The mental work environment and social work environment on the senior workforce

Introduction: The Swedish Agency for Work Environment Expertise commissioned researchers atLund University, Kristianstad University and Malmö University to conduct a systematic reviewfocusing on the impact of the psychosocial work environment on the senior workforce (≥55 years ofage) in a Swedish context.Aims: To provide an overview of how psychosocial work environment and occupational healthfactors affect the senior workforce, and describe interventions designed to improve the workenvironment.Methods: The guidelines on Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses(PRISMA) were followed. The data bases: Pubmed, Cinahl, Scopus and Medline were searched forarticles published until 2021-07-10.Results: After deduplication 846 articles remained, of which 49 were selected for full text screening.After exclusion of studies with low quality 20 remained. The studies included in this literature reviewhave been thematized and analysed based on the nine determinant areas of the swAge model1, forthe ability and willingness to work in relation to ageing, to explain the complexity of predictors forthe senior workforce’s working life. These determinant areas are divided into predictors of: the workenvironment’s effects on health; the personal financial situation; the social support, relationships,and participation; as well as the execution of work tasks and activities.Conclusions: Several of the articles included in the literature review did not consider the definition ofage in relation to the senior workforce, despite age being the factor that characterizes anddistinguishes a senior employee. However, there were articles highlighting the significance ofconsidering the senior workforce based on their biological age, social age, and cognitive age ratherthan just their chronological age (i.e. how many years had passed since they were born). Severalgeneral suggestions were discernable in the articles included in the literature review that will bediscussed

Comparative study of two tools intended for ecosystem service analyses

Det nuvarande stadsplaneringsidealet leder till att många städer blir allt tätare och att urbana grönytor går förlorade i en accelererande takt. Förtätningen bidrar därmed till att livsviktiga ekosystemtjänster utarmas eller elimineras totalt, vilket i sin tur resulterar i ett flertal negativa konsekvenser på samhällelig nivå. Att ekosystemtjänster utarmas extensivt påverkar exempelvis den allmänna folkhälsan, den biologiska mångfalden och städers förmåga att hantera skadliga naturfenomen. Med anledning av detta är det viktigare än någonsin tidigare att medvetenheten kring ekosystemtjänster ökar, och att deras bevarande prioriteras. För att bevarandet överhuvudtaget ska vara möjligt krävs det att ekosystemtjänster kan synliggöras och identifieras på ett korrekt vis. På grund av detta är syftet med uppsatsen att undersöka och jämföra två olika analysmetoder som används för att identifiera ekosystemtjänster. Anledningen till att denna undersökning genomförs är för att ta reda på om valet av analysmetod har någon signifikant påverkan på resultatet, det vill säga om samma plats kan få varierande värden beroende på vilken analysmetod som nyttjas. Analysmetoderna som valdes för jämförelsen är Boverkets ESTER 2.0, samt Ekologigruppens EKOguide. För att kunna jämföra dessa analysverktyg applicerades de på Siegbahnsparken i centrala Uppsala, där ekosystemtjänster haft en nyckelroll i utformningen. Det kunde konstateras att båda analysverktygen har fördelar och nackdelar, samt styrkor och svagheter. Det fastställdes även att samma plats kan få varierande värden beroende på vilken analysmetod som används. Utifrån detta kunde ett flertal slutsatser dras, bland annat att det är problematiskt att analysverktygen inte producerade likvärdiga resultat eftersom detta är en förutsättning för att ekosystemtjänster ska kunna bevaras. De skilda resultaten kan även få konsekvenser för städers förmåga att uppnå FN:s globala mål på lång sikt.The current urban planning ideal causes cities to become increasingly dense and urban green spaces to be lost at an accelerating rate. Therefore, the densification contributes to the degradation or total elimination of vital ecosystem services, which in turn results in a number of negative consequences on a societal level. The extensive reduction of ecosystem services affects, for example, general public health, biological diversity, and cities ability to manage harmful natural phenomena. Due to this, it is more important than ever before that the awareness of ecosystem services increases, and that their conservation is prioritized. In order for the conservation to be possible, it is required that ecosystem services can be made visible and identified correctly. Because of this, the purpose of this paper is to examine and compare two different analysis methods used to identify ecosystem services. The reason why this subject is being examined is to determine whether the choice of analysis method has any significant influence on the result, as in, if the same location can get varying values depending on which analysis method is used. The analysis methods chosen for this comparison are Boverket’s ESTER 2.0 and Ekologigruppen’s EKOguide. In order for the comparison to be possible, the analysis methods were applied to the Siegbahns-park in central Uppsala, where ecosystem services played a key role in the design. It could be established that both analysis methods have advantages and disadvantages, as well as strengths and weaknesses. It was also determined that the same location can get varying values depending on which analysis method is used. Based on this, a number of conclusions could be drawn, including that it is problematic that the analysis methods did not produce equivalent results, since this essential for ecosystem services to be preserved. The different results can also have consequences for cities’ ability to achieve the UN:s global goals in the long term

