Biocontrol of Pests on Plant Crops in Denmark: Present Status and Future Potential

In this review, the status of biocontrol in plant crops in Denmark is analysed and factors governing the present use and future potential are described. In glasshouse vegetables, biocontrol is the dominant method to control pests while it is much less used in glasshouse ornamentals. On outdoor crops, the use of biocontrol is negligible. The main factors determining future prospects include: research, political initiatives, the scale of organic farming, the interest of companies marketing and advising on biocontrol, and public opinion. Good communication between scientists, advisers, growers, government authorities and the public has occurred for many years in Denmark, and has been essential for the successful implementation of biocontrol in glasshouses. Future development of microbial control (to which some organic growers and some members of the public show concerns) will require both research and a debate among the partners, particularly about environmental safety.     

Development and implementation of a high nature value (HNV) farming indicator for Denmark

During the latest decades, conservation awareness have increased and conservation of biodiversity is no longer an agenda restricted to pristine natural areas of high value but is being integrated in cultivated landscapes characterized by increasing fragmentation and anthropogenic pressures. Conservation of species has become relevant even in agricultural areas especially in countries heavily influenced by intensive farming and ubiquitous infrastructure. Based on the UN biodiversity convention all EU membership countries are obliged to develop a high nature value (HNV) farming indicator. The purpose of such an indicator is to provide a basis for informed decisions in prioritizing agricultural subsidies allocating these to high nature value areas. Here, the development of a national HNV farming indicator for Denmark is presented and its application in the Danish government-controlled agricultural subsidy system is outlined. The Danish HNV farming indicator is based on landscape structural parameters, known occurrences of natural and semi-natural habitats, current land use and the distributions of rare and threatened species. It covers all agricultural areas as well as Natura 2000 areas and nationally protected sites in Denmark, ranking them on a 0–13 point scale from low to high nature value according to their estimated value for threatened and rare biodiversity. The Danish government recognizes areas reaching at least 5 points as HNV farming areas eligible to subsidy and from 2015 and onwards the HNV farming indicator will be implemented for allocating part of the agricultural subsidies under the Rural Development Program in Denmark. The indicator will be updated annually to include the growing knowledge of species occurrence and land use changes.     

Less government intervention in biodiversity management: risks and opportunities

In a changing global environment, with increasing pressure on ecosystem goods and services, biodiversity conservation is likely to become increasingly important. However, with the current global financial crisis, governments are increasingly trying to stabilise economies through spending cuts aiming to reduce national deficits. Within such an economic climate, the devolution of governance through public participation is an intrinsically appealing concept. We outline a number of challenges that explain why increased participation in biodiversity management has been and may continue to be problematic. Using as a case study the local stakeholder-driven Moray Firth Seal Management Plan in Scotland, we identify four key conditions that were crucial to the successful participatory management of a biodiversity conflict: a local champion, the emergence of a crisis point, the involvement of decision-makers, and long-term financial and institutional support. Three of the four conditions point to the role of direct government involvement, highlighting the risk of devolving responsibility for biodiversity conflict management to local communities. We argue that without an informed debate, the move towards a more participatory approach could pose a danger to hard-won policy gains in relation to public participation, biodiversity conservation and conflict management.     

Digital Unbounding of the Polling Booth: Ethnography in Small Places

This article discusses how a small place – the polling booth – can be bounded as an ethnographic site with reference to the political and democratic event that it is supposed to facilitate. Concerns about the socio-material bounding of the booth form the main empirical case – a debate, which recently occurred in Denmark when the government proposed to digitalise voting. Digitalisation here became a controversy because of the potential illicit influences that computer experts argued would enter the polling booth and challenge the secrecy and the privacy of the vote, the transparency of the electoral process, and thus the electoral enactment of democracy itself. In this way the polling booth potentially works as an ethnographic entry point for following shifts in contemporary debates.     

Prejudice and tolerance in a period of increasing ethnic diversity and growing unemployment: Denmark since 1970

Abstract

Since the end of the 1960s Denmark, once an ethnically homogeneous country, has become more heterogeneous as a result of immigration by foreign workers and refugees. The question is how has this development influenced the attitudes in Denmark towards immigrants? The saliency of the immigrant issue has certainly grown, but contrary to expectations, the level of ethnocentrism has changed very little. If anything, the Danish population has become less prejudiced and more tolerant during the last thirty years. This conclusion, based on a number of national surveys, is even more conspicuous as the level of unemployment has increased in the same period.     

