Structuring the European Administrative Space - Channels of EU Penetration and Mechanisms ofNational Change

The author provides an analytical model to capture mechanisms of supranational impact on national public administrations. The aim is to understand how we can perceive a European administrative space given the persistent diversity between member states. In face of the overly complex subject matter, it is argued that a typology that presents ideal types of interaction modes between supranational and national levels of administration provides in fact a suitable pragmatic approach to understand the potential impact of European integration on national civil services. Scrutinizing which mechanisms of possible influence-taking the European Union (EU) invokes shows that administrative integration does actually not suggest overall convergence. Instead the shared administrative space works precisely because it preserves state-sensitive diversity. Only in the context of enlargement did the EU need to present a single model to the candidate states and thus the notion of an ever more converging single administrative space was invented. Despite the external promotion of a single model, the driving dynamic of the emerging European administrative space remains increased cooperation and common administration that respects and sustains differences between independent national public administrations. The theoretical framework and empirical application therefore provide a first step for further research to tackle how supranational integration changes national public administration.public administration; identity; ideas; integration theory; public administration; closer cooperation; Europeanization; Europeanization

The heart of political steering: the EU's areana of power as template for a governance typology

The literature on the so-called new modes of governance in the European Union focuses on steering instruments beyond hierarchy and coercion. While it has repeatedly been put into question how ‘new’ these instruments are, no systematic attention has been paid to the mutual dependency between policy types marked by the specific conflict lines and choice of governance tools. On the contrary, some attempts to classify modes of governance explicitly disregard policy typologies. The paper argues conversely that in order to arrive at a comprehensive mapping of modes of governance – ‘old’ and ‘new’ – the most promising doorway is indeed to start from the actor constellations characteristic for the different policy types. A review of the European Union’s policies and modes of governance illustrates how modes of governance are pre-defined by the structures between policy-makers and –takers innate to the policy types that dominate supranational policy-making

Pattern and Extent of EU Involvement in Public Administrations: How to Describe and Explain in the European Administrative Space

This paper claims that public administrations are central players in the policy process. Hence, the control over and organization of civil services represent core state powers. The puzzles that emerge are therefore: which administrative system underpins supranational policy-making; and which consequences does participation in the European Administrative Space entail for the autonomy of national bureaucracies? I confront the theoretical challenge, namely the analytical description for the EAS, proposing a policy-centered approach that captures the EAS along the four dimensions administrative tasks, authority, instruments, and actor constellations. The empirical challenge is how to measure a supranational impact on national civil services. Drawing on a complementary view of political and administrative action in public administration research, a set of variables is applied to the EAS and the German national bureaucracy. The results show that not only the EAS but also the participation of the German administration herein increase the distance between the political and administrative realm but, at the same, also reduce drastically the ability of administrations to mitigate between the policy process, politics, and citizens

channels of EU penetration and mechanisms of national change

The author provides an analytical model to capture mechanisms of supranational impact on national public administrations. The aim is to understand how we can perceive a European administrative space given the persistent diversity between member states. In face of the overly complex subject matter, it is argued that a typology that presents ideal types of interaction modes between supranational and national levels of administration provides in fact a suitable pragmatic approach to understand the potential impact of European integration on national civil services. Scrutinizing which mechanisms of possible influence-taking the European Union (EU) invokes shows that administrative integration does actually not suggest overall convergence. Instead the shared administrative space works precisely because it preserves state-sensitive diversity. Only in the context of enlargement did the EU need to present a single model to the candidate states and thus the notion of an ever more converging single administrative space was invented. Despite the external promotion of a single model, the driving dynamic of the emerging European administrative space remains increased cooperation and common administration that respects and sustains differences between independent national public administrations. The theoretical framework and empirical application therefore provide a first step for further research to tackle how supranational integration changes national public administration

Mending the hole in multilevel implementation: Administrative cooperation related to worker mobility

