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We aimed to survey the findings of phenomenological studies built up in the field of diabetes care in Sweden. This is a meta-synthesis of phenomenological studies on experiences related to diabetes in Sweden focusing on learning to live with diabetes. We proceeded by reference to the seven phases of Noblit & Hare. We examined papers from seven phenomenological studies on learning to live with diabetes in Sweden. From the papers, which describe the experience of living with diabetes, three overarching themes were selected—perception and awareness of the body; integration and responsibility; and presence of others who provide support. From those describing the expert's experience, an overarching theme emerged—encouraging reflection in persons with diabetes. We interpreted each of these themes in phenomenological terms and compared them with theories in Japan. Persons with diabetes take responsibility for coping with a range of things brought on by the illness and learn to live with diabetes. Experts support these persons so they can see their world objectively and critically scrutinize it. By building a model of diabetes care in Japan that references Scandinavian human science, it will be possible to find new approaches that support learning at the existential level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The objective of this study was to quantify the population-based effects of a lower shoulder belt load limit on front row occupants in frontal car crashes. Method: Crashes of modern vehicles from the GIDAS (German In-Depth Accident Study) are corrected for bias and projected to the national level. Injury risk functions are computed for the injury severity levels Maximum Abbreviated Injury Scale (MAIS) 2+, MAIS 3+, and fatal, stratified by 2 age cohorts (16-44 years of age and 45 years or older). To assess the field effectivity of a "softer belt," the projected crash frequency data are modified separately for the 2 age cohorts such that its risk structure represents the risk of a softer belt. Given those 2 samples, the field effectivity of a softer belt is derived for several shares of the younger age cohort according to the injury severity levels MAIS 2+, MAIS 3+, and fatal. Results: The injury risk distribution of the projected crash frequency data, represented here by the injury risk functions obtained, fits well into the injury risk distribution of other data sets (Sweden, United States, and Japan) given in the literature. The relative effects of a lower belt force are stable over the different ratios of the younger and old age cohorts. At the MAIS 2+ level, a lower belt force can significantly reduce the number of injuries (about 10%). A lower belt force does not significantly affect the number of MAIS 3+ injuries. A lower belt force can, however, more than double the number of fatal injuries. Conclusions: Because the number of fatal injuries rises dramatically due to lower belt force, the reduction in the number of MAIS 2+ injuries comes at a very high cost. Therefore, whether reducing the belt force limit is the right approach is questionable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to explore the theoretical and practical implications of conducting comparative research in the realm of legal science. The endeavour is based on experiences gained from engaging in such activities as part of a research project in labour law. In order to allow for a critical evaluation of ways in which to regulate redundancy, the study mentioned sets Swedish collective agreements on employment security against British redundancy pay legislation and the Japanese Employment Stabilizations Fund system. The paper discusses the pitfalls and potentials of the chosen approach and presents some tentative conclusions regarding its benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a nine‐component analytical framework for developing, comparing, and evaluating road safety strategies. The nine components are: (1) vision; (2) objectives; (3) targets; (4) action plan; (5) evaluation and monitoring; (6) research and development; (7) quantitative modelling; (8) institutional framework; and (9) funding. While the first four components are essential for the formulation of a road safety strategy, the remaining components are key to its successful implementation. To demonstrate the usefulness of this comparative framework, we examine the road safety strategies of six selected administrations: Australia, California, Great Britain, Japan, New Zealand, and Sweden. In these case studies, we extract and highlight good practices in the formulation and implementation of their road safety strategies. The proposed framework also provides a systematic approach for assessing road safety strategies in other administrations. The evaluation of the six case studies forms a benchmarking platform for the planning, formulation, and implementation of good practices for road safety strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper a method for decomposing rural-urban fertility differences into separate differences in nuptiality and marital fertility is developed. This technique is applied to national and provincial statistics for two countries, Japan and Sweden. It is shown that there are some features of rural-urban differences which hold for both countries, but it is also demonstrated that because the Japanese and Swedish fertility transitions were markedly dissimilar, there are salient contrasts in the relation between the magnitude and composition of the rural-urban differences and the stage reached in each country during its fertility transition.

