To Örebro University

The aqueous extract of Cynara cardunculus flowers is traditionally used in cheese production across Mediterranean countries. To meet the growing industrial demand for plant-based milk-clotting enzymes and to explore potential biotechnological applications, we initiated a study to heterologously produce cyprosin B (CYPB), a key milk-clotting enzyme from C. cardunculus, in Nicotiana benthamiana. We also investigated the role of its plant-specific insert (PSI) domain in the CYPB’s activity and its localization. In this study, full-length CYPB and a PSI domain deleted CYPB (CYPBΔPSI) were transiently expressed in N. benthamiana leaves using Agrobacterium-mediated infiltration. The leaves were harvested nine days post-infiltration, and proteins were purified, yielding approximately 81 mg/kg (CYPB) and 60 mg/kg (CYPBΔPSI) fresh weight. CYPBΔPSI showed significantly higher proteolytic activity (156.72 IU/mg) than CYPB (57.2 IU/mg), indicating that the PSI domain is not essential for enzymatic activity and that its removal results in enhanced enzymatic efficiency. In the milk-clotting activity assay, CYPBΔPSI demonstrated a significantly faster clotting time than full-length CYPB, indicating enhanced milk-clotting efficiency for CYPBΔPSI. Subcellular localization studies revealed that CYPB and PSI were localized in the vacuole and endocytic vesicles. In contrast, CYPBΔPSI was primarily localized in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and the tonoplast, suggesting that the PSI domain is critical for vacuolar targeting and membrane permeabilization that affects overall protein yield. This study demonstrates the feasibility of using N. benthamiana as a platform for the scalable production of more efficient recombinant CYPB. It highlights the multifunctional role of the PSI domain in vacuolar sorting without impairing its functionality. These results underscore the potential of plant-based expression systems as a viable alternative for the industrial production of plant milk-clotting enzymes, with significant implications for sustainable cheese production.

KOMPASS (Kommunal planering för systematiskt socialt brottsförebyggande arbete) är en modell som syftar till att fånga upp nuvarande utmaningar och insatser i det lokala brottsförebyggande arbetet med fokus på socialpreventiva insatser riktat mot barn och unga som är i eller riskerar att hamna i kriminalitet. Modellen ska även undersöka hur insatser ska samordnas för att möjliggöra ett hållbart och långsiktigt socialpreventivt arbete mot kriminalitetsutveckling med särskilt fokus på barn och unga. Det handlar helt enkelt om att fånga vilken typ av problematik som förvaltningarna möter i relation till kriminalitet och risken för att barn och unga hamnar i kriminalitet, hur de arbetar med frågan samt vilka eventuella behov som finns. Följande rapport syftade därav till att skapa en helhetsbild av den kriminalitetsproblematik som Örebro kommuns verksamheter möter kopplat till barn och unga upp till 25 år, vilket arbete som görs för att förebygga och åtgärda detta och vilka utvecklingsmöjligheter/behov som finns på området.

Arbetet med KOMPASS och dess resultat presenteras i tre delar. I del I, kartläggningen av kommunens kriminalitetsproblematik, sammanställdes vilka typer av problem kommunens verksamheter upplever sig möta kopplat till barn och ungas delaktighet i eller risk för delaktighet i brott. I del II presenteras kartläggningen över vilka socialpreventiva metoder/insatser/arbetssätt som kommunens förvaltningar använder i arbetet mot den problematik som kartlades i del 1. I del III presenteras övergripande slutsatser och utvecklingsmöjligheter inom kommunen. I den presenteras ett antal slutsatser baserade både på verksamheternas egna beskrivningar av behov i det fortsatta arbetet, det som framkommer avseende vilka typer av kriminalitetsproblematik som verksamheterna möter och vilka metoder/insatser/arbetssätt som används i förvaltningarnas förebyggande arbetet.

Background. Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is one of the most important tick-transmitted diseases in Europe and Asia. Most infections with the TBE virus (TBEV) are asymptomatic or cause mild flu-like symptoms, but they may induce severe neurological disorders with permanent sequelae. The incidence of TBE cases showed a remarkable elevation in recent years probably due to the geographic expansion of TBEV and its vectors, which is concerning in the absence of a specific antiviral treatment. Vaccination remains the best protective measure against TBE. However, currently available vaccines have a burdensome immunization schedule, and poor immunogenicity in the elderly, which may contribute to observed vaccine failures, i.e., TBE occurrence in vaccinated people. One aim within the Developvaccines@oru project is to develop a novel TBE vaccine that could provide improved immunogenicity using fewer doses. Our strategy is to induce an immune response at possible sites of virus infection by a modified live attenuated vaccine based on Langat virus. 

Methods. Infectious clones of Langat virus (LGTV) based on the strain available in our laboratory are created followed by the generation of modified LGTV infectious clone as potential attenuated virus. Then, we compare them with the ¨original¨ LGTV strain using cell based and animal models.

Preliminary results. We successfully created LGTV infectious clones. In order to establish a baseline for animal experiments with our vaccine candidates, we planned a pilot study using the “original” Langat virus. First, we conducted a pre-pilot experiment to optimize the study design and evaluation methods. Preliminary data on the establishment process of vaccine candidates in vitro as well as cellular and humoral immune response in mice in response to the LGTV infectious clone are presented.

Conclusion. Further investigation of modified LGTV clone seems interesting in the development approach of new TBEV vaccine candidate.

Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is one of the most important tick-transmitted diseases in Europe and Asia. The incidence of TBE cases showed a remarkable elevation in recent years probably due to the geographic expansion of TBEV and its vectors, which is concerning in the absence of a specific antiviral treatment. Vaccination remains the best protective measure against TBE. However, currently available vaccines have a burdensome immunization schedule, and poor immunogenicity in the elderly, which may contribute to observed vaccine failures, i.e., TBE occurrence in vaccinated people. One aim within the Developvaccines@oru project is to develop a novel TBE vaccine that could provide improved immunogenicity using fewer doses. Our strategy is to induce an immune response at possible sites of virus infection by a modified live attenuated vaccine based on Langat virus (LGTV). Infectious clones of Langat virus (LGTV IC) based on the strain available in our laboratory are created followed by the generation of modified LGTV IC as potential attenuated virus. Then, we compare them with the ¨original¨ LGTV strain using cell based and animal models. In our laboratory, we f successfully created LGTV IC. In order to establish a baseline for animal experiments with our vaccine candidates, we planned a pilot study using the “original” LGTV and LGTV IC strains. First, we conducted a pre-pilot experiment to optimize the study design and evaluation methods. Our preliminary data shows that intramuscular administration of both strains was well tolerated in mice.  In contrast to the original LGTV, LGTV IC was found to cause a transient, but significant reduction in body weight. ELISA results showed that mice antibodies after LGTV IC infection cross reacted with TBEV antigens. The T lymphocytes, isolated from these mice spleens, showed Interferon gamma secretion when stimulated with both LGTV and TBEV peptides. However, this cellular response revealed higher in original LGTV infected mice. Moreover, we confirm that LGTV IC show lower viraemia peak than original LGTV, both occurring at 2 days post infection. Besides, we have successfully rescued modified LGTV infectious clones with individual or combined mutations in genomic regions coding for NS3, NS5 and/or 3’non-coding region of LGTV genome. Further in-vitro and in-vivo investigation of the modified and potentially attenuated LGTV clone, seems interesting in the development approach of new TBEV vaccine candidate. 

Background: The majority of palliative care patients express a preference for remaining at home for as long as possible. Despite progression of disease there is a strong desire to die at home. Nonetheless, there are transfers between care settings, demonstrating a discrepancy between desired and actual place of death.

Aim: To map the prevalence of patients near death undergoing specialized palliative home care and being transferred to inpatient care in Sweden.

Methods: A national retrospective cross-sectional study based on data from the Swedish Register of Palliative Care. Patients >= 18 years of age enrolled in specialized palliative home care with dates of death between 1 November 2015 and 31 October 2022 were included (n = 39,698). Descriptive statistics were used.

Results: Seven thousand three hundred eighty-three patients (18.6%), approximately 1,000 per year, were transferred to inpatient care and died within seven days of arrival. A considerable proportion of these patients died within two days after admission. The majority (73.6%) were admitted to specialized palliative inpatient care units, 22.9% to non-specialized palliative inpatient care units and 3.5% to additional care units. Transferred patients had more frequent dyspnoea (30.9% vs. 23.2%, p < 0.001), anxiety (60.2% vs. 56.5%, p < 0.001) and presence of several simultaneous symptoms was significantly more common (27.0% vs. 24.8%, p 0.001).

Conclusion: The results show that patients admitted to specialized palliative home care in Sweden are being transferred to inpatient care near death. A notable proportion of these patients dies within two days of admission. Common features, such as symptoms and symptom burden, can be observed in the patients transferred. The study highlights a phenomenon that may be experienced by patients, relatives and healthcare personnel as a significant event in a vulnerable situation. A deeper understanding of the underlying causes of these transfers is required to ascertain whether they are compatible with good palliative care and a dignified death.

Background:

Traffic safety is often built combining mandatory publicly financed and voluntary privately financed methods and measures designed to decrease the individual’s risk of experiencing a traffic accident. A frequent finding in the literature on cost-benefit analysis of traffic safety measures is that many people seem to value an expected positive impact on health or safety differently depending on whether it is achieved using a private or a public intervention. To our knowledge, there is much less know about how the relationship between respondent’s subjective wellbeing, measured in terms of life satisfaction, and their willingness to pay (WTP) for a measure that decrease of the individual’s risk of experiencing a traffic accident. 

The aim of the paper:

We aim to analyze the relationship between the individuals’ wellbeing and their willingness to pay to reduce by half the risk of a traffic accident for vulnerable road-users such as pedestrians and bicyclists controlling for various aspects that can be attributed to the public/private dichotomy of the measure and individual characteristics and attitudes.

Data and methods:

A representative sample for Swedish adult inhabitants responded online to our contingent valuation survey during May 2020. We use five different scenarios, where the first four hold constant the safety technology, which is a mobile phone app, but vary if the provider is a public or private institution, if the payment vehicle is a fee for use or a uniform tax, and whether the adoption of the app is mandatory or not. In the fifth scenario, the technology is changed to a censor-based intervention in the infrastructure. All respondents were presented with two of these scenarios. All responded to an app scenario with public provision, uniform tax, and voluntary use. The second scenario was chosen randomly from the other four. In addition to the valuation questions respondents were also presented with a number of attitudinal questions.

Our dependent variable is defined by the respondent’s maximum WTP score from the payment scale of five given levels  [0, 10, 25, 50, 100]. In this way, the respondent’s WTP is constrained by the limited range of integer values listed in the payment scale. So, a respondent who states that the maximum they would be willing to pay is, for example 25, could have a true value anywhere in the interval. The censoring of the variable of the true value violates the assumption that the error term is normally distributed. Even though in practice, OLS may provide a robust estimator of the conditional mean function, we also use interval regression model, which offer a more appropriate setting for our data.

Results:

Our preliminary results suggest that expected utility (subjective well-being) depends on both objective and perceived risks and beliefs. When not controlling for the individual’s life satisfaction, we found significantly higher valuations of the infrastructure solution, which might suggest that the difference in valuations may arise due to other aspects of the framing of the private and public goods offered. But respondents with high value of life satisfaction and no experience of traffic accidents seem to have a higher WTP for the private good, a result that we need to investigate in more detail. 

This study tests the hypothesis that cultivating positive and supportive learning inputs positively contributes to students’ subsequent academic performance and their well-being. It investigates the role of obligatory and voluntary self-assessment of basic concepts in enhancing learning progression and fostering student well-being. The dynamic interplay between students’ engagement in learning, their subsequent academic performance and their well-being, four voluntary quizzes and two obligatory self-assessment tests are available online on the university platform without deadlines. All these assessments offer each student opportunities for deeper exploration and personalized learning. For instance, the first SAT, recommended at the beginning of the course, allows each student to identify their knowledge gaps in basic concepts in statistics and regression analysis crucial for learning progression. The teacher receives information about the group’s knowledge in basic concepts and the group’s average confidence, identifying potential gaps between students’ self-confidence and actual knowledge in basic concepts.

