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The paper introduces a novel approach to university rankings that considers a university's contribution to sustainable development. It addresses the usual controversies surrounding the construction of rankings using composite indicators. The conventional approach typically involves normalizing sub-indicators and applying subjective weights for aggregation, which raises concerns about the reliability of the rankings. In response to this issue, we propose an alternative method based on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) that utilizes flexible weights. Our approach is applied to the data from the UI-GreenMetric World University Ranking. We initially employ a general Benefit of the Doubt DEA model and subsequently enhance its discrimination power by computing super-efficiency. In the third model, we impose weight restrictions on sub-indicators. The results of our analysis offer valuable insights for all stakeholders, as illustrated by the implications derived for Czech universities included in the sample. Furthermore, we compare the results of universities in various European countries, establishing a connection between rankings and the fulfillment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) within individual countries. This research contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the relationship between university performance, sustainability, and the associated implications for policy and benchmarking.

Text and data mining activities -- that is, the automated processing of digital materials to uncover new knowledge -- have become more frequent in all areas of scientific research. Because they require a massive use of copyrighted work, there are evident conflicts with copyright legislation. Countries at the forefront of research and development have begun to address this issue. This paper presents the basic aspects of legislation applicable to text and data mining activities. It offers a detailed comparative analysis of the norms of the main jurisdictions that have regulated them to date, highlighting in each case the positive and negative aspects. An adequate knowledge of these laws is not only important for researchers but also important for the academic librarians who provide advice and support in these matters.

Purpose: Privacy is a culturally universal process; however, in the era of Big Data privacy is handled very differently in different parts of the world. This is a challenge when designing tools and approaches for the use of Educational Big Data (EBD) and learning analytics (LA) in a global market. The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of information privacy in a cross-cultural setting to define a common point of reference for privacy engineering. Design/methodology/approach: The paper follows a conceptual exploration approach. Conceptual work on privacy in EBD and LA in China and the west is contrasted with the general discussion of privacy in a large corpus of literature and recent research. As much of the discourse on privacy has an American or European bias, intimate knowledge of Chinese education is used to test the concept of privacy and to drive the exploration of how information privacy is perceived in different cultural and educational settings. Findings: The findings indicate that there are problems using privacy concepts found in European and North-American theories to inform privacy engineering for a cross-cultural market in the era of Big Data. Theories based on individualism and ideas of control of private information do not capture current global digital practice. The paper discusses how a contextual and culture-aware understanding of privacy could be developed to inform privacy engineering without letting go of universally shared values. The paper concludes with questions that need further research to fully understand information privacy in education. Originality/value: As far as the authors know, this paper is the first attempt to discuss -- from a comparative and cross-cultural perspective -- information privacy in an educational context in the era of Big Data. The paper presents initial explorations of a problem that needs urgent attention if good intentions of privacy supportive educational technologies are to be turned into more than political slogans.

An increasing effort has been put into dealing with the question of time-series analysis regarding institutional efficiency, including in the area of higher education. Universities are important institutions for economies and societies and are expected to provide excellence as well as efficiency in their processes and outputs. This is reflected in the context of an increased global competitive environment by more refined international university rankings. Combining the two areas, this paper points towards a methodological challenge in comparing different ranking datasets for their use in a data envelopment analysis (DEA) Malmquist index time-series efficiency analysis, namely, index-based data compared to additive data. The problem is discussed in a theoretical framework and complemented with an empirical application: calculations for 70 European universities with budget and staff input data and different ranking output data for the timeframe of 2011-2016 show that there is no evidence for a specific index data problem. Important implications regarding university management and higher education policies are outlined. Efficiency improvements among the analyzed universities are significant but also unevenly distributed and not easy to obtain for individual institutions.

