Arresting Actors: A Sámi Drum and its Complex Relations

The article centres around a well-known artefact in Sámi history, the more than 300-year-old drum that once belonged to Poala Ánde/Anders Poulsen, that has recently been returned to Sápmi after a long restitution process. Sámi drums were deemed sorcerers’ devices and routinely confiscated and destroyed during seventeenth century Danish autocracy; their users prosecuted and sometimes executed. In the early 1690s, the drum was seized and sent to Copenhagen and the Royal Danish Art Chamber, whereas the owner was killed in custody while awaiting the judicial decision. The case involves one of very few preserved Sámi drums accompanied by a contemporaneous indigenous voice conveyed in the trial document. Paradoxically, at the same time as Sámi drums were confiscated and, in many cases, destroyed, some were embarking on journeys as attractive collectors’ items. Today, Sámi drums are frequently “arrested” in museum exhibitions as “shamanistic devices”, often echoing old tools and tropes of othering. The article argues that there is a tendency to translate actors like Poala Ánde/Anders Poulsen and the drum into categories that immobilise them, and which prevent historical configurations to enter the narrative. It also contends that discussions about what the figures on the drumhead represent have dominated the reception and steered attention away from individual aspects of the drum and its vibrant materiality. In line with the biographical approach of the exhibition Ruoktot ­– The Return of the Sámi Drums by the Sámi Museum in Kárášjohka, I explore the entangled agency of the drum to help consider material aspects and concurrent meanings

Real time flood forecasting for the Reno River (Italy) through the TOPKAPI rainfall-runoff model

Floods are the most frequent catastrophic events worldwide in both urban and rural areas, with serious risks for people and their activities. Particular attention needs to be paid to the characteristics of torrential flood events, including their sudden appearance, destructivity, short duration and seasonal character. The forecast and simulation of torrential floods are essential for early flood warnings and planning of mitigation and management actions. The thesis applies the fully distributed physically based rainfall-runoff model TOPKAPI to the Reno catchment (northern Italy) with a focus on the Upper Reno basin for the sake of predicting floods with a technically useful lead time. The study discusses the reliability of the model in real-time forecasting applications comparing the results with observed data within the period 2008-2013

Duodji Matters: Comments on ‘Decolonizing Production: Healing, Belonging, and Social Change in Sápmi’ by Natalia Magnani and Matthew Magnani

The theory and practice of decolonization present an awkward paradox: How can social change occur in everyday life to disrupt state structures while entangled with the mundane, social, and institutional practices and representations that perpetuate state power? In Sápmi, the transborder Indigenous Sámi homeland, decolonization has been intertwined with the institutionalization of Sámi governance and cultural reclamation through national governing bodies. In the Finnish-controlled regions, failures of national recognition of Sámi self-determination have fueled disenchantment with established political platforms and a growing movement to enact self-representation outside these realms. A study of Sámi craft making uncovers embodied mechanisms of decolonization, actualized through production as fluid boundary making and intergenerational healing. Craft makers reinforce relationships to land and family networks in ways that unsettle racialized and legal delineations of community belonging, redirecting the power of representation away from state-constrained decision-making bodies and toward everyday Sámi practice. In doing so, they also negotiate their own use of rejected tropes and colonial networks of production. This interplay establishes the transformative potential and constraints of an embodied decolonization.Dekoloniserema diehtu ja práksisa čalmmustahttá imašlaš paradoksa: Movt olbmot sáhttet rievdadit stáhta vuogádagaid, jus sii oassálastit ásahusaide ja ovdanbuktimiidda mat jotket ráhkadit stáhta fámu? Dekoloniseren Sámis lea ealáskan dalle go politihkalaš ja kultuvrralaš sámi ásahusat leat álggahuvvon. Dát ásáhusat ledje dávjá oassin našunála vuogádagain. Suoma beale nášunala vuogádagain, lea dahkkon boasttuvuođa sámi iešmearrideami ektui. Dat lea dagahan duhtatmeahttunvuođa politihkalaš ásahusaide ja boktán dáhtu olahit ieš- ovddasteami maiddái eará sajiin go dáin ásahusain. Dát dutkkus sámi duoji birra vuoseha movt dekoloniseren geavvá barggu dahje duddjoma bokte. Duddjomis bohtet golgit kultuvrralaš rájiid ja buorránmeahttun sohkabuolvvaid gaskkas. Duojárat nanosmahttet oktavuođa eatnamii ja sogalaččaide. Dat rihkko rasisttalaš ja lágalaš servodaga miellahttuvuođa kategoriijaid, ja sirdá ovddasteami formála ásahusain fas sápmelaččaide. Seammás, duojárat birget maid iežaineaset geavahusain kolonialisttalaš doahpagiin ja firpmiin. Dát doaimmat čájehit dekolonialisttalaš vejolašvuođaid ja gáržžádusaid

Women in labor : a comparative study of family leave policy and social citizenship rights in the United States and Norway

