Research In Sweden Research Articles

Science for Architecture: Designing Architectural Research in Post-War Sweden

How did architectural research in Sweden become scientific in its approach rather than artistic, as architecture education in the post-war period was primarily influenced by the Bauhaus pedagogy? Via the American Bauhaus pedagogical developments taking place at the IIT and the GSD, Swedish architecture education adopted the artistic ‘learning by doing’ approach. The most interesting structure signifying this was a permanent exhibition of building materials located in the foreground of the 1957 KTH architecture school. When the new KTH architecture school was completed its architecture illustrated another image: that of the new architecture curriculum, A68, put into practice the same year as the building was designed. A68 reorganized architecture education and put more focus on environmental studies and building function analysis. The new curriculum included the subjects Formlära, Design Principles, and Byggnadsfunktionslära, Building Function Analysis, which were technical in their approach of using empirical research. As a result, the 1969 KTH architecture building included a laboratory for testing technical problems in air-conditioned spaces as well as a laboratory for testing acoustics. The 1961 LTH architecture building included a full-scale-laboratory where studies were directed by Carin Boalt, the first female professor at a technical university.

Science as propaganda: Swedish scientists and the co-production of American hegemony in Sweden during the cold war, 1953–68

This article takes a close look at how the United States used the funding of scientific research in Sweden as a hegemonic and propaganda tool in the 1950s and 1960s. It shows that non-aligned Sweden functioned just as much as a node in the international science network set up by the Americans after the Second World War as did the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries. These funds were awarded mainly to an elite network of prominent Swedish scientists. The article sheds interesting light on the controversies of such funding in Sweden during the cold war and adds important knowledge about Swedish–American relations during the cold war. The article argues that this Swedish scientific elite co-produced US hegemony in Sweden by actively seeking out American military funding and by making use of it. It also argues that US funding was intended to portray the United States as an altruistic patron of science in the world and thus serve American propagandistic purposes as well.

Internet-Based CBT Is Effective for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is effective for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), but few patients have access to this treatment. Internet-based CBT is effective for other psychiatric conditions, such as panic disorder and social anxiety disorder. Now, researchers in Sweden have conducted a randomized, controlled, 10-week trial of Internet-based CBT, …

The Creation of Regions: An Alternative Approach to Swedish Middle Neolithic Boundaries and Cultures

This article investigates whether there is an alternative understanding to the presumed coast–inland division that has dominated middle Neolithic research in Sweden. Traditionally, the partition of the landscape is put in relation to two different material cultures said to represent two different ethnic groups: the Pitted Ware Culture and the Boat Axe Culture. An alternative interpretation is presented based on analyses of water catchment areas, naturally formed regions and landscape historicity. The results suggest that the traditional division between the inland and the coast may be questioned since the naturally formed regions include both zones and hence both material groups. For this reason, the difference in the material culture is more likely a consequence of different activities taking place at different locales within a single region, rather than being evidence of various ethnic groups.

Research initiation based on idea-circles: from research object to co-actor

This article details an evaluation of a research project based on participatory research methods organized by the Swedish Disability Federation from 2008 to 2011. In Sweden there has been a lack of productive dialogue with the traditional academic world and the question was raised whether proposals for future research would be different if disabled people formulated them. Nine idea-circles with disabled participants and invited researchers from fields of interest close to the participants produced ideas, developed out of the life experience of being a disabled person. These ideas were developed into 72 research drafts that often reflected key advocacy areas, rather than operationalized research issues. The adjustment from the familiar discourse of political struggle to discussion of research was a complicated process for many. When asked to prioritize among areas for research, the representatives from the disability movement chose areas that are not stressed in mainstream disability research in Sweden.

