Middle Managers’ Views on Participation in a Home Visiting Program for First-Time Parents in Scania, Sweden

Family home visiting programs delivering early childhood services are supported by politicians and policy makers in many countries. This study focuses on a home visiting program for first-time parents in a county in Sweden. The program comprises six home visits conducted by interprofessional teams, including child healthcare nurses, midwives, social workers and dental hygienists, with the aim to increase accessibility to child healthcare and to promote more equal health in young children. Child healthcare, maternal care, social services and dental care organisations participated voluntarily in the program. This study explores how middle managers of the participating organisations view the program. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews with ten middle managers. The interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis as a method. The results show that the middle managers saw the home visiting program as beneficial for society, parents and children, and the participating organisations and professionals. In other words, they expressed both altruistic goals and a self-interest in participating. The study is of importance as middle managers’ decision to participate in a home visiting program might be grounded on their perceptions of the program

Are flight paths of nocturnal songbird migrants influenced by local coastlines at a peninsula?

By recording nocturnally migrating passerines with tracking radar we have investigated how coastlines affect the migrants’ flight paths. Birds could use coastlines as an orientation aid or as a reference cue to compensate for wind drift while migrating. However, on the small scale of Falsterbo Peninsula in southern Sweden, we found very little effect of coastlines on migrants flight paths, irrespective of altitude. We tracked 2 930 migrants in three autumn and two spring seasons, at altitudes from 60 up to 3 000 meters. We compared tracks of migrants flying in three different areas, which correspond to the three main coastlines, and can demonstrate that the orientation of the tracks did not differ in a way consistent with the coastlines between the areas in autumn, and showed only a slight effect in spring. This is in accordance with earlier infrared device monitoring in Falsterbo, but contrary to earlier visual observations. It supports the view of nocturnally migrating passerines as mainly broad-front migrants. Even though the coastlines on the scale of the peninsula affected the flight paths very little, it is possible that the coastline has an effect on a larger regional scale, by migrants avoiding long sea crossings and thereby being funneled towards the peninsula, but this remains to be investigated

Texts Complying with Societal Pressures : Changing Genres in Finnish Companies’ CSR Reporting

Drawing from the Nordic tradition of sakprosa research, this chapter aims at analysing how generic and intertextual resources are used in Finnish companies’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting. Longitudinally, we study the reporting format, that is, whether the companies are reporting about their sustainability issues separately or as part of their annual report. A comparable synchronic approach is applied to intertextuality between reports and sustainability pages on corporate websites. The data stems from companies listed in the Nasdaq Helsinki Stock Exchange (OMX25 index). It comprises CSR reporting from the financial years 2016–2020 and sustainability pages of three companies. The study shows a tendency of keeping the chosen reporting format irrespective of its kind. However, two types of variability occur: selective variability referring to one format change in the investigated time span, and hybridity, combining features of different formats. Three intertextual strategies between the texts of reports and web pages were detected: convergence, adaptation, and divergence. Our results show how choices of reporting format and intertextual strategies are governed by the company context and practices, and also by governance issues and regulation. In this way, the complexity of text-society relationships as postulated by sakprosa research is illustrated in the context of business texts.© Te Author(s) 2023. This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence and indicate if changes were made. Te images or other third party material in this chapter are included in the chapter’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the chapter’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Communication Practitioners’ Views on Transparency and Its Impact in Finnish Companies

Transparency is a universally accepted communication principle for companies in the 2020’s globalized world. Transparency is considered beneficial because it increases trust among stakeholders, and trust is crucial for the functioning of society and the economy. At the organizational level, transparency is manifested in company policies and practices, as well as in the work of those in charge of communication. Through a qualitative interview study, this article analyzes how communication practitioners working in large Finnish companies view transparency. The analysis shows that while communication practitioners across different companies have common narratives through which an ideal understanding of transparency is produced, they also recognize and address critical tensions between the ideal and practice. The tensions are often connected to regulation: while compliance with rules is highly valued, it is also seen as a resource-intensive and restricting factor, both from business and communication perspectives. Our findings indicate that the cultural ideal of transparency is supported through a shared commitment and sense-making in relevant expert communities and within the companies. The communication practitioners’ commitment also emerges as crucial when they balance between sustaining the transparency ideal and considering the interests and demands of stakeholders and businesses.© 2021 VAKKI ry ja kirjoittajatfi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Possibilities to reduce nitrogen leaching by adjusting nitrogen fertilization to variations within cereal fields

