Gender equality at School of forest management : a qualitative study from a teacher´s perspective

2011 tog regeringen, tillsammans med Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet (SLU) och andra branschorganisationer ett krafttag för att öka jämställdheten inom skogssektorn med syfte att skapa en konkurrenskraftig näring genom mångfald. Utbildning, arbetsliv och enskilt skogsägande var tre områden som initiativet skulle fokusera på och målet för utbildningsområdet var att göra de skogliga utbildningarna mer attraktiva för både kvinnor och män. För att nå målet skulle bland annat utbildning av pedagoger och handledare prioriteras med syfte att öka kunskapen inom genus och jämställdhet för att kunna integreras i utbildningarna och till hjälp togs en obligatorisk kurs för lärare fram. 2019 kom Skogsstyrelsen med en uppföljningsrapport av det arbete som introducerats 2011 och konstaterade att arbetet för en jämställd skogssektor, i detta fall utbildningsområdet, inte kommit så långt som initiativet från början hoppats på. Skogsmästarprogrammet i Skinnskatteberg är en del av Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet och är en av de skogliga utbildningar som krafttaget från 2011 syftar på. För att få en lägesrapport om hur jämställdhet implementeras på skogsmästarprogrammet idag, tio år efter initiativet, har fem kursansvariga lärare samt programmets prefekt intervjuats om skolans jämställdhetsarbete. Bland annat visar intervjustudien på att Skogsmästarskolan präglas av en maskulin kultur även om det blivit bättre under de senaste decennierna. De intervjuade anser att de har makt att förändra och delvis styra vad studenterna ska få med sig i sin utbildning men få av dem har valt eller har ambitionen att integrera jämställdhet i sin kurs. Argumenten för att inte integrera ämnet i egen kurs har varit många, bland annat att det inte passar in i kursämnet på grund av innehåll eller att de själva inte anser sig ha tillräcklig kunskap att integrera jämställdhet. Dessutom framkom det under studien att många påverkats av uppropet #metoo och #slutavverkat år 2017, och känner en rädsla för att göra fel. Det framkom även under studien att alla utom en av de intervjuade upplever en osäkerhet och okunskap kring ämnet. Dock var det få av de kursansvariga lärarna som faktiskt gått den obligatoriska kurs om jämställdhet som tagits fram som ett verktyg med syfte att öka lärarens kunskaper. Skogsmästarskolan har länge arbetat med inkvotering av kvinnor genom det skogliga basåren, som från början var avsett endast för kvinnor, och senare också genom Skogskurs för tjejer, ett läger med förhoppningen att fler kvinnor ska få upp intresset för skogssektorn. Satsningen för att få in fler kvinnor på utbildningen har varit lyckad, men den resterande del som syftar till att implementera arbetet med jämställdhet i utbildningen har visat sig vara sämre och är bristfällig i dagsläget.In 2011, the government, together with Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and other industry organizations, took action to increase gender equality in the forest sector with the aim of creating a competitive industry through diversity. Education, working life and individual forest ownership were three areas that the initiative would focus on and the goal of the education area was to make forestry education more attractive to both women and men. In order to achieve the goal, among other things, the education of teachers and supervisors would be prioritized with the aim of increasing knowledge within gender and gender equality in order to integrate those perspectives into the education system, and a compulsory course for teachers was developed to promote the change. In 2019, Swedish Forest Agency came up with a follow-up report of the work introduced in 2011 and stated that the work for a gender-equal forest sector, in this case the education area, has not come as far as the initiative initially hoped for. School for Forest Management in Skinnskatteberg is part of SLU and is one of the forestry educations that the effort from 2011 refers to. In order to receive a progress report on how gender equality is implemented at the Skogsmästarskolan, ten years after the initiative, five teachers responsible for the courses and the head of the program have been interviewed about the school's gender equality work. Among other things, the interview study shows that the School for Forest Management is characterized by a masculine culture, even though it has improved in recent decades. The interviewees believe that they have the power to change and partly control what the students should include in their education, but few of them have chosen or have the ambition to integrate gender equality into their course. The arguments for not integrating the subject into their own course have been many, including that it does not fit into the course subject due to content or that they themselves do not consider themselves to have sufficient knowledge to integrate gender equality. In addition, it emerged during the study that many were affected by the call #metoo and #slutavverkat in 2017, and some of them feel a fear of making mistakes. It also emerged during the study that many of the interviewees experience uncertainty and ignorance about the subject. However, few of the teachers responsible for the course actually took the compulsory course on gender equality, which was developed as a tool with the aim of increasing the teacher's knowledge. School for Forest Management has long worked with quotas for women through the forest base year, which was originally intended only for women, and later also through “Forest course for girls”, a camp with the hope that more women will get interested in the forest sector. The effort to get more women into forest education has been successful, but the remaining part, which aims to implement gender equality work into forest education, has proved to be worse and is deficient at present

