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Introduction: We report an investigation on collaboration practices in research papers published in the most prestigious English-medium astrophysics journals. Method: We propose an evaluation method based on three numerical indicators to study and compare, in absolute terms, three different types of collaboration (international, national and local) and authors' mobility on the basis of co-authorship. Analysis: We analysed 300 randomly selected research papers in three different time periods and used the student's t-test to determine whether the paired two-sample differences observed were statistically significant or not. Results: International collaboration is more common than national and local collaboration. International, national and local authors' mobility and intra-national collaboration do not seriously affect the indicators of the principal levels of collaboration. International collaboration and authors' mobility are more relevant for authors publishing in European journals, whereas national and intra-national collaboration and national mobility are more important for authors publishing in US journals. Conclusions: We explain the observed differences and patterns in terms of the specific scope of each journal and the socio-economic and political situation in both geographic contexts (Europe and the USA). Our study provides a global picture of collaboration practices in astrophysics and its possible application to many other sciences and fields would undoubtedly help bring into focus the really big issues for overall research management and policy.

The humble ballot paper is a defining technology of elections throughout the world. This article interrogates its contested past by demonstrating - over a long period and in the context of three contrasting countries - how and why it emerged in the early modern period and how it was then used, abused and regulated in the context of the expanded, and eventually mass, electoral arenas of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Ironically, by the time that the ballot paper was firmly established, its monopoly was already being challenged by mechanical and then electronic media, which may eventually condemn it to extinction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of web analytics software has changed the way marketing is researched, monitored, planned, and managed, which suggests a new dimension of marketing interactions between firms. This paper describes digital marketing results in terms of customer attraction to e-commerce websites from different angles (cross-country, firm type, evolution) and investigates empirically how competitors' marketing activities affect a focal firm. Using a vector autoregression model applied to data for grocery e-commerce in the US, the UK, and France, we find differences across American and European firms in the composition of digital marketing techniques and the existence of interaction effects across firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article performs a close reading of a newly discovered archive of letters to and from Charles de Gaulle, written between 1941 and 1944, to show how de Gaulle engaged in a process of auto-mythification. The archive features wartime correspondence between de Gaulle and various leaders of the British government, intelligence, and military, such as Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (1941) Anthony Eden, and Chief of the Imperial General Staff General Alan Brooke. The study illuminates the problematic nature of Anglo-French collaboration in terms of shifting cultural perspectives, particularly with regard to the notion of authority. Such notions are inevitably contested, and this collection of letters is an unusually effective resource to reconstruct the essentially dialogic aspects of this contestation. Through contextualization of the correspondence, including both contemporary and retrospective accounts of the war, the article enriches our understanding of the implicit and explicit conflicts between British and French forces and the rhetorical strategies utilized to further each writer's aims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The literature mostly investigates the business cycle transmission of the United Kingdom (UK) and France as a part of a wider group (e.g. European Exchange Rate Mechanism or G7), despite their historical links and regional significance. Thus, herein paper aims to analyse the inter-dependence of these economies and how a shock from one of them affects the other for the data since 1978 to 2019. Design/methodology/approach: In this paper, first, preliminary statistics were calculated in order to describe the historical relationship between these countries. The econometric part estimates the vector auto-regression model (VAR) to assess the inter-dependence of the economies. VAR model allows further to inspect the impulse response functions that shows the shock dynamics from one country to another. In order to verify if a shock from one of the economies is important to another, the study uses granger causality test. Findings: The study establishes a strong link between these countries. A business cycle is transmitted significantly between the economies of France and UK, with a single standard deviation shock from France resulting in a long term effect of 0.4% change in gross domestic product (GDP) of UK and 1% vice versa. Additionally changes in GDP of both of the countries significantly Granger-cause change to GDP of the corresponding economy. Originality/value: This is the first empirical study investigating the business cycle transmission between France and UK and providing a quantitative assessment of their inter-dependence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This short paper presents an overview of the French policy mix towards labour market inequalities, consisting of a high minimum wage together with targeted payroll tax cuts around the minimum wage. It reviews the recent literature documenting the impact of that policy mix on employment and wage inequality. The main takeaways are that pre‐tax wage inequality has been increasing in France rather like it has in the UK and the US, while net wage inequality has decreased and then remained stable. The employment experience for the middle age group is also very close in France to the one in the UK and the US, while it differs markedly at young and older ages. The paper offers two more general thoughts on how to make progress in comparing policy options. First, most studies tend to give too much weight to tax and benefit reforms in being able to reduce inequality as they disregard incidence mechanisms, and fail to incorporate properly longer‐term effects of other policies on pre‐tax inequality. Second, the design of effective policy should always incorporate simplicity and salience. Failure to do so is likely to lead to little expected impact of such policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beginning in the mid-1980s, European governments have increasingly implemented performance-based funding systems for higher education. While a focus on the transnational pressures that contributed to the widespread adoption of performance-based funding in Europe accounts for the impetus for performance-based funding policies, it fails to address how and why the resultant performance-based funding policies are as distinct and different as they are. In this paper, I argue that an institutional logics perspective offers a theoretical account of the performance-based funding policy formation process. I use the United Kingdom (UK), Germany, and France as case studies. I contend that in these three cases, different local logics drove the performance-based funding policy formation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Global North, mass warfare created a huge demand for social protection, pushing governments to provide income for invalids, war victims, and the survivors of fallen soldiers. Most European colonial powers, including France and Great Britain, recruited soldiers and other security forces not only from their metropoles but also from their colonies during both World Wars. However, the question of how mass warfare influenced social reforms in former colonies has not been systematically addressed, particularly with respect to how these influences varied across colonial powers. To begin to address this gap, this paper explores the warfare–welfare nexus in the context of British and French colonies of West Africa around World War I (WWI). The paper finds that, while Britain and France had similar overarching imperial and military objectives in West Africa of securing their colonies, enforcing order within them, and promoting commerce to increase profit, they went about achieving them very differently, with direct and indirect implications for social reforms after WWI. While only a first step, research on the distinct nature of the warfare–welfare nexus in colonial contexts is critical in order to historicize and close research gaps by widening and deepening our understanding of social policy trajectories in countries of the Global South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In addition a paper that was being published at the same time by a highly respected European laboratory, EFECTIS, authored by Eric Guilluame directly supports the results we obtained.[3] Babrauskus goes on to criticize the study by claiming that it does not accurately reflect the real environment. The corresponding author of the letter has questioned the independence and ethics of the testing laboratory and authors. [Extracted from the article]

This paper examines the patterns of technology transfer from Britain to France during the early phases of industrializing using a dataset comprising all patents granted in France in the period 1791–1844. Exploiting the peculiarities of French legislation, we construct an array of patent quality indicators and investigate their determinants. We find that patents filed by British inventors or French inventors with personal connections to British inventors were of relatively higher quality. Overall, our results show that the French innovation system was capable of attracting and effectively absorbing key technologies from Britain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Population aging has led to the establishment of Healthcare Real Estate Investment Trusts (HC-REITs) to boost the supply of nursing homes, but these initiatives have met with contrasting success in different countries. This paper bridges two strands of research on financialization, social welfare and the built environment, to explain the uneven geography of HC-REIT development in France, the UK and Japan. It argues that nation-specific processes of nursing home securitization are shaped by the interrelationships between three crucial factors: (i) the regime of retirement income, (ii) public policies dedicated to long-term institutional care and (iii) the power relations between the REITs and care providers themselves. Drawing on discussions with experts in these sectors, the paper demonstrates that liberal welfare states such as the UK have an especially attractive profile for Healthcare REIT investors due to the advanced state of financialized pension reforms, significant state disengagement in the provision of long-term care and REIT-friendly regulations that facilitate investment operations and leases. On the one hand, these tendencies are driving financial investors to satisfy a growing demand for retirement savings in niche markets such as Healthcare REITs. On the other hand, value extraction is being increasingly sought through the capture of care-dependent residents' home equity. By linking social benefit provisioning to later life housing accommodation, this article casts important light on current debates on the political economy of real estate financialization, while also emphasizing the need for continued state support for long-term institutional care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of increasing attention on museum sustainability, this research adopts a dictionary‐based, content‐analysis approach to measure the degree of sustainability disclosed in European museum annual reports and similar documents. The analysis is carried out through the lens of institutional theory, assuming that the presence of formal and informal regulations positively affects the level of sustainability in annual reporting practices. Furthermore, the paper discusses the level of sustainability disclosed by different types of museums and the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on the extent of sustainability‐oriented reporting. The article compares top public museums in the UK and France, the European countries where accountability practices are most deeply rooted for legal and cultural reasons, and where the most visited museums in the world are located. The findings show that the type of museum and the country significantly affect the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) score, whereas mentioning COVID‐19 or the year of publication does not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper has developed an operation and maintenance (O&M) model for projected 20 MW tidal stream farm case studies at two sites in the northeast Atlantic in France and at EMEC's Fall of Warness site in the UK. The annual energy production, number of incidents, and downtimes of the farms for corrective and planned (preventive) maintenance strategies are estimated using Monte Carlo simulations that vary weather windows, repair vessel availabilities, and mean annual failure rates modelled by Weibull distributions. The trade-offs between the mean annual failure rates, time availability, O&M costs, and energy income minus the variable O&M costs were analysed. For all scenarios, a 5-year planned maintenance strategy could considerably decrease the mean annual failure rates by 37% at both sites and increase the net energy income. Based on a detailed sensitivity analysis, the study has suggested a simple decision-making method that examines how the variation in the mean annual failure rate and changes in spare-part costs would reduce the effectiveness of a preventive maintenance strategy. This work provides insights into the most important parameters that affect the O&M cost of tidal stream turbines and their effect on tidal energy management. The output of the study will contribute to decision-making concerning maintenance strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the large map as an innovative visual art tool in a frontline art therapy project with refugees. In a volatile and hostile setting on the France-UK border at Calais, inhospitable spaces, for a time, become human places, and the capacity to imagine both other (people) and somewhere other (place) become possible. Within this emergency setting, a safe space is temporarily activated. In the complicated times in which we live, art therapists are uniquely positioned to offer crisis support to people in diverse contexts with ethical and imaginative practice, using both their psychological skills and the art itself in equal weight. Critical examination of art therapy interventions is a necessary aspect of ethical practice and can lead to adaptations. This can feed into contemporary debates about how to deliver crisis intervention work, social action, social justice, as well as issues of definition. Dialogue, collaboration and co-production can open debate, challenge injustices and lead to social change. Social media as an extension of practice can serve as a further innovation and offer an alternative potential space, particularly in crisis contexts and where face-to-face work is not possible. Plain-language summary This paper looks at the role of the large map in an ongoing frontline art therapy project with refugees in Calais, northern France. The authors write about the border context in which the work takes place. They then present some thinking about the use of maps within this setting. This is followed by an example of the work in practice in the form of one Facebook post written in February 2019. The authors discuss the themes and ideas about space and materials emerging out of this extract. The authors propose that the innovative choice and application of materials, which helps to create a safe space in this border setting, can be translated into other physically and psychologically challenging contexts. The core tenets of art therapy practice and the skills brought by art therapists are needed now as much as ever. The paper also invites art therapists to think critically and imaginatively about the materials and media they choose in relation to their own wider work contexts with people. The authors suggest that an important part of the art therapy intervention in a difficult place needs to be about reflecting and adapting to context, which includes crisis support. This in turn supports a dialogue that can challenge injustices and lead to social change. The collaborative reflections about the work, written into blog posts during the return journeys from France back to the UK, form a second practice innovation. The posts are shared with an online audience and sometimes read, commented upon and further shared by those who use the service in Calais. The posts attempt to present creative, impactful narratives about the human aspect of the refugee experience. This is in contrast to the dominant media narratives in which refugees are often depicted with negative stereotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Since 2008-2009, the governments in France and Great Britain have encouraged more rigorous penalization of tax evaders. This paper aims to investigate the implementation of these policies on the basis of an important and original empirical material.Design/methodology/approach The study done in France relies on interviews conducted with representatives of law enforcement agencies on public statistics and on an innovative database compiled from nearly 600 cases submitted to the judiciary. The comparison with Great Britain is developed through interviews conducted with different participants in the fight against tax fraud and statistical information.Findings This paper describes the recent evolution of the machinery for screening tax-related wrongdoings in France and in the UK. It demonstrates that whilst publicly calling for harsh punishment against tax dodgers, in practice, both governments tend to seek a balance between the growing demand for tax equality and the belief that the State should not intervene in the economic realm. This strategy leads to the over-representation of certain categories of taxpayers. Despite the commonalities resulting from the numerous filters before prosecution, the penal strategy takes on two different shapes on either side of the Channel: whereas the British institutions support an “exemplary punitive” system, French regulatory system favours a “quasi-administrative” treatment. The French tax authority continues to use the criminal procedures mainly as a financial instrument for the improved restitution of stolen taxes. The policy of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, supported by the “Sentencing Guidelines”, aims much more at obtaining exemplary convictions.Originality/value Based on a large empirical material, this paper highlights the different outcomes of the criminal trials against tax evaders in the two countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the determinants of wealth inequality, measured as the share of wealth owned by the top 1 percent wealthiest individuals. We find that labor's bargaining power is a significant and important determinant of top wealth shares. Using a semi‐structural vector autoregression (SVAR) model for the period 1970–2019, we estimate that shocks to labor's bargaining power explain 32 percent, 8 percent and 32 percent of the variation around the long‐term trend in wealth inequality in the UK, USA and France, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I analyse the role of shareholder approval and pre-emption rights in protecting shareholders in share issuances by listed corporations in the UK, Belgium and France. In these countries, shareholder approval and pre-emption rights are in principle required for share issuances, but the general meeting can authorise the board of directors to issue shares and disapply pre-emption rights. Proxy advisors and institutional investors have adopted guidelines that signal that they strongly support pre-emption rights and shareholder approval of share issuances. However, I provide empirical evidence that these guidelines are often not followed in France and Belgium, especially for smaller corporations with high levels of insider ownership. I contrast this with the strong impact of the guidelines in the UK. I also offer explanations for these differences, as well as policy options that would give shareholders a larger say on the balance between flexibility and accountability regarding authorisations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the relation between risk of job automation and participation in adult education and training (AET) and examines variation in that relation across welfare regimes distinguishing between situational and institutional barriers. Using microdata of PIAAC, we analyze participation in formal or nonformal AET for job-related reasons in relation to the risk of automation of the respondents' occupation after controlling for main sociodemographic characteristics. Logistic regression models are run on respondents from 14 European countries representing different welfare regimes: Denmark, Norway, and Sweden (Scandinavian countries); Italy, Greece, and Spain (Southern European); Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland (Central and Eastern Europe), Belgium, France, and Germany (Continental); and United Kingdom and Ireland (Anglo-Saxon countries). Our findings confirm that workers in occupations at high risk of automation were found to be consistently less likely to participate in job-related AET, quite irrespective of welfare regime. [The paper was presented at XIII Conferenza Espanet Italia--Il welfare state di fronte alle sfide globali (Venezia, 17 September 2020).]

Design of piles in chalk is considered as an important issue for a number of geotechnical applications in Northern Europe. Few methods exist for predicting the ultimate axial pile capacity in chalk, but little guidance can be found regarding the design of driven piles in this complex material as experience is rather limited. This paper aims to study the short and long-term predictive performance of different pile design methods used in France and the UK where chalk is found widespread in the north-west coast and the south-east coast, respectively. Conventional methods used in France and the UK are compared by considering seven full-scale static load tests performed in Paris Basin and extracted from the LCPC pile database. The ratio of the measured vs calculated pile shaft resistance and base resistance value is analysed and the scatter of each method is studied. The comparison shows large differences between results. Extension of the database is of great importance to improve the predictive reliability. The last part discusses the evolution of the long-term capacity of driven piles in chalk due to ageing effects. Results show an increasing trend after driving, following a hyperbolic evolution curve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the concept of jurisprudence in Canada and its reconciliation. It mentions that Canada has been occupied by many different states like European nations such as Great Britain and France. It also mentions that Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) recognized then Aboriginal rights and the existence of Aboriginal title due to fiduciary obligations.

This study aims to identify the literacy skills of individuals whose highest level of education was in the field 'teacher training and educational sciences'. The study sample comprised 10,618 individuals in the field of teacher training and educational sciences, selected from 31 countries (participating in the International Adult Skills Assessment Programme during the 2014-2015 survey) using a multi-stage sampling method. The study employed multi-level latent class analysis and three-step analysis in order to determine both the number of multi-level latent classes of educators' literacy scores as well as the selected independent variables' success in predicting those latent classes. The analysis revealed that educators in Germany constituted the group with the highest literacy skills while educators from Singapore comprised the group with the lowest literacy skills. [This study was presented at the 9th International Congress of Educational Research. Ordu University, Ordu, Turkey.]

Younger and older generations are differently motivated in relation to news consumption and online political expression. In this paper, we suggest that different modes of citizenship characterize younger and older generations. To test the differential role of political interest in news consumption and online political expression, we use a survey of 3,210 people from the United States, 3,043 from the United Kingdom, and 3,031 from France. Our findings suggest that young citizens are more frequent users of online news overall and that the rank order of different news activities replicates cross-nationally. The frequency of online political expression is negatively related to age, with older people less likely to post online. Age moderates the relationship between political interest and news consumption as well as news consumption and online political expression. The correlations of these sets of variables are stronger for younger respondents compared to older respondents. These findings hold across the three countries under study. We explain these patterns in terms of changing citizenship norms and discuss the implications for democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: The literature has argued that accounting for intangible assets and goodwill provides a wide range for managers to manipulate earnings. Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the impact of accounting treatment of intangible assets and goodwill on earnings management. Research methodology: The study included 115 French companies and 100 UK companies, during 2011–2019, employing multiple regression, where earnings management was measured through discretionary accruals; while accounting for intangibles and goodwill was divided into the capitalization and decapitalization of intangible assets, recognition and derecognition of goodwill, and depreciation and impairment of intangible assets and goodwill. Results: According to the results, accounting for intangible assets and goodwill has an impact on earnings management, while it is used differently between French and UK companies. In France, companies employ intangible assets capitalization to manipulate earnings, while UK companies use intangible assets capitalization and goodwill recognition. Novelty: This study provides supplementary evidence for standards setters, managers, and auditors about the contribution of accounting for intangible assets and goodwill in the quality of financial reporting and explores the new tools and practices of earnings management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers the 1745–46 Jacobite rebellion in Scotland (the last major attempt to restore the Stuart dynasty – in exile since 1689 – to the throne of Britain), and its decades-long aftermath, as a transatlantic problem deeply embedded in the geopolitical and cultural entanglements of inter-imperial rivalry and warfare. Prevailing interpretations of the '45 consider it as primarily a culminating political event centred on dynastic rivalry and the relative security of the Hanoverian establishment, while overlooking more recent geographic insights from the fields Atlantic and New Imperial history. In exploring the long term imperial strategic repercussions of the '45 as understood through the dynamics of a rapidly expanding and interconnected British Atlantic press and public sphere, this paper demonstrates novel and lasting understandings of the connection between inter-imperial rivalry, warfare, and domestic fifth-column rebellions. Such understandings, continuing throughout the mid-eighteenth century wars between Britain and France, and the contemporary anxieties tied to them, disrupt linear narratives of post-'45 British political and cultural integration. The British polity and formations of Britishness and Scottishness were entangled with France to an unprecedented degree as a result of the inter-imperial problem of the '45. This ultimately draws attention to the overlooked historical novelties, continuities, and contingencies of the post-'45 period. This cultural context must be considered and periodized on its own historical terms, rather than as part of a straightforward eighteenth century process of nation-state formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines young people's experiences of open access youth work in settings in the UK, Finland, Estonia, Italy and France. It analyses 844 individual narratives from young people, which communicate the impact of youthwork on their lives. These accounts are then analysed in the light of the European youth work policy goals. It concludes that it is encouraging that what young people identify as the positive impact of youth work are broadly consistent with many of these goals. There are however some disparities which require attention. These include the importance young people place on the social context of youth work, such as friendship, which is largely absent in EU youth work policy; as well as the importance placed on experiential learning. The paper also highlights a tension between 'top down' policy formulation and the 'youth centric' practices of youth work. It concludes with a reminder to policy makers that for youth work to remain successful the spaces and places for young people must remain meaningful to them 'on their terms'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the rising public health phenomenon of workplace suicide drawing on comparative insights from the French and UK contexts. France has experienced what the media describes as a “suicide epidemic” in the workplace, with rising numbers of employees choosing to kill themselves in the face of extreme pressures at work.Design/methodology/approach The paper uses a comparative approach drawing on insights from the French context, in which workplace suicide is legally and officially recognised, to shed critical light on the UK context where workplace suicide remains a hidden phenomenon.Findings Whilst in France, workplace suicide is treated as an urgent public health phenomenon and data on suicides are collected centrally, in the UK, despite a deterioration in working conditions, suicide is not recognised in legislation and data are not collected centrally. Unless society recognises and document rising workplace suicides, we will be unable to deal with their profound human consequences for suicidal individuals, their families and society more widely.Research limitations/implications Research on workplace suicides in the UK and many other national contexts is hampered by fragmentary statistical data on this phenomenon.Practical implications The paper calls for greater recognition, analysis and monitoring of workplace suicide in the UK. Suicide should be included in the list of workplace accidents that are reported to the authorities for further investigation. In a context where workplace conditions are deteriorating, society need to recognises the profound human costs of these conditions for the individual employee.Social implications The paper has important implications for the contemporary workplace in terms of the contractual relationship between employer and employee.Originality/value Workplace suicide is an urgent, yet under-researched phenomenon. The paper brings a comparative and multidisciplinary perspective to bear on this phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses how gluten was discussed by chemists in the nineteenth century in Great Britain and France as a proxy for both nutritive and baking quality. It examines the role of gluten in the broader quest to measure and render the quality of wheat and flour through a set of objective and quantifiable criteria. The paper also shows how measuring quality proved to be an extremely complex task, and how chemistry was, by itself, unable to reduce the complexity of the wheat grain, and the various demands made upon it, to a simple numerical indicator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholarship largely sees fraud-based citizenship stripping as a tool for guaranteeing the consistency of the naturalisation process against applicants who do not respect the rules. This implies that the line between 'desirable' and 'undesirable' citizens is drawn in accordance with procedural norms. In contrast, this article argues that deprivation on grounds of fraud aims to create a virtuous and responsible political subject. Drawing on the cases of France and the UK, the paper shows how government officials and judges understand citizenship deprivation not simply as a means to safeguard the procedural integrity of naturalisation, but as a mechanism for the moralisation and responsibilisation of applicants. The article further contends that not everyone is made the subject of 'renationalisation'. British and French deprivation policies reproduce suspicions and stereotypes against specific categories of migrants, constructing them as second-class citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence is accumulating of the negative impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic and related public health measures on mental health. In this emergent field, there has been little research into the role of risk perception on depressive symptoms and the contribution of health‐care resources to model risk perception and mental health. The aim of this paper is to describe the relationship between individual‐level perception of risk and depression, controlling for a set of confounders and for country‐level heterogeneity. A cross‐sectional and observational online survey was conducted using a non‐probability snowball sampling technique. We use data on 11,340 respondents, living in six European countries (Italy, Sweden, United Kingdom, France, Poland, Czech Republic) who completed survey questionnaires during the first months of the pandemic. We used a fixed‐effect approach, which included individual and macro‐level variables. The findings suggest that a high proportion of people suffering from depression and heightened risk perception is positively associated with reporting depressive symptoms, even if this relationship varies significantly between countries. Moreover, the association is moderated by contextual factors including health‐care expenditure as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product, hospital beds for acute care, and number of medical specialists per head of population. Investment in health care offers a concrete means of protecting the mental health of a population living under pandemic restrictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses quarterly estimates of productivity growth at industry level for three advanced economies, France, the UK and the US, for 2020. We use detailed industry-level data to distinguish reallocations of working hours between industries from pure within-industry productivity gains or losses. We find that all three countries showed positive growth rates of aggregate output per hour in 2020 over 2019. However, after removing the effects from the reallocation of hours between low and high productivity industries, only the US still performed positively in terms of within-industry productivity growth. In contrast, the two European economies showed negative within-industry productivity growth rates in 2020. While above-average digital-intensive industries outperformed below-average ones in both France and the UK, the US showed higher productivity growth in both groups compared to the European countries. Industries with medium-intensive levels of shares of employees working from home prior to the pandemic made larger productivity gains in 2020 than industries with the highest pre-pandemic work-from-home shares. Overall, after taking into account the productivity collapse in the hospitality and culture sector during 2020, productivity growth shows no clear deviation from the slowing pre-pandemic productivity trend. Future trends in productivity growth will depend on whether the favourable productivity gains (or smaller losses) in industries with above-average digital intensity will outweigh negative effects from the pandemic, in particular scarring effects on labour markets and business dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We offer a rich set of macroeconomic and sectoral effects of Brexit in France, together with macroeconomic ones for the UK, the rest of the EU and the rest of the world. We explain the intuition for the impact on production and trade across the 21 sectors that underlie our macroeconomic estimations (national imports and exports, output, GDP, welfare, wages and rental rate of capital). Our comprehensive technique captures the direct and indirect effects of Brexit on trade. Four types of withdrawal are analysed, including the finally agreed between the EU and the UK on December 2020. This will avoid tariffs, but other medium size (non-tariff) barriers will emerge. The UK, France and the rest of the EU will be harmed by Brexit, although asymmetrically. While Brexit will substantially harm the UK economy, the negative impact on France and the rest of the EU will be limited and similar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a compilation of personal reflections from 66 contributors on the impact of, and responses to, COVID-19 in accounting education in 45 different countries around the world. It reveals a commonality of issues, and a variability in responses, many positive outcomes, including the creation of opportunities to realign learning and teaching strategies away from the comfort of traditional formats, but many more that are negative, primarily relating to the impact on faculty and student health and well-being, and the accompanying stress. It identifies issues that need to be addressed in the recovery and redesign stages of the management of this crisis, and it sets a new research agenda for studies in accounting education.

