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During 2010-2013, we investigated the effects of stump harvesting on greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) with the flux-gradient technique at four experimental plots in a hemiboreal forest in Sweden. All plots were clear-cut and soil scarified and two of the plots were additionally stump harvested. The two clear-cut plots served as control plots. Due to differences in topography, we had one wetter and one drier plot of each treatment. All plots exhibited substantial emissions of GHGs and we noted significant effects of wetness on CO2, CH4 and N2O fluxes within treatments and significant effects of stump harvesting on CO2 and N2O fluxes at the dry plots. The CO2 emissions were lower at the dry stump harvested plot than at the dry control, but when estimated emissions from the removed stumps were added, total CO2 emissions were higher at the stump harvested plot, indicating a small enhancement of soil respiration. In addition, we noted significant emissions of N2O at this plot. At the wet plots, CO2 emissions were higher at the stump harvested plot, also suggesting a treatment effect but differences in wetness and vegetation cover at these plots make this effect more uncertain. At the wet plots, we noted sustained periods (weeks to months) of net N2O uptake. During the year with simultaneous measurements of the abovementioned GHGs, GHG budgets were 1.224×103 and 1.442×103 gm-2 of CO2-equivalents at the wet and dry stump harvested plots, respectively, and 1.070×103 and 1.696×103 gm-2 of CO2-equivalents at the wet and dry control plots, respectively. CO2 fluxes dominated GHG budgets at all plots but N2O contributed with 17% at the dry stump harvested plot. For the full period 2010-2013, total carbon (CO2+CH4) budgets were 4.301×103 and 4.114×103 g m-2 of CO2-eqvivalents at the wet and dry stump harvest plots, respectively and 4.107×103 and 5.274×103 gm-2 of CO2-equivalents at the wet and dry control plots, respectively. Our results support recent studies suggesting that stump harvesting does not result in substantial increase in CO2 emissions but uncertainties regarding GHG fluxes (especially N2O) remain and more long-term measurements are needed before robust conclusions can be drawn.

Abstract Non-technical summary Agriculture has been dominated by annual plants, such as all cereals and oilseeds, since the very beginning of civilization over 10,000 years ago. Annual plants are planted and uprooted every year which results in severe disturbance of the soil and disrupts ecosystem services. Science has shown that it is possible to domesticate completely new perennial grain crops, i.e. planted once and harvested year after year. Such crops would solve many of the problems of agriculture, but their development and uptake would be at odds with the current agricultural technology industry. Technical summary Agriculture is arguably the most environmentally destructive innovation in human history. A root cause is the reliance on annual crops requiring uprooting and restarting every season. Most environmental predicaments of agriculture can be attributed to the use of annuals, as well as many social, political, and economic ones. Advances in domestication and breeding of novel perennial grain crops have demonstrated the possibility of a future agricultural shift from annual to perennial crops. Such a change could have many advantages over the current agricultural systems which are to over 80% based on annual crops mainly grown in monocultures. We analyze and review the prospects for such scientific advances to be adopted and scaled to a level where it is pertinent to talk about a perennial revolution. We follow the logic of E.O. Wright's approach of Envisioning Real Utopias by discussing the desirability, viability, and achievability of such a transition. Proceeding from Lakatos' theory of science and Lukes' three dimensions of power, we discuss the obstacles to such a transition. We apply a transition theory lens to formulate four reasons of optimism that a perennial revolution could be imminent within 3–5 decades and conclude with an invitation for research.

The reasons for spatial and temporal variation in methane emission from mire ecosystems are not fully understood. Stable isotope signatures of the emitted methane can offer clues to the causes of these variations. We measured the methane emission (FCH4) and 13C signature (δ13C) of emitted methane by automated chambers at a hemiboreal mire for two growing seasons. In addition, we used ambient methane mixing ratios and δ13C to calculate a mire-scale 13C signature using a nocturnal boundary-layer accumulation approach. Microbial methanogenic and methanotrophic communities were determined by a captured metagenomics analysis. The chamber measurements showed large and systematic spatial variations in δ13C-CH4 of up to 15 ‰ but smaller and less systematic temporal variation. According to the spatial δ13C–FCH4 relations, methanotrophy was unlikely to be the dominating cause for the spatial variation. Instead, these were an indication of the substrate availability of methanogenesis being a major factor in explaining the spatial variation. Genetic analysis indicated that methanogenic communities at all sample locations were able to utilize both hydrogenotrophic and acetoclastic pathways and could thus adapt to changes in the available substrate. The temporal variation in FCH4 and δ13C over the growing seasons showed hysteresis-like behavior at high-emission locations, indicative of time-lagged responses to temperature and substrate availability. The upscaled chamber measurements and nocturnal boundary-layer accumulation measurements showed similar average δ13C values of −81.3 ‰ and −79.3 ‰, respectively, indicative of hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis at the mire. The close correspondence of the δ13C values obtained by the two methods lends confidence to the obtained mire-scale isotopic signature. This and other recently published data on δ13C values of CH4 emitted from northern mires are considerably lower than the values used in atmospheric inversion studies on methane sources, suggesting a need for revision of the model input.

