The Determinants of Country Risk in Eastern European Countries. Evidence from Sovereign Bond Spreads. Bruges European Economic Research (BEER) Papers 8/November 2006

The paper studies country risk in two Central and Eastern European countries - Bulgaria and Poland. The long run relationship between the yield differential (spread) of Eastern European national bonds (denominated in US dollars) over a US Treasury bond on one the hand and the country’s fundamentals as well as an US interest rate on the other hand, is examined. The cointegrated VAR model is used. First, the yield differentials are analyzed on a country by country basis to extract stochastic trends which are common for all bonds in a given country. Thereafter, the risk is disentangled into country and higher level risk. This paper is among the first ones which use time series data to study the evidence from sovereign bond spreads in Eastern Europe.

The ICC Debate and the EU-U.S. Struggle for Influence: The Case of the Balkan-6. ACES Working Paper No. 11, October 2007

The objectives of the European Union (EU) and the United States (US) for the countries of the Balkan region are generally assumed to be complementary. They both stress and condition their support and assistance on the progress that these countries make with regards to economic modernization, build-up of social institutions, and respect for international law. However, this rhetoric doesn't always match the facts on the ground. Often, instead of dealing with a cohesive set of policy recommendations, the countries in the region are faced with contradictory alternatives and zero-sum choices. The debate over the development of the International Criminal Court (ICC) was such a case. It centered on whether the countries in the region should exempt US personnel from the jurisdiction of the Court while in the country and thus rendering them immune from prosecution for any crimes committed for which the US courts were not willing or able to take any action. The final outcome was mixed. Three of the countries - Croatia, Serbia (and Montenegro), and Slovenia - decided not to give in to US pressure, while the remaining three - Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia - ignored the pleas and threats of the EU and of the various international non-governmental organizations and decided to sign Bilateral Immunity Agreements (BIAs) with the US. How can one explain such divergent outcomes? I argue that the credibility of actors involved played an important role in determining whether threats coming from the US or the EU were more credible, thus tipping the scales in favor of signing BIAs with the US. However, the issue of threat credibility serves only to narrow down the choices of actors. Further determination of the outcome necessitates a look at the nature of the security context in which these countries exist and operate.

Toward alignment of carbon standards under the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

With its wide coverage of economic spheres and the variety of trade and investment measures currently under negotiation, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) opens windows of opportunity for climate change mitigation and adaptation. The paper examines the possible avenues and the WTO law implications for the alignment of emissions standards between the European Union (EU) and United States of America (US). Looking particularly at the automobile sector, it argues that TTIP negotiators should strive for the mutual recognition of equivalence of EU and US car emissions standards, while pursuing full harmonisation in the long term. It concludes that the preferential trade agreement (PTA) status of TTIP would not be able to exempt measures taken for regulatory convergence from compliance with applicable WTO rules, particularly the rules of the WTO’s Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT). Furthermore, the EU and the US would not be able to ignore requests for the recognition of equivalence of third countries’ standards and would need to provide the grounds upon which they assess third countries’ standards as not adequately fulfilling the objectives of their own regulations and therefore rejecting them.

Reciprocal Prospective Associations Between Depressive Symptoms and Perceived Relationship With Parents in Early Adolescence

Objective: Adolescent depressive symptoms are associated with difficult family relationships. Family systems and interpersonal theories of depression suggest that this association could reflect a circular process in which symptoms and family functioning affect each other over time. Few longitudinal studies have tested this hypothesis, and the results of these studies have been equivocal. In this study, we examine reciprocal prospective associations in early adolescence between depressive symptoms and 2 important aspects of parent–child relationships: communication and conflict. Methods: Participants were 3862 students who annually filled out self-reports. Path analysis was used to examine prospective associations between depressive symptoms and perceived communication and conflict with parents from the age of 12 to 13 and 14 to 15 years. Independence of these associations was assessed by controlling for family context (parental separation and family socioeconomic status) and adolescent behaviour problems (delinquent behaviours and substance use). Sex differences were evaluated with multiple group analysis. Results: Reciprocal prospective associations were found between depressive symptoms and perceived conflict with parents, but not between depressive symptoms and communication with parents. Depressive symptoms were found to predict poorer communication with parents over time, but communication was not predictive of lower depressive symptoms in subsequent years. All paths were sex-invariant and independent from family context and behaviour problems. Conclusion: This study highlights the importance of considering the potential impact of adolescent symptomatology on parent–child relationships and suggests that reciprocity may characterize the association between depressive symptoms and negative aspects of parent–child relationships. The role of adolescent perceptions in the interplay between depressive symptoms and family relationships remains to be clarified.

Definition and diagnostic criteria of sleep-related hypermotor epilepsy

The syndrome known as nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy is recognized worldwide and has been studied in a wide range of clinical and scientific settings (epilepsy, sleep medicine, neurosurgery, pediatric neurology, epidemiology, genetics). Though uncommon, it is of considerable interest to practicing neurologists because of complexity in differential diagnosis from more common, benign sleep disorders such as parasomnias, or other disorders like psychogenic nonepileptic seizures. Moreover, misdiagnosis can have substantial adverse consequences on patients' lives. At present, there is no consensus definition of this disorder and disagreement persists about its core electroclinical features and the spectrum of etiologies involved. To improve the definition of the disorder and establish diagnostic criteria with levels of certainty, a consensus conference using formal recommended methodology was held in Bologna in September 2014. It was recommended that the name be changed to sleep-related hypermotor epilepsy (SHE), reflecting evidence that the attacks are associated with sleep rather than time of day, the seizures may arise from extrafrontal sites, and the motor aspects of the seizures are characteristic. The etiology may be genetic or due to structural pathology, but in most cases remains unknown. Diagnostic criteria were developed with 3 levels of certainty: witnessed (possible) SHE, video-documented (clinical) SHE, and video-EEG-documented (confirmed) SHE. The main research gaps involve epidemiology, pathophysiology, treatment, and prognosis.

A calm inquiry into all the objections made to the educational provisions of the factory bill, exhibiting the nature, tendency and object of the new principles by which the dissenting bodies stand opposed thereto.

Mode of access: Internet.

Religious perspectives of college teaching in the preparation of teachers.

Mode of access: Internet.

[Culinary ephemera : gelatin and tapioca].

Corporate contributors include: Genesee Pure Food Company; Jell-O-Co. Inc.

Department of Transportation's Intelligent Vehicle Highway Systems Institutional and Legal Issues Program.

Mode of access: Internet.

Souvenir program : Grand Ledge, Michigan centenary and historical pageant, June 26-27-28, 1936.

Includes index.

Aspects of Near East society.

Mode of access: Internet.

Meditations on life, death, and eternity /

Translation of selections from Stunden der Andacht, generally ascribed to Zschokke.

Aspects of Christian character,

Mode of access: Internet.

The church and industrial reconstruction,

"Selected bibliography": p. 273-286.

Religious truth,

Mode of access: Internet.