Promoting father involvement in breastfeeding

Fathers influence mothers’ decisions to breastfeed and for how long they intend to breastfeed. Previous studies have found that positive breastfeeding outcomes are associated with fathers providing any type of supportive behavior. Above other types of support, responsive behaviours sensitive to the mother’s needs are more likely to increase exclusive breastfeeding significantly longer. This study tested the feasibility of an intervention that provided a one-time 60-minute session to an all-fathers group about the breastfeeding team and the effect of the fathers’ satisfaction with the education in terms of fathers’ breastfeeding support behaviours. This study was carried out in a maternity hospital in Canada where an average of 1,500 infants are born each year. Twenty fathers from a variety of ethnic backgrounds received this learning. The group was led by a male facilitator as some research suggests that men prefer to learn from their male peers. The facilitator was trained using the Father Breastfeeding Involvement Group: Facilitator Manual. The average session lasted approximately 60 minutes with an average group of two participants. The fathers discussed ways they could practice responsive behaviours unique to their partner and infant as an active member in the breastfeeding team. The fathers reported high satisfaction rates of attending the session and that the session created a comfortable atmosphere to share their thoughts openly. Second time fathers highly enjoyed the session finding it a valuable, informative refresher. The fathers liked the convenience of attending a session in hospital before their infant was discharged home. At one month, fathers completed the Partner Breastfeeding Influence Scale to determine the amount of specific involvement they practiced. There was a positive relationship between fathers’ overall satisfaction with the session and reports of greater father breastfeeding support behaviours. One limitation of this study is the small sample size. Data collection was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic because nonessential research was abruptly stopped within a few weeks of the program’s commencement. However, the fathers were interested and enjoyed the session, providing evidence that a larger number of participants was feasible. This knowledge can be used in planning future father involvement in breastfeeding interventions

Alone or together? : investigating cooperation between the tourism sector and the municipality's efforts for sustainable destinations

