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How and why has the formal policy development on PPPs in Denmark evolved? How and why do PPP projects develop in Danish healthcare sector? Despite limited policy guidelines and no PPP Act, a regional approach to PPPs has occurred in the healthcare sector. There are active projects in five hospital cases that use the PPP model. PPP projects in the Danish healthcare sector develop from a mixture of reasons, which include strategic interventions from finance institutions, change in specific formal rules on financing, and necessity for regional governments to find alternatives to public financing.

Background Although older adults are more vulnerable to the COVID-19 virus, a significant proportion of them do not follow recommended guidelines concerning preventive actions during the ongoing pandemic. This article analyses the role of biased health beliefs for adaptive health behaviour such as reduced mobility, protection in public spaces and hygiene measures, for the population aged 50 and older in 13 European countries. Methods Health perception is measured based on the difference between self-reported health and physical performance tests for over 24 000 individuals included in the most recent Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. Logistic regressions are employed to explore how over- and underestimating health are related to preventive behaviours. Results Results suggest that older adults who underestimate their health are more likely to show adaptive behaviour related to mobility reductions. In particular, they are more likely to stay at home, shop less and go for walks less often. In contrast, overestimating health is not significantly associated with reduced mobility. Protective behaviour in public spaces and adopting hygiene measures do not vary systematically between health perception groups. Conclusion As health beliefs appear relevant for the adoption of preventive health behaviours related to mobility, they have serious consequences for the health and well-being of older Europeans. Although adaptive behaviour helps to contain the virus, exaggerated mobility reduction in those who underestimate their health might be contributing to the already high social isolation and loneliness of older adults during the ongoing pandemic.

Transactive energy is an effective way to share and trade energy among peers. A transactive energy framework is composed of several integrated blocks such as an energy market, service providers, generation companies, transmission and distribution networks, prosumers, etc. The success of such a framework can be measured by analyzing the effectiveness of its major building blocks. This paper provides a basic definition of transactive energy which helps in identifying its primary building blocks. Based on the identified building blocks, each block of the transactive energy system is discussed briefly to highlight its significant role and effectiveness. Some enabling technologies for such systems are then reviewed along with pilot projects. In the end, some policy guidelines are presented to speed up their implementation.

Ce chapitre se penche sur les différences institutionnelles en France et en Allemagne. La stabilité du cadre institutionnel allemand contraste avec la série de réformes institutionnelles qui se sont étalées sur des décennies, voire un demi-siècle, en France. Alors qu'en Allemagne, la transformation a pris la forme d'adaptations successives, en France, les diverses réformes ont été vivement débattues et parfois même contestées. Les métropoles et les régions sont souvent au centre de ces discussions en France. Ces contrastes entre stabilité et changement se retrouvent aussi bien dans les systèmes d'aménagement du territoire que dans la position du plus haut niveau d'autorité territoriale (régions en France et Länder en Allemagne). Partant des orientations politiques nationales des deux pays, les auteurs évoquent les différentes unités territoriales, leurs domaines de compétence et leurs multiples instruments de planification. Ils abordent également les processus de démocratisation, de participation et de métropolisation, le rôle de l'Union européenne et les crises successives comme moteurs du développement des deux systèmes. This chapter concentrates on institutional differences in France and Germany. The stability of the German institutional setting contrasts with the series of institutional reforms that have stretched over decades or even half a century in France. While in Germany transformation has taken the form of successive adaptations, in France the diverse reforms have been hotly debated and sometimes even contested. Often the metropolises and regions form the focus of such discussions in France. These contrasts between stability and change can also be seen in both spatial planning systems and the position of the highest level of territorial authority (régions in France and Länder in Germany). Starting from the national policy guidelines in both countries, the authors describe different territorial units, their areas of responsibility and their manifold planning instruments. They also address processes of democratisation, participation and metropolisation, the role of the European Union and various crises as drivers of the development of both systems.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this living systematic review is to synthesize the available evidence on the prevalence of types of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) genomic variations in Africa. INTRODUCTION: The burden of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the health, well-being, and global economy (especially the fragile economies of African countries) is significant. Profiling the genomic and geographical variations of SARS-CoV-2, a causative agent of COVID-19, may be important for future decision-making, policy guidelines, and development of drugs and vaccines. However, little is known about the up-to-date prevalence of genomic and geographical variations of SARS-CoV-2 virus on the African continent. INCLUSION CRITERIA: This living systematic review will include studies on the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 genetic strains and mutations obtained from sequencing data of samples from individuals of all ages and sexes using the next generation sequencing approaches in studies done on the African continent. METHODS: The search strategy will be developed to retrieve both published and unpublished data. Published data will be obtained from electronic databases. Unpublished data will be obtained from conference proceedings, preprints, theses/dissertations, electronic search engines, and COVID-19-dedicated websites. Relevant published or unpublished data in the English language from January 2020 will be considered. Studies will be selected based on the inclusion criteria of the review. The selected studies will be critically appraised for methodological quality by two independent reviewers and data extracted from eligible studies. Finally, meta-analysis will be done, if feasible, to pool prevalence estimates after heterogeneity of the data has been analyzed. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION NUMBER: PROSPERO CRD42020211451.

