Ett arbete för en övergång till ett öppet vetenskapssystem pågår både nationellt och inom EU. I Sverige är det Vetenskapsrådet som fått i uppdrag att ta fram riktlinjer för hur denna övergång ska genomföras, och målbilden är att ett sådant system ska vara på plats år 2025. Linnéuniversitetet har som myndighet ansvar att stödja sina anställda forskare vad gäller hantering av forskningsdata.

För att få en bättre förståelse för hur forskningsdata hanteras vid lärosätet skickades en enkät ut till lärosätets forskare av gruppen som genomför en förstudie för inrättande av en Data Access Unit (DAU) vid Linnéuniversitetet. Gruppen består av personal från universitetsarkivet, universitetsbiblioteket, IT-avdelningen och Grants and Innovation Office. DAU kommer att stödja Linnéuniversitetets forskare i fråga om hantering, lagring, tillgängliggörande och bevarande av forskningsdata. Arbetet görs i samarbete med den nationella forsknings-infrastrukturen SND, Svensk Nationell Datatjänst

Rattan cane is an important forest product with economic value. Its anatomical, physical, and biological properties vary with the cane height. This makes it difficult to select the appropriate cane diameter for harvesting. Understanding the material properties of rattan cane with different diameter sizes is important to enhance its utilization and performance for different end uses. Thus, the present study was performed on two rattan species, Calamus zollingeri and Calamus ornatus, at two different cane heights (bottom/mature and top/juvenile). Calamus zollingeri was studied at diameter classes of 20 mm and 30 mm, while Calamus ornatus was analyzed at a diameter class of 15 mm. The anatomical properties, basic density, volumetric swelling, dynamic moisture sorption, and biological durability of rattan samples were studied. The results showed that C. zollingeri with a 20 mm diameter exhibited the highest basic density, hydrophobicity, dimensional stability, and durability against mold and white-rot (Trametes versicolor) fungi. As confirmed by anatomical studies, this could be due to the higher vascular bundle frequency and longer thick-walled fibers that led to a denser structure than in the other categories. In addition, the lignin content might have a positive effect on the mass loss of different rattan canes caused by white-rot decay.

Older adults with functional limitations constitute a vulnerable group with usually lower levels of health status and quality of life (QoL). In both Italy and Greece, informal care and privately-hired care workers are common measures for providing them continuous care and support, more than public care services. This situation might increase the risk of worst QoL if older adults are not equipped with own social and economic resources for coping with daily life limitations, especially in a macro-context heavily influenced in recent years by the effects of the economic crisis. The study aimed at identifying the role of socio-economic status (SES) and social participation as predictors of QoL of older adults with functional limitations, after the Great Recession period. We used data on older adults (50+ years) from the Survey on health, ageing and retirement in Europe (Share) wave 6 (2015) for conducting a crosssectional descriptive analysis and running a hierarchical linear regression model for both Italy and Greece, with blocs of predictors concerning demographic, socio-economic, health, access to care, and social participation domains. In both countries, higher levels of SES and social participation were strongly associated with higher QoL, although good health status remained the most influential predictor of better QoL. Our results suggested that multiple social inequalities are likely to occur among most socially disadvantaged older adults and may heavily affect their QoL and social inclusion.

Slutrapport (LNU 2022/2602) från uppdraget att utveckla Linnéuniversitetets arbete med infrastruktur för kunskapsbildning (LNU 2021/3765).

Rapporten innehåller en kartläggning av Linnéuniversitetets infrastrukturer, finansiering och behovsanalyser. Vidare finns en omvärldsbevakning om hur universitet i Sverige arbetar med forskningsinfrastruktur - främst ansvar och styrning.

Rapporten avslutas med ett antal rekommendationer för Linnéuniversitetets fortsatta arbete.

