What are we doing with the sticks in the wheels? : A qualitative study about what prevents pupils from reaching the knowledge requirements and what measures are taken to help them get there.

Denna studie är en kvalitativ studie där intervjuer genomförts för att kartlägga vilka hinder som gör att elever i årskurs 4–6 inte når kunskapskraven för de samhällsorienterade ämnena. Studien syftar även till att kartlägga vilka stödåtgärder som används för att elever i behov ska nå kunskapskraven. I studien har fyra lärare, en rektor samt huvudman varit informanter och de arbetar alla i samma kommun. Resultatet i studien visar att de hinder som informanter kan urskilja är bland annat språksvårigheter, koncentrationssvårigheter och avsaknad av föräldrastöd. Resultatet visar också att de åtgärder som eleverna får är exempelvis studiehandledning eller undervisning i mindre grupp

Teachers' perceptions and impressions of the forest and the city as a starting point for teaching biomimicry

The study aims at professional development directed towards finding new pathways in education for and in sustainable development. In this study, we consider the ways in which primary teachers from two schools in Gothenburg, Sweden, work with the forest and the urban environment as a learning environment. The teachers' descriptions are the basis for introducing biomimicry as a way to strengthen teaching in, and about, sustainable development. Biomimicry has the potential to bridge knowledge of forest ecological systems and how these can be imitated in human-made technological systems in the urban environment. The research questions that this study focuses on are what experiences and understanding of the two places, the urban area, and the forest, are in the foreground of teachers' reflections? In what ways does the collage method make visible teachers' relationships with the urban environment and the forest? The collage method was used to stimulate teachers’ reflection, conversation and writing about forests and urban areas learning environments, and about the forest and technical systems in the urban environment as teaching content. Data were collected when groups of 3-4 teachers in each group, first illustrated their experiences and understandings of the environments individually and secondly described their collage as a written text and in conversation with the group. The research project's potential to strengthen cooperation is based on the teachers' motivation for knowledge to develop their teaching in, and about, sustainable development and to use nearby forests and urban areas in a more in-depth way

The relationship between academic stress and autonomy, competence and relatedness

Rapporter har visat på ökad sjukskrivningsgrad bland akademiker samt att studenter generellt känner sig stressade. Syftet med denna studie var undersöka sambandet mellan stress kopplat till akademiska studier och de psykologiska behoven autonomi, kompetens och tillhörighet, utifrån Self-determination teorin. Studien genomfördes på 142 universitetsstudenter. För att mäta psykologiska behov användes Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction in General Scale (BPNS-G) och för att mäta stress användes delar av The Perception of Academic Stress Scale (PAS). Resultatet visar på signifikanta korrelationer mellan de psykologiska behoven och stress. Signifikanta skillnader mellan kön erhölls i samtliga stressfaktorer samt total stress. Kvinnor skattade sig lägre än män, vilket står i motsats till tidigare rapporter. Skillnaden i kön kan förklaras genom att stressen som universitetsstudenten upplever kommer från andra källor än den akademiska världen.Studies have shown on an increasing of sick leave among academics and that students feel stressed in general. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between stress connected to academic studies and the psychological needs from Self-determination theory. The study was made with 142 university students. For measuring the psychological needs Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction in General (BPNS-G) was used and for measuring stress parts of The Perception of Academic Stress Scale (PAS) were used. Results show a significant correlation between the psychological need and stress. Significant differences emerged between the sexes in all factors of stress and total stress. Women rated lower than men, which is on the contrary to previous reports. The difference between genders may be explained with that the stress experienced by the university student origin from sources outside the academic world

The relationship between academic stress and autonomy, competence and relatedness

