Search results for: central and eastern Europe

Authors: S. Krustev, V. Angelova, K. Ivanov, P. Zaprjanova

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Approximately a dozen trace elements are vital for the development of all plants and some other elements are significant for some species. Heavy metals do not belong to this group of elements that are essential to plants, but some of them such as copper and zinc, have a dual effect on their growth. Concentration levels of these elements in the different regions of the world vary considerably. Their high concentrations in some parts of Central and Eastern Europe cause concern for human health and degrade the quality of agricultural produce from these areas. This study aims to compare the prevalence and levels of the major trace elements in some rural areas of Central and Eastern Europe. Soil samples from different regions of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece far from large industrial centers have been studied. The main methods for their determination are the atomic spectral techniques – atomic absorption and plasma atomic emission. As a result of this study, data on microelements levels in soils of 17 points from the main grain-producing regions of Central and Eastern Europe are presented and systematized. The content of trace elements was in the range of 5.0-84.1 mg.kg⁻¹ for Cu, 0.3-1.4 mg.kg⁻¹ for Cd, 26.1-225.5 mg.kg⁻¹ for Zn, 235.5-788.6 mg.kg⁻¹ for Mn and 4.1-25.8 mg.kg⁻¹ for Pb.

Keywords: trace elements, heavy metals, agricultural soils, Central and Eastern Europe

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Authors: Adam Chlapecka, Anna Kagstrom, Pavla Cermakova

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Background: Increasing educational attainment (EA) could decrease the occurrence of depression. We investigated the relationship between EA and depressive symptoms in older individuals across four European regions. Methods: We studied 108 315 Europeans (54 % women, median age 63 years old) from the Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe assessing EA (7 educational levels based on ISCED classification); and depressive symptoms (≥ 4 points on EURO-D scale). Logistic regression estimated the association between EA and depressive symptoms, adjusting for sociodemographic and health-related factors; testing for sex/age/region and education interactions. Results: Higher EA was associated with lower odds of depressive symptoms, independent of sociodemographic and health-related factors. A threshold of the lowest odds of depressive symptoms was detected at the first stage of tertiary education (OR 0.60; 95% CI 0.55-0.65; p<0.001; relative to no education). Central and Eastern Europe showed the strongest association (OR for high vs. low education 0.37; 95% CI 0.33-0.40; p<0.001) and Scandinavia the weakest (OR for high vs. low education 0.69; 95% CI 0.60-0.80; p<0.001). The association was strongest amongst younger individuals. There was a sex and education interaction only within Central and Eastern Europe. Conclusion: The level of EA is reflected in later-life depressive symptoms, suggesting that supporting individuals in achieving EA, and considering those with lower EA at increased risk for depression, could lead to the decreased burden of depression across the life course. Further educational support in Central and Eastern Europe may decrease the higher burden of depressive symptoms in women.

Keywords: depression, education, epidemiology, Europe

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Authors: Izabela Kapsa

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Civic participation is an important aspect of democracy. The contemporary model of democracy is based on citizens' participation in political decision-making (deliberative democracy, participatory democracy). This participation takes many forms of activities like display of slogans and symbols, voting, social consultations, political demonstrations, membership in political parties or organizing civil disobedience. The countries of Central and Eastern Europe after 1989 are characterized by great social, economic and political diversity. Civil society is also part of the process of democratization. Civil society, funded by the rule of law, civil rights, such as freedom of speech and association and private ownership, was to play a central role in the development of liberal democracy. Among the many interpretations of concepts, defining the concept of contemporary democracy, one can assume that the terms civil society and democracy, although different in meaning, nowadays overlap. In the post-communist countries, the process of shaping and maturing societies took place in the context of a struggle with a state governed by undemocratic power. State fraud or repudiation of the institution is a representative state, which in the past was the only way to manifest and defend its identity, but after the breakthrough became one of the main obstacles to the development of civil society. In Central and Eastern Europe, there are many obstacles to the development of civil society, for example, the elimination of economic poverty, the implementation of educational campaigns, consciousness-related obstacles, the formation of social capital and the deficit of social activity. Obviously, civil society does not only entail an electoral turnout but a broader participation in the decision-making process, which is impossible without direct and participative democratic institutions. This article considers such broad forms of civic participation and their characteristics in Central and Eastern Europe. The paper is attempts to analyze the functioning of electronic forms of civic participation in Central and Eastern European states. This is not accompanied by a referendum or a referendum initiative, and other forms of political participation, such as public consultations, participative budgets, or e-Government. However, this paper will broadly present electronic administration tools, the application of which results from both legal regulations and increasingly common practice in state and city management. In the comparative analysis, the experiences of post-communist bloc countries will be summed up to indicate the challenges and possible goals for further development of this form of citizen participation in the political process. The author argues that for to function efficiently and effectively, states need to involve their citizens in the political decision-making process, especially with the use of electronic tools.