False alarms, real challenges--one university's communication response to the 2001 anthrax crisis

Considerable research exists on how government agencies at the federal, state, and local levels communicated during the fall 2001 anthrax attacks. However, there is little research on how other institutions handled this crisis, in terms of their response to potential anthrax contamination (aka "white powder scares") and their approach to disseminating important health and safety information. In this article, we investigate a major university's communication response to the anthrax crisis. First, we describe its communication experiences relating to a large white powder scare that occurred in October 2001. Second, we describe the university's broader communication efforts in terms of several important elements of risk communication research, including influence of source attributes, key messages, preferred channels, responses to information requests, and organizational influences. This study underlines that an institution does not have to be directly affected by a crisis to find itself on the communication "front lines." Moreover, other institutions may find it useful to learn from the experiences of this university, so that they may communicate more effectively during future crises.     

Challenging the Woodfuel Crisis in West African Woodlands

Fear of an upcoming woodfuel crisis caused by increasing woodfuel consumption in Bamako has had great influence on forestry policies aiming to reduce the impacts of urban woodfuel consumption. During the last 20 years, energy gap analyses—the relationship between supply and demand of woodfuels—have been produced by the government of Mali to prove the impacts of woodfuel consumption in Bamako on surrounding woodlands. This study evaluates the methodology and data used to describe this woodfuel crisis through a comparison with regional and historical data. The results of the energy gap analyses are challenged by using different estimates of woody resource availability and woodfuel consumption to create best and worst case scenarios. These show either high surpluses or high deficits with a difference of 2.7 million tons/yr. The woodfuel system of Bamako is highly dynamic and it is very difficult to evaluate its sustainability using a simple methodology such as the energy gap analysis. Trends over the last 20 years show a highly efficient woodfuel system that has adapted to changing circumstances, ensuring a continued affordable woodfuel supply for the urban residents. Better data on the productivity of West African woodlands and urban consumption are needed to avoid misinterpretations of the impacts of woodfuel harvesting on woody resources.     

生物医药产业发展态势与对策

当今许多国家政府已经把生物医药产业作为新的经济增长点来培育,通过采取不同政策和措施加速生物医药产业的发展。在我国政府相关利好政策的鼓励刺激和资金扶持下,我国生物医药产业有望加快走出经济危机的低谷,迎来快速发展期;在政府的引导下,构建生物产业技术创新战略联盟,推进资源整合和优势互补;多个高科技生物医药产业园区建设蓬勃,形成和集聚了一批具有较强实力的创新型企业,有力地带动了全国生物医药产业的发展和技术创新能力的提高。我国生物医药产业发展的重点要在产学研结合、前沿生物技术方面、市场准入政策和规范市场竞争秩序,以及高素质人才队伍的建设方面有所突破。根据市场导向,国家出台和制定相应的产业发展规划和政策,鼓励生物产业发展,加快国家生物医药产业基地建设;制定有关优惠政策,鼓励生物技术企业多种渠道和形式解产业发展资金问题;建立生物医药产业资源共享的机制,加强沟通与公共平台建设;发挥龙头企业的作用,支持大企业的收购兼并;加强相关法律法规建设,完善生物安全法和知识产权制度等一些措施来应对我国生物产业的快速发展。     

Iodine status in Danish pregnant and breastfeeding women including studies of some challenges in urinary iodine status evaluation

Denmark was previously iodine deficient with regional differences. Moderate iodine deficiency appeared in West Denmark and mild iodine deficiency in East Denmark and also Danish pregnant and breastfeeding women suffered from iodine deficiency. The Danish mandatory iodine fortification of salt was introduced in the year 2000 and has increased iodine intake in the Danish population. However, median urinary iodine concentration in the general population and in pregnant and breastfeeding women is still below the level recommended, corresponding to mild iodine deficiency. Certain characteristics may challenge the evaluation of urinary iodine status in pregnancy and during breastfeeding. This review also addresses methodological challenges related to spot urine sampling conditions and the use of iodine supplement and discusses the use of non-pregnant population groups as a proxy for iodine intake in pregnant women.     

Tracing the introduction history of a potentially invasive ornamental shrub: variation in frost hardiness and climate change