The expansion of bio-based value chains is prioritized through various European Union (EU) policy initiatives. Due to the growing awareness of the importance of a sustainable bioeconomy in Europe, the need to increase the availability and quality of statistics is increasing. There are several essential aspects lacking, including (i) comprehensive databases and statistics for bio-based sectors; (ii) transparent methodology for bio-based data collection; and (iii) integrated value chain data and indicators that illustrate the flows of different bio-based commodities. The aim of this paper is to develop a bio-based material flow monitor to measure the physical contribution of industries to the bioeconomy. The material flow monitor describes physical material flows (including biomass) to, from, and within the economy. It is recorded in the form of supply and use tables. To measure the bioeconomy, the BioSAM database, along with disaggregated commodities and activities, are used. Data regarding waste generation/treatment and CO2 emissions/sequestrations are added to assess the impact on climate change. The results indicate that the bioeconomy in the EU is underreported due to a lack of data, leading to an insufficient understanding of its contribution to the economy. It can also be concluded that the data from the BioSAM tables are the most complete and have the highest disaggregation level for commodities and sectors, allowing one to measure the significance of the bioeconomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss how, despite increasing data availability from a wide range of sources unlocks unprecedented opportunities for disaster risk reduction, data interoperability remains a challenge due to a number of barriers. As a first step to enhancing data interoperability for disaster risk reduction is to identify major barriers, this paper presents a case study on data interoperability in disaster risk reduction in Europe, linking current barriers to the regional initiative of the European Science and Technology Advisory Group. Design/methodology/approach: In support of Priority 2 ("Strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk") of the Sendai Framework and SDG17 ("Partnerships for the goals"), this paper presents a case study on barriers to data interoperability in Europe based on a series of reviews, surveys and interviews with National Sendai Focal Points and stakeholders in science and research, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations and industry. Findings: For a number of European countries, there remains a clear imbalance between long-term disaster risk reduction and short-term preparation and the dominant role of emergency relief, response and recovery, pointing to the potential of investments in ex ante measures with better inclusion and exploitation of data. Originality/value: Modern society is facing a digital revolution. As highlighted by the International Council of Science and the Committee on Data for Science and Technology, digital technology offers profound opportunities for science to discover unsuspected patterns and relationships in nature and society, on scales from the molecular to the cosmic, from local health systems to global sustainability. It has created the potential for disciplines of science to synergize into a holistic understanding of the complex challenges currently confronting humanity; the Sustainable Development Goals are a direct reflectance of this. Interdisciplinary is obtained with integration of data across relevant disciplines. However, a barrier to realization and exploitation of this potential arises from the incompatible data standards and nomenclatures used in different disciplines. Although the problem has been addressed by several initiatives, the following challenge still remains: to make online data integration a routine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data have become a vital device of border governance and security. Recent scholarship on the datafication of borders and migration at the intersection of science and technology studies and critical security studies has privileged concepts attuned to messiness, contingency, and friction such as data assemblages and infrastructures. This paper proposes to revisit and expand the analytical vocabulary of script analysis to understand what comes to count as data, what forms of data come to matter and how "drawing data together" reconfigures power and agency at Europe's borders. Empirically, we analyze controversies about the practices of asylum decision-making and age assessment in Greece. We show that agency of "users" is unequally distributed through anticipations of subscription and dis-inscription, while asylum seekers are conscripted within security scripts that restrict their agency. Moreover, as a multiplicity of inscriptions are produced, migrants' claims can be disqualified through circumscriptions of data and ascriptions of expertise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unlabelled: Bibliometric data published by the Institute of Scientific Information in Philadelphia (ISI), and which was previously discussed in Acta Paediatrica, has increasingly been used despite all the relevant and severe criticism that has been raised against this method of evaluating individual research results and grading scientific journals. It is obvious that the present trend regarding the use of bibliometric data as a basis for priorities and funding of research and for the promotion of individual scientists favours American-oriented research projects at the expense of those that are based on concepts of predominantly European relevance.Conclusion: For the future of non-American research, it is important that no single super-power, i.e. the USA, should dominate scientific priorities. The condition for efficient European competition is that European Centres with high levels of competence for creative research and training of scientists from all over the world are established. In addition, it is important that the results of European research are published in prestigious European journals, as was the situation before World War II. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The May 2022 proposal from the European commission for a 'European health data space' envisages advantages for health from exploiting the growing mass of health data in Europe. However, key stakeholders have identified aspects that demand clarification to ensure success. Data will need to be freed from traditional silos to flow more easily and to cross artificial borders. Wide engagement will be necessary among healthcare professionals, researchers, and the patients and citizens that stand to gain the most but whose trust must be won if they are to allow use or transfer of their data. This paper aims to alert the wider scientific community to the impact the ongoing discussions among lawmakers will have. Based on the literature and the consensus findings of an expert multistakeholder panel organised by the European Alliance for Personalised Medicine (EAPM) in June 2022, it highlights the key issues at the intersection of science and policy, and the potential implications for health research for years, perhaps decades, to come. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to point out that the publication of the five volumes by Thomas and Znaniecki The Polish Peasant in Europe and America opened new scenarios, and gave its fundamental contribution in authorising a new way of conducting researches, which voluntarily distances from the 'scientistic logic' to recognise the heuristic-interpretative value of narration, though without denying the usefulness of the quantitative approach. That being stated, the specific purpose of this paper is twofold: focusing on the heuristic-interpretative value of narration while reconstructing, at the same time, the common thread that, starting from The Polish Peasant in Europe and America, connects apparently distant texts and authors stimulating a reflection on the development of empirical research and on its future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on recent research in Europe and England to discuss the politics of accountability. It is suggested that, as policies in education are increasingly focused on delivering technical-managerial accountability, that is accountability understood as evidenced in international, national, institutional and individual comparative measures of performance, so the shifting power relations of system redesign supported by data use are concealed and suppressed. System redesign is promoted by 'networked' governance and the de-centred state, in institutional 'freedom' from bureaucracy, in the de-professionalisation of public sector workers, in the proliferation of managers, in the redefinition of citizens as consumers. The implications of such reforms for politics are profound, as political legitimacy is a fundamental precondition for the sustainability of the welfare state and welfare state organizations are dependent on active political processes of producing legitimacy and political accountability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first part of this paper describes the small but constant expansion of the cross-state mobile population within the EU in the two decades preceding the 2004 enlargement. This expansion is puzzling in the light of the economic growth and the income convergence of member states over the same period. While the level of geographical mobility within the EU is frequently held to be 'low', data show that it should have been even lower given the rise of prosperity and the decline of income differentials in the EU15. In fact, it is argued that pro-mobility policies and the rise of non-labour migration have countered the diminishing appeal of intra-EU mobility that might be expected on the basis of purely economic conditions. The second part of the paper discusses the rationales and reasons of mobility. A distinction is drawn between observers' and social actors' views of the benefits of free movement. While the former usually put an emphasis on economic rewards, the latter are more likely to stress emotional and identity-linked returns. Survey data on Western European citizens who have resettled in another EU member state are revealing of the multifaceted causes and consequences of geographical mobility. In particular, these data show that identification with Europe and support for EU institutions in the mobile population are strikingly higher than among the general population. While it is true that cross-state mobility can entail economic benefits raising productivity and innovation, its political dividends are possibly even clearer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the European Social Survey (ESS) is to further the existing knowledge about the attitudes, values, behaviours and sociodemographic characteristics of the population in different European countries. Using data from the ESS (Round 8) for Spain only, this paper analyses how the sample units were contacted and interviewed. The results indicate that contact rates were higher among those aged between 55 and 64 years old, and those that were