Snow tussocks, chaos, and the evolution of mast seeding

One hitherto intractable problem in studying mast seeding (synchronous intermittent heavy flowering by a population of perennial plants) is determining the relative roles of weather, plant reserves, and evolutionary selective pressures such as predator satiation. We parameterize a mechanistic resource-based model for mast seeding in Chionochloa pallens (Poaceae) using a long-term individually structured data set. Each plant's energy reserves were reconstructed using annual inputs (growing degree days), outputs (flowering), and a novel regression technique. This allowed the estimation of the parameters that control internal plant resource dynamics, and thereby allowed different models for masting to be tested against each other. Models based only on plant size, season degree days, and/or climatic cues (warm January temperatures) fail to reproduce the pattern of autocovariation in individual flowering and the high levels of flowering synchrony seen in the field. This shows that resource-matching or simple cue-based models cannot account for this example of mast seeding. In contrast, the resource-based model pulsed by a simple climate cue accurately describes both individual-level and population-level aspects of the data. The fitted resource-based model, in the absence of environmental forcing, has chaotic (but often statistically periodic) dynamics. Environmental forcing synchronizes individual reproduction, and the models predict highly variable seed production in close agreement with the data. An evolutionary model shows that the chaotic internal resource dynamics, as predicted by the fitted model, is selectively advantageous provided that adult mortality is low and seeds survive for more than 1 yr, both of which are true for C. pallens. Highly variable masting and chaotic dynamics appear to be advantageous in this case because they reduce seed losses to specialist seed predators, while balancing the costs of missed reproductive events

Characterization of the renal function in Epac1 (RapGef3) knockout mice

The discovery of the exchange proteins directly activated by cAMP (Epac) has renewed our knowledge of intracellular cAMP signaling. The Epac1 isoform (RapGef3) shows high expression level in the kidney. In vitro studies have suggested multiple roles for Epac in the renal function. The development of an animal model were Epac1 is knocked out (Epac1-/- mice), however, allows for in vivo studies on Epac1 possible renal functions. In the present study Epac1-/- mice were compared to their reference wild type (WT) littermates, during baseline conditions as well as after per oral water load with and without presence of the antidiuretic vasopressin analog desmopressin. Under these conditions we measured renal excretion and/or clearance of creatinine, osmolytes, electrolytes, urea, cAMP and albumin. It turned out that Epac1-/- mice showed a normal ability to dilute their urine; Urine osmolality after water load combined with intra-peritoneal saline injection was 232 ± 14.90 in WT and 249 ± 7.377 in Epac1-/- mice. However, the effect of desmopressin on urine osmolality was significantly attenuated in Epac1-/- mice; Urine osmolality after water load and desmopressin was 598 ± 88.37 in WT and 443 ± 33.52 in Epac1-/- animals, with the increase (desmopressin relative to saline) being 163 % in WT and 77 % in Epac1-/- mice. The present study showed that a reduced response to desmopressin could not be explained by under-expression of either the AVP-stimulated urea transporter UT-A1 or the water channel AQP-2. A possibility is that Epac1 is required for optimal trafficking of AQP-2 to the apical membrane. Moreover, creatinine clearance, used as an estimate of glomerular filtration rate, was significantly increased in Epac1-/- mice following water loading (WT; 397 ± 44.98 µl/min vs. Epac1-/- 550 ± 19.52 µl/min). This difference in was not seen after treatment with furosemide (WT; 553 ± 121.9 µl/min vs. Epac1-/- 606 ± 64.01 µl/min), which blocks the Na+ -K+ -2Cl- co-transporter, and thus the tubulo-glomerular feedback response on vascular tone in the afferent arteriole. Urine and plasma analysis demonstrated no difference in the fractional clearance of osmolytes, creatinine, Na+ , K+ , and urea between WT and Epac1-/- animals. Epac1-/- mice did not demonstrate any sign of proteinuria, suggesting an intact glomerular filtration barrier. We conclude that renal functions are generally well preserved in Epac1-/- mice. These mice do, however, exhibit a moderate polydipsia and polyuria due to a perturbation of the effect of vasopressin on tubular water reabsorption. A role of Epac in the regulation of GFR at the level of macula densa is also suggested.Master i Medisinsk biologiMAMD-MEDBIBMED39

Fault Gouge Characterization in the Øygarden Complex in SW Norway - Relevance for offshore CO2 storage

