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The pursuit of happiness as an issue in planning for towns in trans-Appalachian America was a prime requisite. It is the intent of this paper to illustrate that, while many of the towns were paper towns that were never actualised, they acted as a catalyst for immigrants seeking to escape the oppression of Europe. Visualised as a new Eden, and promising land ownership with liberty, they were an opiate so strong that even with numerous instances of fraud and deceit the settlers came. Their belief that they had indeed arrived at Eden was so strong that it transcended any and all difficulties. This belief has influenced the planning and development of towns in America up to and including modern times. As long as people believe that their living situation is what is meant for them, their pursuit of happiness is satisfied. They have found their Eden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The population is ageing rapidly worldwide, which is particularly apparent in Europe. Therefore, there is a shrinking working-age population per retiree, which has profound implications for society. In response to this challenge, the EU-funded project OSIRIS is developing a collaborative digital platform that allows the creation of new innovative solutions to tackle the ageing population's challenges and help them live independent and active life. Effective project management is crucial for the success of such a project. In this paper, we describe the project management structure of the OSIRIS project, analyze the project management plan, identify gaps and provide recommendations to improve the project management practices. The paper highlights the lessons learned from the perspective of project management methodologies, enterprise architecture management and from creating generalized customer journeys for such a platform. Our findings suggest that effective project management practices, including proper planning, risk management, communication and stakeholder engagement, are imperative for the projects' success. Overall, by sharing our experience and insights, this paper aims to provide valuable guidance for future research and development projects in the silver economy and technology field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different Council of Europe organs have been attentive and reactive to specific human rights issues in the COVID-19 context, quickly alerting on the risks of inequitable access to quality health care, vaccines, or medicines for vulnerable groups. Yet these reactions have mainly taken the form of nonbinding instruments such as declarations, statements, and recommendations. Although these reactions derive from the interpretation of binding Council of Europe conventions, the observance or implementation of these conventions is not always monitored. Strasbourg judges have on several occasions confirmed that European Convention on Human Rights case law must consider other international instruments, especially those of other Council of Europe organs, in order to interpret the guarantees of the convention. As a consequence, soft law rules can sometimes indirectly acquire binding force when used as an interpretation and implementation tool for binding treaties. In this paper, I examine how Council of Europe organs interpret the principle of equitable access to health care of appropriate quality in the context of a pandemic and whether and how this interpretation is being implemented within the Council of Europe's interpretation of binding treaties such as the Medicrime Convention, the European Social Charter, and the European Convention on Human Rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The participation of women in sports and the management of women's sports teams have gained significant attention in recent years, underscoring the need to understand the dynamics and organizational aspects of women's sports. However, there is a noticeable lack of comprehensive bibliometric analyses in this domain, hindering a thorough exploration of the existing literature and the identification of key trends and knowledge gaps. This study aims to address this gap by conducting a rigorous bibliometric analysis of sports management competencies in women's semi-professional teams in Europe. Using the VOSviewer software, advanced data analysis techniques, including citation and co-citation analysis, were employed to gain insights into the research landscape, influential authors, seminal papers, and key research trends. The results of the analysis revealed clusters of research topics related to women's semi-professional sports, including performance, gender, football, and sports. The findings of this analysis will contribute to the advancement and success of women's semi-professional teams by informing the development of tailored training programs, educational curricula, and professional initiatives for sports management roles. Ultimately, this study aims to enhance the understanding of sports management competencies in women's semi-professional teams and guide future research endeavors in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The railway sector is an important part of the transportation industry as well as of the economic activity in Europe. It is interesting that digitalization of this sector has been triggered in several European countries by regulatory compliance obligations. The Technical Specification for Interoperability relating to Telematics Applications for Freight/Passenger Services as well as other related standards have created opportunities for the digital transformation of the players participating into this market. Apart from achieving a base minimum compliance to the standards, there are prerequisites and questions to be answered at organizational and technological level if railway sector players are to embark on the digital transformation journey. This research study provides explanations on the argument the regulatory compliance may act as a driver for digital transformation, using the example of the railway sector in Europe and presents some important prerequisites for this market's players to take the opportunity for digital transformation. The ultimate goal of this research, whose foundations are set up in this research paper, is to formulate a digital maturity model for the actor of the railway sector, for the benefit of their retail and business clients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to study the new energy of Sanskrit renaissance in Europe due to European voyages to India, followed by trade and then the construction of British India. It created a new social impetus to Sanskrit in India too, and the Indian intelligentsia, empowered by western education also began to examine texts written in the language. Interpretations came out in a pouring manner of these ancient texts, some locating them as the manufacturers of caste system, and some appreciating their contribution to science, literature, and philosophy and especially law. We have to re-understand how German intelligentsia interpreted and viewed these texts. The concept of nation in the age of nationalism, and its ideology of an imagined community with similar culture and shared beliefs has brought forth the necessity to