| 1. |
- Ademuyiwa, Adesoji O., et al.
(author)
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Determinants of morbidity and mortality following emergency abdominal surgery in children in low-income and middle-income countries
- 2016
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In: BMJ Global Health. - : BMJ Publishing Group Ltd. - 2059-7908. ; 1:4
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Child health is a key priority on the global health agenda, yet the provision of essential and emergency surgery in children is patchy in resource-poor regions. This study was aimed to determine the mortality risk for emergency abdominal paediatric surgery in low-income countries globally.Methods: Multicentre, international, prospective, cohort study. Self-selected surgical units performing emergency abdominal surgery submitted prespecified data for consecutive children aged <16 years during a 2-week period between July and December 2014. The United Nation's Human Development Index (HDI) was used to stratify countries. The main outcome measure was 30-day postoperative mortality, analysed by multilevel logistic regression.Results: This study included 1409 patients from 253 centres in 43 countries; 282 children were under 2 years of age. Among them, 265 (18.8%) were from low-HDI, 450 (31.9%) from middle-HDI and 694 (49.3%) from high-HDI countries. The most common operations performed were appendectomy, small bowel resection, pyloromyotomy and correction of intussusception. After adjustment for patient and hospital risk factors, child mortality at 30 days was significantly higher in low-HDI (adjusted OR 7.14 (95% CI 2.52 to 20.23), p<0.001) and middle-HDI (4.42 (1.44 to 13.56), p=0.009) countries compared with high-HDI countries, translating to 40 excess deaths per 1000 procedures performed.Conclusions: Adjusted mortality in children following emergency abdominal surgery may be as high as 7 times greater in low-HDI and middle-HDI countries compared with high-HDI countries. Effective provision of emergency essential surgery should be a key priority for global child health agendas.
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| 2. |
- Melo Zurita, Maria de Lourdes, et al.
(author)
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Global Water Governance and Climate Change : Identifying Innovative Arrangements for Adaptive Transformation
- 2018
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In: Water. - : MDPI AG. - 2073-4441. ; 10:1
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A convoluted network of different water governance systems exists around the world. Collectively, these systems provide insight into how to build sustainable regimes of water use and management. We argue that the challenge is not to make the system less convoluted, but rather to support positive and promising trends in governance, creating a vision for future environmental outcomes. In this paper, we analyse nine water case studies from around the world to help identify potential innovative arrangements' for addressing existing dilemmas. We argue that such arrangements can be used as a catalyst for crafting new global water governance futures. The nine case studies were selected for their diversity in terms of location, scale and water dilemma, and through an examination of their contexts, structures and processes we identify key themes to consider in the milieu of adaptive transformation. These themes include the importance of acknowledging socio-ecological entanglements, understanding the political dimensions of environmental dilemmas, the recognition of different constructions of the dillema, and the importance of democratized processes.
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| 3. |
- Powell, Neil, et al.
(author)
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Water Security in Times of Climate Change and Intractability : Reconciling Conflict by Transforming Security Concerns into Equity Concerns
- 2017
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In: Water. - : MDPI AG. - 2073-4441. ; 9:12
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper considers how to achieve equitable water governance and the flow-on effects it has in terms of supporting sustainable development, drawing on case studies from the international climate change adaptation and governance project (CADWAGO). Water governance, like many other global issues, is becoming increasingly intractable (wicked) with climate change and is, by the international community, being linked to instances of threats to human security, the war in the Sudanese Darfur and more recently the acts of terrorism perpetuated by ISIS. In this paper, we ask the question: how can situations characterized by water controversy (exacerbated by the uncertainties posed by climate change) be reconciled? The main argument is based on a critique of the way the water security discourse appropriates expert (normal) claims about human-biophysical relationships. When water challenges become increasingly securitized by the climate change discourse it becomes permissible to enact processes that legitimately transgress normative positions through post-normal actions. In contrast, the water equity discourse offers an alternative reading of wicked and post-normal water governance situations. We contend that by infusing norm critical considerations into the process of securitization, new sub-national constellations of agents will be empowered to enact changes; thereby bypassing vicious cycles of power brokering that characterize contemporary processes intended to address controversies.
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| 4. |
- Alarcon Ferrari, Cristian, et al.
