Roads and highways in cold regions are negatively affected by settlement of embankments in areas of degraded or degrading permafrost, particularly in areas with mean annual temperatures close to 0°C where permafrost is locally discontinuous. Climate warming and human activities can lead to increases in the temperature of permafrost and to thawing. In regions of discontinuous permafrost, thawing may produce thickening of the active layer, large settlements and non-recoverable shear deformations. These can cause potentially dangerous trafficability issues. The research program involved a test site on Provincial Road PR391, about 18 km northwest of Thompson, Manitoba. The foundation material of PR391 is currently classified as “degraded (thawed) permafrost”. The purpose of this research was to investigate and understand the performance of highway embankments on thawed permafrost. The research involved field instrumentation and data collection, laboratory testing, thermal modelling and frost heave predictions. The results of the field instrumentation and data collection show net heat flow into the ground, as well as development of cyclic seasonal gradients of total head. This is believed to be a significant original contribution to understanding the effects of climate change on highway infrastructure. The results also show that displacements observed at the PR391 embankment are a combination of consolidation and shearing strain of the foundation material. Most studies of embankments concentrate on vertical settlements. This research shows that horizontal movements are also present, a contribution that helps explain the mechanism of lateral spreading. The results of the laboratory testing show that the mechanical and shearing properties of the soil collected from the PR391 embankment are not significantly affected by differences in temperature once water in the soil has actually thawed. The results of the thermal modelling show reasonable trends in simulated ground temperatures compared with the data obtained from the thermistors underneath the embankment. The frost heave prediction of PR391 shows that in situ frost heave characteristics can be estimated by applying the Segregation Potential (SP) frost heave method in field conditions. This provides a valuable field study to the limited number of such studies of Segregation Potential, which are normally done under laboratory conditions.

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Most men and women are employed in occupations largely dominated by people of their own sex. Since occupational aspirations have proven to predict future labor market behavior it is of importance to study young boys’ and girls’ occupational preferences. With the use of a survey based on Swedish 15-year-old children this study examines the association between the gender composition of parent’s occupation and the gender composition of children’s most preferred occupation. Drawing from the sex-role model that emphasizes the importance of the same-sex parents in forming children’s preferences, this study has investigated whether the gender composition of mothers’ (fathers’) occupations has an impact on the gender composition of girls’ (boys’) occupational aspirations. In line with previous research, the sex-role model received support for girls. But the observed association between fathers and sons disappear upon adding control variables. It was also hypothesized that the mothers’ generation entry into high status occupation would make children more likely to also regard their opposite sex parents as a role model. However, this hypothesis did not receive support. The result for girls can be interpreted as a sign that sex-role modeling some extent can be one reason behind the persistent sex segregation in the labor market.

This thesis contains four empirical studies that examine patterns in family formation in Sweden around the turn of the new millennium. This is an interesting context for the topic because Sweden is often seen as a forerunner in family-demographic change as well as in gender equality and value developments. The empirical studies provide insight into the state of affairs of these developments. In all four studies, event-history analyses are applied to Swedish population register data. Two of the studies focus on first-marriage formation, while the other two focus on first childbearing. Study I reveals that starting from 1998 there was an increase in marriage-formation rates, which was not due to compositional changes in the population. This is in contrast to the common image of Sweden in the forefront of contemporary marriage decline. Study II shows that marriage rates for men and women display clear peaks at exact ages 30, 40, 50, and 60 as well as in the year 2000. The peaks demonstrate that in Sweden, marriage formation is not fully determined by conventional structural factors or individual characteristics. It illustrates that the choice to marry may be taken quite lightly in a context where differences between cohabitation and marriage are relatively small. Study III shows that the transition to parenthood varies across occupational groups. For both men and women, birth rates are positively related to own earnings. Birth rates are also high for those who work in a caring or teaching oriented occupation or in a gender-typical occupation. The findings may reflect differences in the possibility to take on parental responsibilities and they demonstrate the role of gendered behavior. Self-selection processes may also be important. In Study IV, the transition to parenthood for men and women is examined in relation to the sex composition of the workplace. Birth rates increase with the share of employees of the individual’s own sex, net of factors such as own earnings, public or private sector employment, occupation, and industry. This shows the importance of gender and gender structures in the work environment for childbearing behavior. / Denna avhandling består av ett introduktionskapitel och fyra empiriska studier som undersöker mönster i familjebildning i Sverige kring millennieskiftet. Detta är en intressant kontext för ämnet eftersom Sverige ofta ses som en föregångare inom familjedemografisk utveckling och jämställdhets- och värderingsförändringar. I samtliga studier tillämpas livsförloppsanalys på registerdata över befolkningen. De två första studierna fokuserar på förstagångsäktenskap och de andra två på barnafödande. Studie I visar att från 1998 skedde en uppgång av giftermålstalen, som inte berodde på sammansättningsförändringar i befolkningen. Detta står i kontrast till den typiska bilden av Sverige som föregångare i en allmän nedåtgående giftermålstrend. Studie II visar att giftermålstalen för män och kvinnor uppvisar tydliga toppar vid ”jämna” åldrar (30, 40, 50 och 60) samt under år 2000. Topparna åskådliggör att i Sverige formas giftermålsbeslut inte helt av konventionella strukturella faktorer eller individuella egenskaper. Detta kan spegla att i en kontext där skillnaderna mellan samboende och äktenskap är relativt små kan giftermålsbeslut fattas relativt lättvindigt. Studie III visar att benägenheten att skaffa ett första barn varierar mellan yrkesgrupper. För både män och kvinnor är födelsetalen positivt relaterade till inkomster och till arbete inom omsorg och utbildning. Detta återspeglar sannolikt skillnader i möjligheten att försörja en familj och att ta ansvar för omsorg av eventuella barn samt att män och kvinnor troligtvis väljer yrken som passar deras intressen. Benägenheten att skaffa barn är också större för de med könstypiska yrken, vilket indikerar att könsrollssocialisering spelar en central roll.  I studie IV undersöks sambandet mellan arbetsplatsens könssammansättning och benägenheten att skaffa ett första barn. För både män och kvinnor är benägenheten att skaffa barn högre ju större andel av kollegorna som tillhör ens eget kön. Detta visar att genus och könsstrukturer i arbetsmiljön kan påverka barnafödandebeslut. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 3: Manuscript. Paper 4: Manuscript.</p> / Welfare, Labor-market Status and Family Dynamics / Register-based Research in Nordic Demography

