261 research outputs found
Territory, Temporality and Clustered Europeanization. IHS Political Science Series: 2006, No. 109
Non-convergence amongst the EU member states, despite a wide range of integration effects, has come to be accepted as conventional wisdom in the Europeanization debate. This paper takes issue with the stress on non-convergence and makes a case for âclustered Europeanizationâ. Clustering is promoted by two variables that have so far received little attention in Europeanization research: territory and temporality. Territory influences Europeanization through (a) âfamilies of nationsâ and (b) center-periphery structures in an expanding European political space. Temporality matters, in particular, through the ârelative time of accessionâ, i.e. when countries joined (c) in relation to their domestic political and economic development and (d) in relation to the phase of European integration. While (a) and (c) promote intra-regional commonalities in Europeanization-related domestic variables, (b) and (d) highlight inter-regional differences in the integration experience. This regional distinctness of both domestic and integration variables, in turn, promotes clustered Europeanization
Market Concentration and Product Variety under Spatial Competition: Evidence from Retail Gasoline
We show that for a spatially differentiated economy reduced product variety is the likely outcome of mergers except in cases where exit costs in relation to (outlet-specific) fixed costs are high. Our empirical analysis of the Austrian retail gasoline market confirms that increases in concentration reduce product variety. Ignoring this product variety effect is likely to lead to an underestimate of market power in structural merger analysis.spatial product differentiation, retail gasoline, mergers, concentration
Territory, temporality and clustered Europeanization
'Ein GroĂteil der EuropĂ€isierungsforschung geht davon aus, dass die europĂ€ische Integration trotz weitreichender nationaler Effekte nicht zu einer Konvergenz der Mitgliedstaaten fĂŒhrt. Der vorliegende Beitrag stellt diese Sichtweise in Frage und weist auf die Existenz von 'EuropĂ€isierungsclustern' hin. Diese Clusterbildung lĂ€sst sich auf zwei FaktorbĂŒndel zurĂŒckfĂŒhren, die in der einschlĂ€gigen Forschung bislang kaum Beachtung gefunden haben: TerritorialitĂ€t und Zeitlichkeit. TerritorialitĂ€t beeinflusst EuropĂ€isierung insbesondere durch (a) die Existenz von geographisch definierten 'families of nations' und (b) den Wandel des VerhĂ€ltnisses zwischen Zentrum und Peripherie in einem sich ausdehnenden europĂ€ischen politischen Raum. Zeitlichkeit bezieht sich vor allem auf den Beitrittszeitpunkt eines Landes. Das Muster der nationalen Reaktion auf die europĂ€ische Integration wird davon geprĂ€gt, (c) welche politischen und ökonomischen Rahmenbedingungen zum Zeitpunkt des Beitritts auf der nationalen Ebene vorherrschten und (d) in welcher Phase sich die europĂ€ische Integration zum diesem Zeitpunkt befand. WĂ€hrend (a) und (c) dafĂŒr verantwortlich sind, dass binnenstaatliche Bestimmungsfaktoren der EuropĂ€isierung regionenspezifisch verteilt sind, verbinden sich (b) und (d) mit einer wiederum regionenspezifischen AusprĂ€gung integrationsbezogener Variablen. Zusammen begĂŒnstigten sie das Entstehen spezifischer EuropĂ€isierungscluster.' (Autorenreferat)'Non-convergence amongst the EU member states, despite a wide range of integration effects, has come to be accepted as conventional wisdom in the Europeanization debate. This paper takes issue with the stress on non-convergence and makes a case for 'clustered Europeanization'. Clustering is promoted by two variables that have so far received little attention in Europeanization research: territory and temporality. Territory influences Europeanization through (a) 'families of nations' and (b) center-periphery structures in an expanding European political space. Temporality matters, in particular, through the 'relative time of accession', i.e. when countries joined (c) in relation to their domestic political and economic development and (d) in relation to the phase of European integration. While (a) and (c) promote intra-regional commonalities in Europeanization-related domestic variables, (b) and (d) highlight inter-regional differences in the integration experience. This regional distinctness of both domestic and integration variables, in turn, promotes clustered Europeanization.' (author's abstract)
The Europeanisation of national political systems : Parliaments and executives
This article reviews the by now extensive literature on the Europeanisation of the political
systems of the EU-15, with an emphasis on parliaments and executives (i.e., governments
and ministerial administrations). The Living Review highlights apparently contradictory effects
of integration: de-parlamentarisation vs. re-parlamentarisation; bureaucratisation vs.
politicisation; and centralisation vs. diffusion. These diverging assessments of the effects of
integration do, in part, reflect diversity in the EU-15; in part, they are, however, also a result
of differences in the specification of variables, research designs and theoretical approaches.
