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Events in recent decades have placed climate change at the top of the political agenda. In Sweden,energy-intensive industries are responsible for a large proportion of greenhouse gas emissions and their ability toswitch to renewable energy sources could contribute to the transition to a decarbonised economy. Thisinterdisciplinary study has its starting point in three energy-intensive industries' opportunities to take part in thedevelopment towards increased refining and use of biomass. The study includes the pulp and paper industry, theiron and steel industry and the oil refining industry, each exemplified by a case company. It can be concludedthat there are several technological options in each industry. On the other hand, implementing one option forincreased use of biomass in each case company could demand up to 34% of the estimated increase in Swedishbiomass supply, in 2020. Additionally, in a longer time perspective none of the case companies believes that theamount of biomass in the Swedish industrial energy system have the possibility to increase significantly in the future.

There is an urgent need for radical transformations of unsustainable socio-technical systems, such as food, mobility, and housing. These transformations will not take place without new policies and research. In order to achieve these transitions, learning must be a central feature based on thorough evaluations of the actions taken. Evaluations have been conducted and studied for decades, but traditional evaluation approaches have largely been developed to produce knowledge for incremental changes, not for radical transformations. This article develops a framework for interdisciplinary evaluations targeting transformative changes toward a more sustainable society. The framework combines evaluation theory and practice with transition theory, sociology of science, policy analyses, and environmental psychology. While the primary purpose of the framework is to help design evaluations that would better enhance learning for transitions, it can also be used for systematic meta-evaluations of past evaluations.

Events in recent decades have placed climate change at the top of the political agenda. The European Union has assumed a vanguard role in global climate negotiations, pushing for ambitious international commitments. Furthermore, Sweden is positioning itself as a leader within the EU when it comes to setting the agenda for climate change. In Sweden, energy-intensive industries are responsible for a large proportion of greenhouse gas emissions and their ability to switch to a renewable energy source could contribute significantly to the transition to a decarbonised economy. This study analyses the role of three energy-intensive industries with regard to increased refining and use of biomass and will also take a glimpse into the future in an attempt to gain further insight into what will affect future developments in this area. The study is limited to the pulp and paper industry, the iron and steel industry and the oil refining industry as well as the EU legislation that affects these industries. For each industry the operations of the following case companies, Södra, SSAB and Preem AB, are analysed specifically and for each company one or two selected plants exemplify the outcome of the implementation of different technologies. This interdisciplinary study combines a range of methods taken from engineering and social sciences. The industries studied all have different preconditions for transformations and the technological options available diverge to a large extent. There are many options for the pulp and paper industry compared to the iron and steel industry and the oil refining industry. The most likely technological option for this sector is to utilise internal resources for conversion to energy or material products and export of excess energy. Options for the steel producer SSAB include the substitution of part of the coke in the blast furnace with biomass or refined biomass products such as syngas and biomethane and forming an industrial symbiotic partnership. There are several options for the oil refining industry to substitute fossil feedstocks without the need to modify the existing infrastructure. One option is hydrotreatment of bio-oil into green diesel, which will be implemented at the Preem refinery in Gothenburg. However, green production of transportation fuels and substitution of coke in the blast furnace require large amounts of biomass and since biomass is a limited resource this is likely to act as a barrier to the development of these technologies. Furthermore, it can be concluded that the companies studied could contribute significantly to the development of technologies that are in line with their core capabilities, while the development of technological options that require a change in their core capabilities is more limited. This discovery is further supported by the finding that the EU directives relevant to this report do not push industrial operators beyond efficiency measures along established technological lines. On the one hand, these legislative instruments, which are designed in the spirit of ecological modernisation, encourage the most cost-effective technologies and processes for the abatement of greenhouse gases relevant to each industry. On the other, they do not appear to be sufficient to raise the cost of carbon emissions and this contributes to a situation where incentives to make different biomass-based technologies economic are not present on the market. Over a longer time perspective none of the case companies believes that biomass will have increased significantly in the Swedish energy system by 2050. These case companies claim that biomass is too limited a resource and can only contribute in part to the necessary substitution of fossil fuels.

