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Judicial and political power are inextricably linked, but at this point in time that link seems more important, more pervasive, and more fragile than ever before. Courts are now under stress in many, even consolidated, democratic countries, becoming one of the most stimulating topics for understanding European politics. Indeed, bringing Courts back to the centre of political analysis is a privileged perspective for understanding how and why democracies change. By highlighting the characteristics of the complex political context of conflicting actors, institutions and political processes, this special issue of European Politics and Society reveals the different dynamics and patterns of the role of Courts in contemporary European politics. This paper presents the phenomenon of 'Courts under stress' and the related research questions. In addition, it introduces the articles that make up this special issue, which are indicative of the maturation of Courts as a crucial topic in European political science. Indeed, each article emphasizes different aspects of their role, bringing out new perspectives and complementary theoretical approaches and methodologies, thereby advancing comparative studies of judicial behaviour and constitutional jurisprudence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the main tasks for leaders is to make work purposeful for others. As the promotion of purpose through leadership is often context-specific and dependent on interpersonal relations, this study explores the relation between humanistic leadership, existential reflections, and the Jungian theory on 'individuation' among non-profit sports leaders in Europe. To that end, the research questions in this article are (a) what kind of existential learning sports leader veterans have gained through their positions, (b) how it has enabled them to grow as persons and leaders, and (c) how these experiences may be helpful to other leaders. To explore these questions, this study drew upon the principle of episodic inquiry and qualitative interviews with highly experienced Norwegian sports leaders (N = 16). Through an episodically based recollection of life experiences, the study specifies eight qualities that enable today's leaders in European sport to develop a humanistic leadership practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urban lab is an experimental governance approach for the co-creation of innovative solutions to urban challenges, such as climate change. However, urban lab scholarship has overlooked lab formation as a distinct process and is almost exclusively based on European cases. Therefore, little is known about the role of context conditions for lab formation in general and beyond Europe in particular. To address these gaps, this paper inductively analyses urban lab formation in five cities in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, develops a framework for the comparative analysis of lab formation challenges, and asks: What do the challenges encountered and the solutions developed during lab formation in these cities tell us about the context dependence of the urban lab approach and what are the implications for its potential beyond Europe? Comparing insights from Europe to the findings from Latin America, the paper answers these questions and identifies future research questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the production of battery cells experiences exponential growth and electric vehicle fleets continue to expand, an escalating number of traction batteries are nearing the conclusion of their operational life for mobility purposes, both presently and in the foreseeable future. Concurrently, the heightened interest in sustainable energy storage solutions has spurred investigations into potential second-life applications for aging traction batteries. Nonetheless, the predominant practice remains the removal of these batteries from electric vehicles, signifying the end of their life cycle, and their subsequent incorporation into recycling processes, with limited consideration for life-extending measures. This study seeks to elucidate the reasons behind the deprioritization of battery repurposing strategies. Therefore, the research team conducted two industry studies with over 20 battery experts from Europe, revealing concerns about the economic viability of repurposing batteries for stationary storage applications. A literature review of studies published since 2016 confirmed the industry's struggles to address this issue theoretically. In conclusion, a research question was formulated, and a solution approach was delineated to assess the economic prospects of aged traction batteries within the industry's landscape in the future. This solution approach encompasses pertinent market analysis, the identification of representative second-life applications, as well as the formulation of a methodology for evaluating the residual value of these batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: We introduce ReSurveyEurope — a new data source of resurveyed vegetation plots in Europe, compiled by a collaborative network of vegetation scientists. We describe the scope of this initiative, provide an overview of currently available data, governance, data contribution rules, and accessibility. In addition, we outline further steps, including potential research questions. Results: ReSurveyEurope includes resurveyed vegetation plots from all habitats. Version 1.0 of ReSurveyEurope contains 283,135 observations (i.e., individual surveys of each plot) from 79,190 plots sampled in 449 independent resurvey projects. Of these, 62,139 (78%) are permanent plots, that is, marked in situ, or located with GPS, which allow for high spatial accuracy in resurvey. The remaining 17,051 (22%) plots are from studies in which plots from the initial