Exploring Pre-Colonial Resource Control of Individual Sami Households

In order to understand the use and control of resources by indigenous households and bands, information on territorial division is crucial. However, although indigenous resource use has been quantified in several studies, such information has usually been lacking. A unique map provides this kind of information for the Swedish Sami. Drawn by Jonas Persson Gedda in 1671, before the Swedish state started to interfere with Sami territorial division, it shows the borders of 37 household territories. We have combined the geographical information from Gedda’s map with historical sources and modern land survey data to quantify the resources controlled by each household and relate them to taxation. Three crucial resources are identified: alpine heath together with subalpine birch forest, pine-dominated forests, and fishing waters. Only the fishing resource showed any correlation to taxation, which underlines its importance as the main subsistence mode, at least for the forest Sami. Mountain Sami, who lived primarily on reindeer husbandry, controlled abundant alpine heath and subalpine birch forests that were used as summer pastures, but virtually no pine-dominated forests with winter pastures. The necessary winterpastures were located in the territories of the forest Sami, who controlled extensive pine-dominated forests and who were able to combine reindeer herding and wild reindeer hunting.Pour comprendre l’utilisation et la gestion des ressources des groupes de peuples indigènes, il est essentiel de disposer d’informations sur la division territoriale. Cependant, si l’utilisation des ressources des peuples indigènes a fait l’objet de plusieurs analyses quantitatives, les informations sur la division territoriale font le plus souvent défaut. Pour les Samis de Suède, une carte unique fournit ce genre d’information. Établie par Jonas Persson Gedda en 1671, avant que l’État suédois n’ait commencé à intervenir dans la division territoriale des Samis, la carte montre les limites de 37 territoires familiaux. Nous avons allié les informations géographiques de la carte de Gedda à des sources historiques et à des données topographiques modernes pour quantifier les ressources contrôlées par chaque famille et les lier au système de taxation. Trois ressources naturelles fondamentales ont ainsi été identifiées : les landes alpines avec les forêts subalpines de bouleau, les pinèdes et les pêcheries. Il appert que seules les pêcheries étaient corrélées au système de taxation, ce qui souligne leur importance en tant que mode de subsistance, pour les Samis de la forêt à tout le moins. Les Samis des montagnes, qui vivaient surtout de l’élevage des rennes, contrôlaient les landes alpines et les forêts subalpines de bouleau abondantes qui étaient utilisées comme pâturages estivaux, mais pratiquement pas de pinèdes offrant des pâturages hivernaux. Les pâturages nécessaires se trouvaient chez les Samis de la forêt, qui contrôlaient de vastes pinèdes et savaient combiner tant l’élevage des rennes que la chasse aux rennes sauvages

Interactions between local and global drivers determine long-term trends in boreal forest understorey vegetation

Aim Global change effects on forest ecosystems are increasingly claimed to be context dependent, indicated by interactions between global and local environmental drivers. Most examples of such context dependencies originate from temperate systems, while limited research comes from the boreal biome. Here we set out to test if interactions between climate warming, nitrogen deposition, land-use change resulting in increasing forest density, and soil pH drive long-term changes in understorey vegetation in boreal forests. Location Sweden. Time period 1953-2012. Major taxa studied Vascular plants. Methods We used long-term (50 years) National Forest Inventory data on forest understorey vegetation in Sweden to model the combined effects of climate warming, nitrogen deposition, increase in forest density (tree basal area), and soil pH. Results Our results identify increasing temperature, nitrogen deposition and denser, shadier forest conditions as the main drivers of understorey vegetation changes during this time period. More importantly, we found that these effects varied with local conditions, that is, that the change towards a more nitrophilic understorey vegetation was more pronounced at low than high soil pH. Forest density was an important modulator of nitrogen deposition and temperature increase, with effects generally decreasing with density. Decreased cover of ericaceous dwarf shrubs was driven by both forest density and nitrogen deposition, with a stronger effect at low than at high pH. Main conclusions Our results highlight that to understand forest ecosystems' response to global change, and to make adequate management decisions to mitigate the effects of global change, we need to understand how changes in local environmental factors (forest density and soil pH) interact with global-scale drivers (nitrogen deposition and climate warming). Neglecting such interactions will lead to incorrect estimations of effects. In our case, we would for example, have underestimated the eutrophication effects on acid soils, which constitute a considerable part of the boreal biome

