Adolescents Needs Regarding a Digital Intervention for Eating Disorders: A Qualitative Study

Formål: Spiseforstyrrelser er en gruppe psykiske lidelser som ofte opptrer i ungdomsalderen og har alvorlige konsekvenser på et individuelt og samfunnsmessig nivå. Digitale behandlinger for spiseforstyrrelser har vist lovende resultater og kan øke tilgang til behandling og bedre psykopatologi. Tidligere studier antyder at det er viktig å inkludere brukerperspektivet i utviklingen av nye intervensjoner for å lykkes med implementeringen av digitale intervensjoner for ungdommer. Formålet med denne studien er å få innsikt i ungdommers behov knyttet til en digital intervensjon for spiseforstyrrelser. Metode: Semistrukturerte telefonintervju ble gjennomført med seks norske, kvinnelige ungdommer som hadde gjennomgått behandling for spiseforstyrrelser. Innsamlet data ble analysert ved hjelp av refleksiv tematisk analyse. Resultater: Vi identifiserte følgende tema: 1) “Å lære mens man behandler seg selv”- Viktigheten av troverdig informasjon om spiseforstyrrelser, 2) Bygge indre styrke og resiliens gjennom ferdighetsutvikling, 3) Viktigheten av en personifisert intervensjon- hvordan format og innhold kan motivere bruk. Konklusjon: Våre funn belyser hvordan brukerinvolvering i utviklingen av digitale intervensjoner for spiseforstyrrelser kan gi innsikt i perspektiv og behov hos potensielle sluttbrukere.Hovedoppgave psykologprogrammetPROPSY317PRPSY

Skogshage - hvorfor, hvor, hvordan? - konsept for agroøkologi

Begrepet «skogshage» kan umiddelbart virke lett å forstå, men ved nærmere ettertanke fins det mange mulige varianter av skogshager. Skogshager kan også ha en plass i konseptet agroøkologi. Her presenteres skogshage for europeiske og norske forhold slik det kan tolkes inn i en moderne sammenheng til agroøkologi og agroforestry. Skogshage og agroforestry bygger på mange av de 13 prinsippene som agroøkologien beskriver. Fordeler, ulemper og muligheter ved slik dyrking blir omtalt

The effect of scoliotic deformity on spine kinematics in adolescents

Background While adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) produces well characterized deformation in spinal form, the effect on spinal function, namely mobility, is not well known. Better understanding of scoliotic spinal mobility could yield better treatment targets and diagnoses. The purpose of this study was to characterize the spinal mobility differences due to AIS. It was hypothesized that the AIS group would exhibit reduced mobility compared to the typical adolescent (TA) group. Methods Eleven adolescents with right thoracic AIS, apices T6-T10, and eleven age- and gender-matched TAs moved to their maximum bent position in sagittal and coronal plane bending tasks. A Trakstar (Ascension Technologies Burlington, VT) was used to collect position data. The study was approved by the local IRB. Using MATLAB (MathWorks, Natick, MA) normalized segmental angles were calculated for upper thoracic (UT) from T1-T3, mid thoracic (MT) from T3-T6, lower thoracic (LT) from T6-T10, thoracolumbar (TL) from T10-L1, upper lumbar (UL) from L1-L3, and thoracic from T1-L1 by subtracting the standing position from the maximum bent position and dividing by number of motion units in each segment. Mann Whitney tests (α = 0.05) were used to determine mobility differences. Results The findings indicated that the AIS group had comparatively increased mobility in the periapical regions of the spine. The AIS group had an increase of 1.2° in the mid thoracic region (p = 0.01) during flexion, an increase of 1.0° in the mid thoracic region (p = 0.01), 1.5° in the thoracolumbar region (p = 0.02), and 0.7° in thoracic region (p = 0.04) during left anterior-lateral flexion, an increase of 6.0° in the upper lumbar region (p = 0.02) during right anterior-lateral flexion, and an increase of 2.2° in the upper lumbar region during left lateral bending (p < 0.01). Conclusions Participants with AIS did not have reduced mobility in sagittal or coronal motion. Contrarily, the AIS group often had a greater mobility, especially in segments directly above and below the apex. This indicates the scoliotic spine is flexible and may compensate near the apex

A SMARTer way to forecast

In this paper we describe the newly developed System for Model Analysis in Real Time (SMART) used for forecasting and model analysis in Norges Bank. While the long-term goal is to include all empirical models used in forecasting in Norges Bank, the emphasis in this paper will be on the empirical model systems for inflation and GDP. SMART builds on Norges Bank’s previous System for Averaging short-term Models (SAM), but with greater flexibility and a richer set of models. In addition, SMART contains a real-time database with a wide-ranging set of historical data, forecasts from empirical models, Norges Bank’s forecasts from Monetary Policy Reports (MPR) and forecasts from other institutions (e.g. Statistics Norway). Overall, SMART seems to provide good forecasts and will be a useful tool in the monetary policy process.publishedVersio

Screening for technical flaws in multiple-choice items. A generalizability study.

Construction errors in multiple-choice items are quite prevalent and constitute threats to test validity of multiple-choice tests. Currently very little research on the usefulness of systematic item screening by local review committees before test administration seem to exist. The aim of this study was therefore to examine validity and feasibility aspects of review committee screening for item flaws. We examined the reliability of item reviewers’ independent judgments of the presence/absence of item flaws with a generalizability study design and found only moderate reliability using five reviewers. Statistical analyses of actual exam scores could be a more efficient way of identifying flaws and improving average item discrimination of tests in local contexts. The question of validity of human judgments of item flaws is important - not just for sufficiently sound quality assurance procedures of tests in local test contexts - but also for the global research on item flaws

Dangerous relations in the Arctic marine food web: Interactions between toxin producing Pseudo-nitzschia diatoms and Calanus copepodites

Diatoms of the genus Pseudo-nitzschia produce domoic acid (DA), a toxin that is vectored in the marine food web, thus causing serious problems for marine organisms and humans. In spite of this, knowledge of interactions between grazing zooplankton and diatoms is restricted. In this study, we examined the interactions between Calanus copepodites and toxin producing Pseudo-nitzschia. The copepodites were fed with different concentrations of toxic P. seriata and a strain of P. obtusa that previously was tested to be non-toxic. The ingestion rates did not differ among the diets (P. seriata, P. obtusa, a mixture of both species), and they accumulated 6%–16% of ingested DA (up to 420 μg per dry weight copepodite). When P. seriata was exposed to the copepodites, either through physical contact with the grazers or separated by a membrane, the toxicity of P. seriata increased (up to 3300%) suggesting the response to be chemically mediated. The induced response was also triggered when copepodites grazed on another diatom, supporting the hypothesis that the cues originate from the copepodite. Neither pH nor nutrient concentrations explained the induced DA production. Unexpectedly, P. obtusa also produced DA when exposed to grazing copepodites, thus representing the second reported toxic polar diatom

Screening for technical flaws in multiple-choice items. A generalizability study.

Construction errors in multiple-choice items are quite prevalent and constitute threats to test validity of multiple-choice tests. Currently very little research on the usefulness of systematic item screening by local review committees before test administration seem to exist. The aim of this study was therefore to examine validity and feasibility aspects of review committee screening for item flaws. We examined the reliability of item reviewers’ independent judgments of the presence/absence of item flaws with a generalizability study design and found only moderate reliability using five reviewers. Statistical analyses of actual exam scores could be a more efficient way of identifying flaws and improving average item discrimination of tests in local contexts. The question of validity of human judgments of item flaws is important - not just for sufficiently sound quality assurance procedures of tests in local test contexts - but also for the global research on item flaws