| 1. |
- Ahlinder, Jon, et al.
(författare)
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Oligotyping reveals divergent responses of predation resistant bacteria to aquatic productivity and plankton composition
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Predation-resistance has been suggested to be a key for persistence of pathogenic bacteria in aquatic environments. Little is known about driving factors for different types of protozoa resistant bacteria (PRB). We studied if presence of PRB is linked to specific plankton taxa, the aquatic nutrient state, or predation pressure on bacteria. Nineteen freshwater systems were sampled and analyzed for PRB, plankton composition and physicochemical variables. Three PRB genera were identified; Pseudomonas, Mycobacterium and Rickettsia. Use of minimum entropy decomposition algorithm and phylogenetic analysis showed that different nodes (representing OTUs of high taxonomic resolution) matched to environmental isolates of the three genera. Links between the PRB genera and specific plankton taxa were found, but showed different relationships depending on if 18S rRNA OTU or microscopy data were used in the analysis. Mycobacterium spp. was negatively correlated to aquatic nutrient state, while Pseudomonas showed the opposite pattern. Rickettsia spp. was positively related to predation pressure on bacteria. Both Mycobacterium and Rickettsia were more abundant in systems with high eukaryotic diversity, while Pseudomonas occurred abundantly in waters with low prokaryotic diversity. The different drivers may be explained by varying ecological strategies, where Mycobacterium and Rickettsia are slow growing and have an intracellular life style, while Pseudomonas is fast growing and opportunistic. Here we give an insight to the possibilities of newly advanced methods such as sequencing and oligotyping to link potential pathogens with biomarkers. This as a tool to assist predictions of the occurrence and persistence of environmental pathogens.
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| 2. |
- Andersson, Agneta, et al.
(författare)
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Aquatic ecosystems at risk for occurrence of pathogenic bacteria
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Pathogenic bacteria occur naturally in aquatic systems. Co-existence of bacteria and protozoa has led to development of predation resistance strategies, which is suggested to serve as a driver for evolution of pathogenic bacteria. However, the ecological mechanisms for selection for different types of predation resistant and pathogenic bacteria are poorly known. To disentangle effects from nutrient availability and protozoan predation pressure on the occurrence of varying predation resistant bacterial genera, an enrichment-dilution experiment was performed where an aquatic bacterial community was exposed to protozoa. Operational taxonomical units, specific for three predation resistant bacterial genera were identified; Pseudomonas, Rickettsia and Mycobacterium. These genera are also known to harbor species that are potentially pathogenic to mammals. Rickettsia and Mycobacterium were promoted where protozoa were abundant and the predation pressure high, while Pseudomonas dominated the bacterial community at the highest nutrient level where the predation pressure on bacteria were low. Our study thus indicates that waters of all nutrient states can harbor pathogenic bacteria, but that bacteria with different ecological strategies occur depending on nutrient level and perturbation. The generative model approach presented here provide a possibility to integrate environmental data in prediction models of pathogens in complex environments.
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| 3. |
- Blaise, M., et al.
(författare)
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CREATIVELY ATTENDING TO UNFINISHED BUSINESS, EVERYDAY SEXISMS, COVID-19, AND HIGHER EDUCATION : The #FEAS fake journal
- 2024
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Ingår i: The Routledge International Handbook of Transdisciplinary Feminist Research and Methodological Praxis. - : Taylor & Francis. - 9781003847601 - 9781032301297 ; , s. 380-382
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- COVID-19 amplified the everyday sexisms that academics experience in higher education, including women’s submission of publications. This chapter shows how a creative and transdisciplinary intervention, #FEAS FAKE JOURNAL, made space for feminist academics whose scholarship was affected by the pandemic to take part in a project that privileged “unfinished business”. A creative methodology was used that moved beyond the traditional research narrative that relies on mastery and certainty. Seventeen feminist academics participated in the project by submitting an abstract to a fake journal about an unfinished work. Several creative components were used to solicit and support personal, political, and creative accounts to the pandemic. These accounts show how feminist academics were affected by lockdowns, how they managed, and in some cases how they connected with each other. Findings show how transdisciplinary feminist creative activism made space for participants to reflect on the effects of the pandemic and to consider what is worth finishing. This paper shares a rare glimpse into the behind the scenes of knowledge making and doing as unfinished business. It shows how transdisciplinary feminist art activism can be enacted with care and solidarity with others.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Braganca, F. M. Serra, et al.
(författare)
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Improving gait classification in horses by using inertial measurement unit (IMU) generated data and machine learning
- 2020
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Ingår i: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Nature. - 2045-2322. ; 10:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- For centuries humans have been fascinated by the natural beauty of horses in motion and their different gaits. Gait classification (GC) is commonly performed through visual assessment and reliable, automated methods for real-time objective GC in horses are warranted. In this study, we used a full body network of wireless, high sampling-rate sensors combined with machine learning to fully automatically classify gait. Using data from 120 horses of four different domestic breeds, equipped with seven motion sensors, we included 7576 strides from eight different gaits. GC was trained using several machine-learning approaches, both from feature-extracted data and from raw sensor data. Our best GC model achieved 97% accuracy. Our technique facilitated accurate, GC that enables in-depth biomechanical studies and allows for highly accurate phenotyping of gait for genetic research and breeding. Our approach lends itself for potential use in other quadrupedal species without the need for developing gait/animal specific algorithms.
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| 6. |
- Byström, Anna, et al.
(författare)
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Lateral movement of the saddle relative to the equine spine in rising and sitting trot on a treadmill
- 2018
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Ingår i: PLoS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 13
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Saddle slip, defined as a progressive lateral displacement of the saddle during ridden exercise, has recently been given attention in the scientific press as a potential sign of lameness. The aim of this study was to objectively quantify the normal lateral movement (oscillations) of the saddle relative to the horse in non-lame horses, and associate this movement to the movements of the horse and rider. Data from seven Warmblood dressage horses competing at Grand Prix (n = 6) or FEI Intermediate (n = 1) level, ridden by their usual riders, were used. Simultaneous kinetic, kinematic and saddle pressure measurements were conducted during sitting and rising trot on a force-measuring treadmill. The maximum lateral movement of the caudal part of the saddle relative to the horse's spine (MAX) was determined for each diagonal step. A mixed model was applied, with MAX as outcome, and T6 and S3 vertical position, rigid body rotation angles (roll, pitch, yaw) of the horse's and rider's pelvis, vertical ground reaction forces, saddle force, and rider position (rising in rising trot, sitting in rising trot or sitting in sitting trot) as explanatory variables. The least square means for MAX were 14.3 (SE 4.7) mm and 23.9 (SE 4.7) mm for rising and sitting in rising trot, and 20.3 (SE 4.7) mm for sitting trot. A 10 mm increase in maximum pelvic height at push off increased MAX by 1.4 mm (p<0.0001). One degree increase in rider pelvis roll decreased MAX 1.1 mm, and one degree increase in rider pelvis yaw increased MAX 0.7 mm (both p<0.0001). The linear relationships found between MAX and movements of both horse and rider implies that both horse and rider movement asymmetries are reflected in the lateral movements or oscillations of the saddle in non-lame horses.
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| 7. |
- Gorur, Radhika, et al.
(författare)
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Politics by other means? : STS and research in education
- 2019
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Ingår i: Discourse. Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education. - : Routledge. - 0159-6306 .- 1469-3739. ; 40:1, s. 1-15
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Science and Technology Studies (STS) has been surprisingly slow to become widely known and deployed in the field of education. Yet STS has a rich array of concepts and analytical methods to offer to studies of: knowledge practices and epistemic cultures; the interrelationship between states and knowledge; regulatory practices, governance and institutions; and classrooms, pedagogy, teaching and learning. Most importantly, it provides a fresh perspective on how power operates in ordering societies, disciplining actors and promoting ideas and practices. In this paper, we provide an introduction to STS and elaborate what it offers education scholars. Using examples from the emerging body of STS work in the field of education, and in particular from the papers in this special issue, we argue that STS is not only useful, but an exciting and generative form of critique - one that is especially suited to investigating contemporary issues in education policies and practices.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Hernlund, Elin, et al.