Outreach initiatives operated by universities for increasing interest in science and technology

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in European Journal of Engineering Edutaion on 2016, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/03043797.2015.1121468Since the 1990s, the low number of students choosing to study science and technology in higher education has been on the societal agenda and many initiatives have been launched to promote awareness regarding career options. The initiatives particularly focus on increasing enrolment in the engineering programmes. This article describes and compares eight European initiatives that have been established and operated by universities (and in some cases through collaboration with other actors in society). Each initiative is summarised in a short essay that discusses motivation, organisation, pedagogical approach, and activities. The initiatives are characterised by comparing the driving forces behind their creation, how the initiative activities relate to the activities at the university, size based on the number of participants and cost per participant and pedagogical framework. There seem to be two main tracks for building outreach activities, one where outreach activities are based on the university’s normal activities, and one where outreach activities are designed specifically for the visiting students.Gumaelius, L.; Almqvistb, M.; Arnadottir, A.; Axelsson, A.; Conejero, JA.; García Sabater, JP.; Klitgaard, L.... (2016). Outreach initiatives operated by universities for increasing interest in science and technology. European Journal of Engineering Education. 41(6):589-622. https://doi.org/10.1080/03043797.2015.1121468S58962241

Forest landscape change in boreal Sweden 1850-2000

In the project described in this thesis, structural changes that have occurred in the boreal Swedish forest during the last 150 years were studied through analysis of historical records. Historical perspectives on forest landscapes provide a better understanding of natural disturbance dynamics as well as anthropogenic changes and a frame of reference for assessing current ecological patterns and processes. The studies were performed at various spatial scales, and were conducted in two different forest regions in boreal Sweden. In the district of Lycksele, Västerbotten county, changes were studied from stand to regional scale within the same geographic context. In the county of Dalarna changes in the age distribution of large diameter trees were studied at county and landscape scales. Different types of spatially explicit historical data were used, including delineation and forest surveys, early timber counts and data from the first Swedish National Forest Inventory. Quantitative data on changes in logging and forest management were also included, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) were used to integrate various types of historical records and to perform spatial analysis at different scales. During the last 100 years a sharp reduction in complexity of the forest structure has occurred at all spatial levels. A multi-aged forest matrix has been replaced by a patchwork of forest stands of various ages. Most stands are younger than 100 years and dominated by even-aged forest. The current landscape structure created by forest management differs radically from the earlier landscape structure created by fire disturbance. At the end of the 19th century, deciduous patches were large and occurred at recently burned areas at higher altitudes. Today deciduous stands are distributed more evenly in the landscape and are connected to logging disturbance. Deciduous trees have been systematically removed during the 20 m century and today most deciduous trees occur in young stands. Both mean tree age and age variation of large diameter trees has decreased and nowadays large trees older than 400 years are rare in the boreal forest. Historical records provide unique spatially explicit information on forest structure at various spatial levels that could not be gathered in any other way. Forest surveys are useful for describing historical landscape structure and structural changes from larger stand (>100 hectares) up to regional levels. At smaller spatial scales the resolution of the forest survey maps are too coarse and analysis should be complemented with other types of historical records or other historical methods. A systematic approach to increase our knowledge of previous landscape patterns and regional variation in disturbance dynamics is presented. "Retrospective gap analysis" involves local analysis of historical records and integration of historical data in ecological landscape planning. In intensively managed landscapes the method can provide a framework for multi-objective forest management and restoration efforts at regional level. The method can also be used to develop regional goals for strategic conservation planning, or to refine goal-setting in forest certification

