‘Forgotten Europeans’: transnational minority activism in the age of European integration

YesThis article examines transnational activism by coalitions of national minorities in Europe from the early 20th century to the present, setting this within the broader ‘security versus democracy dilemma’ that continues to surround international discussions on minority rights. Specifically, we analyse two organisations – the European Nationalities Congress (1925–1938) and the Federal Union of European Nationalities (1949–) – which, while linked, have never been subject to a detailed comparison based on primary sources. In so far as comparisons do exist, they present these bodies in highly negative terms, as mere fronts for inherently particularistic nationalisms that threaten political stability, state integrity and peace. Our more in‐depth analysis provides a fresh and more nuanced perspective: it shows that, in both cases, concepts of European integration and ‘unity in diversity’ have provided the motivating goals and frameworks for transnational movements advocating common rights for all minorities and seeking positive interaction with the interstate world

Phylogeographic Analysis Elucidates the Influence of the Ice Ages on the Disjunct Distribution of Relict Dragonflies in Asia

Unusual biogeographic patterns of closely related groups reflect events in the past, and molecular analyses can help to elucidate these events. While ample research on the origin of disjunct distributions of different organism groups in the Western Paleartic has been conducted, such studies are rare for Eastern Palearctic organisms. In this paper we present a phylogeographic analysis of the disjunct distribution pattern of the extant species of the strongly cool-adapted Epiophlebia dragonflies from Asia. We investigated sequences of the usually more conserved 18 S rDNA and 28 S rDNA genes and the more variable sequences of ITS1, ITS2 and CO2 of all three currently recognised Epiophlebia species and of a sample of other odonatan species. In all genes investigated the degrees of similarity between species of Epiophlebia are very high and resemble those otherwise found between different populations of the same species in Odonata. This indicates that substantial gene transfer between these populations occurred in the comparatively recent past. Our analyses imply a wide distribution of the ancestor of extant Epiophlebia in Southeast Asia during the last ice age, when suitable habitats were more common. During the following warming phase, its range contracted, resulting in the current disjunct distribution. Given the strong sensitivity of these species to climatic parameters, the current trend to increasing global temperatures will further reduce acceptable habitats and seriously threaten the existences of these last representatives of an ancient group of Odonata

ARI: A Storage Ring for Non Invasive Coronary Angiography

One of the standard investigations for coronary heart diseases is the invasive coronary angiography, where a catheter is introduced via the arterial system into the origin of the coronary artery of interest. By using high intensity X-ray beams just above and below the K-edge ofiodine, the contrast agent, and digital subtraction of the two pictures one can often avoid the use of a catheter and the risks of the conventional method. A 1.6 GeV electron storage ring is described, which is designed as a source for two coronary angiography beamlines. The necessary photon intensity at the K-edge of iodine (33 keV) is provided by two 6 Tesla wigglers and 380 mA beam current intensity

Study for an asymmetric B factory

We report upon a feasibility study for an asymmetric $e^+e^-$ collider with beam energies of 10 GeV and 2.8 GeV. The PETRA storage ring is to be used to store the high energy beam. For the low energy beam, a new storage ring of 288 m circumference is to be built. The facility is designed for a peak luminosity of $\mathcal{L}$ = 3 $\cdot$ 10$^{33}$ cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$