The Multilevel Governance (MLG) and the respect of the subsidiarity principle

This article aims to show us the relation between the multilevel governance and the subsidiarity principle. The new provisions of the Lisbon Treaty will strengthen the democratic accountability of the EU and its institutions by creating new tools of communication and political dialogue. The early warning mechanism can also be used as a tool for a better consultation in order to identify specific concerns and expectations of the citizens or local and regional authorities

Eurolimes, where to?

Now that we publish the 10th issue of Eurolimes, the editors of the journal intend to sum up the contribution of Eurolimes to the examination of the notion of boundary corresponding to the border-limit in correlation with the notion of border as state boundary. Our journal also aims at showing the way in which the meaning of internal frontiers changes evolving from the national perspective to the community one. On the other hand, we seek to define the future editorial initiatives of the journal towards more punctual topics through the question “Eurolimes, where to?”: EU position in an international context with strong mutations after 2010; the impact of policy on the construction of a formal or informal border; the impact of different types of borders on identities; the process of evolution of social borders within the EU Member States, etc

European Union between the constraint of borders and global competition

The sovereign debt crisis, which currently affects especially the European Union, challenges on the one side the actuality of hard borders and the reexamination of soft borders (Horga & Brie, 2008), and on the other side the need for the European Union to deal with an even more complex global competition, where only a strong actor with strategy and vocation and not reduced national entities can be viable. A major obstacle – the financial crisis – has made many of the researchers, who saw the EU as a vocational actor in the international system and who sustained institutional neoliberal conceptions and attitudes, start doubting such hypotheses by clinging to neorealist solutions. The disfunctionalities between the EU member states within the crisis have fueled a lot of positions, from euro -skepticism, federalism to interguvernamentalism, but also severe critics addressed to the supranationalists, the constructivists and to the people supporting the integration theories, such as governance and policy networks. Starting from this ambivalence, with which the EU has to deal, the volume which we are putting forward introduces the papers of young Romanian researchers who aim to analyze the actuality of the EU borders and the challenges for the beginning of the 21st century on the one hand, and on the other, the pace of the EU in the global competition

Dolor en la cirugía de cataratas comparando el primer ojo con el segundo. Revisión Bibliográfica.

El Dolor es una sensación emocional subjetiva y desagradable, resulta muy difícil su evaluación, por lo que la medición del dolor es una de las tareas más difíciles con las que se encuentra tanto el clínico como el investigador. La evaluación del dolor, considerado como el “quinto signo vital”, es un elemento esencial para su tratamiento. Su cuantificación debe realizarse mediante el uso de escalas, de las cuales hay una gran variedad según los objetivos que se tengan. El objetivo de éste trabajo es llegar a analizar “si la cirugía de cataratas del segundo ojo es más dolorosa que la cirugía del primer ojo” realizando una revisión bibliográfica de diferentes artículos y publicaciones de estudios ya realizados. Con éste fin se han consultado diferentes bases de datos de ciencias de la salud. La literatura encontrada, más relevante, sobre este tema va del año 2001 al 2015 (y en la mayoría de los estudios se verifica que duele más el segundo ojo que el primero). Se ha observado que éste aspecto es de interés para investigadores desde hace tiempo. Las publicaciones más recientes del año 2015 toman como referencia los hallazgos publicados por autores que hicieron ya sus estudios entre el año 1992 y el año 2014Máster en Enfermería Oftalmológic

European and/or EU Studies Curriculum between Internal and External drivers

The main objective of this paper is to determine whether the particularity of courses in European Studies can still be characterized as ‘traditional,’ or whether such courses remain disjointed, seated in various disciplines. We surveyed the field of EU Studies/European Studies from two perspectives: as a ‘Disciplinary Framework’ of Political Science and as an ‘Interdisciplinary Framework.’ We argued that the process of specialization of such academic fields as European Studies and International Studies was triggered by a number of stimuli, both internal and external. We conclude by taking into account a third perspective, approaching EU Studies/European Studies as a ‘Multidisciplinary Framework.’ We argue that interdisciplinarity is the new orientation in drafting academic curricula

