Swedish Board Research Articles

Safeguarding a Child Perspective in Asylum Reception: Dilemmas of Children's Case Workers in Sweden

This article examines the perceptions and practices of Children’s Case Workers (CCW), employed at the Swedish Migration Board to safeguard children’s interests within the Swedish asylum reception s ...

Does diagnostic delay of colorectal cancer result in malpractice claims? A retrospective analysis of the Swedish board of malpractice from 1995–2008

AimDelay in the diagnosis of colorectal cancer (CRC) may have important clinical and medico-legal implications. This study identifies the claims made on the basis of delay in the diagnosis of CRC to the Swedish insurance agency (whose English name is The County Council´s Mutual Insurance Company) and the impact and consequences of the delay on prognosis, treatment and survival for patients who reported the claims. The Company handles claims of medical malpractice where claimants seek compensation for alleged suffering and/or negative clinical impacts of diagnostic delays.Material and methodsBetween January 1, 1995 and December 31, 2008, a total of 80 patients filed claims for negative effects resulting from delays in the diagnosis of CRC. Review of the claims led to identification of delay for 62 patients. The clinical symptoms that were overlooked and other causes of delay that had any relation to therapy, prognosis and economic compensation were evaluated.ResultsThe median delay in the diagnosis of CRC was six months. This delay was considered to have had an impact on the therapy in 20 % of the cases. The prognosis was postulated to have been adversely affected for 15 % of the patients. The delay was mainly caused by incomplete consideration of the symptoms hematoschisis or anaemia, changed bowel routine, or incomplete clinical or radiological examination and by misinterpretations of the results. No impact of duration of delay on survival was identified. The importance of identifying concomitant metastatic disease at diagnosis was overwhelming. Economic compensation was given in 79 % of the cases.ConclusionThis study found that claims for compensation for delay in diagnosis of CRC are rare. The delay in the diagnosis of the primary tumour was considered to have had an impact on the magnitude of therapeutic measures for a fifth of the patients who filed claims. Economic compensation for the patients´ injuries was given in almost 80 % of the cases.

Longitudinal study of mortality among refugees in Sweden

Refugee immigrants have poorer health than other immigrant groups but little is known about their mortality. A comparison of mortality among refugees and non-refugee immigrants is liable to exaggerate the former if the latter includes labour migrants, whose mortality risk may be lower than that of the general population. To avoid bias, labour migrants are not included in this study. The aim was to investigate mortality risks among refugees compared with non-labour non-refugee immigrants in Sweden. Population-based cohort design, starting 1 January 1998 and ending with death or censoring 31 December 2006. Persons included in the study were those aged 18-64 years, had received a residence permit in Sweden 1992-98 and were defined by the Swedish Board of Migration as either a refugee or a non-labour non-refugee immigrant. The outcomes were all-cause and cause-specific mortalities and the main exposure was being a refugee. Cox-regression models estimated hazard ratios (HRs) of mortality. The study population totalled 86,395 persons, 49.3% women, 24.2 % refugees. Adjusted for age and origin, refugee men had an over-risk of cardiovascular mortality (HR = 1.58, 95% CI = 1.08-2.33). With socio-economic factors added to the model, refugee men still had an over-risk mortality in cardiovascular disease (HR = 1.53, 95% CI = 1.04-2.24) and external causes (HR = 1.59, 95% CI = 1.01-2.50). Refugee men in Sweden have a higher mortality risk in cardiovascular and external causes compared with male non-labour non-refugee immigrants. This study suggests that the refugee experience resembles other stressors in terms of the association with cardiovascular mortality.

Energy conversion strategies in the European paper industry – A case study in three countries

The pulp and paper industry both uses and produces large amounts of energy and rising fuel prices bring along significant challenges to the sector. Several strategies can be applied in order to remain competitive e.g. an increase in energy efficiency, a switch in fuel and/or a novel energy conversion technology. In this study, we investigate if improved energy conversion strategies can reduce energy costs, primary energy use and CO2 emissions of paper mills within different European countries (The Netherlands, Poland and Sweden). Our results show that differences in history and availability of resources has led to different conversion strategies in the three countries. We found that a natural gas combined cycle, which is largely implemented in The Netherlands due to long term domestic availability of natural gas, has the lowest primary energy demand. Due to a long history of low electricity prices, CHP has not been common in Sweden. Many Swedish mills use biomass as an energy source and due to low CO2 emissions of the national grid the CO2 emission profile of the Swedish paper industry is very low. Our results imply that future conversion routes for the Swedish paper and board industry are again wood based; in case of increasing electricity prices these would be biomass gasification based CHP solutions. With a reduction of 800kg CO2/ton paper on average, a switch from coal to biomass would reduce CO2 emissions in the Polish pulp and paper industry with approximately 0.6Mton/year. A carbon price of 20–25€/ton would, according to our results, be enough to provoke this switch. Due to the high share of natural gas, the CO2 emission reduction potential of the Dutch paper industry (1.5Mton/year) is even larger than in Poland. Due to high biomass prices and relative low CO2 emission profile of natural gas, a carbon prices of more than 60€/ton CO2 would be needed to provoke a switch in The Netherlands. Provided with few alternatives, the most effective strategy in The Netherlands would be an increase in energy efficiency.