Wild geese are increasing in agricultural and urban settings across Europe, leading to widespread human – geese interactions. This study examined how the public's acceptance of geese (attitude and acceptance capacity) varied depending on place dimensions, interactions with geese in different settings (place-based experience), and psychological factors, including wildlife value orientations, beliefs about the ecosystem services and disservices geese provide, and emotions. A survey was conducted in two municipalities with large goose populations in Sweden; Kristianstad and Örebro (n = 898). Results revealed a favorable view of the occurrence of geese, although a substantial share believed the number of geese was too high. Place-based experiences of geese were correlated with acceptance (e.g., more experience on beaches was associated with a negative attitude) and the importance of psychological factors for acceptance was confirmed. The study highlights the need to consider the public's experiences of geese for sustainable goose management.

This study explores the association between ethnicity and poor self-reported health and psychological distress, sleeping difficulties, and use of psychotropic drugs among immigrant Kurdish men and native Swedish men, based on data from the first Swedish National Survey of Immigrants and the Swedish Level-of-Living Surveys collected in 1996 by Statistics Sweden. The age-adjusted odds of poor self-reported health and sleeping difficulties among Kurdish men was about 3.5 times higher than among Swedish men. The odds ratio decreased to 2.1 and 2.7 respectively in a model adjusted for age and the other explanatory variables. Yearning for the home country, perceived discrimination and unemployment in the host country seem to be possible explanations for the higher levels of distress among Kurdish immigrants to Sweden.

The objective of the study was to test whether live plants on computer workstations with and without window view had restorative effects. Guided by Stress Recovery Theory and Attention Restoration Theory a mixed randomized experiment was conducted exploring restorative effects of plants, including mediating effects of perceived fascination. Eighty-five participants carried out a 1-hr work session with repeated tasks demanding directed attention in an office with one of three interior conditions: live plants, inanimate objects and control, all with and without a window view. Plant presence led to greater perceived fascination, but perceived fascination was not related to either self-reported restoration or directed attention capacity. The presence of plants during work did not have superior restorative effects compared with inanimate objects, neither with nor without access to a window view. However, environmental enrichment with either plants or inanimate objects at the computer workstation seemed to provide a restorative potential, which should be investigated further.

In 2019–2020, Bangladesh imported 5.2 million metric tonnes of petroleum products, worth 2.5 billion USD, and 50% of the imports were consumed by the transportation sector. Having limited natural oil reserves and being heavily dependent on oil imports, the country is vulnerable to shocks in the international oil market, which can jeopardize its consistent economic growth. The Government announced a 5% blending of bioethanol with gasoline in 2017, with broken rice, maize, and molasses as the feedstocks, but sourcing biofuel from food crops can hamper the country's food security. This study explores second and third generation feedstocks e.g., organic plants, seeds, agricultural residues, and waste animal fat or skin that can be collected and processed for the extraction of biofuels. Technical potential of biofuel from the feedstocks is analysed which shows that Bangladesh has a potential to extract 44.4 million metric tonnes of bioethanol in a year from agricultural residues with rice residue having the highest potential (71%). Ground nut and rubber seeds can be major feedstocks for biodiesel production having a potential of 61,000 and 42,000 metric tonnes per year, respectively. Waste chicken skin can be another promising feedstock for the extraction of biodiesel. Biofuels extracted from these non-edible feedstocks and blended with existing transport fuels can lessen Bangladesh's import bills through a sustainable, environmentally friendly manner.

Introduction The provision of healthcare services is not dedicated to promoting maintenance of function and does not target frail older persons at high risk of the main causes of morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of a proactive medical and social intervention in comparison with conventional care on a group of persons aged 75 and older selected by statistical prediction. Methods and analysis In a pragmatic multicentre primary care setting (n=1600), a prediction model to find elderly (75+) persons at high risk of complex medical care or hospitalisation is used, followed by proactive medical and social care, in comparison with usual care. The study started in April 2017 with a run-in period until December 2017, followed by a 2-year continued intervention phase that will continue until the end of December 2019. The intervention includes several tools (multiprofessional team for rehabilitation, social support, medical care home visits and telephone support). Primary outcome measures are healthcare cost, number of hospital care episodes, hospital care days and mortality. Secondary outcome measures are number of outpatient visits, cost of social care and informal care, number of prescribed drugs, health-related quality of life, cost-effectiveness, sense of security, functional status and ability. We also study the care of elderly persons in a broader sense, by covering the perspectives of the patients, the professional staff and the management, and on a political level, by using semistructured interviews, qualitative methods and a questionnaire. Ethics and dissemination Approved by the regional ethical review board in Linköping (Dnr 2016/347-31). The results will be presented in scientific journals and scientific meetings during 2019–2022 and are planned to be used for the development of future care models. ; Funding Agencies|County Council of Ostergotland; Linkoping University [2016186-14]