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Jan Gunnar Dale, 1 Alexander Lüthi, 2 Beate Fundingsland Skaraas, 3 Trude Rundereim, 4 Bjørg Dale 5 1University of Agder, Institute of Health and Nursing Science, Grimstad NO-4898, Norway; 2Lovisenberg Diaconal Hospital, Postoperative Unit, Oslo NO-0440, Norway; 3Municipality of Hå, Health and Social Services, Nærbø NO-4365, Norway; 4Municipality of Kinn, Måløy NO-6701, Norway; 5Centre for Care Research, Southern Norway, University of Agder, Grimstad NO-4898, NorwayCorrespondence: Jan Gunnar DaleUniversity of Agder, Institute of Health and Nursing Science, Post Box 509, Grimstad NO-4898, NorwayTel +47 37 23 37 31Email jan.g.dale@uia.noBackground and Aim: In order to assess patients’ ability to search, understand, and benefit from Internet-based information, several screening tools have been developed. One of these tools, which has been widely used, is the eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS). The aim of this study was to examine the measurement properties of the Norwegian version of the eHEALS, as it was used in a group of patients undergoing day surgery.Methods: A cross-sectional survey study was conducted among 119 patients scheduled for day surgical treatment in a Norwegian hospital. The questionnaire included the screening tool eHEALS, which contains 8 items for assessing a person’s information awareness skills, information seeking skills, and skills to evaluate and act based on the information. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients and item-total correlations were assessed for estimating reliability of the eHEALS. Exploratory factor analysis with Oblimin rotation was used for assessing the validity of the scale. Eigenvalue was set to 1.0.Results: A Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.89 for the total scale, values > 0.82 for Alpha if Item Deleted, and moderate to high item-total correlations supported the homogeneity and internal consistency of the scale. A two-component solution explained a total of 74.8% of the variance, with the first component explaining 59.53% of the variance in the scale and included the items reflecting information awareness and seeking. The second component explained 15.23% of the variance, including items reflecting the ability to evaluate and act.Conclusion: The reliability of the Norwegian version of eHEALS, used in a group of patients undergoing day surgery, was good. The internal structure, with two distinct factors, is in line with several previous studies. The eHEALS appears to be an appropriate tool for assessing eHealth literacy among this patient group.Keywords: factor structure, health literacy, internet, internal consistency, screening tool

Negative peer attitudes are a significant barrier to social participation of students with disabilities in inclusive classrooms. Although many intervention studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of interaction or disability awareness programmes in promoting positive peer attitudes, reliance on students' self-reported attitudes is prone to social desirability bias and is unable to capture implicit prejudice. The present study examined changes in students' explicit and implicit attitudes toward peers with disabilities after a curriculum-based intervention programme ("Prinzip Vielfalt"), which aims to promote an open-minded attitude toward human diversity. Teachers in 12 primary school classes in the experimental group (n = 195 students) used the programme for eight weeks, whereas a control group of 12 classes (n = 191 students) used no intervention. Students' pre- and post-intervention attitudes were assessed using an adapted version of the Chedoke--McMaster Attitudes Towards Children with Handicaps Scale and a disability Implicit Association Test for children. Post-intervention analyses revealed a significant relative improvement in explicit attitudes toward peers with disabilities in the experimental group compared to the control group (b = 0.20, 95% CI = [0.03; 0.37]) but no change in implicit attitudes (b = -0.03, 95% CI = [-0.10; 0.03]). Thus, while the intervention positively affected self-reported attitudes, implicit negative associations were unchanged. Using explicit and implicit measures of attitudes and attitude changes among children can provide valuable insights into the mechanisms and effectiveness of different intervention strategies.

