A “Learning from Action” workshop in Japan

Abstract:The essay analyses the role of NATO in the post-Cold War period by conducting a comparison of the cases of NATO's operations in Kosovo and Libya. The article reveals the enhanced weight of the Alliance member states and the European countries' active role in protecting their regional interests and also show how the state interests of the USA and Russia played a significant role in the two cases. This analysis of the behavioral patterns of the former Cold War adversaries could provide a useful interpretation and perhaps an explanation of the current events in Ukraine. The pursuit of power continues to dominate the international relations arena as the confrontation between the USA and Russia is far from over.Keywords: European security, power politics, geopolitical influence, national interest.IntroductionEuropean security has a rich history of violent and destructive conflicts. It has gone through countless state-to-state wars, two World Wars, the ideological confrontation of the two superpowers during the Cold War period, and the new threats of terrorism and ethnic violence in the modem era. In the twenty-first century, Europeans face a number of new security challenges, such as regional conflicts and genocide, terrorism, economic, technological and energy issues, all of which affect European security.With the end of the Cold War, NATO experienced a major transformation. The Alliance's decision-makers acknowledged that, with the disappearance of the Soviet Union, new threats had emerged. It was essential for European security that NATO should develop a strategy for tackling future security threats. This strategy engaged NATO in numerous assignments that would ensure the protection of western-projected democracy.In other words, NATO remains the main factor for European and regional security. The Alliance's recent missions and expansion could lead the organization even to a global role in the future. NATO stands as a pillar of European security and defends western values and interests.As international security is the most important global issue there are several political theories that emphasize the importance of providing better comprehension. The understanding of global security matters has been best explained by the international relations theory of realism.1 According to this theory, which has long dominated the study of international relations:Despite the end of the cold war, the basic structure of the international system remains largely unchanged. States are still the key actors in world politics, and they continue to operate in an anarchic system.2Its explanations of security competition among great powers remain applicable and provide a logical explanation to the events in the international arena nowadays. The traditional security focus on nation-states and power remain central for international relations regardless of all the changes in the global order in the last 60 years.3 Despite being strongly criticized after the end of the Cold War, realism should not be underestimated or neglected for international relations. Realism can offer a lot to political analysts because the major powers will continue to compete for supremacy and wars will continue to occur.This essay analyzes the role of NATO in the post-Cold War period and the importance of how powerful states' interests are concerned, mainly the USA and Russia. Within this framework, the cases of the Kosovo crisis and the Libya uprising will be compared. European security was threatened in similar ways during these two conflicts. Although violations of human rights and crimes against humanity were the official reasons for the military interventions of NATO, the present article will also show how these conflicts affected the interests of the major NATO members and of Russia.It will be argued that state interests and competition between the major powers in the global arena remained essential and that the USA and Russia took similar approaches to resolve the European security crisis without disregarding their national interests. …

Intercultural learning plays a crucial role in preparing students for global engagement by fostering awareness of diverse cultures and enhancing communication across cultural boundaries. This study investigates the integration of intercultural learning within higher education, specifically in the English Department. A descriptive qualitative approach was employed, involving 23 fifth-semester English Department students selected through total sampling. A structured questionnaire was administered to assess students' cultural awareness, intercultural communication skills, and appreciation for diverse perspectives. The collected data were analyzed descriptively to evaluate students' intercultural competencies. The results indicate that 60.00% of students actively observe and recognize cultural differences in daily interactions. Additionally, 58.26% report a moderate level of confidence in communicating effectively in multicultural contexts, while 60.87% express a strong appreciation for diverse viewpoints and their contribution to enriching the learning experience. These findings suggest that integrating intercultural learning into the curriculum can significantly improve students' cultural sensitivity and communication skills. By promoting cultural understanding and inclusivity, such integration supports the development of more globally competent graduates.

Many national brands adopt innovation strategies based on frequent launches of new products to defend and grow market shares against private labels. However, retailers imitate the novelties of national brand new products very fast. One of the key questions to assess the effectiveness of national brands' product innovation is to get a deeper understanding of how consumers react in terms of choice when faced with a national brand new product and a me-too private label product. In particular this research explores the effects of consumer innovativeness and risk aversion on this choice in five European countries and the United States. Results show that consumers with higher innovativeness prefer national brands. However, there are significant differences among countries depending on their uncertainty avoidance and risk aversion.

