Regional context and realization of fertility intentions: the role of the urban context

Despite regional variation in fertility, rural–urban differences in the realization of fertility intentions have not been addressed in previous research. This paper analyzes the realization with data from 11 European countries, employing binomial and multinomial logistic regression models, decomposition analyses, and examining the role of contextual factors. The results demonstrate that realization is lower in urban than in rural regions. In cities, postponement of childbearing is much more common. This can be partly explained by differences in characteristics (e.g., age, partnership status) of inhabitants who intend to have a(nother) child. Furthermore, contextual factors such as educational and economic opportunities play a role

How to establish and maintain outsourcing relationships between Logistics Service Providers and their clients?

Abstract Purpose: What influences collaboration between LSPs and their clients in the midst of uncertainty lies in the analysis of supply chain collaboration between logistics service providers (LSPs) and their clients, with a main focus set on communication, coordination, and technological issues, (i.e. rational measures to achieve defined goals), resulting interdependencies and complexity as well as organizational coordination principles and mechanisms. Qualitative interviews with experts from leading LSPs on how they establish and maintain outsourcing relationships operationally were conducted and analyzed by open, axial and selective coding, following a grounded theory approach methodology. Coordination as a precondition for collaboration is based on communication between LSPs and their clients. The more complex and/or interdependent processes reveal themselves to be in an outsourcing relationship, the more intense coordination efforts have to be established and maintained for outsourcing operations to reduce uncertainty. Furthermore, collaboration level between LSPs and clients is influenced by several factors, such as strategic importance of the client, general contract size and transaction frequency, a common understanding of the mutual dependency arising from collaboration, trust, the depth of the comfort level in interpersonal relations and, finally, the degree of standardization of communication on the operational level. Moreover, it indicates that operational coordination efforts seem to be limited to standardization of input, output and work processes. Otherwise, coordination costs would rise considerably. This leads to the conclusion that the interdependency of outsourced processes is to be reduced, which goes hand-in-hand with lower and controllable uncertainty and subsequently lower risks

Urban Logistics Micro Hubs: Standardisation Meets Uniqueness

Parcel service companies regularly follow a business strategy which aims for efficiency through large volumes of highly standardized services. However, possibilities to increase efficiency are limited andstandardization bears the risk that a company is replaced by competitors. Therefore, expanding the service portfolio with customer-specific services can be a promising option. A possible place for offering such customer-centered services are logistics micro hubs in urban areas, i.e., logistic infrastructure facilities for storage, transhipment and distribution, located close to recipients of parcel deliveries. An online-survey among Austrian consumers has been carried out, allowing prioritization of consumers’ requirements. Then, the relation of the prioritized services to the capabilities of urban logistics micro-hubs is determined by logical conclusion. The results should be useful to determine new services for further evaluation and development

Barriers to health care access and service utilization of refugees in Austria: Evidence from a cross-sectional survey

This paper provides evidence on (1) refugees' subjective well-being, (2) their access and barriers to health care utilization and (3) their perception of health care provision in Austria, one of the countries most heavily affected by the European "refugee crisis". It is based on primary data from the Refugee Health and Integration Survey (ReHIS), a cross-sectional survey of roughly five hundred Syrian, Iraqi and Afghan refugees. Results indicate that refugees' self-rated health falls below the resident population's, in particular for female and Afghan refugees. Whereas respondents state overall high satisfaction with the Austrian health system, two in ten male and four in ten female refugees report unmet health needs. Most frequently cited barriers include scheduling conflicts, long waiting lists, lack of knowledge about doctors, and language. Although treatment costs were not frequently considered as barriers, consultation of specialist medical services frequently associated with co-payment by patients, in particular dental care, are significantly less often consulted by refugees than by Austrians. Refugees reported comparably high utilization of hospital services, with daycare treatment more common than inpatient stays. We recommend to improve refugees' access to health care in Austria by a) improving the information flow about available treatment, in particular specialists, b) fostering dental health care for refugees, and c) addressing language barriers by providing (web-based) interpretation services

CommunityHub: Potenzialanalyse für die gemeinschaftliche Nutzung innerstädtischer Logistikflächen

