Language standardization in sociolinguistics and international business: Theory and practice across the table

This chapter addresses the issue of language standardization from two perspectives, bringing together a theoretical perspective offered by the discipline of sociolinguistics with a practical example from international business. We introduce the broad concept of standardization and embed the study of language standardization in the wider discussion of standards as a means of control across society. We analyse the language policy and practice of the Danish multinational, Grundfos, and use it as a “sociolinguistic laboratory” to “test” the theory of language standardization initially elaborated by Einar Haugen to explain the history of modern Norwegian. The table is then turned and a model from International Business by Piekkari, Welch and Welch is used to illuminate recent Norwegian language planning. It is found that the Grundfos case works well with the Haugen model, and the International Business model provides a valuable practical lesson for national language planners, both showing that a “comparative standardology” is a valuable undertaking. More voices “at the table” will allow both theory and practice to be further refined and for the role of standards across society to be better understood

Økologisk eggproduksjon

Småskriftet "Økologisk landbruk – eggproduksjon" omtaler fôring, raser, bygninger, uteareal og fjørfesjukdommer. Småskriftet er gitt ut av NORSØK i samarbeid med Fagsenteret for fjørfe

Nursing & Midwifery: The key to the rapid and cost effective expansion of high quality universal healthcare

Nurses and midwives play a central role in all health systems. They support people in every aspect of their health and wellbeing – from health promotion to chronic disease management and specialist services. Together they make up half of the professional health workforce globally and account for about 90 percent of the contacts between patients and health professionals. This report argues that countries that invest in and develop their nursing and midwifery workforce can achieve a rapid, cost-effective expansion of high-quality UHC. This will also help to realize the World Health Assembly (WHA) target of 1 billion more people benefiting from UHC within five years. The report makes three main sets of arguments: 1. The initial emphasis in UHC policy has been on financing and access to services. Much more attention now needs to be given to service quality, the promotion of health and the prevention of diseases – areas where nurses and midwives can play an increasing role – as well as investment in the health workforce. 2. Nurses and midwives are well-placed to meet changing health needs – particularly for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) – to deliver increased levels of health promotion and disease prevention, to develop primary care, and to provide support and supervision for community health workers. However, they are very often not enabled, resourced and supported to use their education and experience to their full potential. This is an extraordinary waste of talent and resources. 3. There are already many nurses who have taken on advanced and specialist roles, and globally many midwifery- and nurse-led services provide new and innovative models of care. These can be the foundation for a rapid, cost-effective expansion of high-quality UHC. Moreover, a survey of attitudes in seven countries showed that the public were open to an increase in nurse-led services. More than two-thirds of respondents said that it didn’t matter who treated them for a non-life-threatening illness or condition – a doctor or a nurse – as long as they had the right training and skills. More than 80 percent saw nurses and doctors as equally valuable members of the healthcare team. However, as other surveys show, there are currently many nurses and midwives working in poor conditions without adequate equipment and support, and consequently providing poor services. Investment is needed in nursing and midwifery, as well as effective legislation, regulation, education and employment practices. There also needs to be a fundamental shift in policy at a national and global level to recognize what nurses and midwives can achieve if enabled to do so. This report concludes by setting out a clear plan – with nursing and midwifery at its heart – for how countries can achieve a rapid, cost-effective expansion of high-quality UHC, and help to realize the WHA target

Flexible Control of Composite Parameters in Max/MSP

Fundamental to the development of musical or artistic creative work is the ability to transform raw materials. This ability implies the facility to master many facets of the material, and to shape it with plasticity. Computer music environments typically provide points of control to manipulate material by supplying parameters with controllable values. This capability to control the values of parameters is inadequate for many artistic endeavors, and does not reflect the analogous tools and methods of artists working with physical materials. Rather than viewing parameters in computer-based systems as single points of control, the authors posit that parameters must become more multifaceted and dynamic in order to serve the needs of artists. The authors propose an expanded notion of how to work with parameters in computer-centric environments for time-based art. A proposed partial solution to this problem is to give parameters additional properties that define their behavior. An example implementation of these ideas is presented in Jamoma

Fetal and neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia : immunological mechanisms and clinical consequences

