23 research outputs found
Reflections on the Narrative Research Approach
No full textIn her reflections on the narrative research approach, the author starts by placing narrative research within the framework of sociocultural theory, where the challenge for the researcher is to examine and understand how human actions are related to the social context in which they occur and how and where they occur through growth. The author argues that the narrative as a unit of analysis provides the means for doing this. She then presents some of the basic premises of narrative research before she reflects on the process of narrative inquiry and addresses the issue of the “true” narrative. Throughout the article, the author refers to educational research and in the concluding section argues that the results of narrative research can be used as thought-provoking tools within the field of teacher education
Reflections on the Narrative Research Approach
No full textIn her reflections on the narrative research approach, the author starts by placing narrative research within the framework of sociocultural theory, where the challenge for the researcher is to examine and understand how human actions are related to the social context in which they occur and how and where they occur through growth. The author argues that the narrative as a unit of analysis provides the means for doing this. She then presents some of the basic premises of narrative research before she reflects on the process of narrative inquiry and addresses the issue of the “true” narrative. Throughout the article, the author refers to educational research and in the concluding section argues that the results of narrative research can be used as thought-provoking tools within the field of teacher education
Residential care in Norway
No full textThis paper provides a background to residential care in Norway and discusses the present state of Norwegian research in the field. The status and role of residential care are explored in light of the fact that the family perspective has traditionally been the most prevalent ideology in Norwegian social policy and child welfare. Attention is given to the meaning of \u27care\u27 and to the consequences of a lack of definition of care with respect to the status of residential care on the care continuum. The author defends the position that foster care and residential care are complementary rather than hierarchically better or worse. Finally, suggestions for improvement in residential care are offered
Graeme Kirkpatrick, Aesthetic Theory and the Video Game
No full textAesthetic Theory and the Video GameGraeme KirkpatrickNew York: Manchester University Press, 2011. Images, bibliography, index. 247 pp. $25.95 cloth. ISBN: 9780719077180 Graeme Kirkpatrick's study of aesthetic theory and video games seeks to apply aesthetic theory to what some view as a garish, popularized, and mass-produced cultural form. What do video games have to do with aesthetics after all? Kirkpatrick takes this question head on and argues that video games are a"historically specific instance of an aesthetic form," and as such they should be viewed through the lens aesthetics to be understood (p. 1). Over the course of six chapters, Kirkpatrick discusses the newness of what games bring to aesthetics. For the author, the newness of games is a specific way of approaching the text through the body, as a participant rather than as an audience.Drawing on the work of Markku Eskelinen (a founder of gamestudies.org), Kirkpatrick demonstrates the difference between games and stories. As Eskelinen notes, when we are thrown a ball, we do not expect it to tell us stories. This example becomes Kirkpatrick's starting point for an exploration of games as texts that expect us to play along, take part in, and initiate the progress of the experience. He pushes Eskelinen's comments further by asserting that the act of playing can be meaningful without being subjected to interpretation. The act is its own meaning and its own goal.Despite Kirkpatrick's initial claim that play does not have to be interpreted, he does commit interesting and thoughtprovoking acts of interpretation. For instance, in chapter 5, "Meaning in Virtual Worlds," he interprets the structure of video games as a constant revisiting of loss, and he points to how it is described as a joyless pleasure (p. 187). In this discussion, he demonstrates through strong and engaging analysis the connections between game criticism and the cultural criticism of Walter Benjamin and Frederic Jameson.In Kirkpatrick's chapter called "Ludology, Space, and Time," he positions the ludology (the study of games) of Espen Aarseth and Jesper Juul in the context of traditional aesthetic theory. He weaves the loose ends of structuralist game studies into the aesthetic traditions and understandings that the ludologists originally rejected, claiming that game scholarship was independent of them. These original ludologists did this to avoid having games reduced and understood only in the image of the previous, more static texts dominating the field of literature and aesthetics. Yet while this chapter performs the necessary task of positioning ludology in relation to aesthetic theory, it also leaves a lot to future discussio
Motywy mitologiczne (i nie tylko) w "Psyche" Hansa Christiana Andersena i "Iselin i wilkołaku" Torill Thorstad Hauger
No full textPsyche told by Andersen, and Iselin and the Werewolf told by the contemporary Norwegian
author are connected by mythological motifs and themes, for example the story of Psyche. This
is one reason for discussing both texts in one article. The other reason lies in the diverse values
of each of both writings, which could lead to put the tale by Andersen and the novel by Hauger
on the college and high school reading list.
In the article I analyse and interpret the Andersen’s tale from 1861, explaining the writing
context, treating the narration and the main character — the Italian sculptor — as well as decoding
Andersen’s thoughts on human’s life, biological and psychic nature of man, artistic creation,
fading and fame, the charm of the world and the beauty of art.
While discussing the novel Iselin and the Werewolf, I point at how the author tries to convince
her adolescent readers that they are able to fight against their fascination with evil and to
oppose violence or peer victimization and that they do not have to feel ashamed with their kindness,
tenderness or love. I designate as well Hauger’s references to fairy tales — including The
Snow Queen, to the myth of Amor and Psyche and to Shakespeare’s tragedy Romeo and Juliet.
