Meaningful Organizing with Structural Complexity

In this paper, we look upon meaningful organizing as a question of creating and using structural complexity, and present an approach to meaningful organizing based on so-called social systems theory. It follows from social systems theory that the main objective of meaningful organizing in complex environments is to deal effectively with environmental complexity and uncertainty to secure coordination of collective efforts. In the paper, we present a set of research questions and a research strategy for planning and implementing a set of structuring interventions. Following the presentation of our interventions, we then discuss the results, and conclude with some remarks on the extent to which we can generalize our results to be valid for other types of organizations

A Model of the Cellular Iron Homeostasis Network Using Semi-Formal Methods for Parameter Space Exploration

This paper presents a novel framework for the modeling of biological networks. It makes use of recent tools analyzing the robust satisfaction of properties of (hybrid) dynamical systems. The main challenge of this approach as applied to biological systems is to get access to the relevant parameter sets despite gaps in the available knowledge. An initial estimate of useful parameters was sought by formalizing the known behavior of the biological network in the STL logic using the tool Breach. Then, once a set of parameter values consistent with known biological properties was found, we tried to locally expand it into the largest possible valid region. We applied this methodology in an effort to model and better understand the complex network regulating iron homeostasis in mammalian cells. This system plays an important role in many biological functions, including erythropoiesis, resistance against infections, and proliferation of cancer cells.Comment: In Proceedings HSB 2012, arXiv:1208.315

Strategies for inclusive place making

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a new approach to analyzing place making structure and processes, and discuss strategies for inclusive place making in urban areas. Design/methodology/approach – The theoretical approach is based on social systems theory and organization design theory, representing a constructionist and socio-structural approach to inclusive place making. The methodology is based on a comparative analysis of three cases of inclusive place making. Findings – The main findings are that place making systems today lack the necessary complexity in their politics and planning to secure inclusive place making and fail to organize for face-to-face interactions in place making processes. Research limitations/implications – In a social systems approach we observe how place stakeholders and systems observe place making realities and problems, and construct place images. This introduces some degree of uncertainty into our analyses, but constitutes an effective basis for studying inclusive strategy development. Practical implications – The findings indicate that observing how place stakeholders construct their opinions about the problems and possibilities for inclusive place making and face-to-face interactions, probably constitutes the best basis for practical support for inclusive place making. Social implications – The paper directs attention to the fact that current urban development strategies and policies towards inclusion of groups with limited resources today lack the necessary knowledge bases and means to deal effectively with the complexity related to current inclusion problems. Originality/value – The paper demonstrates that an approach, which supplements the basic governance systems with face-to-face interactions, can deal effectively with today’s problems of inclusivity.acceptedVersio

Habitat use and depth preferences of sea trout (Salmo trutta) in a Norwegian estuary