The times they are a‐changin’: time to change glaucoma management

The times they are a‐changin’: time to change glaucoma management

Work life, new technology and employment of disabled people: A twenty year programme

A development programme was carried out by the Swedish government and the Swedish Labour Market Board (AF) over a period of more than twenty years. The paper describes a case history of a single national programme. Some significant conclusions from it are given. The rationale for the effort was the advent of micro-computers in the early 1980s and the ICT development in general. It was realised that people with disabilities would struggle in the job market if active measures were not taken. Within the AF expertise on different impairments and functional disorder was employed, often highly-skilled with many years of experience of helping people with workplace adaptations. In five years some 4000 jobs for disabled jobseekers were established by applying public procurement, partly on a pre-competitive basis. After these first five years the programme was regularised but still only as a development tool for another fifteen years, with a yearly budget of 0,5-1,0 M\psfig{figure=eur.eps,width=1.9mm}. The ICT technology offered successively a range of generative options, often pre-empting application to solutions beneficial for people having a variety of functional difficulties in their jobs. The projects were intended to include a potential to result in products or services on the open market. If new technology could be transferred into regular business, it would benefit the chief target groups and their procurers in the long run. One success case was Comfort Audio AB. The company was started in 1994 by two young entrepreneurs. Fifteen years later it employs some 60 people and finds its market all over the world with its cutting edge technology for hearing impaired persons.

The tip of an iceberg? A cross-sectional study of the general public's experiences of reporting healthcare complaints in Stockholm, Sweden

ObjectivesTo investigate the hypothesis that complaints of adverse events related to encounters with healthcare personnel are underreported and to identify barriers to filing such complaints.DesignA cross-sectional study, where a questionnaire...

Subscale flight testing used in conceptual design

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present the latest subscale demonstrator aircraft developed at Linköping University. It has been built as part of a study initiated by the Swedish Material Board (FMV) on a Generic Future Fighter aircraft. The paper will cover different aspects of the performed work: from paper study realised by SAAB to the first flight of the scaled demonstrator. The intention of the paper is to describe what has been realised and explain how the work is may be used to fit within aircraft conceptual design.Design/methodology/approachThe approach has been to address the challenges proposed by the customer of the demonstrator, how to design, manufacture and operate a scaled demonstrator of an aircraft study in conceptual design within five months. Similar research projects have been reviewed in order to perform the current work.FindingsThe results obtained so far have led to new questions. In particular, the project indicated that more research is needed within the area of subscale flight testing for usage in aircraft conceptual design, since a scaled demonstrator is likely to answer some questions but will probably open up new ones.Research limitations/implicationsThe current research is just in its infancy and does not bring any final conclusion but does, however, offer several guidelines for future works. Since the aircraft study was an early phase concept study, not much data are available for validation or comparison. Therefore, the paper is not presenting new methods or general conclusions.Practical implicationsResults from a conceptual aircraft study and a realisation of a scaled prototype are presented, which show that scaled flight testing may be used with some restriction in conceptual design.Originality/valueThe value of this paper is to show that universities can be involved in prototype development and can work in close collaboration with industries to address issues and solutions within aircraft conceptual design.