Keywords: Central and Eastern Europe, e-participation, e-government, post-communism

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Authors: Tamas Dani

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The author’s research explores the geo-economical role and importance of some small and medium sized states, reviews their adaption strategies in foreign trade and also in foreign affairs in the course of changing into a multipolar world, uses international background. With these, the paper analyses the recent years and the future of ‘Opening towards Eastern foreign economic policies’ from East-Central Europe and parallel with that the ‘Western foreign economy policies’ from Asia, as the Chinese One Belt One Road new silk route plans (so far its huge part is an infrastructural development plan to reach international trade and investment aims). It can be today’s question whether these ideas will reshape the global trade or not. How does the new silk road initiatives and the Eurasian Union reflect the effect of globalization? It is worth to analyse that how did Central and Eastern European countries open to Asia; why does China have the focus of the opening policies in many countries and why could China be seen as the ‘winner’ of the world economic crisis after 2008. The research is based on the following methodologies: national and international literature, policy documents and related design documents, complemented by processing of international databases, statistics and live interviews with leaders from East-Central European countries’ companies and public administration, diplomats and international traders. The results also illustrated by mapping and graphs. The research will find out as major findings whether the state decision-makers have enough margin for manoeuvres to strengthen foreign economic relations. This work has a hypothesis that countries in East-Central Europe have real chance to diversify their relations in foreign trade, focus beyond their traditional partners. This essay focuses on the opportunities of East-Central-European countries in diversification of foreign trade relations towards China and Russia in terms of ‘Eastern Openings’. The effects of the new silk road initiatives and the Eurasian Union to Hungary’s economy with a comparing outlook on East-Central European countries and exploring common regional cooperation opportunities in this area. The essay concentrate on the changing trade relations between East-Central-Europe and China as well as Russia, try to analyse the effects of the new silk road initiatives and the Eurasian Union also. In the conclusion part, it shows how the cooperation is necessary for the East-Central European countries if they want to have a non-asymmetric trade with Russia, China or some Chinese regions (Pearl River Delta, Hainan, …). The form of the cooperation for the East-Central European nations can be Visegrad 4 Cooperation (V4), Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC16), 3 SEAS Cooperation (or BABS – Baltic, Adriatic, Black Seas Initiative).

Keywords: China, East-Central Europe, foreign trade relations, geoeconomics, geopolitics, Russia

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Authors: Margerita Topalli

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In this paper, we analyze the impact of corruption (business environment, informal payments and state capture), crime and tax time, on the enterprise's performance during economic transition in the Central and Eastern Europe and the role of privatization as a moderator. We examine this effect by comparing the performance of the privatized enterprises and the state-owned-enterprises, while controlling for various forms of selection bias. The present study is based on firm-level panel data collected by the BEEPS for 27 transition countries over 2002, 2005, 2007, and 2011. In addition to firm characteristics, BEEPS collects valuable survey information on different forms of corruption, crime, tax time and firm ownership. We estimate the impact of corruption, crime, tax time on the different performance measures (sales, productivity, employment, labor costs and material costs) of the enterprise, whereby we control for firm ownership, with a special focus on the role of the privatization as a moderator. It argues that in general terms, the privatization has positive effects on the performance of enterprises during transition, but these effects are significantly different, depending on the examined performance measure (sales, productivity, employment, labor costs and material costs). When the privatization is effective, the privatized enterprises show a considerable performance improvements, particularly in terms of revenue growth and productivity growth. It also argues that the effects of privatization are different depending on the types of owner (outsider or insider) to whom it gives control. The results show that privatization to insider owners has no significant performance effect.

Keywords: effects of privatization, enterprise performance, state capture, corruption, firm ownership, economic transition, Central and Eastern Europe

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Authors: Ilona Copik

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The aim of this study is to analyze the representation of memories of the forced displacement of Poles and Germans from the eastern territories in 1945 as depicted by Polish and German feature films between the years 1945-1960. The aftermath of World War II and the Allied agreements concluded at Yalta and Potsdam (1945) resulted in changes in national borders in Central and Eastern Europe and the large-scale transfer of civilians. The westward migration became a symbol of the new post-war division of Europe, new spheres of influence separated by the Iron Curtain. For years it was a controversial topic in both Poland and Germany due to the geopolitical alignment (the socialist East and capitalist West of Europe), as well as the unfinished debate between the victims and perpetrators of the war. The research premise is to take a comparative view of the conflicted cultures of Polish and German memory, to reflect on the possibility of an international dialogue about the past recorded in film images, and to discover the potential of film as a narrative warning against totalitarian inclinations. Until now, films made between 1945 and 1960 in Poland and the German occupation zones have been analyzed mainly in the context of artistic strategies subordinated to ideology and historical politics. In this study, the intention is to take a critical approach leading to the recognition of how films work as collective memory media, how they reveal the mechanisms of memory/forgetting, and what settlement topoi and migration myths they contain. The main hypothesis is that feature films about forced displacement, in addition to the politics of history - separate in each country - reveal comparable transnational individual experiences: the chaos of migration, the trauma of losing one's home, the conflicts accompanying the familiar/foreign, the difficulty of cultural adaptation, the problem of lost identity, etc.