The banana tree circle (BTC) is a low-cost system for local greywater management, using a natural treatment and disposal process, providing additional resource recovery benefits. However, there are no standard design criteria for BTC that would allow for quality control of its efficiency and sustainability, and little is currently known about the full-scale performance of BTC. Based on the scoping literature review of 31 documents in the scientific database and eight documents from grey literature, a standard design model was proposed for the BTC technology based on the concept of water balance, greywater flows, rain, infiltration, and evapotranspiration. The first two steps of the BTC design were determining the areas required for infiltration and evapotranspiration. A cylindrical form trench, the soil percolation rate, and the hydraulic loading rate were considered for the infiltration area. The banana trees’ evapotranspiration rate was taken into consideration for the evapotranspiration area. The proposed model was applied in a case study where we used a trench with 0.8 m depth and 1.5 m diameter. This study proposes a standard design criterion for the BTC based on environmental factors, and the scoping of the literature provides the basis for future studies to evaluate its environmental sustainability. HIGHLIGHTS A model for standard design criteria of banana tree circles (BTC) is proposed.; Key parameters are greywater flow, soil percolation, and evapotranspiration rates.; Infiltration and evapotranspiration areas can be optimized using modeling.; The standard design criteria allow for better control of the performance of BTC.; Tools are provided to validate the BTC as solution for greywater management.;

The 2019 UNESCO recommendation on Open Educational Resources (OER) encourages member states to monitor policies and mechanisms in OER across the world. In higher education, there are many initiatives and policies around OER. This contribution gives insights into the current situation concerning OER policy documents that are of national or institutional relevance for public higher education institutions in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. For each country, a different approach for identifying OER policy documents was chosen, dependent on the availability of documents and different dominant forms of documentation. Whereas digital documents available on the web were found as helpful sources for Germany, and performance agreements between the national ministry and individual universities were used for analysis in Austria, a survey amongst all universities was the chosen research approach in Switzerland to give an overview about potentially OER related policy documents. All these documents are now made available via the OER World Map. With this contribution, the authors also highlight the possibility of using the OER World Map as a powerful tool to collect and evaluate OER policy documents.

Introduction Very little is known about daily life dynamics and mutual influences that tie together well-being and psychobiological stress responses in persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) and their romantic partners in particular. The role of social support and physical activity in the associations between emotional well-being and stress has not been investigated in the context of SCI yet and studies applying a dyadic approach, exploring the role of a romantic partner, are currently unavailable. The overall objective is thus to better understand the interplay between emotional well-being and the psychobiological stress marker cortisol, and to investigate the potentially moderating role of social support and physical activity in the well-being–stress association among persons with SCI and their romantic partners using a dyadic perspective.Methods and analysis The stRess and Health Among romantic couPles with Spinal cOrD injurY study, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (10001C_204739), aims to recruit N=150 community-dwelling persons with SCI and their romantic partners including three phases of data collection. The first phase includes a baseline questionnaire. The second phase, the time sampling phase, comprises an ecological momentary assessment design in the everyday life of couples where both partners provide concurrent salivary cortisol samples five times a day and complete assessments four times a day over seven consecutive days. Wrist-worn accelerometers record physical activity during this period. The third phase is an observational study in the laboratory, where a couples’ discussion on the SCI management in their everyday life is recorded and coded to identify a couple-specific coping with SCI to enrich data. The dyadic data will be analysed using multilevel modelling, based on the actor−partner interdependence model framework.Ethics and dissemination The study was approved by the ethics committee of Northwest and Central Switzerland (2022–01072) and findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations.

Rapid eye movement sleep (REMs) is characterized by activated electroencephalogram (EEG) and muscle atonia, accompanied by vivid dreams. REMs is homeostatically regulated, ensuring that any loss of REMs is compensated by a subsequent increase in its amount. However, the neural mechanisms underlying the homeostatic control of REMs are largely unknown. Here, we show that GABAergic neurons in the preoptic area of the hypothalamus projecting to the tuberomammillary nucleus (POAGAD2→TMN neurons) are crucial for the homeostatic regulation of REMs in mice. POAGAD2→TMN neurons are most active during REMs, and inhibiting them specifically decreases REMs. REMs restriction leads to an increased number and amplitude of calcium transients in POAGAD2→TMN neurons, reflecting the accumulation of REMs pressure. Inhibiting POAGAD2→TMN neurons during REMs restriction blocked the subsequent rebound of REMs. Our findings reveal a hypothalamic circuit whose activity mirrors the buildup of homeostatic REMs pressure during restriction and that is required for the ensuing rebound in REMs.