We draw from a number of theoretical perspectives and frameworks on the life course, age and gender scholarship to argue their value in furthering critical discussions on work-life balance policies and their contributions to women's employment and economic security in later life. Using OECD and other big data sets, we examine the patterns of women's employment over the life course in Japan, Sweden and the United States, as three illustrated cases of welfare states with different nation's work-life balance policies. We summarize findings before offering concluding thoughts to advocate for women's security in later life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We question why child poverty still prevails even in high-income countries, such as Japan, Sweden and the United Kingdom. We address the intersection between social relations and individual experiences that should be considered when optimising children's capability. The study is therefore aimed at exploring compensatory societal actions taken to optimise children's capability among these affluent countries. In order to do so, we operationalised children's capability by including key societal domains along with statistical indicators and variables from relevant sources. A secondary quantitative method was adopted by drawing upon data sources from 2000 up to almost 2020 from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Bank and the United Nations Children's Fund, with these being complemented by governmental data. Given a lack of currently available and comparable data for those three countries, four key societal domains were explored in an absolute descriptive analysis. It is obvious that child poverty prevailed over the focal 20 years in these three high-income countries. Also, the exploratory data analysis revealed a lack of sufficient supporting social services in each societal domain. This demonstrates that optimising children's capability should not just be about subsidising economic resources, but also supporting all initiatives aimed at addressing the lack of interactions between each domain of children's capability. The study shows how essential it is to consider societal compensatory measures along with supporting the financial circumstances. We therefore argue that optimising children's capability should not only be about subsidising economic resources, but also ensuring adequate social resources and relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twenty years - the wink of an eye - isn't long in geology, but long enough in our personal lives to see important changes, and perhaps time to reflect back on 80 issues of Neutron News published, and, hopefully, read. Think back further: 70 years since the publication of the famous papers on the discovery of fission, 60-odd years since the first real program of neutron scattering (at the Clinton Pile at Oak Ridge National Laboratory) and you see that neutron scattering is still alive, well, and prepared for the future. The SNS operates at Oak Ridge, millions of times more intense than those beams emerging from the early reactors, the JPARC facility in Japan moves towards operating, and a decision has been made to site the European Spallation Source in Lund, Sweden. The community has grown, expanded into new fields, and importantly has learned to live with, and more and more collaborate with, the field of synchrotron radiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aimed to analyze the Austrian health care system using the ecology of care model. Our secondary aim was to compare data from Austria with those available from other countries. Design: 3508 interviews employing a 30-item questionnaire related to the utilization of the health care system including demographic factors were conducted. Participants were chosen by a Random Digital Dialing procedure. Further, a literature review of studies of other countries use of the ecology of care model was conducted. Main outcome measures: Austria has one of the highest utilization of health care services in any of the assessed categories. The comparison with the literature review shows that Austria has the highest utilization of specialists working in the outpatient sector as well as the highest hospitalization rates. Taiwan and Korea have comparable utilization patterns. Canada, Sweden, and Norway are countries with lower utilization patterns, and the U.S. and Japan are intermediate. Conclusion: In Austria and similarly organized countries, high utilization of all health care services can be observed, in particular, the utilization of specialists and hospitalizations. The over-utilization of all levels of health care in Austria may be due to the lack of a clear demarcation line between the primary and secondary levels of care, and the presence of universal health coverage, which also allows for unrestricted and undirected access to all levels of care. Previous studies have shown that comparable countries lack the health benefits of a strong primary care system with its coordination function. In Austria and similarly organized countries, there appears to be high utilization of health care in general, as well as with particular utilization of specialists and hospitalizations. The high utilization of all levels of care in Austria may be the result of competition, lack of a clear demarcation line between the primary and secondary level of care, and the presence of universal health coverage. Pathways between primary and secondary care should be strengthened as previous studies have shown that comparable countries lack the health benefits of strong primary care and its function for health care coordination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: As context may impact everyday technology (ET) use it is relevant to study this within different contexts. Aims: To examine the usefulness of the Everyday Technology Use Questionnaire (ETUQ) in different contexts by investigating and comparing (1) the level of challenge of ETs in the ETUQ and (2) the relevance of and perceived ability to use ET in samples of Swedish and Japanese older adults. Materials and methods: The Swedish and the Japanese samples (n = 86/86) were interviewed using the ETUQ about relevance of and perceived ability to use ET. Data were analyzed using Rasch analysis, chi square and a general linear model. Moreover, Differential Item Functioning (DIF) was investigated. Results: The hierarchy of ETs' level of challenge was generally stable in the two contexts. On group-level, the relevance was somewhat higher and the perceived ability to use ET significantly higher in the Swedish sample than in the Japanese. Conclusions and significance: The similarities and differences between the technological landscapes of Sweden and Japan could be detected by ETUQ, demonstrating its usefulness in both countries. The potential causes to the differences in relevance of and perceived ability to use ET between older adults in Sweden and Japan need further exploration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japan and Sweden both have national systems of long-term care (LTC) and face similar challenges. This study compared various indicators of disability in LTC recipients in nine large urban, midsize urban, and rural municipalities in both countries. The aim was to establish whether urban-rural differences exist and whether they follow similar patterns in Japan and Sweden. It was found that LTC recipients in large urban municipalities in both countries were on average significantly less disabled than those from the other types of municipalities, regardless of the indicator for disability. Fewer persons in large urban municipalities live in extended families, which may increase the propensity to apply for LTC. The number of older people living alone in Japan is increasing, which means that the formal LTC system will come under increased pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers news brief about National Associations as of November, 2012. The 30th World Federation of Occupational Therapists (WFOT) Council Meeting and a series of workshops was held on March 2012, in Taiwan, hosted by Taiwan Occupational Therapy Association. The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) Annual Conference and Expo is to be held on April 25-28, 2013, in U.S. A Seminar-Workshop titled "Doing Social Inclusion", was held on September 2012 in Greece.

