Are Traditional Cooperatives an Endangered species? About Shrinking Satisfaction, Involvement and Trust

Several researchers, who have observed that traditional cooperatives have difficulties in modern markets, mention a number of behavioral concepts characterizing the members. This study attempts to empirically test these concepts. It is based on a survey among members of a large traditional Swedish cooperative. The members perceive the cooperative to be so large and complex that they have difficulties understanding the operations. Hence, they become dissatisfied and uninvolved, and they mistrust the leadership. Moreover, they do not believe that the cooperative can be remodeled to strengthen member control. The findings support the behavioral explanations presented in prior studies.agricultural cooperative, property rights, satisfaction, involvement, trust, Consumer/Household Economics,

Multivariate characterisation of environmental conditions for reindeer husbandry in Sweden

Pastoralism using semi-domesticated reindeer (Rangifer t. tarandus) is a traditional livelihood in northern Fennoscandia. The area used for reindeer herding in Sweden covers as much as half of the country’s area. Variation in the productivity of reindeer husbandry is clearly affected by many biotic and abiotic factors. The aim of this investigation was to identify factor combinations which describe the spatial variation in conditions that plausibly determine productivity in reindeer herding. Initially, 37 variables representing geographical location, climate, weather episodes related to ice crust formation and insect harassment, topography, vegetation, forage abundance and qualities, and fragmentation of the ranges were derived, using prior ecological knowledge and spatially explicit data. The variables were mapped in a raster of 1958 squares of 100 km2 each, covering the entire Swedish reindeer herding area. Reductions of variables were performed with multivariate analyses in steps, ultimately retaining 15 variables. The first five principal components (PCs) of these variables explained 84% of the total variation. The first component, related to major western mountain/eastern lowland gradients, already accounts for 49% of the variation. The following components explained variation ranging from 10% to 5.4%, and revealed spatial patterns in summer versus winter forage, climatic conditions and ice crust formation, abundance of forests and winter forage, and northward slopes together with valuable forest areas, respectively. A tentative zone division of the Swedish reindeer herding area into seven zones was made, based upon cluster analysis and spatial distribution of component scores. Extending this approach and method seems useful also in the understanding and management of other natural resources and national parks, especially with an ongoing global climate change perspective.Abstract in Swedish / Sammandrag:Multivariat karakterisering av grundförutsättningar för renskötsel i Sverige. Den areal som nyttjas av renskötseln i Sverige täcker ungefär halva landets yta. Renens produktivitet varierar inom området beroende på många biotiska och abiotiska faktorer. Målet var att identifiera kombinationer av underliggande faktorer som kan orsaka den varierade produktiviteten inom renskötseln. Baserat på tidigare kunskap och spatiella data valdes 37 variabler som beskriver relevant variation i geografisk belägenhet, klimat, väderhändelser relaterade till skareförekomst och insektsstörningar, topografi, vegetation, betesmängd och -kvalitet, samt fragmentering av betesland. Värdena i dessa variabler beräknades för 1958 kvadrater à 100 km2, som tillsammans täckte hela renskötselområdet. Materialet analyserades med en stegvis principalkomponentanalys och klusteranalys, varvid antalet variabler reducerades till 15. De fem första principalkomponenterna, baserade på 15 variabler, förklarade tillsammans 84% av den samlade variationen, varav den första principalkomponenten ensam förklarade 49% och de efterföljande fyra komponenterna stod för vardera mellan 10 och 5,4%. Tolkningen av den första komponenten tyder på att den främst förklarade väntade öst-västliga gradienter i topografiska och klimatologiska förhållanden. De efterföljande principalkomponenterna förklarade den samlade variationen i sommar- kontra vinterbete, klimatförutsättningar och skareförekomst, skog och vinterbetesfördelning, resp. nordsluttningar i kombination med värdefull skogsmark, utöver de gradienter som isolerats i första komponenten. Baserat på den spatiella utbredningen av principalkomponentvärden föreslår vi en uppdelning av renskötselområdet i sju zoner med avseende på faktorer av betydelse för renskötseln. Denna ansats och metodik förefaller vara väl lämpad för förståelse och förvaltning av naturresurser och skyddsvärda områden generellt, speciellt i ett globalt föränderligt klimat

Relationships between biotic and abiotic range characteristics and productivity of reindeer husbandry in Sweden

