The endocannabinoid-CB receptor system: a new player in the brain-gut-adipose field

The 1990's have witnessed the discovery of the 'endocannabinoid-cannabinoid (CB) receptor (ECBR) system' consisting of specific receptors (CB1 and CB2), at least 3 endogenous ligands (anandamide, 2-arachidonyl glycerol and noladin ether) and their enzymes. Subsequently, a series of discoveries were made on the involvement of the ECBR system in many physiological functions including immunity, inflammation, neurotoxicity and neurotrauma, epilepsy, depression and stress, appetite, food intake and energy homeostasis, cardiovascular regulation, reproduction, and bone remodeling. The brain-gut-adipose axis regulates digestive processes, food ingestion and energy balance and is closely associated with hormonal regulation by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal stress axis and by the mesolimbic reward system. It is proposed to call these interfacing systems the "alimentary control system". ECBR presence in brain, gastrointestinal as well as adipose tissue explains its role in food intake, digestion and the regulation of adipose tissue mass. Moreover, the ECBR system's involvement in stress and emotional processing, makes it eminently suited to be (one of) the principle players in the alimentary control system. The ECBR system is present during the early embryonal and postnatal stages and we have discovered endocannabinoids in maternal milk. The ECBR system seems to be of critical value for newborn milk ingestion and suckling. Ghrelin, an orexigenic gastric hormone, exerts many effects similar to those of endocannabinoids. Therefore this review will compare some of the functions and anatomy of ghrelin and endocannabinoids. It is concluded that (i) the ECBR system is a major mediator between the brain and the alimentary system, and possibly, the adipose tissue, (ii) the role of the ECBR system in adult regulation of food processing is a remnant of its critical role for the initiation of feeding in the newborn, and (iii) the pervasive influence of the ECBR system in alimentary control make it a highly suitable target for therapeutic developments for pathophysiological conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, gastric ulcers, nausea, anorexia and failure-to-thrive.Biomedical Reviews 2006; 17: 23-42

‘Are we going to do that now?’ Orientations and response-abilities in the embodied classroom

Asking ‘How do spatial and bodily processes produce teaching as a phenomenon?’ this paper approaches ‘teaching’ as a relational, spatial and bodily encounter. Findings from a video-based ethnographic account of everyday teaching situations in a Norwegian upper secondary classroom are explored using an analytical framework inspired by feminist perspectives on bodies. The argument made is that material organisations of social practices are politically and ethically charged. A series of pedagogical encounters are mapped and discussed by engaging the concepts of affect, orientation and alignment. The article demonstrates that one recurring material relation was the collective orientation towards a configuration of the boundaries for ‘doing school’. The bodily and spatial practice of aligning with the local configuration of response-abilities is proposed as a material relation that actively contributed to producing teaching as a phenomenon.publishedVersio

The teaching apparatus : Understanding the material entanglement of practices in the upper secondary classroom

