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According to popular understandings, children grow from a state of dependence to eventually become independent adults. Interdependence helps to disrupt the in/dependence binary and is a useful concept for making sense of the experiences young people with variations in sex characteristics in relation to healthcare. This study used semi-structured interviews with 32 health professionals, 33 caregivers and 12 young people recruited in the UK and Sweden. The analysis is guided by the questions: (1) how do young people, carers and health professionals position themselves in the adult/young person relationship in the context of healthcare? (2) how is the (in/ter)dependence of young people imagined when young people, carers and health professionals talk about healthcare? Our analysis shows how carers and health professionals might support dominant understandings about young people growing towards independence while providing little opportunity for young people's agency and voice. Interviews with young people gave clear examples of their negotiating relational ways of being, seeking agency in the context of healthcare and not simply becoming independent of adults. This analysis also draws attention to the ways young people might be silenced within healthcare contexts. The present paper is based on secondary analysis of data from the SENS. It works with concepts of relationality and interdependence to draw out the possibilities of voice and agency for young people with variations in sex characteristics in healthcare contexts. • Youth with variations in sex characteristics are sometimes silenced in the clinic. • There is sometimes too little room for youth agency in healthcare. • A relational approach could improve the healthcare experiences of young people. • Working towards interdependence, not simply independence, can support youth. • It is important to value knowledge that is based on intersex lived experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the experience of Europe's three most liberalised railways - Sweden, Germany and Britain - in opening-up rail passenger services to competition by means of competitive tendering, and seeks to draw lessons for countries that are just starting the process, such as France. It also comments on experience of competition in the market in these and other countries (this form of competition has been taken furthest in other countries - notably Italy and the Czech Republic, as well as on a single route in Austria). The paper fills an important gap in the literature - that has so far focused on econometric modelling of the impact of rail reforms - by considering how competition can best be introduced in practice. This investigation is important and timely given the requirements of EU legislation (4th Railway Package) which will require competition to be introduced into passenger rail services (by 2020 for commercial services, and 2023 for public transport contracts) across the whole of the EU. It finds evidence that competitive tendering has helped increase demand for and reduce subsidies to the rail passenger sector, but that there are many decisions that have to be taken as to how it is to be implemented. Short gross cost contracts may work well for regional services where the tendering authority takes the lead in planning and marketing such services. If services where ticket revenue recovers a larger share of costs – "more commercial services" – are to be tendered, long net cost contracts may make more sense. An alternative is to leave them operated by the incumbent but with open access for competitors to enter the market. Two particular issues face countries starting on the liberalisation process. Firstly, if existing rolling stock is owned by the incumbent rather than the franchising authority or an independent company; that remains a major barrier to entry. The second is the position of existing staff. If new operators are required to take them on at existing wages and conditions; that is a barrier to improved efficiency, but for new operators to recruit their own staff may also be problematic, particularly where the pace of change is fast. • In all three liberalised countries (GB, Sweden and Germany) there has been rapid growth in demand for regional services. • Subsidies per train-km and passenger-km have also fallen in all three countries, though in GB unit costs rose post-reforms. • Gross-cost contracts useful where regional body controls marketing/services; otherwise net-cost contracts may be preferred. • Where large-scale competition introduced for first time, treatment of rolling stock and existing staff biggest issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Responsible incentivisation requires attention to situated stakeholder perspectives. • We develop four policy scenarios and subject them to deliberation in the UK and Sweden. • New incentives and enabling reforms to existing policy instruments are needed. • Mitigation deterrence must be considered in real world (not abstracted) contexts. • Multi-instrument approaches are needed to overcome single instrument deficiencies. Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) plays a central role in scenario pathways that limit global warming in line with the objectives of the Paris Agreement. Yet deliberate policy efforts to incentivise BECCS—whether through amending existing climate policies or introducing entirely new ones—remain rare. In this paper, we contend that BECCS must be incentivised responsibly, through policy-making processes which account for diverse and geographically varying societal values and interests. More specifically, we make the case for responsible incentivisation by undertaking a comparative analysis of stakeholder attitudes to four idealised policy scenarios for BECCS, including representatives of government, business, nongovernmental and academic communities, in the UK and Sweden. The scenarios were: business as usual; international policy reform; national BECCS policy; and national policy for negative emissions technologies. Based on our findings, we recommend