(författare)
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Adaptation strategies of the Icelandic horse with induced forelimb lameness at walk, trot and tölt
- 2024
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Ingår i: Equine Veterinary Journal. - 0425-1644 .- 2042-3306. ; 56, s. 617-630
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background and objective Lameness assessment in the gaited Icelandic horse is complex. We aimed to describe their kinematic and temporal adaptation strategies in response to forelimb lameness at walk, trot and tolt.Study designIn vivo experiment.Methods Ten clinically non-lame Icelandic horses were measured before and after reversible forelimb lameness induction. Upper body and limb kinematics were measured using 11 inertial measurement units mounted on the poll, withers, pelvis (tubera sacrale) and all four limbs and hoofs (Equimoves (R), 500 Hz). Horses were measured on a straight line at walk and trot in-hand and at walk, trot and tolt while ridden. Linear mixed models were used to compare baseline and lame conditions (random factor = 'horse'), and results are presented as the difference in estimated marginal means or percentage of change.Results Lameness induction significantly (p < 0.05) increased head vertical movement asymmetry at walk (HDmin/HDmaxHAND: 18.8/5.7 mm, HDmin/HDmaxRIDDEN: 9.8/0.3 mm) and trot (HDmin/HDmaxHAND: 18.1/7.8 mm, HDmin/HDmaxRIDDEN: 24.0/9.3 mm). At the tolt, however, HDmin did not change significantly (1.1 mm), but HDmax increased by 11.2 mm (p < 0.05). Furthermore, pelvis vertical movement asymmetry (PDmax) increased by 4.9 mm, sound side dissociation decreased (-8.3%), and sound diagonal dissociation increased (6.5%). Other temporal stride variables were also affected, such as increased stance duration of both forelimbs at walk, tolt and in-hand trot.Main limitations Only one degree of lameness (mild) was induced with an acute lameness model.Conclusions Classical forelimb lameness metrics, such as vertical head and withers movement asymmetry, were less valuable at tolt compared to walk and trot, except for HDmax. Therefore, it is advised to primarily use the walk and trot to detect and quantify forelimb lameness in the Icelandic horse.
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| 10. |
- Hernlund, Elin, et al.
(författare)
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Non-banked curved tracks influence movement symmetry in two-year-old Standardbred trotters
- 2021
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Ingår i: Equine Veterinary Journal. - : Wiley. - 0425-1644 .- 2042-3306.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Little is known regarding how trotting through curves affects locomotion symmetry in Standardbred trotters.Objectives: To investigate differences in objectively measured Standardbred trotter vertical motion symmetry between straight and non-banked, curved sections of oval trotting tracks during exercise warm-up, using a wireless inertial measurement unit (IMU) system.Study design: Cross-sectional, observational study.Methods: Sixteen horses were included. Mixed models were used to assess associations between symmetry, track segment (straight vs curve) and stride duration.Results: Significant results for forelimb parameters were dependent on interactions between track segments and stride duration. At mean stride duration (0.611 second), during the curved track segment horses showed a lower maximum vertical position of the head after push-off of the outside forelimb (estimate -2.3 mm, P < 0.0001, 95% CI -1.7 to -2.9) and higher minimum vertical position of the head during stance of the outside forelimb (estimate -1.8 mm, P < 0.0001, 95% CI -1.2 to -2.5) compared to straight track, mimicking outside forelimb impact and push-off asymmetry during track curves. For hindlimb parameters, during the curve there was a decreased downward motion of the pelvis during outer hindlimb stance (estimate-0.7 mm, P < 0.0001, 95% CI -0.4 to -1.0), mimicking outside hindlimb impact asymmetry.Main limitations: Horses were evaluated going in one direction only on the track (clockwise).Conclusions: Systematic differences between straight and curved track segments were found but did not fully correspond to previously described findings for horses lunged in circles. Effect sizes were overall small. Data in our study were collected from horses trotting on 1000 m tracks with curve radii of 80-85 m. On non-banked tracks of this size, collecting IMU symmetry data at jogging speeds without distinguishing between straight and curved parts is unlikely to adversely affect clinical decision-making.
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| 11. |
- Hesselson, Stephanie E, et al.
(författare)
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Genetic variation in the proximal promoter of ABC and SLC superfamilies : liver and kidney specific expression and promoter activity predict variation
- 2009
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 4:9, s. e6942-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Membrane transporters play crucial roles in the cellular uptake and efflux of an array of small molecules including nutrients, environmental toxins, and many clinically used drugs. We hypothesized that common genetic variation in the proximal promoter regions of transporter genes contribute to observed variation in drug response. A total of 579 polymorphisms were identified in the proximal promoters (-250 to +50 bp) and flanking 5' sequence of 107 transporters in the ATP Binding Cassette (ABC) and Solute Carrier (SLC) superfamilies in 272 DNA samples from ethnically diverse populations. Many transporter promoters contained multiple common polymorphisms. Using a sliding window analysis, we observed that, on average, nucleotide diversity (pi) was lowest at approximately 300 bp upstream of the transcription start site, suggesting that this region may harbor important functional elements. The proximal promoters of transporters that were highly expressed in the liver had greater nucleotide diversity than those that were highly expressed in the kidney consistent with greater negative selective pressure on the promoters of kidney transporters. Twenty-one promoters were evaluated for activity using reporter assays. Greater nucleotide diversity was observed in promoters with strong activity compared to promoters with weak activity, suggesting that weak promoters are under more negative selective pressure than promoters with high activity. Collectively, these results suggest that the proximal promoter region of membrane transporters is rich in variation and that variants in these regions may play a role in interindividual variation in drug disposition and response.
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| 12. |
- Leclercq, Anna, et al.
(författare)
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Perceived sidedness and correlation to vertical movement asymmetries in young warmblood horses
- 2023
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Ingår i: PLoS ONE. - 1932-6203. ; 18
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The prevalence of vertical asymmetries is high in "owner-sound" warmblood riding horses, however the origin of these asymmetries is unknown. This study investigated correlations between vertical asymmetries and motor laterality. Young warmblood riding horses (N = 65), perceived as free from lameness were evaluated on three visits, each comprising objective gait analysis (inertial measurement units system) and a rider questionnaire on perceived sidedness of the horse. A subgroup (N = 40) of horses were also subjected to a forelimb protraction preference test intended as an assessment of motor laterality. We hypothesized associations between vertical asymmetry and motor laterality as well as rider-perceived sidedness. Vertical asymmetry was quantified as trial means of the stride-by-stride difference between the vertical displacement minima and maxima of the head (HDmin, HDmax) and pelvis (PDmin, PDmax). Laterality indexes, based on counts of which limb was protracted, and binomial tests were used to draw conclusions from the preference tests. In the three visits, 60-70% of horses exhibited vertical asymmetries exceeding clinically used thresholds for & GE;1 parameter, and 22% of horses exhibited a side preference in the preference test as judged by binomial tests. Linear mixed models identified a weak but statistically significant correlation between perceived hindlimb weakness and higher PDmin values attributable to either of the hindlimbs (p = 0.023). No other statistically significant correlations to vertical asymmetry were seen for any of the questionnaire answers tested. Tests of correlation between the absolute values of laterality index and asymmetry parameters (HDmin, HDmax, PDmin, PDmax) identified a weak correlation (p = 0.049) with PDmax, but when accounting for the direction of asymmetry and motor laterality, no correlations were seen for either of the asymmetry parameters. No convincing evidence of associations between vertical asymmetries and motor laterality were seen and further studies investigating motor laterality and the origin of vertical asymmetries are needed.
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| 13. |
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| 14. |
- López, Cristina Alarcón, et al.
(författare)
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Dancing with Covid : Choreographing examinations in pandemic times
- 2021
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Ingår i: European Educational Research Journal. - : Sage Publications. - 1474-9041. ; 20:4, s. 403-422
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper, we explore the improvisations made in examination practices in higher education during the pandemic of 2020. Drawing on STS, we start from the theoretical assumption that examinations constitute an obligatory passage point in universities and colleges: a sacred point which students need to pass if they want to gain recognized qualifications. We base our analysis of higher education examinations on cases from six countries around the world: Australia, Belgium, Chile, India, Sweden and the UK. We use the analytical heuristic of choreography to follow the movements, tensions and resistance of the 'emergency examinations' as well as the re-orderings of actors and stages that have inevitably occurred. In our analytical stories we see the interplay between the maintenance of fixed and sacred aspects of examinations and the fluidity of improvisations aimed at meeting threats of spreading Covid-19. These measures have forced the complex network of examinations both to reinforce some conventional actors and to assemble new actors and stages, thus creating radically new choreographies. Although higher education teaching and didactics are being framed as a playground for pedagogical innovation with digital technologies, it is clear from our data that not all educational activities can be so easily replicated.
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| 15. |
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| 16. |
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| 17. |
- Mikhaylova, Tatiana, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
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Reading as a Societal Desire and a Scientific Fact
- 2024
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Ingår i: Nordic Education Research Association (NERA), Malmö, March 6-8, 2024. - Malmö.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Reading is said to have a unique place in human civilization, transcending times and cultures. It is considered crucial for school performance and the development of democratic citizens (Skolverket, 2022). However, according to the Programme for International Reading Literacy Study (Skolverket, 2023) reading habits in Sweden are declining. Overall, the act of reading is perceived to be at risk – a concern that has been eloquently articulated within and beyond the Nordic context. Declining reading habits are seen as a major challenge in contemporary societies, with potential negative effects on children’s cognitive, emotional, and personal development as well as on the formation of a well-rounded, critically thinking, and informed citizens. In examining how reading is produced as a societal, scientific and political concern (cf. Latour, 2004a), we have elsewhere introduced the concept of the ‘reading industrial complex’ (Sundström Sjödin, et al., in press). This concept posits reading as a multifaceted matter involving a wide range of actors, each holding their own view of what reading is, what it entails, and why we should care about it. The present study focuses more narrowly on the role of science in shaping perceptions of reading as a valued activity, influencing policies, and informing pedagogical practices.Theoretically, the study is inspired by Latour’s concepts of matters of facts and matters of concern (Latour, 2004a, 2004b, 2014) to explore how scientific knowledge about reading is constructed and transformed into established ‘facts’ or ‘concerns’. This involves uncovering the desires and aspirations behind research initiatives and examining the ‘laboratory life’ (Latour et al., 2013) of reading science. To achieve this aim, we trace the shifting epistemologies of reading research as reflected in the Journal of Literacy Research from 1969 to 2022. For that, we selected over 200 articles which we coded in accordance with our analytical interest and the purpose of the study. Of particular interest was to explore how the value of reading is constructed within selected articles. Preliminary findings indicate significant shifts in reading research over time. These include expanded conceptions of what counts as reading and literacy, increased interest in contexts and the use of qualitative research methods. Nevertheless, reading continues to be treated as essentially one thing, albeit complex and multifaceted, that can be observed, measured, and assessed, often at the level of the individual. In Latourian terms, then, we can say that while reading is widely recognized as a political and societal concern, it still tends to be approached as a matter of fact.
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| 18. |
- Persson, Magnus, et al.
(författare)
-
r
- 2022
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- I detta nya VR-finansierade projekt undersöker vi på vilka sätt litteraturläsning motiveras som något värdefullt i det offentliga samtalet och vilka didaktiska konsekvenser olika sätt att motivera olika typer av läsning får. Vi avser undersöka hur samhälleliga institutioner, praktiserande lärare och forskning resonerar och argumenterar om nödvändigheten av att läsa. Från att läsning historiskt ofta har motiverats med hjälp av humanistiska ideal ser vi att läsning allt oftare motiveras med hjälp av 'siffror' som tagits fram genom olika mätningar och kvantifieringar. Litteraturläsning handlar därmed alltmer om läsfärdighet, och denna övergång får påtagliga didaktiska konsekvenser. Litteraturläsning som humanistiskt bildningsideal kan och har problematiserats från både litteraturdidaktiskt håll och från litteracitetsforskning, något som driver och utvecklar litteraturundervisningen. Vad händer då när legitimeringen av litteratur i undervisning övergår till att bli en fråga om kognitiva och kvantifierbara färdigheter, såsom ordförråd? Med hjälp av teoretiska perspektiv som utgår från science-and technology studies (STS) avser vi spåra och kartlägga olika aktörer som deltar i legitimering och värdering av läsning, och därmed undersöka på vilket sätt och med hjälp av vilka aktörer läsning blir ett naturaliserat samhälleligt problem som skolan förväntas lösa. Projektet består av tre empiriska case: (1) en bibliometrisk analys av förskjutningar i talet om läsning i vetenskapliga artiklar; (2) en kartläggning av viktiga offentliga aktörer inom läsfrämjande; (3) intervjuer med lärare om deras attityder till och erfarenheter av litteraturundervisning.I denna presentation kommer vi att visa empiriska exempel från och göra analytiska nedslag i case 2.
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| 19. |
- Persson-Sjödin, Emma, et al.
(författare)
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Effect of meloxicam treatment on movement asymmetry in riding horses in training
- 2019
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 14:8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Quantitative gait analysis has revealed that a large proportion of horses in training, perceived as free from lameness by their owners, show movement asymmetries of equal magnitude to horses with mild clinical lameness. Whether these movement asymmetries are related to orthopaedic pain and/or pathology has yet to be further investigated. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine whether movement asymmetries in riding horses in training are affected by anti-inflammatory treatment with meloxicam. In a crossover design, horses were treated with meloxicam or placebo for four days respectively, with a 14-16 day washout period between treatments. Objective movement analysis utilising body mounted accelerometers was performed on a hard and a soft surface before and on day four of each treatment. A trial mean was calculated for the differences between the two vertical displacement minima and maxima of head (HDmin, HDmax) and pelvis (PDmin, PDmax) per stride. Horses (n = 66) with trial mean asymmetries greater than 6 mm for HDmin or HDmax, or more than 3 mm for PDmin or PDmax, at baseline were included. The difference before and after each treatment in the measured movement asymmetry was assessed with linear mixed models. Treatment with meloxicam did not significantly affect the movement asymmetry in any of the models applied (all p>0.30). These results raise new questions: are the movement asymmetries in riding horses in training simply expressions of biological variation or are they related to pain/dysfunction that is non-responsive to meloxicam treatment?
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| 20. |
- Persson-Sjödin, Emma, et al.
