| 1. |
- Viktorelius, Martin, et al.
(författare)
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Energy efficiency at sea : An activity theoretical perspective on operational energy efficiency in maritime transport
- 2019
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Ingår i: Energy Research & Social Science. - : Elsevier. - 2214-6296 .- 2214-6326. ; 52, s. 1-9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The mitigation of emission from shipping will require improvements in energy efficiency. In order to achieve this, sociotechnical changes are required, affecting all stakeholders within the shipping sector. Ship crews and their everyday work practices will play an especially important role in the transformation of the sector. It is therefore crucial to understand how new energy efficient technologies and practices are being introduced and enacted onboard ships. The case study reported in this paper investigates an attempt to improve the operational energy efficiency in a shipping company that was made by installing an energy monitoring system and introducing an energy saving policy onboard the ships in the fleet. The analytical framework in this paper is inspired by cultural-historical activity theory which is suggested as a novel and useful practice-based approach in energy studies. It is used in analyzing the contradictions and tensions in the work practices onboard the ships that preceded and followed the implementation of the energy monitoring system and energy saving policy. The empirical results revealed how the initial demand for operational energy efficiency and the subsequent introduction of the new monitoring system and policy gave rise to tensions in the existing activity systems onboard which crew members then tried, but did not always manage, to reconcile. It is concluded that a better understanding of the sociotechnical change processes, associated with organizational energy conservation and energy management, can be achieved if the situated paradoxes of practitioners’ everyday practices are examined.
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| 2. |
- Almered Olsson, Gunilla, 1951, et al.
(författare)
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Food systems sustainability: For whom and by whom? – An examination of different 'food system change' viewpoints
- 2018
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Ingår i: Development Research Conference 2018: “Rethinking development”, 22–23 August 2018, Gothenburg, Sweden.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The United Nations identifies the food crisis as one of the primary overarching challenges facing the international community. Different stakeholders in the food system have widely different perspectives and interests, and challenging structural issues, such as the power differentials among them, remain largely unexamined. These challenges make rational discourse among food system actors from different disciplines, sectors and levels difficult. These challenges can often prevent them from working together effectively to find innovative ways to respond to food security challenges. This means that finding solutions to intractable and stuck issues, such as the food crisis often stall, not at implementation, but at the point of problem identification. Food system sustainability means very different things to different food system actors. These differences in no way undermine or discount the work carried out by these players. However, making these differences explicit is an essential activity that would serve to deepen theoretical and normative project outcomes. Would the impact and reach of different food projects differ if these differences were made explicit? The purpose of this initial part of a wider food system research project is not to search for difference or divergence, with the aim of critique, but rather to argue that by making these differences explicit, the overall food system project engagement will be made more robust, more inclusive and more encompassing. This paper starts with some discussion on the different food system perspectives, across scales, regions and sectors but focuses primarily on the design of processes used to understand these divergent and at times contradictory views of what a sustainable food system may be. This paper draws on ongoing work within the Mistra Urban Futures project, using the food system projects in cities as diverse as Cape Town, Manchester, Gothenburg and Kisumu as sites for this enquiry.
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| 3. |
- Dymitrow, Mirek, et al.
(författare)
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Wicked problems or wicked solutions? Sustainability–differently
- 2018
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Ingår i: Urban Research, Mistra Urban Futures, 18 September 2018, Gothenburg, Sweden..
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Obtaining functional and inclusive societal organization is not a simple matter of ‘doing it’ by subscribing to winning formulae as there are many choices to be made in the process. Given that conceptual frameworks always guide thoughts, judgments and actions, how we relate to ‘sustainability’ specifically becomes relevant if we aim to achieve a more liveable society. It is increasingly appreciated how all societies contain ‘wicked problems’ or socio-cultural challenges that are multidimensional, hard to pin down and consequently extremely challenging to solve. This seminar engages with the consequent need to recognise this complexity by assembling three ‘brave’ takes on far-advanced problems bedevilling conventionally conceptualised paths towards sustainability. Arguing against oversimplification that comes from domination of polarizing concepts and unquestioned practices and rhetorics, the aim of this seminar is to foster explorations into new territories from which we may learn. This involves thinking differently, even if such thinking must sometimes both provoke and cauterise dissent, and revisit divergent ideological standpoints in order not to dismiss out-of-hand ways towards supposedly common goals.