Northern forest ecosystems make up an important part of the global carbon cycle. Hence, monitoring local-scale gross primary production (GPP) of northern forest is essential for understanding climatic change impacts on terrestrial carbon sequestration and for assessing and planning management practices. Here we evaluate and compare four methods for estimating GPP using Sentinel-2 data in order to improve current available GPP estimates: four empirical regression models based on either the 2-band Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI2) or the plant phenology index (PPI), an asymptotic light response function (LRF) model, and a light-use efficiency (LUE) model using the MOD17 algorithm. These approaches were based on remote sensing vegetation indices, air temperature (Tair), vapor pressure deficit (VPD), and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR). The models were parametrized and evaluated using in-situ data from eleven forest sites in North Europe, covering two common forest types, evergreen needleleaf forest and deciduous broadleaf forest. Most of the models gave good agreement with eddy covariance-derived GPP. The VI-based regression models performed well in evergreen needleleaf forest (R2 = 0.69–0.78, RMSE = 1.97–2.28 g C m−2 d−1, and NRMSE = 9–11.0%, eight sites), whereas the LRF and MOD17 performed slightly worse (R2 = 0.65 and 0.57, RMSE = 2.49 and 2.72 g C m−2 d−1, NRMSE = 12 and 13.0%, respectively). In deciduous broadleaf forest all models, except the LRF, showed close agreements with the observed GPP (R2 = 0.75–0.80, RMSE = 2.23–2.46 g C m−2 d−1, NRMSE = 11–12%, three sites). For the LRF model, R2 = 0.57, RMSE = 3.21 g C m−2 d−1, NRMSE = 16%. The results highlighted the necessity of improved models in evergreen needleleaf forest where the LUE approach gave poorer results., The simplest regression model using only PPI performed well beside more complex models, suggesting PPI to be a process indicator directly linked with GPP. All models were able to capture the seasonal dynamics of GPP well, but underestimation of the growing season peaks were a common issue. The LRF was the only model tending to overestimate GPP. Estimation of interannual variability in cumulative GPP was less accurate than the single-year models and will need further development. In general, all models performed well on local scale and demonstrated their feasibility for upscaling GPP in northern forest ecosystems using Sentinel-2 data.

Discussions of the role of cohort differences have long been part of academic research on union membership, with a central hypothesis being that the general decline in unionization is caused by changes toward more individualistic values in the younger generations. However, the short time span of most studies makes it uncertain if they can separate cohort effects from age effects. Using survey data going back to 1956, we test the individualization hypothesis. Our main result is that later Swedish cohorts are indeed less prone to join unions. In particular, the differences between cohorts born before and after ca 1970 are striking. We also provide evidence that the erosion in union membership in Sweden is not related to changes toward more individualistic values in later cohorts, or even to more negative views of unions per se.

Discussions of the role of cohort differences have long been part of academic research on union membership, with a central hypothesis being that the general decline in unionization is caused by changes toward more individualistic values in the younger generations. However, the short time span of most studies makes it uncertain if they can separate cohort effects from age effects. Using survey data going back to 1956, we test the individualization hypothesis. Our main result is that later Swedish cohorts are indeed less prone to join unions. In particular, the differences between cohorts born before and after ca 1970 are striking. We also provide evidence that the erosion in union membership in Sweden is not related to changes toward more individualistic values in later cohorts, or even to more negative views of unions per se.

