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| 2. |
- Almstedt, Karin, 1980-, et al.
(författare)
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Amyloid fibrils of human prion protein are spun and woven from morphologically disordered aggregates
- 2009
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Ingår i: Prion. - Austin : Landes Bioscience Journals. - 1933-6896 .- 1933-690X. ; 3:4, s. 224-235
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Propagation and infectivity of prions in human prionopathies are likely associated with conversion of the mainly α-helical human prion protein, HuPrP, into an aggregated form with amyloid-like properties. Previous reports on efficient conversion of recombinant HuPrP have used mild to harsh denaturing conditions to generate amyloid fibrils in vitro. Herein we report on the in vitro conversion of four forms of truncated HuPrP (sequences 90-231 and 121-231 with and without an N-terminal hexa histidine tag) into amyloid-like fibrils within a few hours by using a protocol (phosphate buffered saline solutions at neutral pH with intense agitation) close to physiological conditions. The conversion process monitored by thioflavin T, ThT, revealed a three stage process with lag, growth and equilibrium phases. Seeding with preformed fibrils shortened the lag phase demonstrating the classic nucleated polymerization mechanism for the reaction. Interestingly, comparing thioflavin T kinetics with solubility and turbidity kinetics it was found that the protein initially formed non-thioflavionophilic, morphologically disordered aggregates that over time matured into amyloid fibrils. By transmission electron microscopy and by fluorescence microscopy of aggregates stained with luminescent conjugated polythiophenes (LCPs); we demonstrated that HuPrP undergoes a conformational conversion where spun and woven fibrils protruded from morphologically disordered aggregates. The initial aggregation functioned as a kinetic trap that decelerated nucleation into a fibrillation competent nucleus, but at the same time without aggregation there was no onset of amyloid fibril formation. The agitation, which was necessary for fibril formation to be induced, transiently exposes the protein to the air-water interface suggests a hitherto largely unexplored denaturing environment for prion conversion.
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| 3. |
- Axelsson, Ann-Sofie, 1967, et al.
(författare)
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Taking a New Direction: Behavioral Interventions in Higher Education supported by Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior
- 2010
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Ingår i: Engineering Education in Sustainable Development (EESD10), Gothenburg, Sweden, September 19-22, 2010.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- According to Ajzen [1], intentions to perform behaviors of various kinds can be predicted on the basis of attitudes towards the behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. In the light of this theory a several weeks long exercise within six higher education courses was conducted, in order to support the students to take a new direction in their every day lives in terms of carrying out sustainable and self-imposed actions such as decreasing the use of energy in the household and eating lower on the food chain. An online questionnaire was distributed in order to find out how effective this exercise was, what the key operational mechanisms in the exercise were, and if this exercise made an impact on other areas than the one selected for this course. An analysis showed that a majority of the students perceived the exercise inspiring and motivating, supporting change of behavior in the intended, new direction. There were, however, a number of suggestions for improvement, to be seriously considered for future implementation. For example, there seems to be a need for clarifying the relevance of the task for future engineering work life. The two key operational mechanisms identified were the individual’s own attitude towards the specific behaviour and the perception that the task was within their control. A further analysis also showed that half of the students still carried out the sustainable actions after 3 months to up to 2 years and that a considerable part of them had changed their behavior within other areas. This study shows that this type of behavioral change, within a course curriculum, is very effective, and that formative research, with Ajzen's theoretical framework as a foundation, could be a starting point for this to happen.
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| 4. |
- Brunklaus, Birgit, 1970-, et al.
(författare)
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Carbon theatre in public spaces : Using participatory theatre and co-designmethods in a museum for shaping lowcarbon lifestyles
- 2019
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Ingår i: Life Cycle Management Conference 2019. - Poznan, Polen.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Over the past ten years, the need for public spaces to deal with burning societal issues, such as climate change, has become even more important. Participatory theatre offers ways to meet the longing for shared forums by engaging large groups of people in exploring difficult social dilemmas. It can potentially empower participants to change their own situations and organizations. In a previous design research project Quantifying your carbon footprint, this gap was in focus. We will use the findings from the Quantifying carbon footprint project as an entry point and expand it with Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) on objects from the current museum collection and on daily life activities that have a carbon impact. The goal of the project is to explore and understand the climate and environmental impacts of lifestyles. The method used here are participatory theatre and co-design methods and pop-up exhibitions are used to engage young citizens in negotiating social norms and understanding their possible impact on CO2 emissions. The museum collections play a crucial role in the process of understanding how LCA calculations are related to mundane objects and reflecting on the temporality of social norms that are negotiated and re-negotiated through the way we handle products and objects in our everyday life. Developing new practices for museums involving participatory methods in order to engage young citizens in climate research. The results of the introductory meeting and study visit show that using the museum’s collection, the history and the value of things in the past centuries become clear and easier to reflect on compared to today’s unsustainable lifestyle – travelling and over consumption. Carbon Dioxide Theatre is an attempt to shape a shared space on a local level, in line with the priorities of the museum’s three years plan.
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| 5. |
- Jackson, Carolyn, 1970-, et al.
(författare)
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"Smart students get perfect scores in tests without studying much" : Why is an effortless achiever identity attractive, and for whom is it possible?