Revised version. Minor spelling and formatting errors corrected.Pre-existing structures such as faults are common within the North Sea sedimentary basin. Fault-bounded reservoirs provide significant closures for subsurface storing of CO2. An understanding of faults and fault rocks is therefore crucial for evaluating the long-term storage stability of CO2 storage sites. When injecting CO2 into a faulted or fault-bound reservoir, the increasing fluid pressure can lead to an increased risk of fault reactivation, which can cause earthquakes and alter the future fault sealing capabilities. The Smeaheia area, a newly licensed CO2 storage site (2022), at the Horda Platform in the Northern North Sea is juxtaposed with basement rocks of the Øygarden Complex to the east by the N-S striking Øygarden Fault System. The fault-related reactivation risk of the Smeaheia site towards the eastern basin-bounding Øygarden Fault System is closely linked to the characteristics of fault rocks present within the faulted crystalline basement rocks of the Øygarden Complex. Fault gouge, a clay-rich material found within the core of shallow brittle faults, is of particular interest, as this material can act as an impermeable barrier preventing fluid flow. Fault gouges represent the mechanically weakest material found within the fault core, and they may be associated with increased risk of reactivation. However, the presence of clay-rich gouge can also lower the likelihood of earthquakes by acting as a low friction gliding surface for the fault blocks, which is known as aseismic creep or stable sliding. Despite fault rocks and fault gouges being highly important for CO2 storage evaluation, the amount of data from intact offshore fault rocks is limited. In this work, we tested the friction angles of well-characterized fault rocks, i.e., fault gouges and fault breccias, from the Øygarden Complex by using accessible surface exposed onshore faults. The fault rocks were characterized by grain size distribution and mineralogy using powdered clay analysis (XRD) and thin sections (optical microscopy). To determine the friction angles, the fault rock samples were subjected to direct shear box experimentation at normal stresses ranging from 0.1 to 1.5 MPa. Six faults from the Øygarden Complex were sampled in addition to the well-documented Lærdal-Gjende fault for comparison purposes. The tested fault rocks had friction angles (ϕ) at 4 mm shear displacement (d) ranging from 17° to 31°, with a mean friction angle for the Øygarden Complex fault rocks of 23.5°. The sand-dominated gouges (45 to 67 %) had varying clay contents from 2 to 17 %. The fault gouges of the Øygarden Complex were predominantly quartzofeldspathic with clay minerals such as chlorite, kaolinite, illite and smectite. The tested fault rocks underwent systematic strain hardening during shearing at the higher normal stresses (1.0 to 1.5 MPa). However, the coarsest samples underwent significant strain hardening due to grain-locking even at the lower normal stresses (0.3 to 0.5 MPa). The results indicated no systematic correlation between the structural characteristics of the faults and the resulting friction angles. The fault rocks from the Øygarden Complex were on average weaker than the Lærdal-Gjende fault rocks and previous studies on natural gneissic fault rocks. However, significant variations were also observed between the studied fault rocks due to the heterogeneous nature of fault cores. The fault rocks showed systematic trends between the resulting friction angles, clay mineral concentrations, and grain-size properties, where clay-rich gouges had a lower friction angle. This thesis offers insight into the friction angles we can expect from fault gouges derived from the Øygarden Complex and their physical properties. This data can be used as additional input data to model the risk of reactivation and the potential for induced seismicity of the Øygarden Fault System.Masteroppgave i geovitenskapGEOV399MAMN-GEO

From Maritime Pushbacks to Naval Blockade: How Europe is Drowning in Legal Pitfalls

As if haunted by the past, the headlines are once again filled with cautionary tales of Europe’s unsecure borders and looming migration crisis. The arrival of 11,000 migrants on the Italian island of Lampedusa in early September, amidst deadlocked negotiations over the European Union’s New Pact on Migration and Asylum, has again sparked debate in Europe about how to tackle illegal immigration from North Africa. The proposed solution that has perhaps drawn the most attention is that of a naval blockade. This post was originally published on the Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review on October 25, 2023. The original post can be accessed via the Archived Link button above

A Theater of Diplomacy: International Relations and the Performing Arts in Early Modern France.

A Theater of Diplomacy is an important and timely book that will reorient the way in which we think about both diplomacy and theater in early modern France and beyond

