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The usual store formats can hardly be operated economically in places with fewer than 2,500 inhabitants. In line with the spiral theory, the resulting retreat from the area offers new commercial opportunities for innovative forms of offering, such as staff-free 24/7 markets or online ordering options. At present, a wide variety of actors are experimenting with new and flexible approaches, and it does not yet seem foreseeable which models will ultimately prevail. How can the initial experiences be systematized and what is the potential for establishment? To this end, we compare five pilot projects that use decentralized, mobile and digital formats to bring everyday goods to consumers. For the five case studies, 35 semi-structured interviews were conducted with experts and customers. Central comparative dimensions are the context of emergence and the actor constellations, the contribution to local supply, the economic viability as well as the social function of the offers. The results show that two cases are strongly subsidy-driven or depend on public support. In two other cases, the social function dominates with the involvement of socially oriented enterprises, where the approaches can rather fulfill a complementary supply function. Finally, there is also a new format that at least has the potential to be rolled out on a large scale in rural areas of Germany and beyond. The usual store formats can hardly be operated economically in places with fewer than 2,500 inhabitants. In line with the spiral theory, the resulting retreat from the area offers new commercial opportunities for innovative forms of offering, such as staff-free 24/7 markets or online ordering options. At present, a wide variety of actors are experimenting with new and flexible approaches, and it does not yet seem foreseeable which models will ultimately prevail. How can the initial experiences be systematized and what is the potential for establishment? To this end, we compare five pilot projects that use decentralized, mobile and digital formats to bring everyday goods to consumers. For the five case studies, 35 semi-structured interviews were conducted with experts and customers. Central comparative dimensions are the context of emergence and the actor constellations, the contribution to local supply, the economic viability as well as the social function of the offers. The results show that two cases are strongly subsidy-driven or depend on public support. In two other cases, the social function dominates with the involvement of socially oriented enterprises, where the approaches can rather fulfill a complementary supply function. Finally, there is also a new format that at least has the potential to be rolled out on a large scale in rural areas of Germany and beyond.

The Corona crisis offers the window of opportunity to accelerate digitization processes in food retailing. Village shops and rural consumers are traditionally not considered to be digitization pioneers. The research question is: How do the Corona pandemic and digital transformation affect village shops andtheir customers? For answering this question, we present findings of a two-wave household survey in six case study areas as well as results from qualitative interviews with operators of twelve village shops and ten experts. The experiences in theCorona crisis demonstrate the high resilience of the village shops due to increased local demand and flexible adaptation strategies. The contribution of digitization remains limited, even though this transformation is taking place evolutionary in the village shops using trial and error. One danger for village shops is that consumers tend to buy more online due to Corona. Purchasing power outflows in online retail make shop closings more likely, which in turn leads to more online shopping as a coping strategy for consumers when there is no local supply. Thus, we are adding a critical perspective to the discussion on smart villages by not only emphasizing the new digital possibilities, but also by clarifying the risks. 

The years between the two World Wars were a vital period in the global diffusion and the transnational modification and multiplication of the national park idea. It was during these decades that the American national park system took its distinct shape and the first national parks in Europe were established. At the same time, the science of ecology and ecological attitudes achieved prominence and offered a challenge as well as a new scientific underpinning of the national park idea on both sides of the Atlantic. The implementation of ecological ideas in national park policies, however, varied considerably from place to place. While ecological thinking failed to exert a lasting influence on the development of American national parks before World War II, it was of higher significance in Europe. The Swiss National Park stood out as a nature reserve extensively shaped by scientific theories and practices. The investigation of the intersection of science and national parks in a transatlantic perspective reveals that these variations essentially stemmed from a different role of science and scientists both in the establishment and administration of national parks and in their public justification.

This article examines the adaptation and coping strategies that are in place to safeguard the quality of life in a shrinking ageing region. In particular, it is investigated which resources are available to local policy-makers and the older population in order to pursue this goal. Following an introduction to the debate of regional science about demographic change and its consequences, we introduce a theoretical differentiation between adaptation and coping. Adaptation strategies refer to the decision-makers who provide or are involved in organising public service facilities. Coping strategies and capacities refer to the customers and users affected by the changes. The population is not only passively affected by changes in public services, but also actively grapples with changed levels of infrastructure and takes up measures to safeguard their own quality of life. Empirically, we employ the results of semi-structured interviews with local and regional key persons and group interviews with elderly inhabitants of two small towns in the Harz region. The region under study is among the most ageing rural areas in Germany. Its demographic characteristics are based on many years of selective out-migration and partially age-selective in-migration. The research results reveal many measures and strategies which have been developed and employed by the different actor groups when faced with tangible problems. However, they have not been planned with a long term perspective. The availability of economic and social resources (human resources and investment funds on the part of administrations, financial resources and social networks on the part of the older population) is the chief differentiating and often limiting factor for the success of these measures and strategies. This article comes to the conclusion that adaptation and coping will remain processes for safeguarding the quality of life in shrinking ageing regions for the longer term. In addition to the targeted effects, the unintended consequences of today’s adaptation strategies will also influence the level and the design of future public services.