(author)
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Citizen Science as Democratic Innovation That Renews Environmental Monitoring and Assessment for the Sustainable Development Goals in Rural Areas
- 2021
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In: Sustainability. - : MDPI. - 2071-1050. ; 13:5
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This commentary focuses on analyzing the potential of citizen science to address legitimacy issues in the knowledge base used to guide transformative governance in the context of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (henceforth SDGs). The commentary develops two interrelated arguments for better understanding the limits of what we term “traditional” Environmental Monitoring and Assessment (EMA) as well as the potential of citizen science (CS) for strengthening the legitimacy of EMA in the local implementation of SDGs. We start by arguing that there is an urgent need for a profound renewal of traditional EMA to better implement the SDGs. Then, we present CS as a democratic innovation that provides a path to EMA renewal that incorporates, develops, and extends the role of CS in data production and use by EMA. The commentary substantiates such arguments based on current approaches to CS and traditional EMA. From this starting point, we theorize the potential of CS as a democratic innovation that can repurpose EMA as a tool for the implementation of the SDGs. With a focus on the implementation of SDG15 (Life on Land) in local contexts, the commentary presents CS as a democratic innovation for legitimate transformative governance that can affect socio-ecological transitions. We see this approach as especially appropriate to analyze the implementation of SDGs in rural settings where a specific resource nexus can create conflict-laden contexts with much potential for a renewed EMA to support transformative governance towards Agenda 2030.
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| 5. |
- Bachelder, Steven, et al.
(author)
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Serious Game System - MONITOR ECOTECH
- 2020
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Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This report outlines the development efforts towards a digital serious game system called MONITOR ECOTECH and presents the game features, components, and architecture, including the game engine, graphics and visualisations, user testing, game structure, as well as game mechanics and functions. The digital prototype featured in this report is a functional “alpha” version that utilises data generated from the playing of the board game version to create a digitised interface. This interface allows for the monitoring and assessment of the performance of different constellations of ecotechnologies when they are exposed to social and biophysical shocks that amplify nutrient emissions in the BSR.
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| 6. |
- Bell, Taylor, et al.
(author)
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Nightside clouds and disequilibrium chemistry on the hot Jupiter WASP-43b
- 2024
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In: Nature Astronomy. - 2397-3366. ; In Press
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Hot Jupiters are among the best-studied exoplanets, but it is still poorly understood how their chemical composition and cloud properties vary with longitude. Theoretical models predict that clouds may condense on the nightside and that molecular abundances can be driven out of equilibrium by zonal winds. Here we report a phase-resolved emission spectrum of the hot Jupiter WASP-43b measured from 5 μm to 12 μm with the JWST’s Mid-Infrared Instrument. The spectra reveal a large day–night temperature contrast (with average brightness temperatures of 1,524 ± 35 K and 863 ± 23 K, respectively) and evidence for water absorption at all orbital phases. Comparisons with three-dimensional atmospheric models show that both the phase-curve shape and emission spectra strongly suggest the presence of nightside clouds that become optically thick to thermal emission at pressures greater than ~100 mbar. The dayside is consistent with a cloudless atmosphere above the mid-infrared photosphere. Contrary to expectations from equilibrium chemistry but consistent with disequilibrium kinetics models, methane is not detected on the nightside (2σ upper limit of 1–6 ppm, depending on model assumptions). Our results provide strong evidence that the atmosphere of WASP-43b is shaped by disequilibrium processes and provide new insights into the properties of the planet’s nightside clouds. However, the remaining discrepancies between our observations and our predictive atmospheric models emphasize the importance of further exploring the effects of clouds and disequilibrium chemistry in numerical models.
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| 7. |
- Carson, Marcus, et al.
(author)
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Long-term Options for CAP Reformin an Ecosystems Perspective
- 2013
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Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This report explores the long-term future of the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) from an explicitly ecosystems perspective. It seeks to make a case that the optimal long-term pathway for the CAP must strike a balance in which the policy’s primary aims – viable food production to ensure food security, territorial balance, and environmental sustainability – are mutually reinforcing and thereby optimally achieved.The value of the ecosystems approach is that it provides a conceptual framework that integrates the provisioning services of food, energy and forest products with regulating, supporting and cultural services that are all underpinned by healthy biodiversity. Only by recognizing this intrinsic interdependence between nature and our food production can we devise an appropriate agricultural policy which embraces the aim of protecting and strengthening the resilience of ecological systems as a core organizing principle.