Using data across nine cohorts studying an intermediate course in applied econometrics during spring and autumn semesters 2021-2023, we found empirical support for our hypothesis that cultivating positive and supportive learning inputs positively contributes to students’ subsequent academic performance and their well-being. Students engaging in both obligatory and voluntary self-assessment exhibited a more strategic approach, which is positive correlated with subsequent academic achievement and individual well-being. 

Our preliminary results provide empirical evidence for the intricate dynamics between students' engagement in obligatory and voluntary self-assessment, confidence ratings, impact on learning approaches, academic success, and individual well-being. By focusing on student well-being, the findings contribute to academic literature and offer practical insights for teachers seeking to optimize self-assessment practices in diverse empirical curricula, fostering a positive educational experience for students.

Om vi vill förstå varför musik är värdefull ska vi fokusera på självamusiken. Den tanken har varit dominerande inom musikforskningsedan slutet av 1700-talet. Men alla som har utövat, lyssnat på ellerskrivit musik vet att erfarenheter påverkar hur vi uppfattar musik ochvad den betyder för oss. Erfarenheterna är inte bara individuella utanformas av våra sociala förhållanden. Samtidigt tänker vi ofta att vissasorters människor lyssnar på vissa typer av musik. Personlighet ochpersonlig smak har betydelse, men omfattande forskning visar attengagemang i musik åtminstone delvis påverkas av kulturella faktoreroch sådant som klass, kön och ålder.

In Sweden, the government has been reluctant to regulate streaming platforms, including the measures in the EU Audiovisual Media Services Directive, which aim to maintain domestic and European productions. This article investigates what values are mobilized to legitimate the (non)regulation of streaming platforms in Sweden and what this means for democratic deliberation about platforms, content and culture. Building on policy documents and in-depth interviews, our findings are structured around policies addressing (1) democracy, equality and diversity and (2) European content, production and cultural values. Regulations are perceived to be difficult to enforce and often undesirable. This article identifies a shift in policy where regulating television has given way to producing media-literate, self-governing subjects. We introduce the concept ‘platform gaze’ to explain how regulation has deferred to the desires of platform providers, neglecting, e.g. independent producers. Further, we argue that the political space to discuss streamed content as culture has diminished.

Purpose: The study aims to understand digital transformation as a socially constructed process with multiple stakeholders, influenced by internal and external forces. This perspective stresses the importance of context, human interaction and narratives in the digital transformation within public sector. 

Design/methodology/approach: The author uses a case study at a Swedish university undergoing digital transformation. Through first and secondary data, the author thematically analyzes the interaction between change agents, organizational realities and the digital transformation process. 

Findings: The study finds that conflicts in pace and scope in the digital transformation drive self-defense mechanisms and the formation of a feedback loop of pending action. Contrary to previous studies, technological and external forces do not make digital transformation inevitable. 

Research limitations/implications: Limitations stem from the empirical selection of a Swedish university, affecting the international and intersectoral transferability of the study. The impact of digital transformation differs from previous IT changes, which has implications for the design of the digital transformation process. 

Practical implications: Stakeholders should, instead of considering structural and cultural barriers as facts, pay attention to the narratives within the organization as potential excuses to avoid action. 

Originality/value: This research contributes to original insights into digital transformation. It uncovers how change agents, despite longing for change, can inadvertently foster inaction in digital transformation. This finding enriches the literature by highlighting the complex dynamics between the desire for change and the social constructs that contribute to stagnation, offering an understanding of barriers to digital transformation.

Adoption of sufficiency-oriented lifestyles is an important part of curbing overconsumption, yet many individuals who try to reduce their consumption volumes experience social difficulties. Combining the perspectives of care and sufficiency-oriented lifestyle changes, this article aims to contribute to the understanding of why such social obstacles occur, how they might be counteracted and in what ways social relations instead may facilitate consumption reduction. Starting from an interview study with 25 Swedish consumption reducers, this article builds on a processual theory of consumer identity and the perspective of care to explore how care and consumption are (re) negotiated in the different stages of reduction. The results highlight the different aspects of care involved in consumption reduction – from motivations for change to negotiations toward a more holistic understanding of care – and show that consumption reduction in many ways is an ongoing process of both caring and striving. By emphasizing how care is renegotiated in a gradual construction of a caring consumer identity, this article discusses the importance of maintaining a sensitivity to the multi-faceted nature of care, acknowledging it both as a source of difficulties and as a key driver for sufficiency-oriented lifestyle changes.

Responsibility awareness is a vital component of several countries’ crises preparedness policies. In recent years there has also been a formal shift in responsibility, from state level to regional and local levels, as well as to households. The shift is emphasized in risk communication activities targeted at the citizens. However, even with the close connection between risk communication and responsibility for risk prevention and preparedness measures, surprisingly little is known about the relationship between communicating responsibility, and the effects on responsibility awareness and self-preparedness. The aim of the study is to identify how citizens’ reception of responsibility messages concerning a crisis event, influence how residents view their own responsibility awareness and self-preparedness intent. In our study we selected a cyber-crisis scenario as a case to prepare for. A post-test only quasi-experimental cross-sectional survey research design conducted on data collected from 3395 survey participants of the Citizen panel revealed that the responsibility messages with the government taking almost all the responsibility, does not lead to a decrease in the citizens’ own responsibility awareness, and that a responsibility message with shared responsibility but also a message where the citizen is left to their own devices, both lead to an increased own responsibility awareness. However, neither of the responsibility messages lead to an increased self-preparedness intent.

