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Purpose: The digital age requires people of all ages to communicate and organise their lives through digital technologies. The project EQualCare investigates how the growing population of older people living alone is managing this transition, how it shapes their (non-)digital social networks and what changes on a local level need to be brought about. This paper aims to give insight into the process of participatory action research (PAR) with older people in the community across four countries and reflects on experiences made by academic and co-researchers. Design/methodology/approach: Following the emancipatory underpinnings of PAR, which aims to reduce inequalities through collaboration and co-design, EQualCare involved nine teams of co-researchers across Finland, Germany, Latvia and Sweden making older people the centre of policy development. Co-researchers were involved in formulating research aims, collecting data, reflecting on data, formulating and disseminating recommendations for local policy stakeholders. Findings: Co-researchers' motivation to invest considerable time and effort was driven by a desire to create a more equal future for older people living alone. Moreover, they were keen to involve marginalised older people and became frustrated when this proved difficult. Power dynamics played a role throughout the process but became productive as roles and responsibilities were renegotiated. Doing PAR with older people can be emotionally challenging for co-researchers when negative feelings around ageing are encountered. Originality/value: The paper advances understanding on the process of PAR in ageing research by reflecting on the social, cultural and political contexts of doing PAR with diverse sets of older people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: On August 5th, 2006, the third meeting of the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual Disabilities (IASSID) Special Interest Research Group (SIRG) on Parents and Parenting with Intellectual Disabilities was convened in Maastricht, The Netherlands, coinciding with the 2nd International Congress of IASSID-Europe. The SIRG Parents and Parenting with Intellectual Disabilities membership includes scholars from a number of countries including the United States, Canada, England, Germany, The Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. These scholars come from a range of academic and professional disciplines, including sociology, psychology, education, nursing, social work and occupational therapy. Method: This position paper developed by the Parenting SIRG brings into sharp relief the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities adopted by the General Assembly in December 2006. The convention affirms the right of persons with disabilities to marry and found a family (Article 23, (1)(a)). Further, states parties are bound to "take effective action and appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against persons with disabilities in all matters relating to marriage, family, parenthood and relationships..." (Article 23 (1)), and "...render appropriate assistance to persons with disabilities in the performance of their child-rearing responsibilities" (Article 23 (2)). Results: This position paper synthesizes messages from research about the challenges that parents labelled with intellectual disability face, and how they can be assisted in their parenting role.

Presents the titles of various papers that have been accepted for publication in the 'European Financial Management Journal.' 'Performance and Policy of Foundation-owned Firms in Germany,' by Markus Herrman and Guenter Franke; 'Diversification, Ownership and Control of Swedish Corporations,' by John A. Doukas, Martin Holmen and Nickolaos G. Travlos; 'Competition on the London Stock Exchange,' by Nicholas Taylor.

Refugee entrepreneurs can make a significant contribution to sustainable growth and development in host countries. However, comprehensive comparative studies of refugee entrepreneurial motivations are scarce, particularly in the absence of a theoretical framework on entrepreneurship motivation that is suitable for such contexts. This is a research topic that is increasingly of interest to scholars and policymakers working with refugee workforce integration, particularly in light of forecasted increases in global forced displacement over the next years. This paper tests and extends newly constructed entrepreneurship motivation measures, comparing person-related factors and the perceptions of environmental-related factors for Syrian refugee entrepreneurs in Sweden and Germany. The results indicate that their motivations differ between the two countries with respect to market conditions, the educational environment, dissatisfaction, and know-how. However, refugee entrepreneurs in both countries have similar levels of entrepreneurial ambition and attitude and are motivated by similar perceptions of social environments and cultural norms. This paper identifies how entrepreneurship motivation differences could be considered by governments to better shape and inform host countries' programs and policies to improve refugee entrepreneurship and subsequent integration. Plain English Summary: Syrian refugees in Germany and Sweden differ in their motivation to pursue entrepreneurship, as evidenced by our comparative study, emphasizing the role of country context in shaping refugees' perception of environmental factors that influence their entrepreneurial motivation. We find that Germany-based refugee entrepreneurs are more motivated by market structures and educational offerings, have more know-how, and were less prone to negative motivation resulting from experiencing dissatisfaction (e.g. due to discrimination or lack of opportunities) compared with Sweden-based refugee entrepreneurs. The results emphasize the importance of policy reforms and initiatives that provide financial, administrative, and legal assistance to refugee entrepreneurs as they start and establish their businesses, as well as specialized entrepreneurship training and education programs. We call for future research on inter-country evaluations of institutional differences and migrant integration programs as well as trans-border exchange of lessons learned and success stories, particularly in-light of prognosed increases in global forced displacement over the next years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving national targets on renewable energy poses several challenges, especially in multi-level governance environments. Incentives and specifications on wind energy development might cause uneven progress or even discrepancies. Therefore, governments have commenced adopting 'positive planning' to combine energy targets with spatial and land-use planning. Yet detailed discussions regarding wind energy development remain scarce. In this paper, I explore three explanatory case studies in Germany and Sweden, aiming to provide policymakers and planners with essential knowledge