Møter med Kina handler om møter mellom mennesker på tvers av geografiske, kulturelle og språklige grenser. Ukjent for de fleste, flyttet en rekke nordmenn til Kina mellom 1890 og 1937. Noen var misjonærer. Andre reiste for å drive handel eller arbeide i det kinesiske tollvesenet. For første gang samles historien til enkeltpersoner fra diplomati, næringsliv og misjon i en felles historie om norsk migrasjon til Kina. Boken formidler historisk analyse i fortellingens form. Her presenteres nye sider av kjente størrelser som general Munthe og misjonæren Marie Monsen. Ikke minst løftes nye og hittil ukjente historier fram. Ingeniør Skappel søkte å skape et globalt finansimperium gjennom en skandinavisk-kinesisk bank. Norges første Kina-misjonær Anna Jakobsen, trosset alt og alle for å gifte seg med Cheng Xiuqui. Gjennom fortellinger om mennesker som levde transnasjonale liv, hendelser som risopprøret i Changsha i 1910 og varer som medisintran, kaster boken nytt lys over hvordan enkeltindivid utnytter teknologiske nyvinninger og transnasjonale handlingsrom i håp om å nå nye mål. Noen lykkes. Andre ender i fallitt. Alle erfarer mer enn de kunne forestille seg. Slik gir boken ny kunnskap ikke bare om norsk migrasjon og norsk-kinesisk historie, men også om globalisering som historisk fenomen.

Kursen Lärande för hållbar utveckling som vi presenterar i denna artikel är en fortbildningskurs som vänder sig till högskole- och universitetslärare som vill integrera hållbar utveckling i sin undervisning. Målet med kursen är att stärka kompetenser för att undervisa om/i hållbar utveckling utan att vända sig till en specifik disciplin eller ämne. Istället ligger fokus på möten och samtal kring de globala hållbarhetsutmaningarna som i sig själva skär tvärs över ämnesgränser.

Genom åren har kursen fått uppmärksamhet från olika håll och sedan den första kursomgången 2014 har ett flertal liknande kurser startats vid olika lärosäten i landet, inte sällan på initiativ av tidigare kursdeltagare. Totalt har mer än 50 deltagare genomgått kursen. Bland dem finns alla ämnen representerade och projektarbetena som genomförts på kursen visat på de omfattande och komplexa utmaningar vi står inför och vilka mångfacetterade insatser som behövs. Men det vi har upplevt som det viktigaste med kursen är att den ges till lärare inom alla ämnen och därmed möjliggör möten, kunskaps- och erfarenhetsutbyten över disciplingränserna, något som oftast är väldigt begränsat.

Despite many innovative initiatives, virtual mobility is still a relatively unexploited aspect of internationalisation at European universities. An internal project at Linnaeus university, Global Classroom, has aimed to create a framework and organisation to establish international networking and online collaboration as key elements of all degree programmes. The project aimed to promote the concept of virtual mobility and inspire faculty to adopt it in their programmes. A self-evaluation tool was developed for use in workshops with degree programme coordinators. This tool helps them assess their programme’s present status of internationalisation and highlight potential development areas. Each programme team can then, in consultation with the project team, devise and implement an action plan in order to achieve these objectives. The project also developed a toolbox for digital collaboration and worked with other institutions to offer an online collaborative course for teachers in the art of online collaboration. Another important issue was to create incentives for teachers to work with virtual mobility, including the use of digital badges. This session aims to discuss how virtual mobility can be mainstreamed and what types of incentives are needed as a catalyst for development.

