European Approach (european + approach)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


The short-term effects of air pollution on daily mortality in four Australian cities

AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, Issue 3 2005
Rod Simpson
Objective: To examine the short-term health effects of air pollution on daily mortality in four Australian cities (Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney), where more than 50% of Australians reside. Methods: The study used a similar protocol to APHEA2 (Air Pollution and Health: A European Approach) study and derived single-city and pooled estimates. Results: The results derived from the different approaches for the 1996-99 period showed consistent results for different statistical models used. There were significant effects on total mortality, (RR=1.0284 per 1 unit increase in nephelometry [10 -4. m -1], RR=1.0011 per 1ppb increase in NO2), and on respiratory mortality (RR=1.0022 per 1ppb increase in O3). No significant differences between cities were found, but the NO2 and particle effects may refer to the same impacts. Meta-analyses carried out for three cities yielded estimates for the increase in the daily total number of deaths of 0.2% (-0.8% to 1.2%) for a 10 ,g/m3 increase in PM10 concentration, and 0.9% (-0.7% to 2.5%) for a 10 ,g/m3 increase in PM2.5 concentration. Conclusions: Air pollutants in Australian cities have significant effects on mortality. [source]


Entrepreneurship Research in Europe: Taking Stock and Looking Forward

ENTREPRENEURSHIP THEORY AND PRACTICE, Issue 2 2008
Friederike Welter
With this article, as introduction to a special issue on entrepreneurship research in Europe, we hope to initiate a discussion about the importance of grounding entrepreneurship research in its national context. Different European researchers, all knowledgeable about the entrepreneurship research scene in their respective country, present the state of the research field for France, Germany, the United Kingdom (Blackburn & Smallbone, 2008); and Scandinavia. Two articles from U.S. authors complement this issue, reviewing differences in how entrepreneurship scholars measure the phenomenon and assessing the European approach(es). This special issue sets out to demonstrate the value of variety in the field,variety that very much depends on the different national, methodological, and thematic contexts entrepreneurship research takes place in. [source]


Deploying the Classic ,Community Method' in the Social Policy Field: The Example of the Acquired Rights Directive

EUROPEAN LAW JOURNAL, Issue 2 2009
Gavin Barrett
The use of the Community method of legislation, in particular the deployment of directives, has for a long time been at the core of EC labour market policy. This article seeks to reflect on the lessons to be learned from the experience of the adoption and operation of one particularly significant directive, namely the Acquired Rights Directive, and on the experience of its transposition in one Member State, Ireland. Among features noted at the EU level are the watering down of the Commission's initial legislative ambitions; the substantial lacunae, failures to address issues and ambiguities incorporated in the text of the directive, the consequent enlarged role for the Court of Justice and the apparent difficulty in changing policy direction in the event of errors being made. As regards the Irish experience of transposing the directive, lessons learnt have included the importance of the means of implementation chosen by the Member State; the obstructive effect which national industrial relations systems may have on the evolution of a common European approach; the significance which attaches to national sanctions and enforcement mechanisms; the importance attaching to the degree of collective organisation in workplaces where the implementing legislation is sought to be relied upon; and the potential which the implementation of a directive has for disruption of the harmony of a national policy approach. Finally, the use of a form of social dialogue in the implementation of employment-related directives in Ireland is also commented upon. [source]


A distinctly European approach to karst hydrology.

HYDROLOGICAL PROCESSES, Issue 14 2002
Karst Hydrology.
No abstract is available for this article. [source]


Social Dialogue Over Vocational Training In Market-Led Systems

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 1 2000
Jonathan Winterton
The involvement of social partners is central to the rhetoric of the European Commission approach to vocational training. This paper explores the development of social dialogue over vocational training at the European level and in Italy and Britain, two member states characterised as having market-led systems. The contrasting experience of the two member states suggests factors that are conducive to promoting greater social partner involvement in vocational training and demonstrates the complexity of developing a European approach. [source]


Assessing river biotic condition at a continental scale: a European approach using functional metrics and fish assemblages

JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY, Issue 1 2006
D. PONT
Summary 1The need for sensitive biological measures of aquatic ecosystem integrity applicable at large spatial scales has been highlighted by the implementation of the European Water Framework Directive. Using fish communities as indicators of habitat quality in rivers, we developed a multi-metric index to test our capacity to (i) correctly model a variety of metrics based on assemblage structure and functions, and (ii) discriminate between the effects of natural vs. human-induced environmental variability at a continental scale. 2Information was collected for 5252 sites distributed among 1843 European rivers. Data included variables on fish assemblage structure, local environmental variables, sampling strategy and a river basin classification based on native fish fauna similarities accounting for regional effects on local assemblage structure. Fifty-eight metrics reflecting different aspects of fish assemblage structure and function were selected from the available literature and tested for their potential to indicate habitat degradation. 3To quantify possible deviation from a ,reference condition' for any given site, we first established and validated statistical models describing metric responses to natural environmental variability in the absence of any significant human disturbance. We considered that the residual distributions of these models described the response range of each metric, whatever the natural environmental variability. After testing the sensitivity of these residuals to a gradient of human disturbance, we finally selected 10 metrics that were combined to obtain a European fish assemblage index. We demonstrated that (i) when considering only minimally disturbed sites the index remains invariant, regardless of environmental variability, and (ii) the index shows a significant negative linear response to a gradient of human disturbance. 4Synthesis and applications. In this reference condition modelling approach, by including a more complete description of environmental variability at both local and regional scales it was possible to develop a novel fish biotic index transferable between catchments at the European scale. The use of functional metrics based on biological attributes of species instead of metrics based on species themselves reduced the index sensitivity to the variability of fish fauna across different biogeographical areas. [source]


A European approach to a clean slate design for the future internet

BELL LABS TECHNICAL JOURNAL, Issue 2 2009
Thomas-Rolf Banniza
The paper discusses a research program for a clean slate design of a "Future Internet" undertaken by Bell Labs in cooperation with a consortium of major European operators, manufacturers, and academia. The research cooperation explores innovative solutions in architectural design, virtualization, and generic connectivity in order to create a future "network of information." We describe high-level goals and identify technical requirements and the expected business opportunities of this initiative. A basic idea for a new networking concept,the "generic path",is outlined as an example of how to realize this in the future. © 2009 Alcatel-Lucent. [source]


Emerging infections,a coordinated European approach

CLINICAL MICROBIOLOGY AND INFECTION, Issue 1 2000
R. Wise
No abstract is available for this article. [source]


Community psychology: should there be a European perspective?

JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY & APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 5 2001
Donata Francescato
In this era of globalisation community psychologists have to examine how globalisation patterns interact with local cultural norms, to find tools to promote a sense of community that fits a particular context. We cannot therefore acritically adopt for many European contexts, community psychology concepts and intervention strategies geared to USA values. The paper argues for the need to develop a European perspective in Community Psychology, built more on the European tradition of political concern for promoting social capital, besides an individual's freedom and autonomy. The paper attempts to identity some of the main differences that have emerged in the last decades between USA and European approaches to community psychology. It also describes two empowering tools, which integrate traditional and post modern views of science: community profiling and multidimensional organisational analysis, that have been used by European community psychologists to rebuild social capital in organisations and local communities. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


,Condemn a Little More, Understand a Little Less': The Political Context and Rights' Implications of the Domestic and European Rulings in the Venables-Thompson Case

JOURNAL OF LAW AND SOCIETY, Issue 3 2000
Deena Haydon
In 1993 Jon Venables and Robert Thompson were found guilty of the abduction and murder of two-year-old James Bulger. Aged ten at the time of the offence, the children were tried in an adult court before a judge and jury amidst a blaze of publicity. They were named by the trial judge and sentenced to detention at Her Majesty's Pleasure [HMp]. The Home Secretary set a minimum tariff of fifteen years imprisonment. In December 1999 the European Court of Human Rights held that, in the conduct of the trial and the fixing of the tariff, the United Kingdom government was responsible for violating the European Convention on Human Rights. This article maps how the case became a watershed in youth justice procedure and practice influencing Labour's proposals for reform and the 1998 Crime and Disorder Act. Examining the progression of appeals through the domestic and European courts, it explores the dichotomous philosophies separating the United Kingdom and European approaches to the age of criminal responsibility, the prosecution and punishment of children, and the influence of political policy on judicial decisions. Finally, the ,backlash' against ,threatening children', the affirmation of adult power and knowledge, and the implications of the European judgments in the context of a rights-based agenda are analysed. [source]


European Trade Diplomacy and the Politics of Global Development: Reflections on the EU,China ,Bra Wars' Dispute

GOVERNMENT AND OPPOSITION, Issue 2 2007
Tony Heron
The article analyses the so-called ,bra wars' trade dispute that took place between the EU and China in 2005. This dispute raised a number of important questions linked, not only to the textiles and clothing (T&C) trade regime, but to the broader conduct of the EU in relation to the developing world. Over the years, the EU has attempted to construct a discourse towards developing countries that has sought to articulate a distinctively ,European' approach to issues like preferential trade, equitable growth, poverty reduction and so on. This article thus centres on the broader analytical question raised by ,bra wars': namely, the mounting incongruity between the theory and practice of the development policies of the EU. [source]