The Emergence, Establishment och Expansion of Fear of Crime Research in Sweden

The purpose of this dissertation is to construct an historical account of the emergence, establishment, and expansion of fear of crime research in Sweden. This dissertation aims to answer questions about the function, spread, and high level of institutional engagement of fear of crime research by analyzing the literature and examining the methodological, theoretical, and epistemological origins of fear of crime research itself. What happened when fear of crime was translated as "otrygghet", a word with a previously established meaning in Swedish? The analysis on the emergence of fear of crime in Sweden is based on documents, a survey of Swedish municipalities, and key informant interviews. The question of conceptual change is addressed through comparing how "otrygghet" is used by Socialdemokraterna and Moderaterna in motions and bills from the Swedish Riksdag across five time periods: 1978, 1988, 1998, 2008 and 2018. The dissertation is theoretically inspired by a Foucauldian interest in the intersection of power and knowledge and by an interest in historicizing the sociological and criminological development that this thesis depicts, using the work of Stuart Hall. The analysis of conceptual change is inspired by the conceptual historian Reinhart Koselleck. The results show a rapid and striking expansion of fear of crime measurements during the 2000s. From 2003 to 2007, the number of national surveys containing fear of crime indicators grew from one to six, to include The Survey of Living Conditions that premiered in 1978, the Local Youth Politics Survey in 2003, The National Public Health survey in 2004, The Citizen Survey in 2005, The Swedish Crime Survey in 2006, and The Swedish Contingencies Agency Survey in 2007. For the municipalities, the period with the most dramatic increase in fear of crime measurements happens in the 2010’s, The percentage of municipalities that don’t do fear of crime surveys decreases from 98 percent before 1995, to 94 percent in 1995–1999, 74 percent in 2000–2004, 51 percent in 2005–2009, 30 percent in 2010–2014 and only 16 percent durign the last examined period, 2015–2018. The analysis also shows that the meaning of "otrygghet" has undergone significant changes. From being used as a descriptive term commonly signifying economic and materialist unpredictability, over time "otrygghet" has come to be used almost exclusively in a crime context. The concept is exclusively used to argue for increased measures of police control and judicial expansion during the last examined period of 2018. This dissertation argues that the development and expansion of fear of crime research can be understood by examining the function that fear of crime research fulfils in legitimizing an increased level of state control, which makes it a good fit for the penal politics of late modernity

The interaction between companies internal processes and the service encounter and its affect on the perceived quality A case study in the automotive industry

The competition in the automotive industry is constantly increasing and it is no longer sufficient for a company to only deliver a physical product. The companies’ ability to fill a need and provide a solution including a combination of both tangible and intangible products is becoming increasingly important. The service a company offers can be a critical factor for success why a company needs to understand what actions that creates a good service encounter and high perceived quality for the customer. Purpose The purpose is to describe and analyse the interaction between companies’ internal processes and the service encounter and its affect on the perceived quality, within the automotive industry. Methodology To fulfil the purpose a case study was preformed with a combination of descriptive and explanatory approaches. A starting point was to define the three different concepts, internal process, service encounter and perceived quality, out of existing literature. Existing literature was also used to form a theoretical framework, consisting of the three models: process mapping, service blueprint and seven criteria for good perceived quality. These were later applied on empirical data from the case company. The empirical data was gathered through interviews and observations on workshops owned or authorized by the case company. This was also complemented with data collected in customer interviews as well as observations and interviews at an extra case company used for comparison. Conclusions In the two examined case companies the internal processes and the service encounters are organised differently, since the customers’ demands for perceiving high quality are different. Which probably is a result of the carand truck workshops acting on different markets, C2B and B2B. In the car workshops there are less people involved and a personal service encounter is satisfying the customers needs. In the truck workshop there are a lot of people involved, but it gives them a possibility to be flexible. This enables delivery of fast correction and qualified staff, which is most important to their customers. What can be concluded is that the internal processes and the service encounters are organised based on the workshops customers’ needs, for the customers to perceive a high quality. But how it is done differs depending on market, customer structure and the size of the workshop

Valtakunnallinen jätesuunnitelma vuoteen 2016 – Taustaraportti

Tämä taustaraportti liittyy ympäristöministeriön asettaman, valtakunnallista jätesuunnitelmaa (VALTSU) valmistelleen työryhmän mietintöön. Taustaraportin ensimmäisessä osassa esitetään  yhteenveto edellisen VALTSUn tavoitteiden ja ohjauskeinojen toteutumisesta. Työryhmän mietinnössä on korostettu jätealan yhtymäkohtia  muihin ympäristöpolitiikan sektoreihin, kuten kemikaalipolitiikkaan, luonnonvarojen kestävään käyttöön, ilmastopolitiikkaan, ympäristöterveydenhuoltoon, maaperän suojeluun ja teknologiapolitiikkaan. Jätehuollon päämääriä on kuvattu seitsemän läpileikkaavan teeman avulla. Tämän taustaraportin toinen osa esittelee katsauksen VALTSUn teemojen yhtymäkohdista kansainvälisiin ja kansallisiin strategioihin, olemassa olevasta lainsäädännöstä ja keskeisistä ongelmista. Taustaraportin kolmas osa tarjoaa yhden mahdollisen skenaarion jätevirroissa tapahtuneista muutoksista vuoteen 2016 mennessä olettaen, että suunnitelman ohjauskeinot ovat toteutuneet ja kansainväliset velvoitteet on täytetty. Tämän taustaraportin lisäksi on osana jätesuunnitelman valmisteluprosessia tuotettu joukko muita taustaselvityksiä. Ne on julkaistu Suomen ympäristökeskuksen raportteja -sarjassa.

