Regional Governance und Europäische Struktur- und Investitionsfonds an den bayerischen Grenzen

Der Beitrag untersucht die Umsetzung und Wirksamkeit der Europäischen Struktur und Investitionsfonds im Hinblick auf Regionale Governance. Die Fragestellungen werden anhand der Entwicklungsprozesse in zwei Grenzgebieten in Bayern, dem Landkreis Cham an der bayerisch-tschechischen Grenze und dem Landkreis Oberallgäu an der bayerisch-österreichischen Grenze, untersucht. Der Fokus liegt dabei auf LEADER (dem EU-Programm für ländliche Räume) und INTERREG/ETZ (dem EUProgramm für territoriale Zusammenarbeit). Es wird versucht, über einen explorativen Erfahrungsbericht Indizien und Strukturmuster der operativen Umsetzung zu erkennen. Obwohl beide Instrumente insgesamt positive Wirkungen in den bayerischen Grenzregionen zeigen, ergeben sich eindeutige Ergebnisse dahingehend, dass es an manchen Stellen zu nicht gewollten Governance-Fehlern und damit zu Effizienzverlusten kommt. Vor allem nicht-durchgängige Förderbedingungen und Förderziele stellen ein Problem dar, jedoch sind auf regionaler Ebene kreative Anpassungen von Projektideen an die Themen- und Zielkonzepte zu erkennen. Deshalb plädieren die Autoren für mehr Vertrauen in die endogenen Potenziale der Regionen, auch in der grenzübergreifenden Zusammenarbeit. Um Reibungsverluste zu vermeiden und die Effektivität der Instrumente zu erhöhen, ist gleichzeitig eine stringente Strategieorientierung weiterzuverfolgen.The paper examines the implementation and effectiveness of the European Structural and Investment Funds with regard to regional governance. The investigation is conducted using the example of development processes in two border areas in Bavaria, the district of Cham on the Bavarian-Czech border and the district of Oberallgäu on the Bavarian-Austrian border. The focus is on LEADER (the EU program for rural areas) and INTERREG/ETZ (the EU program for territorial cooperation). An attempt is made to find evidence and structural patterns of operational implementation through an exploratory experience report. Although both instruments show overall positive effects along the Bavarian border regions, there are clear indications that unintended governance errors also result, leading to a loss of efficiency. Especially non-continuous long-term funding conditions and objectives pose problems, but within the regions creative adaptations of project ideas to the respective topics and target concepts can be recognized. Therefore the authors call for more confidence in endogenous potentials on the regional level, also concerning cross-border cooperation. In order to avoid frictional losses and to increase the effectiveness of the instruments, a stringent orientation towards strategies should be further pursued

Institutionelle Pilotregionen: Ein Katalysator für strukturelle Reformen?

The quality of (economic) institutions in the crisis countries of the European Union (EU) is relatively poor along several dimensions, despite the adoption of the acquis communautaire of the EU. Economic literature suggests that efficient institutions matter for macroeconomic growth and stability as well as for good enterprise performance. Against this background, the idea to support European crisis countries by the establishment of institutional pilot regions seems promising. Like the well-known special economic zones, they might exert positive spill-over effects on neighboring regions and trigger country-wide structural reforms. However, the concept is new and opaque and hard to fix in concrete terms. Examples with similar intentions abound, but the heterogeneity of these attempts with respect to problems addressed, measures invoked and the size of the targeted region is huge. Therefore, it is hard to draw robust conclusions from these experiences. In contrast to free trade zones, institutional pilot regions do not put direct monetary and/or fiscal incentives at center stage. Instead, they focus on reforms of institutions that are expected to play a decisive role for business and the functioning of a society; hence, these institutions are service-factors for firms and citizens. Our analysis demonstrates the scope of these service-factors ranging from good governance and low levels of corruption to help in setting up of business networks and improving physical infrastructure. The wide range of possible institutional measures implies that deliberate choices have to be made when selecting and designing institutional reform measures. This selection has to be based on a thorough analysis of the institutional setting and shortcomings in a specific country or region. At the same time, numerous constraints limit the scope for institutional pilot regions. First, institutions are embedded into a country-specific societal background that determines their functioning. As a consequence, no blueprints for institutional reforms exist; before designing reform measures, a careful country analysis is thus required. Second, institutional reforms produce no - or even adverse - effects if they are not implemented and managed efficiently. Thus, the measures have to be accepted by political elites, have to be carried out by competent administrative staff, and have to be carefully explained to the public. Third, if business is to be attracted, the pay-off for enterprises has to be positive; money saved by better service must outweigh additional transaction costs in a new business environment. Fourth, in the low-value-added segments prevailing in free trade zones, institutional pilot regions will not be competitive. So they have to be focused on innovative and high-skill-sectors. Legal constraints add to these economic considerations. First, European Law limits the possibilities of regulatory differentials across nations and regions. Checking the limits, justifying and passing exemptions, although possible in general, is not always promising and certainly requires time. Second, implementation has to be carried out at the national level. Again, solutions may be found, but they are not always promising and require time. Third, there is no supranational institution that could safeguard the new regulations from outside. Legislative capacities at the local, regional or national level would have to be trained and educated to carry out this task. To align the results of our economic and legal analysis, we recommend to make use of already existing instruments of European Regional Policy and to shape European Regional Policy of the future period by stronger focusing on the so far regrettably neglected role of institutions

