Rethinking environmental peace-building in the context of resource extraction in Colombia

In this thesis I seek to explain the links between the governance of resources and the peace process in Colombia. To meet this aim, I explore the role of civil society movements in struggles related to extractive projects in the country. In a first section of the thesis, I explore how extractive operations tend to reinforce the previous dynamics of violence that inhibit the peace-building process, and explain that the government is purposively leaving out issues related to the extractive sector in the peace agreements. Secondly, I explain the role of civil society movements in contesting extractive projects and in advancing alternative paths for resource governance. I argue, that in contrast to the official commitment for peace, the alternative agendas on resource governance advanced by civil society movements contribute to the construction of long-term peace in the country. The movements’ chief claims include principles of food sovereignty and popular participation. In the chosen case study, which I analyze in the second section of the thesis, I address precisely the significance of a mechanism for popular democracy called consulta popular, i.e. local referendum on mining, in relation to “La Colosa” gold mining project. In exploring the significance of consulta popular I shed light on the factors that contribute, or not, to its implementation and legitimization. I show that the organization around a consulta popular contains some internal frictions, but overall, it unifies the civil-society movements committed in the mobilizations against “La Colosa”. I also explain that state and industry actors oppose the application of consultas populares on mining in an authoritarian manner, through legislative changes and threats to individuals. From my findings, I argue that the increased use of the democratic mechanism of consulta popular in Colombia in recent years, represents a local response to contrast the violence of extractive exploitation, and reflects civil society’s claims for enhanced social justice along the national process for peace. While the first section of the thesis relies mostly on secondary data, the second section is a result of four months fieldwork conducted in Colombia in 2015. Finally, a theoretical aim of this study is to further an encounter between the fields of resource governance and politics with peace and conflict studies. In particular, the study draws from these fields’ critical concepts, which give importance to issues of participation and to sub-national dynamics of governance, and places centrality to the concept of environmental peace-building.M-IE

Sammen er vi kirke med krutt! En empirisk studie av kirkelig ansatte som frivillighetsledere i tre menighetsstaber i Den norske kirke.

Problemstillingen for dette empiriske forskningsprosjektet er: Hvordan leder kirkelig ansatte de frivillige i menigheten? Studien tar utgangspunkt i en teoretisk modell for frivillighetsledelse som er utformet av Stephen Sirris (2015) med grunnlag i en verdibasert tradisjon (Selznick 1957) og en praksisorientert tradisjon (Mintzberg 1973 og 2009) innenfor ledelsesfaget. Datamaterialet er basert på tre gruppeintervjuer av utvalgte ansatte fra tre menighetsstaber innenfor Den norske kirke med god omtale når det gjelder frivillighetsarbeidet i deres menigheter. Undersøkelsen viser at de ansatte i disse menighetsstabene definerer seg selv som frivillighetsledere og at dette er noe de står sammen om å utøve. I dette ansvaret vektlegges involvering til frivillig engasjement og inkludering til medarbeiderskap. Fellesskapsverdier står sentralt og dette er grunnlaget for tittelen på oppgaven: «Sammen er vi kirke med krutt!». Studien indikerer også at rekrutteringsarbeidet har større fokus enn oppfølgingsarbeidet. Videre viser den at de ansatte utøver et faglig ansvar og at mesteparten av frivillighetsledelsen tyder til å skje i relasjon og samhandling med de frivillige medarbeiderne. Det pekes også på utfordringer knytt til forholdet mellom ferdigdefinerte oppgaver og anledningen til selv å definere sitt frivillige engasjement. Funnene er presentert i analysekapittelet og søkt forklart i drøftingskapittelet. Dette er gjort i lys av teori og tidligere forskning innenfor oppgavens tema om ledelse av frivillige medarbeidere. Avslutningen inneholder konklusjonen som besvarer problemstillingen og forskningsspørsmålene. Den inneholder også forslag til videre forskning og et utblikk med fem råd som er knyttet til praktiske implikasjoner ved frivilligheten og ledelsen av den

