A survey-based assessment of seagrass status, management and legislation in Europe

Seagrass meadows are ranked amongst the most productive ecosystems on Earth, providing high-value ecosystem services in coastal areas. Yet, seagrass habitats are declining worldwide at an unprecedented rate as a consequence of both anthropogenic and natural pressures, which suggests an inefficient management. Seagrasses are widespread along European coasts and the knowledge on their conservation status and management has been increased in the last decade although an overall view for the whole Europe is lacking. The general aim of this survey-based study was to assess the present status of seagrass habitat conservation, management and legislation in Europe based on the expert judgement of 25 participants from 19 coastal European countries. We specifically assessed the seagrass ecological status and their major threats; the level of awareness; the effort in mapping, monitoring and restoration; and the state of management plans and policy in each country. We furthermore reviewed the legislation for seagrass habitats in order to assess the protection status of seagrasses in Europe. The survey-based assessment revealed great differences among seagrass species and countries regarding their awareness, ecological status, mapping, monitoring and management. Several good examples of seagrass management, in cooperation with scientists, were identified although many countries still lack the fundamental tools for a proper management. A consistent body of legislation was compiled for most European countries, yet their implementation was reported to be rather variable and weak. The results of this study will provide guidelines for a more effective seagrass management and policy in Europe.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

ESPRAS Survey on Continuing Education in Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery in Europe

Background Specialty training in plastic, reconstructive and aesthetic surgery is a prerequisite for safe and effective provision of care. The aim of this study was to assess and portray similarities and differences in the continuing education and specialization in plastic surgery in Europe. Material and Methods A detailed questionnaire was designed and distributed utilizing an online survey administration software. Questions addressed core items regarding continuing education and specialization in plastic surgery in Europe. Participants were addressed directly via the European Leadership Forum (ELF) of the European Society of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery (ESPRAS). All participants had detailed knowledge of the organization and management of plastic surgical training in their respective country. Results The survey was completed by 29 participants from 23 European countries. During specialization, plastic surgeons in Europe are trained in advanced tissue transfer and repair and aesthetic principles in all parts of the human body and within several subspecialties. Moreover, rotations in intensive as well as emergency care are compulsory in most European countries. Board certification is only provided for surgeons who have had multiple years of training regulated by a national board, who provide evidence of individually performed operative procedures in several anatomical regions and subspecialties, and who pass a final oral and/or written examination. Conclusion Board certified plastic surgeons meet the highest degree of qualification, are trained in all parts of the body and in the management of complications. The standard of continuing education and qualification of European plastic surgeons is high, providing an excellent level of plastic surgical care throughout Europe

Management consulting : structure and growth of a knowledge intensive business service market in Europe

The globalisation of contemporary capitalism is bringing about at least two important implications for the emergence and significance of business services. First, the social division of labour steadily increases (ILLERIS 1996). Within the complex organisation of production and trade new intermediate actors emerge either from the externalisation of existing functions in the course of corporate restructuring policies or from the fragmentation of the production chain into newly defined functions. Second, competitive advantages of firms increasingly rest on their ability to innovate and learn. As global communication erodes knowledge advantages more quickly, product life cycles shorten and permanent organisational learning results to be crucial for the creation and maintenance of competitiveness. Intra- and interorganisational relations of firms now are the key assets for learning and reflexivity (STORPER 1997). These two aspects of globalisation help understand why management consulting - as only one among other knowledge intensive business services (KIBS) - has been experiencing such a boost throughout the last two decades. Throughout the last ten years, the business has grown annually by 10% on average in Europe. Management consulting can be seen first, as a new organisational intermediate and second, as an agent of change and reflexivity to business organisations. Although the KIBS industry may not take a great share of the national GDP its impact on national economies should not be underestimated. Estimations show that today up to 80% of the value added to industrial products stem from business services (ILLERIS 1996). Economic geographers have been paying more attention to KIBS since the late 1970s and focus on the transformation of the spatial economy through the emerging business services. This market survey is conceived as a first step of a research programme on the internationalisation of management consulting and as a contribution to the lively debate in economic geography. The management consulting industry is unlimited in many ways: There are only scarce institutional boundaries, low barriers to entry, a very heterogeneous supply structure and multiple forms of transaction. Official statistics have not yet provided devices of grasping this market and it may be therefore, that research and literature on this business are rather poor. The following survey is an attempt to selectively compile existing material, empirical studies and statistics in order to draw a sketchy picture of the European market, its institutional constraints, agents and dynamics. German examples will be employed to pursue arguments in more depth

Manufacturing Operations in Europe: Where Do We Go Next?

