"Are you giving yourself to me to make a self?": Sacrifice, Pronoun Shifts, and the Creation of Self in H. D.'s Prose Works

Experimental shifts between first-, second-, and third-person narration continuously create and destroy the narrative self in H. D.’s prose. These shifts signify movement between various levels of self-consciousness or various levels of experiencing the self by dissolving the borders of the narrator. H. D.’s novels describe the intricacies of searching for the self and the apparent paradox of finding it precisely when it has been given up or sacrificed. Paradoxically, the self needs to be destroyed in order to be recreated. Moreover, her narrative pronoun shifts show that the self needs to be immersed in a larger, shared experience of intersubjectivity to grow and develop, even though this means that the borders of the self lose definition. In this way, H. D. not only navigates the winding road of self-development, but also explores what it means to share universal experiences, primarily those of sacrifice and destruction. H. D.’s works in general are often read as autobiographical and primarily relevant as a key to understanding the lives of herself and her contemporaries. This article shows how H. D.’s use of pronoun shifts indicates a concern with her own subjective experiences, but also with intersubjectivity and shared experiences across time and space. Using experiments with pronoun shifts, H. D. shows how personal narratives become universal and how universal narratives become personal, thereby creating autobiographical works that are relevant in a broader context

De unionsrättsliga skydden mot åldersdiskriminering i arbetslivet

Utvecklingen inom området för jämställdhet- och antidiskrimineringsarbete på arbetsmarknaden har under de senaste åren varit mycket intensiv. Från de vid Romfördraget allmänna skydden mot könsdiskriminering har bestämmelserna utvidgats till att gälla en lång rad faktorer och preferenser. Efter Amsterdamfördragets ikraftträdande tillkom bl.a. skydden mot åldersdiskriminering genom det år 2000 publicerade »arbetslivsdirektivet». Men skydden mot just åldersdiskriminering står fortfarande inför en lång rad utmaningar, särskilt då de till skillnad från många av de övriga diskrimineringsgrunderna fortfarande inte är lika förankrade i rättspraxis. Skydden utgör även en särställning då de dels inbegriper en kronologisk preferens som de facto riktar sig till alla arbetstagare, samt dels även utgör flest möjligheter till undantag genom bl.a. så kallad »befogad särbehandling». Ett effektivt skydd mot diskriminering i arbetslivet kräver främst en god förankring i rättskällorna och dess praxis. Men det kräver även en hög grad av medvetande hos den gemene arbetstagaren för att denne skall kunna känna till- och åberopa sina rättigheter. Detta har, som ovan nämnts, visat sig inte helt enkelt vid skydden mot åldersdiskriminering. Vid en brist på förankring i rättspraxis uppkommer då frågor såsom vilka möjligheter en arbetstagare har att komma i åtnjutande av skydden och vilka vägar han måste ta för att nå dit. I den här uppsatsen utreder jag vilka möjligheter en arbetstagare har att åberopa de unionsrättsliga skydden mot åldersdiskriminering i arbetslivet, främst då hans land inte implementerat de av EU uppställda kraven. Uppsatsen behandlar inledningsvis en allmän överblick över rättssystemet, rättskällorna och de förutsättningar som unionsrätten står inför efter Amsterdamfördraget. Därefter behandlar uppsatsen perspektiv på rättsreglernas syften och ändamål, för att slutligen applicera dessa på rådande praxis för att utreda de möjligheter som finns att göra skydden gällande mot bakgrund av reglerna om direkt- och indirekt effekt

