Development and investigation of a new model explaining job performance and uncertainty among nurses and physicians

The purpose of this paper is to develop and investigate a new theoretical model explaining variance in job performance and uncertainty among nurses and physicians. The study adopted a cross-sectional survey. Data was collected from 2946 nurses and 556 physicians employed at four public hospitals in Norway. We analysed data using descriptive statistics, correlations, Cronbach’s alpha, confirmatory factor analyses and structural equation modelling. To explain job performance and uncertainty, two sets of explanatory variables were used: first, satisfactions of three psychological needs—namely autonomy, social support and competence development—and second, employee perceptions of hospital management quality (HMQ) and local leadership quality (LLQ). The results supported the theoretical model among nurses and physicians; (1) HMQ was positively associated with LLQ; (2) LLQ was positively associated with psychological needs; (3) the majority of psychological needs were positively associated with job performance and negatively associated with uncertainty, but more of these relations were significant among nurses than physicians. The results suggest that job performance and uncertainty among nurses and physicians can be improved by helping personnel meet their psychological needs. Improving job design and staff involvement will be important to strengthen need satisfaction. Results suggest enhancement of HMQ and LLQ will be positively related to need satisfaction among nurses and physicians and will strengthen job performance and reduce uncertainty.publishedVersio

Implementing Virtual Reality in K-12 Classrooms: Lessons Learned from Early Adopters

Copyright © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. This is the authors' version (post-print) of an article published in Smart Education and E-Learning. This version will be available 2023.06.07 after an embargo period of 24 months .There is very little research on K-12 education outside designated research studies on how teachers use VR for learning. This study addresses gap in research by asking: How did teachers start with VR and how do they use it? We interviewed nine teachers from different primary, lower secondary, and upper secondary schools—who had one to five years of experience with VR—among the first to include VR in their teaching, making them early adopters. All schools used HDMs, but the number, brand, and model varied. VR was used to teach various subjects and topics, but mostly for a limited part of the lesson. Due to the limited number of HMDs, the teaching was often organized as stations, where the students took turns using the HMDs and working on other tasks related to the theme. This requires good planning from the teacher and a certain degree of self-regulation among the students, as the teacher’s eyes and ears are on the student(s) wearing the HMDs. The early adoption of VR sometimes encountered challenges related to technical (e.g., firewalls) or ethical issues (e.g., privacy), but some argued that for innovation to happen, it was necessary to “act first and ask later”.acceptedVersio

Hierarchical Fish Species Detection in Real-Time Video Using YOLO

Master's thesis in Information- and communication technology (IKT590)Information gathering of aquatic life is often based on time consuming methods with a foundation in video feeds. It would be beneficial to capture more information in a cost effective manner from video feeds, and video object detection has an opportunity to achieve this. Recent research has shown promising results with the use of YOLO for object detection of fish. As under-water conditions can be difficult and fish species hard to discriminate, we propose the use of a hierarchical structures in both the classification and the dataset to gain valuable information. With the use of hierarchical classification and other techniques we present YOLO Fish. YOLO Fish is a state of the art object detector on nordic fish species, with an mAP of 91.8%. For a more stable video, YOLO Fish can be used with the object tracking algorithm SORT. This results in a complete fish detector for real-time video

Use of the Hospital Survey of Patient Safety Culture in Norwegian Hospitals: A Systematic Review

This review aims to provide an overview of empirical studies using the HSOPSC in Norway and to develop recommendations for further research on patient safety culture. Oria, an online catalogue of scientific databases, was searched for patient safety culture in February 2021. In addition, three articles were identified via Google Scholar searches. Out of 113 retrieved articles, a total of 20 articles were included in our review. These were divided into three categories: seven perception studies, six intervention studies, and seven reliability and validation studies. The first study conducted in Norway indicated a need to improve patient safety culture. Only one intervention study was able to substantially improve patient safety culture. The validity of HSOPSC is supported in most studies. However, one study indicated poor quality in relation to the testing of criteria related to validity. This review is limited to Norwegian healthcare but has several relevant implications across the research field, namely that intervention studies should (1) validate dimensions more carefully, (2) avoid pitfalls related to both factor analysis methods and criteria validity testing, (3) consider integrating structural models into multilevel improvement programs, and (4) benefit from applying different, new versions of HSOPSC developed in Norway.publishedVersio

