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Few papers have been published on the interactions between slime moulds and beetles in Europe. The available knowledge was usually acquired incidentally to mycological studies and concerns common and easily identifiable slime moulds. The beetles in those studies were frequently identified to genus only, and sometimes only selected families were studied. In 2018–2019, a comprehensive survey of Myxomycete-Coleoptera associations was carried out in the Pieniny National Park (Carpathians, S Poland). A total of 164 sporocarps from 30 species of slime moulds were examined, and beetles were found in 112 sporocarps of 23 slime mould species. The sporocarps were inhabited by 674 individuals from 37 species of beetles. To date, this is the most comprehensive study of beetles associated with slime moulds in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The engagement of young people has been a neglected area in youth justice and drug policy and practice. This paper explores the concept of 'engagement' in relation to drug interventions in custodial and community settings in different European countries. Interviews were undertaken with young people (aged 14–25 years) in contact with the criminal justice system who use illegal drugs and with practitioners involved in the delivery of interventions for our target group in Denmark, Italy, Poland, and the UK. The key techniques to engage young people were described in similar terms across the countries. These included forming relationships based on trust, honesty, and empathy, setting goals collaboratively, and employing practitioners with lived experience and understanding. The objectives and activities on offer are often constrained by criminal justice contexts. Despite the differences between the countries in terms of criminal justice systems and the structure of drug interventions, there were remarkable similarities in the ways young people and practitioners described effective engagement. Strong emphasis on operational engagement to ensure positive relationships between young people and practitioners was important in the design and delivery of interventions. Practitioners working in criminal justice contexts need to have flexibility and autonomy to work creatively to find ways to engage, connect, and inspire young people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on research undertaken as part of the EU funded EPPIC project, this paper aims to update and elaborate on the relationship between drug use and offending behaviours by exploring variations within a cross-national sample of drug-experienced young people in touch with criminal justice systems. Adopting a trajectory-based approach, interviews were undertaken with 198 young people aged 15–25 in six European countries (Austria, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Poland, and UK). Data were analysed by applying the Bennett and Holloway categorization of the drugs-crime link, with a focus on the concept of social exclusion as developed by Seddon. Three main types of mechanisms (economic, pharmaceutical, and lifestyles) are used to interpret the data, showing how the relationship between drugs and offending can vary according to type of substances and over time. Furthermore, it can be associated with very different degrees of social exclusion and needs. The results suggest that while economic inequalities still play key roles in explaining drug use and offending, both behaviours can originate from a state of relative deprivation, resulting from the contradictions inherent in 'bulimic societies' that raise aspirations and desires while providing young people scarce opportunities for self-realisation and social recognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urban square has been a distinguishing characteristic of European cities for millennia. However, in the context of small towns, where the square is often the sole identifier of their physical urbanity, its role differs from that of large towns. This fact is substantial within national administrative systems that endorse desirable urban status to rural settlements endowed with urban morphology. It is also important in times of extensive EU-subsidized actions aimed at improving the quality of public space in small underresourced towns. However, many projects fail to draw from and respond to the specifics of the local context, and, by focusing on the details and disregarding the basics, they may defeat their purpose. Departing from extensive field observations in Poland, this paper puts theoretical framework and current trends in urban design into relation to various elements of a square's spatial configuration in order to arrive at degrees of their urban significance. By interpreting the fundamental values embedded in the morphology of market squares, this paper attempts to isolate the cultural archetypes that shape our perception of such places as urban. The proposed analysis could be used to meet the main goal of market square revitalization, namely to visually articulate urbanity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper focuses on the diversity in patients' experience of biomedicine and contrasts it with the normative view characteristic of health professionals. Ethnographic fieldwork among Polish migrant women in London, Barcelona and Berlin included interviews about their experiences with local healthcare and health professionals. Themes