6,020 research outputs found
”Lärda nyheter” i Peter Hernquists korrespondens till Carl von Linné och Abraham Bäck - med kommentarer och utvikningar
No full textI detta Meddelande nr 55 från Veterinärhistoriska museet har författaren - professor emeritus Lars-Erik Appelgren - gjort ett urval av den korrespondens som Peter Hernquist hade med sina mentorer Carl von Linné och Abraham Bäck under sin vistelse i Frankrike, varvid ”Lärda nyheter” varit en ledstjärna för urvalet. Speciellt har breven till Bäck försetts med författarens personliga kommentarer men även kompletterats med faktaupplysningar från andra källor än breven om berörda nyheter. För att underlätta läsningen har dessa kommentarer omgetts med enkelkonturerad och utvikningarna med dubbelkonturerad ram. Lars-Erik Appelgren har inte bara genom sitt veterinärhistoriska författarskap utan också genom att ställa sina fackliga kunskaper och sin eminenta estetiska läggning till förfogande gjort Veterinärhistoriska museet ovärderliga tjänster. Det är med stor glädje jag noterar att region Uppsala nyligen visat sin uppskattning genom att tilldela Lars-Erik sitt Medicinhistoriska stipendium med motiveringen att de vill ”lyfta fram ett viktigt men ofta förbisett område inom medicinhistorien: veterinärmedicinen”. Med de varmaste gratulationer
Interpreting Wage Bargaining Norms
No full textFrom the mid-1990s onwards, Swedish wage bargaining has been characterised by informal co-ordination of the wage claims of big unions and bargaining cartels. In particular, it has been understood that the manufacturing sector should lead by first agreeing on a pay increase, whereafter the service sector and public sector unions choose a similar increase. We analyse his setup with two possible theoretical interpretations: (i) the manufacturing sector as a tackelberg leader and (ii) a normative role for the manufacturing sector’s pay increase, upported either by unmodelled social pressure or a modeled loss aversion (envy) of the heltered sector unions. The conclusion of the analysis is that the normative or leading role of one sector – in the Swedish case the manufacturing sector – can potentially bring big benefits for employment and output. Generalising an idea suggested by Lars Calmfors and Anna Larsson, our analysis also generates a rudimentary theory of why the wage increase norm sometimes binds and sometimes not. A comparison of the model predictions and the observed outcomes of the last five wage bargaining rounds in Sweden suggests that the model is generally consistent with the empirical observations: wage moderation and norm observance are stronger when the manufacturing industry’s initial relative wage is low.wage bargaining; bargaining co-ordination
Does remediation save lives? On the cost of cleaning up arsenic-contaminated sites in Sweden
No full textSwedish environmental policy is based on 16 environmental quality objectives (Gov. Bill 2000/01:130 and Gov.Bill 2004/05:150).1 One of the most challenging objectives,‘A non toxic environment’, has two interim targets that concern remediation of contaminated sites. In sum, they state that the highest priority should be given to sites posing the highest risks to human health and the environment.2 By eliminating pollutants in soil, groundwater and sediment, the interim targets aim to reduce risks to human health and the environment. In Sweden, 83,000 sites are potentially contaminated due to previous industrial activities. According to the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the administrator of the governmental funds for remediation, approximately 1500 of these sites contain contaminant concentrations that could seriously harm human health and the environment (Swedish EPA, 2008a). To reach the interim targets, all these sites need to be remediated by 2050. Remediation of contaminated sites has so far cost more than SEK 3,000 million.3 The approximated cost to mitigate the potential risks at the most harmful sites is estimated at SEK 60,000 million.4 The Swedish government’s funding for remediation presently comes in the form of a directed grant (sakanslag). The directed grant, administrated by the Swedish EPA, subsidises remediation of contaminated sites that were contaminated prior to modern environmental legislation (in 1969) or for which no liable party can be found. The directed grant