140 research outputs found
Economic Performance and Work Activity in Sweden affter the Crisis of the early 1990s
No full textAbstract: Following a severe contraction in the early 1990s, the Swedish economy accumulated a strong record of output growth coupled with a disappointing performance in the labor market. As of 2005, hours worked per person 20–64 years of age are 10.5 percent below the 1990 peak and a mere one percent above the 1993 trough. Employment rates tell a similar story. Our explanation for Sweden’s weak performance with respect to market work activity highlights the role of high tax rates on labor income and consumption expenditures, wage-setting arrangements that compress relative wages, business tax policies that disfavor labor-intensive industries and technologies, and a variety of policies and institutional arrangements that disadvantage younger and smaller businesses. This last category includes tax policies that penalize wealth accumulation in the form of owner-operated businesses, a pension system that steers equity capital and loanable funds to large incumbent corporations, and legally mandated job-security provisions that weigh more heavily on smaller and younger businesses. We describe these features of the Swedish institutional setup and provide evidence of their consequences based largely on international comparisons.Business taxation; Industry structure; Swedish economic performance; Tax effects; Time allocation; Wage-setting institutions; Work activity
Portrayals of working-class life in the authorships of Ragnar Järhult and Per Gunnar Evander
No full textThe main purpose of this Master’s thesis is to analyse the portrayals of working-class life in a selection of works by the Swedish authors Ragnar Järhult and Per Gunnar Evander. The research questions are: * How is the working conditions described?* What political messages can be found in the works?* What image of the class society is shown?The second aim of this Master’s thesis is to analyse the concept of working-class literature and to investigate if the works of Per Gunnar Evander could be seen as working-class literature. Methodologically, the study draws on established theories, concepts and methods from the sociology of literature and the history of ideas. The core analytical concepts are ”social class” and ”working class literature”. This study shows that there are several similarities between the works of Järhult and Evander, especially in the criticism against the working conditions for the workers at papermills and tileworks. Evander is not normally seen as a working-class author but this study points out that the selected works from both the authors should be seen as working-class literature. The discussion on the concept of working-class literature reveals that it is difficult to find a perfect definition concerning the working-class literature. Every definition seems to be vague and that can either be seen as a weakness or strength. I like to see the broad description of working-class literature as something positive because a wide-ranging definition makes it possible to collect all the different aims and trends under one concept. Working-class literature should be seen as a broad literary current, not as a genre sharply marked off from its surroundings.Uppsatsnivå:
Genetic aspects of stroke : association and linkage studies in a northern Swedish population
No full textStroke is a common, multifactorial cardiovascular disease. A stroke event is the result of traditional risk factors (i.e. hypertension, diabetes, smoking), environmental exposures and genetic factors in a complex interplay. The genetic contribution is, as estimated by studies on the influence of family history on the risk of stroke, limited on the individual level, and overridden by, for example the excess risk associated with smoking. On the population level, and as a means to better understand the etiology of stroke, genetics can play a major role. Northern Sweden is well suited for studying the genetic aspects of stroke. The population shows signs of founder effects, and is relatively homogeneous. Large-scale cardiovascular health surveys, the MONICA Project and the Västerbotten Intervention Program, allow studies on risk factors in relation to stroke. Two prospective nested case-referent