Peatlands play an important role in the global carbon cycle as they contain a large soil carbon stock. However, current climate change could potentially shift peatlands from being carbon sinks to carbon sources. Remote sensing methods provide an opportunity to monitor carbon dioxide (CO2) exchange in peatland ecosystems at large scales under these changing conditions. In this study, we developed empirical models of the CO2 balance (net ecosystem exchange, NEE), gross primary production (GPP), and ecosystem respiration (ER) that could be used for upscaling CO2 fluxes with remotely sensed data. Two to three years of eddy covariance (EC) data from five peatlands in Sweden and Finland were compared to modelled NEE, GPP and ER based on vegetation indices from 10 m resolution Sentinel-2 MSI and land surface temperature from 1 km resolution MODIS data. To ensure a precise match between the EC data and the Sentinel-2 observations, a footprint model was applied to derive footprint-weighted daily means of the vegetation indices. Average model parameters for all sites were acquired with a leave-one-out-cross-validation procedure. Both the GPP and the ER models gave high agreement with the EC-derived fluxes (R2 = 0.70 and 0.56, NRMSE = 14% and 15%, respectively). The performance of the NEE model was weaker (average R2 = 0.36 and NRMSE = 13%). Our findings demonstrate that using optical and thermal satellite sensor data is a feasible method for upscaling the GPP and ER of northern boreal peatlands, although further studies are needed to investigate the sources of the unexplained spatial and temporal variation of the CO2 fluxes.

The aerosol in the Amazon basin is dominated throughout the year by organic matter, for the most part soluble in water. In this modeling study, we show how the knowledge of water-soluble organic compounds (WSOC) and the associated physical and chemical properties (e.g. solubility, surface tension, dissociation into ions) affect the hygroscopic growth and activation of the aerosol in this area. The study is based on data obtained during the SMOCC field experiment carried out in Rondônia, Brazil, over a period encompassing the dry (biomass burning) season to the onset of the wet season (September to mid-November, 2002). The comparison of predicted and measured cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) number concentration shows that the knowledge of aerosol WSOC composition in terms of classes of compounds and of their relative molecular weights and acidic properties may be sufficient to predict aerosol activation, without any information on solubility. Conversely, the lack of knowledge on WSOC solubility leads to a high overestimation of the observed diameter growth factors (DGF) by the theory. Moreover, the aerosol water soluble inorganic species fail to predict both DGFs and CCN number concentration. In fact, this study shows that a good reproduction of the measured DGF and CCN concentration is obtained if the chemical composition of aerosol, especially that of WSOC, is appropriately taken into account in the calculations. New parameterizations for the computed CCN spectra are also derived which take into account the variability caused by chemical effects (surface tension, molecular composition, solubility, degree of dissociation of WSOC).

