Showing papers by "University of Lapland published in 2017"

The Geography of Pokémon GO: Beneficial and Problematic Effects on Places and Movement

Abstract: The widespread popularity of Pokemon GO presents the first opportunity to observe the geographic effects of location-based gaming at scale. This paper reports the results of a mixed methods study of the geography of Pokemon GO that includes a five-country field survey of 375 Pokemon GO players and a large scale geostatistical analysis of game elements. Focusing on the key geographic themes of places and movement, we find that the design of Pokemon GO reinforces existing geographically-linked biases (e.g. the game advantages urban areas and neighborhoods with smaller minority populations), that Pokemon GO may have instigated a relatively rare large-scale shift in global human mobility patterns, and that Pokemon GO has geographically-linked safety risks, but not those typically emphasized by the media. Our results point to geographic design implications for future systems in this space such as a means through which the geographic biases present in Pokemon GO may be counteracted.

Rural-Urban Differences in Escape Behavior of European Birds across a Latitudinal Gradient

Abstract: Behavioral adjustment is a key factor that facilitates species’ coexistence with humans in a rapidly urbanizing world. Because urban animals often experience reduced predation risk compared to their rural counterparts, and because escape behaviour is energetically costly, we expect that urban environments will select for increased tolerance to humans. Many studies have supported this expectation by demonstrating that urban birds have reduced flight initiation distance (FID = predator-prey distance when escape by the prey begins) than rural birds. Here we advanced this approach and, for the first time, assessed how 32 species of birds, found in 92 paired urban-rural populations, along a 3,900 km latitudinal gradient across Europe, changed their predation risk assessment and escape strategy as a function of living in urban areas. We found that urban birds took longer than rural birds to be alerted to human approaches, and urban birds tolerated closer human approach than rural birds. While both rural and urban populations take longer to be aware of an approaching human as latitude increased, this behavioral change with latitude is more intense in urban birds (for a given unit of latitude, urban birds increased their distance more than rural birds). We also found that as mean alert distance was shorter, urban birds escaped more quickly from approaching humans, but there was no such a relationship in rural populations. Although both rural and urban populations tended to escape more quickly as latitude increased, urban birds delayed their escape more at low latitudes when compared with rural birds. These results suggest that urban birds in Europe live under lower predation risk than their rural counterparts. Furthermore, the patterns found in our study indicate that birds prioritize the reduction of on-going monitoring costs when predation risk is low. We conclude that splitting escape variables into constituent components may provide additional and complementary information on the underlying causes of escape. This new approach is essential for understanding, predicting, and managing wildlife in a rapidly urbanizing world.

Using nature elements in mobile AR for education with children

Abstract: We present a concept, prototype and in-the-wild evaluation of a mobile augmented reality (AR) application in which physical items from nature are used as AR markers. By blending the physical and digital, AR technology has the potential to create an enhanced learning experience compared to paper-based solutions and conventional mobile applications. Our prototype, an application running on a tablet computer, uses natural markers such as leaves and pinecones in a game-like nature quiz. The system was evaluated using interviews with and observations of 6- to 12-year-old children (n=11) who played the game as well as focus group discussions with play club counsellors (n=4) and primary school teachers (n=7). Our salient findings suggest that the concept has sound potential in its mixture of physical activity and educational elements in an outdoor context. In particular, teachers found the use of natural objects to be an appealing approach and a factor contributing to the learning experience.

