scholarly journals Introduced land snail Cepaea nemoralis (Gastropoda: Helicidae) in Eastern Europe: spreading history and the shell colouration variability

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 75-91
Author(s):  
Nina Gural-Sverlova ◽  
Roman Egorov ◽  
Oksana Kruglova ◽  
Natalia Kovalevich ◽  
Roman Gural

The available data on the present distribution of Cepaea nemoralis in Ukraine, Belarus and the European part of Russia, the history and possible ways of penetration of this species into various parts of Eastern Europe, as well as the colour and banding polymorphism of its shells are analyzed. It has been suggested that the process of rapid spreading of C. nemoralis in the three compared Eastern European countries began at approximately the same time (late 20th – early 21st centuries) and that it may be caused by active and practically uncontrolled importation of seedlings from other European countries, as well as by global climate change, which can contribute to better survival of snails outside their natural range. Despite the possible initial limitation of the phenotypic and genetic diversity associated with the accidental transfer of a limited number of individuals, in the Eastern European colonies, in general, a fairly large variety of the inherited traits of the shell colouration remains. This concerns, first of all, the polymorphism in the shell ground colour (yellow, pink, less often brown) and the main variants of the shell banding (unbanded, mid-banded, five-banded, less often three-banded).

Author(s):  
Long Jing

The Covid-19 pandemic has given rise to an array of problems in cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries. Some items on the cooperation agenda have been delayed and people-to-people exchanges have come to a halt. The pandemic, notwithstanding, is a testament to the value and resilience of the “[Formula: see text]” framework and has presented an opportunity for both sides to identify new areas for future collaboration. In a post-pandemic world, China and Central and Eastern European countries will not only have to address the shortfalls and drawbacks in the current cooperation mechanism, but also firmly work together to deal with new challenges arising from the pandemic.


2021 ◽  
pp. 66-84
Author(s):  
Andrei Aleksandrovich Linchenko

The subject of this research is the position of Belarus in the memory wars of Russia and Eastern European countries of the two recent decades. Based on P. Bourdieu’s theory of symbolic power, as well as comparative analysis of the key stages of the historical politics of Russia and Belarus as the members of the Union State, the author explores the causes and peculiarities of electoral neutrality of Belarus in the memory wars of Russia and Eastern European countries. Analysis is conducted on the theoretical-methodological aspects of the concept of “memory wars”. Content analysis of the relevant research reveals the specificity of the Belarusian case with regards to correlation between domestic and foreign historical politics. The specificity of the forms of post-Communism that have established in Russia and Belarus, the difference in the pace of historical politics of the last three decades, as well as the evolution of the political regime of Alexander Lukashenko contributed to the formation of peculiar position of the Republic of Belarus in the memory confrontation between Russia and its Eastern European neighbors. The internal manifestation of such position was the desire to displace the conflicts between memory communities in the republic, the movement of memory to the periphery of cultural-information space, while the external manifestation was strive for electoral neutrality (memory isolationism) in the memory wars in Eastern Europe. Such position is aimed not so much at supporting Russia’s memory initiatives, but at solving the relevant political and economic challenges, using historical politics as the instrument for promoting the own interests.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agata Skrzat-Klapaczyńska ◽  
Kerstin Kase ◽  
Anna Vassilenko ◽  
Arjan Harxhi ◽  
Botond Lakatos ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: A novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) causing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was detected at the end of 2019 in China. There are many COVID-19 studies in progress however, little is known about the course of COVID-19 in people living with HIV (PLWH). The aim of our study was to describe epidemiology and clinical characteristics of PLWH diagnosed with COVID-19 reported form Central and Eastern European Countries.Methods: On-line survey was sent to Euroguidelines in Central and Eastern Europe (ECEE) Network Group. Analysis included all confirmed COVID-19 cases between March 11 and June 26 2020 among PLWH in 12 countries: Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland , Romania, Russia, and Serbia.Results: In total 34 cases were reported. The mean age of those patients was 42.7 years (IQR=35.8-48.5) and most of the patients were male (70.6% vs 29.4%). The mean CD4+ T-cell count prior COVID-19 diagnosis was 558 cells/mm3 (IQR=312-719) and HIV RNA viral load (VL) was undetectable in 18 of 34 (53%) cases, the data about most recent HIV RNA VL was not available in three cases (8,8%). Comorbidities were observed in 19 (55.9%) patients, mostly cardiovascular disease (27,8%), and in 10 (29.4%) patients had coinfection, mostly chronic hepatitis C (87.5%). The clinical course of COVID-19 was asymptomatic in 4 (12%) cases, mild disease without hospitalization was reported in 11 (32%) cases. Stable patients with respiratory and/or systemic symptoms have been documented in 14 (41%) cases; 5 (15%) patients were clinically unstable with respiratory failure. Full recovery was reported in 31 (91%) cases, two patients died. In one case the data was not available.Conclusion: This study from 12 countries in Central and Eastern Europe region indicates no alarming signals of increased morbidity or mortality from COVID-19 among HIV-positive persons there is a need for further research.


