| 11. |
- Bixby, H., et al.
(författare)
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Rising rural body-mass index is the main driver of the global obesity epidemic in adults
- 2019
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 569:7755, s. 260-4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Body-mass index (BMI) has increased steadily in most countries in parallel with a rise in the proportion of the population who live in cities(.)(1,2) This has led to a widely reported view that urbanization is one of the most important drivers of the global rise in obesity(3-6). Here we use 2,009 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in more than 112 million adults, to report national, regional and global trends in mean BMI segregated by place of residence (a rural or urban area) from 1985 to 2017. We show that, contrary to the dominant paradigm, more than 55% of the global rise in mean BMI from 1985 to 2017-and more than 80% in some low- and middle-income regions-was due to increases in BMI in rural areas. This large contribution stems from the fact that, with the exception of women in sub-Saharan Africa, BMI is increasing at the same rate or faster in rural areas than in cities in low- and middle-income regions. These trends have in turn resulted in a closing-and in some countries reversal-of the gap in BMI between urban and rural areas in low- and middle-income countries, especially for women. In high-income and industrialized countries, we noted a persistently higher rural BMI, especially for women. There is an urgent need for an integrated approach to rural nutrition that enhances financial and physical access to healthy foods, to avoid replacing the rural undernutrition disadvantage in poor countries with a more general malnutrition disadvantage that entails excessive consumption of low-quality calories.
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| 12. |
- Bondarenko, Nina
(författare)
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Theoretical studies of lattice- and spin-polarons
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Theoretical studies of lattice- and spin-polarons are presented in this thesis, where the primary tool is ab-initio electronic structure calculations. The studies are performed with employment of a variety of analytical and computational methods. For lattice-polarons, we present an analytical study where multipolaron solutions were found in the framework of the Holstein 1D molecular crystal model. Interestingly, we found a new periodic, dnoidal, solution for the multipolaron system. In addition to it, we examined the stability of multipolaron solutions, and it was found that cnoidal and dnoidal solutions stabilize in different ranges of the parameter space. Moreover, we add to the model nonlocal effects and described dynamics in terms of internal solitonic modes.Hole-polaron localization accompanying the formation of a cation vacancy in bulk MgO and CaO and at the (100) MgO/CaO interfaces is presented. We show that the ground state is found to be the O1-O1 bipolaronic configuration both in bulk oxides and at their interfaces. Moreover, the one-centered O2-O0 bipolaron was found to be metastable with its stability being enhanced at the interfaces compared to that in bulk oxides. Also, for several bipolaronic configurations, we analyzed possible transitions from O1-O1 to O2-O0. On the same line of reasoning, electron localization and polaron mobility in oxygen-deficient and Li-doped monoclinic tungsten trioxide has been studied. It is shown for WO3, that small polarons formed in the presence of oxygen vacancy prefer bipolaronic W5+-W5+ configuration rather than W6+-W4+ configuration, which is found to be metastable state. Also, it is demonstrated that the bipolarons are tightly bound to vacancies, and consequently exhibit low mobility in the crystal. On the other hand, we show that polarons formed as a result of Li intercalation are mobile and that they are being responsible for electrochromic properties discovered in the compound.Spin-polaron formation in La-doped CaMnO3, with G-type antiferromagnetic structure, was also studied. We found that for this material, spin-polarons are stabilized due to the interplay of magnetic and lattice-effects at lower La concentrations and mostly due to the lattice contribution at larger concentrations. We show that the formation of SP is unfavourable in the C- and A-type antiferromagnetic phase, in agreement with previously reported experimental studies. We have also studied dynamical and temperature dependent properties of spin-polarons in this compound. We estimated material specific exchange parameters from density functional theory and found that 3D magnetic polarons in the Heisenberg lattice stabilize at slightly higher temperatures than in the case of 2D magnetic polarons. Next, we have proposed a method to calculate magnetic polaron hopping barriers and studied spin-polaron mobility CaMnO3 using additional methods such as atomistic spin dynamics and kinetic Monte Carlo. We make a suggestion of using this system in nano-technological applications.
