Search

Although formal childcare is considered a key social investment policy to combat inequality, available research indicates that in most European and other high-income countries parents with lower socio-economic positions are less likely to use formal childcare. As the literature on the underlying causes of this so-called Matthew effect has not yet converged, this article is the first to assess whether educational gradients in formal childcare uptake can be accounted for by micro-level employment potential and work–family attitudes in 14 European countries and Australia. Complementing available research on supply-side factors such as policy design features, this study indicates that a large part of the educational gradients in formal childcare uptake persist after controlling for socio-demographic background variables, employment potential, and work–family attitudes as micro-level predictors. However, this study also shows that a considerable part of the educational differentiation in formal childcare uptake reflects differential employment potential. This finding turns attention to policies other than childcare to enhance labour market outcomes for lower educated groups, which in turn might attenuate the Matthew effect in formal childcare. Furthermore, a positive relation between individual-level work–family attitudes and the uptake of formal childcare is also identified as a partial explanation for educational gradients in formal childcare uptake. Although the explanatory power of work–family attitudes as an underlying determinant of the Matthew effect is more limited compared to employment potential, such variation in the acceptance of maternal employment and formal childcare should also be considered in the design of inclusive work–family policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many long-enduring coastal cultures, there are stories – sometimes mythologized – about times when pieces of land became separated from mainlands by submergence, a process that created islands where none existed before. Using examples from northwest Europe and Australia, this paper argues that many such stories recall times, often millennia ago, when sea level in the aftermath of the Last Glaciation (last ice age) was rising and transforming coastal landscapes and their human uses in exactly the ways these stories describe. The possibility that these may have arisen from eyewitness accounts of these transformative processes, hitherto thought to be understandable only by scientific (palaeoenvironmental) reconstructions, should encourage more systematic investigations of such stories by scientists. It also suggests that science has traditionally underestimated the capacity of oral (pre-literate) cultures to acquire, encode and sustain their observations of memorable events with a high degree of replication fidelity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the 'loss of chance doctrine' with a comparative perspective, across three different jurisdictions: China (where the loss of chance doctrine is in its infancy); continental Europe (in which many countries have adopted loss of chance to solve medical malpractice cases) and Australia (where loss of chance has been excluded by the High Court and is no longer a valid defense for negligence where causation is otherwise difficult to prove). The article compares these three different approaches to establish a line of development, from initial acceptance, through its widespread application, to finish with its judicial rejection, which might be a prediction about the future of this doctrine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) remain a major challenge in the 21st century. High-income countries (HICs) populations are ethnically and culturally diverse due to international migration. Evidence suggests that NCDs rates differ between migrants and the host populations in HICs. This paper presents a review of NCDs burden among migrant groups in HICs in Europe, North America and Australia with a major focus on cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), cancer and diabetes.Methods: We performed a narrative review consisting of scholarly papers published between 1960 until 2018.Results: CVD risk differs by country of origin, country of destination and duration of residence. For example, stroke is more common in sub-Sahara African and South-Asian migrants, but lower in North African and Chinese migrants. Chinese migrants, however, have a higher risk of haemorrhagic stroke despite the lower rate of overall stroke. Coronary heart disease (CHD) is more common in South-Asian migrants, but less common in sub-Saharan and north African migrants although the lower risk of CHD in these population is waning. Diabetes risk is higher in all migrants and migrants seem to develop diabetes at an earlier age than the host populations. Migrants in general have lower rates of overall cancer morbidity and mortality than the host populations in Europe. However, migrants have a higher infectious disease-related cancers than the host populations in Europe. In North America, the picture is more complex. Data from cross-national comparisons indicate that migration-related lifestyle changes associated with the lifestyle of the host population in the country of settlement may influence NCDs risk among migrants in a very significant way.Conclusion: With exception of diabetes, which is consistently higher in all migrant groups than in the host populations, the burden of NCDs among migrants seems to depend on the migrant group, country of settlement and NCD type. This suggests that more work is needed to disentangle the key migration-related lifestyle changes and contextual factors that may be driving the differential risk of NCDs among migrants in order to assist prevention and clinical management of NCDs in these populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although in vitro fertilization (IVF) has offered hope to those struggling with infertility, it has also had some unintended consequences, including the fate of embryos that may be “surplus” to requirement following IVF treatment. The number of embryos in storage across the world is high, creating a dilemma for patients who need to make disposal decisions, as well as presenting an administrative and practical dilemma for clinics. Research has suggested that patients’ views of the status of their embryo/s may affect their disposal decisions, and yet the nature of the links between views of the embryo and decisions to either donate or discard remain unclear. In this article, we engage in a discursive analysis of literature on disposal decisions. We discuss the range of ways in which embryos may be constructed, and demonstrate how these discourses make available or constrain particular action possibilities, and offer particular subject positions for patients. The analysis highlights the complexity of the relationship between embryo status and decision making, and may assist clinicians in supporting and guiding patients’ decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IAS 8 defines the concept of accounting policy as "the specific principles, bases, conventions, rules and practices applied by an entity in preparing and presenting financial statements". Within the framework of this concept, this research that is derived from International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) contributes to the accounting literature by focusing on the alternative accounting policies' debate related to presentation and recognition issues in the European, Australian and Turkish context and concludes that there is an influence of local accounting policies over IFRS practice in Turkey and this influence still exists in Europe and Australia based on the 2008/2009 annual reports. This shows that as long as diversity in accounting policies of IFRS is present, entities are expected to be inclined to select their local accounting policies by leading to comparability of financial statements within the country rather than between countries in the IFRS context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) has been gaining in popularity and is influencing ways in which various non-European countries approach bilingual education. For example, some Australian bilingual programmes are now being officially referred to as CLIL programmes. Although CLIL methodology shows potential outside Europe, this article argues that certain aspects of CLIL should be subject to scrutiny before programmes are adopted in an Australian context. In the article, these aspects relate primarily to organisational and affective factors, which are considered to have a substantial influence on successful programmes. The article specifically addresses Australian primary and secondary public education because public bilingual education programmes may offer a way to address the high attrition rates and the decline in languages taught. The article will focus on ways in which CLIL arose and is defined through the European context for which it was designed. Then it will identify some of the bilingual programmes on offer in Australia and explore issues related to applying/expanding the CLIL approach to Australian mainstream education – English language dominance, language choice and human resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discussing new or recently reformed citizenship tests in the USA, Australia, and Canada, this article asks whether they amount to a restrictive turn of new world citizenship, similar to recent developments in Europe. I argue that elements of a restrictive turn are noticeable in Australia and Canada, but only at the level of political rhetoric, not of law and policy, which remain liberal and inclusive. Much like in Europe, the restrictive turn is tantamount to Muslims and Islam moving to the center of the integration debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose--This paper aims to compare the health status of Roma in Europe and Aborigines in Australia, examining access to health care (both primary and long-term), administrative and communication problems, environmental risks