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This article analyzes the impact of notions of "free labour" on industrial conflicts in postwar Europe. More specifically, it compares worker resistance against the (re-) introduction of labour conscription in two coal basins: the Ruhr in Germany and the Hainaut in Belgium. As coal was vital to the reconstruction effort, governments in both countries issued decrees that either compelled workers to accept a job in the coal sector or prohibited miners from changing jobs. If mobilisation civile in Belgium and Arbeitsverpflichtung in Germany were similarly ineffective in addressing the fundamental problems plaguing the coal sector, miner resistance against these schemes took very different forms in the two regions. In the Hainaut, the reintroduction of wartime constraints triggered a strike wave that was couched in a language of worker rights and freedoms. In the Ruhr, workers representatives steered clear from such ideological arguments, but saw the labour conscripts vote with their feet and abandon the coal mines en masse. In linking these differences to their pre-war and wartime legacies, the article draws attention to the longue durée of controversies over (un)free labour in democratic Western Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hypotheses about the link between cannabis use and psychosis apply to the within-person level but have been tested mostly at the between-person level. We used a within-person design, in which a person serves as his own control, thus removing the need to consider confounding by any fixed (genetic and nongenetic) characteristic to study the prospective association between cannabis use and the incidence of attenuated psychotic experiences, and vice versa, adjusted for time-varying confounders. We combined 2 general population cohorts (at baseline: Early Developmental Stages of Psychopathology Study, n = 1395; Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence Study-2, n = 6603), which applied a similar methodology to study cannabis use and attenuated psychotic experiences with repeated interviews (T0, T1, T2, and T3) over a period of approximately 10 years. The Hausman test was significant for the adjusted models, indicating the validity of the fixed-effects model. In the adjusted fixed-effects model, prior cannabis use was associated with psychotic experiences (aOR = 7.03, 95% CI: 2.39, 20.69), whereas prior psychotic experiences were not associated with cannabis use (aOR = 0.59, 95% CI: 0.21, 1.71). Longitudinal studies applying random-effects models to study associations between risk factors and mental health outcomes, as well as reverse causality, may not yield precise estimates. Cannabis likely impacts causally on psychosis but not the other way round. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sociological literature has produced a remarkably consistent picture of the quantitative patterns of religious disaffiliations in Western countries. This article argues, and demonstrates, that strong changes in a social context may lead individuals to disaffiliate rapidly, leading to very different aggregate effects from those in the "western model." We use the unique situation of the separation of Germany from 1949 to 1989 and its subsequent reunification as a "natural experiment" to show just how much the relationships routinely found can be disrupted under changed conditions. The state socialist "treatment" affected religious disaffiliations in East Germany profoundly as it (a) made disaffiliations 10 times more probable in the East than in the West in the 1950s and 1960s, (b) shielded East German church members from factors that led to mass disaffiliations in the West in the late 1960s and early 1970s, (c) reversed the education‐disaffiliation link in the East, thus making disaffiliation more likely among the less educated, and (d) led to an especially strong increase in disaffiliations in the East right after the reunification [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Germany was a divided country from 1949 until 1989. During this period, West Germany remained a rather religious country, while East Germany became, under socialist rule, one of the most secular regions in the world. We use this case of socialist state intervention as a natural experiment to test Voas' model of secular transition, which states that all Western and Central European countries follow the same path and speed of secularization. We employ ESS, GSS, and KMU surveys, as well as church statistics, to show that Voas' model holds for West Germany but not for the East. In East Germany, the state accelerated the secular transition substantially: through coercion, incentive structures, and education, it succeeded in triggering mass disaffiliations from the church irrespective of age, and in discouraging parents from socializing their children religiously. This led to a self-perpetuating process that resulted in a rapid increase in the number of people who were never socialized religiously at all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Groundwater is a vital resource for freshwater supply during extended droughts and also a key storage governing drought propagation through the hydrological cycle. Current drought monitoring lacks large‐scale estimates of groundwater droughts, but progress of country‐to‐global‐scale models in the last years suggests that they could now be valuable tools to study and monitor water availability during extended droughts. As a prerequisite the models would need to be able to depict the diverse groundwater response to precipitation well enough to distinguish spatial differences. Here we developed a high‐resolution transient groundwater model for Germany and tested its ability for representing the groundwater system dynamics with a focus on droughts. Validation of model results against streamflow‐separated baseflow and groundwater head observation confirmed the model's ability to generally represent the groundwater head dynamics over 40 years with lower model performance in mountainous regions where model resolution was too low to capture local valley aquifers. The precipitation accumulation time that has the highest correlation with groundwater anomalies increases with hydraulic conductivity and specific yield from few months in the Central German Uplands to several years in the porous aquifers of northern Germany. Corresponding to these differences, distinct meteorological drought types led to different simulated groundwater reactions across Germany. Given the importance of groundwater as a resource, large‐scale groundwater models are important tools for future studies on drought propagation as well as groundwater drought under climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Decreasing gender differences in mental health are found largely in countries in which the roles of men and women have improved in terms of opportunities for