Reindeer husbandry is a form of pastoralism where vast areas are used as forage ranges throughout the year. The productivity of the reindeer industry in Sweden is affected by a multitude of factors on different geographical and temporal scales. Our aim was to find combinations of factors characterizing the environmental conditions for reindeer husbandry in the 51 herding districts in Sweden, which correlate strongly with variations in productivity both between herding districts in general and between years within districts. Productivities were described by estimated herd growth rates and carcass condition of slaughtered females and calves. These dependent variables were related to the environmental independent variables using linear regression models and structural equation modelling. The independent variables were either considered as stable (e.g. topography, vegetation and infrastructure) or temporally changing (e.g. season lengths, weather events, disturbances and animal slaughter strategies). The most relevant independent variables were included in a cluster analysis to suggest a grouping of herding districts based on similarities in environmental conditions. Considerably larger variation in productivity was found between herding districts than between years. Different variables were found to be important for between-district and within-district variations, respectively. Season lengths and animal densities were found significant at both levels of variation. Other variables found to be relevant were ruggedness, snow condition, harassing insect activity, supplementary feeding, calf slaughter ratio and previousyear animal condition. Snow precipitation, ice-crust formation and forage quality were presumed to be relevant for reindeer productivity, but were not found to have a large impact on productivity. These factors, however, may have been counteracted by husbandry measures, statistically incorporated in animal density variables, or by being strongly correlated with other, more significant variables. Several of the variables that were found to be important for productivity are correlated with climate and weather and therefore foreseen to be altered in a climatic change perspective. Abstract in Swedish / Sammanfattning: Kopplingar mellan biotiska och geografiska karaktäristika av renskötselområden och renproduktivitet i Sverige Renskötseln i Sverige är en form av pastoralism som använder stora ytor till betesmark. Produktiviteten inom rennäringen i Sverige beror på ett stort antal faktorer som varierar geografiskt och över tid. Undersökningens mål var att hitta kombinationer av faktorer som karaktäriserar förutsättningarna för renskötsel inom de 51 samebyarna i Sverige. Detta genomfördes genom att koppla variationen i renproduktivitet med kombinationer av omgivningsvariabler på sameby- och årsbasis. Produktiviteten definierades genom beräknad hjordtillväxt, slaktkroppskvalitet och vikter på slaktkroppar. Produktivitetsvariablerna relaterades till omgivningsvariablerna genom multipel linjär regression och strukturerad ekvationsmodellering (SEM). Omgivningsvariablerna ansågs för denna undersöknings tidsperspektiv vara antingen stabila (t.ex. topografi, vegetation och infrastrukturer) eller varierande över tid (t.ex. säsongslängder, väderhändelser, störningar och slaktstrategier). De mest relevanta omgivningsvariablerna användes i en klusteranalys för att gruppera samebyarna enligt deras likheter i förutsättningar för renskötsel. Variationen i produktivitet var större mellan samebyar än mellan år inom samebyar. Olika omgivningsvariabler visade sig vara relevanta mellan samebyar och mellan år. Säsongslängd och djurtäthet var relevanta i båda skalorna (mellan samebyar och mellan år), medan faktorer såsom topografisk brutenhet, snöförhållanden, aktivitet av störande insekter, stödutfodring, kalvslaktsandel och kondition på föregående års slaktkroppar var relevanta i en av dem. Snöfall, skarebildning och beteskvalitet antogs vara relevanta men visade sig inte vara signifikant korrelerade med produktiviteten. Dessa faktorer kan dock ha motverkats genom renskötselåtgärder, blivit statistisk inkorporerade i rentäthetsvariabler eller varit korrelerade med andra mer relevanta variabler. Flera av de signifikanta omgivningsvariablerna är väder- och klimatrelaterade, vilka därför antas förändras i den pågående klimatförändringen

On the optimum number of levels in the one-way model with random effects

Optimal design, analysis of variance, estimation of variance components, restricted maximum likelihood, convex functions,

Quantitative evaluation of hybrid aspen xylem and immunolabeling patterns using image analysis and multivariate statistics

In this study we present a method for quantitative evaluation of hybrid aspen genotypes xylem morphology and immunolabeling microdistribution. The method is based on image analysis and multivariate statistical evaluation of light and immunofluorescence microscopy images of wood xylem cross sections. The selected immunolabeling antibodies targeted five different epitopes present in the aspen xylem cell walls. Twelve down-regulated hybrid aspen genotypes have been included in the method development. The twelve knock-down genotypes were selected based on pre-screening by pyrolysis-IR of global chemical content. The multivariate statistical evaluations successfully identified comparative trends for modifications in the down-regulated genotypes compared to the unmodified control, even when no definitive conclusions could be drawn from individual studied variables alone. Of the twelve genotypes analysed, three genotypes showed significant trends for modification in both morphology and immunolabeling. Six genotypes showed significant trends for modification in either morphology or immunocoverage. The remaining three genotypes did not show any significant trends for modification

Are Traditional Cooperatives an Endangered species? About Shrinking Satisfaction, Involvement and Trust

Several researchers, who have observed that traditional cooperatives have difficulties in modern markets, mention a number of behavioral concepts characterizing the members. This study attempts to empirically test these concepts. It is based on a survey among members of a large traditional Swedish cooperative. The members perceive the cooperative to be so large and complex that they have difficulties understanding the operations. Hence, they become dissatisfied and uninvolved, and they mistrust the leadership. Moreover, they do not believe that the cooperative can be remodeled to strengthen member control. The findings support the behavioral explanations presented in prior studies