Fetal Movements in late Pregnancy : Categorization, Self-assessment, and Prenatal Attachment in relation to women’s experiences

Aim: To explore how pregnant women experience fetal movements in late pregnancy. Specific aims were:  to study women’s experiences during the time prior to receiving news that their unborn baby had died in utero (I), to investigate women’s descriptions of fetal movements (II), investigate the association between the magnitude of fetal movements and level of prenatal attachment (III), and to study women’s experiences using two different self-assessment methods (IV). Methods: Interviews, questionnaires, and observations were used. Results: Premonition that something had happened to their unborn baby, based on a lack of fetal movements, was experienced by the participants. The overall theme “something is wrong” describes the women’s insight that the baby’s life was threatened (I). Fetal movements that were sorted into the domain “powerful movements” were perceived in late pregnancy by 96 % of the participants (II). Perceiving frequent fetal movements on at least three occasions per 24 hours was associated with higher scores of prenatal attachment in all the three subscales on PAI-R. The majority (55%) of the 456 participants reported average occasions of frequent fetal movements, 26% several occasions and 18% reported few occasions of frequent fetal movements, during the current gestational week.  (III). Only one of the 40 participants did not find at least one method for monitoring fetal movements suitable. Fifteen of the 39 participants reported a preference for the mindfetalness method and five for the count-to-ten method. The women described the observation of the movements as a safe and reassuring moment for communication with their unborn baby (IV). Conclusion:  In full-term and uncomplicated pregnancies, women usually perceive fetal movements as powerful. Furthermore, women in late pregnancy who reported frequent fetal movements on several occasions during a 24-hour period seem to have a high level of prenatal attachment. Women who used self-assessment methods for monitoring fetal movements felt calm and relaxed when observing the movements of their babies. They had a high compliance for both self-assessment methods. Women that had experienced a stillbirth in late pregnancy described that they had a premonition before they were told that their baby had died in utero. 

The illusion of creation of the text

Is it really possible to create a (literary) text? It is actually impossible as to create an authentic text we need an authentic context which is impossible to create. So all the literary txets we have are not authentic and are not created authentically.

"Att gå med det i huvudet"-vägen från text till föreställning. : En scenografs arbetsprocess

Jag har försökt att sammanställa dels en enskild scenografs; Calle von Gegerfelts arbetsprocess i successiva steg, för att se hur denne arbetar fram en scenografi, dels har jag i en tabell försökt sammanställa flera scenografers arbetsprocesser för att se om det finns steg som är lika, och som gäller för flera scenografer. I resultatet av dessa sammanställningar har jag kunnat se hur von Gegerfelt steg för steg arbetar fram sin scenografi ända fram till teaterhändelsen. Det har framkommit att han har en lång process med rent tankearbete där omedvetna processer är tydliga och hur dessa successivt övergår till mer konkret arbete med händerna, för att till sist lämna över själva byggandet av scenografin och sömnaden av kläderna till andra. Vissa av dessa steg har han gemensamt med andra scenografer, men dessa har beskrivit de stegen med andra ord och på annat sätt, men man kan se att de hör ihop.

För Sverige i framtiden : Bio-objektifiering av ny medicinsk teknologi

Taking Sweden into the future – Bio-objectification of new medical technology In this article, we analyze how contemporary discursive silences around new biotechnologies such as cybrids and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC), have been enabled by earlier policy processes in the area, e.g. boundary work around what is human and non-human, living and non-living, subject and object. The analysis of policy processes around xenotransplantations and the use of human embryonic stem cells, shows that the stem cells’ and xenografts’ “bio-identities” become stabilized through high expectations for the future, a lack of therapeutic possibilities and struggles over definitions of life. The policy processes around human embryonic stem cells and organs from other animals, are characterized by a normalization of certain understandings of ”life”, trust in scientific progress and it’s national financial potentials and a categorization of criticism as irrational. Through these “bio-objectification processes”, debate and decision making has been moved from a political and public context into ethical committees and research funding bodies. The article concludes by discussing consequences of this political non-handling of biomedical technologies and how these bioobjects could be re-politicized.

The priority of temporal aspects in L2-Swedish prosody : Studies in perception and production

Foreign accent can be everything from hardly detectable to rendering the second language speech unintelligible. It is assumed that certain aspects of a specific target language contribute more to making the foreign accented speech intelligible and listener friendly, than others. The present thesis examines a teaching strategy for Swedish pronunciation in second language education. The teaching strategy “Basic prosody” or BP, gives priority to temporal aspects of Swedish prosody, which means the temporal phonological contrasts word stress and quantity, as well as the durational realizations of these contrasts. BP does not prescribe any specific tonal realizations. This standpoint is based on the great regional variety in realization and distribution of Swedish word accents. The teaching strategy consists virtually of three directives: · Stress the proper word in the sentence. · Stress proper syllables in stressed words and make them longer. · Lengthen the proper segment – vowel or subsequent consonant – in the stressed syllable. These directives reflect the view that all phonological length is stress-induced, and that vowel length and consonant length are equally important as learning goals. BP is examined in the light of existing findings in the field of second language pronunciation and with respect to the phonetic correlates of Swedish stress and quantity. Five studies examine the relation between segment durations and the categorization made by native Swedish listeners. The results indicate that the postvocalic consonant duration contributes to quantity categorization as well as giving the proper duration to stressed syllables. Furthermore, native Swedish speakers are shown to apply the complementary /V: C/ - /VC:/ pattern also when speaking English and German, by lengthening postvocalic consonants. The correctness of the priority is not directly addressed but important aspects of BP are supported by earlier findings as well as the results from the present studies.

