“We just knew that we had to be a part of it” ‒ The Youth Olympic Games as a catalyst for social innovation

Article 1 has been removed from the digital version due to lack of permission from the publisher. It can be read in International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1504/IJSMM.2017.087438, or in the printed version of the thesis.Denne avhandlingen undersøker hvordan frivillig arbeid ved et olympisk arrangement kan fungere som en katalysator for sosial innovasjon for mennesker med utviklingshemming. Mennesker med utviklingshemming er vanligvis ikke en del av frivillighetskorpset ved idrettsarrangementer, og vi vet derfor lite om hva slags utbytte de kan ha av denne typen aktivitet. Avhandlingen bidrar til å fylle dette kunnskapshullet. Avhandlingen bidrar empirisk til frivillighetsfeltet ved å studere en gruppe utviklingshemmede frivillige, i lys av teori om «social leverage» (sosial innflytelse), sosial innovasjon og sosialt entreprenørskap. Avhandlingen er en kvalitativ casestudie, med Ungdoms-OL på Lillehammer 2016 som case. Arrangørene av Ungdoms-OL 2016 viste vilje til å inkludere alle slags mennesker som frivillige under Ungdoms-OL. Blant disse var en gruppe elever med forskjellige typer utviklingshemming ved en lokal videregående skole. Avhandlingen følger spesielt denne gruppen, som fikk i oppgave å plukke og sortere søppel på to av arenaene under Ungdoms-OL, før, under, og to år etter arrangementet. Flere aktører som jobbet for sosial endring for marginaliserte grupper, oppfattet Ungdoms-OL som en mulighet for sosialt entreprenørskap, og fikk satt søkelys på sine prosjekter ved at personer fra disse målgruppene deltok som frivillige under arrangementet. I avhandlingen er fire slike prosjekter studert. Avhandlingen inneholder totalt fire artikler. I første artikkel studeres sosiale entreprenørers erfaringer med å bruke Ungdoms-OL som arena for sitt arbeid. Artikkel to dreier seg om hvordan en kan tilrettelegge kvalitative intervjuer for mennesker med utviklingshemming. I artikkel tre og fire presenteres studien av gruppen med utviklingshemming som deltok som frivillige. Noen av hovedfunnene er at frivillighet ved olympiske arrangementer har et potensial for å skape vinn−vinn effekter og samarbeid mellom personer eller organisasjoner som normalt ikke jobber sammen. Organisasjoner som setter søkelys på sosiale temaer på vegne av utsatte grupper, opplevde Ungdoms-OL som en egnet arena for sosialt entreprenørskap. Videre kan sosiale entreprenører dra nytte av markedsføringen og oppmerksomheten som følger i kjølvannet av et olympisk arrangement for å løfte frem (social leverage) sine prosjekter, og i sin tur skape sosial verdi for spesifikke grupper gjennom frivillig arbeid.ABSTRACT This thesis explores how volunteering at an Olympic event can function as a catalyst for social innovation for people with intellectual disabilities (ID). People with ID are not usually a part of the sports-event volunteer context; thus, little is known about potential benefits they can access by doing so. This thesis contributes to filling this gap in the literature. The thesis is a qualitative single-case study, using the 2016 Lillehammer Youth Olympic Games (LYOG) as its main case. The event organizers demonstrated social responsibility by displaying a willingness to include all kinds of people as volunteer participants in the LYOG, including a group of high school students with ID. This study follows, in particular, this group of volunteers with ID who were assigned to pick up garbage on two of the main venues of the LYOG. Furthermore, several other actors seeking to address social change for specific target groups perceived the event as an entrepreneurial opportunity and used it to highlight their projects through volunteer activities. Thus, four other projects that involved other marginalized groups are also partially studied. Empirically, the thesis contributes to the field of sports event volunteering by studying a group of volunteers with intellectual disabilities through the theoretical framework of social leveraging, social innovation, and social entrepreneurship. Furthermore, through the empirical studies, appended in three articles, links to other theoretical concepts are made, including social capital and quality of life. In addition, one paper related to facilitating qualitative interviews with people with ID is included in the thesis. Some of the main findings are that volunteering at Olympic events holds a potential for cooperation between persons or organizations that do not normally cooperate, where a win–win effect can be created. Organizations addressing social issues on behalf of vulnerable groups experienced the LYOG as a suitable arena for entrepreneurial social projects, with a potential for creating social value for specific groupspublishedVersio

Lasting social value or a one-off? People with intellectual disabilities’ experiences with volunteering for the Youth Olympic Games