- 2015
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Ingår i: Research Papers in Education. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0267-1522 .- 1470-1146. ; 30:4, s. 393-410
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Discourses about the value of effort and hard work are prevalent and powerful inmany western societies and educational contexts. Yet, paradoxically, in these samecontexts effortless achievement is often lauded, and in certain discourses is heraldedas the pinnacle of success and a sign of genius. In this paper we interrogatediscourses about effort and especially ‘effortlessness’ in Swedish and Englisheducational contexts. Informed, in particular, by interview data generated in uppersecondary schools in Sweden and secondary schools in England, we address thequestions: why is effortless achievement attractive, and for whom is it possible tobe discursively positioned as an effortless achiever? We argue that the subjectposition of ‘effortless achiever’ is not available to all categories of studentsequally, and for some it would be almost impossible to attain; the intersections ofgender, social class, ethnicity and institutional setting are influential. We end byconsidering the problematic implications of effortless achievement discourses.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Mishra, Rajesh, 1973-, et al.
(författare)
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Lysozyme Amyloidogenesis Is Accelerated by Specific Nicking and Fragmentation but Decelerated by Intact Protein Binding and Conversion
- 2007
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Ingår i: Journal of Molecular Biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0022-2836 .- 1089-8638. ; 366:3, s. 1029-1044
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We have revisited the well-studied heat and acidic amyloid fibril formation pathway (pH 1.6, 65 °C) of hen egg-white lysozyme (HEWL) to map the barriers of the misfolding and amyloidogenesis pathways. A comprehensive kinetic mechanism is presented where all steps involving protein hydrolysis, fragmentation, assembly and conversion into amyloid fibrils are accounted for. Amyloid fibril formation of lysozyme has multiple kinetic barriers. First, HEWL unfolds within minutes, followed by irreversible steps of partial acid hydrolysis affording a large amount of nicked HEWL, the 49-101 amyloidogenic fragment and a variety of other species over 5-40 h. Fragmentation forming the 49-101 fragment is a requirement for efficient amyloid fibril formation, indicating that it forms the rate-determining nucleus. Nicked full-length HEWL is recruited efficiently into amyloid fibrils in the fibril growth phase or using mature fibrils as seeds, which abolished the lag phase completely. Mature amyloid fibrils of HEWL are composed mainly of nicked HEWL in the early equilibrium phase but go through a "fibril shaving" process, affording fibrils composed of the 49-101 fragment and 53-101 fragment during more extensive maturation (incubation for longer than ten days). Seeding of the amyloid fibril formation process using sonicated mature amyloid fibrils accelerates the fibril formation process efficiently, however, addition of intact full-length lysozyme at the end of the lag phase slows the rate of amyloidogenesis. The intact full-length protein, in contrast to nicked lysozyme, slows fibril formation due to its slow conversion into the amyloid fold, probably due to inclusion of the non-amyloidogenic 1-48/102-129 portion of HEWL in the fibrils, which can function as a "molecular bumper" stalling further growth. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| 8. |
- Nilsson, Peter, et al.
(författare)
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Imaging distinct conformational states of amyloid-β fibrils in Alzheimer's disease using novel luminescent probes
- 2007
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Ingår i: ACS Chemical Biology. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1554-8929 .- 1554-8937. ; 2:8, s. 553-560
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Using luminescent conjugated polyelectrolyte probes (LCPs), we demonstrate the possibility to distinguish amyloid-β 1-42 peptide (Aβ1-42) fibril conformations, by analyzing in vitro generated amyloid fibrils of Aβ1-42 formed under quiescent and agitated conditions. LCPs were then shown to resolve such conformational heterogeneity of amyloid deposits in vivo. A diversity of amyloid deposits depending upon morphology and anatomic location was illustrated with LCPs in frozen ex vivo brain sections from a transgenic mouse model (tg-APPswe) of Alzheimer's disease. Comparative LCP fluorescence showed that compact-core plaques of amyloid β precursor protein transgenic mice were composed of rigid dense amyloid. A more abundant form of amyloid plaque displayed morphology of a compact center with a protruding diffuse exterior. Surprisingly, the compact center of these plaques showed disordered conformations of the fibrils, and the exterior was composed of rigid amyloid protruding from the disordered center. This type of plaque appears to grow from more loosely assembled regions toward solidified amyloid tentacles. This work demonstrates how application of LCPs can prove helpful to monitor aggregate structure of in vivo formed amyloid deposits such as architecture, maturity, and origin.
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| 9. |
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| 10. |
- Nyström, Anne-Sofie, 1974-, et al.
(författare)
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Coping with Higher Education Expectations : Wellbeing and Prestige-related Stress in Medicine and Law
- 2018. - 1
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Ingår i: Social justice in times of crisis and hope. - New York : Peter Lang Publishing Group. - 9781433163692 ; , s. 27-43
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this chapter we draw on interviews with students and staff on law and medicine programmes in two high-status universities in Sweden and England to explore (di)stress, crisis and wellbeing on these programmes. Thus, our focus is on predominantly, although not exclusively, middle- and upper-class students. There has been a tendency in educational research, and especially research that concentrates on social justice, to focus on disadvantaged groups while their privileged counterparts—who are often cast as successful and “having it all”—are seldom subject to scrutiny (Gaztambide-Fernández & Howard, 2010). While we acknowledge the tremendous importance of research on disadvantaged groups, there are strong arguments for also rendering visible the experiences of privileged, middle- and upper-class students. As Walkerdine, Lucey, and Melody (2001) argue, if we wish to explore the ways in which systems of stratification are produced, reproduced and transformed we need to analyse the production of privilege as well as the production of disadvantage. Furthermore, although middle-class students typically have many privileges relative to their working-class counterparts, it is unreasonable to assume that educational achievement is simply a celebratory success story for middle-class young people (Allan, 2010). For example, Walkerdine et al. in the UK (2001) and Holmqvist (2017) in Sweden vividly portray the anxiety, stress and profound fears of failure experienced by privileged young people who were growing up in a culture where anything less than excellence was regarded as failure. As Francis and Mills (2012) argue, schools can be damaging organisations for pupils and teachers and the implications for social justice are considerable. In this chapter, we focus on H.E. rather than schools to explore the production of stress and anxiety in two high-status programmes, and especially the ways in which stress is heightened by the prestige of the programmes: what we have termed “prestige-related stress.” We focus in particular on the ways in which stress and hard work were normalised on the programmes, how students responded, and the impacts on their wellbeing. We also explore the ways in which social comparisons and changing frames of reference impact student identities and feelings of worth. We begin by briefly outlining our research methods and contexts.
