The Researcher's Role: An Ethical Dimension

Different paradigms or perspectives function as the point of departure and framework for research. In this article ethical issues in the positivist and constructivist paradigms are presented. The article points out that more or less the same ethical codes are used in these paradigms, but with some nuanced interpretations. CHAT (cultural historical activity theory) is presented as a third paradigm. While conducting research, one intention within this paradigm is to change and improve practice. This means that the researcher and the research participants during the research process together set the goals for the work and try to change practice en route to these goals. The relation between the researcher and the research participants is different than in the other two presented paradigms. This means that research in the CHAT paradigm also needs to be guided by different ethical codes. The purpose of this article is to show how some of the traditional ethical codes which direct research both in the positivist and constructivist paradigm change and are also inadequate in the CHAT paradigm. The article presents and discusses ethical codes that challenge the researchers’ communicative, social and knowledge competence. 

Editorial

One theme that is rarely addressed or explicitly studied in relation to research processes, at least among Nordic researchers, is time. This may seem puzzling, especially in the case of change-oriented research approaches, in which processes are a key element. One can hardly think of processes without considering the time perspective. This issue of Research and Change addresses the question of how time may be understood as a dimension in research, and in processes aiming at change. Change is linked to time, as change takes time, it happens over time, and it becomes discernible in the course of time. Time therefore becomes a factor, perhaps indeed a method or a research tool, when processes of change are initiated, supported, and studied. The articles in this issue are inspiring and thought-provoking contributions to the ambition of understanding the qualities and significance of time in change processes.

Student Teachers Promoting Democratic Engagement Using Social Media in Teaching

In this study, we address how student teachers can facilitate democratic engagement in school. The demo-cratic engagement is seen through the lenses of an increasingly digital world through which both teachers and children live in. 42 third-year student teachers systematically prepared to use social media as an illus-trative pedagogical tool in their practice placement period. By using the notions of “thin” and “thick” de-mocracy, we are analyzing student teachers’ understanding of democracy and democratic engagement. Our findings suggest that the students view democracy in a thin way, and this lack of democratic competence may influence their classroom practices as future teachers. The Council of Europe’s Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture was used to analyse the student teachers’ competence to connect the use of social media as a digital and pedagogical tool in promoting democratic engagement. The findings disclose that students vary in their capacity to make use of social media when promoting democratic en-gagement. In our closing discussion, we argue that these results, primarily, pose serious challenges for teacher education

Low fitness is associated with abdominal adiposity and low-grade inflammation independent of BMI

Up to 30% of obese individuals are metabolically healthy. Metabolically healthy obese (MHO) individuals are characterized by having low abdominal adiposity, low inflammation level and low risk of developing metabolic comorbidity. In this study, we hypothesize that cardiorespiratory fitness (fitness) is a determinant factor for the MHO individuals and aim to investigate the associations between fitness, abdominal adiposity and low-grade inflammation within different BMI categories.Data from 10,976 individuals from the general population, DANHES 2007-2008, on waist circumference, fitness and C-reactive protein (hsCRP) were analysed using multiple linear and median quantile regressions.In men, an inverse association between fitness (+5 mL min-1 kg-1) and waist circumference (-1.45 cm; 95% CI: -1.55 to -1.35 cm; p<0.001), and an inverse association between fitness (+5 mL min-1 kg-1) and hsCRP (-0.22 mg/L; 95% CI: -0.255 to -0.185 mg/L; p<0.001) was found, all independent of BMI. Similarly in women, an inverse association between fitness (+5 mL min-1 kg-1) and waist circumference (-1.15 cm; 95% CI: -1.25 to -1.0 cm; p<0.001), and an inverse association between fitness (+5 mL min-1 kg-1) and hsCRP (-0.26 mg/L; 95% CI: -0.3 to -0.22 mg/L; p<0.001) was found, all independent of BMI. Additionally, significant positive associations between waist circumference and hsCRP were found for both men and women, independently of BMI.Fitness was found to be inversely associated with both abdominal adiposity and low-grade inflammation independent of BMI. These data suggest that, in spite of BMI, high fitness levels lead to a reduction in abdominal fat mass and low-grade inflammation

Unngåelse som mestringsarbeid. En kvalitativ studie av jenters håndtering av sosiale utfordringer i skolen

