Vannkvalitet og anadrom fisk i Høyanger- og Ortneviksvassdraget i Sogn og Fjordane

På oppdrag fra Fylkemannens miljøvernavdeling i Sogn og Fjordane har en undersøkt vannkvalitet, anadrom fisk og bunndyr i Ortneviksvassdraget og Høyangervassdraget (Daleelva). Målet for undersøkelsen, som ble gjennomført i september/oktober 1997, var å vurdere om forsuring er et problem for fisken i vassdragene, samt klarlegge effektene av regulering. Begge vassdagene er påvirket av sur nedbør, og prøvene viste små vannkjemiske forskjeller mellom dem. pH lå i området 5,7-6,0 i Ortneviksvassdraget, og 5,9-6,0 i Daleelva. Konsentrasjonen av labilt aluminium var opp mot 10 µg/L i begge vassdragene. pH er høyere og konsentrasjonen av labilt aluminium er lavere enn det som ble funnet ved prøvetakingen i vassdragene våren 1997. Fiskeundersøkelsen viste at Ortneviksvassdraget har en selvreproduserende og livskraftig bestand av aure. Det ble ikke fanget laks i vassdraget, og dette tyder på at laksebestanden pr.i dag enten er gått tapt eller er tilstede som en marginal restbestand. Dette har trolig sammenheng med den sure vannkvaliteten, og ANC verdiene i vårprøvene ligger i en område hvor en kan vente at laksebestanden er dødd ut. Høyangervassdraget har en selvproduserende bestand av laks, men tetthetene er lave. Aurebestanden derimot er livskraftig, med gjennomgående høye tettheter av ungfisk. Vannkvaliteten med lave ANC verdier og høye AL konsentrasjoner om våren kan bidra til å forklare de lave tetthetene av laks. Høyangervassdraget er i tillegg sterkt reguelert. Effektene av den omfattende reguleringen av vassdraget kan vanskelig tallfestes på bestandsnivå, men det er sannsynlig at den har medført en betydelig reduksjon av produksjonspotensialet for anadrom fisk

Robustness of serial clustering of extratropical cyclones to the choice of tracking method

Cyclone clusters are a frequent synoptic feature in the Euro-Atlantic area. Recent studies have 24 shown that serial clustering of cyclones generally occurs on both flanks and downstream 25 regions of the North Atlantic storm track, while cyclones tend to occur more regulary on the 26 eastern side of the North Atlantic basin near Newfoundland. This study explores the 27 sensitivity of serial clustering to the choice of cyclone tracking method using cyclone track 28 data from 15 methods derived from ERA-Interim data (1979-2010). Clustering is estimated by 29 the dispersion (ratio of variance to mean) of winter (DJF) cyclones passages near each grid 30 point over the Euro-Atlantic area. The mean number of cyclone counts and their variance are 31 compared between methods, revealing considerable differences, particularly for the latter. 32 Results show that all different tracking methods qualitatively capture similar large-scale 33 spatial patterns of underdispersion / overdispersion over the study region. The quantitative 34 differences can primarily be attributed to the differences in the variance of cyclone counts 35 between the methods. Nevertheless, overdispersion is statistically significant for almost all 36 methods over parts of the Eastern North Atlantic and Western Europe, and is therefore 37 considered as a robust feature. The influence of the North Atlantic Oscillation on cyclone 38 clustering displays a similar pattern for all tracking methods, with one maximum near Iceland 39 and another between the Azores and Iberia. The differences in variance between methods are 40 not related with different sensitivities to the NAO, which can account to over 50% of the 41 clustering in some regions. We conclude that the general features of underdispersion / 42 overdispersion of extra-tropical cyclones over the North Atlantic and Western Europe is 43 robust to the choice of tracking method. The same is true for the influence of the North 44 Atlantic Oscillation on cyclone dispersion

Теоретико-методологічні основи розуміння механізму правового регулювання

Метою цієї статті є аналіз напрямів наукових досліджень, що у своїй єдності формують теорію механізму правового регулювання (МПР), розкриття теоретикометодологічних проблем, які мають місце при осмисленні МПР, визначення та систематизація методологічних підходів до розуміння МПР

