Borlänge and Falun Brundtland cities

Development of an infrastructure for Brundtland Renewable Energy Network - BREN is a European Commission Alterner Project with Contract no XVII/4. 1030/Z96-032.The project has its origin in the UN-report “Our Common Future”, 1989. A change in and reduction of the use of energy was fundamental in order to reach the goals which the report proposed. Denmark decided on an action plan on how energy consumption could be reduced “Energi 2000 - Handlingsplan för en bäredygtig udvikling”. The ministries of energy in Denmark and Schleswig Holstein both agreed to start an energy saving project in a smaller town. The project was called “Brundtlandby” and the two first were Toftlund in South Jutland and Bredstedt in North Friesland. After a short period a further two German Cities, Rheinsberg and Viernheim, and Rajec in Slovakia joined the group. A network for the exchange of knowledge and experience between the cities was formed. The network, Brundtland City Project, inspired the participating cities in the continuing work with energy saving measures. The Brundtland City Project was presented at an international conference “Cities and Energy” in Trondheim, Norway,in December 1995. Great interest was shown in the project and it was decided that a network should be developed in northern European countries as a pilot project to be enlarged with other European countries later on. A steering committee was formed with representatives from the nordic countries.An application was sent to the European Commission, Alterner Program, and was approved in Juli 1996. The project was subdivided into nine activities. Activity 1, consisted of summarising the experiences of the Brundtland City Project in Toftlund, Denmark and the Brundtland Cities network in Slovakia, Germany and Denmark. The Scandinavian part started with Activity 2, to engage municipalities/cities in Finland, Norway and Sweden in the project. The Solar Energy Research Center, SERC, Högskolan Dalarna was appointed as co-ordinator for the Swedish part. The project was presented at a seminar on the 30th September for representatives from the municipalities of Borlänge and Falun. On the 10th of December 1996 the two municipalities accepted the invitation to join the Northern network. Pelle Helje, Borlänge Energi, has been informant for the municipality of Borlänge and Anders Goop, Department of Urban Planninginformant for the municipality of Falun with Jan Kaans, Estates department providing information to the basis for the Newsletter.Reports on the work in Borlänge and Falun municipalities have been made to Brundtland Center Denmark on three occasions; Activities 2-5, 16-12-1997, Activities 6-7, including parts of activities 8-9, 03-03-1998, and the basis for the Newsletter, 01-07-1998. The Nordic reports have been compiled at the Brundtland Center Denmark for submission to the European Commission. English has been the common language. After the report of activities 2 - 5 the participants wereinvited to a project meeting and a workshop at Brundtland Center the 23rd and 24th March 1998.This was the first occasion the participants in the project met and the network thus took a moreconcrete form. It also was decided that the next meeting should be in Borlänge in August 1998,with Borlänge Energi and Solar Energy Research Center SERC as organisers. As BrundtlandCentre Denmark was wound up for financial reasons, the project meeting in Borlänge wascancelled.Compilation of the Final Report was carried out by Esbensen Consultants in October 1998Future development of the networkIt is intended to continue the work with the Brundtland City Network as an “EU Thermie Bproject”and the network will be enlarged with the addition of four new Brundtland Cities from Austria, Germany, Italy and Great Britain. In addition the village of Putja in Estonia will join the network but this will be financed by the EU-Phare programme.

Methods and background characteristics of the TOHNN study : a population-based study of oral health conditions in northern Norway

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the Tromstannen - Oral Health in Northern Norway (TOHNN) study was to investigate oral health and dental-related diseases in an adult population. This article provides an overview of the background of the study and a description of the sample characteristics and methods employed in data collection. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional population-based study including a questionnaire and clinical dental examination. METHODS: A randomly selected sample of 2,909 individuals (20-79 years old) drawn from the population register was invited to participate in the study. The data were collected between October 2013 and November 2014 in Troms County in northern Norway. The questionnaire focused on oral health-related behaviours and attitudes, oral health-related quality of life, sense of coherence, dental anxiety and symptoms from the temporomandibular joint. The dental examinations, including radiographs, were conducted by 11 dental teams in 5 dental offices. The examination comprised of registration of dental caries, full mouth periodontal status, temporomandibular disorders, mucosal lesions and height and weight. The participants were grouped by age (20-34, 35-49, 50-64 and 65-79) and ethnicity (Norwegian, Sámi, other European and other world). RESULTS: From the original sample of 2,909 individuals, 1,986 (68.3%) people participated, of whom 1,019 (51.3%) were women. The highest attendance rate was among women 20-34 years old (80.3%) and the lowest in the oldest age group of women (55.4%). There was no difference in response rate between rural and urban areas. There was a positive correlation between population size and household gross income (p < 0.001) and education level (p < 0.001). The majority of Sámi resided in smaller municipalities. In larger cities, most participants used private dental health care services, whereas, in rural areas, most participants used the public dental health care service. CONCLUSION: The TOHNN study has the potential to generate new knowledge on a wide range of oral health conditions beneficial to the population in Troms County. Due to the high participation rate, generalization both nationally and to the circumpolar area ought to be possible.