"Governing Europe: The Status and Networking Strategies of Finnish, Estonian and German Regions in Brussels"

[From the introduction]. The paper is structured in three parts. Part I is meant to shortly synthesize how integration theory deals with sub-national actors. In part II we will discuss history and institutionalisation of regional and local level representations in Brussels and reflect on such issues as relations to national level actors, core functions, resources and staffs and their career paths. In part III, we will highlight qualitative differences in strategic foci and networking strategies of regional and local EU offices by discussing such issues as cooperation and lobbying in EU institutions, differences between big and small/old and new member states, networking with other offices, current topics and most pressing problems. The research data stems from 12 structured interviews3, with the topics sent in forehand to the interviewees. All four German interviews were conducted by telephone and took between 45 and 60 minutes each. The Finnish interviews consist of four telephone interviews; each interview took about 40 minutes and one personal interview. The Estonian data stems from one personal interview and one telephone interview, both lasting 45-60 minutes. Instead of conducting a comparative analysis we are interested in the status of different actors and their strategies to position their ideas in the policy-making and law-making procedures by focussing on positions of the actors that are involved in those processes every day

Weak Gravitational Lensing and Cluster Mass Estimates

Hierarchical theories of structure formation predict that clusters of galaxies should be embedded in a web like structure, with filaments emanating from them to large distances. The amount of mass contained within such filaments near a cluster can be comparable to the collapsed mass of the cluster itself. Diffuse infalling material also contains a large amount of mass. Both these components can contribute to the cluster weak lensing signal. This ``projection bias'' is maximized if a filament lies close to the line-of-sight to a cluster. Using large--scale numerical simulations of structure formation in a cosmological constant dominated cold dark matter model, we show that the projected mass typically exceeds the actual mass by several tens of percent. This effect is significant for attempts to estimate cluster masses through weak lensing observations, and will affect weak lensing surveys aimed at constructing the cluster mass function.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. LaTeX2e, uses emulateapj.sty and onecolfloat.sty. To be submitted to the Astrophysical Journal Letter

Sub-National Actors in the European Union - A Study Discussing Theory, Perception and State of the European Multi-Level System with regard to German Länder and Municipalities in Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt

Only abstract. Paper copies of master’s theses are listed in the Helka database (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Electronic copies of master’s theses are either available as open access or only on thesis terminals in the Helsinki University Library.Vain tiivistelmä. Sidottujen gradujen saatavuuden voit tarkistaa Helka-tietokannasta (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Digitaaliset gradut voivat olla luettavissa avoimesti verkossa tai rajoitetusti kirjaston opinnäytekioskeilla.Endast sammandrag. Inbundna avhandlingar kan sökas i Helka-databasen (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Elektroniska kopior av avhandlingar finns antingen öppet på nätet eller endast tillgängliga i bibliotekets avhandlingsterminaler.The thesis is discussing theory, perception and state of the concept of multi-level governance. It has is focus on sub-national actors and, more precisely on German Länder and Municipalities of the Länder Lower Saxony and its eastern neighbour Saxony-Anhalt. After a reflection on the development of the German federal order motivated to point out trends and theoratical keywords -e.g. Politikverflechtung in cooperative federalism, the joint-decision trap - which were later used by those conceptualising multi-level governace the author shifted to the European Level showing impacts of the process of European Integration on the Länder. He demonstrated that those were in their result comparable to those of the internal developments and that the integration process had - if dividing the Länder into governments and parliaments - some who gained and some who lost. A development that coincides with the assumptions of those writing on multi-level governance. The process of integration is seen as a dynamic one offering actors of different levels access to decision-making processes, depending on time,policy-field and the devlopment of a matter within that policy field, to be examplified in this thesis by Structural and Regional policy. The author was furthermore interested in the matter concerning the local-level of the European multi-level system and willing to complete the picture of sub-national actors. After discussing important theoratical background informations in that respect - such as principle of subsidiarity, local-self governance and structural policy - he presented the results of an inquiry based on questions about thoeretical problems of Politikverflechtung, multi-level governance and structural policy. To carry this inquiry through those questions were distributed to 11 municipalities in Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt (7 answered). The result of self-assessment of the municipalities and the conclusions the author had to make in this area were rather negative - showing that reforms are urgently necessary and that a there is a need of preparing the local level better on European issues. Not only in their own interest but also in the interest of the people in order to avoid centralsiation and keep an the dynamic multi-level system intact and improve it. But according to multi-level governance, it might be hoped for that since the process is dynamic offering new actors possibilities for participatoin as was seen, e.g. by the inclusion of non-administrative actors in programme-planning or by an initiative of the Land Saxony-Anhalt to increasingly include municipalities in the development of programmes and to prepare the local-level better on the future tasks of the European Integration