survey could not be exactly relocated. Four data sets, which together account for 28,470 (36%) plots, provide only presence/absence information on plant species, while the remaining 50,720 (64%) plots contain abundance information (e.g., percentage cover or cover–abundance classes such as variants of the Braun‐Blanquet scale). The oldest plots were sampled in 1911 in the Swiss Alps, while most plots were sampled between 1950 and 2020. Conclusions: ReSurveyEurope is a new resource to address a wide range of research questions on fine‐scale changes in European vegetation. The initiative is devoted to an inclusive and transparent governance and data usage approach, based on slightly adapted rules of the well‐established European Vegetation Archive (EVA). ReSurveyEurope data are ready for use, and proposals for analyses of the data set can be submitted at any time to the coordinators. Still, further data contributions are highly welcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research argues that young people may perceive their future negatively and view themselves as not having the power to make a change. However, a new generation of young people are moving towards addressing climate change and recognising the opportunities for sustainability and social justice. The goal was to analyse the level of awareness between different groups of teenagers from vulnerable areas (a hard-toreach population in research) in relation to the awareness of climate change. As such, this study analyses the degree of climate change awareness amongst students from three secondary schools located in vulnerable areas of Europe following the implementation of an eTwinning project on climate change during the Covid-19 pandemic. We followed a descriptive non-experimental design using a validated questionnaire to answer the following research questions: (1) What are the levels of climate change awareness of the students? and (2) Is it possible to identify different groups according to their level of awareness? The questionnaire was completed by 238 students: 162 Czech students, 34 Greek students and 42 Italian students. The results identify four different groups of students with diverse levels of awareness, from the most concerned to the barely worried, and shows that these schools have the potential to improve awareness. It is argued that these issues should be promoted in schools in order to improve student awareness of climate change and their perception of a brighter future in which they develop a sense of agency with regards to social change, participation in society, and social justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, a growing body of literature has analyzed radical left parties in Europe. However, internal party life and the sociology of party elites have remained an understudied topic, mostly dominated by non-systematic accounts on party leaders. This article offers an empirical exploration of the sociology of Podemos party cadres, based on a prosopography of the elected members of the Consejo Ciudadano Estatal and the Consejo de Coordinación, its main internal institutions, since 2014. This research questions Podemos' status of "outsider" in the partisan landscape by quantifying three fundamental dimensions of its cadres' public image: their links with social movements, academia and Latin America. By measuring the social and biographical characteristics of Podemos' elites as they institutionalize, this article offers a new scientific lens to analyze the trajectory of radical left parties, and provides a method to test common hypotheses on contemporary political forces after the Great Recession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior research has widely recognised the relevance of job autonomy for workers' leisure-time physical activity. This paper is, however, the first to assess this relationship with a cross-national focus. Apart from investigating the relationship between individual job autonomy and leisure-time physical activity within the European context, we more specifically study how this relationship is moderated by a country's labour market security and country-level perceived availability of physical activity opportunities. We answer our research question with multilevel regression analyses on comparative cross-national data from the European Social Survey 2014 on 14,956 respondents in 18 European countries. Our multilevel models show that across Europe, workers with more job autonomy are more physically active in their leisure time. Perceived PA opportunities in a country do not affect the relationship, but in countries with greater labour market security, the positive influence of job autonomy on leisure-time physical activity is reduced–workers with low job autonomy seem to benefit relatively more from the labour market security in their country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Butterflies are charismatic insects and have been well studied, particularly in Europe. They are disproportionately used in generating and testing hypotheses; on everything from general evolutionary processes, such as speciation or host association dynamics; to conservation‐related studies, such as climate change or habitat loss. Accurate lists of the larval foodplants for European butterflies are not readily available. Mistakes are propagated and information cannot be checked for accuracy. The level of evidence is unknown, and how usage varies between countries is poorly understood. The study consulted 1119 references to produce 19,488 records of larval foodplants for European butterflies. This resulted in 5589 larval host plant records for 464 European butterfly species, with multiple references, enabling information to be checked. Information was unavailable for 59 species. The level of evidence for each relationship shows the current state of knowledge. Significant issues