Comparing user and community co-production approaches in local 'welfare' and 'law and order' services : does the governance mode matter?

This paper analyses the relationship between modes of governance at local level and the adoption of user and community co-production approaches in public safety and social care services, based on a German case study. The findings draw on a series of intensive focus groups with managers and staff of public services in four different regions in Germany, exploring existing levels of co-production and its potential in social care and public safety services, with particular focus on older and young people. The paper provides the first clear research evidence on how approaches to co-production are specific to the modes of governance within which they take place. The paper concludes with policy conclusions, both in the two programme areas concerned and in local public services more generally

Hamiltonian Cosmological Perturbation Theory

The Hamiltonian approach to cosmological perturbations in general relativity in finite space-time is developed, where a cosmological scale factor is identified with spatial averaging the metric determinant logarithm. This identification preserves the number of variables and leads to a cosmological perturbation theory with the scalar potential perturbations in contrast to the kinetic perturbations in the Lifshitz version which are responsible for the ``primordial power spectrum'' of CMB in the inflationary model. The Hamiltonian approach enables to explain this ``spectrum'' in terms of scale-invariant variables and to consider other topical problem of modern cosmology in the context of quantum cosmological creation of both universes and particles from the stable Bogoliubov vacuum.Comment: 10 pages, text was changed according to the version accepted for publication in Physics Letters

Hungarian Footballers on the Move: Issues of and Observations on the First Migratory Phase

In this essay we seek to approach football migration-related issues from a qualitative angle and examine specific, personal layers of those via the lived experiences of Hungarian migrant footballers. That is, we shall shed light on some of the numerous personal and occupational struggles, difficulties and uncertainties Hungarian professional footballers encountered at varied stages of their footballing transfer after the collapse of communism. Hence, one of our aims is to draw wider attention to motivational forces, in the form of push and pull factors that can either facilitate or hinder migratory processes and, at a later stage, impact on migratory experiences. We will then consider the selection of potential host countries and the degree of control Hungarian professional footballers exercise over choosing their countries of destination. Finally, we examine issues related to the clarity of contract negotiations prior to and during the migratory experience. Our analysis is sociologically-driven and embedded in empirical, qualitative evidence gathered by semi-structured interviews with migrant Hungarian professional footballers