| 1. |
- Bastos Lima, Mairon G., et al.
(författare)
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Large-scale collective action to avoid an Amazon tipping point - key actors and interventions
- 2021
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Ingår i: Current Research in Environmental Sustainability. - : Elsevier BV. - 2666-0490. ; 3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The destruction of the Amazon is a major global environmental issue, not only because of greenhouse gas emissions or direct impacts on biodiversity and livelihoods, but also due to the forest's role as a tipping element in the Earth System. With nearly a fifth of the Amazon already lost, there are already signs of an imminent forest dieback process that risks transforming much of the rainforest into a drier ecosystem, with climatic implications across the globe. There is a large body of literature on the underlying drivers of Amazon deforestation. However, insufficient attention has been paid to the behavioral and institutional microfoundations of change. Fundamental issues concerning cooperation, as well as the mechanisms facilitating or hampering such actions, can play a much more central role in attempts to unravel and address Amazon deforestation. We thus present the issue of preventing the Amazon biome from crossing a biophysical tipping point as a large-scale collective action problem. Drawing from collective action theory, we apply a novel analytical framework on Amazon conservation, identifying six variables that synthesize relevant collective action stressors and facilitators: information, accountability, harmony of interests, horizontal trust, knowledge about consequences, and sense of responsibility. Drawing upon literature and data, we assess Amazon deforestation and conservation through our heuristic lens, showing that while growing transparency has made information availability a collective action facilitator, lack of accountability, distrust among actors, and little sense of responsibility for halting deforestation remain key stressors. We finalize by discussing interventions that can help break the gridlock.
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| 2. |
- Hofving, Tobias, 1989, et al.
(författare)
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SMAD4 haploinsufficiency in small intestinal neuroendocrine tumors
- 2021
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Ingår i: BMC Cancer. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1471-2407. ; 21:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Patients with small intestinal neuroendocrine tumors (SINETs) frequently present with lymph node and liver metastases at the time of diagnosis, but the molecular changes that lead to the progression of these tumors are largely unknown. Sequencing studies have only identified recurrent point mutations at low frequencies with CDKN1B being the most common harboring heterozygous mutations in less than 10% of all tumors. Although SINETs are genetically stable tumors with a low frequency of point mutations and indels, they often harbor recurrent hemizygous copy number alterations (CNAs) yet the functional implications of these CNA are unclear. Methods: Utilizing comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) arrays we analyzed the CNA profile of 131 SINETs from 117 patients. Two tumor suppressor genes and corresponding proteins i.e. SMAD4, and CDKN1B, were further characterized using a tissue microarray (TMA) with 846 SINETs. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was used to quantify protein expression in TMA samples and this was correlated with chromosome number evaluated with fluorescent in-situ hybridization (FISH). Intestinal tissue from a Smad4+/− mouse model was used to detect entero-endocrine cell hyperplasia with IHC. Results: Analyzing the CGH arrays we found loss of chromosome 18q and SMAD4 in 71% of SINETs and that focal loss of chromosome 12 affecting the CDKN1B was present in 9.4% of SINETs. No homozygous loss of chromosome 18 was detected. Hemizygous loss of SMAD4, but not CDKN1B, significantly correlated with reduced protein levels but hemizygous loss of SMAD4 did not induce entero-endocrine cell hyperplasia in the Smad4+/− mouse model. In addition, patients with low SMAD4 protein expression in primary tumors more often presented with metastatic disease. Conclusions: Hemizygous loss of chromosome 18q and the SMAD4 gene is the most common genetic event in SINETs and our results suggests that this could influence SMAD4 protein expression and spread of metastases. Although SMAD4 haploinsufficiency alone did not induce tumor initiation, loss of chromosome 18 could represent an evolutionary advantage in SINETs explaining the high prevalence of this aberration. Functional consequences of reduced SMAD4 protein levels could hypothetically be a potential mechanism as to why loss of chromosome 18 appears to be clonally selected in SINETs.
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| 3. |
- Kmoch, Laura, 1987, et al.