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| 13. |
- Eriksson, Maria
(författare)
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Att kommunicera naturvetenskap i nationella prov : En studie med andraspråksperspektiv
- 2015
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In Sweden, as in many other countries, there are major focuses on knowledge assessment and accountability in school. It has been decided that National Tests will be conducted in biology, physics and chemistry in grade 6 from 2013. According to the Swedish national curriculum, language and communication skills are important in all school subjects. The National Tests are expected to test the skills specified in the curricula, including the ability to communicate scientific knowledge. However, including the use of communication skills in a science test may prevent some students, such as students who do not have Swedish as their first language, from properly displaying their knowledge in science. The results of the national tests in science also show that students with Swedish as a second language perform lower in the tests than students with Swedish as their first language. Based on these results the purpose of this study is to investigate the difficulties of students with Swedish as a second language in relation to the part of the national test in science that assess communication skills. The study also investigates whether students' first language can be a resource in verbal conversation about the test questions. The study is based on test scores and interviews with 15 students with Arabic as their first language. Results from this study show that students' first language are used as a resource in the discussions and then primarily to get difficult words and concepts explained. Furthermore, the results indicate that the authentic (or realistic) questions contained in the tests, are likely to make the students' background important for their test performance, since similarcontents are not necessarily part of the teaching of science subjects. Most of the questions are also presented in an ”everyday context”, while the answers expected include scientific concepts and reasoning. Therefore the requirements and expectations become unclear to the students. Although these difficulties with authentic questions are not specific to students with Swedish as a second language, there is a risk that the difficulties have greater impact on this particular group of students. Thus, this can contribute to these students perform lower in the National Tests in science subjects, compared to students with Swedish as their first language.
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| 14. |
- Eriksson, Maria, 1976-
(författare)
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Customer value in commercial experiences : Expecting the unexpected
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- To an ever greater extent, customers desire experiences that are highly emotional, personally designed and memorable. Today’s customer has an increasing need to be entertained and often searches for pleasurable offerings of hedonic value. Many academics also argue that commercial experiences deliver a higher customer value than goods and services. More research regarding the character of the commercial experience is needed to understand the needs of the customer and what creates value to the customer. However the existing tools and methods for measuring customer value and customer satisfaction seldom contain the elements pointed out as important to customers in a commercial experience. Is it enough to focus on values, methods and tools developed within for instance Total Quality Management (TQM) or is there a need for further development to include the offering of a commercial experience? The overall purpose of this thesis has been to explore the field of commercial experiences and establish new knowledge on how customer value is created when delivering commercial experiences. Within the overall purpose the research also intended to contribute to the area of quality development. In order to fulfill the overall purpose three research questions were asked and three case studies and one validation study were conducted. In the first case study, focus was on exploring the commercial experience sector and searching for best practices as regards how to create value to the customer. One organization was studied and empirical data was collected by site visit, direct observation, participant observation, open seminars, follow-up interview questions and documentation. In the second case study the aim was on how organizations were working to create customer value in commercial experiences. Empirical data was collected at eight organizations where top managers were interviewed. In the third study the aim was to develop a method or tool to measure customer value in a commercial experience. A validation study and a case study were conducted. In the validation study a questionnaire was developed as a measuring tool for commercial experiences and later tested on customers in the third and last case study. The findings in the three case studies presented in this thesis contribute to expanding earlier research concerning commercial experiences and how customer value is created when delivering them. From the findings of research the commercial experience is defined as “a memorable event that the customer is willing to pay for” and identified as a unique business offering providing hedonic customer value. Further the findings describe the commercial experience by three vital factors: strong engagement, highly emotional and being memorable. To additionally describe the characterizing elements of the commercial experience, the research identified these factors as important to customers: having fun, novelty, surprise, learning, a challenge, co-creation, the unexpected, storytelling, being in control, the venue for the experience (or the room of the experience), personal contact with staff and emotions creating strong engagement. Using the theory of attractive quality by Kano is suggested as one way to recognize elements of high customer value and to identify and deliver the unexpected, novelty and surprise the customers. Further findings of the research revealed that existing tools and methods developed for measuring customer value and satisfaction do not sufficiently consider or measure the effect of customer emotions or the characterizing elements of the commercial experience. As a consequence, a questionnaire was developed and tested to identify and measure elements of value to customers in a commercial experience. From the results, a new instrument for measuring variables of value in a commercial experience is proposed. One of the conclusions is that a specific tool for measuring customer value in commercial experiences is both required and needed. It was also concluded that there is a shortage of well-known and applied methods for measuring customer value in commercial experiences and that further research of this area is needed. The research presented in this thesis also proves that successful organizations delivering commercial experiences have a strong organizational culture built on core values. The conclusion was that working according to the core values of TQM is also a successful approach for these organizations, even though this does not seem to be enough. The characterizing element “co-creating” the experience between the customer and the provider was identified as a vital factor of business success. Giving the customer the power to affect the outcome within certain limitations and an opportunity to enhance the customer value meant that the experience becomes more personal and delivers a higher customer value than other offerings. Further identified ways of working to enhance customer value in the offering were: to recruit and select co-workers not only on competence and skills but also based on the core values; to stimulate creative thinking among co-workers and to further enhance the offering with storytelling and theming. These ways of working were categorized as specific and more unique or necessary in the experience industry and can therefore be vital in the competition between different organizations to deliver superior customer value.