while presenting significant challenges and key lessons learned. Positive planning appears to center on a strong energy target focus, limited space, and a balanced approach, shaped by the sociopolitical context. While Germany has recently embraced positive planning, Sweden started ambitiously but is encountering planning and policy challenges. Planning agencies play a vital role in promoting wind energy targets at mid-scale levels, yet legally binding targets matter. Striking a balance between energy targets and addressing land-use concerns without disregarding them requires managing a delicate trade-off. Early communication and inter-agency collaboration, as seen in Sweden, might facilitate identifying compromises, navigating trade-offs between species protection and renewable energy and offering municipal incentives. Nonetheless, negotiating satisfactory spatial trade-offs for a long-term proof of concept remains a challenge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to undertake a comparative investigation of school administration to understand further the frames of curriculum making. School administration is an under-illuminated aspect of curriculum research. The paper commences from the notion that, in mass education, a school system is operationalized by many schools, which are coupled to each other and to political decisions. Here is the curriculum vital. Building on the classic work of Stefan Hopmann, a curriculum is part of the administrational structure of the school system. The Article suggests several categories that can describe the nature and function of school administration in various contexts. There are external matters of schooling, such as school buildings, school food, etc. and internal matters of schooling, such as curriculum, pedagogy, and evaluation. Individual schools and school administration are coupled via licences, and programmatic, professional, and procedural supervision. The article employs these categories with a comparison of a decentralized Sweden and a centralized Germany. The comparison investigated 290 Swedish municipality school administrations and 45 state education authorities in 4 German federal states. In this comparison many interesting similarities between both contexts can be hightligthed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyses the distribution of papers published by authors from the European Union (EU) in 47 international infectious diseases journals from 2002 to 2007. The Web of Science of the Institute for Scientific Information was used to collect medical articles. From 46,149 papers recovered, 24,064 (52.1%) were from the EU. The EU15 countries published 23,239 papers (96.7%). The ten countries that joined the EU in 2004 published only 767 (3.2%) and the two countries that last joined the EU in 2007 contributed only 0.1% of the papers. The United States contributed 41.2% of the documents. The leading EU27 countries in number of publications were the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. After taking the population into account, Denmark, Sweden, and The Netherlands headed the list, and after correcting for gross domestic product the greatest producers were Malta, Estonia, and Sweden. In conclusion, the production of scientific papers on infectious diseases during the last six years was greater in the EU than in the United States. The contribution to the infectious diseases research of the 12 countries that joined the EU in the last few years has yet been limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to illustrate and problematize how the expansion of project and temporary work challenges the traditional industrial work organization and its internal and supportive institutions. It highlights the transformation dilemma, which occurs when traditional industrial institutions are confronted by project organizations. It also discusses how one may prepare to meet these challenges. Design/methodology/approach: The long-run incremental changes in organizational structures of the economy are described in an economic historical context, focusing on the organizational form of work and the employment regimes. Challenges, at the societal, organizational and individual levels, related to the "projectification" process are illustrated in considering the case of Sweden. Findings: Project dense industries, like media, entertainment and consultancy, are growing faster than the rest of the economy. The share of project work in permanent organizations is increasing. More than a third of all working hours in industrialized countries, like Germany, was labeled as project work in 2013. This transformation challenges basic conditions for how work is designed and regulated, like the stipulated and uniform work time or the permanent and stable work place. Central institutions of today, like the labor law and the educational system, are challenged. Social implications: "Projectification" challenges traditional conditions of work and work life institutions and organizations, like the social partners, the educational and law systems. Originality/value: The paper brings together and problematizes several aspects of "projectification" of work life. It highlights what kind of challenges work and work-related institutions meet and discusses how to handle some of them, like education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the asset restructuring initiatives of Stora Enso of Helsinki, Finland. Plan for the construction of an uncoated magazine paper machine at Kvarnsveden, Sweden; Expected closure of Paper Machine 9 at the Swedish mill when the super-calendared machine starts up; Plan to rebuild Paper Machine 6 at the Maxau Mill, Germany.

Immigrant minority (IM) languages have a significant presence in certain European regions. Nonetheless, these languages are not usually included in the school curriculum. This paper aims to analyse the studies published between 2010 and 2020 considering IM languages in multilingual European education contexts. The method included a search of academic papers published in the databases ERIC, Web of Science and Scopus, which yielded 42 studies. The studies were analysed by considering: (1) the demographic characteristics of the countries where the studies were conducted, (2) the sociolinguistic or psycholinguistic focus of the papers in relation to the European country, and (3) the characteristics of the bi-multilingual education programme including IM languages. The results indicate that: (1) the demographic characteristics of the country are not strictly related to the number of studies published, (2) most studies have a sociolinguistic approach even though many studies analyse both sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic factors, and (3) only seven multilingual education programmes including IM languages were described in these papers. We conclude that there is a lack of research focusing on IM languages in educational settings and discuss how addressing these gaps could create opportunities for building equitable multilingual communities in Europe.

Soil moisture, soil organic carbon, and nitrogen content prediction are considered significant fields of study as they are directly related to plant health and food production. Direct estimation of these soil properties with traditional methods, for example, the oven-drying technique and chemical analysis, is a time and resource-consuming approach and can predict only smaller areas. With the significant development of remote sensing and hyperspectral (HS) imaging technologies, soil moisture, carbon, and nitrogen can be estimated over vast areas. This paper presents a generalized approach to predicting three different essential soil contents using a comprehensive study of various machine learning (ML) models by considering the dimensional reduction in feature spaces. In this study, we have used three popular benchmark HS datasets captured in Germany and Sweden. The efficacy of different ML algorithms is evaluated to predict soil content, and significant improvement is obtained when a specific range of bands is selected. The performance of ML models is further improved by applying principal component analysis (PCA), a dimensional reduction method that works with an unsupervised learning method. The effect of soil temperature on soil moisture prediction is evaluated in this study, and the results show that when the soil temperature is considered with the HS band, the soil moisture prediction accuracy does not improve. However, the combined effect of band selection and feature transformation using PCA significantly enhances the prediction accuracy for soil moisture, carbon, and nitrogen content. This study represents a comprehensive analysis of a wide range of established ML regression models using data preprocessing, effective band selection, and data dimension reduction and attempt to understand which feature combinations provide the best accuracy. The outcomes of several ML models are verified with validation techniques and the best- and worst-case scenarios in terms of soil content are noted. The proposed approach outperforms existing estimation techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The goal of this paper is to analyze the COVID-19 policies of 10 European countries, including Sweden, Finland, Norway, Italy, France, Germany, Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Hungary, with a time-series policy analysis tool. Subject and methods: The results of the COVID-19 policy analysis are based on a single time-series indicator, or daily population mortality rate: the number of COVID-19 daily cumulative deaths divided by the population in millions. The lower the score, the better the policy. Although many experts believe that the COVID-19 policy outcome analysis is premature, time series analysis is an excellent analysis that can provide information on the progress and transition of policy outcomes. In other words, the proposed time series analysis tool allows policymakers to identify and quantify when mistakes were made during the on-going COVID-19 pandemic. Results: The COVID-19 policy analysis discovered many useful facts. Sweden failed due to the herd immunity approach. Hungary made a fundamental mistake in COVID-19 tactics. Countries such as Sweden, Hungary, Belgium, and Poland showed time-series changes that differed from the others. Conclusion: Public health interventions can play a key role in mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic. The proposed policy analysis tool, hiscovid demonstrated the effectiveness of the time-series score behavior for discovering when policymakers made mistakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to identify the most prolific countries in the field of special education and to discuss the widespread impact of their papers by taking into account the country's h-index. Through a bibliometric analysis, the data were collected in the Web of Science Core Collection category "Education, Special" in the Social Science Citation Index during 2011-2020. The 25 most prolific countries in the field of special education were determined in terms of paper productivity, and it was seen that the leading country was undisputedly the USA (54.42%). Meanwhile, a strong positive correlation was found between the h-index and the number of papers published by the countries (r=0.864). On the other hand, when the ranking in terms of the number of papers was reconfigured by the h-index, it was relatively changed. The possible reasons for this change for the countries with the most changing rankings were discussed by considering some definitive criteria such as the journal quartiles, the percentage of international and domestic, and the percentage of open access papers. This study reports a positive correlation between the quality and quantity in the field of special education for the publications of countries. It has been shown that where the positive correlation deviates, then especially, the journal quartiles, the percentage of international collaboration and the percentage of open access papers have a significant effect. The bibliometric findings may be useful to enrich the discussion about the widespread impact of papers and debate whether the use of h-index is acceptable for cross-national comparisons.

This paper is motivated by the idea to create, wherever possible, rational mechanisms that adapt pension systems automatically to a changed economic and demographic environment, rather than to leave such adaptations to discretionary high-profile pension reforms, which all too often stir political opposition. The paper delineates the theory behind such rational mechanisms, shows the advantages and limits of “self-stabilizing” pension systems, and compares the Swedish and the German approaches to rule-bound pension policy.The Geneva Papers (2007) 32, 430–446. doi:10.1057/palgrave.gpp.2510149 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a study investigating the use of digital devices by language students at universities in New Zealand, Sweden and Germany. The study also examines the use of social media for learning a foreign language in an institutional context, using survey results from language students in the three countries. Based on an online survey (n=156) with foreign language learners in Sweden, Germany and New Zealand, everyday use of devices and applications by students is compared and analysed applying the digital literacies framework described by Pegrum et al., 2018. Focusing on digital tools (including devices and applications) which facilitate informal communication, we attempt to answer the research questions: "How do students interact and communicate digitally / using social networking in educational contexts and beyond?" and "How do students use online tools, devices and applications, for information retrieval and learning?" The results provide a rationale for why students' everyday habits when using such tools should be considered in educational contexts. This exploratory study also describes how devices and applications can facilitate second language acquisition and can be used in a language education context. We recommend guidelines for teacher trainers regarding the development of digital literacies in foreign language teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Sarcoma Policy Checklist was created by a multidisciplinary expert group to provide policymakers with priority areas to improve care for sarcoma patients.Main Body: This paper draws on this research, by looking more closely at how France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom are addressing each of these priority areas. It aims to highlight key gaps in research, policy and practice, as well as ongoing initiatives that may impact the future care of sarcoma patients in different European countries. A pragmatic review of the published and web-based literature was undertaken. Telephone interviews were conducted in each country with clinical and patient experts to substantiate findings. Research findings were discussed within the expert group and developed into five core policy recommendations. The five identified priority areas were: the development of designated and accredited centres of reference; more professional training; multidisciplinary care; greater incentives for research and innovation; and more rapid access to effective treatments. Most of the countries studied have ongoing initiatives addressing many of these priorities; however, many are in early stages of development, or require additional funding and resources.Conclusion: Gaps in access to quality care are particularly concerning in many of Europe's lower-resourced countries. Equitable access to information, clinical trials, innovative treatments and quality specialist care should be available to all sarcoma patients. Achieving this across Europe will require close collaboration between all stakeholders at both the national and European level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, a number of welfare reforms have been introduced in the UK by Conservative-led governments. The most high profile of these is Universal Credit (UC), which is currently being rolled out across the country. A key feature of UC is a change in the way the income-related housing allowance for social housing tenants (Housing Benefit) is administered, as under UC, it is paid directly to tenants (direct payment), who are responsible for paying their rent. This represents a step change for them as for more than 30 years landlord payment has been the norm in the UK. There has been little research into direct payment. This paper seeks to address this gap in knowledge by presenting the key findings of an initiative designed to trial direct payment. It finds that many tenants experienced difficulties on direct payment. Reflecting this, landlords' arrears rose markedly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Labour market activation policies aimed at those with multiple barriers to employment require inter-agency collaboration between local organizations providing social and employment services. This local collaborative context is shaped by different institutional logics (state, markets, professions and community) that are crucial for policy implementation. Using case studies of nine German, UK and Swedish cities, it is argued that different institutional logics help shape the form and operation of local collaboration between different agencies and actors and thus the concrete support for service users at the local level. Although all three countries are characterized by centralized employment policies, each city shows a prevalence, but not exclusivity, of certain institutional logics over others. These differences, partly reflecting the local context, are likely to lead to local variations in understandings of solidarity, policy implementation, inter-agency collaboration and networks of actors and national–local tensions. The paper suggests that an institutional logics approach provides a useful framework for helping to understand local variations and potential national–local policy conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores trade union strategies to protect wages in the face of EU migration after the enlargement of the European Union. We argue that unions have three instruments at their disposal to deal with the risks linked to downward wage pressure: closure through immigration control, equalisation through collective bargaining and minimum wages, and the organisation of migrant workers. Using comparative case studies of Sweden, Germany and the UK, we show how different types of power resources shape union strategies: unions with substantial organisational resources (in Sweden) relied on a large membership to pursue an equalisation strategy and expected to be able to 'afford' openness. German unions with low membership but access to the political system pushed for a mix of closure and equality drawing on political intervention (e.g. minimum wages). British unions, unable to pursue either, focused their efforts on organisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to introduce a tool for mapping how consumers' past experiences influence the consumer's present corporate brand image. Design/methodology/approach - A qualitative approach was used for analysing in-depth conversational interviews collected on three IKEA markets (Sweden, Finland, and Germany). Findings - The study shows that the tool gives an understanding of how past and present brand experiences are inter-dependent. Practical implications - The paper gives management an insight into consumers' perspectives of their corporate brand. Originality/value - The value of the paper is that it offers a practical tool for mapping the roots of companies' current corporate brand images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to analyze and compare the impacts of land-use policies on wind power deployment at the regional levels in Germany and Sweden. We use data for the period 2008–2012, and an econometric approach in which the probability of having any wind power capacity additions and the actual level of increased capacity, given that it is positive, are permitted to be determined by different processes. The results confirm the importance of land-use policies, e.g., priority and exclusion areas, and interesting differences across the two countries are found. The impact of priority areas has been more profound in Germany, while the assignment of protected areas instead has constituted a more binding policy tool in Sweden. Cross-country differences in the relevance of various explanatory variables are linked to factors such as geographical patterns, design of wind power support schemes, and the allocation of decision-making power in planning processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The definition for special education needs (SEN) and the policies for its assessment varies widely between countries. This paper aims to investigate similarities and differences through a Swedish-German comparative approach. Based on the distinction between categorical and relational perspectives as expressions of specific thought styles, 58 SEN assessment reports from both countries were qualitatively analysed. The results demonstrate the maintenance of the categorical perspective in terms of focusing on the pupil's 'failure'. This result is even more notable in the German examples than the Swedish cases. Exceptionally and in both countries, a relational perspective emerges, taking teaching and the social environment into account. In conclusion, we suggest a flexible SEN approach with a stronger emphasis on the relation between the individual and the learning environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes an EU-funded project under the Training and Mobility of Researchers (TMR) Programme, with a particular emphasis on the Oxford-based part. Involving six European universities, the overarching investigation was concerned with the tensions between standardization and tradition in education. In Oxford the focus was on aspects of EU education and training policy in four Member States: the United Kingdom, German, Sweden, and France. The paper describes the research undertaken and its outcomes, using the project as an example of EU funding programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper analyses the development and diffusion of technologies that utilize renewable energy sources in Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands. The analysis enlarges the life cycle model of industry evolution to one where the focus is on the formation and evolution of new technological systems. Particular focus is on explaining success and failures in shifting from a formative phase into one characterized by positive feedbacks. A set of challenges is identified for policy makers attempting to influence the process of transforming the energy sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Elders' ICT usage is one of the central subjects of ISG. The cabinet office of Japan has conducted "The International Comparative Survey on the Daily Life and Attitudes of the Elderly" every five years, covering individual men and women aged 60 and over (excluding institutionalized residents) in Japan and three foreign countries. The survey provides information on matters related to home life, health and welfare, economic life, employment, housing and living environment, and social relations and purpose in life of the elderly in the countries. The latest 2021 survey has been done in Japan, Germany, Sweden, and the US (https://www.e-stat.go.jp/statsearch/files?page=1&layout=dataset&toukei=00100106&metadata=1&data=1). In Japan and Sweden, 2,500 participants each country were invited by mail. In Germany and the US, 1,000 participants per country were asked by phone. All participants were chosen by random sampling. The survey period was from Dec. 2020 to Jan. 2021. The result of the survey was open for further analysis and research. Survey data was counted and provided as simple tables or cross tables. In this paper, we chose Q.34, Usage of ICT devices, and Q.35, Reason for not-to-use of such devices. The latter question was asked to participants who responded that they are not using any ICT devices. We have analyzed survey data with Correspondence Analysis to reveal four countries of elders' ICT usage features. Method Two question branches are analyzed in this research. Q34 has nine activity categories. All appropriate activities should be answered (multiple answers): 1. Fax to family members and friends, 2. PC e-mail to family and friends, 3. Mobile phone calls (including mail) to family and friends, 4. Net search for information and/or net shopping, 5. Using SNS, 6. Home Page making or Blogging, 7. Netbanking / Net trading, 8. E-government (tax etc.), 9. No ICT usage. Q35: 1. No needs regarded, 2. ICT devices are hard to understand, 3. Have interest, but no clues for purchase/shop, 4. Have no one to instruct device usage, 5. The problem of price/money, 6. The display is unreadable, 7. other reasons. Correspondence analysis was computed with the FactoMineR package (http://factominer.free.fr/), developed by statisticians at d'Agrocampus Rennes. Analysis was done on statistical computing environment R 4.1.2. Results and Discussion Figures 1 and 2 show the ICT device usage. Japanese favor Mobile phone talk and mail. In Japan, Fax and No ICT usage has larger than in other countries. SNS, HP/blogging, E-government, and Netbanking are relatively minor. US participants favor SNS, PC mail, and HP/blogging. Swedish more favors SNS, Netbanking, and E-government. Germans favor Net searching and shopping and are close to the countries average. Figures 3 and 4 show the reasons for not-to-use ICT devices. Germans with negative ICT device attitude tend to think they do not need to use them. A negative attitude in the US is slightly close to having no instructor. Japanese negative attitude is close to readability problem and understanding device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the experience of Europe's three most liberalised railways - Sweden, Germany and Britain - in opening-up rail passenger services to competition by means of competitive tendering, and seeks to draw lessons for countries that are just starting the process, such as France. It also comments on experience of competition in the market in these and other countries (this form of competition has been taken furthest in other countries - notably Italy and the Czech Republic, as well as on a single route in Austria). The paper fills an important gap in the literature - that has so far focused on econometric modelling of the impact of rail reforms - by considering how competition can best be introduced in practice. This investigation is important and timely given the requirements of EU legislation (4th Railway Package) which will require competition to be introduced into passenger rail services (by 2020 for commercial services, and 2023 for public transport contracts) across the whole of the EU. It finds evidence that competitive tendering has helped increase demand for and reduce subsidies to the rail passenger sector, but that there are many decisions that have to be taken as to how it is to be implemented. Short gross cost contracts may work well for regional services where the tendering authority takes the lead in planning and marketing such services. If services where ticket revenue recovers a larger share of costs – "more commercial services" – are to be tendered, long net cost contracts may make more sense. An alternative is to leave them operated by the incumbent but with open access for competitors to enter the market. Two particular issues face countries starting on the liberalisation process. Firstly, if existing rolling stock is owned by the incumbent rather than the franchising authority or an independent company; that remains a major barrier to entry. The second is the position of existing staff. If new operators are required to take them on at existing wages and conditions; that is a barrier to improved efficiency, but for new operators to recruit their own staff may also be problematic, particularly where the pace of change is fast. • In all three liberalised countries (GB, Sweden and Germany) there has been rapid growth in demand for regional services. • Subsidies per train-km and passenger-km have also fallen in all three countries, though in GB unit costs rose post-reforms. • Gross-cost contracts useful where regional body controls marketing/services; otherwise net-cost contracts may be preferred. • Where large-scale competition introduced for first time, treatment of rolling stock and existing staff biggest issues. [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).]

How have differently institutionalized welfare regimes dealt with the Covid-19 crisis? In particular, how have they confronted the social and economic inequalities exposed by the virus? Taking three European countries--Germany, Sweden, and the UK, corresponding broadly to conservative-continental, social democratic, and liberal regime types--this paper tracks the virus response in the areas of income and employment protection and health and residential care. With attention paid to issues of "capacity" and the institutional arrangements in each case, we find that institutional histories in Germany and Sweden permitted a certain recidivistic reliance on established practices in the areas of employment and social protection. In sum, certain social and economic inequalities were mitigated as these countries set aside recent trends toward "liberalization" and mobilized longer-standing institutional capacities to protect some groups, although by no means all. Evidence of this trend is less clear in the health and residential care sectors, where Germany had existing capacity, allowing its older population to weather the crisis in better order than its counterparts in Sweden and the UK. In the UK, welfare liberalization has led to increased social and economic inequalities and funding reductions in health and residential care--all of which have reduced the country's ability to deal with severe crisis. The Covid response in this case was agile, but also chaotic, with little being done to ameliorate the positions of the most vulnerable groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Germany is generally regarded as a case of qualitative “change” in minimum income protection (MIP) schemes, while Sweden is perceived as one of institutional “inertia”. This paper seeks to qualify this view by embedding developments in MIP in wider policy and governance trends. Empirically, it is based on document analysis and qualitative expert interviews in the two countries. Theoretically, the paper applies recent institutional approaches that address patterns of change in more complex ways. In Sweden, an exclusive focus on formal continuity regarding social assistance would disguise its change in function from temporary security system of last resort into one that permanently provides income protection when neighboring policy fields, unemployment and sickness insurance, are downsized. Conversely, in Germany a merger of social assistance and unemployment assistance took place. Yet an exclusive focus on the Hartz reforms would downplay the degree of continuity that nevertheless exists in the unemployment insurance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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.]

What is it about afterschool that gives it so much potential to powerfully influence educational best practices around the world? This paper will explore what truly defines "afterschool" beyond the time- and location-based pedagogy of the term and will make the case for the use of "expanded learning" or "expanded opportunities" as the terms that most clearly describe this critical time of youth learning and development. This paper will explore the cultural and bureaucratic differences countries have that influence how young people spend their time and what those differences say about a country's views on child development and its aspirations for its youth. Beyond an exploration of cultural differences, this paper will also discuss the trends that are influencing our international efforts to shift the view of expanded learning programs beyond a safe place to keep children occupied while their parents work, toward a fundamental space for child development and educational innovation.

This specially themed ""Getting of Wisdom," Learning in Later Life" Edition of the "Australian Journal of Adult Learning" ("AJAL") is not so much concerned with the issue of ageing itself, but more about quality of life regardless of age. It is about taking, but also giving back as best as possible at any age. This special issue is a result of the one week "The Getting of Wisdom Exchange", a collaboration between around 100 adult education practitioners and researchers from ten countries from Australia, New Zealand, Asia and Europe. In this issue, papers are presented from Sweden, Ireland, Aotearoa/New Zealand, Australia, Slovenia, Poland, Germany, Portugal and the United Kingdom. Papers cover different topics and open questions about various issues in older people's learning.

Measurements of the physicochemical properties of slags such as thermodynamic activities and viscosities have been very useful, not only from a process metallurgical view point, but also towards understanding of slag structure, which still remains a mystery. This paper presents some measurements of the slag properties carried out at the Royal Institute of Technology. Stockholm as well as at TU-Bergakademie, Freiberg. Germany that provide a unique insight into the structure of slags. The measurements include sulphide capacities of slags in the region between ortho- and meta- silicate compositions, which could be explained on the basis of the polymerization of silicates. Density measurements of aluminosilicate slags provide an insight into the relative bond strengths. Measurements of the chemical diffusivities have been carried out. This enables an understanding of the affinity of sulphide ions in the molten silicate. The surface velocity and viscosity measurements provide an understanding of the surface bondings between sulphur/oxygen and Fe atoms. The latest experimental technique developed jointly in Germany and Sweden provides a glimpse into the evaporation phenomena on thin slag films. The need for the application of newer experimental methods in the study of slag properties is emphasized in the present paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the influence of regulations, perceptions, and promotions on the emergence of an innovation system for wood-framed multi-storey buildings in Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom (UK). Design/methodology/approach – This descriptive paper made a qualitative analysis of information collected mainly from secondary sources such as reports, newspapers, journal publications, conference proceedings and general internet search. Findings – Results showed that the conditions for market growth of multi-storey construction seemed to be the most favourable in Sweden followed by the UK and Germany. The regulations are stringent in Germany, followed by the UK and Sweden. In all countries, the construction professionals seemed to have negative perceptions regarding engineering properties of wood. Similar negative perceptions exist among the general public in Germany and the UK, but not in Sweden. The wood construction promotional activities in Germany and the UK are directed to all types of houses, while in Sweden multi-storey buildings are targeted. Research limitations/implications – An important implication of this paper was that it highlighted the usefulness of cross-country surveys at the European level, in order to better understand observed differences in the adoption of innovative systems. However, there might be shortcomings in the comparability of the information across the countries analysed because it was difficult to make an objective assessment of the claims made in some of the information sources. Also, there was varying and limited information about the survey methodologies used in some of the reviewed studies. Practical implications – The study showed that market intervention is needed to promote radical or really new innovations such as wood construction. The variations in the promotional measures undertaken partly explained the variations in growth of wood construction system in the three countries. Originality/value – The paper applied a theoretical framework on technology transition to analyse emergence of wood construction system in Germany, Sweden and the UK. The framework can be applied to analyse the development of wood construction system in other countries also. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By exploiting an extensive pilot scheme that preceded an educational reform, this paper evaluates the effects of introducing a more comprehensive upper secondary school system in Sweden. The reform reduced the differences between academic and vocational tracks through prolonging and increasing the academic content of the latter. As a result, all vocational students became eligible for university studies. The results suggest that the policy change increased the amount of upper secondary schooling obtained among vocational students, but did not affect enrollment in university studies or students' earnings later in life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to compare the regulatory frameworks for informal remittance systems in the UK, Germany, The Netherlands, Sweden and Norway. Design/methodology/approach – This study evaluates the effects of the different regulatory frameworks, in terms of level of control and quality of remittance services. It relies on reports from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), law enforcement and regulatory agencies and the World Bank. It also draws heavily on academic literature and migrant household surveys. Findings – There are major differences between the countries in how to regulate Hawala and other informal remittance systems. Even though all countries have challenges in regulating this sector, it seems that a simplified registration regime for money transfer operators is the most suitable option for improving both the level of control and the quality of remittance services. Looking at regulatory changes during the last decade, it appears that the national policies have converged towards a medium level. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the debate on Hawala regulation by empirically evaluating how successful five different national policies have been. It also presents an updated picture of national regulations by including changes incurred by the EU Payment Services Directive (2007/64/EC), which was implemented in 2009 and 2010. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author explores the conclusions of four research papers published within the issue on educational measurement, curricular innovation and school assessment. Topics include informal learning, non-formal education, and the success of the student/ teacher evaluations by examination and testing. Findings on the educational systems of Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands and Wyoming are presented.

