11,926 research outputs found
Den osynliga handen
Research into historic gardens has often emphasized the garden â the work of art â or else its creator or owner and his interests. Insofar as he has been mentioned, the gardener has often been viewed as an instrumental person giving effect to other peopleâs intentions. A garden, however, is an ongoing process and its form and content are created and re-created through the actions and decisions of various agents. The gardenerâs knowledge, contacts and managerial acumen have a supremely palpable impact on the outcome. Despite the pivotal role of himself and his work in gardens throughout history, the gardenerâs almost complete absence in research is notable. Knowledge born of experience, the work of hand and body, has somehow been taken for granted. This study is based on sources of many different kinds, such as gardening accounts, contracts of service, inventories, wage bills, estate inventories, correspondence, citizenship rolls, gardening manuals, horticultural journals and travelogues. In the absence of complete cradle-to-grave data for one individual, it has not been possible to make an individual case study of a particular gardener. Instead particulars of travel, workplaces, forms of tenure, tasks, name changes, godparents, succession, chattels etc. have been obtained from different documents about different gardeners in different places. The main emphasis of the study is on southern Sweden, without focusing on any particular geographic region. The thesis shows that a skilled master gardener, with his experiential knowledge, or âtacit knowledgeâ, was essential to the formal and substantial functioning of the garden during the 18th century. His role was that of caring for the garden and moving it forward, preserving and developing a concept, giving it a raison dâĂȘtre and transforming it completely when called upon to do so. In addition, a gardener had to organize the work in the garden, teach garden boys and journeymen, run a business and keep the accounts, present the garden to visitors and sometimes develop new horticultural techniques. The study indirectly provides knowledge concerning the nature of garden design and the manner of its creation
Hugo Claude Horack, 1877-1958
Uppsatsens syfte Àr att undersöka ifall och om sÄ Àven hur Wikileaks och Julian Assange portrÀtteras före och efter de vÄldtÀktsanklagelser mot Assange som offentliggjordes i augusti 2010. I den diskursanalys som genomförs granskas sex nyhetsartiklar som valts ut efter bestÀmda tidsaspekter men i övrigt slumpmÀssigt. Artiklarna har publicerats i Dagens Nyheter och slÀppts frÄn TT. Analysen bygger delvis pÄ en ram lagd av teoretikerna Ernesto Laclau och Chantal Mouffe, och pÄ teori och metodik beskriven av Norman Fairclough, och som handlar om att sÀtta diskursiva praktiker i samband med social och kulturell utveckling. Analysen Àr komparativ och fokuserar pÄ det retoriskt diskursiva. Undersökningen visar att det finns en diskrepans mellan sprÄkbruket i de artiklar som publicerats innan 2010 och de som publicerats efter tidpunkten. Det visar sig ocksÄ vara sÄ att Julian Assange och Wikileaks kopplas samman i större utstrÀckning före och efter 2010. Den största förÀndringen i sprÄkvalet Àr ett större ifrÄgasÀttande av trovÀrdighet och motiv för materialslÀpp vad gÀller Wikileaks, som gÄr parallellt med en beskrivning av Assange som blir allt mer opersonlig efter 2010. Organisationen fortsÀtter att vara en kÀlla för DN och TT men i synnerhet deras motiv och trovÀrdighet ifrÄgasÀtts
Does School Competition Matter? Effects of a Large-Scale School Choice Reform on Student Performance
The effect of a general school choice reform on student performance is studied in a Swedish institutional setting. A rich set of individual level data allows estimation of a value added specification, mitigating problems with omission of relevant variables. Increased school competition is shown to have statistically significant positive effects on student performance in mathematics, but no significant effects in English and Swedish. Interacting school competition with student characteristics, the results indicate that immigrant students and those in need of special education tend to gain more from increased school competition than others, while adverse effects on students from low education families are found in terms of English and Swedish performance. However, quantile regressions indicate homogeneous effects on low and high performing students.Private school competition; school choice; student performance
City Retailersâ Perceptions of Competition: A Choice Experiment
