Opin vísindi
Opin vísindi er varðveislusafn vísindaefnis og doktorsritgerða í opnum aðgangi á vegum íslenskra háskóla og Landsbókasafns Íslands - Háskólabókasafns.
Opinn aðgangur að rannsóknaniðurstöðum er í samræmi við 10. gr. laga nr. 3/2003 um opinberan stuðning við vísindarannsóknir sem og kröfur innlendra og erlendra rannsóknasjóða. Markmiðið með opnum aðgangi er að niðurstöður rannsókna séu aðgengilegar sem flestum óhindrað og án endurgjalds á rafrænu formi. Vistun í varðveislusafninu er varanleg og ætlað að tryggja aðgang að vísindaefni íslenskra háskóla í opnum aðgangi um ókomna tíð. Varðveislusafnið Opin vísindi er tengt við rannsóknagáttina IRIS og rannsóknaniðurstöður í opnum aðgangi sem eru skráðar í IRIS eru um leið vistaðar og gerðar aðgengilegar til framtíðar í varðveislusafninu. Með því að safna þessu efni saman í eitt safn verður aðgangur að því einfaldur og þægilegur fyrir alla sem vilja kynna sér það og geta þannig notið þess öfluga vísindastarfs sem fram fer í háskólum landsins.
Varðveislusafnið er OpenAIRE / OpenAIREplus samhæft og samrýmist kröfum sem gerðar eru um birtingu rannsóknaniðurstaðna úr verkefnum sem styrkt eru úr evrópsku rannsóknaáætlununum FP7 og H2020.
Varðveislusafnið notar opna hugbúnaðinn DSpace.
Opinn aðgangur að rannsóknaniðurstöðum er í samræmi við 10. gr. laga nr. 3/2003 um opinberan stuðning við vísindarannsóknir sem og kröfur innlendra og erlendra rannsóknasjóða. Markmiðið með opnum aðgangi er að niðurstöður rannsókna séu aðgengilegar sem flestum óhindrað og án endurgjalds á rafrænu formi. Vistun í varðveislusafninu er varanleg og ætlað að tryggja aðgang að vísindaefni íslenskra háskóla í opnum aðgangi um ókomna tíð. Varðveislusafnið Opin vísindi er tengt við rannsóknagáttina IRIS og rannsóknaniðurstöður í opnum aðgangi sem eru skráðar í IRIS eru um leið vistaðar og gerðar aðgengilegar til framtíðar í varðveislusafninu. Með því að safna þessu efni saman í eitt safn verður aðgangur að því einfaldur og þægilegur fyrir alla sem vilja kynna sér það og geta þannig notið þess öfluga vísindastarfs sem fram fer í háskólum landsins.
Varðveislusafnið er OpenAIRE / OpenAIREplus samhæft og samrýmist kröfum sem gerðar eru um birtingu rannsóknaniðurstaðna úr verkefnum sem styrkt eru úr evrópsku rannsóknaáætlununum FP7 og H2020.
Varðveislusafnið notar opna hugbúnaðinn DSpace.
Nýlega bætt við
Digital currencies, SWOT analysis
(2023-08-25) Sigurðsson, Kjartan; Eyþórsson, Grétar Þór; Kristjánsdóttir, Helga; Faculty of Business Administration
The paper highlights the increased international trade and discussion in recent years of digital currencies, also known as virtual currencies or cryptocurrencies, including the bilateral trade coin bitcoin (BTC). Scholars have emphasised the need to consider different preconditions, focusing primarily on domestic perspectives of payment intermediation within individual countries. The inclusion of digital currencies in global trade is motivated by the recognition that time is playing an increasingly important role in trade dynamics. Scholars have presented arguments on the potential impact of CBDCs (central bank digital currencies), highlighting their ability to facilitate secure and seamless payment transactions in line with the primary objective of central banks. Conversely, sceptics argue that the mere issuance of CBDCs can potentially undermine the stability of the financial system. High interest rates tend to reduce the amount of cash in circulation. Therefore, higher interest rates do not stimulate digital currencies as investors seek to keep their funds tied up rather than floating. The purpose of this research is to consider the concept of digital currencies in global trade, reflecting the increasing importance of time in trade. Older generations have been reluctant to embrace this new way of doing business, and many questions have arisen. For example, digital currencies compete with traditional currencies, making government control difficult. There are also issues of trust, credibility, volatility, use across countries, use across time zones, trading time, uncertainty, disruption to current centralised economic systems, lender of last resort in the form of a central bank, as well as distance and culture in international trade. The methodology used is the well-known and classic SWOT analysis, which provides tools for analysing the pros and cons of digital currencies. It sheds light on the advantages and disadvantages of digital currencies, including strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The results vary depending on the weight of the four measures provided. The practical implications are that it is important to be aware of the measured factors when trading: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Finally, it is believed that the value/originality of the research sheds light on issues that people need to be aware of when considering entering into a transaction using some form of digital currency.
