Has the Euro Changed Business Cycle Synchronization?Evidence from the Core and the Periphery

Using a Bayesian dynamic factor model, I examine the comovement of output, investmentand consumption growth among Euro area countries before and after the introduction of theEuro. For that purpose, I compare a pre-Euro period (1991–1998) to a Euro period(2000–2010) and identify a common Euro factor for each period separately. I find thatthe comovement of main macroeconomic variables and the common factor increases forcore Eurozone countries from the first to the second period, while it decreases for mostperipheral economies. This can be interpreted as a rise in business cycle synchronizationfor the core and a respective decline for the periphery.Different to the implications made by the endogeneity argument of currency areas(Frankel and Rose, 1998), my evidence suggest that the introduction of the Euro hasfostered imbalances between core and peripheral Eurozone countries.European business cycles, Euro, optimum currency area, core and periphery, dynamic factor analysis

Media discourse on jihadist terrorism in Europe

This article analyzes the manner in which European print media discuss jihadist terrorism in Europe. It presents key results from a qualitative analysis of media discourse following three selected attacks in seven European countries in 2010: the attack on the cartoonist Westergaard, the Yemen cargo plane plot, and the Stockholm suicide attack. The article finds that attack type is a factor shaping media discourse across different media in Europe. Considering that terrorists also aim to impact discourse for their own agenda, the article presents implications for policy reactions on the basis of attack type, and not as desired by terrorists.Publisher PD

Evaluation of Teaching and Learning Strategies

With the growing awareness of the importance of teaching and learning in universities and the need to move towards evidence-based teaching, it behooves the professions to re-examine their educational research methodology. While the what, how and why of student learning have become more explicit, the professions still struggle to find valid methods of evaluating the explosion of new innovation in teaching/learning strategies. This paper discusses the problems inherent in applying traditional experimental design techniques to advances in educational practic

Bibliometric data study: assessing the current ranking of the People's Republic of China in a set of research fields : final report to the delegation of the European Commission

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Digital mapping interfaces : from immutable mobiles to mutable images

In this article, I discuss how digital mapping interfaces ask users to engage with images on screens in far more performative and active ways and how this changes the immutable status of the map image. Digital mapping interfaces invite us to touch, talk and move with them, actions that have a reciprocal effect on the look of the image of the map. Images change constantly through absorbing our mobile and physical actions. I approach digital mapping interfaces as mediators: They do not so much collect information as create spatial transformations for the user of the interface, thus instigating new moves on his or her part that are fed once again into the interface. I argue that it is therefore short-sighted to view digital mapping interfaces as mere points of passage. They are better understood as mediators that create spatial meanings by translating between and inviting movements of users, vehicles, programs and so on

Moving Beyond Text1

Originally published in 2003, this article presents one of the first attempts to provide a systematic summary of the new concept of cultural technique. It is, in essence, an extended checklist aimed at overcoming the textualist bias of traditional cultural theory by highlighting what is elided by this bias. On the one hand, to speak of cultural techniques redirects our attention to material and physical practices that all too often assume the shape of inconspicuous quotidian practices resistant to accustomed investigations of meaning. On the other hand, cultural techniques also comprise sign systems such as musical notation or arithmetical formulas located outside the domain of the hegemony of alphabetical literacy. The rise of the latter in particular is indebted to the impact of the digital – both as a domain of technology and a source of theoretical reorientation. Together, these aspects require a paradigmatic change that challenges and supersedes the traditional ‘discursivism’ of cultural theory

Oh wie schön ist Kanada! Schulen in British Columbia und Ontario: "Accountability" - "Reading" - "Respect"

Der Beitrag enthält Informationen zur Unterrichtsorganisation in den Schulen der besuchten Provinzen British Columbia und Ontario. Des Weiteren geht die Autorin auf Aufgaben und Ziele, Instrumente und Arbeitsweisen ein. Dazu gehören die Kooperation mit Universitäten, die Finanzierung, Englisch als Zweitsprache (ESL) sowie sonderpädagogische Förderprogramme. (DIPF/Orig./Bal)This article provides information on organization of teaching in schools in the visited districts of British Columbia and Ontario. Furthermore the author presents tasks and targets, instruments and working methods in schools like: cooperation with universities, finances, English as a Second Language (ESL), special needs and special pedagogical programmes. (DIPF/Orig./Bal

Baby

Baby is a tribute to those individuals who have made the commitment to parenting, and was performed at John Carroll University in November of 1991.https://collected.jcu.edu/plays/1048/thumbnail.jp

Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge und seine Musterbilder

The 8th February 1994 is the 200th anniversary of the birth of a chemist whose inventive mind and spirit and many-sided scientific activities still astonish us today: Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge. This occasion certainly deserves an attempt to appreciate not only his inventions, discoveries, and scientific work, but also the person Runge in his time

EFFECTS OF ACUTE AND CHRONIC TREATMENT WITH 3,4-METHYLENEDIOXYMETHAMPHETAMINE (MDMA) AND THE CANNABINOID RECEPTOR AGONIST WIN55,212-2 ON BEHAVIOUR AND COGNITION IN RATS

MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymetamphethamine, ecstasy ) is one of the most popular illicit recreational drugs among young adults. However, the underlying neurobiological mechanisms responsible for the physiological, behavioural and psychological effects, as well as the influence on cognitive functions such as memory and decision making are still not fully examined. Furthermore, if and to what extend this drug has neurotoxic properties is debated. Most ecstasy users are polydrug users, and the majority concomitantly consumes cannabis. Cannabis is the most frequently consumed illegal psychoactive drug world wide. While cannabis products are generally perceived as soft drugs and their potential medical usefulness is progressing, cognitive impairments and long-term alterations in the brain, especially following prolonged and heavy use in adolescence, are observed. This thesis investigates the influence of MDMA and the synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonist, WIN55,212-2 (WIN), on different forms of decision making, memory function, locomotor activity and physiological parameters such as body temperature and food intake. Within both an acute as well as chronic systemic administration schedule, effects of each substance alone as well as their combination is tested in order to mimic co-consumption of these drugs. Within chronic treatment, adult as well as pubertal rats and their respective brain myelination levels are examined to determine vulnerable periods of drug consumption or age-related differences