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The growth and diversity in contemporary return migration have given rise to questions related to migrants' (re)integration into their society of origin. In particular, a growing set of studies examine the returnees' labour market situation to understand how time spent living and working abroad affects individuals' social mobility upon return. The key aim of this paper is to explore the socio-occupational paths of returning migrants. Based on the online survey with Polish and Lithuanian returnees (n = 544) who had spent at least a year in the UK, we aim to identify patterns in the socio-occupational sequences of people experiencing returning migration. Based on sequence analysis carried out in TraMineR (Life Trajectory Miner for R) covering the situation of returning migrants before migration, during migration and upon return, we have distinguished four clusters of sequences: (1) sequences with education, (2) sequences with employment, (3) sequences with unemployment and (4) sequences with self-employment. We compare those clusters in terms of demographic characteristics, as well as migration plans. We also take into consideration skills acquired and transferred throughout migration trajectories. With this typology based on the unique dataset of returning migrants, we supplement existing, primarily qualitative, research on returning migrants' careers with the sequence analysis based on quantitative data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze the role of institutional founding conditions and institutional legacy for universities' self-representation in terms of diversity. Based on 374 universities located in the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, and Poland, we can differentiate between a more idealistic understanding (logic of inclusion and equality) and a more market-oriented understanding (market logic) of diversity. Our findings show that the founding phase has no significant effect on the likelihood of a university focusing on a market-oriented understanding of diversity—however, we observe an imprinting effect with respect to the adoption of a diversity statement in general and an equity-oriented statement. Moreover, our findings show that there is a socialistic heritage for universities in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries that is at work and still influences universities' understandings of diversity today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Risk minimization measures are one of the most important tools in ensuring safe use of medicines. The evaluation of their effectiveness in clinical practice is a big challenge. Diclofenac is a medicine indicated for relief of all grades of pain and inflammation, in a wide range of conditions. Certain cardiovascular diseases are contraindications, whilst certain diseases require precautions for diclofenac prescribing. Objective: The aim of this study is to measure impact of the new digital risk minimization tool, introduced at the level of diclofenac prescribing, on patterns of its prescription in outpatient settings in Montenegro. Methods: Regulatory impact before/after drug utilization study, using electronic health records of patients with cardiovascular contraindications/precautions for diclofenac prescribing, was conducted. The period of observation was 1 year before and 1 year after introduction of the digital risk minimization tool. Results: Introduction of the digital risk minimization tool was associated with significant decrease in number of patients on diclofenac and the number of diclofenac prescriptions/packages, in a cohort of patients who were prescribed diclofenac before the digital intervention. Decrease in diclofenac prescription was more obvious in patients with contraindications, as expected, compared with patients with precautions. Decrease in diclofenac prescriptions in patients with other heart diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, and ischemic heart diseases (contraindications) was 38.79%, 37.62%, and 29.85% respectively. There was also a decrease in diclofenac prescriptions in patients with hypertension (22.86%), hyperlipidemia (23.61%), and diabetes mellitus (26.32%; precautions). After the digital intervention, initiation of diclofenac in diclofenac-naive patients was significantly decreased compared with patients who were prescribed diclofenac before the digital intervention. Conclusions: Although a significant decrease in diclofenac prescription in both cohorts occurred, diclofenac is still prescribed, even in diagnoses contraindicated for its use. Further improvements of existing tools and the creation of new ones are necessary for minimization of cardiovascular and other risks related to diclofenac. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Norway is perceived as an egalitarian society, providing freedom for diverse minority groups to live their lives without facing discriminatory practices. However, the lived experiences of groups who simultaneously occupy multiple minority positions might be testimony to the complex ways a society enables or hinders identity formation. Taking an intersectional approach and drawing upon in-depth, semi-structured interviews with nine queer individuals with an ethnic minority background, we explored how they negotiate where they belong, relating to social and structural elements of Norwegian society. We also examined how having multiple minority positions may affect belonging to a collective where they are or are not problematized. We developed five themes from the participants' interviews: 1) exclusion based on being visibly different, 2) having to explain oneself, 3) struggling with heteronormativity, 4) non-acceptance by family and ethnic ingroup, and 5) majority queer community as a place of exclusion. Our analysis underlines the potentially dilemmatic 'nature' of having multiple minority identities. Dealing with both majority's expectations and demands and tackling the norms and demands of family and ethnic ingroup is construed as a problem by our participants. We detail and discuss the ways in which our participants experience and relate to majority culture, racism, and heteronormativity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses Russian forces have bombed Ukrainian cities, targeting schools, apartment buildings, and hospitals. The UN commissioner for Human rights estimates that over 1600 Ukrainian civilians have already been killed. Thousands more Ukrainians have been wounded or have died in defense of their country.