study samples, (113 cases and 226 controls; 275 cases and 549 controls), and a set of 56 families (117 affected) were collected for functional candidate gene association, and linkage, studies. The selected candidate genes included haemostatic factors and genes within the renin angiotensin system (RAS). Functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that influence the levels of PAI-1 (PAI-1 4G/5G), and tPA (tPA -7,351C>T), have been identified. The angiotensin converting enzyme insertion/deletion polymorphism (ACE I/D) has been shown to be associated with ischaemic stroke. The angiotensin II receptor type 1 A1166C polymorphism (AT1R A1166C), less extensively studied, has been suggested to be associated with stroke, and to interact with the ACE I/D. We found that the PAI-1 4G/4G genotype was associated with an increased risk of future ischaemic stroke (OR 1.79, 95%CI 1.01-3.19), and this was replicated in a second study sample. Furthermore, levels of serum triglycerides modulated the effect of the genotype. In the study on tPA, no association between the tPA -7,351C>T polymorphism and the risk of stroke was found in an analysis of the two study samples pooled. The two RAS polymorphisms were prospectively associated with ischaemic stroke independently of each other and other risk factors (OR 1.60, p=0.02 and OR 1.60, p=0.04, respectively). A candidate region linkage study, focusing on a previously reported stroke susceptibility locus on chromosome 5, was performed in a set of families. In addition, association between ischemic stroke and the positional candidate gene phosphodiesterase 4D (PDE4D) was tested. Linkage to 5q12 was replicated in this independent population, but not PDE4D association with stroke. This suggests that alternative genotypes in this stroke susceptibility locus contribute in different populations. In conclusion, the genetic component in the causation of stroke was investigated. The results of the functional candidate gene association studies showed (1) interaction between PAI-1 genotype and a putatively modifiable risk factor, triglycerides, (2) a prospective testing of the tPA SNP with no association detected, and (3) a novel, hypothesis-generating, finding in the case of AT1R polymorphism and the risk of ischaemic stroke. The replication of linkage to chromosome 5q12 in our northern Swedish population was interesting, and it will be further explored
Environmental protection and optimal taxation
No full textStruck by the fact that economists did not have a plausible model for why emissions standards, and mandated technologies, play a dominant role in pollution control, the author sought answers to two questions: 1) Should one stimulate emissions reductions by firms, and households, rich and poor, in the same way? 2) How should one combine instruments that make activities cleaner, with instruments that shift the economy toward less-polluting activities? Using clean air as an example of a pure public good, he shows the role of emissions taxes, or such surrogate instruments, as emissions standards, and presumptive Pigouvian taxes. To illustrate the combination of demand management, and technical controls, he computes a marginal cost curve for emissions reductions in the form of cleaner cars, and fuels. And he estimates a demand model for cars, and driving. The result: under the assumption that revenue, and re-distributive transfers bear no premia, the cost of reducing pollution in Mexico City increases forty four percent if an emissions standards program is used, and the presumptive Pigouvian tax on gasoline is not. The important finding, as costly redistribution, and revenue generation are introduced, is that this influences the general scheme of taxation (in well-known ways), and it influences the conditions for optimal environmental quality in accordance with Pigou's conjecture. However, it does not change, or invalidate the rankings of technologies, and interventions on the control cost curve, nor does it change the role of demand management in environmental protection.Environmental Economics&Policies,Energy and Environment,Pollution Management&Control,Economic Theory&Research,Carbon Policy and Trading
Can reforming global institutions help developing countries share more in the benefits from globalization?