Exposure to Electromagnetic Fields From Laptop Use of “Laptop” Computers

ABSTRACT Portable computers are often used at tight contact with the body and therefore are called “laptop.” The authors measured electromagnetic fields (EMFs) laptop computers produce and estimated the induced currents in the body, to assess the safety of laptop computers. The authors evaluated 5 commonly used laptop of different brands. They measured EMF exposure produced and, using validated computerized models, the authors exploited the data of one of the laptop computers (LTCs) to estimate the magnetic flux exposure of the user and of the fetus in the womb, when the laptop is used at close contact with the woman's womb. In the LTCs analyzed, EMF values (range 1.8–6 μT) are within International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation (NIR) Protection (ICNIRP) guidelines, but are considerably higher than the values recommended by 2 recent guidelines for computer monitors magnetic field emissions, MPR II (Swedish Board for Technical Accreditation) and TCO (Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees), and those considered risky for tumor development. When close to the body, the laptop induces currents that are within 34.2% to 49.8% ICNIRP recommendations, but not negligible, to the adult's body and to the fetus (in pregnant women). On the contrary, the power supply induces strong intracorporal electric current densities in the fetus and in the adult subject, which are respectively 182–263% and 71–483% higher than ICNIRP 98 basic restriction recommended to prevent adverse health effects. Laptop is paradoxically an improper site for the use of a LTC, which consequently should be renamed to not induce customers towards an improper use.

Clinical COPD Questionnaire score (CCQ) and mortality

IntroductionThe Clinical COPD Questionnaire (CCQ) measures health status and can be used to assess health-related quality of life (HRQL). We investigated whether CCQ is also associated with mortality.MethodsSome 1111 Swedish primary and secondary care chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients were randomly selected. Information from questionnaires and medical record review were obtained in 970 patients. The Swedish Board of Health and Welfare provided mortality data. Cox regression estimated survival, with adjustment for age, sex, heart disease, and lung function (for a subset with spirometry data, n = 530). Age and sex-standardized mortality ratios were calculated.ResultsOver 5 years, 220 patients (22.7%) died. Mortality risk was higher for mean CCQ ≥ 3 (37.8% died) compared with mean CCQ < 1 (11.4%), producing an adjusted hazard ratio (HR) (and 95% confidence interval [CI]) of 3.13 (1.98 to 4.95). After further adjustment for 1 second forced expiratory volume (expressed as percent of the European Community for Steel and Coal reference values ), the association remained (HR 2.94 [1.42 to 6.10]). The mortality risk was higher than in the general population, with standardized mortality ratio (and 95% CI) of 1.87 (1.18 to 2.80) with CCQ < 1, increasing to 6.05 (4.94 to 7.44) with CCQ ≥ 3.ConclusionCCQ is predictive of mortality in COPD patients. As HRQL and mortality are both important clinical endpoints, CCQ could be used to target interventions.

Examining the Relationship between Emerging and Prevailing Institutional Logics in an Early Stage of Institutional Entrepreneurship

This study examines how potential institutional entrepreneurs in the Swedish policy process construct an emerging institutional logic to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the Swedish agricultural sector. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between this emerging logic and the prevailing logics. A case study is used to investigate a project led by the Swedish Board of Agriculture, and qualitative methods are applied to reveal how policy makers reflect upon and discuss prevailing goals and templates. The results demonstrate that templates currently in use are handled in four ways: diffusion (or failure) and translation (or failure). Failures occur when translation or diffusion is discussed but subsequently dropped, due to, for example, resistance. The conclusion is that the new logic is less of a divergent break with the prevailing logics and more of a co-mingling containing changed, reused and new templates rationalized by pre-existing as well as new political goals.

Geographical distribution of salmonella infected pig, cattle and sheep herds in Sweden 1993-2010

BackgroundThe Swedish salmonella control programme covers the entire production chain, from feed to food. All salmonella serotypes are notifiable. On average, less than 20 cases of salmonella in food-producing animals are reported every year. In some situations, the cases would be expected to cluster geographically. The aim of this study was to illustrate the geographic distribution of the salmonella cases detected in pigs, cattle and sheep.MethodsData on all herds with pigs, cattle and sheep found to be infected with salmonella during the time period from 1993 to 2010 were obtained from the Swedish Board of Agriculture. Using the ArcGIS software, various maps were produced of infected herds, stratified on animal species as well as salmonella serotype. Based on ocular inspection of all maps, some were collapsed and some used separately. Data were also examined for temporal trends.ResultsNo geographical clustering was observed for ovine or porcine cases. Cattle herds infected with Salmonella Dublin were mainly located in the southeast region and cattle herds infected with Salmonella Typhimurium in the most southern part of the country. Some seasonal variation was seen in cattle, but available data was not sufficient for further analyses.ConclusionsAnalyses of data on salmonella infected herds revealed some spatial and temporal patterns for salmonella in cattle. However, despite using 18 years' of data, the number of infected herds was too low for any useful statistical analyses.