enquire into the foundation of India’s modern identity, as perhaps, constructed by Oriental scholarship and the knowledge with new developments it brought forth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID 19 pandemic has seriously affected human resource management practices, as it has in many other aspects of work and life, both internationally and domestically. Through this paper we do not propose to highlight the challenges that managers had to face when they decided to work from home, adopting innovative solutions, examining changes in workforce management and employee well-being. Employees need for flexibility was the driving force behind HR manager's decisions, as well as safety measures and maintaining employee motivation and productivity. Also, the one that can play an important role in addressing the challenges of human resource management during a pandemic is social responsibility, according to some research in the field. Human resource management practices in Europe show that organizations were somewhat prepared, but faced difficulties in facing the situation. At the same time, the US pandemic has forced management to consider alternative approaches to work and address disparities within the profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beginning of 2020, the COVID-19 crisis holds for firms all over the world. Under these circumstances, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate the landscape of the European countries in terms of the earnings manipulation in COVID-19 era. Therefore, we compared companies from 15 European countries. The results show that the deteriorating economic conditions caused by COVID-19 are reflected in the managers' activity for earnings management in the context of European companies. Moreover, the panorama of earnings management activities in Europe is quite heterogeneous and inconsistent as we observe significant differences between European countries in the practice of earnings management. Additionally, rather than a single incentive or factor, we find a wide range of variables that affected managers' decisions to engage in earnings manipulation in COVID-19 times. Indeed, the results show that lack of growth opportunity caused by the pandemic, increased amount of debt, volatility of cash flow or sales, even size, age, or book value, were variables that influenced managers' decisions to manipulate earnings in pandemic. In addition, the industry effect cannot be separated from the impact of COVID- 19. Surprisingly, institutional mechanisms of control, including audit quality or board monitoring, which are widely documented in the literature as limiting earnings management, were ineffective in the COVID-19 period. The presence of mechanisms of control is considered essential variables that limit the practices of earnings management, but even these can occasionally fail, as confirmed our study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a configurational analysis that creates a new theoretical elaboration of populist parties in Europe in terms of policy choices. The forms of populism that we can see in contemporary Europe are new, relevant and do not have a theoretical representation in the literature. This paper also provides a clearer understanding of the characteristics of populist and anti-establishment parties in Europe, which can provide valuable insights into likely responses to reformed policy environments. To do so, the paper analyses policy positions connected to the populist literature for 242 parties in Europe in 2014 and 2019 using the Chapell Hill Expert Survey and the PopuList Survey data. Groups of parties with similarly held positions in 2014 and 2019 are identified using cluster analysis to investigate whether differences in positions are defined predominately according to a national, east–west, right–left faction or other criteria. The result highlights that rather than across a classical right–left divide connotation, Europe can be divided into four clusters: right-wing populists, a moderate pro-Europe left, a pro-Europe pro-liberalism centre and an intersectional left based on identity politics. Overall, the moderate left and the centrist liberalism centre are the most common parties across Europe, and the other two factions seem to be born as a reaction to these two. However, the other two factions are growing over the years, especially the populist right-wing in Central and Eastern Europe. This brings to light serious policy implications for the future of the European Union and for considering populism simply as a discursive matter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the existence of convergence in non-monetary working conditions in Europe resorting to widely used definitions of this phenomenon and composite indexes of job quality. Design/methodology/approach: The analysis relies on composite indexes, widely used in previous literature, for 207 regions in six different areas of job quality drawing on the microdata of the European Working Conditions Survey from 1995 to 2015. This study assesses the occurrence of convergence both in terms of dispersion of job quality outcomes (sigma-convergence) and, especially, regarding the existence of a catch-up process (beta-convergence). Findings: This study finds evidence of both types of convergences in all the domains, with the exception of skills and discretion and prospects dimensions according to the sigma-convergence approach. The results do not suggest substantial differences between the 15 European Union countries before the 2004 enlargement and the new Member States and are robust to a wide range of changes in the sample and different econometric specifications. Originality/value: Tot he best of the authors' knowledge, this paper represents the first rigorous and systematic attempt of addressing the existence of convergence in non-monetary working conditions, applying formal and widely accepted definitions of this phenomenon. It contributes to our knowledge on this topic providing strong evidence of convergence in job quality. Those results can be of interest for scholars in Economics and other Social Sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops the concept of spatial imaginations as the constructions of places as meaningful entities that establish identities of self and other through particular narratives and associated practices. It argues that traditionally, International Relations has ignored question of space despite their obvious centrality to the discipline. This has changed with the "spatial turn", which has its precursors in critical scholarship, especially drawing on sociology and political geography. The paper traces these contributions to the conceptual development of space in its material and discursive dimensions. It proposes that spatial imaginations are central to relations between "Turkey" and "Europe", establishing both as meaningful yet contested entities. In the works collated in the special issue of which this paper serves as an introduction, we may thus see facets of three core claim of the spatial turn: that space matters, that space needs to be made, and that spaces need to be formed. Against the prevailing attempts to fix the meaning of the spaces of "Turkey" and "Europe", I end with a plea to provide room