Developing sustainable forest management in North-West Russia

• The Russian Federation is part of the Montreal process supporting the development of sustainable forest management (SFM). • The SFM concept encompasses ecological, economic and socio-cultural dimensions, all of which should be balanced and meet agreed standards. • We compare implementation concepts aiming at sustainable landscapes, such as Model Forest and Biosphere Reserve, with regular approaches for forest landscape management. • Since the mid 1990’s several international and national SFM implementation projects have been initiated in the Russian Federation. • Our case studies in the North-West Russian Federation are Komi Model Forest in the Komi Republic, Pskov Model Forest in the Pskov region and Kovdozersky Model Forest in the Murmansk region. • Learning from practical experiences supports the production of applied knowledge needed to implement sustainable forest landscape policies

Sustainable Development and Sustainability: Landscape Approach as a Practical Interpretation of Principles and Implementation Concepts

The situation for governors and managers of natural resources has increased in complexity. Previously it was enough to sustain the yields of wood, food and energy. Today, maintenance of ecosystem services, conservation of biodiversity, rural development and human wellbeing are new additional objectives. At the same time there are new risks and uncertainties linked to climate change, economic globalisation, energy security and water supply. Consequently, adaptive and holistic research, governance and management are needed. Landscape is a concept and framework that can be used as an approach to enhance implementation of policies about sustainable development as a societal process and sustainability as outcomes on the ground. For our analysis to define the landscape approach we used a hierarchical framework consisting of principles, concepts and initiatives; and included three principles defining SD and sustainability and five international concepts to analyze its implementation for our analysis to define landscape approach. We propose a practical operationalization that consists of five core attributes, (1) a sufficiently large area that matches management requirements and challenges to deliver desired goods, services and values, (2) multi-level and multi-sector stakeholder collaboration that promotes sustainable development as a social process, (3) commitment to and understanding of sustainability as an aim among stakeholders, (4) integrative knowledge production, and (5) sharing of experience, results and information, to develop local or tacit to general or explicit knowledge. Finally, we discuss the need for integrative research to study landscape approach concepts and what local initiatives using different concepts deliver on the ground

Separation of Test-Free Propositional Dynamic Logics over Context-Free Languages

For a class L of languages let PDL[L] be an extension of Propositional Dynamic Logic which allows programs to be in a language of L rather than just to be regular. If L contains a non-regular language, PDL[L] can express non-regular properties, in contrast to pure PDL. For regular, visibly pushdown and deterministic context-free languages, the separation of the respective PDLs can be proven by automata-theoretic techniques. However, these techniques introduce non-determinism on the automata side. As non-determinism is also the difference between DCFL and CFL, these techniques seem to be inappropriate to separate PDL[DCFL] from PDL[CFL]. Nevertheless, this separation is shown but for programs without test operators.Comment: In Proceedings GandALF 2011, arXiv:1106.081

An Observed Correlation Between Thermal and Non-Thermal Emission in Gamma-Ray Bursts

Recent observations by the $Fermi$ Gamma-ray Space Telescope have confirmed the existence of thermal and non-thermal components in the prompt photon spectra of some Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Through an analysis of six bright Fermi GRBs, we have discovered a correlation between the observed photospheric and non-thermal $\gamma$-ray emission components of several GRBs using a physical model that has previously been shown to be a good fit to the Fermi data. From the spectral parameters of these fits we find that the characteristic energies, $E_{\rm p}$ and $kT$, of these two components are correlated via the relation $E_{\rm p} \propto T^{\alpha}$ which varies from GRB to GRB. We present an interpretation in which the value of index $\alpha$ indicates whether the jet is dominated by kinetic or magnetic energy. To date, this jet composition parameter has been assumed in the modeling of GRB outflows rather than derived from the data

Evaluation of multi-level social learning for sustainable landscapes: perspective of a development initiative in Bergslagen, Sweden

To implement policies about sustainable landscapesand rural development necessitates social learningabout states and trends of sustainability indicators, normsthat define sustainability, and adaptive multi-level governance.We evaluate the extent to which social learning atmultiple governance levels for sustainable landscapesoccur in 18 local development initiatives in the network ofSustainable Bergslagen in Sweden. We mapped activitiesover time, and interviewed key actors in the network aboutsocial learning. While activities resulted in exchange ofexperiences and some local solutions, a major challengewas to secure systematic social learning and make newknowledge explicit at multiple levels. None of the developmentinitiatives used a systematic approach to securesocial learning, and sustainability assessments were notmade systematically. We discuss how social learning canbe improved, and how a learning network of developmentinitiatives could be realized

Natural and cultural continuous cover forests in Sweden : how much remain and how are they managed?