Purpose: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer mortality rates in Eastern Europe are among the highest in the world. Although diet is an important risk factor, traditional eating habits in this region have not yet been explored. This analysis assessed the relationship between traditional dietary pattern and mortality from all-causes, CVD and cancer in Eastern European cohorts. Methods: Data from the Health, Alcohol and Psychosocial factors in Eastern Europe prospective cohort were used, including participants from Russia, Poland and the Czech Republic. Based on food frequency questionnaire data, we constructed an Eastern European diet score (EEDS) from nine food groups which can be considered as traditional in this region. The relationship between categorical (low, moderate, high) and continuous (range 0–18) EEDS and mortality was estimated with Cox-regression. Results: From 18,852 eligible participants, 2234 died during follow-up. In multivariable adjusted models, participants with high adherence to the traditional Eastern European diet had significantly higher risk of all-cause (HR 1.23; 95% CI 1.08–1.42) and CVD (1.34; 1.08–1.66) deaths compared to those with low adherence. The association with cancer mortality was only significant in Poland (high vs. low EEDS: 1.41; 1.00–1.98). From the specific EEDS components, high consumption of lard was significantly positively related to all three mortality outcomes, while preserved fruit and vegetable consumption showed consistent inverse associations. Conclusion: Our results suggest that traditional eating habits may contribute to the poor health status, particularly the high CVD mortality rates, of populations in Eastern Europe. Adequate public health nutritional interventions in this region are essential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Lithuania has one of the highest mortality rates from coronary heart disease (CHD) among European countries. Most CHD are preventable, but when they occur, the management of these patients is important in secondary prevention. The purpose of the present analysis was to describe the demographics, clinical profile, and contemporary management of patients with stable CHD in the Lithuanian population and to compare data with other Central Eastern European countries.Methods: CLARIFY (prospective observational longitudinal registry of patients with stable CHD) is an international cohort study in outpatients with stable CHD. Treated outpatients with established CHD from the CLARIFY registry in Lithuania (214 patients) were compared with those from the rest of Central Eastern Europe (2794 patients).Results: Lithuanian patients were younger (p = 0.0275), had a higher body mass index (p = 0.0003), and more frequently received treatment for hypertension (p < 0.0001). Prevalence of dyslipidemia (p < 0.0001) was higher in Lithuanian patients but a smaller group of people had diabetes (p < 0.0001). The total cholesterol (p < 0.0001), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (p < 0.0001), and blood pressure (p < 0.0001) were higher in the Lithuanian population. A smaller proportion of Lithuanian patients were physically inactive, and the majority of patients in Lithuania were engaged in light physical activity compared with Central Eastern European patients (p = 0.0018).Conclusion: The data analysis shows that management of hypertension, dyslipidemia, smoking, and obesity in patients with CHD in Lithuania is insufficient and needs further improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the relation between religiosity and cognitive appraisal of the subjective well-being of the Central and Eastern European's elderly population. The first part of the paper is dedicated to examining of the scientific literature. In the second part, the authors explore the data basis corresponding to the 6th wave of World Value Survey. The authors use the heterogeneous correlation and the multi-linear regression analysis in order to explain the relation between religiosity and subjective well-being of the old aged. Our results suggest that in the case of the Central Eastern European elderly satisfaction with life is mostly influenced by health and income. It is likely that for Central and Eastern European's elders religious practices do not sufficiently influence their life satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detailed study of a peat plateau near the southern boundary of the East European permafrost zone has been performed. The botanical and palynological compositions of the peat to the depth of 10 m, its radiocarbon dates (the AMS method), and its physical and chemical characteristics have been determined. The accumulation of peat in this area began about 8300 years ago at the end of the Boreal period. In the middle of the Atlantic period, the rate of peat accumulation reached 1.44 mm/yr. During the warming phase in the Middle Subboreal period, the peat plateau was subjected to active thermal erosion; part of the peat was eroded. The processes of thermal erosion are also active at present and destroy the edges of peat mounds. At the same time, the gradual accumulation of peat on the plateau continues. An increase in the degree of peat mineralization is expected upon the establishment of aerobic conditions against the background degradation of the permafrost. Peat plateaus and large peat mounds have been the sinks of atmospheric carbon for a larger part of their history. In this context, we do not expect their significant negative influence on the climate in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Volga, the largest river in Europe, has experienced multiple stressors from human activities. Recently we showed that its upper course (about 500 km, from its source to Tver) still has large sections with low impact and a natural type-specific potamal flora and fauna. Our present research in the East European lowlands aim to define reference conditions for mid-sized to large lowland rivers in order to build a basis for future management and conservation. Three monitoring sites were selected based on the results from intensive sampling in 2005. In subsequent field campaigns between 2006 and 2010 regular surveys were carried out each year in summer and additional ones in spring. A taxon-rich macroinvertebrate fauna, including several rare potamal relict species, was recorded and the data