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Whilst the link between young people's well‐being and the creative arts is strengthening, there is a lack of research which focuses on the roles that artists play to help teachers and parents engage young people in the creative arts. This paper explores the benefits of and barriers to artists working in education in six European countries (England, Iceland, Germany, Greece, Italy and Austria). Using the '5A's model of creativity' and a view of professional development taking place within 'landscapes of practice', the data were analysed in order to explain how creativity is operationalised in the different contexts. Our study highlights the need for policy at a national and transnational level to value the creative arts in order to help teachers cross boundaries and utilise the full potential of the creative arts in schools. Our study also highlights that further research is needed into how artists shape teaching and curriculum and how schools engage parents in the creative arts in order to build an evidence‐base relating to young people's positive mental health that can affect policy at these levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a study of doctors and the education of doctors in Germany, Italy and the UK and the changing location of accounting practices and expertise. In these countries there have been coercive reform attempts to get doctors to accept increased financial responsibility and pay greater attention to costs and budgets.suggested that Finnish doctors have willingly adopted accounting practices as part of their legitimated competencies and have become a hybrid profession. This paper address the question of whether that is a valid generalisation in Germany, Italy or the UK. The key focus of the paper is on the education and training of doctors, which should have altered if hybridisation has occurred. The finding is that there is no evidence from the countries studied that accounting has become incorporated into the formal education of doctors. While there were management and accounting training courses for doctors these were only available for those in or aiming for clinico-managerial positions. This does not support the argument that medicine has become a hybridised profession, but it does support the case for polarisation. These changes are absorbed or managed by an emergent sub-group, the medical manager. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT European labour markets have undergone several important innovations over the last three decades. Most countries have reformed their labour markets since the mid-1990s, with the liberalization of fixed-term contracts and temporary work agencies being the common elements to such reforms. This paper investigates the existence of a change in the dynamic behaviour of the aggregate employment for major European Union countries - France, Germany, Italy and Spain. According to our results, partial labour market reforms have made the response of the aggregate employment to output shocks larger and quite comparable to that found for the UK - the most flexible labour market in Europe since the Thatcher reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

Contract to close gap in the U5 in Berlin awarded to Bilfinger Berger / Lückenschluss U5 in Berlin an Bilfinger Berger vergeben Award worth billions for Strabag in Italy / Milliarden-Auftrag für die Strabag in Italien New Metro Line 2 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam / Neubau Metrolinie 2 in Ho-Chi-Minh-City, Vietnam Breakthrough in the Saxener Tunnel / Durchbruch im Saxenertunnel Breakthrough in the Fleckberg Tunnel / Durchschlag für im Tunnel Fleckberg Tunnelling completed in Tunnel System Number Three / Vortriebe im Tunnelsystem Nummer Drei abgeschlossen Refurbishment of the Niklasdorf Tunnel / Sanierung des Niklasdorftunnels Engelberg Base Tunnel - Investigation drilling ahead of tunnel refurbishment / Engelbergbasistunnel - Erkundungsbohrungen im Vorfeld der Tunnelsanierung First Crossrail TBM ready for tunnelling / Erste Crossrail-TBM bereit für den Vortrieb Putzmeister and Sany to merge / Putzmeister und Sany schließen sich zusammen Call for papers - Themes for the next issues of Geomechanics and Tunnelling / Themen für die nächsten Ausgaben der 'Geomechanics and Tunnelling' FSV bulletin for the determination of project costs / FSV-Merkblatt zur Ermittlung von Projektkosten Robbins Opens New Subsidiary in South America / Robbins eröffnet neue Niederlassung in Südamerika [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine and compare the efficiency of Italian and German public universities and its evolution in the period 2001-2007. This topic is particularly important because of two main reasons: (i) as the universities are funded through public money in both countries, it is necessary to assess whether it has been used efficiently; (ii) the comparison among (similar) European countries can stimulate a benchmarking exercise that can be useful for managerial and policy making purposes. The results show that German universities are more efficient than their Italian counterparts are, using data envelopment analysis. However, the latter are catching up: in the period 2001-2007, their efficiency has improved more rapidly. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Start of the main construction phase of the Brenner Base Tunnel / Startschuss für die Hauptbauphase des Brenner Basistunnels Construction and finance contract for the new trunk line in Munich / Bau- und Finanzierungsvertrag für die neue Stammstrecke in München Crossrail awards remaining tunnelling contracts / Crossrail vergibt ausstehende Tunnelbau-Lose Aker Wirth to build two telescopic shield machines for the Koralm Tunnel / Aker Wirth baut zwei Teleskopschildmaschinen für den Koralmtunnel Contract for the operational ventilation of the Gotthard Base Tunnel awarded / Werkvertrag für Betriebslüftung des Gotthard-Basistunnels vergeben Investigation tunnel for the Garmisch-Partenkirchen bypass / Erkundungsstollen für die Umgehung von Garmisch-Partenkirchen Call for papers - Themes for the next issues of Geomechanics and Tunnelling / Themen für die nächsten Ausgaben der 'Geomechanics and Tunnelling' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the years, appliance manufacturers have been successful in developing dishwashers that enable consumers to save time, energy and water very conveniently. Within the last 20 years the savings in energy consumption exceed 30%, and the average water consumption per cycle has been more than halved. As a result, it is very hard for the majority of people to compete with the efficiency of a dishwasher when dishes are done by hand. However, consumer habits (e.g. regarding the use of the dishwasher load capacity, programme choice and particularly the additional pretreatment of dishes with water) are influencing the overall efficiency of the dishwashing process and resource use. Still, detailed information on consumer behaviour in everyday life concerning these issues is rare. In order to improve the understanding of dishwashing habits and to fill the lack of information about dishwashing on the household level, an in-house consumer survey in four European countries (Germany, Italy, Sweden and the UK) was conducted between 2007 and 2008. Two hundred households with and without dishwasher were interviewed and comprehensively observed. For a period of 2 weeks, participants recorded every dishwashing process with the help of a dishwashing diary and pictures they took of their loaded dishwashers. In addition, an in-depth observation took place in 82 households where measurements and webcam observations were recorded at the kitchen sink. Actual resource consumption data for manual dishwashing and the pretreatment for the dishwasher were obtained. The present paper reports on findings of this investigation and concentrates on consumer habits related to the use of the dishwasher. In general, the study showed that the households with dishwasher used on average 50% less water and 28% less energy per cleaned item compared with households not owning a dishwasher. Yet, there were still consumer habits, which indicate that a higher degree of sustainable dishwashing is achievable. The researchers found that in 20% of the dishwasher cycles, baskets were only slightly filled and consumers were likely to use higher amounts of energy than stated on the energy label because they have chosen mostly in favour of high cleaning temperatures (52% used 65°C and higher). Particularly in Italy and Sweden intensive pretreatment habits have been observed, resulting in an average additional water use of 11-20 L per dishwasher cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

The effects of productivity on the parameters of the species–area curve were investigated in this paper using two data sets on terrestrial plant communities: (1) one including 48 plots in 12 experimental sites on ploughed, formerly cultivated fields in the Siena region, Italy, and (2) one including 40 plots in hay meadows in the Bremen region, Germany. In both regions, species presence of vascular plants was recorded in nested plots ranging in size from 0.004 to 256 m2 and 0.001 to 1000 m2, respectively. Productivity was estimated as dry standing biomass. In the Siena data set, species richness showed a humped-back relation to biomass in the plot sizes up to 1 m2. For the larger plot sizes, no significant correlations were found. In the Bremen data set, positive relation between species number and biomass was observed at the smallest spatial scale (0.001 m2), whereas the relation disappeared or tended to be negative for the larger plot sizes. In general, the slopes z of the log species–log area curves (SAC) were negatively related to biomass in both data sets, while the intercept c increased with biomass in the Siena data set and was unrelated to biomass in the Bremen data set. The relationship between c and z was negative in the Siena data set and positive in the Bremen data set. The above results differed somewhat depending on which plot sizes were considered for the calculation of the SAC. Literature data confirmed that there are no clear patterns in the inter-correlations between productivity, small scale and large scale species richness. Sites differing in productivity and in the slopes and intercepts of SAC may thus give rise to different species richness–productivity relationships. There can be one possible relation between species richness and biomass at one spatial scale (e.g. humped-back) and another type of relation, even opposite, at another spatial scale. This suggests that the properties of species–area curves do not respond in a uniform way to the changes in productivity, but depend on the type of habitat or plant community and its particular properties. The parameter of the SAC can then hardly be used as scale-independent parameter to investigate the effects of ecological factors, such as productivity, on species richness. The lack of clear patterns in the relations between small scale and large scale species richness implies that the predictions of the species-pool hypothesis may fail when applied to plot sizes as dealt with in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To explore nurses' and nurse assistants' experiences of providing end‐of‐life care during the COVID‐19 pandemic in Austria, Germany and Northern Italy. Design: A qualitative explorative interview study. Method: Data were collected between August and December 2020 and analysed using content analysis. Healthcare professionals (nurses (n = 30), nurse coordinators (n = 6) and nurse assistants (n = 5)) from hospitals (n = 32) and long‐term care facilities (n = 9) in Austria, Germany and Northern Italy were interviewed for this study. Results: Five main categories were identified as follows: (i) end‐of‐life care involves love and duty, (ii) last wishes and dignity of the patient, (iii) communication with the family, (iv) organizational and religious aspects and (v) personal emotions. Results indicate that more training and guidelines are needed to prepare nurses and nurse assistants for end‐of‐life care during pandemics. Public contribution: This research can help prepare nurses and nurse assistants for end‐of‐life care in pandemics and will be of value for improving the institutional and government health policies. Furthermore, it can be of value in preparing training for healthcare professionals patient–relatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This non‐interventional observational study described the current standard‐of‐care for transplant‐eligible newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (TE‐NDMM) patients in France, Germany, Spain, and Italy, and recorded the evolution in regimen adoption in distinct elements of frontline treatment during 2017–2020/2021. Methods: Clinical information on ongoing (I) or previous (II) TE‐NDMM patients was extracted from the Cancerology database. Proportions of patients receiving regimens in each element and the evolution in regimen adoption were determined for the entire population and each country. Results: Most common induction regimens among I patients were VRd in France (75.3%) and Spain (44.1%), VTd in Italy (65.2%), and regimens other than VRd/VTd/VCd in Germany. Maintenance was ongoing/planned for 78.3%, 62.3%, 65.2%, and 61.4% patients in France, Germany, Spain, and Italy, respectively. Among II patients, VRd induction increased from 27.0% in 2017 to 65.7% in 2019 in France, remained relatively low in Spain and Germany, and not present in Italy. In Italy and Spain, VTd induction declined from 72.4% and 58.3% in 2017 to 52.8% and 17.3% in 2019, respectively. VCd induction in Germany declined from 85.2% in 2017 to 64.1% in 2019. Conclusion: The use of bortezomib triplets in induction varied markedly over time and between selected countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pediatric influenza causes significant morbidity annually, resulting in an increased economic burden. Therefore, we aimed to summarize existing literature regarding the costs of pediatric influenza in Europe, paying particular attention to the direct and indirect costs considered in the economic evaluations. Knowing health and social costs of childhood influenza is essential to support value‐based health decisions to implement effective immunization strategies. Methods: We searched three databases for articles published to September 3, 2021. Eligible studies were those reporting the economic burden of influenza in the pediatric and youth population in European countries written in English language. Results: Overall, 2225 records were screened, and 9 articles were included. Costs estimates are different across countries and in the age groups considered. Direct costs per episode, whose major expense driver are hospitalizations and pediatric examinations, range from about €74 in Italy to €252 in Germany. Important variations are observed based on age, with the youngest group absorbing in some cases double the resources of the older ones such as (in Italy, in France and in Germany). Regarding indirect costs, workdays lost by parents resulted in higher costs for children <2 years and 2–5 years than those >5 years of age and their economic impact was variable reaching €251 per week in Germany. Conclusion: Evidence obtained in our review strengthened the awareness about the economic impact, in terms of direct and indirect costs, of pediatric influenza requiring, as a priority action in Europe, the implementation of influenza vaccination policies in this target population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political economy scholarship generally assumes that governments are interested in enforcing economic regulations. Cases of non‐enforcement are predominantly studied in the context of developing countries and are chiefly associated with states' deficient institutional capacity. This article casts doubts on these assumptions by showing how governments in advanced democracies manipulate the regulatory regime and generate selective non‐enforcement of economic regulations to shape markets at their discretion. We argue that regulatory forbearance becomes an attractive form of industrial policy when governments are prevented from intervening discretionally in markets due to legal obstacles, which they cannot overcome; or when the productive structure of the country makes alternative forms of intervention unviable. Drawing on the study of tax non‐enforcement in two most‐different cases of strong and weak state capacity such as Germany and Italy, the article theorizes three techniques through which governments manipulate regulatory regimes: legal and organizational sabotage and shirking. By shedding light on the economic logic of forbearance, the article points at non‐enforcement as an overlooked mode of regulatory governance and suggests the need to inquire further into governments' strategic agency behind regulatory regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Scientific ideas on the human population tend to be rooted in a "slow demography" paradigm, which emphasizes an inertial, predictable, self‐contained view of population dynamics, mostly dependent on fertility and mortality. Yet, demography can also move fast. At the country level, it is crucial to empirically assess how fast demography moves by taking migratory movements into account, in addition to fertility and mortality. We discuss these ideas and present new estimates of the speed of population change, that is, country‐level population turnover rates, as well as the share of turnover due to migration, for all countries in the world with available data between 1990 and 2020. Population turnover is inversely related to population size and development, and migratory movements tend to become important factors in shaping demography for both small and highly developed countries. Longitudinally, we analyze annual turnover data for Italy and Germany, documenting the changing speed of population change over time and its determinants. Accepting the "fast and slow" demography perspective has several implications for science and policy, which we discuss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immigration is one of the important issues that influence attitudes toward the EU. It is unclear, however, what causal mechanisms explain this link. Is the causal mechanism rooted in identity the only causal mechanism involved? Or do other causal mechanisms play a role as well? In an analysis of data from an original framing experiment conducted in Germany, Italy, and Czechia, I find that in Italy, exposure to information about negative consequences of immigration leads to more negative attitudes to the EU. This effect happens via causal mechanisms rooted in economic concerns and national politics rather than via the identity mechanism. In Germany and Czechia, the analysis finds no systematic relationship. Overall, this study shows that receiving information about negative consequences of immigration is related to attitudes toward the EU to a lesser degree and via different causal mechanisms than existing literature would have us expect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health literature shows that unemployment has a gendered effect on health. However, whether men or women are more affected and why remains unclear. We assume that unemployment harms women less than men because of two mechanisms: social roles theories and health selection. First, the availability and centrality in individuals' lives of roles other than employment may reduce the detrimental effect of unemployment for women. Second, the gendered impact of unemployment on health results from the different ways selection mechanisms operate across genders. Moreover, these two mechanisms may operate differently in different contexts – for example, across different gender regimes. We investigate this by pursuing a three‐step comparative approach. The analysis relies on EU‐SILC data covering Italy and Sweden for 2004 to 2015 and SOEP data for Germany (1995–2017) and applies correlated dynamic random‐effects probit models. While we find weak support for the role of health selection in shaping the relations between unemployment, health, and gender, our empirical results are in line with the hypothesis of a larger gendered effect in older (vs younger) cohorts, western (vs eastern) Germany and Italy (vs. Sweden). Future empirical research needs to directly address the role of gender regimes in moderating such complex relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performance of a live marker vaccine for bovine herpesvirus type I (BHv-1) was studied in the field in three European Union countries with different farming conditions. The progress in the eradication of the virus was followed in a large herd in Germany and one in Italy, and a major serological survey involving 147 farms was conducted in Hungary. Commercial batches of the same vaccine were used in all three studies. The herds were vaccinated according to agreed protocols and the animals' BHV-1 antibody status was determined at local institutes by using commercial glycoprotein B (gB)- and glycoprotein E (gE)-ELISAs. In all three studies, the seroprevalence of BHV-1 gE decreased progressively. Given the starting conditions and the long duration of the studies, reactivation events and virus circulation would have been more likely to have occurred if the herds had not been vaccinated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A commercially available temperature-logging device (Tinytag Plus, Gemini Data Loggers) was fitted to a Taylor-Wharton CP100 dry-shipper, which is a widely used container for the storage and transport of macromolecular crystals. The temperature was monitored over periods of up to one week, which included the transport of the container from Hamburg (Germany) to Trieste (Italy) and back. Further control experiments were carried out in order to assess the effect of certain disturbing events on the temperature curve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents brief information on the studies related to robot assisted upper limb therapy combined with upper limb rehabilitation. Topics discussed include objectives and interventions of study related to effect on arm function and cost of robot-assisted group therapy on patients, interventions of study related to trial of a robotic assistive device, and views on occupational therapists working with stroke survivors.

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]

Abstract: Immigrants’ integration is a multi‐faceted process, involving structural, cultural, social, and emotional dimensions. This study focuses on the emotional dimension of integration, investigating immigrants’ emotional attachments to their national origin and their host country. Specifically, we ask what role perceived discrimination plays in shaping identification preferences among immigrants and immigrant descendants in Germany. The contribution of this study is twofold: First, we present results for three generations of post‐WWII labour migrants of Turkish and Italian descent. Second, we estimate the consequences of perceived individual discrimination for national and ethnic identification separately. The findings indicate that while discrimination is not related to ethnic identification, it is negatively correlated with national identification. Regarding future challenges, we believe that our findings suggest that the German society can come closer to achieving integration of migrants by reducing perceptions of rejection by the immigrant population, or better yet, fighting off discrimination against immigrant minorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quantity and frequency of alcohol consumption are crucial both in risk assessment as well as epidemiological and clinical research. Using the Munich Composite International Diagnostic Interview (M-CIDI), drinking amounts have been assessed in numerous large-scale studies. However, the accuracy of this assessment has rarely been evaluated. This study evaluates the relevance of drink categories and pouring sizes, and the factors used to convert actual drinks into standard drinks. We compare the M-CIDI to alternative drink assessment instruments and empirically validate drink categories using a general population sample ( n = 3165 from Germany), primary care samples ( n = 322 from Italy, n = 1189 from Germany), and a non-representative set of k = 22503 alcoholic beverages sold in Germany in 2010-2016. The M-CIDI supplement sheet displays more categories than other instruments (AUDIT, TLFB, WHO-CIDI). Beer, wine, and spirits represent the most prevalent categories in the samples. The suggested standard drink conversion factors were inconsistent for different pouring sizes of the same drink and, to a smaller extent, across drink categories. For the use in Germany and Italy, we propose the limiting of drink categories and pouring sizes, and a revision of the proposed standard drinks. We further suggest corresponding examinations and revisions in other cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT In this research, we explore the market potential of a domestic agricultural product, the early potato, in two countries, Italy and Germany. We conducted two parallel marketing studies aimed at revealing the most desirable characteristics for the commercialization of this product in each of the two markets, and made comparisons among consumers' attitudes for several attributes (country of origin, carbon footprint, production method, ethical certification and packaging). Motivation for this study is the declining market share of the domestic early potato, considered an important crop in both countries, due to the competition from abroad. A focal aspect of this research is the recent public interest for social justice, traditionally reserved for products imported from developing countries, with respect to ethical products made in developed countries. The possibility for Italian and German early potatoes to regain important market shares depends on the ability to differentiate their potatoes from potatoes supplied by competing extra-European countries. [JEL Classifications: Q13; Q18]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To estimate health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).Method: HRQOL was assessed using the Health Utilities Index Questionnaire (HUI) and the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) neuromuscular module version 3.0 online. Results were stratified by disease stage (early/late ambulatory/non-ambulatory) and caregivers' perceptions of patients' health and mental status.Results: A total of 770 patient-caregiver pairs (173 German, 122 Italian, 191 UK, and 284 USA) participated. Most caregivers (>84%) perceived their patients as happy/somewhat happy and in excellent/very good/good health, irrespective of current ambulatory class. In contrast, mean patient utility (reflecting public preferences: 0, dead; 1, perfect health) deteriorated with disease course, from 0.75 in early ambulatory males to 0.15 in the most severely affected patients. Mean patient PedsQL scores (0-100, higher score indicating better HRQOL) decreased from 80 to 57 across ambulatory classes.Interpretation: HRQOL in DMD, measured through public preferences, is substantially impaired in relation to the general population and significantly associated with disease progression. Still, most patients are perceived as happy and in good health by their caregivers, indicating that influential domains of HRQOL remain intact through the disease progression. Our findings emphasize the challenges in measuring HRQOL in a rare, progressive childhood condition such as DMD. [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]

The majority of the European countries have experienced a turn towards activation policies during the last two decades ( Serrano Pascual and Magnusson 2007; van Berkel and Borghi 2008; Bonoli 2010; Aurich 2011; Graziano 2009 and 2012). The interlinked aim to increase employment rates by integrating formerly excluded groups into the labour market requires new forms of governance and new structures of policy implementation. One of these policy changes concerns the marketization of employment and social services ( Considine 2001; Newman 2001), an important part of policy delivery in most welfare states although in very different forms and extents. Since the local level plays a crucial role in delivering policies ( Künzel 2012; Green and Orton 2012), an important element, and the main focus of the article, is the level of discretion of local actors and their relation to activation interventions. This article draws on the findings of three qualitative case studies on the organization of activation policies in three most different countries regarding worlds of welfare: Germany, Italy and the UK. It develops a theoretical framework of regulating marketization in regard to activation, and analyses the three empirical cases according to it. The findings show a link between the regulation of market-based interventions (i.e. type of marketization, outsourcing decisions and purchaser-provider split) and the level of discretion for local actors with regard to these measures. Local contexts of policy-making and their suitability and willingness to become marketized will affect the usage of local discretion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the author focuses on political science regarding the issue related to the meaning and occurrence of bans on former ruling party in various part of the world including Germany, Iraq and Italy. He relates the practice of the system with transitional politics, and highlights its advantages and disadvantages. He mentions that practice has effected several functional transformations into normal politics. He emphasizes on several factors of the practice including phenomenon of banning, experience during World War II, and contemporary cases on the issue.

Group members tend to perceive their ingroup relative to an outgroup as more prototypical for a common superordinate group because they project features of their ingroup onto the superordinate group. As a consequence, the ingroup is perceived as more positive than the outgroup (Mummendey & Wenzel, 1999). We extend the ingroup projection model by examining different types of ingroup goals: minimal and maximal goals as well as actual and ideal goals. Minimal goals should engender either-or thinking and lead to more ingroup projection compared with maximal goals that should involve more nuanced thinking. Ingroup prototypicality in terms of ideal goals (e.g., what we ideally should strive for) was expected to show a stronger relation to outgroup attitudes than ingroup prototypicality in terms of actual goals (e.g., what we are actually striving for). We manipulated minimal and maximal goal orientation and assessed actual and ideal goals. Across two studies, relative ingroup prototypicality was higher in the minimal compared with the maximal goal condition. Moreover, ingroup prototypicality referring to ideal goals showed a stronger relation to outgroup evaluation than ingroup prototypicality referring to actual goals. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from Italy, Spain, and Germany ( N= 1,569), this study investigated the role of basic values (universalism and security) and basic traits (openness and agreeableness) in predicting perceptions of the consequences of immigration. In line with Schwartz's (1992) theory, we conceptualized security as having two distinct components, one concerned with safety of the self (personal security) and the other with harmony and stability of larger groups and of society (group security). Structural equation modelling revealed that universalism values underlie perceptions that immigration has positive consequences and group security values underlie perceptions that it has negative consequences. Personal security makes no unique, additional contribution. Multi-group analyses revealed that these associations are invariant across the three countries except for a stronger link between universalism and perceptions of the consequences of immigration in Spain. To examine whether values mediate relations of traits to perceptions of immigration, we used the five-factor model. Findings supported a full mediation model. Individuals' traits of openness and agreeableness explained significant variance in security and universalism values. Basic values, in turn, explained perceptions of the consequences of immigration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By analysing two countries that have recently undergone NPM reform at the municipal level (Germany and Italy), our investigation challenges two popular notions: (1) that an audit explosion occurs as a result of reform, and (2) that reform causes change, i.e., that actors within a changing institutional context automatically adapt. Our empirically-derived observations are of (1) an audit implosion, and (2) institutional, cultural, and political conditions that trump any automatic adaptation to change. Indeed, these conditions - not audit reform per se - can shape the process and determine the direction of change. Recalcitrance, the stubborn resistance to and defiance of authority or guidance, is an interesting characteristic of some institutions. German auditors illustrate this nicely; our Italian case study demonstrates a mandatory dismantling of institutional inertia. By analysing the causal relationship between public management reforms and auditing, our research highlights the factors that prevent auditors from adapting to contextual change and factors that render obedience. We test Power's audit explosion theory by operationalising it into five key components which are then evaluated within the landscapes of recent German and Italian municipal reform. [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]

Governance in higher education has undergone certain substantial shifts in recent decades. In order to analyse this process from an empirical point of view, a specific understanding of governance, based on the role of the public power in question (state, government or another such power, depending on the context) has been assumed. Changes in systemic governance (and consequently also at the institutional level) are a product in particular of governments' responses to changes in their respective environments. This theoretical assumption, which in this particular study takes the form of a specific typology of governance modes, is employed to analyse those changes witnessed in higher education over the last 20 years. It does this by focusing on four specific national cases (England, Germany, Italy and The Netherlands). The empirical evidence shows that government continues to govern, and has not lost any of its policy-making power, but has simply changed the way it steers higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives To validate the modified Mini Nutritional Assessment ( MNA) short-forms ( MNA- SFs) with respect to agreement with full MNA classification in the target populations of the MNA. Design Prospective analysis. Setting Community, nursing home, rehabilitation. Participants Six hundred fifty-seven individuals aged 65 and older (75.3% female; mean age 82.3 ± 7.4). Measurements Classification agreement between full MNA score and MNA- SF scores. Results Agreement between the full MNA and classification using the MNA- SFs was 84.6% when the MNA- SF using body mass index ( BMI) was applied and 81.4% when the MNA- SF using calf circumference ( CC) was applied. The highest agreement of classification was found in the community setting (90.8% and 90.4%, respectively) and the lowest in the rehabilitation setting (72.4% and 71.4%, respectively). Both MNA- SFs tended to underestimate nutritional status, but that was significant only for the MNA- SF with CC. Conclusion The modified MNA- SFs represent a valuable tool for rapid and reliable nutritional screening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This section offers news briefs on the biotechnology industry as of September 2011. A study from Italy showed the effectiveness of omega-3 FUFA in improving the insulin resistance parameters in a postprandial situation in patients. A study was conducted to examine the epidemiology of invasive group A streptococcal (iGAS) infections in Germany. A group of researchers has developed an artificial neural network out of DNA.

In all European countries, emergency policy measures have been introduced in order to counteract the employment consequences of the economic crisis. In the context of variously composed anti-crisis packages, many European countries have used Short-Time Work (STW) schemes, that is measures to subsidize a temporary reduction in working time intended to maintain an employment relationship. This article focuses on the issue of whether the economic crisis has spurred any convergence in the use of STW in three social-insurance countries - Austria, Germany and Italy - or whether policy change has rather occurred in a path-dependent fashion. In order to do so, the article also adopts a systemic approach, focusing on relationships of complementarity or functional substitution and equivalence among the various schemes comprising income maintenance systems to tackle the risks of partial or total unemployment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many women are prescribed oestrogen-containing contraceptives for whom oestrogen-containing methods may be less suitable. Two surveys examining contraceptive prescription practices among doctors ( n = 419) and attitudes towards contraception among women ( n = 1623) in France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Russia were evaluated. Progestin-only pills and hormone-free intrauterine devices were the most commonly prescribed contraceptives for women with medical conditions for which oestrogen-containing methods are not preferred (40% and 20%, respectively), those suffering from oestrogen-related side effects (32% and 21%) and those with concerns about the safety of oestrogen-containing methods (28% and 24%). Combined oral contraceptives (COC) were prescribed to ≥10% in these two groups. One-quarter of contraceptive users had asked to be switched from one COC to another because of oestrogen-related side effects; a similar proportion had been switched by their doctor for this reason. Half of the women surveyed did not want or had concerns about foreign/additional oestrogen, and about 80% said that they would consider switching to a different hormonal contraceptive to minimize oestrogen exposure. Although most doctors were aware of the World Health Organization medical eligibility criteria for contraceptive use, they still prescribed COCs or other oestrogen-containing contraceptives to women with medical conditions for which oestrogen-containing options are not favoured, suggesting a need for additional education. By complying with guidelines and heeding women's concerns, doctors can individualize their contraceptive recommendation to improve safety, acceptance and compliance and, ultimately, reduce the risk of an unintended pregnancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information about several topics discussed at the meeting of European Nutrition Foundations in Madrid on April 2010 is presented. Topics of the meeting include the nutrition in the school curriculum and regulations on foods and drinks provided in schools. The meeting features various executives including Juan Ballasteros.

The article is aimed at analysing New Public Management (NPM) reforms at the local level in Germany, France and Italy. The case selection is justified by the fact that these three 'classical' Continental European countries have largely been missing from comparative administrative research thus far. The article focuses on local governments, since in all three countries these are considered the NPM forerunners and are acknowledged to be more advanced in reform implementation than are upper levels of government. Against this background, the purpose of this contribution is twofold. On the one hand, we wish to show to what extent and with what effects the NPM agenda has been taken up at the local level in Continental Europe. On the other hand, taking a comparative perspective over time, we wish to ask whether or not there has been increasing convergence or divergence between the three countries as a result of these reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to increasing care needs, the reform or development of long-term care (LTC) systems has become a prominent policy issue in all European countries. Cash-for-care schemes-allowances instead of services provided to dependents-represent a key policy aimed at ensuring choice, fostering family care, developing care markets, and containing costs. A detailed analysis of policy documents and regulations, together with a systematic review of existing studies, was used to investigate the differences among six European countries (Austria, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Sweden). The rationale and evolution of their various cash-for-care schemes within the framework of their LTC systems also were explored. While most of the literature present cash-for-care schemes as a common trend in the reforms that began in the 1990s and often treat them separately from the overarching LTC policies, this article argues that the policy context, timing, and specific regulation of the new schemes have created different visions of care and care work that in turn have given rise to distinct LTC configurations. A new typology of long-term care configurations is proposed based on the inclusiveness of the system, the role of cash-for-care schemes and their specific regulations, as well as the views of informal care and the care work that they require. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aliment Pharmacol Ther 2010; 32: 472–477 Background Data on drug treatment of abdominal cramping and pain are sparse. Aim To compare treatment of abdominal cramping and pain across countries worldwide. Methods A multi-national survey was conducted in the USA, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Belgium, Italy and the UK. In each country, approximately 210 people were interviewed on various aspects of drug treatment of their complaints. Results In total, 1717 participants were interviewed. Respondents from the Americas used more medication (approximately 90%) than those from Europe (approximately 70%). Over-the-counter remedies were much more used than prescription drugs (except for Mexico). Medication was mainly taken on demand to relieve a pain episode. In the Latin American countries, antispasmodics were most popular (up to 73%), in Germany antacids, and in the UK antacids and analgesics. Regarding expectations of treatment, ‘fast onset of action’ ranked the highest, followed by ‘highly effective’ and ‘well tolerated’. Conclusions A majority of people afflicted by abdominal cramping and pain use medication and take them on demand. Consequently, rapid onset of action is mentioned as most important. Antispasmodics are the class most frequently used with considerable variation from country to country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapidly changing markets in the context of globalization call for increasingly frequent restructuring to sustain the competitiveness of individual firms. To meet this need while minimizing consequent job loss, the social partners in major European countries have devised a variety of decentralization mechanisms that enhance local-level flexibility without fundamentally calling into question the traditional national models of collective bargaining. Analysing the use of “opening clauses” in German industry agreements, France's firm-level “derogation agreements” and mandatory bargaining on “workforce planning”, and Italy's tripartite “territorial agreements”, the author concludes with a plea for a supranational framework to support socially sensitive restructuring across Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

France, Italy, Germany, Austria and Spain have all gone through several waves of pension reforms both in the 1990s and in the early 2000s. Comparing the politics of these reforms shows some similar trends: reforms were usually postponed until European integration and/or economic recession forced governments to act. Before the first wave of reforms, the main form of ‘action’ had been to increase payroll taxes to finance pensions. In the 1990s, reforms were usually negotiated on the basis of a quid pro quo: benefits were intended progressively to decrease in exchange for non-contributory pensions being financed from general tax revenues instead of through the insurance schemes. The second wave of reforms (during the 2000s) seems to have brought more innovation, with new goals such as the development of voluntary private pension funds and the need to increase employment rates among the elderly and to stop early retirement. The article aims, first, to trace the political processes leading to these reforms; second, to reveal the commonalities in these processes between the various cases; and third, to highlight the differences between the first and second waves of pension reform. It will emphasize the role of ‘sequencing’ and demonstrate how each pension reform facilitates the adoption of the next one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article traces the history of the discovery of penicillin and its curative effect on several infectious diseases. This discovery gained a Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1945 for Sir Alexander Fleming, Dr. Ernst B. Chain and Sir Howard Florey. It has often been pointed out that the discovery of penicillin was a chance finding because he was working on a different bacteriological problem. However, the discovery came to his prepared mind. The discovery started when he noticed a circle around the mold Penicillium notatum in a culture plate of staphylococci. Then in 1940, German-Jewish chemist Ernst Chain and Australian pathologist Howard Florey succeeded in obtaining pure penicillin.

