Supervision of professionals: Interdependency between embodied experiences and professional knowledge.

Social work counsellors, exposed to hardships of clients' lives, might, over time, experience strain as bodily reactions of muscle tension and pain. Within the framework of improving professional practice, the aim was to explore meanings attached to moving and breathing by studying the influence of supervision, encompassing experiences and reflections on bodily exercises, and reflection on challenging professional experiences. Action research of interdisciplinary supervision for seven counsellors, based on observations, field notes, reflection notes, and a focus group interview, was carried out. Data were analysed across participants within sessions and over time to compare meaning variations. The counsellors' change of experiences were identified as phases: What is in it for me, not knowing what to perceive, attention as basis for knowing how to move, experiencing and creating connections, and knowing oneself better. Adjusted to change of experiences, supervisors encouraged counsellors to give attention to, become aware of, and relieve and explore muscle tension and breathing restrictions to contexts of meaning. Supervision based on movement opened access to personal learning. Supervision as approaches of movements and reflections contributed to increased self-knowledge in professional social work practices. Based on ability to perceive and relieve muscle tension and flow of breathing, the approach might be a potential for professionals to handle challenging situations. The findings, related to the lived body, encompass appearances of new meanings and new uses to experiences of muscular tension and flow of breathing.

Variability of the start of the growing season in Fennoscandia, 1982-2002.

Fennoscandia is characterized by a large degree of climatic diversity. Vegetation phenology may respond differently to climate change according to the climatic gradients within the region. To map the annual and spatial variability of the start of the growing season (SOS) in Fennoscandia, the twice-monthly GIMMS-NDVI satellite dataset was used. The data set has an 8 x 8 km(2) spatial resolution and covers the period from 1982 to 2002. The mapping was done by applying pixel-specific threshold values to the NDVI data. These threshold values were determined form surface phenology data on birch (Betula sp.). Then, we produced NDVI based maps of SOS for each of the 21 years. Finally, the time differences between the SOS and the last day of snow cover, as well as dates of passing different temperatures, were analyzed for 21 meteorological stations. The analyses showed that 1985 was the most extreme year in terms of late SOS. In terms of early SOS, the year 1990 was by far the most extreme. Locally, the SOS has an average range of 1 month between the earliest and latest recorded SOS, with a trend towards a bigger range in the oceanic parts. The results indicate that a 1 degrees C increase in spring temperatures in general corresponds to an advancement of 5-6 days in SOS. However, there is a clear trend according to the degree of oceanity, with a 1 degrees C increase in the most oceanic parts corresponding roughly to 7-9 days earlier SOS, compared to less than 5 days earlier in the continental parts.