amounts to approximately 455 millions annually, which corresponds to about 10 percent of the annual national funds for environmental protection (Gov. Bill 2007/08:1). To make it possible to prioritise among contaminated sites, the Swedish EPA has developed a method for risk assessment called the ‘MIFO’ (i.e. the Method for Inventory of Contaminated Sites). The risk assessment does not take into account the actual exposure at a contaminated site. Risk is instead assessed based on divergence from guideline values for acceptable concentrations given a standardised (i.e. worst case) exposure situation on an individual level. This means that a site can be remediated without any individuals actually being exposed. The expected risk reduction is consequently not quantified. This eliminates the possibility of valuing the risk reduction, which should be weighed against the remediation cost. The purpose of this paper is to analyse how health effects, in the form of cancer risks, from sites contaminated by arsenic are valued implicitly in remediation. By using an environmental medicine approach that takes exposure into account, and without underestimating the potential health consequences of arsenic exposure, our purpose is to place arsenic risk management in the overall picture of live-saving interventions. In the case of cancer prevention, it is necessary to recognise that focus on an environmental carcinogen like arsenic may draw public attention – and funding – away from mental health risks like ambient air pollution and indoor radon. Although environmental pollution accounts for less than ten percent of all cancer cases (Harvard Centre for Cancer Prevention, 1996; Saracci and Vineis, 2007), environmental factors are important to recognize since they may be preventable. We emphasise, however, the inefficiency in becoming overly concerned about small risks while, at the same time, losing sight of the large risks. If society’s spending on lifesaving measures with small effects (i.e. a small number of lives saved) crowds out spending on lifesaving measures with large effects, then remediation can, in fact, even be said to waste lives. By using data on 23 arsenic-contaminated sites in Sweden, we estimate the sitespecific cancer risks and calculate the cost per life saved by using the sites’ remediation costs. Our results show that the cost per life saved through remediation is much higher than that associated with other primary prevention measures, indicating that the ambition level of Swedish remediation may be too high.
Erik Seedhouse
No full textErik Seedhouse works as an Assistant Professor in Applied Aviation Sciences at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU). He is also Manager of ERAU\u27s Suborbital Spaceflight Simulator and Editor-in-Chief of Springer\u27s major reference work, The Handbook of Life Support Systems for Spacecraft and Extraterrestrial Habitats. A prolific author, Erik has published more than 20 books on the subject of manned space exploration, including \u27SpaceX, \u27Virgin Galactic\u27, Bigelow Aerospace\u27 and \u27XCOR\u27. Between 2008 and 2013 he served as director of Canada’s manned centrifuge and hypobaric operations and in 2009 he was one of the final 30 candidates in the Canadian Space Agency’s Astronaut Recruitment Campaign. In his spare time he works as a professional speaker, triathlon coach and author. When not enjoying the sun on Florida\u27s Space Coast he divides his time between his second home in Sandefjord and Waikoloa.https://commons.erau.edu/stm-images/1061/thumbnail.jp
The Role of High-Tech Capital Formation for Swedish Productivity Growth
No full textWhile using new data and standard growth-accounting techniques, this paper takes a closer look at the Swedish productivity revival in the second half of the 1990s. In particular, I find large total factor productivity growth in high-tech producing sectors and capital deepening associated with high-tech equipment elsewhere. In addition, for high-tech producers, high-tech capital deepening has as a rule contributed negatively to labor productivity growth - a result above all driven by large increases in hours worked in this sector. I also find that in the business sector, the contribution from high-tech capital deepening to labor productivity growth increased from about 1 percent 1994 to 9 percent 1999.
