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| 2. |
- Härkönen, Juho, 1977-, et al.
(författare)
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Obesity, Unemployment, and Earnings
- 2011
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Ingår i: Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies. - Denmark : Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies. - 2245-0157. ; 1:2, s. 23-38
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The article analyses the effects of obesity—a clear signal of weight abnormality—on unemployment and earnings among Finnish men and women. Our empirical data consist of the last four waves (waves 4 to 8) of the Finnish section of the European Community Household Panel (ECHP) data collected between 1998 and 2001. According to our results, obese women have a significantly higher risk of unemployment (even after controlling for age, level of education and other related factors), than women who are not obese. Furthermore, the generally weaker occupational positions of obese women tend to translate to lower earnings. Overall, obese women are more likely to have weaker labour market attachment and hold socio-economically weaker positions. Similar results were not found among men. Thus, our results indicate the presence of gender discrimination in the Finnish labour market. In the conclusions we further discuss weight related impacts on succeeding in the labour market, but also its role as a possible risk factor in drifting away from employment. We reflect on this issue as a form of inequality that can have an increasing significance in the future.
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| 3. |
- Jaars, Kerneels, et al.
(författare)
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Measurements of biogenic volatile organic compounds at a grazed savannah grassland agricultural landscape in South Africa
- 2016
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Ingår i: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7316 .- 1680-7324. ; 16:24, s. 15665-15688
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) play an important role in the chemistry of the troposphere, especially in the formation of tropospheric ozone (O3) and secondary organic aerosols (SOA). Ecosystems produce and emit a large number of BVOCs. It is estimated on a global scale that approximately 90% of annual BVOC emissions are from terrestrial sources. In this study, measurements of BVOCs were conducted at the Welgegund measurement station (South Africa), which is considered to be a regionally representative background site situated in savannah grasslands. Very few BVOC measurements exist for savannah grasslands and results presented in this study are the most extensive for this type of landscape. Samples were collected twice a week for 2h during the daytime and 2h during the night-time through two long-term sampling campaigns from February 2011 to February 2012 and from December 2013 to February 2015, respectively. Individual BVOCs were identified and quantified using a thermal desorption instrument, which was connected to a gas chromatograph and a mass selective detector. The annual median concentrations of isoprene, 2-methyl-3-butene-2-ol (MBO), monoterpene and sesquiterpene (SQT) during the first campaign were 14, 7, 120 and 8pptv, respectively, and 14, 4, 83 and 4pptv, respectively, during the second campaign. The sum of the concentrations of the monoterpenes were at least an order of magnitude higher than the concentrations of other BVOC species during both sampling campaigns, with α-pinene being the most abundant species. The highest BVOC concentrations were observed during the wet season and elevated soil moisture was associated with increased BVOC concentrations. However, comparisons with measurements conducted at other landscapes in southern Africa and the rest of the world that have more woody vegetation indicated that BVOC concentrations were, in general, significantly lower for savannah grasslands. Furthermore, BVOC concentrations were an order of magnitude lower compared to total aromatic concentrations measured at Welgegund. An analysis of concentrations by wind direction indicated that isoprene concentrations were higher from the western sector that is considered to be a relatively clean regional background region with no large anthropogenic point sources, while wind direction did not indicate any significant differences in the concentrations of the other BVOC species. Statistical analysis indicated that soil moisture had the most significant impact on atmospheric levels of MBO, monoterpene and SQT concentrations, whereas temperature had the greatest influence on isoprene levels. The combined O3 formation potentials of all the BVOCs measured calculated with maximum incremental reactivity (MIR) coefficients during the first and second campaign were 1162 and 1022pptv, respectively. α-Pinene and limonene had the highest reaction rates with O3, whereas isoprene exhibited relatively small contributions to O3 depletion. Limonene, α-pinene and terpinolene had the largest contributions to the OH reactivity of BVOCs measured at Welgegund for all of the months during both sampling campaigns.
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| 4. |
- Kiiskinen, Tuomo, et al.