Isoprene emission from Sphagnum species occupying different growth positions above the water table

Isoprene emission from Sphagnum species naturally growing at different positions above the water table were measured in a subarctic peatland and at monoliths from a temperate bog. Our objectives were to investigate (1) whether emission rates were species and/or moisture dependent, and (2) whether short-term temperature history had an influence on emission capacity. We expected greater emission capacities in moist than dry growing conditions, and from species adapted to wet habitats. We also expected that higher emission capacities would be found in response to elevated temperatures. Average peak growing season isoprene emission capacities (standardized to 20 degrees C and PAR 1000 mu mol m(-2) s(-1)) at the subarctic site were 106 and 74 mu g C m(-2) h(-1) from a S. balticum wet lawn and a S. balticum dry hummock/palsa, respectively. Emission capacities correlated strongly with gross primary productivity (GPP) and the average air temperature of the 48 hours prior to measurement (T-48), but the effect of T-48 seemed to be partly masked by the influence of GPP when moisture was not limiting. The laboratory experiments suggested that a typical hummock species, S. rubellum had higher capacity for isoprene emission than a typical lawn species S. magellanicum. Instantaneous emission rates increased with temperature, but no effect of temperature history was discernible. Sphagnum mosses are known to emit substantial amounts of isoprene, but in this study we also showed significant inter-species differences in emission capacity. The results imply that climate change induced alterations of peatland hydrology may change the total ecosystem isoprene source strength, as individual species adapt to new growth conditions or as a consequence of species succession

Is there such a thing as a capitalist eschatology?

This short communication presents preliminary notes about how to study the role of eschatology in the contemporary economy, focusing specifically on space-colonizing ambitions of US entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk. It is suggested that the proposed research agenda focuses on three problematics, relating to immediacy, investment, and ideology. As such, the text proposes to study the making of alternative futures by situating imaginaries of humanity becoming a multiplanetary species in the present realities of political economy

Radiolytic degradation of dimethyl telluride in aqueous solutions

The formation of volatile radioactive species is a major concern in severe nuclear reactor accident scenarios. Release of radioactive material to the environment is highly governed by the volatility of the species and therefore it its crucial to understand the behavior of any such species during the accident and the days and weeks following. One of the volatile, yet highly understudied fission products is tellurium. Although tellurium has been released in significant amounts during the major nuclear accidents that have occurred, the knowledge of the behavior is still lacking. Here we present results on the radiolysis of dimethyl telluride, a highly volatile species shown to form in accident conditions. The behavior of dimethyl telluride was investigated under gamma irradiation in various aqueous solutions and conditions representative to severe nuclear reactor accident conditions. The results suggest that dimethyl telluride is relatively stable towards gamma irradiation and its degradation is highly affected by the amount of dissolved oxygen and competing species. It was found that dimethyl telluride degrades via oxidative processes by reacting with oxidizing radiolysis products e.g. •OH, O.-. In the absence of oxygen, several volatile telluride dimers were observed. The results presented here increase the interest in organic tellurides in severe accident conditions and highlight the need for further investigation of the re-volatilization and mitigation of volatile tellurium species