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| 8. |
- Do, Thao, 1988-, et al.
(author)
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Report on Baltic Sea Region Learning
- 2018
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Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- As part of the social learning process within the BONUS MIRACLE project, a Baltic Sea Region Governance Learning workshop was held on 28 November 2017 in Uppsala, Sweden. The aim of the workshop was to enable co-learning among researchers, policy-makers, and practitioners to identify desirable changes in the BSR water governance domain and generate suggestions for how to bring about those changes. The workshop built upon local insights from social learning processes in four case areas in the project - Berze (Latvia), Reda (Poland), Selke (Germany), and Helge å (Sweden), which have served as forums to support dialogue between researchers and stakeholders having strong stakes and expertise within water governance. The intention of this workshop was to provide an opportunity for participants to share, explore and challenge their knowledge and experiences in water governance, thereby creating shared understandings and revealing new insights into how existing and new regional governance configurations can be adapted and enacted to support the orchestration of local development initiatives that foster multiple benefits in local contexts. In particular, the workshop set out to address the following question: What can be done at the Baltic Sea Regional level to enable more effective water governance at the local level?
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| 9. |
- Do, Thao, 1988-, et al.
(author)
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Report on Cross-Case Learning Workshop
- 2018
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Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- As part of the social learning process enacted within BONUS MIRACLE, a Cross-case Learning Workshop was held on 21-22 September 2017 in Norrköping, Sweden. By bringing together stakeholders from all the four case areas, the workshop aimed to enable co-learning across the cases, and identify to what extent governance approaches in case areas can be adapted to improve the effectiveness of policies and governance of nutrient management delivering multiple ecosystem services benefits. This report presents the objective and rationale for the process design, summarises the results from the discussions, and offers some reflections and lessons learned in terms of supporting the social learning process in this workshop.
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| 10. |
- Do, Thao, 1988-, et al.
(author)
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Serious Game System - SELECT ECOTECH
- 2020
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Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- SELECT ECOTECH is a learning platform that fosters knowledge co-production processes enacted through series of iterative playing sessions. In acknowledgment of the accelerated dynamics inherent within wicked situations within the BSR, systemic insights have been revealed in an exploratory and experiential process, grounded in the safe settings orchestrated by play and the “playing out” of challenging situations from the case study settings. Stakeholders both informed and co-developed parts of SELECT ECOTECH through their participation, from (1) contributing to the game content with their local knowledge of eco-technologies, land use measures and actions, vulnerability to shocks and disasters and;(2)testing and validating the game mechanics. Their contribution aided the incremental building of an increasingly solid and representational SGS.
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| 11. |
- Falster, Daniel, et al.
(author)
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AusTraits, a curated plant trait database for the Australian flora
- 2021
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In: Scientific Data. - : Nature Portfolio. - 2052-4463. ; 8:1
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We introduce the AusTraits database - a compilation of values of plant traits for taxa in the Australian flora (hereafter AusTraits). AusTraits synthesises data on 448 traits across 28,640 taxa from field campaigns, published literature, taxonomic monographs, and individual taxon descriptions. Traits vary in scope from physiological measures of performance (e.g. photosynthetic gas exchange, water-use efficiency) to morphological attributes (e.g. leaf area, seed mass, plant height) which link to aspects of ecological variation. AusTraits contains curated and harmonised individual- and species-level measurements coupled to, where available, contextual information on site properties and experimental conditions. This article provides information on version 3.0.2 of AusTraits which contains data for 997,808 trait-by-taxon combinations. We envision AusTraits as an ongoing collaborative initiative for easily archiving and sharing trait data, which also provides a template for other national or regional initiatives globally to fill persistent gaps in trait knowledge.
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| 12. |
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| 13. |
- Graversgaard, Morten, et al.
