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| 2. |
- Beck, Astrid L, et al.
(författare)
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Cotinine concentrations in maternal serum and amniotic fluid during pregnancy and risk of testicular germ cell cancer in the offspring : A prospective nested case-control study
- 2024
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Ingår i: International Journal of Cancer. - 0020-7136. ; 154:1, s. 71-80
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Maternal smoking in pregnancy may increase the risk of testicular germ cell cancer (TGCC) in offspring, but current evidence remains inconclusive. We performed a nested case-control study using cotinine measurements in maternal serum and amniotic fluid as a biomarker for tobacco exposure during pregnancy. A total of 654 males with maternal serum (n = 359, ncases/controls = 71/288) and/or amniotic fluid (n = 295, ncases/controls = 66/229) samples were included. Data on TGCC diagnoses and relevant covariates were derived from nationwide Danish health registries. Cotinine was quantified by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. An adapted cox regression model estimated the risk of TGCC considering active and inactive tobacco use defined according to cotinine concentrations of <, ≥15 ng/ml. Overall, the concentrations of cotinine were comparable in maternal serum and amniotic fluid (medianserum/amniotic fluid : 2.1/2.6 ng/ml). A strong statistically significant correlation was detected in 14 paired samples (Spearman rho: 0.85). Based on maternal serum cotinine concentrations, exposure to active tobacco use was not associated with risk of TGCC in offspring (HR 0.88, 95% CI 0.51; 1.52). Similarly, based on amniotic fluid cotinine concentrations, exposure to active tobacco use was not associated with risk of TGCC (HR 1.11, 95% CI 0.64; 1.95). However, different risks were observed for seminomas and nonseminomas in both matrices, but none were statistically significant. Our findings did not provide convincing evidence supporting that exposure to tobacco during pregnancy is associated with TGCC.
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| 3. |
- Bengtsson, Mattias, 1978, et al.
(författare)
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Path Reinforcer or Policy Accelerator? COVID-19 and Scandinavian Social Protection Reform Trajectories
- 2024
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Ingår i: Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies. - 2245-0157. ; , s. 1-20
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A pandemic may change the use of social protection systems. In this article, we compare Scandinavian reform trajectories of unemployment benefits and sickness benefits following the COVID-19 pandemic. From an institutional theory perspective, we have analyzed official documents on regulations proposed in government bills, public inquiries, reports, and secondary literature published between March 2020 and December 2023, as well as interview data from key actors representing the state, the social partners, and related stakeholder organizations. The findings show that Denmark and Norway implemented mostly provisional reforms and thus ended in path reinforcement. In Sweden, on the contrary, numerous provisional reforms during the pandemic turned out to become permanent in the post-pandemic period. As the pandemic legitimized permanent changes that in some cases had been debated for a long time in Sweden, it thus came to act as a path-clearing policy accelerator.
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| 4. |
- Bengtsson Ryan, Anna, et al.
(författare)
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”The morning café” – social work signature pedagogy in the digital age. A tool for enhanced student participation and commitment”.
- 2024
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Ingår i: 13th European Conference for Social Work Research, April 17-19, 2024. Vilnius, Lithuania..
