Partnership patterns and homeownership: a cross-country comparison of Germany,the Netherlands and the United Kingdom

Using detailed micro-level survey data for three advanced European welfare-state economies (Germany, Netherlands and UK), our analyses suggest a fairly common hierarchy to homeownership, according to partnership status, exists. In all three countries, a variety of interrelated factors appear to encourage greater propensities for homeownership amongst co-residential households (married/cohabiting), as compared to single-person households. However, important macro-contextual differences do appear to play a significant role in mediating the magnitude of difference within this hierarchy. For instance, in Germany the importance of marriage as a predictor of homeownership is found to be particularly strong, with married couples having far higher propensities for homeownership, even when compared to non-married cohabiters. In the Netherlands and UK, where an emphasis on traditional family and marriage is less pronounced, and where homeownership is generally more popular and accessible, the differentiation between married/unmarried partners is greatly reduced. Furthermore, we find no evidence to suggest that living-apart-together partners are more/less likely to own their home than singles.     

自由之鸟与牢笼:二战后十年间荷兰建筑期刊考

本文追溯了二战后十年间《建造周刊》《论坛》《天主教建筑期刊》等重要期刊的创立(重建)与发展的历史,管窥战后荷兰专业建筑期刊业的全貌。文章讨论了展现在战后荷兰建筑期刊中的多元思想——米拉斯所代表的中间路线,J·B·巴克马、J·H·凡·登·布鲁克、A·E·凡·艾克代表的新一代先锋思潮,J·朗普雷·莫里哀领导下的战后传统主义,巴克马对"自由"的解读等。本文是一篇呈现荷兰战后建筑界思想发展驱动力与思想交锋的文章。     

Age differentiation in the effect of household situation on first-time homeownership

To become a homeowner, it is necessary tohave sufficient resources and stability in thehousehold situation. In existing studies,household type is often used as a proxy forlevel of stability. Household types with a highlevel of commitment (married couples withoutand with children) are regarded as stablehouseholds, and singles and cohabitors as lessstable households. In this paper, it is arguedthat stability can be reached not only bymaking a commitment, but also by growing older.Increasing age brings stability into the livesof singles and cohabitors. Age also matters forthe structure of resources and costs ofdifferent household types. From a combinationof theory on age and theory on homeownership inthe life course, five hypotheses are derived.They are tested on retrospective data by usingdiscrete-time event-history analysis. From amodel with interaction effects, it can be seenwhether the probability of becoming a homeownerdiffers between household types in differentage groups. The results show that marriedcouples have the highest probability ofbecoming homeowners in age group 18–24, whereasthe probability is highest for cohabitors inage group 25–29, and in age group 30–34 forsingles. This supports the idea that peoplebecome homeowners either when they make acommitment, or when stability is createdthrough the passage of time in a lesscommitting household type.     

The faster the better? Innovation speed and user interest in open source software

It is often believed that for open source software (OSS) projects the faster the release, the better for attracting user interest in the software. Whether this is true, however, is still open to question. There is considerable information asymmetry between OSS projects and potential users as project quality is unobservable to users. We suggest that innovation speed of OSS project can signal the unobservable project quality and attract users’ interest in downloading and using the software. We contextualize innovation speed of OSS projects as initial release speed and update speed and examine their impacts on user interest. Drawing on the signaling theory, we propose a signaling effect through which a higher initial release speed or update speed increases user interest, while the effect diminishes as initial release or update speed increases. Using a large-scale panel data set from 7442 OSS projects on SourceForge between 2007 and 2010, our results corroborate the inverted U-shaped relationships between initial release speed and user downloads and between update speed and user downloads.     

Naturalization and the transition to homeownership: an analysis of signalling in the Dutch housing market

Abstract

This article pioneers in investigating a citizenship premium for homeownership of first-generation immigrants, using Dutch register data from Statistics Netherlands (N?=?106,187). I hypothesize that naturalization favourably influences the risk-calculation of lenders through positive signalling among employed migrants, who are likely to meet the basic financial criteria for credit. Results confirm that, all else constant, employed immigrants who have naturalized are 26% more likely to be homeowner. Additional analyses specifically designed to isolate endogeneity bias show that the effect is smaller, but still reveal an increase in the probability of homeownership after naturalization. Citizenship acquisition matters less for migrants with a native-born partner, suggesting that legal status discrimination may be an underlying mechanism. I find no evidence that the relevance of citizenship is conditioned by cultural distance of the origin country or the post-2008 economic crisis. I conclude that naturalization matters in the housing market, but that its relevance cannot be generalized to all migrant groups.     