Object detection is crucial in diverse autonomous systems like surveillance, autonomous driving, and driver assistance, ensuring safety by recognizing pedestrians, vehicles, traffic lights, and signs. However, adverse weather conditions such as snow, fog, and rain pose a challenge, affecting detection accuracy and risking accidents and damage. This clearly demonstrates the need for robust object detection solutions that work in all weather conditions. We employed three strategies to enhance deep learningbased object detection in adverse weather: training on real world all-weather images, training on images with synthetic augmented weather noise, and integrating object detection with adverse weather image denoising. The synthetic weather noise is generated using analytical methods, GAN networks, and style-transfer networks. We compared the performance of these strategies by training object detection models using real-world all-weather images from the BDD100K dataset and, for assessment, employed unseen real-world adverse weather images. Adverse weather denoising methods were evaluated by denoising real-world adverse weather images, and the results of object detection denoised and original noisy images were compared. We found that the model trained using all-weather real-world images performed best, while the strategy of doing object detection on denoised images performed worst.

We explore the use of various machine learning (ML) models for classifying lithologies utilizing data from X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and X-ray computed tomography (XCT). Typically, lithologies are identified over several meters, which restricts the use of ML models due to limited training data. To address this issue, we augment the original interval dataset, where lithologies are marked over extensive sections, into finer segments of 10cm, to produce a high resolution dataset with vastly increased sample size. Additionally, we examine the impact of adjacent lithologies on building a more generalized ML model. We also demonstrate that combining XRF and XCT data leads to an improved classification accuracy compared to using only XRF data, which is the common practice in current studies, or solely relying on XCT data.

This study explores the evolving, however also “messy”, role of communication professionals in higher education institutions (HEIs), who are involved in organizational science communication. Despite substantial growth and professionalization within HEIs’ communication departments, limited research delves into these professionals’ own perspectives and their self-understanding. Our investigation employs a metaphors-in-use perspective, through 26 interviews in ten Scandinavian HEIs. The paper contributes to the research on organizational science communication by unraveling the metaphors used by communication professionals: the salesman, the marketplace-facilitator, the police, the missionary, the storyteller, and the overhead-cost, gaining an understanding of how communication professionals perceive their own role.

Higher music education (HME) institutions, globally, have increasingly been expected to incorporate research into teaching in music performance programs (MPPs). This feature of "musical academization" arguably conflicts with a longstanding focus on the development of practical playing skills as part of a music performance education. Whilst academic literature has outlined how to conduct research supervision in performance programs at universities, the question of how students and educators understand research-led teaching and implementation strategies is lacking. This article highlights challenges to implementing research-led teaching in HME, exploring how research and research-led teaching is understood and implemented in MPPs at a medium sized Swedish university. Drawing on 13 semi-structured interviews with students and educators across different MPPs, it asks: (1) how are research and research-led teaching conceptualized and understood amongst music performance students and educators? and (2) what do students and educators see as the potential of research-led teaching for MPPs specifically? The article divides research in music performance programs into three themes: research as a noun, research-competent educators, and student-centered artistic research. Through this, the article informs discussions relating to implementing research in HME and to demonstrate students and educators' perspectives on the value of research-led teaching in music performance programs.

This article seeks to unpack variations in feminist film sector activists' articulations of collective grievances and demands for change since the mid-1970s and compare them to how gender equality is articulated as a problem in public policy. Based on an analysis of problem representations found in three instances of women's mobilization - from the second wave to #metoo - the article argues that there seems to be a consensus about the appropriate boundaries of what problems can be targeted by policy. Problem representations found in gender equality policies in the film sector do not verbalize structural inequalities. However, feminist activists interpreted them to support their ariculations of structural problems. Feminist activists problem represntations include testimonies of sexual harassment and violence, articulations of structural inequalities, and the promotion of women's separatism. The article also identifies a discursive dislocation produced by critics to gender equality reforms in conjunction to #metoo. The dislocation is produced by successfully opposing gender equality to artistic freedom and denying the existence of structural gender inequalities.

Young people both are and will be greatly afected by climate change, an insight which can trigger a range of stressful emotions concerning the future. How young people copewith climate change as a stressor can be of importance for both moral responsibility and climate-change engagement. People often use a combination of coping strategies; however, the focus thus far has merely been on isolated coping strategies. Using a person-centered approach, the aim of this study was to examine: (1) patterns of climate-change coping among late adolescents and (2) if late adolescents characterized by unique patterns of coping difer regarding emotions concerning the future (worry, pessimism, optimism), moral responsibility, and climate-change engagement (outcome expectancy and climate-friendly food choices). A questionnaire study was conducted with 474 Swedish senior high-school students (16–22 years old, mean age: 17.91). A cluster analysis revealed three unique patterns of coping: The solution-oriented group (43%, high on problem- and meaning-focused coping), the avoidant group (33%, high on de-emphasizing and meaning-focused coping), and the uninvolved group (24%, low on all coping strategies). The solution-oriented group difered from the other two groups in reporting more climate-change worry, moral responsibility, outcome expectancy, and climate-friendly food choices. The uninvolved group reported more climate-change worry, moral responsibility, and climate-friendly food choices than the avoidant group, and the least optimism. The avoidant group was the least pessimistic. Our results reveal the importance of exploring patterns of climate-change coping to understand young people’s engagement concerning this global threat

Consumer attitudes toward novel fresh herb cultivation methods, including urban farming, hydroponics, and robotic cultivation, were explored among 148 participants in the UK. Urban farming emerged as the preferred method, followed by hydroponics, while robotic cultivation was least favoured. The study tested two hypotheses regarding the influence of environmental concern on acceptance of parsley from the different methods, and the impact of food technology neophobia on acceptance of parsley from hydroponics and robotic cultivation. Consumer levels of environmental concern positively influenced their acceptance of parsley from urban farming, while food technology neophobia negatively impacted the consumer acceptance of hydroponic and robotic cultivation methods. The study underscores the perceived natural elements inherent in these methods. Urban farming seems to align well with consumers ' values of nature and sustainability. Tailored messaging highlighting the natural aspects of all these methods, and addressing concerns about the use of technology, may help to bridge the gap between innovation and consumer acceptance, contributing to the delicate balance between tradition and innovation in agricultural strategies. At the same time, however, the study 's exploratory nature may limit the generalizability of the results. Future research could broaden the participant sample and explore additional psychological factors shaping attitudes toward novel agricultural techniques.

