Geographic Mobility in the European Union: Optimising its Economic and Social Benefits

One of the founding principles of the European Union is the freedom of movement of workers (Article 39 of the Treaty establishing the European Community). The free movement of workers is essential for the creation of an area without internal frontiers, and for the strength-ening of economic and social cohesion and active citizenship.Taking an economic perspective, geographic mobility can have major positive effects by bringing about economic growth in countries with labour deficits and prosperity in countries with labour surplus. Hence, the diffusion of skills through occupational and geographic mo-bility is a central factor to enhance the productive capacity of firms and put regions or na-tional economies on a higher growth path. Taking a social perspective, geographical mobility has the potential of fostering social-cultural integration in the European Union, and strength-ening European identity and inter-cultural networks

Tracking the origin of invasive Rosa rubiginosa populations in Argentina

The exact geographic origin of invasive species populations is rarely known; however, such knowledge is vital to understanding species’ invasion success, spread, and evolution as well as for assessing any biological control options. We investigated the shrub Rosa rubiginosa L., focusing on the presumed European origin of invasive populations in Argentina. We analyzed eight polymorphic microsatellite loci among 102 native (European) and 29 invasive (mainly central Argentinean and Patagonian) populations. Genetic diversity in the invasive range was clearly lower than in the native range, possibly because of a low number of introductions. Contrary to earlier hypotheses, the interpretation of principal coordinate analysis results and Jaccard dissimilarities contradicts the idea of the Argentinean populations having a Spanish origin. Instead, we found a close similarity between Argentinean samples and those from Germany, the Czech Republic, and Austria. We therefore assume that these neighboring countries are the most probable source regions for the Argentinean populations, which in some cases may also have arrived via Chile. According to historic information, emigrants from these regions may have introduced R. rubiginosa to South America in the nineteenth century on at least two occasions, either for food or as rootstock material for propagating living fences.Fil: Hirsch, Heidi. Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg; AlemaniaFil: Zimmermann, Heike. Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg; AlemaniaFil: Ritz, Christiane M.. Senckenberg Museum of Natural History Goerlitz; AlemaniaFil: Wissemann, Volker. Justus-Liebig-University Giessen; AlemaniaFil: von Wehrden, Henrik. Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg; Alemania. Leuphana University, Institute of Ecology and Environmental Chemistry; AlemaniaFil: Renison, Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Tecnológicas. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Tecnológicas; ArgentinaFil: Wesche, Karsten. Senckenberg Museum of Natural History Goerlitz; AlemaniaFil: Welk, Erik. Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg; AlemaniaFil: Hensen, Isabell. Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg; Alemani

Biosphere reserves' management effectiveness-A systematic literature review and a research agenda

PD/BD/114050/2015 UID/AMB/04085/2019 UIDB/04085/2020 grant number ZN3188Research about biosphere reserves' management effectiveness can contribute to better understanding of the existing gap between the biosphere reserve concept and its implementation. However, there is a limited understanding about where and how research about biosphere reserves' management effectiveness has been conducted, what topics are investigated, and which are the main findings. This study addresses these gaps in the field, building on a systematic literature review of scientific papers. To this end, we investigated characteristics of publications, scope, status and location of biosphere reserves, research methods and management effectiveness. The results indicate that research is conceptually and methodologically diverse, but unevenly distributed. Three groups of papers associated with different goals of biosphere reserves were identified: capacity building, biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. In general, each group is associated with different methodological approaches and different regions of the world. The results indicate the importance of scale dynamics and trade-offs between goals, which are advanced as important leverage points for the success of biosphere reserves. Building on the gaps identified in the literature, a research agenda is proposed, focusing on the need to investigate mechanisms for holistic research, outcomes and trade-offs, transformations for social-ecological fit and institutions for integrated management across scales.publishersversionpublishe

Report No. 19: Geographic Mobility in the European Union: Optimising its Economic and Social Benefits

Joint expertise with NIRAS Consultants and AMS for the European Commission, Bonn 2008 (159 pages)

A multimodal neuroimaging classifier for alcohol dependence

With progress in magnetic resonance imaging technology and a broader dissemination of state-of-the-art imaging facilities, the acquisition of multiple neuroimaging modalities is becoming increasingly feasible. One particular hope associated with multimodal neuroimaging is the development of reliable data-driven diagnostic classifiers for psychiatric disorders, yet previous studies have often failed to find a benefit of combining multiple modalities. As a psychiatric disorder with established neurobiological effects at several levels of description, alcohol dependence is particularly well-suited for multimodal classification. To this aim, we developed a multimodal classification scheme and applied it to a rich neuroimaging battery (structural, functional task-based and functional resting-state data) collected in a matched sample of alcohol-dependent patients (N = 119) and controls (N = 97). We found that our classification scheme yielded 79.3% diagnostic accuracy, which outperformed the strongest individual modality - grey-matter density - by 2.7%. We found that this moderate benefit of multimodal classification depended on a number of critical design choices: a procedure to select optimal modality-specific classifiers, a fine-grained ensemble prediction based on cross-modal weight matrices and continuous classifier decision values. We conclude that the combination of multiple neuroimaging modalities is able to moderately improve the accuracy of machine-learning-based diagnostic classification in alcohol dependence