(författare)
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Genetic predictors of lifelong medication-use patterns in cardiometabolic diseases
- 2023
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Ingår i: Nature Medicine. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1078-8956 .- 1546-170X. ; 29:1, s. 209-218
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Little is known about the genetic determinants of medication use in preventing cardiometabolic diseases. Using the Finnish nationwide drug purchase registry with follow-up since 1995, we performed genome-wide association analyses of longitudinal patterns of medication use in hyperlipidemia, hypertension and type 2 diabetes in up to 193,933 individuals (55% women) in the FinnGen study. In meta-analyses of up to 567,671 individuals combining FinnGen with the Estonian Biobank and the UK Biobank, we discovered 333 independent loci (P < 5 × 10–9) associated with medication use. Fine-mapping revealed 494 95% credible sets associated with the total number of medication purchases, changes in medication combinations or treatment discontinuation, including 46 credible sets in 40 loci not associated with the underlying treatment targets. The polygenic risk scores (PRS) for cardiometabolic risk factors were strongly associated with the medication-use behavior. A medication-use enhanced multitrait PRS for coronary artery disease matched the performance of a risk factor-based multitrait coronary artery disease PRS in an independent sample (UK Biobank, n = 343,676). In summary, we demonstrate medication-based strategies for identifying cardiometabolic risk loci and provide genome-wide tools for preventing cardiovascular diseases.
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| 5. |
- Räsänen, Matti, et al.
(författare)
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Carbon balance of a grazed savanna grassland ecosystem in South Africa
- 2017
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Ingår i: Biogeosciences. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1726-4170 .- 1726-4189. ; 14:5, s. 1039-1054
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Tropical savannas and grasslands are estimated to contribute significantly to the total primary production of all terrestrial vegetation. Large parts of African savannas and grasslands are used for agriculture and cattle grazing, but the carbon flux data available from these areas are limited. This study explores carbon dioxide fluxes measured with the eddy covariance method for 3 years at a grazed savanna grassland in Welgegund, South Africa. The tree cover around the measurement site, grazed by cattle and sheep, was around 15 %. The night-time respiration was not significantly dependent on either soil moisture or soil temperature on a weekly temporal scale, whereas on an annual timescale higher respiration rates were observed when soil temperatures were higher. The carbon dioxide balances of the years 2010-2011, 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 were-85 ± 16, 67 ± 20 and 139 ± 13 gC m-2yr-1, respectively. The yearly variation was largely determined by the changes in the early wet season fluxes (September to November) and in the mid-growing season fluxes (December to January). Early rainfall enhanced the respiratory capacity of the ecosystem throughout the year, whereas during the mid-growing season high rainfall resulted in high carbon uptake.
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| 6. |
- Räsänen, Matti, et al.
(författare)
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Carbon dioxide and methane fluxes from mounds of African fungus-growing termites
- 2023
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Ingår i: Biogeosciences. - 1726-4170. ; 20:19, s. 4029-4042
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Termites play an essential role in decomposing dead plant material in tropical ecosystems and are thus major sources of gaseous C emissions in many environments. In African savannas, fungus-growing termites are among the ecologically most influential termite species. We studied the gas exchange from mounds of two closely related fungus-growing species (Macrotermes subhyalinus and M. michaelseni, respectively) in two habitats representing different vegetation types (grassland, bushland) together with soil fluxes around the mounds. The fluxes from active termite mounds varied from 120 to 2100 mg CO2-C m-2h-1 for carbon dioxide (CO2) and from 0.06 to 3.7 mg CH4-C m-2 h-1 for methane (CH4) fluxes. Mound CO2 fluxes varied seasonally with a 64 % decrease and 41 % increase in the fluxes from the dry to wet season at the grassland and bushland sites, respectively. During the wet season, the CO2 fluxes were significantly correlated with termite mound volume. The diurnal measurements from two M. michaelseni mounds suggest that the gas fluxes peak during the daytime, possibly reflecting changes in mound internal air circulation. Soil fluxes of both CO2 and CH4 were enhanced at up to 2 m distance from the mounds compared to the local soil respiration, indicating that, in addition to mound ventilation structures, a small proportion of the metabolic gases produced also leave the nest via surrounding soils.