for the articulation of a multiplicity of spatial imaginations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Observatorio (OBS*) is the property of OberCom and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The objective of the paper was to study the effects of the Russian -Ukrainian conflict on Romanian inflation using the energy shock's pass-through effect to inflation in Europe after the invasion. A monthly time series dataset is used for econometric analysis, and the data was collected from EUROSTAT, IMF and BNR databases. Using a Cochrane-Orcutt AR (1) regression with iterated estimates that control for autocorrelated error terms, we measured how variations in the price of coal, gas, and oil affected the harmonized consumer price index (HCPI). Our results suggest that oil price increases will lead to an increase in HIPC in Romania. Gas prices had an inverse relationship with HIPC in the analyzed period. The data however did not suggest a relation between coal price and inflation, in the studied period. The energy shock that occurred in Europe accounted in higher prices for gasoline, heating, and electricity on the short run, but there is no evidence that this inflationary pressure will affect long run household inflation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article comments on the paper related to social development in the Philippines. The author of the paper had neglected the vast body of European and American study of and in both Western and non-Western societies. Even though it is justifiable that conceptualization and methodology must be developed in relation to the particular "time-space characteristics" of the research situation, it not justifiable to adopt some as yet undeveloped and essentially unknown "new" theory. The author of the paper had discarded too lightly the enormous experience of "Western" social scientists in observation and interpretive analysis of socio-cultural patterns ranging from the most "scared" to the most nearly "secular." The use of scientific experience remains the most powerful intellectual guide which man has yet devised. The de-emphasis of "quantitativism" in favor of field and problem-oriented study is vitally necessary. The author of the paper easy slip into the concretistic error of assuming that the historical peculiarities of Philippine societal development require unique interpretive tools.

Passive House were made for the first time in Germany, this concept is used later in other different climates of the south, west and southwest Europe. To determine whether an area is suitable for this concept of the passive house will use software Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) 2007 by which we determine the needs for heat and total consumption of primary energy of a home preset depending on latitude, longitude and climatic conditions. For a home to be considered passive house it must be within the maximum allowable on heating requirements is 15 kWh/m² year nor the total primary energy consumption of 120 kWh/m² year. In this paper we will determine whether such Passive House concept according to German requirements for passive houses a predetermined pattern can be implemented in northern area of Europe. To achieve this experiment, we calculate the amount of heating and total primary energy consumption in Moscow, Russia. From these results we can determine whether this area can be used such houses and buildings and which modifications can be made to the houses to be implemented in these areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employing 2018 European Social Survey data in a multilevel framework, the paper aims to estimate the effect of working for low pay on a wide range of political attitudes and to explain the attitudinal differences between the Central and Eastern European (CEE) and Western European regions based on their differing socioeconomic and political background. The results suggest that it is mainly the lower living standard of inhabitants together with widespread wage inequality and not the specific legacy of the communist regimes that undermine the individual's perception of influence on politics, political confidence and satisfaction with democracy in CEE. The results also indicate that working for low pay has a significant positive effect on the individual's trust in politicians, but the relationship is moderated by the country's economic development and is only significant in rich countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the protection of the right to health of ethnic Roma people is one of the most pressing public health challenges in contemporary Europe, as their life expectancy and health status remain significantly lower than their non-Roma counterparts. This paper analyzes Roma-led accountability initiatives that embrace social accountability and legal empowerment approaches to advocate for equitable fulfillment of the right to health. While these initiatives have led to the elimination of some harmful health practices (such as illegal cash bribes and violent and abusive treatment by medical professionals) and to improvements in health care, and some Roma communities have become driving forces for local and national health system reforms for advancing the fulfillment of health rights, the health inequalities affecting Roma communities remain significant. This issue also remains largely overlooked by European health research and policy experts, who are mostly reluctant to incorporate analyses of ethnicity and racialization into their research on health inequalities in Europe. The COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated these health inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid growth of the population in the last 70 years has been constantly accompanied by increasing migration flows. From 1950 to 2020, the population of Europe grew from about 547 million to 741 million, while the Muslim share in this population quadrupled from10.7million to 42.7million people. Such an exponential growth of the Muslim population could pose political challenges for Europe, especially for the countries of Western Europe, which are often the final destination for migrants from various parts of the world, primarily from North Africa and the Middle East. This paper aims to analyse trends in migration and the rate of natural increase in order to roughly estimate whether Europe’s demographic outlook will undergo a major change in the next 50 years. It also attempts to determine what kind of political challenges might arise as a result. Using the method of quantitative content analysis, it is estimated that the Christian population will decrease by about 25 million due to the ageing of the population and declining birth rates, while the Muslim population will increase by about 200 million due to migration and the rate of natural increase. The conclusion is that there are indications that migrations will change not only the demographic outlook, but also the European political and security identity in the worst case. However, in the case of government controlled migration-induced changes, they will lead mostly to minor changes in the emigration policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Youth in the post-Soviet countries have faced the challenges