Resultatkontroll skogbruk/miljø. Rapport 2014

I denne rapporten presenteres resultatene fra resultatkontrollen i 2013, som omfatter resultatkontrollen for foryngelse, kontroll av skogsveger og kontroll av skogbruksplaner. Resultatene fra resultatkontrollen for foryngelse er basert på 1 040 foryngelsesfelt. Andelen der foryngelsesmetoden var planting var i 2013 på 60,0 %, en økning i forhold til nivået de siste årene. Andelen som er tilrettelagt for naturlig foryngelse har gått tilsvarende ned og omfattet i 2013 21,8 % av det totale foryngelsesarealet. Kombinasjon av planting og naturlig foryngelse ble anvendt på 6,7 % av det kontrollerte arealet, mens såing ble anvendt på 0,3 prosent. Arealer der det ikke var gjennomført tiltak for å legge til rette for foryngelse utgjorde 11,1 % av det kontrollerte foryngelsesarealet. Dette er samme omfang som i 2012, og kontrollen i 2013 synes dermed å bekrefte en positiv tendens fra de seneste årene, ved at andelen av foryngelsesarealet som ikke er tilplantet eller tilrettelagt for naturlig foryngelse, er blitt noe mindre. Det er foretatt resultatkontroll av 469 veganlegg i 2013, hvorav 461 anlegg ble godkjent samme år. Den tekniske og landskapsmessige standarden på ferdigstilte anlegg har over lang tid vært god, og dette er også hovedbildet i 2013. Kontroll av skogbruksplanprosjekter omfattet i 2013 15 godkjente og avsluttede takstprosjekter, hvorav 13 med MiS-registreringer og to med MiS etterregistreringer. Takstene omfatter et areal på 1,9 millioner dekar fordelt på 3 729 eiendommer, med en gjennomsnittskostnad på 14,3 kroner per dekar. Til sammen utgjør miljøfigurer fra MiS-registreringer i de avsluttede prosjektene et areal på 75 295 dekar

Difference in prevalence of common mental disorder as measured using four questionnaire delivery methods among young people in rural Zimbabwe.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have suggested that interviewer-administered questionnaires can under-estimate the prevalence of depression and suicidal ideation when compared with self-administered ones. We report here on differences in prevalence of reporting mental health between four questionnaire delivery modes (QDM). METHODS: Mental health was assessed using the Shona Symptom Questionnaire (SSQ), a locally validated 14-item indigenous measure for common mental affective disorders. A representative sample of 1495 rural Zimbabwean adolescents (median age 18) was randomly allocated to one of four questionnaire delivery modes: self-administered questionnaire (SAQ), SAQ with audio (AASI), interviewer-administered questionnaire (IAQ), and audio computer-assisted survey instrument (ACASI). RESULTS: Prevalence of common affective disorders varied between QDM (52.3%, 48.6%, 41.5%, and 63.6% for SAQ, AASI, IAQ, and ACASI respectively (P<0.001)). Fewer participants failed to complete SSQ using IAQ and ACASI than other methods (1.6% vs. 12.3%; P<0.001). Qualitative data suggested that respondents found it difficult answering questions honestly in front of an interviewer. LIMITATIONS: Direction of accuracy cannot be ascertained due to lack of objective or clinical assessments of affective disorders. CONCLUSIONS: Estimates of prevalence of psychosomatic symptoms and suicidal ideation varied according to mode of interview. As each mode's direction of accuracy remains unresolved evaluations of interventions continue to be hampered

The complexity of the relationship between chronic pain and quality of life: a study of the general Norwegian population

The aims of this paper were to evaluate the relationship between chronic pain and global quality of life (GQOL) and to explore the effect of possible confounders, mediators, and moderators such as selected demographic variables, chronic illnesses, stress-related symptoms, fatigue, and subjective health of the relationship between chronic pain and GQOL. We used a cross-sectional design, including 1,893 respondents from a population of 4,000 of Norwegian citizens, aged 19–81 years, who were randomly drawn from the National Register by Statistics Norway in November 2000 (48.5%). Pain duration of more than 3 months was categorized as having chronic pain. The Quality of Life Scale, the Fatigue Severity Scale, and the Posttraumatic Stress Scale were used as our main dependent and independent variables, respectively. A series of multiple regression analyses (GLM in SPSS) were applied using GQOL as the dependent variable, entering subsets of independent variables in a theoretically predefined sequence. In the total model, there was no significant relationship between chronic pain and GQOL. The model explained 39% of the variance in GQOL. For direct effect sizes, stress-related symptoms were related most strongly to GQOL, followed by subjective health, fatigue, chronic illnesses, and selected demographic variables. These findings support the assumption of a complex and indirect relationship between chronic pain and GQOL

Biases in Thorpe-scale estimates of turbulence dissipation. Part I : Assessments from large-scale overturns in oceanographic data

Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2015. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 45 (2015): 2497–2521, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-14-0128.1.Oceanic density overturns are commonly used to parameterize the dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy. This method assumes a linear scaling between the Thorpe length scale LT and the Ozmidov length scale LO. Historic evidence supporting LT ~ LO has been shown for relatively weak shear-driven turbulence of the thermocline; however, little support for the method exists in regions of turbulence driven by the convective collapse of topographically influenced overturns that are large by open-ocean standards. This study presents a direct comparison of LT and LO, using vertical profiles of temperature and microstructure shear collected in the Luzon Strait—a site characterized by topographically influenced overturns up to O(100) m in scale. The comparison is also done for open-ocean sites in the Brazil basin and North Atlantic where overturns are generally smaller and due to different processes. A key result is that LT/LO increases with overturn size in a fashion similar to that observed in numerical studies of Kelvin–Helmholtz (K–H) instabilities for all sites but is most clear in data from the Luzon Strait. Resultant bias in parameterized dissipation is mitigated by ensemble averaging; however, a positive bias appears when instantaneous observations are depth and time integrated. For a series of profiles taken during a spring tidal period in the Luzon Strait, the integrated value is nearly an order of magnitude larger than that based on the microstructure observations. Physical arguments supporting LT ~ LO are revisited, and conceptual regimes explaining the relationship between LT/LO and a nondimensional overturn size are proposed. In a companion paper, Scotti obtains similar conclusions from energetics arguments and simulations.B.D.M. and S.K.V. gratefully acknowledge the support of the Office of Naval Research under Grants N00014-12-1-0279, N00014-12-1-0282, and N00014-12-1-0938 (Program Manager: Dr. Terri Paluszkiewicz). S.K.V. also acknowledges support of the National Science Foundation under Grant OCE-1151838. L.S.L. acknowledges support for BBTRE by the National Science Foundation by Contract OCE94-15589 and NATRE and IWISE by the Office of Naval Research by Contracts N00014-92-1323 and N00014-10-10315. J.N.M. was supported through Grant 1256620 from the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research (IWISE Project).2016-04-0

Modification of upper-ocean temperature structure by subsurface mixing in the presence of strong salinity stratification

Author Posting. © The Oceanography Society, 2016. This article is posted here by permission of The Oceanography Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Oceanography 29, no. 2 (2016): 62–71, doi:10.5670/oceanog.2016.39.The Bay of Bengal has a complex upper-ocean temperature and salinity structure that is, in places, characterized by strong salinity stratification and multiple inversions in temperature. Here, two short time series from continuously profiling floats, equipped with microstructure sensors to measure subsurface mixing, are used to highlight implications of complex hydrography on upper-ocean heat content and the evolution of sea surface temperature. Weak mixing coupled with the existence of subsurface warm layers suggest the potential for storage of heat below the surface mixed layer over relatively long time scales. On the diurnal time scale, these data demonstrate the competing effects of surface heat flux and subsurface mixing in the presence of thin salinity-stratified mixed layers with temperature inversions. Pre-existing stratification can amplify the sea surface temperature response through control on the vertical extent of heating and cooling by surface fluxes. In contrast, subsurface mixing entrains relatively cool water during the day and relatively warm water during the night, damping the response to daytime heating and nighttime cooling at the surface. These observations hint at the challenges involved in improving monsoon prediction at longer, intraseasonal time scales as models may need to resolve upper-ocean variability over short time and fine vertical scales.This work was funded by Office of Naval Research grants N00014-14-1-0236 (ELS, JNM), N00014-13-1-0483 (DLR), N00014-13-1- 0453 (JTF), and N00014-12-1-0938 (SKV, AG)

Automatic active acoustic target detection in turbulent aquatic environments

This work is funded by the Environment and Food Security theme Ph.D. studentship from the University of Aberdeen, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra grant NE/J004308/1), and the Marine Collaboration Research Forum (MarCRF). We would like to gratefully acknowledge the support from colleagues at Marine Scotland Science.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Generation of internal waves by a supercritical stratified plume

The generation of internal waves by a propagating river plume is studied in the framework of a fully nonlinear nonhydrostatic numerical model. The vertical fluid stratification, parameters of tide, river discharge, and the bottom topography were taken close to those observed near the Columbia River mouth. It was found that in the beginning of the ebb tidal phase the river water intruding into the sea behaves as a surface jet stream. It collides with the stagnant shelf waters and sinks down in the area of the outer plume boundary, forming a head of the gravity current. In supercritical conditions which are normally realized at the first stage of the ebb tidal phase, internal waves are arrested in the head of the gravity current because their phase speed is smaller than the velocity of the plume. They are released and radiate from the plume when the speed of the decelerating front becomes smaller than the internal wave phase speed. This mechanism of the wave generation is sensitive to the stratification of the ambient shelf waters. It was found that dramatic decay of the buoyancy frequency profile from the surface to the bottom provides the most favorable conditions for the efficient disintegration of the head of the gravity current into a packet of internal waves and their fast separation from the plume. In the case when the fluid stratification on the shelf is close to monotonous, the disintegration of the head of the gravity current into a packet of solitary internal waves is not expected. Copyright 2009 by the American Geophysical Union