Utdanning er en levende prosess som består av hverdagslige undervisningssituasjoner og deres romlige og kroppslige sammenhenger. Materialiteten i pedagogisk praksis blir i økende grad adressert i forskning. Imidlertid er empiriske beretninger om hvordan materielle praksiser oppstår i faktiske klasseromsundervisningssituasjoner sjeldne. Derfor tar denne doktorgradsavhandlingen sikte på å forstå ‘undervisningens’ materielle kompleksiteten gjennom å undersøke hvordan den oppstår som et relasjonelt og kollektivt forhandlet fenomen i et norsk videregående klasserom. For å undersøke dette bruker avhandlingen et sosiomateriell rammeverk og et videobasert etnografisk forskningsdesign. I tråd med rammeverket plasseres det analytiske fokuset på den diskursive rollen som materielle relasjoner og prosesser spiller i pedagogiske møter. Bruken av videoopptak i kombinasjon med en etnografisk tilnærming støtter prosjektets empiriske utforskning av hvilke materiell-diskursive praksiser som har betydningsfulle konsekvenser i undervisning. Oppgaven består av tre artikler og en kappe. Mens artiklene følger tett de kroppslige og romlige prosessene i videregående klasserom, fokuserer hver artikkel på et spesifikt sett av materielle relasjoner i undervisningssituasjonene. Den første artikkelen handler om forskningspraksisen og de etiske relasjonene i feltet. Ved å trekke på relasjonell etikk og tidligere konseptualiseringer av kontinuerlig samtykkepraksis, utforsker artikkelen hvilke måter forskeren kan tilnærme seg informert samtykke som en situert og relasjonelt konstituert prosess. Artikkelen bruker empiriske eksempler fra feltarbeidet for å diskutere prinsippet om informert samtykke som et refleksivt og etisk verktøy som kan brukes gjennom hele forskningsprosessen, inkludert i fasene før, underveis, og etter feltarbeidet. Artikkelen argumenterer for at ‘eksplisitt og implisitt (re)forhandlet samtykke og dissens’ er en måte for forskere å kalibrere sin etiske respons med en relasjonell og prosessuell forståelse av kvalitativ forskning. Den andre artikkelen undersøker hvordan romlige og kroppslige prosesser kan forståes som å produsere ‘undervisning’ som et fenomen. Artikkelen bruker begrepene affekt, orientering og justeringer (‘alignment’) for å undersøke hvordan klassens handlinger etablerer klasserommets ‘romlige politikk’. Diskusjonen belyser hvordan spesifikke orienteringer fikk betydning (‘came to matter’), gjennom å gi retning til elevenes oppmerksomhet og responser, og ble etablert som legitime måter å ‘gjøre skole’ på. Et tilbakevendende mønster i dette klasserommet var elevenes praksis med å orientere seg mot hver situasjons regler, grenser og muligheter. Artikkelen hevder derfor at praksisen med å ‘tilpasse seg den lokale konfigurasjonen av response-ability’ var en kroppslig og romlig prosess som formet ‘undervisning’ som fenomen. Den tredje artikkelen undersøker hvilke materiell-diskursive praksiser som har betydning (‘matter’) i videregående undervisningssituasjoner og hvordan deltakernes kropper ble formet og formet av disse praksisene. Artikkelen kombinerer et posthumant sosiomateriell praksisbegrep med de agentisk realistiske begrepene material-diskursivitet og apparatus for å skape en relasjonell redegjørelse for hvordan flere praksiser oppstår og samarbeider. De empiriske eksemplene viser hvordan to distinkte praksiser fremtrer fra det analytiske arbeidet: ‘Oppgavepraksisen’ og ‘vennskapspraksisen’. Artikkelens hovedargument er at disse to praksisenes gjensidige forviklinger fører til at de virker sammen som en større materielt og relasjonelt arrangement, kalt ‘undervisningsapparatusset’. Konseptet bidrar med et nytt perspektiv på undervisning. Ved å rette oppmerksomheten mot det sammenvevde og uforutsigbare prosessene i klasserommet, tillater dette konseptet en finmasket forståelse av undervisningen og dens relasjonelle kvaliteter. Samlet sett viser denne studiens funn hvordan flere materiell-diskursive praksiser er involvert i å produsere fenomenet undervisning, inkludert oppgaver-, vennskap, og forskningspraksiser. Avhandlingens argumenter styrker eksisterende forskning på undervisning som komplekst relasjonelt og kontekstuelt fenomen. Avhandlingens konseptualisering av undervisning som et apparatus legger vekt på at kropper, rom og praksiser inngår som aktive deler i dens materiell-diskursive produksjon. Avslutningsvis hevdes det at denne artikulasjonen tillater en alternativ, ikke-instrumentell