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The strength and content of climate anger
Get PDFClimate-related anger is present in Greta Thunberg’s speeches and the acts of Extinction Rebellion, but also in the rise of movements protesting climate policies, such as the Yellow Vests. The current study (N = 2,046) gives insight into the content of climate anger among the Norwegian public, as well as the relationship between anger and climate change engagement. Analyzing responses to the open-ended survey question “What is it about climate change that makes you angry?”, we find that the most common reason was human actions causing climate change. Respondents also frequently pointed to responsible agents, especially politicians. Controlling for other climate emotions, as well as socio-demographics, anger strength was differentially related to three types of climate change engagement; it was the strongest predictor of self-reported activism, positively related to policy support, but not related to individual mitigation efforts. Among those reporting anger, directing it towards human qualities or actions was consistently and positively related to individual behavior, policy support, and activism while referring to responsible agents was not related to either. 'Contrarian' anger, reflecting skepticism towards the threat of climate change or dissatisfaction with mitigation measures, constituted 10% of the responses and had a negative effect on all outcomes. Overall, we find that both the strength and content of climate anger are relevant for climate change engagement. Our findings illustrate the need to avoid simplistic discussions of climate emotions and their motivational potential.publishedVersio
Generation of the Internal Pycnocline in the Subpolar Southern Ocean by Wintertime Sea Ice Melting
Get PDFThe ocean's internal pycnocline is a layer of elevated stratification that separates the well-ventilated upper ocean from the more slowly renewed deep ocean. Despite its pivotal role in organizing ocean circulation, the processes governing the formation of the internal pycnocline remain little understood. Classical theories on pycnocline formation have been couched in terms of temperature and it is not clear how the theory applies in the high-latitude Southern Ocean, where stratification is dominated by salinity. Here we assess the mechanisms generating the internal pycnocline at southern high latitudes through the analysis of a high-resolution, realistic, global sea ice–ocean model. We show evidence suggesting that the internal pycnocline's formation is associated with sea ice-ocean interactions in two distinct ice-covered regions, fringing the Antarctic continental slope and the winter sea-ice edge. In both areas, winter-persistent sea-ice melt creates strong, salinity-based stratification at the base of the winter mixed layer. The resulting sheets of high stratification subsequently descend into the ocean interior at fronts of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, and connect seamlessly to the internal pycnocline in areas further north in which pycnocline stratification is determined by temperature. Our findings thus suggest an important role of localized sea ice-ocean interactions in configuring the vertical structure of the Southern Ocean.publishedVersio
Reisevaner og holdninger: En befolkningsundersøkelse om reisevaner og holdninger til privatbilbruk blant yrkesaktive i utvalgte bydeler på Nord-Jæren, i Bergen og i Trondheim
Get PDFI dette delprosjektet har vi undersøkt innbyggernes reisevaner til/fra arbeid i 4 bydeler i Bergen, i Trondheim og på Nord-Jæren, hvordan reisevanene har endret seg og hvilke holdninger disse innbyggerne har til reduksjon av personbilbruk. Analysen viser at det både er forskjeller i holdninger og reisealternativer som bidrar til at det er en større andel bilister på Nord-Jæren enn i Bergen og Trondheim. Det er en tydelig forskjell i reisevanene mellom de som eier fossilbil og el-bil og også mellom de som eier vanlig sykkel og elsykkel. Mens elbil-eierskap bidrar til økt andel som kjører til jobb og færre som reiser kollektivt, bidrar elsykkeleierskap til økt andel som sykler til jobb og færre som kjører til jobb. Elsykkel-eierskap bidrar dermed positivt til nullvekstmålet, mens elbil-eierskap reduserer mulighetene til å nå nullvekstmålet.Reisevaner og holdninger: En befolkningsundersøkelse om reisevaner og holdninger til privatbilbruk blant yrkesaktive i utvalgte bydeler på Nord-Jæren, i Bergen og i TrondheimpublishedVersio
Treatment fidelity in a pragmatic clinical trial of music therapy for premature infants and their parents: the LongSTEP study
Get PDFBackground
Treatment fidelity (TF) refers to methodological strategies used to monitor and enhance the reliability and validity of interventions. We evaluated TF in a pragmatic RCT of music therapy (MT) for premature infants and their parents.
