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Background: Computer‐based assessment allows for the monitoring of reader behaviour. The identification of patterns in this behaviour can provide insights that may be useful in informing educational interventions. Objectives: Our study aims to explore what different patterns of reading activity exist, and investigates their interpretation and consistency across different task sets (units), countries, and languages. Three patterns were expected: on‐task, exploring and disengaged. Methods: Using log data from the PISA 2012 digital reading assessment (9226 students from seven countries), we conducted hierarchical cluster analyses with typical process indicators of digital reading assessments. We identified different patterns and explored whether they remained consistent across different units. To validate the interpretation of the identified patterns, we examined their relationship to performance and student characteristics (gender, socio‐economic status, print reading skills). Results and Conclusions: The results indicate a small number of transnational clusters, with unit‐specific differences. Cluster interpretation is supported by associations with student characteristics—for example, students with low print reading skills were more likely to show a disengaged pattern than proficient readers. Exploring behaviour tended to be exhibited only once across the three units: It occurred in the first unit for proficient readers and in later units for less skilled readers. Major Takeaways: Behavioural patterns can be identified in digital reading tasks that may prove useful for educational monitoring and intervention. Although task situations are designed to evoke certain behaviours, the interpretation of observed behavioural patterns requires validation based on task requirements, assessment context and relationships to other available information. Lay Description: What is already known about the subject matter?: Students differ in how they read, comprehend and use digital information.Indicators from process data provide insight about how students engage with digital reading tasks. What does this paper add to the subject matter?: Based on multiple process indicators, a small number of clusters indicating different behavioural activity can be distinguished.These clusters can be described as on‐task, passive, hasty, exploring, disengaged, persistent and lost interest.A meaningful interpretation of the clusters must consider the requirements of the underlying tasks. Implications for practice and/or policy: Knowledge of how students engage with digital resources may provide useful feedback for teachers to guide students' learning or intervene when they struggle.Educational monitoring: The high comparability of country‐specific results suggests an invariant set of solution strategies in the digital reading assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Germany and Canada differ significantly regarding their migration policy as well as the structures of the national labour markets and their educational systems. This paper aims to analyse how these differences affect the labour market outcomes of immigrants and the usability of foreign qualifications and work experiences by using the health and ICT sectors as example. The comparison focuses on the question how qualifications and work experience serve as signals and are screened for in the recruiting process of enterprises. The results show clear differences as well as several commonalities between the two compared countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the literature on fiscal equalization and corporate tax competition. The innovation is that we explicitly model multinational enterprises and a corporate tax system that is designed according to formula apportionment. Two main results are obtained. First, in contrast to previous studies we identify cases where tax revenue equalization is better in mitigating detrimental tax competition than tax base equalization. Second, tax base equalization nevertheless has the advantage that it may render tax rates efficient, depending on the shape of the apportionment formula. A pure payroll formula does not ensure efficiency, but a back‐of‐the‐envelope calibration of our model to Canadian provinces suggests that a pure sales formula may be optimal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the association between the use of advanced manufacturing practices and the choice of information and reward systems, and explores the impact of these choices on organizational performance. Although advanced manufacturing practices such as total quality management (TQM) have been widely adopted over the past decade, surveys indicate that most of these initiatives have not yielded significant economic benefits (e.g., Mathews and Katel [1992] and The Economist [1992]). Many accounting researchers charge that the poor performance of many new manufacturing initiatives is due in part to continued reliance on traditional management accounting systems that do not provide appropriate problem-solving data, performance measures, and reward systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a standardized dataset, this paper compares the differences in income mobility among four countries—Canada, the United States, Great Britain and Germany—during the 1990s and early 2000s. The results suggest that, in general, there exist diverse levels of income mobility across the four countries. Although the precise magnitudes of the differences are sensitive to the measurement method used, incomes in Britain are by far the most mobile. Our findings also reveal country-specific driving forces that underlie income mobility. The stabilizing effects of government transfers are most pronounced in Canada. In Germany, it is the progressive tax system that offsets earnings variations and results in smaller changes in longitudinal incomes. Moreover, we also discover that demographic factors provided only limited explanation of differences in income mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an autoregressive fractionally integrated moving-average (ARFIMA) model of nominal exchange rates and compares its forecasting capability with the monetary structural models and the random walk model. Monthly observations are used for Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom for the period of April 1973 through December 1998. The estimation method is Sowell's (1992) exact maximum likelihood estimation. The forecasting accuracy of the long-memory model is formally compared to the random walk and the monetary models, using the recently developed Harvey, Leybourne and Newbold (1997) test statistics. The results show that the long-memory model is more efficient than the random walk model in steps-ahead forecasts beyond 1 month for most currencies and more efficient than the monetary models in multi-step-ahead forecasts. This new finding strongly suggests that the long-memory model of nominal exchange rates be studied as a viable alternative to the conventional models. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper empirically investigates the plausibility, which has been argued but not fully established, that the efficacy of the inflation-targeting strategy recently implemented by New Zealand, Canada, and the U.K. has been an artifact of a global disinflationary environment. A data decomposition procedure, which involves cointegration and canonical correlation analysis, is used to remove common trend and cyclical components from historical data that these three countries share with their nontargeting neighboring countries, namely, Australia, the U.S., and Germany, respectively. Simulations based on resulting country-specific data for inflation and other economic aggregates reveal scant evidence of regime-shift effects as exhibited in observed data. This contrast in findings highlights the extent to which cross-country synchronization in economic activity has on the performance of small open economies. (JEL C32, E52, E58) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Sociolinguistics is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Objective This paper examines how negative experiences with the health-care system create a lack of confidence in receiving medical care in seven countries: Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Methods The empirical analysis is based on data from the Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey 2007, with nationally representative samples of adults aged 18 and over. For the analysis of the experience of cost barriers and confidence in receiving medical care, we conducted pairwise comparisons of group percentages as well as country-wise multivariate logistic regression models. Results Individuals who have experienced cost barriers show a significantly lower level of confidence in receiving safe and quality medical care than those who have not. This effect is most pronounced in the United States, where people who have foregone necessary treatment because of costs are four times as likely to lack confidence as individuals without the experience of cost barriers (adjusted odds ratio 4.00). In New Zealand, Germany, and Canada, individuals with the experience of cost barriers are twice as likely to report low confidence compared with those without this experience (adjusted odds ratios of 1.95, 2.19 and 2.24, respectively). In the Netherlands and UK, cost barriers are only a marginal phenomenon. Conclusions The fact that the experience of financial barriers considerably lowers confidence indicates that financial incentives, such as private co-payments, have a negative effect on overall public support and therefore on the legitimacy of health-care systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The goal of this paper is to examine the importance of permanent and transitory shocks using a more efficient trend-cycle decomposition of the real exchange rate series. Our main contribution is that in measuring the impact of shocks, we not only impose common trend restrictions but also common cycle restrictions. We later confirm, through a post sample forecasting exercise, the efficiency gains from imposing common cycle restrictions. Our results indicate that permanent shocks are responsible for the bulk of the real exchange rate variations for Japan, Italy, Germany, France, and the UK vis-à-vis the US dollar over short horizons. For Canada, however, transitory shocks are dominant over the short horizon. In sum, while for Japan, France, and Italy, around 15% of the variation in real exchange rate is due to transitory shocks, for Canada, Germany and the UK, over 25% of the variations over the short horizon are due to transitory shocks. Thus, we claim that the role of transitory shocks should not be ignored. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Transformations in global capitalism increased rates of international migration at the turn of the twentieth century, a period also marked by the widespread popularity of scientific racism, integral nationalism, and vaunted notions of state sovereignty. This paper considers how the intersection of these factors influenced migration and citizenship policymaking in Canada and Germany. In both cases, migration was harnessed to further economic objectives while groups deemed a threat to national integration because of their putative racial or ethno-national characteristics were excluded. The resultant policies would come to define Canada and Germany’s approaches to the migration-membership dilemma for the much of the twentieth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we argue that far from being surpassed by globalization, the nation-state remains a key space for organized labour. However, labour geographers’ focus on patterns of union organization and strategies of ‘internationalism’ underplays the enduring role of national institutions. Moreover, while labour geographers have recognized the significance of new forms of work organization, such as just in time and lean production, with some exceptions they have not examined how unions both formally and informally determine the trajectory of workplace change. Based on case studies of unions in the Canadian and German auto industries, we stress that the linkage between national and workplace scales remains critical to understanding how unions are responding to the challenges being presented by lean and just in time production. Finally, while there is a re-scaling of bargaining in the automobile industry to the firm or enterprise scale, the outcomes of decentralization depend largely on the national regulatory context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is commonly expected that exotic plants experience reduced herbivory, but experimental evidence for such enemy release is still controversial. One reason for conflicting results might be that community context has rarely been accounted for, although the surrounding plant diversity may moderate enemy release. Here, we tested the effects of focal tree origin and surrounding tree diversity on herbivore abundance and leaf damage in a cross‐Atlantic tree‐diversity experiment in Canada and Germany. We evaluated six European tree species paired with six North American congeners in both their native and exotic range, expecting lower herbivory for the exotic tree species in each pair at each site. Such reciprocal experiments have long been called for, but have not been realized thus far. In addition to a thorough evaluation of overall enemy release effects, we tested whether enemy release effects changed with the surrounding tree diversity. Herbivore abundance was indeed consistently lower on exotics across all six tree genera (12 comparisons). This effect of exotic status was independent of the continent, phylogenetic relatedness, and surrounding tree diversity. In contrast, leaf damage associated with generalist leaf chewers was consistently higher on North American tree species. Interestingly, several species of European weevils were the most abundant leaf chewers on both continents and the dominant herbivores at the Canadian site. Thus, most observed leaf damage is likely to reflect the effect of generalist herbivores that feed heavily on plant species with which they have not evolved. At the German site, sap suckers were the dominant herbivores and showed a pattern consistent with enemy release. Taken together, the consistently lower herbivory on exotics on both continents is not purely a pattern of enemy release in the strictest sense, but to some degree additionally reflects the susceptibility of native plants to invasive herbivores. In conclusion, our cross‐Atlantic study is consistent with the idea that nonnative trees have generally reduced herbivory, regardless of tree community diversity and species identity, but for different reasons depending on the dominant herbivore guild. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We bring together estimates of patterns of medical spending in all nine countries considered in this issue - Canada, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Taiwan and the United States. Comparing estimates across countries reveals three principal findings. First, medical spending in the calendar year of death accounts for 5-10 per cent of aggregate medical spending for the whole population and 9-20 per cent for those aged 65 and over. Spending in Taiwan is a little higher, at 16 per cent for the whole population and 29 per cent for the over-65s. Second, there is a mostly negative correlation between patient income and medical spending within all countries, except Japan and Taiwan for the over-65s and Taiwan and the US for the under-25s. Third, medical spending in all countries is concentrated in a small share of the population and is persistent over time, although the degree of concentration and persistence varies across countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Economics is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Much confusion about the real interest rate connection amongst different countries may result from a narrow approach to analyzing the data. Using an encompassing methodology that accommodates many different types of times-series processes, we find that real interest rates are mean-reverting long-memory variables. We show that cointegration methodology can often fail in this environment. Using a more general approach, we detect a limited connection between real interest rates across countries. In particular, Germany is connected with several European countries, but the US is connected only with Canada and possibly the United Kingdom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the interdependence of stock returns and exchange rate changes within the same economy. Six countries were tested for volatility spillovers, namely the U.S., Great Britain, Japan, Germany, Canada and France. Evidence of spillovers from stock returns to exchange rate changes is found for all countries except Germany. These results suggest that the asset approach to exchange rate determination is valid when formulated in terms of the second moments of the exchange rate distribution for these countries. The spillovers from stock returns to exchange rate changes are symmetric in nature. Volatility spillovers from exchange rate changes to stock returns are insignificant for all countries.

Copyright of Review of Policy Research is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper provides additional insight into the nature and degree of interdependence of stock markets of the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Germany, and it reports the extent to which volatility in these markets influences expected returns. The analysis uses the multivariate GARCH-M model. Although they are considered weak, statistically significant mean spillovers radiate from stock markets of the U.S. to the U.K., Canada, and Germany, and then from the stock markets of Japan to Germany. No relation is found between conditional market volatility and expected returns. Strong time-varying conditional volatility exists in the return series of all markets. The own-volatility spillovers in the U.K. and Canadian markets are insignificant, supporting the view that conditional volatility of returns in these markets is "imported" from abroad, specifically from the U.S. Significant volatility spillovers radiate from the U.S. stock market to all four stock markets, from the U.K. stock market to the Canadian stock market, and from the German stock market to the Japanese stock market. The results are robust and no changes occur in the correlation structure of returns over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article looks at the development of a model, including both corporate and individual taxes, to determine the conditions under which preferred shares are issued and purchased in the U.S., Canada, Germany, Great Britain, France and Denmark prior to 1986. For each country examined, it is shown that there are conditions under which corporations are able to issue preferred shares that are profitable for the issuing corporations as well as attractive to investors. The model also produces specialized implications for each country. For example, the analysis suggests that there are stronger tax incentives to create a positive preferred stock equilibrium in Canada than in the U.S. This results from the existence of the dividend tax credit in Canada and from the higher dividend exclusion for corporate investors. The implication of the model for West Germany is that the ratio of new issues of preferred shares over bonds should be quite low because the condition for issuing preferred shares is only marginally satisfied. Individual investors and parent companies in France and Denmark are entitled to similar tax relief, but non-parent firms are in a less advantageous position than their Canadian counterparts.

Background: The resources used in treatment for sex offenders with intellectual disabilities have had much research attention, but less has been written about how participants are expected to respond (programme mechanisms). Methods: A realist evaluation of seven programmes from the UK, Canada, USA, Switzerland and Germany was conducted. In semi‐structured interviews, programme designers elucidated how they are intended to work. The data analysis was driven by the realist concern to expose programme mechanisms and intended outcomes. Results: Two main outcomes are increasing risk management capacities and cultivating prosocial identities. These are achieved through developing insights into a person's risks, work on (sexual) self‐regulation skills, sexual boundaries and personal values and by developing meaningful social roles and positive relationships. Conclusions: Over time, there have been changes to some of the treatment resources used. However, there were little differences in terms of the intended programme mechanisms and outcomes, which remained surprisingly consistent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To compare health care planning models forecasting rheumatology workforce requirements in western countries.Methods: A systematic literature review was conducted through medical databases (Ovid MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, and Cochrane Library) and the grey literature. All articles reporting a rheumatology workforce model were included.Results: The search yielded 6,508 articles, and 14 publications (on 12 studies) were included. Workforce models were available for the US (n = 3), Canada (n = 3), the US plus Canada (n = 1), Germany (n = 2), Spain (n = 1), and the UK (n = 2). The number of rheumatologists required to serve a population of 100,000 people was calculated, with a range of 0.7 (UK, calculated for 1988) to 3.5 (Spain, calculated for 2021). Most models used a needs-based approach (n = 6); 3 studies each applied a supply- or demand-based method. The following variables were considered by ≥1 model: disease prevalence, patients' referral to rheumatologists, clinical visits/patient/year, population development, factors influencing performance of rheumatologists, patient flow/care sharing, and medical technologies/infrastructure development.Conclusion: Heterogeneity in methods used, the period or calendar years for which the estimates were projected, and heterogeneity of variables evaluated led to disparate estimates, with results ranging from 0.7 to 3.5 rheumatologists per 100,000 population. An international initiative is needed to agree upon a common approach for a reliable estimation of manpower requirements in rheumatology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The availability of costly safety measures against transfusion-transmissible infections forces Western countries to confront difficult ethical questions. How to decide about implementing such measures? When are such decisions justified? As a preliminary to addressing these questions, we assessed which concerns shape actual donor blood safety policymaking in five Western countries.Study Design and Methods: Our qualitative study involved determining which issues had been discussed in advisory committee meetings and capturing these issues in general categories. Appropriate documents were identified in collaboration with local decision-making experts in Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The introduction of hepatitis B virus nucleic acid testing and selected measures against variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, West Nile virus, and Q-fever were chosen as cases representing decision-making on safety measures with high costs and low or uncertain added safety.Results: A broad inventory of concerns was established, including: 1) nine categories of advantages and disadvantages of candidate safety policies; 2) six kinds of difficulties in assessing risks and forecasting the effects of safety policies; 3) 13 decision-making principles; and 4) six kinds of practical barriers hampering the translation of candidate policies into decisions.Conclusion: Blood safety policymaking involves a wide variety of competing concerns, and approaches to reconcile these considerations are themselves contested. Developing a systematic decision-making approach requires ethical reflection on, among others, reasonable costs of safety and the value of transparency in public policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forming interpersonal therapeutic relationships with mental health Service Users remains a key aspect of the practice of Psychiatric/ Mental Health nurses. Given the omnipresence of the concept within the relevant literature the reader could be forgiven for asking: why would Psychiatric/ Mental Health nurses opine about something so basic, so ubiquitous and so central to the theory and practice of our discipline? While the authors could locate no substantive argument that refutes the role or value of such relationships, a sizable, growing and reasonably consistent body of work has emerged, which appears to indicate that this centrality and value is not necessarily reflected in many clinical practice settings. Accordingly, we draw on the published evaluations of mental health care emanating from the United Kingdom, Portugal, Canada, Switzerland, Germany and Australia, compare these findings and highlight similarities or/and congruence and discuss a range of issues arising out of the findings. Alas, the findings seem to depict a mental health care inpatient experience that is often devoid of warm therapeutic relationships, respectful interactions, information or choice about treatment and any kind of formal/informal 'talk therapy'. Instead such care experiences are personified by: coercion, disinterest, inhumane practices, custodial and controlling practitioners and a gross over use of pharmacological 'treatments'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transition is a purposeful, planned process that addresses the medical, psychosocial, educational, and vocational needs of adolescents and young adults with chronic medical conditions, as they advance from a pediatric and family-centered to an adult, individual focused health care provider. This article describes some of the models for transition clinics or services for epilepsy in five countries (Canada, France, Colombia, Germany, and the United Kingdom). These models include joint adult and pediatric clinics, algorithm-driven service, and a check list system in the context of pediatric care. Evaluation of these models is limited, and it is not possible to choose an optimal program. The attitude and motivation of health care providers may be the most important elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study was designed to collect and compare nurse staffing standards and staffing levels in six counties: the United States, Canada, England, Germany, Norway, and Sweden. Design: The study used descriptive information on staffing regulations and policies as well as actual staffing levels for registered nurses, licensed nurses, and nursing assistants across states, provinces, regions, and countries. Methods: Data were collected from Internet searches of staffing regulations and policies along with statistical data on actual staffing from reports and documents. Staffing data were converted to hours per resident day to facilitate comparisons across countries. Findings: We found wide variations in both nurse staffing standards and actual staffing levels within and across countries, although comparisons were difficult to make due to differences in measuring staffing, the vagueness of standards, and limited availability of actual staffing data. Both the standards and levels in most countries (except Norway and Sweden) were lower than the recommended levels by experts. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate the need for further attention to nurse staffing standards and levels in order to assure the quality of nursing home care. Clinical Relevance: A high quality of nursing home care requires adequate levels of nurse staffing, and nurse staffing standards have been shown to improve staffing levels. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 2011; XX:X, XXX-XXX. ©2011 Sigma Theta Tau International. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE 2011; 18:1358-1370 © 2011 by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Abstract The maturation of emergency medicine (EM) as a specialty has coincided with dramatic increases in emergency department (ED) visit rates, both in the United States and around the world. ED crowding has become a public health problem where periodic supply and demand mismatches in ED and hospital resources cause long waiting times and delays in critical treatments. ED crowding has been associated with several negative clinical outcomes, including higher complication rates and mortality. This article describes emergency care systems and the extent of crowding across 15 countries outside of the United States: Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Italy, The Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Catalonia (Spain), Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The authors are local emergency care leaders with knowledge of emergency care in their particular countries. Where available, data are provided about visit patterns in each