Notable trends in the EU budget

The European Union budget has a number of specific characteristics which make it different from the budgets of the Member States : in principle, it must never be in deficit, and there is a special decision-making procedure. The structure and maximum expenditure are specified for a 7-year period in the Financial Perspective. In relation to GDP and national budgets of the Member States, the EU budget is small. It is increasingly funded on the basis of the size of the gross national income of each Member State whereas import levies and VAT-based transfers from the Member States are becoming less important. The United Kingdom receives a special rebate. The importance of the Common Agricultural Policy, historically the largest EU expenditure item, is steadily diminishing in favour of expenditure on cohesion policy. Since the beginning of the 1990s, the Common Agricultural Policy has undergone a radical reform. Opinions differ on the contribution made by the cohesion policy towards income convergence between regions in the EU. The Commission’s proposals regarding the Financial Perspective for 2007-2013 embodied an important increase in expenditure and placed the emphasis on the attainment of the Lisbon objectives. Protracted negotiations at European Council level led to a compromise in December 2005 and following difficult negotiations with the European Parliament, a new Interinstitutional Agreement was signed on 17 May 2006.European Union, EU budget, Financial Perspective, Common Agricultural Policy, Cohesion policy

Women and Illegal Activities: Gender Differences and Women's Willingness to Comply Over Time

In recent years the topics of illegal activities such as corruption or tax evasion have attracted a great deal of attention. However, there is still a lack of substantial empirical evidence about the determinants of compliance. The aim of this paper is to investigate empirically whether women are more willing to be compliant than men and whether we observe (among women and in general) differences in attitudes among similar age groups in different time periods (cohort effect) or changing attitudes of the same cohorts over time (age effect) using data from eight Western European countries from the World Values Survey and the European Values Survey that span the period from 1981 to 1999. The results reveal higher willingness to comply among women and an age rather than a cohort effect. Working Paper 06-5

Marktsector en budgetsector in België: Grenzen aan het overheidsbeslag?

status: publishe

A Taxonomy of Consumer Motives through Preferred Brand Personality : Empirical Findings for 11 Countries

This paper presents a circumplex taxonomy of related consumer motives based on valence ratings of 34 preferred brand personality traits. Results of INDSCAL analysis reveal a consistent, replicable preferred brand personality structure across 11 different countries and four different product categories. As preferred brand personality dimensions are considered as behavioral expressions of underlying motives, the found structure was reformulated in terms of a taxonomy of eight fundamental consumer motives i.e. Vitality, Pleasure, Conviviality, Belonging, Security, Control, Recognition and Power, determined by two basic, bipolar dimensions i.e. Intrapersonal versus Interpersonal axis. The proposed taxonomy appears to overlap considerably with prior classifications of human motives. Opportunities in the context of consumer research are discussed, as well as some directions for future research.

Immunity and effect of clopidol/methyl benzoquate and robenidine before and after weaning on rabbit coccidiosis in the field.

&lt;p&gt;For 15 months the anticoccidial effect of 200 ppm clopidol/methyl benzoquate and of 50 ppm robenidine, and the development of immunity against five different species of Eimeria were followed in a closed rabbit population. In unmedicated rabbits, oocyst output decreased progressively with increasing age to a very low level in animals older than four months, but none of the species present disappeared completely in adult animals. No clinical symptoms nor mortality from coccidiosis was noted in reproduction stock. In field conditions E magna and E perforans seemed to induce the weakest resistance, whereas a more marked resistance has been found for E intestinalis and E irresidua. E media appeared to have an intermediate position. Robenidine reduced oocyst output of E magna, E intestinalis, E irresidua, E media and E perforans significantly, whereas clopidol/methyl benzoquate reduced oocyst output of the latter four species only and was least active against E magna. Both drugs also reduced coccidiosis-induced mortality significantly. Medication only before weaning had no distinct influence on coccidial infection, or on mortality by coccidiosis after weaning; nor did those parameters differ significantly between continuously medicated rabbits and rabbits medicated after weaning only. As reproductive stock is protected by immunity, this makes the necessity of medicating does and bucks with anticoccidials questionable in intensive or semi-intensive reproduction systems.&lt;/p&gt;</p

Survey of the use of videolaryngoscopy in neonatal units in the UK

RD&E staff can access the full-text of this article by clicking on the 'Additional Link' above and logging in with NHS OpenAthens if prompted.Published version, accepted version, submitted versio

Detection of the polymorphisms in the prion protein gene in the Belgian sheep population: some preliminary data

&lt;p&gt;The development of clinical signs of TSE/scrapie in sheep has been linked to polymorphisms in the prion protein (PRNP) gene. The most important polymorphisms appear to be at codons 136, 154, and 171. The objective of this study was to investigate the polymorphisms at these codons in the Belgian sheep population, including clinical healthy animals, healthy animals at the slaughterhouse and animals in TSE/scrapie positive farms (including a Nor98 farm).&lt;/p&gt;</p

Ischemic Stroke Alters Blood Vessel Branching and Size Distribution in the Distal Femur

status: accepte

Detection of polymorphisms in the prion protein gene in the Belgian sheep population: Some preliminary data

&lt;p&gt;The development of clinical signs of TSE/scrapie in sheep has been linked to polymorphisms in the prion protein (PRNP) gene. The most important polymorphisms appear to be at codons 136, 154, and 171. The objective of this study was to investigate the polymorphisms at these codons in the Belgian sheep population, including clinical healthy animals, healthy animals at the slaughterhouse and animals in TSE/scrapie positive farms (including a Nor98 farm).&lt;/p&gt;</p