Punken, musikstilen och ungdomsrörelsen som bröt fram under andra halvan av 1970-talet, är samtidigt både omskriven och svår att ringa in. Med sin undersökning av vad punken betytt som socialt sammanhang för dem som var med, lägger Per Dannefjord och Magnus Eriksson en pusselbit till vår förståelse av denna ökända ungdomskultur. I artikeln jämför de den sociala bakgrunden och den nuvarande klasspositionen för den första generationens punkare i Sverige, aktiva mellan 1978 och 1982. Tvärtemot vad olyckskorpar under ”punkeran” trodde, visar det sig att punkarna lyckats bättre vad gäller både utbildningsnivå och social position jämfört med sin generation som helhet. Dannefjord och Eriksson ger två förklaringar till framgången: dels att punkens socialt brokiga sammansättning skapade en miljö där nya möjligheter blev synliga för framför allt ungdomar med arbetarbakgrund; dels att punken erbjöd läroprocesser som gav resurser som kunde utnyttjas i yrkes- och utbildningskarriärer inom framför allt kultursektorn.

To facilitate work on strategic partnerships, 16 higher education institutions in Sweden have produced a guide, within a partnership with funding from Vinnova. The “Strategic Partnership Guide” is a description of and a guide to strategic partnerships. It is formulated from the perspective of a higher education institution. The target group is staff working with collaboration in the area of operational support at Swedish universities and colleges, to provide support in their professional role. The guide may also be useful for vice-chancellors, management teams at higher education institutions, executive boards or academic leaders, to help familiarise themselves with this kind of collaboration. The guide provides an introduction to strategic partnerships and compiles experiences and lessons learned that can facilitate work when getting started with or further developing partnerships.

För att underlätta arbetet med strategiska partnerskap har 16 lärosäten i Sverige tagit fram en handledning, inom ett samarbete med finansiering från Vinnova. “Handledning för strategiska partnerskap” är en beskrivning av och vägledning till strategiska partnerskap. Den är formulerad ur ett lärosätes perspektiv. Målgruppen är personal som arbetar med samverkan inom verksamhetsstöd vid svenska universitet och högskolor, som ett stöd i deras yrkesutövning. Men även rektorer, lärosätesledningar, styrelser och akademiska ledare kan ha användning av handledningen, för att sätta sig in i villkoren för denna typ av samverkan. Handledningen ger en introduktion till strategiska partnerskap och samlar erfarenheter och lärdomar som kan underlätta arbetet att komma igång med eller vidareutveckla partnerskap.

Aligning with global and national goals, including Sweden's aim for full open access to research data by 2026, Lnu is implementing a two-year project focused on applying the FAIR principles—making research data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. To support this transition, Linnaeus University established a Research Data Support Unit within its library already in 2019. Initially limited in resources, the unit aims to identify the necessary services to assist researchers in overcoming challenges related to open research data (ORD) publication. An online survey was conducted to gather insights on current ORD practices among faculty and PhD students, covering demographics, awareness of ORD journals and repositories, and barriers to data sharing. The survey received 227 responses (17.21% response rate), revealing a mix of familiarity with ORD practices across disciplines. While 57% of respondents indicated that their fields encourage open data sharing, many were unaware of journals that mandate such practices. A quarter of participants had previously published open data in a range of data repositories and journals. The findings highlight significant discrepancies in ORD practices among disciplines, with some fields actively supporting data publication while others lagging behind for various reasons. While some respondents cited compliance with journal requirements and support for open science as reasons for sharing their data, many remained hesitant. A significant 75.3% had not published ORD, often due to ethical concerns, lack of support, uncertainty about data generation in their research, time constraints, and perceived lack of recognition for data publication. However, many participants whose research does produce research data indicated a willingness to publish data in the future, subject to adequate support and training. Suggested training formats included short videos, webinars, and hands-on workshops, reflecting varied preferences based on researchers' familiarity with ORD. Feedback on the Research Data Support Unit's services included need for individual support, enhancing the webpage with a number of topics, as well as navigation and search functionalities. A sine qua non condition for driving open research data forward seems to be establishing research ethics advisory services as part of the Research Data Support Unit. General sentiments expressed support for open science initiatives, but underscored the necessity of aligning research demands with disciplinary contexts and emphasized the need for proactive engagement with researchers at subject, departmental, faculty as well as university levels. The identified differences between research subjects and disciplines need to be taken into account, as some research subjects do no produce data, while others have fully implemented infrastructures for data sharing and fully evolved culture of data sharing. Also, there are research outputs other than data that are important to share, such as software, tools, databases which also need to be taken into account when developing the Research Data Support services and training.  