was used to provide an overview of annual and interannual variation in community indices and metrics. The conditions described for the headwaters of the Volga River system can be used as a reference state for medium-sized and large lowland rivers in regions where reference sites of these types are lacking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the impact of economic crises in the early 1970s and 2000s on integration policy frames in Denmark. By the means of a comparative case study of 'guest workers' in the 1960s/1970s and labor migrants in 2000s, we identify changes in discourses and policy frames brought on by economic crisis. In the article, we explore policy transformations relating to integration in the light of periods economic upturns and downturns. We analyze and compare the development of policy frames and policy content before, during and after the crises and thereby seek to answer how economic contours affect not only policy-making processes and content but also the social construction of target groups. The fact that Denmark did not have an official policy on integration of the guest workers in the 1960s and 1970s created a different point of departure than in the 2000s where the experience with and policy on integration of immigrant is much more developed. It is therefore also rather striking that many of the mistakes made during the 1960s and 1970s seems to be repeated in the 2000s. The situation of economic upturn and envision of the migration being temporary did, in both cases, lead to little emphasis on integration up until the point of crisis. In the analysis, we find that issues such as religious background, cultural characteristics, and educational levels, position on labor market, language proficiency, housing, and mobility which all pertain to integration are given less attention in times of economic upturn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a comparative analysis of the recent developments in the civil societies in six Central and East European (CEE) countries: the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. Focusing on the level of civil society organizations (CSO), it first discusses the changes in their role as social actors and co-operation within the civic sector itself. Second, it examines the process of civic-public sector partnership consolidation, and third, some of the more recent challenges that the civic initiatives in these countries are facing. It aims to highlight the diversity of patterns of civil society development in the region and argues for a reassessment of its 'weakness' thesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on Eastern Europe stresses the weakness of its civil society and the lack of political and social involvement, neglecting the question: What do people themselves think it means to be a good citizen? This study looks at citizens’ definitions of good citizenship in Poland, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Hungary, using 2002 European Social Survey data. We investigate mean levels of civic mindedness in these countries and perform regression analyses to investigate whether factors traditionally associated with civic and political participation are also correlated with citizenship norms across Eastern Europe. We show that mean levels of civic mindedness differ significantly across the four Eastern European countries. We find some support for theories on civic and political participation when explaining norms of citizenship, but also demonstrate that individual-level characteristics are differently related to citizenship norms across the countries of our study. Hence, our findings show that Eastern Europe is not a monolithic and homogeneous bloc, underscoring the importance of taking the specificities of countries into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rb-Sr and K-Ar characteristics of Vendian and Upper Riphean sections in various structural units of the East European Platform are studied. It is shown that Neoproterozoic clayey rocks of the platform underwent postsedimentary transformations, primarily owing to processes of K accumulation (illitization). Their intensity decreases with depth and isotopic signatures of provenance rocks are partly retained in Riphean rocks. Stages of the most active transformations approximately 400 and 600 Ma ago are manifested in the Vendian clayey rocks. Events of approximately 1000 Ma ago are recorded in Riphean rocks of the East European Platform. The least altered rocks of the Pachelma aulacogen can retain ancient hydrocarbon pools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conflicts between the conservation of biodiversity and other human activities have been and continue to be of increasing concern in the European Union, often having important political, economic, and environmental repercussions. These conflicts have been addressed in the European Union by using a wide array of top down and bottom up tools, with varying degrees of success. A new challenge is now facing Europe with the integration of 10 new countries in the European Union (EU) and an additional range of biodiversity-rich habitats placed under EU legislation. The rich biodiversity of the central and eastern European countries (CEEC) is likely to be threatened by some aspects of the integration process, and conflicts between the conservation of biodiversity and other human activities are expected. In this paper, we review certain existing conflicts between biodiversity conservation and human activities in the CEEC, expected conflicts associated with integration to the EU, particularly in terms of new policy and legislation implementation, and, finally, explore possible conflict management options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The redistribution of Au in Late Precambrian volcanic ashes from the Vendian section of the East European Platform and the Sinian section of the South China Platform is characterized by high Au concentration (up to >20 ng/g) in Fe3+-rich samples. The Au content decreases to ∼2 ng/g in Fe2+-rich volcanic ashes from the Vendian section of the East European Platform. This distribution pattern suggests the mobility of Au-bearing compounds in postsedimentary processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent literature on international outsourcing points out that cross-border fragmentation of production processes