The Reconfigured Body. Human-animal relations in xenotransplantation

<span style="font-family: MeliorLTCE; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: MeliorLTCE; font-size: x-small;"><p>The article explores issues concerning the reconfiguration of human and animal bodies in modern biotechnology. The examples are based on xenotransplantation: Transplantation of cells, tissue and organs from animals to humans. Three thematic issues that emerged from xenotransplantation research in Sweden in the 1990s and early 2000s are examined in the article. The first issue concerns how the pig was introduced as a donor animal in xenotransplantation and, at the same time, dehumanized in relation to what is human. Baboons and chimpanzees that had previously been used in xenotransplantation now became an ethically problematic choice, and were in stead humanized. The second issue concerns the introduction of transgenic and cloned pigs as commoditized objects. The biotechnological development reconfigured the pig’s cells, tissue and organs to become more human-like. The third issue concerns the risk that pigs contain retrovirus that could infect the transplanted patients. The human body became part of a network of both animal and retrovirus. Boundlessness between human and animal bodies appears in these three thematic phases and is analysed from a cultural perspective.</p></span></span>

The establishment of a scientific field: The history of reindeer husbandry research in Sweden 1900-1970

The focus of this article is the development of reindeer husbandry research as a scientific field within thenatural sciences, 1900-1970. Up until after World War II, research within this field was mostly carried out by socialscientists, while it was given very limited attention within the natural sciences. From the late 1940s this changed, as interest in reindeer husbandry research grew and more academic disciplines became involved, and during the following decades the field became established. The article examines research initiatives focused on reindeer husbandry within the natural sciences during the first half of the 20th century, discussing the motives for these studies as well as why they did not lead to the establishment of a scientific field. It then turns to the development after World War II, analyzing why reindeer husbandry research was established so quickly, and how the field developed up until 1970, both nationally within Sweden and as a Nordic cooperation.

Cardiovascular effects of environmental noise: Research in Sweden

In Sweden, as in many other European countries, traffic noise is an important environmental health issue. At present, almost two million people are exposed to average noise levels exceeding the outdoor national guideline value (55 dB(A)). Despite efforts to reduce the noise burden, noise-related health effects, such as annoyance and sleep disturbances, are increasing. The scientific interest regarding more serious health effects related to the cardiovascular system is growing, and several experimental and epidemiological studies have been performed or are ongoing. Most of the studies on cardiovascular outcomes have been related to noise from road or aircraft traffic. Few studies have included railway noise. The outcomes under study include morning saliva cortisol, treatment for hypertension, self-reported hypertension, and myocardial infarction. The Swedish studies on road traffic noise support the hypothesis of an association between long-term noise exposure and cardiovascular disease. However, the magnitude of effect varies between the studies and has been shown to depend on factors such as sex, number of years at residence, and noise annoyance. Two national studies have been performed on the cardiovascular effects of aircraft noise exposure. The first one, a cross-sectional study assessing self-reported hypertension, has shown a 30% risk increase per 5 dB(A) noise increase. The second one, which to our knowledge is the first longitudinal study assessing the cumulative incidence of hypertension, found a relative risk (RR) of 1.10 (95% CI 1.01 - 1.19) per 5 dB(A) noise increase. No associations have been found between railway noise and cardiovascular diseases. The findings regarding noise-related health effects and their economic consequences should be taken into account in future noise abatement policies and community planning.

Just plane grate

Researchers in Sweden and China have used silicon nanowire technology to fabricate a planar grating demultiplexer for optical networks and communications. Their device has several advantages, from high integration density and finesse (suggesting high spectral resolution), to low crosstalk and the convenience of integration with existing silicon electronics.

How do we reduce the risk of deaths and injuries from incidents involving police cars? Understanding injury prevention in the Swedish context

Motor vehicles are an indispensible and daily tool of police work. The risk that police officers face when driving has attracted much academic attention, although in Sweden research in this field has been limited. In this paper, it is our intention to identify risks involving police cars, to review the causes of police car accidents in Sweden, and to give a better understanding of injury prevention in the Swedish police context. We note that, during the last few years, police officers' road traffic training has become more structured, covering emergency service driving and pursuits. Nevertheless, we call for more comprehensive driver education in police officer training, along with the establishment of strict routines for the gathering and processing of traffic incident data.

Bandwidth boost for 850 nm VCSELs

A dramatic increase in the high-speed properties of vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) can be achieved by a simple reduction in the photon lifetime of the cavity, according to research-ers in Sweden. The team at Chalmers University of Technology have investigated this effect and have used it to increase the modulation bandwidth of an 850 nm multimode VCSEL by over 50% to a record high of 23 GHz, beating the previous record of 21.5 GHz set by K. L. Lear et al. in 1997.

