Variability and similarity of inter-beat intervals of the heart as markers of perceived stress and behavioral regulation

The current dissertation investigated inter-beat interval (IBI) indices of variability and similarity, reflecting autonomic nervous system (ANS) modulation on heart rate. IBI indices of cardiac vagal activity (CVA) are further considered to reflect activity in brain areas involved in self regulation. Yet, it is unclear which specific aspect(s) of self-regulation such IBI indices load most highly on, and their relation to contextual factors. Thus, in a sample of college students (n = 143) in paper I, we investigated how CVA and perceived stress associated with contextual factors of perceived social support and sex. Moreover, we expected indices to load highly on the internal regulation of perceived stress, compared to the external regulation of behavior. This was examined in adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and controls (n = 67) in paper II. In paper III, we investigated the use of a nonlinear, graph theory-based method for illustrating IBI differences in adolescents with ADHD and controls (n = 73). In all studies, IBI indices were derived from short-term resting electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings, with high frequency-heart rate variability (HF-HRV) as the applied measure of CVA. Self-report questionnaires assessed emotion regulation difficulties (the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale) perceived stress (the Perceived Stress Scale), and perceived social support (The Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey). In the moderation analysis of paper I, CVA associated positively with perceived social support in females with intermediate and high, compared to low, perceived stress levels, but not in males. Linear regression analyses in paper II showed that CVA associated negatively with access to emotion regulation strategies in adolescents with ADHD and controls. In paper III, independent samples t-test showed that the similarity graph algorithm illustrated IBI differences between the ADHD and control groups which traditional CVA analyses did not. In sum, the studies suggest that CVA might mark perceived stress regulation, and emphasize the consideration of contextual factors such as perceived social support and sex in the interpretation of this marker. Furthermore, the similarity graph algorithm might increase the sensitivity of IBI markers, possibly also indexing behavioral regulation. Although further research is required, IBI markers might have potential clinical use in the diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of psychiatric disorders.Doktorgradsavhandlin

Conceptual modelling of upstream offshore seaweed supply

A new form of offshore aquaculture is currently under development in Norway. This article argues for an ecosystem-based development of this future supply chain rooted in experiences in petroleum logistics, aquaculture and cold chains. A conceptual model provides basis for further research to facilitate designing this form of supply chain as a sustainable system. Keywords: aquaculture, cold chains, ecosystems, petroleum logistics, seaweed, supply chain management, traceabilitypublishedVersio

Italesettelse av arbeidsmiljø i bedriftsutviklingsprosesser

Representerer bedriftsutviklingsprosesser en mulighet for å vitalisere og integrere arbeidsmiljørelatert forbedringsarbeid? Med bakgrunn i erfaringene fra det norske forskingsprogrammet Bedriftsutvikling 2000 drøfter artikkelen hvordan integrerende arbeidsformer bør utfylles ved også å se på sosiale og politiske aspekter ved slike utviklingsprosesser. I artikkelen legges det spesielt vekt på å drøfte samspillet mellom arbeidsform, nøkkelaktører og relasjonelle forhold i slike prosesser

Dose response severity functions for acoustic disturbance in cetaceans using recurrent event survival analysis

This work was financially supported by the U. S. Office of Naval Research grant N00014‐12‐1‐0204, under the project “Multi‐study Ocean acoustics Human effects Analysis” (MOCHA). . L. Tyack received funding from the MASTS pooling initiative (The Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland) and their support is gratefully acknowledged. MASTS is funded by the Scottish Funding Council (grant reference HR09011) and contributing institutions. The case study data were provided by the 3S project, which was funded by the U.S. Office of Naval Research, the Norwegian Ministry of Defense, the Netherlands Ministry of Defense, and WWF Norway.Behavioral response studies (BRSs) aim to enhance our understanding of the behavior changes made by animals in response to specific exposure levels of different stimuli, often presented in an increasing dosage. Here, we focus on BRSs that aim to understand behavioral responses of free-ranging whales and dolphins to manmade acoustic signals (although the methods are applicable more generally). One desired outcome of these studies is dose-response functions relevant to different species, signals and contexts. We adapted and applied recurrent event survival analysis (Cox proportional hazard models) to data from the 3S BRS project, where multiple behavioral responses of different severities had been observed per experimental exposure and per individual based upon expert scoring. We included species, signal type, exposure number and behavioral state prior to exposure as potential covariates. The best model included all main effect terms, with the exception of exposure number, as well as two interaction terms. The interactions between signal and behavioral state, and between species and behavioral state highlighted that the sensitivity of animals to different signal types (a 6–7 kHz upsweep sonar signal [MFAS] or a 1–2 kHz upsweep sonar signal [LFAS]) depended on their behavioral state (feeding or nonfeeding), and this differed across species. Of the three species included in this analysis (sperm whale [Physeter macrocephalus], killer whale [Orcinus orca] and long-finned pilot whale [Globicephala melas]), killer whales were consistently the most likely to exhibit behavioral responses to naval sonar exposure. We conclude that recurrent event survival analysis provides an effective framework for fitting dose-response severity functions to data from behavioral response studies. It can provide outputs that can help government and industry to evaluate the potential impacts of anthropogenic sound production in the ocean.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Pilot whales attracted to killer whales sounds : acoustically-mediated interspecific interactions in cetaceans