country; however, for many of these countries, no national data are available on ED visits rates or crowding. For most of the countries included, there is both objective evidence of increases in ED visit rates and ED crowding and also subjective assessments of trends toward higher crowding in the ED. ED crowding appears to be worsening in many countries despite the presence of universal health coverage. Scandinavian countries with robust systems to manage acute care outside the ED do not report crowding is a major problem. The main cause for crowding identified by many authors is the boarding of admitted patients, similar to the United States. Many hospitals in these countries have implemented operational interventions to mitigate crowding in the ED, and some countries have imposed strict limits on ED length of stay (LOS), while others have no clear plan to mitigate crowding. An understanding of the causes and potential solutions implemented in these countries can provide a lens into how to mitigate ED crowding in the United States through health policy interventions and hospital operational changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review outlines nationwide methods for point rainfall frequency estimation currently in use in nine different countries: Canada, Sweden, France, Germany, the United States, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom. For the United Kingdom, the Flood Studies Report method from 1975 is described as well as the current Flood Estimation Handbook method. The focus is on return periods relevant to reservoir design, in the region of 100-10 000 years. There is considerable difficulty in estimating long return period rainfalls from short data records and there is no obviously 'best' way of doing it. Each country's method is different, but most use some form of regionalisation to transfer information from surrounding sites to the target point. Several of the methods are variations of a regionalisation method that combines a local estimate of an index variable (typically the mean or the median annual maximum rainfall) with a regionally derived growth curve to obtain a design rainfall estimate. Three of the methods use regions centred on the site of interest, rather than fixed-boundary regions. Different statistical distributions and fitting methods are used, with the Generalised Extreme Value distribution being the most common. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers are only beginning to understand how contextual variables such as date of birth and birthplace affect the development of elite athletes. This article considers the generality of birthplace and date-of-birth effects in varying sport contexts. The Study 1 examined how environmental factors associated with an athlete's date-of-birth and size of birthplace predict the likelihood of becoming an Olympic athlete in Canada, the United States of America, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Study 2 examined date-of-birth and birthplace effects among athletes playing in the first professional league in Germany. Study 2 also examined the validity of birthplace as a proxy for early developmental environment by comparing birthplace with the place of first sports club in four German sports leagues. Results from both studies showed no consistent findings for date of birth. Findings from Study 2 also suggested incongruence between birthplace and location of first sports club as proxies for early developmental environment. Although there was some consistency suggesting elite athletes are less likely to come from very small or excessively large communities, exceptions occurred both within and across sport contexts. These results suggest that any developmental effects of date and place of birth are buffered by broader socio-cultural factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, the differences between the education and training systems in the liberal and coordinated market economies have increased. It is not possible to understand such different developments by focusing exclusively on the internal dynamics of vocational and general education systems. Vocational education and training (VET), and particularly apprenticeship systems rather than school-based VET, are deeply embedded in the different national production, labour market, industrial relations and status systems. In order to contribute to a better understanding of the dynamics of VET, we examine recent developments in general and vocational training and its links to the labour and product market in five contrasting countries, namely, Denmark, Canada, Germany, Korea and the USA. In particular, differences in industrial relations, welfare states, income distribution and product markets are the main reason for the persistent high level of diversity in vocational training systems. The difference can perhaps be summarized as follows: in the coordinated market economies, the modernisation of vocational training is seen as a contribution to innovation in the economy, while in liberal market economies, it is seen as a siding into which weaker pupils can conveniently be shunted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the criterion-related validity of integrity tests is well established, there has not been enough research examining which personality constructs contribute to their criterion-related validity. Moreover, evidence of how well findings on integrity tests in North America generalize to non-English speaking countries is virtually absent. This research addressed these issues with data obtained from employees and students in Canada and Germany (total N= 853). Specifically, we tested the hypotheses that (a) Honesty–Humility, as specified in the HEXACO model of personality, is relatively more important than the Big 5 dimensions of personality in accounting for the criterion-related validity of overt integrity tests, whereas (b) the Big 5 are relatively more important in explaining the validity of personality-based integrity tests. These