| 1. |
- Lakew, Yuliya, 1985-
(författare)
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Matters of Public Connection : The role of mediated and interpersonal communication in young people's environmental engagement
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- What lies at the heart of environmental identity is the recognition of our interconnection with other people, living and not yet born, as well as nonhumans. To develop this sense of belonging, one needs to sustain public connection—a basic orientation to the public world where matters of shared concern are addressed. This connection is best sustained through communication— interpersonal and through media. The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the role that public connection, interpersonal and mediated, plays in young people’s everyday environmental engagement. This dissertation addresses the task by focusing on how this role varies among adolescents of different ages, genders, and existing environmental attitudes and how it changes over time. Drawing on Bruno Latour’s notion of “matters of concern” and Steven Vogel’s environmental philosophy, this inquiry challenges the common understanding of environmental awareness as an “extremely scientific view of the world,” expands the role of the media and interpersonal communication beyond the dissemination of scientific and ecological information and its effects on people, and taps into communication’s potential to sustain public connection. To provide a more integrated and dynamic perspective on adolescents’ communication flows, I employ longitudinal quantitative data and draw heavily on a toolbox of person-oriented methods. Methodologically, the main focus lies in identifying types of young people who function in a similar way and comparing how the relationship between public connection and environmental engagement unfolds for these different types of individuals. This dissertation consists of three empirical studies. The findings suggest that the more strongly connected to the public world young people are, the more engaged they are with environmental issues. Both interpersonal discussions and news media use assist in strengthening engaged adolescents’ belief that their contribution matters for tackling climate change. However, environmentally aware youth may project their own beliefs onto other people rather than being influenced by others’ beliefs. Disengaged youth do not sustain public connection, whether through conversation or through media. The role of mediated public connection varies among adolescents. Media may not be the most important channel for environmentally engaged youth to sustain their orientation to the public realm. This is indicated by the deep gender divide, in which girls are more concerned about the environment but consume significantly less news than boys. While news consumption does not seem to contribute to environmental disengagement, its relevance to pro-environmental practices weakens as teenagers mature. Early adolescence may be a critical window of opportunity to instill values of connectivity and form everyday habits that can help us achieve a more sustainable future.
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| 2. |
- Svantesson, Mats, 1975-
(författare)
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Self-supervised deep learning and EEG categorization
- 2024
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Deep learning has the potential to be used to improve and streamline EEG analysis. At the present, classifiers and supervised learning dominate the field. Supervised learning depends on target labels which most often are created by human experts manually classifying data. A problem with supervised learning is intra- and interrater agreement which in some instances are far from perfect. This can affect the training and make evaluation more difficult. This thesis includes three papers where self-supervised deep neural networks were developed. In self-supervised learning, the input data to the networks themselves contain structures that are used as targets for the training and no labeling is necessary. In paper I, deep neural networks were trained to increase the number of-, or to recreate missing EEG-channels. The performance was at least on the same level as that of spherical interpolation, but unlike in the case of interpolation, missing data does not have to be identified manually first. Papers II and III involved developing deep neural networks for clustering analysis. The networks produced two-dimensional representations of EEG data and the training strategy was based on the principle of t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE). In paper II, comparisons were made to parametric t-SNE and EEG-features obtained from time-frequency methods. The deep neural networks produced more distinct clustering when tested on data annotated for epileptiform discharges, seizure activity, or sleep-wakefulness.In paper III, the newly developed method was used to compare annotations of epileptiform discharges. Two experts performed independent annotations and classifiers were trained on these, using supervised learning, which in turn produced new annotations. The agreement when comparing two sets of annotations was not larger between the two experts than between an expert and a classifier. The analysis showed that differences in the annotations by the experts influenced the training of the classifiers. However, the clustering analysis indicated that although it was not always the exact same waveforms that were assessed as epileptiform discharges, they were often similar.The work thus resulted in different methods to process and analyze EEG data, which may have practical usefulness. Traditional agreement scores only assess the exact agreement. However, they reveal nothing about the nature of disagreement. Cluster analysis can provide a means to perform this assessment.