(author)
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Policies for wetlands implementation in Denmark and Sweden - historical lessons and emerging issues
- 2021
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In: Land use policy. - : Elsevier. - 0264-8377 .- 1873-5754. ; 101
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Natural wetlands used to cover a significant part of the landscape, but these ecosystems have declined by >50% worldwide, and even more in Denmark and Sweden. However, since the 1980s, various policies have been implemented to restore and create wetlands. This study provides a comprehensive historical overview of policies used to stimulate the creation and restoration of wetlands in Denmark and Sweden, and also analyses what factors have facilitated participation or have been barriers for landowners. The analysis of wetlands implementation programmes in Denmark showed a change towards narrower focus on nitrogen reduction from 1998 and onwards, whereas policies in Sweden often have had a wider multifunctional purpose. In both countries, there has been a change in the compensation structure from a lump sum to annual payments, parallel to an observed increase in costs for wetlands implementation. There is still a large potential for recreating many more wetlands, and the national targets have not been reached in neither Denmark nor Sweden. Key success factors, for future wetlands implementation are sufficient compensation levels, flexible scheme designs and information-based strategies documenting relevant benefits and sustainability issues. In general, more advice and support from the state, regional and local participants, and farmers organisations, are required to increase the participation and achieve successful and cost-efficient wetlands implementation. A collaborative and catchment-based approach holds promise, where wetland governance can serve as a platform for collaboration between policy bodies and between farmers. Additionally, politicians and decision makers need to accept the area targets presented to them when setting policy goals for wetlands implementation, and to accept that restoring and constructing wetlands requires long implementation times before results can be demonstrated.
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| 14. |
- Grimm, Lin, et al.
(author)
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Single-cell analysis of lymphatic endothelial cell fate specification and differentiation during zebrafish development
- 2023
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In: EMBO Journal. - : EMBO Press. - 0261-4189 .- 1460-2075. ; 42:11
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- During development, the lymphatic vasculature forms as a second, new vascular network derived from blood vessels. The transdifferentiation of embryonic venous endothelial cells (VECs) into lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs) is the first step in this process. Specification, differentiation and maintenance of LEC fate are all driven by the transcription factor Prox1, yet downstream mechanisms remain to be elucidated. We present a single cell transcriptomic atlas of lymphangiogenesis in zebrafish revealing new markers and hallmarks of LEC differentiation over four developmental stages. We further profile single cell transcriptomic and chromatin accessibility changes in zygotic prox1a mutants that are undergoing a VEC-LEC fate reversion during differentiation. Using maternal and zygotic prox1a/prox1b mutants, we determine the earliest transcriptomic changes directed by Prox1 during LEC specification. This work altogether reveals new transcriptional targets and regulatory regions of the genome downstream of Prox1 in LEC maintenance, as well as showing that Prox1 specifies LEC fate primarily by limiting blood vascular and hematopoietic fate. This extensive single cell resource provides new mechanistic insights into the enigmatic role of Prox1 and the control of LEC differentiation in development.
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| 15. |
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| 16. |
- Kløcker Larsen, Rasmus, et al.
(author)
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A framework for facilitating dialogue between policy planners and local climate change adaptation professionals : Cases from Sweden, Canada and Indonesia
- 2012
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In: Environmental Science and Policy. - : Elsevier BV. - 1462-9011 .- 1873-6416. ; 23, s. 12-23
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The dominant approach to mainstreaming climate adaptation into sectoral policies relies on an ‘upscaling’ model in which it is envisaged to extract lessons from local change processes to inspire generic sub-national and national policies. One of the central methodological questions, which remain unanswered in climate change adaptation research, is exactly how public policy can learn from highly contextual experiences of community-based adaptation and what role should be played by case study research. In this paper we undertake a comparison between three large research projects in Sweden, Canada and Indonesia, which aim to study and/or foster local adaptation in selected case studies through a process of social learning. We present a novel framework based on mapping of ‘sense-making perspectives’, which enables analysis of the multiple ways case study research can support local climate adaptation and link such efforts to higher level public policy. The analysis demonstrates how methodological choices shape how case study research works at the interface between planned (steered/regulatory policy) and self-organised adaptation of stakeholders (non-coercive policy). In this regard, there is a need for a high degree of transparency from the research community to enable local professionals to decide on their stakes and interests when inviting researchers into their grounded activities. We conclude that case study research can achieve new significance if viewed as a platform to leverage stakeholder competencies when informing existing social structures and enable the implementation of political objectives, but equally driving the very reinvention and improvement of these institutions.
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| 17. |
- Kløcker Larsen, Rasmus, et al.
