Iraqi Prisoners in Norway: Educational Background, Participation, Preferences and Barriers to Education

The article aimed to develop knowledge of the educational background, participation and preferences of Iraqi prisoners in Norwegian prisons and obstacles to participating in education. The study is based on interviews with 17 prisoners in three prisons. An important finding is that war and political unrest appear to have been significant causes for respondents to leaving education at various stages. As a result only half of them have as much as one final exam and only three respondents have a certificate of education. Even if the respondents want an education while in prison, and although education is offered in all prisons there is a lack of information about educational opportunities in an understandable language and long waiting time for a place at school. An implication of the study is that the criminal administration system and the educational authorities must take into account the multicultural reality by facilitating education and training offers accordingly

Existence and Uniqueness of Non-linear, Possibly Degenerate Parabolic PDEs, with Applications to Flow in Porous Media

In the branch of mathematical analysis known as functional analysis, one mainly studies functions defined on vector spaces. For partial differential equations (PDEs), this analysis has proven to be a mighty resource of understanding and modelling the behavior of the equations. Throughout this thesis, the work will focus of theory of function spaces and existence and uniqueness theorems for variational formulations in normed vector spaces. We will recast PDEs as variational problems with operators acting on normed spaces, and further seek to prove the existence and uniqueness of a solution by assigning certain properties to the operator. The outline of this thesis is as follows: In Chapter 1, we summarize the Basic Notions of Functional Analysis relevant for the later work in the thesis. We define operators, discuss monotonicity, present the theory of Sobolev spaces, and illustrate the finite element method, giving short hints to the future relevancy of the described properties. Linear Problems have been extensively studied in the past. In Chapter 2, we present three important theorems illustrating the conditions for existence and uniqueness of solutions for variational formulations of the type: (i) Galerkin formulations in Hilbert spaces: The Lax-Milgram Theorem, (ii) Petrov-Galerkin formulations in Hilbert spaces: The Babuška-Lax-Milgram Theorem, (iii) Petrov-Galerkin formulations in Banach spaces: The Banach-Nečas-Babuška Theorem, and give their proofs. Chapter 3 is dedicated to the study of Non-linear Problems. We seek to extend the ideas of the previous chapter to variational formulations containing a non-linearity b(·) depending on the solution we seek. This has a major application in the analysis of non-linear PDEs, which in general may not possess analytical solutions. To attack these types of problems, we define a weak formulation of the main problem, and discretize the domain of where a solution is sought. Next, existence and uniqueness is established through fixed point theorems, which will be given with proof. We will focus our study on two central problems: The Richards equation (a non-linear, possibly degenerate parabolic PDE) and a transport equation modelling reactive flow in porous media (two coupled PDEs). For the fully discrete (non-linear) formulation of Richards equation we show results for (i) a Lipschitz continuous non-linearity. Here we consider three cases: 3(a) First, a linearization scheme is proposed. We prove existence and uniqueness by using the Lax-Milgram Theorem in combination with the Banach Fixed Point Theorem. (b) Second, we make the assumption that the non-linearity is strongly monotone. Here, existence is proven by the Brouwer Fixed Point Theorem (c) Third, we let the non-linearity be monotone and add a regularization term to the fully discrete formulation. Here, we prove existence as in the previous step, and lastly show convergence of the regularized scheme to the fully discrete scheme. (ii) a Hölder continuous non-linearity. We give two results: (a) First, we prove existence for a monotone and bounded non-linearity. (b) Second, we state the result of existence for a strongly monotone non-linearity by the Brouwer Fixed Point Theorem. In the applications of Brouwer Fixed Point Theorem, the uniqueness of the problem is proved by assuming there exists two solutions and obtaining a contradiction through inequalities by showing estimates that can not be true. Lastly, in Chapter 4, a mathematical model of Two-phase Flow in porous media is studied. We discuss the case of a Lipschitz continuous saturation, and show for the first time a proof of existence and uniqueness of a solution for the fully discrete (non-linear) scheme, assuming the saturation to be Hölder continuous and strongly monotonically increasing. This is done by creating a regularization of the fully discrete scheme, further proving existence with the Brouwer Fixed Point Theorem, and finally showing convergence with the help of an a priori estimate.Masteroppgave i anvendt og beregningsorientert matematikkMAMN-MABMAB39

Being an Educator: Norwegian Prison Officers’ Conception of their Role Regarding Incarcerated Persons’ Education

Despite the fact that prison officers are close to the incarcerated persons in everyday life in prison, and therefore will have great impact and influence on the incarcerated persons’ understanding of and motivation for education and training in prison, we still know little about prison officers understanding of their professional role regarding incarcerated persons’ education. This article will investigate how Norwegian prison officers understand their importance as educational actors through the following research question: How do Norwegian prison officers understand their role as actors in incarcerated persons’ education? Building on qualitative interviews with 16 Norwegian prison officers’ the article analyses the role of prison officers from a broad educational perspective (Biesta, 2009; 2014; 2015; OECD, 2005; 2019). The analysis reveals that prison officers conduct work that enables incarcerated persons to master their own lives during the execution of and after completing their sentences. Although prison officers play a significant role in incarcerated persons’ education in prison, they are partly unaware of this role, and find that their own role is not in a collaborative relationship with other actors who facilitate incarcerated persons’ education.publishedVersio

