Nieuwe wegen naar ontwikkelingsgericht werken : handelingsperspectieven voor de overheid rond duurzame ontwikkeling en maatschappelijke acceptatie van veehouderij

In samenwerking met de vier reconstructie-provincies Overijssel, Gelderland, Noord-Brabant en Limburg heeft Wageningen UR een onderzoek uitgevoerd naar mogelijkheden voor overheden om bij de vergunningverlening voor veehouderijbedrijven meer ontwikkelingsgericht te werken. Deze benadering is een aanvulling op de (huidige) praktijk waarin aanvragen vooral getoetst worden aan normen en maten, zoals bijvoorbeeld de grootte van het bouwblok. Belangrijkste conclusie is dat ontwikkelingsgericht werken inderdaad mogelijkheden biedt voor overheden om duurzaamheid en innovatie in de veehouderij te stimuleren. Tot nu toe werd vooral gestuurd op bouwblokken en milieunormen (o.a. stank en ammoniak), maar deze aanpak blijkt te star en te weinig stimulerend voor een duurzame en innovatieve veehouderij. In de nieuwe, ontwikkelingsgerichte werkwijze moet de economische ontwikkeling van veehouderijbedrijven hand in hand gaan met ontwikkelingen in duurzaamheid en met een dialoog met de directe omgeving. De vier provincies zijn eensgezind over deze gewenste richting, maar verschillen in hun aanpak

Ammonia and odour emission from a veal calves housing system with V-shaped manure belt and ‘Groene Vlag’ slatted floor

This report presents the results of measurements performed at one animal facility for veal calves using the control-case approach, to estimate the ammonia and odour emission reduction of a floor (Groene Vlag) combined with a V-shaped manure belt under the floor compared to the traditional wooden slatted floor. These measurements were commissioned by Bettink Service Team and by Beerepoot Stalinrichtingen BV. Ammonia emissions were significantly lower (53%) than the emission from the traditional floor measured simultaneously within the same farm (case-control approach). Odour emissions were significantly lower (47%) than the emission from the traditional floor measured simultaneously within the same farm (case-control approach)

Maatschappelijke acceptatie van (grootschalige) veehouderij in LOG's : over de houding van burgers en boeren en rollen van overheden = Societal acceptance of (large-scale) farming in LOG's : on the attitude of citizens and farmers and roles of governments

The report provides insight into reasons for (non-) acceptance of large-scale farms in LOG areas, the decision making by provinces and municipalities and (desired) roles of governments

Systematic Evaluation of the Descriptive and Predictive Performance of Paediatric Morphine Population Models

Purpose: A framework for the evaluation of paediatric population models is proposed and applied to two different paediatric population pharmacokinetic models for morphine. One covariate model was based on a systematic covariate analysis, the other on fixed allometric scaling principles. Methods: The six evaluation criteria in the framework were 1) number of parameters and condition number, 2) numerical diagnostics, 3) prediction-based diagnostics, 4) η-shrinkage, 5) simulation-based diagnostics, 6) diagnostics of individual and population parameter estimates versus covariates, including measurements of bias and precision of the population values compared to the observed individual values. The framework entails both an internal and external model evaluation procedure. Results: The application of the framework to the two models resulted in the detection of overparameterization and misleading diagnostics based on individual predictions caused by high shrinkage. The diagnostic of individual and population parameter estimates versus covariates proved to be highly informative in assessing obtained covariate relationships. Based on the framework, the systematic covariate model proved to be superior over the fixed allometric model in terms of predictive performance. Conclusions: The proposed framework is suitable for the evaluation of paediatric (covariate) models and should be applied to corroborate the descriptive and predictive properties of these models

Universal Artifacts Affect the Branching of Phylogenetic Trees, Not Universal Scaling Laws

The superficial resemblance of phylogenetic trees to other branching structures allows searching for macroevolutionary patterns. However, such trees are just statistical inferences of particular historical events. Recent meta-analyses report finding regularities in the branching pattern of phylogenetic trees. But is this supported by evidence, or are such regularities just methodological artifacts? If so, is there any signal in a phylogeny?In order to evaluate the impact of polytomies and imbalance on tree shape, the distribution of all binary and polytomic trees of up to 7 taxa was assessed in tree-shape space. The relationship between the proportion of outgroups and the amount of imbalance introduced with them was assessed applying four different tree-building methods to 100 combinations from a set of 10 ingroup and 9 outgroup species, and performing covariance analyses. The relevance of this analysis was explored taking 61 published phylogenies, based on nucleic acid sequences and involving various taxa, taxonomic levels, and tree-building methods.All methods of phylogenetic inference are quite sensitive to the artifacts introduced by outgroups. However, published phylogenies appear to be subject to a rather effective, albeit rather intuitive control against such artifacts. The data and methods used to build phylogenetic trees are varied, so any meta-analysis is subject to pitfalls due to their uneven intrinsic merits, which translate into artifacts in tree shape. The binary branching pattern is an imposition of methods, and seldom reflects true relationships in intraspecific analyses, yielding artifactual polytomies in short trees. Above the species level, the departure of real trees from simplistic random models is caused at least by two natural factors--uneven speciation and extinction rates; and artifacts such as choice of taxa included in the analysis, and imbalance introduced by outgroups and basal paraphyletic taxa. This artifactual imbalance accounts for tree shape convergence of large trees.There is no evidence for any universal scaling in the tree of life. Instead, there is a need for improved methods of tree analysis that can be used to discriminate the noise due to outgroups from the phylogenetic signal within the taxon of interest, and to evaluate realistic models of evolution, correcting the retrospective perspective and explicitly recognizing extinction as a driving force. Artifacts are pervasive, and can only be overcome through understanding the structure and biological meaning of phylogenetic trees. Catalan Abstract in Translation S1