Background invertebrate herbivory on dwarf birch (Betula glandulosa-nana complex) increases with temperature and precipitation across the tundra biome

Abstract: Chronic, low intensity herbivory by invertebrates, termed background herbivory, has been understudied in tundra, yet its impacts are likely to increase in a warmer Arctic. The magnitude of these changes is however hard to predict as we know little about the drivers of current levels of invertebrate herbivory in tundra. We assessed the intensity of invertebrate herbivory on a common tundra plant, the dwarf birch (Betula glandulosa-nana complex), and investigated its relationship to latitude and climate across the tundra biome. Leaf damage by defoliating, mining and gall-forming invertebrates was measured in samples collected from 192 sites at 56 locations. Our results indicate that invertebrate herbivory is nearly ubiquitous across the tundra biome but occurs at low intensity. On average, invertebrates damaged 11.2% of the leaves and removed 1.4% of total leaf area. The damage was mainly caused by external leaf feeders, and most damaged leaves were only slightly affected (12% leaf area lost). Foliar damage was consistently positively correlated with mid-summer (July) temperature and, to a lesser extent, precipitation in the year of data collection, irrespective of latitude. Our models predict that, on average, foliar losses to invertebrates on dwarf birch are likely to increase by 6–7% over the current levels with a 1 °C increase in summer temperatures. Our results show that invertebrate herbivory on dwarf birch is small in magnitude but given its prevalence and dependence on climatic variables, background invertebrate herbivory should be included in predictions of climate change impacts on tundra ecosystems.

Response to marine cloud brightening in a multi-model ensemble

Abstract: . Here we show results from Earth system model simulations from the marine cloud brightening experiment G4cdnc of the Geoengineering Model Intercomparison Project (GeoMIP). The nine contributing models prescribe a 50 % increase in the cloud droplet number concentration (CDNC) of low clouds over the global oceans in an experiment dubbed G4cdnc, with the purpose of counteracting the radiative forcing due to anthropogenic greenhouse gases under the RCP4.5 scenario. The model ensemble median effective radiative forcing (ERF) amounts to −1.9 W m−2, with a substantial inter-model spread of −0.6 to −2.5 W m−2. The large spread is partly related to the considerable differences in clouds and their representation between the models, with an underestimation of low clouds in several of the models. All models predict a statistically significant temperature decrease with a median of (for years 2020–2069) −0.96 [−0.17 to −1.21] K relative to the RCP4.5 scenario, with particularly strong cooling over low-latitude continents. Globally averaged there is a weak but significant precipitation decrease of −2.35 [−0.57 to −2.96] % due to a colder climate, but at low latitudes there is a 1.19 % increase over land. This increase is part of a circulation change where a strong negative top-of-atmosphere (TOA) shortwave forcing over subtropical oceans, caused by increased albedo associated with the increasing CDNC, is compensated for by rising motion and positive TOA longwave signals over adjacent land regions.

Investigating drone motion as pedestrian guidance

Abstract: Flying drones have the potential to act as navigation guides for pedestrians, providing more direct guidance than the use of handheld devices. Rather than equipping a drone with a display or indicators, we explore the potential for the drone's movements to communicate the route to the walker. For example, should the drone maintain a constant distance a few meters in front of the pedestrian, or should it position itself further along the navigation route, acting as a beacon to walk towards? We created a set of flying drone gestures and evaluated them in an online survey (n = 100) and an in-the-wild user test (n = 10) where participants were guided on a walking route by a flying drone. As a result, we propose an initial set of drone gestures for pedestrian navigation and provide further design recommendations.

Student-generated instructional videos facilitate learning through positive emotions

Abstract: The central focus of this study is a learning method in which university students produce instructional videos about the content matter as part of their learning process, combined with other learning assignments. The rationale for this is to promote a more multimodal pedagogy, and to provide students opportunities for a more learner-centred, motivating, active, engaging and productive role in their learning process. As such we designed a ‘video course’ where the students needed to produce an instructional video which could be used for university teaching. In addition to producing the video, the students needed to write a literature review of the topic of the video and a learning journal. At the end of the course the students filled a questionnaire regarding their learning and emotions during the project. Based on the students’ subjective answers, it appeared that producing a video, combined with writing the literature review can be an efficient way of learning. Most students found the project emot...