(författare)
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Effect of Speed and Surface Type on Individual Rein and Combined Left-Right Circle Movement Asymmetry in Horses on the Lunge
- 2021
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Veterinary Science. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 2297-1769. ; 8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Differences in movement asymmetry between surfaces and with increasing speed increase the complexity of incorporating gait analysis measurements from lunging into clinical decision making. This observational study sets out to quantify by means of quantitative gait analysis the influence of surface and speed on individual-rein movement asymmetry measurements and their averages across reins (average-rein measurements). Head, withers, and pelvic movement asymmetry was quantified in 27 horses, identified previously as presenting with considerable movement asymmetries on the straight, during trot in hand and on the lunge on two surfaces at two speeds. Mixed linear models (p < 0.05) with horse as the random factor and surface and speed category (and direction) as fixed factors analyzed the effects on 11 individual-rein and average-rein asymmetry measures. Limits of agreement quantified differences between individual-rein and average-rein measurements. A higher number of individual-rein asymmetry variables-particularly when the limb that contributed to movement asymmetry on the straight was on the inside of the circle-were affected by speed (nine variables, all p <= 0.047) and surface (three variables, all p <= 0.037) compared with average-rein asymmetry variables (two for speed, all p <= 0.003; two for surface, all p <= 0.046). Six variables were significantly different between straight-line and average-rein assessments (all p <= 0.031), and asymmetry values were smaller for average-rein assessments. Limits of agreement bias varied between +0.4 and +4.0 mm with standard deviations between 3.2 and 12.9 mm. Fewer average-rein variables were affected by speed highlighting the benefit of comparing left and right rein measurements. Only one asymmetry variable showed a surface difference for individual-rein and average-rein data, emphasizing the benefit of assessing surface differences on each rein individually. Variability in straight-line vs. average-rein measurements across horses and exercise conditions highlight the potential for average-rein measurements during the diagnostic process; further studies after diagnostic analgesia are needed.
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| 21. |
- Persson-Sjödin, Emma, et al.
(författare)
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Influence of seating styles on head and pelvic vertical movement symmetry in horses ridden at trot
- 2018
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Ingår i: PLoS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 13
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Detailed knowledge of how a rider's seating style and riding on a circle influences the movement symmetry of the horse's head and pelvis may aid rider and trainer in an early recognition of low grade lameness. Such knowledge is also important during both subjective and objective lameness evaluations in the ridden horse in a clinical setting. In this study, inertial sensors were used to assess how different rider seating styles may influence head and pelvic movement symmetry in horses trotting in a straight line and on the circle in both directions. A total of 26 horses were subjected to 15 different conditions at trot: three unridden conditions and 12 ridden conditions where the rider performed three different seating styles (rising trot, sitting trot and two point seat). Rising trot induced systematic changes in movement symmetry of the horses. The most prominent effect was decreased pelvic rise that occurred as the rider was actively rising up in the stirrups, thus creating a downward momentum counteracting the horses push off. This mimics a push off lameness in the hindlimb that is in stance when the rider sits down in the saddle during the rising trot. On the circle, the asymmetries induced by rising trot on the correct diagonal counteracted the circle induced asymmetries, rendering the horse more symmetrical. This finding offers an explanation to the equestrian tradition of rising on the 'correct diagonal.' In horses with small preexisting movement asymmetries, the asymmetry induced by rising trot, as well as the circular track, attenuated or reduced the horse's baseline asymmetry, depending on the sitting diagonal and direction on the circle. A push off hindlimb lameness would be expected to increase when the rider sits during the lame hindlimb stance whereas an impact hindlimb lameness would be expected to decrease. These findings suggest that the rising trot may be useful for identifying the type of lameness during subjective lameness assessment of hindlimb lameness. This theory needs to be studied further in clinically lame horses.
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| 22. |
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| 23. |
- Persson-Sjödin, Emma, et al.
(författare)
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Objectively measured movement asymmetry in yearling Standardbred trotters
- 2021
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Ingår i: Equine Veterinary Journal. - : Wiley. - 0425-1644 .- 2042-3306. ; 53, s. 590-599
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background Lameness evaluation of Standardbred trotters can be challenging due to discrepancies in observed movement asymmetry between in-hand and track exercise, and between different trotting speeds. There are few studies on objective measurement of movement in Standardbreds, and little knowledge regarding biological variation and clinical significance of measured movement asymmetry in this breed. Objectives To quantify the prevalence and magnitude of objectively measured movement asymmetry in young Standardbred trotters, and identify associations with trainer, sex, height, track type and in-hand measurement prior to or after track trials. Study design Cross-sectional, observational study. Methods A total of 114 Standardbred yearlings were evaluated with a wireless inertial sensor system during trot in-hand and when driven on a track. After exclusions relating to lameness or technical difficulties, 103 horses were included in the study; 77 were evaluated in-hand and on the track, 24 only in-hand and 2 only on the track. Results Front and/or hindlimb parameters were above asymmetry thresholds previously established for other breeds during in-hand trials for 94 (93%) horses and during track trials for 74 (94%) horses. Most horses showed mild asymmetry. A minority of horses (20%) switched side of the asymmetry for one or more parameters between in-hand and track trials. Mixed model analyses revealed no significant effects of trial mode (in-hand or track trial, in-hand trial pre- or post-track trial, straight or oval track), trainer or horse height. Females had a significant but small reduction in asymmetry in one front limb parameter (HDmax) compared with males (1.7 mm, 95% CI 0.18-3.28,P = .03). Main limitations High data variability, reflected in large trial standard deviations, relating mainly to a lack of horse compliance. Conclusions A high proportion of Standardbred yearlings showed movement asymmetries. There was no group-level effect between in-hand and track trials, however, considerable individual variation was observed.
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| 24. |
- Rhodin, Marie, et al.
(författare)
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Timing of Vertical Head, Withers and Pelvis Movements Relative to the Footfalls in Different Equine Gaits and Breeds
- 2022
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Ingår i: Animals. - : MDPI AG. - 2076-2615. ; 12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Simple Summary Movement symmetry of the head and pelvis are used to measure lameness in horses in trot. Although head, pelvis and limb movements have been described, less is known about the temporal relationships between them. This information is needed to understand how the movements change with lameness. This is particularly relevant in gaited horses, such as the Icelandic horse that perform gaits such as tolt and pace, which are challenging to evaluate. This study used inertial measurement units to investigate head, withers and pelvis motion relative to limb movements in Icelandic, Warmblood and Iberian horses. Limb movements, together with vertical movements and lowest/highest positions of the head, withers and pelvis were calculated, and the relative timing of the events was compared across breeds. Additionally, data for tolt and pace were collected and evaluated in ridden Icelandic horses. For all gaits except walk and pace, the lowest/highest positions of the head/withers/pelvis were closely temporally related to midstance and hoof-off, respectively. Pelvic and withers total range of motion differed between all breeds. The Icelandic horses showed shorter stride duration and smaller movements of the upper body than the other breeds at trot, which may explain why lameness evaluation in this breed is challenging. Knowledge of vertical motion patterns of the axial body segments is a prerequisite for the development of algorithms used in automated detection of lameness. To date, the focus has been on the trot. This study investigates the temporal synchronization between vertical motion of the axial body segments with limb kinematic events in walk and trot across three popular types of sport horses (19 Warmbloods, 23 Iberians, 26 Icelandics) that are known to have different stride kinematics, and it presents novel data describing vertical motion of the axial body segments in tolting and pacing Icelandic horses. Inertial measurement unit sensors recorded limb kinematics, vertical motion of the axial body at all symmetrical gaits that the horse could perform (walk, trot, tolt, pace). Limb kinematics, vertical range of motion and lowest/highest positions of the head, withers and pelvis were calculated. For all gaits except walk and pace, lowest/highest positions of the pelvis and withers were found to be closely related temporally to midstance and start of suspension of the hind/fore quarter, respectively. There were differences in pelvic/withers range of motion between all breeds where the Icelandic horses showed the smallest motion, which may explain why lameness evaluation in this breed is challenging.
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| 25. |
- Rhodin, Marie, et al.