Allyl isothiocyanate inhibits actin mediated intracellular transport in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Volatile allyl isothiocyanate (AITC) derives from the biodegradation of the glucosinolate sinigrin and has been associated with growth inhibition in several plants, including the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. However, the underlying cellular mechanisms of this feature remain scarcely investigated in plants. In this study, we present evidence of an AITC-induced inhibition of actin-dependent intracellular transport in A. thaliana. A transgenic line of A. thaliana expressing yellow fluorescent protein (YFP)-tagged actin filaments was used to show attenuation of actin filament movement by AITC. This appeared gradually in a time- and dose-dependent manner and resulted in actin filaments appearing close to static. Further, we employed four transgenic lines with YFP-fusion proteins labeling the Golgi apparatus, endoplasmic reticulum (ER), vacuoles and peroxisomes to demonstrate an AITC-induced inhibition of actin-dependent intracellular transport of or, in these structures, consistent with the decline in actin filament movement. Furthermore, the morphologies of actin filaments, ER and vacuoles appeared aberrant following AITC-exposure. However, AITC-treated seedlings of all transgenic lines tested displayed morphologies and intracellular movements similar to that of the corresponding untreated and control-treated plants, following overnight incubation in an AITC-absent environment, indicating that AITC-induced decline in actin-related movements is a reversible process. These findings provide novel insights into the cellular events in plant cells following exposure to AITC, which may further expose clues to the physiological significance of the glucosinolate-myrosinase system© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons by Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

«Det finnes ikke vanskelige barn, bare barn som har det vanskelig» (Tønnessen, 2016, s.7).

Hensikten i denne studien er å undersøke det spesialpedagogiske arbeidet tilknyttet barnehagebarn som uttrykker krenkende atferd mot andre barn. Utgangspunktet er kapittel VIII om psykososialt barnehagemiljø i barnehageloven (Barnehageloven, 2005, §41). Det settes søkelys på vektlegging i arbeidet, spesialpedagogers forståelse og praksis. Masteroppgaven bygger på erfaringer, synspunkter og perspektiver av fire spesialpedagoger med arbeidserfaring innen barnehagefeltet. Dette ses i sammenheng med utvalgt teori, relevant forskning og politiske dokumenter. Her løftes frem ulike forståelser av barn, det spesialpedagogiske feltet, begrepet krenkelse og barns atferd og følelser. Tematikken er aktuell på bakgrunn av at det er barn i barnehagen med utfordringer knyttet til egen atferd som utfordrer omgivelsene og mottar vedtak om spesialpedagogisk hjelp (Nordahl, 2018, s.63). Datamaterialet i dette forskningsprosjektet ble innhentet gjennom en kvalitativ tilnærming, hvor det ble utført semi-strukturerte individuelle forskningsintervju av fire spesialpedagoger. Hvor jeg som forsker var ute etter å gå i dybden på informantenes forståelser, opplevelser og meninger i det spesialpedagogiske arbeidet med barn som uttrykker en krenkende atferd. Dette kommer fra ønsket om å øke egen kunnskap, forståelse og kompetanse for det spesialpedagogiske arbeidet og barn som uttrykker krenkende atferd i barnehagen. Hovedfunnene viser til at i det spesialpedagogiske arbeidet knyttet til barn som uttrykker en krenkende atferd mot andre barn i barnehagen, vektlegger spesialpedagoger systemperspektivet og det relasjonelle arbeidet. På bakgrunn av å se barnet i sammenheng med miljøet for å få oppfatte og forstå helheten. Videre er gode relasjoner med vekt på trygghet, anerkjennelse, mentalisering og egen voksenrolle grunnleggende i arbeidet. De empiriske funnene viser til at oppfatningen av krenkende atferd har noen fellestrekk, der betydningen av hvordan en ser og forstår barn har stor påvirkning. Forståelsen av krenkende atferd bygger på at barns atferdsuttrykk kommer fra et behov og en årsak som ligger bak. De empiriske funnene drøftes og tolkes i sammenheng med teorigrunnlaget.publishedVersio

Proteomic analysis reveals mechanisms underlying increased efficacy of bleomycin by photochemical internalization in bladder cancer cells

Photochemical internalization (PCI) is a promising new technology for site-specific drug delivery, developed from photodynamic therapy (PDT). In PCI, light-induced activation of a photosensitizer trapped inside endosomes together with e.g. chemotherapeutics, nucleic acids or immunotoxins, allows cytosolic delivery and enhanced local therapeutic effect. Here we have evaluated the photosensitizer meso-tetraphenyl chlorine disulphonate (TPCS2a/fimaporfin) in a proteome analysis of AY-27 rat bladder cancer cells in combination with the chemotherapeutic drug bleomycin (BML). We find that BLMPCI attenuates oxidative stress responses induced by BLM alone, while concomitantly increasing transcriptional repression and DNA damage responses. BLMPCI also mediates downregulation of bleomycin hydrolase (Blmh), which is responsible for cellular degradation of BLM, as well as several factors known to be involved in fibrotic responses. PCI-mediated delivery might thus allow reduced dosage of BLM and alleviate unwanted side effects from treatment, including pulmonary fibrosis.publishedVersionPaid open acces