Ice shelf fracture parameterization in an ice sheet model

Abstract: . Floating ice shelves exert a stabilizing force onto the inland ice sheet. However, this buttressing effect is diminished by the fracture process, which on large scales effectively softens the ice, accelerating its flow, increasing calving, and potentially leading to ice shelf breakup. We add a continuum damage model (CDM) to the BISICLES ice sheet model, which is intended to model the localized opening of crevasses under stress, the transport of those crevasses through the ice sheet, and the coupling between crevasse depth and the ice flow field and to carry out idealized numerical experiments examining the broad impact on large-scale ice sheet and shelf dynamics. In each case we see a complex pattern of damage evolve over time, with an eventual loss of buttressing approximately equivalent to halving the thickness of the ice shelf. We find that it is possible to achieve a similar ice flow pattern using a simple rule of thumb: introducing an enhancement factor ∼ 10 everywhere in the model domain. However, spatially varying damage (or equivalently, enhancement factor) fields set at the start of prognostic calculations to match velocity observations, as is widely done in ice sheet simulations, ought to evolve in time, or grounding line retreat can be slowed by an order of magnitude.

Human–animal agency in reindeer management: Sámi herders’ perspectives on vegetation dynamics under climate change

Abstract: Many primary livelihoods in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions experience accelerating effects of environmental change. The often close connection between indigenous peoples and their respective territo ...

Tracing the 'grey literature' of poster presentations: a mapping review.

Abstract: Background Posters are a popular way of presenting information at conferences. However, little research has been conducted into their development, and the patterns and extent of their use are unclear. Objectives A mapping review was performed to chart the development and utilisation of the poster medium, and to highlight the main literature themes and contributions. Methods A search for the term ‘poster presentation’ was conducted simultaneously in 249 databases. Results were categorised by discipline and analysed by decade. The results were used to form an informetric-based mapping review. Results (i) Medicine and health care disciplines are the predominant poster users and since 1990 have accounted for 68–75% of the overall published data. (ii) Over 99% of the returns led only to abstract or title citations for conference posters. (iii) Poster presentations offer much potentially useful information, but remain difficult to access. Conclusions If the aim of poster presentation is to share and discuss information with others, then the limitations of poster abstracts and questions raised in the retrieved literature suggest that further efforts are required to make this more effective. Library and information specialists of all disciplines are likely to play a key role in such developments, and especially those from the medicine and health care disciplines which feature so prominently.

A Design Space for External Displays on Cars

Abstract: The exterior surfaces of cars provide so far unutilized opportunities for information display. The exploitation of this space is enabled by current advances in display technologies combined with increased sensor integration, computing power, and connectivity in vehicles. With this motivation, we present a framework, mapping the design space for external vehicle displays. The audience for the displayed information may be other road users, pedestrians, or autonomous systems. This design direction is particularly interesting in the future, as the current direction towards driverless vehicles may be an enabler for increased separation, redesign, and repurposing of vehicle interior and exterior surfaces.

Disentangling the coupling between sea ice and tundra productivity in Svalbard.

Abstract: The rapid decline in Arctic sea ice poses urgent questions concerning its ecological effects, such as on tundra terrestrial productivity. However, reported sea ice/terrestrial productivity linkages have seldom been constrained, and the mechanism governing them remains elusive, with a diversity of spatial scales and metrics proposed, at times in contradiction to each other. In this study, we use spatially explicit remotely sensed sea ice concentration and high-resolution terrestrial productivity estimates (Normalised Difference Vegetation Index, NDVI) across the Svalbard Archipelago to describe local/sub-regional and large-scale components of sea ice/terrestrial productivity coupling. Whereas the local/sub-regional component is attributed to sea breeze (cold air advection from ice-covered ocean onto adjacent land during the growing season), the large-scale component might reflect co-variability of sea ice and tundra productivity due to a common forcing, such as large-scale atmospheric circulation (North Atlantic Oscillation, NAO). Our study clarifies the range of mechanisms in sea ice/terrestrial productivity coupling, allowing the generation of testable hypotheses about its past, present, and future dynamics across the Arctic.

