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Due to the high costs and strategic importance of expatriate assignments, expatriate performance management (EPM) plays an increasingly important role for multinational enterprises (MNEs). However, research on EPM is still in its infancy. Drawing from the convergence/divergence debate in international human resource management, this study investigates and compares EPM strategies and practices across MNEs from three different country clusters to better understand whether EPM practices tend to converge, diverge, or crossverge (i.e., show aspects of both). Results from surveying 132 Anglo‐Saxon, Germanic, and Japanese MNEs reveal prominent differences (divergence) at the EPM strategic level such that Japanese MNEs tend to pursue more ethnocentric staffing strategies and design EPM systems specifically tailored to expatriates. On the practice level, we found both commonalities and differences between Japanese and Anglo‐Saxon and Germanic MNEs, pointing toward crossvergence. Theoretical and practical implications of our results are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The benefits of completing household chores appear to transfer beyond managing day‐to‐day living. It is possible that chore engagement may improve executive functions, as engagement in chores require individuals to plan, self‐regulate, switch between tasks, and remember instructions. To date, little research has been conducted on household chores and executive functions in children, for whom these skills are still developing. Methods: Parents and guardians (N = 207) of children aged 5–13 years (M = 9.38, SD = 2.15) were asked to complete parent‐report questionnaires on their child's engagement in household chores and their child's executive functioning. Results: Results of the regression model indicated that engagement in self‐care chores (e.g., making self a meal) and family‐care chores (e.g., making someone else a meal) significantly predicted working memory and inhibition, after controlling for the influence of age, gender, and presence or absence of a disability. For families with a pet, there was no significant relationship between engagement in pet‐care chores and executive function skills. Conclusion: We strongly recommend that further research explore the relationship between chores and executive functions. It is possible that parents may be able to facilitate their child's executive function development through encouraging participation in chores, whereas chore‐based interventions (e.g., cooking programmes) may also be used to target deficits in ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

An economic model was developed to estimate the cost of negative pressure wound therapy with instillation and dwelling of a topical wound solution vs control therapies. Economic model inputs were means derived from the results of a recently published systematic review and meta‐analysis of 13 comparative studies of negative pressure wound therapy with instillation. Means across studies comprising complex acute and chronic wounds for negative pressure wound therapy‐instillation vs control (negative pressure wound therapy without instillation, gauze dressings, or gentamicin polymethylmethacrylate beads) groups were 1.77 vs 2.69 operating room visits (P =.008) and 9.88 vs 21.80 therapy days (P =.02), respectively. These inputs plus hospital cost data were used to model costs for the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom. For the United States, Germany, and United Kingdom, respectively, economic model estimates of total potential per patient savings were $33 338, €8467, and £5626 for negative pressure wound therapy‐instillation group vs control, based on assumed number of OR visits during therapy, cost of therapy system, and length of therapy. Model results showed an overall potential cost‐savings with negative pressure wound therapy‐instillation vs control, based on fewer OR visits and shorter therapy duration as reported in the published systematic review and meta‐analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research collaboration is promoted by governments and research funders, but if the relative prevalence and merits of collaboration vary internationally then different national and disciplinary strategies may be needed to promote it. This study compares the team size and field normalized citation impact of research across all 27 Scopus broad fields in the 10 countries with the most journal articles indexed in Scopus 2008–2012. The results show that team size varies substantially by discipline and country, with Japan (4.2) having two‐thirds more authors per article than the United Kingdom (2.5). Solo authorship is rare in China (4%) but common in the United Kingdom (27%). While increasing team size associates with higher citation impact in almost all countries and fields, this association is much weaker in China than elsewhere. There are also field differences in the association between citation impact and collaboration. For example, larger team sizes in the Business, Management & Accounting category do not seem to associate with greater research impact, and for China and India, solo authorship associates with higher citation impact in this field. Overall, there are substantial international and field differences in the extent to which researchers collaborate and the extent to which collaboration associates with higher citation impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

