Construction of a Curvilinear Grid

The construction of overlapping grids is explained and applied to a system of hyperbolic differential equations

Swedish regional development initiatives in a gender perspective: Policy evaluated against transversal objectives

Gender equality has long been a focus in regional development in the European Union. In a Swedish context, the interest has been borne from the fact that rural and sparsely populated areas have a 'women shortage', and that this tendency is accelerating as young women move to cities, while young men stay in the rural areas. Several remedies to this dilemma have been proposed, and one field of analysis stresses the gender-segregated nature of the Swedish labour market and the relative paucity of employment opportunities for women in rural areas. Regional Investment Grants and Regional Development Grants are use to support investment in eligible areas of Sweden, with the objective of bolstering growth, and maintaining a balanced regional development. In addition to the stated main objectives, the investment projects should also address a range of transversal goals - one of which is gender equality and improved employment opportunities for women. Previous studies have noted that there seem to be relatively few regional investment and development grants awarded to female-run firms. This raises the question of whether the rules regulating the grants disproportionally disadvantage female-run firms, and hence is in conflict with the transversal objective of the grant to promote gender equality and provide a more varied labour market. This paper deals with the application and approval of regional investment and regional development grants to female-run firms in Sweden. The main question is whether the rules of eligibility inherently disadvantage female-run firms, and whether there is a difference between male-run firm and female-run firms in the likelihood of applying for the grant. A rule that grants should be awarded in a way that is competitively neutral within a region disadvantages female-led firms, which are more likely to operate on a local market. Given the industry and size of the applying firm, there is no difference in the likelihood that a firm applies for or is awarded a grant between male-led and female-led firms. I also find that these results are somewhat sensitive to the definition of what constitutes a 'female-led' firm.

Sustainability principles through educational e-textile kit

Innovations in smart textiles technology are on the rise with a promise to add value to the consumer's life (Goodman et al., 2018). However, these innovations and the high development speed involved also raise concerns about environmental issues related to these trends (Van der Velden et al., 2015). Therefore, TTorch project was created which aim is to bring different fields, like electronics and textile engineering, together to create a kit for educational purposes and follow circular economy principles while doing it. TTorch is a creative toy with a development kit for up to 10-year-old children, using e-textile principles. The product kit creates a bridge between engineering and design, by letting the user explore a personal light source and build surroundings to it. The goal of the project is to show how interdisciplinary fields can work together and with that creating different opportunities. This paper gives a short overview of e-textiles, research on e-waste, textile waste and e-textile waste management. Further on it will focus on the necessary collaboration between design, engineering and industry by emphasising difference between core team and network around the core team. The collaboration aim it to create ecological product kit for educational purposes following the concept of STEAM. Discussions will include how collaboration between team members with diverse backgrounds, and surrounding network was necessary to identify specific gap in the market and to evolve the idea from product to development kit

Numerical Methods for Singular Perturbation Problems

Consider the two-point boundary value problem for a stiff system of ordinary differential equations. An adaptive method to solve these problems even when turning points are present is discussed

Recruitment to Sheltered Employment: Evidence from Samhall, a Swedish State-Owned Company

This paper analyses recruitment practices to Samhall, a state-owned company that provides sheltered employment for individuals with severe work disabilities. Besides providing employment for disabled workers and rehabilitating them to employment outside Samhall, the company is expected to decrease its dependence on Government subsidies. This profitability goal may come into conflict with the recruitment goals, resulting in cream skimming effects. The job security offered at the company may also provide incentives at the individual level for using Samhall as a means of escaping unemployment rather than as an employer of last resort for the most disabled. The evidence regarding cream skimming is mixed; the recruitment-to-Samhall hazards of the prioritised groups, i.e., individuals with intellectual or psychic disabilities, are significantly higher than the hazards for some, but not all, disability groups. Individuals without disabilities tend to be hired by the company, which suggests creaming and is contrary to the guidelines. Finally, the Samhall hazard increases slightly with time in unemployment. This is consistent both with Samhall acting as an employer of last resort and the existence of incentives among individuals to use Samhall in order to escape unemployment.Policy Programmes; Disability; Performance Standards

Recruitment to sheltered employment: Evidence from Samhall, a Swedish state-owned company

This paper analyses recruitment practices to Samhall, a state-owned company that provides sheltered employment for individuals with severe work disabilities. Besides providing employment for disabled workers and rehabilitating them to employment outside Samhall, the company is expected to decrease its dependence on Government subsidies. This profitability goal may come into conflict with the recruitment goals, resulting in cream skimming effects. The job security offered at the company may also provide incentives at the individual level for using Samhall as a means of escaping unemployment rather than as an employer of last resort for the most disabled. The evidence regarding cream skimming is mixed; the recruitment-to-Samhall hazards of the prioritised groups, i.e., individuals with intellectual or psychic disabilities, are significantly higher than the hazards for some, but not all, disability groups. Individuals without disabilities tend to be hired by the company, which suggests creaming and is contrary to the guidelines. Finally, the Samhall hazard increases slightly with time in unemployment. This is consistent both with Samhall acting as an employer of last resort and the existence of incentives among individuals to use Samhall in order to escape unemployment.Policy programmes; disability; performance standards