This article explores the interconnections and relations of Nordic missionaries in early-twentieth-century China. Focusing on encounters in the Hunanese province capital of Changsha in and around the 1920s, it discusses ways in which Norwegian and Swedish missionary workers from four Christian associations made sense of their position as Nordic Lutherans within the international community in Changsha. Using both unpublished and published sources it explores the arrival of the Church of Sweden Mission to China in 1920 and plans to establish a Swedish Lutheran university in China. In conjunction it examines the Nordics as part of the international networks in the city, the evacuation of foreigners in 1927, and the ways in which they were affected by national and imperial ambitions and relations. The exploration of Nordic missionaries as ambivalent actors in a semi-imperial arena contributes to our understandings of the connections, co-operations and power dynamics of the transimperial world of the early twentieth century.

När Kristofer Helgen under ett besök på Field museum i Chicago drog ut en låda med vad han trodde var en samling kända tvättbjörnsarter blev han rejält överraskad.

– Jag tittade på pälsen, skallen, tänderna, hörselbenen. Inget i anatomin liknade något jag sett tidigare, säger Kristofer Helgen, som är zoolog vid Smithsonian museum i USA.

Det starkt rödfärgade skinnen han såg ledde till beskrivningen av en ny köttätande däggdjursart.

Forskare och forskning bedöms hela tiden. Det kan handla om huruvida en artikel ska bli publicerad i en viss tidskrift eller om en forskare ska tilldelas anslag eller inte. Ofta är det forskare som bedömer kollegor, så kallad peer-review. Forskning som nyligen publicerades i den nät­baserade vetenskapliga tidskriften PLOS Biology visar, dessvärre, att forskare är ganska dåliga på att ­bedöma vad som är betydelsefull forskning.

Climate change mitigation strategies have increased the demand for wood products, resulting in an urgent needto increase wood production. One approach is to fertilize forest land, but this can influence greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes within the ecosystem. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of forest N fertilization onsoil CH₄ and N₂O fluxes in young Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) stands in southern Sweden. The gasfluxes were measured using flow-through non-steady-state dark chambers. In the first, long-term, experiment,half of the stand was fertilized twice (once in 2014 and once in 2016) with 150 kg ha^-1 of N, and gas fluxmeasurements were taken throughout 2014–2017. In the second, dose, experiment, 0, 150, 300, or 450 kg ha^-1 of N was added to the stand in April 2016, and gas flux measurements were taken during April-December 2016.The dose experiment showed that the sink strength of CH₄ decreased with increasing amounts of N; the long-termexperiment indicated that repeated fertilization decreased the CH₄ sink strength over time. Additionally, thelong-term experiment indicated that, while significantly higher N₂O emissions were recorded in the fertilizationyears, this was not detected in subsequent years, suggesting the effect to be short-lived. In the dose experiment,fertilization tended to increase the N₂O emissions relative to the amount of fertilizer. However, despite thesignificant effects of fertilization on these GHGs, the summed fluxes were a fraction of the net uptake of C at thesites, as recorded in another study. These findings suggest that fertilizing forest land with commercial NP or NPKfertilizers corresponding to 150 kg ha^-1 of N, the level used in operational forestry in Sweden today, can beconducted without changing CH₄ and N₂O fluxes to any great extent.