Background In contrast to objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs), mini-clinical evaluation exercises (mini-CEXs) take place at the clinical workplace. As both mini-CEXs and OSCEs assess clinical skills, but within different contexts, this study aims at analyzing to which degree students’ mini-CEX scores can be predicted by their recent OSCE scores and/or context characteristics. Methods Medical students participated in an end of Year 3 OSCE and in 11 mini-CEXs during 5 different clerkships of Year 4. The students’ mean scores of 9 clinical skills OSCE stations and mean ‘overall’ and ‘domain’ mini-CEX scores, averaged over all mini-CEXs of each student were computed. Linear regression analyses including random effects were used to predict mini-CEX scores by OSCE performance and characteristics of clinics, trainers, students and assessments. Results A total of 512 trainers in 45 clinics provided 1783 mini-CEX ratings for 165 students; OSCE results were available for 144 students (87 %). Most influential for the prediction of ‘overall’ mini-CEX scores was the trainers’ clinical position with a regression coefficient of 0.55 (95 %-CI: 0.26–0.84; p  < .001) for residents compared to heads of department. Highly complex tasks and assessments taking place in large clinics significantly enhanced ‘overall’ mini-CEX scores, too. In contrast, high OSCE performance did not significantly increase ‘overall’ mini-CEX scores. Conclusion In our study, Mini-CEX scores depended rather on context characteristics than on students’ clinical skills as demonstrated in an OSCE. Ways are discussed which focus on either to enhance the scores’ validity or to use narrative comments only.

Digitalen Lösungen wird großes Potenzial dafür zugeschrieben, die Daseinsvorsorge in schrumpfenden ländlichen Regionen aufrecht zu erhalten. Zugleich werden diesen Räumen aber nachteilige Innovationsbedingungen attestiert, sodass die Realisierung neuartiger Ansätze schwieriger als in den Agglomerationen scheint. In diesem Zusammenhang beleuchtet eine wachsende Zahl an Studien die Praktiken der projektverantwortlichen Akteure vor Ort. Weniger im Fokus stehen hingegen Beziehungen zu überregionalen Schlüsselinstitutionen und Leistungsanbietern sowie die mit ihnen verbundenen Machtrelationen. Angesichts dieses Forschungsbedarfs gehen wir der Frage nach, welche Faktoren die Entwicklung, Umsetzung und Verbreitung neuartiger digitaler Daseinsvorsorgelösungen in ländlichen Regionen beeinflussen. In drei Fallstudien analysieren wir zwei Projekte im Handlungsfeld der medizinischen Versorgung und eines im Bereich der schulischenBildung. Unsere problemzentrierten Interviews und Dokumentenanalysen zeigen entscheidende Einflussfaktoren in den DimensionenMacht, Wissen und Raumund veranschaulichen zugleich, dass in den verschiedenen Phasen des Projektverlaufs jeweils unterschiedliche Faktoren und Akteursbeziehungen bedeutend sind. Neben der Unterstützung durch Schlüsselinstitutionen und Leistungsanbieter ist insbesondere die Akzeptanz lokaler Leistungserbringer dafür ausschlaggebend,dass die digitalen Lösungen wirksam in die Praxis umgesetzt, imAlltag genutzt und gegebenenfalls in andere Regionen übertragen werden. For maintaining basic service provision in shrinking rural areas, great potential is attributed to digital solutions. At the same time, however, disadvantageous conditions for innovations are attested to such spaces, so that the realisation of novel approaches seems to be difficult, compared to agglomerations. In this context, a growing body of research examines the practice of those actors, who are responsible for local projects. In contrast, a much weaker focus lays on relationships with supra-regional key institutions and service providers, as well as on the related power structures. Given that need for research, we go further into the question which factors are influencing the development, implementation and diffusion of innovative and digital solutions for rural basic service provision. Our research is based on three regional case studies, two of them in the field of public health and one in the field of schooling. Our problem-centred interviews and documentary research show key drivers in the dimensions of power, knowledge and space. Furthermore, we demonstrate a varying importance of key drivers and actor relations, dependent on the project phase. Besides the support of key institutions and mayor suppliers, the acceptance through local basic service providers is a decisive factor for effective implementation, everyday usage and potential special diffusion of the analysed digital solutions.

For maintaining basic service provision in shrinking rural areas, great potential is attributed to digital solutions. At the same time, however, disadvantageous conditions for innovations are attested to such spaces, so that the realisation of novel approaches seems to be difficult, compared to agglomerations. In this context, a growing body of research examines the practice of those actors, who are responsible for local projects. In contrast, a much weaker focus lays on relationships with supra-regional key institutions and service providers, as well as on the related power structures. Given that need for research, we go further into the question which factors are influencing the development, implementation and diffusion of innovative and digital solutions for rural basic service provision. Our research is based on three regional case studies, two of them in the field of public health and one in the field of schooling. Our problem-centred interviews and documentary research show key drivers in the dimensions of power, knowledge and space. Furthermore, we demonstrate a varying importance of key drivers and actor relations, dependent on the project phase. Besides the support of key institutions and mayor suppliers, the acceptance through local basic service providers is a decisive factor for effective implementation, everyday usage and potential special diffusion of the analysed digital solutions.

Until the early 1960s the Swiss electricity supply was used to construct almost exclusively hydroelectric power plants. In these years started serious attempts to diversify its facilities. After considering the construction of several thermal power plants, fired with coal or oil, the companies quite soon gave up those projects and started planning nuclear power plants. Historical accounts so far have mainly attributed this shift, from water to coal/oil to nuclear power, to changes in the macroeconomic environment the one hand and to the political pressure exerted by the Swiss government on the other hand. Analysing the mentioned shift from the perspective of one of the involved enterprises, the engineering firm Motor-Columbus, the paper presents new results, which differ signifiit cantly from these previous judgements. One main result is that the abandonment of thermal power plants in favour of nuclear power plants was strongly affected by two factors: First, by the local action-groups opposing the projects, and second, by the entrepreneurs' visions of the furdouble ther development of nuclear technology. These visions on its part were biased by a collective misronment perception of business risk.