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| 15. |
- Eriksson, Maria, 1972-
(författare)
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Flickblickar : Visuella berättelser om, av och genom gymnasieelevers kroppar
- 2019
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis investigates enactments of femininities, bodies and images among young women in two art and design classes at urban Swedish upper-secondary schools. The theoretical framework combines visual culture, performativity and new materialism, contributing to art education research and girlhood studies. Based on a nine-month ethnographic field study, including the collection of a) ethnographic field notes, b) photo documentation of the participants’ images created in classrooms and during spare time, and c) photo-elicitation-based interviews, the study explores students’ everyday engagement with images, referred to as visual narratives. These were investigated in relation to norms surrounding the becoming of girls, at a time when the schools in the study were both strongly promoting gender equality and some public debates suggested a postfeminist condition, i.e. that feminism has moved beyond the balance of equality. The thesis suggests that the relationships between visual narratives and bodies revolve around a particular type of gaze: the girl gaze, i.e. practices of looking, a communicative and aesthetic activity, in which the participants see themselves, their bodies and the world around them. Girl gazes consist of other gazes, such as the female gaze, the oppositional gaze, the transgender gaze or the white gaze. Each of these is investigated in three analytical chapters. In the chapter ‘White gazes’, theories of visual culture theory are combined with critical whiteness studies to analyse how certain bodies will not pass as white in a white school space in art teaching. Whilst talk about race in the Swedish antiracist classroom is taboo and silenced, race is indeed visible. For example, a subordinated non-white femininity is a theme in one actual school assignment. Colour-blindness, in a Swedish school context, should thus be understood not as a problem of seeing colour but as a taboo-laden silence when faced with stereotypes. The chapter ‘Screen gazes’ investigates how emotions circulate when visual narratives are produced on screens. Social media is often talked about as a female arena, and the making of selfies as narcissistic. However, allowing images that explore femininity and emotions to flow on social media might be a way to give femininity a place in the limelight. The study also discusses the humorous side of girl gazes, which may work as feminist counter-narratives by ridiculing gender norms. Finally, the chapter ‘Future gazes’ deals with aspirational identities – the embodiment of aesthetic ideals and future gazes. Tattoo culture, fitness culture and feminist statements in the form of art bricolage are studied as examples of work on bodies in relation to aesthetic ideals. These examples also came together in a common desire among the participants to become someone – to become known and recognised. In sum, in this thesis, the media-oriented term girl gaze – hitherto found with a hashtag in front of it, revealing its connection not with a scientific sphere but with social media – is a gaze constructed by gender and generation and other intersectional nexus points of social categories. Despite the commitment to gender equality in the classroom, the results show that equality is rather contested and continuously negotiated. The concept of the girl gaze can help to direct the analytical focus towards what is not yet visible, and to bring paradoxes surrounding girlhood and femininity to the surface.