Autentisk Eksistens

I denne teksten presenterer jeg forskningen min på Autentisk Eksistens. Jeg argumenter for at autentisk væren ikke innebærer former for selv-aktualisering sett i moderne selv-hjelp litteratur. Istedenfor viser jeg hvordan autentisk væren innebærer en dekonstruksjon av en inautentisk form for selvhet. Denne teksten tar for seg hva autentisk eksistens er, hvordan det kan bli oppdaget, hva det motsier og forholdet til selvhet. Rollen til det jeg kaller problematiske tanker og deres forhold til inautentisitet og problemene i samtiden er også temaer som blir utforsket. Jeg diskuterer for hvordan man, ved å fjerne inautentiske mentale konstruksjonen slik som følelsesladdede personlige negative ‘narrativer’, problematiske tanker og ruminerende tankemøsntre bundet til et slags ‘jeg-konstrukt’ leder til en gjennoppdagelse av det som har blitt kalt en pre-reflektiv eksistensiell modus, som oppleves som autentisk. Teksten går gjennom hvordan oppbyggende deler av dette narrativt-genererte ‘jeg-konstruktet’ kan bli utforsket gjennom det fenomenologiske perspektivet, og hvordan en gjentatt bruk av denne prosessen via det som kalles ‘eksistensielle undersøkelser’ fjerner problematiske tanker i deres form av nevrotisk intern ‘selvprat’. Det blir argumentert at en gjenntakelse av eksistensiell selv-undersøkelse kan brukes som en måte til å overkomme inautentiske måter å være på til autentiske måter å være på. Avslutningsvis vil teksten utforske paralleller til denne tesen i form av nylig forskning av hjernens struktur og aktivitetsmoduser og hvordan dette relaterer til tesen om autentisk eksistens.Filosofi mastergradsoppgaveMAHF-FILOFILO35

Adoption of bioenergy technologies for a sustainable energy system

A future sustainable energy system must achieve great improvements in energy efficiency and the energy supply must be based on renewable energy sources. Bioenergy will be an important part of this system. Changing from the current fossil-dependent energy system to a truly sustainable energy system will require fundamental changes in basic structures of society, in the technologies we utilize in the living of our lives and in the way we as citizens and consumers behave relative to energy use. Radical innovations along multiple dimensions are needed to achieve this change. In this thesis the focus is on the role of bioenergy technologies in this system. Specifically, the diffusion of bioenergy based heating technologies is analyzed in four separate research papers. Empirical analyses are based on data from relevant markets in Norway and Sweden. In Paper I, the supply curve of the potential forest fuel supply of a Norwegian county is analyzed, based on an engineering economics approach. Can differences in cost structure in forestry explain why Norway is lagging behind Sweden in terms of bioenergy use? The answer is that there is no lack of low-cost supply of forest fuel raw material in Norway to explain this difference. Paper II takes a forest owner's view and assesses effects on the optimal timing of the harvesting of the forest, when two important additions to the classical Faustmann model are assumed. The market value of the biomass in the tops and branches (harvesting residues) and the value of carbon fixed in the living trees are added to the value of the stem (timber). The value of wood residues shorten the optimal rotation length, while the carbon storage value of the tree lengthens it. The optimal rotation length is very sensitive to the relative size of these two added value components. In Paper III, the initial phase of the development of biomass use in the Swedish district heating sector is scrutinized. A central conclusion is the importance of long term and stable policy signals and the development of an innovation system around this sector. The last article, Paper IV, takes a look at the effects of the Norwegian Household Subsidy Programme for new heating technologies, including pellet stoves. It shows that households put relatively little weight on purely economic factors in assessing the success of their investment in such technologies

GPs' perceptions of the role of the GP in Norway in relation to the process of medicalization