PurposeIn today’s corporate world, effective management of diversity is a critical business and social imperative. This paper aims to identify relevant issues connected to diversity training and suggest course content that can be useful in corporate and academia while offering diversity training.Design/methodology/approachThe authors have conducted a literature review on primary aspects connected to diversity training. Specifically, papers published in recent times are given focus to come up with relevant diversity training content and other connected concerns.FindingsIn this paper, the authors focus on how academicians and practitioners can develop an effective diversity training initiative, based on some of the critical nuances discussed in the literature. Suggested training content includes sensitivity, awareness, behavioral approach, policy guidelines and diversity impact analysis. This training content can further be customized based on the corporate context where the training is to be delivered.Originality/valueBased on the literature review, the paper suggests a holistic diversity training program that is hopefully going to be useful for both practitioners and academicians.

In a homogenous good industry in which firms choose their cost-reducing R&D investments and make merger proposals prior to competing a la Cournot, we identify conditions under which there are coalition-proof Nash equilibria involving horizontal mergers as well as non-integration. Mergers arise whenever the R&D technology is sufficiently effective. Moreover, if firms’ R&D investments are substitutes (complements) and the bargaining power is unevenly (evenly) distributed among merger participants, a merger is the unique coalition-proof Nash equilibrium. Antitrust policy guidelines are simple when the welfare standard is the consumer surplus and R&D investments are substitutes, but are more complex when the standard is total surplus and/or R&D investments are complements.

There has been increasing interest in local-level implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Despite the emergence of various initiatives undertaken by local governments, studies on the process of mainstreaming the 2030 Agenda within local contexts remain limited. This study is aimed at identifying possible approaches for supporting local governments in successfully mainstreaming the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs. We developed an analytical framework covering key components for local-level mainstreaming of the SDGs based on our review of recent policy guidelines for implementing the SDGs and the policy integration and coherence literature. Subsequently, we applied this framework within case studies of two designated municipalities under the Japanese government’s “SDGs Future Cities” initiative aimed at localizing the SDGs. The analysis demonstrated how local governments could develop and apply key components of the SDGs mainstreaming process. Our findings suggest that the following approaches can facilitate local governments’ efforts to mainstream the SDGs: first, municipalities can foster local ownership to address the challenges they face. Second, existing policy resources can be linked with formal procedures. Third, multi-stakeholder partnerships can be developed. Fourth, vertical communication channels can be established with international and national-level organizations. Overall, the article contributes to a growing literature on SDGs implementation at the local level by identifying key components required for their mainstreaming, introducing perspectives derived from Japanese case studies.