En kvalitativ studie av risikotilnærming i beredskapsarbeidet

Master's thesis in Risk managementRisikobildet i Norge har hatt en endring i løpet av de siste årene, og hendelser både i Norge og i verden har medført et større fokus på både safety og security. På den ene siden har vi ekstremvær som flom og kraftige stormer, mens på den andre siden er terrorangrep og en økende trussel fra statlige aktører. Alle hendelser, uavhengig av om de er safety eller security, finner sted i en kommune. Det fordrer at kommunene har fått et økt ansvar for sine innbyggere. Oppgaven har som formål å undersøke hvilken risikotilnærming Stavanger kommune benytter i sitt beredskapsarbeid. Det er i tillegg utarbeidet tilhørende forskningsspørsmål som søker svar på om Stavanger kommune benytter ulike tilnærminger til risiko avhengig om trusselen er innenfor safety eller security feltet. Oppgaven har undersøkt gjennom dokumentanalyse og kvalitative forskningsintervju hvordan dette arbeidet utføres og om tilnærmingen til Stavanger kommune er i tråd med veiledere, standarder og akademisk teori. Det er særlig Norsk Standard: 5814, sannsynlighet x konsekvens tilnærmingen og Norsk Standard: 5832 – trefaktormodellen som er benyttet som bakteppe for undersøkelsen. De ulike standardene har ulike styrker og svakheter og det er blitt argumentert for at frekvensbasert sannsynlighet ikke kan nyttes om security-hendelser. Oppgaven konkluderer med at Stavanger kommune benytter begge tilnærmingene, men det er først for ca. et halvt år siden at trefaktormodellen har blitt implementert og operasjonalisert. Stavanger kommune har også startet et eget sikringsprosjekt av sentrumskjernen i Stavanger og har i dette prosjektet blant annet valgt å benytte seg trefaktormodellen. Andre ROS-analyser benytter seg av tradisjonell tilnærming til risiko. Det konkluderes også med at det tilsynelatende ser ut til å være en noe ulik tilnærming til begrepet risiko internt i Stavanger kommune. Det ble funnet ulik risikotilnærming på operasjonelt og taktisk nivå hvor både tilnærming og forståelse synes å være annerledes. Det kan dermed ser ut som at risikotilnærmingen i Stavanger kommune er noe oppstykket og ikke enhetlig

Rettslige problemstillinger ved endring av foretaksnavn i aksjeselskap før konkurs - mulige ulovlige eller illojale transaksjoner

Oppgaven tar for seg problemstillinger som oppstår ved endring av et foretaksnavn i forkant av konkursåpning. Det blir sett på det beskyttelsesvern som foreligger ved foretaksnavn, sekundære forretningskjennetegn og varemerket. Videre blir det drøftet om endring av et foretaksnavn er boforringelse som kan kreves omstøtt etter dekningslovens regler. Oppgaven tar også for seg avgiftsrettslige problemstillinger knyttet til både uttak og fordelsbeskatning etter skatteloven og problemstillinger som oppstår av merverdiavgiftsloven. Videre omhandler oppgaven de strafferettslige problemstillinger som oppstår etter straffeloven §§ 283 og 287. Deretter blir det de lege ferenda om karantene på foretaksnavn

Nicolay B. Johansen, Thomas Ugelvik og Katja Franko Aas (red.): Krimmigrasjon? Den nye kontrollen av de fremmede

