Approaching Laestadianism

The aim of this thematic issue on research on the Laestadian movement is to dwell with and look back on how the research on Laestadius and the Laestadian movement has developed, but at the same time show the latest developments in this research. In order to do so, researchers from the Nordic countries contributed to this thematic issue on research perspectives on the Laestadian movement. ‘Approaching Laestadianism’ presents theoretical articles and research overviews in order to present updates and tendencies in the research about the Laestadian movement

Low body temperature associated with severe ischemic stroke within 6 hours of onset: The Bergen NORSTROKE Study

Christopher E Kvistad, Lars Thomassen, Ulrike Waje-Andreassen, Halvor NaessDepartment of Neurology, Haukeland University Hospital, University of Bergen, Bergen, NorwayBackground: Hypothermia is considered neuroprotective and a potential treatment in cerebral ischemia. Some studies suggest that hyperthermia may promote clot lysis. We hypothesized that low body temperature would prolong time to spontaneous clot lysis resulting in an association between low body temperature and severe neurological deficits in the early phase of ischemic stroke.Methods: In this prospective study, patients (n = 516) exhibiting ischemic stroke with symptom onset within 6 hours were included. Body temperature and National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score were registered on admission. Because low body temperature on admission may be secondary to immobilization due to large stroke, separate analyses were performed on patients with cerebral hemorrhage admitted within 6 hours (n = 85).Results: Linear regression showed that low body temperature on admission was independently associated with a high NIHSS score within 6 hours of stroke onset in patients with ischemic stroke (P < 0.001). The association persisted when NIHSS was measured at 24 hours after admission. No such associations were found in patients with cerebral hemorrhage admitted within 6 hours of stroke onset.Conclusion: Our study suggests that low body temperature within 6 hours of symptom onset is associated with severe ischemic stroke. This is in support of our hypothesis, although other contributing mechanisms cannot be excluded.Keywords: body temperature, cerebral infarction, cerebral hemorrhage, clot lysi

Physical demand but not dexterity is associated with motor flexibility during rapid reaching in healthy young adults

Healthy humans are able to place light and heavy objects in small and large target locations with remarkable accuracy. Here we examine how dexterity demand and physical demand affect flexibility in joint coordination and end-effector kinematics when healthy young adults perform an upper extremity reaching task. We manipulated dexterity demand by changing target size and physical demand by increasing external resistance to reaching. Uncontrolled manifold analysis was used to decompose variability in joint coordination patterns into variability stabilizing the end-effector and variability de-stabilizing the end-effector during reaching. Our results demonstrate a proportional increase in stabilizing and de-stabilizing variability without a change in the ratio of the two variability components as physical demands increase. We interpret this finding in the context of previous studies showing that sensorimotor noise increases with increasing physical demands. We propose that the larger de-stabilizing variability as a function of physical demand originated from larger sensorimotor noise in the neuromuscular system. The larger stabilizing variability with larger physical demands is a strategy employed by the neuromuscular system to counter the de-stabilizing variability so that performance stability is maintained. Our findings have practical implications for improving the effectiveness of movement therapy in a wide range of patient groups, maintaining upper extremity function in old adults, and for maximizing athletic performance

Portuguese validation of the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale: an Empirical Study

Previous research on Social Networking Sites (SNSs) addiction have suggest the need to improve assessment of this behavioral addiction. The present study aimed at validating a Portuguese version of the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale (BFAS), a widely used instrument to assess addiction to Facebook. A study was conducted in a sample of 509 Portuguese adolescent using an online survey. The psychometric properties (construct validity, criterion validity, and reliability) of the Portuguese BFAS was scrutinized. The results from the psychometric analyses suggested that the new validated instrument had excellent psychometric properties. The CFA confirmed the original one-factor solution of the BFAS and criterion validity was warranted. The reliability of the BFAS was supported by satisfactory levels of internal consistency as measured by the Cronbach’s alpha (α = .83), composite reliability (CR = .82), and factor determinacy (FD = .91). Overall, the results provided empirical support for the validity and reliability of the Portuguese BFAS. Moreover, the results were highly comparable with the findings of the original development study of the BFAS and cross-cultural support for the scale was obtained

An Automated Process for 2D and 3D Finite Element Overclosure and Gap Adjustment using Radial Basis Function Networks

In biomechanics, geometries representing complicated organic structures are consistently segmented from sparse volumetric data or morphed from template geometries resulting in initial overclosure between adjacent geometries. In FEA, these overclosures result in numerical instability and inaccuracy as part of contact analysis. Several techniques exist to fix overclosures, but most suffer from several drawbacks. This work introduces a novel automated algorithm in an iterative process to remove overclosure and create a desired minimum gap for 2D and 3D finite element models. The RBF Network algorithm was introduced by its four major steps to remove the initial overclosure. Additionally, the algorithm was validated using two test cases against conventional nodal adjustment. The first case compared the ability of each algorithm to remove differing levels of overclosure between two deformable muscles and the effects on mesh quality. The second case used a non-deformable femur and deformable distal femoral cartilage geometry with initial overclosure to test both algorithms and observe the effects on the resulting contact FEA. The RBF Network in the first case study was successfully able to remove all overclosures. In the second case, the nodal adjustment method failed to create a usable FEA model, while the RBF Network had no such issue. This work proposed an algorithm to remove initial overclosures prior to FEA that has improved performance over conventional nodal adjustment, especially in complicated situations and those involving 3D elements. The work can be included in existing FEA modeling workflows to improve FEA results in situations involving sparse volumetric segmentation and mesh morphing. This algorithm has been implemented in MATLAB, and the source code is publicly available to download at the following GitHub repository: https://github.com/thor-andreassen/femorsComment: 26 Pages, 5 Figures, 2 Table