We examine the welfare effects of entry in the presence of network externalities. We show that if network goods are fully incompatible, entry is socially insufficient as long as the entry cost is high, the goods are sufficiently differentiated, and the degree of network externality is low. Further, we show that as the degree of compatibility between the network goods increases, insufficient entry becomes more likely. Our findings provide policy guidelines for anticompetitive and procompetitive entry regulations.

Food allergies affect approximately two children per average-sized classroom, and prevalence has increased in recent decades (Gupta et al., 2011; Pawankar et al., 2013). This increase has important implications for school psychologists and counselors because allergies can impact various psychosocial aspects of students’ lives (Vale et al., 2015). Unfortunately, psychosocial considerations related to allergy management are often treated as peripheral in school food allergy policy development (Behrmann, 2010a). The purpose of the current review was to examine the availability of state-level guidelines and to evaluate available guidelines according to research supported practices for students including those impacting psychosocial facets of students’ lives. Guideline documents identified varied in size and form and when available tended to provide limited coverage of social and emotional factors. Our review provides insight into scope of attention to psychosocial facets of well-being in state-level allergy policy guidelines and concludes with implications for practice across multiple tiers of support.

Public perception assessment is important for gaining a better understanding of the acceptance of autonomous vehicles (AVs) and identifying potential ways to resolve public concerns. This study investigated how pedestrians and bicyclists perceived AVs based on their knowledge and road sharing experiences, applying a combined inductive and deductive data analysis approach. Survey responses of pedestrians and bicyclists in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA collected by Bike Pittsburgh (BikePGH) in 2019, were analyzed in this research. AVs following traffic rules appropriately and AVs driving safer than the human drivers were the most notable positive perceptions towards AVs. Pedestrians and bicyclists showed comparatively fewer negative perceptions towards AVs than positive perceptions. Negative perceptions mostly included a lack of perceived safety and comfort around AVs and trust in the AV technology. Respondents also concerned about AV technology issues (e.g., slow and defensive driving, disruptive maneuver), while sharing the road with AVs. Perceptions of the respondents were significantly influenced by their views on AV safety, familiarity with the technology, the extent respondents followed AV on the news, and household automobile ownership. Regulating AV movement on roadways, developing safety assessment guidelines, and controlling oversights of improper practices by AV companies were the major suggestions from the survey participants. Findings of this study might help AV companies to identify potential improvement needed in AV technology to increase pedestrians and bicyclists acceptance, and policymakers to develop policy guidelines to ensure safe road sharing among pedestrians, bicyclists, and AVs.

We study the factors that influence the decisions that are made by the Brazilian competition authority on mergers and compare these factors with the Brazilian merger policy guidelines. Estimates of discrete choice models show that high post-merger market share and adverse entry conditions—both of which are included in the guidelines—significantly increase the likelihood of mergers’ being challenged. Market regulation—a factor that is not included in the guidelines—also influences these decisions. Our analysis indicates that the guidelines do not cover all relevant aspects of the decision-making process and shows evidence of the interaction between merger and regulatory policies.

The implementation of the National Special Needs Education Policy Guidelines in Malawi began in 2009. There is limited literature on how the guidelines are implemented in secondary schools, particularly in private secondary schools of Malawi. Therefore, the study aimed at exploring the implementation of the guidelines in private secondary schools. The study used a phenomenological design and qualitative methodology. Data were generated through a triangulation of methods including semi-structured interviews, observation and document analysis. The data generated were analysed thematically. The findings revealed that there was a lack of thorough knowledge of the guidelines, resources for implementing the guidelines in private secondary schools were not available, and support for learners with special education needs was not sufficient. The results of this study indicate that communication with key school stakeholders is key for the effective implementation of the National Special Needs Education Policy Guidelines.

