| 1. |
- King, Abby C., et al.
(författare)
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Community-Based Approaches to Reducing Health Inequities and Fostering Environmental Justice through Global Youth-Engaged Citizen Science
- 2021
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Ingår i: International journal of environmental research and public health. - : MDPI AG. - 1660-4601 .- 1661-7827. ; 18:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Growing socioeconomic and structural disparities within and between nations have created unprecedented health inequities that have been felt most keenly among the world’s youth. While policy approaches can help to mitigate such inequities, they are often challenging to enact in under-resourced and marginalized communities. Community-engaged participatory action research provides an alternative or complementary means for addressing the physical and social environmental contexts that can impact health inequities. The purpose of this article is to describe the application of a particular form of technology-enabled participatory action research, called the Our Voice citizen science research model, with youth. An overview of 20 Our Voice studies occurring across five continents indicates that youth and young adults from varied backgrounds and with interests in diverse issues affecting their communities can participate successfully in multiple contributory research processes, including those representing the full scientific endeavor. These activities can, in turn, lead to changes in physical and social environments of relevance to health, wellbeing, and, at times, climate stabilization. The article ends with future directions for the advancement of this type of community-engaged citizen science among young people across the socioeconomic spectrum.
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| 2. |
- Campana, Pietro Elia, et al.
(författare)
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Suitable and optimal locations for implementing photovoltaic water pumping systems for grassland irrigation in China
- 2017
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Ingår i: APPLIED ENERGY. - : Elsevier BV. - 0306-2619 .- 1872-9118. ; 185, s. 1879-1889
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Grassland plays a key role for the food security of China because of the large number of livestock raised in those areas. Thus, grassland degradation due to climate change and overgrazing is considered as one of the most severe environmental and economic threat for the future sustainable development of China. Photovoltaic water pumping systems for irrigation can play a fundamental role for the conservation of grassland areas. This paper investigates the geospatial distribution of the technically suitable grassland locations for the implementation of photovoltaic water pumping systems. The technically suitable grassland areas were taken as starting point to assess the optimal locations. The assessment of the optimal locations was conducted using a spatially explicit optimization model of renewable energy systems based on the cost minimization of the whole forage supply chain. The results indicate that the photovoltaic water pumping systems provide high potential for improving forage productivity, contributing to meet the local demand. The optimal areas are highly sensitive to several environmental and economic parameters such as increased forage potential yield, forage management costs, forage water requirements, ground water depth, forage price and CO2 price. Most of the optimal areas are selected when the market forage price ranges from 300 to 500 $/tonne DM, indicating that the forage produced using PVWP technology for irrigation is already competitive compared to the imported forage.
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| 3. |
- Hegger, D., et al.
(författare)
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Shaping flood risk governance through science-policy interfaces : Insights from England, France and the Netherlands
- 2020
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Ingår i: Environmental Science and Policy. - : Elsevier Ltd. - 1462-9011 .- 1873-6416. ; 106, s. 157-165
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In the face of increasing threats from flooding, there are growing calls to strengthen and improve arrangements of flood risk governance (FRG). This endeavour requires an appreciation of the multitude of factors stabilising and driving governance dynamics. So-called catalyst flood events, policy champions and advocacy coalitions have tended to dominate this study to date, whilst the potential role played by Science Policy Interfaces (SPIs) has been somewhat neglected and often approached in a reductionist and fragmented way. This paper addresses this gap by drawing from in-depth policy analysis and stakeholder interviews conducted within England, France and the Netherlands under the auspices of the EU-FP7 STAR-FLOOD project. The analysis reveals four prominent ways in which SPIs shape FRG, by i) facilitating the diversification of Flood Risk Management (FRM) strategies; ii) increasing their connectivity, iii) facilitating a decentralisation of FRM and iv) fostering inter-country learning. It identifies different roles of specific interfaces (structures) and interfacing mechanisms (processes) in shaping governance dynamics. This way, the analysis reveals various ‘entry points’ through which SPIs can steer FRG, either along existing pathways, or towards new and potentially transformative change. The study shows that SPIs are a hitherto underexposed factor explaining dynamics in flood risk governance which merits additional systematic empirical study.
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| 4. |
- Olsson, Alexander, et al.
(författare)
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Potential for carbon sequestration and mitigation of climate change by irrigation of grasslands
- 2014
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Ingår i: Applied Energy. - : Elsevier BV. - 0306-2619 .- 1872-9118. ; 136, s. 1145-1154
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The climate change mitigation potential of irrigation powered by a photovoltaic water pumping system (PVWPS) to restore degraded grasslands has been investigated using the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2006 Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories for Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use. The purpose of this study is to develop a generic and simple method to estimate the climate change mitigation benefit of a PVWPS. The possibility to develop carbon credits for the carbon offset markets has also been studied comparing carbon sequestration in grasslands to other carbon sequestration projects. The soil carbon sequestration following irrigation of the grassland is calculated as an annual increase in the soil organic carbon pool.The PVWPS can also generate an excess of electricity when irrigation is not needed and the emissions reductions due to substitution of grid electricity give additional climate change mitigation potential.The results from this study show that the carbon sequestration and emissions reductions benefits per land area using a PVWPS for irrigating grasslands are comparable to other carbon sequestration options such as switching to no-till practice. Soil carbon in irrigated grasslands is increased with over 60% relative to severely degraded grasslands and if nitrogen fixing species are introduced the increase in soil organic carbon can be almost 80%. Renewable electricity generation by the PVWPS will further increase the mitigation benefit of the system with 70-90%. When applying the methodology developed in this paper to a case in Qinghai, China, we conclude that using a PVWPS to restore degraded grasslands for increased grass production and desertification control has a climate change mitigation benefit of 148Mg (1Mg=1metricton) CO2-equivalents (CO2-eq) per hectare in a cold temperate, dry climate during a 20year process of soil organic carbon sequestration and emissions reductions. Leakage due to an increase in N2O emissions from the additional biomass production and introduction of nitrogen fixing species is included in this result. The most important conclusion from our case is that if soil carbon sequestration is lower than 24Mg CO2-eq per hectare including leakage, then the climate change mitigation benefit is larger if PV is used to produce electricity for the grid.
