228 research outputs found
The transition of welfare state commitment : understanding the dynamics of contraction in state welfare
In the 1990s a contraction in state welfare in Sweden has been on its way and still seems to be so by joining forces. With focus on understanding the dynamics involved in the contractionprocess this paper aims to discuss the transition of welfare state commitment in Sweden. On the general level it should be seen as an attempt to adress the enigmatic and puzzeling questions of: How to explain change in social policy? How to understand local differences in the scope and directions of welfare programs? Over the 1990s we have been witnessing a more sceptical attitude towards the provision of state welfare. It has been argued that state welfare surpresses free choice and that budget deficits and tax burdens have become obstacles to extensive public committments. Closely linked to this (neo-liberal) thinking is the incentive-driven approach to the problems of public welfare, grounded in neo-classical economic theory. Focusing on individual behavior in terms of scrounging, dependancy, lack of responsibility and praise of market-solutions, the new discourse has replaced the traditional socialdemocratic rethorics of autonomy, redistribution and equality. The effect of this new focus is seen both in the general shifts of policy and in research. However, in this paper we will take on another aspect of the transition of welfare state commitment. The contraction process and the understanding of its dynamics, will lead on to the arena of local priorities and adjustments. The empirical data referred to are primarely data from ongoing research of local and organizational processes of adjustment and priority setting in the area of elderly care in Sweden in the 1990s (Blomberg, Edebalk och Petersson 2000). Basically it is a comparative study of a strategic selection of eight Swedish municipalities. Four of them characterized by extensive reorganization i.e. change in user patterns of home help services and the other four, constituting a reference group, without such changes. The approach is largely retrospective, concerning the years 1992-2000. Interviews with local politicians, administrators, professionals and representatives of the unions and of the elderly were the main sources of data
Neapel, fotbollen och språket. Översättning av kulturella referenser och dialekt
Denna magisteruppsats grundar sig på två kapitel samt förordet i boken Il Napoli di Maradona. Cronistoria di un sogno: il primo scudetto av Gigi Garanzini och Marco Bellinazzo. Uppsatsen inleds med en analys av källtexten som utgår ifrån Hellspong & Ledins analysmodell (1997). Därefter följer en kortare redogörelse för de överväganden jag gjort inför översättningsarbetet, med utgångspunkt i Lita Lundquists lokala och globala översättningstrategier (2005), samt en översättningskommentar, där jag behandlar dialektala inslag och mottagaranpassning
Visual assessment of body condition and skin soiling in cattle by professionals and undergraduate students using photo slides
We aimed to study to what extent body condition and skin soiling in cattle are rated differently depending on the profession, education and professional experience of assessors. Data were collected at 15 group-training sessions in the years 2009-2016. Totally, 569 persons; Swedish animal welfare inspectors, veterinarians/advisers, animal welfare scientists, other animal professionals as well as undergraduate students in animal science rated a set of 6-40 photos with respect to animal body condition, animal skin soiling, and recommended corrective action in response to perceived animal soiling. The more extensive animal science education, the less prone animal welfare inspectors were to give higher body condition scores. Students had a higher overall probability of rating the degree of soiling higher than the animal welfare inspectors and veterinarians/advisers. Students also recommended stricter corrective actions than did welfare inspectors and veterinarians/advisers, and veterinarians/advisers recommended less strict actions than animal welfare inspectors
Leisure repertoire among persons with a spinal cord injury: Interests, performance, and well-being
Objective: To explore and describe the leisure repertoire of persons with traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) and how the repertoire is related to interest, performance, and well-being. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: A total of 97 persons with traumatic SCI were recruited from the non-profit national organization, RG Active Rehabilitation in Sweden. Outcome measure: Data were collected through a two-part postal survey. The first comprised of questions investigating socio-demographic variables and injury characteristics; the second part included an interest checklist with 20 areas of leisure activities. Results: The participants were mostly interested in, performed, and experienced well-being from social and culture activities and TV/DVD/movies. The areas of leisure activities in which they had most likely experienced changes after the SCI were outdoor activities, exercise, and gardening. Sex, age, and to some extent, time since injury were related to interest, performance, well-being, and changed performance. Conclusions: The results provided an explanation and limited description of a changed leisure repertoire among persons after a traumatic SCI. The study showed that sex, age, and time since injury were more closely related to the choice of leisure activities to include in the leisure repertoire than the level of injury. This knowledge can be of importance when professionals in the field of rehabilitation are planning and implementing interventions concerning leisure activities for persons with SCI
Geometric deep learning and equivariant neural networks
We survey the mathematical foundations of geometric deep learning, focusing on group equivariant and gauge equivariant neural networks. We develop gauge equivariant convolutional neural networks on arbitrary manifolds M using principal bundles with structure group K and equivariant maps between sections of associated vector bundles. We also discuss group equivariant neural networks for homogeneous spaces M= G/ K , which are instead equivariant with respect to the global symmetry G on M . Group equivariant layers can be interpreted as intertwiners between induced representations of G, and we show their relation to gauge equivariant convolutional layers. We analyze several applications of this formalism, including semantic segmentation and object detection networks. We also discuss the case of spherical networks in great detail, corresponding to the case M= S2= SO (3) / SO (2) . Here we emphasize the use of Fourier analysis involving Wigner matrices, spherical harmonics and Clebsch–Gordan coefficients for G= SO (3) , illustrating the power of representation theory for deep learning
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