A Narrative Ethics of Care

If ethics of care deals with the nature of relationships, attentiveness, and understanding particular others, narrativity ought to play a central part. Sometimes, caring simply amounts to working with narratives. In the article I claim that narrativity can even be said to be native to an ethics of care. Through an example, I demonstrate how a narrative ethics of care can discern and grasp some moral problems better than the standard theoretical outlooks

Windthrow damage in Picea abies is associated with physical and chemical stem wood properties

On 26 December 1999, the windstorm "Lothar” hit large parts of western and central Europe. In Switzerland, windthrow losses reached 12.7Miom3 of timber, corresponding to 2.8 times the annual national timber harvest. Although these exceptional losses were due to extreme peak velocities, recent changes in tree nutrition may have increased forest susceptibility. Previous controlled environment experiments revealed that wood density (associated with wood stiffness) tends to increase in elevated CO2, and to decrease when N-availability is enhanced (e.g., by soluble N-deposition). Such changes in wood quality could theoretically influence the risk of wind damage. We used the "Lothar” windstorm as a "natural experiment” to explore links between damage and wood properties. In 104 windthrow sites across the Swiss Plateau, more than 1,600 wood cores from (1) broken, (2) uprooted and (3) still standing (not damaged) spruce trees (Picea abies) were collected in February and March 2000. Wood properties, treering width and chemistry of the wood samples were analysed. Broken trees showed wider treerings in the decade 1990-99 compared to non-broken trees (either uprooted or undamaged trees). Broken trees also showed lower non-structural carbohydrate (NSC) concentration in sapwood, reflecting active structural carbohydrate sinks associated with fast growth. There was also a trend for higher tissue N-concentrations in broken trees. No significant differences between damage types were found in wood density and wood shrinkage during desiccation. We conclude that stem breakage risk of P. abies is associated with a stimulation of growth in the past decade and with changes in tree nutritional status. However, the risk for windthrow of whole spruce trees (uprooted but not broken) was not related to the studied wood parameter

A definition of mountains and their bioclimatic belts for global comparisons of biodiversity data

This is the first quantitative attempt at a global areal definition of ‘alpine' and ‘montane' terrain by combining geographical information systems for topography with bioclimatic criteria (temperature) subdividing the life zones along elevational gradients. The mountain definition adopted here refrains from any truncation by low elevation thresholds, and defines the world's mountains by a common ruggedness threshold (>200m difference in elevation within a 2.5′ cell, 0.5′ resolution), arriving at 16.5Mio km2 or 12.3% of all terrestrial land area outside Antartica being mountains. The model employed accounts for criteria of "mountainous terrain” for biological analysis, and thus arrives at a smaller land area fraction than hydrologically oriented approaches, and by its 2.5′ resolution, it includes less unstructured terrain (such as large plateaus, very wide valleys or basins) than earlier approaches. The thermal delineation of the alpine and nival biogeographic region by the climatic tree limit (the lower boundary of the alpine belt) arrives at 2.6% or 3.55Mio km2 of the global land area outside Antarctica (21.5% of all mountain terrain). Seven climate-defined life zones in mountains facilitate large-scale (global) comparisons of biodiversity information as used in the new electronic ‘Mountain Biodiversity Portal' of the Global Mountain Biodiversity Assessment (GMBA

"Det er ikke nødvendigvis den største takhøyden...": Moralske utfordringer i politistudentenes praksisstudium

I denne artikel fremhæves to moralske udfordringer norske politistudenter møder, når de udplaceres ved et tjenestested i deres andet studieår. De to er 1) at tage op uheldige hændelser og 2) at udøve politiskøn. Disse to er identificeret ud fra en dokument­ undersøgelse af studenternes svar på en eksamen i professionsetik foretaget efter udplaceringen. Efter at udfordrin­ gerne er uddybet og eksemplificeret, fremhæves metodologisk reflektion og procesretfærdighed som to foran­ staltninger, der kan bidrage til at styrke praksisvejledningen og sådan hjælpe til med at gøre de to nævnte udfordringer mindre