that policymakers 1) recognise the need to develop new incentives and make enabling reforms to existing policy instruments; 2) consider the risk of mitigation deterrence in their real world (and not abstracted) contexts; 3) employ multi-instrument approaches to incentivisation that do not overly rely on carbon pricing or 4) force a choice between technology specific or technology neutral policies; and 5) attend to the diversity of stakeholder and wider public perspectives that will ultimately determine the success—or failure—of their policy designs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the dynamics of debt-to-GDP ratio is analyzed for three countries with long fiscal records: Sweden, the UK and the US. A novel procedure of testing for recurrent explosive behavior is implemented in order to identify episodes of explosive debt dynamics. The detected periods of explosive debt growth can be attributed to changes in economic, political and institutional environment which required active policy responses subsequently followed by fiscal adjustments. The results of the study indicate that the long-run sustainability found for these countries in other studies can be interpreted as the outcome of fluctuating fiscal policies, some of which were unsustainable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Schools of Nursing have witnessed an increase in the number of nursing students who struggle with learning difficulties. Support and accommodations are available in academic settings. Because nursing is a practice profession students also learn in clinical settings, which may not have similar support and accommodations. The compatibility of the clinical setting for the education of students with learning difficulties has not been studied. Staff nurses responsible for the clinical education of students and new nurses receive little preparation for their role as educator, and may not feel supported to meet the needs of those with learning difficulties. This is part one in a series of articles about the clinical education of nursing students with learning difficulties. This paper provides a framework and literature review for the development of a study (part 2) exploring the issue from the perspective of the nurse preceptors who educate students and new graduates with learning difficulties. Highlights • There is an increase in the number of students in school of nursing with learning difficulties. • The literature on nursing students with learning difficulties can be understood from the perspectives of nursing schools, faculty, and students. • Nurse educators have a role in preparing the learning environments for students with learning difficulties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: How next-generation access (NGA) deployment can be encouraged is a challenge that many countries are facing, and one that has been widely and actively discussed around the globe. This discussion has highlighted a dilemma that ultimately shapes investment—how to encourage the widespread deployment of NGA while enabling operators to achieve reasonable returns. This paper focuses on the tensions that arise as a consequence of this investment challenge in three countries – the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom (UK) – and uses the analysis of extensive data collection with k7ey actors to argue the case for the injection of public or private incentives. The paper finds that markets with competitive infrastructure will not benefit from public investment while markets with geographical constraints are in need of public support. The paper also explains that regulatory intervention is necessary in the early stage of NGA roll-out, even in currently competitive markets. In all the discussions it becomes evident that, among the three cases, the UK is most in need of public intervention. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper aims to contribute to media studies on climate change through a study of the ways in which the adequacy of transnational measures of tackling climate change are represented in media outlets in the UK, Ireland, Sweden and Finland. Media texts on the European Union Energy and Climate Package, introduced in January 2008 and approved in modified form in December 2008, are analyzed in-depth. Through an exploratory cross-societal comparison of media representations, the paper traces some of the dynamics of contemporary environmental debates. We argue that the adequacy of proposed transnational measures for tackling climate change becomes a relative concept in the media: measures are not adequate or inadequate per se, but contingent upon social context and relative with regard to time and to the comparisons made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The literature on environmental champions emphasises the effective action of environmentally committed individuals. This paper draws on case studies of process technology investment projects in chemical and dairy companies in the UK and Sweden. The analysis is based on a political process perspective on organisations. By analysing the career histories of environmental champions as well as their behaviour in the investment projects, the paper shows how their championing behaviour is shaped by dynamic interaction with the organisational context, as well as a broader range of motivations and interests, including career opportunities and private life concerns. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Analyzing the COVID-19 pandemic is a critical factor in developing effective policies to deal with similar challenges in the future. However, many parameters (e.g., the actual number of infected people, the effectiveness of vaccination) are still subject to considerable debate because they are unobservable. To model a pandemic and estimate unobserved parameters, researchers use compartmental models. Most often, in such models, the transition rates are considered as constants, which allows simulating only one epidemiological wave. However, multiple waves have been reported for COVID-19 caused by different strains of the virus. This paper presents an approach based on the reconstruction of real distributions of transition rates using genetic algorithms, which makes it possible to create a model that describes several pandemic peaks. The model is fitted on registered COVID-19 cases in four countries with different pandemic control strategies (Germany, Sweden, UK, and US). Mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) was chosen as the objective function, the MAPE values of 2.168%, 2.096%, 1.208% and 1.703% were achieved for the listed countries, respectively. Simulation results are consistent with the empirical statistics of medical studies, which confirms the quality of the model. In addition to observables such as registered infected, the output of the model contains variables that cannot be measured directly. Among them are the proportion of the population protected by vaccines, the size of the exposed compartment, and the number of unregistered cases of COVID-19. According to the results, at the peak of the pandemic, between 14% (Sweden) and 25% (the UK) of the population were infected. At the same time, the number of unregistered cases exceeds the number of registered cases by 17 and 3.4 times, respectively. The average duration of the vaccine induced immune period is shorter than claimed by vaccine manufacturers, and the effectiveness of vaccination has declined sharply since the appearance of the Delta and Omicron strains. However, on average, vaccination reduces the risk of infection by about 65–70%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper documents the impact of welfare states that provide alternative sources of income on stratification outcomes in Great Britain, West Germany and Sweden for the post-World War II period. The paper gives a detailed individual-level analysis of alterations of market based income. The magnitude of policy effects along with the policy mix available to individual households and the extent of reliance on the market as a result of that policy mix have been compared. This paper directly challenges the logic of industrialization approach as an explanation of welfare policy development. The paper analyses a set of welfare policies that intervene in the market-determined consumption of privately produced income goods and services in Great Britain, West Germany and Sweden. Due to various developments in the post-World War period the state no longer simply provided legal, physical and political supports to market actors but began to intervene directly in altering market based distributional outcomes. The paper stresses on shifting sociological study of the welfare state away from analyses of expenditure levels or policy events.

An increase in the number of people living independently with dementia across the developed world has focused attention on the relevance of neighbourhood spaces for enabling or facilitating good social health and wellbeing. Taking the lived experiences and daily realities of people living with dementia as a starting point, this paper contributes new understanding about the relevance of local places for supporting those living with the condition. The paper outlines findings from a study of the neighbourhood experiences, drawing on new data collected from a creative blend of qualitatively-driven mixed methods with people living in a diverse array of settings across three international settings. The paper details some of the implications of neighbourhoods as sites of social connection based on material from 67 people living with dementia and 62 nominated care-partners. It demonstrates how neighbourhoods are experienced as relational places and considers how people living with dementia contribute to the production of such places through engagement and interaction, and in ways that may be beneficial to social health. We contend that research has rarely focused on the subjective, experiential and 'everyday' social practices that contextualise neighbourhood life for people living with dementia. In doing so, the paper extends empirical and conceptual understanding of the relevance of neighbourhoods as relational sites of connection, interaction, and social engagement for people living with dementia. • Presents new data from 129 individuals; 67 living with dementia and 62 care-partners. • Neighbourhoods are sites of social interaction, connection and engagement. • Neighbourhoods are important sites of support for people living with dementia. • People living with dementia can be socially active in neighbourhood locations. • Neighbourhoods should be understood as relational places. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Previous research suggests that, despite a desire to introduce environmental concerns into New Product Design, many companies in the northwest of England have not done so. In order to understand more about why companies do or do not take on sustainability methodologies, an entirely new and rigorous approach was taken. This paper therefore presents the results of a questionnaire investigating the up-take of Eco/Sustainable Design in manufacturing companies in Sweden – a country that might be considered more environmentally progressive than the UK – and discusses them alongside the results of an identical questionnaire in the UK. The results are presented in the context of risk and risk aversion/management – in particular the risk associated with taking on board Design for Sustainability as a design method or a company strategy. It is found that there is no clear “winner” in sustainability between UK and Swedish engineering companies; there is encouraging news in both countries, with a desire to practice sustainability, but some that is not so good with the number of companies that actually implement relevant methodologies. It is apparent that there are still hindrances and perceived risks preventing companies taking sustainability fully on board, despite the recognition that sustainability is a “good thing”; the importance of the implementation of sustainability has not yet been fully grasped by industry and by those with the responsibility required to effect any