How do leaders in agriculture acquire their leadership skills? : an interview study with individuals in senior positions

Uttrycket att någon är född ledare har de flesta hört. Men forskningen visar på att så inte behöver vara fallet. Rowe & Guerrero (2018) förklarar hur ledarskap är en process vilket innebär att ledare påverkas av medarbetare likväl som medarbetare påverkas av ledaren. Ledarskap är därmed en öppen process som formas utifrån personerna i gruppen, vem som leder gruppen och vilka situationer som gruppen är utsatt för. Att som ledare i förväg lära sig hur man hanterar svåra och pressade situationer kan vara oerhört svåra bitar att ta med sig från ett klassrum. Stech (2008) menar på att en viss teorigrund kan ledare få på formella utbildningar, men menar att det främst är genom erfarenhet och personlig mognad som finkänsligheten och självinsikten uppstår. Det ställs stora krav på det svenska lantbruket som bransch att producera mat på ett hållbart sätt. För att nå de globala hållbarhetsmålen krävs kunskap kring hållbarhet, både från ledaren och från medarbetarna. Ledarens uppgift blir därför att få med all personal i arbetet mot att bli en mer hållbar producent (Lantmännen, 2019). Men är ledarna utrustade kunskapsmässigt för den här utmaningen? Denna studie syftar till att skapa klarhet i hur ledare inom lantbruket utvecklar sina ledarskapsfärdigheter, samtidigt lyfts frågan vad ledarna lär sig och vilken kunskap, färdigheter och värderingar som krävs för att vara en bra ledare. Detta ställs sedan i relation till hur väl rustade ledarna är för att leda företagen mot den hållbara utmaningen som lantbruket som bransch står inför. Studien var uppbyggd som en kvalitativ studie där 10 lantbrukare inom olika produktionsgrenar medverkade i semistrukturerade intervjuer. De flesta av respondenterna hade gått olika kortare ledarskapsutbildningar där teorin behandlade bland annat personlighetstyper och konflikthantering. Respondenterna ansåg dock att teorin endast lade en grund för deras ledarskapsroll. Största påverkan på deras ledarskapsutveckling hade erfarenheter från verkligheten haft. Genom learning by doing lärde sig ledarna hur de på bästa sätt skulle bemöta sin personal. Effektivisera, minska spill och slöserier och att visa personalen uppskattning var kunskaper som respondenterna ansåg viktiga för att driva företaget mot ekonomisk, miljömässig och social hållbarhet.Most people have heard the expression that someone is a born leader. But research shows that this not need to be the case. Rowe & Guerrero (2018) explain how leadership is a process, which means that leaders are influenced by employees as well as employees are influenced by the leader. Leadership is thus an open process that is shaped based on the people in the group, who leads the group and what situations the group is exposed to. As a leader, learning in advance how to handle difficult situations and being under pressure can be extremely difficult pieces to take with you from a classroom. Stech (2008) believes that a certain theoretical basis can leaders acquire in official educations but believes that it is mainly through experience and personal maturity that sensitivity and self-insight arise. Great demands are placed on Swedish agriculture as an industry to produce food in a sustainable way. Achieving the global sustainability goals requires knowledge about sustainability, both from the leader and from the employees. The leader´s task will therefore be to involve everyone personally in the work towards becoming a more sustainable producer (Lantmännen, 2019). But are the leaders equipped in terms of knowledge for this challenge? This study aims to gain clarity in how leaders in agriculture develop their leadership skills, while raising the question of what leaders learn and what knowledge, skills and values are required to be a good leader. This is then set in relation to how well – equipped the leaders are to lead the companies in the sustainable challenge that the agriculture industry is facing. The study was structured as a qualitative study in which 10 farmers in different branches of production participated in semi structured interviews. Most of the respondents had attended various shorter leadership trainings where the theory dealt with, among other things, personality types and conflict management. The respondents, however, considered that the theory only laid a foundation for theirleadership role. Experience from reality hade the greatest impact on their leadership development. Through learning by doing, leaders learned how to best respond to their personalities. Streamlining, based waste and showing staff appreciation were skills that respondents considered important to drive the company towards economic, environmental and social sustainability

