The interstellar cloud surrounding the Sun: a new perspective

Aims: We offer a new, simpler picture of the local interstellar medium, made of a single continuous cloud enveloping the Sun. This new outlook enables the description of a diffuse cloud from within and brings to light some unexpected properties. Methods: We re-examine the kinematics and abundances of the local interstellar gas, as revealed by the published results for the ultraviolet absorption lines of MgII, FeII, and HI. Results: In contrast to previous representations, our new picture of the local interstellar medium consists of a single, monolithic cloud that surrounds the Sun in all directions and accounts for most of the matter present in the first 50 parsecs around the Sun. The cloud fills the space around us out to about 9 pc in most directions, although its boundary is very irregular with possibly a few extensions up to 20 pc. The cloud does not behave like a rigid body: gas within the cloud is being differentially decelerated in the direction of motion, and the cloud is expanding in directions perpendicular to this flow, much like a squashed balloon. Average HI volume densities inside the cloud vary between 0.03 and 0.1 cm-3 over different directions. Metals appear to be significantly depleted onto grains, and there is a steady increase in depletion from the rear of the cloud to the apex of motion. There is no evidence that changes in the ionizing radiation influence the apparent abundances. Secondary absorption components are detected in 60% of the sight lines. Almost all of them appear to be interior to the volume occupied by the main cloud. Half of the sight lines exhibit a secondary component moving at about -7.2 km/s with respect to the main component, which may be the signature of a shock propagating toward the cloud's interior.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

Regulation versus practice - The impact of accessibility on the use of specialist health care in Norway

In Norway specialized health services are provided both by public hospitals and by privately practicing specialists who have a contract with the public sector. Patients’ co-payment is the same irrespective of the type of provider they visit. The ambition of equity in the allocation of medical care is high among all political parties. The instruments for auditing whether these goals are fulfilled are not equally ambitious. The objective of the present study is to explore whether laws and regulations that govern the allocation of specialist health care resources in fact are fulfilled. Panel data from the Survey of Living Conditions are merged with data on capacity and spatial access to primary and specialist care. We find that accessibility and socio-economic variables play a considerable role in determining both the probability of at least one visit and the number of visits to a private specialist. A person with a higher university degree living in a municipality with the highest value of the geographical accessibility index has a 46%-points higher probability of at least one visit to a private specialist compared with a person with junior high living in a municipality with the lowest value of the accessibility index. With regard to visits to a hospital outpatient department these variables are not found to have significant effects. We conclude that public ambitions and regulations are fulfilled for specialist services provided by public hospitals. With regard to the provision of services provided by publicly financed private specialists we find a discrepancy between public goals and surveyed practice.specialist health services; utilization; equity; private/public provision; survey data

Hobbits, ents, and dæmons : ecocritical thought embodied in the fantastic

This paper investigates the occurrence of ecocritical thought in two canonical fantasy epics, The Lord of The Rings (1954–1955) by J. R. R. Tolkien and His Dark Materials (1995–2000) by Philip Pullman. Using current ecocritical theory as well as writers and critics of speculative fiction to study the primary works from a marginalized angle, this paper argues that fantasy fiction, more than other literary genres, has an intrinsic exploratory potential for ecocritical ideas because the strong immersive aspect of the genre entices the reader to open up for a less anthropocentric view of the world. If this is investigated further, the narrow space for fantasy literature in literary criticism and academia may be broadened to include a more politically engaged discussion of fantasy than typically assumed