visited to be interviewed on a Monday. It was also found that higher interview rates were obtained among young people (15-24 years old), those who reside in farms, people who lack access control systems in their homes (such as entry phones or fences), and those that reside in vandalism-free areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper provides brief illustrated description and general distribution of Valsa viburni. The fungus is found to be highly host-specific and confined to Viburnum lantana. According to currently available data on its distribution, the species has small number of records, fragmented range and is shown to be rare in Europe. However, before assessment of the species, information on any additional unrecorded specimens is needed. On the example of V. viburni, some issues on fungal conservation for species of microfungi are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims. The Earth's atmosphere affects ground-based astronomical observations. Scattering, absorption, and radiation processes deteriorate the signal-to-noise ratio of the data received. For scheduling astronomical observations it is, therefore, important to accurately estimate the wavelength-dependent effect of the Earth's atmosphere on the observed flux. Methods. In order to increase the accuracy of the exposure time calculator of the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) at Cerro Paranal, an atmospheric model was developed as part of the Austrian ESO In-Kind contribution. It includes all relevant components, such as scattered moonlight, scattered starlight, zodiacal light, atmospheric thermal radiation and absorption, and non-thermal airglow emission. This paper focuses on atmospheric scattering processes that mostly affect the blue (<0.55 μm) wavelength regime, and airglow emission lines and continuum that dominate the red (>0.55 μm) wavelength regime. While the former is mainly investigated by means of radiative transfer models, the intensity and variability of the latter is studied with a sample of 1186 VLT FORS 1 spectra. Results. For a set of parameters such as the object altitude angle, Moon-object angular distance, ecliptic latitude, bimonthly period, and solar radio flux, our model predicts atmospheric radiation and transmission at a requested resolution. A comparison of our model with the FORS1 spectra and photometric data for the night-sky brightness from the literature, suggest a model accuracy of about 20%. This is a significant improvement with respect to existing predictive atmospheric models for astronomical exposure time calculators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online advertising is changing the mix of media choices in campaigns across Europe. Since 2000 the web has become established as a mainstream consumer media channel in most European countries, and across the continent marketing budgets are now starting to follow the migration of the audience's eyeballs and people's focus. They are yet to reflect the full truths emerging in media consumption within the digital networked society, but they do reveal a clear picture of the scale of change that has started in where the advertising industry places its focus. The pace of digital development and the balance of digital in the mix continue to vary greatly between countries, and this paper records a snapshot of where the markets were in 2005. What emerges is a shift in marketing spend on a scale previously unseen, and the certainty that growth will continue at rates never witnessed among traditional channels. After more than a decade of speculation about a new digital marketing mix, Europe has crossed its tipping point.Journal of Direct Data and Digital Marketing Practice (2006) 7, 162–171; doi:10.1057/palgrave.dddmp.4340567 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzing the revised EU Sustainable Finance Strategy disclosed in two steps in April and July 2021, we identify as core issues of any sustainability-oriented financial regulation a lack of data on profitability of sustainable investments, a lack of broadly acknowledged theoretical insights (typically laid down in standard models) into the co-relation and causation of sustainability factors with financial data, and a lack of a consistent application of recently adopted rules and standards. The three factors together are now hindering a rational, calculated approach to allocating funds with a view to sustainability which we usually associate with 'finance'. These deficiencies will be addressed once (1) the EU's sustainability taxonomy is implemented by most issuers of financial products, (2) several years of taxonomy-based reporting by issuers and originators of financial products is made available, and (3) these data have been used for validating emerging new sustainable finance benchmarks and models for investment and risk management. Until that day (which we expect to be at least 5 years from now), relying on Roberta Romano's famous adage, regulators seeking to further sustainability by legal means, effectively 'regulate in the dark.' In order to avoid undesirable and unforeseeable effects of regulation, we argue against any regulation addressing capital requirements, mandating sustainability risk modelling or the inclusion of sustainability factors in investment or remuneration policies. Adopting such rules in the current premature state risks that Europe will not be able to rely on the capital markets to finance the sustainability transformation as planned. Instead, regulators should focus on enhancing expertise on the side of intermediaries and supervisors alike. In particular, regulators should introduce smart regulation tools, such as sandboxes, innovation hubs, and waiver programmes benefiting early adopters of sustainable finance modelling/models, utilizing approaches developed in other fields of experimental financial regulation (in particular Fintech and RegTech). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health threats exist in all residential environments. To gain information on potential health threats and hazards in and around the home environment, the Housing and Health programme of the WHO Regional Office for Europe, conducted a pan-European survey during 2002-2003. It is intended to use the results of the analysis of the data collected for proposing to governments of the European Member States priorities and evidence on which they could base their housing strategy and policy orientations. This paper describes and evaluates the chosen methodologies for study preparation and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The public sector in Europe can make use of artificial intelligence (AI) to boost its digital transformation. To improve public services in alignment with the European democratic values, principles and rights, public procurement can leverage the innovation of AI for the public good. Both AI and the Internet of Things (IoT), fueled with quality data, offer new possibilities to spark the innovative power of a city, a Smart City. The potential of AI is at the tip of our mobile phones and the connection to networks where data is shared. This can be useful to citizens and administrations, but not without challenges and risks. Therefore, this article explores what a Smart City is, and the benefits and risks of AI based solutions in the context of Innovation Procurement. It offers examples and refers to legal and ethical frameworks for the reuse of data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Temperature trends differ markedly not only region-to-region and between seasons but also depending on the selected dataset. Only a few studies have attempted to compare temperature trends between data sources of different types. Here, one station-based (ECA&D), two gridded (E-OBS; CRUTEM) and two reanalysis (ERA-40; NCEP/NCAR) datasets are used for long-term temperature change detection over Europe. The period from 1957 to 2002 when all the datasets overlap is examined and the linear regression method is utilized to calculate temperature trends in each season separately. Raster maps illustrating differences in trends between datasets are accompanied by mean temperature series showing the causes of these discrepancies. We demonstrate that trends in reanalyses deviate considerably from the other datasets mainly because the type and amount of data assimilated into them change in time. Interestingly, whilst the ERA-40 shows lower trends due to an overestimation of the mean temperature prior 1967, the NCEP/NCAR reveal lower trends compared with other datasets owing to mean temperature underestimation at the end of the examined period. A noticeable anomaly in NCEP/NCAR data was detected in Eastern Europe in summer with temperature trends nearly twice as steep compared with other data sources. The study also reveals the weaknesses of gridded datasets, such as the unstable number of stations entering the interpolation over time. The lack of representativeness of some climate stations is the major drawback of the station data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate models have provided driving data for impact studies for decades. However, the uncertainties related to the use of such data have typically not been sufficiently considered. We investigate how CORDEX climate simulations, which were corrected for bias based on MESAN reanalysis data for the period of 1989–2010, match the gridded observational data set E‐OBS. Furthermore, we investigate whether the bias‐corrected simulations contain significant residual bias (RB), which we defined as the bias exceeding the range of the observational uncertainty (Uobs) that emerges from differences between the two data sets MESAN and E‐OBS. Because the reference period selected in climate change impact studies often differs from the period used for bias correction, we further investigated whether the RB and other performance metrics of the periods 1989–2010 and 1961–1990 differ. We conducted this assessment for whole Europe and for biogeographical zones. Most of the used performance metrics show a good match of the simulations with MESAN in the period of 1989–2010. The comparison against E‐OBS yields worse results, indicating a significant difference between the two observational data sets. Minor bias exceeding the range of Uobs (RB) occurred over large land areas of Europe in this period. Based on the analysis conducted for the period of 1961–1990, the RB is several times larger than that of the period of 1989–2010; the other metrics also show worse performances. Our findings imply that both the selection of the reference climate data set and reference period warrant greater attention in impact studies. In particular, we recommend researchers to use a bias correction period as reference period in their studies. Alternatively, a new bias correction should be applied if any different period is to be used as a reference. This study pointed out several aspects of disagreement between the bias‐corrected EURO‐CORDEX climate simulations and observational data sets E‐OBS and MESAN. The testing was performed separately for the bias correction period of 1989–2010 and the testing period of 1961–1990. Our findings imply that both the selection of the reference climate data set and reference period warrant greater attention in impact studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When medicines are granted a Conditional Marketing Authorisation (CMA) in Europe, specific obligations are requested to obtain comprehensive data on benefits and risks. We performed a retrospective cohort study to characterize obligations, examine changes to their description and due dates after initial authorization, determine timing of data submission relative to due dates, and identify drug‐related, procedure‐related, and obligation‐related factors associated with change. We identified 69 obligations for 26 medicines conditionally authorized between 2006 and 2016. We found 39 changes to 27 obligations (39% of obligations), of which four substantially changed the obligation. For 55% of obligations, data submission was delayed. Eleven factors were associated with change, including the use of CMA as a rescue option. The results are potentially indicative of a continuous search by regulators to reduce uncertainties. Submission delays impact public health negatively by prolonging exposure of patients to unknown risks, particularly when the level of uncertainty is high. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study Question: The 15th European IVF-monitoring (EIM) report presents the results of treatments involving assisted reproductive technology (ART) initiated in Europe during 2011: are there any changes in the trends compared with previous years?Summary Answer: Despite some fluctuations in the number of countries reporting data, while the overall number of ART cycles has continued to increase year by year, the pregnancy rates in 2011 decreased slightly to those reported in 2010, and the number of transfers with multiple embryos (3+) and the multiple delivery rates declined.What Is Known Already: Since 1997, ART data in Europe have been collected and reported in 14 manuscripts, published in Human Reproduction.Study Design, Size, Duration: Retrospective data collection of European ART data by the EIM Consortium for the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE); cycles started between 1 January and 31 December 2011 are collected on a yearly basis. The data are collected by National Registers, when existing, or on a voluntary basis by personal information.Participants/materials Setting, Methods: From 33 countries (+2 compared with 2010), 1064 clinics reported 609 973 treatment cycles including: IVF 138 592, ICSI 298 918, frozen embryo replacement (FER) 129 693, egg donation (ED) 30 198, in vitro maturation 511, preimplantation genetic diagnosis/screening 6824 and frozen oocyte replacements 5237. European data on intrauterine insemination (IUI) using husband/partner's semen (IUI-H) and donor semen (IUI-D) were reported from 861 IUI laboratories in 24 countries. A total of 174 390 IUI-H and 41 151 IUI-D cycles were included.Main Results and the Role Of Chance: In 17 countries where all clinics reported to the ART register, a total of 361 972 ART cycles were performed in a population of 285 million inhabitants, corresponding to 1269 cycles per million inhabitants. For all IVF cycles, the clinical pregnancy rates per aspiration and per transfer were stable with 29.1 and 33.2%, respectively, and for ICSI, the corresponding rates also were stable with 27.9 and 31.8%, respectively. In FER cycles, the pregnancy rate per thawing increased to 21.3% if compared with previous years. In ED cycles, the pregnancy rate per fresh transfer decreased to 45.8% (47.4% in 2010) and increased to 33.6% (33.3% in 2010) per thawed transfer. The delivery rate after IUI-H decreased to 8.3 (8.9 in 2010), and to 12.2% (13.8% in 2010) after IUI-D. In IVF and ICSI cycles, 1, 2, 3 and 4+ embryos were transferred in 27.5, 56.7, 14.5 and 1.3% of cycles, respectively. The proportions of singleton, twin and triplet deliveries after IVF and ICSI (added together) were 80.8, 18.6 and 0.6%, respectively, resulting in a total multiple delivery rate of 19.2% compared with 20.6% in 2010, 20.2% in 2009, 21.7% in 2008, 22.3% in 2007 and 20.8% in 2006. In FER cycles, the multiple delivery rate was 13.2% (12.8% twins and 0.4% triplets). Twin and triplet delivery rates associated with IUI cycles were 9.7/0.6% and 7.3/0.3%, following IUI-H and IUI-D treatment, respectively.Limitations, Reasons For Caution: The method of reporting varies among countries, and registers from a number of countries have been unable to provide some of the relevant data such as initiated cycles and deliveries. As long as data are incomplete and generated through different methods of collection, results should be interpreted with caution.Wider Implications Of the Findings: The 15th ESHRE report on ART shows a continuing expansion of the number of treatment cycles in Europe, with more than 600 000 cycles reported in 2011. Since 2006, the proportion of IVF to ICSI cycles has reached a plateau after a small decrease in 2009. Pregnancy and delivery rates after IVF remained relatively stable compared with 2010 and 2009. The pregnancy rate per aspiration in ICSI cycles declined for the first time by 0.9%. The multiple delivery rate is lower than ever before.Study Funding/competing Interests: The study had no external funding; all costs are covered by ESHRE. There are no competing interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Childhood obesity is an important concern for child health. However, despite widespread concern about the increase in childhood obesity, its causes are not monitored systematically in Europe. In 