Planning for future sea-level rise in Swedish municipalities

A warmer climate leads to rising sea levels. Despite uncertainties about how rapid and substantial future sea-level rise (SLR) will be, society needs to prepare and adapt. This study examines the state of planning for future SLR in Sweden by surveying 33 coastal municipalities in southern Sweden and interviewing local, regional and national authorities with relevant accountability. The results reveal that there are considerable gaps in current planning for SLR. Almost one-third of municipalities lack guiding planning documents for SLR, and more than two-thirds do not discuss SLR beyond 2100. We argue that the prevailing uncertainty and ambiguity in assessments of future SLR is problematic within a traditional “predict-then-act” paradigm, and that robust approaches, such as scenario planning, can reduce many of these problems.     

Maximum likelihood fitting of the Poisson lognormal distribution

In this paper some properties and analytic expressions regarding the Poisson lognormal distribution such as moments, maximum likelihood function and related derivatives are discussed. The author provides a sharp approximation of the integrals related to the Poisson lognormal probabilities and analyzes the choice of the initial values in the fitting procedure. Based on these he describes a new procedure for carrying out the maximum likelihood fitting of the truncated Poisson lognormal distribution. The method and results are illustrated on real data. The computer program for calculations is freely available.

Identifying demand parameters in the presence of unobservables: A combined revealed and stated preference approach

• ALTHOUGH MOST ACADEMIC programs use hospital-based sites for perioperative clinical experiences, the exponential growth in the number of ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) and the increased variety of procedures performed in these settings make ASCs excellent venues for student learning experiences.• NURSING STUDENTS in one program in Florida have the opportunity to take a perioperative practicum designed to allow them to learn about all aspects of patient care and administrative functions in ASCs.• THE ASC PRACTICUM EXPERIENCE is popular with students and staff members alike, and ASC administrators are seeking ways to increase the number of students in the program in an effort to attract new graduates to ASCs. AORN J 84 (August 2006) 219–232. © AORN, Inc, 2006.