Regional governance and European Structural and Investment Funds at the frontiers of Bavaria

This article examines the implementation and effectiveness of the European structural and investment funds with regard to regional governance. The study uses the example of development processes in two border regions in Bavaria, the district of Cham on the Bavarian-Czech border and the district of Oberallgäu on the Bavarian-Austrian border. The focus is on LEADER (the EU programme for rural areas) and INTERREG/ ETC (the EU programme for territorial cooperation). A case study seeks to identify indications and structural patterns of operational implementation. Although both instruments show positive effects overall along the Bavarian border regions, there are also clear indications of unintended errors in governance, leading to a loss of efficiency. In particular, non-continuous long-term funding conditions and objectives pose problems. However, within these regions creative adaptations of project ideas to the relevant topics and target strategies can be identified. Therefore, the authors call for more confidence in endogenous potentials on the regional level, including in relation to cross-border cooperation. In order to avoid frictional losses and to increase the effectiveness of the instruments, a stringent orientation towards strategies should be further pursued

Safety assessment of microsilver-loaded poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) cement spacers in patients with prosthetic hip infections

Objectives Preclinical data showed poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) loaded with microsilver to be effective against a variety of bacteria. The purpose of this study was to assess patient safety of PMMA spacers with microsilver in prosthetic hip infections in a prospective cohort study. Methods A total of 12 patients with prosthetic hip infections were included for a three-stage revision procedure. All patients received either a gentamicin-PMMA spacer (80 g to 160 g PMMA depending on hip joint dimension) with additional loading of 1% (w/w) of microsilver (0.8 g to 1.6 g per spacer) at surgery 1 followed by a gentamicin-PMMA spacer without microsilver at surgery 2 or vice versa. Implantation of the revision prosthesis was carried out at surgery 3. Results In total, 11 of the 12 patients completed the study. No argyria or considerable differences in laboratory parameters were detected. Silver blood concentrations were below or around the detection limit of 1 ppb in ten of the 11 patients. A maximum of 5.6 ppb at 48 hours after implantation of the silver spacer, which is below the recommended maximum level of 10 ppb, was found in one patient. No silver was detected in the urine. Drainage fluids showed concentrations between 16.1 ppb and 23.3 ppb at 12 hours after implantation of the silver spacers, and between 16.8 ppb to 25.1 ppb at 48 hours after implantation. Pathohistological assessment of the periprosthetic membrane did not reveal any differences between the two groups. Conclusion Microsilver-loaded gentamicin-PMMA spacers showed good biocompatibility and the broad antimicrobial activity warrants further clinical research to assess its effectivity in reducing infection rates in prosthetic joint infection

Phagocytosis and Killing of Bacteria by Professional Phagocytes and Dendritic Cells

Dendritic cells (DC) represent a class of professional antigen-presenting cells whose primary function is to alert the immune system, not to clear invading microorganisms. The objective of our study was to compare the abilities of polymorphonuclear neutrophilic leukocytes (PMN), monocytes, monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM), monocyte-derived immature DC (imDC), and mature DC (maDC) to ingest and destroy Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Acridine orange staining and fluorescence microscopy demonstrated that MDM, followed by monocytes, imDC, and PMN, internalized bacteria well but that maDC exhibited less pronounced phagocytic activity. PMN, monocytes, and MDM exhibited a much higher capacity to kill ingested bacteria than both imDC and maDC. In summary, these data are in agreement with the generally accepted idea that different types of leukocytes fulfill specialized tasks in antigen presentation and killing of pathogens