Policy guidelines against sexual harassment in institutions of Higher Learning were introduced in 128 public sector universities across Pakistan in January 2011. However, there has been an increase in the number of reported cases of sexual harassment that became prominent in mainstream media, so the institutional mechanism and the official definition of sexual harassment still needs a lot of clarity. The study aims to investigate the perception, prevalence and awareness of sexual harassment among university students along with possible causes of underreporting of the incidents of sexual harassment. Stratified random sampling and purposive sampling were used for data collection from students and members of sexual harassment committees respectively. The research findings revealed that sexual harassment at campus is a common phenomenon although majority of the cases go unreported owing to different institutional and cultural constraints. Instead of reporting to university administration, students adopt self adjustment mechanism by reducing the stay at campus or reducing the possibility of contact with males. There is dire need of more awareness sessions about what is sexual harassment and what students can do to deal with it.

The purpose of this study is to investigate factors that influence bankers’ intention to adopt green banking in Pakistan. Green banking refers to providing environment-friendly banking services and financial products through environment-friendly banking operations and infrastructure. It can be referred to as sustainable lending and depository products and bank’s services through sustainable banking operations and infrastructure. The data for this study was collected from 250 respondents through a structured questionnaire. Data analysis was performed using the partial least squares (PLS) approach. The study’s findings indicate that Policy Guidelines, Attitude towards usage, Central Bank Regulations, and Management commitment and support influence bankers’ intention to adopt green banking in Pakistan. This research will help the State bank of Pakistan and the bank’s senior management to identify the key factors influencing the adoption of green banking in Pakistan.

The study was set out to examine the influence of cultural processes on teacher educators’ digital competence at School of Education, Makerere University, and Kampala Uganda. A case study design was employed taking a quantitative approach. Objectives of the study were to establish how individual and institutional values influence teacher educators’ technology knowledge and skills at Makerere University. Participants were teacher trainers from School of Education and data were collected using a self administered questionnaire. Data were analyzed using; ANOVA, Pearson Product moment Correlation coefficient and Regression. It was found out that: both individual and institutional values have got a significant positive influence to teacher educators’ technology knowledge and skills. It was concluded that; individual values in form of: level of education, teaching experience, attitude or belief and disciplinary background are very fundamental in promoting teacher educators’ technology skills and knowledge; institutional values in form of: leadership styles, policy guidelines, curriculum and structural facilities are critical aspects in promoting teacher educators’ technology knowledge and skills. It was recommended that The School of Education should develop an evaluative instrument to regularly assess the extent to which ICTs have promoted teaching and learning, University administrators should change their leadership styles, adopt transformational leadership style according because results indicated that it promotes teacher educators’ technology knowledge and skills

The peaceful coexistence among people is the key to a stable and progressing world. The focus of the study was to examine the desired and existing level of peace teaching practices at the university level. Convergent mixed methods design was considered best fit, using qualitative and quantitative methods. Respondents of the study were all administrators, the teachers, and BS students at the universities of Pakistan. Multistage sampling techniques were used for the selection of the respondents. Three instruments were used in this study; first and second instruments were self-developed questionnaires consisting of 50 items both for teachers and students used to collect quantitative data. The reliability of questionnaires was computed after pilot testing applying Cronbach’s Alpha (0.92). The third instrument i.e. interview schedule consisted of (5) questions, was used to collect qualitative data. The analysis of data revealed that the desired level for peace teaching practices and its subsidiary values is significantly greater than the existing level of peace teaching practices. It leads to the conclusion that there is more need for teaching peace and its subsidiary values to university students. Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan may suggest a separate course on peace in its policy guidelines for the universities under its auspices.

Well-being of the Indian elderly is presently a concern in the urban Indian society due to the gradual decline in the capacity of the family to serve as care-givers for their elderly members. Holistic improvement in the lives of the Indian elderly requires an understanding of the varied aspects which they perceive to influence their lives. The concept of perceived Quality of life (QoL) deals with an individual’s assessment of varied aspects influencing their well-being. Considering the role of social and economic backgrounds on the perception of QoL, this paper identifies the factors which the Indian elderly from varied backgrounds associate with their perceived QoL. Using interviews with 83 elderly residents of Kolkata, India, this paper identifies 58 factors for eight broad domains, which influence the perceived QoL of Indian elderly. The findings from the present research will help in the formulation of an index for measuring QoL, which can subsequently facilitate the preparation of policy guidelines for the improvement of QoL of elderly, especially the QoL of Indian elderly.