(author)
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Making Sense of Accountability in Baltic Agro-Environmental Governance : The Case of Denmark's Green Growth Strategy
- 2013
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In: Social and Environmental Accountability Journal. - 0969-160X .- 2156-2245. ; 33:2, s. 71-90
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Agro-environmental governance associated with the issue of eutrophication in the Baltic Sea Region relies on accountability as a central norm to secure legitimacy of transnational cooperation. However, owing to the coexistence of different traditions of governance the implementation of nutrient reduction targets requires negotiation between competing definitions of accountability. This paper presents results from an empirical analysis of the implementability of nutrient reduction targets in one riparian state, namely Denmark, focusing on the government's Green Growth Strategy. It charts the policy adaptation route to explore how stakeholders mobilise claims within different sense-making perspectives on governance in order to seek to keep each other accountable. Based on the findings, an analytical framework is derived which helps identify where professionals in agro-environmental governance may more explicitly address the subtle ways in which accountability is created and undermined through different modes of justification in spaces of ambiguity between competing governance traditions. In relation to the wider accountability literature, it is demonstrated how it is possible to apply theory and methods from the most recent multi-stakeholder school in natural resource governance research to broaden the work within social and environmental accounting to focus more explicitly on the totality of stakeholder interactions rather than single organisations.
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| 18. |
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| 19. |
- Larsen, Rasmus Klocker
(author)
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Dialogue and revolution : fostering legitimate stakeholder agency in natural resource governance
- 2011
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This thesis explores how people exert their agency in policy processes that pertain to natural resource governance, and how they construct the required sense of legitimacy for such actions. It also examines the manner in which facilitated multi-stakeholder processes foster legitimate stakeholder agency, and reflects on how they may ensure the rigour of research interventions in situations characterised by intractable uncertainty and controversy.
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| 20. |
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| 21. |
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| 22. |
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| 23. |
- Larsen, Rasmus Klocker, et al.
(author)
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Policy Coherence for Sustainable Agricultural Development : Uncovering Prospects and Pretence within the Swedish Policy for Global Development
- 2013
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In: Development Policy Review. - : Wiley. - 0950-6764 .- 1467-7679. ; 31:6, s. 757-776
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Within the European Union, promotion of policy coherence' is intended to improve co-ordination across sectors and groups of professionals, who make competing claims for agricultural development in low-income countries. This article examines the prospects for stakeholders in Sweden to implement such a policy, drawing on experiences from the launch of a national multi-stakeholder platform with the participation of 99 organisations. Its findings demonstrate institutional fragmentation and struggles for legitimacy, with the internationally heralded Swedish Policy for Global Development operated largely as a tokenistic instrument, legitimised by the pretence of stakeholder engagement. It argues for improved institutional support to facilitate cross-sectoral dialogues to deconstruct social boundaries which are no longer relevant.
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| 24. |
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| 25. |
- Locke, Adam E, et al.
(author)
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Genetic studies of body mass index yield new insights for obesity biology.
- 2015
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In: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 518:7538, s. 197-401
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Obesity is heritable and predisposes to many diseases. To understand the genetic basis of obesity better, here we conduct a genome-wide association study and Metabochip meta-analysis of body mass index (BMI), a measure commonly used to define obesity and assess adiposity, in up to 339,224 individuals. This analysis identifies 97 BMI-associated loci (P < 5 × 10(-8)), 56 of which are novel. Five loci demonstrate clear evidence of several independent association signals, and many loci have significant effects on other metabolic phenotypes. The 97 loci account for ∼2.7% of BMI variation, and genome-wide estimates suggest that common variation accounts for >20% of BMI variation. Pathway analyses provide strong support for a role of the central nervous system in obesity susceptibility and implicate new genes and pathways, including those related to synaptic function, glutamate signalling, insulin secretion/action, energy metabolism, lipid biology and adipogenesis.
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| 26. |
- Malmborg, Katja, 1988-, et al.
