What is a place? Allowing users to name and define places

From working with location-based information systems we know that positioning is problematic. A different approach was tested, where users themselves were allowed to name and define the places they wanted to use. The question was if they would do so, and if they would understand the notion of “place”. In a user study, 78 users created 84 place labels. The user study also gave us some unexpected input to the users’ perception of place: not only physical, but also virtual places were created

Attention manipulation and information overload

When a decision-maker's attention is limited, her decisions depend on what she focuses on. This gives interested parties an incentive to manipulate not only the substance of communication but also the decision-maker's attention allocation. This paper models such attention manipulation. In its presence, competitive information supply can reduce the decision-maker's knowledge by causing information overload. Further, a single information provider may deliberately induce information overload to conceal information. These findings, pertinent to consumer protection, suggest a role for rules that restrict communication, mandate not only the content but also the format of disclosure, and regulate product design

Human trafficking and regulating prostitution

We study human trafficking in a marriage market model of prostitution. When trafficking is based on coercion, trafficking victims constitute a non-zero share of supply in any unregulated prostitution market. We ask if regulation can eradicate trafficking and restore the outcome that would arise in an unregulated market without traffickers. All existing approaches - criminalization of prostitutes (the traditional model), licensed prostitution (the Dutch model), and criminalization of johns (the Swedish model) - fail to accomplish this goal, but we show that there exists an alternative regulatory model that does. Political support for regulation hinges on the level of gender income inequality

Authority versus Loyalty: Social Incentives and Modes of Governance

This paper examines the effects of social ties on governance. Social ties are per se neutral and merely act as incentive bridges that transmit incentives between individuals. Whether such transmission of incentives improves or undermines governance depends on the particular incentives transmitted. We demonstrate this through a delegated monitoring model where the supervisor is friends with the agent and cares about social recognition. Two basic modes of governance emerge, authority and loyalty, which differ in whether they encourage or discourage social ties. This dichotomy reconciles opposing views on the effect of social ties on governance, and provides new perspectives on family firms, gray directors, business networks, and organizational culture

Financing from Family and Friends

Financing from family and friends is the predominant type of informal finance. This paper proposes a theory that reconciles two seemingly paradoxical traits of this form of finance, namely, it is often provided at negative prices but nevertheless eschewed by borrowers. A central prediction is that such finance, while breeding trust, deters risk taking. Demand is thus constrained: entrepreneurs may forgo risky investment rather than finance it through family and friends. Formal finance is valuable precisely because it is regulated only by contract. The highlighted trade-offs between formal and informal finance are potentially relevant for the provision of microventure capital

GeoNotes: A Location-based Information System for Public Spaces

The basic idea behind location-based information systems is to connect information pieces to positions in outdoor or indoor space. Through position technologies such as Global Positioning System (GPS), GSM positioning, Wireless LAN positioning o

Family Ruptures and Intergenerational Transmission of Stress

The high and rapidly increasing prevalence of mental illnesses underscores the importance of understanding their causal origins. This paper analyzes one factor at a critical stage of human development: exposure to maternal stress from family ruptures during the fetal period. We find that in utero exposure to the death of a maternal close relative has lasting consequences on mental health in adulthood, as captured by 11 and 9 percent increases in the consumption of prescription drugs treating anxiety and depression, respectively, and a 23 percent increase in the average daily dose of medication for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).Further, children exposed prenatally to the death of a relative up to four generations apart are 20 percent more likely to be born low-birth-weight and 11 percent more likely to be hospitalized for conditions originating in the perinatal period in early childhood.Our results imply large welfare gains from preventing fetal exposure to severe stress; the decrease in consumption of prescription drugs treating depression alone can be valued at nearly $ 1 billion. More generally, our results point to in utero stress exposure as a potential cause of the rising incidence of several mental illnesses