of identity formation in concomitance with the processes of state-building in newly independent states. This paper focuses on young people aged 14 to 19 in seemingly different post-Soviet countries, Georgia and Latvia, who grew up after the collapse of the Soviet Union in independent countries striving towards Europe and its values. Based on qualitative interviews conducted in schools for the <#funding-source;>Horizon 2020 CHIEF project, the paper discusses some aspects of young people's identity formation, and how they see themselves in national and European contexts. Along with some similarities evident in both countries, such as young people reporting a very strong sense of national belonging and identity, the data also show important differences when it comes to young people's perceptions of Europe in Latvia and Georgia, as the latter report some reluctance in regards to accepting European identity and values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revija za Sociologiju is the property of Revija za Sociologiju and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The shift from centralized to decentralized energy, with the development of renewable energies, is giving rise to new energy models. Some of these models aim to increase the citizens participation in the energy transition, such as the energy communities. This concept has recently emerged in Europe to encourage the development of local projects and raising citizens' awareness. Our aim is to better understand how such communities emerge to foster them, and to propose a tool for B2T (Business to Territory) Business Developers. We have developed a generic methodology to follow the formation of sociotechnical systems based on a modeling of the Actor-Network Theory. We use the concept of Socio-Energetic Node and propose a model of it to apply our generic methodology to Local Energy Communities. Preliminary results are presented at the end of this paper on a case study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intermittent rivers, which do not flow all year round, have biophysical functioning specificities which need to be considered when defining management policies, even more so in the current context of global change. However, in Europe intermittent rivers benefit from the same regulations as permanent rivers, which undoubtedly leads to their degradation. This paper aims to identify (1) how perceptions and values of intermittent rivers interact with their management and (2) determine whether the prospect of climate change leads the stakeholders to questioning their perceptions and values of intermittent rivers and the way we should manage them. Semi-structured interviews and mental mapping exercises were conducted with 28 various stakeholders (elected officials, fishers, river managers, and residents), all of whom lived along the French intermittent Albarine River. Qualitative analysis of the discourses and maps confirms strong interactions between the perceptions and values related to intermittent rivers and their management. The results highlight social devaluation of the intermittent section in terms of aesthetics, recreation, and biological values. They also point to the role of power plays between river managers and fishers, in the prioritization of management actions that favor perennial sections to the detriment of intermittent ones. These dynamics of devaluing and discarding intermittent sections or rivers from management plans are all the more alarming as there is little propensity among river stakeholders to think about the future of these intermittent rivers and their value in the context of climate change, where the prevalence of intermittent rivers is likely to increase dramatically. • Stakeholders devalue intermittent rivers (IR) compared to perennial rivers. • Devaluation is due to aesthetic, recreational and biological reasons. • Devaluation leads to IR or IR sections being excluded from management plans. • Stakeholders do not consider a future with increased intermittency with climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethics and ethical behaviour are the fundamental pillars of a civilised society. The focus on ethical behaviour is indispensable in certain fields such as medicine, finance, or law. In fact, ethics gets precedence with anything that would include, affect, transform, or influence upon individuals, communities or any living creatures. Many institutions within Europe have set up their own committees to focus on or approve activities that have ethical impact. In contrast, lesser-developed countries (worldwide) are trying to set up these committees to govern their academia and research. As the first European consortium established to assist academic integrity, European Network for Academic Integrity (ENAI), we felt the importance of guiding those institutions and communities that are trying to conduct research with ethical principles. We have established an ethical advisory working group within ENAI with the aim to promote ethics within curriculum, research and institutional policies. We are constantly researching available data on this subject and committed to help the academia to convey and conduct ethical behaviour. Upon preliminary review and discussion, the group found a disparity in understanding, practice and teaching approaches to ethical applications of research projects among peers. Therefore, this short paper preliminarily aims to critically review the available information on ethics, the history behind establishing ethical principles and its international guidelines to govern research. The paper is based on the workshop conducted in the 5th International conference Plagiarism across Europe and Beyond, in Mykolas Romeris University, Lithuania in 2019. During the workshop, we have detailed a) basic needs of an ethical committee within an institution; b) a typical ethical approval process (with examples from three different universities); and c) the ways to obtain informed consent with some examples. These are summarised in this paper with some example comparisons of ethical approval processes from different universities. We believe this paper will provide guidelines on preparing and training both researchers and research students in appropriately upholding ethical practices through ethical approval processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decades, women's participation in Higher Education has increased in most Western countries, even if the well-known phenomena of horizontal and vertical segregation still persist (O'Connor, 2017). The reasons for the persistence of these phenomena have been widely studied (Ridgeway, 2011; Pearce, Wald, & Ballakrishnen, 2014; Rhode, 2016), highlighting the importance of defining and implementing affirmative actions to improve women's situation in Higher Education. In this context, the European Union (EU) has placed the topic of gender equality (GE) in Higher Education with high relevance in the political agenda. As a result, several research projects have been approved to design and implement Gender Equality Plans (GEPs) in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). This paper reflects the design and implementation process of GEPs in a group of countries integrating an international project8. Based on data