Folkeskolens test- og evalueringspraksisser i internationalt perspektiv. 1945-1990

Evaluation Practices of the Danish Public School System in International Perspective, 1945-1990 Following World War II, international organizations and cross-border connections have played a significant role in the development of education in general and test and evaluations in particular. Many changes in the Danish post-war education system, such as education for peace, teaching in democracy, the comprehensive school and the development of educational psychology, were shaped in dialogue with or even initiated in international forums. However, this international perspective is not very prevalent in the existing research.This article throws light on how international collaboration on educational tests and evaluations in Denmark took place took after 1945. At first through informal networks and later, when these networks and their pioneering spirit increasingly became institutionalized in the 1950s and 1960s. In subsequent years the significant development took place in international organizations. The article also argues that international organizations had a special focus on the importance of basic schooling for children’s socialization and Bildung in the first part of the period. Test and evaluations were used for this purpose. While in the last part of the period focus shifted to measuring pupil performance used in international hierarchizations as a measure of quality

Bears are simply voles writ large: social structure determines the mechanisms of intrinsic population regulation in mammals

The literature reveals opposing views regarding the importance of intrinsic population regulation in mammals. Different models have been proposed; adding importance to contrasting life histories, body sizes and social interactions. Here we evaluate current theory based on results from two Scandinavian projects studying two ecologically different mammal species with contrasting body sizes and life history traits: the root vole Microtus oeconomus and the brown bear Ursus arctos. We emphasize four inter-linked behavioral aspects—territoriality, dispersal, social inhibition of breeding, and infanticide—that together form a density-dependent syndrome with potentially regulatory effects on population growth. We show that the two species are similar in all four behaviors and thus the overall regulatory syndrome. Females form matrilineal assemblages, female natal dispersal is negatively density dependent and breeding is suppressed in philopatric young females. In both species, male turnover due to extrinsic mortality agents cause infanticide with negative effects on population growth. The sex-biased and density-dependent dispersal patterns promote the formation of matrilineal clusters which, in turn, leads to reproductive suppression with potentially regulatory effects. Hence, we show that intrinsic population regulation interacting with extrinsic mortality agents may occur irrespective of taxon, life history and body size. Our review stresses the significance of a mechanistic approach to understanding population ecology. We also show that experimental model populations are useful to elucidate natural populations of other species with similar social systems. In particular, such experiments should be combined with methodical innovations that may unravel the effects of cryptic intrinsic mechanisms such as infanticid

Folkeskolens test- og evalueringspraksisser i internationalt perspektiv. 1945-1990

Evaluation Practices of the Danish Public School System in International Perspective, 1945-1990 Following World War II, international organizations and cross-border connections have played a significant role in the development of education in general and test and evaluations in particular. Many changes in the Danish post-war education system, such as education for peace, teaching in democracy, the comprehensive school and the development of educational psychology, were shaped in dialogue with or even initiated in international forums. However, this international perspective is not very prevalent in the existing research.This article throws light on how international collaboration on educational tests and evaluations in Denmark took place took after 1945. At first through informal networks and later, when these networks and their pioneering spirit increasingly became institutionalized in the 1950s and 1960s. In subsequent years the significant development took place in international organizations. The article also argues that international organizations had a special focus on the importance of basic schooling for children’s socialization and Bildung in the first part of the period. Test and evaluations were used for this purpose. While in the last part of the period focus shifted to measuring pupil performance used in international hierarchizations as a measure of quality

Folkeskolens test- og evalueringspraksisser i internationalt perspektiv. 1945-1990

Evaluation Practices of the Danish Public School System in International Perspective, 1945-1990 Following World War II, international organizations and cross-border connections have played a significant role in the development of education in general and test and evaluations in particular. Many changes in the Danish post-war education system, such as education for peace, teaching in democracy, the comprehensive school and the development of educational psychology, were shaped in dialogue with or even initiated in international forums. However, this international perspective is not very prevalent in the existing research.This article throws light on how international collaboration on educational tests and evaluations in Denmark took place took after 1945. At first through informal networks and later, when these networks and their pioneering spirit increasingly became institutionalized in the 1950s and 1960s. In subsequent years the significant development took place in international organizations. The article also argues that international organizations had a special focus on the importance of basic schooling for children’s socialization and Bildung in the first part of the period. Test and evaluations were used for this purpose. While in the last part of the period focus shifted to measuring pupil performance used in international hierarchizations as a measure of quality