Once an article is published, copyright is transferred to JSFD. JSFD is an open access journal, with all articles and issues freely available to readers on our website.This article serves as a follow-up on a previous study and looks at how volunteering at a major sporting event has affected the lives of a group of volunteers with intellectual disabilities two years after volunteering. The aim is to examine how volunteering at an Olympic event may be a source for lasting social value, operationalized as an increase in social capital and quality of life. Qualitative interviews were conducted on a selection of former volunteers with intellectual disabilities (n=8). In five of the interviews, parents of the interviewees also functioned as facilitators for the interviews. The same five parents were also interviewed in brief, semistructured interviews. This study shows that the event had a limited effect on bridging social capital, while having a stronger impact on the group`s bonding social capital. Moreover, the event has affected the quality of life for the participants to various degrees by being a source for positive memories, enforced by visual reminders such as the volunteer uniform frequently worn by the former volunteers. The volunteer experience also serves as a bridging element, bringing together groups of people with little in common. In some cases, volunteering also led to employment in regular occupations.publishedVersio

Being a part of it: People with Intellectual Disabillities as volunteers in the Youth Olympic Games

The Journal of Sport for Development (JSFD) is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal.During the Youth Olympic Winter Games event in Lillehammer, Norway, a group of students with intellectual disabilities worked as volunteers. The teachers of the class functioned in a social entrepreneurial manner, using the event to create social value for this particular group. Qualitative interviews were conducted with the group of students (n=12), and observations were made during the event. The students’ teachers (n=3) and the head of volunteers (n=1) from the organizing committee were also interviewed for triangulation, thus verifying the interpretation of the data. This study demonstrated that social value was created through the practical tasks the students with intellectual disabilities were given, especially in relation to the Olympic context of the event, and the job itself was more important than those for whom they were doing it or why. Other important sources of social value were for the students to be outside of the classroom and to be cooperating and learning from each other within the group. Last, the students had the opportunity to aid and assist, instead of being aided and assisted, and to give something back to the local community.publishedVersio

Hvordan vil egenskaper ved ansettelsesrelasjonen påvirke jobbtilfredshet, tilhørighet og intensjon om å slutte? : en casestudie av IT-konsulenter på langtidsprosjekter

Denne masterutredningen studerer problemstillinger relatert til ansettelsesforholdet i trepartsrelasjoner i konsulentbransjen. Oppgaven fokuserer på IT-konsulenter som sitter på langtidsprosjekter, hvor vi ser på ulike egenskaper ved ansettelsesforholdet som påvirker jobbtilfredshet, tilhørighet og en intensjon om å slutte. Studien tar utgangspunkt i to store prosjekter hos et konsulentselskap i Oslo som, i likhet med mange i bransjen, møter utfordringer knyttet til å utvikle og beholde dyktige kunnskapsmedarbeidere. Vi har utført kvalitative intervjuer med åtte respondenter tilknyttet prosjektene som innehar stillinger på ulike nivåer i Selskapet. Formålet med utredningen er for det første å avdekke empiriske funn som besvarer problemstillingen, for det andre vil vi definere hypoteser for videre forskning og for det tredje vil vi foreslå tiltak til hvordan Selskapet bedre kan møte utfordringene vi avdekker. Studien har et utforskende design med en induktiv tilnærming. Empirien er basert på en kvalitativ metode i form av dybdeintervjuer med seniorkonsulenter, sjefskonsulenter og prinsipaler i selskapet. Noen av de viktigste funnene er at forhold som forutsigbarhet, fleksibilitet, lojalitetsproblemer, evalueringskriterier og oppmerksomhet fra ledelsen alle påvirker jobbtilfredshet, men på ulike måter. Samarbeid med konkurrenter, fysisk distanse til arbeidsgiver og forhold til kunden påvirker tilhørighet i ulik grad. Til sist ser vi at tidspunk for avdelingsmøter og kontaktnett i kundeorganisasjonen er blant forholdene som kan påvirke en intensjon om å slutte

Effect of mother support groups on nutritional status in children under two years of age in Laisamis village, Kenya

Background: In tackling the ongoing malnutrition problem in many parts of Kenya, the government has initialized preventive actions such as mother support groups in order to improve health and nutrition among children. Few studies have evaluated the effectiveness of such intervention.Objective: This study aimed at determining how mother support groups affect the nutrition status of children under 2 years of age.Methods: 41 children participated. Anthropometric measurements were taken of the children once a month during 12 months. Medical history, nutrition status and socioeconomic factors were collected by interviews with the mothers. The children were divided into two groups depending on their mother’s assigned group; mother support group or not.Results: Nutritional status was significantly better among children in the mother support group (P=0.001). There were significantly more children with severe acute malnutrition among the children not in support group (P=0.040). The mean height (P=0.001) and mean weight (P=0.0281) were significantly higher among children in the non-support group.Conclusion: Mother support groups may have a beneficial effect on the nutritional status of children under 2 years of age. Cases of severe acute malnutrition seemed to be less prevalent in children whose mothers attend mother support groups.Keywords: Malnutrition, mother support groups, breastfeeding, Keny

