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Abstract Background The economic crisis that began in 2008 has severely affected Southern (Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain) Western European (SWE) countries of Western Europe (WE) and may have affected ongoing efforts to eliminate viral hepatitis. This study was conducted to investigate the impact of the economic crisis on the burden of HBV and HCV disease. Methods Global Burden of Diseases 2019 data were used to analyse the rates of epidemiological metrics of HBV and HCV acute and chronic infections in SWE and WE. Time series modelling was performed to quantify the impact of healthcare expenditure on the time trend of HBV and HCV disease burden in 2000–2019. Results Declining trends in incidence and prevalence rates of acute HBV (aHBV) and chronic HBV were observed in SWE and WE, with the pace of decline being slower in the post-austerity period (2010–2019) and mortality due to HBV stabilised in SWE. Acute HCV (aHCV) metrics and chronic HCV incidence and mortality showed a stable trend in SWE and WE, whereas the prevalence of chronic HCV showed an oscillating trend, decreasing in WE in 2010–2019 (p

Background: The economic crisis that began in 2008 has severely affected Southern (Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain) Western European (SWE) countries of Western Europe (WE) and may have affected ongoing efforts to eliminate viral hepatitis. This study was conducted to investigate the impact of the economic crisis on the burden of HBV and HCV disease. Methods: Global Burden of Diseases 2019 data were used to analyse the rates of epidemiological metrics of HBV and HCV acute and chronic infections in SWE and WE. Time series modelling was performed to quantify the impact of healthcare expenditure on the time trend of HBV and HCV disease burden in 2000–2019. Results: Declining trends in incidence and prevalence rates of acute HBV (aHBV) and chronic HBV were observed in SWE and WE, with the pace of decline being slower in the post-austerity period (2010–2019) and mortality due to HBV stabilised in SWE. Acute HCV (aHCV) metrics and chronic HCV incidence and mortality showed a stable trend in SWE and WE, whereas the prevalence of chronic HCV showed an oscillating trend, decreasing in WE in 2010–2019 (p < 0.001). Liver cancer due to both hepatitis infections showed a stagnant burden over time. An inverse association was observed between health expenditure and metrics of both acute and chronic HBV and HCV. Conclusions: Epidemiological metrics for HBV and HCV showed a slower pace of decline in the post-austerity period with better improvement for HBV, a stabilisation of mortality and a stagnant burden for liver cancer due to both hepatitis infections. The economic crisis of 2008 had a negative impact on the burden of hepatitis B and C. Elimination of HBV and HCV by 2030 will be a major challenge in the SWE countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study identifies socioeconomic, political, and institutional factors that shape extensive budget unbalances in four European Mediterranean countries (Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain), causing significant deficits and a public debt equal to (or above) 120% of their respective Gross Domestic Product at the end of 2020. The regression analysis, run on official statistics, demonstrates that the dynamics of fiscal deficits in these countries are largely heterogeneous. This outcome suggests that the various factors and contexts considered here exert different effects in each country. Political factors played an important role in Greece, being less important in Spain, and having a negligible role in both Italy and Portugal. On the contrary, institutional factors were recognized as particularly important in Greece, Italy, and Portugal. Although important almost everywhere, the magnitude of the impact of economic factors also differed across the four countries.

Climate change, natural hazards, and human actions are threatening cultural heritage in urban areas. More than ever, building regulations’ procedures and criteria are essential to guarantee the protection and safeguarding of urban areas and their buildings. These procedures and criteria are crucial to assist stakeholders in decision-making, especially when facing rapid transitions and transformative changes in urban heritage areas. Several institutional stakeholders in charge of urban heritage protection strengthen the need for a better implementation of building regulations through flexible criteria to support intervention procedures in buildings with different features and in different contexts. Under this topic, the present study uses a twofold method. Firstly, the authors analyze and compare the urban and building regulations of three Southern European countries, Italy, Spain, and Portugal, concerning procedures and criteria directed to the built heritage; secondly, they highlight and compare the views of different institutional stakeholders from the same three countries, at different levels (national, regional, and municipal), to understand the impact of the implementation of the regulations on the ground. The findings show the relevance of the institutional stakeholders’ views to improve the regulations and their practice. They highlight the need to promote inventory and cataloging procedures, as well as flexible criteria when dealing with urban heritage buildings.