This essay intervenes in the politics of urban segregation in Stockholm. The main aim of the essay is to analyze and describe how advanced marginality and territorial stigmatization are expressed in the lived experiences of four unemployed youths, that have participated in a labor market training program located in the “social vulnerable” area Rågsved. With a theoretical framework based in Henri Lefebvre’s production of social space the empirical findings are interpreted in regard to how the youths produce social space in dialectical interplay with urban politics, advanced marginality, territorial stigmatization, and their local neighborhood. The empirical material in the study was collected through qualitative interviews with the youths. The method of interviewing, analyzing, and presenting the result is grounded in a phenomenological approach. The historical background for the essay is the politics of urban segregation that has emerged in the metropolitan areas of Sweden. The post-industrial society and advanced sectors in the economy are transforming the labor market, city landscape, and the requirements on workers. This deep transformation process has resulted in social exclusion and inequalities between different groups in the urban city. Unemployment and poverty has been concentrated to the urban periphery of the metropolitan city. The urban periphery is marginalized areas with high concentration of immigrant residents with post-colonial status. The Swedish Metropolitan Committee committed a proposal 1998 for a new urban politics in the beginning of the millennium, which main purpose was to intervene in the ongoing process of ethnic and socioeconomic segregation in the urban landscape. This political-institutional background, within the context of post-industrial society and neoliberal politics, situates the historical framework for the present study. The result in the study points out that the youths are in an insecure position in the contemporary labor market, and constantly reflect their ways of living through the dominated norms of active labor market policies. The youths participation in the labor market training program Rågsved Community Center are described as a positive experience, and they describe how they are fully recognized as individual subjects of the employees. Within the geography of urban segregation, the youths are constantly in a process of mental negotiating about how to determine the space of Rågsved. The space of the “social vulnerable” suburb Rågsved is produced by the youths in the conflict of territorial stigmatization and their feelings of belonging.  The main result from the study is that the youths lived experiences of participation in Rågsved Community Center reflects a political need for something different. They discredit the way that Arbetsförmedlingen approach them as unemployed and lack confidence in their methods. In the social space of Rågsved Community Center the youths are recognized as individuals and are also taking initiative to help their friends in Rågsved to find a way out of unemployment. These spatial practices in Rågsved produce a social space and constitute a local institution that could be an embryo for collective representation and organization in relation to urban segregation and youth unemployment in the urban periphery.

This thesis is based on longitudinal data of the Swedish population provided byStatistics Sweden and is conducted on behalf of the Institute for Analytical Sociology.The focus is on investigating the effectiveness of a frequent sequence miningmethod called constrained Sequential PAttern Discovery using Equivalence classes(cSPADE). The method is applied to data on segregation within workplaces, specificallyreasons for Swedish employees moving to more segregated workplaces. Thethesis found that no unique pattern of age, gender, education, unemployment, income,workplace size or foreignness index explain why a Swedish employee movesto a more segregated workplace. Evaluating the algorithm, it was found that thenumber of observations need to be smaller or an alteration of the algorithm needsto be done to reduce the process time for this specific data set.

Beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) and narwhals (Monodon monoceros) are arctic specialists. Both species show philopatry to their summer grounds, though the reason for this site tenacity is not well understood. Aside from migration routes, little is known about other aspects of monodontid ecology, such as their mating and feeding ecology. An understanding of the feeding ecology of a species may provide some insights into their mating ecology, and vice versa. The purpose of this thesis is to relative testes mass and dietary biomarkers to gain insights in the mating and feeding ecology of both species, as well as possible links between the two. Relative testes and brain masses and body masses of odontocetes were collected from the literature and analysed for correlations between sexual size dimorphism (SSD), relative brain mass, and relative testes mass. Results indicate that odontocete species follow a pattern of increasing SSD with decreasing testes mass. An examination of reproductive tracts from belugas and narwhal collected across the Canadian arctic was performed to examine differences in beluga and narwhal mating systems. Belugas were found to have larger relative testes masses, and narwhal testes masses were correlated with tusk length, indicating that sperm competition may play a larger role in the beluga mating system than for narwhal, and narwhal tusks may be honest indicators of male fitness. Investigations of narwhal and beluga feeding ecology using dietary biomarkers were conducted. In the summer, belugas appear to be congregating and feeding in the estuary plume during the summer, as opposed to along ice floe edges in the spring. Spring diets are representative of diets consumed during the beluga mating season, and no sexual segregation in carbon isotopes or fatty acids was apparent. There was no evidence for sexual segregation in feeding habits outside the mating season, either. Conversely, narwhal showed some evidence of sexual segregation outside the mating season, and the sexes may be feeding in different food webs. Results suggest that belugas may have a more promiscuous mating system, while narwhals are more polygynous. Implications for conservation for both species are discussed.

The aim of this thesis is to examine the impact of new public management (NPM) reforms on teacher professionalism in Swedish ethnic segregated schools. As a result of the various NPM reforms implemented in the education sector, the work of teachers has changed considerably in the last twenty years. The introduction of the new form of control has intensified the work load of professional teachers and led to standardization of teaching. Some scholars argue that NPM has led to professional losing control of their work resulting in de-professionalization of teachers while others argue that professional might acquire new skills that enhance their professionalism leading to re-professionalization. The theoretical basis for the thesis is Evetts (2009) occupational and organizational professionalism which is used to investigate the links between NPM and professionalism in the contexts of the public services professionals. The empirical study consists of five semi structured interviews with teachers working in four ethnic segregated schools. The findings show that teachers working in ethnic segregated schools encounter a challenging teaching environment that affects their teaching quality and diminish their professional autonomy. The result indicates the expansion of organizational professionalism and the demise of occupational professionalism. The only aspect of occupational professional that is apparent in this study is collegial relations. Moreover the findings of this study indicate the tendency towards de-professionalization.

The aim of this study is to examine potential gender inequality in authority positions in the Swedish labour market. In addition, this thesis intends to explore whether there is a difference in gender inequality between the public and the private sector. The results show that women have poorer advancement opportunities compared to men. Men have significantly higher probabilities of holding managerial positions and this is valid in both sectors of the Swedish economy. The outcome cannot be explained by family-related factors, or by gender differences in work motivation. Moreover, despite public sector bureaucracy implying more extensive regulations with the intent to equalize recruitments and promotions on factors such as gender and ethnicity; women have greater chances of holding managerial positions in the private sector compared to the public sector. For men, the sector of employment is not related to differences in workplace authority. Women’s greater disadvantage in the public sector compared to the private is primarily due to the large concentration of female-dominated occupations in the former sector, which limit career opportunities substantially for women. In fact, when controlling for the share of women working in the profession there is no longer a significant advantage in terms of workplace authority for women in the private sector compared to the public sector. This thesis argues that public sector formalized regulations, as regards recruitment and promotion, are not able to attenuate the negative effects for women due to the substantial share of female-dominated occupations within this sector.

Roads and highways in cold regions are negatively affected by settlement of embankments in areas of degraded or degrading permafrost, particularly in areas with mean annual temperatures close to 0°C where permafrost is locally discontinuous. Climate warming and human activities can lead to increases in the temperature of permafrost and to thawing. In regions of discontinuous permafrost, thawing may produce thickening of the active layer, large settlements and non-recoverable shear deformations. These can cause potentially dangerous trafficability issues. The research program involved a test site on Provincial Road PR391, about 18 km northwest of Thompson, Manitoba. The foundation material of PR391 is currently classified as “degraded (thawed) permafrost”. The purpose of this research was to investigate and understand the performance of highway embankments on thawed permafrost. The research involved field instrumentation and data collection, laboratory testing, thermal modelling and frost heave predictions. The results of the field instrumentation and data collection show net heat flow into the ground, as well as development of cyclic seasonal gradients of total head. This is believed to be a significant original contribution to understanding the effects of climate change on highway infrastructure. The results also show that displacements observed at the PR391 embankment are a combination of consolidation and shearing strain of the foundation material. Most studies of embankments concentrate on vertical settlements. This research shows that horizontal movements are also present, a contribution that helps explain the mechanism of lateral spreading. The results of the laboratory testing show that the mechanical and shearing properties of the soil collected from the PR391 embankment are not significantly affected by differences in temperature once water in the soil has actually thawed. The results of the thermal modelling show reasonable trends in simulated ground temperatures compared with the data obtained from the thermistors underneath the embankment. The frost heave prediction of PR391 shows that in situ frost heave characteristics can be estimated by applying the Segregation Potential (SP) frost heave method in field conditions. This provides a valuable field study to the limited number of such studies of Segregation Potential, which are normally done under laboratory conditions.