(författare)
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Vertical movement symmetry of the withers in horses with induced forelimb and hindlimb lameness at trot
- 2018
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Ingår i: Equine Veterinary Journal. - : Wiley. - 0425-1644 .- 2042-3306. ; 50, s. 818-824
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: The main criteria for lameness assessment in horses are head movement for forelimb lameness and pelvic movement for hindlimb lameness. However, compensatory head nod in horses with primary hindlimb lameness is a well-known phenomenon. This compensatory head nod movement can be easily misinterpreted as a sign of primary ipsilateral forelimb lameness. Therefore, discriminating compensatory asymmetries from primary directly pain-related movement asymmetries is a prerequisite for successful lameness assessment.Objectives: To investigate the association between head, withers and pelvis movement asymmetry in horses with induced forelimb and hindlimb lameness.Study design: Experimental study.Methods: In 10 clinically sound Warmblood riding horses, forelimb and hindlimb lameness were induced using a sole pressure model. The horses were then trotted on a treadmill. Three-dimensional optical motion capture was used to collect kinematic data from reflective markers attached to the poll, withers and tubera sacrale. The magnitude and side (left or right) of the following symmetry parameters, vertical difference in minimum position, maximum position and range-up were calculated for head, withers, and pelvis. Mixed models were used to analyse data from induced forelimb and hindlimb lameness.Results: For each mm increase in pelvic asymmetry in response to hindlimb lameness induction, withers movement asymmetry increased by 0.35-0.55 mm, but towards the contralateral side. In induced forelimb lameness, for each mm increase in head movement asymmetry, withers movement asymmetry increased by 0.05-0.10 mm, in agreement with the head movement asymmetry direction, both indicating lameness in the induced forelimb.Main limitations: Results must be confirmed in clinically lame horses trotting overground.Conclusions: The vertical asymmetry pattern of the withers discriminated a head nod associated with true forelimb lameness from the compensatory head movement asymmetry caused by primary hindlimb lameness. Measuring movement symmetry of the withers may, thus, aid in determining primary lameness location.
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| 26. |
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| 27. |
- Sjödin, Elin, et al.
(författare)
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Intestinal and hepatobiliary transport of ximelagatran and its metabolites in pigs
- 2008
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Ingår i: Drug Metabolism And Disposition. - : American Society for Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET). - 0090-9556 .- 1521-009X. ; 36:8, s. 1519-1528
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The direct thrombin inhibitor melagatran is formed from ximelagatran via two intermediate metabolites, OH-melagatran and ethylmelagatran. The biotransformation of ximelagatran does not involve cytochrome P450 isoenzymes, and it has been suggested that a reported interaction with erythromycin may instead be mediated by transport proteins. A pig model that simultaneously enables bile collection, sampling from three blood vessels and perfusion of a jejunal segment, was used to investigate the biotransformation of ximelagatran and the effect of erythromycin on the intestinal and hepatobiliary transport of ximelagatran and its metabolites. The pigs received enteral ximelagatran (n = 6), enteral ximelagatran together with erythromycin (n = 6), i.v. ximelagatran (n = 4), or i.v. melagatran (n = 4). The plasma exposure of the intermediates was found to depend on the route of ximelagatran administration. Erythromycin increased the area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC) of melagatran by 45% and reduced its biliary clearance from 3.0 +/- 1.3 to 1.5 +/- 1.1 ml/min/kg. Extensive biliary exposure of melagatran and ethylmelagatran, mediated by active transport, was evident from the 100- and 1000-fold greater AUC, respectively, in bile than in plasma. Intestinal efflux transporters seemed to be of minor importance for the disposition of ximelagatran and its metabolites considering the high estimated f(abs) of ximelagatran (80 +/- 20%) and the negligible amount of the compounds excreted in the perfused intestinal segment. These findings suggest that transporters located at the sinusoidal and/or canalicular membranes of hepatocytes determine the hepatic disposition of ximelagatran and its metabolites, and are likely to mediate the ximelagatran-erythromycin pharmacokinetic interaction.
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| 28. |
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| 29. |
- Sundström Sjödin, Elin, et al.
(författare)
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Assembled teaching : A sensitized conceptualisation of didactics
- 2022
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Ingår i: Comparative and international education (re)assembled. - : Bloomsbury Academic. - 9781350286825 - 9781350286832 - 9781350286849 ; , s. 183-200
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of this chapter is to contribute to a widened and at the same time sensitized concept of didactics, illustrated by three cases that we mirror against traditional didactic triangle models. We describe assemblages of actors, both human and non-human (Latour, 2007), involved in these three specific teaching situations, how they perform and what effects they have. These cases are not presented as being representative of something larger, or as something that fits easily into comparisons, with corresponding or equivalent entities in other countries or other practices, but rather as phenomena in their own right, which nonetheless can provide more sensitized comparative research: “as incitement to ask questions about difference and similarity, about what alters in moving from one place to another” (Law and Mol 2002, p. 16). Whereas comparative research usually makes use of context as having explanatory features, our analytical focus is on the details of the assembled didactic situations, on the actors and effects of their relationships. We see didactics as a relational and situated endeavor. However, even if the actors and relations within one didactic situation does not mean the same in other situations, this approach can offer comparative insights about what assemblages that become possible and the different effects that different assemblages have and what contexts can be created from there.
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| 30. |
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| 31. |
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| 32. |
- Sundström Sjödin, Elin, 1972-
(författare)
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Creating the valuable : reading as a matter of health and successful parenthood
- 2019
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Ingår i: Discourse. Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education. - : Routledge. - 0159-6306 .- 1469-3739. ; 40:1, s. 46-60
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- There have been increasing demands to improve Swedish children's reading habits, triggered by poor PISA results in 2013, and public healthcare has stepped in as a strong reading-promoting actor. Drawing on the emerging field of valuation research in STS, the paper explores the values enacted in health-related information brochures about reading that are distributed to all Swedish parents at various times of their children's lives. The analysis demonstrates how the lack of reading books is enacted as a public health problem that requires prevention and intervention of public healthcare. Health is thus recruited as a stabilising actor in the process of determining the value and importance of reading and where the problem of non-reading of books becomes a private matter for families to solve. The analysis also shows how instances of health-promoting intentions of doing good can in effect be marginalising by viewing specific people as less valuable.
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| 33. |
- Sundström Sjödin, Elin
(författare)
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Empowerment(s) in practice : reading literature in a critical space
- 2022
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Ingår i: Pedagogy, Culture & Society. - : Routledge. - 1468-1366 .- 1747-5104. ; 30:4, s. 581-598
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article reports on an empirical study of a literature project at a special residential home for detained youth in Sweden. Informed by critical literacy, the study explored the ways in which versions of empowerment in relation to reading were performed in a 'critical space'. The ethnographic study was analytically inspired by the actor-network theory. Observations and interviews with students and teachers were used to understand the ambiguous and at times contradictory ways that empowerment was enacted; aligning with or refusing to align with dominant literacies or institutionalised expectations of development and improvement. Two different versions of empowerment are explored; these exist in tension with each other and are enacted in the material. The paper concludes with a discussion of the reading project as a critical space, a specific site that offered more critical elements of reading to take part in education.
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| 34. |
- Sundström Sjödin, Elin, 1972-, et al.
(författare)
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Enacted realities in teachers' experiences : bringing materialism into pragmatism
- 2017
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Ingår i: Journal of Curriculum Studies. - : Taylor & Francis. - 0022-0272 .- 1366-5839. ; 49:1, s. 96-110
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this article we explore factors that constitute the social' for the teacher Susan, which at the same time highlights ethical aspects of the exercise of her profession. We meet her in a situation where she is setting grades, and our interest focuses on the relations that become of concern for her in her professional task to give the students their grades. In this exploration, we recognize the renewal of interest in realism and examine the possible links that can be drawn between transactional realism, as a pragmatic view, and the new materialism, here represented by actor-network theory. Building on a narrative from an interview with a named teacher in a daily newspaper, the empirical study focuses on actors constituting Susan's reality when grading. Our argument is that in order to understand the complex levels of aspects that influence teachers' actions, it is necessary to start from the local and from there trace the human and material factors that may affect teachers' room for action. Bringing material aspects into the consideration of Susan's situation helps us see that technology itself changes time and spaces and moves the action of grading into spaces outside her professional sphere.
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| 35. |
- Sundström Sjödin, Elin, et al.