Six large national and international reports regarding health indicators for women and children and the provision of national family leave policies came out in the period of 2011 to 2012. These reports, some of which were comparative in nature, described a grim reality in the United States in terms of comparative health and social situations for mothers, and their experiences of motherhood while maintaining participation in the workforce. Within some of the same reports, Norway was hailed as the best place in the world to be a mother (Save the Children 2011; Save the Children 2012). Resources which have a major bearing upon health and social indicators, roughly speaking, the overall health and wealth of these two nations, can be described as being relatively similar; the disparity between these national indicators regarding women and children is surprising and thought-provoking. Academic research is beginning to illuminate how health and ill-health of populations is determined by more than just access to, and quality of, health care and decent standards of living, but also tends to mimic the gradient of social inequality within a society. These social determinants to health must therefore be connected with some of the manifestations of illhealth and welfare described in these reports previously mentioned. In this modern age, it is a commonly held value to be able to take care of oneself, especially in terms of economic support. The relationship between the individual, the state and the labor market/private market, and the means and rules by which an individual operates within this triangular relationship, are greatly affected by social policy. The values and norms by which an individual interacts with his/her world greatly influence the framework of social policy, and subsequently, the values and norms within social policy are both reflective of and emphasize those within the larger culture and political spectrum. The means by which a citizen is able to care for him/herself are adequately covered in T.H. Marshall’s 1949 conception of social citizenship, or the right to economic welfare and security, and to be able to participate in society with the basic set of functions and capabilities according to a socially acceptable standard (Marshall (1949) 2006, 30). The social risk of having a child represents one of the most substantive changes in an individual’s life, an event which has the potential to cause great economic and social conflicts for the parent regarding labor market participation and social participation, and thus upon aspects of social citizenship rights. Family leave policy is uniquely positioned within the triangular relationship previously described in order to mitigate the risk of conflict between the players, and therefore has the potential for substantive impact upon social citizenship rights. Accordingly, this thesis not only explores the reciprocal relationship between cultural values/norms and the policy framework of national family leave policy, but also the potential effects of leave policy upon social citizenship rights.Master in International Social Welfare and Health Polic

Modelling of nitrate particles: importance of sea salt

International audienceA thermo dynamical model for treatment of gas/aerosol partitioning of semi volatile inorganic aerosols has been implemented in a global chemistry and aerosol transport model (Oslo CTM2). The sulphur cycle and sea salt particles have been implemented earlier in the Oslo CTM2 and the focus of this study is on whether nitrate particles are formed as fine mode ammonium nitrate or react on existing sea salt particles. The model results show that ammonium nitrate particles play a non-negligible role in the total aerosol composition in certain industrialized regions and therefore have a significant local radiative forcing. On a global scale the aerosol optical depth of ammonium nitrate is relatively small due to limited availability of ammonia and reaction with sea salt particles. Inclusion of sea salt in the calculations reduces the aerosol optical depth and burden of ammonium nitrate particles by 25% on a global scale but with large regional variations

Horizontal intra-industry trade in agri-food products in the enlarged European Union

International trade theory suggests that advanced trade integration may lead to higher levels of intra-industry trade (IIT). The enlargement of the European Union (EU) during last decade is as a good example for which to analyse the IIT in agri-food products. The aim of the paper is to analyse the pattern and drivers of horizontal IIT within the EU between 1999 and 2010. Previous empirical studies fail to provide an exact link between the theory and the data. Thus, a new empirical strategy developed to test the predictions of Helpman and Krugman (1985) model is employed. At the country level, Belgium, France, Netherlands and Germany report the highest levels of IIT within the EU. The calculations mainly support Cieslik’s (2005) proposal to find the missing link between empirics and theory of IIT. In addition, the results are robust to alternative subsamples

Estimation of Concrete's Porosity by Ultrasounds

AbstractDurability of concrete depends strongly on porosity; this conditions the intensity of the interactions of the concrete with the aggressive agents. The pores inside the concrete facilitate the process of damage, which is generally initiated on the surface. The most used measurement is undoubtedly the measurement of porosity accessible to water. The porosimetry by intrusion with mercury constitutes a tool for investigation of the mesoporosity. The relationship between concrete mixtures, porosity and ultrasonic velocity of concrete samples measured by ultrasonic NDT is investigated. This experimental study is interested in the relations between the ultrasonic velocity measured by transducers of 7.5mm and 49.5mm diameter and with 54kHz frequency. Concrete specimens (160mm diameter and 320mm height) are fabricated with concrete of seven different mixtures (various W/C and S/S+G ratios), which gave porosities varying between 7% and 16%. Ultrasonic velocities in concrete were measured in longitudinal direction. Finally the results showed the influence of ratio W/C, where the porosity of the concretes of a ratio W/C _0,5 have correctly estimated by ultrasonic velocity. The integration of the concretes of a lower ratio, in this relation, caused a great dispersion. Porosity estimation of concretes with a ratio W/C lower than 0,5 became specific to each ratio

The Effect of Electricity Prices on Low-Carbon Energy Technologies : A panel data analysis of EPO patents

In this thesis, we investigate whether electricity prices affect innovation within low-carbon energy technologies (LCE) in the period from 1978 to 2018. 2022 has brought up one of the worst energy crises the world has ever seen, causing abnormally high electricity prices. Consequently, innovation within low-carbon energy technologies is crucial. In previous research, electricity price is identified as a potential driver for green innovation. However, the scientific community also argues that policies and the stock of knowledge are important drivers. When applying a linear model to our panel consisting of 26 OECD countries, the findings indicate that there is no effect of electricity prices on low-carbon energy innovation. Corresponding with previous research, the main driver for innovation in our model is the stock of available knowledge at the time the patent was applied for. However, for countries with higher overall patenting activity, the effect of electricity prices is positive. This indicates that electricity prices do not initiate innovation within low-carbon energy technologies, but rather affect countries where innovation is already high.nhhma