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Purpose: The current article presents the results of a case study dealing with the historical roots of Eastern European researchers in computer science. Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on an analysis of cited references stemming from a collection of around 80,000 computer science papers by Eastern European researchers published from 1989 to 2014. By using a method called "reference publication year spectroscopy" (RPYS) for historical analyses based on bibliometric data, we analyze around 800,000 references cited in those papers. The study identifies the peak years, including most frequently cited publications (from 1952, 1965 and 1975), and focuses on these outstanding works for the field. The research shows how these influential papers were cited in Eastern Europe and in general, and on which scientific fields they have the most impact. Findings: A noteworthy publication that seems to have a tremendous effect on Eastern European computer science is Zadeh's "Fuzzy sets" article which appeared in Information and Control in 1965. The study demonstrates that computer scientists from Eastern Europe are more conservative in their citation behaviour and tend to refer to older and more established research than their counterparts from the West. Originality/value: Which are the historical roots of researchers working in a particular field or on a specific topic? Are there certain publications – landmark papers – which are important for their research? We guess that these are questions bothering researchers in many fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Democratic erosion in the EU's Central and Eastern European (CEE) member states has confounded EU policy-makers. In this paper, we investigate the assumptions behind the climate of optimism about CEE democratization that prevailed in EU decision-making before and after the 5th and 6th enlargements, and the extent to which political science participated in this intellectual climate. Based on a qualitative analysis of EU decision-making in the early twenty-first century and a quantitative analysis of 500 randomly sampled papers published between 2000 and 2015, we find that both policy makers and the most influential research in political science shared a bias towards optimism structured by common assumptions: A procedural understanding of democracy, a rational institutionalist belief in the EU's capacity to bring these procedures about with the use of incentives and the related assumption that sociocultural dimensions of democracy would eventually follow institutions. We argue that these common assumptions help to explain both the EU's failure to pre-empt and respond proportionately to democratic erosion, and the failure of our discipline to check that optimism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Personalized Medicine is a challenge for healthcare systems in Central and Eastern Europe if they are to provide patients with personalized diagnosis and treatment. Personalized medicine (PM) is about tailoring a treatment as individualized as the disease. [1] Integrated care involves receiving care along a continuum of health promotion, disease prevention, diagnosis, treatment, disease-management, rehabilitation and palliative care services, coordinated across the different levels and sites of care within and beyond the health sector, and according to the needs of patients throughout the life course. Personalized Medicine and Integrated Care are among the most important concepts related to the management and organization of healthcare systems. This article intends to identify challenges to the adoption of personalized medicine and stimulate fruitful dialogue and debate about the evaluation of barriers and facilitators within the implementation of personalized medicine interventions, identify the barriers and take systematic actions to remove as many of them as possible to create a future where PM is fully integrated into real-life settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sea buckthorn is a promising species that, under the conditions of Eastern Europe, has shown high productivity and is also a good and possible source of a wide range of bioactive compounds that have a positive effect on the human body, especially polyphenols and carotenoids. Due to the content of biologically active substances in sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.), the species is of growing interest to scientists, the food industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the cosmetics industry and consumers. The aim of this study is to investigate the productivity and the correlation between the chemical composition and the antibacterial effect of four cultivars of sea buckthorn (Clara, Dora, Cora, Mara), cultivated in the Republic of Moldova. Sea buckthorn fruits were harvested at the stage of full ripening. Berry samples were frozen at minus 25 °C, stored for 6 months and whole fruits of sea buckthorn were studied. All quantitative characteristics were calculated in terms of absolutely dry raw material (dry weight). The sea buckthorn cultivars tested were found to have a different carotenoid contents (1.79–48.92 mg/100 g), ascorbic acid contents (74.36–373.38 mg/100 g), organic acids (malic acid 5.8–13.4 mg/100 g, citric acid 0.08–0.321 mg/100 g, succinic acid 0.03–1.1 mg/100 g), total dry matter contents (16.71–24.54%), titratable acidities (2.15–8.76%) and pH values (2.73–3.00). The antimicrobial activity of sea buckthorn, evaluated by the diameter of the inhibition zone, constituted for Bacillus pumilus 3.70–15.91 mm/g−1 for whole sea buckthorn fruits and 13.33–26.67 mm/g−1 for sea buckthorn purees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To examine the current status of care and needs of adult congenital heart disease (ACHD) services in the Central and South Eastern European (CESEE) region. Methods and results: We obtained data regarding the national ACHD status for 19 CESEE countries from their ACHD representative based on an extensive survey for 2017 and/or 2018. Thirteen countries reported at least one tertiary ACHD centre with a median year of centre establishment in 2007 (interquartile range 2002–2013). ACHD centres reported a median of 2114 patients under active follow‐up with an annual cardiac catheter and surgical intervention volume of 49 and 40, respectively. The majority (90%) of catheter or surgical interventions were funded by government reimbursement schemes. However, all 19 countries had financial caps on a hospital level, leading to patient waiting lists and restrictions in the number of procedures that can be performed. The median number of ACHD specialists per country was 3. The majority of centres (75%) did not have ACHD specialist nurses. The six countries with no dedicated ACHD centres had lower Gross Domestic Product per capita compared to the remainder (P = 0.005). Conclusion: The majority of countries in CESEE now have established ACHD services with adequate infrastructure and a patient workload comparable to the rest of Europe, but important gaps still exist. ACHD care is challenged or compromised by limited financial resources, insufficient staffing levels, and reimbursement caps on essential procedures compared to Western Europe. Active advocacy and increased resources are required to address the inequalities of care across the continent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the evolution of the European Union's development policy in relation to civil society. Based on a review of overall policy trends, strategies and practices in Central Asia, it demonstrates how the EU's development policy has gradually moved from a focus on European NGOs towards civil society organisations, broadly defined and increasingly associated with the private sector and local authorities. While the EU's policy recognises the intrinsic value of civil society in all its diversity and promotes partnership, its operational practices show a pragmatic preference for working with professionalised organisations in service delivery roles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper systematically reviews 314 empirical studies that examine the relationship between board leadership structure and firm performance. The results show that the mixed research findings are due to different firm performance measurements, research designs, sampling practices and approaches of dealing with endogeneity issues. Studies utilizing multiple‐country data, multinational companies, small firms or regions covering Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and South America are under‐represented. It critiques the methodological weaknesses of some empirical studies and proposes that future researchers should use multiple firm performance measurements, a longitudinal research design and an integrative framework to better control the direct and moderating factors. Future researchers may advance the robustness of research by using multiple theoretical lenses to consider how various governance factors moderate the relationship between board leadership structure and firm performance, particularly the different ownership structures, managerial discretion contexts and national institutional factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper is the product of SRK Exploration Services UK through the EU funded Horizon 2020INFACT project and research undertaken as part of the doctoral study by an associate consultant. It marries European wide research through INFACT with doctoral research into the mining sector and communities in Serbia, to illustrate general and country specific issues around social license to operate. The paper illustrates how gaps are created in the extractive industries conceptualization of host communities and how that precipitates social licence to operate failures. It challenges the extractive industries use of the stakeholder concept and questions how equipped the sector is to engage and assess community-based business risk Solutions to social licence failure in the extraction industry involve engaging with the conflict and enabling dissenting voices at an early stage of project development, rather than quelling them. Resolution to social licence issues is more likely if local communities are supported to retain control of and articulate potential conflict, rather than the conflict being captured and utilized by external actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study provides research findings about reading habits and attitudes toward reading of Bulgarian primary school students and the formation of reading literacy. The article presents reading research, publications, and frameworks about the reading issue in Bulgaria. The author describes the context of the research--an authoritative research study in Bulgaria about reading and the prevalent educational system. The article also discusses investigations into reading habits in Bulgaria and describes the methodology, the participants, the procedure, and the results of the research. The focus of the current publication is on reading in pre-primary and primary school as a part of understanding the connection between reading and digital literacy. This article may bring new international dimensions to the study of reading. This research study may be useful for people who are interested in the diversity of Eastern Europe and in the reading habits of young people. It may help to understand the intersection of reading, culture, and social environment in a small former socialist country such as Bulgaria, and allow for a meaningful comparison between Bulgarian children's reading practices in the digital era and those of children in other parts of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the growth of the pulp and paper industries in Eastern Europe and Russia. The recent startups of new machines and new mills have been carried out by local industrialists. Global paper and board producers International Paper Co. and Mondi Ltd. have publicly announced investments and plans for their businesses. International Paper has recently completed rebuilds at its Kwidzyn mill in Poland to increase capacity of folding boxboard and whitelined chipboard.

Background The US Food and Drug Administration has established a policy of substantially discounting the health benefits of reduced smoking in its evaluation of proposed regulations because of the cost to smokers of the supposed lost pleasure they suffer by no longer smoking. This study used data from nine countries of the former Soviet Union (fSU) to explore this association in a setting characterised by high rates of (male) smoking and smoking-related mortality. Methods Data came from a cross-sectional populationbased study undertaken in 2010/2011 in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine. Information was collected from 18 000 respondents aged ≥18 on smoking status (never, ex-smoking and current smoking), cessation attempts and nicotine dependence. The association between these variables and self-reported happiness was examined using ordered probit regression analysis. Results In a pooled country analysis, never smokers and ex-smokers were both significantly happier than current smokers. Smokers with higher levels of nicotine dependence were significantly less happy than those with a low level of dependence. Conclusions This study contradicts the idea that smoking is associated with greater happiness. Moreover, of relevance for policy in the fSU countries, given the lack of public knowledge about the detrimental effects of smoking on health but widespread desire to quit reported in recent research, the finding that smoking is associated with lower levels of happiness should be incorporated in future public health efforts to help encourage smokers to quit by highlighting that smoking cessation may result in better physical and emotional health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The practical implementation of a circular economy in the European Union poses significant challenges, notably for the EU-11 (Central and Eastern Europe) countries. The aim of this paper is to analyze the transition of the EU-11 countries toward a CE by examining existing circular strategies, national-level policies, as well as bottom-up initiatives, and on the other hand to explore the prevalent circularity discourses within the EU-11 countries. The study employs a discourse analysis method to comprehensively examine documents related to the CE aspects. This methodology integrates both quantitative categorization (codes and categories) and qualitative interpretation (reading and explanation) to support the understanding of circularity discourses. The results of this paper indicate that the countries within the EU-11 are actively advancing their efforts towards a CE. These countries are seen to be proactively developing a circular vision and setting ambitious objectives to facilitate a transition to a circular economic model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is expected to produce shifts in species distributions as well as behavioural and physiological adaptations to find suitable conditions or to cope with the altered environment. The paper wasps Polistes dominula and Polistes gallicus are closely related species, native in the European Mediterranean region and North Africa. P. dominula has expanded its range to the relatively cooler climates of Northern and Eastern Europe, but P. gallicus remained in its original distribution area. In order to reveal their metabolic adaptation to the current climate conditions, and the impact on energy demand at future climate conditions, we investigated the respiratory metabolic rate (CO 2 production) of P. dominula from Austria and P. gallicus from Italy. In contrast to the metabolic cold adaptation hypothesis their standard metabolic rate was nearly the same and increased in a typical exponential course with increasing ambient temperature. The metabolic rate of active wasps was higher than the standard metabolic rate and increased with the wasps' activity. There was no obvious difference in the active metabolism between the two species, with the exception that some P. gallicus individuals showed some extraordinary high values. A simultaneous measurement of metabolic rate and body temperature revealed that increased CO 2 production was accompanied by endothermic activity. The two investigated populations of paper wasps are quite similar in their metabolic response to temperature, although they live in different climate regions. The spread of P. dominula into cooler regions did not have significant influence on their active and standard metabolic rate. Unlabelled Image • A comparison of the standard and active metabolic rate of Polistes dominula and P. gallicus from different climates revealed similarities. • The metabolic rate was nearly the same in both species. • Simultaneous measurement of metabolism and body temperature revealed that increased CO 2 production is accompanied by endothermic activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To describe the background in general culture, public and professional discourse against which mental health care reform initiatives in Eastern Europe need to be seen. Method: An account of some key aspects of sociopolitical and cultural transition in Eastern European countries is given, and core results of a research project on attitudes and needs assessment in psychiatry in six Eastern European countries are reported. Results: In post-totalitarian cultures mental health reforms impinge on imagination in ways which are not easy to predict. Some of the reasons for this are traced to the psychiatric practices under the system of total control, e.g. dispensary care, political abuse, reification of classificatory terms. Data on a study of attitudes suggest that institutions had replaced community life in those parts of Europe. Conclusion: It is predicted that with time trust in the capacity of community to contain mental illness will be regained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to develop a deeper insight into the development of political science from the bibliometric perspective by analysing peer-reviewed journal articles (n = 1117) indexed in the Scopus database and published by authors from fifteen Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries in the period 1996–2013. Results indicate that the majority of articles (84%) by CEE authors have been published in international journals and in the English language. The visibility of these articles in international journals, measured by the mean number of citations, is 5.2 per paper, while the same indicator for CEE journal articles amounts to 0.2. Authorship analysis indicates a gradual but continuous increase in co-authorships. Additionally, there are significant differences in citations between single-authored and co-authored articles, both in international and CEE journals. Co-authorship among CEE authors is present in only 1% of the analysed articles, confirming weak collaboration between political scientists in CEE countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This introductory paper, reflecting the Thematic Cluster of four papers, brings together two themes that are important for migration studies: return migration and embedding. Beyond any simplistic assumptions of settlement and permanent integration back into the origin country, following return, or notions of ongoing unfettered mobility back and forth over time, this article knits together data from the cluster papers, focusing on Lithuania and Poland, to explore factors that lead to return, or indeed non-return, and subsequent experiences in the 'home' country for those who do return. Moreover, using mixed methods, including longitudinal research, we advance a theoretical framework facilitating an examination of how returnees negotiate their lives in the origin society and whether they intend to stay, or migrate again, through the conceptual lens of embedding. While emphasising agency and effort, embedding also recognises structural constraints that may impede migrants' expectations and aspirations. Hence, return migration may involve parallel processes of re-embedding but also experiences of dis-embedding as the hoped for return project encounters unexpected obstacles and may result in further migration. In mapping the field of return migration, through the concept of embedding, we focus on the impact of Brexit as 'an unsettling event'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to address the possible role of the Eastern European Orthodox Church as an alternative channel to ensure fruitful negotiations to end the Russo-Ukrainian war that has still ongoing since 2022. As the majority religion in Russia, Ukraine, and Eastern Europe as a whole, the Orthodox branch of Christianity has a transnational influence on its followers, including prominent political figures in the aforementioned territories. Utilizing qualitative research methods, this paper is written to provide arguments about whether the Orthodox Church, with its immense presence in the belligerents' spiritual beliefs, will be able to be employed as a channel to end the Russo-Ukrainian war. In this paper, analysis is conducted through the usage of J. W. McDonald's "The Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy" (2012) journal article about multi-track diplomacy and D. Johnston's Faith-Based Diplomacy: Trumping Realpolitik (2003) book about faith-based diplomacy to gauge the Orthodox Church's potential as a channel of diplomacy between Russia and Ukraine. This paper finds that overall, the Orthodox Church fails to fulfil the criteria that Johnston (2003) posits; one of the most fatal is the organization's inability to reconcile the belligerents' deep historical wounds. Due to the Orthodox Church's traditional role that has always been closely tied to the Russian government, its capability to build an acceptable negotiation channel is severely impeded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The workshop focused on entrepreneurship, innovation, and local-level policy initiatives aimed at stimulating economic development in post-communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe. After the demise of the socialist regimes the countries of Central and Eastern Europe followed quite different policy approaches. The papers contained in this Special Issue are a selection of contributions presented originally at a two-day workshop that took place in November 2019 at the University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszow, Poland. Over the last decades, Special Economic Zones (SEZ) were popular instruments of government intervention in numerous countries, including Poland. [Extracted from the article]

This paper examines 16 years (2004–2019) of research on energy in eleven Central and Eastern European countries. The findings are based on an analysis of 3534 academic articles indexed in the Web of Knowledge database. The paper presents a systematic overview of the authorship, journal of publication, countries covered, and article content. The main conclusion is that the discussion is fragmented, because most of the journals (800 were identified) published only one paper on energy in the region. About one-fourth of the research was published in a handful of major journals. Male researchers dominated our dataset and there has been a visible increase in the average number of authors per article. The country most often covered by the research was Poland and energy efficiency was the most-discussed issue and renewables the most-frequently researched energy source. Surprisingly, nuclear energy and energy security, considered to be the dominant features of the CEE region energy picture, were studied only minimally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses how research on women's entrepreneurship conducted in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) constructs and positions women entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship was illegal under the socialist regimes that governed this area and only began to develop after independence was obtained in the early 1990s. Consequently, research on entrepreneurship, including women's entrepreneurship, is somewhat new to the region. Our discourse analysis of existing research in this area reveals that, despite different historical pathways towards entrepreneurship, normative premises that exist in Western studies on women's entrepreneurship also prevail in scholarship produced in CEE. These normative premises impose dominant constructs and methodologies on entrepreneurship policy and the scholarly community. The discourse analysis identified five positioning constructs of women entrepreneurs, all of which stem from the assumption that women are (essentially) inadequately equipped for entrepreneurship. We discuss the discursive practices that produce these results and suggest ways forward for research on women's entrepreneurship in CEE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Accounting Association (EAA) Financial Reporting Standards Committee (FRSC) provided a response to the International Accounting Standards Board's (IASB's) 2013 Discussion Paper (DP) on completing and revising its Conceptual Framework. The response consisted of a literature-based discussion of the issues raised in the IASB paper and responses to the questions asked. The following paper has omitted the responses to specific questions but otherwise sets out the arguments made to the IASB, together with introductory material to indicate the context. The FRSC paper follows the order of the IASB DP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eastern European societies and their economies have experienced specific and/or asymmetrical developments over the last 70 years. The political regime changes at the end of the 80s led these countries on the path of market economy and opened the doors for foreign investors' presence, as privatizations of previously state-owned companies were considered beneficial for economic progress. Starting in the mid-90s and more so after the association of countries in the region to the European Union and NATO, foreign investors found interesting opportunities as greenfield projects or partnerships with local entities. However, the presence of foreign direct investments (FDI) in Eastern Europe was uneven across countries and regions, which may be due to a certain extent to corruption and organized crime groups. This paper aims to conduct a systematic review of the literature that has focused on analyzing the influence of corruption and organized crime in attracting foreign direct investment using quantitative methods, focusing on empirical studies conducted in Europe since 2000. Our main purpose is to summarize the different research approaches, to offer a discussion and suggestions for future research, and to provide some relevant and justified answers to the following question: To what extent are corruption, organized crime, and FDI analyzed in European countries?. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most research on post-socialist civil society has focused on analysing the characteristics that explain (the lack of) civic strength. Although recent research has highlighted the rise of urban activism, it has failed to look more closely at the agency of actors. By focusing on informal groups and their engagement in public affairs in the aftermath of the 2019 local elections in Hungary, this paper seeks to unravel the civic strategies and narratives that underpin informal civic resistance to political and institutional pressures at a time when both local municipalities and civil society are experiencing a gradual loss of autonomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the notions of urban sprawl and suburbanisation are introduced and discussed in the context of American and European cases. The drivers of urban sprawl are discussed along with the main typologies analysed in the literature about the issue. The debate regarding urban sprawl is discussed in the particular context of Eastern Europe, and a timeline of suburbanisation is presented from the socialist years until today. Then, the specific case of Bucharest is examined through the case of Popesti Leordeni, where the particularities of the city development and the stages of urban sprawl are compared with the typologies observed in the Romanian context. The paper concludes with the need for further research to identify different or diverging planning practices within the metropolitan area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The public policy classification developed by Theodore Lowi is one of the most frequently referenced, utilized, and debated frameworks in political science. This paper delves into the question of whether the concepts of distributive, redistributive, regulatory, and constitutive policies can be applied to the context of Eastern Europe. To explore this issue, a subnational comparative research design was developed to examine six Croatian public policies (economic policy, social policy, education, gender equality, media, and culture). The primary method of data collection involved expert reports, akin to Lowi's original research approach. The characteristics of sampled sectors were summarized through open coding conducted at three levels, allowing for a comparison with Lowi's policy types. The findings indicate that the fundamental idea of this seminal taxonomy, which highlights the variation in links between policy and politics within a single country, remains relevant. Additionally, the analysis revealed that policy goals, policy instruments, non-state actors, and their relationships with state actors are fundamental features upon which classification should be based. Future research endeavors should aim to construct a robust methodological framework with clear indicators for selected features corresponding to each policy type. This would enhance the sophistication and empirical applicability of the theory, allowing for a more nuanced understanding of policymaking dynamics in diverse contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following on from a previous paper advocating changes in the editorial processes of peer-reviewed journals, the present paper espouses the conduct of multiple local victimisation surveys as an affordable route to a pan-European crime science. Local surveys have a local impact which national surveys lack, and meta-analysis of survey results enable more general conclusions. The Latvian local survey reported in the chapter revealed wide inequality of victimisation at the individual level, an association between high rating of the seriousness of offences suffered, multiple victimisation at the individual level, and alienation from the police of some ethnic groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers European banknote iconography as an indicator of national branding choices from the early twentieth century up to the present. Systematic quantitative content analysis demonstrates that the values and ontologies expressed on Central/East European banknotes have historically tracked closely with the trends visible on their West European counterparts. This pattern is evident not just since the end of the Cold War, but indeed right from the founding of the modern Central/East European states about a century ago. Even during the Cold War, it did not take long for the trends on Western banknotes to appear on Central/East European banknotes as well. Thus, contrary to the conventional assumption of a deep-rooted normative gulf separating the national identity discourses of so-called “New” and “Old” Europe, the article underscores the fact of intense, longstanding normative cross-pollination between them. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Scientific collaboration has become an important part of the people-to-people exchanges in the Belt and Road initiative, and remarkable progress has been made since 2013. Taking the 65 countries along the Belt and Road (BRI countries) as the research areas and using collaborated Web of Science (WOS) core collection papers to construct an international scientific collaboration matrix, the paper explores the spatial structure, hierarchy and formation mechanisms of scientific collaboration networks of 65 countries along the Belt and Road. The results show that: 1) Beyond the Belt and Road regions (BRI regions), Central & Eastern Europe, China and West Asia & North Africa have formed a situation in which they all have the most external links with other countries beyond BRI regions. China has the dominant role over other BRI countries in generating scientific links. The overall spatial structure has changed to a skeleton structure consisting of many dense regions, such as Europe, North America, East Asia and Oceania. 