Equity, Justice, Interdependence: Intergenerational Transfers and the Ageing Population

The increase in the ratio of the elderly to the working age population as the demographic transition of low fertility and low mortality proceeds, has spurred a discussion concerning the equity of intergenerational transfers. The central question is if and how the state can afford the pensions and healthcare costs for growing older populations, and who should carry the burden. To a large extent, focus has been on public transfers while neglecting private transfers within families. There is also an obvious tendency of considering the impact of ageing in terms of pensions while health care has gained a lot less attention. A gender approach shows to be fruitful in the analysis of the costs and benefits of intergenerational transfers.equity; justice; interdependence; intergenerational transfers; ageing population

Eliminating Social Homelessness: Providing a Home to Grow

Middle school students who belong to marginalized identity groups often experience alienation and isolation. These feelings are compounded for multi-marginalized students who experience social homelessness–a term Harrison (2015) uses to describe students who appear to be accepted in one or more social categories but, because of his or her competing identities, is unable to fully participate in the life of the social group without hiding a part of his or her identity. In addition to this internalized struggle, emerging research indicates that socially homeless students are at an increased risk for bullying and academic failure. Inspired by the need to build homes for students experiencing social homelessness and our professional experiences with student alienation and underachievement, we created a school-wide house system to promote healthy peer relationships for middle grades students. This essay details the motivation and processes behind creating a school-wide house system that promotes a growth mindset and fosters a positive school culture that is inclusive of all students

BALANCING FOOD VALUES: MAKING SUSTAINABLE CHOICES WITHIN COOKING PRACTICES

Within user-centred design and topics such as persuasive design, pleasurable products, and design for sustainable behaviour, there is a danger of over-determining, pacifying or reducing people’s diversity. Taking the case of sustainable food, we have looked into the social aspects of cooking at home, in specific related to the type of food that is purchased. This paper describes what it means for people to make more sustainable choices in food shopping and how that can be mediated while taking different ‘food values’ that household members have into account. In a design experiment, we developed a service for selecting daily dinner meals while supporting choices of sustainable food which reported on environmental impact, health and nutrition values, and purchase data. Through visualizations of alternative food choices, the experiment provided a space for households to negotiate food values, while opening up possibilities for changing cooking practices

Tobacco use and dependence : does it originate in utero?

Prenatal nicotine exposure (such as from maternal smoking during pregnancy) has been hypothesized to cause a so called programming effect, where epigenetic changes might result in a long-lasting vulnerability to tobacco use and dependence, manifesting during adolescence or young adulthood. However, previous observational studies show mixed results, perhaps because the association could be influenced by a common genetic predisposition to tobacco use as well as by social factors influencing both parental tobacco use during pregnancy and tobacco use in the offspring. The aim of this thesis was to enhance knowledge about the association between prenatal exposure to nicotine and tobacco use and tobacco dependence later in life. Study I assessed the association between parental tobacco use during pregnancy and tobacco use and dependence in adolescent offspring, based on 3,020 youths living in Stockholm County, who were followed from age 11 to 18. Study II investigated the influence of maternal smoking during pregnancy on tobacco use in adult offspring, based on 1,124 young adults, participating in the Stockholm Public Health Survey in 2006 and 2010. The Swedish Sibling Health Cohort, which consists of 1,538 sibling pairs, 19-27 years old and discordant for maternal smoking during pregnancy, constituted the study population for Study III and IV. These studies assessed the influence of prenatal exposure to maternal smoking on tobacco use (Study III) and dependence (Study IV) in young adults, while taking genetic and environmental factors into account. Study IV was based on two subsamples where both siblings were lifetime daily smokers (193 pairs) or snus users (173 pairs). Results from this thesis showed that prenatal exposure to parental tobacco use was linked with a higher risk of heavy tobacco use and dependence in adolescent girls (Study I). Maternal smoking during pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of established and heavy snus use in young adults (Study II). However, there was no association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and tobacco use (Study III) or dependence (Study IV) when exposure-discordant siblings were compared. In this thesis, prenatal nicotine exposure from parental tobacco use was not associated with tobacco use or dependence in young adults. An association with heavy use and dependence in adolescent girls cannot be excluded, but is more likely caused by residual confounding. These findings do not support the hypothesis of an important programming effect caused by prenatal nicotine exposure. If such an effect exists it is most likely weaker than the influence of genetic and early-environmental factors. Instead, this thesis emphasizes the utmost importance of genetic and early-environmental influences on the development of tobacco use and dependence

