Consumer attitudes towards production diseases in intensive production systems

Many members of the public and important stakeholders operating at the upper end of the food chain, may be unfamiliar with how food is produced, including within modern animal production systems. The intensification of production is becoming increasingly common in modern farming. However, intensive systems are particularly susceptible to production diseases, with potentially negative consequences for farm animal welfare (FAW). Previous research has demonstrated that the public are concerned about FAW, yet there has been little research into attitudes towards production diseases, and their approval of interventions to reduce these. This research explores the public’s attitudes towards, and preferences for, FAW interventions in five European countries (Finland, Germany, Poland, Spain and the UK). An online survey was conducted for broilers (n = 789), layers (n = 790) and pigs (n = 751). Data were analysed by means of Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA, exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modelling. The results suggest that the public have concerns regarding intensive production systems, in relation to FAW, naturalness and the use of antibiotics. The most preferred interventions were the most “proactive” interventions, namely improved housing and hygiene measures. The least preferred interventions were medicine-based, which raised humane animal care and food safety concerns amongst respondents. The results highlighted the influence of the identified concerns, perceived risks and benefits on attitudes and subsequent behavioural intention, and the importance of supply chain stakeholders addressing these concerns in the subsequent communications with the public

Salmonellatorjunnan taloudellisten riskien hallinnan tukemisen vaihtoehdot

Salmonellakontaminaatio voi aiheuttaa kotieläintilalla mittavia taloudellisia menetyksiä. Kotieläintilojen, etenkin sika-alan, salmonellasaneerausten kokonaiskustannukset ovat viime vuosina kasvaneet, kun salmonellatapausten määrä on noussut ja tilat ovat kasvaneet yhtä suuremmiksi. Nämä ovat nostaneet salmonellakorvausten kustannuksia, mikä on johtanut suurempiin vakuutusmaksuihin, tiukentuneisiin vakuutusehtoihin ja ryhmäetuvakuutusten irtisanomiseen. Tässä selvityksessä kartoitettiin vakuutuksentarjoajien halukkuutta jatkaa ryhmäetuvakuutuksia sekä valtiontuen mahdollisuuksia ja merkitystä salmonellavakuutusmaksujen tai jälleenvakuuttamisen tukemisen muodossa. Selvityksessä tarkasteltiin useita eri tukiskenaarioita. Keskeisimmät tukivaihtoehdot olivat: • Valtio tukisi vakuutusmaksua siten, että tuki kattaisi 70 % vakuutuksen verollisesta hinnasta ja tukikelpoisuuden tarkastaisi viranomainen. • Vakuutusyhtiö korvaisi yksittäisen vahingon joko 0,5 tai 1,0 miljoonaan euroon asti ja sen ylimenevästä osuudesta vastaisi valtio. Vakuutusmaksua ei tuettaisi vakuutusmaksuverovapaudella. • Vakuutusyhtiö korvaisi vuosittaiset yhteenlasketut vahingot viiteen miljoonaan asti. Ylimenevästä osuudesta vastaisi valtio. Vakuutusmaksu ei tuettaisi vakuutusmaksuverovapaudella. Taloudellisessa analyysissa salmonellavahingot simuloitiin käyttäen tausta-aineistoa 5–10 viime vuoden ajanjaksolta. Sika-alalle simuloidut vahingot olivat 3,5–5,3 prosenttia ja siipikarja- ja nauta-aloilla noin 0,2 % kyseisten tuotantosuuntien vuoden 2021 markkinatuotosta. Sika-alalle salmonellavakuutusten tuki oli tarkastelluissa vaihtoehdoissa tukimallista riippuen 2,1 ja 6,4 miljoonan välillä. Simulaatiotulokset viittaavat siihen, että jälleenvakuuttamisen tukeminen, erityisesti tilakohtaisten vahinkojen korvaaminen valtion varoista tietyn kynnysarvon jälkeen olisi vakuutusten houkuttelevuuden ja toimivuuden kannalta tehokkaampi tapa tukea salmonellavakuuttamista kuin vakuutusmaksutuki. Se voisi auttaa yksityistä vakuutusmarkkinaa säilymään ja kehittymään. ”Jälleenvakuutusmalli” voi kuitenkin aiheuttaa valtion budjetille riskejä, joiden hallinta tulisi ratkaista, sillä sen aiheuttamat menot ovat vaikeasti ennakoitavissa. Aiemmin valmistellun, mutta toteutumatta jääneen salmonellarahaston kehitystyötä tulisi jatkaa tuotantosuuntakohtaisesti valtion ja elinkeinon yhteistyönä. Rahastoon tilojen tekemiä maksuja tulisi harkita porrastettavaksi siten, että eläintä kohti laskettuun maksuun vaikuttaisivat tilan eläinmäärä ja tautisuojauksen taso tilalla. Maksujen porrastaminen yhtäältä kannustaisi tautiriskin vähentämiseen tautisuojausta kohentamalla ja toisaalta auttaisi huomioimaan tilakohtaisen riskin maksuissa. Sika-alan asiantuntijoiden ja vakuutustentarjoajien kanssa käytyjen keskusteluiden perusteella tautisuojaukseen liittyvän tiedon saanti ja etenkin sen käyttäminen vakuutusten hinnoittelussa aiheuttaa haasteita. Tautisuojausluokituksen käyttö vakuutusmaksujen kannustimena on tärkeää, sillä se ohjaa tiloja kohti parempaa tautiriskinhallintaa. Olennaista onkin, että salmonellan esiintymisriskiä saadaan koko toimialan tasolla vähennettyä, sillä se laskee korvattavia vahinkoja ja vakuutusmaksuja. Eräs riskinhallintamahdollisuus on alan salmonellarahasto, jonka mahdollisuuksia on selvitty, ja sen kehitystyötä tulisi jatkaa. Tuotantosuuntien välillä oli melko suuria eroja salmonellakorvauksissa, joten tukimallin ehtoja on tarkasteltava tuotantosuuntakohtaisesti. Salmonellariskinhallinta hyödyttää ensisijaisesti kansanterveyttä, minkä vuoksi haastatellut asiantuntijat kokivat, että valtiovallan tulisi osallistua nykyistä voimakkaammin siitä aiheutuviin kustannuksiin