Vinddämpande vegetation

Vinden påverkas av hur landskapets ser ut. Skog, hav, öppna fält och kuperad terräng ger olika förutsättningar för hur vinden styrs. I bebyggda miljöer påverkas vinden starkt av bebyggelsens utformning och hur omgivningen ser ut omkring byggnaderna. Genom historien har vind varit ett problem inte minst inom jordbruket där vinderosion orsakar utarmade jordar, skador på grödor. Även inom skogsbruket kan vinden ställa till problem med träd som fälls orsakat av stormar. Läplanteringar har därför varit ett nödvändigt inslag för reducera de mest skadliga vindarna. Den kunskap, som finns inom området hos människor, bygger på lärdom från tidigare erfarenheter med vissa tumregler och beprövade metoder som grund. Vind kan på många sätt påverka oss människor negativt bl.a. då den har en kylande effekt, vilket begränsar viljan till utomhusvistelse. I bebyggelse kan vindhastigheter öka ytterligare på grund av förträngningar av luft som bildas mellan huskroppar och i trånga passager. Att vistas i stark vind kan för många upplevas som obehagligt och i vissa fall kan detta leda till livsfara. Runt hushörn kan kastvindar uppstå vilket kan leda till att cyklister och människor blåser omkull. Klimatet är viktigt för alla, därför är vindplanering något man bör eftersträva då detta kan bidra till en förlängd utomhussäsong vilket i sin tur kan leda till ökad utomhusvistelse. Vindskyddsplanteringar skyddar även byggnader mot kalluftströmmar vilket medför lägre energiförbrukning. Genom att utnyttja kunskapen om variationer i klimatet och hur det lokalt kan påverkas ger oss en god vägledning till att skapa en mer trivsam utemiljö

Kertakäyttömuovituotteita koskevan direktiivin toimeenpanon vaihtoehtojen tarkastelu

Raportissa analysoidaan eräitä kertakäyttömuovituotteita koskevan EU:n direktiivin (2019/904/EU, ns. SUP-direktiivi) vaatimukset ja tehdään ehdotus kansalliseksi sääntelykokonaisuudeksi, jolla direktiivi voitaisiin panna toimeen Suomessa. Selvityksessä on tunnistettu muita lainsäädäntöhankkeita ja toimenpideohjelmia, joiden kanssa SUP-direktiivin toimeenpano pitää sovittaa yhteen. Selvityksessä on esitetty lyhyt katsaus eräissä muissa maissa käytettyihin ohjauskeinoihin SUP-tuotteiden sääntelemiseksi. Selvityksessä on esitetty yhteenveto merenrantojen roskaantumisen seurantatuloksista ja yleisimmistä roskalajeista, niiden lähteistä ja roskaantumisen vaikutuksista. Selvityksessä on esitetty karkeita arvioita direktiivin soveltamisalaan kuuluvien tuotteiden valmistuksesta, tuonnista ja kulutuksesta Suomessa. Direktiivi ei anna kovin paljon kansallista liikkumavaraa käytettävien ohjauskeinojen suhteen, vaan nämä on pääosin annettu direktiivin vaatimuksissa. Eniten liikkumavaraa on tuotteiden kulutuksen vähentämistä koskevassa artiklassa. Selvityksessä on käyty artiklakohtaisesti läpi direktiivin vaatimukset, tarkasteltu kunkin vaatimuksen osalta sääntelyn nykytilaa ja vireillä olevia lakimuutoksia sekä analysoitu toimeenpanon edellyttämiä lakimuutoksia, haasteita ja vaihtoehtoisia ohjauskeinoja ja sääntelystrategioita. Kunkin teeman osalta on esitetty konsultin keskeiset johtopäätökset. Direktiivin toimeenpanon lisäksi on esitetty mahdollisia kansallisia lisätoimia, joilla voitaisiin vaikuttaa vesialueiden roskaantumista vähentävästi Suomen kansalliset erityispiirteet huomioon ottaen