Reptricket. Förord till Lars Gustafsson: Mot noll
No full textIntroduction to a collection of philosophical essays by Swedish author Lars Gustafsson (b. 1936)
Living conditions, including life style, in primary-care patients with nonacute, nonspecific spinal pain compared with a population-based sample: a cross-sectional study
No full textOdd Lindell, Sven-Erik Johansson, Lars-Erik Strender1Center for Family and Community Medicine, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, SwedenBackground: Nonspecific spinal pain (NSP), comprising back and/or neck pain, is one of the leading disorders behind long-term sick-listing, including disability pensions. Early interventions to prevent long-term sick-listing require the identification of patients at risk. The aim of this study was to compare living conditions associated with long-term sick-listing for NSP in patients with nonacute NSP, with a nonpatient population-based sample. Nonacute NSP is pain that leads to full-time sick-listing>3 weeks.Methods: One hundred and twenty-five patients with nonacute NSP, 2000–2004, were included in a randomized controlled trial in Stockholm County with the objective of comparing cognitive–behavioral rehabilitation with traditional primary care. For these patients, a cross-sectional study was carried out with baseline data. Living conditions were compared between the patients and 338 nonpatients by logistic regression. The conditions from univariate analyses were included in a multivariate analysis. The nonsignificant variables were excluded sequentially to yield a model comprising only the significant factors (P <0.05). The results are shown as odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals.Results: In the univariate analyses, 13 of the 18 living conditions had higher odds for the patients with a dominance of physical work strains and Indication of alcohol over-consumption, odds ratio (OR) 14.8 (95% confidence interval [CI] 3.2–67.6). Five conditions qualified for the multivariate model: High physical workload, OR 13.7 (CI 5.9–32.2); Hectic work tempo, OR 8.4 (CI 2.5–28.3); Blue-collar job, OR 4.5 (CI 1.8–11.4); Obesity, OR 3.5 (CI 1.2–10.2); and Low education, OR 2.7 (CI 1.1–6.8).Conclusions: As most of the living conditions have previously been insufficiently studied, our findings might contribute a wider knowledge of risk factors for long-term sick-listing for NSP. As the cross-sectional design makes causal conclusions impossible, our study should be complemented by prospective research.Keywords: nonspecific spinal pain, back pain, neck pain, long-term sick-listing, population-based sample, cross-sectional stud
Future Waste Scenarios for Sweden based on a CGE-model
No full textOver the last decades, waste quantities have grown steadily in close relation to economic growth. To tackle the problem of continuing waste growth within the EU, waste prevention was listed among four top priorities in the EU Sixth environment Action Programme. A Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model is here used for projecting future quantities of hazardous and non-hazardous waste in Sweden to 2030. The effects of driving forces behind waste generation are illustrated by comparing the results of waste projections for a Baseline scenario and four alternative scenarios. The scenarios differ mainly in GDP growth rates and in the assumptions about future waste intensities of the economic activities of firms and households. We use a high-resolution data set on waste flows of 18 various types of non-hazardous waste and 16 various types of hazardous waste attributed to six waste-generating sources for the base year 2006. Waste generated in the scenarios, thus, relate to firms’ material input, output, employees, capital scrapping and fuel combustion as well as households’ consumption. The impact of economic growth in increasing the generation of nonhazardous and hazardous waste is apparent when comparing the growth of waste from 2006 to 2030 in the five scenarios. On the contrary, technological change resulting in less waste intensive production processes and changed behaviour among households, making their activities less waste intensive, have a strong reducing effect, especially on generation of non-hazardous waste relating to firms’ material input.general equilibrium model; waste generation; decoupling; waste intensities waste scenarios.
The Labor Market in KIMOD
No full textThis is a description of the labor market sector in the dynamic medium term macroeconomic model KIMOD developed at the National Institute of Economic Research (NIER). Unemployment is caused by matching inefficiencies of the type described by C. Pissarides in Equilibrium Unemployment, 2000. Unemployed workers and firms with vacant jobs are engaged in costly search for a profitable match. Total hirings from unemployment into employment depend on the number of unemployed workers and vacant jobs. Flows into unemployment come from new entrants into the labor force and from exogenous separation of matched job - worker pairs. Wages are set in individual negotiations between the worker and the firm in a match, according to the Nash bargaining solution. Some inertia in real wages follows from unemployment benefits being indexed to the previous period?s market wage. These features lead to an unemployment rate which adjusts with some inertia towards a long run equilibrium level. Turnover costs provide some incentives for labor hoarding by firms during temporary downturns. The effects on the economy from variations in hours worked due to variations in the labor force are distinct from those due to variations in average working time. The model is used to estimate the equilibrium unemployment level in Sweden from Swedish labor market data on unemployment and vacancieslabor market; matching; modeling; search; unemployment; wage bargaining
Xinjiang (China), rock with glacial striation
No full textGlacial striation on a bloc at the southern slope of Yagme-Tagh.Image is part of research conducted by Erik Norin for the article: Quaternary Climatic Changes within the Tarim Basin
Author(s): Erik Norin
Source: Geographical Review, Vol. 22, No. 4 (Oct., 1932), pp. 591-598
Published by: American Geographical Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/208816http://www.jstor.org/stable/208816Grayscal
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