This master’s thesis has investigated the cooperation between the tourism sector and the municipality's efforts for sustainable destinations. The purpose of this thesis was to look at governance of sustainable tourism destination development, by assessing the current interaction and cooperation between 3 different municipalities and the tourism industry within such municipalities, with regards to sustainability efforts from both sides. When looking at sustainable tourism development, it becomes apparent that there is a need to look at governing systems and how collaboration, coordination and transparency between public and private stakeholders are executed. Governance of sustainable tourism is challenging due to the complex nature of the industry, as it spans across different sectors, policy domains and scales. The method which has been utilised is the qualitative method, by use of in-depth interviews. The goal of this research was to get a deeper understanding of the interaction and cooperation between municipalities and DMOs, thus a qualitative method was considered the best approach. Moreover, a case study approach is utilized, with informants from 3 municipalities and belonging the DMOs from Suldal, Rauma and Arendal. This master’s thesis found that there is at least some collaboration between the municipalities and DMOs in sustainable tourism development. The collaboration mainly concern marketing and the Sustainable Destinations Label, where the DMO is the main coordinator between the tourism industry, the municipality and other relevant stakeholders. The results of the Sustainable Destinations Label are first and foremost awareness and cooperation within the tourism industry, DMOs, municipalities and local communities, where planning towards sustainable tourism has become important. Moreover, it has led to future planning within sustainable tourism through strategy development, in the form of one tourism strategy and one visitor strategy. It was also found that all the municipalities and the belonging DMOs have different perspectives on who has the main responsibility for sustainable tourism development within the destination. It is apparent that the tourism industry’s history, with little involvement from public authorities at all levels, is still common and is still an issue. This leaves governance being dominated by the “markets” approach. The findings shows that there is a need for clarification and more communication between the two actors if one is to achieve a more holistic sustainable development. Past research on the subject shows how the approach “networks” governance is recommended for sustainable tourism development. This is supported by this master’s thesis, where it was found that the Sustainable Destinations Label can be a contributor to this. The two initiatives the Sustainable Destinations Label and the Municipal Sustainability Network were also researched, to see if there is any cooperation or coordination in connection with the implementation of the two efforts. It was not found any connections between the two initiatives, which shows that there is a need for better coordination between the two initiatives. There is also a need for better strategic coordination between general municipal planning and development and destination development, as these are mostly seen separate from each other.Denne masteroppgaven har undersøkt samarbeidet mellom reiselivssektoren og kommunens innsats for bærekraftige reisemål. Formålet med oppgaven var å se på styring av bærekraftig reiseliv og destinasjonsutvikling, ved å vurdere det nåværende samspillet og samarbeidet mellom 3 ulike kommuner og reiselivsnæringen i disse kommunene, når det gjelder bærekraftsinnsats fra begge sider. Når man ser på bærekraftig reiselivsutvikling blir det tydelig at det er behov for å se på styringssystemer og hvordan samarbeid, koordinering og åpenhet mellom offentlige og private interessenter utføres. Styring av bærekraftig reiseliv er utfordrende på grunn av næringens komplekse natur, siden den brer seg over ulike sektorer, politiske områder og skalaer. Metoden som ble brukt er kvalitativ metode ved bruk av dybdeintervjuer. Målet med denne forskningen var å få en dypere forståelse av samspillet og samarbeidet mellom kommuner og destinasjonsselskaper, og derfor ble den kvalitative metoden ansett som den beste tilnærmingen. Videre ble det benyttet en casestudie-tilnærming, med informanter fra 3 kommuner og tilhørende destinasjonsselskap fra Suldal, Rauma og Arendal. Denne masteroppgaven fant at det i det minste er noe samarbeid mellom kommunene og destinasjonsselskapene innen bærekraftig reiselivsutvikling. Samarbeidet dreier seg i hovedsak om markedsføring og Merket for Bærekraftig Reisemål, hvor destinasjonsselskapet er hovedkoordinator mellom reiselivsnæringen, kommunen og andre relevante interessenter. Resultatene av Merket for Bærekraftig Reisemål er først og fremst bevisstgjøring og samarbeid innen reiselivsnæringen, destinasjonsselskapene, kommunene og lokalsamfunn, hvor planlegging mot bærekraftig reiseliv har blitt viktig. Dessuten har det ført til fremtidsplanlegging innen bærekraftig reiseliv gjennom strategiutvikling, i form av en reiselivsstrategi og en besøksstrategi. Det ble også funnet at alle kommunene og tilhørende destinasjonsselskaper har ulike perspektiver på hvem som har hovedansvaret for bærekraftig reiselivsutvikling innenfor destinasjonen. Det er åpenbart at reiselivsnæringens historie, med lite involvering fra offentlige myndigheter på alle nivåer, fortsatt er vanlig og fortsatt er et problem. Dette gjør at styringen blir dominert av en "markeds"-tilnærming. Funnene synliggjør at det er et behov for avklaring og mer kommunikasjon mellom de to aktørene om en skal oppnå en mer helhetlig bærekraftig utvikling. Tidligere forskning på området viser hvordan tilnærmingen «nettverk»-styring anbefales for bærekraftig reiselivsutvikling. Dette støttes gjennom denne masteroppgaven, hvor det ble funnet at Merket for Bærekraftig Reisemål kan være en bidragsyter til dette. De to initiativene Merket for Bærekraftig Reisemål og det kommunale Bærekraftsnettverket ble også undersøkt for å se om det er noe samarbeid eller koordinering i tilknytning til gjennomføringen av disse to initiativene. Det ble ikke funnet noen slik sammenheng mellom de to tiltakene, noe som viser at det er behov for bedre koordinering mellom de to tiltakene. Det er også behov for bedre strategisk koordinering mellom overordnet kommuneplanlegging og destinasjonsutvikling, da disse stort sett ses adskilt fra hverandre.M-REI

Facilitating Humanitarian Access to Pharmaceutical and Agricultural Innovation

Calls for intellectual property licensing strategies in the pharmaceutical and agricultural sectors that promote humanitarian access to product innovations for the benefit of the disadvantaged. Includes profiles of successful and promising strategies

How will REPowerEU affect Norwegian competitiveness in the renewable energy sector?

