Rule versus interaction function : evaluating regional aggregations of commuting flows in Sweden

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the performance of two divergent methods for delineating commuting regions, also called labour market areas, in a situation that the base spatial units differ largely in size as a result of an irregular population distribution. Commuting patterns in Sweden have been analyzed with geographical information system technology by delineating commuting regions using two regionalization methods. One, a rule-based method, uses one-way commuting flows to delineate local labour market areas in a top-down procedure based on the selection of predefined employment centres. The other method, the interaction-based Intramax analysis, uses two-way flows in a bottom-up procedure based on numerical taxonomy principles. A comparison of these methods will expose a number of strengths and weaknesses. For both methods, the same data source has been used. The performance of both methods has been evaluated for the country as a whole using resident employed population, self-containment levels and job ratios for criteria. A more detailed evaluation has been done in the Goteborg metropolitan area by comparing regional patterns with the commuting fields of a number of urban centres in this area. It is concluded that both methods could benefit from the inclusion of additional control measures to identify improper allocations of municipalities.

Geoprocessing journey-to-work data : delineating commuting regions in Dalarna, Sweden

Delineation of commuting regions has always been based on statistical units, often municipalities or wards. However, using these units has certain disadvantages as their land areas differ considerably. Much information is lost in the larger spatial base units and distortions in self-containment values, the main criterion in rule-based delineation procedures, occur. Alternatively, one can start from relatively small standard size units such as hexagons. In this way, much greater detail in spatial patterns is obtained. In this paper, regions are built by means of intrazonal maximization (Intramax) on the basis of hexagons. The use of geoprocessing tools, specifically developed for the processing ofcommuting data, speeds up processing time considerably. The results of the Intramax analysis are evaluated with travel-to-work area constraints, and comparisons are made with commuting fields, accessibility to employment, commuting flow density and network commuting flow size. From selected steps in the regionalization process, a hierarchy of nested commuting regions emerges, revealing the complexity of commuting patterns.

Pendlingens påverkan på KASAM

Många hushåll och individer har i dagens samhälle tvingats börja pendla till sina arbeten bl.a. på grund av en förändrad arbetsmarknad. Syftet med föreliggande studie var att se om individer som pendlar regelbundet har ett lägre KASAM. Utgångspunkten var att individer med en mer extern kontrollokus ofta har lägre KASAM och att pendling hypotetiskt sett bör påverka individen lokus i en extern riktning. Sammanlagt 27 försökspersoner i åldrarna 22 – 50 år undersöktes med hjälp av KASAM test och I-E test. Deltagarna togs med bekvämlighetsurval från ett nordiskt flygbolag i Sverige, där 13 personer pendlande till arbetet och 14 var bosatta på arbetsorten, vilket visade att KASAM var signifikant lägre på 5 % nivå för de pendlande individerna, samt att kontrollokus var signifikant mer externt, också på 5 % nivå. Vidare forskning bör fokusera på individer från andra branscher för att se om resultaten är allmänna.

Extended local labor markets due to high speed trains : Visualization of estimations in the Swedish national travel demand forecasting tool, SAMPERS

Wider economic benefits resulting from extended geographical mobility is one argument for investments in high-speed rail. More specifically, the argument for high-speed trains in Sweden has been that they can help to further spatially extend labor market regions which in turn has a positive effect on growth and development. In this paper the aim is to cartographically visualize the potential size of the labor markets in areas that could be affected by possible future high-speed trains. The visualization is based on the forecasts of labor mobility with public transport made by the Swedish national mobility transport forecasting tool, SAMPERS, for two alternative high-speed rail scenarios. The analysis, not surprisingly, suggests that the largest impact of high-speed trains results in the area where the future high speed rail tracks are planned to be built. This expected effect on local labor market regions of high-speed trains could mean that possible regional economic development effects also are to be expected in this area. However, the results, in general, from the SAMPERS forecasts indicaterelatively small increases in local labor market potentials.

Languaging in virtual learning sites : studies of online encounters in the language-focused classroom

This thesis focuses upon a series of empirical studies which examine communication and learning in online glocal communities within higher education in Sweden. A recurring theme in the theoretical framework deals with issues of languaging in virtual multimodal environments as well as the making of identity and negotiation of meaning in these settings; analyzing the activity, what people do, in contraposition to the study of how people talk about their activity. The studies arise from netnographic work during two online Italian for Beginners courses offered by a Swedish university. Microanalyses of the interactions occurring through multimodal video-conferencing software are amplified by the study of the courses’ organisation of space and time and have allowed for the identification of communicative strategies and interactional patterns in virtual learning sites when participants communicate in a language variety with which they have a limited experience. The findings from the four studies included in the thesis indicate that students who are part of institutional virtual higher educational settings make use of several resources in order to perform their identity positions inside the group as a way to enrich and nurture the process of communication and learning in this online glocal community. The sociocultural dialogical analyses also shed light on the ways in which participants gathering in discursive technological spaces benefit from the opportunity to go to class without commuting to the physical building of the institution providing the course. This identity position is, thus, both experienced by participants in interaction, and also afforded by the ‘spaceless’ nature of the online environment.

Mellanchefers upplevelser av psykosocial arbetsmiljö inom distributions- och logistikverksamhet – en pendling mellan hög aktivitet och låg stress?

Forskarnas genuina intresse för den psykosociala arbetsmiljön med koppling mellanchefer gav upphov till att dyka djupare inom området och belysa centrala delar i form av krav, kontroll och socialt stöd. Framåtskridandet går mot en ökad medvetenhet kring den psykosociala arbetsmiljön, då ohälsan i arbetslivet ökar och Arbetsmiljöverkets nya föreskrift om organisatorisk och social arbetsmiljö är i fokus. I linje med en ökad medvetenhet som sker kring den psykosociala arbetsmiljön vill vi rikta ett särskilt fokus till mellanchefer som bör ha en förmåga att hantera krav både uppifrån och ned. Studien har främst utgått från Robert Karaseks och Töres Theorells Krav – kontroll – stödmodellen. Syftet är att undersöka mellanchefers upplevelse med fokus på den psykosociala arbetsmiljön i ett privat företag inom distributions- och logistikverksamhet. Metoden har bestått av en kvalitativ metod i form av en fallstudie där semistrukturerade intervjuer ligger som grund med åtta respondenter ifrån distributionscentret. Resultatet uppvisar att mellancheferna har en hög grad av inflytande, upplevelsen av arbetskrav varierar men i koppling till befattningen är kraven rimliga. Det sociala stödet upplevs som bra på arbetsplatsen och anses av funktionscheferna som en viktig och central del i arbetet. Slutsatser som har uppnåtts är att funktionscheferna har rimliga krav och upplever en bra nivå av kontroll i arbetet, men att ha en alltför hög kontroll i arbetet kan leda till negativ stress. En balans i pendlingen mellan aktiva arbeten och lågstressarbeten anses vara en fördel för att bevara en god psykosocial arbetsmiljö. Detta för att motverka de negativa effekterna som kan uppstå av att befinna sig inom varje komponent för länge. I studien har det påvisats att företaget anses ha en god psykosocial arbetsmiljö och därmed kan ses som ett gott exempel i arbetslivet.