Ten modifiers of BRCA1 penetrance validated in a Norwegian series

BACKGROUND: Common genetic variants have been shown to modify BRCA1 penetrance. The aim of this study was to validate these reports in a special cohort of Norwegian BRCA1 mutation carriers that were selected for their extreme age of onset of disease. METHODS: The ten variants rs13387042, rs3803662, rs8170, rs9397435, rs700518, rs10046, rs3834129, rs1045485, rs2363956 and rs16942 were selected to be tested on samples from our biobank. We selected female BRCA1 mutation carriers having had a diagnosis of breast or ovarian cancer below 40 years of age (young cancer group, N = 40), and mutation carriers having had neither breast nor ovarian cancer above 60 years of age (i.e., old no cancer group, N = 38). Relative risks and odd ratios of belonging to the young cancer versus old no cancer groups were calculated as a function of having or not having the SNPs in question. RESULTS: Five of the ten variants were found to be significantly associated with early onset cancer. Some of the variation between our results and those previously reported may be ascribed to stochastic effects in our limited number of patient studies, and/or genetic drift in linkage disequilibrium in the genetically isolated Norwegian population. This is in accordance with the understanding that the SNPs are markers in linkage disequilibrium with their respective disease-causing genetic variants, and that this may vary between different populations. CONCLUSIONS: The results confirmed associations previously reported, with the notion that the degree of association may differ between other populations, which must be considered when discussing the clinical use of the associations described

Sustainable crowdfunding: insights from the project perspective

Author's accepted manuscript/postprintPurpose This paper explores the peculiarities of sustainable crowdfunding from the project perspective. The research question is: what are the distinctive features of sustainable crowdfunding, in terms of crowdfunding motivation, platform choice, crowdfunding costs and relationships with backers? Design/methodology/approach The current study follows a qualitative approach, through conducting in-depth interviews with representatives of sustainable projects, which have had successful crowdfunding campaigns. The selected projects represent various industries and crowdfunding models. Findings Sustainable entrepreneurs have both financial and non-financial motivations for crowdfunding. A distinctive feature is the importance of community engagement, since the community spirit of crowdfunding is well suited to sustainable projects. The choice of the crowdfunding platform is more complex for sustainable entrepreneurs, as they need to consider the platform's sustainability. Sustainable entrepreneurs also have to put more effort into their communication activities with potential backers, to compensate for the intangibility of sustainability claims. Moreover, they need to have a greater focus on building relationships with backers due to both the community spirit of their projects and legitimacy issues. Originality/value The current paper contributes to the limited literature on sustainable crowdfunding and the literature on funding of sustainable businesses and can act as a foundation for further research in this field. Current findings also have high practical value. Crowdfunding platforms may use the insights provided here to better meet the needs of sustainable entrepreneurs, while sustainable entrepreneurs can better understand what they need to pay attention to in their crowdfunding campaigns.acceptedVersio

Pursuing Legal Research

By conducting methodological assessments, legal researchers decide which lines of inquiry are worth pursuing. Two aspects of such assessments are highlighted in this article. The first aspect is to construct promising lines of inquiry. The second aspect is to clarify provisionally the potential of various promising lines of inquiry. Clarifying and calibrating such potential through discourse with fellow researchers are essential. Increased awareness of how legal researchers decide which lines of inquiry are worth pursuing is vital to contemporary discourse about legal methodology.publishedVersio

The Parametric design of adaptive joints

Building information modeling (BIM) has had a big impact on modern engineering. Through the information contained in the models, engineers are able to interpret and organize a vast amount of data. During a conceptual design phase, a digital platform based on a Knowledge-based engineering (KBE) model helps in eliminating poor designs, enhancing the process. This paper examines the possibility of direct contact between a computer aided three-dimensional interactive application (e.g. CATIA) and a Finite Element Software. The goal is to create a method for quick export of building information model from common CAD-software to an advanced finite element analysis. An approach is derived in which the necessary data from the pre-processor phase is generated for a finite element simulation

Editorial: Advancing crowdfunding research: new insights and future research agenda

This is the accepted manuscript (post-print) of an article published in Baltic Journal of Management, available at https://doi.org/10.1108/BJM-04-2020-420.Purpose – The editorial introduces the papers included in the special issue by highlighting their contributions to advancing crowdfunding research and identifying remaining gaps to be addressed in future research. Design/Methodology/Approach – A review of the papers included in the special issue supplemented by suggestions for future research. Findings – While mostly covering the aspects directly or indirectly related to campaign success, the papers included in this special issue provide insights from less studied contexts and address relatively underexplored factors impacting crowdfunding practice. The papers focus on understanding backer-fundraiser relationships and behavior, platform and model choice, as well as industry self-regulation. Triggered by emerging insights, the editorial highlights three important themes for future research, i.e. relationship with traditional finance, ethical practice and decisionmaking, and internationalization of platforms. Originality/value - This editorial and special issue cover new research advancing understanding of crowdfunding practice, motivation, success, and industrial organization. It provides new insights from both widely and less studied contexts, while exploring the role of important factors in the crowdfunding process, which have thus far been underexplored.acceptedVersio