COVID-19 handling strategy in Iceland : Centralised and expert-led
(Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd., 2024-11-01) Eythórsson, Grétar Thór; Haug, Are Vegard; Faculty of Business Administration
In this chapter, material from a case study based on interviews in northern Iceland’s Akureyri municipality is used to shed light on how and which governmental-level decisions or recommendations on crisis reactions were made and how actors at different levels reacted to and implemented these. The mayor of Akureyri, who had a very good oversight of how things developed, was interviewed, along with the chairman of the municipal council. This interview data is used here to investigate how decisions, including either recommendations or restrictions from the state level, were perceived at the local level. The findings will be considered in relation to how Iceland succeeded in fighting the pandemic.
Zoning for Zero - Climate impacts of zoning plans in a Nordic context
(University of Iceland, School of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2026-05-20) Jama, Teemu; Jukka Heinonen; Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering (UI); Umhverfis- og byggingarverkfræðideild (HÍ); School of Engineering and Natural Sciences (UI); Verkfræði- og náttúruvísindasvið (HÍ)
This thesis examines the climate impacts of urban planning, with a focus on its primary institutional outcome: zoning plans. Methodologically, it contributes by analysing planning paradigms, typically addressed qualitatively in normative terms, through quantitative methods based on high-resolution spatial data of the built environment classified by their zoning plan denotations. Using this mixed-method approach grounded in Critical Realism, the thesis provides quantitative evidence on how land-use zoning influences the carbon footprint of urban development, with a qualitative analysis of the mechanisms behind this evidence.
The quantitative results from the Nordic case cities challenge prevailing assumptions from two directions. On the one hand, high-density, efficiency-oriented zoning seems to fail to enable argued low-carbon lifestyles, instead reinforcing high-carbon behaviours through consumerism and increased travel. On the other hand, lower-density zoning, widely deemed unsustainable, tends to dominate also in cities in locations where residents have lower carbon intensities and overall emissions, even when income and household types are controlled. The findings reveal zoning’s causal power to shape global emissions from the bottom up, although it is currently applied counterproductively.
The thesis demonstrates and argues that using zoning plans to manage climate impacts, rather than building rights with per capita–based efficiency metrics, is not only a feasible and historically defensible reconception of zoning but also essential for urban planning to retain its public mandate as a libertarian paternalistic policy tool for climate-friendly development.
“What’s Love Got to Do with It?” The Role of Gender in Time Used on Care, Love and Work among Doctorate Holders
(2026-05-22) Hjálmsdóttir, Andrea; Guðbjörg Linda Rafnsdóttir; Faculty of Sociology, Anthropology and Folkloristics (UI); Félagsfræði-, mannfræði- og þjóðfræðideild (HÍ); School of Social Sciences (UI); Félagsvísindasvið (HÍ)
Over the last few decades, the share of doctorate degrees earned by women has increased considerably. Despite this trend, there is a scarcity of studies addressing gender disparities among doctorate holders, working within and outside academia. Although accounting for a relatively small portion of the labour force, doctorate holders' experiences are important, as they can provide an important insight into how well-educated people who often enjoy privileged working arrangements and flexibility, negotiate gender roles at home and in the workplace. The main aim of the research introduced in this thesis was to gain a better understanding of how and if time used on care, love labour and work, influences gendered outcomes on the career trajectories of doctorate holders working within and outside academia.