Work that inquires into patterns of Europeanisation â across institutional domains, countries,
regions and time â and which seeks to tackle the âmethodological nationalismâ of the Europeanisation
literature promises a clearer picture of the institutional consequences of European
integration than we possess at present
The Variable Reflection Nebula Cepheus A East
We report K'-band imaging observations of the reflection nebula associated
with Cepheus A East covering the time interval from 1990 to 2004. Over this
time the reflection nebula shows variations of flux distribution, which we
interpret as the effect of inhomogeneous and varying extinction in the light
path from the illuminating source HW2 to the reflection nebula. The obscuring
material is located within typical distances of approximately 10 AU from the
illuminating source.Comment: 22 pages, including 6 figures, accepted for publication in The
Astronomical Journa
Perioperative Care and the Importance of Continuous Quality ImprovementâA Controlled Intervention Study in Three Tanzanian Hospitals
Introduction Surgical services are increasingly seen to reduce death and
disability in Sub-Saharan Africa, where hospital-based mortality remains
alarmingly high. This study explores two implementation approaches to improve
the quality of perioperative care in a Tanzanian hospital. Effects were
compared to a control group of two other hospitals in the region without
intervention. Methods All hospitals conducted quality assessments with a
Hospital Performance Assessment Tool. Changes in immediate outcome indicators
after one and two years were compared to final outcome indicators such as
Anaesthetic Complication Rate and Surgical Case Fatality Rate. Results
Immediate outcome indicators for Preoperative Care in the intervention
hospital improved (52.5% in 2009; 84.2% in 2011, p<0.001). Postoperative
Inpatient Care initially improved to then decline again (63.3% in 2009; 70% in
2010; 58.6% in 2011). In the control group, preoperative care declined from
50.8% (2009) to 32.8% (2011, p <0.001), while postoperative care did not
significantly change. Anaesthetic Complication Rate in the intervention
hospital declined (1.89% before intervention; 0.96% after intervention, p =
0.006). Surgical Case Fatality Rate in the intervention hospital declined from
5.67% before intervention to 2.93% after intervention (p<0.0010). Surgical
Case Fatality Rate in the control group was 4% before intervention and 3.8%
after intervention (p = 0.411). Anaesthetic Complication Rate in the control
group was not available. Discussion Immediate outcome indicators initially
improved, while at the same time final outcome declined (Surgical Case
Fatality, Anaesthetic Complication Rate). Compared to the control group, final
outcome improved more in the intervention hospital, although the effect was
not significant over the whole study period. Documentation of final outcome
indicators seemed inconsistent. Immediate outcome indicators seem more helpful
to steer the Continuous Quality Improvement program. Conclusion Specific
interventions as part of Continuous Quality Improvement might lead to
sustainable improvement of the quality of care, if embedded in a multi-faceted
approach
Comeback of epitaxial graphene for electronics: large-area growth of bilayer-free graphene on SiC
We present a new fabrication method for epitaxial graphene on SiC which
enables the growth of ultra-smooth defect- and bilayer-free graphene sheets
with an unprecedented reproducibility, a necessary prerequisite for wafer-scale
fabrication of high quality graphene-based electronic devices. The inherent but
unfavorable formation of high SiC surface terrace steps during high temperature
sublimation growth is suppressed by rapid formation of the graphene buffer
layer which stabilizes the SiC surface. The enhanced nucleation is enforced by
decomposition of polymer adsorbates which act as a carbon source. With most of
the steps well below 0.75 nm pure monolayer graphene without bilayer inclusions
is formed with lateral dimensions only limited by the size of the substrate.
This makes the polymer assisted sublimation growth technique the most promising
method for commercial wafer scale epitaxial graphene fabrication. The
extraordinary electronic quality is evidenced by quantum resistance metrology
at 4.2 K with until now unreached precision and high electron mobilities on mm
scale devices.Comment: 20 pages, 6 Figure
Primary cilia sensitize endothelial cells to BMP and prevent excessive vascular regression
Blood flow shapes vascular networks by orchestrating endothelial cell behavior and function. How endothelial cells read and interpret flow-derived signals is poorly understood. Here, we show that endothelial cells in the developing mouse retina form and use luminal primary cilia to stabilize vessel connections selectively in parts of the remodeling vascular plexus experiencing low and intermediate shear stress. Inducible genetic deletion of the essential cilia component intraflagellar transport protein 88 (IFT88) in endothelial cells caused premature and random vessel regression without affecting proliferation, cell cycle progression, or apoptosis. IFT88 mutant cells lacking primary cilia displayed reduced polarization against blood flow, selectively at low and intermediate flow levels, and have a stronger migratory behavior. Molecularly, we identify that primary cilia endow endothelial cells with strongly enhanced sensitivity to bone morphogenic protein 9 (BMP9), selectively under low flow. We propose that BMP9 signaling cooperates with the primary cilia at low flow to keep immature vessels open before high shear stress-mediated remodeling
Cartilage Repair Surgery: Outcome Evaluation by Using Noninvasive Cartilage Biomarkers Based on Quantitative MRI Techniques?
Background. New quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques are increasingly applied as outcome measures after cartilage repair. Objective. To review the current literature on the use of quantitative MRI biomarkers for evaluation of cartilage repair at the knee and ankle. Methods. Using PubMed literature research, studies on biochemical, quantitative MR imaging of cartilage repair were identified and reviewed. Results. Quantitative MR biomarkers detect early degeneration of articular cartilage, mainly represented by an increasing water content, collagen disruption, and proteoglycan loss. Recently, feasibility of biochemical MR imaging of cartilage repair tissue and surrounding cartilage was demonstrated. Ultrastructural properties of the tissue after different repair procedures resulted in differences in imaging characteristics. T2 mapping, T1rho mapping, delayed gadolinium-enhanced MRI of cartilage (dGEMRIC), and diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) are applicable on most clinical 1.5âT and 3âT MR scanners. Currently, a standard of reference is difficult to define and knowledge is limited concerning correlation of clinical and MR findings. The lack of histological correlations complicates the identification of the exact tissue composition. Conclusions. A multimodal approach combining several quantitative MRI techniques in addition to morphological and clinical evaluation might be promising. Further investigations are required to demonstrate the potential for outcome evaluation after cartilage repair
Serial O-(2-[18F]fluoroethyl)-L-tyrosine PET for monitoring the effects of intracavitary radioimmunotherapy in patients with malignant glioma
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