En studie av normerna kring fildelning och piratkopiering

In this paper I have focused on the underlying reasons for people and piracy. The paper starts with a presentation of the Swedish laws of copyright as they are constituted today and the new law that is supposedly being ordained the 1st of July, 2005, a brief summary of what its effects will be for the people, according to the authorities and the critisism that has developed around it from the net-pirats. Then follows a definition of the expression "norms" and what it means here in my paper. Now comes a presentation of the research I have been doing, in the form of a survey concerning why and how often people download copyrighted material from the net, and if they have ever sold any pirated copies to more than selfprice and, if so, to whom. The presentations shows that the majority of the people that are downloading copyrighted material from the Internet is doing it for the own personal use and not to make any money out of selling the material on, since most people consider it unfair to charge for something that they have got for free. The survey also shows that many of those who download copyrighted material also upload it because it gives them a satisfactory feeling of giving something in order to get something. The survey also shows that although most of the people taking the survey knows what the new law means it has not affected them in anyway. When it comes to the people that it has affected most of them say that it has affected them in that sense that they have got angry because the law is not going to work as it was meant to, or it has affected them rather in the opposite way, that they have started to download and upload even more material than before. I chose to analyse the underlying actions for piracy by using the theories in "Normvetenskap" by Håkan Hydén and the theories of etnomethodology and the expression to be "against the law". It concerns how and why people are creating a movement against something and how this is found righteous within the own crowd. To explain more what I mean when I refer to norms in my paper I have chosen to analyse it according to the "model of norms" as it is described by Håkan Hydén, Phd. Sociology of law

Patterns of local recurrence and dose fractionation of adjuvant radiation therapy in 462 patients with soft tissue sarcoma of extremity and trunk wall

Purpose To study the impact of dose fractionation of adjuvant radiation therapy (RT) on local recurrence (LR) and the relation of LR to radiation fields. Methods and Materials LR rates were analyzed in 462 adult patients with soft tissue sarcoma who underwent surgical excision and adjuvant RT at five Scandinavian sarcoma centers from 1998 to 2009. Medical records were reviewed for dose fractionation parameters and to determine the location of the LR relative to the radiation portals. Results Fifty-five of 462 patients developed a LR (11.9%). Negative prognostic factors included intralesional surgical margin (hazard ratio [HR]: 7.83, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 3.08-20.0), high malignancy grade (HR: 5.82, 95% CI: 1.31-25.8), age at diagnosis (HR per 10 years: 1.27, 95% CI: 1.03-1.56), and malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor histological subtype (HR: 6.66, 95% CI: 2.56-17.3). RT dose was tailored to margin status. No correlation between RT dose and LR rate was found in multiple Cox regression analysis. The majority (65%) of LRs occurred within the primary RT volume. Conclusions No significant dose–response effect of adjuvant RT was demonstrated. Interestingly, patients given 45-Gy accelerated RT (1.8 Gy twice daily/2.5 weeks) had the best local outcome. A total dose of 50 Gy in 25 fractions seemed adequate following wide margin surgery. The risk of LR was associated with histopathologic subtype, which should be included in the treatment algorithm of adjuvant RT in soft tissue sarcoma.publishedVersio

A Common Missense Variant in the ATP Receptor P2X7 Is Associated with Reduced Risk of Cardiovascular Events

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Extracellular adenosine triphosphate (ATP) regulates inflammatory cells by activation of the P2X(7) receptor. We hypothesized that polymorphisms in P2RX7 influence the risk of ischemic heart disease (IHD), ischemic stroke (IS) and cardiovascular risk factors and tested this hypothesis using genetic association studies. METHODS: Two loss-of-function SNPs in P2RX7 were genotyped in 1244 IHD cases and 2488 controls as well as 5969 individuals with cardiovascular risk factors. Eleven SNPs in a 250 kb region on chromosome 12 spanning P2RX7 as well as neighboring genes OASL, P2RX4 and CAMKK2 were genotyped in 4138 individuals with IS and 2528 controls. Association was examined using linear and logistic regression models with an additive genetic model. RESULTS: The common loss-of-function variant rs3751143 was significantly associated with a decreased risk of IHD in smokers (P = 0.03) as well as decreased risk of IS (OR 0.89; 95% CI = 0.81-0.97; P = 0.012). In addition, an intronic SNP in CAMKK2, rs2686342, were associated with a decreased risk of IS (OR 0.89; 95% CI = 0.82-0.97; P = 0.011). In subgroup analyses, both SNPs were associated with decreased risk of IS in individuals with hypertension (P = 0.045 and 0.015, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: A common loss-of-function missense variant in the gene encoding the P2X(7) receptor is associated with reduced risk of IS and with IHD in smokers. These findings might implicate a role of purinergic signaling in atherogenesis or atherothrombosis