Europa har de siste 60-årene forandret seg fra å være et kontinent i ruiner til å bli et transnasjonalt fellesskap av sterkt sammenknyttede nasjonalstater. Den redigerte boken Krimmigrasjon? Den nye kontrollen av de fremmede skriver seg inn i debatten om hvordan denne institusjonelle transformasjonen â gjerne kalt europeisering â påvirker utlendinger i Norge. Boken er et viktig innlegg i denne debatten, ikke kun faglig, men også for den bredere debatten om hvordan ikke-borgere behandles og kategoriseres i den europeiske virkeíligheten. Redaktørene kommer til denne problemstillingen fra kriminologien, mens de fleste kapittelforfatterne kommer fra enten kriminologi, jus eller sosiologi. I tillegg er det enkeltstående bidrag fra sosialantropologi og historie. Med bidragsytere fra disse disiplinene er det ikke overraskende at boken omhandler hvordan rettsregler, institusjonelle nyvinninger og generelle samfunnsendringer samspiller i å skape et rom for behandling og disiplinering av det man i boken kaller ââ¬â¢fremmede.ââ¬â¢ Fremmed er en samlebetegnelse for personer uten statsborgerskap som oppholder seg innenfor den norske statens territorium

The influence of permanently submerged macrophytes on sediment mercury distribution, mobility and methylation potential in a brackish Norwegian fjord

Embargo until 30 August 2019.Macrophytes are shown to affect the microbial activity in different aqueous environments, with an altering of the sediment cycling of mercury (Hg) as a potential effect. Here, we investigated how a meadow with permanently submerged macrophytes in a contaminated brackish fjord in southern Norway influenced the conditions for sulfate reducing microbial activity, the methyl-Hg (MeHg) production and the availability of MeHg. Historically discharged Hg from a chlor-alkali plant (60–80 tons, 1947–1987) was evident through high Hg concentrations (491 mg Tot-Hg kg− 1, 268 μg MeHg kg− 1) in intermediate sediment depths (10–20 cm) outside of the meadow, with reduced concentrations within the meadow. Natural recovery of the fjord was revealed by lower sediment surface concentrations (1.9–15.5 mg Tot-Hg kg− 1, 1.3–3.2 μg MeHg kg− 1). Within the meadow, vertical gradients of sediment hydrogen sulfide (H2S) Eh and pH suggested microbial sulfate reduction in 2–5 cm depths, coinciding with peak values of relative MeHg levels (0.5% MeHg). We assume that MeHg production rates was stimulated by the supply and availability of organic carbon, microbial activity and a sulfide oxidizing agent (e.g. O2) within the rhizosphere. Following this, % MeHg in sediment (0–5 cm) within the meadow was approximately 10 × higher compared to outside the meadow. Further, enhanced availability of MeHg within the meadow was demonstrated by significantly higher fluxes (p < 0.01) from sediment to overlying water (0.1–0.6 ng m− 2 d− 1) compared to sediment without macrophytes (0.02–0.2 ng m− 2 d− 1). Considering the productivity and species richness typical for such habitats, submerged macrophyte meadows located within legacy Hg contaminated sediment sites may constitute important entry points for MeHg into food webs.acceptedVersio

An In Situ Experimental Study of Effects on Submerged Vegetation After Activated Carbon Amendment of Legacy Contaminated Sediments

Activated carbon (AC) amendment has been shown to reduce bioavailability of hydrophobic contaminants in the bioactive layer of sediment. Unwanted secondary effects of AC amendment could be particularly undesirable for ecologically important seagrass meadows, but so far, only a few studies have been conducted on effects on submerged plants. The purpose of this study was to investigate effects on growth and cover of submerged macrophytes in situ after AC amendment. Test sites were established within a seagrass meadow in the severely contaminated Norwegian fjord Gunneklevfjorden. Here we show that AC amendment does not influence neither cover nor length of plants. Our study might indicate a positive effect on growth from AC in powdered form. Hence, our findings are in support of AC amendment as a low-impact sediment remediation technique within seagrass meadows. However, we recommend further studies in situ on the effects of AC on submerged vegetation and biota. Factors influencing seasonal and annual variation in plant species composition, growth and cover should be taken into consideration.An In Situ Experimental Study of Effects on Submerged Vegetation After Activated Carbon Amendment of Legacy Contaminated SedimentsacceptedVersio