analysis of national legal documents, this paper examines the macro factors that can contribute to improving GE at the institutional level. The empirical analysis is based on a qualitative approach sustained on the analysis of national legal documents related to the economic, political, and social domains of Portugal, Slovakia, and Israel. The comparative analysis among the countries reveals that there are relevant actions already in place in national legal frameworks that can be seen as positive to design and implement GEP in HEIs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sharing economy, intended as the creation of new markets for idle resources managed by digital intermediary platforms, is spreading in most economies. This paper offers new evidence on the geography of this phenomenon in the NUTS2 regions of the EU27 + UK by proposing a methodology to identify its stages and intensity of development. Results suggest that the sharing economy develops unevenly across countries and across regions, highlighting exceptional cases of mismatch between the intensity of the sharing economy and the most favourable socio-economic context conditions and warning against the possible detrimental effects of its development for wage inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the era of renewable energy, offshore wind farms play a very important role. The number of such installations in Europe is increasing rapidly.With the growing capacity of wind turbines installed in these farms (3, 5, 10 MW), the profitability of this type of energy systems plays an increasing role. The number of wind energy turbines installed at offshore wind farms is growing constantly as well. Once installed, the power plants must be under constant technical supervision, with reliability of electronic communication systems being a particularly important aspect in the operation of offshore wind farms. Considerations focusing on this subject form the very core of this paper. After an introduction to offshore wind farms, the following aspects will be discussed: redundant topologies, e.g. multiple HiPERRings, redundant switches and routers within the backbone networks, redundancy of the transmission media used, alternative transmission technologies, e.g. WLANs (IEEE 802.11h, IEEE 802.11g). Finally, requirements applicable to reliable electronic communication systems used in offshore wind farms will be formulated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Sociologija/Sociology: Journal of Sociology, Social Psychology & Social Anthropology is the property of MOD International and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Sociologija/Sociology: Journal of Sociology, Social Psychology & Social Anthropology is the property of MOD International and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The European continent faces an apocalyptic pandemic that poses mortal danger to millions of citizens. This paper seeks to address the role played by European public policy in addressing the Covid-19 pandemic. Currently, each Member State across Europe is applying its own measures to deal with the coronavirus; namely, decentralised decision-making that could trigger political tensions among the states. The paper argues that European public policy must change rapidly and fundamentally if these tensions are to be successfully managed; otherwise, such policy might simply cease to exist. Moreover, the known and notorious problem of collective action, information asymmetries, irrationality, negative externalities and the related free-riding phenomenon persistently are distorting the Member States' combined efforts, resulting in deficient attempts to contain the spread of Covid-19. The paper also argues that the current unprecedented outbreak of this superspreading virus calls for a bigger EU-wide coordinated response. We argue that the Covid-19 pandemic is a good example of an area in which the central EU level holds a comparative advantage over lower levels of government. In addition, the paper offers several substantive insights into ways to improve the public policy response in the 'war' against Covid-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) and all similar systems for digital radio and television broadcasting are inevitably associated with lossy psychoacoustic audio compression. The coding algorithms are continuously being improved. To achieve high sound quality a lower bitrate, required by the broadcasters, is now sufficient. This paper compares the relevant digital audio codecs: MPEG 2 and AAC in three profiles (AAC LC, HE-AAC v1 and HE-AAC v2). The well-known MP3 format is also added for a better comparison. A brief description of the basic functional principles of the codecs is followed by a comparison of their efficiency keeping in mind the subjectively comparable sound quality. The main contribution of this paper is the verification of the relationship of the bitrate level and sound quality in broadcasting environment and the finding out the influence of other, often more significant factors, such as the primary quality of the input recordings and the concatenation of non-entropic coding, on the subjective perception in the digital broadcasting chain. These findings are supported by the results of a unique research analysis providing an insight into which specific audio encoding configurations are used for DAB+ radio broadcasting in practice, in Europe as a whole and in individual European countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Seven categories of social impacts were identified in the literature review. • Most important negative impacts are on human rights and social equity. • Most important positive impacts are on wellbeing and livelihoods. • There is need to increase subjective assessment of impacts in protected areas. • Coordination of policies across sectors is needed to meet future biodiversity targets. Effective designation of Protected Areas (PAs) requires the careful consideration of their social impacts as these are perceived by people. These refer to a variety of issues such as the distribution of power, social equity, social relations and more importantly the impact of PAs on human wellbeing. A number of studies have emerged in the past decade aiming to capture social impacts of PAs across the world through non-monetary assessments taking into consideration people's perceptions. Although Europe is the region with the largest in proportion number of Protected Areas across the world it is also a region with very limited scientific evidence on this topic. As the European Union is preparing to implement its new Biodiversity Strategyto ipkmplement this paper aims to provide the first comprehensive review of the literature regarding social impacts of European PAs and highlight new directions for current policy frameworks in the region. The paper focuses on the perceived non-economic social costs and benefits of PAs and identifies 7 key categories of social impacts. We propose that policy planning for biodiversity conservation in Europe should incorporate subjective assessments of social costs and benefits with the aim to achieve an increase of benefits for people and their equal distribution across social groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Europe assumed to become the first climate neutral continent but, due to the political situation on the eastern border, the security of the energy supply is threatened and it is possible that the existing coal installations will be used for more than originally expected. The paper exposes the ways in which the carbon dioxide resulting from the combustion of fossil fuels can be separated and thus the greenhouse gas emissions of the power plants can be close to zero. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Western world, the “Stonewall Inn riots” of 1969 represent a turning point in the history of LGBT (urban) rights claiming. They gave a contribution to a morphological transformation of the Western cities, where there has been a gradual “homo-colonization” of different metropolitan districts, through the creation of the so-called LGBT neighborhood. Adopting a territorial perspective, the paper aims to examine the levels of inclusion of sexual minorities in Europe and if they can imagine expansive possibilities for a life beyond the “gayborhood.” Examining the relationship among the level of social acceptance of gender and sexual minorities, their civil rights and the formation of LGBT communities in cities and the social functions they perform in Europe, the sociological analysis offers a classification of all European countries into 4 classes. The work concludes with some critical reflections through which the authors consider the implications of their findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An extensive study of the representations of Europe in history textbooks has been conducted with regards to Italian lower secondary school (Pingel 1994, 2000, 2003a, 2003b; Cajani 2003). These studies have included considerations upon the history of European integration, although this was not their exclusive topic. To date, however, few pieces of research have addressed how the history of European integration is dealt with in Italian textbooks for upper secondary school (Accardo, Baldocchi 2004; Challand 2009). The present paper examines how curricula and textbooks portray the integration process in upper secondary school. It focuses on the position they attribute to Italy in different phases and the extent to which they use recent findings of historiography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational practices are instrumental in the transfer of European values beyond EU borders. Our aim is to problematize Europeanisation through education in the Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries by studying the promotion of EU studies in higher education projects funded by the Erasmus + programme. The paper discusses the educational dimension of Europeanisation in EaP countries from three interrelated perspectives - social constructivism, the Foucauldian concept of governmentality and a post-structuralist reading of centrality and marginality. We specifically focus on a series of international projects developed by the University of Tartu (Estonia) in partnership with other EU-based and non-EU universities from the EaP. We used qualitative data from reports of 4 EU-funded cooperation projects and also students' views obtained in 2 focus groups that explored how the EU is taught and discussed. In the end, the added value of the article is that it offers a critical view on teaching the EU in the Eastern neighborhood, focusing on nuanced local perspectives on the challenges of Europeanisation through education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Weather disasters are a growing burden in Europe, because of increasing losses and costs of precautionary measures. • Socio-economic, climatic and environmental changes drive the growing risk. • The insurance industry can play a major role in the partnership for reduction of risk of weather extremes Over the last decades, the damage caused by weather events has increased dramatically and ubiquitously. In Europe, weather catastrophes constitute a growing burden on national economies and insurance companies, not least because of the costs of precautionary measures. For a long time, the insurance sector has flagged that weather disasters are on the rise, both in terms of the number of occurrences and material damage caused. The main reasons for this are: increase in the number and area of settlements in exposed areas, the accumulation of ever more valuable and vulnerable assets in these areas, as well as the climate and environmental changes that have already taken place. This paper examines observed changes in risk of various categories of weather disasters in Europe, backed by statistical analyses of relevant, updated information originating from a valuable and quite unique source, Munich Re's NatCatSERVICE database, that is of considerable interest and value to the scientific community and beyond (e.g. in the reinsurance and insurance industries). The paper also calls for partnership in the reduction of risk of weather extremes and discusses the role of the insurance industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over more than a decade after the outbreak of the recent financial crisis, we can say that its effects are still visible in the economic world. In order to overcome this crisis, central banks had to rethink the interaction between the financial economy and the real economy and they started to use a series of monetary policies that were considered unconventional. This paper aims to identify the most important unconventional monetary strategies used by a series of central banks from Central and East Europe. The first part of this paper focuses on identifying the unconventional monetary strategies used word-wide, while the second part tries to identify if the Central and East European central banks have used unconventional monetary policies and if they did, to point out which were the main unconventional monetary policy tools they have used. Another purpose of this paper is to identify the effects that the introduction of this kind of unconventional monetary policies had on the economy. It can be concluded that, even though most of the countries have overcome the shocks caused by the outbreak of the recent financial crisis, their current state does not rise to the financial robustness they had back in 2007. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Buildings are the largest energy consumers in Europe and are responsible for approximately 40% of EU energy consumption and 36% of the greenhouse gas emissions in Europe. Two-thirds of the building consumption is for residential buildings. To achieve energy efficiency, buildings are being integrated with IoT devices through the use of smart IoT services. For instance, a smart space heating service reduces energy consumption by dynamically heating apartments based on indoor and outdoor temperatures. The W3C recommends the use of the Web of Things (WoT) standard to enable IoT interoperability on the Web. However, in the context of a smart building, the ability to search and discover building metadata and IoT devices available in the WoT ecosystems remains a challenge due to the limitation of the current WoT Discovery, which only includes a directory containing only IoT devices metadata without including building metadata. Integrating the IoT device's metadata with building metadata in the same directory can provide better discovery capabilities to the IoT services providers. In this paper, we integrate building metadata into the W3C WoT Discovery through the construction of a Building Description JSON-LD file. This Building Description is integrated into the W3C WoT Discovery and based on the domOS Common Ontology (dCO) to achieve semantic interoperability in smart residential buildings for the WoT IoT ecosystem within the Horizon 2020 domOS project. This integration results in a Thing and Building Description Directory. dCO integrates the SAREF core ontology with the Thing Description ontology, devices, and building metadata. We have implemented and validated the WoT discovery on top of a WoT Thing and Building Description Directory. The WoT Discovery implementation is also made available for the WoT community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is some scepticism about the effectiveness of equity funding policies (EFPs). However, many studies focus only on one particular EFP in one education system. The present paper draws lessons from a review of the North American and European literature. In general, EFPs did not always meet the expectations of policymakers and educational agents. Five potential causes emerge from our review: (1) Matthew effects in the baseline resourcing of schools; (2) the ineffective use of additional resources; (3) ineffective targeting; (4) flaws in monitoring and evaluation; and (5) the general social and educational context in which EFPs are implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Competing societal demands on land require careful land management. In the era of the European Green Deal, farmers are required to meet some of these competing demands, specifically around production, greenhouse gas emission reductions, and biodiversity conservation. At the same time, 15.1% of total EU land is abandoned or underutilised, which means that it contributes neither to food, nor to ecosystem services, to its full potential. Reintegrating abandoned agricultural land back into production is therefore one of the potential pathways to deliver on the aspirations of the Common Agriculture Policy post-2020. In this paper we assess the potential of managing and reintegrating abandoned agricultural land in Europe to simultaneously increase primary productivity, carbon regulation and habitat for biodiversity, using Latvia as a national case-study that is representative of this challenge in a Baltic context. Our results show that for some regions, reintegration of abandoned agricultural land can lead to "triple win" synergies. These opportunities can be further exploited by applying best management practices to these reintegrated lands. In other regions, where the area of abandoned agricultural land is limited because of favourable biophysical conditions for intensive agricultural production, such "triple-win" synergies are scarce. In such areas, abandoned land plays a role in maintaining ecosystem services at local and regional scales, and even small increases in primary productivity come at the expense of biodiversity. This calls for careful management that involves diverse actor groups, including land managers, in the decision-making process, and in priority setting in each of the regions. • The EU Farm-to-Fork strategy calls for the agricultural sector to deliver on multiple societal demands. • Revaluing and reintegrating abandoned land is a promising and hitherto undervalued pathway to deliver on multifunctionality. • An evidence-based regional approach can maximise the efficacy of national land management strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND 'Silver splits' -- the union dissolutions after the age of 50 -- have received growing attention in both the press and nonacademic discourse. Nonetheless, while there is a vast amount of research on the sociodemographic, health-related, and economic consequences of late union dissolution, no studies have yet (to the best of our knowledge) analysed the correlates of silver splits in Europe. OBJECTIVE This paper aims to document the correlates of union dissolution in later life in Europe, with a specific focus on the role played by grandchildren. METHODS We used data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) and employed logistic regression to model the probability of experiencing union dissolution after the age of 50. RESULTS Our results show that (1) having grandchildren is related to a lower probability of experiencing a silver split, (2) the other correlates of silver splits generally do not differ from the classical correlates of union dissolution early in life, and (3) the European correlates of silver splits accord with those found in the literature for North America. CONTRIBUTION This study sheds light on an increasingly relevant new family process occurring later in life (silver splits), thereby filling a clear gap in the European literature. Among the correlates of silver splits, the role of grandchildren appears crucial. They serve to 'refill the nest' once a couple's children have left, thereby inhibiting silver splits as grandparents assume new responsibilities in the family and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND Within the context of significant migration flows, persisting low fertility settings, and population ageing in more developed areas, increased focus has been placed on the impact of migration on population change in receiving countries. OBJECTIVE This paper examines the contributions of migrants and natives to population change in 31 European countries for the 2014-2019 period. METHODS Based on a standardisation method, we provide evidence derived from births, deaths, and net migration for the size and diversity of the contributions to overall population change of the two population groups. RESULTS The results show that the foreign-born population has been the driving force behind overall population change in Europe, as this population has attenuated overall population decline; turned the expected population decline into population growth; or, less frequently, accelerated population growth. Additionally, the differences between countries in the indirect effect of the foreign-born population on population change have been driven more by the differences in the population age structure of migrants than by the timing and level of fertility or by the level of mortality among migrants. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that the contribution of the foreign-born population to overall population change in Europe has been pronounced and goes far beyond the contribution of net migration, the commonly used indicator for measuring the effect of the foreign-born population on population change. CONTRIBUTION The study provides empirical evidence as regards the increasing importance of foreign-born population for population change in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to develop a refined gravity model for the quantitative assessment of competitive hub status of cities between 2000 and 2012 from the perspective of international air traffic movements. Its focus of attention is Europe and Asia, where cross border competition has been witnessed among major cities for the role as a key international air traffic hub. To this end, the research incorporates global network connectivity (GNC) as a measure of business connections into an established gravity model that previously relied on GDP per head, population and distance to account for international air links. The results confirm the dynamic change of the air transport city hierarchy, demonstrating a stronger presence of a number of previously secondly ranked cities as international air traffic hubs over this period. The paper concludes with suggestions that possible extension of geographical scope and incorporation of domestic air traffic could enrich the insight of this approach. • Hub status of cities is assessed from an international air traffic perspective. • Networks of inter-city air traffic flows in Europe and Asia are explored. • Business connectivity is the most powerful in explaining international air links. • Secondly ranked cities are now more prominent in the region's urban hierarchies. • New airports and integrators' hubs have significant effect on cities' mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Government policy shall address the strategic nature of local resource use decisions. • Local resource users face linked coordination, prisoner's dilemma, and zero-sum/externality situations. • Governments shape the behavior of local resource users via bundles of policy instruments. • Policy instruments contribute to local collective action via a handful of mechanisms. This paper presents a diagnostic approach to the role and capacity of governments to facilitate local collective action and alleviate environmental problems. The paper adds to a nascent scholarship aiming to conciliate theories on "governance by government" and "governance by self-organization". We adopt two premises for that purpose: (1) policy instruments shall be tailored to the strategic nature of local resource management decisions; and (2) such nature is not static and can be modified via governmental policies. We first build on the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework to characterize the decision-making situations that local resource users face and the local rules that shape said situations. Then, based on common pool resource (CPR) and policy instrument choice theory, we identify four mechanisms through which different policy instruments can facilitate local collective action (change in payoffs and their perception, reduction of transaction costs, reduction of uncertainty, and normative consonance). This analytical approach is then applied to four illustrative cases of water management in Germany, France, Greece and Spain. As shown, local resource users are embedded in not one but many overlapping decision-making situations. In this context, the promotion of collective action is rarely accomplished via a single policy instrument or mechanism but via bundles of them. Also, the paper illustrates the importance of understanding how governmental policies modify the structure of rules and incentives that affect local resource users, potentially facilitating local collective action and the solution of environmental problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Citizen science has emerged as an important tool in biology, ecology, and conservation studies. In this paper, we examined YouTube (YT) videos featuring the behaviour of red (Sciurus vulgaris) and grey (Sciurus carolinensis) squirrels in Europe, in both urban and forest habitats. Our study shows that specific behaviours of these squirrels, such as aggression, grooming and calling, have frequently been recorded on YT videos. The present paper uses this open data for the first time to compare differences between the frequency of some types of behaviour in two habitats. Based on detrended correspondence analysis, we show a significant difference in sets of behaviours between two squirrel species. Our investigation show that YT can be a source for monitoring the behaviour of wild species, especially in urban habitats, thus affording insights into the species plasticity of urban individuals. YT, as part of citizen science, is a potential source of information in behavioural ecology. Highlights • Citizen science has emerged as an important tool in scientific research. • Squirrels behaviour types were different between habitats but not between species. • Feeding behaviour was connected with interaction with people in urban habitats. • Social media like YouTube provide a source of additional information in behavioural ecology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE This article provides an introduction to a special collection on childbearing among the descendants of immigrants in Europe. We first review recent life-course research on fertility of immigrants and their descendants followed by a summary of the papers of this special collection. Finally, we discuss their contribution and future research avenues. RESULTS The papers of this special collection report significant heterogeneity in childbearing patterns among descendants of immigrants. Some groups have fertility levels similar to those of natives, some have lower fertility, and some exhibit significantly higher fertility. Further, polarisation characterises many descendant groups; some individuals have small families or even remain childless, whereas others have large families. CONCLUSIONS We conclude that factors related to mainstream society, minority subculture, and minority status all shape fertility behaviour of the descendants of immigrants and that their impact varies across descendant groups. Future research should investigate whether the observed heterogeneity in childbearing patterns is likely to decline over generations or the diversity is here to stay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scientific paper presents a practical research carried out by the authors in order to implement certain concepts of technical nature, so that those interested in this field can become aware of a certain way of exposing the problems regarding the role of technology and autonomous vehicles in the sustainable development of car transportation. According to previous research, it has been found that human error has a share of about 95% in the occurrence of road accidents in Europe, causing thousands of human lives to be taken away annually. Experts in the field say that autonomous vehicles can significantly reduce this percentage and at the same time contribute to increasing road safety. Digital technology also has its advantages and disadvantages. It helps reduce congestion and pollution in road traffic, increases access to mobility for people with disabilities, creates new jobs, brings economic growth, increases safety in road traffic but can also become dangerous when disturbances and malfunctions make their mark on artificial intelligence. We present further a technical and managerial study with engineering nuances, through which readers can look at and understand the concept of sustainable development in a global context, presenting the place, role and current stage of development of the autonomous vehicle in the road transport system. At the end, some conclusions and further research directions in the approached field are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]