drawn from the narratives are differences between the cities in terms of communication between patients and health professionals, respect for patients' choices and dignity, attitudes to pregnancy and birth (different levels of medicalization), and paediatric care. It is argued that patients continuously negotiate among their own views and expectations based on previous experiences and knowledge from personal communication; internet forums and publications; and the offer of medical services in the countries of their settlement. Patients experience pluralism of therapeutic traditions within and outside bio-medicine. In turn, representatives of bio-medicine are rarely aware of other medical practices and beliefs and this leads to various misunderstandings. By highlighting the pluralism of medical practices in European countries and the increasing mobility of patients, this case study has useful implications for medical anthropologists and health professionals in a broader Western context, such as raising sensitivity to different communication strategies and a diversity of curing traditions and expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The European Disability Strategy (2010-2020) seeks to significantly raise the proportion of people with disabilities working in the open labour market. The ERGO WORK project is a collaboration of academic and industrial partners in six European countries, focused on understanding and tackling barriers to workplace inclusion for workers with disabilities. Methods: This study sought to explore the perceptions and needs of stakeholders in terms of workplace adaptation to the needs of employees with disabilities. An exploratory online survey was completed by 480 participants across six countries. Results: The analysis suggests that workplaces could be further improved to meet the needs of employees with considerable scope for training within companies to raise awareness about employees' needs, employers' obligations and workplace adaptation. Conclusions: This snapshot suggests there is still a gap between intent and reality in workplace inclusion and further strategies are needed to improve the opportunities for employees with disabilities. The paper argues that ergonomics may have a key role to play in tackling these challenges and adapting the workplace environment and job design to suit the needs of individual employees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

River valleys play a key role in functioning landscape systems on a regional and continental level. Their ecological and cultural functions have developed simultaneously for centuries, creating a unique composition. Cultural heritage has grown from natural heritage and has enriched it wonderfully. However, river valleys have become areas of particularly intense human pressure for approximately the last two centuries, but especially over the last half century; changes occurring in the landscape are more and more drastic. The analysis and evaluation of these changes can therefore be a good indicator and predictor of changes that occur in the environment of entire (regional and transregional) landscape systems. This paper presents the method and results of landscape studies based on the sequence: retrospection—diagnosis—variant prognosis. The aim of the present work was to attempt to answer questions concerning the future direction of the development landscape physiognomy of small river valleys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper discusses the components of language teachers' awareness, which should differ qualitatively and quantitatively from that of language learners and users. It is argued that especially teachers of English, the European lingua franca, should develop plurilingual awareness to train learners to become multilingual citizens. This awareness involves crosslinguistic, metalinguistic and psycholinguistic knowledge concerning multiple language acquisition. Apart from that, teachers should ideally be multilingual themselves. The paper reports on a survey carried out on over 230 pre-service and in-service Polish teachers of English. It compares their levels of plurilingual awareness relative to their teaching experience, bilingualism/multilingualism factors and the level of L3-Ln languages known. Their awareness seems to be linked with both teaching experience and multilingualism, but it is higher for multilingual teachers proficient in several languages. The paper also presents a qualitative study in the form of a guided interview on a focus group of five in-service teachers. This provides in-depth insight into how they understand plurilingual language teaching. Finally, conclusions are drawn concerning changes in teacher training that would enable teachers to promote plurilingual approaches in class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the market segmentation based on the product markets with reference to the antitrust issues regarding the retail rental prices of the products in Europe. The segmentation comprises of the categorization of the retail space and the shopping centres by the national industry associations with reference to the merger case between two competition authorities of France and Poland. Information on the decision of the cartel court of Austria on the small but significant and non-transitory increase in price (SSNIP) test regarding the product range and the geographical market is also presented.