Fetal and neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia (FNAIT) is a rare condition that may occur in connection with pregnancy, when maternal antibodies directed against paternally inherited platelet antigens cross the placenta and mediate thrombocytopenia in the fetus and neonate. FNAIT puts the fetus at risk of severe bleedings, with an intracranial hemorrhage being the most feared outcome. Antibodies targeting Human Platelet Antigen 1a (HPA-1a) are the most common cause of FNAIT in Caucasians, and several mechanisms may potentially be involved. The overall aim of this thesis was to use both clinical and experimental data to investigate possible mechanisms of FNAIT, and to evaluate the impact of FNAIT on neonatal morbidity in Sweden by investigating the frequency of maternal platelet alloimmunization in newborns diagnosed with an intracranial hemorrhage (ICH). In study I and II, the presence of anti-HLA class I antibodies in relation to FNAIT is investigated. Anti-HLA class I antibodies are a common occurrence after pregnancy, and the only serological finding in many cases of suspected FNAIT. Platelets express HLA class I antigen, and it has for long been debated whether anti-HLA class I antibodies could cause FNAIT. Based on national referrals in Sweden and Norway, we identified cases of suspected FNAIT where only anti-HLA class I antibodies could be detected. We compared anti-HLA class I antibody specificities and levels in these referred cases to controls, and found that the included cases in both studies had higher antibody levels compared to the control groups, and that especially antibodies against HLA-B antigens stood out with high levels. In study II, genotyping of the maternal and neonatal HLA class I alleles could untangle seemingly broad antibody specificity patterns, as mapping of epitopes revealed that the antibodies were in fact largely specific against paternal epitopes, expressed on multiple antigens. There was only weak correlations between anti-HLA class I antibody levels and clinical outcome, and especially in study I, a majority of cases were found to have other factors that could contribute to thrombocytopenia. In study III, we investigated platelet function in adult and neonatal blood, and the effects of anti-HPA-1a antibodies on platelet function. We found that umbilical cord blood was characterized by a pronounced decrease in platelet aggregation, a reduced change in expression of glycoproteins with activation, and an enhanced primary hemostasis, compared to adult peripheral blood. The presence of a monoclonal anti-HPA-1a antibody reduced fibrinogen binding to HPA-1a positive platelets, but with limited functional consequences, as measured by flow cytometry. For study IV, we investigated the frequency of maternal platelet alloimmunization in clinically recognized cases of neonatal ICH. Using the Swedish Neonatal Quality register, we identified 286 neonates registered with ICH born at or from 32 weeks of gestation, and ultimately included 105 maternal samples for analysis. We found two HPA-1a antigen negative (HPA-1bb) mothers, of which one had detectable anti-HPA-1a antibodies and a severely thrombocytopenic neonate. Two other mothers had detectable antibodies (anti-HPA-5b and anti-HPA-15a) and neonates with moderate thrombocytopenia. The available clinical data revealed a high frequency of other factors with a known association to ICH, and the study suggests a lower frequency of ICH associated with FNAIT than previously estimated in prospective studies. Overall, these studies confirm the notion of FNAIT as a heterogeneous condition, with findings that may inform future studies on frequency of severe FNAIT, and potential mechanisms

Kostholdsvariasjoner blant asiatiske innvandrere : Omfang, bakgrunn og forklaringer