Demand for downhill skiing in subarctic climates

Abstract: This paper investigates the determinants of ski lift revenues between 1998/1999 and 2014/2015 in 20 ski areas in Finland by differentiating among winter climate conditions. Results based on dynamic panel data estimations reveal that revenues depend positively on real GDP, snow depth, and an early Easter, and negatively on relative ski lift ticket prices. The magnitude of the link between ski lift revenues and snow depth is large, but ski areas in northern Finland are less sensitive to variations in natural snow depth than those in southern or central Finland. Winter seasons with low snowfall (i.e. between 30% and 75% below average) lead to a reduction of 23% in ski lift revenues in southern Finland, of 8% in central Finland, and of 5% in northern Finland. A high amount of natural snowfall early in the winter also has a positive impact on revenues for the overall season. Despite strong investments in snowmaking facilities, even ski areas at the highest northern latitudes are not insensitive to vari...

Simulating the roles of crevasse routing of surface water and basal friction on the surge evolution of Basin 3, Austfonna ice cap

Abstract: . The marine-terminating outlet in Basin 3, Austfonna ice cap, has been accelerating since the mid-1990s. Stepwise multi-annual acceleration associated with seasonal summer speed-up events was observed before the outlet entered the basin-wide surge in autumn 2012. We used multiple numerical models to explore hydrologic activation mechanisms for the surge behaviour. A continuum ice dynamic model was used to invert basal friction coefficient distributions using the control method and observed surface velocity data between April 2012 and July 2014. This has provided input to a discrete element model capable of simulating individual crevasses, with the aim of finding locations where meltwater entered the glacier during the summer and reached the bed. The possible flow paths of surface meltwater reaching the glacier bed as well as those of meltwater produced at the bed were calculated according to the gradient of the hydraulic potential. The inverted friction coefficients show the “unplugging” of the stagnant ice front and expansion of low-friction regions before the surge reached its peak velocity in January 2013. Crevasse distribution reflects the basal friction pattern to a high degree. The meltwater reaches the bed through the crevasses located above the margins of the subglacial valley and the basal melt that is generated mainly by frictional heating flows either to the fast-flowing units or potentially accumulates in an overdeepened region. Based on these results, the mechanisms facilitated by basal meltwater production, crevasse opening and the routing of meltwater to the bed are discussed for the surge in Basin 3.

Groupism and the politics of indigeneity: A case study on the Sámi debate in Finland:

Abstract: The article addresses the problems of defining an indigenous people by deconstructing the Sami debate in Finland, which has escalated with the government’s commitment to ratify ILO Convention No. 169. We argue that the ethnopolitical conflict engendered by this commitment is a consequence of groupism, by which, following Rogers Brubaker, we mean the tendency to take discrete groups as chief protagonists of social conflicts, the tendency to treat ethnic groups, nations and races as substantial entities and the tendency to reify such groups as if they were unitary collective actors. The aim of the article is to deconstruct groupist thinking related to indigenous rights by analytically separating the concepts of group and category. This allows us to deconstruct the ethnicised conflict and analyse what kinds of political, social and cultural aspects are involved in it. We conclude that indigeneity is not an ethnocultural, objectively existing fact, but rather a frame of political requirements.

Challenges that mining companies face in gaining and maintaining a social license to operate in Finnish Lapland

Abstract: The Social License to Operate (SLO) concept is significant precisely because it is bringing social issues and local communities to the forefront of the mining discourse. Although the concept of SLO has taken root in Lapland, and there are success stories of its implementation, challenges to gaining and maintaining it still remain. For example, to gain SLO, when speaking about community acceptance, the “community” must be clearly defined, as there may be heterogeneous groups claiming to be “locals,” such as out-migrated descendants or summer-cottage owners. Historical experience poses another challenge as residents remember their inability to affect the outcome of large-scale public works projects that exploited natural resources after the Second World War. That history carries over into present situations when new mining projects are proposed. But, challenges also provide opportunities for learning and for new solutions, and the good practices espoused by the mining companies reveal an adaptive attitude and a responsiveness to local community concerns.

Yesterday's Memories, Today's Discourses: The Struggle of the Russian Sámi to Construct a Meaningful Past

Abstract: When new discourses appear, they can cause a certain pressure to search for new meaning of past actions and therefore even change recollection. During a period of discursive transition, these processes of memory evolution can cause serious social rifts. These insights from oral history theories are applied in this paper to the Sámi people in Russia, who all too often are seen by outsiders as a homogeneous community. I seek to correct this distorted image by analyzing the several interconnected rifts crisscrossing the Russian Sámi society. The following social fault lines are identified: the generational, the gender, the siyt, and the Lovozero- and-the-rest rifts, as well as a rift of worldviews, which I describe through two conceptual poles called “activists” and “sovkhoists.” Thus, the article contributes to raising awareness about the potentially differing interests of the individuals who constitute what is usually called the Russian Sámi “community” and increasing the critical distance of outsiders towards generalizing claims about “the” Russian Sámi.

Succeeding Alone and Together - University Students’ Perceptions of Caring Online Teaching

Abstract: Studying and learning means adaptation of new information, skills, and values. Students’ previous knowledge and experiences direct their studies, and in the best case, these experiences are positive. Learning is always a social process, too. How do new learning environments at universities influence students’ individuality and communality? Are students left alone and to work just with their computers? What kinds of experiences do students have of online teaching? In this study, these questions were asked from students studying at a Finnish university. Based on their perceptions, four features of an ideal online teaching and learning environment were found. Online solutions, when based on caring teaching, can provide new positive experiences of learning and teaching to teachers and students.

Climate citizenship in the European union: environmental citizenship as an analytical concept

Abstract: The concept of environmental citizenship is employed as an analytical tool to determine what kind of climate citizenship(s) the citizen-directed material in the European Commission’s climate change...

Grazing decreases N partitioning among coexisting plant species

Abstract: 1. Herbivores play a key role in shaping ecosystem structure and functions by influencing plant and microbial community composition and nutrient cycling.2. This study investigated the long-term eff ...

An Analysis of the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679

Abstract: On the 27th April 2016, the REGULATION (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) was adopted by the Member States of the EU with the plan of achieving harmonization and uniformity in the applicable data protection rules in Member States. This Regulation did introduce new provisions into the body of laws on data protection and this could be to some extent knotty owing to their relative novelty. This paper carries out an analysis of key provisions of the said Regulation with the aim of examining, as much as possible, the possible expectations under the said regulation.

Hierarchies of knowledge: Analyzing inequalities within the social work ethnographic research process as ethical notions in knowledge production

Abstract: This article explores the link between ethical issues and inequalities in social work, ethnographic research processes. It suggests that, although the issue of inequality in social work research ha...

From universalism to selectivity? The background, discourses and ideas of recent early childhood education and care reforms in Finland

Abstract: Universal public childcare for children under seven has been central in Finland since the mid-1990s, capacitating both gender equality and children’s human capital and wellbeing. In 2015, as a further step in the development of this system, early learning and childhood pedagogy was strengthened through the early childhood education and care (ECEC) reform (statute 580/2015). Some months later, however, the right to full-day ECEC was restricted to children with employed parents (statute 108/2016). This paper discusses the objectives, framing and ideational drivers of these reforms on the basis of government bills and parliamentary debates. We argue that the development reflects a shift in emphasis from a universal and child-oriented social mobility ECEC rationale to a more austere rationale focussing on parents’ and notably mothers’ employment. We believe that the reforms will have negative effects on the quality of ECEC and increase inequalities in children’s human capital and learning.