In the face of the globalization process that we have witnessed over recent years, the European Union (EU) decided that it is crucial to improve the competitiveness of Europe and the development of financial services and capital markets through enforcement of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as a basis of financial reporting of listed companies. Poland as a member of the EU was obliged to incorporate International Accounting Standards (IAS)/IFRS in national accounting regulations. Our paper discusses this issue. We also present the impact of IAS/IFRS implementation by Polish companies on their financial statements, particularly the impact on income and equity (capital). The presentation is the result of the review and analysis of 255 financial reports (including 171 consolidated) of companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims. Alcohol use disorders (AUDs) are prevalent in Europe but occurrence in primary care and the proportion of treated cases are understudied. This study reports prevalence of AUDs and their treatment in European primary health care settings and compares them with general population estimates.Procedure. We sampled 358 general practitioners (GPs, refusal rate: 56.4%) across six European countries (Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Poland, and Spain) who assessed 13,003 patients including providing AUD diagnoses. A subsample of 8,476 patients (refusal rate: 17.8%) was interviewed subsequently, assessing DSM-IV AUD diagnoses via the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Final AUD diagnoses combined GP and patient interview information.Findings. Past year AUDs were prevalent with 11.8% (95% CI: 11.2–12.5%) across all regions, which is 1.6 times the European general population AUD estimate. Of those diagnosed with AUDs, 17.7% (95% CI: 15.4–20.0%) received professional help. Compared to general population estimates, AUDs and their treatment were more prevalent in primary care settings in most countries, with disproportionally high AUD rates in Italy and Spain and unexpectedly low AUD rates in Hungary.Conclusions. We found higher prevalence and treatment rates of AUDs in primary health care compared to general population surveys, with large variability between the observed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We hereby provide the first documented data on the occurrence of a viable Procambarus virginalis population in a nature reserve in Poland and the steps that were taken to prevent further introductions of the species in the country. To date, Poland represents the most north-eastward distribution area in Europe, where the species occurs in ecosystems with natural water temperature regimes. The ecological plasticity of P. virginalis and its obligate parthenogenetic reproduction make this crayfish an exceptional invader. The crayfish may have detrimental effects on the native invertebrates, amphibians, and fish, and alter the state of the entire ecosystem. Therefore, we investigated the presence of the species in the nature reserve of Pojezierze Łęczyńskie Landscape Park after a suspected P. virginalis individual was found by a local citizen. The nature reserve also includes an area designated to protect native amphibians and turtles. Our study revealed the presence of a thriving population of P. virginalis in the protected area and clear indications of its impact on native and invasive species, both in aquatic and terrestrial environments. If no action is taken, the species will likely expand to other water bodies across the country. An extensive sensibilization campaign allowed us to find additional invaded areas and significantly contribute to the effective ban of this and other invasive crayfish species from private and commercial online trade. Raising public awareness and banning invasive crayfish species trade is essential for successfully detecting and preventing further introductions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Like many other developing countries in the past decade, Central European countries pursued financial market reforms based on the assumption that foreign finance would boost the depth and liquidity of their national financial systems, promote efficient economic management and enhance financial stability. Unlike other developing countries however, Central European countries expected to be shielded from the worst effects of global neoliberalism through the process of EU accession. This article evaluates the financial integration of Central Europe in the context of the global process of finance-led restructuring. The article concludes that the financial integration of Central Europe has failed to generate the promised optimisation of investment, let alone reduce macroeconomic risks. This is because the actual Eastward expansion strategies of Western European credit institutions were never geared towards addressing the developmental needs of the host Central European economies. Rather, they were always aimed at redressing the declining profitability of financial institutions operating in the already financialised economies of Western Europe. As a result, foreign financiers emerged as a powerful rentier class in Central Europe able to extract rent incomes far in excess of their profits in the west. The dominancy of foreign financiers in the region resulted in a reorientation of state policy, corporate strategy and households' behaviour, in line with the imperatives of financially based accumulation strategies. This lead not only to an unprecedented transfer of property rights from local society to foreign investors, but also to increased indebtedness and risk, which are ultimately unsustainable in the long run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing upon data collected within 20 focus groups with consumers from five European countries, in this article we investigate how perceptions of human health risk and current anxieties regarding agricultural food production affect citizens' acceptance of the use of an emerging biotechnology, synthetic biology, in the development of vaccines for animals bred for food production. In focus group discussions in Austria, the UK, Poland and Denmark, participants tended to value the positive potential of synthetic vaccines if they could solve existing problems. Participants argued that the technology could be beneficial for animal welfare and was a potential solution to the problem of risks to human health posed by the use of antibiotics on livestock. The perceived