Due to excess precipitation that cause runoff, all soils in Sweden naturally leaches nitrogen. High leaching from arable land is an environmental problem when the runoff reaches waters. In the international agreement, Baltic Sea Action Plan, the aim is to reduce the runoff of nutrients. Sweden has agreed to reduce its load of e.g. nitrogen to the Baltic Sea. One of the proposed measures is an increased use of site-specific N-fertilization, which has been shown to increase nitrogen use efficiency and therefore also reduce the nitrogen runoff. Either yields are increased with the same total amount of nitrogen, or the total quantity of nitrogen is reduced with preserved yield levels, which is profitable for the farmers. The dynamics of nitrogen leaching differs between top dressing applications above or below the economical optimum. There is a consensus about a difference in the dynamics, but not about its magnitude. The curve that describes the leaching is steeper above optimum levels which lead to an increased leaching. Therefore it is important to achieve an optimal application, but that is not easily done when optimum can vary greatly between years, between fields and within fields due to differences in clay and organic matter content, topography and the history of cultivation. The objective of the present work is to review the possibilities to reduce nitrogen leaching by adjusting the nitrogen fertilizer rates according to variations within fields cropped with cereals. Calculations of the differences in leaching between uniform applications and sitespecific ones were done with the leaching model used in the application STANK in MIND developed for advisors by the Swedish Board of Agriculture. Clay content and different degrees of within-field variation in nitrogen fertilizer demand over the fields are factors that among others affect the reduction in leaching, and were therefore accounted for in the calculations. The results showed that the reduction in leaching by using site-specific Nfertilization, with an average optimum rate of 100 kg N/ha, varied between 0,5-3,8 kg N/ha for a sandy soil (40 %) due different degrees of within-filed variation. The highest reduction in leaching is reached from adjusting the fertilization to the field average demand, but adjusting it sitespecifically within the field will reduce the leaching further. The first step should be to obtain the correct average level, but site specific fertilization may be a good way to do this. The results imply that increased knowledge of within field variations by means of sitespecific N-fertilization is profitable for both the famers and the environment

Attityder inom den amerikanska vapendebatten : en narrativanalys

Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka de amerikanska vapenlagarna som ett samhällsfenomen genom att utgå från den pågående mediala debatten. Primärmaterialet utgörs av en samling debattartiklar som hämtats från tre större amerikanska dagstidningar och undersökningen görs enligt en narrativanalys. Det som undersöks är kontexten som vapenlagar diskuteras inom och vilka problem som oftast motiveras som grundorsaker till att situationen inte förändras. Den teoretiska utgångspunkten grundas på Daniel Katz definition om fyra attitydfunktioner som finns inom människors medvetande. Funktionerna kommer att appliceras på det narrativ som respektive debattartikel följer för att se hur attityder framhävs och samspelar med budskapet. Frågeställningarna som kommer att användas i arbetet lyder följande: Vilka typer av attityder framkommer ur den pågående vapendebatten? Hur förstås de amerikanska vapenlagarna som ett samhällsfenomen i den pågående debatten om vapenlagar i kontexten av morden som begicks på Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School i Florida 2018? Resultaten som framgår ur undersökningen tyder på att vapendebatten till stor del handlar om att uttrycka värderingar eller att framhäva moraliska ståndpunkter. Undersökningen visar även på att det ofta är samma teman som berör vapendebatten men att uppfattningar om problemlösningen skiljer sig stort.The purpose of this essay is to examine the American weapon laws as a society phenomenon by studying the current medial debate. The primary material consists of a collection of debate articles which has been selected from three major American newspapers and the study is made according to a narrative analysis. What is being investigated is the context which weapon laws are discussed within and which problems are mostly motivated as the basic causes to that the situation remain the same. The theoretical perspective is based on Daniel Katz definition of four attitude functions that are existing in people’s consciousness. The functions will be applied on the narrative that each text follows to see how attitudes highlights and interacts with the message. The questions that will follow the essays are the following: What types of attitudes emerges from the current weapon debate? How are the American weapons laws understood as a society phenomenon in the current debate about weapon laws in context of the murders committed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high School in Florida 2018? The results shown in the study indicates that the weapon debate largely involves expressing values or emphasizing moral positions. The survey also shows that there are often the same themes that concern the weapon debate but the perceptions of problem solving differ greatly

Ley management

Higher demands of competitiveness and efficiency have led to increasing sizes of farms, with more land, more capital and more comprehensive logistics. The aim is to gain benefits of scale economies that reduce the production cost per unit. However, a greater extent of the business exposes the farm of increased risk where small deviations rapidly can erase the benefits. A modern dairy farm thus put high demands on the farmer’s ability to coordinate, plan and manage the forage production through the whole process until storage to obtain silage of the desired quality and quantity at the right price. The objective of this study was to design a simple model, i.e. the concept of ley management, that farmers and advisers can use to identify and prioritize strategic decisions in the forage production based on the farmer’s targets. An important part was to study the farmers' decision-making and compare it with their results in the forage production. The study thus consists of two parts, the farm study and the formulation of the concept of ley management. The farm study was conducted on nine dairy farms in the counties of Norrbotten and Västerbotten. Information about the farms and their forage production was collected through interviews and visits. This was combined with objective data points to evaluate the results of the farmers’ management during the season of 2011. The concept of ley management is based on three management models and the results of the farm study combined with experiences from the extension service. The models add the prioritizing of decisions from different time horizons of decision-making and planning, together with the resource utilization of the process perspective and comparability between the farmers. The farm study showed that there is a potential to produce higher forage yields than what is done today. Calculations of forage production cost showed that it is possible to produce high quality combined with high yield at a low cost. The farmers who achieved these good results during the season could better describe their strategy and how they managed the crop production on their farms. An important factor that influenced the outcome of the whole season was to harvest the first cut in time, not only to obtain high quality but also for the rest of the season to continue well. By using existing tools in a larger extent the use of the available resources would be more efficient, thus improving the forage production and serve the profitability of the firm and the environment. Financial incentives are needed to present clear alternatives, however such calculations require a large data base to provide a benchmark and in northern Sweden there is none today. To secure a high quality counselling and research that benefits farmers a network of researchers, advisers and farmers has to be developed, in order to jointly drive the development of knowledge forward. The farmer must have a strategy for obtaining adequate control and knowledge of the production system and its context to be able to successfully execute the right operations at the right time and at the same time lead the firm to meet its goals. The concept of ley management provides the farmers and advisors with a tool to examine and find cost-effective ways to achieve the farm's goals. The concept is simple and tangible, where the main point is to make the farmers more aware of their present production system from a more holistic point of view and hence what parts of the forage production system that may need to be changed or improved

Regional variation in climate impact of grass-based biogas production: A Swedish case study

Transitioning from a fossil economy to a bio-economy will inevitably increase the demand for biomass production. One strategy to meet the demand is to re-cultivate set-aside arable land. This study investigated the climate impact and energy potential of grass-based biogas produced using fallow land in Uppsala municipality, Sweden. The assessment was performed on regional level for more than 1000 individual sites, using the agro-ecosystem model DeNitrification DeComposition (DNDC) in combination with time-dynamic life cycle assessment methodology. The results showed that the system could significantly increase biogas production within the region, which would reduce the climate impact by 9950 Mg CO2-eq per year. Compared with diesel fuel, the grass-based biogas gave a GWP reduction of 85%. However, the site-specific GWP reduction showed large spatial variability, ranging between 102 and 79% compared with diesel fuel, depending on where in the region the grass was cultivated. Two alternative scenarios were investigated, increased mineral N fertilisation and inclusion of N-fixing crops in the feedstock mixture. The highest mitigation per biogas energy produced was found for the N-fixing scenario but, because of lower yields, this scenario had lower total mitigation potential for the region than the increased fertilisation scenario. The increased fertilisation scenario had a lower climate mitigation effect per biogas energy produced, but the highest mitigation potential when the whole region was considered, because of the increased biogas production. The method applied in this study can guide land-use planning of local energy production from arable land, also for other regions. (C) 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd

The household effect on electoral participation:A contextual analysis of voter signatures from a French polling station (1982-2007)

We use electoral participation data coded from signature lists to show that patterns of voter turnout, be they related to average participation, versatility or precise moments of voting, are strongly related to what we call “electorate households”, i.e. groups of voters registered in the same polling station and living together. Each household tends to be homogeneous, at levels much higher than chance would explain, so that modelling individual participation without taking this household effect into account ignores much of what actually happens. The status in the household also plays an important role among individual factors of voter participation. Not only do people who live together often participate together, but the precise shape of their relationships influences their behaviour

The impact of the physical environment for caregiving in ordinary housing: Experiences of staff in home- and health-care services

The strong driving forces for ageing in place demand sustainable solutions for the housing and care of older people and the health and safety of home- and health-care staff. The aim of the study was to elucidate staff experiences of providing home- and health-care to older people living in ordinary housing. This study was part of a larger project investigating the relation between home design and conditions for care in ordinary housing. The data were gathered through focus group interviews with staff in home- and health-care. Three main themes were found according to staff experiences of particular rooms’ sizes and proportions, spatial configurations, and aspects to consider when designing new housing. This study contributes important knowledge about essential features of the physical environment for staff providing home- and health-care for older people in their own homes and to aid the development of functionally sustainable housing to minimise injuries to staff