Evaluating animal-based foods and plant-based alternatives using multi-criteria and SWOT analyses

Open Access Article; Published online: 29 Oct 2020Global diets have transitioned in recent decades with animal and processed products increasing. Promoting a reversal in these trends towards plant-based diets could reduce the environmental impacts of food systems and reduce the prevalence of non-communicable diseases and malnutrition. In Spain, a reference point for the Mediterranean diet (predominantly plant-source based), plant-based alternatives to traditional animal-based products are receiving increased attention. However, limited focus has been given to the opinions of stakeholder groups on the potential of these novel products. We evaluate the opinions of stakeholders within the Spanish agri-food sector, using multicriteria and SWOT analyses, on traditional and novel food products. Stakeholders involved in the supply chain of food products (producers, processors, and distributors) were critical of novel plant-based foods, highlighting problems with their taste, processing technology, and high prices. These results contrast with the perspectives of policymakers, researchers, environmental NGOs, and consumers who see novel products more positively - healthier, more sustainable, and highly profitable. These results illustrate the more traditional mindset seen in Spanish production systems, contrasting with the rapidly shifting tastes and demands of consumers and the potential legislative orientation of policymakers. This study calls for improved understanding and collaboration between stakeholders to better manage complex choices that affect the future of food systems during their needed transformation

The ELAIS deep X-ray survey - I. Chandra source catalogue and first results

We present an analysis of two deep (75 ks) Chandra observations of the European Large Area Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) Survey (ELAIS) fields N1 and N2 as the first results from the ELAIS deep X-ray survey. This survey is being conducted in well-studied regions with extensive multiwavelength coverage. Here we present the Chandra source catalogues along with an analysis of source counts, hardness ratios and optical classifications. A total of 233 X-ray point sources are detected in addition to two soft extended sources, which are found to be associated with galaxy clusters. An overdensity of sources is found in N1 with 30 per cent more sources than N2, which we attribute to large-scale structure. A similar variance is seen between other deep Chandra surveys. The source count statistics reveal an increasing fraction of hard sources at fainter fluxes. The number of galaxy-like counterparts also increases dramatically towards fainter fluxes, consistent with the emergence of a large population of obscured sources

The ELAIS Deep X-ray Survey

We present initial follow-up results of the ELAIS Deep X-ray Survey which is being undertaken with the Chandra and XMM-Newton Observatories. 235 X-ray sources are detected in our two 75 ks ACIS-I observations in the well-studied ELAIS N1 and N2 areas. 90% of the X-ray sources are identified optically to R=26 with a median magnitude of R=24. We show that objects which are unresolved optically (i.e. quasars) follow a correlation between their optical and X-ray fluxes, whereas galaxies do not. We also find that the quasars with fainter optical counterparts have harder X-ray spectra, consistent with absorption at both wavebands. Initial spectroscopic follow-up has revealed a large fraction of high-luminosity Type 2 quasars. The prospects for studying the evolution of the host galaxies of X-ray selected Type 2 AGN are considered.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, To appear in Proceedings of XXI Moriond Conference: "Galaxy Clusters and the High Redshift Universe Observed in X-rays", edited by D. Neumann, F.Durret, & J. Tran Thanh Va

The coincidence and angular clustering of Chandra and SCUBA sources

NRC publication: N

Examining the sustainability and development challenge in agricultural-forest frontiers of the Amazon Basin through the eyes of locals

Open Access JournalThe Amazon basin is the world’s largest rainforest and the most biologically diverse place on Earth. Despite the critical importance of this region, Amazon forests continue inexorably to be degraded and deforested for various reasons, mainly a consequence of agricultural expansion. The development of novel policy strategies that provide balanced solutions, associating economic growth and environmental protection, is still challenging, largely because the perspective of those most affected- local stakeholders- is often ignored. Participatory Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping (FCM) was implemented to examinestakeholder perceptions towards the sustainable development of two agricultural-forest frontier areas in the Bolivian and Brazilian Amazon. A series of development scenarios and a climate change scenario were explored and applied to stakeholder derived FCM. Stakeholders in both regions perceived landscapes of socio-economic impoverishment and environmental degradation driven by governmental and institutional deficiencies. Under such abject conditions, governance and well-integrated social and technological strategies offered socio-economic development, environmental conservation, and resilience to climatic changes. The results suggest the benefits of a new type of thinking for development strategies in the Amazon basin, and that continued application of traditional development policies reduce the resilience of the Amazon to climate change, whilst limiting socio-economic development and environmental conservation

Implications of different stellar spectra for the climate of tidally locked Earth-like exoplanets (article)

This is the final version. Available from EDP Sciences via the DOI in this recordThe dataset associated with this article is located in ORE at: https://doi.org/10.24378/exe.2383The majority of potentially habitable exoplanets detected orbit stars cooler than the Sun, and therefore are irradiated by a stellar spectrum peaking at longer wavelengths than that incident on Earth. Here we present results from a set of simulations of tidally–locked terrestrial planets orbiting three di erent host stars to isolate the e ect of the stellar spectra on the simulated climate. Specifically, we perform simulations based on TRAPPIST–1e, adopting an Earth-like atmosphere and using the UK Met O ce Unified Model in an idealised ‘aqua–planet’ configuration. Whilst holding the planetary parameters constant, including the total stellar flux (900 W/m2) and orbital period (6.10 Earth days), we compare results between simulations where the stellar spectrum is that of a quiescent TRAPPIST–1, Proxima Centauri and the Sun. The simulations with cooler host stars had an increased proportion of incident stellar radiation absorbed directly by the troposphere compared to the surface. This, in turn, led to an increase in the stability against convection, a reduction in overall cloud coverage on the dayside (reducing scattering), leading to warmer surface temperatures. The increased direct heating of the troposphere also led to more e cient heat transport from the dayside to the nightside and, therefore, a reduced day–night temperature contrast. We inferred that planets with an Earth–like atmosphere orbiting cooler stars had lower dayside cloud coverage, potentially allowing habitable conditions at increased orbital radii, compared to similar planets orbiting hotter stars for a given planetary rotation rate.Leverhulme TrustScience and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)Leverhulme Trus