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| 5. |
- Olsson, Alexander, et al.
(författare)
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PV water pumping for carbon sequestration in dry land agriculture
- 2014
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Ingår i: Energy Procedia. - : Elsevier BV. - 1876-6102. ; , s. 1037-1041
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper is inspired by theory related to the water-food-energy-climate nexus and suggests a novel model, suited for analysing carbon sequestration in dry land agriculture using irrigation. The model is applied specifically to photovoltaic water pumping (PVWP) systems for irrigation of grasslands in China. We argue against the narrow approaches to analysing the water issue often found in literature and propose that carbon sequestration, energy security, food security together with local moisture recycling patterns should be included within the system boundary in order to make analyses of dry land agricultural activities more relevant and accurate.
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| 6. |
- Olsson, Alexander, et al.
(författare)
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The elephant in the room - A comparative study of uncertainties in carbon offsets
- 2016
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Ingår i: Environmental Science and Policy. - : Elsevier. - 1462-9011 .- 1873-6416. ; 56, s. 32-38
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The clean development mechanism (CDM) is a flexible mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol, which makes it possible for developed countries to offset their emissions of greenhouse gases through investing in climate change mitigation projects in developing countries. When the mitigation benefit of a CDM project is quantified, measurable uncertainties arise that can be minimised using established statistical methods. In addition, some unmeasurable uncertainties arise, such as the rebound effect of demand-side energy efficiency projects. Many project types related to land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) have been excluded from the CDM in part because of the high degree of statistical uncertainty in measurements of the carbon sink and risk of non-permanence. However, recent discussions within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have opened up for the possibility of including more LULUCF activities in the future. In the light of this discussion, we highlight different aspects of uncertainties in LULUCF projects (e.g. the risk of non-permanence and the size of the carbon sink) in relation to other CDM project categories such as renewables and demand-side energy efficiency. We quantify the uncertainties, compare the magnitudes of the uncertainties in different project categories and conclude that uncertainties could be just as significant in CDM project categories such as renewables as in LULUCF projects. The CDM is a useful way of including and engaging developing countries in climate change mitigation and could be a good source of financial support for LULUCF mitigation activities. Given their enormous mitigation potential, we argue that additional LULUCF activities should be included in the CDM and other future climate policy instruments. Furthermore, we note that Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) are currently being submitted to the UNFCCC by developing countries. Unfortunately, the under-representation of LULUCF in comparison to its potential is evident in the NAMAs submitted so far, just as it has been in the CDM. Capacity building under the CDM may influence NAMAs and there is a risk of transferring the view on uncertainties to NAMAs.
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| 7. |
- Olsson, Erik M, et al.
(författare)
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A randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group study of the standardised extract shr-5 of the roots of Rhodiola rosea in the treatment of subjects with stress-related fatigue.
- 2009
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Ingår i: Planta Medica. - : Georg Thieme Verlag KG. - 0032-0943 .- 1439-0221. ; 75:2, s. 105-12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of the study was to assess the efficacy of the standardised extract SHR-5 of roots of Rhodiola Rosea L. in the treatment of individuals suffering from stress-related fatigue. The phase III clinical trial took the form of a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study with parallel groups. Participants, males and females aged between 20 and 55 years, were selected according to the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare diagnostic criteria for fatigue syndrome. A total of 60 individuals were randomised into two groups, one ( N = 30) of which received four tablets daily of SHR-5 extract (576 mg extract/day), while a second ( N = 30) received four placebo tablets daily. The effects of the extract with respect to quality of life (SF-36 questionnaire), symptoms of fatigue (Pines' burnout scale), depression (Montgomery -Asberg depression rating scale - MADRS), attention (Conners' computerised continuous performance test II - CCPT II), and saliva cortisol response to awakening were assessed on day 1 and after 28 days of medication. Data were analysed by between-within analyses of variance. No serious side effects that could be attributed to the extract were reported. Significant post-treatment improvements were observed for both groups (placebo effect) in Pines' burnout scale, mental health (SF-36), and MADRS and in several CCPT II indices of attention, namely, omissions, commissions, and Hit RT SE. When the two groups were compared, however, significant effects of the SHR-5 extract in comparison with the placebo were observed in Pines' burnout scale and the CCPT II indices omissions, Hit RT SE, and variability. Pre- VERSUS post-treatment cortisol responses to awakening stress were significantly different in the treatment group compared with the control group. It is concluded that repeated administration of R. ROSEA extract SHR-5 exerts an anti-fatigue effect that increases mental performance, particularly the ability to concentrate, and decreases cortisol response to awakening stress in burnout patients with fatigue syndrome.
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