The Evaluation of the EU’s Neighbourhood Policies – How to measure the Effectiveness of External Europeanisation?

The effectiveness of the neighbourhood policies and the conceptual gap between old aspirations and new realities..

The Evaluation of the EU’s Neighbourhood Policies – How to measure the Effectiveness of External Europeanisation?

The effectiveness of the neighbourhood policies and the conceptual gap between old aspirations and new realities..

The EU’s external energy policy and the neighbouring suppliers Azerbaijan and Algeria: Is the pipeline half full or half empty?

“Safety and Security lie in variety and variety alone.” After 80 years, Churchill’s principle that energy security requires diversification is still applicable and holds particularly true with regard to Europe’s gas supply security. Overall, the EU’s import dependence on gas is supposed to increase to more than 80% by 2035, in the light of dwindling conventional production and absence of substantial shale gas extraction in Europe. At the same time, political and economic uncertainties with regard to the future of Russo-Ukrainian relations and repeated gas conflicts between Europe’s main supplier and the major transit state highlight the importance of alternatives..

The Limits of Convergence with EU Energy Norms in the Neighbourhood:EU External Energy Governance and the Borderline Cases Azerbaijan and Algeria

The export of EU norms to regulate gas markets and transnational infrastructure has become the leitmotif of EU external energy policy in the neighbourhood. This paper compares two borderline cases for EU external energy governance in this regard. It accounts for a varying degree of convergence with EU norms as the result of an unstable, open, and conflictual process. The analytical framework broadens the scope of existing studies on the export of EU norms beyond its borders by factoring in geopolitical and market-based constraints and influences, which often outweigh EU coercion. It is argued that EU external energy governance is more effective, in terms of sustainable convergence, if it is “decentred”

Bioenergy solutions

Generally, energy is defined as the capacity to do work, and it is basic to understand life. Life is a state of activity controlled genetically and driven by energy to maintain and reproduce its cellular organization (Mendoza and Mendoza 2011). What is surprising is that all known living organisms share the same energy and cell synthesis processes

Legislative organization and executive success rate at the subnational level: a comparison of Brazil and Germany, 1990-2010

How does parliamentary organization affect the legislative success rate of the executive in presidential and parliamentary systems at the subnational level? Why are some governors much more successful than others even though they serve under the same basic constitutional designs? This essay explores these questions with a comparison of Brazilian and German states from 1990 to 2010. Our main findings are that governors’ success rates in both Brazil and Germany seem not to be associated with centralization of legislative institutions. This means that coalition management and party politics may play a larger role than expected by the literature. Other factors, such as “minor” and neglected legislative arrangements can compound the governors’ strength and allow them to reach Westminster levels of legislative success

Legislative organization and executive success rate at the subnational level: a comparison of Brazil and Germany, 1990-2010

How does parliamentary organization affect the legislative success rate of the executive in presidential and parliamentary systems at the subnational level? Why are some governors much more successful than others even though they serve under the same basic constitutional designs? This essay explores these questions with a comparison of Brazilian and German states from 1990 to 2010. Our main findings are that governors’ success rates in both Brazil and Germany seem not to be associated with centralization of legislative institutions. This means that coalition management and party politics may play a larger role than expected by the literature. Other factors, such as “minor” and neglected legislative arrangements can compound the governors’ strength and allow them to reach Westminster levels of legislative success

Enhancement of experimental metastasis by tumor necrosis factor

The influence of endogenous and exogenous tumor necrosis factor (TNF) on metastasis was investigated in an experimental fibrosarcoma metastasis model. A single intraperitoneal injection of recombinant human (rh) TNF or recombinant mouse (rm) TNF into mice 5 h before intravenous inoculation of methylcholanthrene-induced fibrosarcoma cells (CFS1) induced a significant enhancement of the number of metastases in the lung. Dose responses of rmTNF and rhTNF demonstrated a stronger metastasis-augmenting effect by rmTNF compared with rhTNF. This effect was time dependent, as administration of rmTNF 5 h before or 1 h but not 24 h after tumor cell inoculation caused an increase of tumor cell colony formation on the lung surface, suggesting an influence of TNF on the vascular adhesion and diapedesis of tumor cells. Since tumor-bearing mice showed an enhanced ability to produce TNF after endotoxin injection compared to control mice, tumor-bearing mice were treated with anti-mTNF antibodies. Neutralization of endogenous tumor-induced TNF led to a significant decrease of the number of pulmonary metastases. Histological analysis of micrometastases in the lung on day 5 by silver staining of proteins associated with nucleolar organizer regions revealed more metastatic foci and augmented proliferative activity of the tumor cells after rmTNF pretreatment of mice. However, no direct effect of rmTNF on the proliferation rate of tumor cells was seen in vitro. These findings suggest that low doses of endogenous TNF or administered TNF during cytokine therapy might enhance the metastatic potential of circulating tumor cells