In the Yugoslav Mirror: The EU Disintegration Crisis

The Yugoslav and the present EU integration crisis display several parallels. In both cases, the integration models have proved to be unable to attenuate the uneven development patterns, and the state has been characterised by strong confederal elements. Deep economic crisis strengthened in both cases the centrifugal tendencies. The political discourse became increasingly dominated by the question "who exploits whom?". While central authorities pursued policies of neo-liberal structural adjustment eroding its legitimacy among the popular classes, the republican authorities in Yugoslavia, respectively, the national governments in the EU tried to shift the burden of the crises to the others and strengthened their role during the crisis management. With the deepening of the crisis, constitutional reform became an issue in Yugoslavia. In the Yugoslav case, the various proposals proved to be irreconcilable. In the EU, a debate on its future shape has begun as well. This issue is highly controversial. In the EU, a key problem is the relationship between euro zone and non-euro zone states. Such an institutional divide did not exist in Yugoslavia. It is significant that the leading state of the non-euro zone group, the UK, is the first state to exit the EU. A key question is whether the EU has already passed the critical point where a deep reform is still possible

Nightingales "Luscinia megarhynchos", Thrush Nightingales "L. luscinia" and their hybrids in the area of Frankfurt (Oder) - further results of long-term investigations using bird ringing

Im Rahmen eines Planberingungsprogramms wurden im Zeitraum 1990-2005 die Häufigkeit und Zusammensetzung von Mischbruten und Rückkreuzungen zwischen Nachtigallen (Luscinia megarhynchos) und Sprossern (Luscinia luscinia) im Gebiet ihres gemeinsamen Vorkommens, im Raum Frankfurt (Oder), untersucht. Dazu wurden 2389 Nachtigallen, 482 Sprosser und 207 Hybriden (je ca. 50 % davon Nestlinge) markiert. Eine hohe Brutorttreue war zu verzeichnen. Es wurden Vögel bis zu 10 Jahre lang am selben Platz kontrolliert. Generationsfolgen bei einigen davon sind dargestellt und es werden 4 Nachkommen ringbekannter Mischeltern beschrieben. 40 Mischbruten, 31 Rückkreuzungen sowie Polygynie bei der Nachtigall, beim Sprosser und bei einem Hybriden werden dokumentiert. Das Verhältnis artreine Bruten (83,7 %), Mischbruten (9,2 %) und Rückkreuzungen (7,1 %) blieb im Untersuchungszeitraum relativ konstant. Ein Verdrängen der einen durch die andere Art oder ein zunehmendes Vermischen beider Arten war nicht festzustellen. Alle Hybriden waren Männchen, die sich z. T. fortpflanzten. Es konnte hier kein F1-Hybrid-Weibchen beobachtet werden. Fast alle Nachtigallen brachten Artgesang. Über 50 % der Sprosser imitierten mehr oder weniger gut die Nachtigall. Die Lautäußerungen beider Arten scheinen bei der Partnerwahl eine untergeordnete Rolle zu spielen; sie sind kein Hemmnis bei der Vermischung. Der Artstatus von Nachtigall und Sprosser ist trotz ihrer engen Verwandtschaft dennoch gerechtfertigt.Within the scope of a bird ringing program, abundance and constitution of broods of mixed pairs and backcrosses between Nightingales Luscinia megarhynchos and Trush Nightingales Luscinia luscinia were studied in the area of their joint occurrence Frankfurt (Oder) between 1990 and 2005. 2,389 Nightingales, 482 Thrush Nightingales, and 207 Hybrids (ever approx. 50 % nestlings) were marked. A high fidelity to the breeding place was denoted. Birds were examined up to 10 years at the same place. Generation orders of some of them are illustrated and 4 offsprings of ring-known pairs of mixed parents are described. 40 broods of mixed pairs, 31 backcrosses and polygyny in Nightingale, Thrush Nightingale and one hybrid were documented. The proportion of species-pure broods (83.7 %), broods of mixed pairs (9.2 %) and backcrosses (7.1 %) remained relatively constant in the period of examination. A displacement of one by the other species or increasing hybridisation rate of both species was not observed. All hybrids have been males being partly able to reproduce. A F1-hybrid female could not be noticed. Almost all Nightingales sung normal species‘ songs. More than 50 % of the Thrush Nightingales imitated the Nightingale male song in a more or less good way. The kind of singing of the males of both species appears to be of minor importance with respect to finding a female for breeding. They do not hamper hybridisation. However, the species status is clearly justified despite of their close relationship

Krisenmuster und Anti-Krisen-Politiken in Osteuropa

(no abstract available

European integration at the crossroads: Democratic deepening for stability, solidarity and social justice. EuroMemorandum 2012

The euro area crisis threatens the future of European integration, but instead of challenging the power of the financial institutions which are driving the crisis, the European authorities have imposed austerity programmes on Greece and other peripheral euro area countries, and developed centralised policies for imposing highly restrictive fiscal discipline on all member states which risk undermining the democratic legitimacy of the European Union (EU)

X-Rays from the Nearby Solitary Millisecond Pulsar PSR J0030+0451 - the Final ROSAT Observations

We report on X-ray observations of the solitary 4.8 ms pulsar PSR J0030+0451. The pulsar was one of the last targets observed in DEC-98 by the ROSAT PSPC. X-ray pulses are detected on a $4.5\sigma$ level and make the source the $11^{th}$ millisecond pulsar detected in the X-ray domain. The pulsed fraction is found to be $69\pm18$. The X-ray pulse profile is characterized by two narrow peaks which match the gross pulse profile observed at 1.4 GHz. Assuming a Crab-like spectrum the X-ray flux is in the range $f_x= 2-3\times 10^{-13}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$ ($0.1-2.4$ keV), implying an X-ray efficiency of $L_x/\dot{E}\sim 0.5-5 \times 10^{-3} (d/0.23 {kpc})^2$.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap

"Territorial Regulation and the Vienna Region: a historical-geographical overview"

Series: IIR-Discussion Paper