Objective: To examine the association of mental and physical disorders with multiple domains of functioning and compare the two. Method: Data were derived from the European Study of the Epidemiology of Mental Disorders, a general population study in which adults ( n > 21 000) from Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain were assessed using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (mental disorders), World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule second edition (functional disability) and self-report (physical disorders). Means in different groups were compared using the Mann–Whitney U-test and multiple regression analyses. Results: Mental disorders were related to disability in all domains of functioning: anxiety disorders the most, followed by mood disorders, and finally alcohol disorders. The findings suggest that mental disorders are associated with similar or higher levels of disability in all domains, except getting around, than arthritis and heart disease. Conclusion: Mental disorders are associated with a similar or higher negative impact on daily functioning than arthritis and heart disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis of diversity across multiple scales is hampered by methodological difficulties resulting from the use of different sampling methods at different scales and by the application of different definitions of the communities to be sampled at different scales. It is our aim to analyse diversity in a nested hierarchy of scales by applying a formalized sampling concept used in population ecology when analysing population structure. This concept involved a precise definition of the sampled vegetation type by the presence of a target species, in our case Hornungia petraea. We compared separate indices of inventory diversity (i.e. number of species) and differentiation diversity (i.e. extent of change in species composition or dissimilarity) with indices derived from species accumulation curves and related diversity patterns to topographical plot characteristics such as area and distance. Ten plots were established systematically over a distance of 100 km each in the distribution centre of H. petraea in Italy (i.e. Marche and Umbria) and in a peripheral exclave in Germany (i.e. Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt). We used a nested sampling design of 10 random subplots within plots and 10 systematically placed plots within regions. Internal α-diversity (species richness) and internal β-diversity (dissimilarity) were calculated on the basis of subplots, α-, β- and γ-diversity on the basis of plots in Italy and Germany. In addition, indices of inventory diversity and differentiation diversity were derived by fitting species accumulation curves to the Michaelis–Menten equation. There was no significant difference in the internal α-diversity between German and Italian plots but the α- and γ-diversity were higher in Italy than in Germany. In Germany, the internal β-diversity and β-diversity were lower than in Italy. The differentiation diversity increased with increasing scale from subplots over plots to regions. The same results were obtained by calculating species accumulation curves. Significant positive correlations were encountered between the internal α-diversity and α-diversity in both countries, while the internal β-diversity and internal α-diversity showed a correlation only for the Italian plots. Similarity decay was found for German plots with respect to inter-plot distance and for Italian plots with respect to altitudinal difference and to a smaller degree to distance between plots. The design chosen and the consistent analysis of species accumulation curves by the Michaelis–Menten equation yielded consistent results over different scales. The specific therophyte vegetation type in this study reflected diversity patterns also observed in other studies, e.g. a greater differentiation diversity in central than in peripheral habitats and a trend of increasing species richness towards lower altitudes. No asymptotic saturation of species richness between different scales was observed. Indications were found that the absolute level of inventory diversity at a particular scale and the completeness of the sampling procedure are the main clues for explaining the relationship between inventory and differentiation diversity at this particular scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the strategies of political actors and institutions have been largely analyzed with reference to cases of democratic breakdown, democratic survival has often been viewed as a consequence of socio-economic and cultural ‘preconditions’. The analysis of successful reactions to strong extremist challenges in three cases of democratic survival (Czechoslovakia, Finland and Belgium in the inter-war period) against the background of two cases of breakdown in the same historical context (Italy and the Weimar Republic) is a useful complement to this view. The analysis of the selected cases shows how a stable coalition of democratic forces can effectively protect the democratic system from dangerous extremist attacks by pursuing both repressive and inclusive strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Equal pay for men and women was a principle enshrined in the Treaty of Rome and was the subject of a European Directive in 1975. This investigation of progress towards equal pay in three member-states, Germany, Italy and the UK, reveals the importance of differences in employment structures and reward systems in determining relative pay for women. Differences in the structure and size of pay differentials among countries suggest that more attention needs to be paid to the general system of labour market regulation than to explicit equal-pay policies. Women would be more likely to benefit from a strategy of establishing labour standards and regulation than from equal-pay Directives which have little effect on the general practices and principles of pay determination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]