Partnership in implementation of the Structural Funds in Poland: 'shallow' adjustment or internalization of the European mode of cooperative governance?

The ongoing debate about the future of EU cohesion policy includes the voices of critics questioning its effectiveness, as well as those of proponents praising its praising its contribution to regional development policy. The proponents specifically acclaim its enhancement of inter-institutional cooperation and coordination in the delivery of the regional development policy through the partnership principle. However, the legacy of centralism, lack of traditions in collaborative policy-making, and weakly institutionalized sub-national authorities in Central and Eastern Europe prompt questions about the transferability of the partnership approach to the new member states, the main recipients of cohesion funding. What is the impact of EU cohesion policy's partnership at the sub-national level? What are the mechanisms of the sub-national actors' adjustment to this EU-imposed practice and what is the scope for its institutionalization? By investigating sub-national partnership arrangements in Poland, the paper sheds light on these under-researched issues. It also offers a valuable contribution to the debates on the future of EU cohesion policy and the logic of the domestic policy actors' adjustment to externally imposed policy norms. The paper draws on the concept of Europeanization, understood as the domestic impact of EU policies, to examine the implementation of a horizontal partnership in an unprecedented way by focusing on the strategies, preferences, and attitudes of the sub-national actors involved. It reveals that initially their adjustment to EU cohesion policy's partnership tends to be strategic and interest-driven. Nevertheless, there is also evidence that partnership can be internalized over time provided that it is in line with the actors' interests and there are specific incentives for cooperation. These findings show that strategic adjustment of domestic actors to European policy framework does not exclude socialization and internalization of the related norms and practices, as these processes can indeed be intertwined.political science; cohesion policy; Europeanization; Europeanization

Analytical solution for residual stress and strain preserved in anisotropic inclusion entrapped in an isotropic host

Raman elastic thermobarometry has recently been applied in many petrological studies to recover the pressure and temperature (P–T) conditions of mineral inclusion entrapment. Existing modelling methods in petrology either adopt an assumption of a spherical, isotropic inclusion embedded in an isotropic, infinite host or use numerical techniques such as the finite-element method to simulate the residual stress and strain state preserved in the non-spherical anisotropic inclusions. Here, we use the Eshelby solution to develop an analytical framework for calculating the residual stress and strain state of an elastically anisotropic, ellipsoidal inclusion in an infinite, isotropic host. The analytical solution is applicable to any class of inclusion symmetry and an arbitrary inclusion aspect ratio. Explicit expressions are derived for some symmetry classes, including tetragonal, hexagonal, and trigonal. The effect of changing the aspect ratio on residual stress is investigated, including quartz, zircon, rutile, apatite, and diamond inclusions in garnet host. Quartz is demonstrated to be the least affected, while rutile is the most affected. For prolate quartz inclusion (c axis longer than a axis), the effect of varying the aspect ratio on Raman shift is demonstrated to be insignificant. When c/a=5, only ca. 0.3 cm−1 wavenumber variation is induced as compared to the spherical inclusion shape. For oblate quartz inclusions, the effect is more significant, when c/a=0.5, ca. 0.8 cm−1 wavenumber variation for the 464 cm−1 band is induced compared to the reference spherical inclusion case. We also show that it is possible to fit an effective ellipsoid to obtain a proxy for the averaged residual stress or strain within a faceted inclusion. The difference between the volumetrically averaged stress of a faceted inclusion and the analytically calculated stress from the best-fitted effective ellipsoid is calculated to obtain the root-mean-square deviation (RMSD) for quartz, zircon, rutile, apatite, and diamond inclusions in garnet host. Based on the results of 500 randomly generated (a wide range of aspect ratio and random crystallographic orientation) faceted inclusions, we show that the volumetrically averaged stress serves as an excellent stress measure and the associated RMSD is less than 2 %, except for diamond, which has a systematically higher RMSD (ca. 8 %). This expands the applicability of the analytical solution for any arbitrary inclusion shape in practical Raman measurements