Studies in the northern hemisphere suggest that the numbers of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) births vary depending on the season of the year. We wished to determine if a southern hemisphere study would show the same seasonal changes, and whether particular weather conditions were associated with the numbers of ALS births. Birth data from a case-control study of Australian residents were used to relate monthly birth rates of ALS to the seasons and weather conditions. The results were compared with previous studies in Japan, Sweden and Switzerland. Four hundred and ninety-one Australian sporadic ALS patients and 629 controls (partners, friends, and community volunteers) completed a self-reported questionnaire that included dates of birth. Australian ALS birth rates increased between late summer and early winter, and decreased between mid-winter and early summer. Similar patterns were seen in Japan and Sweden. Monthly average humidity correlated positively with the numbers of ALS births in Australia, Sweden, and Japan. In conclusion, seasonal differences in ALS birth rates in the southern hemisphere are similar to those in two out of three northern hemisphere countries. Early life factors related to weather conditions, such as increased humidity leading to more infectious diseases and allergens, need to be further investigated in ALS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The overall aim of this study was to evaluate the validity of the Assessment of Awareness of Ability (A3) in a Japanese context. The A3 (formerly known as the Assessment of Awareness of Disability, AAD) is a standardized 11-question interview used to explore the discrepancy between observed strengths and limitations in the performance of activities of daily living (ADL) according to the Assessment of Motor and Process Skills (AMPS) and the limitations described by the client. In this study, 259 matched Swedish and Japanese A3 data records were analyzed using a Rasch partial credit model (PCM). The analysis of rater consistency and items demonstrated acceptable goodness-of-fit according to the PCM, indicating rater consistency and internal scale validity. The A3 can help clients and therapists understand discrepancies between observed and self-reported performance aspects of various everyday tasks within Japanese and Swedish contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, customer satisfaction has come to be used not only as a performance indicator for individual firms but also an aggregate measure for economic analysis. In particular, it has been reported that changes in customer satisfaction are a leading, positive indicator of other financial and economic indicators such as GDP growth and consumer spending. While the extant literature analyses the consequences of aggregate-level customer satisfaction, there has been relatively little study of its antecedents at the aggregate level. In our research, we have examined antecedents of aggregate customer satisfaction by analysing the relationships between various economic indicators and national customer satisfaction data from the US, Sweden and Japan. The results indicate the existence of two significant factors that affect customer satisfaction, both positively and negatively. One of these factors, an 'economic growth factor', has a positive impact on aggregate customer satisfaction, while the other, an 'economic condition factor', has a negative impact on it. The effects of these two antecedents are observed in all countries studied, regardless of differences in measurement methods or country-related institutional factors. Our findings provide useful information for predicting customer satisfaction index values and analysing subsequent financial performance of industries and firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a speculative assessment regarding commercial observation satellites and their military implications. It reports that the French launch of the Satellite pour l'observation de la terre (SPOT) has destroyed the superpower duopoly in the field of remote sensing or space-based observation satellites. It mentions that the implications of satellite imagery for international stability are likely to be more significant, as the underdeveloped countries acquires the capability to access the earth from space. It also discusses the SPOT revolution with regards to the development and launching of other satellites from other nations, including Italy, Sweden, Brazil, China, Japan, the United States and the European Space Agency.