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| 3. |
- Rådman, Lisa, 1983-
(författare)
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Self-reported symptoms and neurosensory function after electrical accidents : a survey among Swedish male electricians
- 2016
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Professionals working in electrical fields are at risk for accidental exposure to electricity on a daily basis. Electrical accidents can cause long-term sequelae manifesting as neurological symptoms, including in the peripheral nervous system.The overall aim of this licentiate thesis was to describe the occurrence of selfreported and neurosensory symptoms after electrical accidents. Specifically, this thesis aimed to I) describe self-reported symptoms at different points in time; II) assess neurosensory function in relation to previous electrical accidents; III) evaluate the impact of high vs. low voltage as well as that of the no-let-go phenomenon; and IV) gain knowledge about the safety culture among Swedish electricians.A retrospective survey including 523 Swedish male electricians was conducted. Electricians reporting persistent symptoms were invited to a clinical examination that included quantitative sensory testing (QST); 23 electricians participated. The most commonly self-reported symptoms associated with electrical accidents were pain, reduced sensation and reduced muscle function. For a small percentage, these symptoms were persistent. Reduced neurosensory function with regard to thermal perception was determined using QST and functional testing and was particularly evident in the thermal perception tests; roughly half of the group exhibited abnormally reduced clinical warmth and cold perception thresholds and tactile gnosis test values, the latter of which were all below normal except for those of two electricians. The findings also indicate that electricians accidentally exposed to high voltage (HV) frequently report more symptoms than do electricians exposed to low voltage (LV). There were deficiencies in the preventative efforts and reporting routines pertinent to potential electrical accidents. In summary, the main results of this licentiate thesis show that sensory symptoms can be persistent, especially after an HV accident, and that these selfreported symptoms can be manifested as injuries on the small nerve fibres. The results of the present study can provide methods to be used for follow-up testing in clinical practise. Furthermore, there is a need to improve the workplace safety culture for electricians in order to improve the numbers of follow-ups.
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| 4. |
- Rådman, Lisa, 1983-
(författare)
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Effects of electrical accidents : occupational and health perspectives
- 2022
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Professionals working in the electrical industry are at risk of accidental injuries caused by electricity. Electrical accidents can cause persistent neurological symptoms, previously mainly described in patients whose injuries were initially extensive. The overall aim of this thesis was to study the prevalence of persisting, self-reported symptoms after electrical accidents and to explore their relationship to results obtained using clinical methods that are commonly used to study nerve function and hand-arm function. Another aim was to increase knowledge about the work situation and the safety culture of Swedish electricians and to describe the frequency with which electricians seek health care after electrical accidents. Study I was a retrospective survey of 523 Swedish male electricians. In study II, the electricians who reported persistent symptoms were further invited to undergo clinical examinations that included quantitative sensory testing (QST), assessment of fine motor skills and tactile gnosis. The most common self-reported symptoms were pain, reduced sensation and reduced muscle function. For a few, these symptoms persisted at the time of survey. Roughly half of the group exhibited abnormal warm and cold perception thresholds and tactile gnosis test values. Study III included 24 participants with persisting self-reported sensory symptoms, 1-5 years after an accident. Observations of nerve function; QST, laserevoked potentials (LEP) and nerve conductions studies, were performed. At least one neurosensory impairment was present- in at least one of the tests in 67% of the participants. The participants in study III were also evaluated in study IV, in which a control group of 24 healthy persons was added. Hand function was affected in many participants assessed with the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) questionnaire as was tactil gnosis and manual dexterity, for the participants in the case group. Only a quarter of the participants in study I sought health care after their accidents, and the safety culture questionnaire revealed deficiencies, particularly in the reporting culture. The conclusions of this thesis are that self-reported neurosensory symptoms can persist for years after an electrical accident and that these symptoms can be evaluated using standard neurophysiological and functional tests that reflect changes in nerve function. Accordingly, hand function, examined using both objective and subjective measures, may be affected after work-related electrical accidents. This thesis highlights some aspects of safety culture and the work situations of professionals within the electrical industry. These areas need to be improved so that reporting routines provide opportunities to learn from and prevent accidents.
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| 5. |
- Gunnarsson, Helena E. M., 1975-
(författare)
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The influence of different pain states on pain perception and cognitive functions
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The general aim of this thesis was to investigate the effect of different pain stateson pain perception and cognition.In the first study, the effect of different pain qualities (duration, persistence, andintensity) on deep pressure pain thresholds in a pain-free body part among patientswith acute pain, long-lasting regularly recurrent pain, and long-lasting persistentpain, and pain-free controls was investigated. Such general deep pressure painthresholds were only significantly lower in the group with long-lasting persistentpain when compared to the healthy controls, suggesting that deep tissuehypersensitivity primarily occurs in patients with long-lasting, persistent pain.In the second study, the relationship between the same pain qualities and cognitiveperformance in the form of sustained attention, cognitive control, and psychomotorability was investigated. Overall, patients with long-lasting, persistent pain showedcognitive impairment on a wider range of cognitive tasks compared to patients withacute or long-lasting, regularly recurrent pain, using pain free controls asbenchmark. The results further suggest that persistence and duration, rather thanpain intensity, contribute to impaired cognitive function in clinical musculoskeletalpain states.In the third study, the effect of acute, experimental pain on abstraction wasexamined in a laboratory experiment where pain was induced with a cold pressorapparatus. The results were consistent with the null hypothesis, suggesting thatabstraction is immune to acute, experimental pain.In the fourth study, the correlation between clinical pain, abstraction and selfcontrolwas examined in patients suffering from musculoskeletal pain of differentduration, persistence and intensity. The results suggest that abstract thinking isreduced with increasing pain intensity and pain persistence. This was also the casefor self-control, although depression seems to mediate this relationship.In conclusion, compared to other pain states, patients who experience long-term,persistent pain, seem to suffer from a broader range of impaired cognitive abilities.Further, deep tissue hypersensitivity seems to develop in patients with long-termpersistent pain, but not in other pain states, which may contribute to the impairedcognitive performance observed in this patient group. The results have importantpractical implications for patients in the clinic and their everyday lives.
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| 6. |
- Olausson, Pär, 1968-, et al.
(författare)
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Länsstyrelsen Västernorrland - Intern utvärdering av krisledningsarbete med anledning av Covid‐19
- 2022
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Utvärderingen av länsstyrelsens interna krisledningsarbete av Covid-19 pandemin under perioden mars till augusti 2020 visar att stora delar av arbetet fungerade bra, men att det också finns ett antal utmaningar där främst enkätsvaren och intervjuerna visar på förhållanden som behöver ses över inför liknande situationer. Arbetet i staben verkar ha fungerat bra. De största problemen som tas upp är 1)balansen mellan det ordinarie arbetet och stabsarbetet, 2) otydligheten mellan stab och ledning 3) oron inför stabsarbetet bland dem som tidigare inte arbetat i stab, samt 4) behovet av utbildning för att sitta i stab. Vi ser också att det finns ett mer strukturellt problem med ”ledningsmodellen i svensk förvaltning”. Ser vi till upplevelserna kring arbetets utförande lyfts flera förbättringsområden fram. Främst gäller detta den upplevda stressen, den initiala upplevelsen av brist på kompetens och utbildning samt den upplevda frånvaron av uppskattning för utfört arbete. Vidare finns även en upplevelse att den kritik och feedback som lyfts fram, särskilt initialt, inte alltid har tagits tillvara. Gällande stabsarbetet lyfts brist på erfarenhet och kompetens av att arbeta i stab fram. Flera uttrycker en initial osäkerhet vad som förväntades och hur uppdraget skulle utföras. Samverkan mellan stab och ledning är ytterligare ett problem som lyfts fram. Dessa brister är inte ovanliga vid en kris. De problem som lyfts fram upplevs ha påverkat det interna arbetet och därmed även utförandet av det uppdrag länsstyrelsen har. I några fall lyfter respondenterna fram att problemen till viss del åtgärdats under arbetets gång, men att länsstyrelsen behöver se över vissa delar i det interna arbetet vad gäller hur uppdraget kring pandemin utförts. Vidare framkommer att kunskapsnivåerna varierat både inom och mellan de olika frågorna som tagits upp i enkäten. Det är dock det viktigt att betona att det finns flera områden där svaren skiljer sig stort.
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