predictions were tested using 2 criteria (counterproductive work behavior and counterproductive academic behavior) as well as 2 overt and 2 personality-based integrity tests. We found evidence of the expected differences between types of integrity tests largely regardless of culture of the sample, specific test, criterion, or population under research, pointing to some degree of generalizability of findings in integrity testing research. Implications include theoretical refinements in research on integrity testing and encouragement of practical applications beyond North America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article attempts to refine the statement that federal states face difficulties in fiscal policy making because of the territorial division of powers by comparing two federal countries, Canada and Germany. These two countries differ in terms of their type of federalism: Canada displaying a power-separation system and Germany corresponding to a power-sharing type. According to the authors, the territorial factor influences fiscal policy making through the distribution of taxing and spending powers as well as through patterns of intergovernmental relations. The use of fiscal policy instruments and the likely effects on conflict and cooperation in those two countries is discussed with empirical evidence. The authors come to the conclusion that federalism is indeed a constraint on fiscal policy making, but that the two types of power division face different obstacles and deal differently with fiscal problems. In the power-separation system of Canada, the federal government has encompassing competencies to use fiscal policy instruments unilaterally and without restraint, but faces a lack of concerted action with the provinces which reduces its scope of action in fiscal policy making. In the power-sharing system in Germany, concerted action facilitates macroeconomic stabilisation strategies but the compulsory negotiation system distorts the use of fiscal policy instruments by distributive bargaining. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a historical background of the International Association for Research in Income and Wealth for the period 1988 to 1998. The "early years"--1947 to 1960--saw the big decisions that arrived at a transatlantic consensus in favour of the accounting system developed by the "National Accounts Research Unit" of the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation. As regards traditional economic accounting, the "recent" period has essentially been one of consolidation, culminating in the publication of the 1993 SNA which works out in impressive detail the loose ends of the earlier systems. These included the institutional sector accounts, balance sheets, their links with the intra-period flows and the treatment of natural resources as a component of national wealth. Further, the article presents short description of the conference programme of the Association over the recent period. General Conferences were held in Lahnstein, Germany (1989); St. Andrews, Canada (1994) and Lillehammer, Norway (1996).

The article focuses on the migration trends experiences by several developed countries which include Australia, Canada, and the Federal Republic of Germany. It says that eight developed countries were found to have published data needed to assess changes in the regional composition of migration inflows, in which the data were based on permanent residents admissions, country of birth, and the number of incoming and outgoing migrants. It states that published datas which uses classification by country of origin are not ideal for the identification of developed and developing countries. It adds that a rise of refugee and asylum-seeker migration directed to most developed countries have witnessed in 1980.

Treatment with new and/or innovative drugs with uncertain safety and efficacy profile is associated with substantial ethical concerns. The main objective of this paper is to present guidance on the use of such drugs contained in: (i) major international codes and guidelines pertaining to medical ethics and biomedical research; (ii) national codes of medical ethics and professional conduct of the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Ireland, France and Germany. Out of the four international codes and guidelines analysed, only the Declaration of Helsinki addresses the question of the use of unproven drugs. Among national codes, only two (USA and New Zealand) explicitly allow for use of new or innovative drugs. Moreover, treatment with unproven drugs seems to be permissible under the French code, though this is not stated explicitly. The remaining codes do not contain any articles on the use of new and innovative drugs. An update of existing articles, as well as the addition of new guidelines to the codes, should be considered in view of the rapid pace of development and introduction to clinical practice of new drugs. This work is relevant to innovative off-label applications of approved drugs and expanded access to investigational drugs., (© 2018 The British Pharmacological Society.)

There is little written about the pharmacoeconomics of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), particularly with regard to intervention. The aim of the paper is to highlight methodological issues and to present some results that are of importance when drug interventions of MCI are discussed. There is a relationship between severity of dementia and costs, but to what extent such results can be extrapolated to MCI is not known. Even if it is logical to consider a postponement of the shift from MCI to dementia as cost effective, this statement must be proven, particularly in light of the insufficient knowledge about the effects of anti-dementia drugs on survival. From the Kungsholmen project in Sweden, there are indications that the postponement between MCI and manifest dementia may result in short-term benefits (a few years) of about SEK50,000 (5300 US dollars).