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Abstract: Mobile‐based micro‐learning has gained a lot of attention lately, especially for work‐based and corporate training. It combines features of mobile learning and micro‐learning to deliver small learning units and short‐term learning activities. The current study uses the lens of the Self‐Determination Theory of motivation and proposes a series of Mobile‐Based micro‐Learning and Assessment (MBmLA) homework activities to improve high school students' motivation and learning performance in science. An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. One hundred and eight students of a senior‐level high school in Europe were randomly assigned into either a control condition (conventional paper‐based homework approach) or an experimental (MBmLA approach) condition. The study carried out for a period of 5 weeks. From the experimental results, it was found that, in comparison to the conventional paper‐based approach, the proposed MBmLA approach enhanced students' basic psychological needs of self‐perceived autonomy, competence, and relatedness and improved students' exam performance in terms of factual knowledge. Moreover, students self‐reported greater learning satisfaction with the mobile‐based microassessment and micro‐learning homework tasks. Implications on educational practices as well as future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although leisure constraints that individuals have to cope with can negatively affect their social inclusion and satisfaction with life, little research has addressed the link between these variables. Therefore, the current paper examined the moderator role of leisure constraints on the relationship between satisfaction with life and leisure constraints among adults living in five different European countries. The respondents were 1,382 women and 877 men adults. The findings of analysis revealed that all factors used in the study accounted for 15% of the variance in satisfaction with life and social inclusion had a significant and positive impact on satisfaction with life. As a result, it can be said that leisure constraints had a moderating effect on the relationship between satisfaction with life and social inclusion. The present research study recommends that social inclusion should be encouraged through decreasing to leisure constraints to increase the life satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely recognized that poverty is a multidimensional phenomenon involving not only income, but also other aspects such as education or health. In this multidimensional setting, analyzing the dependence between dimensions becomes an important issue, since a high degree of dependence could exacerbate poverty. In this paper, we propose measuring the multivariate dependence between the dimensions of poverty in Europe using copula‐based methods. This approach focuses on the positions of individuals across dimensions, allowing for other types of dependence beyond linear correlation. In particular, we analyze how orthant dependence between the dimensions of the AROPE rate has evolved in the EU‐28 countries between 2008 and 2014 by applying non‐parametric estimates of multivariate copula‐based generalisations of Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. We find a general increase in the dependence between dimensions, regardless of the coefficient used. Moreover, countries with higher AROPE rates also tend to experiment more dependence between its dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study tests the effect of age diversity on firm performance among international firms. Based on the resource-based view of the firm, it argues that age diversity among employees will influence firm performance. Moreover, it argues that two contextual variables-a firm's level of market diversification and its country of origin-influence the relationship between age diversity and firm performance. By testing relevant hypotheses in a major emerging economy, that is, the People's Republic of China, this study finds a significant and positive effect of age diversity and a significant interactive effect between age diversity and firm strategy on profitability. We also find a significant relationship between age diversity and firm profitability for firms from Western societies, but not for firms from East Asian societies. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of this study's findings. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the number of applications of spatial statistics has enormously increased in environmental and ecological sciences. A typical problem is the sampling of a pollution field, with the common objective of spatial interpolation. In this paper, we present a spatial analysis across time, focusing on sulphur dioxide (SO2) concentrations monitored from 1990 to 2001 at 125 sites across Europe. Four different methods of trend estimation have been used, and comparisons among them are shown. Spherical, Exponential and Gaussian variograms have been fitted to the residuals and compared. Time series analyses of the range, sill and nugget have been undertaken and a suggestion for defining a unique spatial correlation matrix for the overall time period of analysis is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper examines cross-national differences in the utilisation of work-family resources at the organisational level and the relationships between these resources and work-to-home interference ( WHI) and satisfaction with work-family balance ( SWFB) among professional and non-professional service sector employees in five Western European countries. Further, it explores cross-national variations in the gap between professionals and non-professionals with respect to both outcome variables. Professional service sector employees were consistently found to experience higher levels of WHI and lower levels of SWFB. The use of organisational work-family resources differed across welfare state regimes and levels of national gender equality. It was highest in Sweden and the Netherlands and lowest in Portugal. A family-supportive supervisor and a family-supportive organisational culture differentially affected WHI of professional and non-professional workers, with a family-supportive supervisor being more beneficial to non-professionals and a family-supportive organisational culture being more beneficial to professional employees. Finally, the gap between professionals and non-professionals was also found to vary across countries for WHI but not for SWFB. It was significantly larger in the UK and in Sweden than in the other three countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Please cite this paper as: Lisonkova S, Sabr Y, Butler B, Joseph K. International comparisons of preterm birth: higher rates of late preterm birth are associated with lower rates of stillbirth and neonatal death. BJOG 2012;119:1630-1639. Objective To examine international rates of preterm birth and potential associations with stillbirths and neonatal deaths at late preterm and term gestation. Design