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| 11. |
- Nyström, Anne-Sofie, 1974-, et al.
(författare)
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Coping with higher educational expectations : Gender, class and unequal challenges in prestigious context
- 2016
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- There has been a tendency in social science research to focus on disadvantaged groups, while their privileged counterparts - who are often cast as successful and ‘having it all’ - are seldom subject to scrutiny. Recently, however, there have been calls to focus more attention on elite groups and contexts for two main reasons. First, to shed more light on how elite cultures and spaces are maintained and reinforced, and also might be challenged. Second, because there is increasing evidence that the pressures and demands on many middle-class young people are having substantial detrimental effects on their wellbeing. Such pressures are seen to be linked to, among other things: heightening expectations about what constitutes educational and financial ‘success’; shifting economic climates and related insecurities; and the increasing importance of academic credentials.In this paper we explore the challenges of coping with high-status and competitive undergraduate programmes in elite contexts where top-achievements are generally taken for granted. We consider how different learning and social contexts are related to students’ experiences of stress, and what kinds of coping strategies are available and used by different groups of students. We discuss the extra challenges faced by disadvantaged students in these contexts, and also the implications for promoting social justice through education. We draw upon data from a large, ongoing, three-year (2015-2018), cross-national (Sweden and England) comparative interview project that investigates how constructions of masculinities and student identities inform strategies for coping with risks of academic failure and/or striving for success. The project focuses on three elite undergraduate programmes: Medicine, Law and Engineering. Data are being generated by observations, focus group interviews and individual interviews with students and staff.
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| 12. |
- Nyström, Anne-Sofie, 1974-, et al.
(författare)
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Coping with higher educational expectations : Gender, class and unequal challenges in prestigious contexts
- 2017
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper explores men students’ experiences and expressions of negative affect, especially shame and fear. We ask how these are informed by gender, social class and prestigious higher education contexts. Context and social categories inform affect-norms, which in turn inform understandings of, for example, which kinds of affect are legitimate to experience and express. The importance of considering affective dimensions in education has been demonstrated beyond their effects on well-being; e.g. joy and pride, as well as shame, fear of failure and test-anxiety, have implications for students’ motivation, effort and choice of educational trajectories. The paper draws on data from an ongoing qualitative, large-scale study about masculinity and men students in England and Sweden (2015-2018). Semi-structured interviews (approx. 1-1.5 hours) were conducted with students and staff in Law, Medicine and Physics engineering, i.e. prestigious and stressful programmes that recruit primarily top-achieving, middle-class young people. This paper explore the challenges of coping with prestigious and competitive HE programmes. How do different learning and social contexts, gender and class, inform students’ experiences of stress and strategies manage these? The analysis is informed by sociological stress research and theories about self-worth and social identity. We draw upon data from a large, ongoing, three-year (2015-2018), cross-national (Sweden and England) comparative interview project that investigates student identities, masculinities and academic failure and success in Medicine, Law and Engineering physics. Data are being generated by focus group interviews and individual interviews with students and staff, and analyzed in Atlas.ti using a constructivist grounded theory approach. Our data suggest that these programmes, in part, attracted students because of being renowned as challenging. However, most had not anticipated the challenges in terms of their academic identities; many students had to negotiate a change from being a top student to being an ‘average’ or ‘low’ achiever, and many struggled with to find a sustainable work/rest balance. Students used a multitude of strategies which we explore in relation to gender and class; e.g. increased academic effort and withdrawal from other activities, displaying calmness and concealing poor test results, and, also, seeking academic and emotional support from peers. By examining undergraduate stress and well-being in prestigious contexts, we will begin to shed more light on (1) how privilege are maintained, reinforced, and might be challenged, and, also, (2) the pressures and demands on many middle-class young people and the effects on their wellbeing.
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| 13. |
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| 14. |
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| 15. |
- Nyström, Anne-Sofie, 1974-, et al.
(författare)
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Formations of success : Gender, class and academic achievements in elite undergraduate programmes.
- 2016
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Ingår i: Symposium: “Engendering success: Constructions of achievement in schooling and higher education”, <em>GEA 2016 interim conference, Gender Equality Matters: Education, Intersectionality and Nationalism Social Justice, Equality and Solidarity in Education</em>, Linköping/Sweden, June 15-17th 2016..