The findings draw on quantitative and qualitative research data. In terms of quantitative data longitudinal individual register data from Iceland between 1997 and 2017 was used and the population analysed were doctoral graduates holding five to 20-year-old degrees. The average total earnings of male and female doctorate holders were compared in relative values, either depending on their field of study or employment within or outside academia. The findings based on the qualitative data are derived from two datasets: the first dataset comprised 32 open-ended interviews conducted with doctorate holders in Iceland, 16 men and 16 women, working within and outside academia; the second dataset comprised open-ended interviews with five men and five women working in a higher education institution in British Columbia, Canada.
The findings from the quantitative study reveal a continuous gender gap in total earnings between the fifth and the tenth career years, regardless of the field of study or whether employment is within or outside academia. The novelty from the findings based on the qualitative data is mainly two folded: firstly, it provides multifaceted findings on work-family balance among doctorate holders working within and outside academia. The academics expressed more complex feelings about their daily lives than those working outside academia. The findings suggest that women, academics especially, experience limitless, boundaryless and invisible labour, both at home and at work, causing them considerable stress, while the men, within and outside academia, can selectively distance themselves from burdening caring roles at home and at work. Despite all the participants enjoying privileged working arrangements and flexibility, the participants in this research described having difficulties drawing lines around working hours. This applied especially to the participating academics, who, despite enjoying the most working arrangement flexibility, described working in a 'greedy' institution that absorbed all their time.
Secondly, the findings offer a new insight into the different, yet strikingly similar, realities of academics in Iceland and Canada. This is a new perspective, to my knowledge. The most significant national difference observed in the findings was that welfare policies and having access to the extended family, played a role in career decisions among Icelanders. However, the similarities among Canadians and Icelanders in terms of stress experienced were remarkable, as the institutional structures of the academia as a workplace tailor the academics' working life very closely. The success of Iceland in terms of gender equality compared to Canada, is undermined by the structures of higher education institutions that demand long working hours and commitment and fosters competition.
The study offers new insights by leveraging love labour and care as theoretical tools for analysing work-family balance and the career trajectories of doctorate holders working in and outside academia. Despite advancement in gender equality and implementation of several initiatives to advance gender equality by the government of Iceland, the findings of this thesis reveal highly traditional gendered division of labour among doctorate holders, illustrated by the fact that undertaking primary care is not central to men's identity. Such divisions of labour are maintained by patriarchal organizational structures and gendered power relations, resulting in highly gendered outcomes both at home and in the workplaces
Citizen trust in local government in the Nordic Countries during the COVID-19 Pandemic
(Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd., 2024-11-01) Baldersheim, Harald; Haug, Are Vegaard; Eyþórsson, Grétar Þór; Vegard Haug, Are; Faculty of Business Administration
This chapter examines trust in local government among Nordic citizens after more than two years of pandemic and concomitant government interventions in citizens’ daily lives. It has been widely assumed that citizens’ pandemic experiences have jeopardised their trust in government and have most likely led to a decline in trust. Is this also the case in the Nordic countries? Or have the traditionally high levels of trust observed in the North – sometimes referred to as ‘the Nordic gold’ (Andreasson 2017) – survived the pandemic and even possibly been augmented? These are the core issues addressed in this chapter. The analyses presented here go beyond many previous studies of trust by contextualising the issue of trust explicitly within the pandemic experiences of individual citizens and by focussing especially on trust in local institutions. In a comparative perspective, local government is of particular importance in the Nordic countries (Ladner et al. 2019). As demonstrated in previous chapters, the pandemic disrupted local government operations across the board and required adjustment and flexibility to keep a minimum of services running. Local government is the level of government where citizens are most likely to have had the closest encounters with public authorities and their handling of the pandemic. Therefore, charting citizen trust in local government is likely to yield the most reliable account of what citizens’ experiences were like in their encounters with government institutions during the pandemic.
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