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- Söderström, Ulf, et al.
(author)
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National Swedish study of immigrant children with type 1 diabetes showed impaired metabolic control after three years of treatment
- 2016
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In: Acta Paediatrica. - : WILEY-BLACKWELL. - 0803-5253 .- 1651-2227. ; 105:8, s. 935-939
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Aim: This study examined the clinical status and socio-demographic conditions of children with type 1 diabetes at baseline and after three years of treatment, comparing those born to immigrant parents and Swedish parents. Methods: This observational nationwide population-based cohort study used prospectively collected registry data from Swediabkids, the National Quality Registry for Paediatric Diabetes in Sweden from 2000 to 2010. Of the 13 415 children with type 1 diabetes, there were 879 born to immigrant parents. We selected three children born to Swedish parents from the same registry for each immigrant child matching them by gender, age and year of diabetes onset (n = 2627; with 10 control children missing probably due to the matching procedure). Results: Immigrant children had a higher median glycated haemoglobin level (HbA1c) than their Swedish peers, but there was no difference in the frequency of hypoglycaemia or ketoacidosis between the two cohorts. A linear regression model with HbA1c as a dependent variable showed that insulin units per kilogram of body weight were the main reason for inferior metabolic control. Conclusion: Children with type 1 diabetes born to immigrant parents had inferior metabolic control three years after disease onset compared to children with Swedish born parents. Social family support and educational coping programmes are needed to improve treatment outcomes in immigrants with diabetes.
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| 2. |
- Axelsson, Ulf, et al.
(author)
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Risk assessment of high concentrations of molybdenum in forage
- 2018
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In: Environmental Geochemistry and Health. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0269-4042 .- 1573-2983. ; 4:6, s. 2685-2694
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Molybdenum is toxic to ruminants when present in high levels in forage, causing physiological copper deficiency. A critical level for ruminants is 3–10 mg Mo kg−1 dry matter. The average Mo level varies considerably between different arable soils, depending mainly on soil parent material. This study investigated the possibility of using various existing sources of geospatial information (geophysical, biogeochemical and soil chemical) to develop a geography-based risk assessment system. Forage samples (n = 173) were collected in 2006–2007. Three types of national geoscientific datasets were tested: (1) SEPA topsoil, comprising data from arable land within the Swedish environmental monitoring programme; (2) SGU biogeochemical, containing data from aquatic plant root material collected in small streams; and (3) SGU geophysical, consisting of data from airborne gamma-ray scanning. The digital postcode area map was used for geocoding, with Mo concentrations in forage assigned to arable parts of the corresponding postcode area. By combining this with the three national geoscientific databases, it was possible to construct a risk map using fuzzy classification depicting High-risk, Intermediate-risk, Low-risk and Very-low-risk areas. The map was validated using 42 randomly selected samples. All samples but one with Mo > 3 mg kg−1 were found in postcode areas designated High risk. Thus, the risk map developed seems to be useful as a decision support system on where standard forage analyses need to be supplemented with Mo analyses.
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| 3. |
- Blossing, Ulf, et al.
(author)
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Local Drivers for Improvement Capacity. Six Types of School Organisations
- 2015
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Book (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Provides concrete illustrations of how teacher teams, leadership and processes are organised in their efforts to improve their schools Provides understanding of the organisation on the basis of sensemaking processes Presents six school types with their own typology, case school and improvement advice Points out the delicate balance between state governance and local school improvement processes This book presents systematically six types of schools, with different improvement capacities. Different schools have different capacities for school improvement, depending on the school infrastructure, norms and routines for the improvement process, improvement roles, and improvement history. The organisation of the improvement capacity is understood on the basis of sensemaking processes among teachers and school leaders. The book focuses on the challenges for each type of school in their improvement work, and which situations and circumstances they need to take into account. The school types are illustrated with detailed descriptions of six schools, coming from an evaluation of a Norwegian school development program. The book fills a need in school organisations to have concrete illustrations from similar schools of how teacher teams are organised, how leadership is exercised and processes are organised in their efforts of improving the organisation and building a complex and effective capacity. Schools’ improvement capacity has become an important feature in school management and leadership as well as in research as western states have decentralised governance to the local level. The expectations on school leaders as well as on teachers are high when it comes to improve their schools to raise student outcome. Accounts of professional school cultures and professional learning communities often describe in an overall perspective the ideal school where such an improvement capacity is in work. However, accounts of the many ways of organising the capacity which perhaps are not all in all ideal or effective also contribute to the knowledge of the local school process.