2) Within the Belt and Road regions, Central & Eastern Europe has become the largest collaboration partner with other sub-regions in BRI countries. The spatial structure of scientific collaboration networks has transformed from the 'dual core' composed of China and the Central & Eastern Europe region, to the 'multi-polarization' composed of 'one zone and multi-points'. 3) The hierarchical structure of scientific collaboration networks presents a typical 'core-periphery' structure, and changes from 'single core' to 'double cores'. 4) Among the formation mechanisms of scientific collaboration networks, scientific research strength and social proximity play the most important roles, while geographical distance gradually weakens the hindrance to scientific collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bioeconomy as a new promissory discourse neither challenges the paradigm of economic growth, nor questions its embeddedness in capitalist (neo-)colonial patriarchal power relations. However, the calls for a 'genuine' socio-ecological transformation and for alternative bioeconomy visions imply exactly a destabilization of these power relations. Drawing on the Bielefeld subsistence approach and on its colonialism–capitalism–patriarchy nexus, I argue that the latest bioeconomy strategy and policy papers of both the EU and Estonia each disregard certain spheres of the bioeconomy due to the three-dimensional power relations. As a seemingly neutral political discourse, the bioeconomy is shaped by cultural assumptions and narratives that determine and perpetuate what is deemed worthy of protection and what is pushed aside as merely 'natural'. As such, the current bioeconomy papers promote a 'biomass-based model of capital accumulation' that is essentially built on the prerequisite of the subordination, devaluation, appropriation and/or exploitation of (1) different geographical regions, (2) ecological foundations, and (3) prevalent bioeconomy practices. As a widespread agricultural practice in Eastern Europe, Food Self-Provisioning (FSP) serves as a good example of how predominant bioeconomy models (1) simply operate as new forms of postcolonial development discourse, instead of embracing the plurality of decolonial 'alternatives to development'; (2) deepen the human–nature dichotomy by regarding nature as a mere resource to be extracted more efficiently instead of cultivating mutually nourishing partnership-like relation(ship)s with nature; and (3) maintain the separation between monetized and maintenance economies, rather than fostering ethics of care to overcome the structural separation between the latter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the high resilience of the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) banking sectors during the last financial crisis and their major role in the CEE region in financing the economy and supporting the high growth rates achieved there, our paper investigates the determinants of banking profitability in the CEE banking sectors based on a Generalized Method of Methods (GMM) approach using data between 2009 and 2018. We have selected determinants from the macroeconomic factors and from the financial-banking specific factors using a two-step GMM method. Our findings demonstrate that unemployment rate, inflation, budget balance, non-governmental credit, non-performing loan rates, concentration rate and capitalization rate negatively impact on the banking profitability in the CEE banking sectors. According to these findings, some policy recommendations were elaborated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the political origins of diverse peripheral growth models in Europe, focusing on debt-based consumption-led growth model in Southern Europe and FDI-based export-led growth model in Central and Eastern Europe. Contrary to existing approaches that attribute this East-South divergence to their geographic position and systemic features of European monetary integration, the paper argues that these growth models stem from different national and EU-level policy responses to the challenge of core-periphery market integration. While the Southern states sought to protect domestic firms, allowing for, or even directly contributing to deindustrialisation in the face of competition with the European core economies, Central and East European states aimed to preserve their industrial legacy even at the expense of FDI-dependency. These policy responses were, in turn, shaped by distinct patterns of interaction and accommodation between segments of state elites and domestic economic groups, as well as by dramatically different EU strategies of governing integration. In contrast with society-centred perspectives on the politics of growth models, the paper highlights the autonomous role of the state as a key actor balancing between the demands and accommodation of domestic economic groups, and the constraints and opportunities created by regional institutions governing market integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the operation of the Catholic Church in Czechoslovakia under the Communist regime, one of the most oppressive communist regimes in Eastern Europe, and the choice of the Church to operate both officially and secretly. Based on the religious economy approach, it defines the conditions favoring diversified operation on both the legal market and the black market. Despite repression, the Church strived to maintain official operation in Czechoslovakia. Simultaneously, it developed an underground structure that allowed for uncompromised religious life. The case study confirms the theoretical predictions that severe repression favors underground operation without eliminating the need for the official presence of the Church. Beyond the religious economy approach, the paper points to the role of agency. The diversification strategy could only emerge and function due to the combination of externally imposed circumstances and individual initiative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Desomorphine is a composite of the self‐made illicit drug "krokodil", which is popular in Eastern Europe and other parts of the world. It causes toxic damage of different organs including bones. In this paper, a clinical portrait of the patient with drug‐induced osteonecrosis of mandible who refused surgical treatment in the early stages of the disease, is presented. At the time of first presentation, the patient displayed swelling of oral soft tissues and purulent discharge in the molar area of the right mandible. Radiographic examination demonstrated several small radiolucent lesions in the body of the mandible. The patient gave consent for surgical treatment and rehabilitation only