Ecological study. Setting Canada, USA and 26 countries in Europe. Population All deliveries in 2004. Methods Information on preterm birth (<37, 32-36, 28-31 and 24-27 weeks of gestation) and perinatal deaths was obtained for 28 countries. Data sources included files and publications from Statistics Canada, the EURO-PERISTAT project and the National Center for Health Statistics. Pearson correlation coefficients and random-intercept Poisson regression were used to examine the association between preterm birth rates and gestational age-specific stillbirth and neonatal death rates. Rate ratios with 95% confidence intervals were estimated after adjustment for maternal age, parity and multiple births. Main outcome measures Stillbirths and neonatal deaths ≥32 and ≥37 weeks of gestation. Results International rates of preterm birth (<37 weeks) ranged between 5.3 and 11.4 per 100 live births. Preterm birth rates at 32-36 weeks were inversely associated with stillbirths at ≥32 weeks (adjusted rate ratio 0.94, 95% CI 0.92-0.96) and ≥37 weeks (adjusted rate ratio 0.88, 95% CI 0.85-0.91) of gestation and inversely associated with neonatal deaths at ≥32 weeks (adjusted rate ratio 0.88, 95% CI 0.85-0.91) and ≥37 weeks (adjusted rate ratio 0.82, 95% CI 0.78-0.86) of gestation. Conclusions Countries with high rates of preterm birth at 32-36 weeks of gestation have lower stillbirth and neonatal death rates at and beyond 32 weeks of gestation. Contemporary rates of preterm birth are indicators of both perinatal health and obstetric care services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migration is a widespread strategy that enables animals to escape harsh winter conditions. It has been well documented that migration phenology in birds is changing in response to recent climate warming in the northern hemisphere. Despite the existence of large temporal and geographical scale ringing data on birds in Europe, changes in migration strategies in relation to climate warming have not been well studied, mainly because of a lack of appropriate statistical methods. In this paper, we develop a method that enables us to investigate temporal changes in migration strategies from recoveries of dead ringed birds. We estimated migration probability as the ratio between recovery probabilities of conspecific birds originating from different countries but potentially wintering in the same country. We applied this method to two European thrushes: the entirely migrant redwing Turdus iliacus, and the partially migrant blackbird T. Merula. We tested for an immediate and a 1-year lagged relationship between our migration probability and climatic covariates (i. E. Mean winter temperature in France and the North Atlantic Oscillation). Using ringing-recovery data collected in Finland, Germany, Switzerland and France from 1970 to 1999, we detected contrasting responses in these two species, likely related to their different migratory behaviours. Both species showed a decline in the probability for northern and eastern birds to winter in France. The entirely migratory redwing exhibited a year-to-year plastic response to climate, whereas the decline in the partially migrant blackbird was smooth, suggesting underlying genetic processes. The proposed method, thus, allows us to identify useful indicators of climatic impacts on migration strategies, as well as highlighting differences between closely related species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates how the effect of employee stock ownership on financial performance may hinge on the diverse cultural and societal contexts of European countries. Based on agency and national culture theories, we hypothesize that the positive relationship between employee stock ownership and return on assets (ROA) is stronger in those nations with lower uncertainty avoidance and higher social trust. Using a multisource, time‐lagged, large‐scale dataset of 1,741 firms from 21 countries in Europe, our multilevel, random coefficient modeling analysis found evidence for these hypotheses, suggesting that uncertainty avoidance and social trust serve as important contextual cues in predicting the linkage between employee stock ownership and financial performance. Our supplemental analysis with distinction between the managerial and nonmanagerial employee stock ownership further indicates managerial employee stock ownership has a direct positive effect on ROA. Although nonmanagerial employee stock ownership had a nonsignificant association with ROA, the relationship was positive and significant when uncertainty avoidance was low and social trust was high. This research contributes to the existing literature by illuminating some of the contextual influences altering the effectiveness of employee stock ownership. Our findings also offer practical suggestions for effectively using employee stock ownership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aims: Graph theoretic analysis of structural covariance networks (SCN) provides an assessment of brain organization that has not yet been applied to alcohol dependence (AD). We estimated whether SCN differences are present in adults with AD and heavy‐drinking adolescents at age 19 and age 14, prior to substantial exposure to alcohol. Design Cross‐sectional sample of adults and a cohort of adolescents. Correlation matrices for cortical thicknesses across 68 regions were summarized with graph theoretic metrics. Setting and participants: A total of 745 adults with AD and 979 non‐dependent controls from 24 sites curated by the Enhancing NeuroImaging Genetics through Meta Analysis (ENIGMA)–Addiction consortium, and 297 hazardous drinking adolescents and 594 controls at ages 19 and 14 from the IMAGEN study, all from Europe. Measurements Metrics of network segregation (modularity, clustering coefficient and local efficiency) and integration (average shortest path length and global efficiency). Findings The younger AD adults had lower network segregation and higher integration relative to non‐dependent controls. Compared with controls, the hazardous drinkers at age 19 showed lower modularity [area‐under‐the‐curve (AUC) difference = −0.0142, 95% confidence interval (CI) = −0.1333, 0.0092; P‐value = 0.017], clustering coefficient (AUC difference = −0.0164, 95% CI = −0.1456, 0.0043; P‐value = 0.008) and local efficiency (AUC difference = −0.0141, 95% CI = −0.0097, 0.0034; P‐value = 0.010), as well as lower average shortest path length (AUC difference = −0.0405, 95% CI = −0.0392, 0.0096; P‐value = 0.021) and higher global efficiency (AUC difference = 0.0044, 95% CI = −0.0011, 0.0043; P‐value = 0.023). The same pattern was present at age 14 with lower clustering coefficient (AUC difference = −0.0131, 95% CI = −0.1304, 0.0033; P‐value = 0.024), lower average shortest path length (AUC difference = −0.0362, 95% CI = −0.0334, 0.0118; P‐value = 0.019) and higher global efficiency (AUC difference = 0.0035, 95% CI = −0.0011, 0.0038; P‐value = 0.048). Conclusions: Cross‐sectional analyses indicate that a specific structural covariance network profile is an early marker of alcohol dependence in adults. Similar effects in a cohort of heavy‐drinking adolescents, observed at age 19 and prior to substantial alcohol exposure at age 14, suggest that this pattern may be a pre‐existing risk factor for problematic drinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper extends the established literature on modeling the cost structures of Europe's banking sectors by combining the Fourier flexible cost function with time-varying technical efficiency (TE) under the framework of the meta-frontier, as proposed by Battese et al. ( Journal of Productivity Analysis, Vol. 21 (2004), pp. 91-103) and O'Donnell et al. ( Empirical Economics, Vol. 34 (2008), pp. 231-255). We find multiple technologies prevail in the nine sample countries, justifying the use of the meta-cost frontier. Measures TE and technology gap ratios are found to be positively correlated with each other, implying that a relatively technically efficient bank is possibly technologically efficient and vice versa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We broaden contemporary understandings of the relationship between HR practices that support work-life balance and organizational as well as individual outcomes, through a focus on perceptual discrepancies of entitlement. To theorize this notion, we adopt the self-perception accuracy model and extend it by investigating whether any employee/management discrepancies in perceptions of entitlement mediate the relationship between HR practices supporting work-life balance and outcomes. We use data from 20 European countries and apply a multilevel statistical methodology. Our results did not reveal significant mediation effects, but the perceptions of managers, not of employees, are related to HR practices that support work-life balance. Furthermore, employees tend to have higher expectations of entitlement than does management. Finally, the more aligned management and employee perceptions of entitlement, the higher the positive organizational and individual outcomes over and above contextual idiosyncrasies. Findings denote that, in achieving positive outcomes for employees and organizations, managing perceptions regarding organizational support for work-life balance is more important than actual support practices. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social exchange theorists argue that organizations that provide developmental assignments raise employee commitment. But such assignments may also undermine commitment by increasing the recipients' value in the external labor market. We compare the effect of developmental assignments on organizational commitment with that of other development practices: coaching, mentoring, training, and support from the direct superior and senior management. We also test whether synergies arise when developmental assignments are combined with the other development practices. Using a sample of 312 highly skilled professionals working in over sixty countries, in a variety of industries and firms of various sizes, we find that developmental assignments are the strongest driver of organizational commitment, together with support from senior management. The positive relationship between developmental assignments and organizational commitment is weaker in the presence of other development practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the impact of customizing (as opposed to standardizing) human resource management ( HRM) practices on subsidiary performance in multinational corporations ( MNCs). We examine how this relationship is influenced by environmental uncertainty. Hypotheses were tested using data from 92 subsidiaries of a large MNC operating in 27 countries. The results showed an interactive relationship between the customization of HRM practices and subsidiary environmental uncertainty on both financial (net profit) and nonfinancial (customer satisfaction) objective measures of subsidiary performance. The results of this study provide important empirical insights for researchers and practitioners into how HRM can be best configured to drive multiple performance outcomes for MNC subsidiaries. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion of improvisation has recently emerged in managerial studies as a viable solution to flexibly dealing with unexpected occurrences in work environments. However, past research on team improvisation has overlooked the contingencies that allow teams to effectively improvise. Drawing upon demand-control theory, we investigate how empowering leadership and overload affect the improvisation-performance relationship in the context of 48 work teams. Our results suggest that empowering leadership positively moderates the relationship between improvisation and performance, while overload attenuates the same relationship. Moreover, we found a joint effect of overload and empowering leadership influencing the improvisation-performance link, such that improvisation is most positively related to performance when empowering leadership is high and overload is low. Conversely, we found that empowering leadership is particularly detrimental to the improvisation-performance relationship when team members perceive high degrees of overload. Our findings make important contributions to the extant team literature as well as to the emerging literature on team improvisation. We outline several significant insights for HR managers and team leaders who are responsible for supporting teams that face unexpected events in the work environment. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Nursing shortages, the substitution of practical nurses for registered nurses, an ageing workforce, the decreasing number of nurse graduates and the increasing migration of young nurses are important factors associated with the hospital safety climate in Central European countries. Aims: The aim of the study was to investigate nurses' perceptions of the safety climate in four selected central European countries (Croatia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia) and to determine the relationship between safety climate and unfinished nursing care. Methods: A cross‐sectional study was used. The sample consisted of 1353 European nurses from four countries. Instruments used were the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture and the Perceived Implicit Rationing of Nursing Care. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and multiple regression analyses. Results: Significant differences were found between countries in all unit/hospital/outcome dimensions. 