Multivariate Anomaly Detection in Ventilation Systems for Commercial Buildings

Advancements in technology have enabled large-scale data collection, increasing the demand for tools that can extract information and support fast, informed actions. Condition monitoring of technical systems has become a widely used approach to reduce operational costs by detecting anomalies before they escalate, i.e., unexpected patterns that may indicate emerging issues. Soundsensing AS, a start-up based in Oslo since 2019, provides monitoring solutions for technical systems in commercial buildings. They collect and process vibration data using commercially available sensors, offering early warnings of irregular system behavior. The company expressed interest in exploring additional data sources to improve their product and deliver better customer service. This study investigated how combining multiple data sources (i.e., multivariate approaches) can improve the detection of ventilation system problems. Using real-world data from Soundsensing AS, it examined whether previously unrecognized (novel) anomaly types can be identified. The analysis further examined how vibration and temperature features affect the detection process and the practical relevance of the identified anomalies. Three modeling approaches with varying complexities were explored: one statistical model and two deep learning models. The models were trained using data from interconnected ventilation components: the supply fan, the exhaust fan, and the heat exchanger. A ventilation technician was consulted to interpret a selection of the results. The results showed that increased model complexity did not improve performance compared to simpler and more transparent models. Most identified problems could be detected using single-signal (i.e., univariate) methods, although combining signals improved the detection of certain behaviors. Weather conditions were a major source of false alarms, suggesting that models carefully including weather data could greatly reduce them. Temperature measurements (from sensors), previously unused by Soundsensing AS, also showed promise for detecting economically important problems such as overheating. Another key benefit of combining data sources was improved interpretability. Where univariate data lack context, combined visualizations help distinguish whether irregular behavior is a real problem or an expected variation. Although root cause analysis is not a primary focus for Soundsensing AS, leveraging this information can enhance detection accuracy. Additionally, visualizing interconnected equipment as a unified system could support more efficient troubleshooting

Evaluation of Shale Formations as Barrier Element for Permanent Plug and Abandonment of Wells

In a similar fashion to the commonly used saying ?that the only thing certain in life is death?, the only thing certain for petroleum wells is that sooner or later the wells will have to be permanently plugged and abandoned. Permanent plug and abandonment (PP&A) is ideally performed by setting a number of cement plugs inside the casing strings. This technique is however only allowed if the casing strings are supported on the outside by a sealing material with sufficient quality over a required interval. When planning PP&A operations several operators have discovered that the annular seal, traditionally provided by annular cement, does not fulfil the abandonment requirements. The operators are thus left with a shortage of annular barriers and costly remedial cementing, milling or cut and pull of casing has to be performed in order to plug and abandon the well. Traditionally, PP&A has been seen as sunk cost with little possible economic upside. However, today as many of the large producing fields on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) are simultaneously approaching the end of their lifetime, a large wave of PP&A jobs is imminent. As a consequence of the increased relevance, to improve the efficiency and reduce the cost of the operation several new methods, materials and procedures related to all parts of the PP&A operation have been developed. One of these newly developed methods is to use inward moving shale formations as the annular sealing material in cases where the casing cement has failed. Up to now the presence of such barriers has been quite sporadic and their usefulness merely limited to some locations. This thesis has evaluated the potential of these barriers alone or in combination with other sealing materials to create the desired annular seal on a larger scale. The main conclusion is that most shales at least have the potential to seal off parts of the annular gap between the formation and casing within the time frame of PP&A. Whether or not the full gap is closed is dependent on the shales flexibility and creep rates. In general Smectite rich shales found between 2000-3000meters appears to be the most suitable for becoming annular barriers. Useful indicators of a shales creep potential are clay content and stiffness. The two most efficient ways in increasing the chance for shales providing an annular barrier is exposing the formation to cations with small hydrated diameter or reducing the annular gap. The latter could be obtained through increasing the casing size or through an annular fill material. Laboratory test shows that compressed barite in combination with only water does not constitute a good sealing material. Thus, unless some additives are added, settled barite could not make up the above-mentioned fill material. Compressed micro-barite on the other hand appears to form a practically impermeable seal and the material could therefore in combination with inward moving formations make up the required annular barrier element. However, the material has challenges when it comes to placement. Further work should therefore be focused on how this could be performed or alternatively on identifying other more ideal fill materials. Barite in combination with oil-water emulsions, diesel or barite mixed with small, soft and non-degradable particles may provide good solutions