Sea lice management measures for farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in Scotland: Costs and effectiveness

Cultured and wild Atlantic salmon around the world are affected by sea lice. Salmon culturing countries have policies in place to minimize sea lice abundance on cultured salmon in open net pens in the marine environment. To adhere to these policies, salmon producers deploy a range of management measures against sea lice throughout the production cycle. The cost effectiveness of these sea lice management measures is not well quantified. This study provides estimates for cost effectiveness in Scotland of (1) individual sea lice management measures and (2) integrated management strategies that span an entire production cycle. Estimates were based on the cost-effectiveness ratio, in which costs consist of those associated with equipment, implementation, environment and side effects (mortality). Effectiveness was based on interviews and expert opinions. For single measures, skirts and the use of in-feed medicines had the best cost-effectiveness. Cleaner fish, fresh or brackish water baths, the physical removal measures (thermolicer and hydrolicer) and medicinal baths were among the next most cost-effective measures, followed by hydrogen peroxide baths. Tarpaulins were more cost-effective than well boats due to lower costs under the assumption of equal effectiveness. Direct comparison of cost effectiveness among measures may not always be constructive as they are deployed at different times in the production cycle and their functionality is different. A holistic approach to sea lice management, a common practice in industry as shown by the integrated management strategies, may reduce risk of developing resistance. For the single measures, carbon costs were insignificant compared to other costs. If measures would have a lasting effect on production through to harvest, such as ongoing increased mortality as a result of a management measure, carbon costs may become significant. Better quantification of effectiveness is important because the scarcity of data led to uncertainty that had a large impact on cost-effectiveness estimates. Generally, this study demonstrated a lack of reliable publicly available data and lack of standardization of data, which constrains research. Highlighted gaps in knowledge can serve as a guide to improve further understanding.<br/

Holistic corpus-based dialectology

This paper is concerned with sketching future directions for corpus-based dialectology. We advocate a holistic approach to the study of geographically conditioned linguistic variability, and we present a suitable methodology, 'corpusbased dialectometry', in exactly this spirit. Specifically, we argue that in order to live up to the potential of the corpus-based method, practitioners need to (i) abandon their exclusive focus on individual linguistic features in favor of the study of feature aggregates, (ii) draw on computationally advanced multivariate analysis techniques (such as multidimensional scaling, cluster analysis, and principal component analysis), and (iii) aid interpretation of empirical results by marshalling state-of-the-art data visualization techniques. To exemplify this line of analysis, we present a case study which explores joint frequency variability of 57 morphosyntax features in 34 dialects all over Great Britain

Data in Educational Living Labs

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Understanding the Relative Cost-Effectiveness of Sea Lice Management Measures for Farmed Salmon Production in Scotland

The sea louse Lepeophtheirus salmonis is a key parasite of cultured Atlantic salmon throughout most farmed salmon producing countries, including Scotland. The louse feeds on the salmon, and causes multi million pound commercial losses to the salmon aquaculture industry globally. Its life-cycle includes free-living life stages, and life stages attached to fish. The sea-louse life cycle is heavily affected by water temperatures, making the louse more abundant in summer and autumn months, and thus more sensitive to climate change, which may increase management challenges in the future. Sea lice infestation can lead to reduced salmon welfare and lower productivity at farm level through low feed efficiency or growth reduction. Furthermore, the value of salmon at harvest may be reduced, and environmental costs of salmon production may increase due to inefficient resource use, greenhouse gas emissions and nutrient pollution as a result of lower productivity. Sea lice control involves measurable economic and environmental costs as well as costs that are more difficult to monetise, such as costs related to fish welfare and public perceptions

The greenhouse gas impacts of converting food production in England and Wales to organic methods

Agriculture is a major contributor to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and must feature in efforts to reduce emissions. Organic farming might contribute to this through decreased use of farm inputs and increased soil carbon sequestration, but it might also exacerbate emissions through greater food production elsewhere to make up for lower organic yields. To date there has been no rigorous assessment of this potential at national scales. Here we assess the consequences for net GHG emissions of a 100% shift to organic food production in England and Wales using life-cycle assessment. We predict major shortfalls in production of most agricultural products against a conventional baseline. Direct GHG emissions are reduced with organic farming, but when increased overseas land use to compensate for shortfalls in domestic supply are factored in, net emissions are greater. Enhanced soil carbon sequestration could offset only a small part of the higher overseas emissions

