Hvordan blir flinke elever ivaretatt? : er det forskjell på offentlige og private skoler?

Masteroppgave i ledelse- Universitetet i Agder 2010Oppgavens utgangspunkt var problemstillingen: ”Hvordan blir flinke elever ivaretatt? Er der forskjell på private og offentlige skoler?” For å belyse denne problemstillingen valgte vi en kvalitativ tilnærming gjennom intervju av rektorer, kontaktlærere og elever fra de to skoleslagene. Elevene var valgt ut fra resultatene på nasjonale prøver. Graden av ivaretakelse av flinke elever har et individperspektiv og et systemperspektiv. På individnivå vil god ivaretakelse kunne gi flinke elever en positiv utvikling i forhold til både skoleprestasjoner og personlig utvikling. På skolenivå vil fokus på alle elever inkludert de flinkeste være en god utnyttelse av den menneskelige kapitalen. Våre hovedfunn er at private skoler på en mer bevisst måte ivaretar de flinke elevene enn offentlige skoler, men at ingen av skoleslagene ivaretar de flinke elevene tilstrekkelig. Vår studie viser at flinke elever blir ivaretatt ulikt. Det er forskjeller mellom private skoler og offentlige skoler både på systemnivå og individnivå. Ivaretakelse av flinke elever er for mye opp til den enkelte skole og lærer og for lite formalisert

Review of key causes and sources for N2O emmisions and NO3-leaching from organic arable crop rotations

Abstract. The emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O) and leaching of nitrate (NO3) have considerable negative impacts on climate and the environment. Although these environmental burdens are on average less per unit area in organic than in non-organic production, they are not smaller per unit of product. If organic farming is to maintain its goal of being an environmentally friendly production system, these emissions should be mitigated. We discuss the impact of possible triggers within organic arable farming practice for the risk of N2O emissions and NO3 leaching under European climatic conditions, and possible strategies to reduce these. Organic arable crop rotations can be characterised as diverse with frequent use of legumes, intercropping and organic fertilizers. The soil organic matter content and share of active organic matter, microbial and faunal activity are higher, soil structure better and yields lower, than in non-organic, arable crop rotations. Soil mineral nitrogen (SMN), N2O emissions and NO3 leaching are low under growing crops, but there is high potential for SMN accumulation and losses after crop termination or crop harvest. The risk for high N2O fluxes is increased when large amounts of herbage or organic fertilizers with readily available nitrogen (N) and carbon are incorporated into the soil or left on the surface. Freezing/thawing, drying/rewetting, compacted and/or wet soil and mixing with rotary harrow further enhance the risk for high N2O fluxes. These complex soil N dynamics mask the correlation between total N-input and N2O emissions from organic arable crop rotations. Incorporation of N rich plant residues or mechanical weeding followed by bare fallow increases the risk of nitrate leaching. In contrast, strategic use of deep-rooted crops with long growing seasons in the rotation reduces nitrate leaching risk. Reduced tillage can reduce N leaching if yields are maintained. Targeted treatment and use of herbage from green manures, crop residues and catch crops will increase N efficiency and reduce N2O emissions and NO3 leaching. Continued regular use of catch crops has the potential to reduce NO3 leaching but may enhance N2O emissions. A mixture of legumes and non-legumes (for instance grasses or cereals) are as efficient a catch crop as monocultures of non-legume species

Reviews and syntheses: Review of causes and sources of N2O emissions and NO3 leaching from organic arable crop rotations

The emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O) and leaching of nitrate (NO3) from agricultural cropping systems have considerable negative impacts on climate and the environment. Although these environmental burdens are less per unit area in organic than in non-organic production on average, they are roughly similar per unit of product. If organic farming is to maintain its goal of being environmentally friendly, these loadings must be addressed. We discuss the impact of possible drivers of N2O emissions and NO3 leaching within organic arable farming practice under European climatic conditions, and potential strategies to reduce these. Organic arable crop rotations are generally diverse with the frequent use of legumes, intercropping and organic fertilisers. The soil organic matter content and the share of active organic matter, soil structure, microbial and faunal activity are higher in such diverse rotations, and the yields are lower, than in non-organic arable cropping systems based on less diverse systems and inorganic fertilisers. Soil mineral nitrogen (SMN), N2O emissions and NO3 leaching SMN accumulation and losses after crop termination, harvest or senescence. The risk of high N2O fluxes increases when large amounts of herbage or organic fertilisers with readily available nitrogen (N) and degradable carbon are incorporated into the soil or left on the surface. Freezing/thawing, drying/rewetting, compacted and/or wet soil and mechanical mixing of crop residues into the soil further enhance the risk of high N2O fluxes. N derived from soil organic matter (background emissions) does, however, seem to be the most important driver for N2O emission from organic arable crop rotations, and the correlation between yearly total Ninput and N2O emissions is weak. Incorporation of N-rich plant residues or mechanical weeding followed by bare fallow conditions increases the risk of NO3 leaching. In contrast, strategic use of deep-rooted crops with long growing seasons or effective cover crops in the rotation reduces NO3 leaching risk. Enhanced recycling of herbage from green manures, crop residues and cover crops through biogas or com-posting may increase N efficiency and reduce N2O emissions and NO3 leaching. Mixtures of legumes (e.g. clover or vetch) and non-legumes (e.g. grasses or Brassica species) are as efficient cover crops for reducing NO3 leaching as monocultures of non-legume species. Continued regular use of cover crops has the potential to reduce NO3 leaching and enhance soil organic matter but may enhance N2O emissions. There is a need to optimise the use of crops and cover crops to enhance the synchrony of mineralisation with crop N uptake to enhance crop productivity, and this will concurrently reduce the long-term risks of NO3 leaching and N2O emissions

Hvordan blir flinke elever ivaretatt? : er det forskjell på offentlige og private skoler?

Oppgavens utgangspunkt var problemstillingen: ”Hvordan blir flinke elever ivaretatt? Er der forskjell på private og offentlige skoler?” For å belyse denne problemstillingen valgte vi en kvalitativ tilnærming gjennom intervju av rektorer, kontaktlærere og elever fra de to skoleslagene. Elevene var valgt ut fra resultatene på nasjonale prøver. Graden av ivaretakelse av flinke elever har et individperspektiv og et systemperspektiv. På individnivå vil god ivaretakelse kunne gi flinke elever en positiv utvikling i forhold til både skoleprestasjoner og personlig utvikling. På skolenivå vil fokus på alle elever inkludert de flinkeste være en god utnyttelse av den menneskelige kapitalen. Våre hovedfunn er at private skoler på en mer bevisst måte ivaretar de flinke elevene enn offentlige skoler, men at ingen av skoleslagene ivaretar de flinke elevene tilstrekkelig. Vår studie viser at flinke elever blir ivaretatt ulikt. Det er forskjeller mellom private skoler og offentlige skoler både på systemnivå og individnivå. Ivaretakelse av flinke elever er for mye opp til den enkelte skole og lærer og for lite formalisert

A comparison of whole farm budgets versus farm accounts and suggestions for future planning of farm expansion and economic management

For the farming family, planners, banks and other lending institutions it is crucial to know how reliable whole- farm budgets are, and what the pitfalls are.We explore how well whole- farm budgets match with the accounts in the first years after investment in a new cowshed. We explain what causes the discrepancies and suggest how budgeting can be improved. We follow a panel of 36 dairy farms in Norway over a period of three to five years. All farms have undertaken large investments in cowsheds. We merge the interview data with a database on herd data, whole- farm budgets and accounts data. There are significant discrepancies between whole- farm budgets and accounts, particularly when it comes to fixed costs, investments and debt. Milk production well beyond budgets, deviation from estimated building cost, unplanned investments and poor budgeting practices are some of the reasons for the discrepancies. Farmers struggle with transition problems when the new cowshed is put into use. Recommendations to improve the process of farm expansion and managing the economy after the expansion are provided

The political robot – The structural consequences of automated milking systems (AMS) in Norway.

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The political robot – The structural consequences of automated milking systems (AMS) in Norway.

In this article, the aim is to explore how social aspects of the adoption and expansion of milking robots in Norwegian dairy farming are related to the political and structural changes in the sector. To explore the relationship between the implementation of automated milking systems (AMS) and structural developments, we used a qualitative methodology building on data from interviews with farmers, policy documents, statistics, and secondary literature. The structural change in the Norwegian dairy sector was substantial between 2000 and 2018. The average number of cows on each farm increased from 14.4 to 27.9, while the number of farms decreased from around 21,000 to less than 9,000. More than 47 percent of the milk produced in Norway now comes from a dairy farm with an AMS, and this percentage is rapidly increasing. We argue that the structural developments in milk production in Norway are neither politically nor economically driven, but are mainly an unintended consequence of farmers’ aggregated investments in AMS – which are supposed to increase farmers’ everyday quality of life – and reluctant regulatory changes to make investments in AMS structurally and economically viable