A novel class of somatic mutations in blood detected preferentially in CD8+cells

Somatic mutations have a central role in cancer but their role in other diseases such as autoimmune disorders is poorly understood. Earlier work has provided indirect evidence of rare somatic mutations in autoreactive T-lymphocytes in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients but such mutations have not been identified thus far. We analysed somatic mutations in blood in 16 patients with relapsing MS and 4 with other neurological autoimmune disease. To facilitate the detection of somatic mutations CD4 +, CD8 +, CD19 + and CD4-/CD8-/CD19- cell subpopulations were separated. We performed next-generation DNA sequencing targeting 986 immune related genes. Somatic mutations were called by comparing the sequence data of each cell subpopulation to other subpopulations of the same patient and validated by amplicon sequencing. We found non-synonymous somatic mutations in 12 (60%) patients (10 MS, 1 myasthenia gravis, 1 narcolepsy). There were 27 mutations, all different and mostly novel (67%). They were discovered at subpopulation-wise allelic fractions of 0.2%-4.6% (median 0.95%). Multiple mutations were found in 8 patients. The mutations were enriched in CD8 + cells (85% of mutations). In follow-up after a median time of 2.3 years, 96% of the mutations were still detectable. These results unravel a novel class of persistent somatic mutations, many of which were in genes that may play a role in autoimmunity (ATM, BTK, CD46, CD180, CLIP2, HMMR, IKEF3, ITGB3, KIR3DL2, MAPK10, CD56/NCAM1, RBM6, RORA, RPM and STAT3). Whether some of this class of mutations plays a role in disease is currently unclear, but these results define an interesting hitherto unknown research target for future studies. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc.Peer reviewe

Drosophila Brakeless Interacts with Atrophin and Is Required for Tailless-Mediated Transcriptional Repression in Early Embryos

Complex gene expression patterns in animal development are generated by the interplay of transcriptional activators and repressors at cis-regulatory DNA modules (CRMs). How repressors work is not well understood, but often involves interactions with co-repressors. We isolated mutations in the brakeless gene in a screen for maternal factors affecting segmentation of the Drosophila embryo. Brakeless, also known as Scribbler, or Master of thickveins, is a nuclear protein of unknown function. In brakeless embryos, we noted an expanded expression pattern of the Krüppel (Kr) and knirps (kni) genes. We found that Tailless-mediated repression of kni expression is impaired in brakeless mutants. Tailless and Brakeless bind each other in vitro and interact genetically. Brakeless is recruited to the Kr and kni CRMs, and represses transcription when tethered to DNA. This suggests that Brakeless is a novel co-repressor. Orphan nuclear receptors of the Tailless type also interact with Atrophin co-repressors. We show that both Drosophila and human Brakeless and Atrophin interact in vitro, and propose that they act together as a co-repressor complex in many developmental contexts. We discuss the possibility that human Brakeless homologs may influence the toxicity of polyglutamine-expanded Atrophin-1, which causes the human neurodegenerative disease dentatorubral-pallidoluysian atrophy (DRPLA)

Samfélag fjölbreytileikans: Samskipti heimamanna og innflytjenda á Íslandi

Þessi ritrýnda útgáfa er afrakstur rannsóknaverkefnisins Inclusive Societies? The Integration of Immigrants in Iceland.Rannsóknin var styrkt af Rannsóknasjóði Rannís (styrkur nr. 184903-051).Peer Reviewe

The genetic basis of endometriosis and comorbidity with other pain and inflammatory conditions

Endometriosis is a common condition associated with debilitating pelvic pain and infertility. A genome-wide association study meta-analysis, including 60,674 cases and 701,926 controls of European and East Asian descent, identified 42 genome-wide significant loci comprising 49 distinct association signals. Effect sizes were largest for stage 3/4 disease, driven by ovarian endometriosis. Identified signals explained up to 5.01% of disease variance and regulated expression or methylation of genes in endometrium and blood, many of which were associated with pain perception/maintenance (SRP14/BMF, GDAP1, MLLT10, BSN and NGF). We observed significant genetic correlations between endometriosis and 11 pain conditions, including migraine, back and multisite chronic pain (MCP), as well as inflammatory conditions, including asthma and osteoarthritis. Multitrait genetic analyses identified substantial sharing of variants associated with endometriosis and MCP/migraine. Targeted investigations of genetically regulated mechanisms shared between endometriosis and other pain conditions are needed to aid the development of new treatments and facilitate early symptomatic intervention

The genetic basis of endometriosis and comorbidity with other pain and inflammatory conditions

Endometriosis is a common condition associated with debilitating pelvic pain and infertility. A genome-wide association study meta-analysis, including 60,674 cases and 701,926 controls of European and East Asian descent, identified 42 genome-wide significant loci comprising 49 distinct association signals. Effect sizes were largest for stage 3/4 disease, driven by ovarian endometriosis. Identified signals explained up to 5.01% of disease variance and regulated expression or methylation of genes in endometrium and blood, many of which were associated with pain perception/maintenance (SRP14/BMF, GDAP1, MLLT10, BSN and NGF). We observed significant genetic correlations between endometriosis and 11 pain conditions, including migraine, back and multisite chronic pain (MCP), as well as inflammatory conditions, including asthma and osteoarthritis. Multitrait genetic analyses identified substantial sharing of variants associated with endometriosis and MCP/migraine. Targeted investigations of genetically regulated mechanisms shared between endometriosis and other pain conditions are needed to aid the development of new treatments and facilitate early symptomatic intervention