Effect of Policies to Accelerate the Adoption of Battery Electric Vehicles in Finland—A Delphi Study

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from transport contribute significantly to climate change. Some of the transport policies with the greatest potential to mitigate climate change are related to zero-emission vehicles. This study aimed to analyse the different factors, and their importance, influencing purchase decisions for battery electric vehicles (BEV). Experts’ perceptions were collected with a Delphi study consisting of a two-round survey to assess factors that would increase the probability of a petrol- or diesel-car owner purchasing a BEV in Finland in the year 2025. Increasing the possibilities for home charging and the provision of a purchase subsidy were seen as the most important factors. Public fast charging and the difference in use costs between current technology vehicles and BEVs were also recognised as important factors. Existing systems of financial instruments and policies must be constantly evaluated and updated due to the evolving BEV industry

Erikoislääkärikoulutus uudistuu - missä mennään?

Erikoislääkärikoulutuksen uudistuksen ydin on osaamisperustaisuus. Sekä koulutusväylät että seurantajärjestelmä rakennetaan sitä tukeviksi

Erikoislääkärikoulutus uudistuu - missä mennään?

Erikoislääkärikoulutuksen uudistuksen ydin on osaamisperustaisuus. Sekä koulutusväylät että seurantajärjestelmä rakennetaan sitä tukeviksi

‘Give courage to the ladies’: expansive apprenticeship for women in rural Malawi

Apprenticeship in developed and industrialised nations is increasingly understood as a theory of learning which connects workplace activity and formal study. The concept of ‘expansive apprenticeship’ defines frameworks for workforce development where participants acquire knowledge and skills which will help them in the future as well as in their current roles, whilst ‘restrictive’ apprenticeships limit opportunities for wider, lifelong learning. In developing nations apprenticeship is a traditional route to learning and employment, but apprenticeships in these contexts tend to reflect a restrictive approach characterized by narrowly defined roles and weak educational outcomes. This paper examines a project in Malawi which uses concepts of expansive apprenticeship to address barriers to female continuing education and chronic teacher shortages. The Malawi Access to Teaching Scholarship recruited one thousand women to follow a year-long combined programme of academic distance study and practical work experience in rural primary schools. The aim is to increase the numbers of women teachers in Malawi, especially in rural areas. The Scholarship materials and support structures are designed to move participants from restrictive to expansive contexts for learning so that Scholars develop hybrid roles as students, community workers and apprentice pedagogues. The programme’s resources and approach offer an innovative model of expansive apprenticeship in Sub Saharan Africa

Radon backgrounds in the DEAP-1 liquid-argon-based Dark Matter detector

The DEAP-1 \SI{7}{kg} single phase liquid argon scintillation detector was operated underground at SNOLAB in order to test the techniques and measure the backgrounds inherent to single phase detection, in support of the \mbox{DEAP-3600} Dark Matter detector. Backgrounds in DEAP are controlled through material selection, construction techniques, pulse shape discrimination and event reconstruction. This report details the analysis of background events observed in three iterations of the DEAP-1 detector, and the measures taken to reduce them. The $^{222}$Rn decay rate in the liquid argon was measured to be between 16 and \SI{26}{\micro\becquerel\per\kilogram}. We found that the background spectrum near the region of interest for Dark Matter detection in the DEAP-1 detector can be described considering events from three sources: radon daughters decaying on the surface of the active volume, the expected rate of electromagnetic events misidentified as nuclear recoils due to inefficiencies in the pulse shape discrimination, and leakage of events from outside the fiducial volume due to imperfect position reconstruction. These backgrounds statistically account for all observed events, and they will be strongly reduced in the DEAP-3600 detector due to its higher light yield and simpler geometry

Finding needles in haystacks: linking scientific names, reference specimens and molecular data for Fungi

DNA phylogenetic comparisons have shown that morphology-based species recognition often underestimates fungal diversity. Therefore, the need for accurate DNA sequence data, tied to both correct taxonomic names and clearly annotated specimen data, has never been greater. Furthermore, the growing number of molecular ecology and microbiome projects using high-throughput sequencing require fast and effective methods for en masse species assignments. In this article, we focus on selecting and re-annotating a set of marker reference sequences that represent each currently accepted order of Fungi. The particular focus is on sequences from the internal transcribed spacer region in the nuclear ribosomal cistron, derived from type specimens and/or ex-type cultures. Re-annotated and verified sequences were deposited in a curated public database at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), namely the RefSeq Targeted Loci (RTL) database, and will be visible during routine sequence similarity searches with NR_prefixed accession numbers. A set of standards and protocols is proposed to improve the data quality of new sequences, and we suggest how type and other reference sequences can be used to improve identification of Fungi

Methane dynamics in the subarctic tundra : combining stable isotope analyses, plot- and ecosystem-scale flux measurements

Methane (CH4) fluxes were investigated in a subarctic Russian tundra site in a multi-approach study combining plot-scale data, ecosystem-scale eddy covariance (EC) measurements, and a fine-resolution land cover classification scheme for regional upscaling. The flux data as measured by the two independent techniques resulted in a seasonal (May-October 2008) cumulative CH4 emission of 2.4 (EC) and 3.7 gCH(4) m(-2) (manual chambers) for the source area representative of the footprint of the EC instruments. Upon upscaling for the entire study region of 98.6 km(2), the chamber measured flux data yielded a regional flux estimate of 6.7 gCH(4) m(-2) yr(-1). Our upscaling efforts accounted for the large spatial variability in the distribution of the various land cover types (LCTs) predominant at our study site. Wetlands with emissions ranging from 34 to 53 gCH(4) m(-2) yr(-1) were the most dominant CH4-emitting surfaces. Emissions from thermokarst lakes were an order of magnitude lower, while the rest of the landscape (mineral tundra) was a weak sink for atmospheric methane. Vascular plant cover was a key factor in explaining the spatial variability of CH4 emissions among wetland types, as indicated by the positive correlation of emissions with the leaf area index (LAI). As elucidated through a stable isotope analysis, the dominant CH4 release pathway from wetlands to the atmosphere was plant-mediated diffusion through aerenchyma, a process that discriminates against C-13-CH4. The CH4 released to the atmosphere was lighter than that in the surface porewater, and delta C-13 in the emitted CH4 correlated negatively with the vascular plant cover (LAI). The mean value of delta C-13 obtained here for the emitted CH4, 68.2 +/- 2.0 %, is within the range of values from other wetlands, thus reinforcing the use of inverse modelling tools to better constrain the CH4 budget. Based on the IPCC A1B emission scenario, a temperature increase of 6.1 degrees C relative to the present day has been predicted for the European Russian tundra by the end of the 21st Century. A regional warming of this magnitude will have profound effects on the permafrost distribution leading to considerable changes in the regional landscape with a potential for an increase in the areal extent of CH4-emitting wet surfaces.Peer reviewe