Otolith growth across two generations in Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus)

The Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) has a wide distribution and a complex metapopulation structure with interactions between the sub-populations. The sub-populations show different adaptations, both genetic and non-genetic, to their environments, and clear differences are found between Atlantic and Baltic herring. Offspring (F1 generation) from Atlantic and Baltic parents (Atlantic purebreds and Atlantic-Baltic hybrids) were co-reared in a common garden experimental set-up. Initially there were three salinity regimes (6 psu, 16 psu and 35 psu), but the 6 psu regime was terminated at larval life stages. Repetitive samples were taken from each group throughout the whole experiment providing a unique collection of sibling samples from larval to adult life stages. Otoliths from all life stages were available for further otolith microstructure analysis and corresponding microstructure analysis was also available from the two parental populations. The Atlantic parental herring were larger than the Baltic parental herring, but the larval otolith increments indicated an opposite trend where the Baltic herring had better larval growth. The F1 larval somatic parameters indicated a trend where the 35 psu group was larger than the 16 psu group, indicating an impact from environmental factors. The adult purebreds were longer than the adult hybrids, which could indicate a genetic impact. An interaction effect including both salinity and genetics as factors was present for the adult weights and for the otolith larval increment widths of both larval and adult life stages. The results from the present study indicate that these traits were affected by both the environment (salinity) and the underlying genetics. These findings are of high importance in sustainable management when characterising herring stocks, but other environmental factors, like temperature,should also be given more attention and included in further research in addition to having a broader genetic baseline for analysis.Masteroppgåve i biologiMAMN-BIOBIO39

Reintegration of child soldiers : a literature review with particular focus on girl soldiers' reintegration in the DRC

The present report seeks to impart key findings in existing literature on child soldiers’ reintegration process, as well as to highlight areas and topics which require more research. The review describes available literature and research related to the reintegration of former child soldiers in general, but with a particular focus on girl soldiers and the reintegration process in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Attention is also given to how local civil society in the DRC contributes to such reintegration processes. The review presents summaries of more than one hundred texts on child soldiers and reintegration, and highlights some of the major recent trends and developments in the literature. Important issues addressed in gender-sensitive studies on reintegration are discussed, as well as other elements which need further research and understanding Despite increased focus on child soldiering, research on the reintegration process of former child soldiers in the DRC is still largely missing. Girl soldiers have barely received any attention at all. Moreover, very little written documentation exists on local civil society’s engagement in reintegration processes. Research must address these gaps in knowledge and, with in-depth studies, provide information that may improve the support given young girls and boys as they make their way back to civilian life

Edutainment Escape Room

Escape room i VR basert på kode prinsipp for elever i videregåande skule for å få ein intro til programmering.Escape room in VR based on coding principles for high school students to get an introduction to programming

Review of the Tanzania-Norway NUFU Programme (2007-2011) : Submitted to the Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Higher Education (SIU)

The scope of the ‘The Tanzania - Norway NUFU Programme 2007 - 2011’ is to support academic cooperation in the area of management of natural resources, forestry, fisheries and/or wildlife, with a focus on good governance and a reliable public administration. The focus of the review has been on its efficiency, effectiveness, relevance, and sustainability. The evaluators reviewed the Programme’s gender approach, risk management, and anti-corruption measures. A special emphasis was also given to ‘policy dialogue’ with relevant policy makers, as this dialogue is viewed as an important tool for achieving impact of development. Finally, the review sought to provide recommendations to guide the further implementation of the Programme. All in all, the review concludes that the ‘The Tanzania - Norway NUFU Programme 2007 - 2011’ has to a large extent been successfully implemented from its start and until spring 2010. The academic cooperation between SUA and UDSM and their Norwegian counterpart, UMB, seems to function relatively smoothly. The Programme has succeeded in recruiting PhD candidates and Master students, and in total reached 50% female participation among students. The Programme has significantly contributed to capacity building at SUA and UDSM. Its thematic focus is of relevance to national policies both in Tanzania and in Norway, and our findings show that the thematic approach of the four projects supported is of central value to the institutions involved. The review finds that project coordinators at both sides are actively involved in decision-making. The potential of impacting on development in Tanzania will clearly increase if the Programme performs well in relation to the number of scientific publications, dissemination and policy-dialogue, as well as the development of study programmes. The Programme should moreover enhance its gender mainstreaming efforts, and better integrate gender issues into the projects’ thematic focus

Edutainment Escape Room

Escape room i VR basert på kode prinsipp for elever i videregåande skule for å få ein intro til programmering.Escape room in VR based on coding principles for high school students to get an introduction to programming