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background and purpose: In this article we discuss the potential and challenges of working with flipped classrooms and how digital tools can enhance student participation and commitment in social work education. The Covid19-pandemic placed our societies under great stress. In the social work programme, in the course “Social work on a community level” at Gothenburg university, we developed the concept of “The morning café” in response to the transition to digital education. The morning café was inspired by morning television and aimed to form dialogue-based teaching situations, in addressing social issues on a societal level. We draw on different sources of data to critically discuss how technology can be a resource in education to foster social work values and enhance student commitment. Theory: The last decades we have seen a turn in education towards student-centered teaching methods (Biggs, 1999). In this article, we draw on the concept ‘signature pedagogy’ in social work (Wallengren-Lynch et al. 2019; Larrison & Korr, 2013) in our analysis of how digital technologies can be resources in the pedagogical process of ‘modelling relational connectedness’, and in creating learning situations that ‘foster transformative awareness’ and as practices to ‘nurture personal and professional growth’ (Ibid). Methods: Student’s reflections were collected through workshops using the method of photo voice. 75 students participated in a total of three photo voice workshops. Besides that, a web survey was sent to all students (N=127) after the course was completed in the autumn 2023 and in total 24 students responded. All participants have given permission to use the results as data for a scientific publication. Findings: During the course, a variation between 15 and 40 students were present in the IRL classroom where the morning café was held. In the zoom-room, student participation varied between 30 to 60 students. Most of the students were positive to the morning café, and they were deemed relevant to the aims of the course. Increased flexibility was mentioned as the major advantage of the hybrid form. Many students are working part time, have children or commute long distance. Thus, showing how hybrid forms can enable student’s participation. There is however a divide between the students that find the dialogue-based format of the café too abstract, longing for PowerPoints and more traditional teacher-based approaches. Conclusions: The result highlights the importance of developing educational models that respond to students' needs and society's development. Social work must reflect the world – and the world must reflect social work education. As teachers and educational institutions, it is instrumental that we do not get stuck “in old routes”. In this article, we argue that digital technology is not an end as such but can provide an infrastructure for increased student participation and commitment, and be a key resource in the development of a signature pedagogy in social work.
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| 5. |
- Chang, Tsu Chi, et al.
(författare)
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Electrically Injected GaN-Based Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers with TiO2 High-Index-Contrast Grating Reflectors
- 2020
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Ingår i: ACS Photonics. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 2330-4022. ; 7:4, s. 861-866
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We demonstrate the first electrically injected GaN-based vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) with a TiO2 high-index-contrast grating (HCG) as the top mirror. Replacing the top distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) with an HCG offers substantial thickness reduction, polarization-pinning, and setting of the resonance wavelength by the grating parameters. Conventional HCGs are usually suspended in the low refractive index material, such as air, in order to create the largest refractive index contrast. However, the mechanical stability of such structures can be questioned and creating free-hanging GaN-membrane on top of GaN is problematic. We have therefore fabricated TiO2-HCGs resting directly on GaN without an air-gap. No DBR layers are used below the HCG to boost the reflectivity. A VCSEL with an aperture diameter of 10 μm shows a threshold current of 25 mA under pulsed operation at room temperature. The lasing modes locate around 400 nm and are transversely electrically -polarized with a line width of 0.5 nm. The full-width half-maximum beam divergence is 10°. This demonstration of a TiO2-HCG VCSEL offers a new route to achieve polarization pinning and could also allow additional benefits such as postgrowth setting of the resonance wavelength.
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| 6. |
- Chang, Tsu-Chi, et al.
(författare)
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GaN-based vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser incorporating a TiO2 high-index-contrast grating
- 2020
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Ingår i: Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering. - : SPIE. - 0277-786X .- 1996-756X. ; 11280
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- We demonstrate the first electrically injected GaN-based VCSEL with a TiO2 high-contrast grating (HCG) as the top mirror. The TiO2-HCG rested directly on the n-GaN without an airgap for mechanical stability. A VCSEL with an aperture diameter of 10 mu m had a threshold current of 25 mA under pulsed operation at room temperature. Multiple longitudinal modes coexist around 400 nm, each TM-polarized with a linewidth of 0.5 nm (spectral resolution limited). This first demonstration of a TiO2-HCG VCSEL offers a new route to achieve polarization pinning and could also allow additional benefits such as post-growth setting of resonance wavelength.
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| 7. |
- Haglund, Åsa, 1976, et al.
(författare)
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Are blue and ultraviolet VCSELs a reality or just a dream?
- 2020
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Blue-emitting vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) with high optical output powers and decent threshold current densities have recently been demonstrated, but the power efficiency is still below 10%. We will give an overview of the challenges to realize high-performing devices and summarize state-of-the-art results, including our schemes for optically guided devices that are used in the best blue VCSELs today. In addition, we will present our method to simultaneously achieve high-reflectivity mirrors and good control over the cavity length for ultraviolet VCSELs. This has resulted in, to the best of our knowledge, the shortest VCSEL emission wavelength around 310 nm.
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| 8. |
- Haglund, Åsa, 1976, et al.