Problemstellung: Durch kontinuierliche Urbanisierungsprozesse und die voranschreitende Wohnraumverdichtung sowie die Zunahme der Bevölkerungs- und Verkehrsdichte ist ein sparsamer Umgang mit der Ressource Boden von Nöten. Die steigende Bedeutung des E-Commerce sowie die sich daraus resultierende Veränderung von Konsumentinnen- und Konsumentenanforderungen und zunehmenden Anzahl an Sendungen stellt vor allem die innerstädtische Logistik im Hinblick auf eine effiziente Abwicklung bzw. Organisation der First- und Last-Mile vor eine große Herausforderung. Beim Zusammentreffen unterschiedlicher Akteurinnen und Akteure (Stadt, Endnutzerinnen und Endnutzer, Wirtschaft) sind – bedingt durch verschiedene Interessen und Zielsetzungen – Entwicklungs- und Nutzungskonflikte – im Speziellen bei knappem Platzangebot – kaum vermeidbar. Es existieren jedoch auch im urbanen Raum ungenutzte Logistikkapazitäten, die durch ungleichmäßige Aufteilung von Wohn- und Lagerraum entstehen. Besonderes Augenmerk wird hierbei auf leerstehende Erdgeschoßzonen gelegt. Zielsetzung: Das Projekt CommunityHub1 zielt auf eine optimale Allokation der Ressource Raum ab. Unter dem Begriff CommunityHub werden Mikro-Logistikknotenpunkte verstanden, welche eine Versorgung der Bevölkerung mit logistischen Dienstleistungen und eine gleichberechtigte Zugänglichkeit für alle Akteurinnen und Akteure (Stadt, Endnutzerinnen und Endnutzer, Wirtschaft) gewährleisten. Dabei werden in städtischen Erdgeschoßzonen logistische Leistungen (Lagerung, Paketzustellung etc.) mit weiteren koppelbaren (Dienst-)Leistungen (Entsorgung, Versicherungen, Umkleidekabinen etc.) bereit gestellt. Die unterschiedlichen Komponenten der Partizipation, Nahversorgung und Mehrfachnutzung existieren für sich allein, wurden bisher jedoch noch nicht im Rahmen eines innovativen Konzeptes vereint. Mittels Primär- und Sekundärdatenerhebung wird die Grundlage für die Durchführung einer Potenzialanalyse am Anwendungsbeispiel Wien und die Untersuchung möglicher Risiken von CommunityHubs geschaffen. Darauf aufbauend werden konkrete Lösungsvorschläge und Implementierungsstrategien für (inner-)städtische Multi-Use-Konzepte erarbeitet. Ergebnisse: Auf diese Art kann das Projekt CommunityHub einen Beitrag für die Lösung der First- bzw. Last-Mile- Problematik leisten, wodurch die Zustellbarkeit von Paketen erhöht und gleichzeitig CO2-Emissionen (z. B. durch Bündelung von Ressourcen) reduziert werden können. Des Weiteren werden durch die Umnutzung von – z. B. leerstehenden Geschäfts- und Bankfilialen zu (inner-)städtischen CommunityHubs – Erdgeschoßzonen aufgewertet und die Nahversorgung im urbanen Raum sichergestellt

What the self-selection of Ukrainian refugees means for support in host countries

Refugee populations are rarely a perfect representation of the makeup of the country they have fled from. This is because refugees are often ‘self-selected’ in the sense that certain types of people are more likely to choose to leave or to have the opportunities to do so. Drawing on new survey evidence, Judith Kohlenberger, Konrad Pędziwiatr, Bernhard Rengs, Bernhard Riederer, Ingrid Setz, Isabella Buber-Ennser, Jan Brzozowski and Olena Nahorniuk provide a detailed overview of the key characteristics of Ukrainian refugees in Austria and Poland

Psychosoziale Gesundheit und gesellschaftliche Teilhabe in Österreich: Zur Prävalenz von Angststörungen und Depressionen unter syrischen, irakischen und afghanischen Geflüchteten

