Facilities Council: ST/K003844/1 ; Science and Technology Facilities Council: ST/J50094X/1 ; Science and Technology Facilities Council: ST/M005356/1 ; Science and Technology Facilities Council: ST/I005912/1 GRIDPP ; Science and Technology Facilities Council: ST/N000250/1 ; Science and Technology Facilities Council: ST/K001256/1 ; Science and Technology Facilities Council: ST/K001639/1 ; Science and Technology Facilities Council: ST/J005665/1 ; A first search is reported for a standard model Higgs boson (H) that is produced through vector boson fusion and decays to a bottom-quark pair. Two data samples, corresponding to integrated luminosities of 19.8 fb(-1) and 18.3 fb(-1) of proton-proton collisions at root s = 8 TeV were selected for this channel at the CERN LHC. The observed significance in these data samples for a H -> b (b) over bar signal at a mass of 125 GeV is 2.2 standard deviations, while the expected significance is 0.8 standard deviations. The fitted signal strength mu = sigma/sigma(SM) = 2.8(-1.4)(+1.6). The combination of this result with other CMS searches for the Higgs boson decaying to a b-quark pair yields a signal strength of 1.0 +/- 0.4, corresponding to a signal significance of 2.6 standard deviations for a Higgs boson mass of 125 GeV.
La distribución irregular de la población en las regiones españolas continúa aumentando. Ha seguido concentrándose, con fuerte dinamismo, en las regiones costeras, en especial las mediterráneas, las islas Baleares y Canarias; además de Madrid, región urbana. Frente a ello el gran espacio interior mantiene sus densidades bajas. El conjunto de la economía española ha crecido con fuerza. No ha sido igual en todas las regiones, pero ha permitido una ligera tendencia hacia la convergencia regional, en valores relativos, a pesar de las notables diferencias territoriales. No obstante, aún son numerosas las que registran un nivel medio de riqueza inferior al promedio de la Unión Europea. La descentralización autonómica ha sido rápida y profunda. Se ha conseguido una situación semejante a la de los Estados Federales. Cara al futuro se observa una dinámica dual: frente a cierta ideología política centrífuga, cada vez el funcionamiento de la economía se sustenta en un mercado más integrado, con mejor accesibilidad territorial y mayor cohesión. Entiendo que un devenir de unidad territorial española (espacio periférico dentro de la Unión Europea), garantizará mejor cierto éxito en un mundo tan competitivo y globalizado como el que vivimos. ; The population's irregular distribution in the Spanish regions continues increasing. The population has continued concentrating on the coastal regions and the Balearic islands and Canarys, besides Madrid, urban region, with a strong dynamism. In front of it the great space interior maintains its low densities. The group of the Spanish economy has grown with force. He has not made it same in all the regions, but rather it has allowed a slight tendency toward the regional convergence, in spite of the strongs regional differences. But, they are still numerous the regions that have a half level of inferior wealth to the average of the European Union. The autonomous decentralization has been quick and deep. It has been reached a situation similar to that of the Federal States. Face to the future a dual dynamics is observed: in front of that centrifugal political ideology, every time the economy is sustained in a more integrated market, with better accessibility territorial and bigger cohesion. A future of unit territorial Spaniard ( peripheral space inside the European Union) will only guarantee certain success in such a competitive world and globalizing as which we live.
Children's rights to autonomy of choice are differently expressed throughout Europe. We explored differences regarding expressions of respect for children's autonomy throughout Europe, using the procedure of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination offer as indicator. We used a mixed methods approach, utilizing an expert survey within the frame of "Models of Child Health Appraised" (MOCHA), among all 30 European Union (EU) and European Economic Area states. A questionnaire was designed using vignettes regarding the vaccine provision. Thirty MOCHA country agents were invited to respond from June 2017 to April 2018. In total, 28 country agents responded. We studied the following themes: (i) provision of informed consent, (ii) parental and medical paternalism, (iii) relevance of the child's chronological age or maturity, and (iv) vaccination programs targeting boys. These are being handled differently across the region. We explored associations of these implemented practices with the national vaccine coverage rate across Europe. We used the processes of HPV vaccination to study child's autonomy, the paradigm change toward libertarian paternalism and issues of sex-equity. Interestingly, greater respect for children's autonomy tends to be associated with medium or high vaccination coverage rates and lower respect with lower rates. Respect and empowerment seem to have practical as well as moral benefits. Identifying and transferring the most suitable ethical approaches is crucial and should be strengthened.