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| 4. |
- Svensson, Idor, 1957-, et al.
(författare)
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Effects of assistive technology for students with reading and writing disabilities
- 2021
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Ingår i: Disability and Rehabilitation. - : Taylor & Francis Group. - 1748-3107 .- 1748-3115. ; 16:2, s. 196-208
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Assistive technology has been used to mitigate reading disabilities for almost three decades, and tablets with text-to-speech and speech-to-text apps have been introduced in recent years to scaffold reading and writing. Few scientifically rigorous studies, however, have investigated the benefits of this technology.Purpose: The aim was to explore the effects of assistive technology for students with severe reading disabilities.Method: This study included 149 participants. The intervention group received 24 sessions of assistive technology training, and the control group received treatment as usual.Results: Both the intervention and control groups improved as much in 1 year as the normed population did. However, gains did not differ between the groups directly after the intervention or at 1 year of follow-up.Conclusions: The use of assistive technology seems to have transfer effects on reading ability and to be supportive, especially for students with the most severe difficulties. In addition, it increases motivation for overall schoolwork. Our experience also highlights the obstacles involved in measuring the ability to assimilate and communicate text.
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| 5. |
- Kotze, Shelley, 1986, et al.
(författare)
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The role of trust in street-level organisations within integration projects
- 2019
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Ingår i: The 17th Annual ESPANET Conference: “Social citizenship, migration and conflict – Equality and opportunity in European welfare states”, The European Network for Social Policy Analysis, 5–7 September 2019, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Swedish immigrant integration holds a unique contradiction in that it is lauded as having the ‘best’ policy in Europe (MIPEX), but its outcomes are amongst some of the poorest (Eurostats). Currently, responsibility of implementing integration policy is held by national agencies at the macro-level. Such a structure, however, is likely to overshadow what goes on at the micro-level, an oversight which is also reflected within current research. By adopting a street-level organisation (SLOs) approach, this research sets out to explore the gap between formal policy provision and measurable outcomes, where trust is situated as a critical dimension within the process of integration that is yet to be captured by other means. This presentation explores trust as a reason for the disparity between policy and outcomes, with the help of a case study that involves an SLO situated in Gothenburg; more specifically, a suburb characterised by a 90% immigrant population, and its unexploited social capital. To resolve this issue Gothenburg embarked on a four-year EU sponsored project concerned with labour market integration. Under this umbrella, a sub-project has been launched to engage 500 immigrants visiting an SLO within green business development as a means to integration. However, while initially promising, several intricacies surrounding the studied SLO, including its structure, history and leadership, has brought forth a number of worrying insights that have severed trust-building and impeded future work. Previous studies exploring the success of projects at the street level have successfully used qualitative methods, including reflexive non-participant observation. In our research we have used field notes collected over a six-month period from the project’s inception, supplemented by time lines of interactions and stakeholder engagements. The data have been coded to decipher key incidents and exchanges where trust has played a pivotal role in the dynamics between stakeholders, and for the direction of the project, as such. Given the responsibility that SLOs currently hold within immigrant integration, the personal street-level interactions from which (dis)trust evolves need to be regarded as significantly important. Our findings suggest that trust is greatly underestimated within SLOs, with distrust disrupting the success of the integration process, often resulting in project failure. This presentation will make recommendations as to how a SLO approach can contribute to trust-building, which will go some way in addressing existing ambiguities and inconsistencies between policy and outcomes concerning immigrant integration.
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| 6. |
- Dymitrow, Mirek, et al.
(författare)
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Nutrition, health and climate: What have we learned so far?
