Do Words Matter? The Impact of Communication on the PIIGS' CDS and Bond Yield Spreads during Europe's Sovereign Debt Crisis

The paper aims to shed light on the role of communication in the European debt crisis. It examines the effects of public statements by ECB Governing Council members, EU officials and national representatives on the PIIGS' CDS and bond yield spreads. The focus lies on dovish statements that signal strong determination in the rescue of indebted countries, and hawkish statements that indicate limited commitment to support the PIIGS and protect its creditors. The analysis of daily data for the period between January 1, 2009 and August 12, 2011 in an EGARCH framework suggests that communication by representatives of Germany, France, and the EU as well as ECB Governing Council members had an immediate impact on both types of securities. No effects.

Theorizing positioning strategies of secondary capital cities

Capital cities that are not the economic centers of their nations – so-called secondary capital cities (SSCs) – tend to be overlooked in the field of political science. Consequentially, there is a lack of research and resulting theory describing their political economy. This paper proposes a comparative research framework which analyzes how external pressures are influencing the relevant policy makers in the process of (re)positioning the SCC.

Social skills as predictors of communication, performance and quality of collaboration in project-based learning

The assumption that social skills are necessary ingredients of collaborative learning is well established but rarely empirically tested. In addition, most theories on collaborative learning focus on social skills only at the personal level, while the social skill configurations within a learning group might be of equal importance. Using the integrative framework, this study investigates which social skills at the personal level and at the group level are predictive of task-related e-mail communication, satisfaction with performance and perceived quality of collaboration. Data collection took place in a technology-enhanced long-term project-based learning setting for pre-service teachers. For data collection, two questionnaires were used, one at the beginning and one at the end of the learning cycle which lasted 3 months. During the project phase, the e-mail communication between group members was captured as well. The investigation of 60 project groups (N = 155 for the questionnaires; group size: two or three students) and 33 groups for the e-mail communication (N = 83) revealed that personal social skills played only a minor role compared to group level configurations of social skills in predicting satisfaction with performance, perceived quality of collaboration and communication behaviour. Members from groups that showed a high and/or homogeneous configuration of specific social skills (e.g., cooperation/compromising, leadership) usually were more satisfied and saw their group as more efficient than members from groups with a low and/or heterogeneous configuration of skills.

Stage-dependent strategies of host invasion in the egg-larval parasitoid Chelonus inanitus.

Chelonus inanitus (Braconidae) is a solitary egg-larval parasitoid which lays its eggs into eggs of Spodoptera littoralis (Noctuidae); the parasitoid larva then develops in the haemocoel of the host larva. Host embryonic development lasts approx. 3.5 days while parasitoid embryonic development lasts approx. 16 h. All stages of host eggs can be successfully parasitized, and we show here that either the parasitoid larva or the wasp assures that the larva eventually is located in the host's haemocoel. (1) When freshly laid eggs, up to almost 1-day-old, are parasitized, the parasitoid hatches while still in the yolk and enters the host either after waiting or immediately through the dorsal opening. (2) When 1-2-day-old eggs are parasitized, the host embryo has accomplished final dorsal closure and is covered by an embryonic cuticle when the parasitoid hatches; in this case the parasitoid larva bores with its moving abdominal tip into the host. (3) When 2.5-3.5-day-old eggs are parasitized, the wasp oviposits directly into the haemocoel of the host embryo; from day 2 to 2.5 the embryo is still very small and the wasps, after probing, often restrain from oviposition for a few hours.