A Values-based methodology in Policing

Professional work is currently based on explicit knowledge and evidence to a greater degree than in the past. Standardising professional services in this way requires repetitive (or at least similar) scenarios and might be seen as a challenge to professional autonomy. In the context of policing, officers perform a range of familiar tasks, but they may also encounter novel challenges at any moment. Moreover, police tasks are not well-defined. Therefore, many missions require police officers to rely on common sense, tacit knowledge or gut feeling. In this article, I argue that a values-based methodology may serve as a tool to help evaluate decisions in unfamiliar situations, to learn from experience, as well as be a quality control for established routines. Keywords:  ethics, policing, decision-making, values, experiential learningroutines

A climate-based model to predict potential treeline position around the globe

In situ temperature measurements revealed that the position of the high-elevation treeline is associated with a minimum seasonal mean air temperature within a temperature-defined minimum season length across latitudes. Here, we build upon this experience and present the results of a global statistical analysis and a predictive model for low temperature treeline positions. We identified 376 natural treelines from satellite images across the globe, and searched for their closest climatic proxies using a climate database. The analysis included a snow and a water balance submodel to account for season length constraints by snow pack and drought. We arrive at thermal treeline criteria almost identical to those that emerged from the earlier in situ measurements: tree growth requires a minimum length of the growing season of 94days. The model yields best fit when the season is defined as all days with a daily mean temperature >0.9°C, and a mean of 6.4°C across all these days. The resultant treeline model ‘TREELIM' offers a robust estimation of potential treeline elevation based on climate data only. Error terms include imprecise treeline position in satellite images and climate approximations in mountainous terrain. The algorithm permits constraining low temperature limits of forest growth worldwide (including polar treelines) and also permits a bioclimatic stratification of mountain biota, for instance, for biodiversity assessments. As a side product, the model yields the global potentially forested area. The results support the isotherm theory for natural treeline formation. This completely independent statistical assessment of the climatic drivers of the global treeline phenomenon confirmed the results of a multi-year measurement campaign

Hvilke moralske utfordringer opplever norske politistudenter i praksisåret?

I denne studien undersøkes hvilke moralske utfordringer norske politistudenter oftest møter i «praksisåret». Utfordringene identifiseres gjennom en analyse av 208 hjemmeeksamener i yrkesetikk fra avgangsstudentene ved Politihøgskolen i Oslo, hvor utfordringene beskrives gjennom kombinasjoner av hvilke verdier som står sentralt, hvilke personer som er involvert og hvilke typer oppdragene oppstår i. Funnene eksemplifiseres og settes i forhold til sentrale politivitenskapelige diskusjoner. Til slutt diskuteres hvordan studentene best kan forberedes på disse utfordringene. Nøkkelord: etikk, yrkesetikk, anvendt etikk, politi, utdanning English summary: What moral challenges are Norwegian police students encountering during their practice period?    This article examines what moral challenges Norwegian police students encounter during their practice period. The challenges are identified through an analysis of the experiences described in the professional ethics home exams of 208 graduates at the Norwegian Police University College in Oslo. From our analysis, paradigmatic challenges are constructed based on the combinations of values, persons and mission types typically highlighted in the exams. These challenges are then discussed in light of central topics in police science. Finally, we discuss briefly how police students can be best prepared for meeting these moral challenges

Rate of force development relationships to muscle architecture and contractile behavior in the human vastus lateralis

In this study, we tested the hypotheses that (i) rate of force development (RFD) is correlated to muscle architecture and dynamics and that (ii) force–length–velocity properties limit knee extensor RFD. Twenty-one healthy participants were tested using ultrasonography and dynamometry. Vastus lateralis optimal fascicle length, fascicle velocity, change in pennation angle, change in muscle length, architectural gear ratio, and force were measured during rapid fixed-end contractions at 60° knee angle to determine RFD. Isokinetic and isometric tests were used to estimate individual force–length–velocity properties, to evaluate force production relative to maximal potential. Correlation analyses were performed between force and muscle parameters for the first three 50 ms intervals. RFD was not related to optimal fascicle length for any measured time interval, but RFD was positively correlated to fascicle shortening velocity during all intervals (r = 0.49–0.69). Except for the first interval, RFD was also related to trigonometry-based changes in muscle length and pennation angle (r = 0.45–0.63) but not to architectural gear ratio. Participants reached their individual vastus lateralis force–length–velocity potential (i.e. their theoretical maximal force at a given length and shortening velocity) after 62 ± 24 ms. Our results confirm the theoretical importance of fascicle shortening velocity and force–length–velocity properties for rapid force production and suggest a role of fascicle rotation.publishedVersio