As the tier of government closest to people, local government plays a key role in answering local needs and aspirations. However, local governments are often under-resourced, leaving them inadequately responsive to many of these critical local demands. Moreover, accountability to their citizens, which is the core of a well-functioning local democracy, is often lacking because the necessary formal

OBJECTIVE: Children and adolescents with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are at risk for long-term adversity, but factors influencing long-term outcomes are unclear. A general factor of psychopathology, often referred to as the p factor, captures variance shared by all mental disorders and has predicted long-term outcomes in youth with anxiety and depressive disorders. The p factor has never b

BACKGROUND: Symptom reduction occurring early in depression treatment is associated with favourable post-treatment outcome, but it is not known how early reduction in specific depression symptoms affect treatment outcome. We aimed to determine the impact of symptom-specific change from pre-treatment to week four during internet-delivered CBT (ICBT) on overall and symptom-specific depression severi

Critical thinking (CT) is considered important in second language (L2) learning. Previous studies have investigated and confirmed a correlation between critical thinking and L2 learning in face-to-face (f2f) learning. The present study aimed to investigate the correlation between CT and L2 proficiency in an online learning environment. The participants in this study were undergraduate Swedish stud

Previous research indicates that higher-order thinking skills (HOTS) have an important role in L2 learning. In an online learning context, e-assessment tasks are ideally designed to target these skills. A recently conducted study by Johansson (2020) indicates that HOTS e-assessment is relatively common in Swedish online English as a Foreign Language (EFL) courses. Generally, instructors’ perceptio

Studies within second language learning indicate that higher-order thinking skills (HOTS) are important for the process of learning a new language. At the same time, previous literature indicates that assessment tasks in online courses often focus on lower-order thinking skills. Little is still known about if and how thinking skills are assessed in online EFL courses. Hence, the purpose of this st

The present thesis investigates higher-order thinking skills (HOTS) and critical thinking in English courses at Swedish universities. The rationale for investigating this topic is based on policy documents which state that students’ development of these skills is a goal in both Swedish and international higher education. Previous research indicates a connection between critical thinking and L2 pro

David Hume’s various writings concerning problems of religion are among the most important and influential contributions on this topic. In these writings Hume advances a systematic, sceptical critique of the philosophical foundations of various theological systems. Whatever interpretation one takes of Hume’s philosophy as a whole, it is certainly true that one of his most basic philosophical objec

Brain insulin resistance links the failure of energy metabolism with cognitive decline in both type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2D) and Alzheimer's disease (AD), although the molecular changes preceding overt brain insulin resistance remain unexplored. Abnormal biliverdin reductase-A (BVR-A) levels were observed in both T2D and AD and were associated with insulin resistance. Here, we demonstrate that re

The concept of pre-diabetes has led to provision of measures to reduce disease progression through identification of subjects at risk of diabetes. We previously considered the idea of pre-asthma in relation to allergic asthma and considered that, in addition to the need to improve population health via multiple measures, including reduction of exposure to allergens and pollutants and avoidance of

Choice blindness (failure to notice when our choices are switched unexpectedly) suggests people are often unaware of reasons underlying their intentions/preferences. Some argue, however, that research revealing choice blindness simply reflects social-demand characteristics in participant-experimenter interactions. To address this, we compared autistic adults (a population less susceptible to socia

Birds and mammals show remarkable convergence in their neurocognition and thermal physiology despite being phylogenetically separated for 325 million years of evolution. This elaboration in neurocognition is hypothesised to be directed at increasing the caloric intake through efficient foraging to power tachymetabolic endothermy. To gain a better understanding of how and why cognitive abilities ev

Purpose: Cancer survivors experience barriers to primary healthcare (PHC) services. The aim was to explore reactions to and opinions about perceived challenges associated with PHC access and quality among cancer survivors in Sweden, including how they have acted to adapt to challenges. Methods: Five semi-structured focus group interviews were conducted with cancer survivors (n = 20) from Skåne, Sw

Introduction: Cerebrovascular reactivity imaging (CVR) is a diagnostic method for assessment of alterations in cerebral blood flow in response to a controlled vascular stimulus. The principal utility is the capacity to evaluate the cerebrovascular reserve, thereby elucidating autoregulatory functioning. In CVR, CO2 gas challenge is the most prevalent method, which elicits a vascular response by al

Sustainability is a critical societal aim, and local governments (LGs) play an important role in fostering sustainability, as the implementation of the global aims set by the United Nations—namely, the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs offer novel accounting, reporting, and management perspectives for LGs. The objective of the study is to understand the role of the

Biopharmaceuticals are highly valued for their ability to specifically and efficiently treat diseases. However, they require rigorous purification that involves complex unit operations to reach the levels of purity necessitated for use in patients. Maintaining this purity while recovering as much of the valuable biopharmaceutical as possible is the core challenge in biopharmaceutical downstream pr