Treatment challenges in and outside a specialist network setting: Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours

Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Neoplasms comprise a group of rare tumours with special biology, an often indolent behaviour and particular diagnostic and therapeutic requirements. The specialized biochemical tests and radiological investigations, the complexity of surgical options and the variety of medical treatments that require individual tailoring, mandate a multidisciplinary approach that can be optimally achieved through an organized network. The present study describes currents concepts in the management of these tumours as well as an insight into the challenges of delivering the pathway in and outside a Network

Testicular germ-cell tumours and penile squamous cell carcinoma: Appropriate management makes the difference

Germ-cell tumours (GCT) of the testis and penile squamous cell carcinoma (PeSCC) are a rare and a very rare uro-genital cancers, respectively. Both tumours are well defined entities in terms of management, where specific recommendations - in the form of continuously up-to-dated guide lines-are provided. Impact of these tumour is relevant. Testicular GCT affects young, healthy men at the beginning of their adult life. PeSCC affects older men, but a proportion of these patients are young and the personal consequences of the disease may be devastating. Deviation from recommended management may be a reason of a significant prognostic worsening, as proper treatment favourably impacts on these tumours, dramatically on GCT and significantly on PeSCC. RARECAREnet data may permit to analyse how survivals may vary according to geographical areas, histology and age, leading to assume that non-homogeneous health-care resources may impact the cure and definitive outcomes. In support of this hypothesis, some epidemiologic datasets and clinical findings would indicate that survival may improve when appropriate treatments are delivered, linked to a different accessibility to the best health institutions, as a consequence of geographical, cultural and economic barriers. Finally, strong clues based on epidemiological and clinical data support the hypothesis that treatment delivered at reference centres or under the aegis of a qualified multi-institutional network is associated with a better prognosis of patients with these malignancies. The ERN EURACAN represents the best current European effort to answer this clinical need

Measurement and Interpretation of Fermion-Pair Production at LEP energies above the Z Resonance

This paper presents DELPHI measurements and interpretations of cross-sections, forward-backward asymmetries, and angular distributions, for the e+e- -> ffbar process for centre-of-mass energies above the Z resonance, from sqrt(s) ~ 130 - 207 GeV at the LEP collider. The measurements are consistent with the predictions of the Standard Model and are used to study a variety of models including the S-Matrix ansatz for e+e- -> ffbar scattering and several models which include physics beyond the Standard Model: the exchange of Z' bosons, contact interactions between fermions, the exchange of gravitons in large extra dimensions and the exchange of sneutrino in R-parity violating supersymmetry.Comment: 79 pages, 16 figures, Accepted by Eur. Phys. J.

Evidence for an Excess of Soft Photons in Hadronic Decays of Z^0

Soft photons inside hadronic jets converted in front of the DELPHI main tracker (TPC) in events of qqbar disintegrations of the Z^0 were studied in the kinematic range 0.2 < E_gamma < 1 GeV and transverse momentum with respect to the closest jet direction p_T < 80 MeV/c. A clear excess of photons in the experimental data as compared to the Monte Carlo predictions is observed. This excess (uncorrected for the photon detection efficiency) is (1.17 +/- 0.06 +/- 0.27) x 10^{-3} gamma/jet in the specified kinematic region, while the expected level of the inner hadronic bremsstrahlung (which is not included in the Monte Carlo) is (0.340 +/- 0.001 +/- 0.038) x 10^{-3} gamma/jet. The ratio of the excess to the predicted bremsstrahlung rate is then (3.4 +/- 0.2 +/- 0.8), which is similar in strength to the anomalous soft photon signal observed in fixed target experiments with hadronic beams.Comment: 37 pages, 9 figures, Accepted by Eur. Phys. J.

A Determination of the Centre-of-Mass Energy at LEP2 using Radiative 2-fermion Events

Using e+e- -> mu+mu-(gamma) and e+e- -> qqbar(gamma) events radiative to the Z pole, DELPHI has determined the centre-of-mass energy, sqrt{s}, using energy and momentum constraint methods. The results are expressed as deviations from the nominal LEP centre-of-mass energy, measured using other techniques. The results are found to be compatible with the LEP Energy Working Group estimates for a combination of the 1997 to 2000 data sets.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures, Accepted by Eur. Phys. J.