(författare)
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Access mapping highlights risks from land reform in upland Myanmar
- 2021
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Ingår i: Journal of Land Use Science. - 1747-4248 .- 1747-423X. ; 16:1, s. 34-54
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Secure land access is vital for Myanmar's upland households, who rely on crops and forests to meet their subsistence needs. But recent land reforms threaten to undermine customary tenure and land-use practices in Myanmar. This paper combines income accounting methods with access theory to assess how new legislation may affect four Chin communities in the country's north-west. Our assessment of 94 households' land-access mechanisms and economic benefits from different types of land reveals existing land-access inequalities among Chin households and demonstrates communities' continued dependence on environmental resources, especially those from swidden fields, home gardens and forests. A majority of households would lose all of their land-derived income, if they were denied access to communities' customarily governed land, e.g., under the Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Land Management Law. Policy stakeholders should therefore intervene, to alleviate land-access inequalities among Chin households and to direct Myanmar's land-system dynamics onto more just development trajectories.
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| 4. |
- Kmoch, Laura, 1987, et al.
(författare)
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Cyclone Komen’s aftermath: Local knowledge shows how poverty and inequalities fuel climate risk in western Myanmar
- 2021
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Ingår i: Regional Environmental Change. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1436-378X .- 1436-3798. ; 21:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Cyclones and other extreme events exert increasing pressure on South-East Asia’s societies and put smallholder farmers at risk. Here, we draw on participatory causal-diagramming workshops, interviews and survey data, to provide contextually grounded knowledge about rural communities’ exposure and vulnerability to climate-related hazards in western Myanmar. By tracing how the 2015 cyclone Komen led to a prolonged humanitarian disaster, we show that climate-related risks in this area arise from the complex interplay of households’ pre-existing vulnerabilities, persistent farming challenges, extensive disasters and cascading effects, which disparately affect lowland and upland communities. The different household strata’s dissimilar vulnerabilities vis-à-vis Komen’s impacts were rooted in the distinct exposure of their production systems to landslides and floods. Pre-existing land-access barriers, land-degradation processes, climatic stressors, agricultural pests and diseases, and chronic lack of assets and food insecurity further mediated households’ vulnerability. Relief interventions did not stop the disaster’s escalation, although this could have been achieved with early technical and material assistance to address the cyclone’s impacts on farmers’ land. Targeted aid for households facing imminent food insecurity or debt crisis could have lessened engagement in precarious coping strategies and distress migration. A diversification of households’ livelihood and land-use practices and increased redundancies of critical assets and infrastructure could help to mitigate future cyclone-triggered disasters. By demonstrating the strengths of local knowledge approaches in untangling the complex interplay of extreme events with households’ everyday vulnerabilities and agricultural land-use practices, we make a case for more contextually grounded disaster risk and climate adaptation research.
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| 5. |
- Kmoch, Laura, 1987, et al.
(författare)
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Upland Livelihoods between Local Land and Global Labour Market Dependencies: Evidence from Northern Chin State, Myanmar
- 2018
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Ingår i: Sustainability. - : MDPI AG. - 2071-1050. ; 10:10
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Livelihoods and agrarian change processes across upland South-East Asia have been explored for decades. Yet, knowledge gaps remain about contemporary livelihood strategies and land dependence in areas previously inaccessible to academic research, such as in upland Myanmar. Moreover, new strands of inquiry arise with continued globalisation, e.g., into the effects of remittances and labour migration on household incomes and livelihoods in distant upland areas. This study applied clustering techniques to income accounts of 94 households from northern Chin State, Myanmar to: (i) Identify households’ livelihood strategies; (ii) assess their dependence on access to land and natural resources; and (iii) compare absolute and relative incomes across strategies. We show that households engaged in six relatively distinct livelihood strategies: Relying primarily on own farming activities; making a living off the land with mixed income from agriculture and forest resources; engaging in wage employment; living from remittances; practicing non-forest tree husbandry; or engaging in self-employed business activities. We found significant income inequalities across clusters, with households engaging in remittance and wage-oriented livelihood strategies realizing higher incomes than those primarily involved in land-based activities. Our findings point to differentiated vulnerabilities associated with the identified livelihood strategies—to climate risks, shifting land-governance regimes and labour market forces.
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| 6. |
- Lis, D. C., et al.
(författare)
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Herschel/HIFI measurements of the ortho/para ratio in water towards Sagittarius B2(M) and W31C
- 2010
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 521:1, s. Article Number: L26 -
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present Herschel/HIFI observations of the fundamental rotational transitions of ortho- and para-H216O and H218O in absorption towards Sagittarius B2(M) and W31C. The ortho/para ratio in water in the foreground clouds on the line of sight towards these bright continuum sources is generally consistent with the statistical high-temperature ratio of 3, within the observational uncertainties. However, somewhat unexpectedly, we derive a low ortho/para ratio of 2.35 +/- 0.35, corresponding to a spin temperature of similar to 27 K, towards Sagittarius B2(M) at velocities of the expanding molecular ring. Water molecules in this region appear to have formed with, or relaxed to, an ortho/para ratio close to the value corresponding to the local temperature of the gas and dust.
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| 7. |
- Moberg, Christina, et al.
(författare)
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De unga gör helt rätt när de stämmer staten : 1 620 forskare och lärare i forskarvärlden: Vi ställer oss bakom Auroras klimatkrav
- 2022
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Ingår i: Aftonbladet. - : Aftonbladet. ; :2022-12-07
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Tidskriftsartikel (populärvet., debatt m.m.)abstract
- Vi, 1 620 forskare samt lärare vid universitet och högskolor, är eniga med de unga bakom Auroramålet: De drabbas och riskerar att drabbas allvarligt av klimatkrisen under sin livstid. De klimatåtgärder vi vidtar i närtid avgör deras framtid. Sverige måste ta ansvar och göra sin rättvisa andel av det globala klimatarbetet. I strid med Parisavtalet ökar utsläppen av växthusgaser i en takt som gör att 1,5-gradersmålet kan överskridas om några år. De globala effekterna blir allt mer synliga med ständiga temperaturrekord, smältande isar, havshöjning och extremväder som torka, förödande bränder och skyfall med enorma översvämningar, som i Pakistan nyligen. Försörjningen av befolkningen utsätts för allvarliga hot i många länder.Minskningen av den biologiska mångfalden är extrem. Klimatkrisen är enligt WHO det största hotet mot människors hälsa i hela världen och barn utgör en särskilt sårbar grupp. Med Sveriges nordliga läge sker uppvärmningen här dubbelt så fort som det globala genomsnittet. Det förskjuter utbredningsområden för växtlighet och sjukdomsbärande insekter och ökar förekomsten av extremväder såsom värmeböljor, skogsbränder och översvämningar samt av många olika sorters infektioner och allergier. När extremväder ökar, ökar även stressen och risken för mental ohälsa. Värmeböljor ökar risken för sjukdom och död hos sårbara grupper som äldre, små barn och personer med kroniska sjukdomar. De negativa effekterna på hälsan kommer att öka i takt med klimatkrisen och barn riskerar att drabbas av ackumulerade negativa hälsoeffekter under hela sina liv. Redan i dag är mer än hälften av unga mellan 12 och 18 år i Sverige ganska eller mycket oroliga för klimat och miljö. Detta är förståeligt när våra beslutsfattare inte gör vad som krävs.Den juridiska och moraliska grunden för arbetet mot klimatförändringarna är att varje land måste göra sin rättvisa andel av det globala klimatarbetet. Centralt i det internationella klimatramverket är att rika länder med höga historiska utsläpp, däribland Sverige, måste gå före resten av världen. Dessa länder måste också bidra till att finansiera klimatomställningen i länderna i det Globala Syd, som är minst ansvariga för klimatkrisen men drabbas hårdast. Denna rättviseprincip är tydlig i Parisavtalet och var en het diskussionsfråga under COP27 i Sharm el-Sheikh, men lyser med sin frånvaro i det svenska klimatarbetet. Sverige har satt mål för att minska sina utsläpp. Men de är helt otillräckliga: minskningstakten är för låg och målen tillåter samtidigt att åtgärder skjuts på framtiden. Dessutom exkluderas merparten av Sveriges utsläpp från de svenska nationella utsläppsmålen; bland annat utelämnas utsläpp som svensk konsumtion orsakar utanför Sveriges gränser, utsläpp från utrikes transporter och utsläpp från markanvändning och skogsbruk, exempelvis utsläpp från förbränning av biobränslen eller utsläpp från dikade våtmarker (Prop. 2016/17:146 s.25-28).Sverige saknar dessutom ett eget mål för att öka upptaget av växthusgaser genom utökat skydd och restaurering av ekosystem, något som krävs för att begränsa de värsta konsekvenserna av klimatkrisen (IPCC s.32). Trots dessa låga ambitioner misslyckas Sverige med att nå sina utsläppsmål, konstaterar både Klimatpolitiska rådet och Naturvårdsverket. En klimatpolitik