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| 16. |
- Eriksson, Maria, 1988-
(författare)
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Online music distribution and the unpredictability of software logistics
- 2019
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This compilation dissertation examines the role of software in online music distribution and critically scrutinizes the increased influence of digital technologies in everyday life. In particular, it explores how software coordinates and arranges things, people, and information surrounding music and thereby exerts a logistical power that makes music calculable and governable online. The dissertation consists of four case-studies that problematize the role of software and algorithms in regulating how digital music moves. Article I highlights the role of algorithms in organizing, evaluating, and creating knowledge about artistry, article II uncovers the material, political, and technical networks that facilitate streamed music, article III scrutinizes editorial playlists and their role in packaging and containing digital sound, and article IV traces how software is designed to identify and regulate how music moves and is monetized in the online domain. These case studies draw attention to issues concerning visibility, access, ownership, control, but also—as this dissertation especially aims to highlight—the elements of surprise, unpredictability, and unsettlement that are inherent to complex software technologies.The research contributes to three subfields in media and communication studies: music-oriented media studies, materialist media studies, and software studies. It contributes to music-oriented media research by accounting for the role of digital technologies in organizing musical practices and thereby illustrates how algorithms and software must be taken seriously as agents that shape cultural practices surrounding music. Relatedly, the research contributes to materialist- and softwareoriented media research by continuing the tradition of paying close attention to the technical constitution of media technologies and reflecting on the power and politics of software logistics and its unpredictabilities. Methodologically, the research builds on—and advocates—a mixed-methods approach that combines the use of digital methods, media archeological tactics, and a technology-oriented ethnographic approach. In combining these methods, the dissertation illustrates the benefit of experimental and qualitative methods in the study of digital technologies and highlights the need to approach software as both an object of study and a strategic research tool.Theoretically, the dissertation mainly draws upon materialist and German media theory (e.g., Kittler 1990; 1999; Ernst 2012; 2016), theorizations of logistical operations (e.g., Neilson 2012; Cowen 2014; Durham Peters 2013; Case 2013; Young 2014; 2015), and theories regarding technological accidents, ruptures and unpredictabilities (e.g., Frabetti 2010; Virilio 2007; Parikka and Sampson 2009; Fuller and Goffey 2012). In doing so, the dissertation highlights how the hidden and seemingly ‘grey’ and mundane task of regulating the movement of online music online is, in fact, a deeply cultural and subject to ongoing power struggles. Ultimately, the dissertation illustrates the continued relevance of media research that critically engages with software, adopts digital and experimental methods in the study of digital technologies, acknowledges the logistical power of software, and accounts for the unpredictable events that software technologies sometimes trigger.
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| 17. |
- Florin, Ulrika, 1964-
(författare)
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Konstnärskap i samspel : om skapande arbetsprocesser i myndighetsledda samverkansprojekt
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Artists in interaction: creation processes in official collaborative projects is a doctoral thesis that explores the creation processes of artists, when the project owner defines the purpose, theme and framework. The area is explored from the artists' perspective and the overall research question deals with the opportunities and obstacles that artists face when working in collaborative projects.To be able to explore the artists' working processes, in which sketches and models were tools, concepts from the visual research field were combined with knowledge theories that derive from the area of practice-based research. The knowledge theories draw on an updated understanding of ancient philosophy developed by, among others, the philosopher Martha Nussbaum. Rudolf Arnheim’s concepts of visual thinking are also vital for the interpretation of the visuals.The results indicate that skills in different sketching techniques build trust and enable communication. However, the artists experienced that it was more difficult to integrate the more indefinable parts of their knowledge, which relates to improvisation and intuition, even though this was highlighted as the most vital force in their working processes. The consequence is that the artists have not always followed their artistic intentions, which in some cases also meant compromising the quality of the works of art they produced. The collaboration between the artists and the project-owner representatives could be more enriching for both parties if the artists' implicit knowledge is respected as a resource and given some room, although this may involve certain risks.The study also provides results regarding the interpretation of models and sketches, and discusses in what way different sketches can support (or hinder) communication in different stages of a design process, i.e. what aspects are important to consider when sketches are used to support communication. Particularly interesting is that the findings demonstrate that spoken and written language has a significant impact on how sketches are interpreted; the use of verbal language is therefore an important factor in presentations built on visuals.