A multimodal neuroimaging classifier for alcohol dependence

With progress in magnetic resonance imaging technology and a broader dissemination of state-of-the-art imaging facilities, the acquisition of multiple neuroimaging modalities is becoming increasingly feasible. One particular hope associated with multimodal neuroimaging is the development of reliable data-driven diagnostic classifiers for psychiatric disorders, yet previous studies have often failed to find a benefit of combining multiple modalities. As a psychiatric disorder with established neurobiological effects at several levels of description, alcohol dependence is particularly well-suited for multimodal classification. To this aim, we developed a multimodal classification scheme and applied it to a rich neuroimaging battery (structural, functional task-based and functional resting-state data) collected in a matched sample of alcohol-dependent patients (N = 119) and controls (N = 97). We found that our classification scheme yielded 79.3% diagnostic accuracy, which outperformed the strongest individual modality - grey-matter density - by 2.7%. We found that this moderate benefit of multimodal classification depended on a number of critical design choices: a procedure to select optimal modality-specific classifiers, a fine-grained ensemble prediction based on cross-modal weight matrices and continuous classifier decision values. We conclude that the combination of multiple neuroimaging modalities is able to moderately improve the accuracy of machine-learning-based diagnostic classification in alcohol dependence

Impact of Long‐Term Alcohol Consumption and Relapse on Genome‐Wide DNA Methylation Changes in Alcohol‐Dependent Subjects: A Longitudinal Study

Background: Genetic factors play an important role in the development and maintenance of alcohol use disorder (AUD). Significant and widespread differences in methylation levels of multiple regions within the genome have been reported between AUD patients and healthy controls in large epigenome-wide association studies (EWASs). Also, within patient populations, methylation changes over time (both during and after withdrawal) have been identified as sensitive indicators for disease activity. The detection of changes in methylation levels is a powerful tool to further explore and understand the biological correlates and underpinnings of AUD. Although there is strong and convincing evidence for differences in methylation of various sites between AUD patients and controls, only few studies assessed changes within patients over longer periods of time while taking into account alcohol consumption, relapse, and abstinence. So far, the longest period assessed as a within-subject design using EWASs was 4 weeks. Methods: Here, we investigated changes in whole-genome methylation levels within a sample of 69 detoxified AUD patients over a period as long as 12 months for the first time, comparing patients that relapsed within the follow-up period to those that remained abstinent. Results: Whole-genome methylation patterns of individual CpG sites over time did not differ between abstinent and relapsing patients. However, there was a negative association between global mean methylation at the 12-month follow-up and alcohol consumption within our sample. Conclusion: Although the present study represents the largest study of methylation levels in a sample of AUD patients with a follow-up period of 1 year and accounting for alcohol consumption and relapse to date, the sample size might still not be large enough to detect genome-wide significant effects. Therefore, large-scale, long-term studies with AUD subjects are needed to determine the utility of DNA methylation for the assessment and monitoring of persons with alcohol use disorders

RES-Q-Trace: A Mobile CEAS-Based Demonstrator for Multi-Component Trace Gas Detection in the MIR

Sensitive trace gas detection plays an important role in current challenges occurring in areas such as industrial process control and environmental monitoring. In particular, for medical breath analysis and for the detection of illegal substances, e.g., drugs and explosives, a selective and sensitive detection of trace gases in real-time is required. We report on a compact and transportable multi-component system (RES-Q-Trace) for molecular trace gas detection based on cavity-enhanced techniques in the mid-infrared (MIR). The RES-Q-Trace system can operate four independent continuous wave quantum or interband cascade lasers each combined with an optical cavity. Twice the method of off-axis cavity-enhanced absorption spectroscopy (OA-CEAS) was used, twice the method of optical feedback cavity-enhanced absorption spectroscopy (OF-CEAS), respectively. Multi-functional software has been implemented (i) for the general system control; (ii) to drive the four different laser sources and (iii) to analyze the detector signals for concentration determination of several molecular species. For the validation of the versatility and the performance of the RES-Q-Trace instrument the species NO, N2O, CH4, C2H4 and C3H6O, with relevance in the fields of breath gas analysis and the detection of explosives have been monitored in the MIR with detection limits at atmospheric pressure in the ppb and ppt range