Extrapolating from the results of a 10-year INSEAD Survey, Arnoud De Meyer offers some views on the future for manufacturing in Europe. The model on which the Survey was based indicates that competitive priorities and action plans in manufacturing changed over the 10-year period. Taking lessons from these, the author makes some `informed guesses' on the future implications for European manufacturers in the form of seven normative features: innovation in the value package; close integration between manufacturing and service; the importance of internationalism; flexible project-based organisation; more integrated management of the value added chain; successful transformation of operational programmes into strategic programmes; and building a knowledge-based organisation

European Medical Education Initiative on Noonan Syndrome: A clinical practice survey assessing the diagnosis and clinical management of individuals with Noonan syndrome across Europe

Introduction: Noonan syndrome (NS) is a rare genetic disorder caused by mutations in genes encoding components of the RAS/mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signalling pathway. Patients with NS exhibit certain characteristic features, including cardiac defects, short stature, distinctive facial appearance, skeletal abnormalities, cognitive deficits, and predisposition to certain cancers. Here, a clinical practice survey was developed to learn more about differences in the diagnosis and management of this disease across Europe. The aim was to identify gaps in the knowledge and management of this rare disorder. Materials and methods: The European Medical Education Initiative on NS, which comprised a group of 10 experts, developed a 60-question clinical practice survey to gather information from European physicians on the diagnosis and clinical management of patients with diseases in the NS phenotypic spectrum. Physicians from three specialities (clinical genetics, paediatric endocrinology, paediatric cardiology) were invited to complete the survey by several national and European societies. Differences in answers provided by respondents between specialities and countries were analysed using contingency tables and the Chi-Squared test for independence. The Friedman's test was used for related samples. Results: Data were analysed from 364 respondents from 20 European countries. Most respondents came from France (21%), Spain (18%), Germany (16%), Italy (15%), United Kingdom (8%) and the Czech Republic (6%). Respondents were distributed evenly across three specialities: clinical genetics (30%), paediatric endocrinology (40%) and paediatric cardiology (30%). Care practices were generally aligned across the countries participating in the survey. Delayed diagnosis did not emerge as a critical issue, but certain unmet needs were identified, including transition of young patients to adult medical services and awareness of family support groups. Conclusion: Data collected from this survey provide a comprehensive summary of the diagnosis and clinical management practices for patients with NS across different European countries

Provision and Quality Assurance of Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis in Europe

Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is now well established and provided in many European countries. However, regulations, professional standards and accreditation requirements can differ notably. Furthermore, no comprehensive independent data exist either about practice and provision in Europe or about the quality assurance practices and procedures designed to optimize the quality of the results. Consequently, a study was launched to obtain knowledge, currently lacking, of the provision and quality assurance of PGD services and cross-border activities in Europe. An online questionnaire was developed and sent to PGD providers, and expert opinions were obtained through interviews with professionals in specific countries. Information was gathered from 53 centres offering PGD in 17 European countries. There is a diverse array of tests available, with a trend for custom-made services. Although half of the centres have a designated quality manager, just 33% have achieved or are preparing for accreditation or certification. About 66% of the centres responded that they did not participate in external quality assessment, a problem exacerbated by the lack of existing PGD-specific schemes. Approximately 19% of the centres do not keep data on accuracy and 9% do not even follow up until birth. PGD is an expanding activity with an increasing international flow that accounts for approximately one-third of the activity reported. The survey highlights a significant need for improvement in quality assurance in PGD centres. On the positive side, important improvements in the quality management of these services are expected with the European Tissue Directive entering into force.JRC.J.5-Agriculture and Life Sciences in the Econom

CorePig - Prävention ausgewählter Erkrankungen und Parasiten in biologischen Schweinebetrieben durch ein HACCP basiertes Management- und Überwachungssystem

The overall objective of the project CorePig is to promote animal health and welfare in organic pig herds in Europe. The variation in pig health between organic herds is likely to be caused by different management routines in the herds. To improve animal welfare it is therefore important to investigate the correlation between management and parasite/disease occurrence, and based on this, to develop a disease management tool applicable on farm. This will be achieved by carrying out the following three components: • To conduct an international knowledge synthesis for identifying needs for future research into disease and parasite prevention in organic pig production • To estimate risk factors for selected diseases and parasites in pigs in European organic herds by conducting an epidemiological survey in European organic pig herds. • To develop and evaluate a HACCP based management and surveillance system for organic pig herds that will enable the organic pig farmer to prevent selected pig diseases and welfare problems by monitoring and controlling the risk factors The results obtained in this study will benefit animal health and welfare of pigs in organic production systems, as well as the productivity in these herds. Knowledge of risk factors for disease in organic pigs will facilitate efforts to improve animal health in organic pig production, and organic pig producers will benefit from improved animal welfare on-farm by applying an efficient and feasible disease management tool. This will assist in promoting more sustainable farming systems and supporting the rural economy with special relevance to small farmers. The expected improvement in animal welfare in organic pig production is expected to enhance consumer interest in organic pork, and consequently lead to an increased market share of organic meat for the benefit of the economy in organic pig production. Furthermore, the project aims to identify relevant research needs related to parasite and disease management in organic pig production. This can be applied to target future research to the actual problems experienced in commercial organic production