Diagnostic delay of breast cancer – An analysis of claims to Swedish Board of Malpractice (LÖF)

Aim Delay in the diagnosis of breast cancer may have important clinical and medico-legal implications. This study examined the decisions made by reviewers at the Swedish agency (LÖF) that handles claims of medical malpractice where claimants seek compensation for alleged suffering and/or negative clinical impacts of diagnostic delays. Material and methods In 1995–2006 a total of 134 women filed claims for negative effects resulting from delays in the diagnosis of breast cancer. Review of the claims led to approval of delay in the primary diagnosis for 62 women and of recurrence for 28 women. The clinical symptoms that were overlooked and other causes of delay that had any relation to therapy, prognosis and economic compensation were identified. The verdicts reached were analysed. Results The median delay in the diagnosis of the primary disease was 11 months and for recurrent disease 3.5 months. Delay in diagnosis of the primary disease was considered to have an impact on the therapy in 23%. The prognosis was postulated to have been adversely affected 11% of the patients for whom the delay was longer than 12 months. Delay in diagnosing the recurrence was contributing to delay in starting therapy and to unnecessary suffering in 32%. The delay in diagnosis was mainly caused by incomplete clinical or radiological examination and by misinterpretations of the examination results. Economic compensation was given in 90%. There was a warning or admonition to the responsible doctor in a third of the cases referred to the judgement court. Conclusion This study demonstrates that claims for compensation for delay in diagnosis of breast cancer in Sweden occur in about 1/1000 new patient. The delay in the diagnosis of the primary tumour was considered to have an impact on the magnitude of therapeutic measures in almost 25% of the women who filed claims. Economic compensation for the patients’ injuries was given in ninety percent of the cases. In women for whom there was a delay in diagnosing the recurrence there was consequently a delay in starting the palliative therapy.

Accident Investigations: a comparative perspective on societal safety in Norway and Sweden, 1970–2010

The topic for the article is the growing awareness of risk and safety in Norway and Sweden during the last decades of the 20th century, and how the two Scandinavian states have organized investigations of accidents. In many western states accident investigations have moved from sector specific boards to permanent multi-modal commissions. This has also been the case in the two Scandinavian states. But this comparative study reveals different paths and varying speed towards a ‘safety culture’. The Swedish Accident Investigation Board was established in 1990, while its Norwegian opposite partner was established in 2008. Common for the two countries is that reorganization of investigation boards has taken place as political actions after major accidents, rather than as a consequence of risk assessments.

Learning for renewal; learning in a trade union practice

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze learning in a Swedish trade union board in a workplace, according to contemporary challenges in working life and conditions, of decentralization and local independency of trade union work and learning.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on ethnographic studies of two Swedish local trade union boards. The aim is to investigate the everyday activities of the board and the learning processes that were generated. This paper focuses on the study of an experienced trade union board. Theory stressing the situated character of learning is used to understand the changes in participation and the trade union practice. The trade union board's practice is interpreted as solving problems with reference to pragmatism.FindingsThe paper finds that the experienced board is competent and manages to independently solve unfamiliar but traditional problems, processes of learning are generated, but it fails to develop the competence and update the practice required for the complex and challenging problems of today on its own.Practical implicationsThe local trade union board does not manage to develop the competence giving it the power to independently handle the trade union issues significant for the future of the trade union members and the workplace on its own.Originality/valueThis context of learning has not been studied before. It is a type of workplace learning, but part of a social movement.

More Knowledge, Better Government? Consequences of Knowledge-Based Decision Making in Swedish Pharmaceutical Benefits

Using an example from the health-care sector, we illustrate consequences of implementing knowledge-based decision making relating to the exercise of political control. The Swedish Pharmaceutical Benefits Board decides the subsidization status of prescription pharmaceuticals. Building on a study of the agency's work, we explore the effects of institutional arrangements stemming from rationalistic demands for knowledgeable and justifiable outcomes related to political structures for control. Knowledge about the medical and economic effects of pharmaceuticals is routinely ambiguous. This makes it necessary to negotiate “decision-able” knowledge rather than to merely collect it. This touches on matters of broader political consequence, which the formal model for governing the administration does not take into account. This masks decisions as neutral administrative choices. A further conclusion concerns the lack of mechanisms for repoliticizing politically salient issues that have been delegated to administrative bodies.