The present study identifies socioeconomic, political, and institutional factors that shape extensive budget unbalances in four European Mediterranean countries (Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain), causing significant deficits and a public debt equal to (or above) 120% of their respective Gross Domestic Product at the end of 2020. The regression analysis, run on official statistics, demonstrates that the dynamics of fiscal deficits in these countries are largely heterogeneous. This outcome suggests that the various factors and contexts considered here exert different effects in each country. Political factors played an important role in Greece, being less important in Spain, and having a negligible role in both Italy and Portugal. On the contrary, institutional factors were recognized as particularly important in Greece, Italy, and Portugal. Although important almost everywhere, the magnitude of the impact of economic factors also differed across the four countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change, natural hazards, and human actions are threatening cultural heritage in urban areas. More than ever, building regulations' procedures and criteria are essential to guarantee the protection and safeguarding of urban areas and their buildings. These procedures and criteria are crucial to assist stakeholders in decision-making, especially when facing rapid transitions and transformative changes in urban heritage areas. Several institutional stakeholders in charge of urban heritage protection strengthen the need for a better implementation of building regulations through flexible criteria to support intervention procedures in buildings with different features and in different contexts. Under this topic, the present study uses a twofold method. Firstly, the authors analyze and compare the urban and building regulations of three Southern European countries, Italy, Spain, and Portugal, concerning procedures and criteria directed to the built heritage; secondly, they highlight and compare the views of different institutional stakeholders from the same three countries, at different levels (national, regional, and municipal), to understand the impact of the implementation of the regulations on the ground. The findings show the relevance of the institutional stakeholders' views to improve the regulations and their practice. They highlight the need to promote inventory and cataloging procedures, as well as flexible criteria when dealing with urban heritage buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Española de Sociología is the property of Federacion Espanola de Sociologia 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.)

The goal of successfully incorporating ethnic minorities represents a decisive challenge for modern societies. However, migratory background continues to negatively affect the life trajectories of migrants' descendants. 'Hard' and 'soft' barriers determine long-term inequality gaps and low intergenerational social mobility in both longstanding and more recent European immigration countries. This special issue complements the sparse findings on education, labour market outcome and wellbeing relating to immigrant offspring by providing original insight in order to individuate strategies for removing the obstacles that the descendants of migrants face. In-depth analyses have been performed for specific Southern European contexts in order to explore the specific inequality patterns that are emerging in these more recent and unexplored immigration contexts. The main findings suggest that the lower academic performances of immigrants' descendants can be raised through language-support programmes, mentoring programmes, positive role and disciplinary climate, extra-scholastic activities and parental involvement. Equality opportunities in education should support school-to-work transitions and better allocate the underutilised human capital reserves of migrants' descendants. Conversely, long-lasting penalties in educational careers and integration processes may arise when children are physically separated from their parents because of delayed family reunification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Euro­‑Mediterranean region has become one of the most critical areas in the European Union on the issue of attracting migrants and experiencing the subsequent migratory pressures, but this has had very little impact on major comparative studies of European integration policies. Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal are easily identifiable as exponents of a ‘non-model’ system of integration. This trend changed on an academic and political level in the period from 2003 to 2009. Southern European countries have yet to establish nationwide integration policies for immigrants, and in times of economic crisis they have strongly restricted welfare protection, even though social rights are keystones for immigrant integration. Looking mainly at the Euro-Mediterranean region, this paper aims to analyse crossed interactions, to detect strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the emulation of nationalistic models in order to boost immigrant integration through equal access to social rights.