Organic Telluride Formation from Paint Solvents Under Gamma Irradiation

The interactions between tellurium and organic material during a nuclear reactor accident are critical to source term estimations because of the possible formation of volatile species. Reactions taking place in the containment sump are of interest since these can lead to re-volatilization and increase the fission product source term. This paper presents results from experiments investigating the interaction of tellurium dioxide with three paint solvents-texanol ester, methyl isobutyl ketone, and toluene-under containment sump conditions. The experiments were performed by irradiating a mixed solution of tellurium dioxide and paint solvents at a dose rate of 4 kGy/h up to 300 kGy. The resulting samples were analyzed for tellurium concentration and speciation. Tellurium(IV) was found to reduce to metallic tellurium under irradiation when paint solvents were present. More importantly, several volatile organic tellurides were identified in the irradiated samples, which suggests that tellurium can form volatile species in sump conditions when in contact with dissolved paint solvents. This paper provides novel evidence of organic telluride formation in the sump and raises further interest in tellurium chemistry during a severe nuclear reactor accident

Effects of intra-genotypic variation, variance with height and time of season on BVOC emissions

Biogenic Volatile Organic Compounds (BVOCs) are trace gases other than CO2 and CH4 produced and emitted by the biosphere, where the amounts released depend on climatic factors such as temperature and solar irradiation. However, interpretation of leaf-level measurements is currently hampered by factors such as large within-genotypic variability, measurement height and time in the season. A campaign was performed between June and August in 2013 in Taastrup, Denmark to study these uncertainties. BVOC emissions were measured from leaves and needles at heights of 2 m, 5.5 m and 12.5 m in the canopy and for seven trees; four Norway spruces (Picea abies) of which two trees had a budburst approximately a week before the other two, two English oaks (Quercus robur) and one European beech (Fagus sylvatica). Differences in chemical composition and emission strength between June and August were observed between the different trees. English oak's main compound isoprene increased from 62–74 % of the total emission in June to approximately 97 % in August, which is linked to leaf development over the summer season. The total emission from all measured spruce trees decreased from July to August, but without a loss in the diversity of emitted compounds. The trees showed indications of drought stress as there was a period without precipitation lasting 21 days during the study. There were no differences in emission patterns within all of the measured Norway spruces. For measurement height, there was only a significant difference in emission pattern for European beech as the top of the canopy emitted 7–9 times more in relation to lower canopy levels. Our results suggest there was little within-genotype variability and the wide spacing between trees had an influence on the individual emission patterns. These results are important in order to understand the significance of within-genotypic variation, canopy height and seasonal development in relation to the emission patterns of the selected species. Furthermore, it will provide helpful insights for modelers who wish to improve their emission estimates

Tellurium Behavior in the Containment Sump: Dissolution, Redox, and Radiolysis Effects

In the event of a severe nuclear accident, one major concern is the release of radioactive material into the environment causing potential exposure of the general public to radiation. Among the volatile radionuclides are a range of tellurium isotopes. Due to the radioactivity and the volatility of tellurium, it has to be taken into account when assessing the overall effects of an accident. The interest in tellurium is not limited only to its release but also to the fact that some tellurium isotopes decay to iodine, and thus affect the iodine release behavior. The release and transport behavior of tellurium has been investigated over the past decades, however, the aqueous chemistry of tellurium in the complex containment sump system is still unclear. This study presents the behavior of tellurium dioxide in simplified containment sump conditions in relation to dissolution, redox reactions, and interactions with water radiolysis products. The results indicate that radiolysis products have a significant effect on tellurium chemistry in both a reducing and oxidizing manner depending on the solution composition. The redox reactions also affect the solubility of tellurium. The results show that the current information used to assess tellurium source term needs to be reevaluated for both severe accident management and for code validation purposes