Transmission patterns of Fasciola hepatica to ruminants in Sweden

Transmission patterns of Fasciola hepatica were investigated on beef cattle (n = 3) and sheep (n = 3) farms in Sweden between 2011 and 2012. The dynamics of fluke infection, particularly estimated time of infection, were screened each grazing season by ELISA detection of antibodies in lambs (n = 94) and first grazing season calves (n = 61). Colostral transfer of F. hepatica antibodies from seropositive ewes was detected in sheep up to 11 weeks of age. In sheep, the estimated time of infection differed significantly between herds and years. Typical 'winter infection' was observed on two sheep farms in 2012, but the most prevalent transmission pattern was found to be 'summer infection', characterised by infection of animals in late summer by F. hepatica originating from overwintered and/or spring-excreted eggs. In contrast, beef calves were infected mainly in September-October ('summer infection'). Furthermore, lymnaeid and succineid snails were collected on the pastures used by these animals both in spring and in the autumn each year. In total, 1726, 588, 138, 130, 93 and 42 specimens of Galba truncatula, Lymnaea palustris, Lymnaea glabra, Lymnaea fuscus, Radix peregra and Succinea putris, respectively, were collected and identified. These were subsequently examined for the presence of F. hepatica DNA by species-specific PCR and the findings compared against mean monthly rainfall and temperature data for each farm. The main intermediate host of the liver fluke was G. truncatula, with a prevalence range of F. hepatica infection from 0% to 82%. Only 1 out of 42 terrestrial S. putris tested positive for F. hepatica, casting doubt on the role of this species in transmission of F. hepatica in Sweden. In conclusion, two main peak periods of infection were observed: May-June (from overwintered infected snails = 'winter infection') and August-September (from metacercariae developed and produced by snails during summer = 'summer infection'). The occurrence and frequency of 'winter infection' were dependent on local environmental factors such as snail habitat availability or grazing behaviour of animals, rather than on climatic factors

Influence of Ocean Acidification on a Natural Winter-to-Summer Plankton Succession : First Insights from a Long-Term Mesocosm Study Draw Attention to Periods of Low Nutrient Concentrations

Every year, the oceans absorb about 30% of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) leading to a re-equilibration of the marine carbonate system and decreasing seawater pH. Today, there is increasing awareness that these changes-summarized by the term ocean acidification (OA)-could differentially affect the competitive ability of marine organisms, thereby provoking a restructuring of marine ecosystems and biogeochemical element cycles. In winter 2013, we deployed ten pelagic mesocosms in the Gullmar Fjord at the Swedish west coast in order to study the effect of OA on plankton ecology and biogeochemistry under close to natural conditions. Five of the ten mesocosms were left unperturbed and served as controls (similar to 380 mu atm pCO(2)), whereas the others were enriched with CO2-saturated water to simulate realistic end-of-the-century carbonate chemistry conditions (mu 760 mu atm pCO(2)). We ran the experiment for 113 days which allowed us to study the influence of high CO2 on an entire winter-to-summer plankton succession and to investigate the potential of some plankton organisms for evolutionary adaptation to OA in their natural environment. This paper is the first in a PLOS collection and provides a detailed overview on the experimental design, important events, and the key complexities of such a "long-term mesocosm" approach. Furthermore, we analyzed whether simulated end-of-the-century carbonate chemistry conditions could lead to a significant restructuring of the plankton community in the course of the succession. At the level of detail analyzed in this overview paper we found that CO2-induced differences in plankton community composition were non-detectable during most of the succession except for a period where a phytoplankton bloom was fueled by remineralized nutrients. These results indicate: (1) Long-term studies with pelagic ecosystems are necessary to uncover OA-sensitive stages of succession. (2) Plankton communities fueled by regenerated nutrients may be more responsive to changing carbonate chemistry than those having access to high inorganic nutrient concentrations and may deserve particular attention in future studies.Peer reviewe

Multiple Misbehaving: Loss Averse and Inattentive to Monetary Incentives

We study what determines taxpayers’ deduction behavior when filing tax returns. Preliminary deficits might be viewed as losses assuming zero preliminary balance as reference point. Swedish taxpayers may escape these losses by claiming deductions after receiving information about the preliminary balance. Furthermore, the Swedish income tax system has a substantial kink (20 percentage points) where the central government tax applies. Taxpayers slightly above the governmental tax kink have substantially higher (standard economic) incentives to claim deductions than taxpayers slightly below the kink. Using a regression kink and discontinuity approach with individual fixed effects, we study a panel of 4.1 million Swedish taxpayers in 1999 to 2006. We find strong causal effects of preliminary deficits on the probability of claiming deductions. The initial empirical evidence for a kink in deduction probability at the central government threshold, anticipated by standard economic theory, is weaker but significant. However, a more detailed analysis reveals that the kink at the tax threshold is not likely due to the tax incentives per se. When controlling for the preliminary tax deficit, the kink at the tax threshold disappears. Taxpayers just above the tax kink are namely more likely to run a preliminary tax deficit than those just below it. Hence, the most plausible explanation also for the kink at the tax threshold is therefore loss aversion and not standard economic incentives. The Swedish taxpayers are thus “misbehaving”, in a Thaler (2015) sense, on two separate margins: they are highly loss averse but surprisingly inattentive to standard monetary incentives.JEL: C21,D91,H24,H2

Loss evasion and tax aversion

The objective of this paper is to study if taxpayers behave in a loss averse manner when filing their tax returns. This is important for tax design but also for understanding human behavior in general. The predictions of prospect theory can be contrasted to those of expected utility theory. We use data for 3.6 million Swedish taxpayers for the income year 2006. Our research method is quasi-experimental using a regression kink and discontinuity approach. We also use an alternative instrumental-variables approach. There is strong evidence of loss aversion. We estimate the coefficient of loss aversion using actual behavior and the instrument-variables approach. Our estimate is very close to the estimates reported in the experimental literature.JEL Codes: C21, C26, D03, H24, H2

Nudges and Threats: Soft vs Hard Incentives for Tax Compliance

We study what induces delinquent taxpayers to pay their taxes due. We use high quality administrative data from the Swedish Tax Agency. We find a strong effect of the standard enforcement regime: a threat of having the debt handed over to the Enforcement Agency increases payments by roughly 10 percentage points. When including actual enforcement, payment increases by around 20 percentage points compared to those who do not risk enforcement. In a field experiment, we compare these effects of standard enforcement to those of much milder nudges, consisting of letters reminding tax delinquents to pay their taxes due. We find that a “pure nudge”, i.e., the inclusion of an extra piece of paper with no valuable information, has an effect of 7-8 percentage points for those who do not risk enforcement upon non-payment. However, the same nudge has no detectable effect for the group at risk of enforcement. Social-norm messages in turn increase payments both for those who risk enforcement and for those who do not, but to a much smaller degree. We also find that a pure nudge works much better for those who receive a physical letter than for those who receive information electronically, while the reaction to the social-norm nudge is significant for those who get the electronic information.JEL Codes: C21, D03, D91, H24, H2

En normstudie angående motkulturer som subkulturer och varför människor väljer att bryta mot normer

Min uppsats kommer att belysa subkulturer, hur och varför de uppkommer. Vad det är som driver människor till att agera mot lagstiftningen. (Etnometodologins "Against the law"). Jag ämnar än så länge se dels på de organisatoriska förhållanden under vilka beslut fattas, strukturella förändringar i samhället. Jag kommer att titta på sociala förhållanden dels människor emellan och dels deras förhållande till rätten och om dessa har påverkats av de strukturella förändringar som har skett. Jag kommer också att titta närmare på om de ekonomiska och politiska drivkrafter som skulle kunna ligga bakom dessa rörelser. Går människor med i subkulturer för att de har tagit ett aktivt ställningstagande för det som subkulturen står för eller engagerar människor sig i subkulturer för att det är politiskt korrekt/inkorrekt. Vad är det som skiljer i synen på rättslagstiftningen och auktoriteter hos de som väljer att inte gå med i någon subkultur, motståndsrörelse jämfört med hos de som väljer att göra det? I min forskning utgår jag från att svaret förmodligen står att finna som en kombination av såväl samhälleliga som sociala strukturförändringar. På grund av detta behöver jag en teori som inte bara belyser en eller ett par aspekter utan som ger en övergripande bild, utan att för den sakens skull kännas urvattnad och svag. Detta gör att jag kommer jobba med en kombination av teorier. Utgångspunkten för min forskning kommer att ligga i skillnaden mellan den lagstadgade rätten och den levande lagen. I valet av subkulturer som uppsats ämne har jag någonstans redan där tagit ställning för att det är skillnad på dessa begrepp och min uppsats blir på något sätt att sätta in teorin i praktiken. Se på vad det är som händer när statslagen och levande lagen motsäger varandra, vilken är det som följs av allmänheten, varför väljer människor i allmänhet att följa eller inte följa den