Research activities related to social informatics (SI) are expanding, even as community fragmentation, topical dispersion, and methodological diversity continue to increase. Specifically, the different understandings of SI in regional communities have strong impacts, and each has a different history, methodological grounding, and often a different thematic focus. The aim of this article is to connect three selected perspectives on SI—intellectual (regional schools of thought), methodological, and thematic—and introduce a comparative framework for understanding SI that includes all known approaches. Thus, the article draws from a thematic and methodological grounding of research across schools of thought, along with definitions that rely on the extension and intension of the notion of SI. The article is built on a paralogy of views and pluralism typical of postmodern science. Because SI is forced to continually reform its research focus, due to the rapid development of information and communication technology, social changes and ideologies that surround computerization and informatization, the presented perspective maintains a high degree of flexibility, without the need to constantly redefine the boundaries, as is typical in modern science. This approach may support further developments in promoting and understanding SI worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most foreign direct investment (FDI) theories assume that foreign subsidiaries are at a disadvantage relative to domestic firms; that is, they suffer a liability of foreignness. Following this reasoning, most FDI research has focused on advantages foreign investors must possess to overcome whatever disadvantages they face. Research directly investigating the sources of foreign subsidiary disadvantages has been notably lacking, despite the fact that understanding disadvantages could uncover ways to reduce exposure to these liabilities of foreignness and improve management of FDL This study focuses on whether labor lawsuit judgments represent a liability for foreign subsidiaries operating in the United States (U. S.). Specifically, I tested whether 486 British, German, and Japanese subsidiaries operating in the U.S. had more labor lawsuits brought to judgment than a matched sample of U.S.-owned firms. Results indicate that foreign subsidiaries faced significantly more labor lawsuit judgments in both federal and state jurisdictions. I also investigated several variables hypothesized to be associated with a reduction in labor lawsuit judgments facing foreign subsidiaries. Foreign subsidiaries who used American top officers or whose parent firms had more U.S. operations faced fewer lawsuits, while foreign subsidiaries using human resource professionals actually faced more labor lawsuit judgments. Implications of these findings and avenues for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although it is established that firms sometimes expand abroad to augment their capabilities, previous studies have generally focused on technological determinants of foreign expansion. We analyze capability-seeking aspects of foreign direct investment by examining the relationship between upstream (technological) and downstream (marketing) capabilities and the choice between acquisition and green field modes of international entry. In analyzing 2175 entries by British, German, and Japanese investors into the United States, we find that for downstream capabilities, which tend not to be geographically fungible, the absolute level of capabilities in the entered industry explains the mode choice. However, for upstream capabilities, which tend to be geographically fungible, the acquisition motive stems from a relative capability differential between host and home country firms. These results have implications for the concept of fungibility in the resource-based view of the firm as well as for the literature on sourcing of resident assets by foreign firms, which has thus far ignored issues of entry mode and downstream assets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using harmonized household survey data, we analyze long‐run social mobility in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany, and test recent theories of multigenerational persistence of socioeconomic status. In this country comparison setting, we find evidence against a universal law of social mobility. Our results show that the long‐run persistence of socioeconomic status and the validity of a first‐order Markov chain in the intergenerational transmission of human capital is country‐specific. Furthermore, we find that the direct and independent effect of grandparents' social status on grandchildren's status tends to vary by gender and institutional context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When and how do social movements form to mobilize action across national boundaries? In the context of the 2015 movement to support Syrian refugees, we develop an integrative model of transnational social movement formation shaped by pre‐existing world‐views (social dominance orientation and right‐wing authoritarianism) and social media exposure to iconic events, resulting in an emergent group consciousness ("we are", "we believe", "we feel"). Group consciousness is, in turn, the proximal predictor of solidarity with refugees. Participants were from six countries: Hungary (N = 267), Romania (N = 163), Germany (N = 190), the United Kingdom (N = 159), the United States (N = 244) and Australia (N = 344). Multi‐group structural equation models confirmed that group consciousness, shaped by individual differences and exposure to events through social media, was the proximal predictor of solidarity. The subjective meaning of group consciousness varied across samples, reflecting national differences. Results support the importance of considering individual and national differences, and group processes in understanding emergent social movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the growing recognition in the corporate governance literature that the relationship between ownership concentration and profitability is context dependent, this issue has not yet been subjected to direct empirical investigation using a single cross-national sample. This study empirically examines the ownership concentration-performance relationship across the nations of Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Essentially, we argue that the correlation (if any) between ownership concentration and firm profitability differs across countries in a systematic way determined by the national system of corporate governance. Results indicate that important and statistically significant differences do in fact exist across the countries studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: ‘Paediatric bipolar disorder’ (PBD) is a controversial diagnosis where often prepubertal children as well as adolescents, who may have a range of psychiatric disorders or symptoms, are diagnosed with a severe mental illness requiring lifelong medication. Clinically, it has often been applied in the United States but rarely in most other countries. A meta‐analysis (Van Meter et al., Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, , 72, 1250) claimed that the prevalence of PBD was similar to adults at 1.8% with no difference between the United States and other countries. This conclusion has been highly cited. Methods: The heterogeneous nature of the original 12 epidemiological surveys warrants a qualitative analysis, rather than statistical meta‐analysis as performed by Van Meter et al. (Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 2011, 72, 1250). Thus, the meta‐analysis and each of the 12 studies (six from the United States; six from other countries) were reexamined. Results: Most of the 12 surveys predated the emergence of the PBD hypothesis. The 12 surveys were mainly of adolescents and at times young adults with few prepubertal children. Prevalence rates in the 12 studies suggest a lower rate of bipolar disorder, especially in non‐US samples. For example, the Van Meter et al. (Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 2011, 72, 1250) meta‐analysis chose a rate of 2.8% by summation of adolescent and parent responses in a Dutch survey, however the rate fell to 0% if requiring concordance of adolescent and parent responses. Indeed, it could be argued that four of the non‐US studies show 0% rates of PBD. Conclusions: Rates of PBD were generally substantially lower than 1.8%, particularly in non‐US surveys, and if both parent and adolescent reports were required to meet the diagnostic threshold they fell to close to zero. The reanalysis suggests that bipolar disorder is rare before the expected age of onset in later adolescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Objective Proeating disorder (pro-ED) communities online encourage harmful weight-loss and weight-control practices. This study examined the association between exposure to pro-ED content online and subjective well-being (SWB) among adolescents and young adults in four countries. Method Cross-national data were collected in the US, Germany, the UK and Finland from Internet users aged 15-30 years ( N = 3,557; 50.15% male). The questionnaire assessed SWB, exposure to harm-advocating websites, online activity, prior victimization, and social belonging. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models assessed the relationship between SWB and pro-ED exposure and adjusted for a number of confounding factors. Results Of the participants, 17% had been exposed to pro-ED content (US 20%, Germany 7%, UK 21%, Finland 22%). Exposure to pro-ED content online was negatively associated with SWB in the US, Germany, and Finland, also after adjusting for the confounding factors. Offline social belonging moderated the association between pro-ED and SWB. Discussion Participants who visited pro-ED websites reported lower SWB than others did. The potentially harmful impact of visiting these sites was buffered by the strong offline social belonging. Given the observed similarities across the countries, it is important for families, health professionals, and educators to stay abreast of online communities that have possible contra recovery influences and to be able to discuss such Internet contents in a way that increases treatment motivation. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (Int J Eat Disord 2017; 50:50-57) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the study of comparison of testis cancer-specific survival. Topics discussed include men aged more than or equal to 15 years diagnosed with testis cancer between January 1, 1995 and December 31, 2011, says national cancer registries from the U.S., Great Britain, and Germany; views on the variations in cancer registry coding across the U.S., Great Britain, and Germany; and role of study for universal health coverage for outcomes in testis cancer.

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

Using data from 28 countries in four continents, the present research addresses the question of how basic values may account for political activism. Study 1 ( N = 35,116) analyses data from representative samples in 20 countries that responded to the 21-item version of the Portrait Values Questionnaire ( PVQ-21) in the European Social Survey. Study 2 ( N = 7,773) analyses data from adult samples in six of the same countries ( Finland, Germany, Greece, Israel, Poland, and United Kingdom) and eight other countries ( Australia, Brazil, Chile, Italy, Slovakia, Turkey, Ukraine, and United States) that completed the full 40-item PVQ. Across both studies, political activism relates positively to self-transcendence and openness to change values, especially to universalism and autonomy of thought, a subtype of self-direction. Political activism relates negatively to conservation values, especially to conformity and personal security. National differences in the strength of the associations between individual values and political activism are linked to level of democratization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares technical aspects of accrual-based budgeting and accounting reforms of the national governments of France, Germany, the UK and the US. It shows that there is no consensus among the four countries about the complete package of technical reform possibilities that is most appropriate; there is also no consensus among the four countries about each one of the possibilities that is most appropriate. What is clear is the resilience of traditional budgetary accounting systems. It is also clear that, in the fundamental context and content of the reforms, the UK is the striking exception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article applies principal component analysis to decompose transnational terrorism during 1970-2007 into common (worldwide) and idiosyncratic (country-specific) factors. Regardless of alternative thresholds and filtering procedures, a single common factor is related to individual countries' transnational terrorist events. Based on a conventional criterion, Lebanon's transnational terrorism is the key common driver of global transnational terrorist incidents. With a more conservative criterion, four additional countries-United States, Germany, Iraq, and the United Kingdom-are core countries in explaining cross-sectional correlation across 106 countries' transnational terrorism. The analysis shows that there is a marked cross-sectional dependence among transnational terrorist incidents worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article assesses key economic indicators for the U.S., Japan, Italy, Spain, Germany, France, Great Britain, emerging markets and the Eurozone from 2011-2016. Information on annual changes to consumption, investments, exports of goods and services, gross domestic product (GDP), consumer prices, foreign exchange and interest rates is presented. Various charts and graphs depicting changes to these economic indicators are offered.

Total water intake is seldom reported in dietary surveys and hydration status is rarely measured. Although adequate intake (AI) levels have been suggested by the European Food Safety Authority, the World Health Organization and the Institute of Medicine, uncertainties and confused messages abound regarding optimum intake. This paper reviews data on water intake internationally and examines associations with beverage consumption habits of adults in the UK, as determined from secondary analysis of individual diet records. On average, total water intake among British adults was equivalent to the European AI (2 l/day for women, 2.5 l/day for men) and 75% of this was derived from beverages. Factors that correlated with high total water intake included the consumption of a variety of beverages and drinking in the evening. Total water intake (and the contribution from soft drinks) is markedly higher in the USA than in Europe. Beverage consumption habits and trends were also reviewed. In the past 10 years, water beverages have become more popular and as such the overall energy contribution from beverages has declined slightly. Most people could be encouraged to drink a variety of beverages to maintain adequate hydration and to balance the energy content according to their needs. However, further work is needed to refine recommendations for water intake, as basing these on observational epidemiological data is essentially a circular argument. A standardized measurement tool, validated against biomarkers of hydration status, would be a step forward in assessing the adequacy of water intakes at a population level. Research may also be warranted to explore the context of drinking occasions (including time of day, weekdays weekends, lifestyle and meal patterns) as these may have an impact on water intake, hydration and also energy balance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

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

This study examines the extent of concentration in the journal publishing industry. A number of aspects are considered: publishers, journal impacts, countries, and languages. For journals indexed in JCR from 1997 to 2009, just 0.2% of publishers produce 50% of journals and articles, and 0.3% of publishers account for the top 50% of citations, impact factors and immediacy indices. More than a half of publishers in JCR are from four countries: USA, UK, Germany and Japan. In addition, more than a half of journals come from the USA and UK. Examining the publishers' interactions in terms of buying and selling journals shows the extent of change by acquisition, and the acquisition links between publishers. The findings confirm that the international market of journal publishing is essentially dominated by a few publishers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If ever there was momentum to roll back the welfare state, it is the (aftermath) of the financial crisis of 2008-09. All theoretical perspectives within comparative welfare state research predict radical reform in this circumstance, but does it also happen? Our data indicate that - at least so far - it does not. Focusing on a selection of advanced welfare states (the UK, the USA, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden), we find that these countries face similar problems and that their initial response to these problems is also similar. The latter is surprising because, theoretically, we would expect varying responses across welfare state regime types. Rather than retrenchment, we observe a first phase of emergency capital injections in the banking sector and a second of Keynesian demand management and labour market protection, including the (temporary) expansion of social programmes. Continuing public support for the welfare state was a main precondition for this lack of immediate radical retrenchment. However, the contours of a third phase have become apparent now that budgetary constraints are forcing political actors to make tough choices and introduce austerity policies. As a result, the question of who pays what, when, and how will likely give rise to increasingly sharp distributional conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on a new data set which is constructed from a combination of national micro-data bases, we highlight differences in the structure of migrants to four countries - namely, France, Germany, the UK and the US - which receive a substantial share of all immigrants to the OECD world. Looking at immigrants by source country, we illustrate the important role of distance, both geographical and cultural, immigration policies and migrant networks. Differentiating immigrants by their educational attainments, we observe interesting patterns in the skill composition, employment opportunities and wages of migrants to the different destination countries. Focusing on migration between the four countries in our data set, we find that migration within western Europe is small and rather balanced in terms of skill structures, while there appears to be a brain drain from Europe to the US. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overweight and obese people appear to be at greater risk of suboptimal vitamin and mineral status compared with people of a healthy weight. Nutrients most affected include vitamin D, vitamin B, carotenoids, folate, vitamin C and iron. The reasons are unknown but may be caused by poor diets, increased requirements or obesity-related changes to nutrient absorption, excretion or metabolism, or a combination of these. Sequestration of fat-soluble vitamins by adipose tissues is also a major factor. Although dietary assessment in obese populations is hampered by under-reporting, there is evidence that dietary patterns characterised by energy-dense, processed foods are more common in groups with a higher body mass index. Dieting practices, bariatric surgery and the use of anti-obesity drugs may compound the risk of nutrient inadequacy, although sustained weight loss helps to improve vitamin D status. A poor nutrient status could accentuate the risk of chronic diseases already experienced by overweight people on account of their excessive fat mass. There is evidence that the use of dietary supplements can improve nutrient status and have a favourable impact on disease risk markers such as lipid profiles and insulin resistance. Whether currently dieting or not, overweight people may benefit from safeguarding vitamin and mineral adequacy by taking a multi-nutrient supplement alongside an increased intake of nutrient-rich foods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we identify key characteristics and implications of the secondary market for life insurance. We examine the oldest secondary market, which is the market in the United Kingdom, the relatively young market in Germany, and the controversial U.S. market. We summarize the available data to describe the current market situation and market potential, which strongly depend on developments in the primary markets and capital markets, as well as on regulatory and legal aspects. Next, we discuss benefits and risks associated with a secondary market, which depend on each market's unique features. The three markets considered in this article are fundamentally different, and the comparative assessment is intended to offer insight into their functioning and key factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

This section presents the October 2009 issue of "Oxford Economics." It tackles developments in the economic conditions of different countries worldwide. There was a 0.8% decline in the manufacturing orders of the U.S. and 2% for Great Britain's. However, the service sector is expected to catch the manufacturing sector's status since is has been recovering in the major economies. The status of emerging markets in Asia, U.S., and Europe is also mentioned. Included are tables showing economic indicators of countries like Germany, Japan, and France.

Focusing on media discourses, this article maps the communicative reproduction of legitimacy in Great Britain, the United States, Germany and Switzerland. It argues that political communication constitutes a distinctive dimension of legitimation that should be studied alongside public opinion and political behaviour. Research on legitimation discourses can help us understand why the legitimacy of established democracies remains stable in spite of the challenges of globalisation: Delegitimating communication tends to focus on relatively marginal political institutions, while the core regime principles of the democratic nation-state, which are deeply entrenched in the political cultures of Western countries, serve as anchors of legitimacy. These democratic principles also shape the normative benchmarks used to evaluate legitimacy, thus preventing a ‘de-democratisation’ of legitimation discourses. Finally, the short-lived nature of media interest as well as ritualistic legitimation practices shield the democratic nation-state from many potentially serious threats to its legitimacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Australian adults reportedly have poor oral health when compared to 28 other OECD countries. The Australian ranking was based on edentulism and caries experience data from selected age groups that apparently were collected in 1987–88. The objective of this study was to compare the oral health of Australian adults with that of three other western countries that have comprehensive oral health survey data. Methods: Published data were obtained from the NHANES 2003–2004, the Fourth German Oral Health Study 2005 and the UK Adult Dental Health Survey 1998. Data from the Australian NSAOH 2004–06 were analysed to generate comparable age-specific estimates using nine dental clinical indicators, two measures of oral hygiene behaviour and two of dental attendance. Results: Australia had the best oral health based on two clinical indicators, was equal first on three indicators and ranked second in the remaining clinical indicators. Australia ranked first or second based on dental flossing, use of mouthwash and frequency of dental attendance. Conclusions: The oral health of the Australian adult population was among the best of the four nations studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

• This article extends our understanding of performance effects of expansion barriers in different strategy contexts relevant to industrial firms. Effects of perceived obstacles to customer access are studied, and competitive certainty is acknowledged since barriers to a large extent originate from business strategies of competitors. • The study explores patterns using data from subsidiaries of Swedish manufacturing firms in Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. For units with a narrow product/market scope, the direct performance effects of customer access obstacles and competitive certainty are negative. • On the other hand, in the narrow context competitive certainty moderates the relationship between customer access obstacles and performance, and this implicates a positive effect. There are no significant effects in the context of a broad product/market scope. • Performance effects of barriers are, thus, more complicated than previously thought, and we need to pay attention to perceived competitive certainty and the strategy context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the study on the primary prevention of occupational asthma through identifying and controlling exposures to asthma-causing agent. The doctors tested 39 substances distinguished as causing allergic occupational asthma in the U. S. and equated them with the occupational asthmagens in the Great Britain and Germany. As a result, the execution of an evidence-based identification and regulatory process for occupational asthmagens will help to guarantee primary prevention of occupational asthma in the U.S. These include the establishing identification criteria, providing a list of occupational asthmagens, collecting use, exposure and health effects information, requiring medical surveillance and medical removal protection and inducing development of safer alternatives.

Manuscript Type: Conceptual Research Question/Issue: In this paper we address two research questions. First, to what extent has Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) developed unevenly across countries with different corporate governance systems and how might we explain this? Second, what consequences does its uneven development have for human resource management (HRM)? Research Findings/Insights: We map the nature and extent of SRI equities across five industrialized countries – Germany, Japan, the UK, the US and Australia. We find that differences between the institutional, corporate governance and cultural characteristics of national business systems explain variations in the size and significance of SRI across countries. We also find that SRI has an impact on HRM in institutional contexts such as where its influence is complemented by strong employee voice institutions. Theoretical/Academic Implications: The notion of “institutional complementarities,” within and across spheres of a corporate governance system is a useful theoretical lens for understanding the varied impact of SRI across different corporate governance systems. Further, future studies of HRM will need to consider the heterodox pressures produced by SRI that may influence its conduct. Practitioner/Policy Implications: Implications for SRI fund managers are considered, especially how they might use the notion of institutional complementarities to help in their investment decisions and in the impact they can exert. Specifically SRI funds are likely to be more effective where they can form alliances with other existing bodies or where they spur the development of such bodies. The implications for other actors in HRM and corporate governance are also considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Random samples of 250–435 adults were interviewed by telephone in five different nations ( N= 1,546): Belgium, Germany, Italy, the UK, and the United States. The interview included questions on respondent attitudes, knowledge, and opinions regarding homelessness; respondents' own personal experiences with homelessness and homeless people; and demographic characteristics of the respondents. The highest rates for lifetime literal homelessness were found in the UK (7.7%) and United States (6.2%), with