Local and regional governance in Finland. A study on institutionalisation, transformation and europeanization

v2009o

Wirtschafliche und soziale ziele der kommunalen gebietsreform

201

Wirtschaftliche und soziale Ziele der kommunalen Gebietsreform

The purpose of this paper is to analyze socio-economic goals of the administrative-territorial reform in Estonia. An administrative-territorial reform has been a top issue since in Estonia regained its independence but there are virtually no results. In 1995, a law was passed granting the Government the right to take decisions on the country’s administrative-territorial division. Both the local authorities and the central government can initiate changes in the administrative-territorial division. By the spring of 2012, there were 226 local governments in Estonia, including 193 rural municipalities and 33 cities. The administrative-territorial organisation of Estonia needs changes. The average population of Estonian rural municipalities is less than 2,500 people and, in spite of mergers, there are still inexpedient units where the centrally located settlement is separated from its hinterland in administrative terms. However, one should be objective when preparing and implementing the administrative-territorial reform. The often expressed opinion that decreasing the number of rural municipalities would result in retrenchment of resources in terms of the number of local officials and administrative costs is misleading

The rural under the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union : sustainable rural development aspects of pillar II in Finland and Estonia

National ministries of agriculture and competent EU authorities currently have the reforms of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) high on their agendas in terms of planning and designing the upcoming programmatic period. Also subjected to this debate are the allocation of the budget to each pillar and their territorial impact. The interest of this article lies with two interrelated aspects. The first comprises an overview of the Pillar II budget and how this is allocated within EU member states. The second considers how these measures relate and contribute to the improvement of the socio-economic situation and the state of the environment in rural areas of the EU in general, and in Estonia and Finland in particular. Seemingly, the way funding has been allocated thus far, with a heavy focus on agriculture and directly related activities, is not appropriately suited to facilitate a holistic improvement of the state of rural areas of the EU, while it does not reflect the contemporary economic transition processes in these areas. In terms of protection of the agri-environment, Finland exhibits an unprecedented coverage of areas under environmental support measures, as a Pillar II component, while implementation of the same policy in Estonia results currently in the coverage of less than half of the potential areas. The imbalances in the two countries in terms of actual financial support per hectare are also considerable. To facilitate sustainable development in such areas as a whole, policy streaming should not be broken down into objectives to be reached via broad actions that address particular sectors, and it should not attend to the satisfaction of sectoral interests. Rural areas and their economies, in terms of sustainable development, should be approached in an integrated manner, enabling this process to advance in a holistic and territorial fashion, taking into account all the necessary dimensions of sustainability.201

Fatty acid composition of saponifiable lipids in needles of Taxus baccata L. from places with different immission-stresses

The fatty acid composition of saponifiable lipids in needles of Taxus baccata grown in three areas with different immission-stresses (forest, park within the town, place of high traffic-density in the city), was measured by gas-liquid-chromatography of methyl esters during the course of a year. No distinct periodicity of fatty acids during the year was found, but there were characteristic differences of the fatty acid patterns from the different places, with regard mostly to palmitic, linoleic, and linolenic acids. At places with higher immission-stresses the percentage of saturated fatty acids is reduced and that of linoleic and linolenic acids increased. Similar effects were induced when twigs of Taxus were fumigated with 0.5 ppm SO 2. Distinct effects were also measured after fumigation with car-exhaust-gas.Durch Immissionen hervorgerufene physiologische Veränderungen in Pflanzen können wertvolle Hinweise auf die Belastung der Standorte liefern. Vor allem "immissionsresistente" Pflanzen, die auch in innerstädtischen Bereichen in genügender Individuenzahl zu finden sind, können - sofern physiologische Reaktionen bekannt sind und gegen einen unbelasteten Standort gemessen werden - wichtige Standortdifferenzierungen hinsichtlich der Immissionsbelastung auch ohne Auftreten äußerlicher Schädigungen ermöglichen. Bekannt sind Wirkungen auf Enzymaktivitäten, wie z. B. die Aktivierung der Peroxidaseaktivität durch Immissionsbelastung oder die Aktivierung der Glutamatdehydrogease und der Glutaminsynthetase, verbunden mit einer gleichzeitigen Hemmung der Oxalacetat- und Glutamat-Pyruvat-Transaminase. Physiologische Veränderungen erfährt auch der Kohlenhydratstoffwechsel. Für die praktische Umweltdiagnose wichtig ist die Kenntnis möglichst vieler anwendbarer Parameter; erwünscht ist ferner eine Kenntnis darüber, welche Immissionen zu den einzelnen Veränderungen führen. Um weitere möglicherweise von der Immission abhängige Parameter zu erhalten, untersuchten wir die Auswirkungen städtischer Standorte auf die Zusammensetzung der Fettsäuren der verseifbaren Lipide. Hinweise auf die verursachenden Immissionskomponenten sollten Begasungsversuche mit SO2 und Autoabgasen, den wichtigsten Schadgasen des Untersuchungsraumes, ergeben