Low socioeconomic status relates to asthma and wheeze, especially in women

Low socioeconomic status (SES) has been associated with asthma and wheezing. Occupational group, educational level and income are commonly used indicators for SES, but no single indicator can illustrate the entire complexity of SES. The aim was to investigate how different indicators of SES associate with current asthma, allergic and nonallergic, and asthmatic wheeze. In 2016, a random sample of the population aged 20–79 years in Northern Sweden were invited to a postal questionnaire survey, with 58% participating (n=6854). The survey data were linked to the national Integrated Database for Labour Market Research by Statistics Sweden for the previous calendar year, 2015. Included SES indicators were occupation, educational level and income. Manual workers had increased risk for asthmatic wheeze, and manual workers in service for current asthma, especially allergic asthma. Primary school education associated with nonallergic asthma, whereas it tended to be inversely associated with allergic asthma. Low income was associated with asthmatic wheeze. Overall, the findings were more prominent among women, and interaction analyses between sex and income revealed that women, but not men, with low income had an increased risk both for asthmatic wheeze and current asthma, especially allergic asthma. To summarise, the different indicators of socioeconomic status illustrated various aspects of associations between low SES and asthma and wheeze, and the most prominent associations were found among women.Peer reviewe

Occupation, socioeconomic status and chronic obstructive respiratory diseases - The EpiLung study in Finland, Estonia and Sweden

Objective: To study occupational groups and occupational exposure in association with chronic obstructive respiratory diseases. Methods: In early 2000s, structured interviews on chronic respiratory diseases and measurements of lung function as well as fractional expiratory nitric oxide (FENO) were performed in adult random population samples of Finland, Sweden and Estonia. Occupations were categorized according to three classification systems. Occupational exposure to vapours, gases, dusts and fumes (VGDF) was assessed by a Job-Exposure Matrix (JEM). The data from the countries were combined. Results: COPD, smoking and occupational exposure were most common in Estonia, while asthma and occupations requiring higher educational levels in Sweden and Finland. In an adjusted regression model, non-manual workers had a three-fold risk for physician-diagnosed asthma (OR 3.18, 95%CI 1.07-9.47) compared to professionals and executives, and the risk was two-fold for healthcare & social workers (OR 2.28, 95%CI 1.14-4.59) compared to administration and sales. An increased risk for physician-diagnosed COPD was seen in manual workers, regardless of classification system, but in contrast to asthma, the risk was mostly explained by smoking and less by occupational exposure to VGDF. For FENO, no associations with occupation were observed. Conclusions: In this multicenter study from Finland, Sweden and Estonia, COPD was consistently associated with manual occupations with high smoking prevalence, highlighting the need to control for tobacco smoking in studies on occupational associations. In contrast, asthma tended to associate with non-manual occupations requiring higher educational levels. The occupational associations with asthma were not driven by eosinophilic inflammation presented by increased FENO. Keywords: Asthma; COPD; Fraction of exhaled nitric oxide (FENO); Occupational exposure; Smoking; Socioeconomic status.Peer reviewe

Sociala bestämningsfaktorer och astma : populationsbaserade studier av astma och luftvägssymtom i relation till yrke, yrkesmässig exponering och socioekonomisk status

