"The global telecommunications infrastructure: European Community (Union) telecommunications developments"

[From the Introduction]. Information, electronics, and telecommunication technologies promise to create communications networks of greatly expanded capacity capable of moving messages across interconnected wired and wireless systems almost anywhere in the world. Such global systems will profoundly affect the economic and social life of all countries. For those countries and economic sectors with a history of significant involvement in electronics, computers, multimedia, and telecommunications, early and timely deployment of state-of-the-art infrastructure may be a matter of prime importance. Many individual countries have made or are making changes intended to accelerate movement toward an information society, in large part because they recognize that a strategic competitive edge in the world economy will likely depend increasingly upon the availability, use, and exploitation of information. A major participant in the information race is the European Union (EU), formerly the European Community. The Commission of the European Union (Commission) has launched a strong push to adopt a common strategy for the creation of a European information society driven by a European information infrastructure. This strategy is aimed at bridging individual initiatives being pursued by EU Member States. [1. Member States now in the Union include the following: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom, Austria, Finland and Sweden joined the Union on January 1, 1995.1

Mobilizing Social Media Influencers: A European Approach to Oversight and Accountability

To build a robust information space that is resilient toward the dangers of mis- and disinformation, European policy-makers must recognize the role of influencers and their messages. The EU's Digital Services Act aims to establish accountability and transparency in online platforms. It includes civil society as an essential component of achieving that goal. Through collaborating with independent platform councils and promoting radical transparency, influencers can contribute to combating disinformation and ensuring that public values are upheld in online governance

Globale Selbst- und Fremdverortungen auf Reisen.: Tschechische Positionierungsstrategien vor und nach 1918

Representations of the Self and the Other in travel writing. Czech reflections on their global standing around 1918 In historical research, the relationship between Europe and the non-European world around 1918 has so far been looked at mainly as that of colonizers and colonized. This paper, however, focuses on a region usually left out of this picture: As an East Central European case study, the focus lies on the contacts and relations of the Czech society with the non-European world roughly between 1890 and 1938, concentrating mainly on aspects of national representations in Czech travelogues on non-European regions. Beginning in the last decade of the 9th century, and continuing throughout the Interwar years, the dealings with non-European regions grew rapidly in the Czech society, involving the economic sphere, tourism, diplomacy, as well as information available on far-away regions, including a growing number of travelogues. Various themes in these travelogues discuss the global presence of the Czech nation: The discussion of the Czech economic export reveals the desire to be globally more present; the recurring description of Czech expatriates suggests a global presence of the nation; while, on the other hand, the disinterested reactions toward the Czech nation in Africa or Asia call in question the self-proclaimed global activity especially in the Interwar years

The 9th conference of the European Sociological Association: European sociology or European sociologies?

The European Sociological Association (ESA) is a non-profit, Europewide academic organization with over 1,500 members. It aims at facilitating “European sociological research, teaching and communication between sociologists and between sociologists and other scientists” (ESA 2009). The association was established in Vienna in 1992, at the first European sociological conference. The latest biennial ESA conference was held in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon, between September 2-5, 2009. The main question of the conference was whether we can look at European society as an increasingly cohesive entity or whether divisions of nation, class, ethnicity, region, gender, and so on continue to be more salient. Is there one European society or are there many European societies? Is the nation-state the most appropriate unit of analysis or are other approaches needed? Is there convergence or divergence between the regions of Europe? A particular focus of the conference was the role of sociology in understanding the European area and how sociologists from different countries and with different traditions can work together toward this end. The aim of our analysis is to provide a special description of contemporary European sociology, based on the presentations of the 9th ESA conference. We will examine to what extent European sociological life is homogeneous, how it is structured, and which subjects attract major research attention. The analysis is based on a database compiled by the authors of the present report. It contains the most important information about the approximately 2,500 abstracts and their first authors (hereafter referred to as presenters) as they appeared in the official Abstract Book.3 The database includes all presentations at plenary, semi-plenary, and normal sessions and all posters and distributed papers (referred to hereafter as presentations). For each presentation, the following information is contained in the data set: sex, country and city of origin of the first author; the session in which the abstract was included; the type of presentation (plenary, semi-plenary, or session presentation, poster or distributed paper); and whether the presentation was purely theoretical or included empirical analysis. The number of countries analyzed in the international comparative presentations and the databases used are also recorded and represent a special focus of the present analysis. In the following sections, we examine the first authors’ countries of origin, the sessions and themes of the conference, gender differences, and the characteristics of cross-country comparative research. (...

