Struggles of Governance and Autonomy in the Field of Kulturskole

The Norwegian extracurricular schools of music and performing arts, kulturskolen, largely govern themselves. In contrast to other types of law obliged schools, kulturskolen receives no clear signals from either state levels, or municipality/county municipality levels, but rather are left to informal steering mechanisms on individual or collective levels. This leads to a wide diversity of what disciplines that are offered, what collaborations that are conducted, what aims, intentions, profiles, and competences that are managed, and thus to very different conditions for what the pupils might learn and experience. This article is a theoretical discussion of this finding, investigating diverse forms of conduct that are identified on (i) state, (ii) community, and (iii) individual school level. The article particularly looks at the identified steering mechanisms, with Michel Foucault’s thoughts of governmentality and power/knowledge as its basis. This discussion on how the kulturskole regulates itself is a contribution to the body of research about kulturskole, cultural policy, and about extracurricular arts education in the kulturskole that aims to be “for all.”

The Dutch disease revisited : absorption constraint and learning by doing

This paper revisits the Dutch disease by analyzing the general equilibrium effects of a resource shock on a dependent economy, both in a static and dynamic set- ting. The novel aspect of this study is to incorporate in one coherent framework two distinct features of the Dutch disease literature that have previously been analyzed in isolation: capital accumulation with absorption constraint, and productivity growth induced by learning-by-doing. The result of long run exchange rate appreciation is maintained in line with part of the Dutch Disease literature. In addition, a permanent change in the employment shares occurs after the resource windfall, in favor of the non-traded sector and away from the traded sector growth engine of the economy. In other words, in the long run both of the classic symptoms of the Dutch Disease remain in place.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Joint factorial structure of psychopathology and personality

Background Normative and pathological personality traits have rarely been integrated into a joint large-scale structural analysis with psychiatric disorders, although a recent study suggested they entail a common individual differences continuum. Methods We explored the joint factor structure of 11 psychiatric disorders, five personality-disorder trait domains (DSM-5 Section III), and five normative personality trait domains (the 'Big Five') in a population-based sample of 2796 Norwegian twins, aged 19-46. Results Three factors could be interpreted: (i) a general risk factor for all psychopathology, (ii) a risk factor specific to internalizing disorders and traits, and (iii) a risk factor specific to externalizing disorders and traits. Heritability estimates for the three risk factor scores were 48% (95% CI 41-54%), 35% (CI 28-42%), and 37% (CI 31-44%), respectively. All 11 disorders had uniform loadings on the general factor (congruence coefficient of 0.991 with uniformity). Ignoring sign and excluding the openness trait, this uniformity of factor loadings held for all the personality trait domains and all disorders (congruence 0.983). Conclusions Based on our findings, future research should investigate joint etiologic and transdiagnostic models for normative and pathological personality and other psychopathology.Peer reviewe

Association of comorbidity burden with abnormal cardiac mechanics: Findings from the HyperGEN study

BACKGROUND: Comorbidities are common in heart failure (HF), and the number of comorbidities has been associated with poor outcomes in HF patients. However, little is known about the effect of multiple comorbidities on cardiac mechanics, which could impact the pathogenesis of HF. We sought to determine the relationship between comorbidity burden and adverse cardiac mechanics. METHODS AND RESULTS: We performed speckle‐tracking analysis on echocardiograms from the HyperGEN study (n=2150). Global longitudinal, circumferential, and radial strain, and early diastolic (e') tissue velocities were measured. We evaluated the association between comorbidity number and cardiac mechanics using linear mixed effects models to account for relatedness among subjects. The mean age was 51±14 years, 58% were female, and 47% were African American. Dyslipidemia and hypertension were the most common comorbidities (61% and 58%, respectively). After adjusting for left ventricular (LV) mass index, ejection fraction, and several potential confounders, the number of comorbidities remained associated with all indices of cardiac mechanics except global circumferential strain (eg, β=−0.32 [95% CI −0.44, −0.20] per 1‐unit increase in number of comorbidities for global longitudinal strain; β=−0.16 [95% CI −0.20, −0.11] for e' velocity; P≤0.0001 for both comparisons). Results were similar after excluding participants with abnormal LV geometry (P<0.05 for all comparisons). CONCLUSIONS: Higher comorbidity burden is associated with worse cardiac mechanics, even in the presence of normal LV geometry. The deleterious effect of multiple comorbidities on cardiac mechanics may explain both the high comorbidity burden and adverse outcomes in patients who ultimately develop HF

Validation of Doloplus-2 among nonverbal nursing home patients - an evaluation of Doloplus-2 in a clinical setting

In the present study, more patients were categorized as having pain while using Doloplus-2 compared with nurses' estimation of pain without using any tools. The fact that nurses could not report if the patients were in pain in one third of the patients supports the claim that Doloplus-2 is a useful supplement for estimating pain in this population. However, nurses must use their clinical experience in addition to the use of Doloplus-2, as behaviour can have different meaning for different patients. Further research is still needed about the use of Doloplus-2 in patients not able to self-report their pain.THE WORK (AS DEFINED BELOW) IS PROVIDED UNDER THE TERMS OF THIS BIOMED CENTRAL OPEN ACCESS LICENSE ("LICENSE"). THE WORK IS PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT AND/OR OTHER APPLICABLE LAW. ANY USE OF THE WORK OTHER THAN AS AUTHORIZED UNDER THIS LICENSE IS PROHIBITED.BY EXERCISING ANY RIGHTS TO THE WORK PROVIDED HERE, YOU ACCEPT AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS LICENSE. THE LICENSOR GRANTS YOU THE RIGHTS CONTAINED HERE IN CONSIDERATION OF YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF SUCH TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Insulin Resistance and Incident Heart Failure. The ARIC Study (Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities).

This study was designed to assess the relationship between insulin resistance and incident heart failure (HF) in a community-based cohort