A framework for ICT-based knowledge sharing in sustainable rural development : the case of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan

Some 50% of the people in the world live in rural areas, often under harsh conditions and in poverty. The need for knowledge of how to improve living conditions is well documented. In response to this need, new knowledge of how to improve living conditions in rural areas and elsewhere is continuously being developed by researchers and practitioners around the world. People in rural areas, in particular, would certainly benefit from being able to share relevant knowledge with each other, as well as with stakeholders (e.g. researchers) and other organizations (e.g. NGOs). Central to knowledge management is the idea of knowledge sharing. This study is based on the assumption that knowledge management can support sustainable development in rural and remote regions. It aims to present a framework for knowledge management in sustainable rural development, and an inventory of existing frameworks for that. The study is interpretive, with interviews as the primary source for the inventory of stakeholders, knowledge categories and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure. For the inventory of frameworks, a literature study was carried out. The result is a categorization of the stakeholders who act as producers and beneficiaries of explicit and indigenous development knowledge. Stakeholders are local government, local population, academia, NGOs, civil society and donor agencies. Furthermore, the study presents a categorization of the development knowledge produced by the stakeholders together with specifications for the existing ICT infrastructure. Rural development categories found are research, funding, agriculture, ICT, gender, institutional development, local infrastructure development, and marketing & enterprise. Finally, a compiled framework is presented, and it is based on ten existing frameworks for rural development that were found in the literature study, and the empirical findings of the Gilgit-Baltistan case. Our proposed framework is divided in four levels where level one consists of the identified stakeholders, level two consists of rural development categories, level three of the knowledge management system and level four of sustainable rural development based on the levels below. In the proposed framework we claim that the sustainability of rural development can be achieved through a knowledge society in which knowledge of the rural development process is shared among all relevant stakeholders.

Tillhörighetens gränser : Internationell adoption och ursprungets betydelse i svensk utredningsretorik

Boundaries of belonging: transnational adoption and the significance of origin in Swedish official rhetoric This article explores how the category of ‘transnational adoptees’ in Sweden is constructed in two Official Government Reports (SOU). The article is inspired by poststructuralist perspectives on welfare and social categorization, and draws from a postcolonial and feminist theoretical framework. ‘Transnational adoptees’ as a category is understood as constituted through discourse, and given meaning in different contexts. In the reports, a fundamental importance is attached to the fact that individuals with a background as transnationally adopted have been separated from their birth family and country of birth. It is argued that mental problems and a split identity are consequences to be expected from the separation. (Re)connection to the origin is therefore considered to be crucial for the well-being of the group. The article concludes that this line of reasoning is based on a specific logic of blood and roots, in which ‘transnational adoptees’ are understood as belonging to their countries of birth, rather than Sweden. The logic of blood and roots can be read as a form of racialized othering, but also as a discursive exclusion of ‘transnational adoptees’ from Sweden as an imagined, national community.

Hur fyra lärare arbetar med textsamtal i årskurs 4-6 : En studie om hur fyra lärare arbetar med textsamtal i syfte att bearbeta en text, samt vilka förmågor som kan utvecklas hos eleverna.

Syfte: Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur fyra lärare i grundskolan årskurs 4-6 arbetar med textsamtal i svenskundervisningen. Syftet var också att lyfta fram de förmågor som elever kan utveckla vid textsamtal samt pedagogens betydelse för textsamtalets genomförande. Utifrån syftet har följande frågeställningar formulerats. Dessa är: 1. Hur arbetar fyra lärare med textsamtal i svenskundervisningen i årskurs 4-6? 2. Vilken kunskap bör pedagogen ha för att kunna genomföra samtal om texter enligt de deltagande lärarna? 3. Hur vanligt förekommande är samtal om texter i grundskolan årskurs 4-6 rent generellt enligt de deltagande lärarna? 4. Vilka förmågor anser de intervjuade lärarna att elever kan utveckla vid samtal om texter? Metod: Den metod som har använts för att genomföra denna empiriska studie är observation och intervju. Urvalet som gjordes var att begränsa observationerna till fyra lektionstillfällen med fyra olika lärare. Den intervjuform som kändes mest lämplig att använda för detta ändamål var en halvstrukturerad ansats med ett kvalitativt utgångsläge. Resultat och analys: Resultatet visar att de fyra deltagande lärarna har en medvetenhet kring vad ett textsamtal innebär. Denna kunskap är en följd av att lärarna helt eller delvis använder sig av ett färdigt arbetsmaterial i undervisningen. I materialet ingår strukturerade textsamtal. Den slutsats som kan göras efter att ha genomfört både observationer och intervjuer, är att endast en lärare säger sig arbeta medvetet, regelbundet och strukturerat med textsamtal i undervisningen. Det var dock inget som observerades under lektionen jag deltog i. En av lärarna säger också att hon arbetar medvetet och strukturerat med aktiviteten men menar att det är svårt att få tiden att räcka till. De övriga två arbetar inte med textsamtal i undervisningen men den ena läraren uppger att hon använder sig av öppna frågor rent generellt i undervisningen. Ett tryggt klassrumsklimat, goda ämneskunskaper, kunskap i att ställa rätt frågor samt att vara förberedd är förmågor som benämns som betydelsefulla för att textsamtal ska kunna äga rum. Ingen av lärarna uppger att de tror att textsamtal är vanligt förekommande i skolan. Samtliga intervjuade lärare uppger ett antal förmågor som de menar att eleverna kan utveckla vid samtal om texter. Dessa är förmågan att kommunicera, förmågan att lyssna på andra, förmågan att uttrycka egna åsikter samt att kunna reflektera, analysera och bygga vidare på resonemang.