Bayesian analysis of animal movements related to factors at herd and between herd levels: Implications for disease spread modeling

A method to assess the influence of between herd distances, production types and herd sizes on patterns of between herd contacts is presented. It was applied on pig movement data from a central database of the Swedish Board of Agriculture. To determine the influence of these factors on the contact between holdings we used a Bayesian model and Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods to estimate the posterior distribution of model parameters. The analysis showed that the contact pattern via animal movements is highly heterogeneous and influenced by all three factors, production type, herd size, and distance between holdings. Most production types showed a positive relationship between maximum capacity and the probability of both incoming and outgoing movements. In agreement with previous studies, holdings also differed in both the number of contacts as well as with what holding types contact occurred with. Also, the scale and shape of distance dependence in contact probability was shown to differ depending on the production types of holdings.To demonstrate how the methodology may be used for risk assessment, disease transmissions via animal movements were simulated with the model used for analysis of contacts, and parameterized by the analyzed posterior distribution. A Generalized Linear Model showed that herds with production types Sow pool center, Multiplying herd and Nucleus herd have higher risk of generating a large number of new infections. Multiplying herds are also expected to generate many long distance transmissions, while transmissions generated by Sow pool centers are confined to more local areas. We argue that the methodology presented may be a useful tool for improvement of risk assessment based on data found in central databases.

Size variation of six species of oxudercine gobies along the intertidal zone in a Malayan coastal swamp

MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 409:199-212 (2010) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps08597 Size variation of six species of oxudercine gobies along the intertidal zone in a Malayan coastal swamp G. Polgar1,*, V. Bartolino2 1Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2Institute of Marine Research, Swedish Board of Fisheries, Lysekil, Sweden *Email: gianluca.polgar@gmail.com ABSTRACT: Reduction in size from sea to land is a common trend of many fish species and communities, at both the intraspecific and interspecific level. Within the intertidal zone, similar trends have been described at the intraspecific level in several transient and resident fish species. Oxudercines are a group of intertidal gobies (Gobiidae: Oxudercinae) including several species, which exhibit extreme adaptations to an amphibious lifestyle. Ecomorphological and ecophysiological considerations suggest that size reduction in this group may have facilitated the adaptation to semi-terrestrial conditions. To test this hypothesis, the spatial ecology and the presence of an intra- and interspecific size gradient was investigated in an oxudercine community of a Malayan intertidal ecosystem (6 species included in 3 genera). A random stratified sampling design was adopted, and ANOVA and cluster analysis performed to describe this variation. Multivariate analyses of the quantity of environmental water were also conducted to investigate the correspondence between size and habitat terrestriality. Larger species were found in more aquatic conditions at lower topographical levels along the vertical intertidal gradient, supporting the hypothesis of an adaptive value of smaller size in more terrestrial habitats. Intraspecific variation showed more complex patterns, even if in several species smaller individuals were found in more terrestrial conditions. KEY WORDS: Intertidal fishes · Size distribution · Habitat partitioning · Spatial ecology · Tropical · Mudskippers · Amphibious fishes · Water to land eco-evolutionary transition Full text in pdf format Supplementary material PreviousNextCite this article as: Polgar G, Bartolino V (2010) Size variation of six species of oxudercine gobies along the intertidal zone in a Malayan coastal swamp. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 409:199-212. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps08597Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 409. Online publication date: June 23, 2010 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2010 Inter-Research.

An analysis of the demands on a sufficient audit: Professional appearance is what counts!

The aim of this paper is to analyze the demands on a sufficient audit. Previous research has suggested that the production of comfort is not only about producing an audit according to ‘the manual’ but that professional aspects such as the appearance of the auditor also are of importance. In practice the relationship between, and the relative importance of, process and professional aspects of an audit are however unclear. In this paper this question is probed by analyzing the demands on a sufficient audit by an actor that in its jurisdiction is an obligatory point of passage for the framing of a sufficient audit: the Swedish supervisory board of public accountants (SSBPA). The material that is investigated is the disciplinary cases published by the SSBPA. The image of a sufficient audit that materializes from this investigation is of an audit that meets the demands of professional appearance.

Managing unlawful feelings: the emotional regime of the Swedish migration board

How do organisations develop emotional regimes that make perfect sense to members but appear paradoxical and even morally outrageous to non-members? Exploring the case of a department for the investigation of asylum applications at the Swedish Migration Board (MB), I argue that through repeated and various types of interaction rituals, an emotional regime is enacted and sustained that provides employees with a sense of authenticity, meaning and organisational loyalty. At the department procedural correctness and the professional epitomise the emotional regime and the preferred organisational identity, including ways of acting on and managing emotions. The organisation becomes an emotionally self-enclosed system.