Østfold University College

About: Østfold University College is a education organization based out in Halden, Norway. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Context (language use) & Health care. The organization has 438 authors who have published 1213 publications receiving 12510 citations. The organization is also known as: HiØ.

Reconceptualising sleep: Relational principles inside and outside the pram:

Abstract: This article explores sleep among kindergarten infants and toddlers. Although the collective order of sleep in kindergarten makes it a relational issue, the search here is for relations that extend beyond human actors and beyond the idea of the pram as a sleep container used by a sleeping subject. Here, sleep is seen as entangled with bodies and prams; it has a rhythm and a tempo, as well as the power to challenge the capitalist call for productivity. The article addresses sleep in terms of spatial configurations and contextualises it within a web of political relations rather than as a leftover of life. Informed by Foucault’s notions of heterotopia, the article characterises sleep as a world within a world, drawing attention to relational principles and material-discursive spaces that are characterised as ‘different’, on the understanding that sleep is not an intermission from life or relationships. Moving beyond the conceptualisation of sleep as a health and medical issue, it is reframed as embodied and...

Achieving Knowledge Evolution in Dynamic Software Product Lines

Abstract: Dynamic Software Product Lines (DSPLs) offer a strategy to deal with software changes that need to be handled at run-time. In response to context changes, a DSPL capitalize on knowledge about the architecture variability of the software system to shift between configurations. Similar to any other kind of software, a DSPL needs to evolve over time but current approaches require software engineers to manually perform the DSPL evolution. Our work addresses the evolution of the architecture variability that makes up the knowledge of the DSPL. Given a new version of the architecture variability, we calculate its configuration space and propose strategies that allow migration from the current version to the new version. Our strategy solves the collision of the realization layer resulting from the integration of the new version of the variability specification. We evaluate our dynamic evolution strategy using the Goal-Question-Metric method for a Smart Hotel case study with 239 possible configurations as starting point. Our experiment indicates that the proposed technique would enable automatic evolution in 9 out of 10 cases. In the rest of the cases, all of the DSPL configurations changed between the old and the new version, which frustrates an automatic evolution.

Self-esteem in patients with inflammatory bowel disease

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to explore self-esteem and associations between self-esteem and sociodemographic, clinical, and psychological factors in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), a disease of chronic relapsing inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. IBD symptoms, including pain, fatigue, and diarrhea, as well as potential life-long medical treatment and surgery, may be demanding, cause significant challenges, and influence self-esteem. In this cross-sectional multicenter study, participants were recruited from nine hospitals in the southeastern and western regions of Norway from March 2013 to April 2014. Data were collected using self-report questionnaires. Self-esteem was assessed by the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, fatigue was assessed by the Fatigue Questionnaire, self-efficacy was assessed by the General Self-Efficacy Scale, and disease activity was assessed by the Simple Clinical Colitis Activity Index for ulcerative colitis (UC) and Harvey Bradshaw Index for Crohn’s disease (CD). Multiple linear regression analysis was applied to examine associations between self-esteem and sociodemographic, clinical, and psychological factors. In total, 411 of 452 (91%) patients had evaluable data and were included in this study. The mean scores on self-esteem, self-efficacy, total fatigue, anxiety, and depression were similar between UC patients and CD patients. Male gender, being employed, and higher self-efficacy were independently associated with higher self-esteem, whereas anxiety and depression were independently associated with lower self-esteem. Neither disease activity nor fatigue were associated with self-esteem in the final multiple regression analyses. Patient-centered interventions that improve self-esteem and reduce anxiety and depression seem to be important to optimize IBD management.

Implementing OPC-UA services for Industrial Cyber-Physical Systems in Service-Oriented Architecture

Abstract: Industrial cyber-physical systems are advancing rapidly along with the emergence of the fourth industrial revolution. It is, therefore, necessary to design and develop appropriate tools and frameworks that allow the migration/integration of legacy systems into the new Industry 4.0 environment. OPC-UA is one of the recommended technologies to enable communication and interoperability of digitalized assets in Industry 4.0. This paper proposes a solution to develop an OPC-UA interface for industrial systems for service-oriented architecture. With the use of the Arrowhead Framework - a cloud-based framework facilitating interoperability and integrability of Industrial Internet of Things - and Industry 4.0-compliant technologies, the authors describe the procedure of developing different application systems which dynamically produce and consume OPC-UA services within a local automation cloud.

Combining smart energy meters with social media: Increasing energy awareness using data visualization and persuasive technologies

Abstract: Motivated by the need to reduce energy consumption and provide consumers with control over energy usage, I wanted to explore how smart energy meters can be combined with social media and data visualization, and utilized to facilitate energy awareness for household consumers. Furthermore, I wanted to explore if the concept of persuasive technology can be used to modify consumer behaviour, by motivating for energy savings and avoiding energy peaks. In order to create a prototype for such an application, similar cases have been studied, and households have been interviewed to discover what is preventing them from consuming less energy. Based on these results a low fidelity prototype of a collaborative competition in social media has been created. Both expert evaluation and usability testing were performed on the prototype. The results indicated that a collaborative competition would be a motivating factor for reducing energy consumption, and the social aspect of the competition seemed to enhance motivation further.