Meridional Circulation and Global Solar Oscillations

We investigate the influence of large-scale meridional circulation on solar p-modes by quasi-degenerate perturbation theory, as proposed by \cite{lavely92}. As an input flow we use various models of stationary meridional circulation obeying the continuity equation. This flow perturbs the eigenmodes of an equilibrium model of the Sun. We derive the signatures of the meridional circulation in the frequency multiplets of solar p-modes. In most cases the meridional circulation leads to negative average frequency shifts of the multiplets. Further possible observable effects are briefly discussed.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, submittted to Solar Physics Topical Issue "HELAS

Biologiske undersøkelser i 17 innsjøer i Sogn og Fjordane høsten 2000. Kalkingseffekter, vannkvalitet, fiskebestander, vegetasjon, bunndyr og dyreplankton

Årsliste 2001Biologiske undersøkelser er utført i 17 innsjøer i Sogn og Fjordane. Alle innsjøene med unntak av Kvangrøvatnet i Fjaler kommune er kalket eller påvirket av oppstrøms kalking. Undersøkelsene omfattet prøvefiske i 15 av innsjøene, og videre vannkjemisk prøvetaking, bunndyr og dyreplankton. I åtte av innsjøene ble det gjort kartlegging av vannvegetasjonen med spesiell vekt på krypsiv. Målsetningen med prosjektet var å vurdere kjemiske og biologisk effekter av kalkingen, og komme med forslag til eventuelle endringer i kalkingsstrategien. Vannkvaliteten, representert ved utløpsprøver, var relativt god i de undersøkte innsjøene. Ingen av innsjøene hadde pH under 5,5 - de fleste hadde pH 6,0 - 6,5. Samtlige innsjøer hadde ANC-verdier over 10 µekv/l. Konsentrasjonen av labilt aluminium varierte fra 1 - 15 µg/l. Det er viktig å merke seg at vannprøvene ble tatt i en periode på året hvor vannkvaliteten vanligvis er relativt god. Det ble fanget aure i samtlige av de prøvefiskede innsjøene - i Dingjevatnet og Brossvikvatnet i Gulen kommune ble det i tillegg fanget røye. Auretetthetene varierte en del, men var jevnt over gode. Kun seks av de undersøkte innsjøene hadde aurebestander med under middels tetthet: Atlevatnet, Fismavatnet, Krokevatnet, Kvangrøvatnet, Fagredalsvatnet og Bergsvatnet. På innløp Atlevatnet, innløp Fagredalsvatnet og utløpet av Bergsvatnet skilte fisken seg ut med forhøyede konsentrasjoner av gjellealuminium (snittverdier 131, 153 og 76 µg Al/g). For Torevatnet i Fjaler kommune og Skilbreida i Høyanger kommune anbefaler en å avslutte innsjøkalkingen, men fortsette med kalking av gytebekkene For de øvrige innsjøene anbefaler en at dagens kalkingsstrategi fortsetter.Fylkesmannen i Sogn og Fjordane, Miljøvernavdelinge

Human and value sensitive aspects of mobile app design: a Foucauldian perspective

Value sensitive concerns remain relatively neglected by software design processes leading to potential failure of technology acceptance. By drawing upon an inter-disciplinary study that employed participatory design methods to develop mobile apps in the domain of youth justice, this paper examines a critical example of an unintended consequence that created user concerns around Focauldian concepts including power, authority, surveillance and governmentality. The primary aim of this study was to design, deploy and evaluate social technology that may help to promote better engagement between case workers and young people to help reduce recidivism, and support young people’s transition towards social inclusion in society. A total of 140 participants including practitioners (n=79), and young people (n=61) contributed to the data collection via surveys, focus groups and one-one interviews. The paper contributes an important theoretically located discussion around both how co-design is helpful in giving ‘voice’ to key stakeholders in the research process and observing the risk that competing voices may lead to tensions and unintended outcomes. In doing so, software developers are exposed to theories from social science that have significant impact on their product