Hva vet vi egentlig om norske innvandreres kostholdsvaner? Hvilke faktorer er med på å forme kostholdet hos en som innvandrer fra et land med andre mattradisjoner, normer og ideer om kosthold og tilgjengelige matvarer? Og hvor stor rolle spiller fødeland når det kommer til å forklare forskjeller i kosthold, i forhold til andre strukturelle eller demografiske forskjeller? Hva avgjør om en innvandrer i større eller mindre grad endrer kosthold etter å ha flyttet til Norge? Samfunnsmedisiner Bernadette Kumar oppsummerer at matvaner formes av ens etniske opprinnelse, kultur, religion, tilgang på matvarer, økonomi og personlige smak. Men hva innebærer dette? I denne oppgaven ser jeg nærmere på nettopp noen av disse faktorene, og hvilke konsekvenser de fører med seg. Problemstillingen for denne oppgaven er hvilke forskjeller finner vi blant ulike innvandrergrupper i deres kosthold, og hvordan disse forskjellene kan forklares. Jeg fokuserer på fem av de største innvandrergruppene i Norge - som alle har sin opprinnelse i asiatiske land, og svarer i oppgaven på fire relaterte forskningsspørsmål: Hvordan varierer kostholdet mellom majoritetsbefolkningen og innvandrergruppene? Hvilken betydning har sosioøkonomiske faktorer for forskjellene i kosthold mellom majoriteten og innvandrergruppene? Hvilken betydning har bosted for ulikhet i innvandreres kostholdsvaner? Hvilken betydning har integrering i majoritetssamfunnet for ulikhet blant innvandreres kostholdsvaner? svarer jeg på problemstillingen. Historisk har ikke sosiologer vært særlig opptatt av kosthold. Konkrete studier har vært forbeholdt mer etnologiske og antropologiske metoder. Forskjeller i kosthold hos majoritetsbefolkningen har etter hvert fått plass i den sosiologiske forskningslitteraturen, mens studier som ser på innvandreres kosthold fremdeles er svært begrenset. Det er flere gode grunner til å studere innvandreres kosthold. En grunn er konsekvensene kostholdet har individers helse. I fall det er store variasjoner i kosthold mellom innvandrergrupper og majoritetsbefolkningen kan dette bidra til ulikheter i helse mellom disse gruppene. Videre er store deler av forskningslitteraturen om kosthold blant innvandrere skrevet av samfunnsmedisinere eller ernæringsfysiologer, som legger mer vekt på kaloriinntak og mindre vekt på strukturelle faktorer. Sosiologer har på sin side vært mer opptatt av enten kostholdsulikhet eller innvandring. Det eksisterer altså få studier som omhandler innvandreres kosthold og eventuelle forskjeller til majoritetsbefolkningens kosthold. Innvandreres kosthold er også et interessant studieobjekt fordi kulturelle og religiøse verdier bidrar til å forme kosthold. Sett i lys av matens symbolske rolle, kan endringer i kosthold også være en indikator på graden av integrering i det norske samfunnet. Svarene på mine spørsmålene bidrar følgelig til å fylle et kunnskapshull om kostholdsforskjeller blant noen innvandrergrupper i Norge. Datagrunnlaget for oppgaven er Helseundersøkelsen i Oslo (2000) og Innvandrerundersøkelsen i Oslo (2001-2002). Dette gjør jeg ved å undersøke forskjeller mellom de fem gruppene og majoritetsbefolkningen etter både sosioøkonomiske, kulturelle og demografiske dimensjoner. Nettoutvalget inneholder innvandrere født i Tyrkia (n=581), Sri Lanka (n=1223), Iran (n=775), Pakistan (n=892), Vietnam (n=689) og et utvalg trukket fra majoritetsbefolkningen (n=16510). Felles for innvandrergruppene er at de er innvandrere fra lavinntektsland utenfor Europa, men det er ellers mange viktige skiller mellom dem. Resultatene viste at en negativ sammenheng mellom innvandrerbakgrunn og kosthold forsvant ved kontroll for sosioøkonomiske variabler. Lavstatuspersoner med innvandrerbakgrunn hadde et sunnere kosthold enn nordmenn med lik status, og utdanningsforskjellene i kosthold var størst i majoritetsbefolkningen. Områder øst i Oslo er negativt assosiert med sunne matvaner, og ved kontroll for bosted ble den positive forskjellen for innvandrergruppene ytterligere forsterket. Innvandrere som rapporterte om høy grad av integrering i majoritetssamfunnet spiste sunnere enn mindre integrerte innvandrere

Serum S-adenosylmethionine, but not methionine, increases in response to overfeeding in humans

Background: Plasma concentration of the methyl donor S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) is linearly associated with body mass index (BMI) and fat mass. As SAM is a high-energy compound and a sensor of cellular nutrient status, we hypothesized that SAM would increase with overfeeding. Methods: Forty normal to overweight men and women were overfed by 1250 kcal per day for 28 days. Results: Serum SAM increased from 106 to 130 nmol/l (P=0.006). In stratified analysis, only those with weight gain above the median (high-weight gainers; average weight gain 3.9±0.3 kg) had increased SAM (+42%, P=0.001), whereas low-weight gainers (weight gain 1.5±0.2 kg) did not (Pinteraction=0.018). Overfeeding did not alter serum concentrations of the SAM precursor, methionine or the products, S-adenosyl-homocysteine and homocysteine. The SAM/SAH (S-adenosylhomocysteine) ratio was unchanged in the total population, but increased in high-weight gainers (+52%, P=0.006, Pinteraction =0.005). Change in SAM correlated positively with change in weight (r=0.33, P=0.041) and fat mass (r=0.44, P=0.009), but not with change in protein intake or plasma methionine, glucose, insulin or low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol. Conclusion: Overfeeding raised serum SAM in proportion to the fat mass gained. The increase in SAM may help stabilize methionine levels, and denotes a responsiveness of SAM to nutrient state in humans. The role of SAM in human energy metabolism deserves further attention.A K Elshorbagy, F Jernerén, D Samocha-Bonet, H Refsum and L K Heilbron