Abstract Herein, fast fracture initiation in glacier ice is modeled using a Material Point Method and a simplified constitutive law describing tensile strain softening. Relying on a simple configuration where ice flows over a vertical step, crevasse patterns emerge and are consistent with previous observations reported in the literature. The model’s few parameters allows identification of a single dimensionless number controlling fracture spacing and depth. This scaling law delineates two regimes. In the first one, ice thickness does not play a role and only ice tensile strength controls the spacing, giving rise to numerous surface crevasses, as observed in crevasse fields. In this regime, scaling can recover classical values for ice tensile strength from macroscopic field observations. The second regime, governed by ice bending, produces large‐scale, deep fractures resembling serac falls or calving events.

Summary: Epilepsy affects millions globally with a significant portion exhibiting pharmacoresistance. Abnormal neuronal activity elevates brain lactate levels, which prompted the exploration of its receptor, the hydroxycarboxylic acid receptor 1 (HCAR1) known to downmodulate neuronal activity in physiological conditions. This study revealed that HCAR1-deficient mice (HCAR1-KO) exhibited lowered seizure thresholds, and increased severity and duration compared to wild-type mice. Hippocampal and whole-brain electrographic seizure analyses revealed increased seizure severity in HCAR1-KO mice, supported by time-frequency analysis. The absence of HCAR1 led to uncontrolled inter-ictal activity in acute hippocampal slices, replicated by lactate dehydrogenase A inhibition indicating that the activation of HCAR1 is closely associated with glycolytic output. However, synthetic HCAR1 agonist administration in an in vivo epilepsy model did not modulate seizures, likely due to endogenous lactate competition. These findings underscore the crucial roles of lactate and HCAR1 in regulating circuit excitability to prevent unregulated neuronal activity and terminate epileptic events.

Context: Providing learners with quality resources at work and school is a key element of apprenticeships and is essential for developing vocational competencies and successful vocational careers. Drawing on previous research on situational and personal resources, we first explored work-related and school-related resource profiles of apprentices' learning environments. We further analysed how core self-evaluations are linked to resource profiles and examined whether learners' apprenticeship satisfaction and occupational commitment varied according to the resource profiles. Approach: We used latent profile analysis and multinomial logistic regressions, applying an integrative, person-centred approach. Our data came from the Swiss longitudinal study "Transition from Education to Employment" (TREE). The sample consisted of 1,185 apprentices enrolled in the second year of their apprenticeship. Findings: We found four profiles of situational resources (e.g., instruction quality, climate, learning opportunities, autonomy, and demands) at the two learning locations. The profiles embodied different patterns and levels of situational resources. Two profiles were characterised by overall high or average levels of situational resources at both learning locations; the other two illustrated a stark contrast between the resources provided in the workplace and at school. Learners with higher core self-evaluations were more likely to be in profiles with higher situational resources. Apprentices in more beneficial profiles were more satisfied with their apprenticeships and more committed to their occupations than those in profiles with lower resources. Conclusion: The results confirm the importance of providing apprentices with challenging, empowering, and supportive learning environments in the workplace and at vocational schools. To support learning and positive career development in apprenticeships, educators should strengthen learners' core self-evaluations to empower them to shape their learning according to their needs.

ABSTRACTThis paper challenges the traditional perspective of a territorial core–periphery pattern as an organizing principle of space by introducing a relational perspective through an empirical approach. We study spatial processes of knowledge creation among advanced producer services in Germany between 2009 and 2019. We use a unique longitudinal dataset to analyse if German regions have become more integrated into the intra-firm location networks nationally and globally, and how this translates into the processes of centralization and peripheralization. The current conceptualization of core–periphery in Germany is too static and does not reflect the economic development of the regions. We find that there is no trend of urban areas becoming more integrated and peripheral areas less integrated into these networks. Instead, our research finds a discrepancy between the federal territorial classification and the functional orientation of German regions. Regions classified as peripheral have not generally decreased in connectivity to other regions. In contrast, some have increased their connectivity and have become more central in relational terms. Overall, we identified peripheralization and centralization as a relational process with dynamic, overlapping and trans-scalar networks.