Patient derived colonoids as drug testing platforms - Critical importance of oxygen concentration

Treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is challenging, with a series of available drugs each helping only a fraction of patients. Patients may face time-consuming drug trials while the disease is active, thus there is an unmet need for biomarkers and assays to predict drug effect. It is well known that the intestinal epithelium is an important factor in disease pathogenesis, exhibiting physical, biochemical and immunologic driven barrier dysfunctions. One promising test system to study effects of existing or emerging IBD treatments targeting intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) is intestinal organoids (“mini-guts”). However, the fact that healthy intestinal epithelium is in a physiologically hypoxic state has largely been neglected, and studies with intestinal organoids are mainly performed at oxygen concentration of 20%. We hypothesized that lowering the incubator oxygen level from 20% to 2% would recapitulate better the in vivo physiological environment of colonic epithelial cells and enhance the translational value of intestinal organoids as a drug testing platform. In the present study we examine the effects of the key IBD cytokines and drug targets TNF/IL17 on human colonic organoids (colonoids) under atmospheric (20%) or reduced (2%) O2. We show that colonoids derived from both healthy controls and IBD-patients are viable and responsive to IBD-relevant cytokines at 2% oxygen. Because chemokine release is one of the important immunoregulatory traits of the epithelium that may be fine-tuned by IBD-drugs, we also examined chemokine expression and release at different oxygen concentrations. We show that chemokine responses to TNF/IL17 in organoids display similarities to inflamed epithelium in IBD-patients. However, inflammation-associated genes induced by TNF/IL17 were attenuated at low oxygen concentration. We detected substantial oxygen-dependent differences in gene expression in untreated as well as TNF/IL17 treated colonoids in all donors. Further, for some of the IBD-relevant cytokines differences between colonoids from healthy controls and IBD patients were more pronounced in 2% O2 than 20% O2. Our results strongly indicate that an oxygen concentration similar to the in vivo epithelial cell environment is of essence in experimental pharmacology

ALKBH3 partner ASCC3 mediates P-body formation and selective clearance of MMS-induced 1-methyladenosine and 3-methylcytosine from mRNA

BACKGROUND: Reversible enzymatic methylation of mammalian mRNA is widespread and serves crucial regulatory functions, but little is known to what degree chemical alkylators mediate overlapping modifications and whether cells distinguish aberrant from canonical methylations. METHODS: Here we use quantitative mass spectrometry to determine the fate of chemically induced methylbases in the mRNA of human cells. Concomitant alteration in the mRNA binding proteome was analyzed by SILAC mass spectrometry. RESULTS: MMS induced prominent direct mRNA methylations that were chemically identical to endogenous methylbases. Transient loss of 40S ribosomal proteins from isolated mRNA suggests that aberrant methylbases mediate arrested translational initiation and potentially also no-go decay of the affected mRNA. Four proteins (ASCC3, YTHDC2, TRIM25 and GEMIN5) displayed increased mRNA binding after MMS treatment. ASCC3 is a binding partner of the DNA/RNA demethylase ALKBH3 and was recently shown to promote disassembly of collided ribosomes as part of the ribosome quality control (RQC) trigger complex. We find that ASCC3-deficient cells display delayed removal of MMS-induced 1-methyladenosine (m CONCLUSIONS: Our findings conform to a model in which ASCC3-mediated disassembly of collided ribosomes allows demethylation of aberrant

Brukbarhet og tilgjengelighet i mobile applikasjoner

Denne oppgaven omhandler mobile applikasjoner, både native applikasjoner og webapplikasjoner og deres brukbarhet satt i sammenheng med tilgjengelighet. Rundt dette tema blir det fokusert på forskjeller og likheter mellom native applikasjoner og webapplikasjoner. For å undersøke problemstillingene blir to forskjellige tjenester undersøkt nærmere: Google Maps og Yr. Til hver av tjenestene blir både en native applikasjon og en webapplikasjon undersøkt. Det er blitt utført intervju, heuristiske evalueringer og brukbarhetstester. På bakgrunn av funn gjort i denne oppgaven ble det oppdaget at webapplikasjonene ikke hadde like god brukbarhet som de native applikasjonene. Funn fra tilgjengelighetsevalueringen av en webapplikasjon viste at den ikke tilfredsstilte krav for at funksjonshemmede kan bruke tjenesten