tilnærming til å vurdere undervisningens kvaliteter.Education is a living process that consists of everyday teaching situations and their spatial and bodily interrelationships. The materiality of educational practice is increasingly addressed in research. However, empirical accounts of how material practices emerge in actual classroom teaching situations are rare. Therefore, this PhD thesis aims to understand the material complexity of ‘teaching’ by investigating how it arises as a relationally and collectively negotiated phenomenon in a Norwegian upper secondary classroom. The thesis employs a sociomaterial framework and a video-based ethnographic research design to address this aim. In line with this framework, the analytical focus is on the discursive role played by material relations in educational encounters. The use of video recordings in combination with an ethnographic approach supported the empirical exploration of which material-discursive practices ‘matter’ in teaching situations. The thesis consists of three articles and an extended abstract. While the articles provide close tracings of the bodily and spatial processes in the upper secondary classroom, each focuses on a distinct set of material relations and practices in the teaching situations. The first article concerns the research practice and its ethical, in-field relationships. By drawing on relational ethics and previous conceptualisation of continuous consent practices, the article explores how we can approach informed consent as a situated and relationally constituted process. The article uses empirical examples from the ethnographic fieldwork to discuss the principle of informed consent as a reflexive and ethical tool that can be used throughout the inquiry, including its pre-fieldwork, fieldwork and post-fieldwork phases. The article argues that ‘explicitly and implicitly (re)negotiated consent and dissent’ is one way for researchers to align their ethical responsiveness with a relational and processual understanding of qualitative research. The second article examines how spatial and bodily processes produce ‘teaching’ as a phenomenon. The article uses the concepts of affect, orientation and alignment to investigate how the class enacts the spatial politics of the upper secondary classroom. The discussion illuminates how specific orientations came to ‘matter’ as legitimate ways of ‘doing school’ through the direction of attention and alignment of responses. A recurrent pattern of this classroom was the students’ practice of orientating towards each situation’s boundaries, rules and allowances. The article contends that the practice of ‘aligning with the local configuration of response-abilities’ was a bodily and spatial process that shaped the phenomenon of teaching. The third article investigates which material-discursive practices ‘mattered’ in the upper secondary teaching situations and how participants’ bodies were shaping and being shaped by these practices. The article combines a posthuman sociomaterial concept of practice with the agential realist concepts of material-discursivity and apparatus to create a relational account of how multiple practices emerge and co-operate. The empirical examples show how two distinct practices emerged from the analytical work: ‘the practice of tasks’ and ‘the practice of friendship’. The article’s main argument is that these two practices’ mutual entanglement co-perform a larger sociomaterial arrangement, termed ‘the teaching apparatus’. The concept of a teaching apparatus offers a new perspective on teaching. By drawing attention to the classroom’s inter-connectedness and unpredictability, the conceptualisation of a teaching apparatus allows for a more fine-grained understanding of teaching and its relational qualities. Overall, this study's findings show how multiple material-discursive practices are involved in producing the phenomenon of teaching, including the practices of tasks and friendship, as well as the practices of research. The thesis’ arguments strengthen existing research accounts of teaching as a complex relational and contextually embedded phenomenon. The thesis conceptualises a teaching apparatus that emphasise bodies, spaces and practices as active parts of its material-discursive production. In conclusion, it is argued that this articulation offers an alternative, affirmative and non-instrumental approach to considering the qualities of teaching.Doktorgradsavhandlin