Some eco-physiologlcal investigations on Tenerife (Canaray Islands)

Die Kanarischen Inseln sind ein klassisches Gebiet der Vegetationskunde. Während ihre Flora mittlerweile ziemlich gut bekannt ist, sind bisher nur wenige ökophysiologische Untersuchungen durchgeführt worden. Wir haben an typischen Standorten der charakteristischen Vegetationseinheiten Sukkulentenbusch, Lorbeerwald und Gebirgshalbwüste ("Gebirgssteppe") bei gleicher Großwetterlage (normale Schönwetterperiode am Ende der feuchteren Jahreszeit) die Tagesperiodik der üblichen meteorologischen Größen sowie der wichtigsten physiologischen Parameter von charakteristischen Arten gemessen und die bestehenden Korrelationen ermittelt. Es sollte dann geprüft werden, inwieweit Aussagen über die Konkurrenzfähigkeit von Arten möglich sind. Wobei dem Lorbeerwald besondere Aufmerksamkeit geschenkt wurde.Three characteristic types of vegetation (xerophytic scrub, laurel forest, montane semi-desert scrub) were investigated in the spring, with respect to the daily fluctuations of the usual meteorological and the principal physiological parameters. By correlation analysis and analysis of the principal factors, the correlation between these parameters was tested (the latter method, not yet extensively used in ecophysiological work, yields good results especially when many events are invo!ved and many parameters are compared). As a general result, good correlation between meteorological and physiological parameters has been found in aeas with open vegetation, whereas in the laurel forest correlation is less obvious. In the xerophytic succulent scrub, Euphorbia regis-jubae, E. balsamifera and E. bourgaeana are stenohydric xerophytes. Kleinia neriifolia behaves as a CAM plant with regard to gas exchange and diurnal acid accumulation. Euphorbia regus jubae and Kleinia neriifolia are shallow rooting, whereas Plocama pendula has deep reaching roots. In the laurel forest, Laurus azorica shows high rates of net assimilation with high atmospheric humidity and medium light intensities. A high humidity is probably an important condition for a competitive production rate of this species. Myrica faya, whose rate of net assimilation, at a drier locality of the laurel forest, is nearly identical to that of Laurus, seems to better regulate its transpiration rate

Influence of zeatin on the storage of carbohydrates and nitrogen compounds in vegetative parts of plants

Die Wirkungen von Zeatin entsprechen weitgehend denjenigen von Kinetin. Wie die hier beschriebenen Versuchsreihen sowie weitere Untersuchungen zur Fettsäurenzusammensetzung der Blattlipide und zur Atmung zeigen, können zu hohe Konzentrationen des Phytohormons den Stoffwechsel negativ beeinflussen. Diese Störungen machen sich naturgemäß im N-Haushalt deutlicher bemerkbar als bei der Kohlenhydratspeicherung.The effects of zeatin are very similar to those of kinetin. The experiments described here, and some other investigations concerned with the influencer of zeatin on the composition of lipid fatty acids and on the respiration of leaves, show that too high concentrations of the hormone have a negative influence on metabolisme. These disturbances are naturally more obvious regarding N-compounds than in respect to the storage of carbohydrates