The CoNLL 2007 shared task on dependency parsing

The Conference on Computational Natural Language Learning features a shared task, in which participants train and test their learning systems on the same data sets. In 2007, as in 2006, the shared task has been devoted to dependency parsing, this year with both a multilingual track and a domain adaptation track. In this paper, we define the tasks of the different tracks and describe how the data sets were created from existing treebanks for ten languages. In addition, we characterize the different approaches of the participating systems, report the test results, and provide a first analysis of these results

Hästens individuella stressrespons

Hästar är sociala flockdjur och anpassade för att i det vilda leva i familjegrupper. De är även bytesdjur och har därför utvecklat ett flykt- och försvarsbeteende. Förhindrande av dessa naturliga beteenden kan resultera i stress som kan visas som beteendemässiga och fysiologiska förändringar. I dagens samhälle tvingas hästar att anpassa sig till en miljö med många olika stressorer. Olika hästar har olika stresshanteringsstilar vilka grovt kan delas in i proaktiv och reaktiv hantering. Det kan vara svårt att avgöra om en häst är stressad och upptäcks inte detta kan det leda till både välfärdsproblem och farliga situationer för häst och människa. I denna litteraturstudie sammanfattas artiklar inom området med målet att ge en bättre förståelse av hästars individuella stressrespons. Studier visar att det finns många situationer som kan orsaka stress hos hästar, exempelvis transport, veterinärbesök och ridning. Vilka beteenden som uppvisas skiljer sig åt mellan olika individer och även olika fysiologiska variabler varierar individuellt. Mer forskning och kunskap krävs för att kunna upptäcka beteendemässiga förändringar i god tid och därmed kunna minimera hästars välfärdsproblem och minska skaderisker för häst och människa.Horses are social herd animals and are adapted to live in family groups in the wild. They are also prey animals and have therefore developed a flight and fight response. Prevention of these natural behaviours can result in stress further resulting in behavioural and physiological changes. In today's society, horses are forced to adapt to an environment with many different stressors. Different horses have different stress coping styles which can be roughly divided into proactive and reactive coping. It may be difficult to determine if a horse is stressed and if not detected, it can lead to both welfare problems and dangerous situations for horse and human. In this literature study articles in the field are summarized with the aim to provide a better understanding of horses' individual stress responses. Studies show that there are many situations that can cause stress in horses, such as transport, veterinary visits and riding. Which behaviours are exhibited differ between different individuals and in addition, physiological changes are also individual. However, more research and knowledge are required to be able to detect behavioural changes and thus be able to minimize horses' welfare problems and reduce the risk of injury to horse and human

