Challenges of Upgrading: The Dynamics of East Central Europe’s Integration into the European Automotive Production Networks

"The paper analyses the changing architecture of the European automotive industry following the inclusion of East Central European (ECE) states into cross-border production networks. It identifies distinct periods of the sector’s expansion to ECE, each marked by different policies of automotive OEMs and accompanied by varying responses by governments and unions. The first phase, lasting until late 1990s, was characterised by a predominantly market-seeking orientation of carmakers towards ECE and a clear-cut, hierarchical division of competences between “new” and “old” sites, not conducive to the emergence of cross-border union contacts. In the late 1990s, however, postcommunist countries’ production profiles became similar to those of advanced West European producers, such as Germany, largely due to the organisational changes within the sector and FDI-attracting policies launched by ECE states. This spurred German unions’ interests in cooperating with their Eastern counterparts, in an effort to attenuate cross-border competitive pressure and eliminate the East-West benchmarking threat. Finally, the recent crisis brought increasing involvement of Western states in the industry’s affairs and the corresponding “national turn” in unions’ behaviour." (author's abstract)"Der Artikel analysiert die sich verändernde gesamteuropäische Arbeitsteilung in der Automobilindustrie durch die Einbindung mittelosteuropäischer Standorte. Es werden drei unterschiedliche Phasen der Einbindung identifiziert. Zunächst überwogen Markterschließungsmotive. Seit den späten 1990er Jahren - bedingt durch organisatorische Veränderungen in der Industrie und Investitionsanreizen in MOE - hat eine zunehmende Aufwertung der osteuropäischen Standorte stattgefunden. Westliche Gewerkschaften versuchen die verstärkte Standortkonkurrenz mit Angeboten transnationaler Kooperation zu konterkarieren. Seit dem Ausbruch der globalen Finanzkrise hat sich die gesamteuropäische Arbeitsteilung erneut verschoben, da westliche Staaten und Gewerkschaften wieder verstärkt im nationalen Interesse agieren." (Autorenreferat

Raman spectroscopy: a real-time tool for identifying microcalcifications during stereotactic breast core needle biopsies

Microcalcifications are an early mammographic sign of breast cancer and a target for stereotactic breast needle biopsy. We present here a Raman spectroscopic tool for detecting microcalcifications in breast tissue based on their chemical composition. We collected ex vivo Raman spectra from 159 tissue sites in fresh stereotactic breast needle biopsies from 33 patients, including 54 normal sites, 75 lesions with microcalcifications and 30 lesions without microcalcifications. Application of our Raman technique resulted in a positive predictive value of 97% for detecting microcalcifications. This study shows that Raman spectroscopy has the potential to detect microcalcifications during stereotactic breast core biopsies and provide real-time feedback to radiologists, thus reducing non-diagnostic and false negative biopsies