Background: Asthma is one of the most common chronic obstructive airway diseases among children and adults, with a prevalence between 6-11% in European countries. It is also the most common work-related occupational respiratory disease. There are different methods to classify occupational exposure and, even though there is no clear consensus on which method is the most accurate, the single-item question on exposure to the composite measure vapour, gas, dust or fumes (VGDF) is commonly used in epidemiological research. Low socioeconomic status is associated with asthma and also behavioural factors such as smoking and over-weight, which by themselves are risk factors for asthma. Socioeconomic status is, however, truly a multifaceted concept and using only one measure does not encompass its entire effect on health-related outcomes. Asthma does also have a negative impact on the quality of life among adolescents: they report less physical fitness compared to their peers and more school absenteeism due to respiratory symptoms. Still, research on whether childhood asthma has any impact on socioeconomic status in young adulthood is scarce. Aim: The overall aim is to study social determinants of health such as socioeconomic status, occupation and occupational exposure and their relationship with asthma and respiratory symptoms among adults and further, to evaluate if asthma during childhood or adolescence is associated with social determinants in young adulthood. Method: This thesis includes four papers based on data from the Obstructive Lung Disease in Northern Sweden (OLIN) studies. Papers I-III are cross-sectional studies among adults; a structured interview from clinical examinations between 2002-04 (paper I, n=4036) and postal questionnaire surveys from 2006 (paper II, n=9992) and 2016 (paper III, n=6854) with the addition of register-based data in paper III. Paper IV is a longitudinal prospective cohort study; the first OLIN paediatric cohort followed from 7 to 19 years of age and a postal questionnaire follow-up at ages 27-28 in 2015 (n=2017). Asthma was defined as physician diagnosis (paper I) together with respiratory symptoms (paper II-IV) or use of asthma medication (paper IV). In paper IV asthma was further categorized based on age of onset and p v and adolescence. Main or longest held occupation was used to categorize occupational and socioeconomic groups. In papers III and IV additional measures of socioeconomic status were included; educational level (papers III and IV) and income (paper III). In all papers, occupational exposure to vapour and/or gas, dust and fumes (VGDF or GDF) were taken into consideration and in paper I further divided into subgroups based on a detailed questionnaire on occupational exposure. Results: In paper I we found that the association between occupational exposure to VGDF and asthma and rhinitis was driven by the component of chemicals rather than dusts. In paper II, the ISCO-based manual Swedish Standard Classification of Occupations (SSYK) and the manual Socioeconomic classification (SEI), could both identify occupational and socioeconomic groups at risk for respiratory symptoms and asthma, while the older ISCO-based manual Nordic Classification of Occupations (NYK) was not as sensitive. In paper III, behavioural risk factors for respiratory symptoms and asthma such as smoking and obesity and, occupational exposure to GDF were associated with low educational level. Interaction analyses between income level and sex revealed different patterns among women and men. Among women, low income was associated with all respiratory symptoms as well as asthma, while among men only with productive cough. In paper IV, early onset asthma was associated with lower educational level in young adulthood, especially not continuing after compulsory school. Further, those with asthma during childhood or adolescence did not seem to refrain from smoking at age 19, nor did they as young adults seem to avoid occupations with known or expected exposure to GDF. Conclusions: Increased automation in industries have decreased the number of manual workers in industries with typically dirty tasks, meaning that the interrelationships between the subgroups included in VGDF may have changed. This may also affect the meaning of occupational exposure to VGDF, at least with regard to asthma and rhinitis, and according to our findings exposure to the component of chemicals may be the most important. We also found that the use of an ISCO-based manual (SSYK) as well as socioeconomic classification based on job-title (SEI) can be useful and easily applicable tools to identify occupational and socioeconomic groups at risk for respiratory symptoms and asthma. Further, low socioeconomic status is associated with respiratory vi symptoms and asthma. It seems as these associations relies more on low income than low educational level. Low educational level as well as low income are furthermore related to known behavioural risk factors for respiratory symptoms and asthma such as obesity, smoking and, also potentially modifiable risk factors as occupational exposure to gas dust or fumes. Having a persisting asthma since childhood is associated with lower educational level as a young adult. This may, in turn, be related with behavioural risk factors as discussed above and, there were no indications that those with child or adolescent asthma refrained from smoking at age 19. Neither did they in young adulthood avoid occupations with known or expected exposure to gas, dust or fumes, such as manufacturing, construction and transportation work. To conclude, our results indicate a vicious circle with regard to the relationship between the studied social determinants of health and asthma and respiratory symptoms.Ytterligare forskningsfinansiärer:Avtal om läkarutbildning och forskning (ALF), ett avtal mellan Umeå Universitet och Region VästerbottenKonsul Th C Berghs StiftelseRegion Blekinge</p

Sociala bestämningsfaktorer och astma : populationsbaserade studier av astma och luftvägssymtom i relation till yrke, yrkesmässig exponering och socioekonomisk status

Background: Asthma is one of the most common chronic obstructive airway diseases among children and adults, with a prevalence between 6-11% in European countries. It is also the most common work-related occupational respiratory disease. There are different methods to classify occupational exposure and, even though there is no clear consensus on which method is the most accurate, the single-item question on exposure to the composite measure vapour, gas, dust or fumes (VGDF) is commonly used in epidemiological research. Low socioeconomic status is associated with asthma and also behavioural factors such as smoking and over-weight, which by themselves are risk factors for asthma. Socioeconomic status is, however, truly a multifaceted concept and using only one measure does not encompass its entire effect on health-related outcomes. Asthma does also have a negative impact on the quality of life among adolescents: they report less physical fitness compared to their peers and more school absenteeism due to respiratory symptoms. Still, research on whether childhood asthma has any impact on socioeconomic status in young adulthood is scarce. Aim: The overall aim is to study social determinants of health such as socioeconomic status, occupation and occupational exposure and their relationship with asthma and respiratory symptoms among adults and further, to evaluate if asthma during childhood or adolescence is associated with social determinants in young adulthood. Method: This thesis includes four papers based on data from the Obstructive Lung Disease in Northern Sweden (OLIN) studies. Papers I-III are cross-sectional studies among adults; a structured interview from clinical examinations between 2002-04 (paper I, n=4036) and postal questionnaire surveys from 2006 (paper II, n=9992) and 2016 (paper III, n=6854) with the addition of register-based data in paper III. Paper IV is a longitudinal prospective cohort study; the first OLIN paediatric cohort followed from 7 to 19 years of age and a postal questionnaire follow-up at ages 27-28 in 2015 (n=2017). Asthma was defined as physician diagnosis (paper I) together with respiratory symptoms (paper II-IV) or use of asthma medication (paper IV). In paper IV asthma was further categorized based on age of onset and p v and adolescence. Main or longest held occupation was used to categorize occupational and socioeconomic groups. In papers III and IV additional measures of socioeconomic status were included; educational level (papers III and IV) and income (paper III). In all papers, occupational exposure to vapour and/or gas, dust and fumes (VGDF or GDF) were taken into consideration and in paper I further divided into subgroups based on a detailed questionnaire on occupational exposure. Results: In paper I we found that the association between occupational exposure to VGDF and asthma and rhinitis was driven by the component of chemicals rather than dusts. In paper II, the ISCO-based manual Swedish Standard Classification of Occupations (SSYK) and the manual Socioeconomic classification (SEI), could both identify occupational and socioeconomic groups at risk for respiratory symptoms and asthma, while the older ISCO-based manual Nordic Classification of Occupations (NYK) was not as sensitive. In paper III, behavioural risk factors for respiratory symptoms and asthma such as smoking and obesity and, occupational exposure to GDF were associated with low educational level. Interaction analyses between income level and sex revealed different patterns among women and men. Among women, low income was associated with all respiratory symptoms as well as asthma, while among men only with productive cough. In paper IV, early onset asthma was associated with lower educational level in young adulthood, especially not continuing after compulsory school. Further, those with asthma during childhood or adolescence did not seem to refrain from smoking at age 19, nor did they as young adults seem to avoid occupations with known or expected exposure to GDF. Conclusions: Increased automation in industries have decreased the number of manual workers in industries with typically dirty tasks, meaning that the interrelationships between the subgroups included in VGDF may have changed. This may also affect the meaning of occupational exposure to VGDF, at least with regard to asthma and rhinitis, and according to our findings exposure to the component of chemicals may be the most important. We also found that the use of an ISCO-based manual (SSYK) as well as socioeconomic classification based on job-title (SEI) can be useful and easily applicable tools to identify occupational and socioeconomic groups at risk for respiratory symptoms and asthma. Further, low socioeconomic status is associated with respiratory vi symptoms and asthma. It seems as these associations relies more on low income than low educational level. Low educational level as well as low income are furthermore related to known behavioural risk factors for respiratory symptoms and asthma such as obesity, smoking and, also potentially modifiable risk factors as occupational exposure to gas dust or fumes. Having a persisting asthma since childhood is associated with lower educational level as a young adult. This may, in turn, be related with behavioural risk factors as discussed above and, there were no indications that those with child or adolescent asthma refrained from smoking at age 19. Neither did they in young adulthood avoid occupations with known or expected exposure to gas, dust or fumes, such as manufacturing, construction and transportation work. To conclude, our results indicate a vicious circle with regard to the relationship between the studied social determinants of health and asthma and respiratory symptoms.Ytterligare forskningsfinansiärer:Avtal om läkarutbildning och forskning (ALF), ett avtal mellan Umeå Universitet och Region VästerbottenKonsul Th C Berghs StiftelseRegion Blekinge</p

