7 research outputs found
An indirect route to equality : taxing consumers to build the Swedish welfare state
No full textThe question of who paid for the welfare state in postwar Sweden has been subject to extensive debate. Many have focused on the comparatively high, and steeply progressive, taxes on income. Others have claimed that low and middle earners paid disproportionately more, pointing to the comparatively high revenue share of value added tax (VAT) for instance. No convincing assessment has been made of the extent to which consumption taxes counteracted the progressivity of income taxes. The thesis presents new estimates based on tax assessments and household surveys, which show that consumption taxes did offset tax progressivity considerably. Moreover, they were important even before the VAT. There was not a sharp break, but a gradual transition from excise and customs duties to general sales tax to VAT. The VAT meant a shifting of the weight more towards the lower end of the income distribution. This insight begs the question of what caused such a fiscal arrangement. What made postwar Sweden’s labour governments favour a tax that fell disproportionately on low earners, a core part of their constituency? Through an analysis of policy documents, the author shows that the governing Social Democrats were well aware of the dilemma. The party leaders used general consumption taxes explicitly as a ‘lesser evil’ component in a strategy for expanding the public sector and welfare systems. That aspect has previously been neglected when telling the story of this formative era. The thesis demonstrates that it deserves to be brought into a central place in that story. Corporatism remains a valid explanatory factor. The business community had an influence on determining the details of the general sales tax, albeit not the overall level. Tax reliefs on certain important inputs such as building materials and were granted after a series of appeals. The author argues that the transition from sales tax to VAT can be seen as a final solution to these protests about business inputs being unfairly taxed. The will of the domestic business community was of a more immediate importance for the switch to VAT than any potential tendency of compliance towards supranational organisations such as the EEC pushing the government to follow their edicts concerning VAT, as has otherwise been suggested. The political left in Sweden was initially against the general sales tax because of its burden on low earners. The political right opposed the general sales tax because it would increase the overall tax take, and risked becoming an all too convenient revenue machine for the government. The left changed position and began framing it as a tool for realising welfare state expansion. The right reframed it as a tool for keeping the progressivity of taxation down
Outcomes of an inpatient refeeding protocol in youth with Anorexia Nervosa and atypical Anorexia Nervosa at Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota
No full textBackgroundHistorically, inpatient protocols have adopted relatively conservative approaches to refeeding in Anorexia Nervosa (AN) in order to reduce the risk of refeeding syndrome, a potentially fatal constellation of symptoms. However, increasing evidence suggests that patients with AN can tolerate higher caloric prescriptions during treatment, which may result in prevention of initial weight loss, shorter hospital stays, and less exposure to the effects of severe malnutrition. Therefore the present study sought to examine the effectiveness of a more accelerated refeeding protocol in an inpatient AN and atypical AN sample.MethodsParticipants were youth (ages 10-22) with AN (n = 113) and atypical AN (n = 16) who were hospitalized for medical stabilization. A retrospective chart review was conducted to assess changes in calories, weight status (percentage of median BMI, %mBMI), and indicators of refeeding syndrome, specifically hypophosphatemia, during hospitalization. Weight was assessed again approximately 4 weeks after discharge.ResultsNo cases of refeeding syndrome were observed, though 47.3 % of participants evidenced hypophosphatemia during treatment. Phosphorous levels were monitored in all participants, and 77.5 % were prescribed supplemental phosphorous at the time of discharge. Higher rates of caloric changes were predictive of greater changes in %mBMI during hospitalization. Rates of caloric and weight change were not related to an increased likelihood of re-admission.ConclusionsResults suggest that a more accelerated approach to inpatient refeeding in youth with AN and atypical AN can be safely implemented and is not associated with refeeding syndrome, provided there is close monitoring and correction of electrolytes. These findings suggest that this approach has the potential to decrease length of stay and burden associated with inpatient hospitalization, while supporting continued progress after hospitalization
An indirect route to equality [Elektronisk resurs] : taxing consumers to build the Swedish welfare state
No full textThe question of who paid for the welfare state in postwar Sweden has been subject to extensive debate. Many have focused on the comparatively high, and steeply progressive, taxes on income. Others have claimed that low and middle earners paid disproportionately more, pointing to the comparatively high revenue share of value added tax (VAT) for instance. No convincing assessment has been made of the extent to which consumption taxes counteracted the progressivity of income taxes. The thesis presents new estimates based on tax assessments and household surveys, which show that consumption taxes did offset tax progressivity considerably. Moreover, they were important even before the VAT. There was not a sharp break, but a gradual transition from excise and customs duties to general sales tax to VAT. The VAT meant a shifting of the weight more towards the lower end of the income distribution.This insight begs the question of what caused such a fiscal arrangement. What made postwar Sweden’s labour governments favour a tax that fell disproportionately on low earners, a core part of their constituency? Through an analysis of policy documents, the author shows that the governing Social Democrats were well aware of the dilemma. The party leaders used general consumption taxes explicitly as a ‘lesser evil’ component in a strategy for expanding the public sector and welfare systems. That aspect has previously been neglected when telling the story of this formative era. The thesis demonstrates that it deserves to be brought into a central place in that story.Corporatism remains a valid explanatory factor. The business community had an influence on determining the details of the general sales tax, albeit not the overall level. Tax reliefs on certain important inputs such as building materials and were granted after a series of appeals. The author argues that the transition from sales tax to VAT can be seen as a final solution to these protests about business inputs being unfairly taxed. The will of the domestic business community was of a more immediate importance for the switch to VAT than any potential tendency of compliance towards supranational organisations such as the EEC pushing the government to follow their edicts concerning VAT, as has otherwise been suggested.The political left in Sweden was initially against the general sales tax because of its burden on low earners. The political right opposed the general sales tax because it would increase the overall tax take, and risked becoming an all too convenient revenue machine for the government. The left changed position and began framing it as a tool for realising welfare state expansion. The right reframed it as a tool for keeping the progressivity of taxation down.</p
Enhancing Integrative Cognitive‐Affective Therapy with ecological momentary interventions: A pilot trial
No full textThe loss of a child: the long term impact upon the parent-child bond
No full textResearch has been carried out from a psychological perspective, to examine the effects of bereavement in families when they have experienced the loss of a baby, child, teenager or young adult. This has involved interviewing parents in Lebanon, Tanzania and Uganda. The results were then compared to previous research carried out by the author in England (For a M.Phil. in Theology titled, ‘Bereavement in Families who have lost Babies, Children and Teenagers; An Empirical and Theological Study’. Birmingham University , 1995). Using the collective data, the theory of Shadow Grief is investigated in terms of whether it is a genuine condition within bereaved parents, as compared to other grief reactions such as chronic grief, disenfranchised grief or pathological grief.