Reviewed by: Asia en la España del siglo XIX: literatos, viajeros, intelectuales y diplomáticos ante Oriente by Joan Torres-Pou Timothy P. Gaster Joan Torres-Pou, Timothy Gaster, Nineteenth-Century Spain, Asia, Philippines, Cochinchina, Colonialism, Colonial Discourses, Orientalism, Edward said, Travel Writing, Juan Valera, Luis Valera, José Rizal, Father Francisco Gaínza Escobás, Colonel Carlos Palanca Gutiérrez, Sinibaldo de mas y Sanz, Vicente Barrantes Moreno, Adolfo de Mentaberry, Francisco de Reynoso Torres-Pou, Joan. Asia en la España del siglo XIX: literatos, viajeros, intelectuales y diplomáticos ante Oriente. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2013. 218pp. In this monograph Dr. Joan Torres-Pou analyzes the unique orientalist discourse that appears in the different genres of writing by nineteenth-century Spanish authors who focus on Asia, predominantly the Far East (Philippines, China, Japan, etc.). In the book’s introduction, Torres-Pou begins by giving a historical overview of nineteenth-century Western interest and colonization in the East. Then he proposes a question that will guide his analysis for the rest of the book: What was Spain’s role in this European expansion into Asia? He partially answers this question by stating that, though Spain was not as materially invested as other European countries in the East, there was definitely a presence and interest in Asia at this time. In fact, he states that the main objective of his study is to convince readers of the need to look not just at the orientalism in Spain’s literature but also at the presence of Asia in nineteenth-century Spanish society. Without the [End Page 104] reevaluation and study of the texts generated by this presence and interest, he claims, it will never be possible to completely comprehend the complexity of Spanish history and literature during an era that was so decisive for the Spanish nation (21). And he manages, in the rest of the book, to masterfully accomplish this goal. The first chapter of the book deals with Juan Valera’s writing on the Orient, in particular his novel Morsamor (1899). Based on in-depth research and knowledge of Valera’s interest in Asian religions and history, Torres-Pou is able to demonstrate that Morsamor contains an orientalist subtext, in the sense given to it by literary critic Edward Said, hidden behind the sensational and parodic plot of the novel. Torres-Pou shows convincingly that the subtext, based on Valera’s Eurocentric attitude common to that time, works to highlight the superiority of the Arian race. However, he also indicates that, due to the large amount of dialogue in the text, the reader is left to decipher the meaning of the passages, and therefore, this same racist and orientalist message is constantly put into question. A similar tactic and phenomenon is highlighted in chapter two, which deals with Luis Valera, Juan Valera’s son, and his writing on his experiences as a diplomat in China. In Luis Valera’s interesting text, Sombras chinescas (1902), dealing with a time in China just after the Boxer rebellions, Torres-Pou shows that, although Valera takes a stance of civilized superiority vis-à-vis the Orient, similar to that of his father, it is also evident in his writing that he questions the “progress” of a civilization that imposes itself on others in such a violent fashion. Torres-Pou points out that Luis Valera’s texts contain similar sentiments of superiority and a desire to highlight the Arian origin of Western civilization, as his father did, but that because of the skeptical and sarcastic manner in which much of his writing is carried out, again, the orientalist messages become less straightforward and more questionable. The third chapter is a study of the crónicas of two principal participants in Spain’s nineteenth-century “Campaña de Cochinchina” (a Vietnamese military campaign): Father Francisco Gaínza Escobás and Colonel Carlos Palanca Gutiérrez. By analyzing the texts of these two figures as not just historical documents but also literary documents, Torres-Pou is able to demonstrate that once again there is a hidden message behind these apparent stories of military conquest. That message calls into question other European powers’ colonial ambitions and at the same...

IntroductionCOVID19 keeps being a challenge, not only facing the outbreak and the treatment of the cases, but also in the education sector. Most learning centres and high schools in the world are closed to avoid further outbreaks, as well as institutes for psychotherapy throughout the world.ObjectivesTo gain a better knowledge and understanding about alternatives identified in the scope of psychiatric trainee training, through the support provided by digital resources.MethodsSystematic review on PubMed and Uptodate databases since declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 was performed using the keywords: Distance Education, Pandemia, COVID-19, Medical Residency. Discussing online-learning.ResultsThe described European countries (Germany, Spain, United Kingdom) used different strategies to maintain the e-learning. Practical undergraduate education was replaced in countries like Spain by “problem-based learning” tasks, clarifying and commenting case reports or videos through working groups. The increase of the resources from teachers and trainers wasn´t taken in account for the preparation of the digital program. Social inequities for the digital access for groups of students or clients were also claimed.ConclusionsEach of the described countries adopted different strategies regarding continuing training of residents, their assessment and their certification. Covid-19 should set down a trend of social collaborative learning as part of resident training and asset hybrid or even digital methods for the mental health training.