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| 18. |
- Holmqvist, Anna
(författare)
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Integritet på undantag? : En studie av barns röst i patientlagen och patientorganisationer
- 2019
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis explores discourses regarding children’s voice, in the Swedish Patient Act, as well as in Swedish patient organizations. In the Patient Act, children’s rights as patients are construed on the basis of custodians’ parental rights and the assumption that patients are competent and autonomous adults. The child is given an object position, weaker than an adult patient and subordinated to parents’ authority. Consequently, the integrity of the child is not absolute, as it is construed through an autonomy discourse and a family discourse which set boundaries for the child´s voice in the Patient Act. The family discourse combined with a mass movement discourse form the prerequisits for children’s voice in the context of patient organizations. As a consequence, patient organizations do not act as voice in relation to children’s rights as patients, in the Patient Act. Rather, interviews with representatives of patient organizations show that the parents act as voice having a child in need of health care. The position of children in the organizationsis ambiguous and, rather than having a voice of their own, children can be used in advertising campaigns to attract funding, expressing the voice of the organization. When children are used in this way by organizations, children’s integrity seem to be negotiable. The thesis shows that in both the Patient Act and the patient organizations, the integrity of the child is questioned. Children seem to be regarded as imperfect rights-holders and as imperfect members of society.This perception of the child is traced to dominant ethical perspectives from which children’s human rights have emerged. Drawing on current academic debates, analternative approach to these prevailing ethical perspectives is suggested. Instead of making rights conditional upon presumed autonomy and adulthood, rights can be perceived as relational and expressions of the mutual interdependence of humans, regardless of age and maturity. If rights are seen in this way, with children being understood not as essentially different but differently equal, then the child´s voice can have actual importance.
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| 19. |
- Lundkvist, Per, 1979-
(författare)
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Metabolic and endocrine effects of SGLT2 inhibition
- 2019
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D) are two growing global health problems with similar comorbidity profiles. SGLT2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) improve blood glucose control and can relieve both T2D and obesity, as well as their associated health problems such as hypertension, kidney failure, and cardiovascular disease.In paper I, 50 obese patients without diabetes were treated for 24 weeks with SGLT2i dapagliflozin + GLP-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA) exenatide or placebo. They were examined regarding body weight loss and body composition. The placebo-adjusted weight loss was 4.13 kg, mostly attributable to adipose tissue loss.In paper II, 43 completers of the study in paper I entered a 28-week extension phase in which all participants received active treatment. We found major reductions in body weight, adipose tissue volume, blood pressure and prediabetes that were sustained at 52 weeks. In paper III, 84 patients with T2D and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease underwent a 12-week treatment with dapagliflozin, omega-3 (n-3) carboxylic acids (OM-3CA), the combination of both or placebo to assess effects on liver fat content. MRI showed significant reductions of liver fat versus baseline and, for the combination, versus placebo.In paper IV: 15 metformin-treated patients with T2D were assessed for changes in plasma glucagon levels following a single dose of dapagliflozin during experiments with stable versus falling plasma glucose. Changes in glucagon levels could largely be explained by changes in glucose levels.In conclusion, SGLT2 inhibition can lower body weight and cardiovascular risk factors in obese patients without diabetes when combined with GLP-1RA, and it can reduce liver fat in T2D patients, in particular when given together with OM-3CA. SGLT2i effects on glucagon secretion can largely be explained by lower glucose levels rather than direct α-cell effects.
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| 20. |
- Ullsten, Alexandra, 1967-, et al.
(författare)
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Efficacy of Live Lullaby Singing During Procedural Pain in Preterm and Term Neonates
- 2017
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Acute and repeated pain has long-term negative impact on infants’ development and future behaviour. The use of analgesic drugs has negative side-effects, which emphasizes the need for complementary approaches to pain management.Aim: This study is the first clinical trial measuring if live lullaby singing can influence behavioural and physiological pain responses during venepuncture in preterm and term neonates.Method: Preterm and term infants (n=38) were subjected to venepuncture with and without live lullaby singing, in a randomised order with a cross over design. Parent-preferred lullabies were performed live and standard care was provided for all neonates. Behavioural and physiological pain responses were assessed.Results: The live lullaby singing did not show a statistically significant effect on the infants’ pain score. There was a significantly calmer breathing pattern in the lullaby intervention versus the control condition in the pre-needle stage. There were non-significant indications of fewer and shorter skin punctures with lullaby singing.Conclusions: The additive effect of live lullaby singing has not been shown to alleviate infants’ behavioural pain responses during venepuncture; however nor has it been shown to be harmful. More research is needed to explore the potential benefits of music therapy including the role of the parents.
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