drawbacks of antibiotic use affected the discussions towards acceptance of synthetic biology and the use of vaccines in meat production despite concerns over the potential risks. The participants from Spain stood out in that their acceptance of the synthetic vaccine appeared to be disconnected from concerns about risks related to the use of antibiotics. Participants from all countries found the vaccine to have potential uses, but also expressed concerns about health risks for consumers. In general consumers were perceived as those bearing the heaviest burden of risk, while pharmaceutical companies were perceived as likely to benefit most from production of the vaccine. We found that institutional trust and national contexts of (dis)engagement with science influenced the participants' understandings of the degree to which the synthetic livestock vaccine had a fair risk-benefit balance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines judicial reforms in the new member states of the EU in a comparative perspective. It explores the interactions between domestic and European actors in the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria and explains why the EU has had a differential impact on the way the principle of judicial independence has been implemented nationally. The differential impact of the EU is explained by considering both the nature of EU conditionality and the relationship between the judiciary and the political actors at the domestic level. The comparison reveals that the power of the EU is greater when tensions at the domestic level between judicial and political actors increase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poland's European Union accession afforded Polish trade unions membership of European-wide, umbrella trade union organisations. This essay evaluates the strategies Polish trade unions adopted to represent their interests following Poland's accession to the European Union. It draws on a series of interviews and document analysis. In addition the essay seeks to gauge the extent to which Polish trade unions were ‘Europeanised’, understood in both the context of their adoption of European policy models and their ability to win support for their causes at the European level. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The proclamation of the Charter for Fundamental Rights of the European Union, in December 2000 at Nice, France, followed by its inclusion within the failed Constitutional Treaty and its current status as a legally binding document under the Treaty of Lisbon, charts the changing fortunes of European Union politics dealing with fundamental rights protection. This article outlines the main rationales and hopes behind the enactment of the Charter and notes that through the process of political conditionality it may have been devalued from its very conception. The article suggests that, following their accession, Poland, and later the Czech Republic, used the Charter and Lisbon Treaty negotiations, including their opt-outs from the Charter, to engage in a game of power politics that had both domestic and European undertones. This politics of power game-play reflected a need by both states, and Poland in particular, to respond to both the political conditionality that they had been required to sign up to as part of the accession process and to emphasise how membership had improved their negotiating power. The article suggests that the consequence of this action by both states has not only further devalued the Charter but potentially undermined the rights of Polish and Czech citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Subject searches in the National Library of Poland catalog are still comprised of a significant number of all searches, but understanding and exploration of the National Library of Poland Subject Headings causes many problems, not only for the end-users, but also for many librarians. Another problem in the National Library of Poland is the insufficient use of relationships between the terms. The solution could be a properly designed Web application based on a topic map using appropriate visualization that supports indexing and information retrieval in the National Library of Poland. The article presents the main stages of a planned project. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

One of Poland's primary aims during its presidency of the EU in 2011 was to generate greater momentum towards reform of the CSDP - an objective it continues to seek as national defence budgets are cut across Europe. Marcin Terlikowski argues that instead of removing the main obstacle to greater defence collaboration in Europe - widely perceived to be British intransigence - a 'Brexit' would weaken efforts in this regard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the authors identify the emerging profiles of Poland's outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) at the macro- and micro-levels and propose relevant policy measures. They also set up a theoretical framework for further investigation of the identified trends and patterns. Both types of analysis—macro and micro—point to a regional focus of Poland's OFDI on Europe and to a sectoral concentration on services, followed by manufacturing. At the same time, the micro-analysis reveals a dominant role of a few largest Polish multinationals in the country's OFDI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BSTRACT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Germany, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic have always been loyal members of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP). Yet they have never shown enthusiasm for it or displayed noteworthy activism within a co-operation framework that is perceived by their foreign policy elite as a necessary concession to southern EU member states in order to secure the latter's support for continuing pro-active EU engagement in eastern Europe. With this in mind, this study provides a comparative analysis of the foreign policy of Germany, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic toward the southern Mediterranean and discusses in particular the different responses of their governing, economic and societal elites to plans to create a Mediterranean Union (UM). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excerpts are presented from documents which were filed in 1989 in the countries of Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania and which relate to the collapse of communist regimes.