The Episodes of Currency Crises in the European Transition Economies

The series of currency crises which hit several developing countries in the 1990s did not leave the emerging market economies of Central and Eastern Europe unscathed. However, contrary to the experience of Mexico in 1995 and South East Asia in 1997-1998, the roots of the crises in our region were usually less sophisticated and easier to identify. Most crisis episodes in the former communist countries fit nicely with the ”first generation” canonical model elaborated in 1979 by Paul Krugman and developed in 1980s by other economists. In this model, fiscal imbalances are the main factor leading to depleting international reserves of the central bank and speculative attacks against national currencies. This was the main reason behind all currency crises in our region, very often closely related to serious microeconomic weaknesses and delays in structural and institutional reforms. The only minor exception was the Czech Republic where the devaluation crisis in May 1997 (of rather limited magnitude) was caused by over-borrowing of the enterprise sector, an unreformed financial sector, and political turmoil rather than by fiscal imbalances and an excessively expansionary monetary policy. This volume, following another collection of similar monographs related to Latin American and Asian regions, presents five episodes of currency crises in Eastern Europe in the second half of 1990s. Four of them were related to post-communist economies and one (Turkey) to a developing economy aiming to integrate with the EU and suffering many macroeconomic and structural weaknesses similar to those of the transition group. Bulgaria in 1996-1997 represents the first episode of a full-scale financial crisis, involving drastic currency devaluation and near-hyperinflation, a banking crisis and a near default on debt obligations. The roots of the crisis were fully domestic and, although severe, were restricted to Bulgaria. Russia's financial crisis in August 1998, despite similar characteristics and domestic roots as in Bulgaria, had an important international dimension. On the one hand, the first speculative attacks against the ruble in the fall of 1997 were triggered by crisis events in Asia, particularly in Hong Kong and Korea. On the other hand, when the Russian crisis erupted, it provoked a huge contagion effect across all the countries of the former USSR. It also caused a big turmoil on all segments of the international financial market, bringing the danger of a recession in the US and other developed countries, and triggering a currency crisis in Brazil few months later. The monographs on Ukraine and Moldova present two case studies of such a contagion effect. However, one should remember that these two economies (as well as most other FSU economies) experienced the same weaknesses and vulnerabilities as in Russia. Thus Russian events could only accelerate the crisis in these countries which was, in any event, hard to avoid. Finally, we present the analysis of the recent financial market crisis in Turkey, which fortunately has been stopped by fast and substantial IMF and World Bank support and has not evolved into a full-scale currency crisis.transition economies, crisis, fiscal policy, Bulgaria, Moldova, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine

Fiscal Policy in Poland under Transition

Based on statistics provided by the Ministry of Finance and Central Statistical Office, the paper provides an analyses of the economic transition experienced by Poland paying particular attention to the fiscal policy.Poland, Economic Transition, Fiscal Policy

Parameterized Complexity Classification for Interval Constraints

Constraint satisfaction problems form a nicely behaved class of problems that lends itself to complexity classification results. From the point of view of parameterized complexity, a natural task is to classify the parameterized complexity of MinCSP problems parameterized by the number of unsatisfied constraints. In other words, we ask whether we can delete at most $k$ constraints, where $k$ is the parameter, to get a satisfiable instance. In this work, we take a step towards classifying the parameterized complexity for an important infinite-domain CSP: Allen's interval algebra (IA). This CSP has closed intervals with rational endpoints as domain values and employs a set $A$ of 13 basic comparison relations such as ``precedes'' or ``during'' for relating intervals. IA is a highly influential and well-studied formalism within AI and qualitative reasoning that has numerous applications in, for instance, planning, natural language processing and molecular biology. We provide an FPT vs. W[1]-hard dichotomy for MinCSP$(\Gamma)$ for all $\Gamma \subseteq A$. IA is sometimes extended with unions of the relations in $A$ or first-order definable relations over $A$, but extending our results to these cases would require first solving the parameterized complexity of Directed Symmetric Multicut, which is a notorious open problem. Already in this limited setting, we uncover connections to new variants of graph cut and separation problems. This includes hardness proofs for simultaneous cuts or feedback arc set problems in directed graphs, as well as new tractable cases with algorithms based on the recently introduced flow augmentation technique. Given the intractability of MinCSP$(A)$ in general, we then consider (parameterized) approximation algorithms and present a factor-$2$ fpt-approximation algorithm

Matrix metalloproteinases-2, -7 and tissue metalloproteinase inhibitor-1 expression in human endometrium