Rental Car services were introduced in 2013 in India. Enfolding the benefits of automobile without owning it, it is essential to understand major factors contributing to the satisfaction of rental car services. A surge in the growth of this service is estimated by 2020; however, studies’ exploring the impact of this service in India is very limited. This paper explores the relationship between input factors such as socio-demographic characteristics and individuals’ overall satisfaction level of the service. Ordered logit model and neural network model were developed to identify the factors impacting overall satisfaction level using the data collected in a survey conducted through online and offline platform. The results indicate that individuals influenced by the availability of car and ease in hiring are satisfied with the rental car service, while price has a negative effect on the satisfaction level. Car ownership also has a positive impact on the model, depicting that even though individuals own a car, they are satisfied with the service. Further, the study observes that individuals are in general satisfied with the service, and certain policy guidelines can be formulated to increase the awareness of rental car services as one of ways to curb rising car ownership among the car aspirants.

Als der Bundessicherheitsrat unter Kanzler Helmut Schmidt im Frühjahr 1982 neue Politische Grundsätze für den Rüstungsexport verabschiedete, wurde eine geheime Protokollnote angenommen, die als Israel-Klausel firmierte. Sie gab vor, dass bei Entscheidungen zur Waffenausfuhr „auch die geschichtliche Verantwortung der Deutschen gegenüber dem jüdischen Volk berücksichtigt wird“. Hintergrund war der Wunsch Saudi-Arabiens, Hunderte Leopard 2-Panzer zu erwerben, der in Bonn eine monatelange Kontroverse ausgelöst und zu einer tiefen Krise der deutsch-israelischen Beziehungen geführt hatte. Hubert Leber untersucht den Panzer-Streit von 1981/82 erstmals auf Basis deutscher wie israelischer Regierungsakten und verknüpft dabei Internationale Geschichte mit vergangenheitspolitischen Perspektiven. Das Verantwortungspostulat, das sich die Bundesregierung auf Initiative von Außenminister Hans-Dietrich Genscher zu eigen machte, markierte eine Zäsur für die Bonner Israel-Politik. Galt im Umgang mit dem jüdischen Staat bis dahin eine Art Verjährungsparadigma, so wurde die Erinnerung an den Holocaust zu Beginn der 1980er Jahre als dauerhaft wirksamer Faktor deutschen Regierungshandelns anerkannt.

The study examines the corporate governance practices and analyzes the role of the board characteristics (size of the board, the composition of the board, and functioning of the board) on the performance and asset quality of banks. We use a sample of 34 commercial banks consisting of 19 public sector banks and 15 private sector banks from 2009 to 2018 accounting for 93 percent of the total banking industry in India. The study finds that busy directors and the number of meetings have a positive significance on bank performance. The percentage of independent directors and the percentage of busy directors influence a significant negative relationship on the net non-performing assets ratio. The board size and number of meetings are associated negatively with Tobin's Q significantly and the percentage of busy directors is a significantly positive impact on Tobin's Q. The board size has a significantly negative impact on bank performance. The research findings provide some insights into corporate governance to the RBI for considering appropriate policy guidelines on corporate governance in the banking industry in India. The paper adds to the existing literature on corporate governance mechanisms and banking industry performance.

This chapter concentrates on institutional differences in France and Germany. The stability of the German institutional setting contrasts with the series of institutional reforms that have stretched over decades or even half a century in France. While in Germany transformation has taken the form of successive adaptations, in France the diverse reforms have been hotly debated and sometimes even contested. Often the metropolises and regions form the focus of such discussions in France. These contrasts between stability and change can also be seen in both spatial planning systems and the position of the highest level of territorial authority (régions in France and Länder in Germany). Starting from the national policy guidelines in both countries, the authors describe different territorial units, their areas of responsibility and their manifold planning instruments. They also address processes of democratisation, participation and metropolisation, the role of the European Union and various crises as drivers of the development of both systems.