Social insurance and the marriage market

Social insurance is often linked to marriage. I model how such linkage affects the marriage market, and exploit Sweden's elimination of survivors insurance to demonstrate economically important responses along several behavioral margins in this market. Entry into marriage reflects a demand for survivors insurance up to 50 years before expected payout, especially among couples with high husband mortality risks. Further, elimination of survivors insurance induces divorces and intra-household redistribution towards wives in pre-existing marriages. Because survivors insurance subsidizes couples with highly unequal earnings (capacities), its elimination also raises the long-run assortativeness of matching. These findings demonstrate that when social insurance is linked to marriage, marital behavior is an integral component of couples' strategies to plan for financial security in old age. The magnitude of these marriage market responses influences the optimality of linking social insurance to marriage

Driftstörningskonsekvenser utav ERTMS-implementering i Sverige

Today, Sweden is in an upgrade period between the two train control systems. Today’s system has soon reached the end of its lifecycle period and therefore need to be replaced. Meanwhile, decisions within the EU have been taken to improve interoperability between European countries. The solution will be an international control system replacing the different national train control and command systems in Europe. The new system is referred to ERTMS. To develop the system nationally early deployment lines have been developed where testing and adaptation to the Swedish network occurs. The purpose of this study is to create a description of the most common unforeseen stoppages that the experimental lines have experienced, and thereafter suggest potential solutions or opportunities for improvement. The report is divided into three parts, the first part is a description of the unforeseen stoppages, including categorizations and descriptions. The second part includes analysis of these problems and whether any solutions can be developed and if so, how. The third and final section is a compilation of the two previous parts and provides a broad overview. All three sections are based on interviews with respondents who previously were, or currently are, involved in the project. In all three parts the unforeseen stoppages have been categorized depending on the source of the specific disturbances. Based on these categories it clearly shows that the spread has been great regarding the origin of the disruption. The complications encountered were of both technical and administrative nature. The technical disruptions were reduced to locate in the ground and onboard equipment while disruptions regarding education, contracts and collaboration between the parties depend on administrative complications. The technical disruptions regarding ground and onboard equipment is in the state that it mostly can be repaired through system updates. The disruptions that do not origins from technical disruptions can potentially be repaired with improved theoretical methods. For the implementation of ERTMS to achieve its potential success it is required that the material provided in the educations is sufficient to each profession within the train control system. Furthermore should there be clarification at the beginning of a contract between the two participants. It is of great importance that respectable collaboration between the participating parties is established which include openness and transparency. In that way misunderstandings and inaccuracies can be reduced

Arbetsterapeuters uppfattning om förskrivning av tyngdtäcken samt dess inverkan på aktivitet och sömn för personer med psykisk funktionsnedsättning

Bakgrund: Personer med psykisk funktionsnedsättning kan ofta uppleva att de basala behoven inte tillfredsställs, vilket kan påverka personens möjligheter att utföra dagliga aktiviteter. Väl fungerande hjälpmedel i sin vardag underlättar och möjliggör för personen. Ett hjälpmedel som arbetsterapeuterna ofta ordinerar till personer med psykisk funktionsnedsättning är tyngdtäcken. Syfte: Att undersöka hur arbetsterapeuter uppfattar förskrivning av tyngdtäcke samt hjälpmedlets inverkan på aktivitet och sömn hos personer med psykisk funktionsnedsättning. Metod: En kvalitativ studie med semistrukturerade intervjuer. Materialet analyserades utifrån en innehållsanalys inspirerad av en manifest ansats. Resultat: Arbetsterapeuterna har olika uppfattning av förskrivning beroende på om de arbetar i kommun eller region. Resultatet visar även att tyngdtäcke har en positiv inverkan på sömn och en påverkan på psykiska symptom. Konklusion: Denna studie beskriver arbetsterapeutens uppfattning om förskrivning av tyngdtäcke, vilka präglas av åsikter gällande bedömning och väntetider kopplade både till vårdkedjan och den psykiska funktionsnedsättningen. Studien visar även att tyngdtäcken har inverkan på sömn och på psykiska symtom. Ytterligare studier behövs göras för att få en bredare bild av hur förskrivning av tyngdtäcke fungerar i region och kommun