(author)
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Knowledge co-production in the Helge å catchment : a comparative analysis
- 2022
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In: Ecosystems and People. - : Informa UK Limited. - 2639-5908 .- 2639-5916. ; 18:1, s. 565-582
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Addressing sustainability challenges in landscape management requires processes for co-producing usable knowledge together with those who will use that knowledge. Participatory futures methods are powerful tools for attaining such knowledge. The applications of such methods are diverse and understanding the intricacies of the knowledge co-production process is important to further develop these research practices. To improve participatory futures methods and contribute to systematic and critical reflections on methodology, we present a comparative analysis of four research projects that applied participatory futures methods in the same study area. Conducted between 2011 and 2020, these projects aimed to co-produce knowledge about the future provision of ecosystem services in the Helge a catchment area in southern Sweden. For structuring the post-hoc, self-reflexive analysis, we developed a framework dividing the knowledge co-production process into three dimensions: settings, synthesis and diffusion. We based the analysis on documentation from the projects, a two-step questionnaire to each research team, a workshop with co-authors and interviews with key participants. The comparison highlights steps in project decision-making, explicit and implicit assumptions in our respective approaches and how these assumptions informed process design in the projects. Our detailed description of the four knowledge co-production processes points to the importance of flexibility in research design, but also the necessity for researchers and other participants to adapt as the process unfolds.
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| 27. |
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| 28. |
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| 29. |
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| 30. |
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| 31. |
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| 32. |
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| 33. |
- Osbeck, Maria, et al.
(author)
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The EU’s renewable energy dilemma
- 2009
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In: Climate challenge – the safety’s off. - Stockholm : Formas. - 9789154060382 ; , s. 443-456
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Book chapter (pop. science, debate, etc.)
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| 34. |
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| 35. |
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| 36. |
- Powell, Neil, et al.
(author)
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Integrated water resource management : a platform for higher education institutions to meet complex sustainability challenges
- 2013
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In: Environmental Education Research. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1350-4622 .- 1469-5871. ; 19:4, s. 458-476
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Higher education institutions in Sweden are increasingly exposed to international market conditions and rising competition from a more mobile student body. This increases the need for universities to adapt to their social and economic environment and to their clients, including the political trends and financial opportunities in Sweden and EU, if they are to successfully implement sustainability reforms. In this regard, we examine the barriers faced by a ‘postnormal’ education for sustainable development (ESD) inherent within the structures of a ‘normal’ University. We pose the question whether Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) as a post-normal process can contribute to increased capacity of normal higher education institutions to address complex sustainability problems? IWRM is conceptualised as an interactionist process of social learning and adaptive management to reflect on the experiences from one particular case, namely the Master Programme in IWRM at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. We illustrate how IWRM can contribute to address conflicts of interests in education arising from competing claims of stakeholders in real life management situations, but also to reconcile the conflicts associated with institutional adaptation under conditions characterised by a new international educational regime and rapidly changing market conditions. The paper brings together the discourse on ESD with lessons from IWRM and contends that the interactionist approach might offer a useful alternative to realist conceptions of ESD in learner-centred and institutional systemic approaches. Contrary to other reports on IWRM education, this paper reflects on this role of IWRM within higher education per se.
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| 37. |
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| 38. |
- Powell, Neil, et al.
(author)
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Rethinking Decision Support Under Conditions of Irreducible Uncertainty : Co-Designing a Serious Game to Navigate Baltic Sea Nutrient Enrichment
- 2021
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In: Society & Natural Resources. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0894-1920 .- 1521-0723. ; 34:8, s. 1075-1092
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Science-informed, reductionist policy has systematically failed to address wicked situations. Such situations are highly interconnected and unpredictable. As a consequence, the implementation of so-called desirable interventions can lead to the export of vulnerabilities within and across different societal domains, sectors, intersections and scales. Systemic practice is an emerging field, and highlights the need to enrich scientific inquiry and policy actions through action learning with an “extended peer community'' as a means to navigate wicked situations. In this paper, we report on the potential of game co-design as a systemic practice to improve the situation of Baltic Sea nutrient enrichment. Findings from water catchments in Finland, Sweden and Poland suggest that the co-design of serious games can both enhance the comprehension of wicked situations, and foster self-organized concerted action without imposing a convergence of perspectives amongst diverse stakeholders.
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| 39. |
- Powell, Neil, et al.
(author)
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Rural development in Vietnam
- 2011
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In: Stakeholder Agency and Rural Development Policy. - : World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), Vietnam. ; , s. 3-16
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Book chapter (other academic/artistic)
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| 40. |
- Raikes, Jonathan, et al.