Aiming to shed light on why Facebook users react to certain events and news stories more than to others, this study analyses their reactions to different events and to the media coverage of those events. The case selection includes six events covered by two newspapers from four countries: France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. The research design combines an original content analysis of news media outlets' posts with an analysis of the reactions that these posts have generated from Facebook users—likes, shares and comments—to assess whether and how the nature of events and the characteristics of the news content contribute to explaining the engagement of Facebook users with the news. The data analysis indicated that the decisions to like, share or comment were not driven by the same factors. Unexpected events showed significance, at different levels, for all kinds of reactions to news. Conversely, the specific features of news content only slightly affected the levels of liking and sharing. Facebook users were more likely to comment on news adhering to known criteria for news values, such as negativity or personalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a comparison between Italy, Spain, Greece, and Portugal to test the cross‐cultural validity of the Differentiation of Self Inventory Revised (DSI‐R) Scales of emotional cut‐off (EC) and emotional reactivity (ER). Our study focuses on the importance of in‐depth analyses of the differentiation of self‐constructs from a cross‐cultural perspective and reflects on the possibility of conceptualising the universality of Bowen theory in southern European countries. The study involved 1,807 healthy individuals. All participants completed the DSI‐R (Skowron & Schmitt, 2003). It was found that the measurement models had a suitable fit for each country group. Nevertheless, in our study, the two DSI‐R subscales, ER and EC, highlighted a weak invariance, specifically demonstrating only the invariance of the pattern factor loadings and the magnitude of factor loadings in the four samples. The empirical and clinical implications of these data are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Deliberations of the article revolve around trends of social capital under conditions of economic crisis.Motivation: Final conclusions are based on theoretical considerations and empirical research. The latter include analysis of changes in indicators of social capital (in the cognitive, structural and behavioural dimension) in Southern European countries (Spain, Greece and Portugal) — from comparative perspective — before and after 2007. Data from European Social Survey and European Value Study were used. The example of Southern European countries shows that there can be no universal reaction scheme (in terms of social capital) on the crisis phenomena.Results: A common feature of the analyzed countries after 2007 is an increase in ties with friends (bonding social capital, however the heightened importance may not just be a consequence of the crisis, but rather part of long-term societal change — e.g. Portugal) and a reduction in institutional and systemic trust. It can be also concluded that countries well endowed in social capital (e.g. Spain), in the period of economic crisis to the greater extent employ social capital resources as a response to non-beneficial changes in the economic environment (which is illustrated by higher rates of civic and political participation).

In terms of organizational structure, educational systems are closely related to the administrative systems of their respective countries. Looking at Southern European countries (and namely Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece and, to a lesser degree, France) from a comparativist stance, one can see a number of common elements characterizing their administrative systems. Their main common feature is the lack of decentralization in educational decisionmaking, a fact that makes them rank very low in OECD assessments. This paper attempts to identify the reasons and factors that led Southern European countries to this position by examining their laws and their administrative and educational system peculiarities. The type of legal system and type of state in Southern Europe offer an alternative analysis platform when researching the similarities and differences of educational systems. This comparativist view opens up a broad research field: it can support networking and help exchange ideas on policy and practices with a view to improving education and the future of our children.

Population aging in developed countries has created new challenges to improve the well-being of individuals at different age cohorts. This issue is especially significant for Southern European countries, were aging societies have worse health and less socio-economic resources. The aim of this study is to contribute to this body of literature and to estimate the effect of aging on quality of life of oldest people. This paper uses the latest available data (6th wave) from the Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Specifically, robust ordinary least squares and multilevel regressions are employed to analyse the effects of socioeconomic, health, and community factors on quality of life among the oldest population for Southern European countries. Our findings confirm the significance of several factors on life satisfaction among the oldest population in this group of countries. Moreover, we show that the determinants which are correlated with quality of life include predisposing, health, geographic area and social isolation factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Sociologia Italiana is the property of EGEA S.p.A 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.)

Background The capability of agro-food firms to innovate positively influences their profits and growth. Accordingly, the literature has tried to comprehend innovation phenomena occurring within the agri-food industry which generates high levels of economic output and employment in the European Union. Nonetheless, innovation in the food industry is deeply affected by cultural heritage, habits, and institutional contexts. Europe's considerable cultural variation causes different innovations in different regions. The most evident disparities in food cultures and gastronomic approaches have been observed between Nordic and Southern European countries. Despite ample interest in comparing these two European areas, few studies in the food innovation literature have adopted a comparative approach. Scope and approach The authors aim to identify the main research streams that study food innovations in Nordic and Southern European countries, as well as the results provided by researchers. To achieve these objectives, we conducted a systematic literature review of 67 articles in the food innovation field. Key findings and conclusions The review recognises six main research streams along which the academic literature has organised its debate: innovation acceptance, innovation policy initiatives, innovation networks, innovation in traditional food products, alternative food systems, and convention theory. The authors discuss the results emerging from each research stream and also the different patterns that emerge in the literature between Nordic and Southern countries of Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais is the property of Centro de Estudos Sociais 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.)

