Increasing the Timeliness of U.S. Annual I-O Accounts

The timeliness of the U.S. input-output (I-O) accounts is a major concern for policymakers and industry analysts, as well as academics. In response, the Bureau of Economic Analysis initiated research in 2001 to identify, develop and implement an estimating method for producing more timely and reliable annual I-O accounts than are currently available. The research included reviewing the frameworks and methods currently used by other statistical agencies and academic researchers, obtaining more timely industry source data, and developing enhanced methods and processes for the automated updating and balancing of annual I-O tables. The results of this research indicate that our new automated updating and balancing method can reduce time lag for producing the annual I-O accounts from three years to one year without reducing quality. Our method is based on an adjusted RAS process that simultaneously balances the I-O table in producers’ and purchasers’ prices; uses more exogenous data; and processes tables at the most detailed level.

“Planting Trees is Always Good”

This thesis explores how two Swedish companies and a sample of Swedish consumers describe the role of private actors in climate change mitigation. Carbon offsetting by planting trees in the Global South has become a common approach for Swedish food and beverage companies (among other companies) that seek to reduce their climate impact. Since 2018, the Swedish fast food restaurant Max Burgers AB (MAX) has been offsetting 110% of its greenhouse gas emissions and advertises a ‘climate positive’ menu. The initiative has been prized by the UN Global Climate Action Awards for being an innovative, replicable and scalable climate solution. MAX is also urging other companies and private individuals to implement the ‘climate positive’ model, in order to solve the climate crisis. This thesis draws on Carol Bacchi’s WPR approach for policy analysis to explore how the proposed solution can be understood in terms of problem representations. Two Swedish companies’ websites were analysed and semi-structured interviews with 13 customers at MAX were conducted in order to understand what kinds of problems carbon offsetting by planting trees in countries in the Global South responds to according to these actors. The thesis presents four problem-solution complexes in which the two companies mainly represent climate change as a problem of 1) reduced emissions and carbon dioxide removal, 2) consumption, 3) deforestation and carbon sequestration and 4) where carbon offsetting also is represented as a solution to sustainable development challenges in the Global South. The study concludes that on the two companies’ websites, these four problem representations reinforced each other and created a strong narrative for practicing carbon offsetting by planting trees in countries in the Global South as a solution to climate change and sustainable development challenges. At the same time, the customers’ responses imply that the discourse on how private actors and individuals can mitigate climate change is not homogenous, as they partially contrasted the two companies’ problem representations of climate change. The customers’ responses also illustrated a mental distance to the tree planting project in Uganda that MAX purchases carbon credits from, as well as a lack of awareness regarding local impacts of the project. Moreover, this thesis illustrates how planting trees has enabled MAX to communicate to its customers that they are the ones that will solve climate change, by eating burgers at the Swedish fast food restaurant

Human resource management in cross-border acquisition process : viewpoint of HR responsible in acquiring company

Siirretty Doriast

Integrating Industry and National Economic Accounts: First Steps and Future Improvements

The integration of the annual I-O accounts with the GDP-by-industry accounts is the most recent in a series of improvements to the industry accounts provided by the BEA in recent years. BEA prepares two sets of national industry accounts: The I-O accounts, which consist of the benchmark I-O accounts and the annual I-O accounts, and the GDPby- industry accounts. Both the I-O accounts and the GDP-by-industry accounts present measures of gross output, intermediate inputs, and value added by industry. However, in the past, they were inconsistent because of the use of different methodologies, classification frameworks, and source data. The integration of these accounts eliminated these inconsistencies and improved the accuracy of both sets of accounts. The integration of the annual industry accounts represents a major advance in the timeliness, accuracy, and consistency of these accounts, and is a result of significant improvements in BEA's estimating methods. The paper describes the new methodology, and the future steps required to integrate the industry accounts with the NIPAs. The new methodology combines source data between the two industry accounts to improve accuracy; it prepares the newly integrated accounts within an I-O framework that balances and reconciles industry production with commodity usage. Moreover, the new methodology allows the acceleration of the release of the annual I-O accounts by 2 years and for the first time, provides a consistent time series of annual I-O accounts. Three appendices are provided: A description of the probability-based method to rank source data by quality; a description of the new balancing produced for producing the annual I-O accounts; and a description of the computation method used to estimate chaintype price and quantity indexes in the GDP-by-industry accounts.

Ääniä komeroista : nuorten aikuisten kokemuksia syrjään vetäytymisestä

Opinnäytetyömme on laadullinen tutkimus syrjäänvetäytyvien nuorten aikuisten kokemuksista omasta elämästään. Tarkoituksena on tuoda esiin hikikomori-ilmiötä, sen esiintymistä Suomessa ja siihen liittyviä tekijöitä. Tutkimus toteutettiin kuvafoorumilla Internetissä. Laadimme kuusi kysymystä jotka olivat kaikkien lukijoiden vastattavissa Yli-lauta.org-sivustolla. Vastauksia saatiin yhteensä 27 kappaletta. Kysymykset koskivat muun muassa vastaajien kokemuksia omasta elämäntilanteestaan sekä suomalaisen palvelujärjestelmän toimivuudesta. Pyrimme työllämme antamaan äänen niille jotka eivät muuten tule kuulluksi. Halusimme toimia tälle ryhmälle tutussa ympäristössä ja sen takia toteutimme kyselyn Internetissä. Kyselyyn vastanneet pysyivät täysin anonyymeinä. Opinnäytetyömme koostuu kolmesta isosta kokonaisuudesta; toimintaympäristön kuvauksesta, aineistosta sekä pohtivasta loppuosuudesta. Vastauksia analysoimme Edward Decin ja Richard Ryanin itseohjautuvuusteoriaan peilaten. Pyrimme hahmottamaan millä tavalla omaehtoisuus, kyvykkyys ja yhteisöllisyys toteutuvat tai jää toteutumatta kysymyksiin vastanneiden keskuudessa. Lähes kaikilla vastaajilla oli ongelmia näillä osa-alueilla. Vastauksista kävi hyvin ilmi se, että palvelujärjestelmää ei ole optimoitu syrjäänvetäytyvien nuorten aikuisten auttamiseksi. Syrjään vetäytyminen voi olla pahimmillaan vuosia jatkuva, itseään ruokkiva kierre josta on vaikea omin voimin päästä pois. Vastauksien perusteella on vaikeaa luoda kaiken kattavaa ja yleispätevää kuvausta syrjäänvetäytyvästä nuoresta aikuisesta. Jokaisen syyt syrjään vetäytymiseen ovat ainutlaatuiset samoin kuin heidän elämäntarinansa. Erilaiset ihmiset ja heidän tarinat ovatkin tutkimuksen keskipisteessä.Our thesis is a qualitative research focusing on the experiences of socially withdrawn young adults concerning their situations in life. Our aim is to bring forth the Hikikomori phenomenon, it’s occurrence in Finland and the factors affiliated with it. The research was conducted on an image board on the Internet. We compiled six questions for anyone using the site Ylilauta.org. We received 27 answers to our survey. The questions comprise the recipient's experiences concerning their own life situations and the functionality of the Finnish social and healthcare system. We seek out to give a voice to those who otherwise go unheard. We wanted to operate in an environment already familiar to our target group and this is why we carried the survey out on an Internet forum. The participants of the survey remained completely anonymous. The thesis comprises of three themes; description of the operational environment, the material gathered through the survey and the conclusions. We reflect upon the reported experiences through the self-determination theory developed by Edward Deci and Richard Ryan. We aspire to outline whether autonomy, competence and relatedness is being fulfilled or not among the participants. Almost every recipient had problems with these fields. The answers indicate that the Finnish social and healthcare system is not optimized for helping the socially withdrawn young adults. Social withdrawal in worst case can be a vicious circle spanning years from which it is extremely difficult to escape by one’s own. It is difficult to create a universal description of a socially withdrawn young adult based upon the answers. The causes of social exclusion are unique as well as the recipient’s life stories. Various people and their stories are the focus of the research

Adaptive intrapatient dose escalation of cisplatin in combination with low-dose vp16 in patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer

The objective of this phase II and pharmacologic study was to explore the feasibility toxicity and activity of adaptive intrapatient dose escalation of cisplatin in a dose-intensive weekly schedule using predefined levels of exposure, with the ultimate aim to improve the antitumour activity of the therapy in patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Platinum DNA-adduct levels in peripheral white blood cells during treatment were used as the primary parameter for adaptive dosing. If DNA-adduct levels were not available, the area under the concentration-time curve (AUC) of unbound platinum in plasma was used for dose adaptation. Target levels for DNA-adducts and AUC have been defined in a previously performed pharmacologic study. The feasibility of adaptive dosing was tested in 76 patients with stage IIIB and IV NSCLC, who were planned to receive 6 weekly courses of cisplatin at a starting dose of 70 mg m-2, together with daily low oral dose of 50 mg VP16. In total, 37 patients (49%) who were given more than one course received a dose increase varying from 10 to 55%. The majority of patients reached the defined target levels by a dose increase during course two. Relevant grade 2 neurotoxicity was observed in eight (10%) patients and reversible ototoxicity grade 2 in 14 (18%) patients. The strategy of adaptive intrapatient dose adjustment of cisplatin is practically feasible in a research setting even when results for dose adaptation have to be reported within a short time-period of I week. The toxicity appeared to be manageable in this cohort of patients. In some patients, exposure after the standard dose was substantially lower than the defined target level and significant dose escalations of more than 50% had to be applied. The response rate (RR) was relatively high: overall 40% (29 out of 72 patients) partial remission (PR), in patients with stage IIIB the RR was 60% (15 out of 25 patients) and with stage IV 30% (14 out of 47 patients). Randomised studies are needed to determine whether the adaptive dosing strategy results in better efficacy than standard dosing

Kaupunkiympäristöön sopivat hulevesijärjestelmät ja niiden soveltuminen Lahden Ranta-Kartanoon : toimivuus ja kunnossapito

Sade- ja sulamisvesiä, joita johdetaan pois erilaisilta pinnoilta, kutsutaan hulevesiksi. Vesien hallinta korostuu tiiviillä kaupunkialueilla, joissa on paljon päällystettyä ja vettä läpäisemätöntä pintaa. Hulevesien mukana saattaa kulkeutua epäpuhtauksia, jotka kuormittavat alueen vesistöjä. Vesihuoltolain sekä maankäyttö- ja rakennuslain muutoksen myötä hulevesiä ei saa muutamaa poikkeusta lukuun ottamatta johtaa jätevesiviemäriin. Ilmastonmuutoksen myötä hulevesisuunnittelu tulee tärkeämmäksi. Lämpenevä ilmakehä mahdollistaa voimakkaampien sateiden lisääntymisen ja talvisateiden yleistymisen. On mahdollista, että kuluvan vuosisadan loppuun mennessä Keski-Lapissa on samanlaiset lämpöolosuhteen kuin Etelä-Suomessa nykyisin. Lämpimien talvien lisääntyessä myös tulvariskit kasvavat ja tulvariskialueet tulisikin kartoittaa. Hulevesijärjestelmien huomioiminen suunnittelussa tulisi alkaa jo kaavoitusvaiheessa tarvittavilla tilavarauksilla. Hulevesien käsittelyn tärkeysjärjestyksen mukaan hulevedet tulee käsitellä jo syntypaikallaan ja vasta viimeiseksi johtaa viemärillä suoraan purkuvesistöön. Hulevesiä voidaan käsitellä usealla eri tavalla. Tässä opinnäytetyössä on keskitytty Ranta-Kartanoon ajateltuihin järjestelmiin, jotka on jaettu imeyttäviin ja viivyttäviin sekä johtaviin malleihin. Hulevesiä imeyttäviä menetelmiä ovat biosuodatus, hulevesikasetti, viherkatto ja läpäisevät päällysteet. Johtamiseen ja viivyttämiseen sopivia tapoja taas ovat viherpainanne, kourut ja linjakuivatus sekä kanava. Tässä työssä keskityttiin edellä mainittujen järjestelmien toimivuuteen ja kunnossapitoon. Opinnäytetyön menetelminä käytettiin kirjallisuuskatsausta, kyselytutkimusta sekä haastatteluja. Keskeisimpinä tuloksina esiin nousi suunnittelun tärkeys, huolellinen asennus ja järjestelmien säännöllinen kunnossapito. Kokemuksia hulevesijärjestelmien toimivuudesta on kuitenkin vielä vähän ja uskallusta toteuttaa suunnitelmia tarvitaan.Stormwater is a common term for rainwater and water from snowmelt which are conveyed from various surfaces. The management of stormwater is important in urban areas where non-porous surface materials are commonly used. Stormwater can also carry substances which can pollute water systems. New alterations in the Finnish law order that stormwater can not be lead into sewers apart from few exceptions. Because of global warming, stormwater management will be more important in the future. The warming atmosphere will enable heavier rains, and rain also in the winter. It is conceivable that by the end of the century, mid-Lapland has similar winter conditions with the present-day southern Finland. Because of warmer winters, the risk of floods will increase, and risk areas should be mapped. Acknowledging stormwater management in the planning should begin in the zoning phase with sufficient area reservations. The first priority is to handle stormwater in its birthplace, and as a last option lead it in the drain. Stormwater can be managed in many different manners. In this thesis, the focus is on systems which were planned for the Ranta-Kartano area previously. The systems are divided into saturating, delaying and conveying models. Systems that saturate stormwater into the soil are bioswale, stormwater cassette, green roof and permeable paving. Systems suitable for conveying and delaying are green depression, gouge, line drying and canal. The functionality and maintenance of the above-mentioned systems are discussed in this thesis. Literary research, survey and interviews were conducted for the thesis. According to the study, essential results affecting the functionality of stormwater systems are the importance of planning, a thorough installation process, and regular maintenance. Experience on the topic is yet brief, and more courage to execute novel conventions is needed

