This article focuses on risk taking as one important dimension of entrepreneurial orientation and its impact in family firms. Drawing on a sample of Swedish SMEs, we find that risk taking is a distinct dimension of entrepreneurial orientation in family firms and that it is positively associated with proactiveness and innovation. We also find that even if family firms do take risks while engaged in entrepreneurial activities, they take risk to a lesser extent than nonfamily firms. Moreover, and most importantly for our understanding of entrepreneurial orientation in family firms, we find that risk taking in family firms is negatively related to performance. Both theoretical and practical implications of our findings are provided.

Extracting globally representative trend information from lower tropospheric ozone observations is extremely difficult due to the highly variable distribution and interannual variability of ozone, and the ongoing shift of ozone precursor emissions from high latitudes to low latitudes. Here we report surface ozone trends at 27 globally distributed remote locations (20 in the Northern Hemisphere, 7 in the Southern Hemisphere), focusing on continuous time series that extend from the present back to at least 1995. While these sites are only representative of less than 25% of the global surface area, this analysis provides a range of regional long-term ozone trends for the evaluation of global chemistry-climate models. Trends are based on monthly mean ozone anomalies, and all sites have at least 20 years of data, which improves the likelihood that a robust trend value is due to changes in ozone precursor emissions and/or forced climate change rather than naturally occurring climate variability. Since 1995, the Northern Hemisphere sites are nearly evenly split between positive and negative ozone trends, while 5 of 7 Southern Hemisphere sites have positive trends. Positive trends are in the range of 0.5-2 ppbv decade-1 , with ozone increasing at Mauna Loa by roughly 50% since the late 1950s. Two high elevation Alpine sites, discussed by previous assessments, exhibit decreasing ozone trends in contrast to the positive trend observed by IAGOS commercial aircraft in the European lower free-troposphere. The Alpine sites frequently sample polluted European boundary layer air, especially in summer, and can only be representative of lower free tropospheric ozone if the data are carefully filtered to avoid boundary layer air. The highly variable ozone trends at these 27 surface sites are not necessarily indicative of free tropospheric trends, which have been overwhelmingly positive since the mid-1990s, as shown by recent studies of ozonesonde and aircraft observations.

h i g h l i g h t sLess than 1% of the road wear caused by studded tyres produce airborne PM 10 particles. The PM 10 emission factor has a maximum in spring when studded tyres are still used. NO X concentrations do not decrease despite renewal of the vehicle fleet. a b s t r a c t PM 10 concentrations exceed the guidelines in some Swedish cities and the limit values will likely be further reduced in the future. In order to gain more knowledge of emission factors for road traffic and concentrations of PM 10 and PM 2.5 , existing monitoring stations in two cities, Gothenburg and Umeå, with international E-road thoroughfares, were complemented with some PM 2.5 measurements. Emission factors for PM 10 and PM 2.5 were estimated using NO X as a tracer. Monitoring data from kerbside and urban background sites in Gothenburg during 2006e2010 and in Umeå during 2006e2012 were used. NO X emissions were estimated from the traffic flow and emission factors calculated from the HBEFA3.1 model. PM 2.5 constitutes the finer part of PM 10 . Emissions of the coarser part of PM 10 (PM 10 ePM 2.5 ) are suppressed when roads are wet and show a maximum during spring when the roads dry up and studded tyres are still used. Less than 1% of the road wear caused by studded tyres give rise to airborne PM 2.5e10 particles. The NO X emission factors decrease with time in the used model, due to the renewal of the vehicle fleet. However, the NO X concentrations resulting from the roads show no clear trend. The air dispersion is an important factor controlling the PM concentration near the road. The dispersion has a minimum in winter and during midnight. The average street level concentrations of PM 10 and PM 2.5 in Gothenburg were 21 ± 20 and 8 ± 6 mg m À3 respectively, which is 36% and 22% higher than the urban background concentrations. Despite the four times lower traffic flow in Umeå compared to Gothenburg, the average particle concentrations were very similar; 21 ± 31 and 7 ± 5 mg m À3 for PM 10 and PM 2.5 respectively. These concentrations were, however, 108% and 55% higher than the urban background concentrations in Umeå. The emission factors for PM 10 decreased with time, and the average factor was 0.06 g km À1 vehichle À1 . The emission factors for PM 2.5 are very uncertain due to the small increments in PM 2.5 concentration at the thoroughfares, and were on average 0.02 g km À1 vehichle À1 .

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the number one cause of death globally and evidence is steadily increasing on the role of non-traditional risk factors such as meteorology and air pollution. Nevertheless, many research gaps remain, such as the association between these non-traditional risk factors and subtypes of CVD, such as acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The objective of this study was to investigate the association between daily ambient temperature and AMI hospitalisations using a case-crossover design in Gothenburg, Sweden (1985–2010). A secondary analysis was also performed for out-of-hospital ischemic heart disease (IHD) deaths. Susceptible groups by age and sex were explored. The entire year as well as the warm (April−September) and cold periods (October–March) were considered. In total 28 215 AMI hospitalisations (of 22 475 people) and 21 082 out-of-hospital IHD deaths occurred during the 26-year study period. A linear exposure-response corresponding to a 3% and 7% decrease in AMI hospitalisations was observed for an inter-quartile range (IQR) increase in the 2-day cumulative average of temperature during the entire year (11°C) and the warm period (6°C), respectively, with and without adjustment for PM10, NO2, NOx or O3. No heat waves occurred during the warm period. No evidence of an association in the cold period nor any association between temperature and IHD deaths in the entire year, warm or cold periods - with and without adjusting for PM10, NO2, NOx or O3 was found. No susceptible groups, based on age or sex, were identified either. The inverse association between temperature and AMI hospitalisations (entire year and warm period) in Gothenburg is in accordance with the majority of the few other studies that investigated this subtype of CVD.

BackgroundThe relative importance of different sources of air pollution for cardiovascular disease is unclear. The aims were to compare the associations between acute myocardial infarction (AMI) hospitalisations in Gothenburg, Sweden and 1) the long-range transported (LRT) particle fraction, 2) the remaining particle fraction, 3) geographical air mass origin, and 4) influence of local dispersion during 1985–2010.MethodsA case-crossover design was applied using lag0 (the exposure the same day as hospitalisation), lag1 (exposure one day prior hospitalisation) and 2-day cumulative average exposure (CA2) (mean of lag0 and lag1). The LRT fractions included PMion (sum of sulphate, nitrate and ammonium) and soot measured at a rural site. The difference between urban PM10 (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter smaller than 10 μm) and rural PMion was a proxy for locally generated PM10 (PMrest). The daily geographical origin of air mass was estimated as well as days with limited or effective local dispersion. The entire year was considered, as well as warm and cold periods, and different time periods.ResultsIn total 28 215 AMI hospitalisations occurred during 26 years. PM10, PMion, PMrest and soot did not influence AMI for the entire year. In the cold period, the association was somewhat stronger for PMrest than for urban PM10; the strongest associations were observed during 1990–2000 between AMI and CA2 of PMrest (6.6% per inter-quartile range (IQR), 95% confidence interval 2.1 to 11.4%) and PM10 (4.1%, 95% CI 0.2% − 8.2%). Regarding the geographical air mass origins there were few associations. Days with limited local dispersion showed an association with AMI in the cold period of 2001–2010 (6.7%, 95% CI 0.0% − 13.0%).ConclusionsIn the cold period, locally generated PM and days with limited local dispersion affected AMI hospitalisations, indicating importance of local emissions from e.g. traffic.