2007, the Scientific Platform Project on Lifestyle Determinants of Obesity identified routine data sources nationally available in European countries to measure childhood obesity. This work was revisited in 2014 to monitor any progress made. Subject and methods: In 2007, a literature review and project discussion resulted in a list of desirable indicators that could be collected in Europe to describe child populations at risk of overweight and obesity. Participants from EU member states, the EEA, Croatia, Macedonia and Turkey set out to discover which countries collected these indicators. Eight years later, a literature search sought to establish if the surveillance of children's nutrition and physical activity behaviour had changed. Results: In 2007, no countries collected all variables for all ages, leading to major gaps in knowledge. A literature search carried out in 2014 suggests that this is unchanged. There remains inconsistency of data surveillance in Europe, and disagreement on which age groups to collect data from or how to define obesity and overweight. Conclusion: There is a lack of consistent data collection on upstream influences on obesity. The true causes of the childhood obesity epidemic remain undiscovered, and the ability of research to identify effective prevention and treatment methods is compromised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A contemporary probabilistic seismic hazard assessment (PSHA) study for Bulgaria and the surrounding Balkan area is performed under constraints of a newly developed, fit-for-purpose historical earthquake catalogue and the theory of extreme values. Sensitivity analyses are first adopted as preparatory reviews on subsets of the adopted data to determine suitable values for the constraints of cut-off magnitude threshold, sample extreme interval and start year of catalogue data to impose on the parent database for both the full region considered as well as significant urban centres within it. Maximum estimates are then determined for magnitude recurrence hazard using Gumbel's third asymptotic extreme values distribution for return periods of 50 and 100 years, and also these time intervals at 90 % probability of not being exceeded (PNBE). Gumbel's first asymptotic extreme values distribution is also used with carefully selected, geographically relevant ground motion models for peak horizontal ground acceleration, PGA(h), and peak horizontal ground velocity, PGV(h), for the same return periods. The former provides direct comparison with the current EUROCODE 8 anti-seismic building code standard promoted across Europe, the previous GSHAP and SESAME hazard mapping projects as well as a number of recent studies. Sofia is forecast an upper bound magnitude of 7.33 M (±0.78) compared with 7.31 M (±0.55) for the full Balkan extent and 7.24 M (±0.70) for the political triple junction area of southwest Bulgaria, viz., Bulgaria, Greece and The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Sofia is also forecast a 475-year return period (equivalent to a 50-year return period at 90 % PNBE) magnitude of 7.27 M, with an equivalent PGA (the standard EUROCODE 8 metric) of 156 cm s and PGV of 13 cm s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article studies the replacement of bureacratic systems of command and control by networks based on technologies, where co-operation and co-ordination are constantly negotiated and regulated in different ways, and where policy-makers negotiate new power relations with new actors. The comparison between England and Scotland highlights the fact that information and data cannot be transformed immediately into efficient initiatives, and that it requires a constant effort to find a consensus and to preserve it. In the centralised system of England, it is left to technocrats to make this conversion effective. In Scotland, the strategy of self-evaluation is adapted to a discourse of autonomy and progress for all. In both cases, the analysis of the available political tools, as well as the use of information and the role of the school inspectorates enable us to understand the conception of governance for nation-states in a framework of international and European developments. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents the author's views on innovative spatial analyses, data, communication, and policy. He discusses the factors that contributed to his interest on spatial analyses and data and his fascination about European regional studies. He comments that Europe must pressure politicians and public organisations to make all public-funded data available for examination. He also offers examples of the importance of data in the research process.

Telephone surveys have been an important mode for collecting primary data in the marketing field in recent decades. However, the scenario of telephone coverage is changing mainly due to a massive increase in mobile phone-only usage, which can put the quality of telephone survey estimates at risk. The advance of mobile phones as the preferred telecommunication is a global phenomenon occurring in every country, although at varying speeds. This article examines the relationship between telephone coverage and the coverage bias of telephone survey estimates in the current scenario of telephone coverage across European countries. Findings reveal that the capacity for fixed-line telephone-based sampling frames to represent the overall adult population is becoming critical, especially in countries with declining fixed-line-telephone penetration rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]