were identified for 3.9% of records extracted from references due to mistakes, ambiguous or unknown plant names, distribution issues, resulting in information being lost. Plants with questionable distributions suggest either mis‐identification or species that have been split. Little is known about plant usage in Eastern Europe. The larval foodplants of many monophagous and Satyrinae butterflies are poorly studied. Only 63% of threatened 2010 Red Listed butterflies have reliable host plant records. The study has provided ecologists with a valuable resource, of a more accurate checklist of the larval foodplants for each European country. Why plant usage varies over a butterfly's distribution opens up some interesting research questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is a theoretical development of the gravitational model through an econophysical approach and physical tools. Therefore, this paper attempts to answer the following research question: "Can physics still contribute to the development of the gravitational model in economics?". To tackle the question, this paper begins with an overview of the basic concepts of Newton's universal gravitational theory, which was first applied in economics by the distinguished American scientist Isard (1954). Then the concepts and formulas of gravitational fields in physics will be translated into economics, thus reviving Isard's original multilateralism through the elaboration of an extension of his model apt to describe the multilateralism and multi-country exchanges which characterize international trade. In this regard, the superposition principle of vector is used to offer vector analysis as a tool for mapping the interactions between the economic forces produced by the individual gravitational fields of different countries. A representation of the gravitational field of the European market will be provided. The field concept will extend the analysis from bilateral flows to the analysis of markets in two dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transport and mobility systems need to be transformed to meet climate change goals and reduce negative environmental and social effects. Despite EU policies having targeted such problems for more than three decades, transitions have been slow and geographically uneven. For effective change to happen, transport and mobility research needs fresh perspectives and better integration of knowledge from the Social Sciences and Humanities. Based on a Horizon Scanning approach, which allowed for a great deal of openness and variety in scholarly viewpoints, this paper presents a novel research agenda consisting of 8 themes and 100 research questions that may contribute to achieving environmentally sustainable mobility transitions within Europe. This research agenda highlights the need to not only support technological solutions for low-carbon mobility, but the importance of transformative policies that include new processes of knowledge production, civic participation and epistemic justice. We contend that the agenda points to the need for further research on the dynamics of science-society interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main research question is whether history is doomed to divide or whether it may unite. The author argues that, on the one hand, the rejection of the concept of truth in historiography may lead to treating history as a reservoir of selective argument in political struggles. In this sense, history will always divide. However, on the other hand, truth may be achieved. Scholars have several ways to test how far from the truth is a statement concerning history. There are six basic rules to test it, which are discussed in the article. The concept of national identity, culture perceived as the backbone of national identity and the regional cooperation context are examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wild food gathering activities (i.e., foraging practices) played an important role in securing food in the past. Nowadays, these resources and the knowledge around their use are experiencing a process of erosion. This article aims to identify the factors explaining the abandonment or, on the other hand, the preservation of foraging practices in Europe. The second aim is to analyze how these practices contribute to the economic and social development of local communities and to the sustainability of land management. A systematic review of the literature on European foraging practices was performed to answer these research questions. Following this approach, 111 publications were selected and analyzed. The results highlight that the reasons for the abandonment of foraging practices are related to socio-economic changes as well as changes in the environment such as reduced availability and land-use change. On the other hand, heritagization processes of these resources, such as wild plants sold as traditional local products, in restaurants, or as eco-tourism experiences, are emerging. The sustainability of these practices has not been widely evaluated in the literature. Efficient management strategies of wild food resources could help foster all three dimensions of sustainability at the local level, as well as help preserve traditional knowledge. This systematic review thus contributes to highlighting the framework in which the sustainability of these practices should be assessed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to explore the learning outcomes of EFL learners with a focus on Vocabulary Acquisition (VA) taught through CLIL (Content & Language Integrated Learning) in comparison to the conventional language teaching of EFL units. Linguists proposed several methods and trends in the field of language learning. CLIL is the most recent and effective method that gained widespread popularity and is widely utilized and implemented in Europe and other