Young consumer identity in a restrictive school environment – Addictive substances, symbolic goods and consumer skills

For young people, consuming is an act of constructing identity, where goods, services and styles are important parts of signifying who they are. Our study focuses on young people who are living in restrictive environments, such as special boarding schools. They have been placed there because of social and educational reasons. Although aspects of education and health of young people in out-of-home care have been studied, their consumer behavior has been given limited attention. Our study shows that young people openly report the use of addictive substances such as cigarettes, alcohol, drugs as well as gambling. They also build up their consumer identity by appreciating symbolic goods, such as clothes, music and sport. Spending on expensive clothes serves their favorable self-image. The fact that the schools provide all their essential needs makes the learning of consumer skills challenging although the schools reinforce management skills such as planning the use of money. Young people struggle with their identities at the borders of their school environment (i.e. education, school discipline) and the temptations of consumer culture. Even if they manage to break their damaging life path, they will be consumers throughout their life, meaning their consumer skills need to be strengthened by special education.For young people, consuming is an act of constructing identity, where goods, services and styles are important parts of signifying who they are. Our study focuses on young people who are living in restrictive environments, such as special boarding schools. They have been placed there because of social and educational reasons. Although aspects of education and health of young people in out-of-home care have been studied, their consumer behavior has been given limited attention. Our study shows that young people openly report the use of addictive substances such as cigarettes, alcohol, drugs as well as gambling. They also build up their consumer identity by appreciating symbolic goods, such as clothes, music and sport. Spending on expensive clothes serves their favorable self-image. The fact that the schools provide all their essential needs makes the learning of consumer skills challenging although the schools reinforce management skills such as planning the use of money. Young people struggle with their identities at the borders of their school environment (i.e. education, school discipline) and the temptations of consumer culture. Even if they manage to break their damaging life path, they will be consumers throughout their life, meaning their consumer skills need to be strengthened by special education.Peer reviewe

PCASTt/SPCG-17-a randomised trial of active surveillance in prostate cancer : rationale and design

Introduction Overtreatment of localised prostate cancer is substantial despite increased use of active surveillance. No randomised trials help define how to monitor patients or when to initiate treatment with curative intent. Methods and analysis A randomised, multicentre, intervention trial designed to evaluate the safety of an MRI-based active surveillance protocol, with standardised triggers for repeated biopsies and radical treatment. The aim is to reduce overtreatment of prostate cancer. 2000 men will be randomly allocated to either surveillance according to current practice or to standardised triggers at centres in Sweden, Norway, Finland and the UK. Men diagnosed in the past 12 months with prostate cancer, 0.2ng/mL/cc, any International Society of Urological Pathology (ISUP) grade 1 are eligible. Men with ISUP grade 2 in Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval was obtained in each participating country. Results for the primary and secondary outcome measures will be submitted for publication in peer-reviewed journals. Trial registration number NCT02914873.Peer reviewe

Technical Interoperability for Machine Connectivity on the Shop Floor

This paper presents a generic technical solution that can increase Industry 4.0 maturity by collecting data from sensors and control systems on the shop floor. Within the research project “5G-Enabled Manufacturing”, an LTE (Long-Term Evolution) network with 5G technologies was deployed on the shop floor to enable fast and scalable connectivity. This network was used to connect a grinding machine to a remote private cloud where data was stored and streamed to a data analytics center. This enabled visibility and transparency of the production data, which is the basis for Industry 4.0 and smart manufacturing. The solution is described with a focus on high-level communication technologies above wireless communication standards. These technologies are discussed regarding technical interoperability, focusing on the system layout, communication standards, and open systems. From the discussion, it can be derived that generic solutions such as this are possible, but manufacturing end-users must expand and further internalize knowledge of future information and communication technologies to reduce their dependency on equipment and technology providers

Konsumtionsforskningens inriktningar och förutsättningar

Rapporten ger en bild av hur konsumtionsforskning definieras och hur den finansieras. Rapporten har gjorts på uppdrag av Konsumentverkets vetenskapliga råd och syftar till att ge en bild av forskningsområden och förutsättningar för att på sikt kunna förbättra villkoren för konsumtionsforskning. De deltagande forskarna tillhör olika vetenskapsområden från olika delar av landet och är medlemmar i FIK (Forskarnätverk för Interdisciplinär Konsumentforskning). Deras definition av konsumtion är mycket mer än den traditionella definitionen av konsumtion, att bruka och förbruka. Genom att kombinera olika vetenskapsområden, såsom ekonomi, etnologi, hushållsvetenskap, psykologi och sociologi i definitionerna visar forskarna vikten av tvärvetenskaplig konsumtionsforskning. Resultatet visar också att konsumtionsforskning handlar om att öka kunskapen om konsumenter och deras konsumtion, men även att stödja konsumenten och granska konsumtionens roll i samhället. Inför framtiden behövs broar mellan grundforskning om konsumtion och mer applicerad forskning relaterad till politikområden som berör konsumtion. Båda inriktningarna behövs framöver, men för att utveckla forskning om konsumtion och konsumtionsmönster så är det viktigt med ett ökat utbyte mellan inriktningarna. De forskningsinriktningar som är mest framträdande i undersökningen är konsumenters val och konsumtionskultur. Dessa kommer även att vara viktiga framöver. De tillfrågade anser också att ämnesområdena hållbar utveckling ur såväl ekologiskt, socialt som ekonomiskt perspektiv kommer att vara mycket viktiga att forska om i framtiden. Konsumtionsforskningen i Sverige har historiskt sett haft en undervärderad betydelse, men har under senare år fått en mer framträdande position. Denna position behöver förstärkas ytterligare då konsumtion är något som berör eller tangerar många olika politikområden. Likaså har konsumtionsforskning internationellt ofta en högre status, vilket ämnet också behöver få i Sverige. Därför är det viktigt att regelbundet följa konsumtionsforskningens innehåll, utveckling och finansieringsmöjligheter