Establishment of the Ba/F3 method to test the oncogenic potential of cancer gene mutations

Master i biomedisi

Vil konsumering av de mest anbefalte politiske videoene på YouTube forårsake anbefaling av falske nyheter eller ekstremt, konspiratorisk og radikalt innhold?

I denne studien tar vi for oss videodelingsplattformen YouTube og dens angivelige tilbøyelighet til å anbefale videoer med innhold av en radikal, konspiratorisk eller ekstremistisk art. Vi ønsket å teste denne påstanden og utviklet en metode for å undersøke den. Ved bruk av AlgoTransparency har vi funnet de høyest anbefalte videoene med politisk innhold over en periode på 7 dager, og ved hjelp av predefinerte klassifiseringer har vi laget 3 spillelister; en liste med videoer med politisk høyreorientert innhold, en liste med videoer med politisk venstreorientert innhold, og en liste med politisk innhold uavhengig av politisk orientasjon. Videre opprettet vi 3 nye brukerkontoer, og hver konto så utelukkende på én av disse spillelistene. Da eksperimentet var gjennomført, analyserte vi de 100 øverste videoanbefalingene på hver av kontoenes respektive startsider, og kategoriserte dem i henhold til de predefinerte klassifiseringene. Resultatene av eksperimentet peker på at hypotesen om at konsumering av de mest anbefalte politiske videoene ville føre til at tjenesten anbefalte brukeren videoer av en radikal, konspiratorisk eller ekstremistisk art ikke stemmer. På en annen side peker funnene på at YouTube har en tilbøyelighet til å vise brukeren videoer med politisk venstreorientert innhold, og i ytterste konsekvens tilrettelegge for politisk venstreorienterte ekkokamre. Vi håper eksperimentet og dets funn vil være interessante og relevante i henhold til bevisstgjøring av tjenestens brukere, så vel som utviklere og personer som jobber med utforming av lignende digitale tjenester

Effect of mother support groups on nutritional status in children under two years of age in Laisamis village, Kenya.

Background: In tackling the ongoing malnutrition problem in many parts of Kenya, the government has initialized preventive actions such as mother support groups in order to improve health and nutrition among children. Few studies have evaluated the effectiveness of such intervention. Objective: This study aimed at determining how mother support groups affect the nutrition status of children under 2 years of age. Methods: 41 children participated. Anthropometric measurements were taken of the children once a month during 12 months. Medical history, nutrition status and socioeconomic factors were collected by interviews with the mothers. The children were divided into two groups depending on their mother\u2019s assigned group; mother support group or not. Results: Nutritional status was significantly better among children in the mother support group (P=0.001). There were significantly more children with severe acute malnutrition among the children not in support group (P=0.040). The mean height (P=0.001) and mean weight (P=0.0281) were significantly higher among children in the non-support group. Conclusion: Mother support groups may have a beneficial effect on the nutritional status of children under 2 years of age. Cases of severe acute malnutrition seemed to be less prevalent in children whose mothers attend mother support groups

A CLEC16A variant confers risk for juvenile idiopathic arthritis and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody negative rheumatoid arthritis

Objective Variants in CLEC16A have conferred susceptibility to autoimmune diseases in genome-wide association studies. The present work aimed to investigate the locus' involvements in juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) and further explore the association with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), type 1 diabetes (T1D) and Addison's disease (AD) in the Norwegian population. Methods Three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were genotyped in patients with RA (n=809), JIA (n=509), T1D (n=1211) and AD (n=414) and in healthy controls (n=2149). Results All diseases were associated with CLEC16A, but with different SNPs. The intron 22 SNP, rs6498169, was associated with RA (p=0.006) and JIA (p=0.016) and the intron 19 SNPs, rs12708716/rs12917716, with T1D (p=1×10−5) and AD (p=2×10−4). The RA association was confined to the anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody (anti-CCP) negative subgroup (p=2×10−4). Conclusion This is the first report of a CLEC16A association with JIA and a split of the RA association according to anti-CCP status. Different causative variants underlie the rheumatic versus the organ specific diseases