employment, education, child care and other indicators of increasing gender equality. In this study, we examine how European welfare regimes influence this association between mental health and the social roles that men and women occupy. Methods The EU-World Mental Health data are used, which covers the general population in 10 European countries (n = 37 289); Countries were grouped into four welfare regions: Liberal regime (Northern Ireland), Bismarckian regime (Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and France), Southern regime (Spain, Italy, Portugal) and Central-Eastern regime (Romania and Bulgaria). The lifetime prevalence of mood, anxiety and alcohol disorders was determined by using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview 3.0. Overall prevalence rates along with odds ratios by means of bivariate logistic regression models are calculated to compare the presence of common mental disorders in women versus men per welfare regime. Results Overall prevalence of common mental disorders is highest in the Liberal regime and lowest in the Central/Eastern regime. The gender gap in mental disorders is largest in the Southern regime and smallest in the Liberal regime. Marital status and certain employment positions help to explain variation in mental disorders across and within welfare regimes. Conclusion Most prominent pathways linking gender to mental ill-health being are related to marital status and certain employment positions. However, these pathways also show substantial variation across welfare regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Article 13(4) of the Services Directive provides that subject to certain conditions, member states have an obligation to introduce a system whereby tacit authorization is granted if an application is not processed within the set time limit. This article discusses the implications of this provision for national administrative law in the Netherlands, Germany and France. How have the national lawmakers dealt with this European obligation? The study in this contribution examines the extent to which these countries have opted to make exceptions for national authorization schemes to the basic European rule that tacit authorization will be granted if a decision is not made on time. Overriding reasons relating to the public interest, including the legitimate interests of third parties, play a major role. There is a particular focus on the way the various member states have determined when and on what conditions tacit authorization can be granted, how the administrative authority in question can protect the public interests involved after such a tacit authorization is deemed granted and how any third parties involved can seek legal protection against the tacit authorization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study analyzed use of services from psychiatrists and other mental health professionals (psychologists, psychotherapists, counselors, and social workers) in six European countries. Methods: Data were from respondents (N=8,796) to the European Study of the Epidemiology of Mental Disorders (ESEMeD), a cross-sectional survey (2001-2003) of a representative sample of noninstitutionalized adults in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain that was conducted via computer-assisted interviews with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview, version 3.0. Results: Twenty-three percent of respondents reported lifetime use of any professional for mental health problems, and 60% consulted a mental health provider. Among these, 56% used a psychiatrist and 68% used a nonpsychiatrist provider. Factors associated with use of psychiatrists only were being retired or unemployed, having 12 or fewer years of education, living in France or Spain, having a severe disorder, and using psychotropic medication. Factors associated with use of nonpsychiatrist providers only were living in the Netherlands or Germany, never being married, and having an anxiety disorder. Conclusions: The findings suggest that there is no simple model of associations between mental health care system and patterns of service use. System characteristics, such as practitioner-population ratios, levels of practitioner availability, and gatekeeping and reimbursement policies, affect patterns of use of mental health providers. Recent British and Australian plans could be used as models for better allocation of services in some ESEMeD countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contents Flow cytometric sexing of spermatozoa followed by application in artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization provides a unique opportunity to predetermine the sex of offspring and might enhance the conservation management of endangered species in captivity such as the elephant and rhinoceros. To obtain an indication of the sortability of spermatozoa from these species, the relative DNA differences between X and Y chromosome bearing spermatozoa (fresh, frozen thawed, epididymal) from three rhinoceros species [white ( Ceratotherium simum), black ( Diceros bicornis), Indian ( Rhinoceros unicornis)] and both elephant species, the Asian and the African elephant ( Elephas maximus, Loxodonta Africana), were determined through separation of spermatozoa into X and Y chromosome bearing populations, using a modified high speed flow cytometer. The head profile areas of spermatozoa from all five species were measured using light microscopy. By multiplying the relative DNA differences and the head profile areas, the sperm sorting indices were calculated to be 47, 48 and 51 for white, black and Indian rhinoceros respectively. The calculated sorting index for the Asian elephant was 66. In the African elephant, we determined the highest sorting index of 76. These results indicate the practicability of flow cytometric sex sorting of spermatozoa from the tested rhinoceros species and both elephant species. The lower sorting indices in rhinos indicate that sex sorting of spermatozoa from the rhinoceros will be more challenging than in elephants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European pension systems are in the process of change. A general development is the retrenchment of public schemes. In combination with the aim of individualizing pension entitlements, it is crucial that the pension situation of women, and of mothers in particular, be improved. Some European countries attempt to reduce the gender pension gaps with child care credits. This paper takes a closer look at the French and German systems. Can adjustments to the pension norm, in terms of different allowances for child care as introduced in both countries, balance gender pension gaps? Following the logic of the individual factors, the duration of insurance and the level of paid contributions, the main factors are analysed to evaluate the efficiency of care credits. Within the complexity of pension-related factors, adjustments to the originally male pension norms have very ambiguous effects, and they are insufficient to de-gender pension gaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

