Integration of Critical Infrastructure and Societal Consequence Models: Impact on Swedish Power System Mitigation Decisions

Critical infrastructures provide society with services essential to its functioning, and extensive disruptions give rise to large societal consequences. Risk and vulnerability analyses of critical infrastructures generally focus narrowly on the infrastructure of interest and describe the consequences as nonsupplied commodities or the cost of unsupplied commodities; they rarely holistically consider the larger impact with respect to higher‐order consequences for the society. From a societal perspective, this narrow focus may lead to severe underestimation of the negative effects of infrastructure disruptions. To explore this theory, an integrated modeling approach, combining models of critical infrastructures and economic input–output models, is proposed and applied in a case study. In the case study, a representative model of the Swedish power transmission system and a regionalized economic input–output model are utilized. This enables exploration of how a narrow infrastructure or a more holistic societal consequence perspective affects vulnerability‐related mitigation decisions regarding critical infrastructures. Two decision contexts related to prioritization of different vulnerability‐reducing measures are considered—identifying critical components and adding system components to increase robustness. It is concluded that higher‐order societal consequences due to power supply disruptions can be up to twice as large as first‐order consequences, which in turn has a significant effect on the identification of which critical components are to be protected or strengthened and a smaller effect on the ranking of improvement measures in terms of adding system components to increase system redundancy.     

Democracy between collectivism and individualism. De-nationalisation and individualisation in Swedish national identity

This article studies contemporary national identity formation in Sweden, aiming to shed light on the relationship between democracy, collectivism and individualism. Sweden is selected as a typical case of democratic states which, reflecting processes of individualisation and de-nationalisation, have endorsed individualism and rejected nationalism. Empirically, the formulation of identity is studied on an elite level. While the values of anti-nationalism and individualism have been successfully incorporated into Swedish national discourse, it does not necessarily reflect a de-nationalisation or individualisation of Swedish identity. The rejection of nationalism is a unifying national value, and individualism is in practice often subordinated to other values deemed more essential, e.g. gender equality. Finally, the democratic exclusions within the identity discourse is discussed and it is argued that cultures perceived as less individualist and more nationalist have come to function as significant others, defining Swedishness.     

Maintaining professional integrity: experiences of case workers performing the assessments that determine children’s access to personal assistance

This qualitative study explores Swedish case workers experiences of decision making regarding disabled children's right to obtain assistance in their everyday life whereby they can live independently in the community. Data collection included seven focus-group interviews and 11 complementary individual interviews with case workers from different agencies responsible for decisions regardig access to personal assistance. Grounded theory methodology was used. Compromised professional integrity under shifting conditions emerged as a main concern and maintaing professional integrity was used as an approach to resolve it. The case workers are maintaining professional integrity by applying different strategies; struggling with division of responsibility, bureaucratizig, and justifying and protecting. The results indicate that present application of assessment criteria in combination with the utilization of precedent rulings has made it difficult for the case workers to make decisions that provide children access to assistance. Current practice raises questions about the case workers perspectives of professionalism.     

Is there a relationship between socio-economic factors and biodiversity in urban ponds? A study in the city of Stockholm

Urban small water bodies, such as ponds, are essential elements of human socio-economic landscapes. Ponds also provide important habitats for species that would otherwise not survive in the urban environment. Knowledge on the biodiversity of urban ponds and the relationship between their ecological value and factors linked to urbanization and socio-economic status is crucial for decisions on where and how to establish and manage ponds in cities to deliver maximum biodiversity benefits. Our study investigates if the pattern of urban-pond biodiversity can be related to different socio-economic factors, such as level of wealth, education or percentage of buildings of different types. Because of lack of previous studies investigating that, our study is of exploratory character and many different variables are used. We found that the biodiversity of aquatic insects was significantly negatively associated with urbanisation variables such as amount of buildings and number of residents living around ponds. This relationship did not differ depending on the spatial scale of our investigation. In contrast, we did not find a significant relationship with variables representing socio-economic status, such as education level and wealth of people. This latter result suggests that the socio-economic status of residents does not lead to any particular effect in terms of the management and function of ponds that would affect biodiversity. However, there is a need for a finer-scale investigation of the different potential mechanism in which residents in areas with differing socio-economic status could indirectly influence ponds.     