may foster the convergence of international factor prices. This paper makes a first attempt to analyze this hypothesis empirically using a small panel of NACE 2-digit wage data of three Central and Eastern European economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We develop a Ramsey type model of economic growth in which the “Engine of Growth” is public capital accumulation. Public capital is a public good, and is financed by taxes on private output. The government may either use the taxes gathered to fund public capital accumulation or consume the resourses itself; that is engage in corruption. There is an irreducable level of endogenously determined corruption which constitutes rents for which potential governments compete. This competition takes the form of choosing a time path for public capital invesment, which implies time paths for output and household consumption. We study both the model’s steady state, and dynamical behavior along the saddle path. The predictions of our theory accord well with the existent empirical evidence on the relationships between the level and growth rate of output, corruption, public investment and fiscal transparency. Our analysis also provides a perspective on the transition experiences of several Eastern European economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper re-investigates the efficiency of the East European emerging markets of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Russia analyzed by Rockinger and Urga (2000, 2001) based on the data from September, 1995 through December, 2004. We propose a first-order autoregressive (AR (1)) type time varying parameter model with a non-stochastic linear time trend including the random walk (RW) type model as a special case. The observed data rejects the RW type model for the AR (1) type one. The markets exhibit dynamic efficiency for all the four countries in the sense that the linear time trend approaches to zero over time. The empirical result for the Russian markets differs from that of Rockinger and Urga (2000). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lower Ordovician sequences of the Ebeta antiform, a southern extension of the Uraltau zone, were deposited at the conjugation of paleocontinental and paleoceanic sectors of the southern Urals. Four types of sections were formed on opposite sides of cordillera that existed at the margin of the East European paleocontinent on the Preordovician volcanic belt. Sections of the first three types made up the western apron on the uplift that served as a provenance. Lateral and vertical relationships of various sedimentary associations, as well as their variable (in space and time) facies patterns and sedimentation conditions are considered. An important role of redeposition, slumping, and faulting in the apron development has been revealed. The apron fringed the eastern wall of the Sakmara marginal riftogenic basin that arose at the Cambrian-Ordovician boundary. On another side of the marginal uplift in the east, a slightly modified perioceanic environment existed in the Early Ordovician. Sections of another type formed here at the periphery of Uralian paleocean. These sections are characterized by the universal occurrence of ophiolithoclastic olistostrome with fragments of an older oceanic crust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we show that the success of the EU Regional Policy, in terms of boosting growth in objective 1 regions, will mean a big opportunity for Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) and hence the increases in competition arising from an enlarged European market combined with a suitable regional development policy should in the future boost the growth of those countries. In the last part of the paper we made a simulation for the funding envelope from 2007, based on the 2000-2006 budget. We show that the figures of the Agenda 2000 provide enough financial support for 90% of the total CEEC population and for 75% of "current" objective 1 population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the relationships between real exchange rates dynamics, domestic economic growth and external economic positions for the four East European countries: Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Development of the Vector autoregressive (VAR) type model as alternative to the estimation of large structural model; Estimation results of VAR model; Conclusions.

The article presents information on geologist Tat'yana Aleksandrovna Lapinskaya and her works. T. Lapinskaya defended the PhD dissertation in 1944 and the DSc dissertation in 1966. She was awarded the title of Professor in 1968. At the beginning of scientific activity, Lapinskaya investigated Permian rocks in the Volga Ural petroliferous province. Since 1946, prospecting for hydrocarbon resources and deep parametric drilling were started in eastern areas of the East European Platform. In this connection, Lapinskaya began to investigate Precambrian rocks of the platform basement. T.A. Lapinskaya was a member of the Interdepartmental Lithological Committee and the Regional Petrographic Council for the European Part of Russia.

The expected immigration from the Eastern European accession countries to the EU is a concern in all Western European societies, and especially in Germany. Recent census data for the United States of America show a share of foreign-born Americans of about 70%. This is the highest share since the 1930s. Compared with this number in a traditional immigration country, the share of foreign-born people in contemporary Germany, which considers itself as a non-immigration country, is a real surprise: according to the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP,), a survey conducted by the DIW, the share is about 70% in Germany as a whole. According to SOEP data, about 30% of all immigrants believe that they do not speak good German, and 70% believe they speak it rather badly. In the age bracket of 21 up to 30 years the share of weak German-speakers is smaller, but still significant, at about 20%. It makes sense to control immigration as much as possible and also to improve the language proficiency of those who have entered the country regardless of their citizenship and their reason for immigration.

Presents a key word index to volume 52, numbers 1-2 March 2000 issue of the journal "Studies in East European Thought."