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| 6. |
- Crusoe, Jonathan, 1991-
(author)
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Why is it so challenging to cultivate open government data? : Understanding impediments from an ecosystem perspective
- 2019
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Licentiate thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Introduction: This compilation licentiate thesis focuses on open government data (OGD). The thesis is based on three papers. OGD is a system that is organized when publishers collect and share data with users, who can unrestrictedly reuse the data. In my research, I have explored why it can be challenging to cultivate OGD. Cultivation is human activities that change, encourage, or guide human organizations towards a higher purpose by changing, introducing, managing, or removing conditions. Here, the higher purpose is OGD to realize believed benefits. Thus, OGD cultivation is an attempt to stimulate actors into organizing as OGD.Problem and Purpose: OGD is believed to lead to several benefits. However, the worldwide OGD movement has slowed down, and researchers have noted a lack of use. Publishers and users are experiencing a set of different impediments that are challenging to solve. In previous research, there is a need for more knowledge about what can impede the OGD organization, cause non-valuable organizing, or even collapse the organization. At the same time, there is a lack of knowledge about how impediments shape the organization of OGD. This gap can make it hard to solve and overcome the impediments experienced by publishers and users. The sought-after knowledge can bring some understanding of the current situation of OGD. In this research, I have viewed the organization of OGD as an ecosystem. The purpose of this thesis is to draw lessons about why it can be challenging to cultivate OGD ecosystems by understanding OGD impediments from an ecosystem perspective.Research Design: I set out to explore OGD through qualitative research from 2016 to 2018. My research started with a pilot case study that led to three studies. The studies are each reported in a paper and the papers form the base of this thesis. The first paper aims to stimulate the conceptually oriented discussion about actors’ roles in OGD by developing a framework that was tested on a Swedish public agency. The second paper has the purpose of expanding the scope surrounding impediments and was based in a review and systematization of previous research about OGD impediments. The third paper presents an exploration of impediments experienced by publishers, users, and cultivators in the Swedish national OGD ecosystem to identify faults. From the three papers, lessons were drawn in turn and together, that are presented in this thesis.Findings: Cultivators when cultivating OGD ecosystems are facing towering challenges. The following three main challenges are identified in this thesis: (1) to cultivate a system that can manage stability by itself without constant involvement, (2) to cultivate a system that is capable of evolving towards a “greater good” by itself, and (3) to have an up-to-date precise vocabulary for a self-evolving system that enables inter-subjective understand for coordinating problem-solving.Contribution: The theoretical contribution of this thesis is that OGD ecosystems can be viewed as a public utility. Moreover, I recommend that researchers approach the organizing of OGD as the cultivation of evolution, rather than the construction of a structure; to consider the stability of the system in growth, value, and participation; and to be cautious with how they label and describe OGD actors. For actors that are cultivating OGD, I recommend that they guide the OGD actors to help them organize; view OGD cultivation as the management of evolution (growth) towards a purpose; and view cultivation as a collaborative effort where they can supply ideas, technologies, practices, and expertise.
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| 7. |
- Daley, Daniel O., et al.
(author)
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FtsZ does not initiate membrane constriction at the onset of division
- 2016
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In: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2045-2322. ; 6
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The source of constriction required for division of a bacterial cell remains enigmatic. FtsZ is widely believed to be a key player, because in vitro experiments indicate that it can deform liposomes when membrane tethered. However in vivo evidence for such a role has remained elusive as it has been challenging to distinguish the contribution of FtsZ from that of peptidoglycan-ingrowth. To differentiate between these two possibilities we studied the early stages of division in Escherichia coli, when FtsZ is present at the division site but peptidoglycan synthesizing enzymes such as FtsI and FtsN are not. Our approach was to use correlative cryo-fluorescence and cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-CLEM) to monitor the localization of fluorescently labeled FtsZ, FtsI or FtsN correlated with the septal ultra-structural geometry in the same cell. We noted that the presence of FtsZ at the division septum is not sufficient to deform membranes. This observation suggests that, although FtsZ can provide a constrictive force, the force is not substantial at the onset of division. Conversely, the presence of FtsN always correlated with membrane invagination, indicating that allosteric activation of peptidoglycan ingrowth is the trigger for constriction of the cell envelope during cell division in E. coli.
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| 8. |
- Hedestig, Ulf, 1962-, et al.
(author)
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Challenges in Using IoT in Public Spaces
- 2018
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In: 3rd EAI International Conference on IoT in Urban Space. - Cham : Springer. - 9783030289249 - 9783030289256 ; , s. 31-43
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Over the past decades a number of new perspectives on public administration have emerged, for instance New Public Service, New Public Governance, and Digital Era Governance. Several of these perspectives seem to have the concept of co-production in common, implying that the public sector engages citizens to take part in the design and execution of services. A rather new way to achieve co-production in the public sector has been to utilize crowdsourcing or social media monitoring. However, the way these “methods” have been implemented in public sector is often associated with difficulties, and to overcome some of them we propose an Internet of Things (IoT) approach that hopefully will create improved conditions for data-driven business development. At present, the approach is tested in a local government in northern Sweden in which we have set up a Low Power Wide Area Network designed for wireless battery-operated sensors. Although the test is still in an initial stage, results so far are promising and using sensor data in business development may be one way to improve public sector services. However, our test also shows that there are some issues that are of importance when designing and using IoT in public spaces. We conclude by suggesting that the concept of affordance can be useful to understand how we design and implement sensors in public spaces.
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| 9. |
- Hedestig, Ulf, 1962-, et al.
(author)
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Co-producing public value through IoT and social media
- 2018
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In: dg.o '18 Proceedings of the 19th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research. - New York, NY, USA : Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). - 9781450365260
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The past decades a number of new perspectives on public administration have emerged, for instance New Public Service, New Public Governance and Digital Era Governance. Several of these perspectives seem to have the concept of co-production in common, implying that the public sector engages citizens to take part in the design and execution of services. A rather new way to achieve co-production in the public sector has been to utilize crowdsourcing or social media monitoring. However, the way these 'methods' has been implemented in public sector is often associated with difficulties, and to overcome some of them we propose an Internet of Things (IoT) approach that hopefully will create improved conditions for data-driven business development, and innovative citizen sourcing. At present, the approach is tested in a local government in northern Sweden in which we have set up a Low Power Wide Area Network (LoRa) designed for wireless battery-operated sensors. Although the test is still in an initial stage, results so far are promising and combining IoT and social media may be one way of creating co-production of public sector services.
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