Fine mapping of a QTL on bovine chromosome 6 using imputed full sequence data suggests a key role for the group-specific component (GC) gene in clinical mastitis and milk production

International audienceAbstractBackgroundClinical mastitis is an inflammation of the mammary gland and causes significant costs to dairy production. It is unfavourably genetically correlated to milk production, and, thus, knowledge of the mechanisms that underlie these traits would be valuable to improve both of them simultaneously through breeding. A quantitative trait locus (QTL) that affects both clinical mastitis and milk production has recently been fine-mapped to around 89 Mb on bovine chromosome 6 (BTA6), but identification of the gene that underlies this QTL was not possible due to the strong linkage disequilibrium between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within this region. Our aim was to identify the gene and, if possible, the causal polymorphism(s) responsible for this QTL through association analysis of high-density SNPs and imputed full sequence data in combination with analyses of transcript and protein levels of the identified candidate gene.ResultsAssociations between SNPs and the studied traits were strongest for SNPs that were located within and immediately upstream of the group-specific component (GC) gene. This gene encodes the vitamin D-binding protein (DBP) and has multiple roles in immune defense and milk production. A 12-kb duplication that was identified downstream of this gene covered its last exon and segregated with the QTL allele that is associated with increased mastitis susceptibility and milk production. However, analyses of GC mRNA levels on the available samples revealed no differences in expression between animals having or lacking this duplication. Moreover, we detected no differences in the concentrations of DBP and its ligand vitamin D between the animals with different GC genotypes that were available for this study.ConclusionsOur results suggest GC as the gene that underlies the QTL for clinical mastitis and milk production. However, since only healthy animals were sampled for transcription and expression analyses, we could not draw any final conclusion on the absence of quantitative differences between animals with different genotypes. Future studies should investigate GC RNA expression and protein levels in cows with different genotypes during an infection

Reviews and syntheses: Review of causes and sources of N2O emissions and NO3 leaching from organic arable crop rotations

The emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O) and leaching of nitrate (NO3) from agricultural cropping systems have considerable negative impacts on climate and the environment. Although these environmental burdens are less per unit area in organic than in non-organic production on average, they are roughly similar per unit of product. If organic farming is to maintain its goal of being environmentally friendly, these loadings must be addressed. We discuss the impact of possible drivers of N2O emissions and NO3 leaching within organic arable farming practice under European climatic conditions, and potential strategies to reduce these. Organic arable crop rotations are generally diverse with the frequent use of legumes, intercropping and organic fertilisers. The soil organic matter content and the share of active organic matter, soil structure, microbial and faunal activity are higher in such diverse rotations, and the yields are lower, than in non-organic arable cropping systems based on less diverse systems and inorganic fertilisers. Soil mineral nitrogen (SMN), N2O emissions and NO3 leaching are low under growing crops, but there is the potential for SMN accumulation and losses after crop termination, harvest or senescence. The risk of high N2O fluxes increases when large amounts of herbage or organic fertilisers with readily available nitrogen (N) and degradable carbon are incorporated into the soil or left on the surface. Freezing/thawing, drying/rewetting, compacted and/or wet soil and mechanical mixing of crop residues into the soil further enhance the risk of high N2O fluxes. N derived from soil organic matter (background emissions) does, however, seem to be the most important driver for N2O emission from organic arable crop rotations, and the correlation between yearly total N-input and N2O emissions is weak. Incorporation of N-rich plant residues or mechanical weeding followed by bare fallow conditions increases the risk of NO3 leaching. In contrast, strategic use of deep-rooted crops with long growing seasons or effective cover crops in the rotation reduces NO3 leaching risk. Enhanced recycling of herbage from green manures, crop residues and cover crops through biogas or composting may increase N efficiency and reduce N2O emissions and NO3 leaching. Mixtures of legumes (e.g. clover or vetch) and non-legumes (e.g. grasses or Brassica species) are as efficient cover crops for reducing NO3 leaching as monocultures of non-legume species. Continued regular use of cover crops has the potential to reduce NO3 leaching and enhance soil organic matter but may enhance N2O emissions. There is a need to optimise the use of crops and cover crops to enhance the synchrony of mineralisation with crop N uptake to enhance crop productivity, and this will concurrently reduce the long-term risks of NO3 leaching and N2O emissions