Lärares uppfattning om att undervisa elever med lindrig intellektuell funktionsnedsättning i förskoleklass och i grundskolan år 7–9

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka lärares föreställningar om undervisning av elever med lindrig intellektuell funktionsnedsättning i förskoleklass och i år 7-9. I vår strävan efter att förstå och studera föreställningar har vi valt en kvalitativ ansats med semistrukturerade intervjuer som metod. Sammantaget har tolv semistrukturerade intervjuer genomförts. Insamlade data har presenterats under lämplig temarubrik med tillhörande underrubrik och analys har sedan gjorts med stöd av det relationella perspektivet, det kategoriska perspektivet och dilemmaperpektivet. Resultatet visade hur lärares kompetens, erfarenheter och inställning påverkar deras upplevelse av att undervisa elever med IF och hur vitt skilda upplevelserna kan vara. Vidare framkom i studien vad lärare ser som viktigt att tänka på i undervisning samt hur många lärare ser grundsärskolan som den plats där elever med IF får en undervisning anpassad efter deras behov. Betydelsen av stöd till lärare framträdde tydligt, därmed även speciallärarens/specialpedagogens betydelse för lyckad integrering eller inkludering av elever med IF. Inkluderingstanken måste synas i beslut, organisation och resursfördelning för att god undervisning och omsorg ska kunna existera

From Paper to Pixel : A Study on How the National Board of Housing, Building and Planning's Proposed Regulations on the Digitalization of Comprehensive Plans Affect Municipalities

I en tid av digitalisering kan det vara svårt att hitta rätt. Den sittande regeringen bedriver en digitaliseringspolitik med det övergripande målet att Sverige ska vara bäst i världen på att använda digitaliseringens möjligheter. I förlängningen innebär detta en ökad statlig styrning och kommunerna tvingas navigera bland styrsignalerna. I februari 2023 beslutade regeringen om en ändring i plan- och byggförordningen som innebär att alla nya översikts- och regionplaner som påbörjas från och med 1 januari 2027 måste vara digitala. Till följd av detta arbetar Boverket med att precisera kraven för att stötta kommuner i omställningen till digitala planer. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur omställningen till digitala översiktsplaner påverkar kommuner samt de potentiella konsekvenser Boverkets förslag på föreskrifter kan innebära. Den valda metoden består av två kvalitativa metoder; dokumentstudier samt intervjuer. Vidare användes tre teoretiska angrepp för att analysera resultatet. Dessa är ‘statlig styrning över kommuner’, ‘urban norm’ och ‘översiktsplanens roll som strategiskt dokument’. I resultatet samlas studiens innehåll i fem teman som exemplifieras med hjälp av de kommuner som intervjuats. Dessa teman är ‘allmän syn på digitalisering’, ‘resurssvaga kommuner och ekonomiska utmaningar’, ‘skynda långsamt’, ‘föreskrifterna inte anpassade för alla’ samt ‘översiktsplanens syfte kan urholkas’. Vidare i analysen identifieras utmaningar som kan uppstå hos mindre kommuner när den statliga styrningen ökar. Boverkets förslag på föreskrifter för översiktsplan är svårt att applicera i många av landets kommuner och det finns även åsikter kring tidsplanen, att ‘skynda långsamt’ benämns som ett alternativ. Föreskrifterna bedöms även utgå från ett urbant perspektiv vilket kan skapa onödigt stora hinder för redan resurssvaga kommuner i rurala miljöer. Det framgår också att föreskrifternas nuvarande form riskerar att förändra översiktsplaneringen i sig. Syftet riskeras att urholkas till följd av att Boverket tycks lägga fokus på kartläggning, när kommunerna vill använda översiktsplanen som ett verktyg för framtida planering. Studien sammanfattas i att översiktsplanerna kommer att behöva ha ett digitalt format, men det är ännu oklart hur omställningen kommer att ske. Om Boverkets förslag fastställs i sin exakta form väntar troligtvis stora konsekvenser, men med tanke på den kritik som föreligger är den preliminära bedömningen att föreskrifterna får en ny utformning.In a time of digitalization it can be hard to find the right way forward. The now ruling government in Sweden is running a digitalization policy with the overall goal that Sweden should be the best in the world to use the possibilities of digitalization. By extension, this means an increased state governance and that the municipalities of Sweden have to navigate amongst the governing signals. In February 2023 the government ruled for a change in the Planning and Building Ordinance which means that all of the new comprehensive and regional plans that are started as of 1st of January 2027 must be digital. Following this, the Swedish National Board of Housing, Building and Planning is currently working on specifying the demands in order to support the municipalities in the adaptation to digital plans.  The purpose of the study is to investigate how this adaptation into digital comprehensive plans affects municipalities and also the potential consequences the proposal for regulations made by the Swedish National Board of Housing, Building and Planning might have. The chosen method is two qualitative methods; document studies and interviews. Onward three theoretical approaches were used in order to analyze the result. These are ‘state governance over municipalities’, ‘urban norm’, and ‘the comprehensive plan’s role as a strategic document’. In the result the content from the study is gathered into five discourses that are exemplified with the help of the municipalities that were interviewed. The discourses used are ‘the general view of digitalization’, ‘resourcefully weak municipalities and economic challenges’, ‘rush slowly’, ‘the regulations not adapted to everyone’ and ‘the purpose of the comprehensive plan can hollow out’.  Furthermore in the analysis potential challenges that can arise with smaller municipalities when the state governance increases. The Swedish National Board of Housing, Building and Planning’s proposal for regulations for comprehensive plans are hard to apply in many of the country's municipalities and there are also opinions regarding the time plan for implementing the said regulations, where ‘rush slowly’ is mentioned as an alternative. The regulations are also deemed to proceed from an urban perspective which can create unnecessary large obstacles for already resourcefully weak municipalities in rural environments. It also appears that the regulations in its currently proposed form are at risk of changing comprehensive planning in itself, into a completely other form of planning process. The purpose of this type of planning is at risk of hollowing out following the fact that the Swedish National Board of Housing, Building and Planning seems to be putting a lot of focus on mapping, when the municipalities want to use the comprehensive plan as a tool for future planning.  The study summarizes that future comprehensive plans will have to take on a digital format, but it is still unclear regarding how this adaptation will happen. If the proposal from the Swedish National Board of Housing, Building and Planning is determined in its current form, large consequences are probably to be expected. With regards to the critique at hand, the preliminary assessment is that the regulations will take on another shape