Challenges and needs of European cities in using geofencing for urban traffic management

This report presents the results and analysis of exploratory interviews and a questionnaire survey among transport experts and professionals in Europe dealing with geofencing in urban transport management. As part of the European collaboration project GeoSence - "Geofencing strategies for implementation in urban traffic management and planning", the report contributes to a first step of solving the problems by identifying and exploring the challenges and needs of transport authorities. Starting from the cities' biggest traffic challenges, as experienced by municipalities and cities, but also from the perspective of regional and national authorities, the report focuses mainly on geofencing and its following unresolved implementation issues, such as lack of regulation, an issue prevalent across both experienced and less experienced users of geofencing, GNSS accuracy and infrastructure, user acceptance, costs, knowledge and various practicalities. In the discussion section we synthesise how to overcome some of the barriers and how to tackle those needs suggested by the informants, as well as presenting risks and possible mitigation options, and a transferability analysis for cities that do not use geofencing yet. While findings show the applications of geofencing for micro-mobility and parking as the most transferable use case, the case also is an example of how regulation and the legal framework would need to keep pace with the development of the practical solutions. In conclusion, several recommendations are derived, including the need for investing in digital infrastructure in European cities, and further developments matching digital and physical infrastructure to achieve the potential for geofencing. Further, increasing municipalities capacity for knowledge building- and sharing, starting new geofencing real traffic trials, as well as scaling up and transferring existing and good functioning solutions will be key.publishedVersio

Mapping communication management competencies for European practitioners ECOPSI an EU study

This paper and its findings suggest there is little organised life-long learning in public relations and communication management in Europe. Consequently senior communication practitioners believe there are major failings in the capabilities related to our profession which if not addressed will serve as significant challenges for European organisations over the next 10 years. Longitudinal research further suggests the role of practitioners is changing and they require many more competencies to be successful in their communication roles (Zerfass et al., 2007- 2013). These are some of the observations and conclusions drawn from and supported by an extensive review of theory and practice emerging from the ECOPSI Programme (European Communication Professional Skills and Innovation), which is the largest European Union funded project of its kind to report into strategic communication until now (Tench et al 2012, 2013a, 2013b). There are on-going gaps and deficiencies in the development of the individuals as well as broad variation in how practitioners identify needs and access appropriate interventions. This presents numerous opportunities for deeper and on-going professional training and development to build consistency and support good practice in moving away from a hands-on, learning on-the-job approach to more focused knowledge acquisition and development. The ECOPSI programme is a two-year research project exploring the competencies required by communication professionals in Europe. This innovative programme is a partnership of six leading European universities in communication research and education located in Germany, Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey and the UK as well as the European Association of Communication Directors (EACD). The two-year programme is led by Leeds Metropolitan University and is the first and largest to be funded by the European Union. The study provides in-depth insights into the competencies needed for four communication roles through the Communication Role Matrix: internal communication, crisis communication, social media and chief communication officer (CCO). The Communication Role Matrix captures what it is a communication professional does and the requirement necessary to perform the role successfully by identifying the knowledge, skills (hard and soft) and personal attributes for each role (Tench et al 2013a). This paper: (1) analyses the construction and perceptions about the Communication Role Matrix; (2) highlights current contemporary issues faced by the industry; and (3) presents the transference of knowledge from ECOPSI to the professional field through the Portal (for) Advancing Communication Expertise (p4ace) along with a self-diagnostic tool aimed to engage practitioners in continued professional development

European Venture Philanthropy and Social Investment 2011/2012: The EVPA Survey

These are the key results of the second report on the European Venture Philanthropy Industry published by the European Venture Philanthropy Association. The purpose of the report is to provide key statistics and raise awareness about a sector that is evolving rapidly so as to attract further resources to the sector. Data has been collected from 61 leading venture philanthropy and social investment organisations (VPOs) across 18 European countries