parts of the world. It is a dual-focused method of language teaching, especially in foreign or second language teaching with a focus on the content or the subject. This highlights language teaching through content, the learners are taught science, geography, history, or physics with a special focus on language structures simultaneously. Using a mixed methodology, the experimental research method of pretest and post-test was utilized to find out the answers to the research questions. The study was conducted at a military institute that explored gaining the level of VA among EFL learners by conducting the pretest and posttest research design. The study revealed that the learners taught through CLIL units achieved greater Vocabulary Acquisition than the EFL learners of the target language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, parental leave policy is one of the key instruments of social policy in the family sphere in many European countries. Despite the common territorial context, parental leave design may vary greatly in different European countries. In this respect, the influence of differentiative parameters of the parental leave system on the social policy results in European countries is still overlooked. Our study aims to compare parental leave policies in European countries using cluster analysis and reveal the differentiation of the results of policies related to parental leave policy in the clusters of countries. We put forward the following research questions: (1) Are groups of European countries shaped according to the characteristics of parental leave policy similar to European geographical regions? Which cluster has the largest proportion of CEE countries? (2) How different are the results of policies associated with parental leave policy in these groups of countries? As an information source, we used the International Review of Leave Policies and Research 2020, which presents data on parental leave policy in 32 European countries. As indicators for cluster analysis, we used the number of maternity, paternity, and parental leave flexibility elements. The research identified three groups of European countries varying in the number of flexibility elements in the structure of each type of leave. We concluded that leave policies in these countries are not conditioned by their geographical location but may result from their social policies. We also observed that a parental leave policy may contribute to reducing gender inequality in the country. The scientific significance of the research lies in revealing similarities and differences between parental leave policies in the context of a wide circle of European countries and in expanding existing knowledge of the public values theory in public administration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The forced integration of European socialist states following WWII is usually viewed as a history of political misunderstandings and genuine social failures. From the early modernism and avant-garde periods onwards, socialism was also a common experience for the whole of East and Central Europe. Since the late 1950s, the densifying network of relations among culture departments of socialist parties, culture ministries of individual countries, writer associations, publishers or literary journals has resulted in thus far unknown transnational literature circulation. This article analyzes the transnational links between the GDR literary system and the literatures and literary institutions of the European Eastern Bloc. The paper aims to discuss two specific research questions. First, the international literature published in the GDR is examined statistically and regarding the prevailing concepts and practices of transnationality. Second, the transnationally networked places of socialist literature planning are presented. Documents preserved in East German archives form the basis for the research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research focuses on a systematic literature review of the geospatial Linked Data (LD) publication at National Mapping and Cadastral Agencies in Europe (NMCA) responsible for land administration. We analysed scientific studies published from 2014 to 2023. Our research aimed to find out the reasons for the relatively slow adoption of geospatial data publication as LD. Therefore, we searched for the most common problems, solutions, and challenges for publishing prioritised data themes in NMCAs. Applied research methodology relies on well-established approaches such as analysing Population Problems, Intervention, Comparison, Outcomes, and Circumstances (PICOC) and backward snowballing. The eligibility process is presented by Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. We analysed nineteen extracted papers and identified twelve key issues from fulltext reading. Frequency analyses resulted in the overview of the most frequently published geospatial themes as LD in several European countries. We addressed five research questions and concluded that in addition to systematic support for developing vocabularies and ontologies, trust, awareness, and knowledge about best practices could influence the success of LD publication at NMCAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do regions enter new and distant technological fields? Who is triggering this process? This work addresses these compelling research questions by investigating the role of migrant inventors in the process of technological diversification. Immigrant inventors can indeed act as carriers of knowledge across borders and influence the direction of technological change. We test these latter propositions by using an original dataset of immigrant inventors in the context of European regions during the period 2003–201. Our findings show that: immigrant inventors generate positive local knowledge spillovers; they help their