'Perceived Patient Safety' and 'Reporting of Incident Data' were associated with aspects of 'Organizational Learning' and 'Feedback and Communication about Error'. Higher prevalence of unfinished nursing care is associated with more negative perceptions of patient safety climate. Conclusions: Cross‐cultural comparisons allow us to examine differences and similarities in safety dimensions across countries. The areas with potential for initiating strategies for improvement in all four countries are 'Staffing', 'Non‐punitive Response to Error' and 'Teamwork across Hospital Units'. Implications for nursing and health policy: 'Feedback and Communicating about Error' and 'Organizational Learning ‐ Continuous Improvement' were the main predictors of 'Overall Perception of Patient Safety' and 'Reporting of Incident Data'. Therefore, nurse managers should focus on how to empower nurses in these areas in order to foster a no‐blame culture and effective reporting. In addition, it is important for policymakers to update nursing education standards in order to address patient safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study illustrates the huge untapped potential of quantifying the impact of culture in making meaningful comparisons across groups. Our focus is on cross‐national differences in nurses' reports of their relations with physicians, and how the measurement of this complex construct and the evaluation of true differences are related to dimensions of national culture. Design: We examine across 14 European countries the association between indices of national culture from the seminal work of Hofstede and 39,435 nurses' ratings of their relations with physicians. Multilevel confirmatory factor analysis was used to evaluate strong factorial invariance across countries and to examine the influence of power distance and masculinity. Findings: There was wide variation across countries in nurses' reports of their relations with physicians. Strong factorial invariance was shown for a one‐factor model, which confirmed that across countries the seven survey items measure a common factor of physician‐nurse relations. This model showed no country bias for any of the seven survey items, which suggests that differences across countries reflect true differences. These true differences were significantly associated with variation in country values of power distance, which showed a significant negative correlation with physician–nurse relations. Conclusions: Continuously pursuing a better understanding of characteristics that impact the studied indicators, such as national culture, is elementary to better understand the construct under study. In this application, country values of power distance negatively impacted nurse‐reported relations with physicians, which strongly varied across countries. Clinical Relevance: Better nurse‐reported relations between nurses and physicians link to higher nurse job satisfaction, lower emotional exhaustion, better nurse‐perceived quality of care, and lower patient mortality. The Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index is an excellent instrument to characterize variation in working relations between nurses and physicians as well as physicians' professional posture towards nurses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Understanding how nursing students in European countries perceive their future professional role is an important step in creating awareness of the diversity and similarities between countries. Investigating nursing students' perceptions of their future profession could help in the design of education and the retention of nurses. Aim: To compare nursing students' perceptions of the professional nurse's role between Belarus, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden. Method: A cross‐sectional design was implemented. The study used two scales of the Professional Nursing Image Survey, which has questions about 10 skills and abilities and 14 functions and duties of a nurse. Results: A total of 392 final‐year nursing students in four countries participated in the study. Statistically significant differences were found between countries in terms of all 10 skills and abilities and in the distribution of responses concerning functions and duties of a nurse. Conclusions: Nursing students in Belarus, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden perceive differently the role of a nurse in terms of some functions and responsibilities. This may influence the adaptation of nurses who enjoy freedom of movement among the countries. Implications for nursing policy: The knowledge gained in this study could be beneficial in improving nursing education, as it could illuminate the discrepancy between educational goals and students' perceptions of their future professional role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Delirium is a serious complication in patients in intensive care units. Previous surveys on delirium management in daily practice showed low adherence to published guidelines. Aim: To evaluate delirium management in nurses and physicians working in intensive care units in German-speaking countries and to identify related differences between nurses and physicians. Design: The study used an open online survey with multiple-choice responses. Methods: An invitation for participation was spread via journals and electronic resources using a snowball system. Apart from recording socio-demographical characteristics, the survey collected data on delirium assessment, delirium-related processes, non-pharmacological prevention and treatment and barriers for implementation. Differences between nurses and physicians were tested by Fisher's exact test with sequential Bonferroni correction. Results: The survey was conducted in autumn 2016, and 559 clinicians participated. More nurses than physicians reported screening for delirium. The majority of clinicians reported screening for delirium when this was suspected; more than 50% used validated instruments. Half of the clinicians had delirium-related structures implemented, such as two thirds reporting delirium-related processes. Most cited barriers were lack of time and missing knowledge about delirium and its assessment. With significant difference, physicians recommended more than nurses early removal of catheters and daily interprofessional goals for patients. Conclusion: In German-speaking countries, assessment of delirium needs further improvement, leading to accurate assessment. Delirium-related structures and processes appear to be implemented widely, with only a few differences between nurses and physicians. Relevance to clinical practice: Nurses and physicians in this survey reported similar perceptions and attitudes towards management of delirium. Both professions need more knowledge and inter-professional training on when and how to use validated assessment instruments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we examine the relationship between safety culture and national culture, and the implications of this relationship for international safety culture assessments. Focussing on Hofstede's uncertainty avoidance ( UA) index, a survey study of 13,616 Air Traffic Management employees in 21 European countries found a negative association between safety culture and national norm data for UA. This is theorized to reflect the influence of national tendencies for UA upon attitudes and practices for managing safety (e.g., anxiety on risk; reliance on protocols; concerns over reporting incidents; openness to different perspectives). The relationship between UA and safety culture is likely to have implications for international safety culture assessments. Specifically, benchmarking exercises will consistently indicate safety management within organizations in high UA countries to be poorer than low UA countries due to the influence of national culture upon safety practices, which may limit opportunities for identifying and sharing best practice. We propose the use of safety culture against international group norms ( SIGN) scores to statistically adjust for the influence of UA upon safety culture data, and to support the identification of safety practices effective and particular to low or high UA cultures. Practitioner points National cultural tendencies for uncertainty avoidance (UA) are negatively associated with safety culture., This indicates that employee safety-related attitudes and practices may be influenced by national culture, and thus factors outside the direct control of organizational management., International safety culture assessments should attempt to determine the influence of national culture upon safety culture in order that benchmarking exercises compare aspects of safety management and not national culture., Safety culture against international group norms (SIGN) scores provide a potential way to do this, and can facilitate the identification of best practice within countries operating in a low or high UA cultural cluster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce a new problem, identifying the type of relation that holds between a pair of similar items in a digital library. Being able to provide a reason why items are similar has applications in recommendation, personalization, and search. We investigate the problem within the context of Europeana, a large digital library containing items related to cultural heritage. A range of types of similarity in this collection were identified. A set of 1,500 pairs of items from the collection were annotated using crowdsourcing. A high intertagger agreement (average 71.5 Pearson correlation) was obtained and demonstrates that the task is well defined. We also present several approaches to automatically identifying the type of similarity. The best system applies linear regression and achieves a mean Pearson correlation of 71.3, close to human performance. The problem formulation and data set described here were used in a public evaluation exercise, the * SEM shared task on Semantic Textual Similarity. The task attracted the participation of 6 teams, who submitted 14 system runs. All annotations, evaluation scripts, and system runs are freely available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the current research was to examine to what degree basic personality dimensions serve as determinants of job crafting behaviour and to investigate how this behaviour can be influenced via behavioural intentions. In Study 1, we investigated the relationship of approach and avoidance temperament with job crafting in terms of seeking resources, seeking challenges, and reducing demands in a sample of 193 international employees. In Study 2 ( n = 130 employees), we experimentally manipulated the current motivational state in terms of approach/avoidance goals and measured job crafting behaviours in a follow-up survey. Results confirmed that employees scoring high on approach temperament report to seek resources and demands, whereas employees scoring high on avoidance temperament tend to reduce hindering demands in the workplace. Furthermore, the manipulation of goals had indirect effects on job crafting via behavioural intentions. Although the effects of the concentration on approach goals on job crafting were contradictory to our expectations, the pursuit of avoidance goals led to higher demands-reducing behaviour. Taking everything together, we provide important insights into the effects of basic personality dimensions on job crafting behaviour and highlight the possibilities and boundaries for managers to influence the job crafting behaviours of employees. Practitioner points Our study provides insights about which types of employees alter their job demands and resources., Employees scoring high on approach temperament seek resources and demands, whereas employees scoring high on avoidance temperament reduce demands., Managers are able to influence job crafting behaviour indirectly by stimulating the pursuit of approach and/or avoidance goals., A sole focus on (performance) approach goals might have hindering effects in terms of positive job crafting behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigates the relation between informal help and subjective well-being and its underlying mechanisms using a cross-national perspective. We focus on two potential mechanisms derived from the self-determination theory and conformity to the social norms literature. From the standpoint of self-determination theory, helping others is good for well-being if it is intrinsically motivated, rather than driven by the expectation of reciprocity. On the other hand, from the perspective of the conformity literature, helping others is associated with a higher well-being when it is linked to the benefits of social conformity, such as social approval. We tested these hypotheses using the data from a total of 23 countries. The results provided support for both mechanisms. First, we found that the lower individuals' beliefs in reciprocity are, the stronger is the positive effect of self-reported helping behavior on their well-being. Second, helping behavior was more strongly related to life satisfaction in countries where providing help represents a strong social norm (measured with two different cultural indicators). We conclude that both individual- and culture-level mechanisms account for the relation between prosocial behavior and well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim The Frailty Index ( FI) summarizes differences in health status within individuals, and the determinants of health drive that variability. The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of education, income, smoking, alcohol intake and parental longevity on the FI variability in subjects of the same chronological age group. Methods Analyses were based on a 40-item FI based on the first wave of the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe ( SHARE, ), including 29 905 participants aged ≥50 years from 12 countries. For each sex, the sample was divided into age categories (50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and ≥90), and FI quartiles within age categories were calculated. Multivariate ordinal regressions were computed to assess the relative contribution of the health determinants on the FI quartiles in each age group. Results In women, the most significant multivariate predictors were years of education (odds ratios [ OR] around 0.9), and difficulties making ends meet ( OR between 1.8 and 2.1). In men, the most significant multivariate predictors were years of education ( OR around 0.9), difficulties making ends meet ( OR between 1.6 and 2.1), mother's age at death ( OR under 1), and father's age at death ( OR under 1). Conclusions Consistently with the literature, education and income explained, in both sexes, cross-sectional variability in FI in subjects of the same chronological age group. The influence of parental longevity seemed to be greater in men, which mirrors previous studies showing that genetic factors might have a higher impact on longevity in men. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2014; 14: 420-429. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Child poverty rates are compared throughout Europe to monitor how countries are caring for their children. Child poverty reduction measures need to consider the importance of safe living environments for all children. In this study we investigate how European country-level economic disparity and housing conditions relate to one another, and whether they differentially correlate with child injury mortality. Methods We used an ecological, cross-sectional study design of 26 European countries of which 20 high-income and 6 upper-middle-income. Compositional characteristics of the home and its surroundings were extracted from the 2006 European Union Income Social Inclusion and Living Conditions Database ( n = 203 000). Mortality data of children aged 1-14 years were derived from the World Health Organization Mortality Database. The main outcome measure was age standardized cause-specific injury mortality rates analysed by income inequality and housing and neighbourhood conditions. Results Nine measures of housing and neighbourhood conditions highly differentiating European households at country level were clustered into three dimensions, labelled respectively housing, neighbourhood and economic household strain. Income inequality significantly and positively correlated with housing strain ( r = 0.62, P = 0.001) and household economic strain ( r = 0.42, P = 0.009) but not significantly with neighbourhood strain ( r = 0.34, P = 0.087). Child injury mortality rates correlated strongly with both country-level income inequality and housing strain, with very small age-specific differences. Conclusions In the European context housing, neighbourhood and household economic strains worsened with increasing levels of income inequality. Child injury mortality rates are strongly and positively associated with both income inequality and housing strain, suggesting that housing material conditions could play a role in the association between income inequality and child health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geometric morphometric methods applied to the ventral muscle field outline of the various species of Svobodaina from south-western Europe identify criteria for discriminating among this key cluster of brachiopod species. These data indicate the close relationship between the patterns of the ventral muscle field in the Svobodaina species and the environmental conditions where each inhabited; the fields are better developed in species related to high-energy environments. For example, S. armoricana, with the smallest diductor scars, would have inhabited the quiet marine environments of the lower offshore or within protected lagoonal settings. S. feisti would have inhabited the upper offshore, a more energetic environment than S. armoricana. Finally, S. havliceki, with the largest diductor scars, would have thrived in the most energetic environments among all the south-western European Svobodaina species, living just above the fair-weather wave base in the lower shoreface. The palaeoecological results suggest a distribution of Svobodaina species during the Late Ordovician along an onshore-offshore transect across the shallow marine platforms of the Mediterranean margin of Gondwana. On the other hand, the occurrence in some localities of several species with overlapping ranges or within the same assemblage indicates that the biostratigraphical efficacy of the genus is restricted. Thus, the previously defined taxon-range biozones characterized by Svobodaina species of the north Gondwanan margin are in need of reassessment. The morphology of Svobodaina may be a considerable aid to environmental analyses rather than to precise biostratigraphical correlations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Frailty is an emerging concept in primary care, which potentially can provide healthcare commissioners with a clinical focus for targeting resources at an aging population. However, primary care practitioners need valid instruments that are easy to use. With that purpose in mind, we created a Frailty Instrument (FIt) for primary care based on the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). The aim of the present study was to compare the mortality prediction of the five-item SHARE-FIt with that of a 40-item Frailty Index (FIx) based on comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA). Methods: The participants were 15 578 women and 12 783 men from the first wave of SHARE. A correspondence analysis was used to assess the degree of agreement between phenotypic classifications. The ability of the continuous frailty measures (FIt score and FIx) to predict mortality (mean follow up of 2.4 years) was compared using receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) plots and areas under the curve (AUC). Results: In both sexes, there was significant correspondence between phenotypic categories. The two continuous measures performed equally well as mortality predictors (women: AUC-FIx = 0.79, 95% CI 0.75-0.82, P < 0.001; AUC-FIt = 0.77, 95% CI 0.73-0.81, P < 0.001; men: AUC-FIx = 0.77, 95% CI 0.74-0.79, P < 0.001; AUC-FIt = 0.76, 95% CI 0.74-0.79, P < 0.001). Their equivalent performance was confirmed by statistical comparisons of the AUC. Conclusions: SHARE-FIt is simpler and more usable, and predicts mortality similarly to a more complex FIx based on CGA. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2013; 13: 497-504. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is already known about this subject Overweight and obesity can be linked to different parental socioeconomic factors already in very young children., In Western developed countries, the association of childhood overweight and obesity and parental socioeconomic status shows a negative gradient., Ambiguous results have been obtained regarding the association between socioeconomic factors and childhood overweight and obesity in different countries and over time., What this study adds European regions show heterogeneous associations between socioeconomic factors and overweight and obesity in a multi-centre study with highly standardized study protoco., The strength of association between SES and overweight and obesity varies across European regions., In our study, the SES gradient is correlated with the regional mean income and the country-specific Human development index indicating a strong influence not only of the family but also of region and country on the overweight and obesity prevalence., Objective To assess the association between different macro- and micro-level socioeconomic factors and childhood overweight. Methods Data from the IDEFICS baseline survey is used to investigate the cross-sectional association between socioeconomic factors, like socioeconomic status ( SES), and the prevalence of childhood overweight. Differences and similarities regarding this relationship in eight European regions (located in Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain and Sweden) are explored. 