Användarnas synpunkter på IT-lösningar inom vården : Sammanfattade erfarenheter från utvärderingar vid eHälsoinstitutet 2010-2012

Vid eHälsoinstitutet, Linnéuniversitetet i Kalmar, bedrivs utveckling av utvärderingsmetodik samt utvärderingar inom eHälsa i syfte att underlätta användningen och implementation av IT inom hälso- och sjukvård. Utvärderingarna har gjorts som uppdrag från framför allt offentliga men även privata aktörer. I denna sammanfattning redovisas summariskt resultaten av de projekt där aspekten användbarhet efterfrågades. Arbetet har begränsats till resultat från uppdrag gjorda fr.o.m. 2010 och sammanfattningen är avsedd att utgöra underlag för det pågående användbarhetsprojektet, som socialdepartementet initierat

Utdata ur Cosmic - Psykiatriförvaltningen, Landstinget i Kalmar län : Utvärderingsrapport

Psykiatriförvaltningen hos Landstinget i Kalmar län har sedan driftstarten av vårdinformationssystemet Cosmic våren 2006 inte kunnat få önskad utdata ur systemet. Detta har medfört att Landstinget bl.a. inte kunnat lämna statistiska rapporter till de nationella kvalitetssystem som Socialstyrelsen och Sveriges Kommuner och Landsting ansvarar för. eHälsoinstitutet i Kalmar fick i uppdrag att utvärdera orsakerna till Psykiatriförvaltningens problem med utdata. Datainsamling skedde via intervjuer, möten och tidigare resultat producerat av Vård-IT projektet. Intervjuerna gjordes initialt med personal från Cosmicförvaltningen respektive vårdverksamheten. Den enkät som planerades genomfördes dock inte eftersom intervjuerna gav tillräcklig information för att färdigställa en rapport. Uppdragsgivaren tog, efter att ha läst rapporten, beslut om att uppdraget skulle avslutas med den information som hunnit samlas in. Föreliggande utvärdering visar på att de tekniska förutsättningarna inte fanns för landstinget att få utdata ur Cosmic. Från intervjuerna framkom det bl.a. att det förekom fel i Cosmic Intelligence men även prestandaproblem gällande landstingets servrar. Till detta tillkommer även att landstinget ännu inte använder enhetliga termer och begrepp. Cosmic Intelligence är den del av Cosmic som hanterar utdata. Dess funktion är att extrahera inmatad data och skapa rapporter med det utdata man önskar. Problemen med Cosmic Intelligence tillsammans med de andra problemen gav en tydlig orsaksbild. Hur stor del av utdataproblemet dessa faktorer individuellt medför kan dock inte föreliggande utvärdering säga. Landstinget har inte dokumenterat problembilden för utdata och inte heller utfört systematiska tester. De nämnda problemområdena är dock kända för landstinget vilket kan läsas i slutrapporten av implementeringsprojektet Vård-IT. Psykiatriförvaltningen använder idag, till skillnad från andra klinker, inte det administrativa diagnosverktyget i Cosmic. Användningen av detta skulle underlätta utdata gällande diagnos. Att Psykiatriförvaltningen inte har infört diagnosverktyget beror på att detta verktyg inte hade levererats av leverantören Cambio vid den tidpunkt då Cosmic infördes på Psykiatriförvaltningen samt att de inte var beroende av diagnosutdata, då deras ersättningssystem inte krävde det. Cosmic förvaltningsenhet är fortfarande under uppbyggnad och har inte tillräckligt med resurser för att samtidigt arbeta strategiskt, drifta systemet, supporta användarna och parallellt med detta både testa systemet och interagera med leverantören. Detta har även medfört att de tydliga rutiner och arbetsprocesser mellan vårdverksamheten och Cosmicförvaltningen, som skulle behövas för att underlätta kommunikationen, informationen och förbättringsarbetet inom landstinget, ännu inte har arbetats fram.Utdata ur Cosmi