This article investigates the non-fiction book Black Hawk Down (1999) by Mark Bowden, Black Hawk Down the movie (2001) directed by Ridley Scott, and the computer game Delta Force: Black Hawk Down (2003). The article suggests that while the movie and the game must be studied as adaptations of the first text, the tools developed by adaptation studies, and that are typically used to study the transfer of narratives from one media form to another, do not suffice to fully describe the ways in which these narratives change between iterations. To provide a more complete account of these adaptations, the article therefore also considers the shifting political climate of the 9/11 era, the expectations from different audiences and industries, and, in particular, the role that what James Der Derian has termed the Military-Industrial-Media-Entertainment Network (MIME-Net) plays in the production of narrative. The article thus investigates how a specific political climate and MIME-Net help to produce certain adaptations. Based on this investigation, the article argues that MIME-Net plays a very important role in the adaptation of the Black Hawk Down story by directing attention away from historical specificity and nuance, towards the spectacle of war. Thus, in Black Hawk Down the movie and in Delta Force: Black Hawk Down, authenticity is understood as residing in the spectacular rendering of carnage rather than in historical facts. The article concludes that scholarly investigations of the adaptation of military narratives should combine traditional adaptation studies tools with theory and method that highlight the role that politics and complexes such as MIME-Net play within the culture industry.

This article illustrates the implications of two recent trends on family carers' health: the employment of home-based migrant care workers; and the provision of web-based supports. The main factors traditionally associated with carers' health are used to analyse the results of a six-country study via a multilevel linear regression. Attention will be dedicated to the role of migrant care workers, who are often hired by private households to provide eldercare. Finally, web-based services for carers will be investigated by considering InformCare, a recently implemented European platform tested on a sample of carers from three countries (Germany, Italy and Sweden).

The increasing popularity of cycling activities and events, and the need to encourage cycling to reduce tourism greenhouse gas (GHG) emission, require a better understanding of the motivations of cycle tourists. Cycle tourism is one kind of green sustainable tourism. While numbers of aspects of cycle tourism have been identified in previous studies, environmental values might be one of the factors to determine cycle tourism choice. Most findings show that personal factors are the main reason of cycling activity while environmental values play merely little role in the cycle tourism. This thesis project is aimed to study the motivations of non-club recreational cycle tourists in Kalmar, Sweden and the role of environmental values as a motivation of cycle tourism behavior. Qualitative exploration method has been adopted and 13 local cycle tourists have been interviewed for the project. By applying the environmental values framework, this thesis links two main factors of environmental values to the cycle tourism behavior, that is closeness to nature and environmental concern. The findings show that environmental values are good predictor of cycle tourism behavior. The role of environmental values as a motivation of cycle tourism is improving though still not the main motivation. More explicit attention to environmental related knowledge education may inform the operationalization and promotion of local cycle tourism development. As modern people may attach importance to hedonic experience for their cycle tourism activities, further researches are needed to understand the relationship of hedonic consumption values and cycle tourism behaviors.

Keywords: cycling tourism; motivation; qualitative; environmental values; closeness to nature; environmental concern

Abstract

Master Thesis in Business Administration. School of Business and Economics at Linnaeus University, Växjö, 2016.

Authors

Alexander Palm & Adam Sjögren

Supervisor:

Christopher Von Koch & Katarina Eriksson

Examiner:

Sven-Olof Yrjö Collin

Title:

“Stock recommendations in a new era – Podcasts in financial markets.”

Background & problem:

Banks and other financial institutes deliver traditionally stock recommendations. Bias from these sources has been observed which can be of disadvantage for individual investors. Podcasts is a relatively new kind of media that can supply the market with stock recommendations. Since podcasts is a new media, there is little research regarding its role on financial markets and its potential to offer financial advice.

Purpose:

The purpose is to extend previous research regarding podcasts and it’s role on market efficiency and market function.

Method:

We apply a deductive benchmark and a quantitative approach. A traditional event study with two different time-spans is conducted to analyse stock recommendation and the effect on stock prices.

Conclusion:

Results indicate lack of support for IH with stock recommendations from podcasts, which in turn is support for EMH. However, PPH does have support, which indicate deficiency in EMH. Thus, we provide evidence that the Swedish stock market is not fully efficient and doesn’t posses semi-strong form. No information leakage could be observed, something that differs from previous research on stock recommendations. We could provide evidence of a temporary and positive effect regarding the market function for Small Cap. The observed increase in trading volume proves overconfidence on the Swedish stock market, something that has previously been shown. No knowledge dispersion exists between listeners of podcasts, something that differs from theory and previous research. 