Digital solutions replacing academic travel during the corona pandemic – what can we learn?

During the spring of 2020, the corona pandemic created an entirely new context for university employees to work within. In a matter of weeks, it became customary to replace physical meetings with digital alternatives whenever possible. Conferences, seminars, meetings and doctoral thesis defences – among other activities – were moved to digital platforms. Meanwhile, many activities were either postponed or cancelled. The crisis resulted in a vast decrease in air travel and significantly reduced physical mobility. Increased digitalisation and reduced emissions from aviation were central to SLU’s policies and strategies prior to the corona pandemic. A part of SLU's ambition of becoming a climate-neutral university by 2027 is to significantly reduce emissions from business trips and, since 2016, SLU is requested by the Swedish government to increase the share of digital and travel free meetings. SLU is also developing a new strategy for 2021-2025. A better understanding of the implications of increased digitalisation is highly relevant in this work. This study aims to provide a better understanding of how SLU staff members experienced the drastic reduction in travel and the increased use of digital solutions during the spring of 2020. We also want to shed light on what types of activities – that originally were intended to include a business trip – could be replaced by a digital alternative with maintained or improved quality and what activities that on the contrary were difficult or impossible to carry out using a digital alternative. In order to fulfil our aims, we conducted a mixed-methods study based on semistructured interviews and an online survey. The results from the survey indicate that a majority (83%) of the respondents have experienced that their work in general was either mainly positively affected, equal parts negatively and positively affected, or not affected at all by the decrease in business travel and increase in digital meetings. The respondents also painted a picture as to what activities that can work well and what activities that will be difficult to perform digitally after the corona crisis. Fieldwork stood out as the least suitable activity to perform digitally, as 60% of the respondents could imagine replacing 0% or 0-25% of the fieldwork with digital solutions. What stood out on the opposite side was that a vast majority thought that between 50-100% of project meetings, administrative meetings and seminars could be replaced with digital options. As for workshops, conferences, and reviews and presentation of research, the opinions varied much more. These findings also resonate with the experiences that were brought up in the interviews. Summary Some of the main findings in the interviews was that digital meetings were perceived as more efficient, but that they lacked in terms of social and creative aspects. Furthermore, informants largely agreed that brainstorming, spontaneous discussions and forming of new relationships was harder to achieve digitally. On the other hand, well-structured interactions with a clear agenda between people that had previously met in person worked excellent on digital platforms. Many informants expressed that they were surprised regarding how well the digital meetings had worked and pointed to the many benefits of replacing travel with digital solutions in terms of increased equality, accessibility, efficiency, reduced stress and reduced emissions. Looking forward, participants talked about a better mix of digital and physical activities. Many believed that some activities – for example establishing new relationships and performing fieldwork – to a larger extent than other activities require travel for maintained quality. Other types of activities – such as administrative meetings, project meetings, seminars and presentations – were considered possible to replace with digital solutions to a higher degree with maintained, or even enhanced, quality of work and life. The study concludes: * A majority of the SLU employees that participated in our study reported that it in general had worked well to replace longer business trips with digital alternatives during the spring of 2020. * Our quantitative findings illustrate that an overwhelming majority of the respondents thought that their work and research either had been mainly positively affected, equal parts positively and negatively affected, or not affected at all by them not being able to travel. * Certain types of fieldwork and data collection, as well as activities requiring spontaneous discussions and networking were experienced as the most difficult to perform digitally. * Well-structured interactions with a clear agenda and people that had previously met in person, as well as activities such as administrative meetings, project meetings and seminars, were perceived as most suited to perform digitally. * The study recommends a better mix between digital and physical meetings in a post-corona context. SLU should strategically make use of digital solutions and replace longer business trips to improve the work situation of the employees, the quality of their work in addition to reducing GHG emissions

