| 1. |
- Bakker, F. T., et al.
(författare)
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The Global Museum: natural history collections and the future of evolutionary science and public education
- 2020
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Ingår i: PeerJ. - : PeerJ. - 2167-8359. ; 8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Natural history museums are unique spaces for interdisciplinary research and educational innovation. Through extensive exhibits and public programming and by hosting rich communities of amateurs, students, and researchers at all stages of their careers, they can provide a place-based window to focus on integration of science and discovery, as well as a locus for community engagement. At the same time, like a synthesis radio telescope, when joined together through emerging digital resources, the global community of museums (the 'Global Museum') is more than the sum of its parts, allowing insights and answers to diverse biological, environmental, and societal questions at the global scale, across eons of time, and spanning vast diversity across the Tree of Life. We argue that, whereas natural history collections and museums began with a focus on describing the diversity and peculiarities of species on Earth, they are now increasingly leveraged in new ways that significantly expand their impact and relevance. These new directions include the possibility to ask new, often interdisciplinary questions in basic and applied science, such as in biomimetic design, and by contributing to solutions to climate change, global health and food security challenges. As institutions, they have long been incubators for cutting-edge research in biology while simultaneously providing core infrastructure for research on present and future societal needs. Here we explore how the intersection between pressing issues in environmental and human health and rapid technological innovation have reinforced the relevance of museum collections. We do this by providing examples as food for thought for both the broader academic community and museum scientists on the evolving role of museums. We also identify challenges to the realization of the full potential of natural history collections and the Global Museum to science and society and discuss the critical need to grow these collections. We then focus on mapping and modelling of museum data (including place-based approaches and discovery), and explore the main projects, platforms and databases enabling this growth. Finally, we aim to improve relevant protocols for the long-term storage of specimens and tissues, ensuring proper connection with tomorrow's technologies and hence further increasing the relevance of natural history museums.
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| 2. |
- Andersson, Claes, 1973, et al.
(författare)
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Zooming out the microscope on cumulative cultural evolution: ‘Trajectory B’ from animal to human culture
- 2023
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Ingår i: Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. - 2662-9992. ; 10, s. 1-20
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- It is widely believed that human culture originated in the appearance of Oldowan stone-tool production (circa 2.9 Mya) and a primitive but effective ability to copy detailed know-how. Cumulative cultural evolution is then believed to have led to modern humans and human culture via self-reinforcing gene-culture co-evolution. This outline evolutionary trajectory has come to be seen as all but self-evident, but dilemmas have appeared as it has been explored in increasing detail. Can we attribute even a minimally effective know-how copying capability to Oldowan hominins? Do Oldowan tools really demand know-how copying? Is there any other evidence that know-how copying was present? We here argue that this account, which we refer to as “Trajectory A”, may be a red herring, and formulate an alternative “Trajectory B” that resolves these dilemmas. Trajectory B invokes an overlooked group-level channel of cultural inheritance (the Social Protocell) whereby networks of cultural traits can be faithfully inherited and potentially undergo cumulative evolution, also when the underpinning cultural traits are apelike in not being transmitted via know-how copying (Latent Solutions). Since most preconditions of Trajectory B are present in modern-day Pan, Trajectory B may even have its roots considerably before Oldowan toolmaking. The cumulative build-up of networks of non-cumulative cultural traits is then argued to have produced conditions that both called for and afforded a gradual appearance of the ability to copy know-how, but considerably later than the Oldowan.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- André, Hampus, 1989
(författare)
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Assessing Mineral Resource Scarcity in a Circular Economy Context
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Due to humanity’s dependence on metal resources there are growing concerns regarding impacts related to their potential scarcity, both for current and future generations. The vision of a more circular economy suggests that extending the functional use of metals through measures aiming for resource-efficiency (RE) such as increasing technical lifetime, repairing and recycling could reduce mineral resource scarcity. However, evidence of this is limited. In addition, there is limited understanding regarding on what principles metals can be prioritized when assessing mineral resource scarcity. The aim of this thesis is to provide knowledge on mineral resource scarcity impacts of RE measures applied to metal-diverse products and on which conditions they depend. This is achieved by: 1) studying RE measures from a life cycle perspective; 2) comparing principles of prioritization between metals on which mineral resource scarcity impacts are assessed and 3) analysing how such principles (of prioritization) can affect conclusions regarding RE measures applied to metal-diverse products. The research is conducted through case studies, syntheses of literature and method development within the methodologies of life cycle assessment, material flow analysis and criticality assessment. Results indicate that effects of RE measures depend on a number of product characteristics and real-world conditions. RE measures can both increase