2020 ◽  
Vol 122 (5) ◽  
pp. 1573-1592 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhanna Belyaeva ◽  
Edyta Dorota Rudawska ◽  
Yana Lopatkova

PurposeThe presented study pinpoints transformation of business models of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the food and beverage sector depending on their sustainability strategy. This paper makes a novel contribution to understanding various instruments of sustainability implementation in SMEs’ business models operating in the food and beverage industry of well-developed Western European countries versus less-developed Central–Eastern European countries.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical basis is a survey of 770 European SMEs, of which 369 operate in Western European countries (including Great Britain, Germany and Spain) and 401 in Central and Eastern Europe (including Poland, Croatia and Russia). The nonparametric U Mann–Whitney test was used to examine the significance of the differences between the two groups of companies.FindingsThe study empirically confirmed that despite self-declared lack of skills and knowledge in managerial impacts of sustainability, it shapes business models of SME in both country groups in food and drink industry. At the same time, the motivation grounds for business models transformation toward sustainable models vary between mostly economic factors in Eastern Europe and social and cultural factors in Western Europe. The economic factor is formed due to smaller integration into social investments at the SME-level Eastern European countries, while Western European SMEs invest more in a variety of sustainability supporting instruments (R&D, new equipment).Originality/valueThis comparative study is the novel empirical research study on the implementation of sustainability into business models of food and beverage SMEs operating in two groups of Western and Central–Eastern European countries, which has not been previously observed in such a setting.


Author(s):  
Svetlana Nikolaevna Shostak

The article analyzes the effectiveness of the activities of international financial organizations in the context of their cooperation with the countries of Eastern Europe. The article clarifies that financing by international financial organizations of the private sector of Eastern Europe creates preconditions for raising their economic and social efficiency and for creating not only collective but also social goods. The main goals of the Eastern European countries, financed by international financial organizations, are considered in detail. It is proved that the financing of the private sector of the Eastern European countries of the EBRD creates the preconditions for raising their economic and social efficiency and for creating not only collective but also public goods. However, the implementation of these prerequisites depends on a sound economic policy of the country, the timely formation of a new institutional structure for the functioning of the public sector, etc. It is noted that for the effective provision of this area of cooperation with the EBRD to the countries of Eastern Europe it is necessary: • facilitate the transition from the capital and labor-intensive export of industrial products to high-tech and innovative; • to provide state aid for the formation of foreign capital by creating special zones of export production with a favorable tax regime; • implement a planned approach to regulating the development of the national economy on the basis of optimization of the state procurement process, the formation of subsidies and other forms of state regulation of investment activity, etc. It is noted that in general, the experience of cooperation of the countries of Eastern Europe with international financial organizations and for Ukraine is important. After all, in Ukraine there are a number of political factors that hinder the development of foreign investments due to the non-adaptation of domestic enterprises to the world market conditions of cooperation. In order to solve this problem, it is necessary to reorganize the structure of state management of industrial objects and to establish mechanisms for legislative regulation of this process.