Physical exercise is seen as the main ally for health promotion, preventing and protecting the organism from several diseases. According to WHO, there is a tendency of constant growth in the elderly population in the coming years. The regular practice of exercises by the elderly becomes relevant to minimize the deleterious effects of the aging process and to increase the fitness index. Recently, the world population started a confrontation against Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19), which is the most significant public health challenge globally. Although social isolation is a reasonable measure in an attempt to stop contamination by COVID-19, this measure has limited the ability of individuals to exercise outdoors or in gyms and health clubs, which increased the risk of developing chronic illnesses related to a sedentary lifestyle. The critical point is that the recent recommendations on exercise prescription to combat the potentially harmful effects of COVID-19 failure to adequately address resistance exercise interventions as home-based exercise strategy. Thus, in this paper, we discussed the physical exercise as medicine if the training status is enough to protect the elderly against COVID-19 infection, about the role of physical activity on immunosuppression. Possible risks for COVID-19 infection, and the old training methods, such as no-load resistance training as possible resistance exercise strategies and high-intensity interval training, as new proposals of home-based exercise interventions, could perform during the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Traditionally, substantial differences between the common law and civil law systems in terms of judge's roles could be obviously identified. Today, however, it is becoming more difficult to identify the differences between the two systems. In the common law systems a good deal of codification has taken place and judges are playing a more active role in proceedings. On the other hand, judges in civil law systems are more inclined to follow precedents and a good deal of case law have been built up to assist in the interpretation of statutory codes. In this paper, I attempt to analyze some basic differences between the common law judge's roles and civil law judge's roles and contemporary trends.

European Homograft Bank: Twenty Years of Cardiovascular Tissue Banking and Collaboration With Transplant Coordination in Europe

More than three decades have passed since the third wave of democratization began spreading from Southern Europe to all other regions of the world in the mid-1970s. In the wake of this wave, most or all of the countries in East, Central, and Southern Europe and in Latin America have been transformed into democracies (Diamond 2011; Haerpfer et al. 2009). In historically Confucian East Asia, where the institutional, cognitive, and behavioral legacies of Confucianism are prevalent, however, the same wave produced only two new democracies – South Korea (Korea hereafter) and Taiwan – and failed to democratize four other nondemocracies: China, North Korea, Singapore, and Vietnam. Moreover, of the two nascent democracies, Taiwan remains a “flawed” democracy even after more than two decades of democratic rule (Economist Intelligence Unit 2010), and Korea has recently moved backward from “free” to “partly free” in press freedom rankings (Freedom House 2011). Despite all the unprecedented achievements in socioeconomic development and globalization in the region over the past three decades, Confucian East Asia today remains one of the few regions in the world in which nondemocracies prevail over democracies. To explain a lack of democratic development in the region, many scholars and political leaders have promoted Confucian values as Asian values (Tamaki 2007) and have vigorously debated their influence on the democratic transformation of authoritarian regimes in the East Asia region from a variety of disciplinary and ideological perspectives.

n the early 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union, all countries in East and Central Europe had to reform their economic, political and social bases. About economic reform, the first and the most important step was the privatization of state enterprises. Therefore, the distribution of shares of stock stamps was considered private advocates. This article attempts to examine the effects and consequenceson the economic situation of these countries compared to the determinants indices on stock. The research results show that voucher privatization has negative impact on development of stock exchange in the short and medium term. Key words: Privatization, economic reform, vouchers, stock and stock exchange.

The global drive to vaccinate against severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) began in December 2020 with countries in Europe, Middle East, and North America leading the roll out of a mass-vaccination program. This systematic review synthesised all available English-language guidelines and research regarding mass-vaccination for COVID-19 until 1 March 2021—the first three months of the global mass-vaccination effort. Data were extracted from national websites, PubMed, Embase, Medline and medRxiv, including peer and non-peer review research findings. A total of 15 national policy documents were included. Policies were summarised according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) framework for mass vaccination. All included policies prioritised front-line health care workers and the elderly. Limited information was available regarding staffing, cold chain, communication strategies and infrastructure requirements for effective vaccine delivery. A total of 26 research studies were identified, reporting roll-out strategies, vaccine uptake and reasons for refusal, adverse effects, and real-life estimates of efficacy. Early data showed a reduction in SARS-CoV-2 cases, hospitalisation and deaths in settings with good coverage. Very low rates of vaccine-related serious adverse events were observed. These findings provide an overview of current practice and early outcomes of COVID-19 mass-vaccination, guiding countries where roll-out is yet to commence.

The study offers updated and more accurate information about long-term annual solar resource in the most countries of Europe, Middle East and North Africa (EU-MENA) and evaluates PV power production potential. The underlying solar radiation and PV electricity output values are calculated form the solar and meteo database SolarGIS, which covers a history of recent 18 years. Direct Normal Irradiation data are presented to indicate potential of Concentrated PV in the region. PV electricity output is calculated for c-Si module options, using the recent numerical models. The analysis is focused on the urbanized and industrial areas and their hinterland. Attention is focused also to the quantification of uncertainty. Based on the GIS analysis, the solar resource potential of each country is rated.