Hur svenska snittblomsodlare skapar värde genom frilandsodling av Slow Flowers

I denna uppsats studeras värdet på svenskodlade snittblommor på friland som odlas enligt Slow Flower-principen. Syftet med studien är att utifrån semistrukturerade intervjuer med snittblomsodlare och florist undersöka hur värde skapas samt vilka teman som kan urskiljas och vilken koppling dessa har i värdeskapandet. Vidare kommer en analys framföras kring var i värdekedjan värdet uppstår med hjälp av Michael E. Porters modell som bygger på att identifiera värdeskapande aktiviteter. Motivationen till studien baseras på att Slow Flower är en tämligen ny rörelse i Sverige som ska verka som ett hållbart alternativ till importerade snittblommor. Studien utgår från kvalitativ metod och relevant bakgrundsfakta presenteras. Resultatet av tematiseringen och analysen av värdekedjan möjliggör slutsatser kring vilka värden som kan kopplas till snittblommorna och ställas i jämförelse med importerade snittblommor.In this essay, the value of Swedish field grown cut flowers that are grown according to the Slow Flower principle is studied. The aim of the study is to investigate, based on semi-structured interviews with floral growers and florists, how value is created, and which themes can be distinguished and what connection these have in value creation. Furthermore, an analysis will be presented of where in the value chain the value occurs using Michael E. Porter's model, which is based on identifying value-creating activities. The motivation for the study is based on the fact that Slow Flower is a fairly new movement in Sweden that should act as a sustainable alternative to imported cut flowers. The study is based on qualitative methodology and relevant background facts are presented. The result of the thematization and analysis of the value chain enables conclusions about which values can be linked to the cut flowers and compared to imported cut flowers

How Many Regional Medical Centers Can Maine Sustain? How Patient Hospital Utilization Can Help Define Structure

Making thoughtful decisions about where various levels of hospital care are to be provided is an important part of controlling overall healthcare costs. Efficient utilization of healthcare resources requires that high-cost and less frequently used high-tech equipment and specialized personnel should be limited to a few tertiary regional medical centers. Lars Rydell uses patient discharge data from the Maine Health Data Organization to suggest that Maine currently has only two hospitals that function as tertiary regional medical centers—Maine Medical Center in Portland and Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. Policymakers need to think about whether Maine’s population base warrants more than two such centers

Corrigenda

Entomologica Fennica. 3 July 200

Arrival and departure manager cooperation for reducing airborne holding times at destination airports

This thesis addresses the possibility of using a delay-on-ground concept in which flights with less than 1 hour flying time (often referred to as pop-up flights) absorb their arrival sequencing delay at the departure gate by being issued their Arrival Manager (AMAN)-scheduled time as a Required Time of Arrival (RTA) that is inserted into the Flight Management System (FMS). Due to their short duration these flights are currently often inserted into the AMAN sequence shortly before Terminal Manoeuvring Area (TMA) entry and thereby often need to absorb their arrival sequencing delay in the inefficient manner of airborne holding or vectoring close to the arrival airport. The literature review examines current operational procedures of AMANs and Departure Managers (DMANs), the current FMS RTA function and live trials in which the delay-on-ground concept was tested in real operations. A case study airport in Europe that has potential to benefit from the concept is identified. The performance of the delay-on-ground concept for the case study airport is then assessed by performing 180 fast-time Monte Carlo simulation runs. For each run the arrival flow to the case study airport and the departure flows from two medium-sized airports from which the pop-up flights originate are simulated. Each run represents an operational day and variations in departure/arrivals time is put into the timetables to simulate the variation in actual departure/arrival times resulting from operational factors normally encountered in day-to-day operations. An algorithm is written in Matlab to simulate an AMAN-DMAN cooperation in which pop-up flights are locked to the required departure times to meet their RTAs. It is shown that a significant reduction in airborne delay time and fuel consumption can be achieved at the case study airport by using the concept. It is also shown that it is possible to ensure that the pop-up flights depart at the required times to meet their RTAs without negatively affecting the departure sequences