Swedish forestry has a long and successful history of developing sustained production of wood. Consequently silviculture is dominated by clear-felling approaches, despite the fact that Swedish forests are ecologically and culturally diverse. A considerable proportion of our naturally dynamic forests were Continuous Cover Forests (CCF). CCFs were also a part of the pre-industrial cultural landscape. Both the natural and the cultural landscape CCFs are today threatened and their area extent does not satisfy the new dimensions of sustainable forest management as biodiversity conservation and socio-cultural values. In this study I estimate the past and present amount of two natural and one cultural CCF types in two study areas using several different approaches at two different spatial scales. The results are compared with the silvicultural practices in the two areas located around two important biophysical and socio-cultural transition zones in northwest and south-central Sweden. My results show that in our present landscape 9 to 10% of our forested land is potential wet and dry CCF sites. In addition to this there is a portion of high altitude CCF with moist oceanic climate in the Scandinavian Mountains. However, of all potential CCF sites in the southern study area only 0 to 6% remains. In the northern study area the proportion left was slightly higher at 0 to 17% of the potential, except for the high altitude CCF where the decline was less. It is clear that this difference between the study areas is due to the later arrival of the timber frontier in the north. Present management practices on different site types indicates that the situation will be the same as in the south in a few decades since Swedish forest management exercises limited consideration in different site types to maintain CCFs. To match the natural diversity of forests and to satisfy all three dimensions of sustainable forest management there is a clear need for developing alternative forest management methods in Sweden.Den svenska skogsnäringen har sen länge utvecklat en uthållig timmer produktion. Trakthyggesbruk är den dominerande skogsbruksmetoden trots att svenska skogar har en stor ekologisk och kulturell mångfald. En stor del av den svenska skogen bestod naturligt av olika skogstyper med kontinuerlig krontäckning, dvs. skogstyper som sällan drabbades av storskaliga störningar som tex. brand. Dessa skogar som naturligt blev gamla var också en del av det förindustriella landskapet. Både den naturliga och kulturellt betingade skogen med kontinuerligt krontäcke är idag hotad och den kvarvarande arean motsvarar inte vad som skulle kunna kallas hållbart. Jag har uppskattat den naturliga och nuvarande arealen av två naturliga och en kulturellt betingad skogstyp med kontinuerlig krontäckning. Detta har gjorts med flera olika metoder i två studieområden med flera datakällor i två olika rumsliga skalor. Resultaten har jämförts med skogsbruksmetoderna i de två studieområdena som är valda i två viktiga biogeografiska och socio-kulturella övergångszoner i nordvästra och södra sverige. Mina resultat visar att dagens landskap innehåller 9 till 10 % fuktiga-våta och torra ståndorter passande för skog av typ med kontinuerlig krontäckning. Dessutom finns en andel mark på höga höjder i fjällkedjan med denna karaktär på grund av det oceana klimatet. Av all potentiell mark med skog av kontinuerlig krontäckningstyp så är bara 0-6% gammal. I norr så är andelen något högre med 0-17% av potentialen. På höga höjder i fjällkedjan så återstår en större andel. Data visar klart att detta beror på den senare ankomsten av timmerfronten i norr. Nuvarande skötsel på olika ståndorter indikerar att situationen i norr kommer att vara densamma som i söder om några decennium. Detta eftersom skogsbruket inte tar tillräcklig hänsyn och anpassar brukandet till ståndorten i tillräckligt stor utsträckning för att behålla dessa skogstyper. För att matcha mångfalden i de svenska skogarna så finns det helt klart ett behov av att utveckla alternativa skogsskötselmetoder i Sverige

Cardiovascular innovation

REBOA, resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta, is a method used for gaining control of traumatic bleeding by occluding the aorta with an endovascular balloon. However, this procedure increases blood pressure above the occlusion point and decreases blood pressure below it; increasing the risk of cerebral hemorrhage and ischemia. This bachelor’s thesis analyzes the potential market of a new cardiovascular product, in the study referred to as λ (lambda), which is currently being developed by a project group at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg, Sweden. The goal of λ is to minimize the risk of cerebral hemorrhage and ischemia during a REBOA intervention, hopefully eliminating the controversy REBOA is exposed t

The Quiescent Intracluster Medium in the Core of the Perseus Cluster

Clusters of galaxies are the most massive gravitationally-bound objects in the Universe and are still forming. They are thus important probes of cosmological parameters and a host of astrophysical processes. Knowledge of the dynamics of the pervasive hot gas, which dominates in mass over stars in a cluster, is a crucial missing ingredient. It can enable new insights into mechanical energy injection by the central supermassive black hole and the use of hydrostatic equilibrium for the determination of cluster masses. X-rays from the core of the Perseus cluster are emitted by the 50 million K diffuse hot plasma filling its gravitational potential well. The Active Galactic Nucleus of the central galaxy NGC1275 is pumping jetted energy into the surrounding intracluster medium, creating buoyant bubbles filled with relativistic plasma. These likely induce motions in the intracluster medium and heat the inner gas preventing runaway radiative cooling; a process known as Active Galactic Nucleus Feedback. Here we report on Hitomi X-ray observations of the Perseus cluster core, which reveal a remarkably quiescent atmosphere where the gas has a line-of-sight velocity dispersion of 164+/-10 km/s in a region 30-60 kpc from the central nucleus. A gradient in the line-of-sight velocity of 150+/-70 km/s is found across the 60 kpc image of the cluster core. Turbulent pressure support in the gas is 4% or less of the thermodynamic pressure, with large scale shear at most doubling that estimate. We infer that total cluster masses determined from hydrostatic equilibrium in the central regions need little correction for turbulent pressure.Comment: 31 pages, 11 Figs, published in Nature July