(författare)
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Läsning, ekologi och siffror : Sanningspraktiker hos en läsfrämjande aktör
- 2024
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Ingår i: Språk och litteratur - en omöjlig eller skön förening?. - Lund : Nationella nätverket för svenska med didaktisk inriktning. - 9789189874398 - 9789189874404 ; , s. 377-390
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- I denna artikel redogör vi för en mindre delstudie i det pågående, och av Vetenskapsrådet finansierade, projektet Från ord till siffror. Hur läsning blir ett samhälleligt och didaktiskt problem. Med hjälp av teoretiska och metodologiska perspektiv från Science- and Technology Studies (STS) undersöker vi i projektet hur forskning, läsfrämjande aktörer och skolans svenskundervisning deltar i och konstruerar diskurser om läsningens nödvändighet. I den delstudie som är aktuell här fokuserar vi på Sveriges Författarförbund (SFF) och deras lansering av ett litteraturpolitiskt program under våren 2022. Vi undersöker på vilka sätt SFF använder exempelvis metaforen om litteraturens ekosystem och siffror som sanningsskapande praktiker. Det empiriska materialet består av SFF:s tryckta litteraturpolitiska program från 2022, en intervju med förbundets vice ordförande, samt fältanteckningar från en heldagskonferens om litteraturpolitik arrangerad av SFF. Analysen visar att ekologi och siffror är kraftfulla tekniker som skapar en berättelse om läsningens nödvändighet och utsatthet, samtidigt som dessa sanningspraktiker också genererar motsägelser och motsättningar. Läsning etableras här såväl som oumbärligt för samhället och individen, och som under hot från en mängd aktörer och processer, däribland marknadifieringen och digitaliseringen.
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| 36. |
- Sundström Sjödin, Elin, 1972-, et al.
(författare)
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Making children robot-readable : exploring sociotechnical imaginaries and educational cares
- 2023
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this study, we explore the sociotechnical imaginaries, educational cares and rationales for reading books when a robot becomes a node within the traditional welfare system where public libraries, tech corporations, schools, children, and books meet in an endeavor to encourage and develop children’s reading. Our material consists of observations, interviews and official web material.In the analysis of our material, we make use of two STS-concepts: Sociotechnical imaginaries (Jasanoff 2015) and Matters of Care (Maria Puig de la Casa, 2011; 2017) ‘Sociotechnical imaginaries have become an important trajectory in STS often crediting Jasanoff’s seminal definition.Thinking instead with Flichy (2007), sociotechnical imaginaries differ from Jasanoff’s definition slightly since sociotechnical imaginaries are not only supported and attainable via technological innovation, but constitute integral parts of the materiality of technology (Flichy, 2007). Here we especially look at the labor of care needed to uphold the imaginary of the reading robot. Puig de la Bellacasa’s (2011; 2017) concept Matters of care helps us explore what care looks like in the assemblage we investigate, who cares, and about what? What effects does care enact? How is Bibi cared for in order for the care takers to remain responsible for her becoming, her actions and her doings?Our study shows how reading (with a robot) is enacted as a care practice, where caring for the children’s reading and literature is displaced by care for the robot in care practises that uphold the enchantment of the robot (Natale, 2021) Caring for the robot has unexpected and unintended effects such as failures, disruptions, exclusions and even violence, which chafe with the aim of the project.
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| 37. |
- Sundström Sjödin, Elin, et al.
(författare)
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Reading in the wing chair : the shaping of teaching and reading bodies in the transactional performativity of materialities
- 2021
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Ingår i: Educational Philosophy and Theory. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0013-1857 .- 1469-5812. ; 53:9, s. 920-930
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Literary education exposes students to unpredictable critical moments in their encounters with a text. Drawing on Dewey's transactional realism and actor-network theory, this theoretical and conceptual study explores the performativity of things and materials as they shape reading and teaching bodies. This transactional performativity extends beyond the physical positioning of the body to the power relations enacted in text situations. The conceptual rationale is illustrated by a story about a reading chair in a detention home for detained young men-an environment where power issues come to a head. The story illustrates a theoretical discussion of what might be characterized as performing 'the critical' in reading and how potentialities for students' experiences are created in text situations by the different components involved. The purpose of the article is to explore the potentialities of performing critical aspects of reading to challenge, to transform, and to encourage resistance.
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| 38. |
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| 39. |
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| 40. |
- Sundström Sjödin, Elin, et al.
(författare)
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The Mystery of 50,000 Words : Tracing Numbers of Fiction
- 2024
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study is part of a larger project called The Fiction of Numbers, in which we locate and explore the intersections between the spheres of science, public discourse, policymaking and educational practices. We specifically examine how reading becomes a specific node, or discourse, where the changing ideas on societal, sociotechnical and educational imaginaries (cf Jasanoff, 2015; Rahm, 2019; Sundström Sjödin, 2017; 2019) and solutions take place. Drawing on Science and Technology Studies (STS), we are primarily concerned with how knowledge and facts are produced and naturalized; that is, how a phenomenon is produced as a matter of course and thus becomes difficult to question, and the ways in which values and politics of knowledge become invisible in this process (Dussauge et al. 2015; Latour, 1987, 1993).In this sub-study, we “trace” – in Latour’s (2007) sense of the word – specific ‘numbers’ related to reading that are regularly referred to in media as well as in educational and political settings in contemporary Sweden. The numbers are used in reading promoting arguments: it is claimed that seventeen-year-olds who read a lot have a vocabulary of 50,000 words, while their low-reading peers have only 15,000 words in their vocabulary. It is also argued that 50,000 words is what is needed to be able to read and understand a typical newspaper text.These kinds of numerical claims circulate in the public discourse and are often unchallenged and presented as matters of facts. Uncontested, the numbers are left to do their work – efficient in establishing truths, suggesting impartiality and transparency, ‘strengthened by the historical relationship between numbers and rationality, objectivity and control’ (de Wilde & Franssen, 2016, p. 505; see Hacking, 1990; Porter, 1995). They stabilize beliefs about reading into hard facts. By that, they also naturalize reading as something inherently good and useful, and therefore difficult to question (Sundström Sjödin, 2019). Moreover, although the construction of the problem implies the construction of the recipient, i.e. the so-called troublesome subject, in this case it remains unclear for whom exactly the lack of reading is a problem (Marres, 2005).In this study, we trace the specific numbers we encountered in various sites of what we call “the reading industrial complex” (Sundström Sjödin et al, in press). We trace the origins of these numbers, how they have been produced, and with what tools. In doing so, we aim to develop knowledge on how reading is constructed as a public problem and a societal desire and what role numbers play in this construction. This aim is specified in the following three research questions: I) Which actors are involved in the dissemination of particular numbers related to reading, and who are the (implied) addressees of these numbers? II) What societal and educational imaginaries and desires are embedded in these numbers? III) What are the “origins” of the numbers? How and for what purposes were they produced? Theoretically and methodologically, the study draws on concepts and sensibilities of STS to explore the processes of knowledge production and dissemination, developed in the section below.
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| 41. |
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| 42. |
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| 43. |
- Sundström Sjödin, Elin, 1972-
(författare)
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Tracing reading to the dark side : investigating the policy producing reading and readers in detention homes
- 2018
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Ingår i: Discourse. Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education. - : Routledge. - 0159-6306 .- 1469-3739. ; 39:6, s. 887-900
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Both inside and outside educational settings, reading literature is emphasized as something good, perhaps even something that makes us better people. This paper aims to open the 'black-boxed' conception of reading by studying how reading and (non)readers are conceptualized in relation to young people taken into custody. I examine a policy document describing a reading project in detention homes for young people as a case in which reading is perceived as having specific effects. Actor-network theory is used as a methodological approach to call attention to the way ideas, values, and knowledge about educational content are produced. The analysis shows that the seemingly coherent policy document produces radically different versions of what reading is and who the readers and non-readers are. I conclude that conceptualizations of reading and literacy always involve the creation of 'a dark side of reading'; the strong construction of 'reading as doing good' has marginalizing effects.