and decrease mineral resource scarcity impacts compared to business as usual and effects vary greatly between metals. RE measures based on use extension e.g. reuse of laptops, repair of smartphones, and increasing technical lifetimes of LED lighting, have been indicated to reduce impacts through two principal features: use extension, and, increased functional recycling. However, there are risks of increasing mineral resource scarcity impacts if RE measures require additional metal use, product use extensions are short and if functional recycling is lacking. For example, repair of smartphones risks to increase the use of metals in commonly replaced components such as screens. Because of the varying effects on different metals, implementation of RE measures requires prioritizing some metals over others. The principles of prioritization give diverging results, and, are sometimes unclear and methodologically inconsistent. The thesis clarifies how they relate to concepts such as depletion, criticality, rarity and scarcity. Further it suggests that, although mineral resources are fundamentally stock resources, they can pose stock, fund and flow problems. Distinguishing between these different problems in distinct methodologies is conducive to purposive and complementary assessment by resolving methodological inconsistencies and providing accurate terminology. In the long term, scarcity is most purposively addressed by focusing on depletion of ecospheric stocks. Accordingly, the Crustal Scarcity Indicator is proposed to assess potential long term scarcity in life cycle assessment, alongside other environmental impacts. In the near term, potential scarcity for nations, industries and companies, as commonly assessed in criticality assessment, is most purposively addressed by focusing on technospheric circumstances, such as geopolitics, which can disrupt technospheric resource flows. In medium term, secondary resources in technospheric funds could be relevant, especially, with the advent of a more circular economy. Altogether, it is recommended that implementation of RE measures to metal-diverse products are based on analysis of product characteristics and real-world conditions and that effects of RE measures are assessed by methodologies which distinguish between mineral resource flows, funds and stocks so that well-informed prioritizations between metals can be made.
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| 5. |
- André, Hampus, 1989
(författare)
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Resource and Environmental Impacts of Resource-Efficiency Measures Applied to Electronic Products
- 2018
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Natural resources such as ecosystems, land, water and metals underpin the functioning of economies and human well-being, and are becoming increasingly scarce due to growth in population and affluence. Metals are increasingly demanded for their specific properties as modern technology develops. The dependence on metals is of growing concern due to the environmental impacts related, for example, to energy use and local impacts from mining, as well as the scarcity risks posed by socio-economic, geological and geopolitical constraints. Thus, there is a clear need to use metals and other natural resources more efficiently. The vision of a circular economy has been proposed as a way to do this, for example by improving durability, reusing, repairing and recycling. Such so-called resource-efficiency (RE) measures are commonly assumed to be environmentally beneficial, although the evidence is not plentiful. It is plausible that focusing on recirculating products and materials could shift burdens to other environmental impacts or life cycle stages. It has therefore been argued that a life cycle-based approach, such as in life cycle assessment (LCA), is useful to critically assess the environmental implications of RE measures. LCA aims to quantify the environmental impacts of products over their entire life cycles - from cradle to grave - assessing a wide range of impacts such as toxicity, climate change and metal resource use. For metal resource use, however, there are a number of perspectives as to what constitutes the actual environmental problem. These perspectives are represented in a variety of life cycle impact assessment methods (LCIA) which have previously been shown to give diverging results. Electronic products are emblematic of metal resource use challenges since they deploy a broad spectrum of scarce metals. This thesis aims to provide knowledge on the potential for RE measures to reduce the environmental impacts of electronic products, by addressing the following research questions: (1) What resource-efficiency measures result in reduced potential environmental impacts and resource use – for what types of products and under what conditions? (2) How does extended use of electronic products through design for increased technical lifetime, reuse and repair affect environmental impacts, particularly metal resource use? (3) How does the application of different LCIA methods for metal resource use influence interpretations of resource-efficiency measures applied to electronic products? This thesis builds on three appended papers which are all based on comparative assessments of resource efficiency, studied as resource use and environmental impacts per function delivered, using LCA and material flow analysis. The results indicate that extended use of electronic products through increasing technical lifetimes, reusing and repairing, is generally resource-efficient. Exceptions may occur, however, if extended use is insufficient to motivate impacts from producing more durable products or spare parts. Use extension of electronic products leads to resource efficiency in two distinct ways: through the intended use extension and by increasingly steering material flows into recycling. Further resource efficiency could be realised by combining RE measures over the entire life cycles of products. With regards to metal resource use, the choice of LCIA method can influence the interpretation of the results of RE measures for electronic products. Therefore, it is advisable to use several complementary LCIA methods to minimise the risks of overlooking potentially important resources issues. Furthermore, better understanding and transparency of such issues is valuable in order to provide more comprehensive information to decision-makers.