Magnetic resonance imaging of lower limb joints of marathon runners

Marathon running is extremely popular. The increasing participation of beginner runners, including older ones, in marathon races has been anecdotally associated with an increase in lower limb injuries. Evidence is scarce, yet no previous study showed significant marathon-related damage on joints, but involved small sample size, no beginner runners and injury detection tools of limited sensitivity. Therefore, the impact of marathon running remains unclear. The aim of this thesis is to better understand how marathon running affects the knee and hip joints of large groups of novice marathoners, and how to minimise risks of injury. Prevalence of knee joint abnormalities in asymptomatic novice marathoners before the start of their marathon training was morphologically assessed, using high-resolution 3.0 T MRI and validated questionnaires; 97% knees had abnormalities and the patellofemoral compartment was most lesioned (p<0.0001). Changes in the knee MRI results from the pre-marathon scan to short-term post-marathon scan were evaluated, using 3.0 T MRI and questionnaires. For the first time, counterbalanced effects of running were detected: reduction in the extent of pre-existing tibiofemoral bone marrow edema (p=0.082), and increase in the prevalence of patellofemoral cartilage lesion (p=0.0005), although asymptomatic. Six months later, the reduction in bone edema was sustained in all cases and there were signs of reversibility of cartilage damage (14%). Prevalence of hip joint abnormalities in both asymptomatic novice marathoners and experienced marathoners was evaluated, using the same methodology. Prevalences were relatively moderate in both experienced marathoners (63%) and non-experienced marathoners (51%). Changes in the hip MRI findings of novice marathoners after marathon running were analysed, and no significant changes were detected (p=0.684). Results from this thesis show that first-time marathon running does not damage the knee and hip joints of runners with no pre-existing injuries, and inform on the types of structural changes and potential clinical implications

Psihometrijske karakteristike hrvatske verzije upitnika usmjerenosti na zadatak (task) i na ishod (ego) u sportu (cteosq)