The last decade has seen unprecedented changes in working forms, not the least through technological innovation while leisure time is equally reshaped by platforms. Although relatively new, the gig economy – temporary work mediated through platforms – is increasingly an important form of employment globally and consequently, the gig economy is represented in popular culture. Popular culture is part of social-technical-spatial relations making these important spaces in digital geographies. However, digital content, for example from streaming programs, is often not considered in labour geography studies. By conducting ethnographic content analysis and doodling ‘think-with’ work on Beforeigners, a piece of speculative fiction from Norway, I explore how storytelling conjoins parallel digital practices. I show storytelling as a kind of softening of ground narrating technological-spatial relations and demonstrates how, from this Nordic example, storytelling is part of the continuative geographical ordering of work forms in digital spaces and places. Exploring other sites of digital spaces highlights the ways digital geography is multi-layered, inter-relational and gradient, and demonstrates the need to go beyond established sites of inquiry to understand the gig economy as a social-technological-spatial relation.

A rapidly growing body of work explores platform-mediated economy and work under the umbrella term ‘Platform Urbanism’. This focus and academic discourse risk keeping digital spaces and practices in the rural context in the shadow or subordinated to urban-based understandings. Concurrently, digital studies on the rural have for long focused on technocratic approaches to improving information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and connectivity. While recently the potentials of digitalization in transforming agriculture, small businesses, health care, and transportation in rural areas are receiving significant attention, these debates remain surprisingly disconnected from vibrant discussions of the platform economy. Thus, the remaking of rural geographies through the platform economy, and vice versa, remains under-examined. This chapter addresses the importance of spatiality and geography in considering the platform economy with examples of rural small business and agriculture. It illustrates why the nuances and complexity of rural spaces need to become part of understanding the dynamics of the platform economy. Centring rural as important and spatially significant not only lifts the complexity of rural platform processes but also creates opportunities for new questions and patterns. Rural geographical perspectives highlight relational and interlocking spaces found in the rural platform economy and offer the potential for a deeper understanding of social-technical-spatial relations.

This study investigates how education professionalsbalance their private and professional lives when usingsocial technologies. Based on boundary theory andinterviews with 57 education professionals, we identifywhich tactics they use to separate or integrate theirprivate and professional life. We identified twice asmany segmentation tactics compared to integrationtactics and found that the education professionalsstruggled most with finding segmentation tactics thatwork. We argue that this is because social technologiesare designed to support integration and thereforeteachers using these technologies must work harderto separate their private and professional roles. There isa need to further investigate how boundary theory canbe used, and segmentation tactics understood, whenthe object of study is social technology, which isspecifically built to integrate time and professional andprivate spaces. For practice, there is a need to bettersupport teachers in their use of social technologie

Fruit peel color is an important index of mango fruit quality. Therefore, increasing the anthocyanin accumulation and improving coloration in red mango are crucial for mango industry. The anthocyanin accumulation in mango is light-regulated. However, the effect of white light combined with different doses of UV-B on anthocyanin biosynthesis has not been clarified. Also lacking is a comprehensive analysis of responses of mango fruit peel to UV-B/white light treatments. In this study, green mature ‘Guifei’ mango fruits were subjected to white light combined with low (WL+UV-BL) or high dose UV-B (WL+UV-BH). Anthocyanin concentration, anthocyanin-related gene expression, reactive oxygen species (ROS), antioxidant, and plant hormone concentrations, and antioxidant enzyme activity were measured. The results showed that especially a WL+UV-BH regimen promoted anthocyanin formation in mango peel. Anthocyaninand light signal-related gene expression, ROS content, antioxidant enzyme activity, antioxidant concentrations, and total antioxidant capacity were also increased by UVB/ white light. Such treatments led to higher concentrations of jasmonic acid and cytokines, but decreased content of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid and salicylic acids. Commercially, our findings may contribute to improving the commercial quality of mango. Scientifically, the present data sheds light on the mango fruit peelspecific molecular and physiological response network under UV-B/white light treatments.

The question ‘What is to be done?’ underpins Chantal Mouffe’s agonistic theory of democratic politics. Yet, despite this affirmative tone that distinguishes her from other radical theorists, her theory neglects the cultural work required for hegemony-building. This omission has resulted in operational difficulties when agonistic democracy is put into practice. This article shows how academics inspired by Mouffe unintentionally depend on theoretical resources from competing democratic theories. As a result of this, agonistic practices risk to reinforce neo-liberal regimes instead of developing counter-hegemonic alternatives. To meet this challenge, and to expand the scope of Mouffe’s agonism, we draw on educational theory to provide a more developed theorization of the cultural work required for hegemony-building. We propose that only by embracing different conceptualisations of education, we can activate cultural interventions that facilitate counter-hegemonic ventures.

The transition to more diversified protein sources presents legumes, such as peas, as excellent alternatives to animal protein. In light of this shift, understanding the sensory variation of pea genetic resources becomes crucial in broadening their appeal and promoting greater consumption. This study aimed to identify key factors influencing the sensory attributes of landrace peas, including variety (accession), location (geographical area of cultivation), and harvest year. Through a quantitative descriptive sensory analysis of six Swedish landrace pea accessions, cultivated over 1–2 years in three different Nordic countries, we analyzed the sensory attributes in detail and evaluated potential interactions between the pea accessions, their respective growing locations, and the varying harvest years. The results show that the sensory variation in the studied landrace pea accessions is primarily attributed to the chosen accession, despite the differences in location and harvest year. Notably, the results also reveal the potential impact of the location on the perceived sourness and umami taste of peas. These findings underscore the critical role of careful variety selection and breeding to enhance the sensory experience of peas, enabling the development of diverse pea-based products that cater to consumer preferences.