In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the European Commission presented the REPowerEU plan with the goal to reduce EU member states’ reliance on Russian oil and gas. The plan encompasses various measures, including the reduction of energy consumption, the exploration of alternative suppliers of gas and oil, and increased investment in renewable energy production. To facilitate the establishment of new energy infrastructure and systems required, the initiative incorporates financial and legal support. Amidst these developments, an important question arises: can REPowerEU foster the transition towards clean energy? Norway, with its favourable geographic characteristics and access to renewable energy sources, as well as strong competence clusters and research environments, is influenced by EU legislation through its membership in the European Economic Area. This thesis aims to explore the pathways for overcoming dependency on Russian natural gas as outlined in the European Commission’s REPowerEU plan. It investigates the potential impact of these actions on Norwegian competitiveness in the renewable energy sector, with a focus on strategic integration of hydropower, expanding wind power capacity, and the potential for green hydrogen production. How competitiveness is affected is assessed from both short-term and long-term perspectives, and further we delve into the potential for Norway to enhance its own competitiveness while also supporting Europe's transition to green energy

LTE or non-LTE, that is the question

Strontium has proven itself to be one of the most important neutron-capture elements in the study of metal-poor stars. Thanks to the strong absorption lines of Sr, they can be detected even in the most metal-poor stars and also in low-resolution spectra. However, we still cannot explain the large star-to-star abundance scatter we derive for metal-poor stars. Here we contrast Galactic chemical evolution (GCE) with improved abundances for SrI+II including updated atomic data, to evaluate possible explanations for the large star-to-star scatter at low metallicities. We derive abundances under both local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) and non-LTE (NLTE) for stars spanning a large interval of stellar parameters. Gravities and metallicities are also determined in NLTE. We confirm that the ionisation equilibrium between SrI and SrII is satisfied under NLTE but not LTE, where the difference between SrI and SrII is on average ~0.3dex. We show that the NLTE corrections are of increasing importance as the metallicity decreases. For the stars with [Fe/H]>-3 the SrI NLTE correction is ~0.35/0.55dex in dwarfs/giants, while the Sr II NLTE correction is +/-0.05dex. On the basis of the large NLTE corrections, SrI should not be applied as a chemical tracer under LTE, while it is a good tracer under NLTE. SrII is a good tracer under both LTE and NLTE (down to [Fe/H]\sim -3), and LTE is a safe assumption for this majority species. However, the Sr abundance from SrII lines is dependent on an accurate surface gravity determination, which can be obtained from NLTE spectroscopy of Fe lines or from parallax measurements. We could not explain the star-to-star scatter (which remains under both LTE and NLTE) by the use of the GCE model, since the Sr yields to date are too uncertain to draw firm conclusions. At least two production sites seem necessary in order to account for this large scatter (abridged).Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures and one online table (accepted by A&A

Non-equivalence of key positively charged residues of the free fatty acid 2 receptor in the recognition and function of agonist versus antagonist ligands

Short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are produced in the gut by bacterial fermentation of poorly digested carbohydrates. A key mediator of their actions is the G protein-coupled Free Fatty Acid 2 (FFA2) receptor and this has been suggested as a therapeutic target for the treatment of both metabolic and inflammatory diseases. However, a lack of understanding of the molecular determinants dictating how ligands bind to this receptor has hindered development. We have developed a novel radiolabelled FFA2 antagonist in order to probe ligand binding to FFA2 and in combination with mutagenesis and molecular modelling studies define how agonist and antagonist ligands interact with the receptor. Although both agonist and antagonist ligands contain negatively charged carboxylates that interact with two key positively charged arginine residues in transmembrane domains V and VII of FFA2, there are clear differences in how these interactions occur. Specifically, while agonists require interaction with both arginine residues to bind the receptor, antagonists require an interaction with only one of the two. Moreover, different chemical series of antagonist interact preferentially with different arginine residues. A homology model capable of rationalizing these observations was developed and provides a tool that will be invaluable for identifying improved FFA2 agonists and antagonists to further define function and therapeutic opportunities of this receptor