Located between the natural gas-rich countries of Asia and Middle East on one hand and European countries with rapidly increasing demand for natural gas on the other hand, Turkey is situated at a geography where natural gas demand and supply intersect. With annual average gas demand growth rate of 10.4% during the last decade and a consumption of more than 32 billion m3 in 2009 (which was just 12.5 billion m3 in 1999), Turkey gradually turns out to be an important gas market in its own right. This trend is reinforced by the fact that Turkish natural gas consumption is projected to further increase remarkably in coming years. To transform Turkish gas market into a competitive one and to make sure that it develops in the lines of the European Union (EU), a reform process was initiated in 2001, which involves privatization, liberalization, as well as a radical restructuring of gas industry in Turkey. This chapter focuses on the reform process. First of all, the chapter provides a short summary of the developments taking place in the Turkish gas market since 1980s. Then it attempts to evaluate the regulatory framework created as a result of the reform process. The following subsections are devoted to two important issues in Turkish gas market, namely, Turkish gas release program and the auctions in gas distribution market. Another subsection deals with the issue of compatibility between Turkish reforms and EU norms. In the last part, the chapter touches upon some regulatory issues and provides some policy guidelines for both improvement and filling what is called the “expectations–capabilities gap” in Turkish natural gas market. The chapter concludes that in spite of relatively good legislative framework and some encouraging developments in practice, the reforms in Turkey are far from ideal and a significant amount of work still lies ahead of Turkey to set up a full fledged liberal natural gas market.

The paper made an extensive analysis of power generation in the territory of the Republic of Crimea. A special issue is the use of renewable energy sources (RES), in particular wind (WPP) and solar power plants (SPP). The current power generation capacities of the republic are determined and the power deficit is shown, which is currently covered by the electricity of the energy system of the Krasnodar Territory. One of the most important features of the development of the modern world is the increased attention of the world community to the problems of rationality and efficiency in the use of energy resources, the introduction of energy saving technologies and the search for renewable energy sources. In 2021, the countries of the Middle East and Europe increased the capacity of wind and solar power plants several times over. In India, installed renewable energy capacity has exceeded 100 GW. In June-July 2021, solar power generation in the European Union reached a record level and amounted to 39 TWh, an increase of 28%. For most European countries, renewable energy accounts for more than 15% of electricity generation in general. This is due to the fact that in the main markets, renewable, in particular solar electricity, is significantly cheaper than the energy of gas and diesel power plants.For Russia, the southern districts and coastal zones are effective geographical areas for the use of WPPs and SPPs. Thus, the Republic of Crimea is a geographically favorable place for the development of alternative energy.The technical and economic characteristics of SPP and WPP are determined, the current own wind and solar generation is considered in detail. The ways of development and permissible capacities of renewable energy sources in the Crimea are determined. According to the requirements for the systems of regulation, control and protection of renewable energy sources (RES) during their operation as part of the Unified Energy System of Russia, the use of alternative sources of electricity together with the main grid is permissible with their total capacity equal to 20% of the maximum load of the region. Therefore, the development and distribution of renewable energy in the Crimea has a huge potential. The applied systems for integrating RES into the overall energy system are considered, their shortcomings are identified.For the further development of RES in the Crimea, it is proposed to use a model of intelligent integration of SPPs and WPPs into the energy system of the peninsula using solid-state transformers. The use of power transformers for the transmission of electricity from RES to the network significantly reduces the flexibility of the system and eliminates the control of energy parameters. To increase the control capabilities of the output power to the network, as well as to reduce energy costs during voltage transformation, it is proposed to use solid-state transformers (SST) at the inverting stage. The use of SST changes the general principle of power transfer from RES to the network to the following: the DC voltage accumulated in the batteries of WPP and SPP is fed through a high-frequency inverter to a pulse transformer, where it rises to the voltage of the power line. Then it is rectified and inverted to the required mains frequency. Modern power semiconductor components may well provide such a model for integrating RES into the grid. The proposed model is distinguished by the presence of effective control of energy parameters, as well as high efficiency.

The main purpose of the educational and training system, especially in today’s increasingly complex and multicultural context, is to promote the development of intercultural competence, the possession of which is arguably essential for the conscious exercise of world citizenship. To achieve this, we cannot refer merely to a single technical-professional group of teachers, educators or trainers, but must instead extend responsibility to all categories without exception: parents, instructors, facilitators, etc. The reason must be sought in the construct of intercultural competence itself, which emphasises the active role of the individual to mobilise and orchestrate their resources by acting on material and social reality (Pellerey, 2004); therefore, in order to be appropriately monitored and assessed, it is necessary to adopt the use of various stakeholders. This article is written as a critical appraisal of the concept of intercultural competence and especially some key issues in the appraisal process, which should be addressed through consultation with the educating community sector.