ObjectivesAsthma is the most common chronic disease in childhood, yet little is known about rates of asthma and wheezing in children with congenital anomalies. This study explored the prevalence and risk of receiving anti-asthmatic prescriptions in children with congenital anomalies compared to children without anomalies in six European regions/countries. ApproachThis was a EUROlinkCAT population-based linkage cohort study involving children from 0-9 years of age born between 2000-2014. Congenital anomaly data from six EUROCAT registries were linked to births data in national/vital statistics and to electronic prescription databases. Prescription/pharmacy dispensing records across regions were standardised to a Common Data Model. Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical classification codes beginning with R03 were used to identify anti-asthmatic prescriptions. Random-effects meta-analyses were performed to identify both the relative risk (RR) of receiving >1 anti-asthmatic prescription in a year relative to the reference group, and the heterogeneity of prevalence rates across registries and age group. ResultsA total of 5.1% of children with congenital anomalies and 4.9% of reference children were dropped from the study as they were not linked. Children with congenital anomalies (n=60,662) had a higher prevalence of >1 anti-asthmatic prescription and a significantly higher risk of being prescribed anti-asthmatics (RR=1.41, 95% CI 1.35-1.48) compared to reference children (n=1,722,912). The increased risk was consistent across all age groups. Children with congenital anomalies were more likely to be prescribed beta-2 agonists (RR=1.71, 95% CI 1.60-1.83) and inhaled corticosteroids (RR=1.74, 95% CI 1.61-1.87). Children with oesophageal atresia, diaphragmatic hernia, genetic syndromes and chromosomal anomalies had over twice the risk of being prescribed anti-asthmatics compared to reference children. Regional differences in prevalence and risk of anti-asthmatic prescriptions were identified. ConclusionChildren aged <10 years with congenital anomalies consistently had higher prevalence and risk of receiving >1 anti-asthmatic prescription across age group and across European regions. This study demonstrates that information on the prevalence of anti-asthmatic prescriptions issued/dispensed can be obtained through data linkage to monitor changes in prevalence over time.
In: Discussion Papers / Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung, Forschungsschwerpunkt Bildung, Arbeit und Lebenschancen, Forschungsgruppe Public Health, Volume 2005-301
"How approaches in elderly care should be structured to counteract processes of social marginalisation in old age is in the focus of this discussion paper. On a theoretical basis the paper draws on concepts of social exclusion developed in international comparative welfare state research. For the analysis of processes of social exclusion in old age, the ageing process is defined on a wide basis ranging from genetic, social, cultural to environmental components. The term 'inclusive care' describes characteristics of approaches in elderly care, which enable processes of social exclusion to be counteracted. Approaches in elderly care have been re-structured in most member countries of the European Union since the beginning of the 1990s. With the background of the defined characteristics of 'inclusive care' modes of financing, access criteria and procedures, diversification and integration of service facilities and offers as well as the combination with informal care are investigated. The characteristics decisive for inclusive care are defined such as universal accessibility related to social rights, a diversified and integrated care system, a social model of care delivery and the acknowledgement, support and cooperation with informal carers. The findings prove the difficulties and obstacles encountered by certain EU-member countries to fulfil the criteria. Furthermore, according to their risk of experiencing processes of social exclusion, inequalities among different groups of elderly people have become apparent." (author's abstract)
This study explores how environmental knowledge and risk perception influence individuals' sustainable consumption behavior through the mediation of environmental concern and behavioral intention. The study combines constructs from earlier studies to form a novel theoretical model, which is tested and validated with an open data set from the Environment III 2010 module, which was collected by the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP). Our sample consists of respondents from nine countries (N = 11,675) in the European Union (EU) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). The model indicates that environmental risk perception and environmental knowledge impact environmental concern significantly. Furthermore, environmental concern strongly influences behavioral intention, and these constructs, in turn, act as mediators of sustainable consumption behavior. The findings indicate that in Europe, sustainable consumption behavior can be associated with environmental concern, which is influenced by increased levels of environmental knowledge and environmental risk perception. The results provide a basis for future analyses once the Environment IV module is released. This will be of particular importance for tracking possible changes in the sustainable consumption behavior of Europeans when transitioning to a green and circular economy that is driven by the European Green Deal and EU Circular Economy Action Plan. ; European Consortium of Innovative Universities (ECIU)