Multivariate random sums appear in many scientic fields, most notably in actuarial science, where they model both the number of claims and their sizes. Unfortunately, they pose severe inferential problems. For example, their density function is analytically intractable, in the general case, thus preventing likelihood inference. In this paper, we address the problem by the method of moments, under the assumption that the claim size and the claim number have a multivariate skew-normal and a Poisson distribution, respectively. In doing so, we also derive closed-form expressions for some fundamental measures of multivariate kurtosis and highlight some limitations of both projection pursuit and invariant coordinate selection.

This study determines the functional role of the plant ultraviolet-B radiation (UV-B) photoreceptor, UV RESISTANCE LOCUS 8 (UVR8) under natural conditions using a large-scale 'synchronized-genetic-perturbation-field-experiment'. Laboratory experiments have demonstrated a role for UVR8 in UV-B responses but do not reflect the complexity of outdoor conditions where 'genotype × environment' interactions can mask laboratory-observed responses. Arabidopsis thaliana knockout mutant, uvr8-7, and the corresponding Wassilewskija wild type, were sown outdoors on the same date at 21 locations across Europe, ranging from 39°N to 67°N latitude. Growth and climatic data were monitored until bolting. At the onset of bolting, rosette size, dry weight, and phenolics and glucosinolates were quantified. The uvr8-7 mutant developed a larger rosette and contained less kaempferol glycosides, quercetin glycosides and hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives than the wild type across all locations, demonstrating a role for UVR8 under field conditions. UV effects on rosette size and kaempferol glycoside content were UVR8 dependent, but independent of latitude. In contrast, differences between wild type and uvr8-7 in total quercetin glycosides, and the quercetin-to-kaempferol ratio decreased with increasing latitude, that is, a more variable UV response. Thus, the large-scale synchronized approach applied demonstrates a location-dependent functional role of UVR8 under natural conditions.

Under sista åren har samhällets insatser för att informera och motivera invånarna i Sverige till hemberedskap intensifierats. Men vilka medborgare är det som engagerar sig och som väljer att ”lyssna” till de statliga kampanjerna? Resultaten i detta kapitel av den nationella SOM-undersökningen visar att många lyssnar, intresserar och engagerar sig i linje med statens önskningar. Men alla lyder förstås inte myndigheterna blint, åtminstone inte när det kommer till att se om sin fysiska hemberedskap. När det gäller nivån på engagemanget hos olika medborgargrupper kvarstår – eller möjligen förstärks – klassiska klyftor kopplade till social bakgrund, men också beroende på sådant som graden av politiskt engagemang, tillit till andra människor samt exempelvis förtroendet för myndigheter. De individer som ofta bedöms ha bättre förutsättningar i grunden för att möta samhällskriser utan samhällets hjälp, är också de som visar de jämförelsevis högsta engagemangsnivåerna i den statliga hemberedskapsdiskursen, i de oroliga kampanj- och kristiderna.

EU policy-making in criminal law is a matter of significant public concern for EU citizens and the Member States. The exercise of EU public powers in the fields of criminal law and law enforcement have tangible and adverse consequences for the liberties and well-being of individuals. Furthermore, EU cooperation in the area of criminal law touches upon core functions of statehood including ‘core state powers’ such as the safeguarding of internal security and law enforcement. This raises several questions regarding the rationale underpinning EU criminal policy and its legitimacy within the context of a multi-level polity. This book explores forensically the question whether a compelling normative justification for the EU to regulate criminal justice. It argues that the key justification for supranational action lies in demonstrating the existence of European public goods such as the internal market, the transnational protection of the environment and the provision of security for citizens and other important transnational interests deserving of protection by means of criminal law. It should also be shown that the Union is better placed (given its resources, expertise and incentives) than Member States to protect those interests. This offers a compelling case for EU action in criminal law to address or correct transnational market failures, collective action problems and other externalities arising from the economic and social interdependence between states in the EU

This article provides a historical perspective on the development of environmental sociology in Sweden over the last three decades. It discusses changes in environmental issues and environmental research and how this has led to the paradoxical situation that environmental sociology has become more in demand but at the same time more invisible. This is partly because much sociological environmental research takes place within multidisciplinary research programmes, and partly because it is carried out by sociologists who do not define themselves as environmental sociologists, but as political sociologists, sociologists of consumption or sociologists of science, for example. The article then presents three different, but often overlapping, ways of defining environmental sociology: epistemic (environmental sociology as a distinct field of knowledge), organisational (the sociologists who come together in environmental sociology networks) and empirical (all sociological research in the environmental field). The article discusses the pros and cons of these three approaches and concludes with a discussion of the role of (environmental) sociology in sustainability transformation, raising the question of what knowledge sociologists should develop and what expert role they should take.

In Sweden, municipalities and municipal planning are central to the government’s preparedness for climate-related risks, as municipalities are the organizations that will largely have to adapt to and prepare for climate change. However, there is little government guidance in the form of clearly formulated policies, policy objectives, and detailed regulations to support municipalities in this work. In practice, municipal officials are tasked with developing climate preparedness, including facilitating citizen awareness of the need to prepare for climate-related risks. By exploring the local level of Swedish public administration, which in practice has to deal with different and sometimes divergent understandings of a situation and who should manage it, the paper explores the implications of officials’ meaning-making about local risk governance. An exploratory approach to risk governance and meaning-making rationality is used to examine Swedish municipal officials’ views of citizens’ climate crisis preparedness and the motives and barriers they perceive the citizens to have in developing this preparedness. An interview study is conducted with 23 officials in 5 municipalities. Based on the results, the paper discusses the implications of the perception that citizens have no constructive role to play in the work to better prepare municipalities for climate change. The paper concludes by discussing how officials’ meaning-making rationality needs to be addressed in the development of robust climate preparedness.

Drastic behavior change is necessary to reach the Paris Agreement of 2,5 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per person and year until 2030. One way to lower our consumption-based emissions is to consume less and share the resources already in circulation more. The sharing economy can be understood as an umbrella concept that includes various practices and activities. Due to this variety in practice, the sharing economy is not sustainable by default. Altruistic forms of interpersonal sharing and market-oriented businesses require sharing initiatives to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Though the sharing economy is often understood as digitally mediated through profit-driven online platforms, sharing can occur outside the formal market and without digital platforms.

This study explores geographical and social differences in the attitude toward, and experiences of, the sharing of resources. Through focus-group interviews, the study shows that geographical and social differences exist and that the most significant differences can be found between central urban areas and smaller towns in rural areas. People who live in places with higher levels of social interaction and active communities are more inclined to share with others. Three key concepts for understanding any potential sharing situation are social relations, trust, and value. The three concepts operate as a foundation for decision-making in any sharing situation and affect what can be shared with whom and why. The study also identifies how public actors, such as municipalities, can engage in sharing practices.

Scald is one type of burn that s often mentioned alone and occurs mostly in the paediatric population. Inhaled steam is mostly cooled off in the airways, why thermal damage is rarely seen. A sudden exposure to hot steam/inhalation can cause a thermal inhalation injury. A scoping review was performed, with the aim to summarize all published papers in English, about steam-related injuries. The search was conducted using the PubMed (R) and Cochrane libraries on 19th of May 2021, without a set time period. Out of a total of 1186 identified records, 31 were chosen for review. Burns related to the contact with steam are generally rare and can be both minor and severe. The more severe cases related to steam exposure are mostly workplace accidents and the minor injuries reported in the literature are often related to steam inhalation therapy, especially in the paediatric population. This review describes the challenges that can be found dealing with patients suffering from cutaneous steam burns and/or steam inhalation injuries. A steam injury to the airways or the skin can be directly life-threatening and should be treated with caution. This type of injury can lead to acute respiratory insufficiency and sometimes death. A case of a male patient with extensive cutaneous steam burns and a steam inhalation injury who passed away after 11 days of treatment is also presented to illustrate this review. Level of evidence: Level V, Therapeutic; Risk/Prognostic Study.

There have been increasing efforts to develop prediction models supporting personalised detection, prediction, or treatment of ADHD. We overviewed the current status of prediction science in ADHD by: (1) systematically reviewing and appraising available prediction models; (2) quantitatively assessing factors impacting the performance of published models. We did a PRISMA/CHARMS/TRIPOD-compliant systematic review (PROSPERO: CRD42023387502), searching, until 20/12/2023, studies reporting internally and/or externally validated diagnostic/prognostic/treatment-response prediction models in ADHD. Using meta-regressions, we explored the impact of factors affecting the area under the curve (AUC) of the models. We assessed the study risk of bias with the Prediction Model Risk of Bias Assessment Tool (PROBAST). From 7764 identified records, 100 prediction models were included (88% diagnostic, 5% prognostic, and 7% treatment-response). Of these, 96% and 7% were internally and externally validated, respectively. None was implemented in clinical practice. Only 8% of the models were deemed at low risk of bias; 67% were considered at high risk of bias. Clinical, neuroimaging, and cognitive predictors were used in 35%, 31%, and 27% of the studies, respectively. The performance of ADHD prediction models was increased in those models including, compared to those models not including, clinical predictors (β = 6.54, p = 0.007). Type of validation, age range, type of model, number of predictors, study quality, and other type of predictors did not alter the AUC. Several prediction models have been developed to support the diagnosis of ADHD. However, efforts to predict outcomes or treatment response have been limited, and none of the available models is ready for implementation into clinical practice. The use of clinical predictors, which may be combined with other type of predictors, seems to improve the performance of the models. A new generation of research should address these gaps by conducting high quality, replicable, and externally validated models, followed by implementation research.

Much is known about the patterning of offending throughout life, but less about the patterning of victimization. In this study, we used data from the Stockholm Life-Course Project (SLCP), a longitudinal study that includes measures of childhood problem behaviour. We analysed offending (criminal conviction and police suspicion), inpatient hospitalization and outpatient care for violent victimization. We replicated the well-established age-crime curve amongst SLCP study members. We found that hospitalization for severe violent victimization was most likely to occur between 20 and 40 years of age. We additionally considered how childhood problem behaviour impacted overall risk and life-course patterning of offending and victimization. Childhood problem behaviour was associated with a greater risk of criminal conviction. But childhood problem behaviour showed inconsistent associations with risk for police suspicion. Childhood problem behaviour was generally associated with greater involvement in crime up to middle adulthood. Childhood problem behaviour was generally associated with a greater risk of victimization. However, we were limited in our ability to estimate the effect of childhood problem behaviour on life-course patterning of victimization due to the rarity of victimization. These results imply a need for larger studies on violent victimization and greater nuance in our understanding of childhood risks and their life-long outcomes.

Background: Ageing in place is a societal norm in most European countries, Sweden included. Consequently, accommodations in nursing homes are limited and older adults with somatic disease but without a dementia diagnosis are expected to be able to age in place. Nevertheless, nursing home applications are submitted daily to Swedish municipalities. Hence, the overall aim of the dissertation was to study different perspectives of the daily life of older adults who have applied for admission to a nursing home.

Methods: Interviewing 11 older adults waiting for nursing home admission (Study I), interviewing 15 relatives (Study II), analysing 160 granted nursing home decisions (Study III) and comparing 17 nursing home applicants with 17 non-nursing home applicants with respect to difficulties in everyday life, life satisfaction, and depression (StudyIV).

Results: By identifying and clustering the recurring aspects of daily life in all four studies, eight aspects of daily life emerged. These aspects affected the older adult’s daily life and contributed to the nursing home application. They were: Difficulties in performing everyday activities; Dependency in daily life; Lack of social cohesion; Being in a depressive mood; Having anxiety that affected daily life, The impact of relatives, Not having proximity to care staff, and Suffering from a life-changing event.

Discussion: This dissertation showed how the treatment from staff in home-based care was a crucial aspect of why older adults applied for a place in a nursing home. Another crucial aspect was proximity to staff, which addresses the need for an additional ordinary housing alternative. Additionally, there is a need to improve information on housing alternatives and their level of care, as this dissertation showed how older adults, and their relatives considered a nursing home application as the only solution to their current life situation.