(författare)
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Recent progress for blue VCSELs and challenges to move to UV
- 2020
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- We will summarize state-of-the-art results in III-nitride-based vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) and the main challenges in going from blue to ultraviolet-emitting devices. In particular we will highlight how to reduce threshold current densities by using optically guided cavities and our method to simultaneously achieve high-reflectivity mirrors and good control over the cavity length for AlGaN-based ultraviolet VCSELs. The latter has resulted in the shortest emission wavelength from a VCSEL at around 310 nm. This claim of lasing is supported by a nonlinear increase in output power versus pump power and a simultaneous beam width and spectral narrowing around threshold.
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| 9. |
- Halling, Bengt, 1959-
(författare)
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Human Lean : Combining Sense of Coherence and Lean to achieve productivity and health
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The purpose of this thesis is to identify barriers to and supportive factors for Lean implementation and to investigate how application of the Sense of Coherence (SOC) theory combined with Lean philosophy may affect health and productivity. The thesis is based on five studies. The first study compared similarities and divergences in barriers to Lean described in interviews by informants in manufacturing and health care. The second study was a case study at a manufacturing firm. Interviews with managers implementing Lean revealed how their views on Lean influenced the implementation. In the third study, a literature analysis was used to conceptualize the concepts and roles of leadership and management in regard to Lean. In the fourth study it was explored how productivity, quality, work attendance and numbers of rehabilitation cases were influenced after implementation of sense of coherence theory based managerial behavior at three workplaces. The fifth study examined how the implementation of a new leadership approach based on the SOC theory combined with Lean philosophy relate to productivity, quality and levels of sick leave at a steel-producing company. The results from the studies show that the perceived difficulties and barriers are much the same in manufacturing and health care. Another finding was that managers' views on Lean influence the implementation but also that learning during the implementation process can alter their views. A third finding is that lean management is a matter of dualism, consisting of two complementary systems of action, management and leadership, which are related to the two basic principles of Lean, continuous improvement and respect for people. After application of the SOC theory combined with Lean as a basis for the managerial approach, there were improvements in productivity, quality, attendance at work and reduced levels of sick leave at all four studied workplaces, as well as fewer cases of rehabilitation at three workplaces. Several conclusions can be drawn. One is that Lean consultants with a limited approach to Lean, lack of a common organization-wide definition of Lean, and lack of supportive leadership are barriers to Lean implementation. Lean consultants with deep knowledge and capability to teach others Lean is a supportive factor. An organization-wide definition of Lean through an organization-specific Lean philosophy is another supportive factor. Managers that use both leadership and management to support people is a supportive factor to Lean. The study also shows that an application of SOC theory combined with Lean may be positively associated with health and productivity improvements. The overall conclusion is that people’s way of thinking and acting is the nucleus in Lean. To emphasize the importance of people, I suggest to call the approach of combining SOC and Lean “Human Lean.”
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| 10. |
- Hjort, Filip, 1991, et al.
(författare)
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Optical microprism cavities based on dislocation-free GaN
- 2020
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Ingår i: Applied Physics Letters. - : AIP Publishing. - 0003-6951 .- 1077-3118. ; 117:23
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Three-dimensional growth of nanostructures can be used to reduce the threading dislocation density that degrades III-nitride laser performance. Here, nanowire-based hexagonal GaN microprisms with flat top and bottom c-facets are embedded between two dielectric distributed Bragg reflectors to create dislocation-free vertical optical cavities. The cavities are electron beam pumped, and the quality (Q) factor is deduced from the cavity-filtered yellow luminescence. The Q factor is similar to 500 for a 1000nm wide prism cavity and only similar to 60 for a 600nm wide cavity, showing the strong decrease in Q factor when diffraction losses become dominant. Measured Q factors are in good agreement with those obtained from quasi-3D finite element frequency-domain method and 3D beam propagation method simulations. Simulations further predict that a prism cavity with a 1000nm width will have a Q factor of around 2000 in the blue spectral regime, which would be the target regime for real devices. These results demonstrate the potential of GaN prisms as a scalable platform for realizing small footprint lasers with low threshold currents.
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