- Det är som att lägga ett pussel! : En studie om muntlig kommunikation i matematikundervisningen

Syftet med studien var att beskriva och analysera den muntliga kommunikationen under några matematiklektioner. Syftet var även att beskriva och analysera den muntliga kommunikationen ur ett elevperspektiv. Vår utgångspunkt var att ta reda på mer, samt få en fördjupad förståelse för hur elever upplever den muntliga kommunikationen i matematikundervisningen. För att uppfylla vårt syfte har en kvalitativ ansats använts. Vi har genomfört en fallstudie som bygger på två observationer samt fyra fokusgruppsintervjuer där totalt tolv elever deltagit. Även enskilda intervjuer med läraren utfördes som validering på det som framkommit under observationerna. Vi har bearbetat och analyserat studiens resultat utifrån ett sociokulturellt perspektiv på lärande. Studien synliggör klassrumsklimatets betydelse, där läraren spelar en avgörande roll. I resultatet framkom tydligt lärarens uppgift att möjliggöra situationer där muntlig kommunikation förekommer, samt vikten av genomtänkt indelning av grupper där matematik diskuteras. Detta visade sig vara en avgörande faktor för om elever i matematiksvårigheter är delaktiga i den muntliga kommunikationen eller ej. Samtliga elever i studien var eniga om att de utvecklas matematiskt tillsammans med andra, då de får ta del av varandras tankar och idéer samt sätta ord på sina egna matematiska lösningar. Litteraturen lyfter också kommunikationen samt samarbetet med någon som kan lite mer matematik som en avgörande faktor för att elever ska utvecklas i sin proximala utvecklingszon och nå en högre utvecklingsnivå