Keywords: forced displacement, Polish and German cinema, war victims, World War II

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Authors: Wenjuan Lu

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China and Hungary have risen from a friendly and comprehensive cooperative relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership in recent years, and the economic and trade relations between the two countries have developed smoothly. As an important country along the ‘Belt and Road’, Hungary and China have strong economic complementarities and have unique advantages in carrying China's industrial transfer and economic transformation and development. The construction of the China-Hungary Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone, which was initiated by the ‘Sino-Hungarian Borsod Industrial Zone’ and the ‘Hungarian Central European Trade and Logistics Cooperation Park’ has promoted infrastructure construction, optimized production capacity, promoted industrial restructuring, and formed brand and agglomeration effects. Enhancing the influence of Chinese companies in the European market has also promoted economic development in Hungary and even in Central and Eastern Europe. However, as the China-Hungary Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone is still in its infancy, there are still shortcomings such as small scale, single function, and no prominent platform. In the future, based on the needs of China's cooperation with ‘17+1’ and China-Hungary cooperation, on the basis of appropriately expanding the scale of economic and trade cooperation zones and appropriately increasing the number of economic and trade cooperation zones, it is better to focus on optimizing and adjusting its functions and highlighting different economic and trade cooperation. The differentiated function of the trade zones strengthens the multi-faceted cooperation of economic and trade cooperation zones and highlights its role as a platform for cooperation in information, capital, and services.

Keywords: ‘One Belt, One Road’ Initiative, China-Hungary economic and trade cooperation zone, function optimization, Central and Eastern Europe

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Authors: Nazim Habibov, Alena Auchynnikava, Lida Fan

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The exploration of the relationship between social trust and the support of the welfare system in transitional countries has attracted growing interests in recent decades. This study estimates the effects of interpersonal and institutional trust on the support of the welfare system in 27 countries in Eastern Europe the former Soviet Union. We estimate the data sets from the Life-in-Transition Survey 2010 and 2016 with binomial regression models. The results indicate that both interpersonal and institutional trust have positive effects on the support for the welfare system in all the three areas under investigation: helping the needy, public healthcare and public education, both in the less developed countries of the former Soviet Union and in the more developed Eastern European countries. Furthermore, the positive effects of interpersonal and institutional trust on support for helping the needy, public healthcare and public education were found to grow over time. In conclusion, this study confirms that interpersonal and institutional trusts have positive effects for the public support of the welfare system in these transitional countries under investigation, regardless of their level of development.

Keywords: central and eastern Europe, former Soviet union, international social welfare policy, comparative social welfare policy

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Authors: Aliaksandr Shuba, Max Welch Guerra, Martin Pekar

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The research is dedicated to the Historiography of European urbanism in the 20th century with its critical analysis of transnational oriented sources in Slavic languages. The goal of this research was to give an overview of Slavic sources on this subject. In the research, historians, who wrote in influential historiographies on architecture and urbanism in the 20th century history in Slavic languages from Eastern, Central and South-eastern Europe, are analysed. The analysis of historiographies in Slavic languages includes diverse sources from around Europe with authors, who examined European Urbanism in the 20th century through a global prism of or their own perspectives. The main publications are from the second half of the 20th century and the early 21st century with Soviet and Post-Soviet discourses. The necessity to analyse Slavic sources was a result of historiography of urbanism establishment as a discipline in the 20th century and by the USSR, Czechslovak, and Yugoslavian academics, who created strong historiographic bases for a development of their urban historiographic schools for wide studies and analysis of architectural and urban ideas and projects with their history in the early 1970s. That is analyzed in this research within Slavic publications, which often have different perspectives and discourses to Anglo-Saxon, and these bibliographic sources can bring a diversity of new ideas in contemporary academic discourse of the European urban historiography. The publications in Slavic languages are analyzed according to the following aspects: where, when, which types, by whom, and to whom the sources were written. The critical analysis of essential sources on the Historiography of European urbanism in the 20th century with an accomplishment through their comparison and interpretation. The authors’ autonomy is analysed as a central point, along with the influence of the Communist Party and state control on the interpretation of the history of urbanism in Central, Eastern and South-eastern Europe with the main dominant topics and ideas from the second half of the 20th century. Cross-national Slavic Historiographic sources and their perspectives are compared to the main transnational Anglo-Saxon Historiographic topics as some of the dominant subjects are hypothetically similar and others have more local or national oriented directions. Some of the dominant subjects, topics, and subtopics are hypothetically similar, while the others have more local or national oriented directions because of the authors’ autonomy and influences of the Communist Party with the state control in Slavic Socialists countries that were illustrated in this research.

Keywords: European urbanism, historiography, different perspectives, 20th century

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Authors: Jerzy Bański

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Central and Eastern European agriculture is characterized by large spatial variations in the structure of agricultural land and the structure of crops on arable land. In general, field crops predominate among the land used for agriculture. In the southern part of the study area, permanent crops have a relatively large share, which is due to favorable climatic conditions. Clear differences between the north and south of the region concern the structure of crop cultivation. In the north, the cultivation of cereals, mainly wheat, definitely prevails. In the south of the region, on the other hand, the structure of crops is more diverse, as more industrial crops are grown in addition to cereals. The primary cognitive objective of the study is to diagnose and identify the directions of changes in the structure of agricultural land use in the CEE region. Particular attention was paid to the spatial differentiation of this structure and its importance in its formation of various conditions. The analysis included the basic elements of the structure of agricultural land use and the structure of crops on arable land. The decrease in the area of arable land is characteristic of the entire region and is the result of the territorial growth of cities, the development of communications infrastructure (rail and road), and the increase in the rationality of crop production involving, among other things, the exclusion from the cultivation of land with the lowest agro-ecological values and their afforestation. It can be summarized that the directions of changes in the basic categories of agricultural land are related to agro-ecological conditions, which indicates an increase in the rationality of crop production. In countries with lower-quality of agricultural production space, the share of grassland generally increased, while in countries with favorable conditions -mainly soil- the share of arable land increased. As for the structure of field crops, the direction of its changes seems to be mainly due to economic and social reasons. Ownership changes shaping an unfavorable agrarian structure (fragmentation and fragmentation of arable fields) and the process of aging of the rural population resulted in the abandonment of resource- and labor-intensive crops. As a result, the importance of growing fruits and vegetables, and potatoes has declined. The structure of vegetable crops has been greatly influenced by the accession of Central and Eastern European countries to the European Union. This is primarily the increase in the importance of oil crops (rapeseed and sunflower) related to biofuel production. In the case of cereal crops, the main direction of change was the increase in the share of wheat at the expense of other cereal species.

Keywords: agriculture, land use, Central and Eastern Europe, crops, arable land

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Authors: Tamas Garamhegyi, Jozsef Kovacs, Rita Pongracz, Peter Tanos, Balazs Trasy, Norbert Magyar, Istvan G. Hatvani

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Like most environmental processes, shallow groundwater fluctuation under natural circumstances also behaves periodically. With the statistical tools at hand, it can easily be determined if a period exists in the data or not. Thus, the question may be raised: Does the estimated average period time characterize the whole time period, or not? This is especially important in the case of such complex phenomena as shallow groundwater fluctuation, driven by numerous factors. Because of the continuous changes in the oscillating components of shallow groundwater time series, the most appropriate method should be used to investigate its periodicity, this is wavelet spectrum analysis. The aims of the research were to investigate the periodic behavior of the shallow groundwater time series of an agriculturally important and drought sensitive region in Central-Eastern Europe and its relationship to the European pressure action centers. During the research ~216 shallow groundwater observation wells located in the eastern part of the Great Hungarian Plain with a temporal coverage of 50 years were scanned for periodicity. By taking the full-time interval as 100%, the presence of any period could be determined in percentages. With the complex hydrogeological/meteorological model developed in this study, non-periodic time intervals were found in the shallow groundwater levels. On the local scale, this phenomenon linked to drought conditions, and on a regional scale linked to the maxima of the regional air pressures in the Gulf of Genoa. The study documented an important link between shallow groundwater levels and climate variables/indices facilitating the necessary adaptation strategies on national and/or regional scales, which have to take into account the predictions of drought-related climatic conditions.

Keywords: climate change, drought, groundwater periodicity, wavelet spectrum and coherence analyses

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Authors: Geraldine Ambe

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Cameroon is a country in a country in Central Africa. Before the first World War, Germany colonized Cameroon, including some parts of Gabon, Chad, Nigeria, and the Central African Republic. After the war, the United Nations divided most of the colony into Britain and France. In 1960, Eastern Cameroon (‘La Republique du Cameroon’) gained its independence from France while British Southern Cameroons obtained its independence from Britain. The two entities agreed to live together as a federal state officially called the Federal Republic of Cameroon. In 1962, the name of the name of the country was changed from the Federal Republic of Cameroon to the United Republic of Cameroon, while the Prime Minister of Western Cameroon was moved to Yaounde. In 1984, President Paul Biya singlehandedly changed the name to the Republic of Cameroon, implying that Southern Cameroon is not recognized in the union again. From the words of Am Cohen, the two territories came together to form a federal government with one currency, one army, and one foreign policy like states in the United States of America. However, the name Republic of Cameroon (‘La Republique du Cameroun’) does not recognize BSC, and this is exactly what has been practiced: politics of exclusion and excessive centralization in Yaounde. In 2016, teachers and Lawyers started strikes to call the attention of the government on the inhalation of the English culture/people. They were greeted with guns, causing the radicalization of the youths. The civil society came together to form a union to address the issues facing the people, and the government took their leaders and sentenced them to live imprisonment. The consequence was a civil war with nobody to dialogue with. Out of Cameroon, more than half a million people from BSC have been taking dangerous trips through the air, land, and sea. In the jungles and the deserts, the snow of Europe, these people have been seen for the last 4 years. This paper will present some personalities, political fractions, and their stands of decentralization, federalism, and independence as the war continues. The paper will further look at the consequence of this crisis on migration in Central and Eastern Europe.

Keywords: British Southern Cameroons, decolonization, Second World War, dialogue, civil war, immigration

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Authors: Reka Zsuzsanna Mathe

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The globalization and the Europeanization have significantly contributed to a change in the role of the nation-states. The global economic crisis, the climate changes, and the recent refugee crisis, are just a few among many challenges that cannot be effectively addressed by the traditional role of the nation-states. One of the main roles of the states is to solve collective action problems, however due to their changing roles; apparently this is getting more and more difficult. Depending on political culture, collective action problems are solved either through cooperation or conflict. The political culture of Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries is marked by low civic participation and by a weak civil society. In this type of culture collective action problems are likely to be induced through conflict, rather than the democratic process of dialogue and any type of social change is probably to be introduced by social movements. Several studies have been conducted on the social movements of the CEE countries, yet, it is still not clear if the most significant social movements of the region tend to choose rather the cooperative or the conflictual way as action strategy. This study differentiates between a national and a European action field, having different social orders. The actors of the two fields are the broadly understood civil society members, conceptualized as social movements. This research tries to answer the following questions: a) What are the norms that best characterize the CEE countries’ social order? b) What type of actors would prefer a change and in which areas? c) Is there a significant difference between the main actors active in the national versus the European field? The main hypotheses are that there are conflicting norms defining the national and the European action field, and there is a significant difference between the action strategies adopted by social movements acting in the two different fields. In mapping the social order, the study uses data provided by the European Social Survey. Big data of the Global Data on Events, Location and Tone (GDELT) database offers information regarding the main social movements and their preferred type of action. The unit of the analysis is the so called ‘Visegrad 4’ countries: Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary and the research uses data starting from 2005 (after the European accession of these four countries) until May, 2017. According to the data, the main hypotheses were confirmed.

Keywords: big data, Central and Eastern Europe, civil society, GDELT, social movements

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Authors: Shorena Pharjiani

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The Present empirical paper investigates the relationship between FDI and economic growth by 10 selected industries in 10 Central and Eastern European countries from the period 1995 to 2012. Different estimation approaches were used to explore the connection between FDI and economic growth, for example OLS, RE, FE with and without time dummies. Obtained empirical results leads to some main consequences: First, the Central and East European countries (CEEC) attracted foreign direct investment, which raised the productivity of industries they entered in. It should be concluded that the linkage between FDI and output growth by industries is positive and significant enough to suggest that foreign firm’s participation enhanced the productivity of the industries they occupied. There had been an endogeneity problem in the regression and fixed effects estimation approach was used which partially corrected the regression analysis in order to make the results less biased. Second, it should be stressed that the results show that time has an important role in making FDI operational for enhancing output growth by industries via total factor productivity. Third, R&D positively affected economic growth and at the same time, it should take some time for research and development to influence economic growth. Fourth, the general trends masked crucial differences at the country level: over the last 20 years, the analysis of the tables and figures at the country level show that the main recipients of FDI of the 11 Central and Eastern European countries were Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic. The main reason was that these countries had more open door policies for attracting the FDI. Fifth, according to the graphical analysis, while Hungary had the highest FDI inflow in this region, it was not reflected in the GDP growth as much as in other Central and Eastern European countries.

Keywords: central and East European countries (CEEC), economic growth, FDI, panel data

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Authors: Raheel Asif, Michael Frommel

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This paper focuses on analyzing the exchange rate exposure of exporting & domestic firms in (the so far rarely addressed) largest Eastern European transition economies, i.e., Russia and the three EU accession countries, Poland, Hungary, and Czech Republic (CEEC-3). It also controls for possible effects of different exchange rate regimes, Great Financial crisis (2007-08), Russian Financial crisis (2014-15), the formation of EU & turn of year effect. Substantially improving the results from the existing literature on these transition economies, we find for more than 51% of our sample firms in CEEC-3 countries and 29% in Russia shows a significant exchange rate exposure. However, the magnitude and direction of firms’ exposure depends on the particular bilateral exchange rate and differs between CEEC-3 and Russia. We find that share price increases with an appreciation of the domestic currency against the EURO and US Dollar (USD) in CEEC-3; however, the effect is more pronounced for EURO as expected. Whereas, for Russian firms share price increases with a depreciation of the domestic currency against the USD only. Those differences may result from a differing dominance of exposure channels in the respective economies, such as the country-specific export structure, competitiveness channels, and dependence on foreign debt. Finally, the switch from a pegged to a flexible exchange rate regime appears to have a less pronounced effect for the exchange rate exposure of firms in all countries except for USD in Poland and Russia.

Keywords: exchange rate exposure, transition economies, central and eastern Europe, international finance

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Authors: Veronika Solopova, Oana-Iuliana Popescu, Tim Landgraf, Christoph Benzmüller

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Beginning in 2014, slowly building geopolitical tensions in Eastern Europe led to a full-blown conflict between the Russian Federation and Ukraine that generated an unprecedented amount of news articles and data from social media data, reflecting the opposing ideologies and narratives as a background and the essence of the ongoing war. These polarized informational campaigns have led to countless mutual accusations of misinformation and fake news, shaping an atmosphere of confusion and mistrust for many readers all over the world. In this study, we analyzed scraped news articles from Ukrainian, Russian, Romanian and English-speaking news outlets, on the eve of 24th of February 2022, compared to day five of the conflict (28th of February), to see how the media influenced and mirrored the changes in public opinion. We also contrast the sources opposing and supporting the stands of the Russian government in Ukrainian, Russian and Romanian media spaces. In a data-driven way, we describe how the narratives are spread throughout Eastern and Central Europe. We present predictive linguistic features surrounding war propaganda. Our results indicate that there are strong similarities in terms of rhetoric strategies in the pro-Kremlin media in both Ukraine and Russia, which, while being relatively neutral according to surface structure, use aggressive vocabulary. This suggests that automatic propaganda identification systems have to be tailored for each new case, as they have to rely on situationally specific words. Both Ukrainian and Russian outlets lean towards strongly opinionated news, pointing towards the use of war propaganda in order to achieve strategic goals.