Master i folkehelsevitenskap med vekt på endringer av livsstilsvaner, 2018Background: Primary health care is an important area for health promotion and public health. A basic challenge for health service is, however, that the possibilities and needs exceed the resources. Prioritization is therefore considered as essential to ensure a fair distribution and full utilization of recourses. Further, overuse of medical services is a well- documented and widespread problem internationally, especially in high income- countries. Medicalization; the process by which some non-medical aspects of human life become to be considered as medical problems, is recognized as a driver of overuse. It may result in the treatment of essentially healthy patients in whom potential benefit is small and likely to be outweighed by harms. The potential processes of medicalization and overuse of medical services is therefore important to consider with the aim of a healthcare system which ensures a health promoting, fair and full utilization of resources. The knowledge of how those at the centre of primary healthcare in Norway, the general practitioners (GPs), perceive these potential processes, is however limited. Aim: The purpose of the study was to provide a better understanding of how Norwegian GPs’ perceive the GP role and the context which surrounds it, in relation to potential processes of medicalization in the Norwegian society. Methods: The study had a qualitative approach. 15 semi- structured interviews of GPs’ in south- and- mid- Norway were conducted. Results and conclusion: The GPs’ described the gatekeeper function as an important part of their role. The findings, however, suggest that GPs perceive this role as difficult and that the GPs gatekeeper function may not be sufficient prevent overuse of medical services in Norway. Furthermore, medicalization appeared as a useful concept toward making sense of GPs perceptions of their role and the surrounding context in the 21th century in Norway. The GPs` were largely characterized by scepticism to what they considered to be an expansion of the medical field, including medicalization processes, and considered it as part of their role to counteract these processes. This, as a means to prevent overuse of medical services, but also to reduce health anxiety, improve quality of life and avoid harm to patients. The findings, however, also demonstrate that the GPs’ were experiencing an increasing pressure to expand the health service's field of work, and indicate that GPs presently are more subordinate in the expansion or contraction of medicalization in the Norwegian society. The study identifies that the GPs` experienced a wide range of aspects affecting potential processes of medicalization and overuse of medical services in the Norwegian primary health care. This included: increasing expectations / demands from patients and other institutions in society; increasing time pressure in general practice; the context of patient-centred medicine; lack of clarity in signals of prioritization from the authorities, as well as; standards set in clinical guidelines and the specialist health services. Implications: The study implies that the complexity of these aspects is important to consider with regards to policy aimed at prioritizing within primary healthcare, potential overuse of medical services or unwarranted processes of medicalization. Policy aimed at these areas should include clearer signals on prioritizing from the authorities, both directed towards primary health care and the general public. In addition, balanced information concerning the benefits and harms of medical intervention should be addressed in the public discourse.Norsk sammendrag: Bakgrunn: Primærhelsetjenesten er et viktig område for helsefremmende arbeid og folkehelse. En grunnleggende utfordring for helsetjenesten er at mulighetene og behovene overstiger ressursene. Prioritering anses derfor for å være nødvendig for å sikre full utnyttelse av ressurser og en rettferdig fordeling. Videre er overbruk av medisinske tjenester et veldokumentert og utbredt problem internasjonalt; spesielt i høyinntektsland. Medikalisering; prosessen hvor ikke-medisinske aspekter av menneskelivet blir betraktet som medisinske problemer, er anerkjent som en driver av overbruk. Medikalisering kan resultere i behandling av hovedsakelig friske pasienter hvor den potensielle fordelen er liten og sannsynligvis vil oppveies av skader. Potensielle medikaliseringprosesser og overbruk av medisinske tjenester er derfor viktig å vurdere, med mål om et helsevesen som sikrer helsefremmende, rettferdig og full utnyttelse av ressurser. Kunnskapen om hvordan de i sentrum av primærhelsetjenesten i Norge, fastlegene, opplever disse potensielle prosessene er imidlertid begrenset. Formål: Formålet med studien var å gi en bedre forståelse av hvordan norske fastleger opplever fastlegerollen og konteksten som omgir den, i relasjon til potensielle medikaliseringsprosesser i det norske samfunnet. Metode: Studien hadde en kvalitativ tilnærming. 15 semistrukturerte intervjuer av fastleger i Sør- og Midt-Norge ble gjennomført. Resultater og konklusjon: Legene beskrev portner-funksjonen som en viktig del av deres rolle. Funnene indikerer imidlertid, at legene oppfatter denne rollen som vanskelig og at portnerfunksjonen ikke nødvendigvis er tilstrekkelig til å forhindre overbruk av medisinske tjenester i Norge. Videre fremsto medikalisering som et nyttig konsept i forståelsen av fastlegers opplevelser av sin rolle og konteksten som omgir den, i det 21. århundre i Norge. Legene var i stor grad preget av skepsis til det de anså for å være en ekspansjon av det medisinske området, inkludert medikaliseringsprosesser, og betraktet det som en del av deres rolle for å motvirke disse prosessene. Dette, som et middel for å forhindre overbruk av medisinske tjenester, men også for å redusere helseangst, forbedre livskvalitet og for å unngå skade av pasienter. Funnene viser imidlertid at fastlegene opplevde et økende press om å utvide helsetjenestens arbeidsområde og indikerer at fastleger i dag er mer underordnet i utvidelsen eller innsnevringen av medikalisering i det norske samfunnet. Studien identifiserer at fastlegene erfarte et bredt spekter av aspekter som de opplever at påvirker potensielle medikaliseringsprosesser og overforbruk av medisinske tjenester i den norske primærhelsetjenesten. Dette inkluderte; økende forventninger/ krav fra pasienter og andre institusjoner i samfunnet; økende tidspress i allmennpraksis; konteksten av pasientsentrert medisin; manglende tydelighet i signaler rettet mot prioritering fra myndighetene, samt; standarder satt i kliniske retningslinjer og spesialisthelsetjenesten. Implikasjoner: Studien antyder at kompleksiteten av disse aspektene er viktig å vurdere med hensyn til politikk som retter seg mot prioritering innen primærhelsetjenesten, potensiell overbruk av medisinske tjenester eller uønskede medikaliserings prosesser. Politikk som sikter på å forebygge overbruk bør inneholde klarere signaler om prioritering fra myndighetene, både rettet mot primærhelsetjenesten og allmennheten. I tillegg bør balansert informasjon om fordelene og ulempene ved medisinsk intervensjoner også adresseres i den offentlige diskursen