The practice of recycling : understanding people´s motivations and barriers

The problem of waste has grown into one of today's biggest environmental problems affecting both humans and the environment. Because of a growing world population, continued economic growth and more unsustainable consumption patterns, more waste is being generated, and more resources are being used. Today, Sweden has a large and well-developed waste management system and a high recycling rate. However, problem still exists. In Sweden there is still a lot of material that is not recycled but rather thrown in the trash and a lot of material that are sorted wrong at the recycling stations. According to studies in Sweden, there exist lack of knowledge about how to recycle correctly and a great deal of uncertainty about recycling and the process. This study investigates people’s recycling behaviour by investigating how and why people are recycling or why they do not, and what barriers and motivations people have for recycling. The data was collected by conducting 17 interviews in 17 different households in a medium-sized municipality in southwestern Sweden. The analysis builds on a practice-based approach which helped study recycling not only through interviews but also through observing recycling as a social practice. The result showed that factors like access, availability, and knowledge are both barriers and motivations for people. There is a need for more closeness and availability to recycling facilities and more knowledge is needed about recycling, specifically on how to recycle in the right way and why. The study also indicates that knowledge and awareness about the environment influences peoples recycling behaviour and is also a common motivation for people. Feeling good and doing something that other people do was also a motivation and for why people recycle. This study contributes to a deeper understanding and broader insight into the behaviour of recycling. It can help to organize, describe, and explain environmental behaviours like recycling and as well improve future work with waste management and recycling.Sverige har idag en stor och välutvecklad avfallshantering och en hög återvinningsgrad jämfört med många andra länder, men det finns fortfarande problem. Problemet med avfall har vuxit till ett av dagens största miljöproblem och påverkar både människan och miljön. På grund av en växande världsbefolkning, fortsatt ekonomisk tillväxt och mer ohållbara konsumtionsmönster genereras mer avfall och fler resurser används. I Sverige finns det fortfarande mycket material som inte återvinns och som istället kastas i soporna och mycket material som sorteras fel vid återvinningsstationerna. Enligt studier i Sverige saknar många människor kunskap om återvinning och det finns även en stor osäkerhet om återvinning och processen. Denna studie undersöker människors återvinningsbeteende, genom att studera hur människor återvinner, samt varför och varför de inte gör det, samt vilka hinder och motivationer människor har för återvinning. Studien bygger på 17 intervjuer i 17 olika hushåll i en medelstor kommun i sydvästra Sverige. Analysen bygger på teorier om sociala praktiker som bidrog till att studera återvinning genom intervjuer men också genom att observera återvinning som en social praktik. Resultatet visade att faktorer som tillgänglighet och kunskap både är hinder och motiv för människor. Det behövs mer närhet och tillgänglighet till återvinningsanläggningar och mer kunskap om återvinning, specifikt om hur man återvinner rätt och varför. Studien indikerar också att kunskap och medvetenhet om miljön påverkar och är en motivation för att människor ska återvinna. Att känna sig bra och duktig och göra något som andra gör var också ett motiv och en anledning att återvinna. Denna studie bidrar till en djupare förståelse och bredare inblick i återvinnings beteendet. Det kan i framtiden hjälpa till med att organisera, beskriva och förklara miljöbeteenden som återvinning och även förbättra det framtida arbetet med avfallshantering och återvinning

Cassia cinnamon does not change the insulin sensitivity or the liver enzymes in subjects with impaired glucose tolerance

BACKGROUND: Published studies have reported conflicting results regarding the effects of cinnamon on glucose, lipids and insulin. To gain further insight into the metabolic effects of Cinnamomum cassia we performed randomized, double-blinded placebo-controlled study using euglycaemic-hyperinsulinaemic clamp. METHODS: Twenty-one subjects with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) were included in the study (10 or 11 subjects in each group). The study groups were matched for age, gender and body mass index (BMI). Waist-to-hip ratio, BMI, blood pressure, fasting blood glucose, insulin, triglycerides, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein, high-density lipoprotein , HbA1c, ASAT, ALAT, bilirubin, ALP, GT and PK were measured before and after the intake of capsules equivalent to 6 g cinnamon twice a day for 12 weeks. The changes in insulin resistance were measured by euglycaemic-hyperinsulinaemic clamp. The Wilcoxon signed rank sum test, the Mann-Whitney U test and Pearson’s chi-squared test were used to analyse the data. Values of p < 0.05 were considered to indicate statistically significant differences. RESULTS: At enrolment, the groups were similar in terms of age, gender and BMI. Of the 21 randomized patients with IGT, 17 completed the study (8 controls vs. 9 treated). The ingestion of 6 g cinnamon twice a day for 12 weeks had no significant effect on insulin sensitivity, HbA1c, fasting glucose or BMI. No significant changes were seen in lipids or liver enzymes. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that ingestion of 6 g C. cassia twice a day for 12 weeks did not change the insulin sensitivity or liver enzymes in subjects with IGT

Cultural perspectives on vaginal birth after previous caesarean section in countries with high and low rates — A hermeneutic study

BackgroundCaesarean section (CS) rates are increasing worldwide, an increase that is multifactorial and not well understood. There is considerable variation in the rates of vaginal birth after prev ..