To Bridge Time

Since the early 1990s, the concept of historical consciousness has been central to didactic research in Sweden. It has mostly been used as a theoretical framework on a macro-level or as an attempt to identify students' historical consciousness. This article applies the theoretical concept of historical consciousness to tangible source material: history textbooks from the twentieth century. It focuses on whether Swedish history textbooks for lower secondary school have articulated contexts that may be conducive to developing historical consciousness. The article employs a number of theoretical concepts—narratives, multichronology, identity, and values—in order to analyze perspectives that can be utilized to trigger historical consciousness.

Undeclared imports: silent borrowing in educational policy‐making and research in Sweden

Research on educational policy borrowing has mostly focused on explicit transfer processes, often highlighting how explicit reference to the international has served legitimatory purposes in the borrowing country. In contrast, this paper focuses on ‘silent’ borrowing, i.e. non‐acknowledged processes of policy transfer. The paper argues that keeping processes of policy transfer ‘silent’ can also follow a logic of legitimation, depending on which patterns of legitimation are favoured in a political culture. Three propositions are argued in the paper, using the case of Sweden as an empirical example: (1) educational policy‐making in Sweden has been heavily influenced by international discursive currents; this, however, has largely been left unacknowledged by policy‐makers; (2) The educational research community has largely followed the official image of policy‐making in its exclusive focus on the national context; and (3) Silent borrowing was so prevalent in Sweden for a long time because political culture was characterised by a powerful myth of rationality and national superiority, favouring strategies of legitimation other than explicit borrowing.

Mentally disordered criminal offenders: Legal and criminological perspectives

Legal research in Sweden has traditionally focused on a systematization of the legal rules and their practical application, while the task of studying the effects of the application of the laws has been handed over to other branches of the social sciences. In contrast, new legal theories focusing on proactive and therapeutic dimensions in law have gained increasing attention in the international arena. These approaches may be better suited for evaluating legislation governing compulsory psychiatric care. Theoretical discussions and studies of causal mechanisms underlying criminal behaviour, as well as the implementation and value of instruments for predicting behaviour, are relevant to contemporary criminological research. Criminal behaviour varies across different groups of perpetrators, and the causes can be sought in the interplay between the individual and social factors. Multi-disciplinary efforts, integrating research from forensic psychiatry, psychology, sociology, and criminology, would be beneficial in leading to a better understanding of the causes underlying criminal behaviour.

Costs and benefits to Sweden of Swedish road safety research

This paper summarises a study designed to answer the following question: what are the benefits to Swedish society of road safety research in Sweden funded by the Swedish Transport Research Council and the programme for vehicle safety research during the period 1971–2004? The paper starts by discussing whether research can answer this question at all and explains why a well-controlled study was not feasible. A case study approach was selected, and five major research projects were examined in detail for the purpose of trying to estimate their effects on road safety. Estimates of safety effects were developed for four of the projects, indicating that road safety measures that were at least to some extent based on the findings of the research projects have made major contributions to reducing the number of road accident fatalities in Sweden. The estimates are not analytically rigorous and should be treated as qualified guesses only. Causal inferences are not possible. Nevertheless, if taken at face value, they show that the benefits to society of road safety research are large and outweigh by a wide margin the costs of the research, and of the road safety measures developed as a result of research. Thus, even if the estimated safety benefits exaggerate the true effects, the benefits of applied road safety research are likely to be greater than the costs of conducting this research and implementing road safety measures developed by research.

Patients’ refusal to consent to storage and use of samples in Swedish biobanks: cross sectional study

Objectives To estimate how many people object to storage of biological samples collected in health care in Sweden and to their use in research and how many withdraw previous consent.Design...

Grating games

Diffraction gratings have a long history, but researchers in Sweden have now come up with a new method for producing one- and two-dimensional grating patterns. The approach could be useful for fabricating complicated nanostructures and optical devices.