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Engendering success: Constructions of achievement in schooling and higher education Overview This symposium explores how gender and social class intersect with students’ learning and identity processes in schooling and higher education (H.E.). All three papers consider the ways in which ‘success’ is constructed in different educational settings, and the relationships between these constructions and discourses about gender, effort and ‘talent’. The papers by Nyström et al., and Allan both draw on research undertaken in elite H.E. contexts, where being a high achiever is expected. Allan’s work focuses on the narratives of privileged young women in a UK university, while Nyström et al.’s study focuses on masculinities in elite university contexts in Sweden and the UK. Holm and Öhrn’s paper draws upon data from ethnographic research with girls and boys in schools in Sweden to explore gendered discourses on performance and knowledge. All papers consider intersections between gender, privilege and achievement. Papers Gendered discourses on knowledge and performances in secondary school - Ann-Sofie Holm & Elisabet Öhrn (University of Gothenburg, Sweden) Formations of success: Gender, class and academic achievements in elite undergraduate programmes - Anne-Sofie Nyström1, Carolyn Jackson2 & Minna Salminen Karlsson1 (1Uppsala University, Sweden; 2Lancaster University, UK) Who I was, where I am, what I want to be: Young women’s retrospective tales of class, gender and achievement - Alexandra Allan (University of Exeter, UK) Discussant – Debbie Epstein (Roehampton University, UK) AbstractsGendered discourses on knowledge and performances in secondary schoolAnn-Sofie Holm & Elisabet ÖhrnDepartment of Education and Special Education, University of Gothenburg, Sweden Recent research points at declining achievement trends for Sweden in comparison with other countries, and also increasing differences between municipalities, schools and student groups. The longstanding pattern that girls achieve better than boys in school still occurs. This paper aims to explore various discourses of gender and achievement in student peer groups and in various teaching contexts in Sweden. Ethnographic field studies (class room observations, informal and formal interviews) were conducted in three grade 9 classes (including 70 students 15-16 years old) at three different schools. The findings indicate the presence of intertwined and gendered discourses on performance and knowledge. One is stressing everyone’s equal chance of success if only they make an effort and study hard, and the other presenting ‘real’ knowledge as related to ‘natural talent’. The latter is connected to a ’laid back’ attitude towards schooling and is highly valued and generally ascribed to boys. Studying is not denied by the boys, but put in perspective of other (valuable) social activities and relations. The analyses also indicates that the ‘anti-school cultures’ in the study might be seen as to represent cultures of talent. Girls’ higher grades are, on the other hand, often devalued and related to ‘swotting’, although seemingly adhering to demands on individual achievement. If anything, knowledge based on hard work might be suspected as attempts to cover up for lack of real talent. This discourse is more pronounced among privileged students, but is also expressed by teachers. Keywords: secondary school, maculinities, femininities, study achievements, performativity Formations of success: Gender, class and academic achievements in elite undergraduate programmes Anne-Sofie Nyström1, Carolyn Jackson2 & Minna Salminen Karlsson11Centre for Gender Research, Uppsala University, Sweden2Department for Educational Research, Lancaster University, UK This paper explores constructions of achievement in relation to gender, class and learning/teaching contexts. In particular, we consider the ways in which ‘success’ and ‘failure’ are rendered visible in English and Swedish elite higher education environments, and how such instances relate to the programmes’ different structures and cultures. The body of research about boys’ and young men’s ‘underachievement’ and ‘effortless achievement’ is substantial, especially in relation to schooling. However, far less is known about how discourses of masculinity intersect with those of academic achievement among undergraduate students, especially in contexts where students are expected to be high flyers and excel academically. We draw on data from a large, ongoing, three-year (2015-2018), cross-national (Sweden and England) comparative interview project that investigates how constructions of masculinities and student identities inform strategies for coping with risks of academic failure and/or striving for success. The research focuses on Medicine, Law and Engineering Physics undergraduate programmes, all of which are regarded as competitive and high status, and recruit predominantly middle and upper-middle class young people. However, the programmes vary in terms of pedagogy and culture, as well as the gender composition of the intakes. Data are being generated by focus group and individual semi-structured interviews with students and staff. In this paper we draw mainly on data from staff. Through our discussion we shed light on some of the ways in which men undergraduates’ learner identities are constructed within these privileged academic contexts. Keywords: Privilege; Masculinity; Social Class; Student Identity; Higher Education;Who I was, where I am, what I want to be: Young women’s retrospective tales of class, gender and achievementAlexandra Allan Graduate School of Education, University of Exeter, UK This paper seeks to explore the different (often multiple, complex andfragile) relationships which young women have with academic achievement (their experiences of achievement and their own subjective sense of what it means to achieve). It will do so by drawing on the narratives of a group of relatively privileged young women (aged 18-21) who all attended the same ‘top’ UK university. The paper will explore what it meant for these young women to position themselves, and be positioned as, high achievers, in an educational context where high achievement was often taken for granted and commonly explained as simply ‘running in their blood’. In particular, the paper will look at the narratives which these young women constructed about their past achievements; stories which were central to the tales which they told around achievement and which appeared to be deeply felt. The point is not to view these ‘histories’ as a way of recapturing self-evident and static pasts (and, therefore, as devices which might also tell us something concrete about how these young women ended up where they did today). But rather, to understand how these retrospective narratives were being constructed in the light of the young women’s present experiences, and used in a variety of ways as they attempted to understand and position themselves as certain sorts of achievers in the present, and as they sought to prepare for and imagine possible futures.
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| 16. |
- Nyström, Anne-Sofie, 1974-, et al.
