While sustainable forest management (SFM) policy processes are well developed, implementation on the ground remains a challenge. Given the diversity of biophysical conditions, economic histories and governance systems on the European continent, regionally and temporally adapted and adaptive solutions are needed for both social and ecological systems. To illustrate this, we apply (1) a biographic forest and woodland history approach to central Sweden's Bergslagen region, where boreal sustained yield forestry was widely applied first and (2) a comparative case study approach using five European landscapes that represent different forest history phases in Scotland, Germany, Ukraine and Russia. Additionally, we illustrate the need to learn from reference landscapes for natural forest and cultural woodland systems such as in economically remote regions in Romania, Russia and on the Iberian Peninsula. We conclude that there is great opportunity for innovative knowledge production about both governance and management for different SFM dimensions based on comparisons among concrete landscapes. In addition, there is a need to develop local place-based social learning processes that are characterized by a focus on a geographical area, commitment to SFM policy visions and collaborative approaches to development that include both ecological and social systems.

Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is one of the leading forest certification schemes. While many studies concern political aspects and social outcomes of FSC, little is known about the contribution of certification to biodiversity conservation. In Europe, the Russian Federation and Sweden have the largest areas of FSC certified forest. We assessed the potential of FSC certification for boreal biodiversity conservation in terms of standard content, and outcomes as habitat area set aside and habitat network functionality. First, we compared the biodiversity conservation indicators at different spatial scales in Swedish and Russian FSC standards. Second, focusing on one large state forest management unit in each country, we compared the areas of formally and voluntarily set aside forests for biodiversity conservation. Third, we evaluated the structural habitat connectivity by applying morphological spatial pattern analysis, and potential functional connectivity by using habitat suitability index modelling for virtual species. The Russian standard included indicators for all spatial scales of biodiversity conservation, from tree and stand to landscape and ecoregions. The Swedish standard focused mainly on stand and tree scales. The area of voluntary set-asides for FSC was similar in Sweden and Russia, while formal protection in the Russian case study was three times higher than in the Swedish one. Swedish set-aside core areas were two orders of magnitude smaller, had much lower structural and potential functional connectivity and were located in a fragmented forestland holding. We conclude that to understand the potential of FSC certification for biodiversity conservation both the standard content, and its implementation on the ground, need to be assessed. We discuss the potential of FSC certification for biodiversity conservation with different levels of ambition. We stress the need for developing rapid assessment tools to evaluate outcomes of FSC for biodiversity conservation on the ground, which could be used by forest managers and FSC-auditors toward adaptive governance and management.

Two radio air interfaces, Evolved-LTE and New Radio, coexist in new 5G systems. New Radio operates in the millimeter band and provides a better bandwidth, but the higher frequencies also imply worse radio conditions. Multi-connectivity, a feature of 5G that allows users to connect to more than one base station simultaneously, can offer the advantages of both interfaces. In this paper, we investigate how multi-connectivity can improve user reliability and the system's energy efficiency. Five algorithms for secondary cell association are presented and evaluated. We show a decrease in the radio link failure rate of up to 50% at high speeds and improvements of the energy efficiency of up to 20% at low speeds.

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Multi-connectivity and network densification are two solutions intended to improve performance and reliability. These solutions can improve 5G NR's system performance especially when using high-frequency bands. This work focuses on the user equipment (UE) performance using multi-connectivity within an ultra-dense deployment in a city environment. By being connected to more than one access node simultaneously, the UE should benefit from increased reliability and performance. However, this improved performance comes at the expense of a potentially increased power consumption. Simulation results show that multi-connectivity improves performance by up to 46% and 27% in downlink and uplink resp., increases UE energy efficiency by up to 30% and improves reliability for highly mobile users by up to 37%. The price to pay is an increased UE power consumption of up to 25% and 60% for dual-connectivity and tri-connectivity resp. A multi-connectivity scheme is presented to reduce the secondary connection's transmit power.