National Registry Quantifies Family Depression Risk

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Clinical & Research NewsFull AccessNational Registry Quantifies Family Depression RiskJoan Arehart-TreichelJoan Arehart-TreichelSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:18 Jan 2008https://doi.org/10.1176/pn.43.2.0030Even during their Viking days, the Scandinavians tended to keep very good records. Keeping with that tradition, researchers in Sweden have harnessed various population databases to learn more about the familial transmission of depression.Specifically, all men and women born in Sweden from 1932 on have been registered, together with their parents, in its Multigeneration Register. Moreover, the government started recording, as of 1987, complete data on all hospital discharges for depression in Sweden in the Swedish Hospital Discharge Register. So Xinjun Li, M.D., Ph.D., of the Karolinska Institute in Huddinge, Sweden, and coworkers used both the Multigeneration Register and Swedish Hospital Discharge Register data from 1987 to 2004 to determine which Swedes had been hospitalized for depression between 1987 and 2004, and which had one or more parents who had also been hospitalized for depression during the same period. They then used that information to calculate familial risks of depression during the period.For example, if individuals had one affected parent, their chance of being hospitalized for depression as well was about three times greater than that of individuals with unaffected parents. When a male had two affected parents, his risk of being hospitalized for depression was five times greater than that of males with unaffected parents. When a female had two affected parents, her risk of being hospitalized was seven times greater than that of females with unaffected parents. But the greatest risks of all were noted for males and females aged 15 to 29 with two affected parents. The risk was eight times greater for males and 11 times greater for females.Li and his coworkers also determined that depression risk in men with an affected mother was similar to that in men with an affected father, but that the risk in women with an affected mother was greater than the risk in women with an affected father.Finally, the researchers compared age-specific incidence rates of depression in Swedes according to their parental history of depression. All age-specific incidence rates were higher in those who had one or more affected parents than they were in those with unaffected ones. And while the incidence rate of depression in Swedes with unaffected parents gradually increased with age, the incidence rate of depression in those with affected ones shot up between ages 15 and 20, took another small upward turn between ages 40 and 44, and rose even higher after age 60.So all in all, there seems to be a strong familial impact on depression risk, and even on age-specific depression risk, Li and his team concluded in their study report, which is in press with the Journal of Psychiatric Research. Why this is the case is not clear, they admitted.“It could be assumed that it is due to a genetic basis for depression. However, it is also possible that depression running in families is due to children learning depressive strategies from their parents.” Such strategies might be negative cognitions or dysfunctional behaviors, they speculated.The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Swedish Research Council, and the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research.An abstract of “Age-Specific Familial Risks of Depression: A Nation-Wide Epidemiological Study From Sweden” can be accessed at<www.sciencedirect.com> by clicking on “J” under “Browse by Title,” then“ Journal of Psychiatric Research.” ▪ ISSUES NewArchived

J. W. Sandström—a biographical sketch

J. W. Sandström’s (1874–1947) activities encompassed meteorological and oceanographic research in Sweden, as well as Norway. As shown in this biographical sketch, his scientific interests ranged over wide fields and were pursued well past his retirement from the Swedish Meteorological Office. In addition to Sandström’s well-known results with bearing on the global thermohaline circulation on which much of his present-day reputation rests, he made other highly important theoretical contributions to both oceanography and meteorology, at the same time not neglecting field research. At a very early date, Sandström, inspired by his academic benefactor Otto Pettersson, recognized the importance of the North Atlantic inflow to the Norwegian Sea for the climate of Northwestern Europe and, furthermore, attempted to investigate this process during a number of Nordic-Sea research cruises in the 1930s.

In vivo x‐ray fluorescence measurements of lead, cadmium and mercury in occupational and environmental studies: a review of work conducted in Sweden 1970–2005

AbstractLead, cadmium and mercury are toxic elements capable of causing temporary or permanent damage to human organs and tissues. An adequate control of these elements necessitates measurements in humans, on samples from man and the environment. This applies to both occupationally exposed subjects and to members of the general public including patients. The present paper will review the in vivo x‐ray fluorescence (XRF) technique for non‐invasive estimation of element levels directly in humans. Focus is on work conducted by researchers in Sweden between 1970 and 2005.Results from studies made with in vivo XRF on occupationally lead and cadmium exposed groups of workers have revealed very high levels of these elements in bone and kidneys, respectively. The development of the cadmium in vivo XRF technique implies usefilness even for measuring the low levels found in subjects of the general public, e.g. the detection limit for cadmium in kidney cortex allows for groups of smokers and non‐smokers to be separated. Retired lead workers show a clear association between bone lead and blood lead due to the endogenous lead excretion from bone. Longitudinal studies of retired workers show biological half‐lives for bone lead of several years. A study of mercury in vivo showed that the technique is capable of detecting the element in the kidneys of the most heavily exposed workers. In vivo XRF in oncology and rheumatology subjects, administered with therapeutic compounds containing platinum and gold, respectively, helps to understand the retention of these compounds in the human body. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.