While the DOI not has been activated yet, the paper can already be read on the journal's webside: https://utdanningogpraksis.no/index.php/up/article/view/3845Mestring er et etablert begrep i arbeidet med å forebygge psykisk uhelse for ungdom. I 2020 kom mestring inn i læreplanen for grunnskolen gjennom det tverrfaglige temaet folkehelse og livsmestring. For å forstå mestring blant ungdom er konteksten og sammenhengen hvor handlingene foregår viktige momenter. I denne studien utforsker vi hva jenter selv gjør for å mestre sosiale utfordringer i skolen. Gjennom en innholdsanalyse av totalt 22 intervjuer med ti jenter om deres hverdag, og ved hjelp av begrepet arbeid, finner vi at jentenes mestringsarbeid er mangfoldig og har ulik intensjon. Unngåelse er et mestringsarbeid som er særlig utbredt. Vi forstår dette som et viktig mestringsarbeid for jentene, og drøfter hvordan våre funn kan utfordre gjengs forståelse av unngåelse. Studien inviterer dermed til en bredere forståelse av hvordan ungdom selv mestrer hverdagen sin, og hva som kan være formålstjenlig mestringsarbeid.publishedVersio

Incidence, prevalence and risk factors for hepatitis C in Danish prisons

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is prevalent among people in prison and prisons could therefore represent a unique opportunity to test risk groups for HCV. The aim of this sero-epidemiological study was to determine the incidence and prevalence of HCV infection and the corresponding risk factors in Danish prisons. Participants, recruited from eight Danish prisons, were tested for HCV using dried blood spots and filled out a questionaire with demographic data and risk factors for HCV infection. In total, 76.9% (801/1041) of all eligible prisoners consented to participate. The prevalence of HCV RNA positive prisoners was 4.2% (34/801) and the in-prison incidence rate was 0.7-1.0 per 100PY overall and 18-24/100PY among PWIDs. Infected prisoners were older than the overall population with a mean age of 42 years and only 17.6% (6/34) were younger than 35 years. The prevalence of PWID was 8.5% (68/801) and only 3% (2/68) of PWID were younger than 25 years. Among the PWID, 85.3% (58/68) had ever received opioid substitution therapy (OST) and 47.1% (32/68) were currently receiving OST. Risk factors associated with HCV infection were intravenous drug use, age ≥ 40 years, and being incarcerated ≥ 10 years. In conclusion, the prevalence of PWID in Danish prisons is low, possibly reflecting a decrease in injecting among the younger generation. This together with OST coverage could explain the low prevalence of HCV infection. However among PWIDs in prison the incidence remains high, suggesting a need for improved HCV prevention in prison

The Universal Primer - An open source solution for archiving, organizing and streaming live lectures

Many disparate projects providing open access to educational videos are currently available or under development. These projects lack a unifying interface for accessing content, employ differing content licenses, and provide little or no infrastructure for user-contribution or live teaching. The goal of the Universal Primer is to address these problems, and allow anyone, anywhere, to teach or learn anything that can be reasonably taught or learned through a computer. The Universal Primer is : • A fully open source solution for streaming live lectures. • A Wikipedia-like website for uploading and organizing open-licensed community-contributed educational material. Relevance: The Universal Primer is an attempt at building a global educational network that allows teacher's and students to connect across the globe. Submission Category: CDIO Project demonstration session Keywords – online, video, streaming, community, open-sourc

Immune gene expression in the spleen of chickens experimentally infected with Ascaridia galli

Ascaridia galli is a gastrointestinal nematode infecting chickens. Chickens kept in alternative rearing systems or at free-range experience increased risk for infection with resulting high prevalences. A. gall infection causes reduced weight gain, decreased egg production and in severe cases increased mortality. More importantly, the parasitised chickens are more susceptible to secondary infections and their ability to develop vaccine-induced protective immunity against other diseases may be compromised. Detailed information about the immune response to the natural infection may be exploited to enable future vaccine development. In the present study, expression of immune genes in the chicken spleen during an experimental infection with A. galli was investigated using the Fluidigm (R) BioMark (TM) microfluidic qPCR platform which combines automatic high-throughput with attractive low sample and reagent consumption. Spleenic transcription of immunological genes was compared between infected chickens and non-infected controls at week 2, 6, and 9 p.i. corresponding to different stages of parasite development/maturation. At week 2 p.i. increased expression of IL-13 was observed in infected chickens. Increased expression of MBL, CRP, IFN-alpha, IL-1 beta, IL-8, IL-12 beta and IL-18 followed at week 6 p.i. and at both week 6 and 9 p.i. expression of DEF beta 1 was highly increased in infected chickens. In summary, apart from also earlier reported increased expression of the Th2 signature cytokine IL-13 we observed only few differentially expressed genes at week 2 p.i. which corresponds to the larvae histotrophic phase. In contrast, we observed increased expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and acute phase proteins in infected chickens, by week 6 p.i. where the larvae re-enter the intestinal lumen. Increased expression of DEF beta 1 was observed in infected chickens at week 6 p.i. but also at week 9 p.i. which corresponds to a matured stage where adult worms are present in the intestinal lumen. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved