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This article contributes to the sociology of education and technology by providing a cultural analysis of scepticism towards new technologies in school, using reactions to the telepresence robot 'AV1' as its case. AV1 is designed to connect 'homebound' students with their 'school-based' teachers and classmates. Despite its idealistic purpose, the robot has been met with significant scepticism by Norwegian school workers. To understand why, the article proposes the novel concepts of 'educational purity' and 'technological danger' to highlight the shared beliefs that underlie school workers' concerns. We find that school workers see AV1 as threatening key ideals of schools being pedagogically oriented, physically copresent and bounded institutions -- all concerns that reflect widespread ideas about how technologies tend to (not) function within educational contexts. In highlighting these symbolic tensions between new technologies and schools, the article sets a course for future studies into the cultural sociology of education and technology.

'Homebound' children are unable to attend school for illness-related reasons. To lessen their predicament, schools have begun experimenting with 'telepresence robots' that can enable remote participation. While promising, we know little about the use of telepresence robots in practice. To begin to redress this, we draw on 159 semi-structured interviews to explore the experiences of 37 child users of the robot 'AV1' in Norwegian schools. The children's experiences varied, with some benefitting greatly and others not getting any benefit from using the robot. To explain these variations, we reconstruct the robot's "critical component structure" -- that is, the assembly of sociomaterial elements that determines whether and how the robot works in practice. We also explore the benefits of using the robot when these critical components align. In so doing, we provide in-depth knowledge about the potential and prerequisites of using telepresence robots in schools -- to the benefit of users, producers and scholars of telepresence technology.

This article focuses on the impact of the physical environment and construction of play culture in kindergartens. Based on a case study, we explore employees' perception of indoor physical environment and children's play. The findings revealed that gender is interwoven in the physical environments and materials. Children's play practices are associated with gender and perceived as setting different requirements for physical design. These play practices are anchored to different rooms and create a connection between rooms, zones, and gender. In additional, play practices produce and reproduce the employees' ideas of gender. The physical environment has a structural power on children's play practices. The impact of the environment on the construction of play practices makes visible the importance of reflecting on the construction of the indoor environment and gender meaning in order to contribute to using the kindergarten in an equal manner.

This article examines the impact on work culture when men work in kindergartens. In Norway, as in other countries there has been a call for more male staff in kindergartens. Increasing the amount of men may imply that institutionalized norms and practice are put under pressure. By using a case study approach, the focus is on employees' experiences and practice in daily life in the kindergarten. Two processes, negotiation about work organization and the division of labour, illustrate the empirical part of this article. The findings indicate that female staff negotiate for standardized workdays and norms of sameness, while the males negotiate for a flexible workday and division of labour based on their interests. The difference in practice between males and females and negotiation about the division of labour contribute to constructing gendered work cultures.

This paper explores a translation process of Nordic workplace democracy by using an empirical case study of a Norwegian company setting up a subsidiary company in the US. The paper contributes to existing accounts of how ideas and practices in international companies are translated from one institutional context to another by focusing on the role of agency in translation processes. Drawing on advances in Scandinavian institutional theory, the findings show how employees from the source context acted as skilled translators in the new local context and helped to close the skills-gap between employees with and without experience of workplace democracy. In addition, the US managers had work experience from the company in Norway as well as from the US. The employees' and managers' complementary contextual knowledge represented important institutional bridging skills in the process of reproducing workplace democracy in the new local setting. However, during the translation process, some of the elements in the workplace democracy model were discussed and modified. This demonstrates how the organizations' approach can change over time, from a reproducing to a modifying mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vestfjorden in northern Norway, a major spawning ground for the northeast Arctic cod, is sheltered from the continental shelf and open ocean by the Lofoten–Vesterålen archipelago. The archipelago, however, is well known for hosting strong and vigorous tidal currents in its many straits, currents that can produce significant time-mean tracer transport from Vestfjorden to the shelf outside. We use a purely tidally driven unstructured-grid ocean model to look into non-linear tidal dynamics and the associated tracer transport through the archipelago. Of particular interest are two processes: tidal pumping through the straits and tidal rectification around islands. The most prominent tracer transport is caused by tidal pumping through the short and strongly non-linear straits Nordlandsflaget and Moskstraumen near the southern tip of the archipelago. Here, tracers from Vestfjorden are transported tens of kilometers westward out on the outer shelf. Further north, weaker yet notable tidal pumping also takes place through the longer straits Nappstraumen and Gimsøystraumen. The other main transport route out of Vestfjorden is south of the island of Røst. Here, the transport is primarily due to tracer advection by rectified anticyclonic currents around the island. There is also an anticyclonic circulation cell around the island group Mosken–Værøy, and both cells have flow speeds up to 0.2 ms-1 , magnitudes similar to the observed background currents in the region. These high-resolution simulations thus emphasize the importance of non-linear tidal dynamics for transport of floating particles, like cod eggs and larvae, in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatially damped continental shelf waves (CSWs) with diurnal tidal frequency outside Lofoten–Vesterålen in north-west Norway are studied theoretically for an idealized shelf topography. Wave damping is caused by the exchange of fluid on the shelf with an inner archipelago through a permeable coastline. This exchange is modelled by the application of a Robin condition at the coastal boundary. It is shown that CSWs with diurnal frequencies are possible in a small wave number range centred around zero group velocity. By calculating the nonlinear radiation stress components in the spatially damped CSWs, we find the time- and depth averaged Lagrangian mean drift current to second order along the coast. We show that the Lagrangian mean drift current is independent of the value of the damping coefficient, however small, as long as it is nonzero. This illustrates the singular behaviour of the Lagrangian wave drift problem for CSWs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the impact that the interplay between workplace, the welfare state and global working life has on female workers when they become pregnant. By focusing on two highly educated Norwegian female workers, it explores how this change process takes place in two companies operating in the global market located in different countries: Norway and the US. Pregnancy contributes to transforming the neutralized bodiless female worker into an embodied worker with gender. The female workers' experiences and negotiations represent forms of global action on local stages. This is illustrated by four processes: ‘married to work’, ‘pregnant and still married to work’, ‘negotiating separation from work’ and ‘excluding mothering’. The findings indicate the Significance of taking welfare state and workplace policy approaches into consideration in studies of global effects on employees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diurnal continental shelf waves (CSWs) are studied theoretically for an idealized shelf topography. Wave attenuation is caused by the exchange of fluid on the sloping shelf with an inner region through a permeable coastline. As an example, we consider the region outside Lofoten-Vesterålen in north Norway. Here CSWs with diurnal tidal frequencies are possible in a small wave number range centered around zero group velocity. A previous investigation with a Robin condition (a weighted combination of Dirichlet and Neumann conditions) at the permeable boundary has shown that the spatial damping coefficient becomes infinitely large when the group velocity of the CSWs approaches zero. Here we demonstrate that this is not a result of the mathematical formulation, but reflects a physical reality. We show this by modelling the highly convoluted inner archipelagic region as a series of densely packed vertical Hele Shaw cells. By comparing the two ways of describing a permeable coastal boundary (Robin/Hele Shaw), we may express the Robin parameter in terms of the physical parameters (permeability, eddy viscosity) that characterize the flow on the inner porous shelf. The radiation stresses that drive the Lagrangian mean currents are the same in the two cases. This means that the spatial mean current distribution over the sloping shelf becomes unaltered when we compare the Robin case and the porous inner shelf case. • Continental shelf waves are forced by diurnal tides. • Inner continental shelf is modelled as a porous medium. • Spatial damping coefficient is inversely proportional to the group velocity. • Group velocity tends to zero over the sloping shelf. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The challenge of combining rich ecosystems with extensive human industrial activity in vulnerable coastal regions requires a high knowledge about ocean transport dynamics in the respective regions. The Lofoten-Vesterålen (LoVe) area off Northern Norway is an example where prospects of future oil exploration gives concern for the surrounding marine ecosystem. The LoVe peninsula consists of hundreds of islands, which combined with large tidal amplitudes (> 1 m), makes it particularly interesting for investigating tidally-driven tracer transport (pollutants, fish larvae) through the many straits. We set up a numerical tidal model at high (and variable) spatial resolution to investigate two main processes that can produce such tidally-rectified transport. First, we investigate transport by linear dynamics in the strait where the frictional forces are also negligible, i.e. transport by flows where the pressure gradient force and local acceleration approximately balance. When velocity and sea surface height fields are in phase one can obtain a net mass transport through the strait. The mass transport can then also cause tracer transport. Secondly, we investigate transport due to non-linear dynamics giving flow separation and the creation of self-propagating vortex pairs that can trap and transport tracers. The results for the LoVe region indicate a net northward tracer transport through many of the straits which is often correlated strongly with a net mass transport. This correlation suggests that the linear process is the main contributor to the net tracer transport through the LoVe archipelago. The non-linear processes are mainly important inside the straits, where it locally enhances both mixing and transport of tracer in parts of the straits. In two straits we also observe formation of self-propagating dipoles at the strait exits. However, topographic features close to the strait reduce the travel distance of the dipoles, and thereby the tracer transport by these. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over a five-year period of registration in the county of Sør-Trøndelag we studied whether the frequency of consulting for one of three major psychiatric diagnostic groups (psychosis, neurosis, or "other") depended on the type of municipality (rural, coastal, urban) where the patient was resident. Diagnoses were based on consultations with a staff member of the regional outpatient psychiatric clinic, and the underlying population was described in the National Census, 1980. The results showed that, in general, urban residents sought help more frequently from the psychiatric outpatient clinic than rural residents did, (relative risk = 1.6, 95% confidence interval 1.4 to 1.8). The increased "risk" was attributed to a relatively larger number of neuroses and "other" diagnoses in the urban areas. The risk of consulting for psychosis was higher among coastal residents (relative risk = 1.8, 95% confidence interval 1.4 to 2.3) than among rural residents, was particularly evident among coastal residents between 16 and 39 years of age (relative risk = 4.1, 95% confidence interval 2.1 to 8.5), and was equally strong for men as for women. This study confirms that, in general, the risk of seeking outpatient psychiatric treatment is higher among urban than among rural and coastal residents. The apparently higher frequency of requests to the outpatient clinic for help for psychosis among coastal residents should be balanced against the tendency for city residents with psychosis to be admitted directly to the psychiatric hospital.

Incidence density ratios of first admission to an out-patient psychiatric clinic during a 5-year (1980-84) follow-up have been studied, the exposure of interest being marital status. The measured co-variates were sex, age and residence. A nearly 4-fold excess rate ratio of admission (age adjusted IDR = 3.8, 95% c.i. 3.3, 4.4) was detected for separated/divorced versus married persons, and an 80% excess rate ratio (aIDR = 1.8, 95% c.i. 1.6, 2.0) for unmarried. The aIDR for widowed persons approximated unity. Sex and residence modified the measures of effect. Men's aIDR was consistently above that of women for all categories of marital status: unmarried men's aIDR was 2.0 versus women's 1.6; widower's 1.8 versus widows' 0.9, and the aIDR of separated/divorced men was 4.0, versus 3.6 in women. In men, residence also modified the effect in the widowed and the separated/divorced. Rural widowers experience an excess rate ratio of 2.5, versus aIDRs of 1.5 and 1.0 in the urban and the coastal. The age-adjusted IDR in separated/divorced rural men was 10.4, versus 3.9 and 0.8 in urban and coastal men. The modification caused by gender has previously been observed, and has often been explained in terms of social support and networks. The residential effect needs to be explored further.