Flucht und Asyl haben lange die öffentlichen Debatten in Europa bestimmt. In vielen Ländern haben rechtspopulistische Parteien an Bedeutung gewonnen. Eine Einigung darüber, wie die Europäische Union ihre Verantwortung gegenüber den weltweiten Fluchtbewegungen wahrnehmen kann, scheint in weiter Ferne. Der vorliegende Band trägt zu einer Ausdifferenzierung dieser Debatten bei. Einerseits regt er dazu an, Flucht und Asyl aus einer internationalen und historischen Perspektive sowie aus dem Blickwinkel der Betroffenen neu zu denken. Andererseits präsentiert er empirische Ergebnisse zur politischen und zivilgesellschaftlichen Auseinandersetzung mit Geflüchteten, zu ihrer Integration in den Arbeitsmarkt sowie zu den Möglichkeiten und Grenzen ihrer gesellschaftlichen und kulturellen Teilhabe

Health determinants among refugees in Austria and Germany: A propensity-matched comparative study for Syrian, Afghan, and Iraqi refugees

In recent years, Germany and Austria have been among the leading European receiving countries for asylum seekers and refugees (AS&R). The two countries have cultural and economic similarities, but differ, for example, in their health care systems, with AS&R having unrestricted access to health services upon arrival in Austria, but not in Germany. This study investigates the determinants of health among refugees in Austria and Germany, and how these determinants differ between the two countries. We analyze comparable and harmonized survey data from both countries for Syrian, Afghan, and Iraqi nationals aged 18 to 59 years who had immigrated between 2013 and 2016 (Germany: n = 2,854; Austria: n = 374). The study adopts a cross-sectional design, and uses propensity score matching to examine comparable AS&R in the two receiving countries. The results reveal that the AS&R in Germany (72%) were significantly less likely to report being in (very) good health than their peers in Austria (89%). Age and education had large impacts on health, whereas the effects of length of stay and length of asylum process were smaller. Compositional differences in terms of age, sex, nationality, education, and partnership situation explained the country differences only in part. After applying propensity score matching to adjust for structural differences and to assess non-confounded country effects, the probability of reporting (very) good health was still 12 percentage points lower in Germany than in Austria. We conclude that many of the determinants of health among AS&R correspond to those in the non-migrant population, and thus call for the implementation of similar health policies. The health disadvantage found among the AS&R in Germany suggests that removing their initially restricted access to health care may improve their health

Fertility Intentions and Their Realization in Couples : How the Division of Household Chores Matters

Most research on Europe indicates that a gender-balanced division of family work tends to increase childbearing probabilities, but empirical results vary substantially. The present article proposes explanations for this observed discrepancy. It develops prior research further by (1) studying short-term fertility intentions and their realization within the subsequent 4 years, (2) analyzing the role of the spouses’ satisfaction with the division for the effects that the division may have on childbearing, (3) proving a mediation by relationship satisfaction, and (4) considering gender as well as parity as moderators. Using data from two waves of the Generations and Gender Survey, we show that the division of work affects childbearing intentions. We find that the effect (a) depends on the spouses’ satisfaction with the division, (b) is partly moderated by relationship satisfaction, and (c) varies by parity. The division of household labor, however, seems of less importance for the realization of childbearing intentions

Human Capital, Values, and Attitudes of Persons Seeking Refuge in Austria in 2015

Since its inception in 2010, the Arab Spring has evolved into a situation of violent conflict in many countries, leading to high levels of migration from the affected region. Given the social impact of the large number of individuals applying for asylum across Europe in 2015, it is important to study who these persons are in terms of their skills, motivations, and intentions. DiPAS (Displaced Persons in Austria Survey) aims to uncover the socio-demographic characteristics of the persons seeking refuge who arrived in Austria in 2015, mainly originating from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Particular focus is on human capital, attitudes and values. This survey, the first of its kind in Austria and possibly in Europe, was carried out among adult displaced persons, mostly residing in Vienna, yielding 514 completed interviews. Information gathered on spouses and children allows for the analysis of 972 persons living in Austria, and of further 419 partners and children abroad. Results indicate that the surveyed population comprised mainly young families with children, particularly those coming from Syria and Iraq. Their educational level is high compared with the average level in their country of origin. A vast majority of respondents are Muslims, rating their religiosity at medium levels. Judging from stated attitudes towards gender equity, interviewed men seem to have more liberal attitudes than their compatriots. The majority of respondents do not intend to return to their home countries, mostly because of the perception of permanent threat. DiPAS provides data for political decision-making and the on-going societal dialogue. Its findings can help to inform assessments about the integration potential of the displaced population into the host society. In addition, the applied methodological technique and experiences during the fieldwork provide valuable insights on sampling asylum seekers and refugees in the current European context