No full textGlobalization could significantly expand trade, international investment, and technological advances, but the gains from global integration have been unevenly distributed across and within nations. Greater global interdependence has also brought greater macroeconomic volatility, resulting in several serious financial crises in the second half of the 1990s. The global matrix of Bretton Woods and United Nations institutions that developed starting in the 1940s, formed under a different balance of power, in a world of fixed exchange rates and limited capital mobility. Since the 1960s regional financial institutions have emerged because of the greater autonomy of different regions and the greater financial needs of development. The author reviews different proposals for reform of the international financial institutions and changes in the roles of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. He highlights the implications for developing countries of (1) Policy conditionality. (2) The countercyclical role of multilaterals'lending. (3) Greater lending to middle-income than to low-income developing countries. (3) Access to liquidity at times of crisis. (4) Mechanisms for giving low-income countries a greater voice in IMF and World Bank decisionmaking. The author streses the overlapping responsibilities of the Bretton Woods and regional financial institutions and the need to reassess the allocation of responsibilities and to develop better coordination mechanisms between these institutions. Those designing institutional reform must consider the corporate capabilities of each type of institution. The corporate cultures of global and regional institutions differ. So does the kind of knowledge they generate and disseminate, and so do patterns of interactions with, and mechanisms for representation of, client countries.Finally, the author calls attention to the need to harmonize national and global growth-oriented policies in a way that reduces volatility and promotes social equity.Environmental Economics&Policies,Governance Indicators,Financial Intermediation,Economic Theory&Research,Banks&Banking Reform
Genetic polymorphisms in the renin-angiotensin system confer increased risk of stroke independently of blood pressure : a nested case-control study
No full textOBJECTIVE: The renin-angiotensin system has a pathophysiological role in cardiovascular disease through a variety of processes. Polymorphisms in involved genes have been described and implicated in stroke. The aim of this study was to investigate two polymorphisms in two genes in the renin-angiotensin system and the risk of stroke. DESIGN: A nested case-control study using baseline data obtained from population-based surveys in northern Sweden was performed. There were 275 individuals without major concomitant disease who suffered a first ever stroke during follow-up and 549 controls matched for age, sex and domicile. METHODS: Blood samples obtained at baseline were analyzed for potential risk factors including the A1166C polymorphism of the angiotensin II type I receptor (AT1R) gene and the functional insertion/deletion polymorphism of the angiotensin-converting enzyme gene. RESULTS: Individuals with the AA genotype of the AT1R gene were at increased risk of ischemic stroke (odds ratio = 1.60; P = 0.005) compared with those with the AC and CC genotypes. The D allele of the angiotensin-converting enzyme insertion/deletion polymorphism was associated with a higher risk of stroke (odds ratio = 1.58; P = 0.014). CONCLUSION: In this prospective study, there was an association between A1166C polymorphism in the angiotensin II receptor gene and ischemic stroke. We also replicated previous observations that the D allele of the angiotensin-converting enzyme insertion/deletion polymorphism was associated with increased risk of stroke. The observed elevated stroke risks conferred by these two polymorphisms are independent of each other and common risk factors such as blood pressure, diabetes, smoking and high cholesterol levels.</p
Transgressive femininity: gender in the Scandinavian Modern Breakthrough
No full textThis PhD thesis deals with how new discourses on femininity and gender developed in
Scandinavian literature during the Modern Breakthrough, 1880-1909. Political,
economic and demographic changes in the Scandinavian societies put pressures on the
existing, conventional gender roles, which literature reflects; however, literature also
created and introduced new discourses on gender.
The main focus has been on transgressive female characters in Danish, Swedish
and Norwegian novels, which I have seen as indicators of emerging new forms of
femininity. The study shows how the transgression of gender boundaries is used in the
novels, when presenting their views on what femininity is, should be or could be. In
addition to analysing the textual strategies in the representation of these ‘deviant’
literary characters, I have examined how the relevant texts were received by critics and
reviewers at the time, as reviews are in themselves discursive constructs.
The theoretical basis of this study has mainly been Michel Foucault’s discourse
theory, Judith Butler’s theory of performativity and Yvonne Hirdman’s theory of
gender binarism. I have also used concepts from several (mainly Anglo-American and
Scandinavian) literary gender theorists and historians in the analyses.
The four novels analysed in this study are as follows: 1) Danish author Herman
Bang’s early decadence novel Haabløse Slægter (1880), where I use a queer theory
perspective. 2) Norwegian author Ragnhild Jølsen’s Rikka Gan (1904), where the
strong elements of pre-psychoanalysis are analysed. 3) Swedish author August
Strindberg’s Le Plaidoyer d’un fou (1887-88), where I make a narratological
examination of the narrative voice from a gender perspective. 4) Swedish author Annie
Quiding’s Fru Fanny (1904), analysed as an example of ‘negative’ New Woman
literature.