Implementing continuous consent in qualitative research

This article examines ways of approaching informed consent as a relationally constituted process in qualitative research practices. It argues that a researcher’s operationalization of informed consent should be coherent with the overall epistemological framework of the project. Based on empirical examples from an ethnographic inquiry in an educational setting, the principle of informed consent is discussed as a reflexive and ethical tool throughout the inquiry, including its pre-fieldwork, fieldwork and post-fieldwork phases. Strategies of explicitly and implicitly (re)negotiated consent and dissent are discussed and illustrated by drawing on some of the recent discussions of continuous consent practices. The article’s conceptualization of a continuous, situated and relational approach to informed consent is also supported by the concepts of response-ability and thinking with care in research ethics.publishedVersio

PEMBENTUKAN RELAWAN PENJAGA LAUT NUSANTARA BAKAMLA DALAM MENINGKATKAN STABILITAS KEAMANAN MARITIM

Dalam menyelengarakan sistem peringatan dini keamanan dan keselamatan di wilayah perairan dan wilayah yurisdiksi Indonesia, Bakamla melibatkan peran serta masyarakat untuk mengoptimalkan tugasnya dalam meningkatkan keamanan, keselamatan, dan perlindungan lingkungan laut. Pelibatan masyarakat yang dilakukan Bakamla dengan membentuk Relawan Penjaga Laut Nusantara (Rapala). Pembentukan Rapala difungsikan sebagai instrumen dalam melengkapi sistem peringatan dini Bakamla. Dalam melaksanakan strategi pembentukan Rapala, Bakamla  mendayagunakan means, ends, dan ways untuk mengotimalkan strateginya. Pada proses mekanisme pemebentukan Rapala, Bakamla membentuk prinsip, proses, instrumen hingga interaksi mekanisme pembentukan. Tujuan dari Penelitian ini ialah untuk menganalisa Strategi Bakamla dalam pelibatan masyarakat. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode kualitatif explanatory. Data yang digunakan adalah data primer melalui observasi dan wawancara serta data sekunder berupa hasil penelitian sebelumnya dan juga kajian pustaka lainnya. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian Strategi Bakamla dalam pembentukan Relawan Penjaga Laut Nusantara adalah dengan Perencanaan, rekrutmen serta pelatihan dan pendidikan. Untuk mekanisme pembentukan Rapala dalam melengkapi sistem peringatan dini berdasarkan pada prinsip, proses, instrumen hingga interaksi mekanisme pembentukan. Dalam proyeksi kedepan Rapala dapat dilibatkan sebagai salah satu komponen cadangan bermatra laut dengan memberikan kemampuan pertahanan

Musculoskeletal complaints among professional divers

Background: Previous publications have indicated a high risk of musculoskeletal complaints among professional divers. This study aims to investigate which factors influence professional divers’ risk of musculoskeletal complaints. Materials and methods: Based on data gathered from a postal questionnaire sent to Norwegian inshore divers in 2011, the prevalence of musculoskeletal complaints, strain injuries and joint pain among divers with different certification levels, work-related tasks and decompression sickness (DCS) experiences were analysed. Results: The risk of musculoskeletal complaints, strain injuries and joint pain was significantly higher among divers working in the quay/construction industry versus divers not working in this industry, and among divers who had experienced DCS. Likewise, a higher risk was found among divers doing construction, inspection, pipelaying, blasting and welding, other physically demanding work, and working with vibrating and/or rotating tools. Having experienced tingling and/or numbness in fingers after working with vibrating and/or rotating tools or having sick leave due to tendonitis, periosteum inflammation, stretch injuries or sprains caused by diving also increased the risk. Conclusions: Professional divers working in the quay/construction industry, divers doing tasks with heavy physical demands and divers having experienced DCS are at a higher risk of musculoskeletal complaints than other professional divers.publishedVersio

Uncertain Electric Vehicle Incentives :Does It Affect Vehicle Choice? An exploratory study on how uncertainty impacts the sale of new electric vehicles, using media intensity as a measure of uncertainty

This thesis explores whether uncertainty regarding electric vehicle incentives impacts electric vehicle sales. In the late 1990s, the first incentives for electric vehicles were implemented, and throughout the 2000s, more benefits were introduced. Since then, there have been several policy changes regarding the incentives, and there is an ongoing political and public debate about whether these incentives should be continued or not. To measure uncertainty, we constructed uncertainty indexes. The indexes are based on newspaper frequency, and they measure monthly uncertainty regarding various electric vehicle incentives. They are standardized and will take a value between 0 and 100. This uncertainty measurement was used in three case analyses to see if we could find any relationship between uncertainty and the sale of new electric vehicles. We conducted a time series analysis in an attempt to see how uncertainty regarding electric vehicle incentives, in general, has affected sales in the last decade. In this first attempt, we find no evidence that there is a relationship in the data. Furthermore, we conducted two specific case analyses with the difference-in-differences research method. In these analyses, we wanted to investigate how different levels of uncertainty regarding toll road fees and parking fees affected the sale. However, as in the first case, we do not get any statistically significant results, and we cannot conclude whether the uncertainty affects the sale. Despite the inconclusive results, the thesis provides a framework for decision-making and offers a thorough literature review of what influences consumers' vehicle choices. Furthermore, we use this insight to discuss possible explanations for our results both rational and psychological explanations. As far as we know, no previous empirical studies have been conducted on the relationship between uncertainty regarding incentives and sales. We hope this thesis will contribute with some insight and inspire to further research on the subject.nhhma

