Social innovation i indsatsen for hjemløse kvinder:tilblivelsen af en natcafé

I forbindelse med de nationale strategiplaner ”Det fælles ansvar II” og ”Den nationale hjemløsestrategi” er der blevet iværksat flere aktiviteter i Københavns Kommune for at skabe øget viden og forbedre indsatsen i forhold til hjemløse og andre grupper af socialt udsatte kvinder. Flere af disse er sociale innovationer. De har som formål at imødekomme kvindernes behov og problemer på nye og bedre måder. I artiklen analyseres tilblivelsen af en af disse sociale innovationer, ”Café Klare – Natcaféen for kvinder”. Det undersøges således hvorledes ideen til natcaféen er fremkommet, og hvordan processen bag implementeringen af den er forløbet. Analysen viser bl.a., at der er tale om en længerevarende proces, hvor medarbejdere og ledere i Socialforvaltningen og i organisationer på hjemløseområdet, mere eller mindre strategisk har skabt, udnyttet og forhandlet muligheder for at skabe en forbedret indsats for de hjemløse kvinder, heriblandt natcaféen. Analysen er baseret på et længerevarende, kvalitativt casestudie. ENGELSK ABSTRACT: Catharina Juul Kristensen: Social Innovation in Services for Homeless Women – the Creation of a Night Shelter Within the framework of the Danish national action plans ”Our Common Responsibility II” and ”The National Homeless Strategy”, the municipality of Copenhagen launched a number of initiatives to improve social services for socially vulnerable and homeless women. Another goal of these initiatives was to increase awareness and knowledge of these women’s needs. Many of these efforts are social innovations that endeavor to meet the needs and problems of homeless women in new ways. This article analyzes the emergence of one of these social innovations, ”Café Klare – the night shelter for women”. It focuses on the process of idea generation and implementation of the night shelter. The analysis shows how employees and managers in both the municipal social administration and in organizations for homelessness created, used and negotiated the opportunity to improve the social services for homeless women more or less strategically. Among these services was ”Café Klare”. The analysis is based on an in depth case study. Key words: Social innovation, innovation processes, entrepreneurship, night shelters, homeless women

Complexities of Respect - Meso-ethical challenges and practice

I denne artikel introduceres det forskningsetiske begreb mesoetik, der omhandler hensynet til de involverede organisationer og fag- og professionsgruppers omdømme, interesser og fremtidige virke. Begrebet er centralt ift. sociologisk og socialvidenskabelig forskning, da denne ofte fokuserer på organisationer og professioners virke. Det argumenteres, at inddragelse af et mesoetisk perspektiv kan bidrage til en mere detaljeret forståelse af de etiske hensyns kompleksitet ift. de berørte organisationer og professioner. Mesoetik supplerer de forskningsetiske begreber mikroetik (hensynet til de involverede enkeltpersoner) og makroetik (opmærksomheden omkring forskningens samfundsmæssige konsekvenser). Artiklen tager afsæt i det centrale og fortsat udbredte forskningsetiske princip »hensynet til de berørte parter«, samt idealet om uvildig og kritisk forskning. Begrebet og fænomenet mesoetik udfoldes gennem en kvalitativ analyse af socialvidenskabelige forskerstuderendes forskningsetiske praksis. Artiklen bidrager med ny viden ved at definere og analysere mesoetik i kvalitativ forskning, samt give indblik i socialvidenskabelige forskerstuderendes forskningsetiske praksis.This article introduces the concept of meso-ethics, which addresses the ethical principle of respect in relation to organisations and professions involved in research projects, including their reputation, interest and future after the research. The concept of meso-ethics supplements the traditional concepts of micro ethics (respect for the involved individuals), and macro ethics (the societal consequences of research). The concept of meso-ethics is central to sociological and social research, because this research often focuses on organisations and professions. The inclusion of a meso-ethical perspective may strengthen this social research by providing a more detailed understanding of the complexities of respect in relation to the involved organisations and professions. Mesoethics is elaborated through a qualitative analysis of doctoral students’ research ethics practice. The article contributes to the discussion of ethics by introducing this concept, and by providing insights into the mesoethical practice of doctoral students

Overvågning af kornlagre med integrerede trådløse sensorer

Temperatur og fugtighed i korn og frø skal kendes for at sikre optimalstyring af et tørringsanlæg og for at kontrollere, at lagringen sker udenkvalitetsforringelse. Resultaterne har vist, at trådløse sensorbolde kananvendes til sikker måling af temperatur og fugtighed via måling af denrelative luftfugtighed.På grundlag af det kendte ligevægtsforhold mellem vandindhold i kornog frø og den omgivende lufts relative fugtighed og temperatur omregnesmåleresultatet for de traditionelle kornarter og en række frøarter tilafgrødens vandprocent. Måleresultaterne vedrørende vandprocent kankun anvendes, når der ikke blæses i afgrøden. For at opnå brugbareresultater kræves minimum 3 timers stilstand.En temperaturstigning i et parti korn eller frø skyldes ofte nedbrydning afvaren og vækst af skadelige svampe. Hvis temperaturen eller fugtighedenstiger, registreres det via sensorboldene. Måleresultaterne kan direkteanvendes til at styre den nødvendige tørring og køling af afgrøden.Registreringerne vil ligeledes kunne anvendes til at dokumenterelagringsbetingelserne, eksempelvis ved krav om sporbarhed.Der er i forsøgene anvendt et totrins datatransmission set-up, hvor enrække sensorer enten direkte eller gennem en nabosensor sender datatil en basestation, hvorfra data trådløst videresendes til en internetserver,således at resultaterne kan ses på brugerens computer. Systemet harfungeret uden problemer. Trådløse sensorbolde kan således være etgodt alternativ til traditionelle systemer med faste målesensorer placereti lageret og forbundet med kabler til en kontrolboks

Reliability, construct and discriminative validity of clinical testing in subjects with and without chronic neck pain

BACKGROUND: The reliability of clinical tests for the cervical spine has not been adequately evaluated. Six cervical clinical tests, which are low cost and easy to perform in clinical settings, were tested for intra- and inter-examiner reliability, and two performance tests were assessed for test-retest reliability in people with and without chronic neck pain. Moreover, construct and between-group discriminative validity of the tests were examined. METHODS: Twenty-one participants with chronic neck pain and 21 asymptomatic participants were included. Intra- and inter-reliability were evaluated for the Cranio-Cervical Flexion Test (CCFT), Range of Movement (ROM), Joint Position Error (JPE), Gaze Stability (GS), Smooth Pursuit Neck Torsion Test (SPNTT), and neuromuscular control of the Deep Cervical Extensors (DCE). Test-retest reliability was assessed for Postural Control (SWAY) and Pressure Pain Threshold (PPT) over tibialis anterior, infraspinatus and the C3-C4 segment. RESULTS: Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) for intra- and inter-examiner reliability was highest for ROM (range: 0.80 to 0.94), DCE (0.75 to 0.90) and CCFT (0.63 to 0.86). JPE had the lowest ICC (0.02 to 0.66). Intra- and inter-reliability for GS and SPNTT showed kappa ranging from 0.66 to 0.92, and 0.57 to 0.78 (prevalence adjusted), respectively. For the test-retest study, ICC was 0.83 to 0.89 for PPT and 0.39 to 0.79 for SWAY. Construct validity was satisfactory for all tests, except JPE. Significant between group discriminative validity was found for CCFT, ROM, GS, SPNTT and PPT, however, differences were within the limits of the minimal detectable change. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of the tests evaluated showed satisfactory reliability and construct validity supporting their use in the clinical evaluation of patients with chronic neck pain. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2474-15-408) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Motor Performance as Risk Factor for Lower Extremity Injuries in Children

Purpose: Physical activity related injuries in children constitute a costly public health matter. The influence of motor performance on injury risk is unclear. The purpose was to examine if motor performance was a risk factor of traumatic and overuse lower extremity injuries in a normal population of children. Methods: This study included 1244 participants from 8 to 14-years-old at baseline, all participating in "the Childhood Health, Activity and Motor Performance School Study Denmark". The follow-up period was up to 15 months. The motor performance tests were static balance, single leg hop for distance, core stability tests, vertical jump, shuttle run, and a cardiorespiratory fitness test. Lower extremity injuries were registered by clinicians by weekly questionnaires and classified according to the ICD-10 system. Results: Poor balance increased risk for traumatic injury in the foot region (IRR=1.09-1.15), and good performance in single leg hop for distance protected against traumatic knee injuries (IRR=0.66-0.68). Good performance in core stability tests and vertical jump increased the risk for traumatic injuries in the foot region (IRR=1.12-1.16). Poor balance increased the risk for overuse injuries in the foot region (IRR=1.65), as did good performance in core stability tests and shuttle run, especially for knee injuries (IRR=1.07-1.18). Conclusions: Poor balance (sway) performance was a consistent predictor of traumatic injuries, in particular for traumatic ankle injuries. Good motor performance (core stability, vertical jump, shuttle run) was positively associated with traumatic and overuse injuries, and negatively (single leg hop) associated with traumatic injuries, indicating different influence on injury risk. Previous injury was a confounder affecting the effect size and the significance. More studies are needed to consolidate the findings, to clarify the influence of different performance tests on different types of injuries and to examine the influence of behaviour in relation to injury ris