«Vi blir en sånn utstøtt gruppe til slutt...» Røykeres syn på egen røyking og denormaliseringsstrategier i tobakkspolitikken

Denne antologien belyser røykeres syn på egen røyking. I tillegg belyses røykernes erfaringer med tobakkspolitikkens denormaliseringsstrategier. Innledningsvis i antologien gjøres det rede for hva vi forstår med denormalisering av røyking og røykere (definering av røyking som uønsket atferd), og hvordan ideen om denormalisering har preget mye av tobakkskontrollarbeidet i Norge og i vesten forøvrig. Rapporten presenterer så fem empiriske analyser basert på røykernes selvforståelse: Karl Erik Lund viser i sin artikkel «Røykernes motstand til nye tobakksforebyggende tiltak» at en stor andel av dagens røykere er sterkt imot flere røykebegrensninger, særlig salgsbegrensninger for sigaretter. Motstanden er noe mindre når det gjelder nye adgangsbegrensninger. Rikke Iren Tokles studie «Av-og-til-røyking – en dobbeltdistinksjon? Avstand fra både dagligrøyking og ‘streite’ ikke-røykere» får fram hvordan røyken inngår i det sosiale livet til urbane unge voksne, og hvordan av-og-til-røyking kan sees som uttrykk for motstand mot både avhengighetsperspektivet som assosieres med dagligrøykere og ikke-røykernes helsefokus. I Ola Røed Bilgreis artikkel «Forsvar og motstand: Etablerte røykeres nøytraliserings- og motstandsteknikker i et tobakksfiendtlig samfunn», er det forsvaret for egen atferd og den eksplisitte motstanden mot reguleringer og myndigheter som er i fokus. Forsvaret består av nøytraliseringsteknikker for å nedtone helseplager og risiko, slik at røykingen framstår som mer legitim og rasjonell for den enkelte, mens motstanden innebærer problematisering av restriksjoner som virkemiddel og av hva som egentlig er «god helse»

Skader og problemer forbundet med bruk av alkohol, narkotika og tobakk

usmiddel- og tobakksbruk er forbundet med et bredt spekter av helseskader og sosiale problemer. Rapporten beskriver noen av de vanligste skadene og problemene knyttet til bruk/misbruk av de tre substansene alkohol, narkotika og tobakk. Vi har brukt ulike indikatorer – både basert på registerdata og data fra spørreundersøkelser – for å beskrive omfanget av rusmiddel- og tobakksrelaterte skader og problemer her i Norge. Vi kan likevel ikke gi et helt dekkende bilde. For bedre å kunne beskrive omfanget av de mange ulike skadene og problemene knyttet til bruk av forskjellige substanser, og å følge utviklingen på området over tid, er det behov for å arbeide videre med å utvikle gode indikatorer på utbredelsen. Vi ser nærmere på tre former for sosiale problemer (først og fremst knyttet til bruk av alkohol og narkotika): vold, barn som lider under foreldres rusmiddelmisbruk og negative konsekvenser for arbeidslivet. Felles for disse problemene er at de rammer andre enn dem som inntar substansene. I tillegg til å se de ulike substansene hver for seg, spør vi hvilke av de tre substansområdene alkohol, narkotika og tobakk som medfører størst belastning for samfunnet. De helsemessige konsekvensene kan blant annet uttrykkes i form av noen enkle mål som dødsfall og tap av friske leveår. Slike mål tyder på at tobakk står for en større andel av sykdomsbyrden i høyinntektsland (som Norge) enn det alkohol gjør, som igjen står for en større andel enn narkotika. Når det gjelder de sosiale konsekvensene, har vi vesentlig dårligere grunnlag for å sammenligne den relative betydningen av de ulike substansene. Det kan imidlertid se ut til at alkoholbruk utgjør en viktigere faktor i voldsutøvelse enn hva narkotikabruk gjør. Flere barn, partnere og andre nære pårørende vil, på grunn av større utbredelse, også rammes av alkoholmisbruk enn av narkotikamisbru

On the existence of weak solutions to stochastic Volterra equations

The existence of weak solutions is established for stochastic Volterra equations with time-inhomogeneous coefficients allowing for general kernels in the drift and convolutional or bounded kernels in the diffusion term. The presented approach is based on a newly formulated local martingale problem associated to stochastic Volterra equations.Comment: 13 page

Stochastic Volterra equations with H\"older diffusion coefficients

The existence of strong solutions and pathwise uniqueness are established for stochastic Volterra equations with H\"older continuous diffusion coefficients and sufficiently regular kernels. Moreover, we study the sample path regularity, the integrability and the semimartingale property of solutions to stochastic Volterra equations.Comment: 23 page

Standardised snus packaging reduces brand differentiation: a web-based between-subject experiment

