Local food in Iceland : identifying behavioural barriers to change towards increased production and consumption

Increased production and consumption of local food may partly counteract the negative environmental, social, and economic impacts of industrialised and globalised food production. The aim of this thesis was to identify the barriers the country of Iceland faces in increasing production and consumption of local food. The research was guided by the framework of Integral theory, identifying behavioural barriers to change (Owens, 2005). Data collection was partly guided by the framework of Regional food systems (Clancy & Ruhf, 2010). The research questions were based on addressing structural, cultural, and personal barriers to change towards increased production and consumption of local food. The process involved estimating the food production capacity of Iceland, and illustrating consumers´ attitudes towards local food. For this purpose, quantitative data sets were analysed, both from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UN FAO) and an Icelandic food and biotech research and development company (Matís). Qualitative data from public sources, such as the Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture, were also explored in order to validate the quantitative data and deepen the results. No structural barriers were identified, meaning that it is possible for the country of Iceland to increase production of local food substantially, even beyond the amount that is currently supplied through import. This could be done without compromising the needs of future generations. A cultural barrier to production was identified in the decrease in food variety that would occur if food production would only be from domestic sources. Survey results demonstrate that consumers´ attitudes towards local food are positive, and they are aware of the sustainability issues connected to local food, but also that they make justifications for not choosing local food. This was identified as a personal barrier to change towards increased consumption of local food. The results show that there is nothing obviously hindering increased production of local food in Iceland, but decreased food variety is an issue that should be given attention. Consumers are generally positive towards local food and are aware of the sustainability issues connected to local food. However they might justify their choices, which implies that marketing strategies and general knowledge connected to local food in Iceland might be improved. Although the results apply to the case of Iceland, the method of identifying behavioural barriers to change is applicable to other cases, such as countries, regions, or food sheds

Characteristics of equine summer eczema with emphasis on differences between Finnhorses and Icelandic horses in a 11-year study

Summer eczema, allergic dermatitis of the horse, was studied on 275 affected horses in Finland in 1997–2007. Features of the horses, clinical signs of the disease and owners' opinions of aggravating factors were recorded. Differences, especially, between two of the native Scandinavian horse breeds, the Finnhorse and the Icelandic horse, were evaluated. The study was based on clinical examination and information from the owners. Of the horses, 50% were Finnhorses, 26% Icelandic horses and 24% consisted of different breeds of ponies and other horses. Of the Finnhorses, 76% had summer eczema by the age of 5 years, but in the Icelandic horses born in Finland the average age at onset was 7 years. The vast majority of the horses, 75%, had moderate clinical signs, while 16% showed severe and 9% mild. The severity of clinical signs did not depend on the duration of the disease nor was it related to the age at onset. The only linkage to severity was the breed of the horse or import from Iceland; New Forest ponies and imported Icelandic horses showed severe clinical signs significantly more often than Finnhorses. Of the owners, 38% regarded insects as the only aggravating factor, 24% mentioned several simultaneous factors, including grass fodder and sunlight, while 22% could not specify any. In Finland, a typical horse breed suffering from summer eczema is the Finnhorse and the characteristics of the disease are mainly uniform with the other breeds affected. Equine summer eczema seems to be aggravated by various combinations of environmental factors

Numerical Modelling of Convection‑Driven Cooling, Deformation and Fracturing of Thermo‑Poroelastic Media

Convection-driven cooling in porous media influences thermo-poro-mechanical stresses, thereby causing deformation. These processes are strongly influenced by the presence of fractures, which dominate flow and heat transfer. At the same time, the fractures deform and propagate in response to changes in the stress state. Mathematically, the model governing the physics is tightly coupled and must account for the strong discontinuities introduced by the fractures. Over the last decade, and motivated by a number of porous media applications, research into such coupled models has advanced modelling of processes in porous media substantially. Building on this effort, this work presents a novel model that couples fracture flow and heat transfer and deformation and propagation of fractures with flow, heat transfer and thermo-poroelasticity in the matrix. The model is based on explicit representation of fractures in the porous medium and discretised using multi-point finite volume methods. Frictional contact and non-penetration conditions for the fractures are handled through active set methods, while a propagation criterion based on stress intensity factors governs fracture extension. Considering both forced and natural convection processes, numerical results show the intricate nature of thermo-poromechanical fracture deformation and propagation.publishedVersio

