Differences in the mean atmospheric conditions during summer (June-August) extreme and non-extreme precipitation events in Sweden are analysed for cyclonic, anticyclonic and directional weather types based on the Lamb classification. Extreme and non-extreme events are defined as daily totals >= 40 mm and totals < 40 min and more than 1 mm respectively. The analyses are based on daily precipitation data from a data set consisting of 366 stations in Sweden, divided into 11 regions. The atmospheric conditions are described by daily National Centers for Environmental Prediction reanalysis data of various variables at nine levels (1000-200 hPa). The proportion of precipitation events that occurs during the cyclonic weather type is similar to 45% for non-extreme events but increases to similar to 70% for the extreme events. This can be related to higher mean vertical velocities for the cyclonic types compared with the directional and anticyclonic types, and higher mean specific humidity compared with the directional type.The atmospheric circulations of extreme and non-extreme events are compared through composites of wind and eeopotential heights at 500 and 850 hPa. The significance of the differences in mean values of the atmospheric variables during the two types of event is examined using a two-tailed t-test. The composites of extreme events occurring during cyclonic weather types are characterized by a more pronounced ridge over western Russia at 500 hPa compared with the non-extreme events. For the directional weather type the flow at 500 hPa is, on average, basically zonal for the non-extreme events, whereas for the extreme events a ridge is positioned east of Sweden over Finland. Most of the variables analysed show significant differences in mean during extreme and non-extreme events, and, not surprisingly, specific humidity and vertical velocity can be regarded as the key variables when describing climatological differences between extremes and non-extremes. The extreme events are favoured by lower westerly wind flow and wind speed and stronger southerly winds compared with the non-extreme events. Copyright (c) 2005 Royal Meteorological Society.

Extreme daily precipitation in Sweden for the years 19612000 is analyzed with respect to spatial scale, regional variations and associated weather types. Correlograms based on a lag distance of 30 km estimated the spatial scale of variation of the annual mean precipitation, the 99(th) percentile of daily precipitation and the average of annual maximum daily precipitation to 100 km, 60-100 km and 40-70 km, respectively. Regions of correlation with respect to precipitation at 82 stations during days of extreme events are identified through Maximum-Likelihood Factor Analysis. Eleven factors are found to provide the optimum factor solution. Weather types for the days of extreme events are determined by an objective classification scheme, based on daily sea level pressure, which is modified by subjective inclusion of fronts. In total, 63% of the extreme events occurred during cyclonic weather types, 32% during frontal, 3% during directional and 2% during anticyclonic types. The frequency of the weather types during extreme events varied between the regions however.

This article explores the process of small-scale technological innovation through the concept of experienced and enacted time. By conducting a series of semi-structured, deep interviews with 10 entrepreneurial innovators around issues of time and their ventures, we were able to construct four higher order concepts: time as a force, time as a flow, time as relations and time as a personal, cognitive resource; as well as 12 subcategories depicting ways in which time and innovation are weaved together. The study concludes with a number of suggestions as to how previous research on innovation may be extended in the light of the present findings. Especially important in this respect is the call for a stronger emphasis in innovation research on intentionality, uncertainty creation, vision and social action as being significant denominators of this phenomenon.

Two dynamically and statistically downscaled precipitation scenarios for Sweden are compared with respect to changes in the mean. The dynamically downscaled scenarios are generated by a 44 km version of the Rossby Centre regional climate model (RCM). The RCM is driven by data from 2 global greenhouse gas simulations sharing a 2.6°C global warming, one made by the HadCM2 and the other by the ECHAM4 general circulation model (GCM). The statistical downscaling model driven by the same GCMs is regression-based and incorporates large-scale circulation indices of the 2 geostrophic wind components (u and v), total vorticity (ξ) and large-scale humidity at 850 hPa (q 850) as predictors. The precipitation climates of the GCMs, RCMs and statistical models from the control runs are compared with respect to their ability to reproduce the observed seasonal cycle. Great improvements in the simulation of the seasonal cycle by all the downscaling models compared to the GCMs significantly increase the credibility of the downscaling models. The precipitation changes produced by the statistical models result from changes in all predictors, but the change in ξ is the greatest contributor in southern Sweden followed by q850 and u, while changes in q850 have greater effects in the northern parts of the country. The temporal and spatial variability of precipita- tion changes are higher in the statistically downscaled scenarios than in the dynamically downscaled ones. Comparisons of the 4 scenarios show that the spread of the scenarios created by the statistical model is on average larger than that between the RCM scenarios. The relatively large average spread is mainly due to the large differences found in summer. The seasonally averaged difference of the dynamical and statistical scenarios for the ECHAM4-based downscaled scenarios is 12%, and for the HadCM2 downscaled scenarios 21%. The differences in annual precipitation change are smaller, on average 4.5% among the HadCM2-based downscaled scenarios, and 6.9% among the ECHAM4-based downscaling scenarios.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore temporal aspects of chronic pain patients' conceptions of their selves; what they were in the past, how they were functioning at the present and what they thought about their potential and future. In-depth interviews with 21 chronic pain patients were performed and analysed. The main results of the analysis included four higher-order conceptual patterns: "the body and I", "maintaining the consistency of past self", the "entrapped self", and "projected selves, defined by others". These results are presented in a systems-oriented model illustrating the temporal dynamic between the perceived functioning self, the body and others, such as health care personnel and significant others. The mechanisms of the process of how selves are developing in the chronisation or healing process of pain are finally discussed. A clinical implication of these findings might be that with an enlarged insight of the temporal dynamic and the importance of interactive and social factors in shaping positive possible selves, health care personnel can contribute more effectively in stewarding the chronic pain patient toward health-promotive ends and a concomitantly higher quality of life.