“THE EARLIEST USE OF A DOT CIPHER”

Between the 1880s and the 1930s the Netherlands foreign ministry used a code with an encipherment feature which combined transposition and substitution.     

Project alliance contract in The Netherlands

A new form of contractual agreement and way of working adapted from other industries, the ‘project alliance’, was researched, developed and is undergoing demonstration to reduce the length of construction time and construction costs. This is achieved through contractor involvement at an early stage of the design process, project participants paid on a net cost basis with participants jointly sharing in the financial success or failure of the project at completion, and the creation of a contractual partnership between all parties.

Cet article porte sur des recherches faites sur une nouvelle forme d'accord contractuel et sur une méthode de travail issue d'autres industries; cette étude intitulée «project alliance» a été affinée et est en cours de démonstration, l'objectif étant de raccourcir la durée des travaux de construction et d'en réduire les coûts. Ces réductions sont possibles, d'une part, grâce à l'implication du contractant au début du processus de conception, les participants au projet étant payés sur la base du coût net et étant solidaires, sur le plan financier, de la réussite ou de l'échec du projet au moment de l'achèvement et, d'autre part, grâce la création d'un partenariat contractuel entre toutes les parties concernées.     

Development and validation of an LC-MS/MS method for the detection of phomopsin A in lupin and lupin-containing retail food samples from the Netherlands

Phomopsins (PHO) are mycotoxins produced by the fungus Diaporthe toxica (also referred to as Phomopsis leptostromiformis). Lupin is the most important host crop for this fungus and PHO are suspected as cause of lupinosis, a deadly liver disease, in sheep. Lupin is currently in use to replace genetically modified soy in many food products available on the European market. However, a validated method for analysis of PHO is not available until now. In this work, a dilute-and-shoot LC-MS/MS-based method was developed for the quantitative determination and identification of phomopsin A (PHO-A) in lupin and lupin-containing food. The method involved extraction by a mixture of acetonitrile/water/acetic acid (80/20/1 v/v), dilution of the sample in water, and direct injection of the crude extract after centrifugation. The method was validated at 5 and 25 µg PHO-A kg^?1 product. The average recovery and RSD obtained were 79% and 9%, respectively. The LOQ (the lowest level for which adequate recovery and RSD were demonstrated) was 5 µg PHO-A kg^?1. Identification of PHO-A was based on retention time and two transitions (789 > 226 and 789 > 323). Using the average of solvent standards from the sequence as a reference, retention times were all within ± 0.03 min and ion ratios were within ± 12%, which is compliant with European Union requirements. The LOD (S/N = 3 for the least sensitive transition) was 1 µg PHO-A kg^?1 product. Forty-two samples of lupin and lupin-containing food products were collected in 2011–2012 from grocery stores and internet shops in the Netherlands and analysed. In none of the samples was PHO-A detected.     

中荷两处大尺度军事遗产体系的分析与比较

分析和比较了中国四川南宋抗元山地要塞群与荷兰水上防线两处军事防御体系的基本特点，剖析了两者作为大尺度军事遗产体系的价值，从完整保护与可持续利用角度总结了其经验与教训，探讨了从保护遗产体系的整体价值及空间结构完整性出发建立区域遗产网络的思路与途径。     

Competition between first and second generation technologies: Lessons from the formation of a biofuels innovation system in the Netherlands

The support of sustainable energy innovations has become a dominant topic on the political agenda of many countries. Providing this support remains difficult, since the processes constituting such innovation trajectories are poorly understood. To increase insight in such processes, this paper takes the historical development of biofuels in the Netherlands as the topic of study. Special attention is paid to the simultaneous development of two technology generations within the field: a first generation (1G) and a second generation (2G) of biofuels. A critical question asked is whether deployment programmes for a 1G technology may have positive effects on the development of later generations. Two archetypical support strategies are identified: one is to keep investing in R&D concerning 2G technology, where the expected outcome is a fast move from one technology generation to the other. The other strategy is to focus on learning-by-doing in the 1G technology. In that way progress can be made in 1G technologies but the effects on 2G technologies are uncertain. We apply a Technological Innovation System perspective to analyse the strategies followed and their effects. From the results we draw lessons of relevance for practitioners who aspire to understand and influence emerging energy technologies.