Correlation between stressful factors in the working environment, sleep, and musculoskeletal pain among middle managers

Millistjórnendur eru í krefjandi hlutverki og upplifa sig oft eins og milli steins og sleggju. Þeir gegna þungavigtarhlutverki en störf þeirra einkennast af miklu vinnuálagi og streitu. Þó hafa þeir fengið fremur litla athygli í stjórnendafræðum, einkum innan heilbrigðisþjónustunnar. Við vitum til dæmis lítið um áhrif þessa krefjandi starfs á heilsu þeirra, til dæmis hvort streituvaldandi þættir í starfsumhverfinu tengjast stoðkerfisverkjum og svefni. Tilgangur þessarar rannsóknar var að skoða þessi tengsl. Um er að ræða lýsandi þversniðsrannsókn þar sem gögnum var safnað með forprófuðum spurningalista sem sendur var rafrænt á 137 hjúkrunardeildarstjóra í gegnum Outcome-kannanakerfið. Svarhlutfall var 80,9%. Lýsandi tölfræði og ályktunartölfræði var notuð við úrvinnslu gagna. Niðurstöður sýndu skýr tengsl streituvaldandi þátta í starfsumhverfi, stoðkerfisverkja og ófullnægjandi svefns eftir að stjórnað var fyrir áhrifum af aldri, hjúskaparstöðu og fjölda stöðugilda í hjúkrun á deild. Streituvaldandi þættir í starfsumhverfinu og svefn höfðu tengsl við styrkleika stoðkerfisverkja á hálssvæði og herðum og svefn hafði tengsl við styrkleika verkja í neðri hluta baks. Meiri streita þýddi meiri stoðkerfisverki á hálssvæði og í herðum að teknu tilliti til svefns. Ófullnægjandi svefn þýddi aftur meiri stoðkerfisverki frá öllum þremur líkamssvæðunum að teknu tilliti til streituvaldandi þátta. Saman skýrðu streituvaldandi þættir í starfsumhverfinu og ófullnægjandi svefn, að teknu tilliti til aldurs, hjúskaparstöðu og fjölda stöðugilda við hjúkrun á deild, 17% af heildarbreytileika í styrkleika stoðkerfisverkja á hálssvæði, 21% í herðum og 14% í neðri hluta baks. Fram kom marktæk samvirkni milli streituvaldandi þátta í starfsumhverfinu og svefns varðandi styrkleika stoðkerfisverkja á hálssvæði. Niðurstöður þessarar rannsóknar verða vonandi til þess að hugað verði betur að streituvaldandi þáttum í starfsumhverfi millistjórnenda svefni og stoðkerfisverkjum þeirra.Middle managers have demanding roles and often experience themselves between a rock and a hard place, and their jobs are characterized by a heavy workload and stress. They have not received adequate attention in management science, in particular within healthcare. We know, for example, little about how stressful factors in the work environment are related to musculoskeletal pain and sleep. The purpose of this study was to examine this relationship. This is a descriptive cross-sectional study in which data was collected by a questionnaire which was sent electronically to 137 nursing managers through the Outcome-survey system. The response rate was 80.9%. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were used for statistical analysis. The results showed a clear link between stressful factors in the work environment and insufficient sleep, after controlling for the effects of age, marital status and the number of staff in the nursing unit. Stressful factors in the work environment and sleep affected the intensity of pain in the neck and shoulder area, and sleep correlated with the intensity of pain in the lower back. Taking sleep into account, more stress meant more pain in the neck and shoulder area. Taking into account stressful factors, insufficient sleep meant more pain in all three body regions. Together, stressful factors in the work environment and insufficient sleep explained 17% of the total variation in the intensity of pain in the neck area, 21% in the shoulder area, and 14% in the lower back, taking into account age, marital status and the number of staff in the nursing unit. There was a statistically significant interaction between stressful factors in the work environment and sleep regarding the intensity of musculoskeletal pain in the neck area. The results of this study will hopefully lead to better consideration of stressful factors in the work environment, sleep and musculoskeletal pain of middle managers.Peer ReviewedRitrýnt tímari

Subharmonic Aided Pressure Estimation for Monitoring Interstitial Fluid Pressure in Tumors