Risk of homelessness after prison release and recidivism in Denmark: a nationwide, register-based cohort study

Background Transitional periods between and across services have been linked to homelessness. We aimed to investigate the association of previous history of homelessness and psychiatric disorders with risk of homelessness after release from prison. Additionally, we examined the association between homelessness after release and risk of recidivism. Methods We did a nationwide, register-based cohort study of people aged 15 years or older who were released from prison for the first time in Denmark between Jan 1, 2001, and Dec 31, 2021. We obtained data using the Danish Civil Registration System with data linked across other registries (the Danish Central Criminal Register, the Danish Homeless Register, the Danish National Patient Register, and the Danish Psychiatric Central Research Register) on release date, homeless shelter contacts, psychiatric disorders, and new convictions. Outcomes were homelessness after release from prison, defined as first homeless shelter contact following release from first imprisonment, and recidivism within 2 years of release, defined as the first police-recorded criminal conviction after prison release. We calculated incidence rates per 1000 person-years, incidence rate ratios (IRRs) using Poisson regression analysis, and probability of homelessness and recidivism after release. Sex, age, calendar year, country of origin, highest educational level, relationship status, and length of index imprisonment were included as confounders. Findings The study cohort included 37 382 individuals (34 792 males [93·1%] and 2590 females [6·9%]) aged 15–41 years, who were released from prison between Jan 1, 2001, and Dec 31, 2021, contributing 202 197 person-years at risk. Mean follow-up duration was 5·4 person-years (SD 5·6). Overall, 1843 (4·9%) of 37 382 individuals became homeless. 1 year after release from prison, 788 (2·1%) of 37 382 individuals had at least one homeless shelter contact, and among 1761 individuals with previous history of homelessness before index imprisonment, 357 (20·7%) became homeless. The incidence of homelessness after release was 102·5 cases per 1000 person-years for individuals with previous history of homelessness and 6·7 cases per 1000 person-years in individuals without (IRR 16·4, 95% CI 14·8–18·2; adjusted for sex, age, and calendar year). Individuals who additionally had a mental illness had a higher risk of homelessness (IRR 22·6, 19·7–25·9) compared with those without either previous homelessness or mental illness, and a substantially higher risk was observed for those with previous homelessness and drug use disorder (25·0, 21·6–28·9) compared with those without. Within 2 years of release from prison, the probability of recidivism was 73·2% (95% CI 72·8–73·7). The risk of recidivism was higher among people experiencing homelessness after release from prison than those who did not experience homelessness after release (IRR 1·5, 95% CI 1·3–1·7), adjusted for sex, age, and calendar year. Interpretation Criminal justice services should review approaches to reduce risk of homelessness, and consider improving liaison with mental health and substance misuse services to prevent adverse outcomes on release from prison. Clinical guidelines applied to criminal justice settings should address the health of individuals who experience homelessness. Funding Lundbeck Foundation

Pedagogical strategies used in clinical medical education: an observational study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Clinical teaching is a complex learning situation influenced by the learning content, the setting and the participants' actions and interactions. Few empirical studies have been conducted in order to explore how clinical supervision is carried out in authentic situations. In this study we explore how clinical teaching is carried out in a clinical environment with medical students.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Following an ethnographic approach looking for meaning patterns, similarities and differences in how clinical teachers manage clinical teaching; non-participant observations and informal interviews were conducted during a four month period 2004-2005. The setting was at a teaching hospital in Sweden. The participants were clinical teachers and their 4th year medical students taking a course in surgery. The observations were guided by the aim of the study. Observational notes and notes from informal interviews were transcribed after each observation and all data material was analysed qualitatively.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Seven pedagogical strategies were found to be applied, namely: 1) Questions and answers, 2) Lecturing, 3) Piloting, 4) Prompting, 5) Supplementing, 6) Demonstrating, and 7) Intervening.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study contributes to previous research in describing a repertoire of pedagogical strategies used in clinical education. The findings showed that three superordinate qualitatively different ways of teaching could be identified that fit Ramsden's model. Each of these pedagogical strategies encompass different focus in teaching; either a focus on the teacher's knowledge and behaviour or the student's behaviour and understanding. We suggest that an increased awareness of the strategies in use will increase clinical teachers' teaching skills and the consequences they will have on the students' ability to learn. The pedagogical strategies need to be considered and scrutinized in further research in order to verify their impact on students' learning.</p