The role of institutional engagement at the macro level in pushing the circular economy in Spain and its regions

Currently, the European Union is promoting the circular economy, a change that involves moving the foundations of actual economies toward the most sustainable production and consumption periods, in which the reuse of resources predominates, mainly through recycling, reuse, and reduction, among other strategies. This study, through the application of institutional theory, analyzes the role that institutional pressure has in the diffusion and adoption of the circular economy from the state to the regions inside through coercive, normative, and mimetic pressures. A matrix of institutional positioning was developed that analyzes the number and diversity of circular economy initiatives. The results show that coercive pressure followed by mimetic pressure are the most relevant in explaining the development of the circular economy in Spain in relation to the closest other European countries in Southern Europe, while there is low normative pressure. The results obtained provide relevant information on how to accelerate the development of the circular economy throughout the European Union through the adequate exercise of different types of institutional pressure.This research was supported by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities of Spain within its National Program for Research Aimed at the Challenges of Society. [Grant ECO2016-79659-R (Ecoinnovation and Circular Economy in the service sector)

Conceptual models of urban environmental information systems - toward improved information provision

Cities are the hub of European society - for over a millennium, they are the locus of social, political and economic development. As the core of intensive and creative human activity, they are also the place where the environmental externalities that accompany rapid development are most visible. The environmental consequences of urban development have been recognised long ago, as in the case of London, where in 1388 legislation was introduced to control pollutant emissions (Lowenthal, 1990). Similar historical environmental regulations can be demonstrated for many cities in Europe. However, while for most of history those who govern the city (be it the sovereign, city elders or local government) where responsible for the control, mitigation and management of the common environment in the city, the last 30 years are a period of profound change. This is due to the trend toward improved participation in environmental decision making . a more inclusive and open approach to decisions that deal with the city commons. This change did not occurre overnight but rather gradually. For example, in the United Kingdom, it was the Town and Country Planning Act of 1947 which introduced public scrutiny to changes in the urban form (Rydin, 1998), or the development of public involvement in environmental impact assessment of urban projects as developed in many countries throughout the developed world during the 1970s and 1980s (Gilpin 1995). These changes accelerate within the last three decades, and especially since the publication of .Our Common Future. (WCED and Brundtland 1987), the acceptance of the .Sustainable Development. principles and the Rio conference. A quiet (mini) revolution happened in Europe not long ago, toward the end of 1998 when the members of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE) signed the .Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters. - the Aarhus Convention (UN/ECE 1998). The convention is expected to come into force by the end of 2001, and calls the governments and public authorities to open up access to environmental information as a means to improve public participation in environmental decision making and awareness of environmental issues (UN/ECE, 1998). However, these declarations on the value and importance of environmental information do not match our level of understanding on the role of environmental information in decision making processes, and especially on the role of information in improving awareness and participation. Therefore, it is useful to take a step back, and to try and evaluate how environmental information and access to it and its use support public involvement in such processes. This paper is aimed to offer a framework that can assist us in the analytical process of understanding environmental information use. It focuses on public access and assumes that environmental information will be delivered to the public through the Internet. Such assumption is based on the current trend within public authorities is to use Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as a major delivery medium and it seems that it will become more so in the near future (OECD 2000). The framework which this paper presents, is based on Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) study which unpacked some of the core issues relating to public access and use of environmental information (Haklay, 2001). Although the aim here is not to discuss the merits of SSM, but to focus on the conceptual models, some introduction to the techniques that are used here is needed. Therefore, the following section opens with introduction to SSM and its techniques. The core of the paper is dedicated to the development of conceptual models. After presenting the conceptual models, some conclusions about these models and their applications are drown

Macedonian Security and Defence R&D Management - ICT Policy and Strategy

Macedonia’s work toward developing adequate communications infrastructure and skills necessary to access and participate in the emerging global information infrastructure has been impeded by transition shocks and a poor economic climate. Poor material conditions preclude access to, and knowledge about, the Internet in many sectors of society. Computer resources remain insufficient and the Internet is generally inaccessible for most citizens due to relatively high costs. This situation particularly affects young people attending schools which are insufficiently equipped to teach and expand student’s IT skills. Afforded little opportunity to develop efficient and accountable management systems and good practice regarding public service, local authorities have begun to lag behind in terms of development stakes. In spite of this, in 1996 the Government initiated a process of decentralization of local government. The municipalities have been limited in their policy and decision-making powers and have had limited control over resources. The new process of local authority reform currently underway is in preparation for transfer of competencies and financial resources, planned by the government in order to create sustainable and viable local governments in line with European standards..

Toward an Aesthetics of New-Media Environments

In this paper I suggest that, over and above the need to explore and understand the technological newness of computer art works, there is a need to address the aesthetic significance of the changes and effects that such technological newness brings about, considering the whole environmental transaction pertaining to new media, including what they can or do offer and what users do or can do with such offerings, and how this whole package is integrated into our living spaces and activities. I argue that, given the primacy of computer-based interaction in the new-media, the notion of ‘ornamentality’ indicates the ground-floor aesthetics of new-media environments. I locate ornamentality not only in the logically constitutive principles of the new-media (hypertextuality and interactivity) but also in their multiform cultural embodiments (decoration as cultural interface). I utilize Kendall Walton’s theory of ornamentality in order to construe a puzzle pertaining to the ornamental erosion of information in new-media environments. I argue that insofar as we consider new-media to be conduits of ‘real-life’, the excessive density of ornamental devices prevalent in certain new-media environments forces us to conduct our inquiries under conditions of neustic uncertainty, that is, uncertainty concerning the kind of relationship that we, the users, have to the propositional content mediated. I conclude that this puzzle calls our attention to a peculiar interrogatory complexity inherent in any game of knowledge-seeking conducted across the infosphere, which is not restricted to the simplest form of data retrieval, especially in mixed-reality environments and when the knowledge sought is embodied mimetically

Exploring teachers' concerns about bringing Responsible Research and Innovation to European science classrooms

The European Union pushes science education to orient toward the concept of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI; i.e., socially and ethically sensitive and inclusive processes of science and technology). Schools should further understanding on how science interacts with society and increase students’ engagement in science. This exploratory study analysed concerns of 67 active, forward-looking teachers from 10 European countries using a questionnaire based on the concerns-based adoption model (C-BAM) and open-ended questions regarding the adoption of RRI into teaching. In the context of an international professional development programme on RRI, a pre/post comparison was also carried out for 29 of the teachers. The results showed that the forerunner teachers were willing to find information and collaborate on RRI teaching and believed that RRI can engage students and be a worthwhile part of the curriculum. Yet the respondents voiced personal concerns about their ability to teach RRI, and only a few concerns were resolved during the professional development period. Teachers need extended support and networking to contextualise RRI into their science lessons. On the basis of the results, we discuss the possibilities of teaching RRI implicitly rather than explicitly in order to foster students’ own reasoning about RRI-related values. Our results also demonstrate that the customary questionnaire used with C-BAM gives a consistent picture of teachers’ concerns but does not differentiate teachers enough in order to formulate a statistically sound clustering of concern profiles. We argue that with proper adjustments the questionnaire can provide more diverse and informative profiling of teachers’ concerns.Peer reviewe

The improvement of the best practice guidelines for preimplantation genetic diagnosis of cystic fibrosis: toward an international consensus

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is one of the most common indications for preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) for single gene disorders, giving couples the opportunity to conceive unaffected children without having to consider termination of pregnancy. However, there are no available standardized protocols, so that each center has to develop its own diagnostic strategies and procedures. Furthermore, reproductive decisions are complicated by the diversity of disease-causing variants in the CFTR (cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator) gene and the complexity of correlations between genotypes and associated phenotypes, so that attitudes and practices toward the risks for future offspring can vary greatly between countries. On behalf of the EuroGentest Network, eighteen experts in PGD and/or molecular diagnosis of CF from seven countries attended a workshop held in Montpellier, France, on 14 December 2011. Building on the best practice guidelines for amplification-based PGD established by ESHRE (European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology), the goal of this meeting was to formulate specific guidelines for CF-PGD in order to contribute to a better harmonization of practices across Europe. Different topics were covered including variant nomenclature, inclusion criteria, genetic counseling, PGD strategy and reporting of results. The recommendations are summarized here, and updated information on the clinical significance of CFTR variants and associated phenotypes is presented