Elimination of mites from the buds of dormant grapevine cuttings by hot water treatment

The suitability of hot water treatment was tested for eliminating overwintering mites from dormant grapevine buds. Treatment at 52 °C for 60 min completely eliminated mite infestation, but did not or only slightly influenced the viability of grapevine buds. In greenhouse experiments we demonstrated that treated plants frequently showed a better growth, most probably due to the elimination of mite infestation. This additional application of hot water treatment provides a simple, environment-friendly and economical method to prevent spreading of grapevine mites

Structural dimensions of Roma school desegregation policies in Central and Eastern Europe

Scrutiny of the socio-economic exclusion of the Roma in Central and Eastern Europe has brought attention to the widespread practice of school segregation of Romani children who are automatically placed in classes for the mentally disabled or shunted into separate and inferior schools and classrooms. It is now widely recognised that such practices adversely affect the educational development of Romani children, which in turn dramatically constrains their possibilities to succeed in adult life. Thus far the legislative changes and political commitments to desegregation and integration measures have delivered limited outputs and outcomes. While national programmes face implementation challenges at the local level, the grassroots initiatives are rarely mainstreamed into wider policy strategies. At the end of the day the status quo is preserved. Given that little analytical effort has been made to explain the causes of desegregation failure, this article aims to address the void. It argues that the narrow desegregation aims prevents creation of comprehensive approaches sensitive to structural dimensions of segregation and discrimination. It builds on the policy design theory in order to capture the impact of discourse and policy content on the implementation outputs