The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether the ultrasound contrast agent based method subharmonic aided pressure estimation (SHAPE) can be used to measure the interstitial fluid pressure in locally advanced breast cancer thereby allowing for noninvasive monitoring of tumor response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Vascular ultrasound contrast agents (UCAs) are gas-filled microbubbles that improve the depiction of vascularity in ultrasound (US) images by enhancing the difference in reflectivity between tissue and the agent. At higher acoustic outputs (> 200 kPa) contrast agents act as nonlinear oscillators producing harmonics, ultra- and subharmonics in the received signals. In subharmonic imaging (SHI) pulses are transmitted at a frequency f0 and the echoes are received at half that frequency (f0/2). SHI has been shown to be a feasible option for contrast enhanced breast imaging due to marked subharmonic generation by the bubbles relative to limited subharmonic generation in tissues. A novel technique, subharmonic aided pressure estimation or SHAPE, utilizing the subharmonic amplitude of the scattered signal from the microbubbles for pressure tracking was developed by our group and has been implemented for various applications such as cardiac and hepatic pressure measurements. It has been hypothesized that the level of interstitial fluid pressure (IFP) in a breast cancer tumor can be used to predict the response to systemic preoperative therapy. Thus, tumors with high IFP should show a poorer response to therapy than those with low IFP. We propose that by using SHAPE the IFP of locally advanced breast cancer tumors can be estimated noninvasively in order to monitor the response to systemic preoperative chemotherapy. This method would be a considerable improvement from the wick-in-needle method currently used for IFP measurements as it is noninvasive and would thus potentially increase the use of IFP as a biomarker for neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The possibility of using SHAPE to noninvasively estimate IFP was studied both in vitro and in vivo. In vitro an inverse linear relationship between hydrostatic pressure and subharmonic amplitude was observed with r2 = 0.63-0.95; p 0.14). These results strongly indicate the feasibility of using SHAPE as a noninvasive pressure monitor of IFP in tumors.Ph.D., Biomedical Science -- Drexel University, 201

Screaming body and silent healthcare providers: A case study with a childhood sexual abuse survivor

Publisher's version (útgefin grein)Stressful early life experiences cause immune dysregulation across the lifespan. Despite the fact that studies have identified childhood sexual abuse (CSA) survivors as a particularly vulnerable group, only a few attempts have been made to study their lived-experience of the physical health consequences of CSA. The aim of this study was to explore a female CSA survivor’s lived-experience of the physical health consequences of CSA and how she experienced the reactions of healthcare providers. Seven interviews were conducted with this 40-year-old woman, Anne, using a phenomenological research approach. Anne was still a young child (two to three years old) when her father started to rape her. Since her childhood, she has experienced complex and widespread physical health consequences such as repeated vaginal and abdominal infections, widespread and chronic pain, sleeping problems, digestive problems, chronic back problems, fibromyalgia, musculoskeletal problems, repeated urinary tract infections, cervical dysplasia, inflammation of the Fallopian tubes, menorrhagia, endometrial hyperplasia, chlamydia, ovarian cysts, ectopic pregnancies, uterus problems, severe adhesions, and ovarian cancer. Anne disclosed her CSA experience to several healthcare providers but they were silent and failed to provide trauma-informed care. Anne’s situation, albeit unique, might reflect similar problems in other female CSA survivors.Peer reviewe

Neurobiology of Self-Regulation: Longitudinal Influence of FKBP5 and Intimate Partner Violence on Emotional and Cognitive Development in Childhood.

OBJECTIVE::Self-regulation includes the volitional and nonvolitional regulation of emotional, cognitive, and physiological responses to stimulation. It develops from infancy through individual characteristics and the environment, with the stress hormone system as a central player. Accordingly, the authors hypothesized that genes involved in regulating the stress system, such as FK506 binding protein 5 (FKBP5), interact with early-life stress exposure, such as exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV), to predict self-regulation indicators and associated outcomes, including behavioral and learning problems in school. METHODS::Study participants were a longitudinal birth cohort of 910 children for whom FKBP5 genotypes were available and who were assessed for exposure to IPV during the first 2 years of life as well as multiple measures of self-regulation: stress-induced cortisol reactivity and fear-elicited emotional reactivity at 7, 15, and 24 months, executive function at 36, 48, and 60 months, and emotional and behavioral difficulties and reading and math achievement in school grades 1, 2, and 5. Data were analyzed using longitudinal clustering and ordinal logistic regression procedures followed by mixed linear modeling. RESULTS::Children with two copies of a risk FKBP5 haplotype and IPV exposure were significantly more likely to have a developmental trajectory characterized by high, prolonged stress-induced cortisol reactivity and emotional reactivity in toddlerhood, followed by low executive function at school entry and high emotional and behavior problems and low reading ability in the primary school grades. CONCLUSIONS::The interaction of FKBP5 and IPV affects the physiological response to stress early in life, with consequences for emotional and cognitive self-regulation. Targeting self-regulation may present an early intervention strategy for children facing genetic and environmental risk