Digital Creativity Support for Original Journalism

The decline in circulations and revenues resulting from the digitalization of news production and consumption has led to a crisis in journalism.Journalists have less time to research, investigate and write original stories, leading to problems for our democratic processes and holding the powerful to account. This paper reports the architecture, features and rationale for new digital creativity support designed to support journalists to discover more original angles onstories. It also summarises the evaluation of the tool’s use in 3 newsrooms

Comparison of Otolith Microstructure of Herring Larvae and Sibling Adults Reared Under Identical Early Life Conditions

Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) is a euryhaline species, occupying fully marine habitats (35 psu) in the North Atlantic, as well as brackish waters (<20 psu) such as in the adjacent Baltic Sea. We co-reared Atlantic purebreds and Atlantic/Baltic F1 hybrids in two salinity regimes (16 and 35 psu) in a common garden experiment for 3 years until their first maturity. This setup enabled for the first time a direct comparison between adults and their larval siblings at respective salinity regimes in terms of larval growth indicated by otolith microstructure. We validated that otolith microstructure analysis of adult otoliths is reflecting the experienced otolith growth during the larval stage. No major selection in terms of otolith growth had taken place during the juvenile stage, except for one experimental group. Surviving adult Atlantic purebreds reared at 16 psu had higher otolith growth compared to their larval stages. The validation that otolith microstructure analyses of adult herring can reliably be extracted and used to examine larval growth even after several years adds strong support for further use of such analyses. Among the parental generation, Baltic herring had a faster initial otolith growth than Atlantic herring. The growth of their laboratory-reared F1 progeny was intermediate compared to their parents. In general, larval growth of both Atlantic purebreds and Atlantic/Baltic hybrids reared in 16 psu was significantly larger than for those herring reared at 35 psu. There was no significant difference in larval growth between Atlantic purebreds and Atlantic/Baltic hybrids reared at 35 psu, but hybrid larval growth was significantly higher compared to larval growth of Atlantic purebreds at 16 psu. This was not reflected at the adult stage where purebreds were ultimately larger than hybrids (Berg et al., 2018). This indicates the influence and importance of environmental and genetic factors throughout the life of Atlantic herring, along with genetic contributions to phenotypic variability.publishedVersio

Consumption of meat and dairy substitute products amongst vegans, vegetarians and pescatarians

Background: An increasing number of people adhere to plant-based diets, and the market for plant-based meat and dairy substitute products has been expanding rapidly.Objective: To examine total intake of macronutrients and salt in a sample of Norwegian vegans, vege-tarians and pescatarians; the consumption frequency of plant-based meat and dairy substitutes and raw ingredients used in these products; and the contribution to total macronutrient and salt intake from these products.Design: A cross-sectional design using single 24-h dietary recall to assess the intake of macronutrients, salt and substitute products that the participants (n = 158 Norway residents [age 18–60 years]: vegans [n = 83]; vegetarians [n = 47]; pescatarians [n = 28]) consumed. The chi-square test with pairwise comparisons and the Kruskal-Wallis test with post hoc test were used to compare differences between diet groups. Macronutrient and salt intake were assessed relative to the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations (NNR).Results: Dietary macronutrient intake fell within NNR recommendations, with a favourable distribution of fatty acids and high levels of dietary fibre. Most of the vegans (90%), vegetarians (68%) and pesca-tarians (64%) consumed meat or dairy substitutes. The main raw ingredient in the substitute products was soy, followed by oats and peas. Overall, substitute products contributed to 12% of total energy and 16% of total salt intake. The substitute products contributed to higher saturated fatty acid (SFA) intake amongst vegans (27% of total SFA intake) compared with vegetarians (10%) and pescatarians (8%). Moreover, substitute products contributed to higher protein intake in vegans (19%) compared with pes-catarians (7%).Conclusion: Most participants consumed meat or dairy substitute products, suggesting that these products are included regularly in Norwegian plant-based diets. Furthermore, substitute products may contribute to dietary fat, SFA and protein intake amongst vegans.publishedVersio

Iron Status of Vegans, Vegetarians and Pescatarians in Norway

publishedVersio

Evaluating the Use of Digital Creativity Support by Journalists in Newsrooms

This paper reports the evaluation of a new digital support tool designed to increase journalist creativity and productivity in newsrooms. After outlining the tool’s principles, interactive features and architecture, the paper reports the installation and use of the tool over 2 months by 12 journalists in the newsrooms of 3 newspapers. Results from this evaluation revealed that tool use was associated with published news articles rated as more novel but not more valuable than published articles written by the same journalists without the tool. However, tool use did not increase journalist productivity. The evaluation results were used to inform future changes to the digital creativity support tool