Regional planning regulation in the United States

The relationship between the public—and private sectors of any ‘mixed’ economy, and the means necessary to develop an ‘appropriate’ relationship for the particular social/political environment, continue to be questions of major significance for all economies. This article examines one aspect of this problem, the management of regulatory commissions in the United States.     

Physical health problems of the psychiatric client

The psychiatric nurse can make significant contributions to the client's overall state of health by attending to the physical health care needs of clients in psychiatric settings. Psychiatric clients die at a younger age than the general population and their incidence of physical health problems tends to be higher. As major providers of psychiatric care, especially to the chronically mentally ill, nursing skills are crucial to the physical and mental health of vulnerable clients. The case reports provide examples of how the interaction between physical and psychological states influence care.     

Methodological Considerations for Development of Research Support Systems

The article introduces the development of research support systems (RSS) as a special form of information systems (IS) development. Building on experiences from a concrete case several crucial differences between RSS development and development of conventional business support systems (BSS) are identified. So, development for RSS means less of mission and more of continues collaboration, less of producing and more of reciprocal learning and social change. It also involves an expanded universe of discourse that requires support more from an IS researcher and less of a conventional IS-developer. Further, there are issues of ethics and funding that makes RSS development extra challenging. All this represents a shift in focus away from How to do things, toward, What things to do. The article is closed with some tentative guidelines for RSS development. Those include preparing, learning, working arena, anticipatory acting, prototyping and stepwise improvement and scrutiny.     

Monitoring long-range plans

Are long-range plans monitored? How accurate is corporate long-range planning? These are important questions for both the long-range planner and top management. The results of a recent survey of U.S. utility firms by the author provides some insights into a number of facets of the monitoring phase of long-range planning.     

Occupational status scores: Changes introduced by the inclusion of women

This paper examines the impact of women’s labor force participation on occupational scores by comparing occupational status scores based on the characteristics of the 1970 male labor force with a set of occupational status scores based on the characteristics of the total 1970 labor force. Although the two sets of scores are highly correlated, important differences are found in the scores for specific occupations as well as for major occupational groups. Using the traditional list of 12 major occupational categories, we find that the positions of clerical workers and craftsmen are reversed when status scores are derived from data on all incumbents in the labor force rather than on male incumbents alone. The paper suggests that, with the increased participation of women in the labor force and the concomitant change in the sex composition of the work force, the traditional approaches to the measurement of occupational status based solely on male incumbents may no longer be valid for examining the occupational hierarchy of contemporary American society.     

Transforming Governmental Systems

Governmental as well as other public systems are facing new challenges due to, among other things, current information technology trends and changes in peoples’ lifestyles. Hence, ideas of web services for the citizens and agencies accessible over the net 24-hours per day are born. However, in order to implement this new type of net-based services a set of accessibility, integrity and security problems and hindrances are to be overcome. Further, the methodological challenges are far from unproblematic. Neither the artefact approach nor the approach of social systems design seems to be directly applicable. Instead, an approach called pragmatic systemics is proposed. At last, organizational transformation is not only a technical problem. Seen in a systemic perspective, the technological changes and the introduction of new artefacts have to be carefully balanced with changes in human competence, organizational structures, and system culture.     

A Mass–Elite Comparison of Wishful Thinking

Objective . The purpose of this article was to test the generality of wishful thinking by comparing mass and elite beliefs concerning the future of nuclear power in Sweden. Methods . Data from 11 (1986–1996) surveys of the public and a 1988 survey of the Swedish Parliament that included questions concerning preference and expectation regarding nuclear power were examined. Results . A tendency toward wishful thinking occurred consistently across years among the masses, but was considerably stronger among the political elite (members of parliament). The anti–nuclear segment of the public showed a weakened tendency to expect a preferred outcome. Conclusion . Ambiguity of the future outcome, involvement, and knowledge are discussed as key factors in determining the level of wishful thinking in a given context.     

Risk‐Informed Regulation and Safety Management of Nuclear Power Plants—On the Prevention of Severe Accidents

There are four operating nuclear power plant (NPP) units in Finland. The Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) power company has two 840 MWe BWR units supplied by Asea‐Atom at the Olkiluoto site. The Fortum corporation (formerly IVO) has two 500 MWe VVER 440/213 units at the Loviisa site. In addition, a 1600 MWe European Pressurized Water Reactor supplied by AREVA NP (formerly the Framatome ANP—Siemens AG Consortium) is under construction at the Olkiluoto site. Recently, the Finnish Parliament ratified the government Decision in Principle that the utilities' applications to build two new NPP units are in line with the total good of the society. The Finnish utilities, Fenno power company, and TVO company are in progress of qualifying the type of the new nuclear builds. In Finland, risk‐informed applications are formally integrated in the regulatory process of NPPs that are already in the early design phase and these are to run through the construction and operation phases all through the entire plant service time. A plant‐specific full‐scope probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) is required for each NPP. PRAs shall cover internal events, area events (fires, floods), and external events such as harsh weather conditions and seismic events in all operating modes. Special attention is devoted to the use of various risk‐informed PRA applications in the licensing of Olkiluoto 3 NPP.     

Silence‐breaking butterfly effect: Resistance towards the military within #MeToo

Systemic violence against women in the military has existed for decades, but they have mostly refrained from public resistance. However, in the context of the #MeToo movement in Sweden, 1768 women published a call for an end to violence and sexual harassment in the military. We analyse this call as a public resistance effort against the military and find that #MeToo is: (i) challenging the norms of the hyper‐masculine military organization, making resistance towards it visible; and (ii) resisting the practices of sexual harassment and lack of responsibility in the military organization. The military organization is questioned when it comes to norms and practices, but there are variations in whether the social order of the military is truly challenged. Still, the call highlights the fragmentation of this ‘last bastion of masculinity’. More research is needed on the erosion of the militarized norms and practices and the effects of the call.