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| 44. |
- Sundström Sjödin, Elin, 1972-
(författare)
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Where is the critical in literacy? : Tracing performances of literature reading, readers and non-readers in educational practice
- 2019
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In many instances in society, educational and other, literature reading is emphasised as something that develops persons in positive ways. The present thesis explores this claim in relation to literature reading in educational practices. By tracing how values and critical aspects of reading are enacted, the purpose is both to problematize taken-for-granted truth claims about literature reading and to develop an understanding of the elements involved when reading, readers and critical aspects of reading are created. The studies focus on different educational practices; a teacher’s narrative about grading, information brochures about reading to children and the policy and practice of a reading project at special residential homes for detained youth in Sweden. In these practices, the thesis explores where and when the critical takes place, in what constellations and with what consequences. The thesis draws on critical literacy, where reading is regarded as taking action and having self-empowering potential. However, with help of a pragmatic and material semiotic approach, the investigations steps away from what is taken for granted about reading and about what critical means, and instead reading, readers and the critical are analysed as transactional effects.The studies show how students can be placed at risk by rationales for reading literature that construct and establish them as lacking of culture or as literacy inadequate. The thesis further shows that the critical in literacy can be ambivalent as well as multiple, and it can be enacted by both human, discursive and material actors.
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| 45. |
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| 46. |
- Vallesi, Adriana, et al.
(författare)
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A New Species of the gamma-Proteobacterium Francisella, F. adeliensis Sp. Nov., Endocytobiont in an Antarctic Marine Ciliate and Potential Evolutionary Forerunner of Pathogenic Species
- 2019
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Ingår i: Microbial Ecology. - : Springer. - 0095-3628 .- 1432-184X. ; 77:3, s. 587-596
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The study of the draft genome of an Antarctic marine ciliate, Euplotes petzi, revealed foreign sequences of bacterial origin belonging to the gamma-proteobacterium Francisella that includes pathogenic and environmental species. TEM and FISH analyses confirmed the presence of a Francisella endocytobiont in E. petzi. This endocytobiont was isolated and found to be a new species, named F. adeliensis sp. nov.. F. adeliensis grows well at wide ranges of temperature, salinity, and carbon dioxide concentrations implying that it may colonize new organisms living in deeply diversified habitats. The F. adeliensis genome includes the igl and pdp gene sets (pdpC and pdpE excepted) of the Francisella pathogenicity island needed for intracellular growth. Consistently with an F. adeliensis ancient symbiotic lifestyle, it also contains a single insertion-sequence element. Instead, it lacks genes for the biosynthesis of essential amino acids such as cysteine, lysine, methionine, and tyrosine. In a genome-based phylogenetic tree, F. adeliensis forms a new early branching clade, basal to the evolution of pathogenic species. The correlations of this clade with the other clades raise doubts about a genuine free-living nature of the environmental Francisella species isolated from natural and man-made environments, and suggest to look at F. adeliensis asa pioneer in the Francisella colonization of eukaryotic organisms.
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| 47. |
- Wahlström, Ninni, 1953-, et al.
(författare)
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The Wing Chair: Where is the Critical in Literacy?
- 2018
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The objective of this paper is to contribute to a contemporary discussion about new aspects of critical literacy and literature instruction by focusing on what might be seen as the critical in reading. Critical literacy theories (Freire & Macedo 1987; Luke & Freebody 1997; Janks 2013; Vasquez 2016) focus on the transformative aspects of learning, on learning as taking action and seeing oneself as an agent with self-empowering potential, whereby the learner is an active agent in transforming and acting upon his or her world: “[the world] is a problem to be worked on and solved” (Freire 1970/1993, in the foreword by Shaull). The critical, the urgency, and the value of literacy in critical literacy are in action in the subject-ness of education. It is about seeing oneself as a right holder and an equal citizen in a community, being drawn out into a world of communal existence (cf. Biesta 2014). In education, not least in literature education, there is always the potential of unpredictable critical moments in the student’s encounter with different forms of text situations.The purpose of this paper is to explore where the critical becomes burning and urgent, moral and political, challenging, transformative, and liberating in a text situation. The research question is: how can the critical in the sense of an urgency, a disturbance, a vibrant affectivity in the classroom be understood in an actual teaching situation? As Janks (2002) notes, we cannot know in advance which texts are dangerous for whom and how they will impinge on the diverse and multiple identities and identifications of the students in our classes” (p. 20). To emphasize the impossibility of determining in advance which situations can develop into textual experiences, we use the term “text situations” to mark the contingency in the concepts of text, reader, and reading. In the study, we trace specific actors in the networked activity that constitutes a delimited aspect of reading and literature instruction in a story from a closed ward in a detention home in Sweden. Theoretical frameworkThe paper is based on a view of reality that is “performance-based,” drawing on John Dewey’s piecemeal realism and the infinite meaning potential expressed through his carefully elaborated concept of experience. “The same existential events are capable of an infinite number of meanings” (Dewey 1981, p. 241). The endless potential of meanings in experience, as well as the temporality and contingency of space, have an affinity with the actor-network theory (ANT) understanding of “the social” as assemblages that exceed time and space in the performance of the social (Latour 2007). Thus, temporality and potentiality constitute an intersection between transactional realism and ANT (Authors 2017). Our interest centers on critical literacy, where reading is regarded as political action. From this perspective, the concept of literature, together with other art forms and aesthetic expressions, can be included in the concept of “radical aesthetics” (Thavenius 2005). Thavenius contrasts the function of literature in school: modest aesthetics, with its divide between the creative and the intellectual, with radical aesthetics, where difficult and hidden experiences are verbalized and emerge from curiosity and questioning, contradictions, and ambiguities. From the ability of radical aesthetics to portray the uncertain, unfinished, contradictory, and ambiguous in our experiences, it shares the characteristics of the critical.The study draws on a performative and relational conception of literature and reading, which refers to the notion that what constitutes the world is what is taking form and shape through its performance in webs of relations (Law 2004; Mol 1999). Poststructuralist theorists (e.g. Butler, 2008; Derrida, 2001) address not only the performativity of specific speech acts, but also in the construction and maintenance of identities in most communication and action. The concept of actor-network takes the notion that actors are produced in relations with performative effects and applies it to all materials, not only human and not only discursive (Law 2006). This provides an innovative analytical approach to how relations are created, mobilized, sustained, and challenged in various phenomena or practices, and it distributes agency to a provocative, wide range of actors. The hyphenated term “actor-network” refers to the reciprocity of the relations: actors and the network are mutually co-constructed; an actor becomes an actor when participating in the network; and the network is only kept in place because of the actor's participation (cf. Latour 2007). According to Johnson and Vasudevan (2012), current definitions of critical literacy need to be expanded to include a performance lens that recognizes embodied texts and responses (p. 35). Students perform critical literacy in ways that “are underrecognized, may defy rationality, or transgress teacher expectations for the politically correct or classroom appropriate” (p. 35; cf. Janks 2002). In this paper, we argue in line with Johnson and Vasudevan (2012) that “the critical” is performed in transactions between human and nonhuman actors in specific situations. It becomes possible to trace where these situated experiences are actually performed by exploring the assemblages of actors operating as mediators in creating the social in a situation. The critical effect is not a merely human activity; it is performed in the networked relations of whatever actors – human, discursive, and material – through which the critical can emerge.
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| 48. |
- Wahlström, Ninni, et al.
(författare)
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What counts as reality in teachers’ experiences? : Bringing materialism into pragmatism
- 2015
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Ingår i: ECER 2015, Education and Transition. Contributions from Educational Research, Network: 28. Sociologies of Education..