changes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Domestic express coach services in Germany have long been heavily restricted by regulation, although offerings comparable to countries like, for example, Great Britain or Sweden bear substantial opportunities for competition, the environment, and mobility. In this paper, we motivate market entry in the German express coach market for local public and integrated transport companies by high profitability rates in other countries and the availability of bus facilities and skills. This is followed by the evaluation of supply and demand. Supply is represented by an analysis of external and internal costs showing that express coaches have significant cost advantages that are intensified by the possible internalization of external costs. Demand is represented by a survey of customers that is evaluated with a conjoint analysis. Our results suggest a market share for express coach services in Germany of at least 5.3%. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Despite regulatory reforms in a number of countries, competition in transit markets is still relatively rare. Moreover, where it does occur it tends to be small group in nature and the outcomes are difficult to predict. In this paper, simulation models of competition in inter-urban rail markets and urban bus markets are developed and applied in studies of Great Britain and Sweden. It is found that on busy routes head-on competition is commercially feasible (although for rail this assumes low access charges) but is not socially desirable. For routes with thin demand (or high access costs), competition may be limited to cream skimming. In most competed cases, there appears to be a tendency for the provision of too much service, at too high price and (at least for bus) at too low quality. Rather than classical Bertrand–Cournot oligopoly models, transit markets may be best described by models of oligopolistic competition based on horizontal product differentiation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The chemical, pharmaceutical and other related process industries are characterized by inherently hazardous processes and activities. To ensure that considered risk management decisions are made it is essential that organizations have the ability to rank the risk profiles of their assets and operations. Current industry risk ranking techniques are biased toward the assessment of the risk potential of the asset or operation. Methodologies used to assess these risks tend to be engineering-based and include, for example, hazard identification and event rate estimation techniques. Recent research has associated lagging safety performance indicators with metrics of organizational safety climate. Despite the evidence suggesting their potential usefulness, organizational climate metrics have not yet been exploited as a proactive safety, health and environmental performance indicator or as an aid to relative risk ranking. This paper summarizes research that successfully produced a statistical model of organizational climate and its relationship to site significant injury frequency rates, allowing the relative risk ranking of sites based upon organizational climate metrics. The responses to an industrial organizational survey are examined for a pharmaceutical company's sites in the United Kingdom, Sweden and the United States. Projection to Latent Structures Analysis is performed on the survey responses. The resultant models are shown to be able to accurately model the site significant injury frequency rates. The organizational climate metrics that discriminate between the safety performance levels of different sites are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are many incentives to improve public participation involvement in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and public inquiries not least because the conflicts arising from protests against new developments are practical problems that need to be solved. This paper addresses the ambition of promoting public participation in EIA. In doing this, it illustrates how legal or quasi-legal processes, such as EIA and public inquiries facilitate or restrain public involvement. Two cases of airport developments are compared: the EIA process for the planned extension of the airport in O¨rebro, Sweden and the public inquiry process for the planned extension of the airport in Manchester, UK. The concluding section discusses how the requirement to achieve efficient public involvement could be met. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper presents a study of woodland management guidelines analysed for their inclusion of visual aspects. The aim of the study was to identify approaches towards the management of visual aspects in urban woodland. For the study, 24 management guidelines from Sweden and the UK were reviewed for scale, degree of operational detail, the visual concepts used, their emphasis and justification. The review revealed that there exists a diversity of approaches towards managing visual aspects regarding the selection and emphasis of visual concepts as well as the scale at which they are applied and degree of operationality. Some general differences between Sweden and the UK where identified. These differences in treatment of visual aspects were mainly related to the use of different scale levels, different levels of abstraction and the basis for justifying the importance of visual qualities in management. These differences are discussed in relation to the wider management context, including landowner structure, landscape history and forestry traditions. We conclude that studying urban woodland management in another context (e.g. geographical and historical) can provide new insights for visual management. We also believe that transferring management strategies across cultures will result in them being altered at the policy and operational levels by the change of context. We further suggest that the use of visual concept could provide one approach for better integration of visual qualities in urban woodland management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]