Beginning with a view of the role of tertiary-level educational institutions in the globalizing world and the condition of the Polish higher education system in 2007, the author presents the factors affecting the regional development as well as those that exert the strongest influence on long-term regional development. While examining current ventures undertaken by the Wyzsza Szkola Biznesu - National-Louis University (WSB-NLU), the author postulates a new model of higher education institution, 'the Fourth Generation University', which has a significant impact on its environment and also transforms itself. The postulated model has been supported by a brief description of a large project, launched in 2006, of the Nowy Sącz Network of Innovation and Knowledge Transfer and the Multimedia City. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article I analyse Polish migration policy development after 1989, with the aim of contributing to developing research on migration policies in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region. Starting from the early stages of migration policy formulation at the beginning of the 1990s, the article first provides a brief overview of EU-driven policy developments, and then goes beyond the prevailing focus on Europeanisation in migration policy and points to other issues of importance for Polish migration policy analysis. These include Poland's visa policy towards its Eastern neighbours, its policy of silent tolerance of the irregular employment of foreigners in Poland, and issues of repatriation and emigration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The terror, exploitation and demographic restructuring (which included ethnic cleansing, deportation, colonisation and genocide) that the Nazis implemented in Poland had no parallel in Europe. Unlike in Belarus and in Ukraine, where the Nazis sought (and found) collaborators, no Poles were given positions of authority. This policy ruled out any kind of legal collaboration at the political and economic level. The Poles reacted in different ways to the prospect of being subjugated and exterminated: complying with the occupiers or passively and actively resisting them. The Polish elites created a vast network of informal social institutions, including an extensive clandestine press, schools and universities. However, the ease with which the Poles created a split reality, where the occupiers were circumvented and ignored, was not due to specific anthropological qualities of the Poles, but to their experience of foreign occupation in the nineteenth century. It was the combination of these two factors (the hatred and ignorance of the Polish reality and the ability to defy Nazi rule) that led to the failure of the Generalplan Ost in Poland. Hence only one component of the plan was carried out, namely, the mass murder of the Jews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent developments in East Central Europe have made countries in the region increasingly attractive to organised crime. The development of organised crime in ECE is seen as a significant problem with global implications. The roots of organised crime in ECE date back to the 1970s, but conditions after the revolutions of 1989 led to an influx of foreign-based gangs into the region. This has resulted in the emergence of organised crime that is predominantly international in character. Gangs have established strategic alliances to organise operations spanning three continents. The countries of ECE have been fighting back against organised crime and significant advances have been made. Continued criminal operations through the region, however, are perceived as a threat on a global scale. The accession of the Czech republic, Hungary and Poland into the EU in May 2004 will provide a clear litmus test for how successful these attempts have been to date. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a survey of Polish perceptions and attitudes about Europe. Assumptions and ideas about the relevance or meaning of Europeanness to Poles; Kinship and cultural identity with Europe; Evolution of attitudes toward Europeanism; Analysis of pilot interviews.

The article presents the author's perspectives on global economic development. It presents a definition of perspective. It argues that the research and development industry needs insights and assets. It points out changes and developments in Poland. It reveals opportunities found in idle locomotives in Europe.

The article presents a discussion on the incorrect records of Plagiomnium drummondii in Central Europe. Plagiomnium drummondii is widespread in North America. In Europe, Plagiomnium drummondii exhibits strong continental affinities, though it occurs only in the northern part of the continent. In addition, many handbooks, floras, checklists, catalogues and taxonomic treatments cite the occurrence of P. drummondii in Central Europe, in Poland. This is based on a report of this species by J. Milde, a bryologist, from the small town of Pokój in the vicinity of Opole in Upper Silesia in central-south Poland. Milde himself stated that the material available was in poor condition and considered his determination as uncertain. Consequently, K.G. Limpricht, a bryologist, considered this species to be doubtful in this region.