Background: Informal carers have a crucial role in the care of older people, but they are at risk of social isolation and psychological exhaustion. Web-based services like apps and websites are increasingly used to support informal carers in addressing some of their needs and tasks, such as health monitoring of their loved ones, information and communication, and stress management. Despite the growing number of available solutions, the lack of knowledge or skills of carers about the solutions often prevent their usage. Objective: This study aimed to review and select apps and websites offering functionalities useful for informal carers of frail adults or older people in 5 European countries (Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Sweden). Methods: A systematic online search was conducted from January 2017 to mid-March 2017 using selected keywords, followed by an assessment based on a set of commonly agreed criteria and standardized tools. Selected resources were rated and classified in terms of scope. Focus groups with informal carers were conducted to validate the list and the classification of resources. The activities were conducted in parallel in the participating countries using common protocols and guidelines, a standardization process, and scheduled group discussions. Results: From a total of 406 eligible resources retrieved, 138 apps and 86 websites met the inclusion criteria. Half of the selected resources (109/224, 48.7%) were disease-specific, and the remaining resources included information and utilities on a variety of themes. Only 38 resources (38/224, 17.0%) were devoted specifically to carers, addressing the management of health disturbances and diseases of the care recipient and focusing primarily on neurodegenerative diseases. Focus groups with the carers showed that almost all participants had no previous knowledge of any resource specifically targeting carers, even if interest was expressed towards carer-focused resources. The main barriers for using the resources were low digital skills of the carers and reliability of health-related apps and websites. Results of the focus groups led to a new taxonomy of the resources, comprising 4 categories: carer's wellbeing, managing health and diseases of the care recipient, useful contacts, and technologies for eldercare. Conclusions: The review process allowed the identification of online resources of good quality. However, these resources are still scarce due to a lack of reliability and usability that prevent users from properly benefiting from most of the resources. The involvement of end users provided added value to the resource classification and highlighted the gap between the potential benefits from using information and communication technologies and the real use of online resources by carers.

The transition from traditional to progressively digitised health systems is leading to new forms of care including, for instance, telehealth and mobile health (mHealth) solutions. On the one hand, such solutions hold the potential for allowing easier, quicker and remote access to health care. On the other hand, digital health technologies can set new challenges for older people, especially for those who are not familiar with such technologies, in terms of receiving the care they need through good access and level of use of services. Furthermore, these services do not necessarily reflect everyone’s preferences and needs. This chapter aims to conceptualise and systematically discuss old-age digital health exclusion. First, we highlight key structural, environmental, individual and socio-technical drivers of the non-use and low-use of digital technologies, considering also the aspect of agency and personal preferences. Second, we point out the main individual and societal implications of old-age digital health exclusion. Third, we provide a conceptual framework for old-age digital health exclusion which includes older people, drivers and implications. Finally, we offer some reflections about digital health technologies in health care, highlighting related issues, risks and challenges for ageing societies.

The aim of my critical literature review is to identify studies where students are engaged as partners in teaching in higher education and to analyze how tutors and tutees benefit from peer teaching. Thirty studies were included for review. Thirteen countries are represented and two thirds of the studies conducted in the United States of America or the United Kingdom. There is a significant representation of studies from natural- and physical science. The dominating pedagogical belief and theory is social constructivism. The most frequent study design is the use of quasi-experimental pre- and post-testing. University teachers do not comprise the view of peer teaching necessarily resulting in greater academic achievement gains or deep learning. University teachers identify and esteem other pedagogical benefits such as improving students’: critical thinking, learning autonomy, motivation, collaborative and communicative skills. The main finding of this review is the clarification that the training of generic skills benefits from peer teaching. © 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.