(författare)
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Reflections of and about success and failure : Gender and academic achievement in three Swedish educational elite contexts
- 2016
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Ingår i: Symposium: Negotiating self and higher education: Exploring gendered identity processes in relation to choices and learning among undergraduates. <em>, the Gender and Education Network, <em>NERA 44<sup>th</sup> Congress</em>, ‘Social Justice, Equality and Solidarity in Education’, </em>Helsinki. March 9<sup>th</sup>-11<sup>th</sup>.<em></em>.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- This symposium explores undergraduates’ identity and learning processes in contemporary higher education. In particular, it asks: How do different learning/teaching contexts and discourses about gender, class, sexuality, age etc. inform undergraduates’ choices, educational and social strategies and their experiences of university?Drawing on a cross-national comparative interview study, Nyström, Salminen Karlsson and Jackson’s paper explores constructions and understandings of men’s effort, talent, academic failure and success within different elite contexts. Masculinity and affect are also central themes in Ottemo’s paper, which draws on an ethnographic study that examined, from a queer-perspective, passionate reasons for being interested in education and learning in technology. The final paper, by Bøe, Ryder & Ulriksen, explores STEM choices and especially women's choices, based on findings from a large, mixed-methods European study called IRIS.Hence, the symposium discusses processes that lie beneath the gendered and classed patterns of students’ trajectories and outcomes in higher education. Such discussions are vital because in the Nordic countries, as in Europe overall, women have constituted the majority of undergraduate students since the 1990s and, in general, are more likely than men to perform well and complete their studies. Nevertheless, STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), just as academia overall, are still male-dominated in many respects. Our papers and discussion will reflect six national perspectives, from Norway, Sweden, UK, Denmark, Italy, and Slovenia.Papers:1. Reflections of and about men’s failure – Gender and academic achievement in three educational elite contexts Anne-Sofie Nyström, Uppsala University, anne-sofie.nystrom@gender.uu.se; Carolyn Jackson, Lancaster University, c.jackson2@lancaster.ac.uk; Minna Salminen Karlsson, Uppsala University, minna.salminen@gender.uu.se.2. Between instrumentality and passion: The gendering of student subjectivities at two engineering programs at a Swedish university of technologyAndreas Ottemo, University of Gothenburg, andreas.ottemo@ped.gu.se3. The process of choosing STEM higher education: Messages from the IRIS projectMaria Vetleseter Bøe, University of Oslo, m.v.boe@naturfagsenteret.no; Jim Ryder, University of Leeds, j.ryder@education.leeds.ac.uk; Lars Ulriksen, University of Copenhagen, ulriksen@ind.ku.dk Discussant: Elisabet Öhrn, University of Gothenburg, elisabet.ohrn@ped.gu.se Reflections of and about men and failure – Gender and academic achievement in three educational elite contexts Anne-Sofie Nyström, Carolyn Jackson & Minna Salminen KarlssonThis paper explores constructions and understandings of the ways in which effort, talent, academic success and failure are gendered in elite, higher education contexts, with a particular focus on these constructions in relation to men and masculinities. It draws on data from a large, ongoing, three-year (2015-2018), cross-national (Sweden and England) comparative interview project that investigates how constructions of masculinities and student identities inform strategies for coping with risks of academic failure and/or striving for success. The project focuses on three elite undergraduate programmes: Medicine, Law and Engineering. Data are being generated by observations, focus group interviews and individual interviews with students, student representatives, study advisers, lecturers and directors of studies. The project addresses the following research questions:How are ‘successful’ and ‘unsuccessful’ student identities perceived and constructed among male undergraduates in different, but highly competitive, educational contexts?What are the main practices and self-worth protection strategies male students use to accomplish successful identities or avoid unsuccessful ones?How does masculinity and its intersections with social class, ethnicity and age, inform staff and students’ understandings of the reasons for academic failure and success?Are there differences between a) Swedish and English HE contexts and b) programmes that hinder or facilitate certain identities or strategies?How do the strategies and practices (in 2) relate to persistence, achievement and wellbeing?This first paper from the project focuses on data from academic and administrative staff in one Swedish university, as well as representatives for student organizations. It explores, in particular, how success and failure are constructed and perceived within the different programmes. These constructions vary between the programmes, partly because of the ways in which the programme content and the grades are related to the future labour market in the different professions. We discuss the ways that success and failure are made more or less important in students’ lives, both by staff and by students themselves, and the ways in which these concepts are rendered visible at particular points, and how such instances relate to the programmes’ different structures and cultures. By examining such issues with a gender perspective we will begin to shed light on some of the ways in which male undergraduates’ learner identities are constructed and negotiated within these privileged academic contexts. Between instrumentality and passion: The gendering of student subjectivities at two engineering programs at a Swedish university of technologyAndreas OttemoIn this paper, I explore student subjectivities articulated in two programs at a Swedish university of technology: Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) and Chemical Engineering (CE). The paper builds on the assumption that the articulation of gendered subjectivities in these programs relates to how technology is articulated. Much previous research on gender and technology has tended to primarily focus on the “failure” of linking women/femininity to technology. In this paper I, instead, take on a perspective inspired by queer theory in the sense that I focus on norms that articulate masculinity with technology. Theoretically and methodologically, I adopt a post-structural perspective primarily based on discourse theory, as developed by Laclau and Mouffe (1985). I also draw on feminist technoscience research and on Butler’s (1988, 1990, 1993) notion of gender, performativity, and the heterosexual matrix. Empirically, the discussion is based on a recently concluded ethnographic study within a Swedish university of technology.Drawing on a critique that has suggested that gender and technology research