11 994 children (50.9% boys, 49.1% girls) and their parents were included in the analyses. Results In five of the eight investigated regions (in Belgium, Estonia, Germany, Spain and Sweden), the prevalence of childhood overweight followed an inverse SES gradient. In the other three regions (in Cyprus, Hungary and Italy), no association between SES and childhood overweight was found. The SES-overweight association in a region was best explained by the country-specific human development index and the centre-specific mean income. For the investigated association between other socioeconomic factors and overweight, no clear pattern could be found in the different regions. Conclusion The association between socioeconomic factors and childhood overweight was shown to be heterogeneous across different European regions. Further research on nationwide European data is needed to confirm the results and to identify target groups for prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Despite the increasing level of interest in CSR issues, it is not yet clear what real value the market assigns to social reporting. By applying the value relevance analysis to a sample of 130 European-listed banks, the present work proposes a key to understanding the relationship between social reporting and the value that the market attributes to banks that publicize their commitment to CSR through social reporting. The analysis for the entire sample does not provide evidence that investors attribute value relevance to social reporting (i.e. there is not a significant correlation between the publication of a social report and the stock price). Cross-country analysis shows that in some countries the social report is value-relevant, and positively affects the stock price; in others it remains value-relevant but negatively affects the stock price. Our findings could have several implications for banks, investors, and policymakers. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking an approach from religion as a social identity and using large-scale comparative surveys in five European cities, we investigate when and how perceived discrimination is associated with religious identification and politicization among the second generation of Turkish and Moroccan Muslims. We distinguish support for political Islam from political action as distinct forms of politicization. In addition, we test the mediating role of religious identification in processes of politicization. Study 1 estimates multi-group structural equation models of support for political Islam in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Sweden. In line with a social identity model of politicization and across nine inter-group contexts, Muslims who perceived more discrimination identified (even) more strongly as Muslims; and high Muslim identifiers were most ready to support political Islam. In support of a competing social stigma hypothesis, however, negative direct and total effects of perceived discrimination suggest predominant depoliticization. Using separate sub-samples across four inter-group contexts in Belgium, Study 2 adds political action tendencies as a distinct form of politicization. Whereas religious identification positively predicts both forms of politicization, perceived discrimination has differential effects: Muslims who perceived more discrimination were more weary of supporting political Islam, yet more ready to engage in political action to defend Islamic values. Taken together, the studies reveal that some Muslim citizens will politicize and others will depoliticize in the face of discrimination as a function of their religious identification and of prevailing forms of politicization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Theoretically, patient satisfaction is correlated with nursing care, but there is not sufficient evidence to support it. The aim of this study was to address three research questions: (a) What is the correlation between caring as perceived by patients and patient satisfaction? (b) Are there differences across various countries on the correlation on caring as perceived by patients and patient satisfaction? (c) Do caring behaviors affect patient satisfaction? Design: A multicenter correlational design was adopted involving surgical patients from six European countries: Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Finland, Hungary, and Italy. Methods: A convenience sample of 1,565 patients was recruited in autumn 2009. The short version of the Caring Behaviours Inventory (CBI; 24 items) and Patient Satisfaction Scale (PSS; 11 items) were used. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, as well as correlation analysis and stepwise multiple regression, to examine relations between caring behaviors and patient satisfaction. Findings: According to the patients involved, nurses performed caring behaviors between very frequently (score = 5) and always (score = 6). Patient satisfaction with nursing care was also high, between satisfied (score = 3) and very satisfied (score = 4). A positive correlation emerged between CBI and PPS ( r= 0.66, p < .01) ranging between countries from 0.27 to 0.85 (Czech Republic r= 0.27, Cyprus r= 0.76, Finland r= 0.71, Greece r= 0.85, Hungary r= 0.63, and Italy r= 0.45 [ p < .01]). Among the CBI dimensions, 'connectedness' mainly explains patient satisfaction ( R2= 0.404, p < .001), followed by 'assurance' ( R2= 0.032, p < .001) and 'respectful' ( R2= 0.005, p < .001). Conclusions: Caring behaviors enacted by nurses determine a consistent proportion of patient satisfaction. This association between them suggests several implications for nursing education, practice, and management. Clinical Relevance: The results may be utilized by policymakers, nurse ward managers, nurse educators, and clinical nurses as a background for taking appropriate measures to improve nursing care provided, thereby enhancing patient satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Aims To investigate whether differences in gender-income equity at country level explain national differences in the links between alcohol use, and the combination of motherhood and paid labour. Design Cross-sectional data in 16 established market economies participating in the Gender, Alcohol and Culture: An International Study (GenACIS) study. Setting Population surveys. Participants A total of 12 454 mothers (aged 25-49 years). Measurements Alcohol use was assessed as the quantity per drinking day. Paid labour, having a partner, gender-income ratio at country level and the interaction between individual and country characteristics were regressed on alcohol consumed per drinking day using multi-level modelling. Findings Mothers with a partner who were in paid labour reported consuming more alcohol on drinking days than