Objectives: To investigate psychological symptomatology and distress in subgroups of chronic pain patients with different adaptation styles.Methods: Subjects were 660 patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain who were tested by the combined use of the two large and much used psychological inventories-the Multidimensional Pain Inventory and the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised.Results: The results showed significant differences between the three adaptation profiles, dysfunctional, interpersonally distressed, and adaptive copers. Adaptive copers were equally and less distressed than a sample from a normal population.Conclusion: This study calls attention to the risk of blind faith of the 'objectiveness' of psychometric scales and of the use of them as the sole basis for designing treatments. More attention seems to be needed to get more information about the 'healthy' group of adaptive copers by extended clinical judgment. (C) 2001 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.

Perceived (subjective) future has been found to be a significant factor in explaining the relationship between pain and pain‐related distress. The present study is based on the assumption that chronic pain patients with the three psychological profiles introduced by Turk and Rudy in 1988 could also be found in a sample of chronic pain patients and if so, these profiles have different perspectives on the future. The Multidimensional Pain Inventory (MPI) and The Future Scale were used to collect data from 569 patients with heterogenous non‐malignant chronic pain. A cluster analysis was conducted, where the resulting clusters closely resembled the profiles labelled by Turk and Rudy as ‘dysfunctional’, ‘interpersonally distressed’ and ‘adaptive coper’. The results indicated that patients with adaptive coper profile have a more positive perception, while those with an interpersonally distressed profile have a more negative perception of the future. With an increased duration of pain, the proportion of the adaptive coper category decreased linearly, while an opposite trend was noted for the interpersonally distressed category. These results may better enable profiled psychological interventions in clinical pain treatment, e.g. by providing patients with therapies focused on positive future orientation, resulting in increased motivation for health‐seeking behaviour and better abilities to cope with pain.

A statistical analysis of the seasonal and interannual variations in the regional temperature anomalies of Sweden during 1861-1994 is performed. The study uses homogenized monthly temperatures averaged over 6 regions to minimize the non-climatic and local-scale climatic effects. It is found that the temperature variability shows a clear regional and seasonal dependency. The topography, the influence of the sea acid the synoptic climatology may have determined the dependency. The anomaly is related to variations in the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) expressed by an index (NAOI) and the extent to which the temperature anomaly can be explained by the NAO is investigated. The results show that the NAO has an important effect on the regional Swedish temperature on the monthly and interannual scales. The relationship between the temperature and NAOI over the period 1985-1994 are strong, implying that the NAOI may be a suitable candidate for a statistical downscaling model of the regional temperature. However, correlation analysis over different 31-year periods shows that the strength of the association varies with time and region. The further north the weaker the association. On the other hand, the temporal variations of the moving correlations for the 6 regions are similar. Part of the temporal variations may be explained by the averaged strength of NAO during different 31-year periods. This is especially evident for southern Sweden. At last, the coherency spectrums between the temperature anomalies acid the NAO index is determined, which enables an examination of the association over the frequency domain. The result supports the idea that the NAO has an important effect on the Swedish temperature, though the strength of the association varied with rime. These results have implications for statistical downscaling.

The coincidence of chronic pain, psychological distress and depression has been well documented in several studies. However, there is still debate about the type of causality linking these factors and whether psychological distress and depression precede or are a consequence of pain. This study contributes to this debate through an analysis of the latent structure behind these complex concepts. To test the hypothesis that subjective future (i.e. how the pain patient perceives the future) has an impact on pain, data were analysed from 660 chronic pain patients who were tested with The Multidimensional Pain Inventory (MPI), The Symptom Distress Checklist (SCL-90) and a Future Scale, which was constructed from items of the Sense of coherence-scale. By use of path analysis and structural equation modeling (S.E.M.) four latent constructs were tested: Pain, Interference, Distress and Subjective future. The results indicated that Subjective future has a strong impact on Distress, is a mediating variable, which contributes to conceptually explaining and practically nullifying the relationship between Pain and Distress, and finally that Pain is a concept, that changes with increasing duration. Copyright 1999 European Federation of Chapters of the International Association for the Study of Pain.

The cold pressor test was used to investigate perception of time and change of mood in subjects experiencing pain. Using a within-group design, 15 subjects were tested in a pain vs no-pain condition. Subjects were requested to fill in the mood adjective checklist (MACL) concerning the mood factors of activity, calmness and pleasantness, and were interviewed about their perceptions before and immediately after each condition. The results indicated that subjects in the pain condition estimated retrospective time passage as significantly shorter, indicating a disorganization of temporal orientation (the relative dominance of past, present and future in a person's thought). In addition, results indicated that many of the subjects in the pain condition, although underestimating time, experienced time as long-lasting. The main finding concerning mood was that the activity level was increased, and calmness and pleasantness were significantly reduced in the pain condition. The main conclusion is that pain per se changes the perception of duration of time intervals and temporal orientation within the same individual.

This paper presents a phenomenological-hermeneutical case study on long-standing pain (LP), a public health problem of great importance. Although there has been intensive research interest in this phenomenon, most studies have been based on traditional medical and cognitive-behavioral approaches. Our thesis is that new frames of reference can provide additional heuristic insights. The phenomenon of LP shows a strong association with existential factors. Our case study focuses on the meaning-structure of lived temporality, a fundamental existential constituent in the lifeworld of the pain patient. A series of in-depth interviews with four subjects showed that lived temporality is disrupted in pain experience, causing a disorganization of the patient's being in the world. The results generate several hypotheses about implications for time estimation in pain experience.

A project for the development of a new power reliability criterion for the Swedish Power Pool is described. The new criterion is based on multi-area reliability evaluation software. Calculation of ‘prime power’ for the country as well as for individual utilities is discussed.