often fails to address such aspects, I will call attention to the role of passion, desire and (hetero)sexuality in the production of connections between masculinity and technology (cf. Henwood & Miller 2001, Landström 2006, Mellström 2004, Stepulevage 2001). Somewhat in contrast to this theme, I will also discuss more instrumental approaches to higher technology education. In the analysis, I suggest that the formal education students receive fails, for various reasons, to subjectively engage many students. Consequently, many students adopt an instrumental approach to their education, emphasizing the future exchange value of their formal degree, rather than subjective meaningfulness or the significance of the subject matter as such. I also argue that in failing to “recruit” students, formal education can be considered as privileging the already-passionate student, whose interest in technology is not so easily derailed, even when encountering education that fails to engage subjectively. This “passionate student” subject position is articulated primarily in the CSE program, mainly in informal, student cultural contexts. Here, I argue that technology, corporeality, desire, and embodied computer interest, are configured in a manner that derives intelligibility from the heterosexual matrix and contributes to the CSE program’s hetero-masculine connotations. On the other hand, the absence of the “passionate student” subject position in the CE program, appears to contribute to this program’s relative gender inclusiveness. The process of choosing STEM higher education: Messages from the IRIS projectMaria Vetleseter Bøe, Jim Ryder & Lars UlriksenThis paper reports on the European research project IRIS (Interest and Recruitment in Science)(2010-2013). In IRIS, six partners from five participating countries worked together to improve our understanding of students’ participation and choice in science and technology education, with particular emphasis on gender. The IRIS research activities comprised studies with quantitative, qualitative or mixed-method approaches, targeting both secondary and tertiary level respondents and informants. Some of the studies only used data from within one of the participating countries whereas others worked comparatively with data from different countries. In this paper, we present some insights from the project, paying particular attention to gender.As a first message from IRIS we argue that educational choice should be seen as a process that takes place over time – before, at, and after specific decision points. A striking feature of the choice process is that young people’s accounts of their choices are in constant change. For example, stories about their interests and aspirations in the past tend to be adjusted to fit their present perspective on their choice. In a longitudinal Danish study, for example, a young woman originally stated that she did not want to follow a course leading to teaching. In a later interview, however, after deciding to enrol in such a course after all, she stated that she had always wanted to become a teacher.The second message relates to the importance of identity in choice processes, which was a starting point for the IRIS project. Studies in IRIS demonstrate how young people negotiate their identities wi
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| 17. |
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| 18. |
- Nyström, Anne-Sofie, 1974-, et al.
(författare)
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What counts as success? : Constructions of achievement in prestigious higher education programmes
- 2019
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Ingår i: Research Papers in Education. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0267-1522 .- 1470-1146. ; 34:4, s. 465-482
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Academic achievement is regarded an indicator of the success of individuals, schools, universities and countries. ‘Success’ is typically measured using performance indicators such as test results, completion rates and other objective measures. By contrast, in this article we explore students’ subjective understandings and constructions of success, and discourses about ‘successful’ students in higher education contexts that are renowned for being demanding and pressured. We draw on data from 87 semi-structured interviews with students and staff on law, medicine and engineering physics programmes in a prestigious university in Sweden. We focus particularly upon academic expectations, effort levels, and programme structures and cultures. Achieving top grades while undertaking a range of extracurricular activities was valorised in all contexts. Top grades were especially impressive if they were attained without much effort (especially in engineering physics) or stress (especially in law and medicine); we introduce a new concept of ‘stress-less achievement’ in relation to the latter. Furthermore, being sociable as well as a high academic achiever signified living a ‘good life’ and, in law and medicine, professional competence. We discuss the implications of the dominant constructions of success, concluding that (upper) middle-class men are most likely to be read as ‘successful students’, especially in engineering physics.
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| 19. |
- Nyström, Sofie, et al.
(författare)
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Challenging the image of the altruistic and flexible household in the smart grid using design fiction
- 2021
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Ingår i: Seventh Workshop on Computing within Limits 2021. - : PubPub.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Power shortages and fluctuations in electricity supply are expected to become more frequent in the future, as renewable energy increases in the electricity mix. This poses a problem in that electricity might not always be available at the time of demand for industries as well as for households. Demand flexibility in households has been brought forward as part of a solution to this problem. How to engage households in this, however, is still unclear. Actors have tried to liken demand flexibility with waste sorting and other altruistic activities with connotations of contributing to the benefit of society, rather than being an activity springing from economic motives. In this article, we use design fiction to critically explore what this analogy would mean in the context of household electricity consumption. We describe fictive user scenarios for cooking, charging the electric car, laundry & dishes and heating to draw the demand flexibility analogies to the forefront. By exemplifying and concretizing these scenarios, it becomes evident that using waste sorting as an analogy for demand flexibility is not realistic. We discuss the implications of the scenarios in relation to the current visions that inform the development of the smart grid, and the emerging services and service providers. We conclude that there is a need to challenge the current images of flexible households in the smart grid in order to design systems that support thriving within limits.
