The rise and decline of extreme economic inequality in 20th century Japan: A literature review through the lens of institutional changes

 As economic inequality is rising in many countries around the world, the interest in how inequality has risen and declined in the past is being revived. Some researchers have seen modern history since the industrial revolution as a positive story of economic growth and technological progress that enhanced social development for all. Others have seen modern political economies as wrought with vicious cycles of inequality and social instability. This study investigates the rapid rise of economic inequality in Japan beginning in the 1880s and its equally dramatic fall in the 1930s. Using the World Income and Wealth Database’s new statistical data, I argue that Japan’s early economic development was characterised by highly inegalitarian institutions: taxation laws transfered resources from agriculture to urban centres for decades, corporate, financial and land properties were heavily concentrated in top income groups and rights-based organisations built by labour and women’s movements took time to gain national influence. The unequal strength of these institutions prevented economic growth from fostering inclusive development. Only with the outbreak of World War II were these institutions reformed during the collapse of the global economic system. This article thereby supports the development literature that draws clear distinctions between unequal growth and socio-economic equality tied to institutional change

Fuzzy Clustering Analysis of the Early Warning Signs of Financial Crisis

Financial Crisis, Early Warning

Kuorma kevenee yhteistyöllä : Postinjakajien työn kuormitustekijät ja työntekijöiden kuormittuneisuus

Itellan ja Työterveyslaitoksen yhteisessä Kuorma-hankkeessa 2011–2013 kartoitettiin kokonaisvaltaisesti postinjakajien ja varhaisjakajien työn kuormitustekijöitä ja työntekijöiden kuormittuneisuutta

Morning Cortisol Levels and Perceived Stress in Irregular Shift Workers Compared with Regular Daytime Workers

Peer reviewe

Clinical Characteristics of Disability in Patients with Indoor Air-Related Environmental Intolerance

Background: Chronic nonspecific symptoms attributed to indoor nonindustrial work environments are common and may cause disability, but the medical nature of this disability is unclear. The aim was to medically characterize the disability manifested by chronic, recurrent symptoms and restrictions to work participation attributed to low-level indoor pollutants at workplace and whether the condition shares features with idiopathic environmental intolerance. Methods: We investigated 12 patients with indoor air-related work disability. The examinations included somatic, psychological, and psychiatric evaluations as well as investigations of the autonomic nervous system, cortisol measurements, lung function, and allergy tests. We evaluated well-being, health, disability, insomnia, pain, anxiety, depression, and burnout via questionnaires. Results: The mean symptom history was 10.5 years; for disabling symptoms, 2.7 years. Eleven patients reported reactions triggered mainly by indoor molds, one by fragrances only. Ten reported sensitivity to odorous chemicals, and three, electric devices. Nearly all had co-occurrent somatic and psychiatric diagnoses and signs of pain, insomnia, burnout, and/or elevated sympathetic responses. Avoiding certain environments had led to restrictions in several life areas. On self-assessment scales, disability showed higher severity and anxiety showed lower severity than in physician assessments. Conclusion: No medical cause was found to explain the disability. Findings support that the condition is a form of idiopathic environmental intolerance and belongs to functional somatic syndromes. Instead of endless avoidance, rehabilitation approaches of functional somatic syndromes are applicable. (C) 2019 Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute, Published by Elsevier Korea LLC.Peer reviewe

Unettomuuden arviointi ja hoito työterveyshuollossa

Tässä tutkimuksessa arvioitiin kognitiivis-behavioraalisen ryhmähoidon soveltuvuutta ja vaikutusta työterveyshuollossa erilaisia työaikoja tekevien työntekijöiden unettomuusoireisiin, unettomuudesta koettuun haittaan, unettomuutta ylläpitäviin haitallisiin ajatusmalleihin, psyykkiseen ja somaattiseen oireiluun, elämänlaatuun ja työkykyyn. Lisäksi tutkittiin hoidon vaikutusta osallistujien fysiologisiin stressivasteisiin ja kognitiiviseen suorituskykyyn

Associations of reported bruxism with insomnia and insufficient sleep symptoms among media personnel with or without irregular shift work