(author)
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Crisis management: Regional approaches to geopolitical crises and natural hazards
- 2022
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In: Geographical Research. - : Wiley. - 1745-5863 .- 1745-5871. ; 60:1, s. 168-178
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Crisis management planning and response can be improved by regional governments and organisations learning from one another. Specifically, comparative learning may be a benefit when groups understand the perceived effectiveness of various regional approaches when responding to different types of hazards. This article presents findings from a comparative case study analysis of regional governance perspectives of crisis management for geopolitical events and natural hazards in the Sunshine Coast, Australia, and Gotland, Sweden. Data were collected and analysed using document analyses and semi-structured interviews with regional practitioners. It was found that regional crisis management is increasingly influenced by global processes that are affecting the scales and characteristics of crises. As a result, prospective regional governance must evolve to include more international perspectives in crisis management and account for activities and processes that take place beyond arbitrary political boundaries.
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| 41. |
- Spencer, Rebecca N., et al.
(author)
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Development of standard definitions and grading for Maternal and Fetal Adverse Event Terminology
- 2022
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In: Prenatal Diagnosis. - : Wiley. - 0197-3851 .- 1097-0223. ; 42:1, s. 15-26
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Objective: Adverse event (AE) monitoring is central to assessing therapeutic safety. The lack of a comprehensive framework to define and grade maternal and fetal AEs in pregnancy trials severely limits understanding risks in pregnant women. We created AE terminology to improve safety monitoring for developing pregnancy drugs, devices and interventions. Method: Existing severity grading for pregnant AEs and definitions/indicators of ‘severe’ and ‘life-threatening’ conditions relevant to maternal and fetal clinical trials were identified through a literature search. An international multidisciplinary group identified and filled gaps in definitions and severity grading using Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities (MedDRA) terms and severity grading criteria based on Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Event (CTCAE) generic structure. The draft criteria underwent two rounds of a modified Delphi process with international fetal therapy, obstetric, neonatal, industry experts, patients and patient representatives. Results: Fetal AEs were defined as being diagnosable in utero with potential to harm the fetus, and were integrated into MedDRA. AE severity was graded independently for the pregnant woman and her fetus. Maternal (n = 12) and fetal (n = 19) AE definitions and severity grading criteria were developed and ratified by consensus. Conclusions: This Maternal and Fetal AE Terminology version 1.0 allows systematic consistent AE assessment in pregnancy trials to improve safety.
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| 42. |
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| 43. |
- Tonderski, Karin, 1958-, et al.
(author)
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BONUS MIRACLE ‐ Mediating integrated actions for sustainable ecosystem services in a changing climate
- 2018
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Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Water and nutrient governance in the Baltic Sea Region face several challenges. The future is highly uncertain due to climate change and on-going land-use changes, and different sectors works towards partly contradicting objectives, which makes it difficult to bring about integrated governance. In BONUS MIRACLE, a social learning process has been enacted to identify new configurations for water governance based on the hypothesis that more effective approaches to 'nutrient governance' need to bring on-board new constellations of actors with stakes in local issues that are interconnected with nutrient enrichment. A series of learning events between stakeholder groups and researchers in four case areas have been orchestrated. To support the process of reconciling stakeholder interests, researchers were asked to provide ´on-demand´ results regarding effects, cost-efficiency and benefits of suggested measures on water flow, nutrient transport (using the HYPE model) and other ecosystem services benefits under different climate change and land-use scenarios. Results were visualized in the MIRACLE Visualization Tool. Lessons learnt and results of policy analyses were used to discuss governance approaches on the BSR level that could support more integrated actions. An important project insight is that case level stakeholders, in general, are not interested in learning how different measures perform in reducing nutrient enrichment at a larger Baltic Sea basin level. Rather, they are interested in the impact measures have in terms of addressing multiple demands in the local settings. Regarding stakeholder positions, insights have emerged pertaining the important role position holders play in hindering or enabling change processes. In the ´pathways to change´, application of mineral fertilizers was one of the more cost-efficient measures suggested, along with creation of increased water retention, floodplains and wetlands. The latter also provide other ecosystem service benefits, and an approach was developed to interactively assess those, despite considerable knowledge gaps regarding effects and values. On the BSR level, the Visualization Tool provided useful learning support by visualizing E-HYPE model results regarding water flow and nutrient transport, as on this level the stakeholder´s system of interest is on governance innovations that address the nutrient issue. E-HYPE scenario modeling showed that while the mean water flow is expected to decrease in some southern BSR catchments, a substantial increase is predicted for most others. Similarly, the load of nitrogen may increase up to 25 % in some parts of the northern BSR, whereas a slight decrease is predicted for the south/southwestern parts. Governance innovations are needed that can accommodate those differences. However, current policies are insufficiently coordinated and integrated between sectors, due to imbalanced power relations and opposing agendas. This remains a constraint for the effectiveness of existing policy strategies, regulations and directives in addressing multiple ecosystem benefits. The involvement of local stakeholders needs to be strengthened and new models for cooperative and collective measures with intermediaries tested, to stimulate the use of local knowledge in improving the effectiveness and efficiency of management measures and reducing transaction costs. The synthesized BONUS MIRACLE results will be translated into a "Roadmap for improving water resource management in the Baltic Sea Region", with suggestions for adaptation of policies, institutional settings and governance arrangements.