Earnings Inequality and the Gender Gap: An Accounting Exercise for Sweden 1975–1991

Using the Household Income Survey, the earnings of full time, full year workers in Sweden are studied. Earnings inequality as well as the gender earnings gap were found to decrease up to the beginning of the 1980s, when both started to increase. The following questions are also addressed: How much has the changed earnigns gap contributed to changes in earnings inequality? How much should earnings inequality decrease in the case of men and women having the same mean income while keeping inequality within each gender category constant?     

Caring and the generation of social capital: Two models for a positive relationship

Johansson S, Leonard R, Noonan K. Caring and the generation of social capital: two models for a positive relationship When caring is linked to social capital, it is generally assumed that the nature of the relationship is that social capital is a resource that can be used for care work. When there is inadequate funding of aged care services by the state, then social capital may be seen as a substitute for economic and human capital. Caring, therefore, is seen as a drain on capital. However, this does not have to be the case. Aged care services, if thoughtfully designed, can not only consume social capital, but also generate it. Two models of elder care, one Swedish and one Australian, have been identified which specifically address the generation of social capital. In each case, the services and facilities have been developed by third‐sector organisations with a strong community development focus, often in the face of resistance from state‐run or medically oriented services.     

The prospective effects of work–family conflict and enrichment on job exhaustion and turnover intentions: comparing long-term temporary vs. permanent workers across three waves

This study investigated work–family conflict (WFC) and enrichment (WFE) in relation to job exhaustion and turnover intentions among long-term temporary (n = 384) and permanent (n = 430) workers. We used three-wave data collected among Finnish university employees in 3 consecutive years. The participants were either permanently or temporarily employed for the whole 3-year period. The results showed that permanent employees reported both higher WFC and WFE during the follow-ups than temporary employees. Temporary workers reported higher job exhaustion and turnover intentions compared to permanent workers. Job contract functioned as a moderator: high WFC showed a prospective effect on increased turnover intentions in permanent employees. In contrast, temporary employees benefited more from high WFE, which showed a prospective effect on reduced job exhaustion in temporary employees. The results suggest that measures taken to improve work–family balance could have different implications for long-term temporary and permanent workers.     

Sense of coherence and ill health among the unemployed and re-employed after closure of an assembly plant

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between employment status, ill health and sense of coherence(SOC). A cross-sectional sample of the former workers at the closed down Volvo Kalmar plant in Sweden was used. A questionnaire was mailed to all identified subjects 2 years after the closure of the plant. Responses were obtained from 344 persons, of whom 173 were re-employed and 92 were unemployed. They answered the questionnaire anonymously on background variables, SOC and ill health (physical and psychological symptoms). A notable difference was found between the re-employed and unemployed, where the unemployed reported symptoms significantly more often as well as a significantly weaker SOC. A main finding in a four cell model indicated that unemployment had a rather low impact on symptoms in the presence of a strong SOC. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was performed with simultaneous analysis of the unemployed and reemployed. The SEM analysis indicated that SOC seemed to have a greater impact on psychological symptoms among unemployed compared with re-employed persons. However, it should be noted that the present study does not allow for the determination of cause-effect relationships.     

Rumination for innovation? Analysing the longitudinal effects of work-related rumination on creativity at work and off-job recovery

Work-related rumination is not a single construct, but consists of a dimension associated with negative emotions or affect (affective rumination), and a dimension associated with reflective thinking and applying strategies to solve problems (problem-solving pondering). In this three-wave longitudinal study across two years (N?=?630) we investigated whether the relationships between work-related rumination, off-job recovery, and creativity at work varied along the two dimensions of work-related rumination. In addition, we tested whether the relationships followed normal, reversed, or reciprocal causation. The results showed, first, that in a one-year perspective affective rumination, but not problem-solving pondering, was negatively related to off-job recovery and that problem-solving pondering, but not affective rumination, was positively related to creativity at work. Second, in a two-year perspective, reversed effects were detected as creativity at work was negatively related to affective rumination and positively to off-job recovery. Our results suggest that the quality of work-related thoughts determines whether the outcome is beneficial or detrimental. Occupational health interventions that only advise employees to stop thinking about work during off-job time, may therefore be too simplistic.