- 2019
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Ingår i: Conference on Food Science and Nutrition: “Forum for food science and nutrition for a better tomorrow”, 25–26 February 2019, Rome, Italy.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Food and meals are central elements in our lives: a source of pleasure, a social activity and a bearer of culture. Our eating habits are also very important to health, which implies that the organization and content of meals is a prerequisite for well-being and learning. Schools, in particular, have unique opportunities to promote healthy lifestyles, help develop good eating habits and raise environmental and climate awareness among children and youths by embedding food in a wider context. Unsurprisingly, there is also an increasing interest in school meals and food-related education among researchers, many of whom agree that the quality of school meals can be seen as one of the most accurate indicators of the cities’ sustainability potential. Systematic quality work, however, requires shared targets and ambitions, regular quality checks and discussions on development and improvement. In that vein, the City of Gothenburg has launched the project Urban Rural Gothenburg, which assembles, develops, tests and implements new solutions for the city’s public kitchens. This involves climate-smart and environmentally sound perspectives and programs regarding meal planning, food procurement, food preparation and food-related teaching and learning. One important approach deals with the normalization of increased vegetarian consumption and greater awareness of food’s origins and travel from farm to table. Another approach deals with conscious choices of raw materials that are beneficial for both the environment and health. A third notable approach focuses on new ways of handling food waste to reduce climate impact. In line with the third Sustainable Development Goal, this presentation captures and reaffirms the fundamental assumptions and methods involved in Gothenburg’s work with food sustainability in public kitchens, with an emphasis on health and climate as cross-cutting issues that matter to us all.
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| 7. |
- Basic, Goran, 1972-, et al.
(författare)
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War and challenges for contemporary criminology : an ethnography-inspired analysis of the narratives of unaccompanied young refugees with war experiences in institutional care in Sweden
- 2021
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Ingår i: <em>(Il)legal organizations and crime. Challenges for contemporary criminology. </em>21st Annual Conference of the European Society of Criminology. - Bucharest, Romania : European Society of Criminology and University of Bucharest. ; , s. 203-204, s. 1-2
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study concerns young people who have experienced war, taken shelter in Sweden, and been placed in institutions. The purpose of the study is to identify and analyze power relations that contribute to the shaping of young people’s identities and repertoires of action via stigmatizations and social comparisons with different reference groups. The study’s empirical material includes qualitatively oriented interviews with six young people from Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan who have experienced war followed by placement in institutional care in Sweden. Analytical findings with the following themes are presented: (1) power relations and war, (2) power relations and escape from war, and (3) power relations and post war. The narratives on war and flight recounted by unaccompanied refugee minors describe the exercise of power in practice, in which wartime interactions (based on the exercise of power) are compared and related to peaceful interactions (in which there is no exercise of power). In this context, the interactive creation of contrasts and comparisons in relation to other actors reveals various categories of actor: victim, perpetrator, and hero.
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| 8. |
- Billsten, Johan, 1971-, et al.
(författare)
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Organizational Readiness for Change (ORC) test used in the implementation of assessment instruments and treatment methods in a Swedish National study
- 2018
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Ingår i: Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment. - Amsterdam : Elsevier. - 0740-5472 .- 1873-6483. ; 84, s. 9-16
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Organizational climate and related factors are associated with outcome and are as such of vital interest for healthcare organizations. Organizational Readiness for Change (ORC) is the questionnaire used in the present study to assess the influence of organizational factors on implementation success. The respondents were employed in one of 203 Swedish municipalities within social work and psychiatric substance/abuse treatment services. They took part in a nationwide implementation project organized by the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR), commissioned by the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare. Aim The aims were: (a) to identify classes (clusters) of employees with different ORC profiles on the basis of data collected in 2011 and (b) to investigate ORC profiles which predicted the use of assessment instruments, therapy methods and collaborative activities in 2011 and 2013. Design and recruitment The evaluation study applied a naturalistic design with registration of outcome at consecutive assessments. The participants were contacted via official e-mail addresses in their respective healthcare units and were encouraged by their officials to participate on a voluntary basis. Statistics Descriptive