This article investigates to what degree the standardized life cycle has been replaced by an individualized life course, characterized by the absence of a strict sequence and timing of life's transitions. In order to measure the normative position of people, rather than the external conditions to which they are subject, the test is based on the ideal life course or life cycle as described by a purely random sample of 4666 inhabitants of Belgium, aged 18 to 36. The available evidence overwhelmingly points towards the persistence of a standardized ideal life cycle, characterized by a strict sequence and timing of the important transitions

In explanations offered for fear of crime, two different paradigms can be distinguished. The first considers fear of crime as a rational reaction to crime and victimization; the other views such fear as a representation of more general feelings of malaise. The paradigms suggest different research strategies and offer different explanations for the same empirical observations. The choice of paradigm therefore determines the meaning of the empirical findings and hence the policy implications that can be drawn from them. In this article, the authors describe the paradigms, illustrate the way in which they offer different explanations for the same observations, and try to empirically discriminate between them on the basis of crucial tests. The tests are performed on data for the Flemish (Belgian) population aged nineteen to thirty-six. The results support the view that fear of crime or feelings of insecurity should be seen mainly as a consequence of, on one hand, general feelings of malaise, vulnerability, and helplessness that can have many origins and, on the other hand, exposure to processes of communication that highlight crime and the risk of victimization.

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This paper examines the relationship between a firm's training motives and the quality of apprenticeship training. Data on training quality and training motives are obtained by interviewing former apprentices. The paper employs a novel measure for training quality based on subjective survey data on the firm's training effort. It is found that firms that train apprentices because of a future need for qualified workers provide better quality training than firms that do not have future benefits from training.Human capital, training quality, training motives, apprenticeships,

As suggested by human capital theory, workers with flexible contracts participate less often in training than those with permanent contracts. We find that this is merely due to the fact that flexworkers receive less employer-funded training, a gap they can only partly compensate for by their own training investments. Flexworkers particularly participate less in firm-specific training that is meant to keep up with new skill demands than workers with permanent contracts. However, for those who participate in employer-funded firm-specific training, a temporary contract appears to facilitate the transition to a permanent contract with the same employer. However, this does not hold for participation in self-paid training. This training, which is usually general training, does not help in finding a better job.

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Summary By the use of a specific histochemical staining method evidence was obtained that tolerance to heavy metals in ectomycorrizal fungi is based on the presence of metallothionein-like proteins.The implication that tolerance in these fungi should be induced by sublethal concentrations of heavy metals has been confirmed by us. Induction of metallothionein in ectomycorrizal fungi could possibly be helpful in protection of their host plants in areas polluted by heavy metals.In comparison with biochemical methods the histochemical method is able to locate the metal tolerance and has the added advantage that it may also be applied to mycorrhizas (root and fungus).

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