Being an Educator: Norwegian Prison Officers’ Conception of their Role regarding Incarcerated Persons’ Education

Despite the fact that prison officers are close to the incarcerated persons in everyday life in prison, and therefore will have great impact and influence on the incarcerated persons’ understanding of and motivation for education and training in prison, we still know little about prison officers understanding of their professional role regarding incarcerated persons’ education. This article will investigate how Norwegian prison officers understand their importance as educational actors through the following research question: How do Norwegian prison officers understand their role as actors in incarcerated persons’ education? Building on qualitative interviews with 16 Norwegian prison officers’ the article analyses the role of prison officers from a broad educational perspective (Biesta, 2009; 2014; 2015; OECD, 2005; 2019). The analysis reveals that prison officers conduct work that enables incarcerated persons to master their own lives during the execution of and after completing their sentences. Although prison officers play a significant role in incarcerated persons’ education in prison, they are partly unaware of this role, and find that their own role is not in a collaborative relationship with other actors who facilitate incarcerated persons’ education

Effekten av autokratisering på økonomisk vekst. En analyse av regimeoverganger etter den kalde krigen

What impact does autocratization have on economic growth? This thesis examines this question by considering that autocratization has taken various forms since the Cold War, and resulted in different types of regime transitions towards autocracy. As autocratization is on the rise globally, it becomes crucial to understand the potential consequences of authoritarian regime changes on a fundamental political objective in most countries: economic growth. Based on these assumptions, the thesis aims to investigate the effects of regime transitions from (1) democracy to autocracy, and (2) electoral autocracy to closed autocracy on economic growth between 1992 and 2019. To measure regime transitions, the thesis utilizes the newly developed dataset: Episodes of Regime Transformation (ERT) (Edgell, Maerz, et al. 2020). From the data obtained from ERT, the thesis identifies 22 regime transitions from democracy to autocracy and 15 transitions from electoral autocracy to closed autocracy. Economic growth is measured using data from the Penn World Table (Feenstra, Inklaar, og Timmer 2015). Methodologically, the thesis situates itself within the counterfactual tradition of causality. This means that the potential values for economic growth are assumed to be generated either by the presence or absence of an autocratic regime transition. Thus, regime transition is considered a treatment that could potentially affect economic growth. To estimate the average treatment effect on the treated (ATT) of autocratic regime transitions on GDP per capita growth, two econometric methods are employed: interactive fixed effects counterfactual estimator (Liu, Wang, og Xu 2022) and panelmatching (Imai, Kim, og Wang 2021). These methods are chosen for their ability to accommodate dichotomous treatments and account for units receiving multiple treatments over time. This is important, as some regimes have undergone multiple cycles of autocratization and democratization between 1992 and 2019. The thesis does not provide significant evidence to support the claim that transitions from democracy to autocracy lead to a decrease in economic growth. However, the study reveal a notable impact when transitions occur from electoral autocracy to closed autocracy. More specifically, the thesis find an average negative effect on growth of leaving electoral autocracy on the order of -3 percent over the 1992-2019 panel. This finding might underscore the role of democratic institutions within electoral autocracies in fostering economic growth. However, it is important to interpret these results with caution, considering the choices made in regard to conceptualization, measurement strategy, and the inherent limitations associated with an econometric approach.MasteroppgaveSAMPOL350MASV-SAP

Molecular modeling study of the testosterone metabolizing enzyme UDP-glucuronosyltransferase 2B17

The dominant sex hormone testosterone is mainly metabolized by liver enzymes belonging to the uridine-diphospho (UDP) glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) family. These enzymes are the main phase II enzymes, and they have an important role in the detoxification of endogenous and exogenous compounds in humans. The aim of the present study was to improve the understanding of the binding properties of UGT2B17. A homology modelling procedure was used to generate models of the UGT2B17 enzyme based on templates with known crystal structures. Molecular docking of inhibitors was performed to gain further insights in the interactions between ligand and binding site, and to determine which of the models had the best accuracy. ROC curves were made to evaluate the ability of the models to differentiate between binders (inhibitors) and non-binders (decoys). When comparing the four models, which were based on four different crystal structures, the model based on the 4AMG crystal structure was the most accurate in distinguishing between true binders and non-binders. Investigating pharmacological UGT2B17 inhibition may provide novel treatment for patients with low testosterone levels. Such treatment may elevate endogenous testosterone levels and provide a more predictable increase in serum concentrations rather than un-physiological elevation of serum levels through direct treatment with testosterone, and this could be favorable both for giving a predictable treatment regime with reduced chances of serious adverse effects. The present study may serve as a tool in the search for novel drugs aiming for increasing testosterone levels