An Incomplete Recovery: Youth Unemployment in Europe 2008 – 2016

After having endured many years of economic decline and other problems as- sociated with the financial and economic crisis between 2008 and 2013, most EU member states have resumed their upward trend. This development is due primarily to ongoing improvements in the labour market1. Although not all EU member states have achieved their pre-crisis unemployment levels (EU average in 2008: 7%), the average unemployment rate has fallen from its high point of 11% in 2013 to 8.7% in 2016. Similar trends hold true in Europe for youth unemployment levels, which bears particular consequences for unem- ployment and economic growth overall. This paper takes a closer look at this topic and its development since the Great Recession, thereby highlighting the situation among different subgroups of young people in EU countries. Ten years ago, youth labour markets in Europe and beyond were hit hard by the Great Recession, leaving many young people to struggle with finding and retaining sustainable jobs in a protracted period of (multiple) recession(s). At the height of the youth employment crisis in 2012/2013, more than 9 million young people aged 15-29 across the EU were unemployed, 3 million more than in 2007. Since then, the youth labour market has improved, though perfor- mance indicators have not yet returned to pre-crisis levels. Since 2013, some member states have seen stronger improvements in this re- gard than others, although this varies among different subgroups of young people. Clearly, integrating young people into education, employment and training systems poses a long-term policy challenge for all member states. Persistent structural problems in European labour markets make an immi- nent, rapid improvement of the situation for young people unlikely. Further action is thus needed to support this demographic in fulfilling their potential in European economies and societies. The EU has responded to this youth employment crisis by proposing a range of successive policy measures. Its most prominent recommendations include the call to establish a Youth Guarantee2 and the Youth Employment Initiative. The Youth Guarantee shall ensure that young people have access to quality employment, education, apprenticeship or training opportunities within four months of becoming unemployed. The Youth Employment Initiative provides additional funding to tackle high rates of young people not in employment, education or training (NEET) in European regions most affected by youth unemployment

Reconsidering the structure of nucleation theories

We discuss the structure of the equation of motion that governs nucleation processes at first order phase transitions. From the underlying microscopic dynamics of a nucleating system, we derive by means of a non-equilibrium projection operator formalism the equation of motion for the size distribution of the nuclei. The equation is exact, i.e. the derivation does not contain approximations. To assess the impact of memory, we express the equation of motion in a form that allows for direct comparison to the Markovian limit. As a numerical test, we have simulated crystal nucleation from a supersaturated melt of particles interacting via a Lennard-Jones potential. The simulation data show effects of non-Markovian dynamics

Die Entscheidung über betriebliche Weiterbildungsinvestitionen: Eine empirische Analyse mit dem Mannheimer Innovationspanel

Mit den Daten des Mannheimer Innovationspanels wird für die Jahre 1999 bis 2002 untersucht, welche Faktoren die zweistufige betriebliche Weiterbildungsentscheidung determinieren. Eine Probit-Schätzung zeigt, dass im ersten Schritt die Belegschaftsstruktur, die Betriebsgröße, die Innovationstätigkeit und die Investitionen in Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien die Entscheidung von Firmen zur Finanzierung von Weiterbildungsmaßnahmen bestimmen. Die betriebliche Entscheidung über die Höhe der Weiterbildungsausgaben wird darüber hinaus von der Zugehörigkeit zu einer Unternehmensgruppe, den Bruttoinvestitionen und den Forschungs- und Entwicklungsaktivitäten positiv beeinflusst, wie eine OLS-Schätzung der Weiterbildungsausgaben zeigt

Die Entscheidung über betriebliche Weiterbildungsinvestitionen: Eine empirische Analyse mit dem Mannheimer Innovationspanel

Mit den Daten des Mannheimer Innovationspanels wird für die Jahre 1999 bis 2002 untersucht, welche Faktoren die zweistufige betriebliche Weiterbildungsentscheidung determinieren. Eine Probit-Schätzung zeigt, dass im ersten Schritt die Belegschaftsstruktur, die Betriebsgröße, die Innovationstätigkeit und die Investitionen in Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien die Entscheidung von Firmen zur Finanzierung von Weiterbildungsmaßnahmen bestimmen. Die betriebliche Entscheidung über die Höhe der Weiterbildungsausgaben wird darüber hinaus von der Zugehörigkeit zu einer Unternehmensgruppe, den Bruttoinvestitionen und den Forschungs-und Entwicklungsaktivitäten positiv beeinflusst, wie eine OLS-Schätzung der Weiterbildungsausgaben zeigt. --betriebliche Weiterbildung,Firmendaten,Weiterbildungsentscheidung

Polish Catholic Bishops, Nationalism and Liberal Democracy

UIDB/04627/2020 UIDP/04627/2020The alliance of the Polish Catholic Church with the Law and Justice (PiS) government has been widely reported, and resulted in significant benefits for the church. However, beginning in mid-2016, the top church leadership, including the Episcopal Conference, has distanced itself from the government, and condemned its use of National Catholicism as a legitimation rhetoric for the government’s malpractices in the fields of human rights and democracy. How to account for this behavior? The article proposes two explanations. The first is that the alliance of the PiS with the nationalist wing of the church, while legitimating its illiberal refugee policy and attacks on democratic institutions of the government, further radicalized the National Catholic faction of the Polish church and motivated a reaction of the liberal and mainstream conservative prelates. The leaders of the Episcopate, facing an empowered and radical National Catholic faction, pushed back with a doctrinal clarification of Catholic orthodoxy. The second explanatory path considers the transnational influence of Catholicism, in particular of Pope Francis’ intervention in favor of refugee rights as prompting the mainstream bishops to reestablish the Catholic orthodoxy. The article starts by tracing the opposition of the Bishops Conference and liberal prelates to the government’s refugee and autocratizing policies. Second, it describes the dynamics of the church’s internal polarization during the PiS government. Third, it traces and contextualizes the intervention of Pope Francis during the asylum political crisis (2015-6). Fourth, it portrays their respective impact: while the pope´s intervention triggered the bishops’ response, the deepening rifts between liberal and nationalist factions of Polish Catholicism are the ground cause for the reaction.publishersversionpublishe

PHOTOGRAPHY, LITERATURE AND MEMORY: INTERMEDIAL EXCHANGES IN CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH FICTION

By employing the lens of the most recent critical studies on intermediality, the present work aims at demonstrating how both photographs and verbal texts constitute structural elements in the development of the narrative structure and its signification. Depending on the way photos and literary texts are combined, they contextualise, explain or contradict each other on different levels of meaning. In particular, this work shows the relevance of the photo-textual practice for the exploration of issues of memory related to traumatic events, where images become fundamental traces of the past, and define one\u2019s related perception of the present reality. This work focuses upon three contemporary intermedial novels, that share the narration of traumatic events, like the Holocaust and the terroristic attack of 9/11, by means of photo-textual narration: Miss Peregrine\u2019s Home for Peculiar Children (2011) by Ransom Riggs, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2006) by Jonathan Safran Foer, and The Dark Room (2001) by Rachel Seiffert. In these hybrid texts, the interaction between photographs and verbal text reveals a general disruption and destabilisation of the narratives, that gives way to a multiplicity of interpretations. As members of the generations after the Holocaust, the literary authors had no direct experience of the events at the base of their novels, but find themselves facing the arduous challenge of grasping traumatic memories inherited and never completely elaborated by the first generation. As it will be argued, the combination of photographs and verbal texts, declined into different modalities of representation, becomes the most suitable literary instrument to evoke and capture memories of trauma and loss. In this context, the reader emerges as an active participant in the process of fiction-making, as the act of reading becomes a renewed act of witnessing

Assessment of diet and recognition of nutritional deficiencies in paleopathological studies : a review

An essential part of paleopathology is the study of diet and nutrition as well as inferring aspects of diet and nutrition from the skeletal pathology. Interpretation of nutritional and metabolic disease-related pathologies often provides additional insight into the daily social and cultural practices of people. However, precise diagnoses of specific vitamin-related deficiencies in archaeological skeletal remains are still quite problematic and specific diagnoses are rarely possible. This partly stems from the fact that many nutritional or metabolic diseases do not necessarily result in an osteological response and when they do, the comorbidity and analogous osteological responses to vitamin deficiencies may hamper the definite diagnosis of nutrition-related disease.http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1098-23532017-10-31hb2017Anatom

Acute brain injuries trigger microglia as an additional source of the proteoglycan NG2

NG2 is a type I transmembrane glycoprotein known as chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan 4 (CSPG4). In the healthy central nervous system, NG2 is exclusively expressed by oligodendrocyte progenitor cells and by vasculature pericytes. A large body of immunohistochemical studies showed that under pathological conditions such as acute brain injuries and experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a number of activated microglia were NG2 immuno-positive, suggesting NG2 expression in these cells. Alternative explanations for the microglial NG2 labeling consider the biochemical properties of NG2 or the phagocytic activity of activated microglia. Reportedly, the transmembrane NG2 proteoglycan can be cleaved by a variety of proteases to deposit the NG2 ectodomain into the extracellular matrix. The ectodomain, however, could also stick to the microglial surface. Since microglia are phagocytic cells engulfing debris of dying cells, it is difficult to identify a genuine expression of NG2. Recent studies showing (1) pericytes giving rise to microglial after stroke, and (2) immune cells of NG2-EYFP knock-in mice lacking NG2 expression in an EAE model generated doubts for the de novo expression of NG2 in microglia after acute brain injuries. In the current study, we took advantage of three knock-in mouse lines (NG2-CreERT2, CX3CR1-EGFP and NG2-EYFP) to study NG2 expression indicated by transgenic fluorescent proteins in microglia after tMCAO (transient middle cerebral artery occlusion) or cortical stab wound injury (SWI). We provide strong evidence that NG2-expressing cells, including OPCs and pericytes, did not differentiate into microglia after acute brain injuries, whereas activated microglia did express NG2 in a disease-dependent manner. A subset of microglia continuously activated the NG2 gene at least within the first week after tMCAO, whereas within 3 days after SWI a limited number of microglia at the lesion site transiently expressed NG2. Immunohistochemical studies demonstrated that these microglia with NG2 gene activity also synthesized the NG2 protein, suggesting activated microglia as an additional source of the NG2 proteoglycan after acute brain injuries