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In Europe today, the pace of change is so fast, “that every teacher needs to keep her practice under constant, critical review and adjust it in the light of students’ outcomes…”. Teachers should offer individualized teaching “so that all learners achieve specified outcomes”. (European Commission 2012, p. 5). The European policy rhetoric, as well as other transnational policy discourses (OECD 2005, Barber & Mourshed 2007), emphasize the teachers as having the most important impact on the performance of their students within educational institutions. It is reasonable to say that there is a strong transnational policy pressure in European countries to focus on the role of the teacher and on student performance. What we know less about is how this pressure on the results and grades affect teachers' social environment in today's society marked by digital communications. The purpose of this paper is thus to examine how perspectives of transactional realism and materialism can contribute to a more complete understanding of factors within and outside the institutional environment of school that form different but overlapping networks for teachers, potentially affecting their room for action. The research question we will explore in this paper is: What factors contribute to shape the relations constituting the social environment for the teacher in the task of grading, with the potential to affect her space of agency? The theoretical framework of this paper is based on John Dewey’s view of transactional realism and on the more recent understanding of materialism and actor-network theory, represented by Bruno Latour. Dewey (1925/1981, 1938/1991) was engaged in the reconstruction of realism (Sleeper 1986/2001, p. 7), but as Westbrook (2005, p. 40) notes, it was a “piecemeal realism” Dewey argued for. This means that there are things that are existentially real, but they are not real in any essentialist way, instead they are “contingently real objects”, not “permanently real” (Sleeper 1986/2001 p. 147). Dewey’s logic of theory and piecemeal realism means that the “world” is influenced through our actions and vice versa. The reality “is in the transactions among all those events that participate in the context including the participation of inquirer” (Garrison 1994, p. 13). The sociologist Latour (2011, p. 11) writes that Dewey “invented reflexive modernization before the expression was coined”. The actor-network theory (ANT) examines how heterogeneous networks connects and manages to hold together, more or less temporarily, and enact economic, political and social phenomena or effects. As formulated within ANT, reality is enacted in practice: “ontologies are brought into being, sustained, or allowed to wither away in common, day to day, sociomaterial practices” (Mol, 2002, p. 6). Consequently, performances have to do with material processes taking place continuously, which draws attention to materiality and multiplicity, and posing questions about ‘conflicting realities’. This also means that different objects, including human subjects, will take different form in different places and practices. So instead of asking ‘How do teachers do when they make judgment on grades?’ a more pertinent question might be‘Where are grades?’, implying that entities of grading take different form in different places and therefore it is relevant to trace the socio-material processes where, in this case, grading occurs as performances in webs of relations (Mulcahy 2012). In this sense, grades and grading do not function as a representation of a fixed reality, or as different perspectives of a fixed reality, but as different realities enacted in different spaces, with different functions and consequences. MethodWe build on a narrative from an authentic interview in a Swedish newspaper in April, 2014. We use a fictive name of the teacher and call her Susan. Following the logic of ANT, we do not take the social as a given stable entity, but in accordance with Latour (2007, p. 5) the social is regarded as connections between things assembled in contingent ways given a certain state of affairs. We therefore rather trace new associations, instead of looking for explanations by predetermined forces as social contexts or social factors. The teacher’s agency is an effect of different forces and connections the teacher encounter in various educational situations. In the paper we explore some of these forces experienced by the teacher Susan in her work with setting grades. Latour (2007) differentiate between two different means to produce the social: intermediary and mediators. Intermediary transports meanings without translating or changing them in any way; the output is the same as the input. Mediators, on the other hand, “transform, translate, distort, and modify the meaning or the elements they are supposed to carry” (p. 39). The notions of translation, mediators and intermediaries help research trace how things come to be (Fenwick & Edwards, 2010, p. 12). The analysis is conducted in the following way. First the actors are identified in the interview with Susan. Once actors are identified we trace their various connections by asking questions about where the actors are placed, how connections are made possible or difficult, and of what is emphasized or obscured. What actors enact as mediators, as translators, and what actors enact intermediary, that is, enacts as truths and matters of facts? Then we trace how the mediators change events and phenomena according to the interests and rationalities they represent. In the case of Susan’s story we see that it is not only the content of e-mails communicated between teachers and parents that has an impact, but the e-mail-technology itself brings about an ontological change. Moreover we identify the various spaces of networks where grades and grading are enacted in multiple shapes. These spaces are for example the curriculum, students’ assignments, teachers’ considerations, conversations between teachers and students and between teachers and their colleagues, and e-mails. Considering these spaces, we pose questions about how the different spaces are linked together and how different actors change or move the limits of the spaces.Expected OutcomesBy tracing the associations in Susan’s story of how she handles her professional situation of grading her students, it becomes obvious that her work at a secondary school is governed by the demands of a market-driven school system. In such a system, the means for the teachers to assess, evaluate, and grade students are directly affected by how well-rated and popular their schools are, as schools become dependent on the money each students bring to them with the voucher system. When looking at the actors involved in Susan’s story, we find that both human and non-human actors and activities fill the workplace that is hers: parents and students (enacted as customers), supporting principals, grades, computers, e-mail conversations, more or less concealed threats, parental engagement, and time. The computer places the parents almost literally in Susan’s living room in the evenings due to its role as a mediator, translating the assemblage of computer, e-mail-technology, influential parents, a prestigious school that is careful with its reputation; a gathering of items that most significantly intrudes into Susan's private life whether she decides to act upon it or not. Bringing material aspects into the consideration of Susan’s situation helps us to see that it is the technology itself that changes the spaces and moves grading into several spaces where Susan does not have her professional authority.
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| 49. |
- Wahlström, Ninni, et al.
(författare)
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What counts as reality in teachers’ experiences : bringing materialism into pragmatism
- 2014
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The purpose of the paper is to examine how perspectives of transactional realism and materialism can contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of factors within and outside institutional environments that form different but overlapping networks for teachers, potentially affecting their room for action in different ways. We explore the following two research questions: How can the concept of transactional realism contribute to a ‘renewed’ understanding of pragmatism that also includes material aspects? How can material aspects contribute to shed light on teachers' room for action?
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| 50. |
- Wahlström, Ninni, 1953-, et al.
(författare)
-
What counts as reality in teachers’ experiences : Bringing materialism into pragmatism
- 2014
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- General description and purpose: In this paper we explore the ‘realist’ dimension in Dewey’s version of pragmatism and especially in his concept of experience. Inspired by Actor-Network Theory (ANT), we suggest that moving Dewey’s ideas towards notions of the significance of material realities would contribute to a more complex understanding of teachers’ experiences of power and constraints that might have a potential influence on their actions in institutional settings, which is also the purpose of this paper. In this, mostly conceptual, inquiry we illustrate our argument with a narrative from an interview in a daily newspaper, where a teacher give her view of the different forms of forces and influences she encounters in her task of grading the students. Our research questions are: How can the concept of transactional realism contribute to a ‘renewed’ understanding of pragmatism that also includes material aspects? How can material aspects contribute to and shed light on teachers' room for action?Theoretical and methodological framework: In recent years, there has been a revivification of interest in pragmatist philosophy among social science and a renewed interest of pragmatism, as a “post-postmodern” approach (Hickman 2007), resolving around two turns: the realist version of reflexivity inherent in pragmatic philosophy and the temporal frame of social inquiry that places reflexive realism in a future-oriented ontology (Rosiek 2013). In the paper we explore the relations between transactional realism and the notion of time, space and a more intersubjective interpretation of meaning, consistent with some of the ideas developed in ANT. In the inquiry, we trace the factors, human and non-human, that enact a teacher’s work with grading.Expected conclusions: We suggest that the concept of experience is the bridge that links ‘the linguistic turn’ with realism, and that the allowance of transactional agency for non-humans, develop Dewey’s transactional realism, and provide for a more sensitive exploration of the complexities that make up teachers’ realities. In our empirical example, the teacher’s work with grading is enacted in the relational network she finds herself in, a network in which several different actors cooperate: economic, political and material.
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