partnered housewives. In countries with high gender-income equity, mothers with a partner who were in paid labour drank less alcohol per occasion, while alcohol use was higher among working partnered mothers living in countries with lower income equity. Conclusion In countries which facilitate working mothers, daily alcohol use decreases as female social roles increase; in contrast, in countries where there are fewer incentives for mothers to remain in work, the protective effect of being a working mother (with partner) on alcohol use is weaker. These data suggest that a country's investment in measures to improve the compatibility of motherhood and paid labour may reduce women's alcohol use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research analyses the mediational role of threat perception in the relationship between prejudice and discrimination (opposition to immigration and opposition to naturalization of immigrants). In the first study, using representative samples in 21 European countries ( N = 36 566) from European Social Survey (2002), we showed that the relationship between prejudice and opposition to immigration was more strongly mediated by realistic than by symbolic threat perceptions. In Study 2, using representative samples in two countries with different traditions of immigration (Switzerland, N = 940; Portugal, N = 1514), we showed that realistic threat more strongly mediated the relationship between prejudice and opposition to immigration, while only symbolic threat perception mediated the link between prejudice and opposition to naturalization. The theoretical implications of considering threat perceptions as factors that legitimize discrimination are discussed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Despite scientific evidence on the positive effects of seafood consumption on human health, the consumption of fish remains below the recommended intake levels for the majority of Europeans. The present study aimed to explore cultural differences in potential determinants of fish consumption: consumers’ knowledge and health-related beliefs, as well as the relationship between those variables, socio-demographics and fish consumption frequency, using data from five European countries. Methods: A cross-sectional consumer survey was carried out in 2004 with representative household samples from Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Poland and Spain. The sample consisted of 4786 respondents, aged 18–84 years, who were responsible for food purchasing and cooking in the household. Results: European consumers had a very strong belief that eating fish is healthy. Consumers’ belief that eating fish is healthy, their interest in healthy eating and objective fish-related nutrition knowledge, positively, but only weakly, influenced fish consumption frequency. Subjective knowledge was found to be a stronger predictor of fish consumption than the previously noted factors. Age and education contributed, both directly and indirectly through knowledge, to explain fish consumption behaviour. However, the path coefficients in the estimated model were relatively low, which indicates that fish consumption frequency was also determined by factors other than health-related beliefs and consumers’ knowledge. Conclusions: The findings of the present study suggest that communication should focus on health-related benefits other than fish consumption alone. Communicating that eating fish is healthy and stressing the health benefits of fish alone, as is still commonly performed (e.g. in generic promotion and other types of public information campaigns) will be insufficient to achieve higher levels of compliance with fish consumption recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the linear and non-linear statistical downscaling methods for identifying the winter daily temperature at eight European stations. The linear methods include linear regression of gridpoint values, also known as pointwise regression, and of predictors' principal components, also known as PC regression. The non-linear methods are represented by artificial neural networks, and is achieved by a stratification of data through classification of circulation patterns. The said downscaling methods are evaluated according to four criteria: fit to observations quantified by the correlation coefficient, shape of the statistical distribution such as skewness and kurtosis, temporal autocorrelations with one day lag, and interstation correlations.

Aim Global climate change is increasingly influencing ecosystems. Long-term effects on the species richness and composition of ecological communities have been predicted using modelling approaches but, so far, hardly demonstrated in the field. Here, we test whether changes in the composition of bird communities have been influenced by recent climate change. Location Europe. Methods We focus on the proportion of migratory and resident bird species because these groups are expected to respond differently to climatic change. We used the spatial relationship between climatic factors and bird communities in Europe to predict changes in 21 European bird communities under recent climate change. Results Observed changes corresponded significantly to predicted changes and could not be explained by the effects of spatial autocorrelation. Alternative factors such as changes in land use were tested in a first approximation as well but no effects were found. Main conclusions This study demonstrates that global climate change has already influenced the species richness and composition of European bird communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims To describe the pattern of mean body size of native mammals in Europe, and to investigate its relationships with environmental predictors related to four hypotheses: (1) dispersal; (2) heat conservation; (3) heat dissipation; and (4) resource availability. Location Continental western Europe and Great Britain. Methods We used range maps to estimate the mean body size (average log mass) of mammals in 386 cells of 12,100 km2 each. Environmental conditions in each cell were quantified using nine historical, climatic and primary production variables. We attempted to tease apart the effects of these variables using correlation, multiple regression and spatial autocorrelation analyses. Results In the part of the continent covered by ice during the Pleistocene, body mass decreases southwards, and annual average temperature explains 73% of the variance in body size, consistent with the heat-conservation hypothesis. However, in warmer, non-glaciated areas the best predictor is an estimate of seasonality in plant production, but it explains only 18% of the variance. Carnivores, omnivores and herbivores show similar relationships, but the pattern for herbivores is substantially weaker than for the other groups. Main conclusions Overall, the relationship between mean body size and temperature is non-linear, being strong in cold environments but virtually disappearing above a temperature threshold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]