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| 7. |
- Räsänen, Matti, et al.
(författare)
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Root-zone soil moisture variability across African savannas : From pulsed rainfall to land-cover switches
- 2020
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Ingår i: Ecohydrology. - : Wiley. - 1936-0584 .- 1936-0592. ; 13:5
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The main source of soil moisture variability in savanna ecosystems is pulsed rainfall. Rainfall pulsing impacts water-stress durations, soil moisture switching between wet-to-dry and dry-to-wet states, and soil moisture spectra as well as derived measures from it such as soil moisture memory. Rainfall pulsing is also responsible for rapid changes in grassland leaf area and concomitant changes in evapotranspirational (ET) losses, which then impact soil moisture variability. With the use of a hierarchy of models and soil moisture measurements, temporal variability in root-zone soil moisture and water-stress periods are analysed at four African sites ranging from grass to miombo savannas. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and potential ET (PET)-adjusted ET model predict memory timescale and dry persistence in agreement with measurements. The model comparisons demonstrate that dry persistence and mean annual dry periods must account for seasonal and interannual changes in maximum ET represented by NDVI and to a lesser extent PET. Interestingly, the precipitation intensity and soil moisture memory were linearly related across three savannas with ET/infiltration ∼ 1.0. This relation and the variability of length and timing of dry periods are also discussed.
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| 8. |
- Räsänen, Matti, et al.
(författare)
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The effect of rainfall amount and timing on annual transpiration in a grazed savanna grassland
- 2022
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Ingår i: Hydrology and Earth System Sciences. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1027-5606 .- 1607-7938. ; 26:22, s. 5773-5791
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The role of precipitation (P) variability with respect to evapotranspiration (ET) and its two components, transpiration (T) and evaporation (E), from savannas continues to draw significant research interest given its relevance to a number of ecohydrological applications. Our study reports on 6 years of measured ET and estimated T and E from a grazed savanna grassland at Welgegund, South Africa. Annual P varied significantly with respect to amount (508 to 672 mm yr-1), with dry years characterized by infrequent early-season rainfall. T was determined using annual water-use efficiency and gross primary production estimates derived from eddy-covariance measurements of latent heat flux and net ecosystem CO2 exchange rates. The computed annual T for the 4 wet years with frequent early wet-season rainfall was nearly constant, 326±19 mm yr-1 (T/ET=0.51), but was lower and more variable between the 2 dry years (255 and 154 mm yr-1, respectively). Annual T and T/ET were linearly related to the early wet-season storm frequency. The constancy of annual T during wet years is explained by the moderate water stress of C4 grasses as well as trees' ability to use water from deeper layers. During extreme drought, grasses respond to water availability with a dieback-regrowth pattern, reducing leaf area and transpiration and, thus, increasing the proportion of transpiration contributed by trees. The works suggest that the early-season P distribution explains the interannual variability in T, which should be considered when managing grazing and fodder production in these grasslands.
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| 9. |
- Wachiye, Sheila, et al.