statistics were obtained using SPSS version 23. A latent profile analysis (LPA) using Mplus 7.3 was performed with a robust maximum likelihood estimator (MLR) to identify subgroups (clusters) based on the 18 ORC indexes. Results A total of 2402 employees responded to the survey, of whom 1794 (74.7%) completed the ORC scores. Descriptive analysis indicated that the respondents were a homogenous group of employees, where women (72.0%) formed the majority. Cronbach's alpha for the 18 ORC indexes ranged from α = 0.67 to α = 0.78. A principal component analysis yielded a four-factor solution explaining 62% of the variance in total ORC scores. The factors were: motivational readiness (α = 0.64), institutional resources (α = 0.52), staff attributes (α = 0.76), and organizational climate (α = 0.74). An LPA analysis of the four factors with their three distinct profiles provided the best data fit: Profile 3 (n = 614), Profile 2 (n = 934), and Profile 1 (n = 246). Respondents with the most favorable ORC scores (Profile 3) used significantly more instruments and more treatment methods and had a better collaborating network in 2011 as well as in 2013 compared to members in Profile 1, the least successful profile. Conclusion In a large sample of social work and healthcare professionals, ORC scores reflecting higher institutional resources, staff attributes and organizational climate and lower motivational readiness for change were associated with a successful implementation of good practice guidelines for the care and treatment of substance users in Sweden. Low motivational readiness as a construct may indicate satisfaction with the present situation. As ORC proved to be an indicator of successful dissemination of evidence-based guidelines into routine and specialist healthcare, it can be used to tailor interventions to individual employees or services and to improve the dissemination of and compliance with guidelines for the treatment of substance users. © 2017
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| 9. |
- Sinclair, Samantha, 1983-, et al.
(författare)
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Explaining gender-typed educational choice in adolescence: The role of social identity, self-concept, goals, grades, and interests.
- 2019
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Ingår i: Journal of Vocational Behavior. - : Elsevier. - 0001-8791 .- 1095-9084. ; 110:Part A, s. 54-71
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In most industrialized countries, there are substantial gender differences in field of study, resulting in gender segregated labor markets. The present research (N = 457, M age = 14.98) investigated a diverse range of predictors of Swedish adolescents’ choice of preparatory (STEM; humanistic) and terminal (e.g., electrician; health care) programs. The results revealed that social identity related variables (same-gender friendship networks, belonging, and adherence to gender stereotypes) mattered primarily for choice of gender-typed terminal programs, whereas academic self-concept and grades positively predicted selecting STEM and negatively predicted choice of gender-typed terminal programs for both girls and boys. Subject-specific interests were the most powerful and robust predictors overall and mediated the effects of academic self-concept and to a lesser extent social identity variables. The results illuminate the interaction between perceived barriers, opportunities, and interests in determining educational choice, the need to consider gender-typical choice for high-skilled and low-skilled career paths separately, and the importance of jointly considering a multitude of predictors that are typically studied in different fields.
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| 10. |
- Nordin-Bates, Sanna, et al.
(författare)
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Preventing Disordered Eating in Teenage Ballet Students : Evaluation of DancExcellent, a Combined CBT and Nutrition Education Intervention
- 2023
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Ingår i: Medical problems of performing artists. - : Science & Medicine Inc. - 0885-1158 .- 1938-2766. ; 38:2, s. 71-79
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Disordered eating (DE) behaviors are relatively common among high-level dancers, especially in classical ballet. At the same time, interventions aimed at reducing DE behaviors in this population are scarce. METHODS: An 8-week exploratory preventive interven-tion for DE behaviors was carried out in a high-level ballet school for 40 teenagers aged 12-15 years (77.5% female). Both risk factors (perfectionism) and potentially protective factors (self-esteem, self-compassion) for the development of DE behaviors were considered. The intervention was created specifically for this study and consisted of five cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) work-shops and four nutrition workshops. Additional compo-nents included newsletters for pupils and educational sessions and social media interactions with staff and parents. The intervention comprised two phases (control and intervention periods), with students acting as their own controls. Standardized questionnaires were com-pleted before and after both phases. RESULTS: Ques-tionnaire results did not indicate any changes in reported perfectionism, self-esteem, or self-compassion, nor were symptoms of DE affected during either the control or intervention periods. CONCLUSIONS: The intervention did not yield any discernible impact. How - ever, it was affected by the onset of the COVID-19 pan-demic, which limits our ability to draw conclusions about intervention effectiveness. Evaluations with pupils offer several considerations for future improvements. Med Probl Perform Art 2023;38(2):71-79.
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