Bruk av skog til bioenergi - betyr det noe for opplevelsesverdier?

Som en del av det grønne skiftet har økt uttak av biomasse fra skogene våre fått mye oppmerksomhet. Målet er blant annet å øke produksjonen av bioenergi. Økt uttak kan påvirke hvordan skogene oppleves og hvor tiltrekkende de er for rekreasjon, noe som igjen kan ha betydning i et folkehelseperspektiv

Investigating preferences for the local delivery of agri-environment benefits

Since 2005, Environmental Stewardship (ES) has been the principal agri-environment scheme for England and is the key instrument for the delivery of increased environmental benefits from agricultural landscapes. The main objective of this study is to investigate the hypothesis that individuals have greater relative preferences for the environmental benefits associated with agri-environment schemes when they are delivered within those landscapes closest to where they live. A choice experiment approach based on a national survey provides the data and a mixed logit approach is used to model relative preferences for the environmental benefits of ES across five generic landscape types. Results show that most respondents have a preference for benefits delivered in those areas closest and most accessible to where they live. © 2013 The Agricultural Economics Society

Effects of habitat composition and landscape structure on worker foraging distances of five bumblebee species

Bumblebees (Bombus spp.) are important pollinators of both crops and wild flowers. Their contribution to this essential ecosystem service has been threatened over recent decades by changes in land use, which have led to declines in their populations. In order to design effective conservation measures it is important to understand the effects of variation in landscape composition and structure on the foraging activities of worker bumblebees. This is because the viability of individual colonies is likely to be affected by the trade-off between the energetic costs of foraging over greater distances and the potential gains from access to additional resources. We used field surveys, molecular genetics and fine resolution remote sensing to estimate the locations of wild bumblebee nests and to infer foraging distances across a 20 km2 agricultural landscape in southern England. We investigated five species, including the rare B. ruderatus and ecologically similar but widespread B. hortorum. We compared worker foraging distances between species and examined how variation in landscape composition and structure affected foraging distances at the colony level. Mean worker foraging distances differed significantly between species. Bombus terrestris, B. lapidarius and B. ruderatus exhibited significantly greater mean foraging distances (551 m, 536 m, 501 m, respectively) than B. hortorum and B. pascuorum (336 m, 272 m, respectively). There was wide variation in worker foraging distances between colonies of the same species, which was in turn strongly influenced by the amount and spatial configuration of available foraging habitats. Shorter foraging distances were found for colonies where the local landscape had high coverage and low fragmentation of semi-natural vegetation, including managed agri-environmental field margins. The strength of relationships between different landscape variables and foraging distance varied between species, for example the strongest relationship for B. ruderatus being with floral cover of preferred forage plants. Our findings suggest that favourable landscape composition and configuration has the potential to minimise foraging distances across a range of bumblebee species. There is thus potential for improvements in the design and implementation of landscape management options, such as agri-environment schemes, aimed at providing foraging habitat for bumblebees and enhancing crop pollination services

Computer vision for surface analysis of stretch wrapped pallets

The majority of the handling of goods in a distribution center is performed automatically, except removing of stretch film from arriving pallets. The use of cameras and artificial intelligence to analyze the pallets, decide which of those that are stretch-film-wrapped and then calculate how a robot can remove the stretch film would solve this last stage to make a distribution center fully automated. The goal was to develop a deep learning model that can identify which pallets are suitable for automatic unwrapping. To make a dataset, cameras and a photocell were mounted at two strategic locations where pallets are passing. The result is more than 50000 images of pallets, divided into six classes. Reaching the target, automatic removal of the stretch film, must be regarded as future work due to the limited amount of time of this master thesis. Nevertheless, a model that is capable of dividing pallets into six different classes on the fly by using computer vision is ready. It is by the use of the model possible to sort pallets wrapped with stretch film in the direction of an unwrapping station, whilst other pallets are directed elsewhere. The result may be useful for further development after finishing this thesis.submittedVersionM-D

Does the waggle dance help honey bees to forage at greater distances than expected for their body size?

A honey bee colony has been likened to an oil company. Some members of the company or colony prospect for valuable liquid resources. When these are discovered other group members can be recruited to exploit the resource. The recruitment of nestmates to a specific location where there is a patch of flowers should change the economics of scouting, that is, the search for new resource patches. In particular, communication is predicted to make scouting at longer distances worthwhile because a profitable resource patch, once discovered, will enhance the foraging not only of the discoverer but also of nestmates that can be directed to the patch. By virtue of having large colonies and dance communication, honey bees are predicted to be able to profitably scout, and hence forage, at greater distances from the nest than either solitary bees or social bees without communication. We test this hypothesis by first examining existing data on foraging distance to evaluate whether honey bees do indeed forage at greater distances than other bees given their body size. Second, we present a simple cost-benefit analysis of scouting which indicates that communication causes longer range scouting to be more profitable. Overall, our analyses are supportive, but not conclusive, that honey bees forage further than would be expected given their size and that the waggle dance is a cause of the honey bee's exceptional foraging range

Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment Among Teachers in Norway : A Comparative Study of Selected Schools From Public and Private Educational Systems

Problem. Recruiting teachers and motivating them to stay in their jobs represents a major educational challenge in Norway. Growing demands and greater expectations on teachers are factors that have resulted in higher turnover and problems of filling vacancies. Based on this background, the primary purpose of this study was to determine if job satisfaction is associated with organizational commitment among public and Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) teachers in Norway. The secondary purpose was to compare job satisfaction and organizational commitment between public and SDA teachers in Norway, and to establish linear combination based on the factors of job satisfaction that explain each of the components of organizational commitment among public and SDA teachers on an individual basis. To accomplish this task, this research study set out to explore and develop a theoretical model that explains and defines the factors of job satisfaction and organizational commitment and the relationships between them. Method. A stratified random sample consisting of 469 public school teachers and 57 SDA teachers completed a self-administered 91-item questionnaire. A survey-research method was used to determine if job satisfaction is associated with organizational commitment among teachers employed by public and SDA schools in Norway. Results. The research showed that job satisfaction items that are related to the climate of an educational organization contribute the most to the development of affective commitment. This is followed by items of efficacy. In general, the SDA teachers who responded had experienced a higher level of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Conclusions. Focusing on developing a positive climate and efficacy among teachers in schools in Norway will contribute to the development of affective commitment which refers to the employees\u27 emotional attachment to, identification with, and involvement in the employing school. Climate and efficacy represent the major influences contributing to an employee\u27s desire to stay with the employing organization

Resilient food production - resilient landscapes. The role of heterogeneity and scale

publishedVersio

Resilient food production - resilient landscapes. The role of heterogeneity and scale

publishedVersio

Does macro uncertainty affect stock markets?

Masteroppgave(MSc) in Master of Science in Finance - Handelshøyskolen BI, 2016This thesis concerns the topic of uncertainty and its application to economics. Uncertainty is a situation which involves imperfect and/or lack of information necessary for the prediction of future events. In this study, we are in particular concerned with macroeconomic uncertainty and it’s relation to the stock price variations in the US financial markets. Our results indicate that the macroeconomic uncertainty is dependent on the stock market’s interpretation of macroeconomic news. We also find that macro uncertainty is positively related to the volume of trade and the stock price volatility. It is suggested that an aggregate measure of cross-sectional analyst dispersion, could serve as a proxy for macro uncertainty

Management of rented farmland in Norway: Factors impacting on tenants’ decisions to make investments

Renting agricultural land is a common practice in many countries. The possibility to rent land provides farmers with increased flexibility in terms of production volume. Land renting may have various effects on farmland management; however, results from studies analysing these are ambivalent. Farmland in the best possible state is a prerequisite for following up ambitions of feeding a growing population through a sustainable agriculture. Decisions regarding investments on farmland are key. The aim of this study is to increase the understanding of which factors are the most important ones for farmers’ decisions about investments on land they rent. We carried out a questionnaire survey followed by a multiple linear regression considering 34 variables. Although variables included in our model come out as significant in explaining investments, a large part of the variation is left unexplained (R2 = 0.22). Our interpretation of this result is that making investments is a complex decision. Non-economic factors impacting on farmers’ investment decisions such as trust or norms may contribute to the unexplained variation, but may only have been captured partly by our variables. Moreover, decisions regarding investments may not only vary among farmers but also among investments made by an individual farmer. The complex nature of the decisions on how to treat rented land makes it challenging for policymakers to develop measures targeted at farmers renting land. However, the finding that farmers are driving longer distances to rented land than they find acceptable deserves political attention. One potential policy implication may be strengthened incentives for land re-allotment. Re-allotment may address increasing distances and potential consequences such as reduced productivity and increased land abandonment. However, the sustainability of a re-allotment process needs to be considered carefully in terms of economic viability, ecological soundness and social responsibility.Management of rented farmland in Norway: Factors impacting on tenants’ decisions to make investmentspublishedVersio