The Rights and Role of Indigenous Women in Climate Change Regime

Abstract: The Rights and Role of Indigenous Women in The Climate Change Regime Climate change has direct and indirect consequences for individuals and their human rights (McInerney-Lankford et al. 2011). With the Arctic warming at twice the global rate, its inhabitants already experience many of these challenges. Marginalized groups, like women and indigenous peoples, are particularly vulnerable, with existing research providing evidence of ongoing and potential threats to their roles in community adaptation and in shaping change (Cameron 2011, Arctic Resilience Report 2016). While women’s rights are formally codified as human rights under the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and indigenous peoples’ human rights are codified and recognized in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), indigenous women’s rights are often neglected at both the international and local level. In this article, we apply an intersectional lens to demonstrate that indigenous and non-indigenous women are agents of change. In doing so, we examine how a human rights based approach might ensure indigenous women’s participatory role and legal status in the international climate change regime, as well as its related programs.

Professionals’ critical positionings of women as help-seekers: Finnish women’s narratives of help-seeking during post-separation stalking

Abstract: The study explores how women victims of post-separation stalking perceive the positions ascribed to them in the help-seeking process by social workers and other professionals. Applying positioning theory, the research identifies ‘critical’ positionings, namely, those hindering the women in seeking help. The ultimate aim of the inquiry is to inform professional practices by identifying how professionals position victims of stalking and the risks of misinterpretation this process entails. The data comprise narratives of 15 Finnish female victims of stalking, who were interviewed either individually or together with a professional (social worker, shelter worker or therapist) who had worked with them. A total of five such professionals participated in conducting the interviews. The analysis of the women’s perceptions posits four critical positionings: Professionals viewed them as (1) alienating parents, (2) unprotective mothers, (3) overcautious women and/or (4) implausible victims. These determinations are s...

Dispositional optimism as predictor of outcome in short- and long-term psychotherapy

Abstract: Objectives Dispositional optimism predicts various beneficial outcomes in somatic health and treatment, but has been little studied in psychotherapy. This study investigated whether an optimistic disposition differentially predicts patients’ ability to benefit from short-term versus long-term psychotherapy. Design A total of 326 adult outpatients with mood and/or anxiety disorder were randomized into short-term (solution-focused or short-term psychodynamic) or long-term psychodynamic therapy and followed up for 3 years. Methods Dispositional optimism was assessed by patients at baseline with the self-rated Life Orientation Test (LOT) questionnaire. Outcome was assessed at baseline and seven times during the follow-up, in terms of depressive (BDI, HDRS), anxiety (SCL-90-ANX, HARS), and general psychiatric symptoms (SCL-90-GSI), all seven follow-up points including patients’ self-reports and three including interview-based measures. Results Lower dispositional optimism predicted faster symptom reduction in short-term than in long-term psychotherapy. Higher optimism predicted equally rapid and eventually greater benefits in long-term, as compared to short-term, psychotherapy. Conclusions Weaker optimism appeared to predict sustenance of problems early in long-term therapy. Stronger optimism seems to best facilitate engaging in and benefiting from a long-term therapy process. Closer research might clarify the psychological processes responsible for these effects and help fine-tune both briefer and longer interventions to optimize treatment effectiveness for particular patients and their psychological qualities. Practitioner points Weaker dispositional optimism does not appear to inhibit brief therapy from effecting symptomatic recovery. Patients with weaker optimism do not seem to gain added benefits from long-term therapy, but instead may be susceptible to prolonged psychiatric symptoms in the early stages of long-term therapy.

Intersectionality in Finnish adult education research: insights from the journal Aikuiskasvatus 2010–2016

Abstract: The article studies intersectionality in Finnish research on adult education. Specifically, we investigate the kinds of discussions on differences and their relations that are going on in such research. To this end we seek to identify intersectional approaches in the articles published in the journal Aikuiskasvatus between 2010 and 2016, a period marked by an increase in multiculturalism and social division as well as in gendered and sexual diversity in Finnish society. We understand intersectional differences as performative processes, not stable essences. Our study indicates that only few articles analysed intersectional differences explicitly. Implicitly recognised differences were mostly seen as givens. Categories such as ethnicity and race were found to be lacking in the data, but age, gender, social class, education, occupation and learning difficulties were discussed.