Occurred nearly a quarter of a century ago, the collapse of the Soviet Union - an event that led to the formation of a new configuration of the world-system. In this global role, the national significance of this event for Russia that she has to find their place in the world that actualizes a scientific discussion on this topic. Without public clarification and comparison of the ideological differences and disagreements it is difficult to imagine the development of a democratic society. Moreover, it is impossible to do without a debate in the society, standing in the darkness. Russia again, as in the beginning 1990-h years is in a situation of historical bifurcation. Russia to go their own way or try to rebuild themselves in the experience of the successful modernization of the States of the European, Asian, South American or African. They have used the Western (European) experience, without losing their national identity. Inherent in our ethnic consciousness and the inclination to extremes, Russian intellectuals keen on totally unproductive debates, like the endless, which is between "Westerners" and "Slavophil's" (in the current language - "fundamentalists"). The notorious dichotomy becomes more and more absurd, Recalling the disputes of "points" and "dull bits" from the famous novel of Jonathan Swift. The country is a completely different choice - effectiveness and development or the inefficiency and backwardness, modernization or preservation of its political and economic model, developed by reformers in 1990-ies. Today, therefore, Russia should not deifying the West, than succeeded ones and not the deification of exclusivity, what more you want to succeed others, but strong awareness of the reality and the pursuit of maximum expediency, pragmatism in the development of the achievements of Western civilization. If Asian countries are to successfully adopt the European (Western) modernization experience, then Russia as a European country should be more favorable conditions. In line with what is happening in the country discussions on ways of socio-economic development of Russia and its role and place in the emerging new global configuration, interactions with neighbors, primarily with the European Union and China in the context of the prospects of replacing the existing economic model and the upcoming modernization. Need to know life plans, orientation and attitudes of the Russian youth, its ideas about the place of Russia in a changing world. how it links its future with the future of their country. In the upcoming modernization, the main burden of its implementation will fall on the current young generation of Russians. In this regard, the article analyzes survey results of University students in six Federal districts of Russia.
In: de Bruin , Y B , Franco , A , Ahrens , A , Morris , A , Verhagen , H , Kephalopoulos , S , Dulio , V , Slobodnik , J , Sijm , D T H M , Vermeire , T , Ito , T , Takaki , K , De Mello , J , Bessems , J , Jeddi , M Z , Gozalo , C T , Pollard , K , McCourt , J & Fantke , P 2021 , ' Enhancing the use of exposure science across EU chemical policies as part of the European Exposure Science Strategy 2020-2030 ' , Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41370-021-00388-4
Background A scientific framework on exposure science will boost the multiuse of exposure knowledge across EU chemicals-related policies and improve risk assessment, risk management and communication across EU safety, security and sustainability domains. Objective To stimulate public and private actors to align and strengthen the cross-policy adoption of exposure assessment data, methods and tools across EU legislation. Methods By mapping and analysing the EU regulatory landscape making use of exposure information, policy and research challenges and key areas of action are identified and translated into opportunities enhancing policy and scientific efficiency. Results Identified key areas of actions are to develop a common scientific exposure assessment framework, supported by baseline acceptance criteria and a shared knowledge base enhancing exchangeability and acceptability of exposure knowledge within and across EU chemicals-related policies. Furthermore, such framework will improve communication and management across EU chemical safety, security and sustainability policies comprising sourcing, manufacturing and global trade of goods and waste management. In support of building such a common framework and its effective use in policy and industry, exposure science innovation needs to be better embedded along the whole policymaking cycle, and be integrated into companies' safety and sustainability management systems. This will help to systemically improve regulatory risk management practices. Significance This paper constitutes an important step towards the implementation of the EU Green Deal and its underlying policy strategies, such as the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability.