Search

In the last decade, affective polarization (AP) has become an increasingly salient topic in both public discourse and political science. Several different measurement instruments have been developed to empirically capture this phenomenon. With the rising interest that affective polarization is now also enjoying in Europe, it has become of the utmost importance to assess what these different measures capture, and to what extent their application travels to different contexts. In this study we test several AP measures on a student population with various European nationalities. We assess their overlap and effectiveness in mapping AP, to help future research working towards greater empirical clarity, and making informed choices on which kind of measures to include in questionnaires and data collections. The results indicate that, while different items usually produce different point estimates and sometimes different answer patterns, the measurement of affective polarization appears relatively indifferent to the choice of items. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advances in measuring poverty in non-monetary terms enable governments to track social progress on ends, the things that societies value doing and being. Using a national-level regression-based empirical strategy, this research demonstrates the magnitude of previously unmeasured policy effects on material deprivation, a non-monetary indicator of poverty. We apply this methodology to a comparative microdata set covering 32 European countries and estimate the average marginal effect of a small universal income increase on material deprivation. We illustrate the impact of the income transfer from various policy angles commonly used when analyzing the poverty reduction effects of social transfers. We show how impacts vary with characteristics such as country and household deprivation levels and the type of social transfers received. The methodology enables an analysis of the redistributive impact of social transfers on non-monetary social outcomes and is also suitable for other non-monetary social outcomes such as housing deprivation and food insecurity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers a perspective on person-centered care (PCC). It discusses imperatives for PCC including ethical/professional, scientific/evidence-based and economic justifications. It stresses the need for a global theory of PCC and raises concern about the tension between PCC and guideline-based approaches to evidence-based medicine and healthcare improvement. It considers the operationalisaton of PCC via multistakeholder involvement, competency frameworks and code of practice.

This article presents a modular, multidisciplinary methodology for tracing how different communities in the deeper past adapted their behaviors and shaped their environments to address the health risks they faced, a process also known as "healthscaping." Historians have made major strides in reconstructing preventative health programs across the pre- or non-industrial world, thereby challenging a common view of public health as a product of Euro-American modernity and biomedicine. However, these studies' general focus on cities and their reliance on archival and other documents that are more readily available in Euro-American contexts, limit the intervention's potential for rethinking the earlier history of public health comparatively, transregionally and on a global scale. A broader definition of health, additional sources and alternative methodologies allow us to expand research in and especially beyond urban Europe, promoting a global turn in health historiography that operates outside the seductive teleology of modernization, colonialism and imperialism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Acta Biologica Slovenica is the property of Drustvo Biologov Slovenije 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.)

Purpose: The purpose of this analysis is to collect and classify the most important diversity indices, outline the logical connections between them and answer the following question: How much will the results differ if the authors use different indices for explaining the same dependent variable (attitude toward cultural pluralism), and what kind of relationships are observable in the European societies? Design/methodology/approach: The diversity indices are good for compressing information on the number and shares of ethnic groups in a given setting into single numbers in order to use them as independent variables. However, it matters which index the authors choose because it can make a meaningful difference in the assessment of the potential impacts of diversification. Our empirical study (based on 43 European countries and 160 regions) concluded that the correlation coefficients between the most important indices are above 0.8. Thus, in practice, none of them gives a fundamentally different answer to the question: how does diversity/diversification influences people's attitudes toward multiculturalism. Findings: By linking these results with the European Social Survey database the authors concluded that the more diverse a population in 2014 was, a more positive attitude toward multiculturalism was expressed. However, if the authors focus on the dynamics of diversification, the spread of points is much greater and polynomial (U-shaped curvilinear) trendlines are better suitable to grasp the relationships. It means that people tend to react very differently to similar societal changes in those regions where a moderate degree of diversification took place. Originality/value: International migration and ethno-cultural diversification are hotly debated issues in contemporary Europe, and there is a growing interest in understanding their possible social, economic and political outcomes. A question of key importance for the social sciences to adequately answer the challenges is the capability to measure these processes in a quantitative way as well. This paper helps decide which diversity index might be the optimum solution for a given research project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public banks have played an important role in financing public water and sanitation services in Europe for over a century, but these activities have been largely ignored in the academic literature. This special issue is an initial corrective to this research gap, providing conceptual insights and empirical information on eight countries and regions in Europe, covering a wide range of public banks working with public water operators. This introductory article provides background rationale for the research, outlines our methodologies, frames the theoretical potentials of public banks in the water sector, highlights key findings and points to future possible research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Removing medicines from market may benefit public health by preventing adverse drug reactions (ADRs), which should be quantified. This study's aim was to identify a model to quantify the impact of medicines' marketing authorisation (MA) withdrawal and revocation in terms of preventing morbidity and mortality., Methods: MA withdrawals and revocations for safety reasons in France, Germany and/or the United Kingdom between July 2012 and December 2016 were identified for prescription medicines. Annual exposure was estimated for each medicine, using IQVIA Medical Research Data (IMRD)-France, IMRD-Germany and IMRD-UK primary care electronic health record databases. European Medicines Agency records provided reasons for regulatory action for each medicine. Absolute risks of ADRs which led to MA withdrawal were estimated for patients exposed to each medicine by systematic review of quantitative research. Public health impact, expressed as annual number of ADRs avoided, was estimated by modelling exposure and ADR risk., Results: Four MA withdrawals and two revocations met study inclusion criteria. Each product's usage decreased following MA withdrawal or revocation. Absolute risk for ADRs was 0.1%-41.25%. To estimate impact of each withdrawal or revocation, its average annual exposure within each IMRD population was multiplied by the absolute risk to give the crude number of ADRs prevented annually due to regulatory action., Conclusions: This model quantifies the public health impact of MA withdrawal and revocation in terms of serious morbidity, resulting from eliminated or reduced usage of medicines. This method can be applied to products in other settings to quantify the impact of other pharmacovigilance actions., (© 2024 The Author(s). Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

This study reviews 1,406 research articles published between 2016 and 2020 in the European Journal of Social Work (EJSW), the British Journal of Social Work (BJSW) and Research on Social Work Practice (RSWP). It assesses the proportion and complexity of quantitative research designs amongst published articles and investigates differences between the journals. Furthermore, the review investigates the complexity of the statistical methods employed and identifies the most frequently addressed topics. From the 1,406 articles, 504 (35.8 percent) used a qualitative methodology, 389 (27.7 percent) used a quantitative methodology, 85 (6 percent) used the mixed methods (6 percent), 253 (18 percent) articles were theoretical in nature, 148 (10.5 percent) conducted reviews and 27 (1.9 percent) gave project overviews. The proportion of quantitative research articles was higher in RSWP (55.4 percent) than in the EJSW (14.1 percent) and the BJSW (20.5 percent). The topic analysis could identify at least forty different topics addressed by the articles. Although the proportion of quantitative research is rather small in social work research, the review could not find evidence that it is of low sophistication. Finally, this study concludes that future research would benefit from making explicit why a certain methodology was chosen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This thematic issue addresses one of the most important social and political challenges worldwide: The social inclusion of poor children and youth. In addressing it in this commentary I will have Europe as the regional context and Norway as the national one, although the methodological perspectives I bring forth have relevance beyond Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Latinoamericana de Metodología de las Ciencias Sociales is the property of Universidad Nacional de La Plata 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.)

Taking English medieval probate inventories as a case study this article introduces a methodological approach to inventories adapted from the narratological frameworks of Gérard Genette. Using this novel methodology this study explores how we might identify narrative elements within inventories and in so doing better our understanding of the objects and spaces of late medieval houses. It outlines how legal frameworks, the inventorying genre, and the organizational techniques of individual appraisers contributed to processes of narrativization. Moreover, it demonstrates how in praxis this narratological approach can recover traces of hidden objects, spaces, and the movement of appraisers, which have been preserved within the text of these documents. Finally, it highlights the potential of this methodology to be adapted in future work in order to examine systems of classification employed by appraisers, or the contexts of production for inventory corpora. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historic concrete buildings are at risk. Limited knowledge of concrete technology until the 1960s led to more sensitive buildings than modern concrete buildings. In addition, the lack of sensibility regarding their heritage value and insufficient protection is leading to remorseless demolition. Still, concrete has proved to be a resilient material that can last over a century with proper care. There is not yet an estimation of the status of historic concrete buildings in Europe. Until now, a few attempts have been done to secondarily, and subjectively, gauge their conservation status. This paper is the result of a joint investigation studying forty-eight historic concrete buildings distributed in four countries. They were surveyed by expert teams according to a predefined methodology. The study aims to identify recurrent damages and parameters affecting the conservation state. It also aims to serve as the first trial for an objective and measurable methodology, to apply it with a statistically significant number of cases. Damages related to the corrosion of reinforcement and moisture-related processes were the most recurrent. The use of plasters, flat roofs, and structural façade walls show a positive effect in protecting the concrete. The state of conservation has a great variability across countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the post-Baroque era, science in the developed states of Europe gradually turned from theological scepticism to practical goals. The growing interest in the search for new sources of wealth resulted in the policy of mercantilism that developed in European powers from the Baroque period to the 1830s; this policy directly affected the nature of scholarly research, and in non-colonial states, it focussed, in the form of cameralist system, on the development of state administration and the improvement in and exploitation of economically marginal or directly poor regions. In connection with the Enlightenment ideal of a harmonious society, states aimed at a functional normalisation of relations among individual social strata; the scholarly interest, in the primary pursuit of economic and developmental objectives, focusses for the first time on folk culture, providing valuable reports on it and, last but not least, contributing to the popularization of its selected segments, with which Romantic philosophy as well as anthropology subsequently worked; in the period under study, anthropology was rather a natural science dealing with human evolution, including related cultural expressions. The aforementioned factors brought about the first ethnographic monographs applying the theories and methods that formed the basic building blocks of the future independent discipline; the treatise observes their development up to a noticeable ideological breakthrough in the pre-March period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reflects on how the authors in this Special Forum collectively advance the work in the subfield of critical masculinity studies. The several significant themes emerging in this collection of articles include: persistent state intervention in gender relations, the impact of longstanding patriarchal norms, the rapidly changing postwar gender equilibrium, and the continuing significance of war and martial masculinity. Furthermore, the Special Forum illuminates the importance of micro-histories and ego-documents to the study of masculinities in Central and East Europe. Finally, by framing agency as a relational process affected by a variety of constraints, these authors' work marks a productive forward movement for the future study of critical masculinity studies more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective/Context: This text sets out a succinct overview of the sweep of the history of emotions and sentiments, from the decisive steps taken by Peter N. Stearns and Carol Z. Stearns in the 1980s up to some of the essential contributions made to the field by numerous academics from Latin America in subsequent moments. The fundamental goal of this exercise is to provide context for the contributions of the articles included in the current issue of Historia Crítica. Methodology: I will point out the main methods and approaches of numerous papers about the history of emotions and sentiments produced in North America and Europe. At the same time, I will inquire about the attention this field has received in Latin American historiography and present the articles of the dossier. Originality: The text condenses and compares a substantial set of historical viewpoints about emotions and sentiments, the pathways it opens to widening historical explanations and invites exploring them from Latinamerican historiography. Conclusions: The articles collected in this issue suggest the importance of continuing to move forward in the study of the history of emotions and sentiments in Latin America, given the authors of these texts prove that the weight of regimes and the signification of emotional experiences matter in the spectrum of causalities, in the decisions, and the agency of individuals and groups, in the formation of political loyalties, in power contests, in revolutions, and wars, in the representations of order and the manners in which to subvert it, but also in the elucidation of the deepest creases of the lives, feelings, and words of the societies of the past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with the embargo imposed by the papacy and the Catholic lay powers on all trade and commerce with the Czech Hussites. It posits that this anti-Hussite embargo was simultaneously a means of economic warfare and an expression of the longer tradition of the papal embargo. Based on this twofold understanding, a set of sources is interrogated both from the perspectives of economic and cultural history. To this end a research methodology is employed that differentiates between the instrumental and symbolic dimensions of agency. This allows for a new, holistic view of the anti-Hussite embargo, both as an instrumental means of warfare and as a communicative process. The article thus contributes to political, economic and cultural history as much as to the history of everyday life in fifteenth-century Central Europe. Above all, however, it offers a transferable research methodology for the study of medieval embargoes in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The changing geographies of irregular migration require new methodological approaches and modes of researcher engagement. In and around Europe, migrants are increasingly residing in unconventional, dynamic, and diverse spaces such as informal transit camps. Along the Balkan Route, these temporary, makeshift encampments are emerging as a result of the EU's crackdown on border controls, tightening restrictions on asylum legislation and aid provision, and increasingly long, difficult, and fragmented migratory journeys. Across cities, border‐zones, and at strategic transit hubs, immobilised migrants have established informal transit camps where they may temporarily reside and access services, information, and smugglers before their next clandestine attempt to cross into the EU. Due to transit state policies that effectively ignore these transit camps and ban larger NGOs from operating there, the majority of services and humanitarian aid is provided by small, grassroots organisations and unpaid volunteers. The proliferation of informal transit camps, and the particular social constellations of actors who reside and operate in these spaces, call for further scholarly attention. In this paper, we reflect on the challenges and opportunities of taking on a role as a volunteer while conducting research among migrants in informal transit camps. By considering the acute conditions of informality, vulnerability, and precariousness, this paper illustrates how volunteering in this context is a way of gaining access to the site, establishing rapport and legitimacy, and fostering reciprocity among migrant subjects. Drawing from fieldwork along the Balkan Route as a volunteer‐researcher, this paper examines methodology, best practices, positionality, and the ethical benefits and limitations of highly participatory, engagement‐driven research in informal transit camps at Europe's periphery. The changing geographies of irregular migration and the proliferation of informal transit camps in and around Europe call for new methodological approaches and modes of researcher engagement. In this paper, we consider the acute conditions of vulnerability, transience, and precariousness of informal transit camps, and reflect on the challenges and opportunities of taking on a role as a volunteer while conducting research among migrants in this context. Drawing from fieldwork along the Balkan Route as a volunteer‐researcher, this paper examines methodology, best practices, positionality, and the ethical benefits and limitations of highly participatory, engagement‐driven research in informal transit camps at Europe's periphery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Lubelski Rocznik Pedagogiczny is the property of Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin 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.)

While Nursing Informatics competencies seem essential for the daily work of nurses, they are not formally integrated into nursing education in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, nor are there any national educational recommendations. The aim of this paper is to show how such recommendations can be developed, what competency areas are most relevant in the three countries and how the recommendations can be implemented in practice. To this end, a triple iterative procedure was proposed and applied starting with national health informatics recommendations for other professionals, matching and enriching these findings with topics from the international literature and finally validating them in an expert survey with 87 experts and in focus group sessions. Out of the 24 compiled competency areas, the relevance ratings of the following four recommended areas achieved values above 90%: nursing documentation (including terminologies), principles of nursing informatics, data protection and security, and quality assurance and quality management. As there were no significant differences between the three countries, these findings laid the foundation of the DACH Recommendations of Nursing Informatics as joint German (D), Austrian (A), and Swiss (CH) recommendations in Nursing Informatics. The methodology proposed has been utilized internationally, which demonstrates the added value of this study also outside the confines of Austria, Germany, Switzerland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article develops a methodology to compare the quality of examination services in three major patent systems. Quality is defined as the extent to which patent systems comply with the patentability conditions in a transparent way. The methodology consists of a two-layer analytical framework encompassing “legal standards” (LS) and their “operational design” (OD) which includes several interdependent components that affect the stringency and transparency of the filtering process. The comparison of patent systems in Europe, Japan, and the United States shows that their operational designs differ substantially: the European system provides higher-quality and more expensive examination services than the United States one, while the Japanese Patent system is in an intermediate position. The results illustrate that different system designs lead to different outcomes in terms of backlogs, patent propensity, and the number of dubious patent rights in force. In this respect, these findings (i) provide an empirical validation of the conjecture of a vicious cycle linking the quality of examination and demand for patents and (ii) highlight the need for a multifaceted convergence of patent systems before mutual recognition is put in place. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Innovative research training programmes funded by the European Union are essential for the forging of highly skilled researchers to tackle, via breakthrough ideas and solutions, the challenges of our society. Being able to track, measure and analyse innovative aspects of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions, Innovative Training Networks under the Horizon2020 funding scheme enables the impact assessment of such programmes, while filtering best practices and the generated knowledge that could ultimately breed and create further innovation. In parallel, it helps the identification of areas for improvement, the understanding of new needs to be accommodated and the co-design and implementation of EU funding policy activities to further promote innovation and excellence for researchers across Europe and beyond. In this study, a novel methodological approach is proposed for tracking and analysing innovation, using a representative sample of projects. Basic innovation indicators are examined and considered from the existing literature and from the applicable Multi-Annual Framework Programme Horizon2020. Additional ones are defined, complemented by questionnaires/surveys findings, to capture innovative aspects for which the standard indicators do not apply. Data mining and data visualization tools are used for the collection and processing of data. Innovation Radar (IR) reports and HorizonResultsBooster services are also engaged for the cross-validation of the identified innovative aspects. The study provides first-level input for policy-feedback activities, by identifying scientific domains and EU countries that may potentially require more attention for innovation generation. It highlights domains that are front-runners and can be used as examples or best practices for under-represented domains in terms of innovative outputs. Collaboration with organisations, defined as medium/high innovators, can increase innovation generation and success in future projects. Best practices are collected to serve as references for designing impactful future training programmes. The excellence of the H2020-MSCA-ITN actions is confirmed via the generated innovations., Competing Interests: No competing interests were disclosed., (Copyright: © 2023 Bitsios I et al.)

Many international survey projects contain items on corruption that facilitate comparative analyses of individual-level determinants of perceived and experienced corruption, yet such data remain under-used. To encourage more and better use of the wealth of available survey projects, this article presents a comprehensive review of the largest collection of extant cross-national data suitable for research on corruption in Europe. I examine a total of 1129 items on corruption stemming from 21 international survey projects and their 89 survey waves that cover 45 European countries during the period 1989–2017. Within three decades, the number of corruption items has grown remarkably, rising from just one in 1989 to nearly a hundred in 2017. This article shows the trends: a considerable increase in experiential items; greater differentiation between forms of corruption; a move from items on 'what government has done' to items on 'what ordinary people can do'; and inclusion of items on corruption in private sector. Researchers interested in understanding perceptions and experiences of corruption, as they are shaped by social contexts, are offered an opportunity of exploring the availability of corruption items in international survey projects in a systematic manner in order to analyzed patterns of corruption, its causes and consequences. Concluding part of the paper contains some remarks on the challenges of using survey data on corruption in a comparative framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides some contributions (both methodological and empirical) by the photography in a sociological study on the urban art. It deals specifically with the graffiti and the street art. The central objective is to question how pertinent it is to use a photographic record as a tool for gathering information and carrying out a documentary analysis based on a dual action basis: on one hand, to highlight the methodological process in a research where the photograph is pivotal as a visual means, discussing critically on different views of the city. On the other hand, to provide examples on how the photography is relevant in the social universe under research, i.e., among the artists doing graffiti and street art. In these two cases, taking photographs of the works in the public space provides a double game: 1) as a tangible practice of legitimization and gaining prestige within a collective; and, 2) as a material proof for the recognition and appreciation of their artistic track record. The analytical framework includes to record in situ the produced images in different Latin American (Buenos Aires, Lima, Montevideo) and European cities (Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Lisbon, Paris, Porto). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the period between 1979 and 1996 several national silage additive approval schemes appeared in Europe. Today only two approval schemes are still in use, the European Union (EU) authorization of additive components (compulsory) and the German DLG approval scheme of complete additives (voluntary). The EU authorization focuses on safety and environmental properties. Since EU authorization is compulsory for all additives and most additives are composed of more than one single active component, it offers no immediate help to advisors or farmers to help selecting a suitable additive. The DLG approval scheme has a more consumer‐oriented approach and can test complete additives under a rather large variety of conditions. Approved additives get the privilege to carry a DLG Quality Mark. Comparative trials from 1995 between the German and the French approval schemes were described as well as trials from 2010 to evaluate a DLG test protocol for testing additives in round bales. The DLG test scheme has to take into account that there are different aims of action, which cannot be covered by one additive. There are therefore six aims of action, directly related to the ensiling process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Issues: Drug consumptions rooms (DCR) and supervised injecting facilities (SIF) are expanding internationally. Previous reviews have not systematically addressed evaluation methodologies.Approach: Results from systematic searches of scientific databases in English until June 2017 were coded for paper type, country and year of publication. For evaluation papers, study outcome, methodology/study design and main indicators of DCR/SIF 'exposure' were recorded.Key Findings: Two hundred and nineteen eligible peer-reviewed papers were published since 1999: the majority from Canada (n = 117 papers), Europe (n = 36) and Australia (n = 32). Fifty-six papers reported evaluation outcomes. Ecological study designs (n = 10) were used to assess the impact on overdose, public nuisance and crime; modelling techniques (n = 6) estimated impact on blood-borne diseases, overdose deaths and costs. Papers using individual-level data included four prospective cohorts (n = 28), cross-sectional surveys (n = 7) and service records (n = 5). Individual-level data were used to assess safer injecting practice, uptake into health and social services and all the other above outcomes except for impact on crime and costs. Four different indicators of DCR/SIF attendance were used to measure service 'exposure'.Implications: Research around DCRs/SIFs has used ecological, modelling, cross-sectional and cohort study designs. Further research could involve systematic inclusion of a control group of people who are eligible but do not access SIFs, validation of self-reported proportion of injections at SIFs or a stepped-wedge or a cluster trial comparing localities.Conclusions: Methodologies appropriate for DCR/SIF evaluation have been established and can be readily replicated from the existing literature. Research on operational aspects, implementation and transferability is also warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: There is a need to improve the assessment of emotional functioning (EF). In the international Advance Care Planning: an Innovative Palliative Care Intervention to Improve Quality of Life in Cancer Patients - a Multi-Centre Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial (ACTION) trial involving patients with advanced cancer, EF was assessed by a customized 10-item short form (EF10). The EF10 is based on the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) EF item bank and has the potential for greater precision than the common EORTC Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 four-item scale (EF4). We assessed the relative validity (RV) of EF10 compared with EF4.Methods: Patients from Belgium, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom completed EF10 and EF4, and provided data on generic quality of life, coping, self-efficacy, and personal characteristics. Based on clinical and sociodemographic variables and questionnaire responses, 53 "known groups" that were expected to differ were formed, for example, females versus males. The EF10 and EF4 were first independently compared within this known group, for example, the EF10 score of females vs the EF10 score of males. When these differences were significant, the RV was calculated for the comparison of the EF10 with the EF4.Results: A total of 1028 patients (57% lung, 43% colorectal cancer) participated. Forty-five of the 53 known-groups comparisons were significantly different and were used for calculating the RV. In 41 of 45 (91%) comparisons, the RV was more than 1, meaning that EF10 had a higher RV than EF4. The mean RV of EF10 compared with that of EF4 was 1.41, indicating superior statistical power of EF10 to detect differences in EF.Conclusions: Compared with EF4, EF10 shows superior power, allowing a 20% to 34% smaller sample size without reducing power, when used as a primary outcome measure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1986 McCann-Erickson commissioned a study called Leisure Futures from the Naisbitl Group, This paper summarises some of the general findings for marketing readers. We are moving from an industrial, manufacturing-based economy to a service, information-based one, and many of our basic assumptions and constructs will need to change. New ways of forecasting and managing the future will be needed and Leisure Futures represents a first application of thematic content analysis in five European countries. Leisure trends are compared between these countries and North America in some detail. Overall findings concern the changing consumer and his or her changing expectations respecting technology, convenience, globalisation , affluence, values, and many other related topics. Specific aspects of change are explored and some broad marketing examples and applications discussed. Many apparent consumer paradoxes are explored, and certain key concepts such as the search for balance, and the need to experience both the known and the new, are explained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to perform a systematic cross-country comparison of key features of industrial relations in Europe in a context where consolidated post-war institutions are under attack on many fronts. The author discusses a number of key similarities and differences across the countries of Europe, and end by considering whether progressive alternatives still exist.Design/methodology/approach This paper draws upon academic literature and compares the contributions to this special issue in the light of common problems and challenges.Findings The trend towards the erosion of nationally based employment protection and collective bargaining institutions is widely confirmed. In most of Central and Eastern Europe, where systems of organised industrial relations were at best only partially established after the collapse of the Soviet regime, the scope for unilateral dominance by (in particular foreign-owned) employers has been further enlarged. It is also clear that the European Union, far from acting as a force for harmonisation of regulatory standards and a strengthening of the “social dimension” of employment regulation, is encouraging the erosion of nationally based employment protections and provoking a growing divergence of outcomes. However, the trends are contradictory and uneven.Originality/value This paper contributes to an updated cross-country comparative analysis of the ongoing transformations in European industrial relations and discusses still existing progressive alternatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Current comparative policy research gives no clear answer to the question of whether partisan politics in general or the partisan composition of governments in particular matter for different morality policy outputs across countries and over time. This article addresses this desideratum by employing a new encompassing dataset that captures the regulatory permissiveness in six morality policies that are homosexuality, same‐sex partnership, prostitution, pornography, abortion and euthanasia in 16 European countries over five decades from 1960 to 2010. Given the prevalent scepticism about a role for political parties for morality policies in existing research, this is a ‘hard’ test case for the ‘parties do matter’ argument. Starting from the basic theoretical assumption that different party families, if represented in national governments to varying degrees, ought to leave differing imprints on morality policy making, this research demonstrates that parties matter when accounting for the variation in morality policy outputs. This general statement needs to be qualified in three important ways. First, the nature of morality policy implies that party positions or preferences cannot be fully understood by merely focusing on one single cleavage alone. Instead, morality policy is located at the interface of different cleavages, including not only left‐right and secular‐religious dimensions, but also the conflicts between materialism and postmaterialism, green‐alternative‐libertarian and traditional‐authoritarian‐nationalist (GAL‐TAN) parties, and integration and demarcation. Second, it is argued in this article that the relevance of different cleavages for morality issues varies over time. Third, partisan effects can be found only if individual cabinets, rather than country‐years, are used as the unit of analysis in the research design. In particular, party families that tend to prioritise individual freedom over collective interests (i.e., left and liberal parties) are associated with significantly more liberal morality policies than party families that stress societal values and order (i.e., conservative/right and religious parties). While the latter are unlikely to overturn previous moves towards permissiveness, these results suggest that they might preserve the status quo at least. Curiously, no systematic effects of green parties are found, which may be because they have been represented in European governments at later periods when morality policy outputs were already quite permissive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is based on a review of 60 evaluations (published and unpublished) relating to European domestic violence perpetrator programmes, involving 7,212 programme participants across 12 countries. The purpose of the review, part of the "IMPACT: Evaluation of European Perpetrator Programmes" project funded by the European Commission (Daphne III Programme), was to provide detailed knowledge about the range of European evaluation studies with particular emphasis on the design, methods, input, output, and outcome measures used in order to identify the possibilities and challenges of a multicountry, Europe-wide evaluation methodology that could be used to assess perpetrator programmes in the future. We provide a model to standardise the reporting of evaluation studies and to ensure attention is paid to what information is being collected at different time points so as to understand what and how the behaviour and attitudes of perpetrators might change throughout the course of the programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying and applying the appropriate method for ecosystem services mapping and assessment is not trivial. To provide guidance in this task, this paper describes the creation of a database for existing studies on mapping and assessing ecosystems and their services, which records relevant information to the ecosystem studies (e.g. methods used, the scale, ecosystem type, ecosystem service categories) and other relevant attributes that need to be considered. This database, therefore, forms the basis for an online ecosystem service 'methods finder'. Our results provide an overview of the database itself (883 entries until April 2018) and the consultation within the ESMERALDA consortium that shaped its development, as well as providing an overview of the final mapping and assessment methods describing their spatial distribution. This work helps identify the main gaps and opportunities for alignment and development of commonalities in analytical approach amongst the individual Member States. The results illustrate the different conditions, dimensions and geographical contexts in Europe, information that can be used as background to help the development of a flexible methodology for mapping and assessing ecosystem services in Europe. The paper concludes with a discussion on how the typology of methods can be used in initiatives that aim to integrate ecosystems and their services in decision-making and planning. This work highlights some challenges for future activities on mapping and assessment of ecosystem services in the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This short communication presents an ecosystem assessment framework developed within ESMERALDA; a Horizon2020-funded EU project aimed at delivering a 'flexible methodology' to assist towards pan-European and regional Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystem Services (MAES). The framework we present is closely aligned with assessment frameworks developed within the MAES (2014) and Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2010) initiatives. Mapping, fundamental to the work of MAES as well as ESMERALDA, is placed at the heart of a wider suite of activities carried out within ecosystem assessment. This enables flexibility in where and how integration takes place. Beyond the biophysical parameters at the core of the framework, emphasis is given to the inclusion of social and economic factors to ensure policy relevance. Consultation, both internal to the ESMERALDA Consortium and external - amongst those already conducting ecosystem assessments across Europe - helped guide the development of the framework. Online consultation will provide information about the development of guidance around the framework and initiate the collation of good practice examples. The framework and accompanying guidance will contribute towards a final guidance tool due at the end of the ESMERALDA project lifetime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subject of the paper is an analysis of the methodology for developing urban plans, considered in a normative, organizational and interest context. Based on current legislation defining the content and procedure for adopting a plan, and the institutional framework that defines the participants in the planning process, a basic methodological model for a planning solution was formed, which was then improved in the context of the collaborative planning paradigm. Starting from the assumption that harmonizing the different interests represents the "grey zone" of planning in Serbia, the paper explores various methodological steps that would give a space for better cooperation between all stakeholders, and therefore contribute to the improvement of procedures for developing plans and the quality of the planning solutions themselves. On the basis of this research, a methodology for urban planning is defined as a logical and technical method of successively configuring a planning solution in a normative, organizational and interest context. Through analysis of the application of the methodological model in practice and a case study, it was confirmed that the method of producing a plan that includes timely and meaningful cooperation can reconcile the interests of the different stakeholders in planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Distance learning in Ukraine is extremely relevant in view of not only the large number of people who want to obtain higher education, but also to increase their qualifications, to undergo retraining, and so on. Today, higher education institutions in the country are offered various training courses in real time, based on divergent educational platforms. However, by the degree of use of virtual education systems, they can be divided into those whose work is based solely on Internet technologies and those that combine traditional forms with technological Internet innovations. Today, higher education institutions in Ukraine, where there are faculties of distance education and the opportunity to get knowledge of practically all disciplines or specialties at separate faculties of these educational institutions, prevail in Ukraine. Thus, there is a peculiar continuity of distance education with the traditional system of education, which has not only positive but also negative consequences for the acquisition of knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Huge amounts of explosive remnants of war represent a unique and complex risk. • The current risk management approach is considered inappropriate. • Directives and regulations prohibit the use of more relevant methodologies. • This paper provides recommendations on revising existing risk assessment standards. For many countries, the legacy of armed conflict in the form of unexploded ordnance has a severe impact on society and daily life, as millions of tonnes of explosive remnants of war represent a grave threat to both the environment and societal safety and security. Recent and dramatic changes in the security situation in Europe sadly demonstrate that explosive remnants of war are not, however, only a thing of the past. This makes it especially relevant to evaluate how we assess and manage this risk today and how, if possible, this practice could be improved. In the present paper, we will outline some of the particularities that differentiate risk assessments of unexploded ordnance from other, more familiar, risks and discuss whether the current methodology can be considered relevant and appropriate. We find that the different risk assessment methodologies generally in use today, as described in applicable guidelines and regulations, are principally unsuitable for this use and, in addition, sometimes also ambiguous, inconsistent and incompatible. In particular, we find that any model based on a risk assessment that does not include an evaluation of background knowledge and associated uncertainties cannot be regarded as an optimal or appropriate risk assessment tool, when assessing a risk typically characterized by high complexity and uncertainty. The conclusion of this investigation is that the current risk assessment methodology for assessing risks related to unexploded ordnance and explosive remnants of war urgently needs to be revised, in order to improve the decision-making basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution applies a functional-spatial perspective to the study of small and medium-sized towns. A methodology for functional analysis is developed and tested to identify towns, distinguish towns from cities, and detect town positionality within urban territorial arrangements, focusing on whether they are autonomous, networked with other towns or agglomerated with large cities. The methodology is used to compare settlement systems in two regions and two countries in Europe by looking at the existence and nature of networks between towns and cities and how towns perform in terms of population and jobs in respect of their belonging to different types of territorial arrangement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 1/10th-scale wind-tunnel technique for assessing the slipstream of high-speed trains (HST) is assessed through comparison to full-scale field and 1/25th-scale moving-model experimental results of an Inter-City Express 3 (ICE3) – a HST in operation throughout Europe and Asia – with the view of applying the wind-tunnel methodology for checking regulatory compliance in the design phase of a HST. The effect of the experimental limitations inherent in a wind-tunnel slipstream methodology: the presence of a stationary floor, reduced length of the model, limited test-section size and ground-fixed frame-of-reference are also investigated. Subsequently, recommendations for the use of wind-tunnel and moving model methodologies for assessing the slipstream of prototype HSTs with an applied, industrial aerodynamics focus, are made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European College of Sport Science (ECSS) was established in part to promote the integrated study of sports and related phenomena from multi- and interdisciplinary perspectives. There are significant and enduring philosophical, epistemological and professional challenges and opportunities that arise from this integrationist perspective. In this article, we reflect upon the challenges that have arisen in the development of sport sciences in the attempt to realize the ECSS mission. We identify three paradigmatic approaches to sports science: (1) the mechanistic; (2) the hermeneutic and (3) the critical. We critically evaluate these paradigms and their potential within the broad framework of integrationist ambitions for sports science as a scientific field. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This systematic literature review aimed to provide an overview of the characteristics and methods used in studies applying the disability-adjusted life years (DALY) concept for infectious diseases within European Union (EU)/European Economic Area (EEA)/European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries and the United Kingdom. Electronic databases and grey literature were searched for articles reporting the assessment of DALY and its components. We considered studies in which researchers performed DALY calculations using primary epidemiological data input sources. We screened 3053 studies of which 2948 were excluded and 105 studies met our inclusion criteria. Of these studies, 22 were multi-country and 83 were single-country studies, of which 46 were from the Netherlands. Food- and water-borne diseases were the most frequently studied infectious diseases. Between 2015 and 2022, the number of burden of infectious disease studies was 1.6 times higher compared to that published between 2000 and 2014. Almost all studies (97%) estimated DALYs based on the incidence- and pathogen-based approach and without social weighting functions; however, there was less methodological consensus with regards to the disability weights and life tables that were applied. The number of burden of infectious disease studies undertaken across Europe has increased over time. Development and use of guidelines will promote performing burden of infectious disease studies and facilitate comparability of the results.

The grant of a patent and filing of an opposition are important events in the lifecycle of a patent. This paper tests the influence of backward citations on the likelihood of a patent grant and, if any, an opposition. Since all citations are not alike, detailed analysis is done by assessing type, nature and origin of citations in European search reports and, where needed, international search reports. The nature of citations, blocking or non-blocking, is found to have a significant impact on the likelihood of a patent being granted. The effect of citations originating during different stages of patent pendency is also explored in this study. For practitioners, the study provides a landscape of the European wind industry that is characterised by popularity of the PCT route, dearth of non-patent citations and dominance of bigger actors. For academics, the study offers novel opportunities to utilise citation based indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Important findings, e.g. in ecology, should be questioned and debated. Our findings that defoliating looper outbreaks travel as waves across Europe and the response here to such a questioning could be a start of a debate (photo: winter moth carterpillar). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Urban Health Indicators System Project Part 2 (EURO-URHIS 2) is a cross-national study that was implemented in Europe. It consists of four data collection tools that were specifically developed to collect health data at an urban level. This paper reviews some of the methodological constraints in adapting the EURO-URHIS 2 study in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. No attempt to extend the original study beyond Europe has been reported before. Cultural, political, economic and social differences create specific obstacles as well as challenges. This paper sets out how these challenges were addressed, examining key aspects of the methodology, including study design, translation of the questionnaire and data collection. It was found that the EURO-URHIS 2 adult data collection tool methodology could not be replicated in Vietnam. A lack of basic infrastructure and population registers led to significant changes being made to the sampling and survey administration. It was recommended that the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) was used as the replacement method. Despite the limitations in using the EPI method, the overall strengths and benefits were found to address methodological issues and the resource poor setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An important source of model uncertainty in climate models arises from unconfined model parameters in physical parameterizations. These parameters are commonly estimated on the basis of manual adjustments (expert tuning), which carries the risk of overtuning the parameters for a specific climate region or time period. This issue is particularly germane in the case of regional climate models (RCMs), which are often developed and used in one or a few geographical regions only. This study addresses the role of objective parameter calibration in this context. Using a previously developed objective calibration methodology, an RCM is calibrated over two regions (Europe and North America) and is used to investigate the transferability of the results. A total of eight different model parameters are calibrated, using a metamodel to account for parameter interactions. The study demonstrates that the calibration is effective in reducing model biases in both domains. For Europe, this concerns in particular a pronounced reduction of the summer warm bias and the associated overestimation of interannual temperature variability that have persisted through previous expert tuning efforts and are common in many global and regional climate models. The key process responsible for this improvement is an increased hydraulic conductivity. Higher hydraulic conductivity increases the water availability at the land surface and leads to increased evaporative cooling, stronger low cloud formation, and associated reduced incoming shortwave radiation. The calibrated parameter values are found to be almost identical for both domains; that is, the parameter calibration is transferable between the two regions. This is a promising result and indicates that models may be more universal than previously considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evidence underpinning public health policy is often of low quality, leading to inconsistencies in recommended interventions. One example is the divergence in national policies across Europe for managing contacts of invasive meningococcal disease. Aiming to develop consistent guidance at the European level, a group of experts reviewed the literature and formulated recommendations. The group defined eight priority research questions, searched the literature, and formulated recommendations using GRADE methodology. Five of the research questions are discussed in this paper. After taking into account quality of evidence, benefit, harm, value, preference, burden on patient of the intervention, and resource implications, we made four strong recommendations and five weak recommendations for intervention. Strong recommendations related not only to one question with very low quality of evidence as well as to two questions with moderate to high quality of evidence. The weak recommendations related to two questions with low and very low quality of evidence but also to one question with moderate quality of evidence. GRADE methodology ensures a transparent process and explicit recognition of additional factors that should be considered when making recommendations for policy. This approach can be usefully applied to many areas of public health policy where evidence quality is often low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frailty is a common geriatric syndrome that indicates homeostenosis and increased risk of disability and mortality. It is amenable to intervention when detected. Hence, screening frailty is of utmost importance to preserve quality-of-life and function in older age. Simpler Modified Fried Frailty Scale is a very practical frailty screening tool that has recently been introduced and has rooted from the original Fried Scale. It is developed in Turkish and has been shown to predict mortality in nursing home residents. Considering the variety of languages in Europe, it seems valid to adapt and validate this tool in different European languages. Thereby, it is expected that clinicians will have the possibility to screen for frailty more quickly and easily in their practice across many countries. This report is written to explain the details of the final consensus methodology suggested for Simpler Modified Fried Frailty Scale validation in order to guide and help the research teams in their studies. • Frailty is a common geriatric syndrome that increases disability and mortality. • Screening frailty is of utmost importance to preserve quality-of-life and function. • Simpler Modified Fried Frailty Scale is a very practical and rapid screening tool. • Simpler Modified Fried Frailty Scale predicted mortality in nursing home residents. • Simpler Modified Fried Frailty Scale validation will guide the research teams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to provide a content analysis of national policies to address violence and injury prevention in the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region so as to inform where future improvements can be made. Multiple search methods were used to identify national policies for violence and injury prevention. Application of a framework based on a WHO guide was used for policy analysis. A multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) was additionally conducted. One hundred and twenty-three national policies were identified; of these, 80 were available in English language and analysed further. Most national policies had been developed after 2003. The majority of policies fulfilled most of the WHO criteria for effective policy-making. Policy areas requiring improvement include quantifying objectives, targeting the socio-economic gap in injury burden and increased focus on primary prevention. Results from the MCA confirmed the ones obtained with the descriptive statistics. Encouraging progress is being made in formulating national policy for violence and injury prevention within the WHO European Region. There are specific areas that warrant increasing attention in future policy development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]