host regions to develop new technological specialisations; they trigger a process of unrelated diversification. Their contribution comes via two main mechanisms: immigrant inventors use their own personal knowledge (knowledge creation); they import knowledge from their home country to the host region (knowledge transfer). Their impact is maximised when their knowledge is not recombined with the local one (in mixed teams of inventors), but it is reused (in teams made by only migrant inventors). Our work contributes to the existing literature of regional diversification by providing fresh evidence of unrelated diversification for European regions and by identifying important agents of structural change. It also contributes to the literature of migration and innovation by adding fresh evidence on European regions and by unveiling some of the mechanisms of immigrants' knowledge transmission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ecological and digital transformations of the steel industry intensify already existing skill shortages and create specific skill demands that are currently not being met. One of the main problems in this sector lies in the lack of sufficient information on which skills companies need and which skills trainings are suitable for today's challenges. In addition, more information is needed to provide more and better information for policy-making processes for getting the sector's workforce well-equipped for digitalisation and decarbonisation. This paper uses the framework of skills intelligence in the steel sector, reflecting on theoretical developments and the application of concrete tools in the European projects BEYOND 4.0 and ESSA. The main research questions guiding this work are: To what extent is the concept of skills intelligence useful in the steel sector, and how can it be applied in the steel sector in Europe? This paper provides empirical data based on qualitative and quantitative research carried out in the mentioned projects. The main contribution of this paper is the development of concrete reflections on the concept of skills intelligence based on tools in the steel sector. This work operationalises the skills intelligence approach at sectoral level, namely for the steel industry, and shows how this sector approach can be implemented at the European, national and regional levels. The main findings suggest that skills intelligence in the steel sector is not limited to the preparation and presentation of data but creates a governance structure to mitigate skills imbalances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the period of post-communist transition, Central Europe witnessed complex and multifaceted mobility processes; permanent outmigration, of an ethnic or labour-related nature, coexisted with temporary, seasonal, or crossborder movements and an increasing influx of foreigners. To study these complex processes, we have chosen to apply a holistic and comprehensive approach, rather than limit conceptual considerations to one theory of migration determinants. We focus on eleven post-communist countries that joined the European Union (EU-11) and on the period extending from around 1989, covering the EU's eastward enlargement, to the present. The aim of this study is twofold: first, we propose a general conceptual framework, based on the aspirations/capabilities approach, to present the main determinants of emigration from this part of the European continent. Second, in relation to each determinant, we formulate research questions postulated by selected theories of international migration and present the evidence, based on existing empirical studies, that addresses these questions. The paper contributes to the literature by providing a broad interpretation of post-transition mobility and pointing to commonly overlooked explanatory factors. We highlight the importance of economic factors that have enhanced and directed the outward migration from the EU-11 to selected EU member states and selected economic sectors; in particular, as regards capabilities, these factors include the lifting of labour market restrictions, high demand in the secondary sector of labour markets, and the roles of migration networks and the migration industry. Emphasis is also placed on aspirational factors, such as labour market failures and the substantial aspirational gap resulting from improvements in high educational attainment in the countries of origin. The aspirations/capabilities approach serves well as a general framework of migration determinants, but its explanatory power is enhanced by reference to other, more specific theories of migration. We show that a combination of the complementary approaches provides a more refined and in-depth picture of migration from the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper strives to answer the research question of whether Treaty change is necessary to build stronger mechanisms of EU values protection. It analyses the current toolkit of available values protection mechanisms, demonstrates that those mechanisms have not proven to be very effective, and concludes that the EU is ill equipped to find convincing responses. Following on from this, it reflects on the key proposals made in the academic and institutional debate to improve the current values protection framework. Nevertheless, the paper concludes that these proposals merely represent individual puzzle pieces unlikely to change the course of backsliding if taken in isolation and not providing for a comprehensive and concerted strategy. The paper therefore opts for a broader perspective, relying on the idea of reconceptualising the framework of EU values protection pursuing the path of Treaty change. This path rests on three different dimensions: structural, institutional, and substantive reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, significant progress