The thesis shows how literature of the time represented and introduced new forms
of femininity, often in the form of ambiguous female characters, and often to the
disapproval of the critics. It also shows that gender discourses were much alike within
Scandinavia. Furthermore, my study lays bare the skeleton of normative Breakthrough femininity, what can be called the dominant discourse on femininity at the time: a nonexisting
sexual desire, feminine immobility/containment in the home and an imperative,
self-sacrificing motherliness
Cholesterol Reduction and Clinical Benefit
No full text
Abstract
Encouraging intervention trials drive our expectations toward more aggressive cholesterol-lowering therapies, lower target levels, and less severe hypercholesterolemia. Available studies may predict which patients, degrees of total cholesterol (TC) reduction, and baseline and target levels of TC provide the most clinical benefit. Data were pooled from seven primary and nine secondary controlled trials with major coronary heart disease (CHD) events as primary endpoints. The analysis showed that we can expect large reductions in CHD from TC reduction in primary and secondary prevention. However, the reduction is much larger in subjects with high TC and/or previous CHD events. The percent reduction in CHD increased exponentially with increasing percent TC reductions, which predicted >70% of the change in CHD. Consequently, we cannot expect cost-effective clinical benefits from mean reductions in TC >15 (LDL cholesterol >20)%. The TC level at the study endpoint correlated with CHD incidence irrespective of the study group and explained almost 45% of CHD incidence. The relationship was progressive and leveled off at a TC level below about 150 mg/dL (3.9 mmol/L) (LDL cholesterol ≈110 mg/dL [≈2.8 mmol/L]). Little extra clinical benefit can be expected from further reductions. We can expect an average 2% reduction in CHD events per percent reduction in TC. We can also expect a 2-fold greater clinical benefit among subjects with high initial TC levels than among those with low levels. Finally, we can expect that the cholesterol-attributable risk is reset to that predicted by the TC level achieved within 4 to 6 years.
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Memory Wound - Minnested mellom virkelighet og virtualitet
No full textArtikkelen undersøker de digitale bildene som fulgte den svenske kunstneren Jonas Dahlbergs vinnerforslag til nasjonalt minnested for 22. juli 2011, Memory Wound, ved Utøya. Sommeren 2017 ble det klart at minnestedet aldri vil bli realisert som planlagt. Samtidig har konkurransebildene vært gjenstand for digital massespredning. Det foreslåtte minnestedets ikke-eksistens og sirkulasjonen av de digitale bildene kaster lys over medieringens betydning for kollektiv minneaktivitet. Artikkelen analyserer bildenes referensielle egenskaper og et utvalg eksempler fra sirkulasjonen av dem. Den viser at medieringen av vinnerforslaget i et digitalt bildemedium påvirker oppfatninger av minnestedets stedlige og temporale forankring, og leder til motstridende tolkninger av sammenhengen mellom bilde og virkelighet. Den belyser også hvordan sirkulasjonen av de digitale bildene bidrar til dannelse av minnefellesskap, samtidig som den tydeliggjør avstander mellom deltakere i kollektiv minneaktivitet.publishedVersionCopyright © 2019 Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons CC-BY-NC 4.0License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Neuro‐ and Cardioprotective Effects of Blockade of Nitric Oxide Action by Administration of Methylene Blue
No full textMethylene blue (MB), generic name methylthioninium (C16H18ClN3 S · 3H2O), is a blue dye synthesized in 1876 by Heinrich Caro for use as a textile dye and used in the laboratory and clinically since the 1890s, with well-known toxicity and pharmacokinetics. It has experimentally proven neuroprotective and cardioprotective effects in a porcine model of global ischemia–reperfusion in experimental cardiac arrest. This effect has been attributed to MB's blocking effect on nitric oxide synthase and guanylyl cyclase, the latter blocking the synthesis of the second messenger of nitric oxide. The physiological effects during reperfusion include stabilization of the systemic circulation without significantly increased total peripheral resistance, moderately increased cerebral cortical blood flow, a decrease of lipid peroxidation and inflammation, and less anoxic tissue injury in the brain and the heart. The last two effects are recorded as less increase in plasma concentrations of astroglial protein S-100β, as well as troponin I and creatine kinase isoenzyme MB, respectively.</p
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