Sjukdomar ur ett säkerhetsperspektiv. En analys av svensk politik och media med fokus på fallen HIV/AIDS samt ebola

Uppsatsen behandlar frågan hur diskursen kring sjukdomarna HIV/AIDS och ebola ser ut i svensk politik och media. Vi analyserar uttalande i riksdagsdebatter och artiklar från Dagens Nyheter, vi kommer se till en specifik tidsperiod under åren 1994 i fallet av HIV/AIDS och i fallet av ebola ser vi till 2014. Vi utgår från säkerhetiseringsteorin och i analysen kommer vi se till uttalande kring sjukdomen. Vi kommer titta på hur sjukdomarna framställs, vem som genomfört uttalandet och vilka språkliga verktyg som används. Resultatet visar att i fallet HIV/AIDS sker det inte en säkerheisering utan sjukdomen framställs som ett problem i Afrika. I fallet av ebola presenteras sjukdomen som ett hot i utvecklingsländer, Sveriges sjukvård ses som välutvecklad och därför kommer det inte leda till en epidemi i Sverige

Herbal medicine promotion for a restorative bioeconomy in tropical forests: A reality check on the Brazilian Amazon

Herbal medicine has experienced a renaissance both for health reasons and as part of a bioeconomy for regions rich in biodiversity and traditional knowledge. Medicinal plant value chains can promote local development and sustainable livelihoods that are critical for forest frontiers in need of inclusive economic alternatives. This sector can become an example of restorative bioeconomy, which not only maintains but enhances nature\u27s contributions to people – notably to historically marginalized actors such as Indigenous peoples. However, a reality check is due. Using the Amazon as an emblematic case study, this article examines Brazil\u27s context and policy framework on herbal medicine promotion. It draws from a literature review as well as 23 key-informant interviews and field visits to 10 local herbal medicine value chain initiatives. Our findings expose a closing window of opportunity, as while deforestation and forest degradation advances, Brazil\u27s herbal medicine promotion has fallen short of its potentials for development and inclusiveness. Insufficient attention to traditional knowledge or to research on Brazil\u27s native biodiversity, regulatory stringency without converse support to integrate marginalized actors, and ambivalent social acceptability of herbal medicine have been key barriers to advancing the sector. We conclude that herbal medicine offers a clear case of restorative bioeconomy with double potential to address historical inequalities both on healthcare access and socioeconomic inclusiveness, but delivering on that requires much more participatory research, attention to local capacity enhancement, and a better understanding of herbal medicine promotion in multicultural social settings

Spatial immunophenotyping of the tumour microenvironment in non–small cell lung cancer

Checkpoint therapy; Lung cancer; Tumour microenvironmentTerapia de puntos de control; Cáncer de pulmón; Microambiente tumoralTeràpia de punts de control; Càncer de pulmó; Microambient tumoralIntroduction: Immune cells in the tumour microenvironment are associated with prognosis and response to therapy. We aimed to comprehensively characterise the spatial immune phenotypes in the mutational and clinicopathological background of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods: We established a multiplexed fluorescence imaging pipeline to spatially quantify 13 immune cell subsets in 359 NSCLC cases: CD4 effector cells (CD4-Eff), CD4 regulatory cells (CD4-Treg), CD8 effector cells (CD8-Eff), CD8 regulatory cells (CD8-Treg), B-cells, natural killer cells, natural killer T-cells, M1 macrophages (M1), CD163+ myeloid cells (CD163), M2 macrophages (M2), immature dendritic cells (iDCs), mature dendritic cells (mDCs) and plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs). Results: CD4-Eff cells, CD8-Eff cells and M1 macrophages were the most abundant immune cells invading the tumour cell compartment and indicated a patient group with a favourable prognosis in the cluster analysis. Likewise, single densities of lymphocytic subsets (CD4-Eff, CD4-Treg, CD8-Treg, B-cells and pDCs) were independently associated with longer survival. However, when these immune cells were located close to CD8-Treg cells, the favourable impact was attenuated. In the multivariable Cox regression model, including cell densities and distances, the densities of M1 and CD163 cells and distances between cells (CD8-Treg-B-cells, CD8-Eff-cancer cells and B-cells-CD4-Treg) demonstrated positive prognostic impact, whereas short M2-M1 distances were prognostically unfavourable. Conclusion: We present a unique spatial profile of the in situ immune cell landscape in NSCLC as a publicly available data set. Cell densities and cell distances contribute independently to prognostic information on clinical outcomes, suggesting that spatial information is crucial for diagnostic use.This study was partly supported by Swedish Cancer Society, The Lions Cancer Foundation Uppsala, Sweden, Selanders Foundation and The Sjöberg Foundation, Sweden