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| 6. |
- Caldenby, Claes, 1946
(författare)
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Session 10-reinventing public institutions
- 2018
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the 15th International Docomomo Conference - Metamorphosis: The Continuity of Change, IDC 2018. - 9789899964549 ; 2018, s. 343-344
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)
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| 7. |
- Dodig Crnkovic, Gordana, 1955
(författare)
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Natural Computational Architectures for Cognitive Info-Communication
- 2021
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Recent comprehensive overview of 40 years of research in cognitive architectures, (Kotseruba and Tsotsos 2020), evaluates modelling of the core cognitive abilities in humans, but only marginally addresses biologically plausible approaches based on natural computation. This mini review presents a set of perspectives and approaches which have shaped the development of biologically inspired computational models in the recent past that can lead to the development of biologically more realistic cognitive architectures. For describing continuum of natural cognitive architectures, from basal cellular to human-level cognition, we use evolutionary info-computational framework, where natural/ physical/ morphological computation leads to evolution of increasingly complex cognitive systems. Forty years ago, when the first cognitive architectures have been proposed, understanding of cognition, embodiment and evolution was different. So was the state of the art of information physics, bioinformatics, information chemistry, computational neuroscience, complexity theory, selforganization, theory of evolution, information and computation. Novel developments support a constructive interdisciplinary framework for cognitive architectures in the context of computing nature, where interactions between constituents at different levels of organization lead to complexification of agency and increased cognitive capacities. We identify several important research questions for further investigation that can increase understanding of cognition in nature and inspire new developments of cognitive technologies. Recently, basal cell cognition attracted a lot of interest for its possible applications in medicine, new computing technologies, as well as micro- and nanorobotics. Bio-cognition of cells connected into tissues/organs, and organisms with the group (social) levels of information processing provides insights into cognition mechanisms that can support the development of new AI platforms and cognitive robotics.
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| 8. |
- Eskafi, Majid, et al.
(författare)
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Framework for Dealing with Uncertainty in the Port Planning Process
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal and Ocean Engineering. - 0733-950X. ; 147:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Globalization has increased international trade where the contribution of maritime transportation is significant. The projection of future port traffic in terms of vessel call and vessel size provides valuable and fundamental input to capacity planning and management, adjusting the direction of port development. In this research, analysis of port traffic is carried out for the Ports of Isafjordur network. The analysis is conducted based on the prediction of port throughput (ie, containerized and noncontainerized cargo, cruise ship call/passenger) in conjunction with port infrastructure
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| 9. |
- Handirk, Rebekka, 1994
(författare)
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Legacy fostering the twins. Connecting the S/X and VGOS telescope network generations
- 2024
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- With the VLBI Global Observing System (VGOS) being the next step in the development of geodetic Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), it is necessary to connect the new VGOS network to existing legacy S/X telescopes. Specially designed short-baseline interferometry sessions aim to obtain local-tie vectors between these telescope generations at observatories that have both legacy S/X and new generation VGOS telescopes. At the Onsala Space Observatory (OSO), this is being done by short-baseline interferometry between the VGOS Onsala Twin Telescopes ONSA13SW and ONSA13NE, and the legacy antenna ONSALA60. Similarly, short-baseline interferometry sessions referred to as NYTIE have been performed at Ny-Ålesund, involving the VGOS telescope NYALE13S and the legacy S/X antenna NYALES20. In both cases, these dedicated experiments yielded station coordinates and baselines with mm or even sub-mm accuracy. This thesis focuses on exploring the possibilities of connecting co-located radio telescopes with short-baseline interferometric measurements, specially in the cases of the observatories in Onsala and Ny-Ålesund.
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| 10. |
- Hellervik, Alexander, 1978
(författare)
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Networks of urban interaction - Growth and centrality in the complex geography of urban activity
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- How cities and regions grow and decline depend on technological, social and economic factors. Understanding the interplay of these forces is central in research efforts aiming to improve urban and transport planning. The purpose of this thesis is to explore how mathematical modelling and computer simulation can contribute to these efforts and a central aim is to achieve practically useful models with retained conceptual simplicity as well as correspondence to important empirical patterns. The approach combines a spatially fine-grained representation of land, with processes of urban interaction based on the theory of complex networks. Urban activity at a location is modelled as the sum of all economic interactions stemming from that location. The potentials for interactions and activity are deduced mainly from spatial constraints, such as transport networks and land use regulations. Concepts that are studied include urban growth, accessibility and urban agglomeration. For model validation, an extensive data set on Swedish land taxation values is used. These values are based on actual sales prices and rent levels and can thus be considered as reasonable proxies for urban economic activity. Comparisons are made between empirical data and model outcomes, both with regard to probability distributions and geographical distributions. The empirical probability distribution of land values is found to be well approximated by a power law, strengthening the case for modelling the system as a complex network based on a process of multiplicative growth. By combining these principles with spatial interaction mediated by a transport network, the preferential centrality model is formulated. The activity predictions generated by this model reproduces empirical geographical patterns of land values. The presented models provide explanatory links between the structure of transportation networks and the geographical distributions of urban economic activity. This makes them attractive as starting points for the further step of creating practically useful planning applications. For example, the models could be used to assess how specific transport infrastructure improvements influence urban expansion.
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