This study was mainly funded by three naval organisations: the US Office of Naval Research, the Norwegian Ministry of Defense and the Netherlands Ministry of Defense. In addition, WWF-Norway, TOTAL Foundation and the Foundation Bleustein-Blanchet also contributed financially. Authors are employed by government (Norwegian Defense Research Establishment), independent no-profit (Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research and Kelp Marine Research), or academic (University of St. Andrews) research organisations. No authors are employed by naval organisations. The funders had no role in study design, data analysis, or preparation of the manuscript.In cetaceans’ communities, interactions between individuals of different species are often observed in the wild. Yet, due to methodological and technical challenges very little is known about the mediation of these interactions and their effect on cetaceans’ behavior. Killer whales (Orcinus orca) are a highly vocal species and can be both food competitors and potential predators of many other cetaceans. Thus, the interception of their vocalizations by unintended cetacean receivers may be particularly important in mediating interspecific interactions. To address this hypothesis, we conducted playbacks of killer whale vocalizations recorded during herring-feeding activity to free-ranging long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas). Using a multi-sensor tag, we were able to track the whales and to monitor changes of their movements and social behavior in response to the playbacks. We demonstrated that the playback of killer whale sounds to pilot whales induced a clear increase in group size and a strong attraction of the animals towards the sound source. These findings provide the first experimental evidence that the interception of heterospecific vocalizations can mediate interactions between different cetacean species in previously unrecognized ways.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Evaluation of Fisheries Sonar for Whale Detection in Relation to Seismic Survey Operations

acceptedVersio

Equipment to tag, track and collect biopsies from whales and dolphins : the ARTS, DFHorten and LKDart systems

Funding Information: A special thanks to all the members of the 3S team, and to FFI, for support during the development of the ARTS–DTAG setup. Furthermore, special acknowledgement to ICR (Institute of Cetacean Research, Japan) for the development of the new ARTS carrier (ARTSTBC).Of all animals considered subjects for instrumentation for behavioral or physiological studies, cetaceans probably represent the greatest challenge to the engineer and biologist. The marine environment being harsh to electronics, evasive behavior during tagging approaches and the short time window available to attach instruments, all imply a need for innovative tagging solutions to facilitate better understanding of their life cycle, migration, physiology, behavior, health and genetics. Several animal-attached tag packages holding specific data loggers, e.g., time depth recorders, position, orientation, acoustic and video recorders for short to medium term studies, as well as tags developed for large scale migration telemetry studies are available as off-the-shelf devices, or in many cases as custom made sensor packages. Deployment of those instruments is often the limiting factor for data collection. The Aerial Remote Tag System (ARTS) is a flexible system which can easily be adapted to deploy different tag sensor packages and biopsy collection devices. This paper presents the history and design of the ARTS, and accessories developed for instrumentation and biopsy sampling of cetaceans, such as the recent developed ARTS–LKDart for biopsy sampling. Deployment of archival tags usually requires radio tracking of the instrumented animal, or at least tracking of the tag for recovery. Thus, we also here describe the automatic digital signal processing radio direction finder, the Direction Finder Horten (DFHorten unit).Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Behavioral responses to predatory sounds predict sensitivity of cetaceans to anthropogenic noise within a soundscape of fear