Stressful factors in the working environment, lack of adequate sleep, and musculoskeletal pain among nursing unit managers

Background: Middle managers have not received enough attention within the healthcare field, and little is known how stressful factors in their work environment coupled with a lack of adequate sleep are related to musculoskeletal pain. The aim of this study was to examine the correlation between stressful factors in the work environment, lack of adequate sleep, and pain/discomfort in three body areas. Methods: Questionnaire was sent electronically to all female nursing unit managers (NUM) in Iceland through the outcome-survey system. The response rate was 80.9%. Results: NUM who had high pain/discomfort in the neck area also had very high pain/discomfort in the shoulder area and pain in the lower back. The results also revealed positive a medium-strong correlation between mental and physical exhaustion at the end of the workday and musculoskeletal pain. Stress in daily work, mental strain at work, and being under time-pressures had hardly any correlation with pain/discomfort in the three body parts. Adequate sleep had a significant negative correlation with all stressful factors in the work environment and all three body parts under review. Conclusion: The results will hopefully lead to a better consideration of stressful factors in the work environment, sleep, and musculoskeletal pain in middle managers.Funding: This study was funded partly by The Icelandic Nurses’ Association—Science Fund.Peer Reviewe

Public or private primary health care: A comparison of efficiency and patient satisfaction

Skipulag heilbrigðisþjónustu er meðal erfiðustu viðfangsefna stjórnvalda. Líkt og aðrar þjóðir sem reka félagslegt heilbrigðiskerfi standa Íslendingar frammi fyrir spurningunni um hvert eigi að vera hlutverk einkarekstrar innan heilsugæslunnar. Markmið rannsóknarinnar var tvíþætt: að bera saman einkarekstur og ríkisrekstur 17 heilsugæslustöðva á höfuðborgarsvæðinu og greina ánægjukannanir þeim tengdar. Við upphaf Íslandsbyggðar verður til lögbundin samhjálp þar sem kveðið er á um skyldur samfélagsins við þá sem þarfnast hjálpar og með lögum um heilbrigðisþjónustu árið 1973 féll íslenska heilbrigðiskerfið undir norræna velferðarsamfélagið með jöfnu aðgengi og þéttu öryggisneti. Rannsóknin sýnir að einkareknu heilsugæslustöðvarnar voru með lágan kostnað á hverja verkeiningu en þó ekki þann lægsta. Fjórar til sjö ríkisreknar stöðvar voru með lægri kostnað á hvern skráðan einstakling en þær einkareknu. Kostnaður á hverja stöðu læknis var hæstur hjá annarri einkareknu stöðinni. Þjónustukannanir sýndu að enginn munur var á ánægju með gæði þjónustu milli þessara tveggja ólíku rekstrarforma. Þá ályktun má draga af þessari rannsókn að ekki sé hægt að fullyrða að einkarekstur í heilsugæslu bæti meðferð opinbers fjár eða auki gæði þjónustunnar.The organization of health care is one of the most complex present day challenges. Like other countries that run socialized health care systems, Icelanders face the question of the role of private enterprise in health care. The objective of this study was two-fold: to compare the cost of 17 private and state-run health care centers in the metropolitan area, and to compare consumer satisfaction related to these. At the beginning of Icelandic settlement, there were statutory laws decreeing that community services should be provided for those in need. By the Health Care Act in 1973, the Icelandic health care system fell under the Nordic welfare society with equal access and a tight safety net. The results show that the private health care centers had a low cost per work unit, but not the lowest. Four to seven state run health care centers had less expenditure per patient than the private centers. The cost of each doctor’s position was highest in one of the private clinics. Patient satisfaction surveys showed that there is no difference in the quality of services between these two different operating modes. A conclusion can be drawn from this study that it is not clear whether private health care improves the use of public funds or increases the quality of services.Félag íslenskra heimilislækna fær þakkir fyrir að styrkja verkefnið úr vísindasjóði.Peer Reviewe