«Vi holder sammen» – etterretning og flukt fra fiendens linjer i nord

Flyktningene fra Vest-Finnmark til det frigjorte Øst-Finnmark er kjent norsk historie, likeså de norske militære operasjonene i Vest-Finnmark. I løpet av vinteren 1944/1945 kom det imidlertid minst 39 båter ulovlig fra Troms og Nordland til det befridde Finnmark. Sjømilitær etterretning, organiseringen av flukten, mottaket av flyktningene i Øst-Finnmark og den betydning båtene fikk for transport og forsyninger til det militære og sivile samfunnet i Finnmark, har hittil vært en ukjent historie

Isdynamikk i tre mindre fjord-trausystemer langs Finnmarkskysten

Multistråle batymetriske data og seismiske profiler fra den vestlige kysten av Finnmark er analysert med formålet om å rekonstruere dynamikken til det Fennoskandiske Isdekket gjennom siste glasiale maksimum, og påfølgende deglasiasjon. Fokuset har vært på tre prograderende kiler i forlengelsen av de glasiale trauene Rolvsøy-, Hjelmsøy- og Måsøytrauet. En seismisk stratigrafi er definert med tre hovedenheter; A, B og C. Enhet A og B representerer de prograderende kilene med interne klinoformer utbyggende fra sørøst mot nordvest. Enhet C er karakterisert av en transparent seismisk signatur tilskrevet bunnmorene fra siste istids maksimum. En utviklingsmodell for studieområdet er presentert med en tidlig (glasi-) fluvial fase, etterfulgt av faser med større isdekker oscillerende ved munningen til trauene. Siste fase representeres av et isdekke som strekker seg over hele studieområdet og Barentshavet. Glasiale landformer er kartlagt i trauene og på bankene langs kysten, og disse er brukt til å rekonstruere dynamikken til isdekket under siste glasiale maksimum og deglasiasjonen. Strømlinjeformede landformer i trauene vitner om hurtigstrømmede ismasser under siste glasiale maksimum, mens fravær av disse tyder på mer saktestrømmende og passive ismasser på bankene. Deglasiasjonen beskrives som hurtig sammenlignet med nærliggende fjordsystem, og startet trolig i trauene da det forekommer dypere vanndyp og glasiale lineasjoner er bevart. På bankene observeres det to til tre mulig fremrykk/opphold av isdekket. Disse ismassene har trolig drenert fra lokale isdomer på de ytterste øyene langs Finnmarkskysten. Observasjonene i denne oppgaven er korrelert med eksisterende dateringer på land. Risviktrinnet (16-15 000 kal år BP) er tentativt antatt å representere starten på deglasiasjonen i trauene og tilskrives frontavsetningene i Hjelmsøy- og Måsøytrauet. Studieområdet var sannsynligvis isfritt under Ytre Porsangertrinnet (14 000 kal år BP), da en ikke observerer flere randtrinn lengre inn i trauene