Biosecurity and animal husbandry in goat herds in Zambia and Sweden

In Zambia, goats have an as important role for the wellbeing of humans as humans have for the goats they care for. Infectious diseases are common and can have devastating effects for the animals and thereby their owners and all others that benefit from these goats. Improved animal husbandry and basic infection control measures could therefore be key for farmers of both small and large herds and help maintain and improve animal health and welfare. Sweden is a rich country, in both an economical aspect as well as in educational level. The goat industry is small, most goat farmers are smallholder farmers and only a few farms of larger scales exist in the country. There are many laws that regulate how one should take care of one’s animals and there are many seminars and lectures that farmers can attend to increase their knowledge and further improve their animal husbandry and thereby improve the productivity of their animals. Based on the literature, quarantine routines for new or sick animals, stable hygiene, feed hygiene and parasite control are important areas to protect one’s herd from infections. Maintaining a good general health in the herd by providing a correct diet, clean drinking water in sufficient amounts, shelter from the weathers and a stress-free environment are other important factors. The aim of this study was to describe the animal husbandry in Zambia and Sweden; what is alike and what differs? How do farmers know what to do and how to manage their goats? Are there any lessons that can be learned and implemented in either country? Answers to these questions were sought by conducting semi-structured interviews with goat farmers from both countries. Ten interviews with Zambian goat owners with farm size ranging between 7 and 35 goats, and five interviews with Swedish goat owners with between 8 and 64 animals took place over Zoom, Microsoft Teams and WhatsApp during October and November 2021. The interviews were recorded and then transcribed in English, the same day or shortly after. Themes in the answers were sought within these transcriptions. The interviews indicated that the health situation of goats is better in Sweden, and it was less common for animals to die of infections than in Zambia. The general biosecurity appears higher than compared to Zambian goat farms, despite Zambian farmers having received goat specific training in higher extent than the Swedish farmers. The cause for the difference in biosecurity measures implemented is not clear, but the level of knowledge or difference in available funds and means might be conceivable reasons. A similarity in the goat husbandry, however, is that farmers in both countries have apparent problems costs for veterinary care. In Sweden, the lack of goat specific knowledge amongst veterinarians was another factor for the reluctancy of contacting veterinarians and several farmers preferred conducting their own research, mainly by reading information online, when their goats fall ill.I Zambia har getter en betydande roll för människors väl och ve, men samtidigt är människan väldigt viktig för getternas hälsa. Infektionssjukdomar är vanliga och påverkar getternas förmåga till produktion och därigenom påverkas alla de som har nytta av det getterna bidrar med. Mer kunskap inom djurhållning och smittskydd kan därför ha stor betydelse för både små som stora besättningar och kan bidra till att förbättra djurvälfärd och därigenom förbättra människors liv. Sverige är ett förhållandevis rikt land, både när det gäller ekonomi och kunskapsläge. Getindustrin är dock väldigt liten och endast ett fåtal stora kommersiella besättningar finns. Djurhållning är strikt reglerad av lagar och regler och det finns många organisationer där medlemmar får kontinuerlig tillgång till nya råd och rön, samt ofta veterinärkonsultation. Baserat på tillgänglig litteratur är karantänsrutiner för nyinköpta och sjuka djur, stallhygien, foderhygien och parasitkontroll viktiga områden för att skydda besättningen från infektioner. Likaså är det viktigt att bibehålla getternas generella hälsa genom att erbjuda en korrekt diet, rent dricksvatten i tillräcklig mängd, skydd från väder och vind samt en allmänt stressfri miljö i så stor utsträckning som möjligt. Målet med denna studie var att beskriva hur gethållningen ser ut i Sverige och Zambia; vilka likheter och skillnader finns det? Hur vet getbönderna vad de ska göra och hur de ska hantera sina getter? Finns det lärdomar från ettdera landet som kan implementeras i det andra landet? För att besvara dessa frågor genomfördes semi-strukturerade intervjuer med getbönder från respektive land. Tio intervjuer med zambiska getbönder med mellan 7 och 35 getter, och fem intervjuer med svenska getbönder med mellan 8 och 64 getter genomfördes via Zoom, WhatsApp eller Microsoft Teams under oktober och november år 2021. Intervjuerna spelades in och transkriberades på engelska snart efter att intervjuerna ägt rum. Olika teman bland de transkriberade svaren söktes. Intervjuerna indikerade att den generella gethälsan är bättre i Sverige och det var ovanligare att djur dog på grund av infektionssjukdomar än i Zambia. Biosäkerhetsrutiner implementerades i högre grad i de svenska besättningarna, trots att fler av de zambiska getbönderna hade fått getspecifik träning. Vad skillnaden i biosäkerhet beror på är sannolikt multifaktoriellt, men skillnader i kunskapsläge, tillgång till resurser eller något annat är tänkbara faktorer. En likhet mellan gethållning i de två länderna är att getbönder i båda länder har problem med veterinärpriser. I Sverige lyftes även problematiken med veterinärers brist på getspecifik kunskap som en faktor till motviljan att kontakta veterinär. Flertalet av de svenska bönderna föredrog att själva leta efter information och svar (samt har resurser för att göra det) istället för att kontakta veterinärer när djuren insjuknar

‘Age of Lovecraft’?— Anthropocene Monsters in (New) Weird Narrative

This paper considers whether the twenty-first-century resurgence of H. P. Lovecraft and weird fiction can be read as a conceptual parallel to the Anthropocene epoch, taking Carl H. Sederholm and Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock’s The Age of Lovecraftas a starting-point. The assumption is that the two ‘ages’ are historically and thematically linked through the ‘monsters’ that inhabit them; monsters that include—but are not limited to—extensions, reproductions, and evolutions of Lovecraft’swritings. Preoccupied with environmental issues such as global climate change, the twenty-first-century imaginary has conjured monsters that appear to have much in common with early twentieth-century cosmic horror stories. Considering the renewed interest in Lovecraft and the weird, such developments raise the question: what can (weird) monsters tell us about the Anthropocene moment? This paper maps the ‘monstrous’ in the discourses emerging from the Anthropocene epoch and ‘The Age of Lovecraft’ by considering (new) weird narratives fromcontemporary literature, graphic novels, film, TV, and video games. Mindful of on-going discussions within ecocriticism, philosophy, and critical theory, the paper discusses a handful of unconventional texts to investigate the potential of the weird for expressing Anthropocene anxieties and for approaching nonhuman realities from new angles