i linje med Parisavtalet kräver både att alla typer av växthusgasutsläpp minskar samtidigt som – inte i stället för – upptaget av växthusgaser maximeras: i dag misslyckas Sverige på bägge fronter.Slutsatsen är tydlig. Sverige vidtar inte de åtgärder som krävs för att skydda barns och ungdomars rättigheter enligt Europakonventionen till skydd för de mänskliga rättigheterna. Detta medför allvarliga risker för liv och hälsa för unga generationer, människor i andra länder och särskilt utsatta grupper. Detta kan inte fortsätta. Därför ställer vi oss bakom Auroras krav att Sverige börjar göra sin rättvisa andel och omedelbart sätter igång ett omfattande och långtgående klimatarbete som vilar på vetenskaplig grund och sätter rättvisa i centrum.
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| 8. |
- Svensson, Martin, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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Pinetree: A Learning Content Repository Based on Semantic Web Technologies
- 2009
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Ingår i: Ninth IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies. - : IEEE Press. - 9780769537115 ; , s. 522-526
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- During the last few years, mobile devices such as cellular phones and PDAs have become sophisticated tools for creating digital content. Moreover, their built-in or attachable sensor capabilities make it possible to derive metadata that denote the context of the user. The challenge of annotating digital content with contextual metadata is a central part of our current research efforts and the main rationale for the development of Pinetree. Pinetree is a learning content repository based on Semantic Web technologies. The aim of the article is to explore the utility of using RDF (Resource Description Framework) as a data model in a learning content repository. We describe the different components of Pinetree and illustrate its use in a specific learning scenario. Our initial results indicate that a learning content repository based on RDF can be a flexible solution for digital content storage in terms of metadata expressivity, interoperability and data distribution.
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| 9. |
- Andersson, Per A., et al.
(författare)
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Anger and disgust shape judgments of social sanctions across cultures, especially in high individual autonomy societies
- 2024
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Ingår i: Scientific Reports. - : Nature Research. - 2045-2322. ; 14:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- When someone violates a social norm, others may think that some sanction would be appropriate. We examine how the experience of emotions like anger and disgust relate to the judged appropriateness of sanctions, in a pre-registered analysis of data from a large-scale study in 56 societies. Across the world, we find that individuals who experience anger and disgust over a norm violation are more likely to endorse confrontation, ostracism and, to a smaller extent, gossip. Moreover, we find that the experience of anger is consistently the strongest predictor of judgments of confrontation, compared to other emotions. Although the link between state-based emotions and judgments may seem universal, its strength varies across countries. Aligned with theoretical predictions, this link is stronger in societies, and among individuals, that place higher value on individual autonomy. Thus, autonomy values may increase the role that emotions play in guiding judgments of social sanctions.
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| 10. |
- Asavei, T., et al.
(författare)
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Engineering Optically Driven Micromachines. - art. no. 703816
- 2008
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Ingår i: Optical Trapping and Optical Micromanipulation V. - 9780819472588 ; 7038, s. 3816-3816
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Optical forces and torques acting on microscopic objects trapped in focussed laser beams promise flexible methods of driving micromachines through a microscope cover slip or even a cell wall. We are endeavouring to engineer special purpose micro-objects for a range of tasks. Colloidal self assembly of calcium carbonate provides birefringent spheres which can exert considerable torque, while two photon polymerisation allows us to fabricate objects of arbitrary shape that can be designed to exchange both spin and orbital angular momentum. Numerical calculations of forces and torques can allow an optimal design, and optical measurements provide us with certain knowledge of the forces and torques which are actually exerted.
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