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| 20. |
- Nyström, Sofie, 1970-
(författare)
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Early events in disease associated protein misfolding
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The scope of this thesis is to unravel some of the mysteries concerning events takingplace early in the amyloid cascade. In vitro studies of early misfolded states ofamyloidogenic proteins are important since the use of recombinant proteins allow us to monitor slight changes in environmental conditions as well as in amino acid composition and thereby illuminate the problem at near atomic resolution.Human prion protein (HuPrP) (associated with e.g. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease) andthe Aβ1-42 peptide (associated with Alzheimer’s disease) recombinantly expressed in Escherichia coli have been used as model systems for these studies.A new protocol for amyloid fibril formation of human prion protein under native conditions was developed. This revealed an unusual pathway of conformational conversion from early formed disordered aggregates that later matured into amyloidfibrils.The polymorphism 129M/V in HuPrP has a large impact on susceptibility both to sporadic and infectious prion diseases. Some features of this polymorphism havebeen elucidated, employing a mutational study in position 129 (M, A, L, V, P, M, W,E, and K). These investigations have rendered new knowledge about the impact ofsize, charge and β-carbon branching in position 129 upon early intermolecular interactions and the effects of fibril seeding.Investigations of the interactions between different assembly forms of HuPrP and components of the innate immune system revealed that both native, oligomeric and fibrillar forms of HuPrP activate both the classical and alternative pathways of the Complement System. Most efficient activation is achieved upon binding of oligomeric HuPrP to the complement component C1q.We have developed a system for recombinant expression of human A,1-42. The monomeric peptides are assembled into various sized soluble oligomers (trimer, hexamer, nonamer, dodecamer). The oligomeric forms were stable in 8 M urea, 6 MGuHCl and SDS suggesting that these were covalently cross-linked. Some mechanistic features in the assembly process have been investigated and we have shown that cupric ions facilitates formation of stable oligomers in our system.
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| 21. |
- Nyström, Sofie, et al.
(författare)
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Gaps between stakeholders’ expectations and everyday life of households in the smart grid viewed through the lens of activity and awareness
- 2020
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Ingår i: ECEEE Summer study on energy efficiency, Agents of Change.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The transition into the future electricity system builds upon the inclusion of more intermittent energy sources in the grid, requiring electricity consumption to adapt to production. Households are pointed out as playing an important role, carrying a potential for being flexible in that their electricity use may be adapted to the supply of the grid. This contribution focuses on how expectations on households from industry and agencies align with reality of everyday life. We explore the relation between expectations and reality through the concepts of activity and awareness, frequently mentioned by stakeholders, and what the concepts imply for households’ participation. Results from three separate studies are highlighted: 1) Document analysis of stakeholder expectations on households; 2) Interviews with stakeholders; 3) Interviews with 16 households with a new smart meter. Results from study 1 and 2 show that stakeholders envisage households to become more active and flexible in their electricity use. However, what this entails is only vaguely expressed. Stakeholders may intend activity to mean time-shifting electricity usage, and that this would be attained if households had detailed information about their electricity consumption. Still, it remains unclear whether the activity of households denotes households temporally, and manually, shifting their chores or whether technology would mediate the shift. In the latter case, technology would serve as a flexibility mediator, possibly through automation. Home equipment, e.g. heat pumps, would be controlled without households’ active participation. Concurrently, grid operators signal passivity of households as a benefit – households don’t need to bother as the operator promises to take care of everything. Nevertheless, results from study 1 and 2 show that although automated control of household equipment may lessen the burden of manual time-shifting electricity usage, there is a consensus that households need to be made aware of their electricity use through feedback enabled by a smart meter and mobile apps. Stakeholders indicate an ambivalence in what to expect from households – manual shifting of activities, automation generating the shift, or awareness through feedback on electricity use? Some stakeholders hold that awareness is enough – whereas others hold that awareness only is a means towards an end of time shifting action. Study 3 shows that some of the interviewed households are indeed active and aware but not in the way that stakeholders envisage them to be, and regardless of their technical interest or energy awareness. For example, some households were active in monitoring their electricity meter to check the accuracy of the electricity bill. They wanted feedback, albeit more nuanced than how stakeholders imagine, e.g., on appliance level and feedback explaining increase in consumption. Some engaged in time shifting by manually unplugging appliances and running the washing machine during night. Some also expressed thoughts on being active in the way that stakeholders imagine: “But [operator] cannot load nor empty my washing machine”, indicating that there is more to load balancing than turning on an appliance. However, study 3 mainly highlight the heterogeneity between and within households. Households are active regarding the focus of everyday practices, in which electricity consumption is viewed as a means towards this focus rather than an end. They differ regarding their motivations, use of technology, everyday context, their knowledge, and energy use. To conclude, our studies point to a gap between how stakeholders view the role of householders in the energy system and the reality of the daily context of householders. To bridge this gap, heterogeneity of householders needs to be addressed. This plays a central part in pursuing democratic values, allowing for citizens to participate on equal terms in a sustainable future grid.
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| 22. |
- Reitsma, Lizette, et al.
(författare)
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Our burden - Carbondioxide theatre for climate action
- 2019
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Ingår i: NORDES 2019. - Espoo, Finland.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The biggest changes to the planet are made by humankind and action needs to be taken in order to guarantee a sustainable level of emissions for the planet (Rockström et al. 2009). In the project presented in this poster, we engage young citizens (from 15 to 20 years old), in critically reflecting on social norms and practices around climate goals and CO2 emissions, through participatory theatre methods. Only when those involved can get sufficient authority to determine and guide the research and the research agenda, can a project be truly participatory (Winschiers-Theophilus 2009). Participatory theatre offers ways to meet the longing for shared forums by engaging large groups of people in exploring difficult social dilemmas. It can potentially empower the young participants to change their own situations and organisations, as it is “likely to shake things into action or to “unfreeze” blocked situations ” (Shreyögg and Höpfl 2004).
