Bologna and student mobility: a fuzzy relationship

The national ministers in charge of higher education of the majority of European countries agreed in the late 1990s to embark on reforms on the way towards a “European Higher Education Area”. The major aim was to increase and enhance international student mobility, whereby the establishment of a convergent system of “cycles” of study programmes should be the major operational objective. Actually, the spread of the bachelor-master structure seems to have triggered an increase of degree mobility from outside Europe to Europe in the early years of the so-called “Bologna Process”. This, however, slowed down subsequently. Moreover, the Bologna Process has not led to a growing pace of intra-European degree mobility. Since 2009, a new target is in the limelight: By 2020, 20% of graduates should have had international experience through study or internship in another country for at least some period. Actually, however, the rate of the event of student mobility during the course of study had been already quite high in many European countries around 2000 and did not increase further substantially thereafter. Thus, the quantitative target is a challenge for some countries with low outwards mobility. Altogether, the Bologna Process rather seems to have improved the conditions and the quality of intra-European mobility more substantially than its quantitative development.     

Assessment of physical activity in older people with and without cognitive impairment

The purpose of this study was to validate a new interview-administered physical activity questionnaire (Assessment of Physical Activity in Frail Older People; APAFOP) in older people with and without cognitive impairment. The authors assessed feasibility, validity, and test-retest reliability in 168 people (n = 78 with, n = 88 without cognitive impairment). Concurrent validity was assessed against an inertia-based motion sensor and an established questionnaire. Sensitivity to change was tested in an ongoing study in patients with mild to moderate dementia (n = 81). Assessment of physical activity by the APAFOP and the motion sensor correlated well in the total sample (TS; p = .705), as well as in the subsamples with cognitive impairment (CI; p = .585) and without CI (p = .787). Excellent feasibility with an acceptance rate of 100%, test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficients ranging from .973 (TS) to .975 (CI) to .966 (no CI), and sensitivity to change (effect sizes: 0.35-1.47) were found in both subsamples.     

Capacity rationing in rental systems with two customer classes and batch arrivals

Service differentiation is an emerging method to improve profit and to better serve high-priority customers. Such an approach has recently been introduced by one of Europe's leading rail cargo companies. Under this approach, customers can choose between classic and premium services. Premium service is priced above classic service and premium customers receive a service guarantee which classic customers do not receive. The company has to decide under which conditions it should ration its fleet capacity to classic customers in order to increase service of premium customers. We model such a situation as a batch-arrival queuing loss system. We describe the model, solve it optimally, and derive quantities of interest such as service probabilities. We further analyze it by performing numerical experiments based on the data from the company that motivated our research. We show that the potential of capacity rationing can be substantial in situations like the one we analyzed. We also derive conditions under which rationing is especially beneficial, such as under high unit fleet holding costs or in the presence of batch arrivals compared to single arrivals.     

Vertrauen bei Internet-Auktionen

The text replies to the article “Trust and Reputation in Internet-Auctions” (KZfSS, Vol. 54, No. 4, pp. 674–693) by Diekmann and Wyder. In principle the authors’ consideration regarding a premium for reputation for trustworthy participants in internet auctions seems to be attractive. However, we object to the lacking definitions of the categories of trust and reputation as well as to the problematic design of their central indicator (reputation). With regard to their interpretation we criticize the missing consideration of qualitative — especially negative — statements in the public rating systems, underestimating the relevance of “critical incidents” to fragile trust relations on the internet. Finally we remark that Diekmann and Wyder misjudge the founding, cultivating and modifying activities (including imposing sanctions) of the platform owner towards this institution regulating the market.     

Organisationsentwicklung international. Themen, Trends und Perspektiven

Organizational development as a profession is still ongoing a continuous evolution of its theory foundation, methodology, as well as its subject matters. Organizational development is on the one hand a well appreciated and a welcomed part of corporate development but is threatened on the other hand to miss the connection to the radical changes which are occurring in companies as well as in general to economy and society. Some statements in this paper show possible ways to establish a foundation for organizational development in order to use the valuable accumulated experience in a constructive manner.     

Editorial Policies and Practices Among Leading Journals in Four Scientific Fields*

The editorial policies and practices of leading journals in four scientific fields are compared to determine differences related to stages of paradigm development. Hypotheses are developed and tested on the use of particularism, the ease of reaching editorial decisions, the length of articles, extent of copy-editing, and time lags in the publication process. Data were obtained via a mail survey of the editors of the top ten journals in physics, chemistry, sociology, and political science, as nominated by university scientists. Results are generally supportive of the hypotheses. Data on available space, financial support, and rejection rates are also discussed as reinforcing tendencies toward particularism and increasing its costs.     

Planning in a free market economy

This paper is based on a research study project on Premises and Process of Introducing Strategic Planning in a Company. It presents and discusses some major findings of the study concerning the content of strategic decisions, the elements of a planning system, the process of introducing strategic planning and the impact of environmental conditions upon the strategic planning system.