Keywords: linguistic, news, propaganda, Russia, ukraine

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Authors: Arūnas Gudinavičius

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The historiography of scholarly journals in Eastern Europe is fragmented, and so far, the development of scholarly journals in Eastern Europe has not been studied from a publishing point of view in the context of scientific communication. There are only a few general articles on the period before World War II; also, there is hardly any systematic and publicly available information about the Soviet period and the situation of scientific communication in Eastern Europe at the end of the XX century and the beginning of the XXI century. There is a lack of research data on scholarly journals in Lithuania. The existing researches focuses mostly on the specific needs of academic institutions. The publication of scientific journals and papers is analyzed as a part of the scientific communication circle. Formal science communication from the point of view that it is the results formed in the course of communication are examined, which are necessarily characterized by long-term access to a large circle of users. Improved model of scientific communication by supplementing the dissemination of research results with formal and informal communication channels is used, according to which the scientific communication system forms the essence of science, where the social, lasting value of science and the dissemination of scientific results to scientists and the public are the most important. The model covers the science communication process from research initiation to journal publication and citation. We are focusing on the publishing and dissemination stages of the model of scientific communication. The paper is to systematize and analyze the various types of scientific journal publishers from 1907 until 2020 as a means of formal documentary communication in the context of all scientific communication. The research analyses the case of a small European country and presents chronological and geographical characteristics of the publication of scientific periodicals, analyzes the publishers of scientific periodicals and their activities, publishing formats, and dissemination methods.

Keywords: scientific communication, scientific periodicals, scientific journals, publishing

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Authors: Rai Friedman

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The recent migrant crisis has revealed an unmet demand for increased international protection and promotion of migrant rights. Europe has found itself at the centre of the migration crisis, being the recipient to the largest number of asylum-seekers since the conclusion of the second World War. Rather than impart a unified humanitarian lens of offering legal protections, the Schengen territory is devising new, preventative measures to confront the influx of asylum-seekers. This paper will focus on the refugee crisis in Europe as it relates to the Central Mediterranean route. To do so, it will outline the increased need for international protection for migrant rights through analyzing historic human rights treaties and conventions; the formation of the current composition of the Schengen area; the evolutionary changes in policies and legal landscapes throughout Europe and the Central Mediterranean route; the vernacular transformation surrounding refugees, migrants, and asylum-seekers; and expose the gaps in international protection. It will also discuss Europe’s critical position, both geographically and conceptually, critiquing the notion of European victimization. Lastly, it will discuss the increased harm of preventative border measures and argue for tangible sustainability solutions through economic programming models in highly vulnerable countries. To do so, this paper will observe a case study in Algeria that has conceded to an economic programming model for forced migrants. In 2017 amid worker shortages, Algeria announced it would grant African migrants’ legal status to become agriculturalists and construction workers. Algeria is one of the few countries along the Central Mediterranean route that has adopted a law to govern foreign nationals’ conditions of entry, stay and circulation. Thereafter, it will provide recommendations for solutions for forced migration along the Central Mediterranean route and advocate for strengthened protections under international law.

Keywords: refugees, migrants, human rights, middle east, Africa, mediterranean, international humanitarian law, policy

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Authors: Songul Miftakhov

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This study explores political representation and engagement of Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia regions, known to have dense Kurdish population and referred further to as Eastern region, in the Turkish parliament between 1946 and 1980. Traditional local notables had most of the privileges to be represented given their connectedness with political parties. Traditional local notables integrated into right-wing parties considering political and economic aspects. At the same time, they kept control over local political involvement channels. As a result, political representation and presence were monopolized at central, local and civil society levels. One part of Kurdish intellectuals was marginalized from the parliament after addressing issues in Eastern Anatolia and trying to develop solutions apart from the mainstream. Some of them took part in Kurdish oppositional left wing in the 1960s and jounced power of settled notables in 1970s in local administrations or as independent members of the parliament.

Keywords: Kurdish representation, parliament, local nobles, Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia

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Authors: Jeremy Goldsmith

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The Gambia, the smallest country in mainland Africa and one of the poorest countries on Earth, is currently experiencing historically unprecedented levels of out-migration to Europe. As a result, Gambians are currently among the top four nationalities emigrating to Europe. The central question that this thesis will address is: what factors impact the migration-related decision-making capabilities of Gambians? Based on interviews with NGOs, as well as those who have migrated and returned, are planning to migrate, and their friends and families, a pattern will emerge. This pattern will be woven into first person narratives which will explore the politico-economic, environmental, and socio-cultural factors that inform individual decision-making with regards to migration.

Keywords: migration, The Gambia, Africa, politico-economic, sociocultural, environmental

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Authors: Markus Heck, Hans Vettiger

Abstract:

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) are the backbone of central Europe’s economies and have a significant contribution to the gross domestic product. Production planning and scheduling (PPS) is still a crucial element in manufacturing industries of the 21st century even though this area of research is more than a century old. The topic of PPS is well researched especially in the context of large enterprises in the manufacturing industry. However, the implementation of PPS methodologies within SME is mostly unobserved. This work analyzes how PPS is implemented in SME with the geographical focus on Switzerland and its vicinity. Based on restricted resources compared to large enterprises, SME have to face different challenges. The real problem areas of selected enterprises in regards of PPS are identified and evaluated. For the identified real-life problem areas of SME clear and detailed recommendations are created, covering concepts and best practices and the efficient usage of PPS. Furthermore, the economic and entrepreneurial value for companies is lined out and why the implementation of the introduced recommendations is advised.