This paper analyses the factors that impact on the decision of researchers to patent their research results. Particular emphasis is put on the role of technology transfer offices. It builds on a survey of university professors in Sweden and Germany. The regression results show that researchers that received support from the public infrastructure and researchers that have experience with the patenting system—through own previous patents or joint patent applications with firms—are much more likely to apply for patents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the central themes running through the collection of papers in this special issue of Childhood, which were all given as papers at the XVI Durban World Congress of Sociology, 23-29 July 2006. These themes encompass the ways in which global processes of social change combining modernity with tradition have become important for both the perception of childhood and for childrens real lives. They also include the ways in which those processes intertwined with social inequalities — of gender, generation and socioeconomic status — among children and between children and other age groups. The article goes on to provide an outline of the ways in which more general theoretical concerns in the sociology of childhood globally are related to local situations, to a variety of practical settings, to the conceptual concerns in different sociological fields and other social science disciplines in South Africa, Ethiopia, Taiwan, Germany, Sweden, and Italy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the different explanatory models and the contested perceptions of cancer etiology among residents of two Anatolian villages and migrants from these villages in Turkey, Sweden, and Germany. These communities suffer from an endemic, deadly cancer called mesothelioma, the cause of which is associated with exposure to an environmental carcinogenic substance, erionite, which is present in large deposits in the ground, in the stones, and white stucco that the villagers used to build their homes, and in the air in the form of dust. However, an examination of patients' disease trends, experiences, and local explanations has led to new investigations of possible familial risk cofactors. This paper selectively focuses on different aspects of cancer risk and its manifested metaphors, aesthetics, and perceptions. The different categories of cancer risk freely interact, derive an important part of their meaning from the context of the doctor-cancer patient relationship, and are created and navigated by the cancer narrative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A consensus has emerged that gender-friendly policies can promote higher fertility in rich democracies (Esping-Andersen 1999). This paper supplies a political explanation for why these fertility-enabling policies diverge across countries. Using Sweden and Germany as our primary case studies, we argue that the strength of the left party's hold on government, rather than economic or social factors. underpins the expansion of the public sector that draws women into the labor force and allows them to balance family and career. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intention of this paper is to analyse why people go to war, despite the, at first sight, divergence between benefits and costs. This paper provides a comparison of the willingness to go to war in different OECD countries using World Values Survey data. The empirical findings in the United States, Switzerland, Spain, Sweden and West Germany, using the willingness to fight as a dependent variable, indicate that such factors as pride, trust, and political ideology significantly influence individuals' willingness to go to war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the variables having impact on the student motivation have been analyzed based on the articles, conference papers, master's theses and doctoral dissertations published in the years 2000-2017. A total of 165 research papers were selected for the research material and the data were collected through qualitative research techniques through document review and content analysis. According to the research results, the most important factors affecting student motivation are the fields of teacher, teachers' classroom management skills and their teaching methods. In this research, factors having less influence on the student motivation are parental communication, student characteristics and study fields. In addition, relational search type was used more than others, mostly students were selected as the study group and most researches were conducted in USA and Turkey.

Road haulage operations in general, and distribution in particular, are inefficient. Given the societal importance of road haulage and the low efficiency of the sector, road hauliers need to improve their operations and systematically tackle inefficiencies. However, the real causes of these inefficiencies, the ‘root causes’, have not been sufficiently examined in previous studies. This paper expands on prior research by adapting existing models that can be used to identify the root causes of inefficiencies, and to enable systematic improvements in road transport operations. Our research is based on a lean approach and an adapted version of Ishikawa’s model. It is shown as a matrix based on transport processes and the Ishikawa categories to identify the root causes of inefficiencies in road haulage that influence performance. The adapted model was tested in three road haulage case studies. Our findings suggest that most efficiency problems appear in the actual transport execution. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose: Scholarly interest in interorganizational learning (IOL) has spiked in the past decade because of its potential to absorb, transfer and create valuable knowledge for enhanced innovative performance and sustained competitive advantage. However, only a handful of review studies exists on the topic. The evolution of IOL has not been studied explicitly and there is a lack of understanding of the field trends. To fill this gap, this paper aims to comprehensively review the literature on IOL and map its evolution and trends using bibliometric techniques. In particular, the authors use visualization of science mapping freeware to systematize the findings and interpret the results. Design/methodology/approach: The authors synthesize the findings using "evaluative bibliometric techniques" to identify the quality and quantity indicators of the IOL research and use "relational bibliometric techniques" to determine the structural indicators of the IOL field such as the intellectual foundations and emerging research themes of IOL research. Findings: Through an analysis of 208 journal publications obtained from the Scopus database, the authors determine the leading authors, countries, highly cited papers and their contributions to the IOL literature. By identifying the key hotspots, intellectual foundations and emerging trends of IOL, the authors provide promising avenues in IOL research. Originality/value: To the best of the knowledge, this study is the first to systematically review the IOL literature and provide future research directions.

This article maps the scientific production and the contents associated with the sustainable development goals and their integration with universities during the past 21 years. Although many of the topics related to sustainable development goals (SDGs) have been addressed in different studies for decades, it is since 2015 onwards that they gained greater prominence due to the inclusion of higher education as an important actor in the fulfillment of the 2030 agenda and the United Nations SDGs. For the purpose of this paper, a bibliometric analysis of 871 papers, 535 documents in Scopus, and 336 in Web of Science (WoS) from 1998 to 2019 was performed, and the Bibliometrix analysis tool was used. The objective of this mapping is to answer the following research question: Is the integration of the Sustainable Development Goals and Universities a field of study? An analysis of the network of collaborators and trend topics in Scopus and WoS allows us to identify the concurrence and relationships of some keywords, such as sustainable development, sustainability and planning, and some background words, such as humans and global health. In another analysis, the word "higher education" is related to change. This article suggests that the integration of the Sustainable Development Goals in Universities is becoming a field of study under exploration, with a peak of production in 2016 and that has remained stable in the last three years, but thanks to the leading role assigned to Universities, intellectual production should increase in the following years.

We focus on the linkages between relocation, new forms of partner cohabitation, and retirement. What are the patterns and trajectories of moving in with a partner in retirement? How do older adults experience different transitions, place attachment, and placemaking when they move in with a partner? In this qualitative study, 50 persons between 60 and 75 years old were interviewed in Sweden and Germany. For this paper, we focused on nine participants who experienced a relocation with a partner in retirement. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using a strategy derived from social constructivist Grounded Theory and thematic analysis. Research participants described experiences of several relocations and cohabitation trajectories. In particular, we identified two patterns of relocating with a partner in retirement: moving into a new place with a partner and moving into a partner's pre-existing home, the latter proving more challenging for forming place attachment and for the couple relationship. Relocation experiences appeared to form a joint process in which relationships and retirement were renegotiated. Using cross-cultural data, this novel study shows an unexpected diversity in housing and cohabitation trajectories among older adults. More research is needed to understand what "aging in the right place" with "the right person" really means and the role of life course trajectories and couple negotiations in such processes. Future research should focus on what comes before and after relocation rather than solely studying the decision-making process that leads up to a move. • Linked transitions: Transitions of relocation, changes in partner cohabitation and retirement seem are inextricably linked and have, in this linkage, consequences for the experiences of place and placemaking practices. • Linked lives: As lives are linked across life courses, transitions, like relocation, are not individual experiences, but joint endeavors between partners – and so is making spaces into places. • Forms of living in later life are changing, both in terms of cohabitation and housing trajectories. There is a need for innovative theory development in environmental gerontology to grasp this 'new normal' of later life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The net reproduction ratio (NRR) is a useful measure of the growth of a population from one generation to the next. Like the expectation of life, it is based on a stable or Malthusian population and is not influenced by the actual population structure. Its use in this country was first advocated by Robert Kuczynski in the 1930s and, despite some reservations, it is still published for this and many other countries, particularly in the United Nations Demographic Yearbook. Kuczynski attributed its origin to Richard Boeckh, who, at the relevant time, around 1890, was Director of the Statistical Office of the City of Berlin. Boeckh discusses his data and the problems met. He estimates, for example, that two-ninths of all illegitimate children are subsequently legitimized by the marriage of their parents. In a census they are reported as legitimate, producing an inconsistency between census and registration data. He checks reliability, for example by showing that the decrease in the number of marriages with successive numbers of children is regular. At that time, no details of mother's age at birth were collected at registration in England. For this reason, Farr starts with Norwegian data as preferable to those from Scotland, Sweden or Denmark where this information was also available.

Using data from the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, this paper compares the earnings premium and employment share of jobs in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) across 11 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The results reveal that the STEM wage premium is higher in the United States than in any of the other comparison countries, despite the fact that the U.S. has a larger share of workers in STEM jobs. We also find evidence that the premium varies significantly across STEM sub-fields and education levels, and that the premium tends to be higher in countries with lower unionization rates, less employment protection, or a larger share of employment in the public sector.