after 12 months of the diagnosis. During this period of time, the necrosis of the mandibular bone progressed and a pathological fracture of the jaw was developed. Patient underwent surgical treatment – resection of the mandible. Management of drug‐induced jaw osteonecrosis is challenging as the necessity of dental and surgical treatment as well as treatment and rehabilitation of substance use disorder arises. Involvement of a multidisciplinary healthcare professionals team is essential in successful treatment of this pathology. The latter includes early surgical intervention/medical treatment and rehabilitation from drug addiction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Takács sets out by retracing the sustained criticism of existentialism articulated by Lukács at various stages of his post-war thought (from his 1948 I Marxism and Existentialism i , to his 1954 I Destruction of Reason i , to his posthumous I Ontology of Social Being i ), in which he consistently condemned existentialism's "idealist and irrationalist" anthropological underpinnings. Keywords: Existentialism; Marxism-Leninism; Eastern Europe; Philosophy EN Existentialism Marxism-Leninism Eastern Europe Philosophy 367 372 6 08/31/23 20230901 NES 230901 The papers in this special issue address the reception, critique, and appropriation of existentialist philosophy in state-socialist Europe from complementary thematic and methodological vantage points, focusing either on specific case studies from the various socialist states or developing a more comprehensive transnational perspective. Consequently, the previous positive reception of existentialism at the hands of Marxists humanists came to be seen as a subjective idealist deviation, whereas existentialism remained ill-reputed until the late 80s. [Extracted from the article]

In this study, we investigated the susceptibility of the Dobson spectrophotometer No. 118 to stray-light interference. In this regard, a series of total ozone content measurements were carried out in Athens, Greece for air-mass values (μ) extending up to μ = 5. The monochromatic-heterochromatic stray-light derived by Basher's model was used in order to evaluate the specific instrumental parameters which determine if this instrument suffers from this problem or not. The results obtained indicate that the Athens Dobson instrument appears to have an insignificant stray-light error. The comparison of the values of the same parameters measured 15 years ago with the present ones indicates the good maintenance of the Dobson spectrophotometer No. 118. This fact is of crucial importance because the variability of the daily total ozone observations collected by the Athens Dobson Station since 1989 has proved to be representative to the variability of the mean total ozone observed over the whole mid-latitude zone of the Northern Hemisphere. This stresses the point that the Athens total ozone station, being the unique Dobson station in south eastern Europe, may be assumed as a ground-truth station for the reliable conversion of the satellite radiance observations to total ozone measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1990, three years after Andy Warhol's death and one year after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) organized the first one-man show of this pop artist in Eastern Europe. The Prints of Andy Warhol, although never shown at the MoMA in New York, traveled to the Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain in Jouy-en-Josas, France, the Národní Galerie in Prague, Czechoslovakia, the Staatliche Kunstsammlung in Dresden, the GDR, the Mücsarnok in Budapest, Hungary, and the Muzeum Narodowe in Warsaw, Poland. The current paper analyzes the cultural–political context of The Prints of Andy Warhol. It first discusses the place of both American pop art and Eastern Europe in MoMA's International Program (IP) and then explores the organizational challenges, art historical contents, and public reception of the exhibition. The paper concludes by examining the broader impact of The Prints of Andy Warhol on both the growing awareness of American pop art in Eastern Europe and MoMA's cultural diplomacy in this region after the fall of the Iron Curtain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past decade has witnessed an escalating, well-financed, and well-organized international mobilization against any study, policy, or discussion related to gender or LGBTQI+ issues in many parts of the world. The countries of Central and Eastern Europe have been disproportionately affected by this backlash, resulting in public threats and violence against scholars and representatives of the nongovernmental sector who work on gender and LGBTQI+ issues. The anti-gender mobilization has been extremely successful in Bulgaria, where there have been numerous threats against scholars, nongovernmental organizations, and public figures dealing with gender and sexuality issues. The Bulgarian Constitutional Court was the first court on a global level to pronounce the term "gender" anti-constitutional in response to a request submitted by the government regarding ratification of the so-called Istanbul Convention. Dealing with gender and LGBTQI+ studies in Bulgaria is believed to be "illegal" by many, based on the court's decision. As a result, any approaches to gender and sexuality that do not fit essentialist and religious beliefs have become dangerous and have endangered knowledge in many contexts. In this paper, I discuss the rapid development of the anti-gender mobilization within certain neoliberal discourses and values, and using the concept of a "neoliberal utopian gaze," I outline the challenges gender and sexuality studies have faced. Based on case studies, personal experiences, and public discourses, the paper explores how gender and sexuality studies have been affected by (1) institutional decisions, (2) manipulation of scientific information, (3) radical political populism, (4) transnational religious movements, and (5) the advancement of social media. Finally, the paper discusses possible solutions to this alarming trend, paying particular attention to academic solidarity, knowledge production, and institutionally coordinated policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the weak form of the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) across fourteen European Stock Markets from October 2018 to April 2021, a period divided into subsamples based on the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using non-parametric tests, including Runs, Bartel's rank, and Wright's rank and sign test, the findings indicate that EMH holds for developed capital markets. However, capital markets in Central and Eastern Europe exhibited a heterogeneous response to the pandemic. Some markets violated the efficiency hypothesis (Latvia and Lithuania), others consistently adhered to it (Hungary and Slovenia), while others became less efficient post-pandemic (Estonia and Romania). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The North-South divide forms the central axis along which scholars study the contemporary global order. Yet many countries fall in-between the cracks of a world divided into core and periphery. This paper develops a structural account to understand the position of countries in this space of in-betweenness. The focus is on Central and Eastern Europe. I draw on already existing scholarship on liminalities, the varieties of capitalism and transition studies to argue that a liminal identity of in-betweenness goes hand-in-glove with a domestic logic of transitioning, as the state seeks to move somewhere else. Furthermore transitioning dynamics position the state in the semi-periphery, as the transition to the civilizational core requires capital and know-how from abroad. The resulting semi-peripheral position further underlines the liminal identity. The paper uses this apparatus to understand why CEE countries are typically climate change laggards within the EU. Their continuing liminal identity results in frustration over and resistance against the schooling tendencies of Brussels and Western European capitals. The dynamics of a sense of imposition of climate change mitigation policies stem from CEE's liminal positioning as apprentices, but the reasons for the perceived alienness of such policies are located in domestic societal dynamics, and CEE countries' economic structure. The specific political structures of communism and the communist transition have strengthened particularistic personal ties of friendship and family between individuals and the localities they live in, while simultaneously weakening general and abstract conceptions of the public good. Accordingly initiatives for preserving specific localities can be strong, but conceptions of protecting an abstract, global climate, are not well developed. Additionally, the material costs of protecting the climate are higher in post-communist economies due to their comparative advantage in resource and labour intensive industries, their reliance on foreign capital, and a lack of domestic innovations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can linguistic diversity in the media impede state language proficiency? In this paper, we test the extent to which the availability of minority languages in the media affects state language proficiency for ethnic minorities. We take advantage of an exogeneous development: The rapid expansion of Budapest-originating media outside Hungary in the mid-2000s transformed the media landscape in neighbouring states. Using an original survey data of ethnic Hungarians in minority regions in four Central-Eastern European states over two waves, we find (1) the availability of minority language media means minorities are consuming less media in the state language, which in turn induces low levels of state language proficiency – i.e. through an exogeneous exposure mechanism; and (2) minorities with weaker state language proficiency choose to consume minority language media – i.e. through an endogenous selection mechanism. The results suggest a strong relationship between the language of media consumption and linguistic proficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many collections held by Columbia's Rare Books and Manuscript Library contain precious and little explored visual documentation on the turbulent history of late 19th and 20th century Russia, the Soviet Union, and Eastern Europe. These photographs deal with topics ranging from Russian culture in emigration, the late Romanov dynasty and the Russian imperial military to American travelers and philanthropy in revolutionary Russia and Eastern Europe. The Columbia collections in great part complement those held at the Hoover Institution Archives and the nearby NYPL Slavic collections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates the validity of the degree of Intra-Comecon (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance) trade pattern in the pulp and paper trade between Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Ways of solving the raw material problem in the pulp industry; Share of Soviet wood in pulpwood requirements; Analysis of trade flows in the paper trade exports; Statistical data on paper production and consumption of Eastern Europe.

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the development of welfare conditionality and especially benefit sanctions in Central and Eastern Europe (the CEE) and to develop a methodology by implementing Institutional Grammar (IG) for studying rules on benefit sanctions relying only on legal text. Design/methodology/approach: IG was used as a tool for analyzing legal regulations on benefit sanctions. It was incorporated into a social rights framework that provided a theoretical background for the study. Findings: The paper shows the dynamic development of rules on benefit sanctions in Poland in social assistance and unemployment services. Both the harshness and strictness of these rules have increased. Simultaneously, the rules of benefit sanctions in social assistance remain more liberal than those associated with unemployment services. Originality/value: The study presents the first comprehensive and concise overview of benefit sanctions development in the CEE and the first long-term comparison of these types of sanctions in two safety net systems operating in one country. The study also used IG for the first time in social policy research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 2008 Beijing Olympic and Global Financial Crisis, the rise of China has been a key topic in the international arena. Capitals in the USA and Western Europe, as leaders of the West, have explicitly expressed their concerns, labelling China as a sharp power, a strategic competitor and a systemic rival. One concern repeatedly raised by Brussels, in recent years, is the potential of deepening the East–West division inside the Union by China's effort in reinvigorating its relation with countries in Central and Eastern Europe via the 16 + 1 cooperation mechanism. This paper devotes to map the impacts on China perception in the EU member states who are participants in the 16 + 1. Subsequently, it examines whether 16 + 1 has widened the East–West divergence in the EU. Applying public opinion survey data, it is found that the additional communication and cooperation provided by 16 + 1 have not constructed a united identity in Central and Eastern Europe. Basing on the identified differences among Central and Eastern European countries, this paper divides them into four categories: China-friendly, China-neutral, China-polarised and China-sceptic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]