Paleophysical Oceanography with an Emphasis on Transport Rates

Paleophysical oceanography is the study of the behavior of the fluid ocean of the past, with a specific emphasis on its climate implications, leading to a focus on the general circulation. Even if the circulation is not of primary concern, heavy reliance on deep-sea cores for past climate information means that knowledge of the oceanic state when the sediments were laid down is a necessity. Like the modern problem, paleoceanography depends heavily on observations, and central difficulties lie with the very limited data types and coverage that are, and perhaps ever will be, available. An approximate separation can be made into static descriptors of the circulation (e.g., its water-mass properties and volumes) and the more difficult problem of determining transport rates of mass and other properties. Determination of the circulation of the Last Glacial Maximum is used to outline some of the main challenges to progress. Apart from sampling issues, major difficulties lie with physical interpretation of the proxies, transferring core depths to an accurate timescale (the “age-model problem”), and understanding the accuracy of time-stepping oceanic or coupled-climate models when run unconstrained by observations. Despite the existence of many plausible explanatory scenarios, few features of the paleocirculation in any period are yet known with certainty.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (grant OCE-0645936

Poleward energy transport: is the standard definition physically relevant at all time scales?

Poleward energy transport in the atmosphere and oceans constitutes an important branch of the global energy budget, and its role in the climate system has been the subject of many studies. In the atmosphere, the transport is affected by “eddies” and large scale meridional cells, both with zero net mass transport across latitude circles, but also partly by processes associated with a net transport of mass across latitude circles. The latter must cease to operate in steady state, but they may be significant when time variability of the heat budget is considered. Indeed, examination of reanalysis data on short (daily to monthly) timescales shows that mass variations on these timescales result in surprisingly large fluctuations (in excess of 10^15 W = 1 PW) in the poleward heat transport. These fluctuations are referred to as “extensive”, for they primarily alter the mass integrated energy of the region considered, but not its averaged value. It is suggested that extensive fluctuations mask more meaningful climate signals present in the heat transport variability on monthly and interannual timescales, and a new formulation is proposed to isolate the latter. This new formulation is applied successfully to reanalysis data and climate model simulations

Intestinal Epithelial Stem/Progenitor Cells Are Controlled by Mucosal Afferent Nerves

Background: The maintenance of the intestinal epithelium is of great importance for the survival of the organism. A possible nervous control of epithelial cell renewal was studied in rats and mice. Methods: Mucosal afferent nerves were stimulated by exposing the intestinal mucosa to capsaicin (1.6 mM), which stimulates intestinal external axons. Epithelial cell renewal was investigated in the jejunum by measuring intestinal thymidine kinase (TK) activity, intestinal H-3-thymidine incorporation into DNA, and the number of crypt cells labeled with BrdU. The influence of the external gut innervation was minimized by severing the periarterial nerves. Principal Findings: Luminal capsaicin increased all the studied variables, an effect nervously mediated to judge from inhibitory effects on TK activity or H-3-thymidine incorporation into DNA by exposing the mucosa to lidocaine (a local anesthetic) or by giving four different neurotransmitter receptor antagonists i.v. (muscarinic, nicotinic, neurokinin1 (NK1) or calcitonin gene related peptide (CGRP) receptors). After degeneration of the intestinal external nerves capsaicin did not increase TK activity, suggesting the involvement of an axon reflex. Intra-arterial infusion of Substance P (SP) or CGRP increased intestinal TK activity, a response abolished by muscarinic receptor blockade. Immunohistochemistry suggested presence of M3 and M5 muscarinic receptors on the intestinal stem/progenitor cells. We propose that the stem/progenitor cells are controlled by cholinergic nerves, which, in turn, are influenced by mucosal afferent neuron(s) releasing acetylcholine and/or SP and/or CGRP. In mice lacking the capsaicin receptor, thymidine incorporation into DNA and number of crypt cells labeled with BrdU was lower than in wild type animals suggesting that nerves are important also in the absence of luminal capsaicin, a conclusion also supported by the observation that atropine lowered thymidine incorporation into DNA by 60% in control rat segments. Conclusion: Enteric nerves are of importance in maintaining the intestinal epithelial barrier.Original Publication:Ove Lundgren, Mats Jodal, Madeleine Jansson, Anders T Ryberg and Lennart Svensson, Intestinal Epithelial Stem/Progenitor Cells Are Controlled by Mucosal Afferent Nerves, 2011, PLOS ONE, (6), 2, 16295.http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0016295Copyright: Public Library of Science (PLoS)http://www.plos.org