Funding was provided by the US Navy Living Marine Resources and Office of Naval Research programs, Netherlands Ministry of Defence, Norwegian Ministry of Defence, UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, and DGA French Ministry of Defence.Acoustic signals travel efficiently in the marine environment, allowing soniferous predators and prey to eavesdrop on each other. Our results with four cetacean species indicate that they use acoustic information to assess predation risk and have evolved mechanisms to reduce predation risk by ceasing foraging. Species that more readily gave up foraging in response to predatory sounds of killer whales also decreased foraging more during 1- to 4-kHz sonar exposures, indicating that species exhibiting costly antipredator responses also have stronger behavioral reactions to anthropogenic noise. This advance in our understanding of the drivers of disturbance helps us to predict what species and habitats are likely to be most severely impacted by underwater noise pollution in oceans undergoing increasing anthropogenic activities. As human activities impact virtually every animal habitat on the planet, identifying species at-risk from disturbance is a priority. Cetaceans are an example taxon where responsiveness to anthropogenic noise can be severe but highly species and context specific, with source–receiver characteristics such as hearing sensitivity only partially explaining this variability. Here, we predicted that ecoevolutionary factors that increase species responsiveness to predation risk also increase responsiveness to anthropogenic noise. We found that reductions in intense-foraging time during exposure to 1- to 4-kHz naval sonar and predatory killer whale sounds were highly correlated (r = 0.92) across four cetacean species. Northern bottlenose whales ceased foraging completely during killer whale and sonar exposures, followed by humpback, long-finned pilot, and sperm whales, which reduced intense foraging by 48 to 97level responses to killer whale playbacks, implying a similar level of perceived risk. The correlation cannot be solely explained by hearing sensitivity, indicating that species- and context-specific antipredator adaptations also shape cetacean responses to human-made noise. Species that are more responsive to predator presence are predicted to be more disturbance sensitive, implying a looming double whammy for Arctic cetaceans facing increased anthropogenic and predator activity with reduced ice cover.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Remind me to wait

Bakgrunn. Unødvendig forskrivning av antibiotika til pasienter med sinusitt er en vanlig problemstilling i allmennpraksis. Overforbruk av antibiotika kan føre til resistensutvikling, og det er derfor viktig med tiltak som kan begrense bruken av antibiotika der det ikke er klart indisert. Vent og se-resept (VOS) er et slikt tiltak. Vi ønsket å se på mulige tiltak for å øke andel VOS ved sinusitt. Med bakgrunn i egen erfaring ønsket vi å vurdere om et pop-up-vindu som foreslår VOS ved forskrivning av noen typer antibiotika, samt et informasjonsskriv til pasienten, ville være veldokumenterte, gjennomførbare tiltak. Kunnskapsgrunnlaget. Vi baserte vår søkestrategi på PICO-modellen. Vi søkte hovedsakelig etter retningslinjer og oversiktsartikler i McMasterPlus. Studier viser at de fleste tilfeller av sinusitt er ukompliserte og selvbegrensende, og at bruk av VOS er en gunstig metode for å redusere bruken av antibiotika. Vi har også funnet i studier at reminders er et effektivt tiltak for å endre praksis. For å finne ut om tiltaket er gjennomførbart har vi vært i kontakt med et allmennlegekontor, i tillegg til datateknisk support for selve installeringen. Tiltak, kvalitetsindikator og metode. Med utgangspunkt i bakgrunnen og kunnskapsgrunnlaget ønsker vi å innføre to tiltak; pop-up-vindu i datasystemet ved forskrivning av antibiotika og et informasjonsskriv til pasienten. Dette for å påminne legen om VOS og bevisstgjøre både lege og pasient om viktigheten av VOS. Målet med tiltakene er å øke andel VOS til 20% av foreskreven antibiotika til pasienter med akutt sinusitt som tilfredsstiller kriteriene for VOS gitt i Antibiotikaveilederen for allmennpraksis. Vi valgte dermed en prosessindikator for å vurdere om målet nås. Vi vurderer dette ved å sammenligne andelen VOS før og etter innføring av tiltak. Organisering. Organiseringen har vi basert på PDSA-sirkelen. For å innføre tiltaket bør det organiseres et møte der prosjektplanen blir presentert. Det bør informeres om selve installasjonen av pop-up-funksjonen og om informasjonsskrivet, samt resistensutviklingen og viktigheten av VOS. Deretter installeres pop-up-funksjonen enkelt. Etter ett år vurderer vi om målet er nådd, og det vil så holdes et evalueringsmøte om endringen i praksisen har hatt den ønskede effekten. Konklusjon. Problematikken og tiltakene vi har valgt er forankret i evidensbasert kunnskap, og med bakgrunn i kontakt med et mikrosystem kan vi si at det er gjennomførbart. Til tross for mulig motstand hos lege og pasient tror vi at dette tiltaket er nyttig og gjennomførbart