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The aims were to investigate the prevalence of perceived sleep quality and insufficient sleep complaints, and to analyze whether self-reported bruxism was associated with perceptions of sleep, and awake consequences of disturbed sleep, while controlling confounding factors relative to poor sleep.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A standardized questionnaire was mailed to all employees of the Finnish Broadcasting Company with irregular shift work (n = 750) and to an equal number of randomly selected controls in the same company with regular eight-hour daytime work.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The response rate in the irregular shift work group was 82.3% (56.6% men) and in the regular daytime work group 34.3% (46.7% men). Self-reported bruxism occurred frequently (often or continually) in 10.6% of all subjects. Altogether 16.8% reported difficulties initiating sleep (DIS), 43.6% disrupted sleep (DS), and 10.3% early morning awakenings (EMA). The corresponding figures for non-restorative sleep (NRS), tiredness, and sleep deprivation (SLD) were 36.2%, 26.1%, and 23.7%, respectively. According to logistic regression, female gender was a significant independent factor for all insomnia symptoms, and older age for DS and EMA. Frequent bruxism was significantly associated with DIS (p = 0.019) and DS (p = 0.021). Dissatisfaction with current work shift schedule and frequent bruxism were both significant independent factors for all variables describing insufficient sleep consequences.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Self-reported bruxism may indicate sleep problems and their adherent awake consequences in non-patient populations.</p

Physiological and autonomic stress responses after prolonged sleep restriction and subsequent recovery sleep in healthy young men

Purpose Sleep restriction is increasingly common and associated with the development of health problems. We investigated how the neuroendocrine stress systems respond to prolonged sleep restriction and subsequent recovery sleep in healthy young men. Methods After two baseline (BL) nights of 8 h time in bed (TIB), TIB was restricted to 4 h per night for five nights (sleep restriction, SR, n = 15), followed by three recovery nights (REC) of 8 h TIB, representing a busy workweek and a recovery weekend. The control group (n = 8) had 8 h TIB throughout the experiment. A variety of autonomic cardiovascular parameters, together with salivary neuropeptide Y (NPY) and cortisol levels, were assessed. Results In the control group, none of the parameters changed. In the experimental group, heart rate increased from 60 +/- 1.8 beats per minute (bpm) at BL, to 63 +/- 1.1 bpm after SR and further to 65 +/- 1.8 bpm after REC. In addition, whole day low-frequency to-high frequency (LF/HF) power ratio of heart rate variability increased from 4.6 +/- 0.4 at BL to 6.0 +/- 0.6 after SR. Other parameters, including salivary NPY and cortisol levels, remained unaffected. Conclusions Increased heart rate and LF/HF power ratio are early signs of an increased sympathetic activity after prolonged sleep restriction. To reliably interpret the clinical significance of these early signs of physiological stress, a follow-up study would be needed to evaluate if the stress responses escalate and lead to more unfavourable reactions, such as elevated blood pressure and a subsequent elevated risk for cardiovascular health problems.Peer reviewe

Kravspecifikationens innehåll och struktur : en jämförelse med byggbranschens kontraktshandlingar

Dynamiken i det moderna samhället gör att förutsättningarna för företag och organisationer ständigt förändras. Informationssystemen blir då väldigt viktiga för att företagen skall få rätt information i rätt tid. Även informationssystemen måste ibland förändras och kraven på ett nytt informationssystem anges i en kravspecifikation. Denna kravspecifikation upprättas i den del av systemutvecklingsarbetet som kallas för requirements engineering (RE). Denna rapport är ett examensarbete inom det systemvetenskapliga programmet vid Högskolan i Skövde. Författaren har tidigare arbetat som byggnadsingenjör i flera år och gör i detta arbete en jämförelse mellan byggbranschens kontraktshandlingar och systemutvecklingsområdets kravspecifikation. Syftet med jämförelsen är att utreda om systemutvecklingsområdet har något att lära av byggbranschen när det gäller strukturering och utformning av kravdokumentationen. Undersökningen har utförts som en litteraturstudie, där tre olika utvecklingsmetoder har studerats. Undersökningen visar att byggbranschens kontraktshandlingar har en bättre struktur och ett mer omfattande innehåll än de tre studerade förslagen till kravspecifikation