The outcomes of cross-industry innovation for small and medium sized enterprises

There is a lack of research on how cross-industry innovation (CII) affects growth processes in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and whether it is worthwhile for SMEs to attempt CII. The current study addresses this gap by examining how CII at different market entry stages leads to various modes of growth in SMEs. Based on a survey data from 1187 Norwegian SMEs, we demonstrate a clear positive connection between CII and growth, particularly organic and acquired growth, and CII and cost reductions. Our findings highlight the importance of innovation across industry lines and show that CII is a favorable option for SMEs. This study makes several contributions. First, it adds to the growth literature by stepping away from a unidimensional view of growth. Second, it extends the existing CII and SME literature by addressing CII outcomes for SMEs. Third, the findings have important implications for business practitioners and policy makers. In this regard, we recommend that SMEs explore and exploit CII opportunities whenever possible to achieve greater versatility and diversity. The clear connection between CII and SMEs’ growth also emphasizes the need for policymakers to further develop the policies facilitating proactive CII and connecting SMEs from different industries.publishedVersio

Evolution, trends, and narratives of cultural crowdfunding: the case of Norway

With a lifelong path of funding struggles, cultural industries have been at the forefront of crowdfunding since its early stages in the beginning of this century. Worldwide, the volume of crowdfunding has been growing significantly and it has increasingly become a promising business model for cultural productions. However, research on cultural crowdfunding remains limited. The current study aims to understand how crowdfunding is shaping the cultural economy. We explore the evolution, trends and narratives of cultural crowdfunding, focusing on two crowdfunding platforms – Kickstarter and Bidra. By scrapping the universe of Norwegian cultural campaigns on these platforms in 2016–2021 and combining statistics with discourse analysis, the results demonstrate changes in cultural crowdfunding dynamics, with notable differences across cultural industries. Overall, cultural campaigns mainly acclaim artistic production and financial acquisition, also artists emphasize lack of finances (even in the case when public funding is given) and potential for product sales. This work demonstrates the growth and importance of cultural crowdfunding, especially for some industries (e.g. games), and highlights the need for cultural policy to consider crowdfunding as one of its instruments, extending, for instance, match-funding mechanisms. This study further contributes to the understanding of the cultural crowdfunding phenomenon for academics, policy-makers, and practitioners.publishedVersio

Microalgae-Based Food: Purchase Intentions and Willingness to Pay

Consumer acceptance is pivotal for the success of new foods, and it is therefore necessary to understand the determinants influencing consumers’ behaviour for microalgae-based food. The current study explores the influence of various factors on consumers’ attitude, purchase intention and willingness to pay for two microalgae-based products (bread and beer). An online survey with a consumer panel (N = 1,011) was conducted, and a structural equation modelling procedure was implemented. The results indicate that environmental concern and subjective norms (i.e., social norms on microalgae-based food) have significant positive effect on consumers’ attitude and purchase intentions towards microalgae-based food. Purchase intentions, attitude towards innovation in food and subjective norms positively and highly significantly impact the willingness to pay for microalgae-based food. Thus, microalgae-based food appeals to the environmentally engaged and innovative consumers. Moreover, the opinions of others play an important role in the acceptance of the microalgae-based food. This study contributes to the emerging stream of literature on microalgae-based food. Understanding which factors influence the purchase behaviour for this food is highly important for its market success. The study provides evidence-based input for practitioners in their efforts to evaluate consumer interest for microalgae-based food and develop effective marketing strategies for its further promotion.publishedVersio

Eksplosjonslast på kvadratiske stålplater; En sammenligning av numeriske metoder

During the recent years, several promising finite element solutions have been presented for finding the response of structures subjected to blast loading. This thesis gives as a comparative study on 3 major solution strategies, and their implication on the response on constrained plates of varying standoff distances. The strategies chosen are the Lagrangian method using load blast function in LS-DYNA, in which the plate nodes are subjected directly to forces attained from empirical ConWep data. The Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) method in LS-DYNA, where an initial charge is detonated within an air medium and impulse transferred through contact algorithms. Finally a particle method, where air and soil are treated as discrete particles. This novel approach gives faster calculations than the ALE method and possible more reliable results than the Lagrangian method. Dharmasena et.al (2009) performed experiments where final deflection of steel plates was recorded for a charge off constant mass with varying standoff distances. These results were used to validate the models. It was found that the Lagrangian analysis provided conservative results at short standoff distances, and very accurate predictions at greater distances. An ALE analysis was performed under the same assumptions. Even though the analysis gave accurate final deflections at short standoff distances, it was found to be giving increasing impulse with standoff distance, for fine meshes. This resulted in increasing final deflection with standoff distance, which was unsupported by experimental data. Finally, a discrete particle method has been applied using the IMPETUS code. It gave the most accurate prediction in terms of final deflections. It was found to give almost equal results as the ALE analysis for short standoff distances, and equal results as the Lagrangian analysis for the longer stand off distances. The computational times were also greatly reduced compared to the ALE method

Finding One’s Footing When Everyone Has an Opinion. Negotiating an Acceptable Identity After Sexual

Identities used to describe oneself after trauma may influence recovery, and searches for acceptable identities after sexual assault can be challenging. Fifteen Norwegian female survivors of sexual assault were recruited at a clinical center, and were individually interviewed about post-assault discussions with others. Our focus was on the experiences of non-blaming and believing interactions with others, and how these interactions can be understood as a process of searching for acceptable identities after sexual assault. A reflexive thematic analysis resulted in four themes: navigating between other people's stories and one's own; realizing the seriousness of the assault without drowning in the upset of others; finding a place between too much closeness and too much distance; and being more than a victim. We discuss the importance of participants retaining agency in post-assault interactions. We suggest that being a survivor of sexual assault increases the probability, even in believing and non-blaming interactions, of being cast in a subject–object relationship with less freedom and agency than before. Navigating toward acceptable identities may mean working one's way back to being a subject in a subject–subject relationship again.publishedVersio