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| 23. |
- Sandberg, Alexander, 1986-
(författare)
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Polymorphic protein aggregation in tauopathies
- 2019
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Alzheimer’s disease(s) comprises one of the most common and costly neurodegenerative diseases. With a larger population and an increasing life expectancy, amyloid diseases (with age as one of the most prominent risk factors) will generate an even larger burden on healthcare. We know that protein misfolding is involved in the disease process but lack a complete understanding of the mechanism behind these diseases, both the sporadic and hereditary variants. It is not always known whether it is a gain-of-toxic function or loss‐of‐function that causes the neurodegeneration. To determine the correct diagnosis is a major challenge. If diagnosed, only a few amyloid diseases can be treated today.Amyloids are highly ordered filamentous protein aggregates with a β‐sheet structure. From identical or similar amino acid sequences, a large variety of structures can be formed by different secondary and tertiary structures and by different packing of the individual filaments. This is known as fibril polymorphism.This work focuses on characterization on two proteins involved in Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases, namely Amyloid‐β (Aβ) and microtubule associated protein tau (tau). In order to investigate the properties of these proteins in vitro it is important to have protocols for production of recombinant protein that enables characterization of these aggregation prone proteins. We present protocols for recombinant expression, purification and non‐denaturing fibrillation assays used in our lab to produce and analyze Aβ, tau and the prion protein.Development of new ligands for characterization of fibrils is an important way of investigating different fibrillary structures and characterizing and distinguishing between the different polymorphs of aggregates. We showed that the central benzene ring of the amyloid ligand X‐34 can be exchanged for other heterocyclic motifs and still retain targeting of the “Congo red” binding site. The compounds do not compete with the Pittsburgh compound B (PiB) binding site on recombinant Aβ fibrils.We also characterized tau fibrils formed from seeding with tau aggregates from patients diagnosed with different neurodegenerative tauopathies. We use aggregation kinetics to test the seeding activity on two different sequence isoforms of tau, 0N3R and 0N4R. Fibrillation kinetics, an array of recently developed ligands (including the X‐34 analogs) and electron microscopy were used to characterize different polymorphs of the tau aggregates formed by seeded templating from patient derived seeds. Our data showed that brains contain seeds with different morphologies even with in patients diagnosed with the same disease.Investigations of the rare tau mutant G273R found in a patient with a presumed tauopathy also highlights the problem with proper diagnostics. Our results reveal that in vitro this mutation change the binding properties of 0N4R tau to the cytoskeletal proteins microtubule and F‐actin. Furthermore, we could show that when seeded, the fibril formation seeding activity followed a sequence similarity dependent manner. In fibrils formed during heparin-induced aggregation we can be distinguished between wild type and mutant tau as they form fibrils with different thickness. Our in vitro biophysical data support that the G237R mutant is causing a 4R tauopathy.The work in this thesis increase our knowledge in the field of tau aggregation and tau fibril polymorphism.
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| 24. |
- Sandberg, Alexander, 1986-, et al.
(författare)
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Purification and Fibrillation of Recombinant Human Amyloid-ß, Prion Protein, and Tau Under Native Conditions
- 2018
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Ingår i: Amyloid Proteins. - New York, NY : Humana Press. - 9781493978151 - 9781493978168 ; , s. 147-166
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Protein misfolding, aggregation, and amyloid formation is involved in a large number of diseases. Recombinantly expressed proteins to study the amyloid fibril formation process are important for mechanistic studies. We here report protocols for production, purification, and fibrillation of three different proteins commonly found in cerebral amyloid; Aß and Tau found in Alzheimers disease, Chronic traumatic brain injury, Corticobasal degeneration, and Progressive Supranuclear Palsy and human prion protein found in Creutzfeldt-Jakobs disease. The three protocols have in common that the protein is in a pH-neutral phosphate saline buffer during fibrillation to mimic their endogenous near physiological environment.
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| 25. |
- Wadensten, Elisabeth, et al.
(författare)
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Diagnostic Yield From a Nationwide Implementation of Precision Medicine for all Children With Cancer
- 2023
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Ingår i: JCO Precision Oncology. - : American Society of Clinical Oncology. - 2473-4284. ; :7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: Several studies have indicated that broad genomic characterization of childhood cancer provides diagnostically and/or therapeutically relevant information in selected high-risk cases. However, the extent to which such characterization offers clinically actionable data in a prospective broadly inclusive setting remains largely unexplored.Methods: We implemented prospective whole-genome sequencing (WGS) of tumor and germline, complemented by whole-transcriptome sequencing (RNA-Seq) for all children diagnosed with a primary or relapsed solid malignancy in Sweden. Multidisciplinary molecular tumor boards were set up to integrate genomic data in the clinical decision process along with a medicolegal framework enabling secondary use of sequencing data for research purposes.Results: During the study's first 14 months, 118 solid tumors from 117 patients were subjected to WGS, with complementary RNA-Seq for fusion gene detection in 52 tumors. There was no significant geographic bias in patient enrollment, and the included tumor types reflected the annual national incidence of pediatric solid tumor types. Of the 112 tumors with somatic mutations, 106 (95%) exhibited alterations with a clear clinical correlation. In 46 of 118 tumors (39%), sequencing only corroborated histopathological diagnoses, while in 59 cases (50%), it contributed to additional subclassification or detection of prognostic markers. Potential treatment targets were found in 31 patients (26%), most commonly ALK mutations/fusions (n = 4), RAS/RAF/MEK/ERK pathway mutations (n = 14), FGFR1 mutations/fusions (n = 5), IDH1 mutations (n = 2), and NTRK2 gene fusions (n = 2). In one patient, the tumor diagnosis was revised based on sequencing. Clinically relevant germline variants were detected in 8 of 94 patients (8.5%).Conclusion: Up-front, large-scale genomic characterization of pediatric solid malignancies provides diagnostically valuable data in the majority of patients also in a largely unselected cohort.
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