Keywords: central Europe, PPS, production planning, SME

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Authors: Toushik Maiti, Saibal Chatterjee, Kamaljyoti Gogoi, Arijit Basuray

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Eastern Regional(ER) Grid and North Eastern Regional (NER) Grid are two major grids of Eastern Part of India. Both of the grid consists of voltage level 765kV, 400 kV, 220 kV and numerous buses at lower voltage range. Eastern Regional Grid and North Eastern Regional Grid are not only connected among themselves but are also connected to various other grids of India. ER and NER Grid having various HVDC lines or back to back systems which form the total network. The studied system comprises of 340 buses of different voltage levels and transmission lines running over a length of 32089 km. The validation of load flow has been done using IEEE STANDARD 30 bus system. The power flow simulation analysis has been performed after synchronizing both the Eastern Grid and North-Eastern Regional Grid of India using Power System Simulators for Engineering (PSS®E) Important inferences has been drawn from the study.

Keywords: HVDC, load flow, PSS®E, unsymmetrical and symmetrical faults

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Authors: M. Mydlárová Blaščáková, J. Poráčová, Z. Tomková, Ľ. Blaščáková, M. Nagy, M. Konečná, E. Petrejčíková, Z. Gogaľová, V. Sedlák, J. Mydlár, M. Zahatňanská, K. Hricová

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Osteoporosis is a multifactorial disease that results in reduced quality of life, causes decreased bone strength, and changes in their microarchitecture. Mostly postmenopausal women are at risk. In our study, we measured anthropometric parameters of postmenopausal women (104 women of control group – CG and 105 women of osteoporotic group - OG) and determined TSH hormone levels and PTH as well as mineral elements - Ca, P, Mg and enzyme alkaline phosphatase. Through the correlation analysis in CG, we have found association based on age and BMI, P and Ca, as well as Mg and Ca; in OG we determined interdependence based on an association of age and BMI, age and Ca. Using the Student's t test, we found significantly important differences in biochemical parameters of Mg (p ˂ 0,001) and TSH (p ˂ 0,05) between CG and OG.

Keywords: factors, bone mass density, Central Europe, biomarkers

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Authors: Dorsa Bakhshandehgeyazdi

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This article tries to comprehend the change of Turkish common military relations in an analogical viewpoint. The investigation is taking into account two criteria: institutional / legitimate systems and political oversight of the military's self-sufficiency. Examination of European furthermore, Middle Eastern common military relations models to the Turkish ideal model discloses grave contrasts in the middle of Turkish and Middle Eastern common military relations. The Turkish model in change for not less than 10 years is closer to the European show in both lawful and political perspectives. However, the article underscores that Turkish common military relations are still in change and despite the fact that the EU increase procedure has continuously democratized the legitimate arrangement of the nation, law based combining obliges further advances in the political area. A the result, stabilization in Turkey depends not just on withdrawing of the military from the political domain, additionally on the best possible civilization of the administration in hypothesis and practice.

Keywords: Turkish common military, institutional, legitimate systems, political oversight, middle Eastern common military

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Authors: Katalin Bodor, Zsolt Bodor, Robert Szep

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The particulate matter (PM) smaller than 2.5 μm are less studied due to the limited availability of PM₂.₅, and less information is available on the health effects attributable to PM₁₀ in Central-Eastern Europe. The objective of the current study was to assess the human health risk and characterize the spatial and temporal variation of PM₂.₅ and PM₁₀ in eight Romanian regions between the 2009-2018 and. The PM concentrations showed high variability over time and spatial distribution. The highest concentration was detected in the Bucharest region in the winter period, and the lowest was detected in West. The relative risk caused by the PM₁₀ for all-cause mortality varied between 1.017 (B) and 1.025 (W), with an average 1.020. The results demonstrate a positive relative risk of cardiopulmonary and lung cancer disease due to exposure to PM₂.₅ on the national average 1.26 ( ± 0.023) and 1.42 ( ± 0.037), respectively.

Keywords: PM₂.₅, PM₁₀, relative risk, health effect

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Authors: Seyed Majid Alavi Shooshtari

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As a multi-layered prose piece of artistry and craftsmanship Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu’s Persian Letters (1721) is a satirical work which records the experiences of two Persian noblemen, Usbek and Rica, traveling through France in the early eighteenth century. Montesquieu creates Persian Letters as a critique of the French society, a critical explanation of what was considered to be 'the Orient' in the period, and an invaluable historical document which illustrates the ways Europe and the East understood each other in the first half of the eighteenth century. However, Persian Letters is considered today, in part, an Orientalist text because of it presenting the culture of the East using stereotypical images. Although, when Montesquieu published Persian Letters, the term Orientalist was a harmless word for people who studied or took an interest in it, the ways in which this Western intellectual author exerts his critique of French social and political life through the eyes of Persian protagonists by placing the example of the Orient (the Other) at the service of an ongoing Eighteen century discourse does raise some Eastern eyebrows. The fact that Persian side of the novel is considered by some critics as a fanciful decor, and the letters sent home are seen as literary props, yet these Eastern men intelligently question the rationality of religious, state, military and cultural practices and uncover much of the absurdity, irrationality or frivolity of European life. By drawing on the insight that Montesquieu’s text problematizes the assumption that orientalism monolithically constructs the Orient as the Other, the present paper aims to examine how the innocent gaze of two Eastern travelers mirrors the ways Europe’s identity defines its-Self.

