Regeneration of Broad-leaved Paperbark Trees in the Fringing Forest of the Myall Lakes

This thesis examines the key requirements of and influences on recruitment of Melaleuca quinquenervia in a narrow, lake-fringe forest habitat within the Myall Lakes National Park. Seed production and dispersal, germination and seedling establishment were investigated and a model was developed for Paperbark recruitment within the fringing forest. Seed viability, seed fall, seed longevity and seedling emergence were examined as was optimum temperature for germination. The requirement for light for germination of M. quinquenervia is demonstrated conclusively in this study. M. quinquenervia seeds are shown to have a high tolerance to salinity levels up to 10 deci Siemens per metre (dS/m). Casuarina leachate was found to have a slight inhibitory effect on Paperbark seedling germination. During January and February of 2006 and 2007, drought conditions, causing all-time low lake levels, provided the optimum conditions for germination. Germination appears to be seasonal, but highly dependent on the provision of a moist, preferably non-saline microsite. Survival and mortality of several natural seedling populations at lake foreshore sites was monitored. The seedling establishment stage was shown to be the most limiting process in the recruitment cycle and previous suggestions of recruitment being episodic are confirmed. Hence, protection of the foreshore areas where young seedlings are most likely to establish is paramount in order to protect the integrity of the fringing forest, as this study has shown that the chance of seedlings surviving to become juvenile trees is very slim

Europapolitikken i dag En studie av norske politiske partiers posisjon og argumentasjon under stortingsvalgkampen 2021

Sammendrag: Europapolitikk er et komplekst politikkområde i den norske politiske konteksten. Ved to tidligere anledninger har det vært folkeavstemninger, henholdsvis i 1972 og 1994 som har stilt spørsmål om norsk medlemskap i EU. Ved begge anledningene har Norges befolkning stemt nei. Norges tilknytning til det europeiske kontinentet baserer seg på EØS-avtalen og en rekke andre handelsavtaler. Til tross for dette har ikke europapolitikken stått i sentrum i norsk politikk siden 1994, men enkeltsaker har preget den politiske sfæren. Eksempler på dette er endringene i EU gjennom Brexit, og på hjemmebane skjedde den store NAV-skandalen, samt asylpolitikk og jernbanepolitikk. Spørsmålet er derfor hva «tenker» de politiske partiene nå? Denne studien har hatt som målsetning å besvare følgende problemstilling Hva slags standpunkt har norske politiske partier i europapolitikk, og hvordan bruker partiene framing i sin argumentasjon på politikkområdet under stortingsvalget i 2021? Disse er videre konkretisert i tre forskningsspørsmål. Problemstillingen søker etter å belyse de norske politiske partienes standpunkt i europapolitikken ved å analysere deres posisjonering gjennom stortingsvalgkampen i 2021. Med posisjonering menes hva partiene argumenterer for i europapolitikken, og hvordan de argumenterer. Studiens teoretiske fokus er ulike perspektiver innen framing. Framing handler om seleksjon og fremheving av informasjon. Ved å frame rammer en aktør eller et individ inn en sak, med hensikt om å vinne frem med sin egen saksforståelse. Det finnes flere ulike måter å frame på. Den metodiske tilnærmingen bygger på en kvalitativ innholdsanalyse med et prosessporings liknende fokus. Dataene er hente fra Stortingsvalgkampen 2021, dataene spores fra start til slutt i valgkampen. Studien konkluderer med at vi i Norge i dag har politiske partier som har at blandet syn på europapolitikken. Noen partier ønsker et tettere samarbeid på tvers av saksområder, noen vil opprettholde status quo, mens andre ønsker å reformere samarbeidet. Saksområder som er spesielt relevante innenfor norsk europapolitikk i dag er klimapolitikk, næringspolitikk, samferdselspolitikk og justispolitikk. Uavhengig av posisjonene til partiene benytter de, de samme former for framing for å argumentere for sine standpunkt. Noen former for framing ble stort sett brukt gjennom hele valgkampen, noen ble brukt av og til, mens noen kom mer inn i bildet mot slutten av valgkampen. Studien har også teoretiske bidrag. Det er oppdaget en nyanse innen character frames, der man kan skille mellom personal og political character frames. Verdi framing er også avdekket. De tre teoretiske bidragene er definert og operasjonalisert for videre bruk.Masteroppgave i administrasjon og organisasjonsvitenskapAORG350MASV-AOR

Choice of system boundaries in life cycle assessment

System boundaries in life cycle assessments (LCA) must be specified in several dimensions: boundaries between the technological system and nature, delimitations of the geographical area and time horizon considered, boundaries between production and production of capital goods and boundaries between the life cycle of the product studied and related life cycles of other products. Principles for choice of system boundaries are discussed, especially concerning the last dimension. Three methods for defining the contents of the analysed system in this respect are described: process tree, technological whole system and socio-economic whole system. The methods are described in the application's multi-output processes and cascade recycling, and examples are discussed. It is concluded that system boundaries must be relevant in relation to the purpose of an LCA, that processes outside the process tree in many cases have more influence on the result than details within the process tree, and that the different methods need to be further compared in practice and evaluated with respect to both relevance, feasibility and uncertainty

Environmental assessment of two business models - a life cycle comparison between a sales and a rental business model in the apparel sector in Sweden

This report presents and applies a new method for environmentally assessing business models from a life cycle perspective. The method is meant to be useful for companies to guide their business decisions toward decoupling of economic activity from environmental impact. The basis of the method is an integrated economic and environmental perspective and a functional unit based on profit is employed, after which Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology is carried out. This Business Model LCA is applied on a Swedish company and their current business model (sales) compared to an alternative business model (rental). Jackets are chosen as the products to represent the business of the company. Results indicate that a company can achieve more decoupling by renting jackets instead of selling them, although the results are sensitive to some economic parameters (like rental efficiency and rental price) and to customer habits, which can significantly compromise the overall performance of the rental model. The central feature of the developed method is that, by coupling the economic and physical flows of a business model, it allows a company to directly see the impact of business decisions on their environmental performance and plan their activities accordingly

Switching the focus from product function to business profit: Introducing business model LCA

Recent years have seen much interest in business models as vehicles towards sustainability (cf. Boons & L\ufcdeke-Freund 2013). However, conventional LCA with its product focus fails to capture the environmental impacts of a business model. Here, a novel LCA methodology for assessing the environmental performance of business models is presented, Business Model LCA. The methodological innovation is underpinned by an understanding of differences between product and business: While a product is anything that can be offered to a market that might satisfy a want or need, it will by itself will not make money — a business is an arrangement of people, processes and tools around a product to enable it to make money. From a business perspective, the product is a means to an end. To reflect this relationship, BM-LCA centres its analysis on the business. A key innovation is made to the functional unit (defined as ‘profit per time unit’). From this follows the coupling of the business system with its monetary flows to the product system with its material and energy flows. To achieve this, a conventional mapping of the product’s technical system is complemented with an actor mapping. Their coupling is made via a set of equations describing socio-material interactions in the form of product-related economic exchanges of the business organisation. BM-LCA was developed through a case study comparing two business models (a sales model and a rental model) of a sustainability-dedicated company in the garment sector. The BM-LCA study produced useful and novel insights and the method enables analysis of economic decoupling in business practice. BM-LCA is also compared to other LCA approaches used for similar aims and discussed with regard to its usefulness to business model innovation for sustainability. In conclusion, BM-LCA represents an important contribution to environmental business analysis and opens up a new avenue of research where LCA and business scholars can collaborate

Business model life cycle assessment: A method for analysing the environmental performance of business

This paper introduces business model life cycle assessment (BM-LCA), a new method for quantifying the environmental impacts of business models. Such a method is needed to guide business decisions towards decoupling economic activity from environmental impact. BM-LCA takes the business model itself as the unit of analysis and its economic performance as the basis of comparison. It can be applied to any type of business model involving material or resource use. In BM-LCA, monetary flows are coupled to material and energy flows. The methodology expands on conventional life cycle assessment (LCA) by elaborating the goal and scope definition and dividing it into two phases. The first descriptive phase details the business models to be compared. It includes a mapping of product chain actors and identifying business operations and transactions related to the product. The second coupling phase defines a profit-based functional unit and sets up the coupling equations expressing the economic relations to the product. Thereafter, conventional LCA procedures are followed to assess environmental impacts. The key innovation on LCA methodology is the development of a functional unit that captures the economic performance of a business model and links it to a product system. BM-LCA provides thus an important link between LCA and business competitive advantage

Spatio-temporal patterns of beaked whale echolocation signals in the North Pacific.

At least ten species of beaked whales inhabit the North Pacific, but little is known about their abundance, ecology, and behavior, as they are elusive and difficult to distinguish visually at sea. Six of these species produce known species-specific frequency modulated (FM) echolocation pulses: Baird's, Blainville's, Cuvier's, Deraniyagala's, Longman's, and Stejneger's beaked whales. Additionally, one described FM pulse (BWC) from Cross Seamount, Hawai'i, and three unknown FM pulse types (BW40, BW43, BW70) have been identified from almost 11 cumulative years of autonomous recordings at 24 sites throughout the North Pacific. Most sites had a dominant FM pulse type with other types being either absent or limited. There was not a strong seasonal influence on the occurrence of these signals at any site, but longer time series may reveal smaller, consistent fluctuations. Only the species producing BWC signals, detected throughout the Pacific Islands region, consistently showed a diel cycle with nocturnal foraging. By comparing stranding and sighting information with acoustic findings, we hypothesize that BWC signals are produced by ginkgo-toothed beaked whales. BW43 signal encounters were restricted to Southern California and may be produced by Perrin's beaked whale, known only from Californian waters. BW70 signals were detected in the southern Gulf of California, which is prime habitat for Pygmy beaked whales. Hubb's beaked whale may have produced the BW40 signals encountered off central and southern California; however, these signals were also recorded off Pearl and Hermes Reef and Wake Atoll, which are well south of their known range

Towards sustainable business models with a novel life cycle assessment method

Business model (BM) innovation for sustainability is hampered by a lack of tools for environmental assessment and guidance at the BM level. Conventional life cycle assessment (LCA) neglects the economic and socio-technical mechanisms within a BM, and tools based on the BM canvas (BMC) cannot provide recommendations substantiated by environmental data. Here, a new method, BM-LCA, is applied to a case comparing the selling and renting of jackets, using profit as basis of comparison. Results identify how business parameters influence environmental performance, permitting analysis for decoupling within a business practice. This is made possible by the unique way the method links physical life cycle and the monetary flows of a BM. Usefulness of BM-LCA is discussed relative to BM innovation, business strategy and similar tools. BM-LCA provides insights into a broad range of BM elements and emerges as useful for business strategy. By measuring BM environmental performance, it helps determine what BM to compete with and support critical analysis of business against greenwashing. BM-LCA also enables identification of BM elements in greatest need of environmental innovation. BM-LCA appears as a promising tool for guiding business companies towards sustainability, filling a space between LCA and BMC. The method offers a practical way for business and LCA experts to merge their respective knowledge

The Usefulness of an Actor’s Perspective in LCA

This paper is an argumentation for adding an actor’s perspective to lifecycle assessment (LCA). The need for this perspective stems from a criticism about the usefulness of LCA interpretation methods comparing the relative contribution of life-cycle phases of a product. Our argumentation is based on four previously published studies providing practical examples of how value chain actors’ influence may be considered in an LCA and the benefit of doing so. Manufacturing sector examples show how one company's influence can be illustrated in results and how it may relate all relevant emissions to its own processes. The food sector study shows how to assess several value chain actors’ individual improvement potential. The final example, taken from building sector, explore how to consider the fact that actors in one part of the value chain can influence other actors to improve

Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Access to Education and Social Participation in Children and Adolescents with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy in Switzerland.

BACKGROUND  Two-thirds of patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) have cognitive and neuropsychiatric problems. Concerning their quality of life, negative factors are the lack of qualifying education and social participation in sporting and leisure activities. Adapted assistance in education and participation in social life are thus important. During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the pediatric population was less severely impacted by the disease, but by the restrictions associated. AIM  The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic regarding access to education and social participation for young patients with DMD in Switzerland. METHODS  We conducted a survey study from May to August 2021 assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on access to education and social participation in 8 to 18 years old patients with DMD in Switzerland. RESULTS  Of 60 sent surveys, 40 were returned and included. Mean age of participants was 13.5 years (±3.1 standard deviation); 23/40 of the participants were wheelchair bound, 21/40 attended a special school, and 19/40 a regular school. Of the 22/40 participants receiving assistance at school, 7/40 reported a change caused by the pandemic: for 5/7, the assistance was paused. Of the 12 boys and adolescents attending sporting activities, 10 had to suspend these. Nine attended other leisure activities; for 3/9, these activities were paused. CONCLUSION  The COVID-19 pandemic had direct effects on school assistance, sporting, and leisure activities in young patients with DMD in Switzerland. It is important to ensure that school assistance and leisure activities are rapidly resumed