has been made in the sustainability assessment of building materials and buildings. The introduction of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), the development of Level(s), and the release of relevant series of standards have helped to improve the sustainability of buildings. However, a research question that remains unresolved is the lack of information related to the comparison of the sustainability performance of building units across Europe and the significance of conducting such research. This study addressed this question by implementing a comparative whole-building Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) across buildings in Europe. The study emphasizes the necessity of considering typical building geometries and thermal performance of buildings across Europe and introduces six typical building geometries for three different European clusters (northern-western, central-eastern, southern cluster). The results of this study revealed that the sustainability performance of buildings is not similar across the EU and that cost-optimal minimum thermal performance requirements for building structures have a significant impact on their environmental performance. Particularly, single-family houses in Central and Eastern Europe are responsible for 324.42 kgCO 2 e/m2. Contrary to this, Northern and Western European single-family buildings have the lowest environmental impact with 268.97 kgCO 2 e/m2. Multifamily houses in Southern Europe are responsible for 321.82 kgCO 2 e/m2, in Northern and Western Europe the environmental impact is 275.37 kgCO 2 e/m2. The outcome of this study is significant for the scientific community involved in assessing the sustainability of buildings in Europe, as it provides valuable insights into their environmental performance, considering the energy efficiency and sustainability aspects of buildings. The study's findings should be considered when setting minimum LCA-related requirements, in view of the provisions of the new EU policies expressed in the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) recast for defining the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of new buildings. • Six typical building geometries developed for three European building clusters. • A comprehensive LCA analysis of representative buildings across Europe. • The impact of minimum thermal performance requirements on a building's carbon footprint is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Visual mapping for classifying the linking approaches available in the literature with Energy System Models. • Formal methodology that provides a structured approach to address research questions in energy planning projects. • The proposal structured modeling methodology offers a comprehensive, research-question-oriented classification of models. • Short steps to address research questions, select models, and design their interaction and convergence procedures. Long-term energy planning increasingly relies on mathematical models offering quantitative insight to support complex policy decisions. However, the increase in their use has meant the proliferation of tools developed at different institutions, with various scopes, dealing with specific aspects of the economy, the power sector, or the climate, with mismatches in temporal or geographic resolution. All this creates a need for using several models concurrently, integrating them to generate a complete perspective on the implications of policy decisions on the energy transition. This article proposes a methodology to categorize and combine energy models and develop a manipulation strategy to answer a target research question. Thus, it gives a formal structure to tasks carried out informally −and suboptimally- in virtually any energy planning project. This methodology is based on structured modeling, a formal mathematical theory conceived for representing and manipulating models. It assumes a soft-linking approach, meaning the models share information without integrating them within the same platform or code. This framework was developed within the European project openENTRANCE, which will develop, use, and disseminate an open, transparent, and integrated modeling platform for assessing low-carbon transition pathways in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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[Display omitted] Energy transitions are at the top of global agendas in response to the growing challenges of climate change and international conflict, with the EU positioning itself as playing a pivotal role in addressing climate risks and sustainability imperatives. European energy transition policies identify 'smart consumption' as a key element of these efforts, which have previously been explored from a predominantly technical perspective thus often failing to identify or address fundamental interlinkages with social systems and consequences. This paper aims to contribute to interdisciplinary energy research by analysing a forward looking 'Horizon Scan' research agenda for smart consumption, driven by the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH). Reflecting on an extensive systematic Delphi Method exercise surveying over 70 SSH scholars from various institutional settings across Europe, we highlight what SSH scholars see as future directions for smart consumption research. Building from seven thematic areas (under which are grouped 100 SSH research questions), the study identifies three key 'shifts' this new smart research agenda represents, when compared to previous agendas: (1) From technological inevitability to political choice , highlighting the need for a wider political critique, with the potential to open up discussions of the instrumentalisation of smart research; (2) From narrow representation to diverse inclusion , moving beyond the shortcomings of current discourses