Keywords: montesquieu, persian letters, ‘the orint’, identity politics, self, the other

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Authors: K. Alafogiannis, E. E. Houssos, E. Anagnostou, G. Kouvarakis, N. Mihalopoulos, A. Fotiadi

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The Mediterranean basin is an area where different aerosol types coexist, including urban/industrial, desert dust, biomass burning and marine particles. Particularly, mineral dust aerosols, mostly originated from North African deserts, significantly contribute to high aerosol loads above the Mediterranean. Dust transport, controlled by the variation of the atmospheric circulation throughout the year, results in a strong spatial and temporal variability of aerosol properties. In this study, the synoptic conditions which favor dust transport over the Eastern Mediterranean are thoroughly investigated. For this reason, three datasets are employed. Firstly, ground-based daily data of aerosol properties, namely Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT), Ångström exponent (α440-870) and fine fraction from the FORTH-AERONET (Aerosol Robotic Network) station along with measurements of PM10 concentrations from Finokalia station, for the period 2003-2011, are used to identify days with high coarse aerosol load (episodes) over Crete. Then, geopotential height at 1000, 850 and 700 hPa levels obtained from the NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis Project, are utilized to depict the atmospheric circulation during the identified episodes. Additionally, air-mass back trajectories, calculated by HYSPLIT, are used to verify the origin of aerosols from neighbouring deserts. For the 227 identified dust episodes, the statistical methods of Factor and Cluster Analysis are applied on the corresponding atmospheric circulation data to reveal the main types of the synoptic conditions favouring dust transport towards Crete (Eastern Mediterranean). The 227 cases are classified into 11 distinct types (clusters). Dust episodes in Eastern Mediterranean, are found to be more frequent (52%) in spring with a secondary maximum in autumn. The main characteristic of the atmospheric circulation associated with dust episodes, is the presence of a low-pressure system at surface, either in southwestern Europe or western/central Mediterranean, which induces a southerly air flow favouring dust transport from African deserts. The exact position and the intensity of the low-pressure system vary notably among clusters. More rarely dust may originate from deserts of Arabian Peninsula.

Keywords: aerosols, atmospheric circulation, dust particles, Eastern Mediterranean

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Authors: Ahmet Sekreter

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Although there are conceptual similarities in terms of financial products between conventional and Islamic finance, they are entirely different financial systems. Despite Islamic finance’s small size in the conventional finance world, its promising growth makes Islamic finance a hot topic both in academia and business world. Today customers can access sophisticated Islamic financial products not only in Muslim countries but also in Europe. This study analyzes Islamic finance and its products and includes a brief overview of Islamic finance in Europe. Literature review is the basis of this paper. The author analyzed the academic papers, numerical data, and estimations to set a perspective for the future of Islamic finance in Europe. Findings show that UK is the main hub for the Islamic finance, and it will remain so in the near future.

Keywords: islamic finance, islamic banking, islamic finance in Europe, finance

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Authors: Tingyu Zhang

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This paper utilizes the Super-SBM model to assess water resources green efficiency (WRGE) among provinces in China and investigate its spatial and temporal features, based on the characteristic framework of “economy-environment-society.” The social network analysis is employed to examine the network pattern and spatial interaction of WRGE. Further, the quadratic assignment procedure method is utilized for examining the influencing factors of the spatial association of WRGE regarding “relationship.” The study reveals that: (1) the spatial distribution of WRGE demonstrates a distribution pattern of Eastern>Western>Central; (2) a remarkable spatial association exists among provinces; however, no strict hierarchical structure is observed. The internal structure of the WRGE network is characterized by the feature of "Eastern strong and Western weak". The block model analysis discovers that the members of the “net spillover” and “two-way spillover” blocks are mostly in the eastern and central provinces; “broker” block, which plays an intermediary role, is mostly in the central provinces; and members of the “net beneficiary” block are mostly in the western region. (3) Differences in economic development, degree of urbanization, water use environment, and water management have significant impacts on the spatial connection of WRGE. This study is dedicated to the realization of regional linkages and synergistic enhancement of WRGE, which provides a meaningful basis for building a harmonious society of human and water coexistence.

Keywords: water resources green efficiency, super-SBM model, social network analysis, quadratic assignment procedure

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Authors: Cheng Wen, Zhang Jianhua

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This paper aims to probe into the general rules of industry specialization or diversification in a region during its process of economic growth and the specific reasons for the difference of industry specialization development in the eastern, central and western regions of China. It is found in this paper that the changes of regional industry specialization in China, like most of countries in the world, also present the U-shaped curve. Regional industrial structure is diversified in the first place. And when the per capita income exceeds a certain level, distribution of economic resources in this region will be concentrated again. From the perspective of rising total factor productivity and falling of transaction cost in the process of economic development, this paper comes up with a theoretical model to explain the U-shaped curve. Through the empirical test of China's provincial panel data, this paper explains the factors that cause the inequality of the industry specialization development in the eastern, central and western regions of China.

Keywords: u-shaped curve, regional industrial specialization, technological progress, transaction costs

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