No abstract

Surveys from societies like the USA, Canada, the UK, and France suggest that 5-15% of the population have experienced Bfood insecurity^in the sense of not having enough food to eat due to a lack of money or other resources. The Nordic countries are among the most affluent societies in the world and it is generally assumed that food insecurity has been eradicated due to relatively low differences in wages and well-developed social security schemes. This representative web survey of food and eating in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden indicates however that food insecurity does exist in the Nordic region. In line with research from other industrialized counters, it also suggests that women, young people, single parents, and low-income group seem more at risk of experiencing food insecurity than others. These results must be regarded as preliminary, needing to be substantiated by more comprehensive studies. Moreover, there is a need to develop or use more standardized methodologies enabling comparison across countries and mapping trends over time.

In this article, problem gambling stories of eight Norwegian households are interpreted in the light of Jacques Lacan's concept of the Real. It is argued that the concept of the Real may help us to see, formulate, and visualize aspects of these stories that usually elude our attention: the hidden and incomprehensible order of a household that impacts its members' everyday lives and concepts of self. RésuméDans cet article, l'histoire de huit foyers norvégiens ayant connu des problèmes liés au jeu est soumise à une interprétation reposant sur le concept de Réel élaboré par Jacques Lacan. On y défend l'idée selon laquelle le concept lacanien de Réel peut contribuer à voir, à formuler et à envisager différentes facettes de ces histoires qui habituellement échappent à notre attention. Ces facettes sont liées à un ordre familial caché et incompréhensible qui exerce une influence sur la vie quotidienne des membres de la famille et la constitution de leur personnalité.

The production of concrete is one of the most significant contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions. This work focuses on bio-cementation-based products and their potential to reduce global warming potential (GWP). In particular, we address a proposed bio-cementation method employing bacterial metabolism in a two-step process of limestone dissolution and recrystallisation (BioZEment). A scenario-based techno-economic analysis (TEA) is combined with a life cycle assessment (LCA), a market model and a literature review of consumers’ willingness to pay, to compute the expected reduction of global GWP. Based on the LCA, the GWP of 1 ton of BioZEment is found to be 70–83% lower than conventional concrete. In the TEA, three scenarios are investigated: brick, precast and onsite production. The results indicate that brick production may be the easiest way to implement the products, but that due to high cost, the impact on global GWP will be marginal. For precast production the expected 10% higher material cost of BioZEment only produces a marginal increase in total cost. Thus, precast production has the potential to reduce global GWP from concrete production by 0–20%. Significant technological hurdles remain before BioZEment-based products can be used in onsite construction scenarios, but in this scenario, the potential GWP reduction ranges from 1 to 26%. While the potential to reduce global GWP is substantial, significant efforts need to be made both in regard to public acceptance and production methods for this potential to be unlocked.

Drawing on a statistical analysis of Norwegian newspapers, this paper explores the structure of power regulating the Norwegian gambling market. A basic assumption is that structures of power have to be identified before desirable changes of markets can be made. The analysis indicates that the press's view on gambling in the mid-2000s was split. Whereas governmental gambling services such as lotteries and bookmakers were seen from a market view in which gambling is seen as being like any other product on the market, non-governmental gambling services such as slot machines and online gambling services were seen from a medical point of view, which suggests that gambling is a dangerous source of addiction. The importance of this split should not be underestimated, as it legitimizes the state's gambling policy. To get a more complete picture of the structure of power regulating western gambling markets today, similar studies from other countries should be conducted.