Rapporter har visat på ökad sjukskrivningsgrad bland akademiker samt att studenter generellt känner sig stressade. Syftet med denna studie var undersöka sambandet mellan stress kopplat till akademiska studier och de psykologiska behoven autonomi, kompetens och tillhörighet, utifrån Self-determination teorin. Studien genomfördes på 142 universitetsstudenter. För att mäta psykologiska behov användes Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction in General Scale (BPNS-G) och för att mäta stress användes delar av The Perception of Academic Stress Scale (PAS). Resultatet visar på signifikanta korrelationer mellan de psykologiska behoven och stress. Signifikanta skillnader mellan kön erhölls i samtliga stressfaktorer samt total stress. Kvinnor skattade sig lägre än män, vilket står i motsats till tidigare rapporter. Skillnaden i kön kan förklaras genom att stressen som universitetsstudenten upplever kommer från andra källor än den akademiska världen.Studies have shown on an increasing of sick leave among academics and that students feel stressed in general. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between stress connected to academic studies and the psychological needs from Self-determination theory. The study was made with 142 university students. For measuring the psychological needs Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction in General (BPNS-G) was used and for measuring stress parts of The Perception of Academic Stress Scale (PAS) were used. Results show a significant correlation between the psychological need and stress. Significant differences emerged between the sexes in all factors of stress and total stress. Women rated lower than men, which is on the contrary to previous reports. The difference between genders may be explained with that the stress experienced by the university student origin from sources outside the academic world

Reproductive performance in high-producing dairy cows

Milk yields >10,000 kg/year are common in modern dairy production, owing to improved nutrition, management and genetic gains through use of progeny-tested bulls. However, reproductive performance has decreased worldwide in many cows with a high genetic potential for milk production, particularly in the Holstein breed. Moreover, cow robustness and longevity is also threatened by increasing stress, udder health disturbances and of locomotion disorders. Genetic global misuse of a narrow base of AI sires -including those selected for high milk yield but not consequently for health and reproductive traits- has not only contributed to these undesirable effects on animal health and welfare but, together with sub-optimal management, jeopardized the ethical and economical sustainability of modern dairy farming. This review describes the state-of-the-art of this multifaceted problem and advises on how to ameliorate it, since it is not seen as an unsolvable problem. Use of high-fertility sires, of balanced breeding programs with adequate trait measurements, diet optimization, design of buildings and management systems that best support reproduction as well as cross-breeding; are among short- and medium-term strategies. In a longer perspective, holistic- and trait-orientated research on interrelations between gene regulation of nutrition, lactation and stress is needed; aiming at identifying reliable and cheap markers to be used on-line and on-farm as recorders of genetic traits. Awaiting the full application of juvenile genomic selection, a wider inclusion of functional traits (fertility, health and longevity) and of product quality are mandatory for breeding programs in order to secure acceptable fertility, sustained milk production and the best welfare of dairy cows. Such strategies have proven successful in the Nordic countries and are being increasingly adopted by others

Flow Cytometric Assessment of Viability of Lactic Acid Bacteria

The viability of lactic acid bacteria is crucial for their applications as dairy starters and as probiotics. We investigated the usefulness of flow cytometry (FCM) for viability assessment of lactic acid bacteria. The esterase substrate carboxyfluorescein diacetate (cFDA) and the dye exclusion DNA binding probes propidium iodide (PI) and TOTO-1 were tested for live/dead discrimination using a Lactococcus, a Streptococcus, three Lactobacillus, two Leuconostoc, an Enterococcus, and a Pediococcus species. Plate count experiments were performed to validate the results of the FCM assays. The results showed that cFDA was an accurate stain for live cells; in exponential-phase cultures almost all cells were labeled, while 70°C heat-killed cultures were left unstained. PI did not give clear live/dead discrimination for some of the species. TOTO-1, on the other hand, gave clear discrimination between live and dead cells. The combination of cFDA and TOTO-1 gave the best results. Well-separated subpopulations of live and dead cells could be detected with FCM. Cell sorting of the subpopulations and subsequent plating on agar medium provided direct evidence that cFDA labels the culturable subpopulation and that TOTO-1 labels the nonculturable subpopulation. Applied to cultures exposed to deconjugated bile salts or to acid, cFDA and TOTO-1 proved to be accurate indicators of culturability. Our experiments with lactic acid bacteria demonstrated that the combination of cFDA and TOTO-1 makes an excellent live/dead assay with versatile applications