Methods
Two hundred thirteen families from seven neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) were randomized to receive standard care, or standard care plus MT during hospitalization, and/or during a 6-month period post-discharge. Eleven music therapists delivered the intervention. Audio and video recordings from sessions representing approximately 10% of each therapists’ participants were evaluated by two external raters and the corresponding therapist using TF questionnaires designed for the study (treatment delivery (TD)). Parents evaluated their experience with MT at the 6-month assessment with a corresponding questionnaire (treatment receipt (TR)). All items as well as composite scores (mean scores across items) were Likert scales from 0 (completely disagree) to 6 (completely agree). A threshold for satisfactory TF scores (≥4) was used in the additional analysis of dichotomized items.
Results
Internal consistency evaluated with Cronbach’s alpha was good for all TF questionnaires (α ≥ 0.70), except the external rater NICU questionnaire where it was slightly lower (α 0.66). Interrater reliability measured by intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was moderate (NICU 0.43 (CI 0.27, 0.58), post-discharge 0.57 (CI 0.39, 0.73)). Gwet’s AC for the dichotomized items varied between 0.32 (CI 0.10, 0.54) and 0.72 (CI 0.55, 0.89). Seventy-two NICU and 40 follow-up sessions with 39 participants were evaluated. Therapists’ mean (SD) TD composite score was 4.88 (0.92) in the NICU phase and 4.95 (1.05) in the post-discharge phase. TR was evaluated by 138 parents. The mean (SD) score across intervention conditions was 5.66 (0.50).
Conclusions
TF questionnaires developed to assess MT in neonatal care showed good internal consistency and moderate interrater reliability. TF scores indicated that therapists across countries successfully implemented MT in accordance with the protocol. The high treatment receipt scores indicate that parents received the intervention as intended. Future research in this area should aim to improve the interrater reliability of TF measures by additional training of raters and improved operational definitions of items.publishedVersio
WP2 final report
Get PDFThis document summarises the significant results in work package 2 of the DigiMon project. Detailed descriptions and results from each task can be found in the referenced deliverables and publications
Effekter av endret vanntemperatur på vekst og rekruttering hos laks i Bolstadelva
Get PDFEvanger kraftverk fører til at vanntemperaturen i Bolstadelva blir kaldere om sommeren og varmere om vinteren. Lavere sommertemperatur resulterer i redusert vekst hos ungfisk av laks og aure, og dermed økt smoltalder. Det er beregnet at den økte smoltalderen reduserer overlevelse av lakseunger i Bolstadelva med om lag 20 %. Totalt fører dette til at den samlede produksjonen av laksesmolt i Vosso og Bolstadelva forventes å være redusert med om lag 7 %. Beregningene av ungfiskoverlevelse er ikke eksakte, men må ses som en tilnærming for å forstå hvilken størrelsesorden effekten av temperaturendringene kan ha på laksebestanden i Vossovassdraget.publishedVersio
Habitat, miljøtiltak og flomrisikohåndtering i Nærøydalselva
Get PDFPå oppdrag fra Aurland Kommune har NORCE LFI kartlagt den anadrome delen av Nærøydalselva. Resultatene fra kartleggingen er benyttet til å beskrive den grunnleggende elvemorfologien i vassdraget, tilhørende geomorfologiske prosesser samt resulterende habitatforhold for laks og sjøaure og konsekvenser for flomrisikohåndtering. I tillegg ble det gjennomført kvalitetssikring av en rapport om flomsikringstiltak utarbeidet av Norconsult i 2016. Basert på kartleggingen er det utviklet tiltaksforslag for flomrisikohåndtering og tiltak for å sikre og forbedre miljøtilstand. Det anbefales en rekke miljøhensyn og naturbaserte løsninger ved flomrisikohåndtering for å kunne ivareta verdensarvstatus og eksiterende vernebestemmelser. Det anbefales i størst mulig grad å bevare naturlige elveløp og elveslette til flomavlastning. Der det er nødvendig anbefales lokale og miljøtilpassete sikringstiltak. I tillegg anbefales etablering av en sedimentforvaltning med presise miljøvilkår får å kunne håndtere den geomorfologisk naturlige hevingen av elvebunnen i Nærøydalen og samtidig muliggjøre bosetting og god eller svært god miljøtilstand.Habitat, miljøtiltak og flomrisikohåndtering i NærøydalselvapublishedVersio
Differences in Direct Geothermal Energy Utilization for Heating and Cooling in Central and Northern European Countries