Background/objectives: Sedentary behavior (SB), defined as sitting (nonexercising), reclining, and lying down (posture), or by low energy expenditure, is a public health risk independent to physical activity. The objective of this systematic literature review was to synthesize the available evidence on amount of SB reported by and measured in older adults. Data source: Studies published between 1981 and 2014 were identified from electronic databases and manual searching. Large-scale population studies/surveys reporting the amount of SB (objective/ subjective) in older adults aged ≥ 60 years of age were included. Appraisal and synthesis was completed using MOOSE guidelines. Results: 349,698 adults aged ≥ 60 within 22 studies (10 countries and 1 EU-wide) were included. Objective measurement of SB shows that older adults spend an average of 9.4 hr a day sedentary, equating to 65-80% of their waking day. Self-report of SB is lower, with average weighted self-reports being 5.3 hr daily. Within specific domains of SB, older adults report 3.3 hr in leisure sitting time and 3.3 hr watching TV. There is an association with more time spent in SB as age advances and a trend for older men to spend more time in SB than women. Conclusion/ implications: Time spent sedentary ranges from 5.3-9.4 hr per waking day in older adults. With recent studies suggesting a link between SB, health, and well-being, independent of physical activity, this is an area important for successful aging. Limitations: Different methodologies of measurement and different reporting methods of SB made synthesis difficult. Estimated SB time from self-report is half of that measured objectively; suggesting that most self-report surveys of SB will vastly underestimate the actual time spent in SB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interest in higher education institutions (HEIs) as instruments for development has increased in recent years. The main objective of this paper is to address the contribution of HEIs to development through their missions, models, and challenges. With this purpose, we perform a historical analysis and characterise higher-education systems through the perspective of university models and missions, noticing relevant aspects regarding the evolution of this institution over time, as well as the transformations undergone. We also consider the main challenges that current higher education systems face in the 21st century. As methodological approaches, we carry out a literature review complemented by a comparative analysis based on data from the higher education systems of ten European countries. The findings show that HEIs can contribute to development through their missions, which are related to the models of higher education. Their first mission (teaching) contributes to improving human capital and attracting highly qualified people to their regions; the second mission (research) improves scientific knowledge which can foster innovative activities; and the third mission (community service) acts as a link between research and business, including patents, business incubators, and collaboration agreements. We also conclude that the challenges of higher education in the 21st century can be categorised essentially in three main areas: (1) globalisation and massification of higher education, as well as the internationalisation of HEIs' missions and diversification of the educational supply to attract new students; (2) new technologies related to the digitalisation of teaching and distance learning; and (3) higher education entrepreneurship, showing the importance of university-company relationships. This paper provides a global setting for a reflection on the role of HEIs in the 21st century, given their connection with society and the need for a more effective contribution to socio-economic development.

Background: Obesity, overweight and unemployment are interlinked, with debilitating effects on mortality, health, wellbeing and quality of life. Existing interventions to reduce overweight, obesity and unemployment have addressed these challenges independent of each other with limited success. The Adding to Social capital and individual Potential In disadvantaged REgions (ASPIRE) project will develop an innovative model using a combination of skills training and health and wellbeing interventions to improve health, wellbeing, quality of life and reduce overweight, obesity and unemployment in England and France. The aim of this paper is to outline the protocol for evaluating the ASPIRE project to examine the effectiveness of the intervention and clarify the mechanisms and contextual factors which interact to achieve outcomes.Methods: A mixed-method realist evaluation using a single-group before-and-after design will be used. The evaluation will consist of development of an initial programme theory, theory validation and refinement using quantitative and qualitative data to understand the causal mechanisms, contexts of implementation and their interactions that result in outcomes observed in ASPIRE. Primary outcomes that will be assessed are change in body weight and body mass index, reemployment and a rise on the ASPIRE participation ladder. The ASPIRE participation ladders consists of a series of 5 steps to engage participants in the project. The first step on the ladder is joining an ASPIRE hub with paid employment as the final step on the ladder. Secondary outcomes will be physical activity, diet quality, self-efficacy and health-related quality of life. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches are appropriate in this study because the use of validated questionnaires and objective measures will demonstrate how much the intervention addressed outcomes related to weight loss and reemployment and the qualitative data (photovoice) will provide insights into the contexts and experiences that are unique to participants in the project.Discussion: The results from this evaluation will provide an understanding of how a model of health-related interventions which improve health, wellbeing and maintenance of a healthy lifestyle could reduce overweight, obesity and unemployment. The findings will enable the adaptation of this model for effective implementation in different contexts and circumstances.Trial Registration: ISRCTN registry: Study ID: ISRCTN17609001 , 24th February 2021 (Retrospectively registered). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, various revelations about government malfeasances have highlighted the vulnerability of civil society actors who work on surveillance by intelligence agencies. Simultaneously, new technologies and overburdened state oversight bodies clarify how relevant citizen scrutiny of intelligence is. Both of these factors have led to the emergence of scrutiny by civil society actors as a research subject. This paper contributes to such scholarship by presenting data collected through surveys addressed at journalists and professionals from civil society organisations (CSOs) in France, Germany, and the UK to comparatively characterize the forms, scope, and constraints of the scrutiny they perform. Indicated differences across countries highlight variances in the practices of civic intelligence oversight. These variances indicate that there is room to manoeuvre for civic forms of holding intelligence agencies to account, counteracting the primacy of security and the secrecy of intelligence. Yet, similarities of civic oversight practitioners’ perspectives across all three countries are also distinct and informative; in particular, across all three countries, journalists and CSO professionals who work on surveillance by intelligence agencies worry they are under surveillance themselves and express dissatisfaction with safeguards at work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent global pandemic impacted stock markets worldwide, including developed and emerging markets. This paper investigates changes in volatility from a sample of daily returns of FTSE100, DAX and CAC for the UK, Germany, and France, respectively. We test the fitness of GARCH (1, 1) to model the volatility, measure the interrelationship between selected samples, and abstract the changes in volatility before and during the pandemic period. Used and analysed daily closing returns from 2000-01-01 to 2022-31-01 with Generalised Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (GARCH 1, 1) and Value-at-Risk (VaR) with Normal and Mills approach. Data has been divided into three phasesbefore, during, and after the Covid 19 pandemic. The finding confirms persistent volatility for selected samples, the strong interrelationship among the German stock market and UK stock market than in France and German markets, dynamic changes in volatility patterns before, during and after the pandemic. The study results confirm the increase in normal volatility patterns after the pandemic. Further, finding exhibits the dynamics of volatility and response during the different four-phases, changing the degree of risk and prospective returns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This paper investigates the potential role of the electricity interconnectors in improving the security of supply in Great Britain (GB) in 2030. Real electricity demand and price data for GB and France in 2016 were used to understand the relationship between power exchange between the two countries and their wholesale electricity prices. A linear programming optimisation model was developed to find the economic power dispatch. Two interconnection links were considered; two‐way trade interconnector with a capacity of 5.4 GW and a 12.3 GW import‐only interconnector between GB and other states. The GB–France link transmits electricity from cheaper system to the more expensive one. The total electricity demand in 2030 will be 406 TWh. Gas‐fired power plants w/wo CCS will provide 83 TWh of the total electricity demand, whereas nuclear power plants will produce 74 TWh. In addition, wind farms and solar PVs are expected to deliver ~120 TWh electricity. CHP units will provide 88 TWh electricity in 2030. The electricity traded between GB and France in 2030 was found to be 33 TWh, which is 160% larger compared with 2016. The power import from France is about 27 TWh and occurs in 59% of the time. For 64% of the time, the interconnector with France is fully loaded. The electricity imported via the 12.3 GW interconnector in 2030 is 1 TWh and mainly occurs during winter‐time when the demand in GB is high. De‐rated capacity margin was calculated based on instantaneous electricity demand and varies between −2% and 139%. The impact of the price of the imported electricity via the 12.3 GW link was investigated. Increasing the price of the imported electricity via the 12.3 GW link results in a higher capacity factor for all the generation options except the 12.3 GW interconnector link. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper establishes some stylized facts of the long-run relationship between growth and labor shares using historical data for the USA (1898–2010), the United Kingdom (1856–2010), and France (1896–2010). Performing individual country time–frequency analysis, we demonstrate the existence of long-term cycles in labor share of 30–50 years explaining a major part of the variance in the data. Further, the impact of labor share on growth changes sign with the frequency considered from negative at high frequencies to positive at low frequencies. Finally, the positive coefficient associated with the labor share at low frequencies increases over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Israel's relationship with the West during the first half of the 1950s was not a walk in the park. Economic relations fitted into this general picture. Both Britain and France were sceptical as far as Israel's potential was concerned. Their early prognoses tended to be quite gloomy. Simultaneously, economic relations provided a convenient communication channel at a time when overt association with the Jewish state was not desirable. The progress in Franco-Israeli economic ties during the years 1953-1955 illustrates this ambivalence in full. While prudence remained, the increase in bilateral trade managed to warrant the military supplies. Britain, constituting a traditional market, surpassed France as a trading partner. Given British political aloofness, the instrument of trade served primarily its immediate economic purpose. Based on archival sources gathered in all of the three countries, the paper traces the interplay of trade and diplomacy in the early years of Israel's foreign relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to identify the special features of the governance structures of research universities in four western countries: the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and France. Conceptual framework was laid out as groundwork of the paper. Scholarly work of known authors in higher education governance was reviewed with major features of the governance of the research universities of these countries identified and discussed with reflection of the conceptual framework. It was found in common that major research universities have (1) governance structure with responsibilities of components specifically defined; (2) distinct separation of business affairs and academic work; (3) good collaboration among the entities of their governance structure; and (4) great respect for academic freedom and independence.

In some institutions of higher learning, one of the approaches to successful governance is through student assessment of teachers, dubbed Student Assessment of Faculty or Student Evaluation of Teaching and extensively used in the United States of America (USA). In schools and colleges, the usual largest bloc and primary stakeholders are the students. Students should therefore assess teachers for the purpose of improving the system for all stakeholders including themselves. Teaching is a service in a marketing framework and where it is offered, the buyer is in the best position to assess the offering for better performance. This paper advocates for student assessment of their teachers at the end of each teaching cycle and suggests a basket of approaches to reduce the dissonance that accompanies the exercise where applied. A template is suggested in the paper.