the lowest rate in Germany (2.4%), and intermediate rates in Italy (4.0%) and Belgium (3.4%). Less compassionate attitudes toward the homeless were also found on many dimensions in the United States and the UK. Possible explanations of these findings, drawn from various theoretical perspectives, and policy implications are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a newly-created data set which measures legal change over time, the authors present evidence on the evolution of labour law in France, Germany, India, the United Kingdom and the United States. Their analysis casts light on the claim that "legal origin" affects the content of labour law regimes. While some divergence between common law and civil law countries is found at the aggregate level, a more complex picture emerges from consideration of specific areas of labour law. The authors discuss the potential significance of this relatively new measurement-based approach to understanding the forces that shape the evolution of labour law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes variation in International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditionality. Conditions attached to IMF loans vary qualitatively and quantitatively across time and space, contrary to the allegations of inflexibility and insensitivity. This study theorizes that despite the IMF's official rules to determine conditionality by economic criteria, variation arises because the strategic interests of the five biggest contributors to the IMF (the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany and France) interfere with IMF policy, which potentially compromises the effectiveness of its programs. This theory is tested empirically against 398 conditionality agreements contracted between 1983 and 1997 using an event-count method based on the Poisson distribution to obtain statistical results supportive of the theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The history, nature and scope of citizen naturalisation tests are briefly examined in this article, as well as their political and social applications. A comparison of tests from the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Germany highlights the ways in which these tests are used as immigration controls rather than as a way to establish preparation for citizenship. The difference in the content of the tests also reveal alternative conceptions of citizenship including authoritarian, liberal and neo-communitarian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Los autores trazan la evolución del derecho del trabajo en Alemania, Francia, Estados Unidos, India y Reino Unido con un nuevo conjunto de datos que permite calibrar los cambios jurídicos acaecidos a lo largo de un período. Su investigación esclarece la tesis de que la tradición jurídica de un ordenamiento condiciona el régimen laboral del mismo. En el nivel agregado se confirman algunas diferencias entre los países de la esfera del derecho consuetudinario inglés (common law) y los que siguen la tradición del derecho civil, mientras que el panorama es más complejo en los diversos ámbitos del derecho laboral. Los autores estudian las posibilidades que brinda este método relativamente nuevo de medición para comprender las fuerzas que guían la evolución del derecho del trabajo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on corporate governance updates in various countries. The Pensions Act 2004 has revolutionized occupational pensions in Great Britain, imposing added obligations for trustees. Investors have filed 45 suits against more than a dozen companies in the U.S. for alleged manipulation of timing of option grants to maximize executive compensation. Luxembourg, Germany is legislating strict corporate control restrictions against hostile corporate takeovers.

Aim: To test the hypothesis that in volume targeted ventilation modes, ventilator performance would vary according to ventilator type.Methods: Four neonatal ventilators: Draeger Babylog 8000 (Draeger Medical, Germany), SLE 5000 infant ventilator (SLE systems, UK), Stephanie paediatric ventilator (F. Stephan Biomedical, German) and V.I.P. Bird gold (Viasys Healthcare, USA) were assessed using a lung model. Delivered peak pressure, inflation time, mean airway pressure (MAP) and volume were measured.Results: At the same preset ventilator settings, the Stephanie and V.I.P. Bird ventilators delivered significantly lower peak pressures and tended to deliver lower MAPs than the other two ventilators. At a volume targeted ventilation level of 5 mL, the SLE and the V.I.P. Bird delivered significantly shorter inflation times. The above differences related to differences in the airway pressure waveforms delivered by the four ventilators. The V.I.P. Bird had a less variable volume delivery, but this was always significantly lower than the preset volume guarantee level but higher than the volume displayed by the ventilator.Conclusion: In volume targeted ventilation modes, performance differs between neonatal ventilator types; these results may have implications for clinical practise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Obstacles to strategy implementation and change are often due to limited consistency between the choices that a firm has to make regarding business scope and differentiation. • The purpose of this paper is to identify relationships between business scope and competitive differentiation in industrial firms. It reports on managerial perceptions within a sample of business units of Swedish manufacturing firms in Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. • The study found that standardized products offered to just a few market segments are associated with an emphasis on product differentiation but that this strategy causes negative performance effects. In contrast, penetration of many segments is associated with customer flexibility attributes, yielding positive results. • The study contributes to our understanding of strategy consistency by establishing associations between business scope and competitive differentiation. Management advice is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrate the importance of graph theory for understanding boards of directors. Specifically, we focus on the "small world" phenomenon. Our empirical results show that a random graph model is remarkably good at explaining board structure and connectedness in the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. Although there are small-world traits such as "clustering" and "short-paths" in the corporate world, they are no more pronounced than would be expected by chance in a statistically similar, but randomly assembled corporate universe. In short, boards of directors, especially in the United States, are no more "clubby" than expected. Finally, our results show the existence of positive degree correlation: directors who sit on many boards do so in the company of other directors who sit on many boards. Board members whose services are in high demand, serve on boards with similar directors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Terrorist attacks that have succeeded abroad since 2001, as well as others that were prevented, indicate that the threat of a large-scale attack is real and will be with us for a long time. Focusing on the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany, this article analyzes the role that insurance can play in providing commercial enterprises with financial protection against the economic consequences of major terrorist attacks. The article begins by explaining the design and key features of terrorism insurance programs operating today in each of the three countries (TRIA in the U.S., Pool Re in the U.K., and Extremus in Germany). The authors then provide a detailed comparative analysis of the evolution of prices and take-up rates (based on as yet unpublished data), with particular attention to financial institutions. For those who think the U.S. is the most likely target for mega-terrorism, the findings are somewhat puzzling. On average, for example, companies in the U.S. do not pay even half as much for comparable coverage under TRIA as companies pay in Germany under Extremus, which raises the questions: Is terrorism coverage under the U.S. insurance program now drastically underpriced? If so, what would be the likely consequences of another large-scale attack in the U.S.? On the demand side, the authors observe a dramatic increase in take-up rates in the U.S. since 2003, revealing increased corporate concern. By contrast, the market penetration in Germany remains remarkably low. A better understanding of these programs and of the recent evolution of terrorism insurance markets in the U.S. and Europe should help corporate and government decision makers develop more effective protection against the economic consequences of mega-terrorism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For France, Germany, the U.K. and the U.S. for the period from 1994 to 2001, this study explores empirically the association between valuation errors from a standard empirical application of the residual income valuation model and violations of the clean surplus relationship (dirty surplus accounting flows). Motivated by concern that the effect of dirty surplus accounting on the applicability of accounting-based valuation models might vary across accounting regimes, the study also documents differences across pairs of countries in the relationship between valuation errors and dirty surplus flows. The study finds some weak evidence of predicted relationships between valuation errors and dirty surplus flows in the U.S., but finds little evidence of such relationships elsewhere. There is some limited evidence of cross-country difference in the relationship between valuation errors and dirty surplus flows, mostly involving the U.S. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To unobtrusively assess attitudes toward lesbians and gay men, the wrong-number technique was used in a field experiment in Germany. The results are compared to studies using the same paradigm in Switzerland, Great Britain, and the United States. This approach gives a realistic picture of intercultural differences in social behavior against lesbians and gay men. Across studies, the results indicated that homosexuals are less likely to receive help than are heterosexuals. The variation of this effect between countries closely corresponded to the ranking of attitudes toward homosexuality assessed in survey studies. Contrary to survey studies, however, women showed only marginally less negative attitudes toward gay persons than men, when actual helping behavior was used as an attitude index. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under what conditions do stakeholders consent to a regime of corporate governance? We propose that consent by the governed in corporate governance cannot be satisfactorily explained without reference to the collective value of procedural fairness that underlies markets. Drawing on the social psychology of justice and the political economy of social choice, we highlight the critical role played by democratic procedures in achieving consent by the governed in modern society. This line of reasoning leads us to suggest that the evolution of corporate governance, too, can be understood in terms of Tocqueville's well-known hypothesis that democracy eventually prevails in all spheres of organised activity. Examining the historical record of institutional reform in France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States, we find that corporate governance has indeed evolved to make increasing use of democratic procedures. Viewed over the long-term of two centuries of capitalist development, corporate governance is seen to have successively incorporated enfranchisement, separation of powers and representation. In conclusion, we consider the implications of basing the study of corporate governance on the question of stakeholder consent and the practice of corporate governance on the procedures of democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a bivariate GARCH framework to examine the lead-lag relations and the conditional correlations between 10-year US government bond returns and their counterparts from the UK, Germany, and Japan. We find that while mean and volatility spillovers exist between the major international bond markets, they are much weaker than those between equity markets. The results also indicate that the correlations between the US and other major bond market returns are time varying and are driven by changing macroeconomic and market conditions. However, in contrast to the finding that the benefits of international diversification in equity markets evaporate during high-stress periods, we find that the benefits of diversification across major government bond markets do not decrease during periods of extremely high bond market volatility or following extremely negative US and foreign bond returns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]