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Background: The concept of stigma has been widely used to understand patterns of discrimination and negative ideas surrounding people with mental health problems, yet we know little of the specific nuances of how this might operate beyond the 'Global North'. Aim: This paper aims to explore the notion of stigma in an Indian context by considering the lived experience of patients, carers and community members. Methods: A sample of 204 participants, representing mental health patients, informal carers and community members was recruited from urban and rural areas in Kerala, India. Participants took part in interviews where they were encouraged to talk about their experiences of mental ill health, attitudes towards these problems, barriers encountered and sources of support. Results: Experiences akin to the experience of stigma in Europe and the United States were elicited but there were important local dimensions specific to the Indian context. The difficulties faced by people with diagnoses of mental disorders in finding marriage partners was seen as an important problem, leading to marriage proposals being refused in some cases, and secrecy on the part of those with mental health problems. Rather than the 'self-stigma' identified in the US, participants were more likely to see this as a collective problem in that it could reflect badly on the family group as a whole rather than just the sufferer. Conclusions: In the Indian context, the idioms of stigma emphasised impairments in marriage eligibility and the implications for the family group rather than just the self. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the debate surrounding genetically modified (GM) food, intense controversies pertain over whether, or how, GM food products ought to be labelled. This paper examines how the GM-supportive and GM-sceptical alliances use arguments regarding labelling so as to strengthen their respective positions. It is an examination of conflicting arguments across social coalitions, corporations and policy-makers, mainly in the USA, but with certain European comparisons. The empirical material consists of written statements by the different groups. The paper suggests that the ideological and epistemological tenets are radically transformed, or even 'crossed over', between GM proponents and opponents when the focus is moved from GM per se to labelling. Two types of crossovers are identified: (i) the crossover of ideologies, and (ii) the crossover of epistemologies. The paper concludes that, while implementing mandatory GM labelling may have several democratic advantages, it is more urgent that both alliances become more reflexive and communicative concerning inconsistent or eclectic crossovers — both ideological and epistemological. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue of Social Studies of Science centers on the topic of regulation in medicine and, in particular, on the notion of regulatory objectivity, defined as a new form of objectivity in biomedicine that generates conventions and norms through concerted programs of action based on the use of a variety of systems for the collective production of evidence. The papers in the special issue suggest ways in which the notion of regulatory objectivity can be tested, extended, revised, or superseded by more appropriate notions. They insist on the need to examine more closely clinical-therapeutic (and not just clinical-research) activities, and to pay more attention to the activities of regulatory agencies such as the US Food and Drug Administration and to standard-setting organizations. They call attention to the professional and organizational activities surrounding the mobilization of conventions for regulating clinical practices. Finally, they provide material that can help us to think about how analytical notions such as regulatory objectivity may or may not inform interventionist research projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transformations in radiology induced by new imaging technology can be understood as instances of 'doing distinctions' by both technology and human actors. This paper combines the analytical frameworks of Gieryn and Bourdieu to understand the reconfigurations engendered by the medical implementation of visualization apparatuses such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). It examines the reactions of radiologists to these transformations, which forced them to renegotiate visual expertise and to reconstitute their professional and disciplinary identity. The paper argues that imaging practices are practices of boundary work and distinction, aimed at regaining professional authority and accumulating symbolic capital within the professional field. Boundary work and distinction practices are thus means to improve both the prestige of the profession and the actors' individual status within the scientific or hospital community. The paper further argues that visualization machines and images are not exclusively used for diagnostic and research purposes but are also material and epistemic resources that are deployed in practices of boundary work and distinction. Technology and pictures serve as tools to demonstrate professional skills and power, to increase one's reputation, and to renegotiate identity. Drawing on interviews, documents and fieldwork in several radiology departments and MRI centres in Europe and the USA, the paper reconstructs processes of 'doing distinctions' related to the implementation of MRI and other imaging technologies in medicine. It explores the identity and accumulation strategies of radiologists and other medical specialists through an examination of their boundary work and distinction practices, which are focused on material, social and epistemic resources, and boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the International Digital Games Research Conference held at Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands, from November 4 to 6, 2003. It is the first annual conference of Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA). The conference marked a coming of age for the DiGRA. DiGRA was formed in 2002 following a series of discussions between researchers pursuing games-related research, predominantly in north-western Europe and the U.S. It had 500 participants and an impressively wide range of themed panels. The scale of the conference and the scope of the research presented evidenced a new confidence in those conducting digital games research and a willingness to explore a diverse network of relations with other, more established disciplinary areas. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the conference was the breadth of people in attendance, united by their passion (even self-confessed addiction) for game- playing, not simply computer or digital game-playing, but game-playing in general.

The new urban politics (NUP) literature has helped to draw attention to a new generation of entrepreneurial urban regimes involved in the competition to attract investment to cities. Interurban competition often had negative environmental consequences for the urban living place. Yet knowledge of the environment was not very central to understanding the NUP. Entrepreneurial urban regimes today are struggling to deal with climate change and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon reduction strategies could have profound implications for interurban competition and the politics of urban development. This paper explores the rise of a distinctive low-carbon urban polity—carbon control—and examines its potential ramifications for a new environmental politics of urban development (NEPUD). The NEPUD signals the growing centrality of carbon control in discourses, strategies and struggles around urban development. Using examples from cities in the US and Europe, the paper examines how these new environmental policy considerations are being mainstreamed in urban development politics. Alongside competitiveness, the management of carbon emissions represents a new yet at the same time contestable mode of calculation in urban governance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of IFLA Journal is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Aims: Japan is known as a country with low self-rated health despite high life expectancy. We compared socioeconomic inequalities in self-rated health in Japan with those in 32 European countries and the US using nationally representative samples. Methods: We analysed individual data from the Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions (Japan), the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions, and the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (US) in 2016. We used ordered logistic regression models with four ordinal categories of self-rated health as an outcome, and educational level or occupational class as independent variables, controlling for age. Results: In Japan, about half the population perceived their health as 'fair', which was much higher than in Europe (≈20–40%). The odds ratios of lower self-rated health among less educated men compared with more educated were 1.72 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.61–1.85) in Japan, and ranged from 1.67 to 4.74 in Europe (pooled; 2.10 (95% CI 2.01–2.20)), and 6.65 (95% CI 6.22–7.12) in the US. The odds ratios of lower self-rated health among less educated women were 1.79 (95% CI 1.65–1.95) in Japan, and ranged from 1.89 to 5.30 in Europe (pooled; 2.43 (95% CI 2.33–2.54)), and 8.82 (95% CI 8.29–9.38) in the US. Socioeconomic inequalities were large when self-rated health was low for European countries, but Japan and the US did not follow the pattern. Conclusions: Japan has similar socioeconomic gradient patterns to European countries for self-rated health, and our findings revealed smaller socioeconomic inequalities in self-rated health in Japan compared with those in western countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to comprehensively analyze the literature focused on frequency of the presence of the accessory renal arteries in the human body. A systematic analysis of papers has been made. With regard to ethnicity, the incidence of accessory renal arteries fluctuates from 4% in a Malaysian population to 61.5% in a Brazilian population. The frequency is lowest in eastern and southern Asia (from 4% to 18.4%). In some, not ethnically homogenous populations, wide span of occurrence of accessory renal arteries is described (e.g. American - averaging from 18% to 28.8%). A higher frequency of accessory renal arteries was observed in fetuses compared to adults. Moreover, differences in the presence and number of accessory renal arteries reported in different papers are a consequence of type of visualizing technique used in research - especially when computed tomography and anatomical dissection were compared. The increasing number of surgical interventions, especially where laparoscopic methods are concerned, underlines the importance of such knowledge especially to surgeons, interventional radiologists, nephrologists, and vascular surgeons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Labour force activity and marriage share some pathways through which they potentially influence health. In this paper, we examine whether marriage and labour force participation interact in the way they influence mortality in the USA and six European countries. Methods: We used data from the US National Health Interview Survey linked to the National Death Index, and national mortality registry data for Austria, England/Wales, Finland, Hungary, Norway and Spain (specifically, the Basque country) during 1999–2007, for men and women aged 30–59 years at baseline. We used Poisson regression to estimate both the additive (relative excess risk due to interaction) and multiplicative interactions between marriage and labour force activity on mortality. Results: Labour force inactivity was associated with higher mortality, but this association was stronger for unmarried, rather than married, individuals. Likewise, being unmarried was associated with higher mortality, but this association was stronger for inactive than for active individuals. To illustrate, among US women out of the labour force, being unmarried was associated with a 3.98 times (95%CI 3.28–4.82) higher risk of dying than being married; whereas the relative risk (RR) was 2.49 (95%CI 2.10–2.94), for women who were active in the labour market. Although this interaction between marriage and labour force activity was only significant for women on a multiplicative scale, there was a significant additive interaction for both men and women. The pattern was similar across all countries. Conclusions: Marriage attenuated the increased mortality risk associated with labour force inactivity; while labour force activity attenuated the mortality risk associated with being unmarried. Our study emphasizes the importance of public health and social policies that improve the health and well-being of unmarried and inactive men and women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simpop2 is a generic multi-agent model designed for simulating any system of cities. From an evolutionary theory built upon the observation of networks of cities in different parts of the world and over long time-periods, it has been possible to identify stylised facts that characterise their main features and properties. This paper presents data-oriented simulations of two kinds of system: in early settled countries (Europe, 1300—2000) and in countries more recently settled (the United States, 1650—2000). The model can simulate properly the general dynamics of urban systems, at different scales of observation (general configuration and trajectories of individual cities). The simulations help to identify some dynamic properties that are shared by both systems: a general growth trend and spatial expansion (produced through interurban competition which generates emulation towards innovation that explain the persistency of the hierarchical configuration); a dramatic increase of contrasts in city sizes since the first industrial revolution linked to the increase of communication speed; and, a differentiation of urban economic functions produced through interactions between cities and innovation cycles, as industrial revolution. The model also puts forward the necessary integration of a new urban function in the model, which represents the early emergence of global cities. Yet, beyond these similarities in the evolution of all urban systems, when they are fully integrated, the model also measures to what extent the observed peculiarities in their contemporary spatial and functional configuration depend on differences in the early space-filling process between the two kinds of system. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The cartography of controversies is a set of techniques to explore and visualize issues. It was developed by Bruno Latour as a didactic version of Actor-Network Theory to train college students in the investigation of contemporary socio-technical debate. The scope and interest of such cartography, however, exceed its didactic origin. Adopted and developed in several universities in Europe and the US, the cartography of controversies is today a full research method, though, unfortunately, not a much documented one. To fill this lack of documentation, we draw on our experience as Latour's teaching assistant, to introduce some of the main techniques of the social cartographer toolkit. In particular, in these pages we will focus on exploration, leaving the discussion of visualization tools to a further paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of IFLA Journal is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper evaluates the relationships between atmospheric circulation, climate and streamflow in the northern North Atlantic region over the last century and especially the last 50 years. Improved understanding of climatic influences on streamflow is vital given the great importance of fluvial processes to natural systems and water resources, especially in the light of recent and predicted climate change. The main focus lies with climatic and hydrologic implications of the major circulation patterns in the northern North Atlantic, namely the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and Arctic Oscillation (AO). The studies reviewed here reveal key relationships between circulation, climate and streamflow across the northern North Atlantic, allowing the construction of a simple conceptual model for this system. Generally positive NAO/AO-streamflow relationships are found in northwest Europe and northeast USA, with both positive and negative NAO/AO-streamflow linkages apparent for parts of eastern Canada. To help promote a better understanding of the system, several research gaps are identified and critically examined, including: the spatial scope and coverage of investigations; data quality and homogeneity; appropriateness of analytical techniques; and the need for greater knowledge and technique sharing between hydrology and climatology, particularly regarding the rigorous characterization of atmospheric circulation patterns. Among these, the development of seasonally varying, or mobile, NAO indices, to capture variations in subseasonal, seasonal and annual movements in the centres of action, and the need to develop analyses of more hydrologically meaningful climate variables beyond conventional time averaged statistics, are deemed particularly important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paloma Gay y Blasco, Sheena Macrae, Peter Selman and Huon Wardle challenge the methodology and findings of an article published in the previous edition of Adoption & Fostering (Chou and Browne, 2008). The debate continues with a letter from the USA, followed by Browne and Chou's response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the many effects of the Cold War was a profound reconfiguration of the disciplines, institutions and practices used to understand the Earth. With the advent of warfare on a planetary scale the earth sciences proved indispensable in shaping national strategies and identifying the unseen potential of technological innovation. Cartography, weather forecasting and geological surveys has long been staples of government patronage in the U.S. as well as in Europe. The Cold War added geophysics, oceanography, seismology and similar fields to the state's arsenal of understanding. Despite their rather obvious usefulness, the earth sciences have received little of the attention historians of science and technology lavish upon the physical sciences and engineering disciplines during the Cold War. As students of the atmosphere, the earth and the oceans, the practitioners of these particular field sciences have a much lower status than the physicists who dominate the weaponeer culture of Cold War. Ironically, these little-studied practitioners were perhaps as important as the famous weapons designers in achieving national ends.

The safeguards and measures to prevent child trafficking mentioned in the 1993 Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption have proven insufficient in curbing the so-called irregular adoptions. An analysis of how Spanish central authorities and intermediary agencies managed the flow of adoption dossiers between 2003 and 2013 presents their inability to react swiftly to the imbalance between adoption demand and supply. The 2015 reforms in the Spanish law introduced measures to bring demand in line with real needs. However, imaginaries that portray adopters and children from the Global South as victims of meaningless bureaucracy continue to hold true even today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the impact of the two world wars on welfare legislation in 16 western countries. We use Poisson regressions to test our hypothesis that war was a catalyst of welfare legislation, especially in countries that were heavily exposed to the dreadful effects of war. By welfare legislation, we mean the inaugural adoption and major reforms across four programmes (old age and disability benefits, sickness and maternity benefits, unemployment compensation and family allowances). Our findings suggest that both world wars are key factors for explaining the timing of comprehensive welfare reforms and outweigh the significance of other factors such as regime type or level of economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses contractual governance practices within the value chains of large companies based in the USA and Europe between 2012 and 2017 with focus on human and labour rights. In line with the existing scholarship, we find that the use of contractual governance for safeguarding human and labour rights is best practice among large American and European businesses. The results show that value chain contractual governance should be studied in an interdisciplinary environment taking both legal and non-legal aspects into consideration. Moreover, we detect a general positive impact of the business and human rights regulatory wave of 2010–2011 on sustainable contractual governance practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution examines the different concepts known as social informatics that have historically been separate. The paradigm that is preferred worldwide (based on Kling) is well described and often promoted, with a strong base both in the USA and Europe. This article, however, introduces lesser-known paradigms (based on Sokolov and later Ursul) that originated in the era of the USSR and have so far been employed chiefly in post-Soviet countries, including Russia. These paradigms have been neglected in English-written scientific literature, mainly because of the limited number of articles available in English. Other approaches are also introduced and related, which were historically named or classified as social informatics (American, British, Norwegian, Slovenian, German and Japanese). The present article introduces and further discusses the origin, historical development and basic methodological grounding of these approaches. All the approaches are then discussed and their differences as well as their similarities are pointed out. The aim is to create connections across the current generation of researchers, which includes the formation and conceptualization of different approaches and an exploration of possible areas for future cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We often hear that the high unemployment rates of low-educated workers in Europe are due to the rigidities of the institutions increasing the labour costs that burden employers. In this article, we challenge this traditional view and offer alternative explanations to the cross-national variation in the employment rate of low-educated workers. Using macro-data and an error correction model, we analyse the determinants of the creation of jobs for low-educated workers in 19 countries between 1997 and 2010. Our findings tend to invalidate the neoliberal view, while also pointing to the positive impact of investing in public employment services and the predominant role of economic growth, which can be weakened by union density and employment protection in the case of male workers. Last but not least, creating low skill jobs has no or little impact on the employment outcomes of low-educated workers, thus indicating job displacement issues. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Measuring the power of the political left with the ‘share of social democratic cabinet seats’ is the gold standard in the literature on partisan effects. We argue that this measure of left power suffers from conceptual ambiguity and propose an alternative approach to measure the ideological orientation of governments based on their power in cabinets and data on party positions. We see several shortcomings of the traditional measure: the social democratic cabinet share neglects the fact that parties’ ideological profiles differ across countries and have significantly changed over recent decades. Also, specific policy measures of party preferences are often more appropriate to gauge the government’s position than relying on highly aggregated left/right measures. In addition, the social democratic cabinet share does not take into account the impact of coalition partners, cabinet decision making and the possibility of minority governments relying on parliamentary support outside the cabinet on the ability of parties to implement the social policies. After discussing the reasons for the conceptual ambiguity of existing indicators for the power of the left, we present alternative measures for the ideological orientation of the government based on the composition of cabinets and different information about party positions. We demonstrate how these measures can be combined to a single indicator that takes into account both the ideological position of governing parties in a particular policy domain and their power to affect cabinet decisions. We critically discuss the availability and merits of data on party positions and cabinet compositions and provide recommendations for constructing measures in welfare state research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article provides a detailed analysis of individual preferences towards public financial aid to students from low-income families. Who favours/opposes such aid? What are the determinants of the respective preferences? I argue that three sets of factors jointly shape these preferences: materialistic self-interests, political attitudes, and the status quo of the higher education subsidy systems by generating positive feedback-effects. Results of multilevel ordered logit models utilizing the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) data for up to 22 countries over two decades indicate that self-interest matters: students strongly favour subsidies as do their parents, while those paying for the spending and those not expecting to benefit oppose such aid. Moreover, political attitudes are important: Supporters of redistribution and of increased public education spending in general, as well as leftwing voters, are much more likely to support students. On the macro-level, the findings suggest that positive feedback-effects exist: in countries with generous subsidy systems, public support for subsidies is higher. This article is the first to systematically analyse preferences towards higher education subsidies across countries and time and demonstrates how positive feedback-effects increasingly lock-in countries’ tuition-subsidy paths, making the systems resistant to (radical) change. As such, it speaks to the literature on the political economy of skill formation, the welfare state, public opinion and the public opinion–policy link. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Welfare state spending cuts are effective fiscal consolidation tools, but some policymakers use other fiscal policy tools to address high levels of government debt. I argue that the economic incentive to cut welfare spending when government debt is high is undermined by the political incentive to stay in power when the median voter opposes retrenchment. Using survey data to measure the policy position of the median voter as well as hard figures on government debt and government social spending from 18 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, I estimate a series of regressions that show that government debt has a negative effect on social spending, but only when the median voter does not oppose retrenchment. This holds true for broad measures of social spending as well as for unemployment spending and old-age pension spending. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Enhanced Cognitive Interview is accepted as one of the most successful techniques for enhancing witness recollection. This type of interview has been studied all over the world (eg, Europe or the USA) and is used by police officers in many different countries (eg, the UK and New Zealand). Nonetheless, it is essential for police officers to understand how, and when, to properly apply this interview. Therefore, we examined the underlying psychological processes involved in this interview, and what research can tells us about the situations and purposes that can benefit from applying it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Europe and in the United States, health management education and the role of health managers are patterned and consistent with how the country’s healthcare system is organized, managed, and financed. In the United States, the fee-for-service, entrepreneurial dominated approach, resulting in health being one of the few remaining growth industries, has created a huge demand for additional health management education programs and managers. Therefore, universities finding themselves in an economic slump are attracted to establish health services administration programs (a North American term) since they require limited capital, continue to attract enrollment, and contribute to the “social good.” In contrast, the European countries’ healthcare systems provide universal access to care and strict, governmental fiscal control on healthcare expenditures. As a result, the American masters-level health manager model has not thrived there—although not willingly conceded is the fact that in Europe physicians continue to dominate the management ranks. After outlining a number of the current problems facing US health management education, this article focuses on: (1) a projected shuttering of the weaker American health management programs and the market for health managers being overly saturated (such as for lawyers now), because the US gross domestic product expenditures for health will decrease over the next two decades from the current level of 17.6% to be somewhat comparable to the 11.5% in Canada, France, and Germany; and (2) a projected increase in the enrollment among European health management programs for several reasons: (a) a huge spike in the demand for additional clinically oriented, health managers who can trade off concerns of cost versus quality; and (b) the constraints of most countries’ statutory health insurance plans will become increasingly more evident so that privatization of healthcare services will become an option for those with above average incomes and, thereby, generate a demand for newly minted health managers similar to the US masters-level graduate. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article examines the discourses of forced prostitution that circulated in the US and European media and government publications in the context of the soccer World Cup in 2006. This analysis of the public discourse around prostitution reveals two themes: concerns about immigration and border security, and representations of gender binaries that serve to relegate migrant women to the status of victim. The fears of increased sex trafficking and the condemnation of so-called ‘sex shacks’ and ‘mega-brothels’ for the World Cup 2006 served as foils for other perceived crises produced by globalisation. The debates struggle with a marked ‘other’ that reveals new forms of racialised ‘othering’: dangerously white, understood as both of Europe and a threat to it. The 2006 World Cup historical moment has implications for how international sports, consumer culture and feminist activism inform and conceal human agency. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the recording and revival of Moriori identity and culture. It further explores the methods and technology used by Moriori to assist in the process of preserving taonga, a treasured thing. It mentions that systematic recording and archaeological fieldwork was started in 1950s by Christina Jefferson which was followed by the works of David Simmons and Rhys Richards. It informs that taonga are significant collections in museums throughout Europe and the U.S.

This research compares cities between and within the United States and Europe with respect to their dimensionality and degree of immigrant incorporation. Based on theoretical perspectives about immigrant incorporation, structural differentiation and national incorporation regimes, we hypothesize that more inclusionary (MI) cities will show more dimensions of incorporation and more favorable incorporation outcomes than less inclusionary (LI) places, especially in regard to labor market and spatial variables. We use data from recent major surveys of young adult second-generation groups carried out in Los Angeles, New York, and 11 European cities to assess these ideas. The findings indicate that second-generation immigrants in New York (MI) and in European MI places (i.e. cities in the Netherlands, Sweden and France) show greater dimensionality of incorporation (and thus by implication more pathways of advancement) respectively than is the case in Los Angeles (LI) or in European LI places (i.e. cities in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland). We discuss the significance of these results for understanding how the structures of opportunity confronting immigrants and their children in various places make a difference for the nature and extent of their integration. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Reports and documents from government and other organ isations have existed for centuries, but in the post-war period their production increased significantly. Computers, databases, desktop publishing software and the internet have revolution ised the ways documents can be produced and disseminated, allowing individuals, groups and organisations access to a whole new world of information. The result has been an explosion in online publishing that has transformed scholarly communication. Research reports - or grey literature as they are also known - are now an essential part of many disciplines, including science and technology, health, environmental science and many areas of public policy. While access to these reports has become easier in many respects, online publishing presents many challenges as well, particularly for collecting organisations faced with the task of adapting their systems. The management of grey literature raises many issues that are still not resolved today. This article provides some background to these ongoing challenges in Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent financial crisis has resulted in massive disruptions in the world economic environment. The western economies have yet to recover from the deep recessionary trends unleashed by the crisis. Financial institutions in North America and Europe have had to write-off billions in bad debts. The author argues that in order to survive similar ebbs and flows in the economic environment in the future, the financial institutions must transform their operating models. The new operating models should be built around the notions of improved agility and flexibility. Componentization and global sourcing are among the key enablers of such a model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors reflect on the issue of job quality. Particular focus is given to debates about the issue during the last half of the 20th century. The authors note the re-emergence of good jobs into the policy agenda of U.S. and European governments during the 1990s and early 2000s to create knowledge-driven and creative economies. They point out that quality of work is an important policy focus amid increasing employment participation rates in Australia.

The publication of The Violence of Incarceration, a collection of essays on imprisonment and state violence in the US, UK and Australia, edited by Phil Scraton and Jude McCulloch, provides an opportunity to reflect on the steady convergence of mainland Europe's penal policies with those of the US. This convergence undermines any notion of a European moral high ground in relation to incarceration and reflects a general trend among western states of increasing acceptability of violence, war and even torture as solutions to social and political problems. From this perspective, the cruelties at Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib are not isolated examples of excess but, rather, have much in common with everyday practices in domestic US and European prisons; the focus of this article is this wider structural shift in incarceration practices, linked to, but going far beyond, the 'war on terror'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to understand Muslim women's views on veiling in the West, one must take into account historical and socio-political factors such as a country's colonial/national history, the nature of its immigration regime, the demographic composition of immigrant groups, and how the nation operationalizes concepts such as secularism and citizenship. While academic literature and media reports on young Muslim women in Europe indicate that wearing the niqab or face veil is often viewed as an act of rebellion or a form of personal/political/religious identity, our in-depth interviews of young Muslim women in the United States reveal a different story. While half the participants in this study wore a headscarf or hijab, not one of them said they were interested in wearing the niqab. Instead, they believed the niqab was unnecessary in the American context. However, an overwhelming majority upheld the right of a woman to wear a niqab if she wanted to do so. Two American Muslim women narrated why they gave up wearing the niqab after wearing it for a short time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the author discusses Satanism as an introduction to this issue of the journal which is devoted to the subject. Among other issues the article discusses the existence of Satanism and satanists and references the impact that the cult has had on the United States, Europe and the Middle East. Among a number of issue the article refers to the book "The Satanism Scare," by David Bromely, Joel Best and James T. Richardson, noting that the volume is now almost twenty years old. The article posits that Satanism is a mirror of society.

Recent years (pre-Obama) of transatlantic rifts should not deceive us into ignoring the great attraction that the United States has exerted, and continues to exert, on Europeans. This article, first, seeks to uncover the normative assumptions that underpin the US as an exemplar or polity model for the EU, as seen from a European perspective. Second, it briefly considers whether the traits that Europeans find attractive about the US as a polity model have much real bearing on the EU, not in terms of how Europeans would want the EU to be but in terms of how the EU presently is. The point is to get a sense of the empirical distance that Europeans would have to travel if they were to transpose what they find attractive about the US to the EU. Are the features Europeans hold up as attractive about the US also available in Europe? These two undertakings set the stage for the third and most original, endeavour, which is to consider whether there are entities that are more compatible with what we currently find in Europe. The case singled out here is another American state, namely Canada. A clarification and critical assessment of what is referred to here as 'Europe's American Dream' are intended to serve as a kind of mirror for Europeans to consider whether the European project is: (a) one of emulating the US; (b) a unique experiment; or (c) an EU that is closer to Canada than the US. If the reality of Canada is more proximate to the reality of the EU, should then Canada instead serve as Europe's American Dream? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article extends the thesis that globalization is imperialism by arguing that the actions taken by US banana multinationals and ruling elites to force open the European Union's (EU) banana market to bananas grown in Latin America, 'dollar bananas', played a significant role in the emergence of what I term 'European bloc imperialism' through the implementation of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States. Ten theses on EU bloc imperialism are presented and the role of US hegemony in its emergence is examined to support the idea that it is a by-product of neoliberal globalization. Developing the argument, I examine the rise of the EU and ACP blocs, the EU bloc imperialist stranglehold over the ACP states, the CARIFORUM-EU EPA, and conclude by focusing on the pushback against the EPAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Journal of Music Education is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Debates on media concentration and the appropriate way to handle it are not coming to an end. This article stresses the dual character of media goods, the underlying ideological ideals, and the attendant institutional setting as sources of value conflict in communications policy making. It discusses this value conflict and gives examples of where it surfaces and how it is confronted. It is particularly evident in cases of media concentration. Newly introduced communications laws and policies within Europe and the US aim to reduce (ownership) regulation, promote competition and cope with the challenges posed by convergence. This quest is coupled in part with protections of media pluralism through custom-developed indices for measuring concentration in media markets and tests for assessing media plurality in merger cases. The article describes and discusses these new methods and instruments as novel but imperfect attempts by policy makers to respond to the various challenges in communications such as value conflict, convergence, the need for empirical proof and claims for non-economic ways of assessing media diversity. It concludes by stressing the need to re-emphasize normative claims as essential guiding elements of communications policy making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As has been widely recognized and commented upon, border controls across Europe and America have been strenuously tightened since September 11th. In fact, of course, the movement of certain non-citizens in and around most western, industrialized countries had been restricted for some time predating the advent of the 'war on terror'. In this article Twill explore the particular use being made in Britain of criminal justice rhetoric and policy as a means of securing the border and the implications of this reliance on criminal justice discourses in the development of immigration and asylum policies. Building on work by David Garland (1996) and Jonathan Simon (2007), I suggest not only that the increased concern over border control reflects a decline in the power of the state in the face of globalization, but also that the adoption of harsh rhetoric about foreigners risks undermining the agency and democratic freedoms long held dear by British citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on research analyzing similarities and differences among 19 rich democracies, this article compares the economic performance of big spenders and lean spenders at a similar economic level from 1950 to the late 1990s. Going beyond aggregate public spending, it shows the contrasting effects of particular types of spending and taxing and particular social policies. I highlight the extraordinary continuity of the contrasting institutions and policy directions of these countries. I find that there is not one road to good economic performance, but several. I specify five types of political economy, each with its own costs and gains in people's well-being, both economic and noneconomic. A final summary compares extremes: the confrontational "low road" pursued by the USA and the "high road" pursued by the strongest consensual democracies of Continental Europe, where social partners have negotiated real reforms in expensive social policies while preserving social cohesion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the characteristics of trade unions in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Similarities and differences among the trade unions in those regions are viewed on the unions' density, employer recognition of the unions, and tendencies toward decentralization of collective bargaining. In Asia, big differences in the character and size of trade unionism is possible to identify because of the different level of economic development and political systems of the countries in the region.

The article focuses on the benefits of the evaluation for policy-makers in the evaluation of communities in the U.S. and Europe. The real purpose of evaluation is to provide long-term enlightment through the way in which it challenges old ideas, provides new perspectives and helps to re-order the policy agenda. Policy-makers expected that evaluation can provide information which they believe they need in order to inform policy decisions. Evaluation has played only a marginal part role in informing policy decisions and external inspection.

One of the least expected but most significant events of recent years is that which led to a profound crisis in the transatlantic relationship. The argument advanced here is that the split between a number of European states and the United States of America not only casts doubt on the idea of the `West' but also brings into question various liberal theories of international politics that suggest that the two regions are so bound together by ideology, interest and institutions that a serious disagreement between them was, and presumably remains, unlikely. This it is suggested both fails to explain the original rift and underestimates the very profound differences that continue to divide the US and Europe. A more complex and abrasive kind of relationship is in the making. Unfortunately, those who have thus far tended to shape the debate about the transatlantic relationship in general, and indeed the extent of US hegemony in particular, either seem historically unable or theoretically unwilling to grasp the extent of change now occurring in one of the most important regions in the international system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the role played by globalization in the decline of strike rates in industrialized countries after the 1980s. Using a pooled, time-series multiple regression analysis of 15 advanced capitalist countries in North America, Western Europe and East Asia from 1952 to 2001, the author finds a relationship between globalization - measured in terms of international trade, investment and loosened international capital controls - and declining strike rates, but finds that the relationship is non-monotonic and that the level and change of union density plays an intermediary role between globalization and labor quiescence. The findings empirically validate earlier work by Tsebelis and Lange and Shalev, who also demonstrated a non-monotonic relationship between macroeconomic phenomena, labor strength and strikes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compares the public perceptions of technologies in the U.S. and Europe. Investigation of the impact of nanotechnology on environment; Similarities between societal responses to nanotechnology and biotechnology; Association between public perceptions of nanotechnology and other technologies.

Provides evidence of the lack of European-British policy networks and explores reasons why policy transfer occurs principally from the U.S. rather than from Continental Europe. Welfare reform agenda of Britain's New Labour Government; Notion of equal opportunities for all based on a contract between benefit claimants and the employment service.

Analyzes Benetton Co.'s 2000 advertising campaign 'We on Death Row' as a site of cultural production where ideological differences on capital punishment between the U.S. and Europe are played out. Mass-mediated public discourse framing the campaign in the prestige press; Textual analysis of stories and editorials about the campaign; Focus on how national hegemonic media frames domesticate foreign social ideals.

ABSTRACT Trade unionists and academic experts increasingly support the view that European Industry Federations should take a leading role in the Europeanization of collective bargaining. This article investigates whether this is a plausible prospect for the European chemical industry. Drawing on collaborative research between the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) and the European Mine, Chemical and Energy Workers Federation (EMCEF), the article presents a comparative synopsis of industrial relations in five European countries, including recent strategic developments at EMCEF level. The study confirms the importance of national resources and steering power at sector level, especially in relation to monitoring decentralized flexibility. However, despite growing interest in transnational labour cooperation, the conclusion is that progress towards Europeanization is so far modest. More attention in the research agenda, it is then argued, should be directed to how transnational collective bargaining can be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]