Despite that a decade has passed since the Industry 4.0-era began, there is still limited knowledge about the implications for the wooden single-family house industry. The purpose of this paper is to identify components of smart manufacturing that captures what companies in the wooden single-family house industry need to consider meeting the expected and future demands related to the fourth industrial revolution. The results presented is based on two case studies, revealing seven components. The industry is in the beginning of its implementation phase and is mainly striving for connectivity through integration of ICTs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last decades, we have seen an increased public interest in efforts to forecast US presidential elections. A leading actor in this development is Nate Silver, founder of the news site FiveThirtyEight. We provide a brief overview of the historical development of forecasting methods, including both opinion polling and structural models, and the combination of the two that has been developed by Silver and others. We also discuss the 2016 election, where Donald Trump stood as the winner, while all forecasts had been leaning towards Hillary Clinton. This gave rise to an intense debate about both the substance of these forecasts and how they are presented. We conclude with a discussion of the development of forecasts of the 2020 election. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction International studies report high use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) by emergency department (ED) patients and low levels of knowledge about CAM among registered nurses (RNs) and physicians. However, the current situation in Swedish EDs is unknown. This study explored knowledge, attitudes, and patient communication about CAM among physicians and RNs working within the Swedish ED context. Method This research was performed as a cross-sectional questionnaire study at six EDs in the middle of Sweden. Results Both RNs and physicians (84.7% of all participants) rated their CAM knowledge as low, but wished to gain more knowledge in the area (62.7%). A majority (58.8%) of the participants believed it to be of some importance that they had knowledge about CAM. Of the participants, 68% were interested in taking part in CAM research, and 43.8% had the opinion that more research resources should be reserved for CAM research. 41.2% reported their patient communication about CAM as non-existent or low. Conclusion Knowledge about CAM and CAM research among Swedish ED staff was indicated as very low, but with a presence of gaining more knowledge. The opinion that more funding should be allocated to CAM research existed. Communication with patients about CAM rarely occurred. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Music is a human universal, which suggests a biological adaptation. Several evolutionary explanations have been proposed, covering the entire spectrum of natural, sexual, and group selection. Here we consider the hypothesis that musical behaviour constitutes a reliable or even costly signal of fitness, and thus may have evolved as a human trait through sexual selection. We experimentally tested how musical performance quality (MPQ), in improvisations on the drums, saxophone, and violin, affects mate values and mate preferences perceived by a prospective partner. Swedish student participants (27 of each sex) saw a face of a person of the opposite sex and heard a piece of improvised music being played. The music occurred in three levels of MPQ and the faces in three levels of facial attractiveness (FA). For each parametric combination of MPG and FA, the participants rated four mate value scales (intelligence, health, social status, and parenting skill) and four mate preference scales (date, intercourse, and short- and long term relationship). Consistent with sexual selection theory, mate value ratings were generally increased by MPQ for raters of both sexes. Consistent with more specific hypotheses that follow from combining sexual selection and parental investment theory, women’s but not men’s preference for a long-term, but not short-term, relationship was significantly increased by MPQ, MPQ generally affected women’s ratings more than men’s, FA generally affected men’s ratings more than women’s, and women’s ratings of intelligence were even more influenced by MPQ than by FA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, prehospital emergency care has undergone extensive development. Today, prehospital emergency nurses (PENs) are well trained and provide advanced care to patients of all ages. Caring for pediatric trauma patients is considered to be particularly demanding. However, in Sweden and internationally, there is a lack of research regarding PENs’ preparedness for caring for pediatric trauma patients. Objective: The development and testing of a questionnaire on self-reported preparedness among PENs caring for pediatric trauma patients in a prehospital emergency setting. Methods: Questionnaire development included face and content validity tests resulting in 38 questions. Eighteen of these questions were analyzed by test-retest. The content of the questionnaire was statistically analyzed. Results: Fifteen questions were considered valid after reliability and validity tests. Three questions did not fulfill the stability criteria. The content analyses show a low degree of experience with pediatric trauma patients and half of the participants reported stress symptoms when responding to such alarms. Conclusion: The questionnaire assessing PENs preparedness caring for pediatric trauma patients in Sweden is considered to be suitable for research and clinical practice to improve the care of pediatric trauma patients and the health of PENs, although further testing of the questionnaire is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Politica: Tidsskrift for Politisk Videnskab is the property of Politica: Tidsskrift for Politisk Videnskab and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Ekonomiska Samfundets Tidskrift is the property of Economic Society of Finland and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract: Rotational coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy (CARS) has over the years demonstrated its strong potential to measure temperature and relative concentrations of major species in combustion. A recent work is the development and experimental validation of a CO2 model for thermometry, in addition to our previous rotational CARS models for other molecules. In the present work, additional calibration measurements for relative CO2/N2 concentrations have been made in the temperature range 294–1246K in standardized CO2/N2 mixtures. Following these calibration measurements, rotational CARS measurements were performed in a laminar CO/air diffusion flame stabilized on a Wolfhard–Parker burner. High-quality spectra were recorded from the fuel-rich region to the surrounding hot air in a lateral cross section of the flame. The spectra were evaluated to obtain simultaneous profiles of temperature and concentrations of all major species; N2, O2, CO, and CO2. The potential for rotational CARS as a multi-species detection technique is discussed in relation to corresponding strategies for vibrational CARS. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Rotational Coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy (CARS) has the last decades been developed into a useful tool for thermometry and concentration measurements in combustion. In this paper, we present a novel polarization approach of the technique, which will enhance its potential and widen the range of conditions at which it can be utilized. The theory of the polarization approach is described in detail. It is shown that by specific arrangement of the polarizations of the laser beams, total suppression of the non-resonant background signal can be obtained, and thus by probing only the resonant CARS signal the diagnostic utility of the technique increases. The main benefit of the approach is in situations where the non-resonant background signal is relatively high in comparison with the resonant signal. The high potential of polarization rotational CARS for thermometry is demonstrated in some illustrative examples, for example, nitrogen thermometry on the fuel side of diffusion flames, and carbon monoxide thermometry in the product gas of ethylene/oxygen/argon-flames. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]