The purpose of this study was to examine the selected psychometric properties of the Croatian version of Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire in order to extend the construct validation of this sport motivation instrument. The present study utilized a quasi-confirmatory factor analytic approach to evaluate the theoretical two-factor structure of the original TEOSQ scores and to examine the assumption of structure invariance across two different sports. 388 young male Croatian athletes from 17 football and 17 handball teams participated in this study. The results show that the Croatian version of TEOSQ confirmed the original two-factor solution (task, ego). Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for both dimensions indicated adequate reliability. The results are discussed with regard to accurate assessment of motivational constructs and a need for a valid and reliable instrument that can be used within the national sport-specific environment.Uvod Suvremena istraživanja motivacije u okviru socijalno-kognitivnih teorija tumače uključenost i ustrajnost u sportskoj aktivnosti, količinu i intenzitet bavljenja sportom i sportsku uspješnost kao ciljno usmjerene. Najčešće korišten teorijski okvir za istraživanje ovog područja jest teorija postignuća koja pretpostavlja da je pojedinac intencionalno, cilju usmjereno biće koje djeluje na racionalnoj osnovi, motivirano da demonstrira vlastitu kompetentnost (Nicholls, 1992; Roberts, Treasure i Balague, 1998). Središnja varijabla je percepcija sposobnosti i sportaš usvaja one ciljeve koji najviše odgovaraju njegovoj kognitivnoj predodžbi uspjeha. Sportaši postavljaju ‘implicitnu teoriju’ o tome što je za njih postignuće u određenoj sportskoj situaciji i odabiru one ciljeve koji zadovoljavaju njihove potrebe i odgovaraju njihovim implicitnim teorijama uspjeha. Prema socijalno-kognitivnom pristupu motivaciji postignuća, postoje dva načina modeliranja ciljeva u sportu. To su usmjerenost na zadatak i usmjerenost na ishod; predstavljaju ortogonalne dimenzije i osoba može biti visoko ili nisko orijentirana na pojedinoj ili podjednako na obje dimenzije. Sportaš dominantno usmjeren na zadatak (task oriented) procjenjuje svoj uspjeh u sportu kao osobni napredak u učenju, razvoju i usavršavanju sportskih vještina kroz ulaganje napora. Takav sportaš ili sportašica koristi samoreferentni kriterij vrednovanja vlastite izvedbe i uspješnosti, koji se temelji na usporedbi s prethodnim postignućem, razinom sposobnosti ili vještine. Sportaš dominantno usmjeren na ishod (ego oriented), orijentiran je na rezultat; vlastitu kompetentnost procjenjuje prema normativnom kriteriju evaluacije, tj. u odnosu na druge. Smatra se uspješnim jedino ako je bolji od svih ostalih; dominantno je kompetitivno usmjeren i želi demonstrirati vlastitu superiornost u sportu u odnosu na protivnika, ali i suigrače. Takvi sportaši nastoje biti bolji ili jednaki ostalima uz minimalan napor, smatrajući uglavnom da je uspjeh posljedica superiornih sposobnosti. Ako im ne uspije nadmašiti druge, javljaju se neprilagođeni obrasci ponašanja (Roberts i sur., 1998), npr. izbjegavanje izazova, prestanak ulaganja napora (čime često unaprijed sami pred sobom opravdavaju neuspjeh), odusta-janje od zadatka ili odlazak iz sporta. Sportaši orijentirani na zadatak intrinzično su motivirani, ne odustaju od aktvnosti ni u slučaju ponovljenih neuspjeha, već to smatraju smjernicama za vlastito usavršavanje. Neka novija istraživanja (Hardy i Swain, 2000; Harwod i Svain, 2000) ukazuju na to da uz ova dva postoji i treći obrazac formiranja ciljeva u sportu. Radi se o samoreferentnoj usmjerenosti na ishod i rezultat, tipičnoj za sportaše koji su orijentirani prema demonstraciji vlastitih sportskih vještina i sposobnosti, neovisno o drugima. Cilj je ovog rada provjeriti neke metrijske karakteristike hrvatske verzije upitnika, točnije provjeriti njegovu faktorsku strukturu i pouzdanost. Metode Sudionici. Uzorak su činila 182 hrvatska nogometaša i 206 rukometaša juniorskog uzrasta (M=15,6 god., SD=1,23 god.), iz 17 nogometnih i 17 rukometnih klubova. Svi su sportaši bili članovi svojih ekipa najmanje šest mjeseci, trenirali su 3-5 puta tjedno i natjecali su se na državnoj razini. Instrumenti. Za procjenu ciljne orijentacije uporabljena je hrvatska verzija Upitnika orijentacija na zadatak i ishod u sportu (TEOSQ – Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire; Duda, Chi, Ne-wton, Walling i Cately, 1995). Upitnik sadrži dvije podskale: usmjerenost na zadatak i učenje (7 čestica, npr. “Osjećam se najuspješnijim u sportu kada učim nove vještine i to me tjera da još više vježbam”) i usmjerenost na ishod i rezultat (6 česti-ca, npr. “Osjećam se najuspješnijim u sportu kada sam ja najbolji”), a sudionici odgovaraju na 5-stu-panjskoj skali Likertova tipa. Konstruktna valjanost i pouzdanost originalne verzije potvrđene su u brojnim inozemnim istraživanjima. Upitnik je preveden na hrvatski jezik i adaptiran za upotrebu sa sportašima promatranih sportova koristeći metodologiju koju predlaže Vallerand (1989), a koja se sastoji od tri koraka: tehnika povratnog prijevoda (back-translation technique), prevedenu verziju analizirao je stručnjak iz područja motivacije u sportu i prevedeni upitnik je uporabljen u pilot istraživanju. Obrada rezultata. Za provjeru dvofaktorske strukture upitnika uporabljen je kvazikonfirmativni faktorsko-analitički pristup, metoda glavnih komponenata uz varimax rotaciju i Kaiser-Gutmannov kriterij za utvrđivanje značajnosti faktora. Rezultati i rasprava Inicijalno je provjerena prikladnost korelacijske matrice za faktorizaciju Kaiser-Meyer-Olkinovim testom. Budući da su rezultati pokazali da su podaci prikladni za faktorizaciju, provedena je faktorska analiza metodom glavnih komponenata. Korišten je kvazikonfirmativni pristup (broj faktora - 2, unaprijed je zadan), a postupak je proveden dva puta, tj. za svaki sport posebno, kako bi se testirala stabilnost očekivane dvofaktorske strukture. U oba su slučaja dobivena po dva faktora s potpuno jednakom pripadnošću čestica kao u izvornoj verziji upitnika. Drugim riječima, dobivena je jednostavna faktorska struktura u oba slučaja, a svaki je faktor, sukladno očekivanjima, činilo 7 (usmjerenost na zadatak) i 6 (usmjerenost na ishod) čestica. Dobiveni su faktori objasnili 60,84% (nogomet) i 60,54 (rukomet) varijance. Izračunati su deskriptivni parametri, a pouzdanost pojedinih dimenzija, procijenjena Cronbachovim koeficijentom alpha, pokazala se visokom. Također, sukladno teorijskim pretpostavkama, dimenzije ciljne orijentiranosti pokazale su se ortogonalnima. Općenito gledano, rezultati su pokazali da je hrvatska verzija upitnika orijentacije na zadatak i na ishod (CTEOSQ – Croatian Task and Ego Ori-entation in Sport Questionnaire) visoko pouzdan mjerni instrument, a ova je validacija još jedna potvrda konstruktne valjanosti TEOSQ upitnika. Analiza ciljne orijentiranosti mladih hrvatskih sportaša ekipnih sportova pokazuje dominaciju ciljne orijentiranosti na učenje i zadatak, što se smatra poželjnijim obrascem definiranja ciljeva u sportu. Usmjerenost na zadatak, učenje i razvoj vještina, prema teoriji motivacije postignuća, tipična je za sportaše visoke intrinzične motivacije (Duda, 2001, Treasure, 2001). Kod takvih je sportaša rizik odustajanja od sporta značajno manji, više uživaju u svom sportu, ulažu više napora, kooperativniji su i sl. U radu se navode preporuke trenerima za učvršćivanje ovog tipa ciljne orijentiranosti te za stvaranje takvog sportskog okruženja i motivacijske klime u kojoj za to postoje preduvjeti. Zaključak Prema teoriji motivacije postignuća osobe se razlikuju po načinu postavljanja ciljeva. Varijacije ciljne orijentiranosti treba precizno izmjeriti, a Upitnik orijentacije na zadatak i na ishod u sportu (TEOSQ) jedan je od najčešće korištenih instrumentata, čija je valjanost i pouzdanost potvrđena u brojnim inozemnim istraživanjima. Cilj ovog rada, koji predstavlja doprinos validaciji TEOSQ upitnika, bio je provjeriti faktorsku strukturu i pouzdanost hrvatske verzije ovog upitnika (CTEOSQ). Rezultati dobiveni na ovim uzorcima potvrdili su očekivanu dvofaktorsku strukturu, a dimenzije upitnika pokazale su se pouzdanima. U budućim istraživanjima planira se dodatno provjeriti valjanost ove verzije upitnika, istražiti relacije ovog mjernog instrumenta s nekim drugim instrumentima koji se uobičajeno koriste za procjenu motivacije u sportu. Dobiveni su rezultati također pokazali da su mladi hrvatski sportaši iz ekipnih sportova više orijentirani na zadatak i učenje nego na ishod i rezultate, što se smatra poželjnijim načinom formuliranja ciljeva u sportu i prilagođenijim motivacijskim obrascem

Can be Hungarian-Ukrainian-Romanian-Moldovan an inclusive frontier of Europe?

Using the Hungarian-Romanian border as a solid example, this paper will attempt to prove how borders have changed from the hard, close, exclusive border to the soft, open, inclusive frontier. We have highlighted the Hungarian and Romanian authors’ scientific contributions, with a special emphasis on the members of the Debrecen-Oradea Euroregional Studies Institute (IERS), the “Jean Monnet” European Centre of Excellence, as well as on the developed joint projects. These contributions have created a certain level of expertise in the development of cross-border cooperation that could be transferred for the benefit of similar situations, arisen with the EU enlargement eastwards, such as the EU’s eastern frontier on the Hungarian- Romanian-Moldovan-Ukrainian-section

The Romanian - Hungarian border, link or delimitation for the post-adhesion process of Romania and Hungary?

Today, Romania and Hungary are two countries sharing the same wish: to become active and responsible members of the new great European family. Even if the start was slightly differentiated – Hungary acceded to the EU in 2004 and Romania in 2007 – the post-adhesion evolutions of the two countries are demonstrating the same effort towards the complete integration in the European Union, through the adhesion to the Euro Zone. This paper intends to reveal if the border between the two states plays the role of either connection or demarcation between the economic evolutions of these two member-states of the European Union. On this matter, we will analyze the economic conjuncture, the evolution of the economic indexes and the condition of the different fields of the neighboring economies

The European Union External Border: An Epistemological Approach

The approach of the European Union external border has been made on the one hand through an analysis of the concepts of external border from the point of view of official documents and the concepts introduced by authors and specialists in the field; on the other hand, it has been made through an attempt to seize certain types of symbolic and ideological borders. As far as the first category is concerned, resorting to documents and legal regulations of European institutions has been highly important. We have also paid attention to conceptual approaches on the border, as well as on the relations “open – close”, “inclusive – exclusive”, or “soft – hard” border. For a long time, the concept of border has developed as an “intolerance axis” of nationalism and racism, of neighbours’ rejection. Beyond physical border, irrespective of the analysed conceptual approach, either within or outside the European Union border, we identify other types of “borders”. We consider these borders as symbolic and ideological considering that, more often than not, they are not palpable. From Europeanism to nationalism, from ethno-religious identities to social chasms, the wide range of approaches on symbolic and ideological borders may continue in the context of a new fight against terrorism or of the implementation of an effective European neighbourhood policy. The physical border at the external limit of the European Union may “open” in time. Yet other types of borders may exist between people and communities. For instance, immigrants live within the European Union; by preserving their identity, they can create a world that “refuses integration” due to the particularities they develop. Thus, we can identify a split that may take the form of a symbolic cultural border sometimes even turning into an “external” border. The wide range of epistemological concepts on the European Union external border can continue by analysing other typed of approaches. Beyond the great conceptual diversity, there is a clear-cut difference between the official border with different degrees of openness for non-community citizens and borders actually separating people despite the fact that they are not physical. Even if it has a political, economic, social, cultural, mental, religious, or ethnical support, the border is a space separating people and territories. From another perspective, “the border is identified to a contact area where social, economic, and cultural particularities of two countries intertwine”. The main conclusion of an investigation on concepts of external border is that the European Union has an external border that can be both stiff and flexible depending on the realities and challenges of the moment, on tensions or social and economic, political and legal openness, as well as on the complex internal reality of the European Union Member States