Musculoskeletal complaints among professional divers

Background: Previous publications have indicated a high risk of musculoskeletal complaints among professional divers. This study aims to investigate which factors influence professional divers’ risk of musculoskeletal complaints. Materials and methods: Based on data gathered from a postal questionnaire sent to Norwegian inshore divers in 2011, the prevalence of musculoskeletal complaints, strain injuries and joint pain among divers with different certification levels, work-related tasks and decompression sickness (DCS) experiences were analysed.  Results: The risk of musculoskeletal complaints, strain injuries and joint pain was significantly higher among divers working in the quay/construction industry versus divers not working in this industry, and among divers who had experienced DCS. Likewise, a higher risk was found among divers doing construction, inspection, pipelaying, blasting and welding, other physically demanding work, and working with vibrating and/or rotating tools. Having experienced tingling and/or numbness in fingers after working with vibrating and/or rotating tools or having sick leave due to tendonitis, periosteum inflammation, stretch injuries or sprains caused by diving also increased the risk.  Conclusions: Professional divers working in the quay/construction industry, divers doing tasks with heavy physical demands and divers having experienced DCS are at a higher risk of musculoskeletal complaints than other professional divers.

Heavy Metal Emissions through Particulate Matter from Aluminium Electrolysis

Heavy metal emissions from the aluminium industry are mainly carried from the plant through fugitive particulate matter (PM) originating from the aluminium electrolysis pot room. To evaluate the behaviour of metal-carrying PM, both airborne and settled PM from two different primary aluminium smelters have been characterized and analyzed for composition and particle size distribution, with special emphasis on heavy metals and carbon. In addition, optical particle sensors have been placed at different elevations in one of the plants to determine the concentrations of different particle sizes in fugitive PM. Metals such as Fe and Ni were primarily found as particles together with S and P on partly combusted carbon PM. Settled PM from both plants were generally coarser (mean = 32–39 μm) and had a higher Al:Na ratio compared with airborne PM, with a mean PM of 21–22 μm. The optical sensors measured PM100 concentrations at roof level in the plant 5–6 times higher than the PM10 concentration during fuming events such as anode shift operations.acceptedVersio

Affordable Care Act- for better or for worse? - En liten oppsummering

Helse som menneskerettighet er ikke konstitusjonelt forankret i USA, men Obama, som mange presidenter før han satte helse som menneskerettighet på den politiske dagsordenen. Det var hans viktigste innenrikspolitiske valgkampsak i presidentkampanjen i 2008. Med utgangspunkt i problemstillingen «I hvilken grad har amerikanerne til nå lyktes i å innfri hovedintensjonene i Affordable Care Act, og hvilken betydning har reformen for retten til helse i USA?» er formålet med denne masteroppgaven å evaluere implementeringen av helsereformen til nå og vurdere om den har hatt betydning for helse som menneskerettighet i USA, med utgangspunkt i lovens tre hovedmål om å øke forsikringsdekningen, forbedre kvaliteten på helsetjenestene og bremse økningen av de statlige helsekostnadene. Dette er en evalueringsstudie med mål-basert evaluering som metode. Mål- basert evaluering fokuserer på målene og hvor de utgjør grunnlaget for evalueringen. Hensikten var å vurdere i hvilken grad målene med reformen er oppnådd og retten til helse bedret med utgangspunkt i teoribakgrunn om retten til helse i USA, historisk maktbalanse i det amerikanske helsesystemet, implementering av endring i helsevesenet og ulike utvalgte tiltak i helsereformen. Analysen er basert på ulike artikler, bøker, lover og offentlige publikasjoner. Funn viser at reformen har utvidet forsikringsdekningen betydelig. De statlige helseutgiftene er foreløpig bremset, men det er uenighet rundt hvorvidt dette skyldes helsereformen eller den foregående økonomiske krisen. Det er fortsatt uklart om reformen har økt kvaliteten på helse, men den har bidratt til et økt fokus på kvalitet og inneholder flere kvalitetsrettede initiativer som nå er i stor vekst. Helsereformen har ikke forankret helse som menneskerett for alle amerikanere, men retten til helse er forbedret for mange. Slik reformen består i dag er den ikke et godt nok redskap til å realisere universell forsikringsdekningMasteroppgave i demokratibyggingSAMPOL65