Domestic violence (DV) shelters provide a safe place for women and children; however, they are only intended to be a temporary solution until residents can find a safe place of their own. In Sweden, the social services are responsible for helping and supporting victims of DV to get away from the violence, which can include everything from practical help and housing to emotional support. The present article aims to investigate mothers' descriptions of leaving a DV shelter where they were staying with their children. Interviews with 13 mothers of children aged 0–6 years are analysed using thematic analysis. The results show that the process of leaving a DV shelter begins almost as soon as the mother and her children arrive, as it can take quite some time to find a new safe place and to mentally prepare for the move. Additionally, it takes a lot of effort to plan for life outside the shelter. This involves hardship for the mothers and children, meaning that they need support from both shelter staff and social services. Implications for social work practice and policy are discussed.

The COVID-19 pandemic has seen a rise in anxiety and depression among adolescents. This study aimed to investigate the longitudinal associations between sleep and mental health among a large sample of Australian adolescents and examine whether healthy sleep patterns were protective of mental health in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We used three waves of longitudinal control group data from the Health4Life cluster-randomized trial (N= 2781, baseline Mage= 12.6, SD= 0.51; 47% boys and 1.4% ‘prefer not to say’). Latent class growth analyses across the 2 years period identifed four trajectories of depressive symptoms: low-stable (64.3%), average-increasing (19.2%), high-decreasing (7.1%), moderate-increasing (9.4%), and three anxiety symptom trajectories: lowstable (74.8%), average-increasing (11.6%), high-decreasing (13.6%). We compared the trajectories on sociodemographic and sleep characteristics. Adolescents in low-risk trajectories were more likely to be boys and to report shorter sleep latency and wake after sleep onset, longer sleep duration, less sleepiness, and earlier chronotype. Where mental health improved or worsened, sleep patterns changed in the same direction. The subgroups analyses uncovered two important fndings: (1) the majority of adolescents in the sample maintained good mental health and sleep habits (low-stabletrajectories), (2) adolescents with worsening mental health also reported worsening sleep patterns and vice versa in the improving mental health trajectories. These distinct patterns of sleep and mental health would not be seen using mean-centred statistical approaches.

Skolundervisning ska vila på vetenskaplig grund och beprövad erfarenhet. Därmed har lärarutbildningen en viktig roll att fylla, genom att skapa förutsättningar för lärarstudenter att utveckla ett forskande arbetssätt inför yrkeslivet. Målsättningen med denna text är att visa hur det kan gå till i praktiken. Jag har länge forskat och undervisat inom samma kunskapsområde, bedömning för lärande i skolämnet idrott och hälsa och inom ämneslärarprogrammet. Dessutom har samverkan mellan bedömningskurserna på campus och övningsskolornas bedömningspraktik genererat en beprövad erfarenhet beträffande bedömning för lärande, som jag gärna delar med mig av i form av en berättelse. 

Syftet med min berättelse är att återge hur forskning, undervisning och beprövad erfarenhet kan utvecklas i en sammanlänkad process och föra ett resonemang kring vad denna process har att erbjuda för studenters lärande inom ämneslärarprogrammet. 

Idén att dela med mig av mina erfarenheter i form av en berättelse är inspirerad av en självbiografisk narrativ metodologi. Efter en redogörelse för vad bedömning för lärande blir och gör under olika omständigheter avslutas berättelsen med några förslag på arbetssätt som kan överbrygga glappet mellan teori och praktik inom lärarutbildningen. Dessutom skulle berättelsen kunna användas som ämnesdidaktiskt läromedel, som ett komplement till allmändidaktisk litteratur om bedömning för lärande. 

Knowledge of prepubertal transgender and gender diverse (TGD) children is limited. This study fills a gap in the research literature by exploring the lived experiences of prepubertal TGD children related to gender identity, centering their voices. Interviews with 10 TGD Swedish children 4–12 years old were analyzed through Thematic Analysis. The analysis resulted in two main themes: (1) “The journey of gender exploration,” with subthemes Discovering me and The joys, and challenges of being me; (2) “Meeting the outside world,” with subthemes Can I belong? and Staying me: my tips, tricks and help from others. The children’s evolving gender identity was traced, emphasizing emotional aspects and pivotal milestones like affirmed names. Even though the children had supportive environments, challenges of misgendering and the need for continual self-assertion were exposed. Despite struggles for recognition, the study highlights TGD children’s resilient coping and well-being. Still, cisgender norms were observed to challenge their prevalent pride and positive self-images, emphasizing the need for enhanced knowledge of gender diversity for a broader societal change. This study expands the literature on TGD children’s gender identity development, informs professionals and abroad audience and provides an enhanced understanding of TGD prepubertal children through their own words.

The article explores the use of reflexive methodology to enhance mixed methods queer psychological research in Sweden, by analysing data from a qualitative research project on how LGBTQ people cope with minority stress from four epistemological perspectives. A descriptive, hermeneutically and phenomenologically inspired analysis showed that coping should be understood from temporal perspective, where ‘microcoping’ covers strategies used in specific here and now-situations, and ‘macrocoping’ addresses general strategies used over time. We suggest that this differentiation is explored in further research. The analysis then included a theoretically driven perspective using feminist theories and discursive perspectives. Three themes resulted describing different types of constant ongoing work, ‘existential’, ‘relational’ and ‘reflexive’, that participants utilized to carve out a livable existence in the world. We suggest that reflexive methodology can help produce results that can be useful in a local as well as an international context and in relation to different audiences.

Little is known about mothers’ and children's escape from violence and its aftermath when living in secure accommodation, especially with regard to children. The aim is to investigate mothers’ experiences of their escape, and their considerations regarding the well-being of their young children before or during their escape, based on 14 interviews. Using a narrative thematic analysis, the results show that the escape was often planned, but that the planning horizon varies. In many cases, the mothers’ social network served as a stepping-stone during the escape, before they continued by moving to a domestic violence shelter (DVS). Implications for policy and practice are offered.