European economic integration creates unintended consequences for national public administrations. This article offers a conceptual and empirical analysis of how these challenges are met. First, three challenges are identified: a reduced capacity to offer services to citizens who move freely, increasing administrative burdens, and negative externalities for all parts from a single states’ administrative failure. Second, a conceptual framework is developed that links each challenge to a most likely response in form of modes of administrative cooperation. Third, the framework is illustrated by an empirical analysis of the coordination of social security systems, labor inspectorates, and posted workers. The case studies show that horizontal administrative cooperation is developed stepwise over time and in line with the theoretical framework. In sum, we can sustain that horizontal administrative cooperation is a relevant additional integration dynamic that buffers unintended effects of market integration on formally independent but increasingly interdependent member state executive bodies

An automated motion detection and reward system for animal training

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Simple method for sub-diffraction resolution imaging of cellular structures on standard confocal microscopes by three-photon absorption of quantum dots

This study describes a simple technique that improves a recently developed 3D sub-diffraction imaging method based on three-photon absorption of commercially available quantum dots. The method combines imaging of biological samples via tri-exciton generation in quantum dots with deconvolution and spectral multiplexing, resulting in a novel approach for multi-color imaging of even thick biological samples at a 1.4 to 1.9-fold better spatial resolution. This approach is realized on a conventional confocal microscope equipped with standard continuous-wave lasers. We demonstrate the potential of multi-color tri-exciton imaging of quantum dots combined with deconvolution on viral vesicles in lentivirally transduced cells as well as intermediate filaments in three-dimensional clusters of mouse-derived neural stem cells (neurospheres) and dense microtubuli arrays in myotubes formed by stacks of differentiated C2C12 myoblasts

Single-particle tracking uncovers dynamics of glutamate-induced retrograde transport of NF-κB p65 in living neurons

Retrograde transport of NF-κB from the synapse to the nucleus in neurons is mediated by the dynein/dynactin motor complex and can be triggered by synaptic activation. The calibre of axons is highly variable ranging down to 100 nm, aggravating the investigation of transport processes in neurites of living neurons using conventional light microscopy. In this study we quantified for the first time the transport of the NF-κB subunit p65 using high-density single-particle tracking in combination with photoactivatable fluorescent proteins in living mouse hippocampal neurons. We detected an increase of the mean diffusion coefficient (Dmean) in neurites from 0.12 ± 0.05 µm2/s to 0.61 ± 0.03 µm2/s after stimulation with glutamate. We further observed that the relative amount of retrogradely transported p65 molecules is increased after stimulation. Glutamate treatment resulted in an increase of the mean retrograde velocity from 10.9 ± 1.9 to 15 ± 4.9 µm/s, whereas a velocity increase from 9 ± 1.3 to 14 ± 3 µm/s was observed for anterogradely transported p65. This study demonstrates for the first time that glutamate stimulation leads to an increased mobility of single NF-κB p65 molecules in neurites of living hippocampal neurons

Pioglitazone Prevents Capillary Rarefaction in Streptozotocin-Diabetic Rats Independently of Glucose Control and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Expression

Background/Aims: Reduction of capillary network density occurs early in the development of metabolic syndrome and may be relevant for the precipitation of diabetes. Agonists of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-gamma transcription factor are vasculoprotective, but their capacity for structural preservation of the microcirculation is unclear. Methods: Male Wistar rats were rendered diabetic by streptozotocin and treated with pioglitazone in chow for up to 12 weeks. Capillary density was determined in heart and skeletal muscle after platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 (PECAM-1) immunostaining. Hallmarks of apoptosis and angiogenesis were determined. Results: Capillary density deteriorated progressively in the presence of hyperglycemia (from 971/mm(2) to 475/mm(2) in quadriceps muscle during 13 weeks). Pioglitazone did not influence plasma glucose, left ventricular weight, or body weight but nearly doubled absolute and relative capillary densities compared to untreated controls (1.2 vs. 0.6 capillaries/myocyte in heart and 1.5 vs. 0.9 capillaries/myocyte in quadriceps muscle) after 13 weeks of diabetes. No antiapoptotic or angiogenic influence of pioglitazone was detected while a reduced expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-3 alpha and PPAR coactivator-1 alpha (PGC-1 alpha) mRNA as well as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) protein possibly occurred as a consequence of improved vascularization. Conclusion: Pioglitazone preserves microvascular structure in diabetes independently of improvements in glycemic control and by a mechanism unrelated to VEGF-mediated angiogenesis. Copyright (C) 2012 S. Karger AG, Base