The increase and expansion of out-of-town shopping centres is often criticized for out-competing retail business within city centres. City retailersâ own perceptions of competition within and between retail districts are here analyzed via choice experiments in the city of GĂ€vle, Sweden. Choice experiments allow qualitative data to be transformed into quantitative data that can then be analyzed using statistical techniques. The results indicate that city retailers in general perceived a competitive threat within rather than between retail districts. Thus, city retailers do not seem to share policymakersâ concerns that out-of-town shopping centres out-compete retail business within city centres. This implies that city retailers either are naive, or that policy makers tend to overestimate the competitive threat, from out-of-town shopping centres.retail district; location; retail store; distance; experiential shopping
Income taxes and the probability to become self-employed: The case of Sweden
It is widely recognized that entrepreneurial activity plays an important role in promoting new product innovation, discovering new markets, and replacing inefficient incumbents in a process called âcreative destructionâ, all of which enhance economic growth. Given the importance of entrepreneurship and small business enterprises it is not surprising that policy makers worldwide (and especially in Europe) try to stimulate entrepreneurial activity. One public policy, frequently discussed, is how to design tax policies that stimulate start-ups and entrepreneurship. Existing knowledge about taxesâ effect on entrepreneurial activity and start-ups is relatively limited, however. Existing empirical studies are primarily based on US data and have until recently used aggregated tax measures (e.g., average national tax rates) or hypothetical marginal tax rates and time-series or cross-section data. This study, however, uses a particular rich longitudinal micro-level dataset based on Swedish tax-return information, which makes it possible to track a cohort of individuals over time periods during which tax rate changes took place, and thereby isolate whether real-life individual decisions about self-employment are affected by changes in the tax rates they actually face. In addition, as the tax structure in Sweden is neutral as opposed to the US that encourages risk taking and tax-driven self-employment, studying the effect of income taxes on the probability to become self-employed based on Swedish data provides information about how taxes on self-employment affect self-employment. Contrary to earlier studies based on US data, I find both average and marginal tax rates to negatively impact the probability to become self-employed.Self-employment; entrepreneurship; small business; taxation; wealth
Landscape change and its effects on the visual experience of a case study area in the Ăresunds region
The study focuses on landscape change, from an historical perspective (year 1915) and as a discussion of future changes (year 2015) for a case study area in southern Sweden. The historical situation is based on map data while the situation of 2015 is a predictive modelling based on spatial planning and policy documents for the case study area. The study identifies changes in land cover and their spatial distribution within the landscape. The result is discussed in relation to perceived change as well as the areas sensitivity to change. The paper further outlines implications of the result for management and planning in the context of the European Landscape Convention.
17th Annual Institute for Law and Economic Policy Conference Access to Justice: April 7, 2011
There is a fragmented approach to social sustainability in the literature, and this paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of the meanings and interpretations of that concept while reviewing and discussing the social dimension of sustainability from the perspectives of two fields: urban development as well as companies and products. The analysis identifies commonalities and differences in the understanding of the conceptualization of social sustainability and helps to identify core aspects that cross disciplinary boundaries. The paper shows that compiling a list of comprehensive aspects that is representative of social sustainability is not straightforward, as interpretations are context dependant and aspects are often closely interconnected. Differences often occur because of variations in scoping and context, or whether or not a life cycle perspective is used. Nonetheless, there seems to be an underlying common understanding of what social sustainability is, and a set of key themes (social capital, human capital and well-being) is suggested as an alternative to put more specific measures and indicators in perspective. However, context-specific information is still necessary in practical applications.QC 20140523. Updated from manuscript to article in journal.</p
The Interaction Between Labor Market Policy and Monetary Policy: An Analysis of Time Inconsistency Problems
This paper studies the interaction between time inconsistency problems in labor market policy and monetary policy. When both policies are discretionary, there is a positive inflation bias, whereas the bias in labor market programs may be either positive or negative. A commitment of labor market programs to zero increases inflation, as compared to the case when both labor market policy and monetary policy are discretionary. Delegation of labor market policy to a liberal labor market board may improve the discretionary outcome, even if labor market programs crowd out regular employment. A conservative central bank always reduces the social loss, even when monetary policy interacts with labor market policy.TBA
Capturing TV user behaviour in fictional character descriptions
This work is part of the On-demand IPTV project, conducted by Acreo and SICS with financing from Vinnova and active support from an industrial consortium. The main goal of the project is to study the demands on cost-effective, scalable video-on-demand networks that can deliver video with high-quality with minor quality degradations in the transmission. An important issue in understanding this situation is to explore future user behaviour (and the resulting traffic patterns) when user can choose a mix of broadcast TV and a large number of on-demand channels and services. This paper reports on the first steps to develop an understanding of IPTV user behaviour by investigating the current situation using archetypical, fictional character descriptions often referred to as personas. This is an intermediate version; the final version will be the result of Task 4.1: User requirements analysis, part of WP 4: User needs and behaviour
Publicity for Lawyers
Antalet förstainsatsaktörer i Sverige idag utanför de traditionella (rÀddningstjÀnst, polis och ambulans) Àr fÄ, och lite forskning har förts pÄ omrÄdet. Det finns dock exempel dÀr rÀddningstjÀnsten har anlitat vÀktarbolag eller utrustat hemtjÀnstpersonal med pulverslÀckare. Flertalet av dessa samarbeten Àr relativt nystartade och fÄ utvÀrderingar har gjorts som visar de faktiska effekterna av dem. Syftet med denna rapport Àr att beskriva och kartlÀgga samhÀllekonomiska nyttor och kostnader av icke-traditionella förstainsatsaktörer som samarbetar med rÀddningstjÀnsten. Studien har genomförts genom fallstudier av tvÄ samarbeten; Söderköping rÀddningstjÀnst som har ett avtal med LA Jour & SÀkerhet AB samt Södertörns brandförsvarsförbund (SBBF) som samarbetar med vÀktarbolag i SödertÀlje och Botkyrka. Sju semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts med representanter frÄn vÀktarbolag, rÀddningstjÀnst och kommun. Den metod som anvÀnds vid analysen Àr nationalekonomisk kostnadsnyttoanalys. De nyttor som har identifierats Àr att vÀktarna sparar tid, bidrar med lÀgesrapporter, stöttar insatserna genom att vara behjÀlpliga pÄ plats, upptÀcker incidenter eller brÀnder vid rondering. De har god lokalkÀnnedom och kan hjÀlpa till att lÄsa upp brandbommar och dörrar, vilket indirekt sparar tid Ät rÀddningstjÀnsten. Samarbetet bidrar ocksÄ till att de arbetar preventivt; de pratar med ungdomar och andra grupper i samhÀllet och skapar relationer som pÄ sikt har möjlighet att gagna sÀkerheten och tryggheten i kommunen. Kostnaderna för att utbilda och utrusta vÀktarna Àr idag lÄga. DÀremot har det framkommit att vÀktarna gÀrna skulle vilja ha mer utbildning sÄ att de kan rycka ut vid fler typer av larm. Det har Àven framkommit att bÀttre kommunikationskanaler skulle kunna bidra till ökade möjligheter att Äka pÄ fler larm och att vara bÀttre förberedda pÄ vad de kan bidra med vid olika typer av larm. Den kvantitativa analysen utförs för samarbetet i Söderköping och visar att detta har en hög utdelning. Varje investerad krona i Söderköping har gett en avkastning pÄ Ätta kronor, nÀr vÀrdet av den minskade insatstid som vÀktarna bidrar med berÀknas. Nyttan Àr dock undervÀrderad dÄ mÄnga nyttor (beskrivna ovan) inte kan vÀrdesÀttas monetÀrt. Det som har begrÀnsat den kvantitativa analysen Àr det faktum att vÀktarnas rapportering i Botkyrka och SödertÀlje inte sÀrskiljer rÀddningstjÀnstsuppdrag frÄn övriga uppdrag. Detta hade möjliggjort en kvantitativ analys Àven för samarbetet med Södertörn, vilket hade kunnat bidra till att resultaten blivit applicerbara pÄ fler kommuner. Emellertid finns inget som indikerar att andra kommuner inte kommer att erfara samma effekter eller kostnader som de undersökta samarbetena har lett till. DÀremot bör kommuner analysera behov och förutsÀttningar i sin kommun för samarbeten av det hÀr slaget innan de inför dem med tanke pÄ att det uppstÄr kostnader, om Àn lÄga
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