Around the World of cotton issues in ten months: a guide for navigation

Cotton sectors are facing many issues which are quite well reported by online newspapers. Many issues are internal to the running of cotton sectors. They are little related to the international issue of market distortion, pertaining to the "cotton file" of the WTO. A number of issues impeding the development of cotton sectors are common to many countries. The lack of supply of basic services is not specific to Least Developed Countries (LDCs). Cotton is generally suffering from high production cost, with or without recurring to transgenic varieties. This global observation should lead us to question the dominating production mode.It is amazing to find that many countries are facing serious seed issue in many forms. In some countries, this seed issue has been exacerbated after the adoption of transgenic varieties.Considering the very wide range of issues, a very wide range of possible responses is mobilized, mainly from the governments. There might be reactions monitored by private operators, but their scopes and their scales are very limited.Some measures are very innovative or imaginative, they are observed in emerging countries like China, Brazil and India, in fact in countries which can afford the policies they decide on.cotton sector; policy; support; profitability; viability; subsidies; WTO

Swedish regional development initiatives in a gender perspective: a regional policy programme evaluated against transversal objective

Gender equality has long been a focus in regional development in the European Union. In a Swedish context, the interest has been borne from the fact that rural and sparsely populated areas have a 'women shortage', and that this tendency is accelerating as young women move to cities, while young men stay in the rural areas. Several remedies to this dilemma have been proposed, and one field of analysis stresses the gender-segregated nature of the Swedish labour market and the relative paucity of employment opportunities for women in rural areas. Regional Investment Grants and Regional Development Grants are use to support investment in eligible areas of Sweden, with the objective of bolstering growth, and maintaining a balanced regional development. In addition to the stated main objectives, the investment projects should also address a range of transversal goals - one of which is gender equality and improved employment opportunities for women. Previous studies have noted that there seem to be relatively few regional investment and development grants awarded to female-run firms. This raises the question of whether the rules regulating the grants disproportionally disadvantage female-run firms, and hence is in conflict with the transversal objective of the grant to promote gender equality and provide a more varied labour market. This paper deals with the application and approval of regional investment and regional development grants to female-run firms in Sweden. The main question is whether the rules of eligibility inherently disadvantage female-run firms, and whether there is a difference between male-run firm and female-run firms in the likelihood of applying for the grant. A rule that grants should be awarded in a way that is competitively neutral within a region disadvantages female-led firms, which are more likely to operate on a local market. Given the industry and size of the applying firm, there is no difference in the likelihood that a firm applies for or is awarded a grant between male-led and female-led firms. I also find that these results are somewhat sensitive to the definition of what constitutes a 'female-led' firm

To develop the ability of teacher students to reason mathematically

The aim of the project The project aims at developing the ability of teacher students to reason mathematically and to understand pupils' reasoning in mathematics. The problem in focus For a teacher to be able to talk to pupils in a way that suits the learning of the individual pupil she has a need to be capable of expressing herself in many different ways and to give arguments and to reason in such a way that the pupil understands. This aim is rarely reached by the ways teacher courses are structured today. A stronger focus on mathematical reasoning and communication is necessary. What is the ability to reason mathematically? Mathematics as a science is characterised among other things by the method to work with deductions and proofs which means that starting from certain given conditions you can with full certainty prove propositions and theorems. To be able to follow and develop such ways of thinking and arguing you have to develop your own ability to reason mathematically. In the school curriculum deductions and proofs have been given new importance. It is necessary for the teacher to have developed her own ability to reason mathematically in order to be able to work with the pupils to reach the aims of the curriculum in this area. The teacher must in conversations with the pupils be flexible and be able to understand different ways of thinking and reasoning. This makes it necessary for the teacher to be able to reason, to follow multiple ways of thinking, and to compare them and to value how viable they are. What do we mean by ability to reason mathematically? A good ability to reason mathematically means that you can reformulate questions and propositions in different ways, make and test conjectures, reject them or verify them, formulate counterexamples, specialise, generalise, draw conclusions, find alternative ways when you are stuck, decide if a solution is reasonable and judge the validity of arguments, describe, explain, and convince others about your arguments and to prove your claims. Mason, Burton and Stacey (1982) have demonstrated how to encourage, develop and foster the processes mentioned above, which seem to come naturally to mathematicians. They suggest a method of working that is highly practical by starting from exemplary questions and problems and involving the learner in the discussions. In this way a deeper awareness of the nature of mathematical thinking and reasoning can grow. Methods We want to take a departure in research results from mathematics education and offer the student teachers opportunities to develop their own ability to reason mathematically in a more conscious way. We want to develop the mathematics parts of the courses. Instead of starting in a traditional way by presenting the theory and then continuing with problem solving exercising the application of the theory, we want to start with open or exploratory problem solving that give the students an experiential background for the introduction of theoretical concepts. The work will be done in small groups and the focus on reporting the work will be on presenting their findings and on convincing others about the reasonableness of the conclusions they have drawn. To work with different pieces of mathematical argument, both from former teacher students and pupils, will be another type of task. Alongside they will work with a selected number of more conventional mathematical problems, but be stimulated to continue to use the group as a resource, discussing different difficulties and explaining to each other different ways of solving the problems. Comparing and valuing the viability of alternative solutions is vital here. We will construct open problems and exercises that foster reasoning and try them out in group-work with student teachers. After evaluation and reconstruction if necessary the problems will be used in future mathematics teacher training courses