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- Veeramah, Krishna R., et al.
(author)
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Little genetic differentiation as assessed by uniparental markers in the presence of substantial language variation in peoples of the Cross River region of Nigeria
- 2010
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In: BMC Evolutionary Biology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1471-2148. ; 10, s. 92-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: The Cross River region in Nigeria is an extremely diverse area linguistically with over 60 distinct languages still spoken today. It is also a region of great historical importance, being a) adjacent to the likely homeland from which Bantu-speaking people migrated across most of sub-Saharan Africa 3000-5000 years ago and b) the location of Calabar, one of the largest centres during the Atlantic slave trade. Over 1000 DNA samples from 24 clans representing speakers of the six most prominent languages in the region were collected and typed for Y-chromosome (SNPs and microsatellites) and mtDNA markers (Hypervariable Segment 1) in order to examine whether there has been substantial gene flow between groups speaking different languages in the region. In addition the Cross River region was analysed in the context of a larger geographical scale by comparison to bordering Igbo speaking groups as well as neighbouring Cameroon populations and more distant Ghanaian communities. Results: The Cross River region was shown to be extremely homogenous for both Y-chromosome and mtDNA markers with language spoken having no noticeable effect on the genetic structure of the region, consistent with estimates of inter-language gene flow of 10% per generation based on sociological data. However the groups in the region could clearly be differentiated from others in Cameroon and Ghana (and to a lesser extent Igbo populations). Significant correlations between genetic distance and both geographic and linguistic distance were observed at this larger scale. Conclusions: Previous studies have found significant correlations between genetic variation and language in Africa over large geographic distances, often across language families. However the broad sampling strategies of these datasets have limited their utility for understanding the relationship within language families. This is the first study to show that at very fine geographic/linguistic scales language differences can be maintained in the presence of substantial gene flow over an extended period of time and demonstrates the value of dense sampling strategies and having DNA of known and detailed provenance, a practice that is generally rare when investigating sub-Saharan African demographic processes using genetic data.
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| 46. |
- Westberg, Lotten, et al.
(author)
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Learning for Transformation of Water Governance: Reflections on Design from the Climate Change Adaptation and Water Governance (CADWAGO) Project
- 2016
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In: Water. - : MDPI AG. - 2073-4441. ; 8
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper considers how learning for transformation of water governance in the context of climate change adaptation can be designed for and supported, drawing examples from the international climate change adaptation and water governance project (CADWAGO). The project explicitly set out to design for governance learning in the sense of developing elements of social infrastructure such as workshops, performances and online media to bring stakeholders together and to facilitate co-learning of relevance to governance. CADWAGO drew on a variety of international cases from past and ongoing work of the project partners. It created a forum for dialogue among actors from different contexts working at different levels and scales. The range of opportunities and constraints encountered are discussed, including the principles and practicalities of working with distributed processes of design and leadership of events. A range of concepts, tools and techniques were used to consider and facilitate individual and collective learning processes and outcomes associated with water governance in the context of climate adaptation. Questions were addressed about how elements of past, present and future water governance thinking and practice are connected and how multi-level systemic change in governance can take place. Some reflections on the effectiveness of the design for learning process are included. The nature of the contribution that projects such as CADWAGO can make in learning for transformation of water governance practices is also critically considered.
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