Conceptual and Measurement Issues in Assessing Democratic Backsliding

During the past decade, analyses drawing on several democracy measures have shown a global trend of democratic retrenchment. While these democracy measures use radically different methodologies, most partially or fully rely on subjective judgments to produce estimates of the level of democracy within states. Such projects continuously grapple with balancing conceptual coverage with the potential for bias (Munck and Verkuilen 2002; Przeworski et al. 2000). Little and Meng (L&M) (2023) reintroduce this debate, arguing that “objective” measures of democracy show little evidence of recent global democratic backsliding.1 By extension, they posit that time-varying expert bias drives the appearance of democratic retrenchment in measures that incorporate expert judgments. In this article, we engage with (1) broader debates on democracy measurement and democratic backsliding, and (2) L&M’s specific data and conclusions

Abstinence-only-until-marriage : An Updated review of U.S. policies and programs and their impact

Adolescence is marked by the emergence of human sexuality, sexual identity and the initiation of intimate relations; within this context, abstinence from sexual intercourse can be a healthy choice. However, programs that promote abstinence-only-until-marriage (AOUM) or sexual risk avoidance (SRA), are scientifically and ethically problematic and—as such—have been widely rejected by medical and public health professionals. Although abstinence is theoretically effective, in actual practice, intentions to abstain from sexual activity often fail. Given a rising age at first marriage around the world, a rapidly declining percentage of young people remain abstinent until marriage. Promotion of AOUM policies by the United States (U.S.) government has undermined sexuality education in the U.S. and in U.S. foreign aid programs; funding for AOUM continues in the U.S. The weight of scientific evidence finds that AOUM programs are not effective in delaying initiation of sexual intercourse or changing other sexual risk behaviors. AOUM programs, as defined by U.S. federal funding requirements, inherently withhold information about human sexuality and may provide medically inaccurate and stigmatizing information. Thus, AOUM programs threaten fundamental human rights to health, information, and life. Young people need access to accurate and comprehensive sexual health information to protect their health and lives

School Toileting Environment, Bullying, and Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms in a Population of Adolescent and Young Adult Girls:Preventing Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms Consortium Analysis of Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children

AIM: Little is known about the association of the school toilet environment with voiding behaviors and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in adolescents. The purpose of the present longitudinal, secondary data analysis is to examine whether the school toilet environment at age 13, including bullying, is associated with LUTS at ages 13 and 19. METHODS: The sample comprised 3962 female participants from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). At age 13, participants reported on 7 school toilet environment characteristics and a range of LUTS items. At age 19, participants completed the Bristol Female Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (ICIQ-BFLUTS) questionnaire. RESULTS: All toilet environmental factors were associated with at least one LUTS outcome at age 13. Holding behavior was associated with all school toilet environmental factors, with odds ratios (ORs) ranging from 1.36 (95% CI: 1.05, 1.76) for dirty toilets to 2.38 (95% CI: 1.60, 3.52) for feeling bullied at toilets. Bullying was associated with all LUTS symptoms; ORs ranged from 1.60 (95% CI: 1.04, 2.07) for nocturia to 2.90 (95% CI: 1.77, 4.75) for urgency. Associations between age 13 school toilets and age 19 LUTS were in the same direction as age 13 LUTS. CONCLUSION: This is the first examination of associations between school toilets and LUTS. Toileting environments were cross-sectionally associated with LUTS in adolescent girls. While further work is needed to determine whether these associations are causal, school toilet environments are modifiable and thus a promising target for LUTS prevention