The aim of this study is to analyze the role of individual characteristics and social norms as variables that explain early-stage entrepreneurial activity before and during the European crisis. We used the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Adult Population Survey data from Southern European countries (Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal) and Northern European countries (Sweden, Norway and Finland) in 2007, 2010, 2012 and 2013. We performed logistic regression analysis to identify the role of individual characteristics (self-efficacy, perceptions of opportunities, role model and risk perceptions) and social norms (desirable career choice, status and respect and public media) on the early-stage entrepreneurial activity (TEA). Results show that individual characteristics are the most important predictor of entrepreneurial activity, and this effect stays stable throughout the time of the crisis; and social norms have an absent or low effect on entrepreneurial activity, with slight fluctuations during the crisis. These results highlight the role of individual predictors on the entrepreneurial activity despite the macroeconomic environment, which empathizes the importance of education and training to promote the entrepreneurial mindset and attitude. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Sociologia Italiana is the property of EGEA S.p.A 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.)

In the early 1990s, and especially after the accession to the European Union, southern European countries were faced with an increased influx of immigration, particularly by third country citizens. The majority of migration flows refers to illegal migration. In this paper, the integration of new immigrant groups in the labour market has been analysed by using the theory of the segmented labour market. A high degree of labour market segmentation and irregularities in the analyzed countries is particularly present in the construction, agricultural and service sectors (households, hotels and catering). Illegal recruitment is an important attractive factor for illegal migrants, and encourages the development of illegal migration. Frequent implementation of control programmes solves the problem of illegal migrants only partially while, at the same time, an increasing number of new immigrants is being “attracted”. Due to special features of more recent migration flows in southern European countries, it is possible to apply the “South European immigration model” by King and Ribas-Mateos, portraying these flows triangularly. In this model the mass influx of immigration is connected to a high level of irregularities in the economic sector and a weak welfare state. The uneven economic development of sending and receiving countries, as well as the perception of new immigrants (third country citizens) exclusively through the prism of homo economicus, does not inspire too much optimism that their position in the labour market and in society will significantly improve in the foreseeable future. On behalf of more equitable treatment of new immigrant groups, their greater recognition should be demanded from receiving countries’ governments as well as the regulation of their position by introducing new and different norms and standards, based in the first place on universal human rights.

Aim: Deliberations of the article revolve around trends of social capital under conditions of economic crisis. Motivation: Final conclusions are based on theoretical considerations and empirical research. The latter include analysis of changes in indicators of social capital (in the cognitive, structural and behavioural dimension) in Southern European countries (Spain, Greece and Portugal) -- from comparative perspective -- before and after 2007. Data from European Social Survey and European Value Study were used. The example of Southern European countries shows that there can be no universal reaction scheme (in terms of social capital) on the crisis phenomena. Results: A common feature of the analyzed countries after 2007 is an increase in ties with friends (bonding social capital, however the heightened importance may not just be a consequence of the crisis, but rather part of long-term societal change -- e.g. Portugal) and a reduction in institutional and systemic trust. It can be also concluded that countries well endowed in social capital (e.g. Spain), in the period of economic crisis to the greater extent employ social capital resources as a response to non-beneficial changes in the economic environment (which is illustrated by higher rates of civic and political participation). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Migration & Ethnic Themes: MET / Migracijske i Etničke Teme is the property of Institut za istrazivanje migracija / Institute for Migration Research (IMIN) 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.)