As part of a larger European Union (EU)-funded project, this paper investigates the coverage of corruption and related topics in three European democracies: France, Italy, and the United Kingdom. Based on Freedom House data, these countries are characterized by different levels of press freedom. A large corpus of newspaper articles (107,248 articles) from the period 2004 to 2013 were analyzed using dedicated software. We demonstrate that freedom of press is not the only dimension that affects the ability to and the way in which news media report on corruption. Because of its political partisanship, the Italian press tends to emphasize and dramatize corruption cases involving domestic public administrators and, in particular, politicians. The British coverage is affected mainly by market factors, and the press pays more attention to cases occurring abroad and in sport. The French coverage shares specific features with both the British and the Italian coverage: Newspapers mainly focus on corruption involving business companies and foreign actors, but they also cover cases involving domestic politicians. Media market segmentation, political parallelism, and media instrumentalization determine different representations preventing the establishment of unanimously shared indignation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we analyse the conditions under which the COVID‐19 pandemic will lead either to social order (adherence to measures put in place by authorities to control the pandemic) or to social disorder (resistance to such measures and the emergence of open conflict). Using examples from different countries (principally the United Kingdom, the United States, and France), we first isolate three factors which determine whether people accept or reject control measures. These are the historical context of state‐public relations, the nature of leadership during the pandemic and procedural justice in the development and operation of these measures. Second, we analyse the way the crisis is policed and how forms of policing determine whether dissent will escalate into open conflict. We conclude by considering the prospects for order/disorder as the pandemic unfolds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intermittent self-catheterisation (ISC) is the method of choice for men with lower urinary tract symptoms who need to drain retained urine from the bladder. It is preferred to using an indwelling urinary catheter as it has lower risks of complications and catheter-associated urinary tract infection. Learning ISC can be challenging for men initially but, with the support of knowledgeable nurses experienced in teaching ISC, the technique can be learned, accepted and normalised, improving symptom control and quality of life. This paper discusses the results of a survey exploring men's experiences of learning ISC with the Hydrosil Go™ (C.R. Bard Inc—now part of Becton, Dickinson and Company) silicone catheter and to highlight issues important to men when learning and living with ISC. The survey collected data from four countries: UK, France, Netherlands and Italy. It aims to help nurses who teach ISC and inform them to discuss what matters to men when learning and living with ISC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the criteria for the recovery of damages for illegal procurement decisions in the UK and France. The focal point of this analysis is the gravity threshold of the breach. There is a clear difference in approach in these two jurisdictions: whilst a simple breach of law is sufficient to trigger liability in France, in the UK, a 2017 Supreme Court ruling established that a sufficiently serious breach needs to be proven. This discrepancy has many explanations; inter alia the traditional Anglo-French disparity when it comes to general rules on liability of public bodies or the fact that the French legal culture is generally more contentious than the English. In this paper I reflect on these differences and analyse the conditions for triggering liability in each country. Finally, I make some reflections on how these differences of approach might impact the effectiveness of the remedy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the dynamic relationship between the consumer price index (CPI) and the producer price index (PPI) in the UK, France and Germany from 1997 to 2013. We employ the momentum-threshold autoregressive (MTAR) cointegration model for empirical analysis. The results show that the CPI and the PPI are cointegrated with bi-directional long-run Granger causality between CPI and PPI, signifying the existence of both demand-pull and the cost-push nature of inflation. The estimates of threshold vector error correction models (TVECMs) indicate asymmetric adjustments to equilibrium, where upward adjustments are statistically significant but downward adjustments are sluggish and insignificant. Moreover, we generate the unconditional half-life estimates as a measure of persistence, which reveal robust evidence of complex non-linearities in the adjustment process. Our overall results provide valuable information for policymakers to formulate inflation-control policies and optimal policy horizons under a non-linear framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Published data in the last decade showed that a majority of adrenal operations are done by surgeons performing only one such case per year and based on the distribution of personal workloads 'high-volume' surgeons are defined as those doing 4 or more cases/year. Purpose: This paper summarises literature data identified by a working group established by the European Society of Endocrine Surgeons (ESES). The findings were discussed during ESES-2019 conference and members agreed on a consensus statement. Results: The annual of adrenal operations performed yearly in individual countries was reported to be 800/year in UK and over 1600/year in France. The learning curve of an individual surgeon undertaking laparoscopic, retroperitoneoscopic or robotic adrenalectomy is estimated to be 20–40 cases. Preoperative morbidity and length of stay are more favourable in high-volume centres. Conclusion: The main recommendations are that adrenal surgery should continue only in centres performing at least 6 cases per year, surgery for adrenocortical cancer should be restricted to centres performing at least 12 adrenal operations per year, and an integrated multidisciplinary team should be established in all such centres. Clinical information regarding adrenalectomies should be recorded prospectively and contribution to the established EUROCRINE and ENSAT databases is strongly encouraged. Surgeons wishing to develop expertise in this field should seek mentorship and further training from established adrenal surgeons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay explores the challenge the First World War posed to imperial culture by looking at representations of colonial troops in British and French soldiers' wartime writings. The Great War posed significant challenges to empires and created new dynamics of exchange and dependence within them. Never before had so many civilians joined the army nor had so many non-European soldiers served in Europe. As the face of battle changed in so many significant ways, British and French soldiers took up pen and paper to distract and amuse themselves and each other. In the process, they created discourses which also reveal the ways in which the war provided a new context for evaluating empires and their peoples and questioned existing imperial culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]