Introduction. Endometrium undergoes regular, cyclic tissue remodeling mostly associated to the endocrine system status. It is well-known fact that steroid hormones are strongly responsible for changes in endometrium. The precise mechanism of their action is still under investigation. The aim of the study was to evaluate the expression of metalloproteinases 2 and 7 (MMP-2, -7) and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 1 (TIMP-1) in human endometrium in relation to serum concentrations of estradiol and progesterone during different phases of menstrual cycle.Material and methods. The study material consisted of 52 biopsy samples; 12 obtained in the proliferative phase, 11 in the secretory phase and 29 during menstruation. Expression of MMP-2, MMP-7 and TIMP-1 was assessed by immunohistochemistry. Serum concentrations of estradiol and progesterone at time of biopsy were evaluated by immunochemistry assay. Results of the study were statistically assessed by linear regression model.Results. Increased serum concentration of estradiol was associated with increased MMP-2 expression in proliferative phase but decreased in secretory phase and during menstruation. No significant relationship was found between progesterone concentration and MMP-2 expression. Moreover, no difference in the expression of MMP-7 and TIMP-1 in the endometrium in relation to hormone levels and menstrual cycle phases were observed.Conclusions. The results of the study indicate that estradiol influence MMP-2 expression in the endometrium depends on the phase of menstrual cycle. Such relationships were not found for MMP-7 and TIMP-1 and further tests clarifying association between estradiol and MMPs are needed.

Implementation of extended cardiopulmonary resuscitation procedure in in-hospital cardiac arrest: a preliminary simulated study

INTRODUCTION: The survival rate of patients after in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) is poor. The implementation of novel technologies to conventional cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) may improve clinical outcomes.   Aim: To evaluate efficacy of extended CPR (ECPR) performed by physicians in the simulated scenario of IHCA.   MATERIAL AND METHODS: High-fidelity simulations were performed in a simulation room equipped with a full spectrum of emergency devices. Earlier, the physicians (n = 60, five courses) participated in a threeday training in the use of extracorporeal techniques. Eventually, 12 participants were divided into 4-member teams that were involved in three stages (assessed in terms of duration and quality) of scenario such as 1. Advanced Life Support (ALS) activities; 2. preparation of the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation device (ECMO); 3. cannulation and activation of ECMO.   RESULTS: All teams completed successfully scenario within recommended time of 60 minutes (ranged from 33 min. 55 sec. to 37 min.) after IHCA. In details, decision to activate ECMO team was taken between 8 min. 45 sec. and 14 min. 15 sec of scenario, ECMO device prepared within 10 min. 5 sec. to 15 min. 30 sec. whereas peripheral vessels cannulated in 4 min. 14 sec. to 6 min. 10 sec. Of note, all evaluated times were the shortest for teams with decisive leaders.   CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of ECPR procedure is possible within recommended time after IHCA. It has also been shown that training with application of high-fidelity simulation techniques is of paramount importance in achievement and maintenance of ECPR skills, not only manual but also in effective communication

Interferometric imaging of the type IIIb and U radio bursts observed with LOFAR on 22 August 2017

Context. The Sun is the source of different types of radio bursts that are associated with solar flares, for example. Among the most frequently observed phenomena are type III solar bursts. Their radio images at low frequencies (below 100 MHz) are relatively poorly studied due to the limitations of legacy radio telescopes.Aims. We study the general characteristics of types IIIb and U with stria structure solar radio bursts in the frequency range of 20-80 MHz, in particular the source size and evolution in different altitudes, as well as the velocity and energy of electron beams responsible for their generation.Methods. In this work types IIIb and U with stria structure radio bursts are analyzed using data from the LOFAR telescope including dynamic spectra and imaging observations, as well as data taken in the X-ray range (GOES and RHESSI satellites) and in the extreme ultraviolet (SDO satellite).Results. In this study we determined the source size limited by the actual shape of the contour at particular frequencies of type IIIb and U solar bursts in a relatively wide frequency band from 20 to 80 MHz. Two of the bursts seem to appear at roughly the same place in the studied active region and their source sizes are similar. It is different in the case of another burst, which seems to be related to another part of the magnetic field structure in this active region. The velocities of the electron beams responsible for the generation of the three bursts studied here were also found to be different.Peer reviewe