for engaging marginalised communities; and (3) From individual consumers to interconnected citizens , reframing smart consumption to offer a broader model of social change and governance. Social Sciences and Humanities scholarship is essential to address these shifts in meaningful (rather than tokenistic) ways. This agenda and the shifts it embodies represent key tools to enable better interdisciplinary working between SSH and teams from the technical and natural sciences. • Smart agenda deliberatively produced by 70+ Social Sciences and Humanities scholars. • 100 questions organised under seven SSH themes, which cut across technologies. • Prior smart research agendas focus on technical goals and traditional institutions. • We propose three shifts: political choice, diverse inclusion, connected citizens. • Questions support non-tokenistic inclusion of social aspects in technology projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Analysis of cardiovascular risk factors through a Bayesian network. • Accessible model for the diagnosis of CV medical conditions. • Probabilistic tool to support research decisions. • Support system to decide the most appropriate treatment. • Free software with implemented model. Cardiovascular diseases are the leading death cause in Europe and entail large treatment costs. Cardiovascular risk prediction is crucial for the management and control of cardiovascular diseases. Based on a Bayesian network built from a large population database and expert judgment, this work studies interrelations between cardiovascular risk factors, emphasizing the predictive assessment of medical conditions, and providing a computational tool to explore and hypothesize such interrelations. We implement a Bayesian network model that considers modifiable and non-modifiable cardiovascular risk factors as well as related medical conditions. Both the structure and the probability tables in the underlying model are built using a large dataset collected from annual work health assessments as well as expert information, with uncertainty characterized through posterior distributions. The implemented model allows for making inferences and predictions about cardiovascular risk factors. The model can be utilized as a decision- support tool to suggest diagnosis, treatment, policy, and research hypothesis. The work is complemented with a free software implementing the model for practitioners' use. Our implementation of the Bayesian network model facilitates answering public health, policy, diagnosis, and research questions concerning cardiovascular risk factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades there has been an increasing demand in environmental sciences for harmonized climatic data at large spatial scales and long periods. Here we present easyclimate , a software package to obtain daily climatic data at high resolution (0.0083°, ∼1 km) with R. The package facilitates the downloading and processing of precipitation, minimum and maximum temperatures for Europe from 1950 to 2020. Using easyclimate and given a set of coordinates (points or polygons) and dates (days or years), the user can download the climatic information as a tidy table or a raster object. In this package we implemented Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFFs which provide access to daily climate data for thousands of sites/days, without having to download huge rasters. Daily climate data are not available in many of the current climate databases and are essential for many research questions and applications in environmental modelling, forestry, and ecological and vegetation studies across Europe. • easyclimate is an R package for easy access to high-resolution (0.0083°) daily climate data for Europe from 1950 to 2020. • It efficiently extracts data by providing coordinates (points or polygons) and a time period (days or years). • Data are provided as tidy datasets which can be used to calculate many varied climatic indices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The uptake of research in marine fisheries management and policy making depends on how effectively fisheries managers, researchers and scientific advisers communicate the needs for evidence, and the results and policy implications of research. The MariFish network of the major European funders of marine fisheries has therefore undertaken a study of current practices relating to communication of research needs and results, identifying strengths and weaknesses, and consequently how two-way communications, and hence the effectiveness of generating evidence for marine fisheries policy making and management, can be improved. Conclusions and recommendations for ‘good practice’ include the importance of building good relationships and trust between researchers and fisheries managers, the need for fisheries ministries to have sufficient inhouse scientific capacity to act as ‘intelligent customers’, and the key role of interpreters of research whose skills and career paths need to be carefully developed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article is not a critique of the Sciulli article (2005) but, instead, indicates some current and contemporary research questions about professionalism considered to be important to researchers in the field from North America, Europe and worldwide. The article begins by offering an alternative, more pragmatic, view of the definitional question and argues that most researchers have accepted definitional uncertainty and moved on. Current research questions include a reappraisal and reassessment of professionalism as a normative value - and a move away from market closure as the dominant paradigm. In addition, there are new directions in the analysis that focus on the discourse of professionalism as a mechanism for the control of work and workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]