In this study, we estimate trends in family background effects on educational attainment for the former Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), and the Netherlands. To this end, we employ data on siblings born between 1920 and 1970. This enables us to test hypotheses derived from modernization theory and political theory. We find that the total family impact, which is defined as sibling resemblance in educational attainment, does not show a systematic pattern over time in the former FRG. Effects of father's and mother's educational attainment decrease, however. In the former GDR, the unmeasured part of total family impact follows a U‐shape over time, whereas effects of parental education decline. This means that other aspects of the family gained in importance for cohorts born around 1950 and 1960. Additional analyses show that parents' political party membership is not one of these aspects. Finally, in the Netherlands, the effects of traditional indicators of parental social class decrease over time. The declining trend in total family impact on educational attainment appears not to be significant. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract This paper gives a cross-national comparison, involving West German, Dutch, and United States data, on the use of social ties in the job-search process. Data for West Germany and the Netherlands are compared with the Lin et al. research on Albany-Schenectady and Troy. The findings show that (1) there is more use of informal sources in the U.S. than in West Germany and the Netherlands; (2) informal sources do not generally lead to higher occupational prestige and income; (3) for the Dutch data (no West German data are available for this question) greater social resources, that is, a contact person with relatively high prestige, do lead to a job with a higher prestige, though effects are less pronounced than found by Lin et al.; and (4) an extension of the Lin et al. analysis shows that these social resources do not have a significant impact on income. This last finding is consistent with the recent results of Marsden and Hurlbert's analysis of Detroit Area Study data. Institutional differences that might be relevant to the explanation of cross-national differences are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inglehart's thesis of the 'Silent Revolution' states that the priorities of Western publics have gradually shifted from materialist toward postmaterialist values. An important aspect of this thesis is the socialization hypothesis, predicting that one's (post)-materialist values are stable during adulthood. This paper tests this hypothesis using panel data for the United States, Germany and the Netherlands. For this purpose several multiple indicator two-wave models are developed including (i) a correction for the dependency between the indicators (because of the ranking of the items) and (ii) item specific factors. Application of these models to the data indicates a strong stability of postmaterialist values during adulthood, especially for the United States and the Netherlands. The implications of the findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is proposed here that there are two reasons for extending the standard set of family factors predicting educational outcomes, such as parents' educational and occupational status, parents' income and family size. First, this standard set is not exhaustive, as is shown by sibling research; and second, the standard variables are merely descriptive and do not reveal the mechanisms which link family background and educational attainment. The notion of 'status group culture' might fill both gaps. It is hypothesized that for children of low status group parents a cultural mismatch exists between family culture and school culture, while no such mismatch is present for children of high status group parents. The higher the status group of parents, the more cultural resources children have at their disposal. Using data from a West German survey, in which information is collected on parents' characteristics and leisure-time activities and children's grades and transition to secondary education, indicators for parents' cultural resources are constructed. The findings suggest that parents' cultural resources indeed affect grades in German language and the transition to the Gymnasium, the most prestigious form of secondary education in Germany. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Control systems for vehicle stability require information about the actual vehicle state. While many states can be obtained from sensor signals, some important states, like the lateral velocity and the corresponding tyre-road friction have to be reconstructed by a vehicle state estimator, comprising of a simplified vehicle model. The efficiency of the developed vehicle state estimator has been proven in several projects for integrated vehicle dynamics control at the Ford Research Centre in Aachen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability of low pathogenic (LP) avian influenza viruses (AIV) of the subtypes H5 and H7 to mutate spontaneously to highly pathogenic (HP) variants is the main reason for their stringent control. On-the-spot evidence from the field of mutations in LPAIV to render the virus into nascent HP variants is scarce. Epidemiological investigations and molecular characterization of two spatiotemporally linked outbreaks caused by LP, and subsequently, HPAIV H7N7 in two-layer farms in Germany yielded such evidence. The outbreaks occurred within 45 days on farms 400 m apart. The LP progenitor virus was identified on both farms, with its putative HP inheritor cocirculating and then dominating on the second farm. As postulated before, mutations in the hemagglutinin cleavage site (HACS) proved to be the most decisive change in the genome of HPAIV, in this case, it was mutated from monobasic (LP) PEIPKGR*GLF into polybasic (HP) PEIPKRKRR*GLF. The full-length genome sequences of both viruses were nearly identical with only ten coding mutations outside the HACS scattered along six genome segments in the HPAIV. Five of these were already present as minor variants in the LPAIV quasispecies of the LPAI-only affected farm. H7-specific seroconversion of part of the chicken population together with the codetection of LPAIV HACS sequences in swab samples of the HPAI outbreak farm suggested an initial introduction of the LP progenitor and a subsequent switch to HPAIV H7N7 after the incursion. The findings provide rare field evidence for a shift in pathogenicity of a notifiable AIV infection and re-inforce the validity of current approaches of control measures to curtail low pathogenic H5 and H7 virus circulation in poultry., (© 2018 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.)