Feasibility Study on a Decentralised System Architecture for Animal Transport Tracing Systems (DEAR-TRACE)

The objective of the study was to demonstrate whether the data recorded by the tracing systems of long journey animal transport vehicles for the official controls under Regulation 1/2005 and managed by different private service providers for trucks fitted with their systems could be made remotely available to competent authorities in this decentralised system architecture. The concept was tested for around 2 months with 2 tracing systems from different service providers, with volunteering transport companies using these systems and with the participation of competent authorities in 3 Member States with a substantial share in the international animal transport. Overall the experiment proved that with limited software development resources the integration of commercial tracing systems in animal transports would be feasible and offer several advantages to the competent authorities both in respect of animal welfare and traceability of animal movement.JRC.DG.G.4-Maritime affair

Technical Specifications for Navigation Systems in Long Journeys Animal Transports

This document defines the technical specifications for navigation systems as referred to in Article 6(9) of Regulation (EC) 1/2005 to the aim - To provide users, developers and manufacturers of navigation and communication systems a description of necessary components and to which requirements such systems shall conform; - To ensure that devices of different manufacturers are compatible and interoperable; - To allow users, such as transport companies and competent authorities to plan for the integration of such systems in the daily routines.JRC.G.7-Traceability and vulnerability assessmen

On-Farm Mortality in Cattle

The present study was aimed at exploring if and on what extent on-farm mortality, which is regularly notified in national cattle databases in the EU, could be used to design an early warning system for emerging diseases in cattle. The statistical analysis of mortality rates recorded in Italy in 2008 showed a clear influence by transport, age, sex and season. Through spatial and spatio-clustering methods several geographic area with exceptionally high mortality rates were detected. A more in-dept analysis of individual causes of mortality in the Provinces of Trento and Bolzano showed that on-farm mortality was greatly influenced by management practices and economic conditions. In order to control some of the influencing management factors a model was created to compare for a given population the actual and expected mortality rates. A conclusion of the study was that on-farm mortality regularly notified in national livestock databases could represent an important indicator for evaluating herd management practices. Further analysis and refinement of the applied models would be needed in order to establish a robust method for the detection of anomalous events with respect to the outbreak of animal diseasesJRC.DG.G.7-Traceability and vulnerability assessmen

Farming and Food Security: an assessment of animal production and environmental impact

The observed increase of the world population calls for a more efficient food policy, aimed to ensure sufficient food to all. However, the production of food of animal origin comes with pros and cons in terms of environmental impact. In general, the comparison between the most relevant farming industries would lead to the conclusion that aquaculture is the less impactful farming industry, if compared to the others.JRC.D.2 - Water and Marine Resource

Corticolimbic catecholamines in stress: A computational model of the appraisal of controllability

Appraisal of a stressful situation and the possibility to control or avoid it is thought to involve frontal-cortical mechanisms. The precise mechanism underlying this appraisal and its translation into effective stress coping (the regulation of physiological and behavioural responses) are poorly understood. Here, we propose a computational model which involves tuning motivational arousal to the appraised stressing condition. The model provides a causal explanation of the shift from active to passive coping strategies, i.e. from a condition characterised by high motivational arousal, required to deal with a situation appraised as stressful, to a condition characterised by emotional and motivational withdrawal, required when the stressful situation is appraised as uncontrollable/unavoidable. The model is motivated by results acquired via microdialysis recordings in rats and highlights the presence of two competing circuits dominated by different areas of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex: these are shown having opposite effects on several subcortical areas, affecting dopamine outflow in the striatum, and therefore controlling motivation. We start by reviewing published data supporting structure and functioning of the neural model and present the computational model itself with its essential neural mechanisms. Finally, we show the results of a new experiment, involving the condition of repeated inescapable stress, which validate most of the model's prediction

A computational model of stress coping in rats

No abstract availabl

Keep focussing: striatal dopamine multiple functions resolved in a single mechanism tested in a simulated humanoid robot

The effects of striatal dopamine (DA) on behavior have been widely investigated over the past decades, with "phasic" burst firings considered as the key expression of a reward prediction error responsible for reinforcement learning. Less well studied is "tonic" DA, where putative functions include the idea that it is a regulator of vigor, incentive salience, disposition to exert an effort and a modulator of approach strategies. We present a model combining tonic and phasic DA to show how different outflows triggered by either intrinsically or extrinsically motivating stimuli dynamically affect the basal ganglia by impacting on a selection process this system performs on its cortical input. The model, which has been tested on the simulated humanoid robot iCub interacting with a mechatronic board, shows the putative functions ascribed to DA emerging from the combination of a standard computational mechanism coupled to a differential sensitivity to the presence of DA across the striatum

Corticolimbic catecholamines in stress: a computational model of the appraisal of controllability

Appraisal of a stressful situation and the possibility to control or avoid it is thought to involve frontal-cortical mechanisms. The precise mechanism underlying this appraisal and its translation into effective stress coping (the regulation of physiological and behavioural responses) are poorly understood. Here, we propose a computational model which involves tuning motivational arousal to the appraised stressing condition. The model provides a causal explanation of the shift from active to passive coping strategies, i.e. from a condition characterised by high motivational arousal, required to deal with a situation appraised as stressful, to a condition characterised by emotional and motivational withdrawal, required when the stressful situation is appraised as uncontrollable/unavoidable. The model is motivated by results acquired via microdialysis recordings in rats and highlights the presence of two competing circuits dominated by different areas of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex: these are shown having opposite effects on several subcortical areas, affecting dopamine outflow in the striatum, and therefore controlling motivation. We start by reviewing published data supporting structure and functioning of the neural model and present the computational model itself with its essential neural mechanisms. Finally, we show the results of a new experiment, involving the condition of repeated inescapable stress, which validate most of the model\u27s predictions

An Analytical Approach to Support Urban Agriculture Policies Development: Case Study of Barcelona

The increasing impact due to urban population\u2019s food supply causes a series of negative externalities related to food production, transformation and transportation. FAO and other institutions are trying to integrate traditional models of food supply with alternative ones like Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture (UPA). Defining the drivers that motivate the participation in different types of UPA could be useful to plan more participated and effective UPA development policies. Barcelona (Spain) hosts a number of cases representing different declinations that UPA can assume. This work aims at describing the differences in terms of motivations to enter the various typologies of Urban Agriculture (UA) in Barcelona. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews to 4 groups of users representing 3 of the most widespread models of UA initiatives in Barcelona (Allotment Gardens, Community Gardens, Pla Buits.) The results showed that participation in UA is mainly motivated by relational aspects and knowledge exchange and differences exist among the various UA models. Political reasons are mostly influencing the Community Gardeners while Pla Buits users\u2019 mains motivations are related to socialising and Allotment gardeners are mainly motivated by environmental aspects. Differences in the participants\u2019 demographic characteristics also emerged. Better targeted public policies contents and communication strategies for UPA development can thus be derived by the results obtained; to this end, recommendations have been provided. Further research should broaden the range of case studies and the sample size, in order to provide a more effective and comprehensive tool for tailoring UPA developing strategies to different contexts