Monitoring cod catches of the Dutch demersal fleet in 2016

This report presents the results of the cod monitoring program 2016. The research was commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs within the EZ-program Beleidsondersteunend Onderzoek. Cod catches of the vessels in the fleet segments BT2 (beam trawl and pulse trawl) and TR (otter trawls and seines) need to be monitored yearly, due to the Dutch implementation of the European cod recovery plan. The European cod recovery plan restricts the fishing effort of European fleets catching cod. Fishing effort, based on historical track records, is allocated to different gear groups. Fishing effort can be transferred between gear groups by use of conversion factors. In the Netherlands fishing effort is transferred yearly from the BT2 gear group to the TR group, based on a national conversion factor of 1:3 (BT:TR) kWdays instead of the European conversion factor of 1:16. This is because the cod catches in the Dutch TR fleet are not as high as the European conversion factor implies. In order to substantiate for the national conversion factor, the Dutch government is obliged to report cod catches per unit of effort (CpUE) of the vessels in these gear groups to the European Commission. An overview is provided of the fishing activity, the cod landings and the cod landings per unit of effort of the various gear categories in the BT2 and the TR fleet segments during the year 2016. First the cod Catch per Unit of Effort (CpUE) transition ratio between the BT2 on the one hand and the TR1C plus TR2 fleet segments on the other hand was calculated. And secondly the percentage of cod avoidance trips – trips during which 5% or less cod was caught – in the TR-fleet were calculated. The TR fleet has a higher cod CpUE on average than the BT fleet. When the cod targeted fisheries (TR1AB) are not taken into account, the CpUE effort transition ratio (TR1C+TR2): BT2 of 2016 lies between 4.2:1 and 5.7:1, depending on whether the ratio is calculated on the basis of minimum or maximum cod discards estimation by the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) respectively whereby in the minimum calculation the vessels participating in the CCTV program are excluded. Based on average discards estimations including all vessels, the ratio is 5.1:1. The percentage of cod avoidance trips, fishing trips with 5% cod or less in the total catches, in the TR1C and the TR2 fleets were 94% and 96% in 2016 respectively. These percentages are based on average STECF cod discards estimations. When minimum or maximum discards estimations are used, the calculated percentages of cod avoidance trips does not vary more than 2 or 3% from the percentage based on average estimations

Longitudinal evaluation, acceptability and long-term retention of knowledge on a horizontally integrated organic and functional systems course

Undergraduate medical education is moving from traditional disciplinary basic science courses into more integrated curricula. Integration models based on organ systems originated in the 1950s, but few longitudinal studies have evaluated their effectiveness. This article outlines the development and implementation of the Organic and Functional Systems (OFS) courses at the University of Minho in Portugal, using evidence collected over 10 years. It describes the organization of content, student academic performance and acceptability of the courses, the evaluation of preparedness for future courses and the retention of knowledge on basic sciences. Students consistently rated the OFS courses highly. Physician tutors in subsequent clinical attachments considered that students were appropriately prepared. Performance in the International Foundations of Medicine examination of a self-selected sample of students revealed similar performances in basic science items after the last OFS course and 4 years later, at the moment of graduation. In conclusion, the organizational and pedagogical approaches of the OFS courses achieve high acceptability by students and result in positive outcomes in terms of preparedness for subsequent training and long-term retention of basic science knowledge

Murid herpesvirus 4 infection protects mice from the development of an anti-pneumovirus vaccine-induced TH2 immunopathology

Gammaherpesvirus imprintin

Effects of spanwise width of expansion area in open-channel flow on resting characteristics of oikawa, Zacco platypus

The 12th International Symposium on Particle Image Velocimetery, 2017, June 18–22, Busan, Kore

Unusual presentation of synovial sarcoma as meniscal cyst: A Case Report

Periarticular cyst and cystic soft tissue lesion around the knee are common. Synovial sarcoma is a rare and malignant soft tissue tumor accounting for approximately 5 of soft tissue sarcoma. A case is presented where a lesion adjacent to the joint line of the knee was diagnosed clinically and on imaging as a meniscal cyst. MRI signal was homogenous and no concomitant meniscal tears were seen. The tissue diagnosis was monophasic synovial sarcoma. © 2015 BY THE ARCHIVES OF BONE AND JOINT SURGERY

Communities Vulnerability Mapping of Spermonde Coral Islands

The purpose of this research is to map the vulnerability of communities in seven islands of Spermonde. Vulnerability assessment was conducted in July 2013 using an environmental and socio-economical stand point. Identification of the vulnerability issues were grouped into indicators (climate, island morphological, marine resources and socio-economical changes), with each given a scale of 1-5.and attributes in the form of a semi-structured questioner. To check for the type and severity of a disaster, 62 respondents were asked to rank the disaster on a scale of 1-4. Results indicate that the majority of respondents find that change in climate, island morphology, marine resources and socio-economical conditions hardly affect them. The disaster that they fear the most is the danger of losing their source of income. In terms of vulnerability index,  Bone Tambu and Lumu-Lumu islands are under very high vulnerability for Island and Socio-economic change. In terms of Climate and Marine Resource change, there are no significant differences among the islands. The trends show that these two categories fall under medium to high, with marine resource dynamic change always being higher than the climate change index, except in Kapoposang Island. Overall,  there are no differences between each zonation in vulnerability indexes

The liquidity management of the Eurosystem during the period of financial turmoil

In the past few months, euro area money markets have been exposed to intense tensions. On 8 August, overnight interest rates rose to very high levels which required interventions of the Eurosystem in order to stabilise short-term money market interest rates around the target level, i.e. the minimum bid rate on the main refinancing operations. The article explains how the Eurosystem steers very short-term money market interest rates by adjusting its supply of liquidity on the money market. It is shown how the Eurosystem’s liquidity management stabilised short-term money market interest rates around the minimum bid rate on the main refinancing operations in the first half of 2007. Although short-term money market interest rates were more volatile during the period of financial turmoil, the Eurosystem nevertheless managed to safeguard the signalling function of the short-term money market interest rates by applying its operational framework in a flexible way. More specifically, the Eurosystem decided to allot more liquidity than the benchmark amount in the main refinancing operations early within the maintenance period. It was also decided to conduct fine-tuning operations on a more frequent basis in order to stabilise short-term rates. Finally, the Eurosystem also decided to increase the share of longer-term refinancing operations in the total amount of outstanding open market operations. Despite the relative success in stabilising very short-term money market interest rates, longer maturity unsecured interest rates – for instance the 3-month Euribor – increased significantly during the period of financial turmoil. These movements cannot be controlled directly by central banks as they are determined predominantly by private sector behaviour. However, when assessing the appropriate monetary policy stance, the Governing Council of the ECB takes these possibly changing financing conditions into account.monetary policy implementation, Eurosystem, open market operations