associated with location of residences, women's health, substance abuse and mental health. Design/methodology/approach--The paper discusses issues generated by cultural practices by both health care providers and the target groups. Findings--Both Roma and Australian Aborigines have significantly poorer health status than the majority of the societies they are embedded in, and are clearly amongst the most disadvantaged members of their respective societies. Nevertheless, affirmative action programs for Aboriginal people over the last 40 years have produced some significant changes, with Aboriginal doctors and nurses, and culturally appropriate service provision being found in many areas. Originality/value--Although there are considerable similarities between the health status and situation of Romanies and Australian Aborigines, clearly, there are also substantive differences. The paper suggests possible culturally appropriate service provision for Roma, based on Australian Aboriginal experiences and models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Remote access laboratories (RALs) were first developed in 1994 in Australia and Switzerland. The main purposes of developing them are to enable students to do their experiments at their own pace, time and locations and to enable students and teaching staff to get access to facilities beyond their institutions. Currently, most of the experiments carried out through RALs in Australia are heavily biased towards electrical, electronic and computer engineering disciplines. However, the experiments carried out through RALs in Europe had more variety, in addition to the traditional electrical, electronic and computer engineering disciplines, there were experiments in mechanical and mechatronic disciplines. It was found that RALs are now being developed aggressively in Australia and Europe and it can be argued that RALs will develop further and faster in the future with improving Internet technology. The rising costs of real experimental equipment will also speed up their development because by making the equipment remotely accessible, the cost can be shared by more universities or institutions and this will improve their cost-effectiveness. Their development would be particularly rapid in large countries with small populations such as Australia, Canada and Russia, because of the scale of economy. Reusability of software, interoperability in software implementation, computer supported collaborative learning and convergence with learning management systems are the required development of future RALs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pachydellus hades (Halliday) (Acari: Pachylaelapidae) was described from Jenolan Caves, NSW, Australia, and was thought to be an Australian endemic species. It is now known that this species is abundant in Slovakia and other parts of Europe, but its presence there was not recognised because it had been misidentified as other species. It appears likely that this species was introduced from Europe into Australia through human activities. The Australian type locality of this species gives a misleading impression of its native range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the issue of segmenting markets according to drivers of travel expenses, exemplified by the case of international visitors to Australia and modeled by means of hedonic (log-linear) regression. Based on characteristics of a trip (number of travel companions from the same household, duration of trip, and choice of type of accommodation) as well as the reason for travel and influences to come to Australia, the overall expenditure for a trip is estimated by log-linear regression. The results (all ceteris paribus) reveal that visitors from mature markets, most of them in Europe, tend to spend approximately 20% to 30% less on a trip to Australia than those from less mature markets, most of them in Asia. Attending conferences as a delegate, visitation to rural areas such as the outback, and travel aimed at enjoying local food and beverages are associated with higher spending compared to other reasons for visiting Australia. In contrast, (commoditized) beach holidays and visitation to events lead to comparably less spending. With regard to accommodation, the use of hotels results in expenditure of 20% higher than average for other forms of accommodation, whereas staying with friends and relatives leads to expenditures of 8% to 14% less than average. Finally, travelers on group tours spend up to 10% less than average. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the cultural beliefs on the therapeutic use of music in the nineteenth and twentieth century by examining asylum records in Australia, Great Britain, Europe, and North America. Psychiatric illustrations of the role of music in therapeutic regimes in the period are described. According to the author, medical understandings of images of music as medicinal are contained within representation of the asylum, and have far-reaching resonance that can be rediscovered through careful analysis.

Objectives: Using the concept of avoidable mortality, international studies suggest that healthcare has been effective in reducing mortality. This paper provides an analysis of avoidable mortality in Australia and compares trends with those of Western Europe. Methods: Using unit-record mortality data, we calculated avoidable mortality rates in Australia for 1968-2001. We partitioned avoidable causes into three categories: those amenable to medical care; those mainly responsive to health policy; and ischaemic heart disease. We used Poisson regression to model the trends. We compared trends with those of nine European countries using published data. Results: Total avoidable death rates fell by 68% in females and 72% in males. The corresponding non-avoidable death rates fell by 35 and 33%. The annual declines in avoidable mortality rates were: 3.47% [95% confidence intervals (CI) 3.44-3.50%] in males and 3.89% (95% CI 3.86-3.91%) in females. For non-avoidable mortality rates, the annual declines were 1.09% (95% CI 1.05-1.13%) and 0.95% (95% CI 0.92-0.98%), respectively. In females, declines in death rates from causes amenable to medical care contributed 54% to the decline in avoidable mortality rates, ischaemic heart disease contributed 45%, and causes responsive to health policy intervention contributed 1%. In males, the corresponding contributions were 32, 57 and 11%. These rates, and the declines between 1980 and 1998, were comparable with selected European countries, with Australia's ranking improving over the period. Conclusion: Trends in avoidable mortality in Australia suggest that the Australian healthcare system has been effective in improving population health. Australia's experience compares favourably with that of Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many respects the Australian colonies were what one person called “the proud offspring of a grand old mother.” Yet when it came to the prevention of imported infectious disease, Britain’s Australian colonies were not a chip off the old block. British opposition to the lengthy and costly imposition of quarantine had intensified throughout the nineteenth century, eventuating in the abolition of human quarantine in 1896. The Australian colonies, on the other hand, which had based their first quarantine regulations on British law and remained constantly aware of changing medical trends in the mother country, gradually expanded the breadth and capabilities of their maritime quarantine as the century progressed. Although other European powers and British colonies progressively adopted systems of medical inspection more in line with British port prophylaxis and away from quarantine, the Australian colonies invested increasing amounts of time and money into more elaborate quarantine stations and regulations. In this article I examine some of the basic features of coastal disease prevention in the Australian colonies and how they differed from British controls. Australia’s distance from Britain was emphasized in the quarantine debates geographically as well as in policy. I argue that the often controversial differences in quarantine policy were for the most part a product of Australia’s geographical location. The natural prophylactic of Australia’s remoteness was not a reason to minimize quarantine in the colonies but rather served to increase it; whereas, it was argued that “the geographical position of England deprived it of the advantages... derived from a comprehensive quarantine system.” I discuss this seeming anomaly in light of other arguments that have claimed that the close proximity of a state to the acknowledged origin of a disease was likely to increase its eagerness to quarantine. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Australia has strong European traditions, rooted in its history of the past 200 years. On the other hand, Australia differs from many European countries in a number of important respects, including geography, population density and aspects of government economic policy. This paper uses data from the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (1996-98) to examine how these similarities and differences may have impacted on the manufacturing strategies adopted by firms in the two regions. Whilst Australian and European manufacturers seem similar in many respects, in that they are listening to their customers, adopting quality strategies and utilizing technology, there are important differences in the speed of adoption of some aspects of these approaches. In particular, European manufacturers introduced a number of manufacturing technologies earlier and are using them more extensively than their Australian counterparts, whilst health, environmental and safety activities seem to be more prominent among Australian firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines empirically whether more stringent domestic environmental policies reduce the international competitiveness of environmentally sensitive goods (ESGs). Our time series evidence indicates that there are no systematic changes in trade patterns of ESGs in thelast three decades, despite the introduction of more stringent environmental regulations in most of the developed countries in the 1970s and 1980s. This observed phenomenon is then subjected to a multi-country econometric test using an extended gravity-equation framework. The test suggests that, overall, more stringent environmental regulations do not reduce total exports, exports of ESGs and exports of non-resource-based ESGs. Neither was there any evidence to support the hypothesis that new trade barriers emerge to offset the effects of more stringent environmental regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Utility PhotoVoltaic Group (UPVG) is a non-profit organization of nearly 100 energy service providers that was formed to accelerate the commercialization of photovoltaics (PV). The US Department of Energy (DOE) provides funding support for many of the UPVG's activities and programs. The UPVG manages the TEAM-UPprogram, which is a partnership between the electric utility industry and the US DOE that provides cost-sharing to competitively selected business ventures that deploy PV systems. Currently over 400 individual installations, totalling more than 275 MW, have been installed under rounds One, Two, and Three of the TEAM-UPprogram. One goal of TEAM-UPis to disseminate information collected from these ventures to utilities, energy service providers, and the solar community. This paper describes the UPVG, the TEAM-UPprogram and identifies lessons learned at this stage of the program. Actual performance data from selected PV systems is displayed on the UPVG web page: www.upvg.org. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]