I make a remark that in both texts the reader can find some motifs related to mythological
stories, works of art or literary writings. These motifs correspond with mental states of the story
characters, enriching their intellectual contents and reinforcing the message of the tale by Andersen
and the novel by Hauger
Maintaining registration and tax benefits: Consequences for professionalisation of voluntary membership organisations in Norway and the UK
No full textThis is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Taylor & Francis via the DOI in this recordThis article investigates how regulation related to maintaining state registration and tax beneficial status affects professionalisation, covering paid staff and volunteers with specialist skills, of political parties, advocacy groups and service providing organisations. The article fills a gap in the literature which until now has been mainly concerned with the influence of state funding on professionalisation. To study the consequences of first-time exposure to reporting requirements, eight organisations in two contrasting regulatory regimes, UK and Norway are analysed, on the basis of extensive documents and a series of semi-structured interviews with different organisational actors. The study finds that organisations – irrespective of type - exposed to constraining regulation adjust to reporting requirements through recruitment of specialised personnel. Organisations’ financial capacity determines whether the organisation professionalises by taking on specialist volunteers or by taking on paid staff. The study demonstrates the pervasive impact of regulation on organisational maintenance of voluntary membership organisations in contemporary democracies.European Research Counci
Author Correction: Comprehensive analysis of chromothripsis in 2,658 human cancers using whole-genome sequencing
No full textauthor correctio
Challenges in detecting and diagnosing substance use in women in the acute psychiatric department: A naturalistic cohort study
No full textBackground: This study examines sex differences in substance use and substance use disorder in the acute psychiatric department, and possible interactions between sex and clinical and social factors associated with this phenomenon.
Methods: Data concerning substance use were collected in a naturalistic cohort study (n = 384, 51.6% male, 48.4% female) in an acute psychiatric department. Recent intake of substances at admission, diagnosis of substance use disorder and demographic and socioeconomic information were recorded. At admission, serum and urine samples were analysed for substance use and breath analysis was performed for alcohol levels.
Results: Twice as many men as women were diagnosed with substance use disorder, whereas there were no gender differences in the number of positive toxicology screenings. Toxicology screening revealed the use of non-prescribed medication with addiction potential in 40% of both female and male patients many of whom did not report this in the admission interview. A low level of education in men and absence of parental responsibility in women showed a statistically significant interaction with a current diagnosis of substance use disorder.
Conclusions: Despite no sex differences in positive toxicology screenings in the acute psychiatric department, twice as many men as women are diagnosed with substance use disorders. The use of prescription drugs with addiction potential was widely under-reported by both sexes, in patients with no prescriptions for the medications. Women with no parental responsibility are overrepresented among those diagnosed with substance use disorder, as are men with a low level of education.© The Author(s). 2016. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated
The N-Terminally Truncated µ3 and µ3-Like Opioid Receptors Are Transcribed from a Novel Promoter Upstream of Exon 2 in the Human OPRM1 Gene
No full textThe human µ opioid receptor gene, OPRM1, produces a multitude of alternatively spliced transcripts encoding full-length or truncated receptor variants with distinct pharmacological properties. The majority of these transcripts are transcribed from the main promoter upstream of exon 1, or from alternate promoters associated with exons 11 and 13. Two distinct transcripts encoding six transmembrane domain (6TM) hMOR receptors, µ3 and µ3-like, have been reported, both starting with the first nucleotide in exon 2. However, no mechanism explaining their initiation at exon 2 has been presented. Here we have used RT-PCR with RNA from human brain tissues to demonstrate that the µ3 and µ3-like transcripts contain nucleotide sequences from the intron 1-exon 2 boundary and are transcribed from a novel promoter located upstream of exon 2. Reporter gene assays confirmed the ability of the novel promoter to drive transcription in human cells, albeit at low levels. We also report the identification of a “full-length” seven transmembrane domain (7TM) version of µ3, hMOR-1A2, which also contains exon 1, and a novel transcript, hMOR-1Y2, with the potential to encode the previously reported hMOR-1Y receptor, but with exon Y spliced to exon 4 instead of exon 5 as in hMOR-1Y. Heterologous expression of GFP-tagged hMOR variants in HEK 293 cells showed that both 6TM receptors were retained in the intracellular compartment and were unresponsive to exogenous opioid exposure as assessed by their ability to redistribute or affect cellular cAMP production, or to promote intracellular Ca2+ release. Co-staining with an antibody specific for endoplasmic reticulum (ER) indicated that the µ3-like receptor was retained at the ER after synthesis. 7TM receptors hMOR-1A2 and hMOR-1Y2 resided in the plasma membrane, and were responsive to opioids. Notably, hMOR-1A2 exhibits novel functional properties in that it did not internalize in response to the opioid peptide [D-Ala2, N-Me-Phe4, Gly-ol5]enkephalin (DAMGO).© 2013 Andersen et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