Brunørreten (Salmo trutta) er en ferskvannsfisk som lever i bekker, elver, innsjøer og marine kystområder. Anadrome individer, ofte kalt sjøørret, har stor variasjon i migrasjonsstrategi og habitatbruk. De fleste større elveoser i Norge er i dag kraftig påvirket av menneskelig aktivitet siden byer og tettsteder ofte er lagt rundt elvemunningene. Elveosene brukes av sjøørreten til å vandre mellom ferskvannshabitatene og de marine beiteområdene, og menneskelig aktivitet i elvemunningene kan derfor potensielt ha negative konsekvenser for sjøørreten. For å øke kunnskapen om hvor viktig elveoser er som habitat for sjøørreten, ble en toårig studie utført i Gaulosen i Trondheimsfjorden i Midt-Norge. Dette området er relativt lite påvirket av menneskelig aktivitet, noe som gjør det til et ideelt sted å studere sjøørretens naturlige bruk av elveoser gjennom året. Fra mars 2018 til september 2019, ble 43 sjøørret merket og sporet ved hjelp av akustisk telemetri for å undersøke de følgende hypotesene: (i) sjøørreten brukte elveosen året rundt (ii) individer med mindre kroppslengde, høyere kondisjonsfaktor, og spesielt hanner, viste større utnyttelse av elveosen (iii) svømmedybden endret seg gjennom året og var dypere om sommeren. Sjøørreten brukte elveosen gjennom alle månedene i året, men antall individer varierte mellom årstidene. Antall fisk var høyest mellom desember og mai, og lavest fra juni til september når kun 11% av sjøørreten som på et tidspunkt var registrert i elveosen oppholdt seg her. Kjønn, alder, kondisjonsfaktor og kroppslengde (LT) påvirket om sjøørreten oppholdt seg i elveosen om sommeren, hvor hunner, individer med høyere kondisjonsfaktor, større, og eldre fisk hadde større sannsynlighet for å bli igjen i elveosen. Sjøørreten i elveosen oppholdt seg generelt nært overflaten fra mars 2018 til august 2019 og hadde en gjennomsnittlig svømmedybde på 2.4 m (variasjonsbredde = 0.1 m – 25.6 m). Svømmedybden var påvirket av årstid og kroppslengde, hvor mindre fisk svømte dypere og sjøørreten hadde en dypere svømmedybde om våren og sommeren. En sammenligning av svømmedybden i elveosen og fjorden i perioden fra desember 2018 til juni 2019 viste at svømmedybden var grunnere i elveosen (gjennomsnittsdybde = 2.9 m, variasjonsbredde = 0.4 – 25.6 meter) enn i fjorden (gjennomsnittsdybde = 5.7 m, variasjonsbredde 0.5 – 14.0 meter). Sjøørreten vandret til nærliggende elver, og 18% av individene som ble merket i elveosen om våren, vandret til enten Nidelva eller Orkla i løpet av sommeren. Resultatene fra denne studien illustrerer at elveoser er viktige habitat for sjøørreten, spesielt i perioden fra desember til mai. Tilbakegangen av sjøørretbestander i store deler av Norge gjør det ekstra viktig å bevare de habitatene som har høy verdi for sjøørreten. Elveoser er under sterkt press for utbygging i Norge, men gitt viktigheten av disse leveområdene bør de beholdes i god stand.The brown trout (Salmo trutta) is a freshwater fish found in habitats ranging from small streams to rivers, lakes, estuaries and the coastal marine waters. The anadromous form, often termed sea trout, exhibits large variation in migratory strategies and habitat use. Many major estuaries in Norway are highly affected by human activity, as cities are often built around larger river outlets. This can potentially have negative consequences for the sea trout, as estuaries are the transition zone for their migrations between freshwater and sea. To gain more knowledge on the importance of estuaries as a habitat for sea trout, a two-year study was conducted in Gaulosen estuary in the Trondheimsfjord, Central Norway. This estuarine area has a relatively low level of impact from humans, making it an ideal place to study the sea trout’s natural use of estuaries. From March 2018 through September 2019, 43 sea trout were tagged and tracked using acoustic telemetry in order to test the following hypotheses: (i) that the sea trout utilised the estuary year-round, (ii) that individuals with smaller body lengths, higher body condition, and especially males showed a greater utilisation of the estuary than other sea trout and (iii) that swimming depth changed throughout the year, with greater depths during the summer. The sea trout used the estuary during all months of the year, but the number of individuals varied between seasons. The number of fish was highest in the period from December to May, while only 11% of the sea trout registered in the estuary at some point stayed there during the summer months of June to September. The tendency of remaining in the estuary during summer was influenced by sex, age, condition factor and body length (LT), where females, fish with higher body condition, larger and older fish were more likely to remain resident in the estuary throughout the summer. The swimming depths in the estuary from March 2018 to August 2019 were generally surface-oriented, with a mean of 2.4 m (range 0.1 m – 25.6 m). It was influenced by season and body length, with smaller individuals staying deeper in the water and a deeper swimming depth during spring and summer. When comparing swimming depths between the estuary and the fjord for the period December 2018 to June 2019, it was significantly shallower in the estuary (mean = 2.9 m, range 0.4 – 25.6 meter) than in the fjord (mean = 5.7 m, range 0.5 – 14.0 meter). The tagged fish were found to visit nearby watercourses, and 18% of the sea trout captured and tagged in Gaulosen estuary during the spring, moved to either River Nidelva or River Orkla during the summer. The results from this study illustrate that estuaries are important habitats for sea trout, where some individuals utilise it all year round, while other use it only as an overwintering habitat or as a transition zone between freshwater and the marine environment. The decline in sea trout populations seen in large parts of Norway makes it crucial to conserve habitats of high value for the sea trout. Given the importance of estuarine areas, protective measures should be taken to ensure that they are kept in good condition