(författare)
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Soil greenhouse gas emissions from a sisal chronosequence in Kenya
- 2021
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Ingår i: Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1873-2240 .- 0168-1923. ; 307
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sisal (Agave sisalana) is a climate-resilient crop grown on large-scale farms in semi-arid areas. However, no studies have investigated soil greenhouse gas (GHGs: CO2, N2O and CH4) fluxes from these plantations and how they relate to other land cover types. We examined GHG fluxes (Fs) in a sisal chronosequence at Teita Sisal Estatein southern Kenya. The effects of stand age on Fs were examined using static GHG chambers and gas chromatography for a period of one year in seven stands: young stands aged 1–3 years, mature stands aged 7–8 years, and old stands aged 13–14 years. Adjacent bushland served as a control site representing the surrounding land use type. Mean CO₂ fluxes were highest in the oldest stand (56 ± 3 mg C m-2 h-1) and lowest in the 8-year old stand (38 ± 3 mg C m-2 h-1), which we attribute to difference in root respiration between the stand. All stands had 13–28% higher CO₂ fluxes than bushland (32 ± 3 mg C m-2 h-1). CO2 fluxes in the wet season were about 70% higher than dry season across all sites. They were influenced by soil water content (WS) and vegetation phenology. Mean N2O fluxes were very low (<5 μg N m-2 h-1) in all sites due to low soil nitrogen (N) content. About 89% of CH4 fluxes were below the detection limit (LOD ± 0.02 mg C m-2 h-1). Our results imply that sisalplantations have higher soil CO2 emissions than the surrounding land use type, and the seasonal emissions were largely driven by WS and the vegetation status. Methane and nitrous oxide are of minor importance. Thus, soil GHG fluxes from sisal plantations are a minor contributor to agricultural GHG emissions in Kenya.
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| 10. |
- Wachiye, Sheila, et al.
(författare)
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Soil greenhouse gas emissions under different land-use types in savanna ecosystems of Kenya
- 2020
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Ingår i: Biogeosciences. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1726-4170 .- 1726-4189. ; 17:8, s. 2149-2167
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Field measurement data on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are still scarce for many land-use types in Africa, causing a high level of uncertainty in GHG budgets. To address this gap, we present in situ measurements of carbon dioxide (CO2 ), nitrous oxide (N2 O), and methane (CH4) emissions from the lowlands of southern Kenya. We conducted eight chamber measurement campaigns on gas exchange from four dominant land-use types (LUTs) comprising (1) cropland, (2) bushland, (3) grazing land, and (4) conservation land between 29 November 2017 and 3 November 2018, accounting for regional seasonality (wet and dry seasons and transitions periods). Mean CO2 emissions for the whole observation period were the highest by a significant margin (p value<0.05) in the conservation land (75±6 mgCO2 Cm-2 h-1) compared to the three other sites, which ranged from 45±4 mgCO2 Cm-2 h-1 (bushland) to 50±5 mgCO2 Cm-2 h-1 (grazing land). Furthermore, CO2 emissions varied between seasons, with significantly higher emissions in the wet season than the dry season. Mean N2 O emissions were highest in cropland (2:7±0:6 μgN2 O-Nm-2 h-1) and lowest in bushland (1:2± 0:4 μgN2 O-Nm-2 h-1) but did not vary with season. In fact, N2 O emissions were very low both in the wet and dry seasons, with slightly elevated values during the early days of the wet seasons in all LUTs. On the other hand, CH4 emissions did not show any significant differences across LUTs and seasons. Most CH4 fluxes were below the limit of detection (LOD, ±0:03 mgCH4-Cm-2 h-1). We attributed the difference in soil CO2 emissions between the four sites to soil C content, which differed between the sites and was highest in the conservation land. In addition, CO2 and N2 O emissions positively correlated with soil moisture, thus an increase in soil moisture led to an increase in emissions. Furthermore, vegetation cover explained the seasonal variation in soil CO2 emissions as depicted by a strong positive correlation between the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and CO2 emissions, most likely because, with more green (active) vegetation cover, higher CO2 emissions occur due to enhanced root respiration compared to drier periods. Soil temperature did not show a clear correlation with either CO2 or N2 O emissions, which is likely due to the low variability in soil temperature between seasons and sites. Based on our results, soil C, active vegetation cover, and soil moisture are key drivers of soil GHG emissions in all the tested LUTs in southern Kenya. Our results are within the range of previous GHG flux measurements from soils from various LUTs in other parts of Kenya and contribute to more accurate baseline GHG emission estimates from Africa, which are key to reducing uncertainties in global GHG budgets as well as for informing policymakers when discussing low-emission development strategies.
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