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Historical and autobiographical approaches are combined with interviews to analyze the case of the Europa-Kontakt in pre-1989 Poland and West Germany within the framework of Europeanization. The international education encounters exemplify the tendencies to Europeanize, which emerged in both countries despite the Iron Curtain. The painful relationship between Poland and Germany is contrasted with the personal trust and cooperation between Polish and German exchange pioneers since the 1970s. Their pioneering work focused on multinational inclusion, participation, intercultural learning, gifted education, creativity, and building leadership skills. It merged German adaptation of the United States' HighScope model with philosophy of encounters typical of scouting tradition, Janusz Korczak's pedagogy, and Carl Rogers' humanistic psychology, preparing ground for the 1989-2004 European Union enlargement process.

Using qualitative interviews, focus groups, storytelling and collective journaling, the life experiences of people in a local village community, in South Westphalia, Germany, born between 1930 and 1945, were analysed collaboratively. The research intention was to give the younger generations in that region access to these experiences and insights, within the context of democratic learning and civic education. The focus of this narrative learning project was on the politically relevant issues and themes they contained, above all: the significance of free information and thought, a free cultural life, access to education for all children and youth, a self-determined life for women and girls, as well as cohesion and self-help structures in the social community. Many tales were shared from the Third Reich, making references to Wilhelmine Germany and the Republic of Weimar, including how these times had been narrated to them through their forebearers and families' archives.

A developmental expression profile of the Meloidodgyne javanica esophageal gland gene chorismate mutase-1 (Mj-cm-1) could suggest when in the lifecycle of the nematode the Mj-cm-1 product is functional. This study used real-time quantitative RT-PCR to examine the variation in Mj-cm-1 transcript levels over six timepoints in the nematode lifecycle: egg, infective second-stage juveniles (Inf-J2), 2-day post-inoculation (pi), 7-day pi, 14-day pi, and adult. The Mj-cm-1 mRNA levels peaked at 2-day pi, about 100-fold above levels expressed at the egg and Inf-J2 stages. Some expression of Mj-cm-1 remained during the 7-day pi, 14-day pi, and adult stages. High transcript levels of the beta-actin control gene M. javanica Beta-actin-1 (Mj-ba-1) demonstrated the presence of cDNA at all timepoints. The peak in Mj-cm-1 transcript expression at 2-day pi as well as the previously shown esophageal gland localization of Mj-cm-1 mRNA suggest that the product of this gene may be involved early in the establishment of parasitism.