Tellurium retention by containment spray system

A containment spray system is used to mitigate the source term from the containment building to the environment as part of the severe accident management actions. Tellurium is one of the volatile fission products and many of the tellurium isotopes decay into iodine, which causes a threat to the public due to its radiotoxicity and build-up in the thyroid gland. The removal efficiency of the containment spray system model against tellurium species formed under severe accident conditions was investigated with experiments and MELCOR simulations. The results indicated efficient removal of tellurium aerosols in the air atmosphere, whereas a decrease in the efficiency was observed in the nitrogen atmosphere. Gaseous tellurium species were not formed in significant amounts during the experiments and therefore, the removal efficiency due to different spray chemistry conditions could not be accurately analysed. However, the alkaline chemicals used in the spray solution seemed to form airborne particles, increasing the overall aerosol transport in the process independently of CsI or Te aerosol transport

Systemic galectin-3 in smokers with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and chronic bronchitis: The impact of exacerbations

Purpose: The carbohydrate-binding protein Galectin-3 is increased in several inflammatory diseases and has recently been forwarded as a systemic biomarker in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In this longitudinal study, we characterized the level of systemic Galectin-3 using blood from smokers with a history of COPD and chronic bronchitis (COPD-CB), during stable clinical conditions and exacerbations. Patients and Methods: The study population comprised 56 long-term smokers with COPD-CB, 10 long-term smokers without lung disease (LTS) and 10 clinically healthy never-smokers (HNS). Blood samples were analyzed for levels of Galectin-3, leukocyte populations and C-reactive protein (CRP). In addition, sputum samples from the COPD-CB group were analyzed for bacterial growth. Results: When comparing stable clinical conditions and exacerbations in the COPD-CB group, we found that the level of Galectin-3, just like that of CRP, leukocytes and neutrophils, respectively, was increased during exacerbations. However, this exacerbation-associated increase of Galectin-3 was modest. During stable clinical conditions of COPD-CB, the level of Galectin-3 was not elevated in comparison with HNS or LTS. Nor did this level of Galectin-3 distinguish patients that remained in a clinically stable condition throughout the study to those that developed an exacerbation. In addition, neither during stable clinical conditions nor during exacerbations, did the presence of bacterial growth in sputum alter Galectin-3 levels. In contrast to Galectin-3, the level of CRP, leukocytes and neutrophils, respectively, were increased during clinical stable conditions in the COPD-CB group compared with the other groups and were further enhanced during exacerbations. Conclusion: Systemic Galectin-3 is increased in a reproducible but modest manner during exacerbations in smokers with COPD-CB. During stable clinical conditions, the level of systemic Galectin-3 does not distinguish patients that remain clinically stable from those that develop exacerbations. This makes it less likely that systemic Galectin-3 may become a clinically useful biomarker in the current setting

Single breath N2-test and exhaled nitric oxide in men

SummaryThe N2 slope is an index of inhomogeneous distribution of ventilation and has been suggested to be suited for early testing of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in smokers. The aim of the present study was to examine the association between the fraction of exhaled nitric oxide (FENO) and the N2 slope in a random population of smoking and non-smoking men. Altogether 57 subjects were included in the study, 24 never-smokers, seven ex-smokers and 26 current smokers. Subjects were examined twice, in 1995 when they regarded themselves as healthy, and in a follow-up in 2001. Spirometry, N2 slope and high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) were performed in 1995 while the follow-up examination included also measurement of FENO.The FENO value was significantly lower and the N2 slope higher in current smokers. In smokers but not in never- or ex-smokers FENO was correlated to the difference in N2 slope between 1995 and 2001 (rs=0.49, P=0.01). We analysed the data by multiple linear regression adjusted for smoking, mild respiratory symptoms and inhaled steroids. There were significant associations between FENO and the N2 slope both in 1995 and in 2001. The strongest association was found to exist with the change in N2 slope during these years.Sixteen of the subjects could be classified as having COPD, six with mild and ten with moderate COPD. There was a trend for an increase in N2 slope with increased severity of COPD; among subjects with no COPD the N2 slope in 2001 was 2.3% N2/L, and those with mild and moderate COPD had 2.5% N2/L and 3.9% N2/L, respectively (P=0.0004). No such trend was seen for FENO (17.8, 15.5 and 20.3 parts per billion (ppb), respectively, P=0.8).The results show that FENO is associated with the N2 slope, indicating that FENO reflects inflammatory changes in the peripheral airways of both non-smoking and smoking subjects