publishedVersio

Well-posedness of stochastic Volterra equations with non-Lipschitz coefficients

The main focus of this doctoral thesis is to consider stochastic Volterra equations (SVEs), where the diffusion coeffcients are only Hölder continuous of order 1/2, and to prove well-posedness results for these equations, i.e. that they possess a pathwise unique strong solution. We start with the well-posedness for SVEs with suffciently regular kernels by proving strong existence and pathwise uniqueness directly by adapting techniques from the well- known theory for stochastic differential equations (SDEs). Afterwards, we consider more general kernels including singular kernels and introduce a general Volterra local martingale problem. Using this, we are able to prove the weak existence of solutions to SVEs with continuous coeffcients and with regular or convolutional, possibly singular, diffusion kernels. Next, and constituting the major part of this thesis, we consider explicitly SVEs with the fractional kernel K(s, t) = (t−s)−α, where α ∈ [0, 1/2), in the drift and the diffusion, and prove pathwise uniqueness for these equations under a mild condition on the relationship of the intensity of the singularity of the kernels, i.e. on α, and the Hölder regularity of the diffusion coeffcient. Together with the weak existence, this implies the well-posedness of the equation by the famous Yamada-Watanabe theorem. To round off the work, we look at two more interesting topics. First, we introduce the class of Mean-field stochastic Volterra equations which merge two generalizations of classical SDEs, both of which have received a lot of attention recently, namely SVEs and mean-field SDEs, also referred to as McKean-Vlasov SDEs. For these equations, we prove the well-posedness and a quantitative, pointwise propagation of chaos result of Volterra-type systems of interacting particles. We do that in two settings, firstly, for finite-dimensional equations with general kernels and Lipschitz continuous coeffcients, and secondly, for one-dimensional equations with regular or convolutional kernels and up to 1/2-Hölder continuous diffusion coeffcients. Last, we introduce neural stochastic Volterra equations (neural SVEs) which is a model that is able to learn the dynamics of an SVE by a deep learning structure, inspired by the recently emerged model of neural SDEs

Evaluering av forbud mot synlig oppstilling av tobakksvarer

Nummer: 2-2011 Tilknyttede prosjekter Tobak

The green shift? Narratives of changing cannabis policies and identity-work among Norwegian adolescents

Recent years have seen a growing public debate concerning the political regulation of cannabis products, substantiated by a multitude of competing narratives about the effects of various policies. However, little is known about how these ongoing discussions influence the meaning-making of cannabis use within wider contemporary youth cultures. Based on interviews with 80 Norwegian adolescents aged 16–17 years, this study explores narratives of changing cannabis policies and the type of work that these stories do in adolescents’ identity-work. The analysis illustrates that the participants relied on several narrative frameworks that were characteristic of the drug political discourse. Interlinked with two contrasting political identities – the progressive and the conservative – the adolescents presented stories of how various regulatory reforms would either increase or decrease levels of cannabis use, as well as discussions of relative drug harms, and how reforms would potentially lead to negative or positive health outcomes. As such, these political narratives not only informed the young people’s understandings of cannabis use, but also helped to position them within their broader social, cultural, and political surroundings. The study demonstrates how adolescents make selective use of the drug-political narratives that circulate within contemporary society to negotiate issues of personal identity.publishedVersio

The effects of continuous vs. intermittent prism adaptation protocols for treating visuospatial neglect: A randomized controlled trial

Contains fulltext : 240306.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access)Visuospatial neglect may interfere with activities of daily living (ADL). Prism adaptation (PA) is one treatment option and may involve two components: recalibration (more strategic) and realignment (more implicit). We examined whether recalibration or realignment is the driving force in neglect rehabilitation using PA. In a randomized controlled trial with two recruitment series and a cross-over design, 24 neglect patients were allocated to a continuous (PA-c) or intermittent (PA-i) PA procedure. During the PA-c condition, goggles were worn without doffing. In the PA-i condition, patients donned goggles twice (first series of patients) or three times (second series) during training to induce more recalibrations. Primary outcome parameters were performance (omissions) on the Apples Cancellation Test and ADL scores. To assess the efficacy of the PA treatment, we compared effect sizes of the current study with those from three groups from previous studies at the same rehabilitation unit: (1) a passive treatment with a similar intensity, (2) a placebo treatment with a similar intensity, and (3) a PA treatment with fewer therapy sessions. Treatment conditions did not significantly predict scores on primary and most secondary outcome parameters. However, the spontaneous ipsilesional body orientation improved only in patients receiving the PA-i condition and this improvement also appeared in patients showing a strong after-effect (irrespective of condition). Effect sizes for the Apples Cancellation Test and the Functional Independence Measure were larger for both PA treatment protocols than the historical control groups. We conclude that more recalibrations during an intermittent PA treatment may have a beneficial effect on spontaneous body orientation but not on other aspects of neglect or on ADL performance. Clinical Trial Registration: German Clinical Trials Register, identifier: DRKS00018813, DRKS00021539.15 p

Plain packaging: Legislative differences in Australia, France, the UK, New Zealand and Norway, and options for strengthening regulations

Introduction By July 2018, five countries (Australia, France, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Norway) had fully implemented plain (standardised) packaging. Methods Using government documents, we reviewed the key legislative differences between these five countries to identify best practice measures and potential lacuna. We then discuss how governments planning to introduce plain packaging could strengthen their legislation. Results Differences between countries include the terminology used (either ‘plain’, ‘standardised’, or ‘plain and standardised’), products covered, and transition times (ranging from two to twelve months). Myriad differences exist with respect to the packaging, including the dimensions (explicitly stated for height, width and depth vs minimum dimensions for the health warnings only), structure (straight-edged flip-top packs vs straight, rounded and bevelled-edged flip-top packs and shoulder boxes) and size (minimum number of cigarettes and weight of tobacco vs fixed amounts), and warning content (e.g. inclusion of a stop-smoking web address and/or quitline displayed on warnings on one or both principal display areas). Future options that merit further analysis include banning colour descriptors in brand and variant names, allowing pack inserts promoting cessation, and permitting cigarettes that are designed to be dissuasive. Conclusions Plain packaging legislation and regulations are divergent. Countries moving towards plain packaging should consider incorporating the strengths of existing policies and review opportunities for extending these. While plain packaging represents a milestone in tobacco control policy, future legislation need not simply reflect the past but could set new benchmarks to maximise the potential benefits of this policy