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This paper explores the role of family trajectories during childhood in explaining inequalities by maternal education in children's math and reading skills using harmonized, longitudinal, and nationally representative surveys, which follow children over the course of primary and lower secondary school in four high‐income countries (England, France, Germany, and the United States). As single parenthood and family transitions are more likely among less educated parents and are associated with fewer resources for children, we explore whether growing up outside a stable two‐parent family mediates educational inequalities in math and reading scores. Results show a strong educational gradient in family trajectories in the four countries, but this varies by child age and by country. Children who experience a family transition record lower test scores, although the magnitude differs by the type of postseparation arrangements. Overall, family trajectories are strongly associated with children's math and reading scores but, because of the importance of selectivity in family trajectories, they play only a modest role in explaining the skills gaps by maternal education, considerably less than determinants such as income. The penalties associated with not living within a stable two‐parent family are always larger in the United States and England than in France and Germany. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Endometriosis affects approximately 10% of women of reproductive age and leads to significant morbidity and financial burden. Consequently, countries such as France and Germany are formulating strategies to combat endometriosis. In this study, we propose the implementation of our three‐dimensional model (3D‐E) to raise awareness about endometriosis and enhance timely diagnosis, treatment, and long‐term care for affected patients. Methods: Based on the adapted Six Sigma Principle and the modified recommendation of Sales et al. for implementing evidence‐based findings into a clinical routine, we first conducted a comprehensive investigation to identify risk factors leading to diagnostic delay of endometriosis. After identifying improvable factors, the applicable options were selected due to defined criteria such as integrability in the clinical routine, cost‐effectiveness, and evidence‐based‐principle. Finally, solutions feasible for health care providers were integrated and the 3D‐E model was established. Results: Some of the main risk factors contributing to diagnostic delays are symptoms acceptance and misinterpreted symptoms, especially if presenting to nongynecologists in cases of extragenital endometriosis with atypical presentation. Therefore, we tried to sensitize colleagues (first dimension) with a review paper in Germany's largest medical journal and started an elective for medical students (second dimension) at our university. In order to involve additional health care professionals in endometriosis care (third dimension), we are preparing the concept of the EndoNurse. Conclusion: The 3D‐E model is a relatively low‐cost, comprehensive, and worldwide adaptable approach for facilitating knowledge transfer, sensitizing health care providers, and improving endometriosis diagnostics and therapy for patients with endometriosis who are in the center of the model. Synopsis: The 3D‐E model could have the potential to be a first step to improve endometriosis awareness and care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

Cave carbonates, seemingly growing in defiance of gravity, have attracted the community's interest for more than a century. This paper focusses on 'helictites', contorted vermiform speleothems with central capillaries. Petrographic, crystallographic and geochemical data of calcitic and aragonitic helictites (recent to 347 ka) from three caves in Western Germany are placed in context with previous work. Aragonitic helictites from one site, the Windloch Cave, form exceptionally large and complex structures that share similarities with the celebrated helictite arrays in the Asperge Cave in France. Aragonitic and calcitic helictites differ significantly in their crystal fabrics and internal geometry. Calcitic helictites are best described as a composite crystal fabric consisting of fibrous mesocrystals. Aragonite helictites display a complex fabric of acicular to platy crystals, some of which show evidence for growth‐twinning and perhaps crystallisation via a monoclinal precursor stage. The micro‐tomographic characterisation of several orders of channels and their complex architecture raises important questions regarding fluid migration and helictite architecture. In terms of their isotope geochemistry, helictites are depleted in 13C to various degrees, isotope values that are controlled by the mixing of fluids and mineralogy‐related fractionation. Regarding their δ18O values, most helictites overlap with other calcitic and aragonitic speleothems. Previous models explaining the twisted morphology of helictites are discussed from the viewpoint of fluid migration and CO2 degassing rates, mineralogy and helictite petrography. For the complex aragonitic helicities documented here, the most likely mechanisms to explain the contorted growth forms include the internal capillary network combined with localised (sector) growth at the helictite tip. The morphologically simpler calcitic helictites are best explained by capillary and surface flow. Future work should include geomicrobiology to assess the significance of induced mineralisation and transmission electron microscopy analysis to more quantitatively assign crystallographic properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the scope of the employee's voice in lifelong education decisions, with a focus on qualified assembly‐line workers and professional development schemes allowing their upward mobility out of the assembly line. Using a capability approach, it investigates voice as part of people's agency. Beyond examining the channels that allow employees to have a say in training matters – weak definition of voice – it addresses voice as a process that participates in the conversion of the available training resources and opportunities into lifelong education achievements – strong definition of voice. Comparing two subsidiaries of a multinational firm, one located in Germany and the other in France, we ask under what institutional and organizational conditions employees are able to express and then achieve what they value. In adopting a multi‐level perspective which integrates qualitative data of an institutional, organizational and individual nature, we show how in France and Germany the worker's voice in training matters pertains to two different models of responsibility sharing. In Germany the worker's voice is associated with self‐determination and self‐care as a consequence of the externalization of lifelong education outside the confines of the firm; this results in a weak voice that requires personal or family resources in order to get converted into a strong voice. In France, where national legislation obliges firms to devote a percentage of the gross wage bill to training, companies have historically played an important role in the lifelong education of workers, so that until the country's last training reforms introducing a personal training account in 2014, the worker's voice was strongly shaped by organizational factors. Whether this voice is weak or strong depends upon the organizational strategy, processes and involvement in lifelong training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the asset write‐off behavior of loss firms in response to tax rule changes. In particular, we investigate two simultaneous changes in tax‐loss carryforward offsetting in opposite directions in Germany and France. Understanding if and how tax losses affect firms' financial reporting is important because investors could receive a biased signal of the firm value without such knowledge. We hypothesize and find that following changes in tax‐loss carryforward offsetting rules, loss firms adjust their financial reporting write‐offs to avoid costly large book‐tax differences. In particular, German loss firms reduce their financial reporting write‐offs in the post‐period by 0.61% of total assets, whereas French loss firms increase their write‐offs by 0.15% of total assets as a response to changes in tax‐loss offsetting rules in opposite directions. We contribute to the literature by shedding light on the under‐researched question of how changes in tax rules affect the financial reporting of loss firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We estimate the effects of shocks to interest rate expectations on the four largest euro area economies. We identify these shocks in a Bayesian vector autoregressive (BVAR) model augmented by survey expectations. We separate the expectations shocks from standard monetary policy shocks by assuming that they do not affect the current policy rate. Our sign restrictions also ensure that these shocks do not contain central bank information shocks. We find that an expected decline in the future short‐term rate leads to an increase in output and prices. The increases do not become larger for changes to interest rate expectations further in the future, that is, we do not find evidence of a forward guidance puzzle. Using the multicountry structure of our model, we test for cross‐country differences in the shocks' effects and find output and price effects to be greatest in Germany. We also compare the effects of shocks to interest rate expectations to those of standard monetary policy shocks and show the first type to affect output and prices more strongly in Germany and France. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I estimate the speed of adjustment to shocks to real effective exchange rates (REERs) during the gold standard years. Adoption of the gold standard by the United States in 1879 resulted in all four core countries (France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States) being fully committed to gold. I use the concept of half-life (HL) to measure the time it takes for a deviation from purchasing power parity (PPP) to dissipate by 50%. Relative to the years 1870-1913, between 1880 and 1913 the half-lives of REERs in core countries decrease from between 4.4 and 5.2 years to between 3.1 and 3.4 years, with similar declines across dynamic panels. Combined with evidence elsewhere that interest rates adjusted quickly, the evidence herein suggests that adjustment in goods markets was faster following adoption of the gold standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the recent past, European states have adopted mandatory due diligence (MDD) laws for holding companies accountable for the environmental and human rights impacts of their supply chains. The institutionalization of the international due diligence norm into domestic legislation has, however, been highly contested. Our contribution analyzes the discursive struggles about the meaning of due diligence that have accompanied the institutionalization of MDD in Germany and France. Based on document analysis and legal analysis of laws and law proposals, we identify a state‐centric, a market‐based, and a polycentric‐governance discourse. These discourses are based on fundamentally different understandings of how the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights should be translated into hard law. By outlining these discourses and comparing the related policy preferences, we contribute with a better understanding of different ways in which MDD is institutionalized, with important consequences for the possibilities to enhance corporate accountability in global supply chains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participating in further training is strategically important for employees to ensure their employability. Particularly for employees in low‐skilled jobs, works councils — firm‐level organizations that represent employees — constitute an important employee advocacy instrument in European countries, such as France and Germany. With comprehensive co‐determination rights, works councils can influence firms' hiring policies, job design and career paths (e.g. promotions). Using German firm‐level data, we empirically investigate the influence of works councils on firms' training provision for employees in firms below and above the industry level of technology. The results show that works councils have a positive effect on the percentage of employees in general, and of employees in low‐skilled jobs in particular, participating in training, but only for firms below the industry level of technology. These results show the importance of works councils in supporting training in such firms and enhancing the employment prospects of employees in low‐skilled jobs. In contrast, firms above the industry level of technology invest in training with or without a works council, indicating that the training interests of employers and employees are aligned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

We study productivity‐level distributions of manufacturing firms in France and Germany, and how these distributions evolved across the Great Recession. We show the presence of a systematic productivity advantage of German firms over French ones in the decade 2003–2013, but the gap has narrowed down after the Great Recession. Convergence is explained by the better growth performance of French firms in the post‐recession period, especially of those located in the top percentiles of the productivity distribution. We also highlight the role of sectoral growth, firm size, and export intensity in explaining the above convergence. In contrast, the contribution of allocative efficiency was small. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The diagnostic significance of the atopy patch test for the management of dermatitis possibly triggered by aeroallergens is still controversial. However, sufficiently large studies with routinely tested standardized aeroallergen patch test preparations in dermatitis patients are lacking., Objective: To evaluate the reaction frequency and the reaction profiles of 10 until mid-2015 commercially available, standardized aeroallergen patch test preparations of the 'Stallerpatch' test series (Stallergenes, Antony Cedex, France) in a large multicentre patient cohort., Methods: A retrospective data analysis of patients with suspected aeroallergen-dependent eczematous skin lesions was performed, who were patch tested in 15 Information Network of Departments of Dermatology-associated clinics between 2000 and 2015. Patients were stratified according to their atopic dermatitis (AD) status., Results: The study group included 3676 patients (median age 41 years, 34.8% males, 54.5% AD). The most common aeroallergens causing positive patch test reactions were Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (19.6%), Dermatophagoides farinae (16.9%), birch (6.2%), timothy grass (6.0%), cat dander (5.4%), mugwort (4.9%) and dog dander (4.6%). Reactions to other pollen allergen preparations, that is 5 grasses (3.2%), cocksfoot (2.1%) and plantain (1.6%), were less common. Positive patch test reactions to aeroallergens were consistently more frequent in patients with AD. These patients showed proportionally less dubious, follicular, irritant and weak positive reactions. Independent of AD status, a patient history of past or present allergic rhinitis was associated with an increased chance of a positive aeroallergen patch test reaction to pollen allergens., Conclusion: The aeroallergen patch test is a useful add-on tool in clinical routine, especially in patients with AD and/or respiratory allergy. A patch test series comprising Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, Dermatophagoides farinae, birch, timothy grass, cat dander and mugwort seems to be suitable. Controlled studies with specific provocation and elimination procedures are required to further evaluate the diagnostic significance of the proposed screening series., (© 2020 The Authors. Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology.)

Background: The effectiveness of allergen immunotherapy (AIT) in seasonal and perennial allergic rhinitis (AR) depends on the definition of pollen exposure intensity or time period. We recently evaluated pollen and symptom data from Germany to examine the new definitions of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) on pollen season and peak pollen period start and end. Now, we aim to confirm the feasibility of these definitions to properly mirror symptom loads for grass and birch pollen-induced allergic rhinitis in other European geographical areas such as Austria, Finland and France, and therefore their suitability for AIT and clinical practice support., Methods: Data from twenty-three pollen monitoring stations from three countries in Europe and for 3 years (2014-2016) were used to investigate the correlation between birch and grass pollen concentrations during the birch and grass pollen season defined via the EAACI criteria, and total nasal symptom and medication scores as reported with the aid of the patient's hay-fever diary (PHD). In addition, we conducted a statistical analysis, together with a graphical investigation, to reveal correlations and dependencies between the studied parameters., Results: The analysis demonstrated that the definitions of pollen season as well as peak pollen period start and end as proposed by the EAACI are correlated to pollen-induced symptom loads reported by PHD users during birch and grass pollen season. A statistically significant correlation (slightly higher for birch) has been found between the Total Nasal Symptom and Medication Score (TNSMS) and the pollen concentration levels. Moreover, the maximum symptom levels occurred mostly within the peak pollen periods (PPP) following the EAACI criteria., Conclusions: Based on our analyses, we confirm the validity of the EAACI definitions on pollen season for both birch and grass and for a variety of geographical locations for the four European countries (including Germany from a previous publication) analyzed so far. On this basis, the use of the EAACI definitions is supported in future clinical trials on AIT as well as in daily routine for optimal patient care. Further evaluation of the EAACI criteria in other European regions is recommended., (© 2019 The Authors. Allergy published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background and purpose: Social engagement is an important active aging strategy to promote older adults' mental health. The purposes of this study were to compare social engagement in older populations around the world and explore associations with mental health outcomes. Materials and methods: An international cross‐sectional survey was conducted from 2017 to 2019. Data were retrieved from The International Social Survey Programme for a secondary data analysis across 30 countries. This study applied the Taxonomy of Social Activities and its six levels as operational definitions for a consistent concept of social engagement for international comparisons. Results: In total, 9403 older adults with a mean age of 72.85 ± 6.40 years responded. The highest levels of older adults' social engagement were found in Switzerland, Thailand, and New Zealand. Older adults of a higher age, with a lower educational level, who were permanently sick or disabled, who had no partner, who were widowed or whose civil partner had died, who lived alone, and who had lower self‐placement in society had significantly lower social engagement than did their counterparts. In the regression model, older adults' social engagement positively predicted general health, self‐accomplishment, and life satisfaction, but negatively predicted loneliness and depression. Conclusions: In aging societies worldwide, encouraging older adults' social engagement would be beneficial to promote mental health. Implications for nursing practice and health policies: Community professional nurses can develop strategies of social engagement based on the needs and sociodemographic factors of older adults to improve their mental health. Developing efficient strategies and local policies by learning from successful experiences in other countries is important to promote social engagement in aging societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What explains the creation of the EU corona recovery fund? Why did the Union agree on a large‐scale financial response to the corona pandemic, despite member states' very different immediate reactions to the crisis and their opposing attitudes towards common debt? This article argues for the decisiveness of France and Germany's role within the Union and their tight bilateral political cooperation. The 'embedded bilateralism' approach to European integration and EU politics explains how and why France and Germany, starting from different poles, came together and established joint positions, paving the way for an overall European compromise. Focusing on these two countries' particular leadership role advances the theoretical debate about the actors most crucial for driving European integration, especially in times of severe crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When foster care is discussed in research, emotions are mostly kept out of the scope. This article explores emotions narrated by young people in foster care and by their foster carers. It brings together findings from two studies: The first used biographical interviews conducted with 100 young people from Germany, while the second draws on ethnographic interviews with 12 young people from France and England. The analysis, in line with relevant literature, shows that although emotions are hardly mentioned directly, they seem to be highly relevant in understanding the experience of foster care. Therefore, we suggest, professionalism and emotions need to be understood as complementary elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participation and representation of disadvantaged groups are important, but partly still understudied aspects of democratic politics. The present article looks at the inclusion of migrant representatives in urban governance networks making use of original survey data from 40 large cities in France and Germany. We find that about half of policy‐relevant urban actors in both countries and across cities cooperate with migrant associations regularly. This indicates that urban governance networks are furthering the civic and political presence of migrants. Cooperation with migrant associations is more likely when specific representative local institutions (foreigner/integration councils) exist, and is also boosted by the overall density of governance networks in a city. Politicians and local administrators remain central actors in such networks, while social welfare organizations emerge as important interlocutors with migrant associations. The article identifies and discusses differences between the two countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article analyses wage differentials between permanent and temporary workers in the 25-40 age bracket using the 2010 European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) wave data for France, Germany and Italy. Applying a Recentered Influence Function (RIF) regression and a reweighting estimation technique, we investigate the contribution of personal and job characteristics to wage differentials across the wage distribution. Results point to a large unexplained component of the wage gap across the whole distribution in Italy, while this component is weaker in France among highly paid employees and insignificant in Germany. These findings highlight potential policy considerations and areas for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of subjective democratic legitimacy from a citizens' perspective has become an important strand of research in political science. Echoing the well‐known distinction between 'input‐oriented' and 'output‐oriented' legitimacy, the scientific debate on this topic has coined two opposed views. Some scholars find that citizens have a strong and intrinsic preference for meaningful participation in collective decision making. But others argue, to the contrary, that citizens prefer 'stealth democracy' because they care mainly about the substance of decisions, but much less about the procedures leading to them. In this article, citizens' preferences regarding democratic governance are explored, focusing on their evaluations of a public policy according to criteria related to various legitimacy dimensions, as well as on the (tense) relationship among them. Data from a population‐based conjoint experiment conducted in eight metropolitan areas in France, Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom is used. By analysing 5,000 respondents' preferences for different governance arrangements, which were randomly varied with respect to their input, throughput and output quality as well as their scope of authority, light is shed on the relative importance of different aspects of democratic governance. It is found, first, that output evaluations are the most important driver for citizens' choice of a governance arrangement; second, consistent positive effects of criteria of input and throughput legitimacy that operate largely independent of output evaluations can be discerned; and third, democratic input, but not democratic throughput, is considered somewhat more important when a governance body holds a high level of formal authority. These findings run counter to a central tenet of the 'stealth democracy' argument. While they indeed suggest that political actors and institutions can gain legitimacy primarily through the provision of 'good output', citizens' demand for input and throughput do not seem to be conditioned by the quality of output as advocates of stealth democratic theory suggest. Democratic input and throughput remain important secondary features of democratic governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colour measurements and non‐destructive μ‐X‐ray mappings have been used for the first time in a comprehensive study of medieval émail champlevé works from different production areas in France and Germany. This approach has given a new insight into the enamel powder preparation process of the glass material used for enamelling. Colour measurements demonstrated that all production centres used glass of very similar hues, but with large differences in colour saturation. The μ‐X‐ray mapping results of blue enamels are described by a semi‐qualitative approach. Significant variations in oxide contents of lead, cobalt, manganese and antimony oxides were found. The variations suggest that more than one glass material was used to prepare the powder for enamelling. The variations in antimony and cobalt show that glass had different degrees of opacity and colour depth. The manganese and lead contents, which do not correlate with the cobalt or antimony contents, indicate that probably glass of different base compositions was used to prepare the enamel powder for one champlevé field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the outcome of the 2017 elections in France and Germany. Topics include voter turnout has not systematically declined over the last elections in France and Germany, compared to the French case, the German mainstream parties proved to be more resilient, but they both lost voters to new challengers as well and the party system's fragmentation equally reached unprecedented levels, and the rise of the centrist challenger and the importance of the associated chance events focused the electoral campaign on the race, and France also saw the rise of a new challenger from the left La France Insoumise political party.

Abstract: Background: The detection of specific language impairment (SLI) in children growing up bilingually presents particular challenges for clinicians. Non‐word repetition (NWR) and sentence repetition (SR) tasks have proven to be the most accurate diagnostic tools for monolingual populations, raising the question of the extent of their usefulness in different bilingual populations. Aims: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of NWR and SR tasks that incorporate phonological/syntactic complexity as discussed in recent linguistic theory. The tasks were developed as part of the Language Impairment Testing in Multilingual Settings (LITMUS) toolkit, in two different national settings, France and Germany, and investigated children with three different home languages: Arabic, Portuguese and Turkish. Methods & Procedures: NWR and SR tasks developed in parallel were administered to 151 bilingual children, aged 5;6–8;11, in France and in Germany, to 64 children in speech–language therapy (SLT) and to 87 children not in SLT, whose first language (L1) was Arabic, Portuguese or Turkish. Children were also administered standardized language tests in each of their languages to determine likely clinical status (typical development (TD) or SLI), and parents responded to a questionnaire including questions about early and current language use (bilingualism factors) and early language development (risk factors for SLI). Monolingual controls included 47 TD children and 29 children with SLI. Results were subjected to inter‐group comparisons, to diagnostic accuracy calculation, and to correlation and multiple regression analyses. Outcomes & Results: In accordance with previous studies, NWR and SR identified SLI in the monolingual children, yielding good to excellent diagnostic accuracy. Diagnostic accuracy in bilingual children was fair to good, generally distinguishing children likely to have SLI from children likely to have TD. Accuracy was necessarily linked to the determination of clinical status, which was based on standardized assessment in each of the child's languages. Positive early development, a composite risk factor for SLI, and not variables related to language exposure and use, generally emerged as the strongest predictor of performance on the two tasks, constituting additional, independent support for the efficacy of NWR and SR in identifying impairment in bilingual children. Conclusions & Implications: NWR and SR tasks informed by linguistic theory are appropriate for use as part of the diagnostic process for identifying language impairment in bilingual children for whom the language of assessment is different from the home language, in diverse sociolinguistic contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As nationally mixed people have parents born in different countries, they can potentially identify with multiple national reference groups, allowing the researcher to study national identification processes. The analysis of approximately one hundred people of nationally mixed background living in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom highlights different registers of identification. There are important differences in how nationally mixed people articulate them, which leads to the identification of different national repertoires of identification. In France, a strong French national identity was emphasized, whereas German national identity seems more fragile because it depends mainly on cultural socialization. In the United Kingdom, non-national identities are developed in a context where the national community is not clearly defined, while ethnicity is publicly recognized. The register and repertoire of identification concepts thus allow the researcher to analyse identity discourses and then explain national differences through international comparison. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents addiction-related news briefs as of August 2015. It states that the German legislative body Bundesrat approved a measure in May to change narcotics laws with the aim of making cannabis flowers and cannabis extracts available for standard medical pain care and for palliative patients. It mentions a report by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force on the lack of data on the effectiveness of electronic cigarettes. It talks about medical cannabis use by the Italian Army.

Freethinkers ranked among the main critics of Catholicism in the second half of the nineteenth century. Whereas the various Western European freethought movements have been relatively well studied on a national level, their cross-border relationships remain substantially unexplored. A study of these connections can shed new light on transnational anti-Catholicism in general and moreover help us to conceptualise this phenomenon in a European perspective. In this article, I will use the example of freethinkers in order to illustrate the difficult process of establishing transnational anti-Catholic networks. The article begins with an outline of the various forms of connections of European anti-Catholicism, concentrating in the following section on the first major international conference of freethinkers, the so-called anti-Council, which took place as a protest against the first Vatican Council (1869-1870). Attention is brought to the international dimensions of the meeting and to the reasons behind its rapid failure. In the third section, transnational anti-Catholicism is studied in general in France, Spain, and Germany. I will focus especially on one constraint to cross-border relationships. This will allow me to show that anti-Catholicism was not only a secular endeavour, but was also inseparable from the widespread search for a religion more suited to a society undergoing rapid changes. This understanding of anti-Catholicism offers a way of overcoming the still deep gap in historiography between the bi-confessional countries and the Latin mainly mono-confessional countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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