2019 ◽  
pp. 108-128
Author(s):  
Mitchell A. Orenstein

While many thought that the eleven Central and Eastern European countries that exited communism and joined the European Union in the 2000s had made an irrevocable “civilizational choice,” Russia has sought to extend its influence into this unexpected new battleground. Though Russia has fewer tools of influence than in the lands in between, it has used energy politics, disinformation, support for extremist parties, business relations, and a variety of covert methods to cause Central and Eastern European governments and politicians to re-evaluate their allegiances. Central and Eastern European countries have experienced growing extremism, increasing polarization, and the rise of cynical power brokers who wish to accommodate Moscow, while also benefiting from EU ties and funds. Political leaders such as Viktor Orbán of Hungary have blazed this path, making gas and energy deals with Russia while undermining democratic politics at home and challenging the European Union from within.


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 31-48
Author(s):  
Renata Małkowska

This paper analyses the interdependencies between state debt and the volume of the public sector’s expenditure, focusing particularly on pro-social spending. These phenomena have been studied in relative values (versus GDP) and in absolute values (per capita). This served as the grounds for an attempt to identify general directions of the public finance policies followed by countries in the Central and Eastern Europe and in selected highly developed countries.


Equilibrium ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-49
Author(s):  
Dorota Zbierzchowska

It is characteristic for the countries of Central-Eastern Europe to employ a great variety of exchange rate regimes: by resigning from their own currency and participating in monetary unions through the systems of currency board arrangement; by employing the systems of conventional fixed pegged arrangements; and by the floating systems. In the situation of global financial crisis and liberalization of capital flow in the Central-Eastern Europe countries profits and dangers of using certain solutions in the scope of exchange rate are clearly visible. The aim of this paper is to present theoretical profits and costs of utilizing various kinds of exchange rate regimes and their consequences for the autonomy of monetary policy. The paper also compares contemporary economical situation of the Central-Eastern European countries, what allows the author to indicate those countries, where the limitations stemming from the accepted system of exchange rate had negative consequences for the condition of their economy in general.


Author(s):  
Daniel Anarfi ◽  
Danuše Nerudová

The aim of the paper is to measure the amount of profit shifting within the banking sector in Eastern European countries. The paper uses firm‑level bank data from the Bankscope database of multinational subsidiary banks operating in Eastern Europe for a period of 10 years (2006-2015). An empirical analysis is performed on the panel data to identify the profit‑shifting activities of these banks. Focusing on the banking sector of Eastern European countries, which are a microcosm of the European Union, substantial evidence of profit shifting is found and confirms that banks have enhanced tax‑planning opportunities similar to firms from different jurisdictions. The paper also seeks to contribute to recommendations on how fair and sustainable taxation and social policy reforms can increase the economic stability of the EU member states.


Werkwinkel ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-22
Author(s):  
Jo Sterckx

Abstract Over the last 20 years, literary nonfiction has become increasingly popular among the Dutch reading public. Thanks to increasing sales, translations and literary awards the genre achieved a strong position in Dutch literature. This article analyzes the image of Central and Eastern European countries in Dutch literary nonfiction of the last ten years (2004-14). It searches for characteristics of an orientalist and balkanist discourse and the presence of the imagological centre-periphery model in the works of Geert Mak, Jelle Brandt Corstius, Olaf Koens, Joop Verstraten and Jan Brokken. Contemporary Dutch literary nonfiction contains a euro-orientalist discourse. Characteristics such as underdevelopment, hedonism, obscurity and authenticity are projected on Central and Eastern Europe, which is put in the periphery of Western Europe.


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