Nursery catalogues have recently been used as a method for tracing the introduction history of invasive plants. Information on species, cultivars, plant size and price can help quantify historical changes in propagule pressure. Propagule pressure of invasive ornamentals has to be combined with climatic data to understand shifting distribution patterns of (potentially) invasive plants. In this study the spread of Ilex aquifolium L. cultivars was investigated at the edge of its distribution margin in Denmark. Danish nursery catalogues from 1841–2007 were studied to 1) reconstruct the introduction history of potentially invasive ornamental genotypes of I. aquifolium in Denmark; 2) explore potential factors that could explain naturalization of the species, i.e. nursery location, plant size, hardiness, price and year; 3) investigate whether or not marketing has been more common inside the historical range of the species in western Denmark; and 4) test the hypothesis that marketing of this frost‐sensitive species has increased parallel with higher temperatures in the past 100 years. Price, plant size, hardiness, location, and year were recorded for a total of 3213 entries. Through time, increasing prices and the availability of frost‐hardy cultivars were the most significant factors contributing to the sale of I. aquifolium in Denmark. The number of nurseries per area, and hence propagule pressure, was higher in eastern Denmark, outside the natural range of the species. The proportion of very frost‐hardy cultivars increased with milder winter temperatures. The main conclusion from this combined nursery catalogue and climate study are that nurseries in an indirect way play an important role in increasing the propagule pressure of potentially invasive ornamentals and thus can affect distribution of native species.     

基于因子分析法的医患信任危机成因研究

目的 探讨导致医患信任危机的多维影响因素与解决策略。方法 运用文献研究、专家咨询、现场调查及因子分析的方法,寻找对医患关系信任构成重要影响的潜在公因子,分析医患信任危机的成因。结果 医疗服务因子、医疗纠纷调解与行业监管因子、社会制度因素及文化价值因子、医患沟通因子是驱动医患信任危机形成的主因。结论 医患信任危机的形成受到医疗服务过程、外部社会制度及文化观念、行业监管及医患沟通和互动等多重因素的影响,需要政府、医疗机构和全社会共同努力,消解医患信任危机的坚冰,促进医患关系修复与和谐。     

Broad-scale patterns of abundance of non-indigenous soft-bottom invertebrates in Denmark

Quantifying the broad-scale distribution and abundance of non-indigenous species (NIS) is necessary to provide accurate estimations on impacts of invasions, to prioritize research, and to guide national management. Sediment grab-sampling is a standardized method for monitoring marine benthos. In Denmark, ~45,000 grab-samples were collected from 1970 to 2005. Using these samples, we compared densities of NIS and native species among 27 broad spatio-temporal groupings. Eight known NIS and one ‘cryptogenic species’ (the polychaete Neanthes succinea) were found in the samples. Most were present in low abundance, but the bivalve Mya arenaria, likely introduced by the vikings from North America, was particularly abundant. M. arenaria was found in ca. 20% of all samples and was among the 10 most common species in all of Denmark. M. arenaria’s high abundance, high filtration capacity and importance in food-web interactions, suggest that this species has dramatically impacted shallow coastal ecosystems in Denmark. The polychaete Marenzelleria viridis, the gastropod Potamopyrgus antipodarum and N. succinea were also widespread and abundant, and they too are likely to have had broad-scale impacts. In conclusion, 28% of grab-samples collected in Denmark over 35 years were affected by some degree of NIS or cryptogenic species, suggesting that centuries of human-mediated transfer of organisms has had a profound impact on the ecology of soft-bottom systems in Denmark.     

High prevalence of Aleutian mink disease virus in free-ranging mink on a remote Danish island

Aleutian mink disease virus (AMDV) causes severe disease in farmed mink (Neovison vison) worldwide. In Denmark, AMDV in farmed mink has been confined to the northern part of the mainland since 2002. From 1998 to 2009, samples from 396 free-ranging mink were collected from mainland Denmark, and a low AMDV antibody prevalence (3% of 296) was found using countercurrent immune electrophoresis. However, on the island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea, a high prevalence (45% of 142 mink) was detected in the free-ranging mink. Aleutian mink disease virus was detected by polymerase chain reaction in 32 of 49 antibody-positive free-ranging mink on Bornholm, but not in mink collected from other parts of Denmark. Sequence analysis of 370 base pairs of the nonstructural gene of the AMDV of 17 samples revealed two clusters with closest similarity to Swedish AMDV strains.     

The phytogeography of Denmark revisited

Patterns of vascular plant diversity in Denmark are examined, based on the most recently published Danish Flora. The highest diversity is found on the major isles of Sjælland, Møn, Falster and Bornholm, but many rare taxa occur in Jylland. Two different cluster analyses suggest a division of Denmark into six phytogeographical regions, which only partly supports earlier, more subjective divisions of Denmark. Our results suggest that north- and northwestern Jylland and the isles of Læsø and Anholt belong to the boreo-nemoral phytogeographical region, due to their high number of northern taxa, which clearly differentiate them from the rest of Denmark, despite the lack of typical boreo-nemoral tree species, such as Pinus sylvestris.Because the tree component of vegetation often has been changed by man, the classical division of Scandinavia based on a few woody species is inappropriate. We conclude that tree-species oriented approaches are invalid for phytogeographical classifications.Classification, based on the whole flora, and if possible also involving environmental information, is likely to be more successful and should be addressed in future phytogeographical studies.     

AIDS, gays, and state coercion

Mohr argues that coercive government policies in response to the AIDS crisis are unjustified and pose a serious threat to the rights of homosexuals. AIDS presently can be transmitted only to those whose actions place them at risk. Paternalistic state coercion is warranted only when a person has diminished capacity or when necessary to prevent someone from ceasing to be an independent agent. Furthermore, an individual may regard sex as a central value. Finally, using public health as a rationale for closing bathhouses or otherwise regulating sexual behavior is a step toward totalitarianism, because coercion is unwarranted when protection from a disease can be achieved by individual action and because the public good served by reducing the size of the pool of AIDS-exposed people is outweighed by the unjust discrimination involved in using coercive measures that affect only certain individuals.     

The "Hawaiian Cultural Revolution": Some Political and Economic Considerations

Acculturation, culture fatigue, and cultural evolution have all been offered as explanations of the Hawaiian Cultural Revolution. All of these are concerned with cultural processes. The relevant historical and ethnographic data on this unique event are summarized here, and a different interpretation of them is offered. This interpretation is that the events that precipitated the so-called Cultural Revolution can also be regarded as political responses deliberately made by the legitimate government of Hawaii to alleviate a severe political and economic crisis.     

Energy and the structure of social institutions

The energy crisis is an aspect of the larger approaching crisis of expanding industrial society in a world in which certain critical parameters are finite. This megacrisis involves the role of growth in population, production, consumption, and waste. The insitutions of modern industrial society have been better adapted to promote this growth than to control or direct it. Even in societies where mechanisms of state planning should, in theory, enable government to deal rationally with the growth problem, ideological commitments to general growth have, in effect, prevented the problem from being addressed. In the United States, the pervasive commitment to growth has been built into institutional arrangements to a degree that handicaps efforts to consider the energy problem in its full context. Energy policy therefore tends to be reactive to events rather than the result of a comprehensive long-range assessment of needs and priorities. Presented at the 140th Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Session on Energy and Society, San Francisco Hilton Hotel, February 24 to March 2, 1974. Revised and extended for publication inHuman Ecology. Arthur F. Bentley Professor of Political Science and Professor of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.     

The prevalent use of contraception among teenagers in Denmark and the corresponding low pregnancy rate

In Denmark the number of births and induced abortions among teenagers has reduced and teenage parenthood is now rare. This paper evaluates the correlation between this observed fertility and reported sexual and contraceptive behaviour. In 1989 a sample of 16-20-year-olds in Denmark was selected at random and personally interviewed about sexual and contraceptive behaviour. Ninety-five per cent of the young women who had experienced sexual intercourse used contraception at the most recent sexual intercourse. In order to support the validity of this finding a model was developed to estimate an expected number of conceptions in the age groups concerned. The model included both the information on coital frequency and use of contraception from the questionnaire and available efficacy rates on contraception. The estimates derived by the model were compared with the registered number of births and induced abortions derived from public registers. The analysis revealed a high accordance between the estimated number of conceptions and the registered number of births and induced abortions for each age group. This underlines the validity of the data on sexual and contraceptive behaviour sampled among teenagers in Denmark. The findings indicate that contraceptive failure is a much greater problem than non-use of contraception for teenagers in Denmark.     

Politics of heredity--Germany 1900-1940, a brief overview

The paper gives a brief overview of the main stages of development of eugenics and race hygiene in Germany between 1900 and 1940. Two main stages can be differentiated: one, the formation of the eugenics movement and its development parallel to quantitative population policy before and after World War I, and the second beginning toward the end of the Weimar Republic (1919-1933) when the financial crisis of the public health system favored eugenic schemes implemented by an authoritarian government, such as the Nazi regime.     

Long-term succession in a Danish temperate deciduous forest

Forest successional trajectories covering the last 2000 yr from a mixed deciduous forest in Denmark show a gradual shift in dominance from Tilia cordata to Fagus sylvatica and a recent increase in total forest basal area since direct management ceased in 1948. The successions are reconstructed by combining a fifty-year record of direct tree observations with local pollen diagrams from Draved Forest, Denmark. Five of the seven successions record a heathland phase of Viking Age dating from 830 AD. The anthropogenic influence is considerable throughout the period of study even though Draved contains some of the most pristine forest stands in Denmark. Anthropogenic influence including felling masks the underlying natural dynamics, with the least disturbed sites showing the smallest compositional change. Some effects of former management, such as loss of Tilia cordata dominance, are irreversible. Artificial disturbance, particularly drainage, has accelerated and amplified the shift towards Fagus dominance that would have occurred on a smaller scale and at a slower rate in the absence of human intervention.