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Recovery from the recent financial crisis and "great recession" has been slower than after previous recessions in most developed countries and areas, especially Europe. But Europe's growth problem is structural in character and started much earlier. This paper analyzes the structural causes of the European slow growth, evaluates the policies that Europe adopted to overcome it, and concludes that even with the appropriate policies, the prospects for accelerating growth in Europe will be difficult, especially in the context of the current US-China trade war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The environmental, cultural and economic consequences of land use change, including abandonment of agricultural use, have been recognized for a long time. It has often been assumed that the transformations of the agricultural systems in developed countries (and particularly in Europe) took place, for the main part, in the immediate years after the Second World War. In this paper we present a review of different statistical and cartographic sources available for a peripheral region in Europe (Galicia, Spain) characterized by small-scale farming and a very fragmented property system, that suggests otherwise: modernization of agriculture apparently took place without major changes in agricultural area until the country gained access to the European Economic Community, and the effect of Common Agricultural Policy reforms during the decade of 1990 is suggested as a major driver for the net decrease of agricultural area in the region between 1956 and 2004. On the other hand, this paper emphasizes the spatial complexity of agricultural abandonment with a case study, showing a large degree of variability at municipal scale and thus the need of future EU-level projects to work at least at municipal (Local Administrative Units 2, LAU 2) level. Finally, a multinomial logistic model for observed changes is included that shows how biophysical limitations were the main drivers behind abandonment of agriculture at parcel scale, while structural qualities related to property structure were strongly associated to the incorporation of former shrublands to agricultural use. Besides, Farm Structure Surveys were revealed as an unreliable source for the assessment of changes in total agricultural area in the studied region. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this paper we ask the question: why has capacity adequacy become a worry in developed countries in general, and Europe in particular, in recent years, and how serious is this problem? While the liberalisation process and the fast move to variable renewable energy sources play a role in this process, they are not the only causes. We discuss the extent to which regulators and policy makers are able to influence the evolution of the market and also consider the role of and challenges created by regional markets and cross-boarder integration. We conclude that policy makers can go into one of two directions. The first option is to ignore cross-border trading in their planning. While this would create security of supply for individual countries, it would come at the cost of very significant investment subsidies. The alternative is to rely on cross-border trade, an option which requires not only close cooperation and coordination, but also significant trust between the jurisdictions and institutions involved, to ensure sufficient capacity. The choice between these options is a political decision, to be made at the national and supranational levels, not by regulators, and even less by market participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: According to the European Innovation Scoreboard, Switzerland is the innovation leader in Europe. Switzerland surpasses countries such as Finland, Sweden or Germany in most of the relevant indicators. Additionally, Switzerland is also one of the most competitive countries in the world, as investigated by the World Economic Forum. This paper addresses the question, how the country can keep its leading position by enlarging and strengthening the national innovation system in a sustainable way. Using a systemic approach, in particular an adapted national innovation system framework, this study analyses the current innovation system of Switzerland and comes up with nine recommendations for improvement. Two years after the presentation of these findings to the Swiss government, this study is also able to report on the implementation of some of these recommendations. Method wise, it is a result of a series of interviews and workshops with major stakeholders in the innovation field in Switzerland combined with the analysis of secondary data from multiple sources. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In the current economic context countries are exposed to long-term structural shifts that challenge tourism development strategies and range from destination marketing to product offerings and infrastructure planning. In emerging countries, domestic and regional travel represents a highly promising tourism market in its nascent stage; even it has not yet reached significant volume because of low average levels of disposable income. However, domestic travel can mean a massive volume of tourist activity (Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2011 - World Economic Forum).In this respect, in the present paper we aimed at carrying out a research on the European countries tourism competitiveness using statistical tools. Our analysis is based on the 14 pillars described in the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2011 - World Economic Forum (http://www.weforum.org/reports/travel-tourism- competitiveness-report-2011) taking into consideration only European countries. In order to see how the 14 pillars of the competitiveness index are grouping on the 27 EU countries and the other 15 non-EU countries, we used - separately for EU countries and non-EU countries – the principal component analysis (PCA) with varimax rotation and Kaiser normalization, followed by hierarchical cluster analysis and then the k-means cluster analysis to view the countries clustering on the principal components resulted. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD) is the most common digestive disease in industrialized countries (Europe and North America) and is associated with microscopic changes in the squamous epithelium. However, biopsy is not presently included in the routine diagnostic flow chart of GERD. In contrast, esophageal biopsy is mandatory when diagnosing Barrett''s esophagus. High quality histology reports are necessary to provide information on diagnosis and can also be important for research and epidemiological studies. It has been evident for decades that pathology reports vary between institutions and even within a single institution. Standardization of reporting is the best way to ensure that information necessary for patient management is included in pathology reports. This paper details the histological criteria for diagnosing GERDassociated microscopic esophagitis, other forms of esophagitis with specific features and columnar metaplasia in the lower esophagus (Barrett''s esophagus). It provides a detailed description of appropriate sampling criteria, individual lesions and how they contribute to the histology report. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]