Clinician-targeted interventions to reduce antibiotic prescribing for acute respiratory infections in primary care:An overview of systematic reviews

This is the protocol for a review and there is no abstract. The objectives are as follows: To systematically review the literature and appraise the existing evidence from systematic reviews regarding the effects of interventions, aimed at changing clinician behaviour, to reduce antibiotic prescribing for ARIs in primary care

You are good enough!

Bacheloroppgave, grunnskolelærerutdanning, 2017.Norsk: Temaet for oppgaven er mestring og dysleksi og omhandler hvorfor og til dels hvordan en særlig skal legge til rette for mestring hos elever med dysleksi. Oppgaven er fundert i både et samfunnsmessigperspektiv og et individperspektiv. Bacheloren søker å finne de momentene som påvirker læring for denne gruppen, med fokus på det helhetlige mennesket. Problemstillingen lyder slik: Hvorfor legge særlig til rette for mestring hos elever med dysleksi? Oppgaven legger særlig vekt på Bandura og hans to verk, Self-Efficacy (1997) og Social learning theory(1977). Bandura(1977;1997) er en viktig kilde til å forstå mestring og dets betydning for læring. Forskningsrådets temanotat om frafall i skolen(2013) , barneombudets fagrapport ”uten mål og mening”(2017) samt Klinkenbergs (2016) samling av ulik forskning gjort på preventivt arbeid har vært med på danne grunnlaget for besvarelsen. Drøftingen basert på oppgavens teoretiske grunnlag og de funn viser i stor grad at det er nødvendig for individene i skolen og samfunnet at denne gruppens utfordringer blir møtt med særlig støtte og preventivt arbeid. Elevene i denne gruppen har store skolefaglige utfordringer, relatert til internaliserte vansker, frafall og utenforskap. Elevene i denne gruppen utrykker også mistrivsel som påvirker både skolegang og selvfølelse i stor grad. Samtidig viser funn i oppgaven at elever med dysleksi har større sjanse for å falle fra i skolen.English: The subject of this thesis is mastery and dyslexia. The thesis question is as follows: How can one adapt the education to promote mastery in dyslectic pupils? In order to answer the thesis question, a variety of literature, subject articles and research reports have been applied. The thesis especially emphazes Bandura and his works: self-efficacy (1997) and social learning theory (1977). Bandura has become an important source in understanding the importance of mastery for dyslectic pupils. Forskningsrådets(2013) note on the rate of pupils quiting education, Barneombudets rapport: ”uten mål og mening”(2017, as well as Klinkenberg´s(2016) sampling of different research on preventional work have also become the background of this inquiry. The discussion, based on the theoretical foundation of the thesis, shows to a large degree the necessity of this group being met with special support and preventive effords, both in school and in society as a whole. The pupils inherent in this group struggles to a larger degree with challenges tied to school subjects, internalized challenges, and they express a malcontent which influences both education and self-perception to a large degree

Blue Stragglers After the Main Sequence

We study the post-main sequence evolution of products of collisions between main sequence stars (blue stragglers), with particular interest paid to the horizontal branch and asymptotic giant branch phases. We found that the blue straggler progeny populate the colour-magnitude diagram slightly blueward of the red giant branch and between 0.2 and 1 magnitudes brighter than the horizontal branch. We also found that the lifetimes of collision products on the horizontal branch is consistent with the numbers of so-called "evolved blue straggler stars" (E-BSS) identified by various authors in a number of globular clusters, and is almost independent of mass or initial composition profile. The observed ratio of the number of E-BSS to blue stragglers points to a main sequence lifetime for blue stragglers of approximately 1-2 Gyr on average.Comment: accepted by the Astrophysical Journa