The influence of accretion geometry on the spectral evolution during thermonuclear (type-I) X-ray bursts

Neutron star (NS) masses and radii can be estimated from observations of photospheric radius-expansion X-ray bursts, provided the chemical composition of the photosphere, the spectral colour-correction factors in the observed luminosity range, and the emission area during the bursts are known. By analysing 246 X-ray bursts observed by the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer from 11 low-mass X-ray binaries, we find a dependence between the persistent spectral properties and the time evolution of the black body normalisation during the bursts. All NS atmosphere models predict that the colour-correction factor decreases in the early cooling phase when the luminosity first drops below the limiting Eddington value, leading to a characteristic pattern of variability in the measured blackbody normalisation. However, the model predictions agree with the observations for most bursts occurring in hard, low-luminosity, &#39;island&#39; spectral states, but rarely during soft, high-luminosity, &#39;banana&#39; states. The observed behaviour may be attributed to the accretion flow, which influences cooling of the NS preferentially during the soft state bursts. This result implies that only the bursts occurring in the hard, low-luminosity spectral states can be reliably used for NS mass and radius determination.</p

What do stakeholders want in relation to the control of production diseases?

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The effect of accretion on the measurement of neutron star mass and radius in the low-mass X-ray binary 4U 1608-52

Spectral measurements of thermonuclear (type I) X-ray bursts from low-mass X-ray binaries have been used to measure neutron star (NS) masses and radii. A number of systematic issues affect such measurements and have raised concerns as to the robustness of the methods. We present analysis of the X-ray emission from bursts observed from 4U 1608&minus;52 at various persistent fluxes. We find a strong dependence of the burst properties on the flux and spectral hardness of the persistent emission before burst. Bursts occurring during the low accretion rate (hard) state exhibit evolution of the blackbody normalization consistent with the theoretical predictions of NS atmosphere models. However, bursts occurring during the high accretion rate (soft) state show roughly constant normalization, which is inconsistent with the NS atmosphere models and therefore these bursts cannot be easily used to determine NS parameters. We analyse the hard-state burst to put the lower limit on the NS radius R in 4U 1608&minus;52 of 12 km (for masses 1.0&ndash;2.4 M⊙). We constrain R to be between 13 and 16 km for masses 1.2&ndash;1.6 M⊙. The best agreement with the theoretical NS mass&ndash;radius relations is achieved for source distances in the range 3.1&ndash;3.7 kpc. We expect that the radius limit will be 10 per cent lower if spectral models including rapid rotation are used instead. &nbsp;</p

An incremental modular technique for checking LTL-X properties on Petri nets

Model-checking is a powerful and widespread technique for the verification of finite state concurrent systems. However, the main hindrance for wider application of this technique is the well-known state explosion problem. Modular verification is a promising natural approach to tackle this problem. It is based on the "divide and conquer" principle and aims at deducing the properties of the system from those of its components analysed in isolation. Unfortunately, several issues make the use of modular verification techniques difficult in practice. First, deciding how to partition the system into components is not trivial and can have a significant impact on the resources needed for verification. Second, when model-checking a component in isolation, how should the environment of this component be described? In this paper, we address these problems in the framework of model-checking LTL\X action-based properties on Petri nets. We propose an incremental and modular verification approach where the system model is partitioned according to the actions occurring in the property to be verified and where the environment of a component is taken into account using the linear place invariants of the system

Meals in western eating and drinking

Meals are a way of organizing eating into events that have a particular structure and form, and they play an indisputable and even self-evident role within the rhythms and routines of everyday life. In late modern societies, concern about the fate of meals has arisen in both public and academic discourse. It has been suggested that eating is characterized today by individualization, destructuration, and informalization and that communal meals are increasingly being replaced by snacks and solitary eating. This chapter focuses on meals in today’s affluent societies and reflects on why meals are considered important, how meals are defined, and what material elements and social dimensions they contain. It looks at how societal and cultural changes and ecological concerns may influence the organization and future of meals, and it suggests that the content of meals will change in response to the need to diminish the ecological burden of food production and consumption. In particular, plant-based options will at least partly need to replace meat and other animal-based foods. However, there is no reason to expect that the meal as a social institution will break down. Despite the fact that not all meals are characterized by conviviality and companionship, they continue to serve as a significant arena of human sociability and togetherness. Sharing food is, after all, an essential part of being human.Non peer reviewe

Clinical, environmental, and genetic risk factors for substance use disorders : characterizing combined effects across multiple cohorts

Substance use disorders (SUDs) incur serious social and personal costs. The risk for SUDs is complex, with risk factors ranging from social conditions to individual genetic variation. We examined whether models that include a clinical/environmental risk index (CERI) and polygenic scores (PGS) are able to identify individuals at increased risk of SUD in young adulthood across four longitudinal cohorts for a combined sample of N = 15,134. Our analyses included participants of European (N-EUR = 12,659) and African (N-AFR = 2475) ancestries. SUD outcomes included: (1) alcohol dependence, (2) nicotine dependence; (3) drug dependence, and (4) any substance dependence. In the models containing the PGS and CERI, the CERI was associated with all three outcomes (ORs = 01.37-1.67). PGS for problematic alcohol use, externalizing, and smoking quantity were associated with alcohol dependence, drug dependence, and nicotine dependence, respectively (OR = 1.11-1.33). PGS for problematic alcohol use and externalizing were also associated with any substance dependence (ORs = 1.09-1.18). The full model explained 6-13% of the variance in SUDs. Those in the top 10% of CERI and PGS had relative risk ratios of 3.86-8.04 for each SUD relative to the bottom 90%. Overall, the combined measures of clinical, environmental, and genetic risk demonstrated modest ability to distinguish between affected and unaffected individuals in young adulthood. PGS were significant but added little in addition to the clinical/environmental risk index. Results from our analysis demonstrate there is still considerable work to be done before tools such as these are ready for clinical applications.Peer reviewe