Youths’ perceptions and experiences of sexual and reproductive health services received from health workers trained as part of a package of interventions to improve motivation, skills, and performance in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Background: Youth is an age where access to quality sexual and reproductive health services and care is of particular importance. In The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where young girls’ sexuality and sexual activity are often stigmatized, poor sexual and reproductive health (SRH) care can limit the utilization of SRH services, thereby leading to poor health outcomes. This thesis is based on a broader study funded by the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) and the World Health Organization (WHO) which developed and implemented a package of interventions aimed at improving the knowledge, attitudes, skills and competencies of health workers and health managers. The study included mystery client assessments and exit interviews with youth. This thesis aims to understand youths’ perceptions and experiences of care and services delivered by health workers trained as part of the intervention. Methods: This study analyses secondary data collected from semi-structured interviews with both mystery clients (n=16) and youth exit interviews (n=16). These interviews were reviewed, coded, and analysed using thematic analysis. The analysis was based on the WHO standards of quality health care and the six guiding principles for SRH. Results: The majority of the participants reported that they felt satisfied or very satisfied with the services including how they were welcomed and received by health workers. A minority of the youth indicated they were not satisfied and left the facility feeling that they had not received the answers, care, or treatment they hoped for. Findings indicate that contextual factors such as strikes, heavy workload and lack of medical equipment and supplies may hinder health workers in delivering high quality services to youth. A few of the youth clients reported that health workers made judgemental and inappropriate comments. Conclusion: The findings show there is an ongoing need for efforts to improve health worker attitudes, competencies, and skills to meet the needs of youth, but also to ensure health workers have an enabling environment that motivates them to provide quality sexual and reproductive health care to youth. An explicit focus on ensuring the eight standards of quality health care and the six principles of SRH in future comprehensive interventions may lead to improvements in the SRH outcomes for youth in sub-Saharan Africa and aid in fulfilling SDG 3.7 by 2030. Keywords: Youth, SRH services, DRC, intervention, health workers

Henry Larsen (1899-1964)

Henry Astrup Larsen was the first man to traverse the Northwest Passage from the Pacific to the Atlantic, beginning his historic voyage in Vancouver in 1940 and ending it in Halifax in 1942. Within two years of this major success, Larsen navigated the Passage from east to west, thus scoring another "first" by crossing the continent in both directions. In 1940, desirous of asserting its sovereignty over the Arctic Islands, the Canadian government entrusted the Royal Canadian Mounted Police with the task of patrolling this barren, largely unexplored region of half a million square miles. Corporal Henry Larsen, captain of th R.C.M.P. schooner St. Roch and a 16-years veteran of the Arctic, was chosen as a key figure in this dangerous, ambitious, and politically expedient undertaking

Modelling, Instrumentation and Control in Marine Larviculture

PhD i informasjons- og kommunikasjonsteknologiPhD in Information and Communications Technolog

Poroelastic Modelling of CSF circulation via the incorporation of experimentally derived microscale water transport properties

We outline how multicompartmental poroelasticity is applied to the study of dementia. We utilize a 3D version of our poroelastic code to investigate the effects within parenchymal tissue. This system is coupled with multiple pipelines within the VPH-DARE@IT project which account for patient/subject-specific boundary conditions in the arterial compartment, in addition to both an image segmentation-mesh and integrated cardiovascular system model pipeline respectively. This consolidated template allows for the extraction of boundary conditions to run CFD simulations for the ventricles. Finally, we outline some experimental results that will help inform the MPET system

How old is a tune?

Published versio