It was found that the bond between a parent and child was a particularly deep rooted affectionate bond. There are similarities between this bond and Bowlby’s concept of attachment theory. Parents from the English sample showed some signs of maintaining a bond with the deceased many years after the loss. This was seen to a lesser extent in the African context. This requires further research to clarify this effect both in the English culture and cross-culturally, looking at a broader section of communities where child loss had taken place. Grief therapists need to be more aware of the long lasting effects that the loss of a child has upon a parent, especially those who are bereaved of older children
Data integration for decision making in wheat breeding
No full textPlant breeding is a production process requiring the creation of germplasm through taking existing successful cultivars and crossing them with new parental lines with agronomic and quality attributes of interest. After crossing, F2 generations generally display all possible combinations between the parental lines. The process from this step is to identify elite crossbred lines and backcross these several times to the parental lines in order to generate new elite lines that are predominately equivalent to the cultivar but with specific novel and desirable attributes present.
Plant breeding continually requires judgements to identify elite plant germplasm containing traits that maximise plant performance. These judgements are often made using incomplete information resulting from the greater complexity in modern plant breeding decision making. Judgements can be improved through the utilisation of new technologies and a stronger scientific basis. This thesis uses decision and information management processes to contribute to:
• Pioneering the application of unbalanced datasets to wheat breeding. The methodologies were derived from tree and animal breeding experience and successfully applied to data sets from a wheat breeding program.
• Providing the first integration of molecular data into a decision-matrix framework.
• Building on the molecular integration in output-2 by establishing a more sophisticated integration of complex NIR spectral data with molecular data.
• Providing inputs into decision matrices for breeding using the outputs discussed above.
This thesis establishes the methodology to make use of new technologies to use unbalanced datasets with decision matrix methodology to make better decisions. This thesis has utilised multivariate methodologies more broadly to include complex data such as NIR fingerprint to differentiate flour samples between controls and breeding germplasm. These differences appear to be related to genetic factors as demonstrated after variability relating to the environment had been removed. This thesis first reviews the literature and then addresses this breeding processes through the use of decision and information management processes, and makes significant contributions in using these methodologies
Nutritional aspects of sexual dimorphism in the American mink mustela vison (schreber)
No full textNutritional aspects of size-related sex differences in the diets of free-living mink were investigated in laboratory-based feeding trials with adult farm-bred mink maintained on 'natural' diets. As preliminary studies had shown that carcase utility was virtually complete, the rations presented comprised the minced whole carcasses of wild rabbit Oryctolagus cunniculus, eel Anquilla anguilla, laboratory rats and mice, and domestic fowl. Determinations of gross composition revealed significant differences between these diets; the smaller prey types, including rodents, birds and fish, were found to have a higher ratio of Apparent Digestible Energy to Nitrogen than larger items such as rabbits, although comparisons with data presented by other workers demonstrated that the variations between species within these prey groups are as great as, or greater than, those between the diets themselves. From the results of the feeding trials, it was also apparent that such diets do not differ significantly, either in digestibility or biological value and attempts to classify particular prey items in terms of their nutritional value are, therefore, of limited application in analyses of the feeding ecology of a generalist predator. Nutrient intake was related to diet composition and varied widely between trials, although the mass-specific requirements of females were higher than those of males. Comparisons of gut morphology indicated that, in females, hypertrophy of the alimentary tract may develop in response to increased energy demands. A similar adaptation was evident in both males and females from wild populations, suggesting that the natural diets of free-living mink are generally of a lower quality than the rations fed to commercially raised animals. Feeding trials were also carried out on growing kits from 56 to 105 days post partum. Sex differences in nutrient metabolism were not significant but the growth rates of males were higher than those of females. In both sexes the growth rates of kits feeding on 'natural' diets were lower than those of animals raised on commercial rations. This effect was most pronounced in males, a finding which supports the hypothesis that the degree of sexual dimorphism in this species is dependent on the extent to which the growth potential of males is constrained by dietary regime during the early phases of development