• In Lisbon it´s possible to have thermal comfort without facades insulation. • In Madrid, Bragança, Porto, Bilbao and Barcelona it´s mandatory to insulate facades. • Bragança, Madrid, Bilbao and Porto require heating for thermal comfort in winter. • Madrid, Barcelona, Seville and Faro require cooling for thermal comfort in summer. • Facades' thermal insulation, for some particular cases, don't help summer comfort. The socioeconomic reality of the social housing neighborhoods in Southern European countries imposes the application of passive energy rehabilitation schemes to minimize the thermal discomfort. A program to evaluate the indoor climate using experimental measurements was developed during one year, in a social housing neighborhood in Porto, Portugal. The results allowed validating a dynamic numerical simulation model for a reference dwelling, to assess thermal comfort in eight cities of Portugal and Spain. The study allowed concluding that for social housing buildings without heating or cooling systems installed, it is possible to have thermal comfort for a scenario without additional thermal insulation in facades, considering the remaining construction elements well insulated. During winter, in Lisbon, Faro and Seville, the percentages of thermal discomfort are less than 8% for the category III of EN 15251:2007. In summer, the thermal comfort may be achieved in Porto and Bilbao, since the percentage of thermal discomfort is negligible. The small reduction (13%) on thermal discomfort with the increasing of the thermal insulation in facades makes evident that it is impossible to have thermal comfort in Bragança, Madrid, Bilbao and Porto without heating the buildings and in Madrid, Barcelona, Seville and Faro without cooling the buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The public health sector has been the target of austerity measures since the global financial crisis started in 2008, while health workforce costs have been a source of rapid savings in most European Union countries. This article aims to explore how health workforce policies have evolved in three southern European countries under external constraints imposed by emergency financial programmes agreed with the International Monetary Fund, Central European Bank and European Commission. The selected countries, Greece, Portugal and Cyprus, show similarities with regard to corporatist systems of social protection and comprehensive welfare mechanisms only recently institutionalized. Based on document analysis of the Memoranda of Understanding agreed with the Troika, our results reveal broadly similar policy responses to the crisis but also important differences. In Cyprus, General Practitioners have a key position in reducing public expenditure through gatekeeping and control of users' access, while Portugal and Greece seeks to achieve cost containment by constraining the decision-making powers of professionals. All three countries lack innovation as well as monitoring and assessment of the effects of the financial crisis in relation to the health workforce. Consequently, there is a need for health policy development to use human resources more efficiently in healthcare., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Abstract: From the European and national perspectives the analysis of policy implementation tends to focus on aspects related to the legal framework. At these levels, institutions offer “the vision of a triumphant march towards the objectives set for 2010” [Veiga, A., Amaral, A., 2006b, The open method of co-ordination and the implementation of Bologna process. Tert Educ Manage, 12(4): 283–295]. There are several factors influencing this perspective: policy implementation is viewed as a linear process, which is an outdated perspective and obscures a number of interlocking dimensions; the political time is not aligned with the academic time, preventing a reform in substance and the competitive emulation practices emphasising the role of performance indicators stress the economic dimension [Neave, G., 2005, On snowballs, slopes and the process of Bologna: some testy reflections on the advance of higher education in Europe, ARENA—Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo; Veiga, A., Amaral, A., 2006b, The open method of co-ordination and the implementation of Bologna process. Tert Educ Manage, 12(4): 283–295]. From the local perspective, the perceptions show that higher education institutions (HEIs) often use alternative interpretations of Bologna that suit their institutional strategies. In this paper, the implementation is analysed using as empirical data the stocktaking exercises [Bologna Follow-up Group, 2005, Bologna process stocktaking report, in: Ministerial Meeting in Bergen, Bergen; Bologna Follow-up Group, 2007, Bologna process stocktaking report, in: Ministerial Meeting in London, London] and the material collected in two research projects (the UNIMON project [Moscati, R., 2006, University change: Italy and Europe, in: Monitoring the Reform of the Higher Education System in Six Italian Universities, Final Results, University of Milano-Biccoca, Milan] and the survey involving all Portuguese higher education institutions that presented new degree programmes or adaptations to the Bologna-type structure). The paper starts by providing the broad context of the Bologna process putting emphasis on the instruments that have been used to steer the agenda. The analysis of policy implementation is based on both the depiction of policy contexts of Southern European countries and on the confrontation of the stocktaking results with those contexts to conclude that the initiative lies at present with the HEIs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]