Get PDFGeothermal energy has emerged as an alternative heating source that can replace fossil energy. This mature technology is already in use all over Europe, but there are significant differences in its use between European countries. One possible explanation for this phenomenon concerns societal differences directly related to geothermal energy, the topic that is investigated in this study. The present work proposes using the societal embeddedness level (SEL) method to analyze and compare the status of non-technical factors affecting geothermal energy use in Hungary, Iceland, Norway, Poland, and Slovakia. The method considers four dimensions: environment, stakeholder involvement, policy and regulations, and markets and financial resources. Only Iceland fully covers the four dimensions by reaching all the milestones in the SEL framework. Iceland has the advantage of a long history of active use of geothermal energy for domestic use. The other countries face challenges within several of the dimensions, while the form and cause of these challenges are specific to each country. The findings illustrate that to mitigate climate change and drive the energy transition forward, both technical and societal factors related to various renewable energy sources must be assessed.Differences in Direct Geothermal Energy Utilization for Heating and Cooling in Central and Northern European CountriespublishedVersio
The association between municipal pandemic response and COVID‑19 contacts to emergency primary health care services: an observational study
Get PDFBackground Norwegian municipalities had diverse strategies for handling tasks related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The emergency primary health care services were involved to different extents. The aim of this study was to describe how contacts with the emergency primary health care service were affected by the pandemic, in terms of patient contacts related to COVID-19, prioritisation and first actions taken, and to analyse differences between the services. Methods In this observational study, patient contacts to seven emergency primary health care services, from January 2020 to June 2021, were analysed. Descriptive analyses were applied. Data on the seven services’ involvement in the municipal pandemic response, in relation to testing the inhabitants for COVID-19, were collected. Results There were 145 685 registered patient contacts within the study period. In total, 24% (n = 35,563) of the contacts were related to COVID-19, varying from 16 to 40% between the seven services. Of the COVID-19 related contacts, 96% (n = 34,069) were triaged to the lowest urgency level (range 76–99%) and 66% (n = 23,519) were patients contacting the services in order to be tested for COVID-19 (range 5–88%). The number of COVID-19 related contacts were unrelated to the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases among the inhabitants of the respective municipalities. The burden of COVID-19-related contacts mainly reflected the services’ involvement in COVID-19 testing as part of the municipal pandemic response. Conclusions During the COVID-19 pandemic, several of the emergency primary health care services were assigned new tasks, such as being part of the municipalities’ system for carrying out testing for COVID-19. This had a major impact on their activity level. In the preparation for future pandemics, it should be discussed to which extent such use of the emergency primary health care system is appropriate, as additional tasks might affect the services’ preparedness to provide urgent medical care among the inhabitants.publishedVersio
Conditional support from below? Understanding the dynamics of municipal amalgamation preferences among local politicians
Get PDFMunicipal amalgamations are commonly undertaken with promises of scale effects. But territorial reforms also invoke issues of local identity and democracy, which may be negatively impacted by upscaled local government. This article explores how these frames play out as drivers of amalgamation preferences among local representatives. Utilizing survey data of Norwegian local politicians during the 2014–2020 Local Government Reform, this article shows that local politicians are more likely to support amalgamation when prioritizing and supporting functional scale considerations. Conversely, they are less likely to support amalgamation when invoking issues of local belonging, democracy, and citizens’ influence. But these attitudes are not static. Sources of support and aversion towards amalgamation are at times conditional; the characteristics of the municipality, the individual's status in the local political environment, and the views of the population may both enhance and weaken the degree to which functional or communitarian frames are rallied to support or oppose amalgamation.publishedVersio