Preventing and Responding to a Fuel or Oil Spill

The best way to reduce the possibility of a fuel or oil spill is to take preventative steps to minimize the chance that a spill will occur. Preventative steps include: (1) use of food grade oil; (2) proper storage and handling of fuel and oils and; (3) regular maintenance and inspection of equipment. In spite of taking these steps to minimize spills, accidents do occur. Even though most spills tend to happen during harvest, you should be prepared to handle a fuel or oil spill at any time during the year. Should an accidental spill occur, be prepared to respond quickly. Clean-up preparedness requires: (1) prior training in clean-up procedures; (2) immediate availability of clean-up (spill kit) materials and; (3) prompt notification to the handler. Following the recommended practices will insure food safety and reduced environmental risk. Despite the fact that the FDA tolerance, the legal allowable amount of food grade lubricant residue that can occur on cranberries, is 10 ppm, the goal of every grower should be to deliver fruit with no food-grade oil residue. Remember that there is no tolerance for non-food grade oil or fuel on cranberries

Disease Management

Cranberries are grown on approximately 14,000 acres in Massachusetts and are an important horticultural commodity in the Southeastern region of the state. In addition, more than 60,000 acres of open space are associated with cranberry operations. This open space provides habitat to many plant and animal species as well as providing an aesthetic value. Open space associated with cranberry farms serves to protect and recharge watersheds. Cranberry farming also contributes to the economy and quality of life in Southeastern Massachusetts

Nutrient Management

Nutrient elements are required by cranberry plants for the production of vegetation (new leaves and stems), roots, and fruit (crop). Cranberry plants get these nutrients from the soil, from water, or from fertilizers added to the bog. While cranberries require the same nutrients as other plants, they are unique in that the amounts required are much smaller than for most crop plants. The reason for this is that cranberries have adapted through evolution for growth on acid, sandy soils. These soils have little nutrient content, and the plants in the family Ericaceae such as cranberries and blueberries that evolved on them have correspondingly low nutrient needs. Further, cranberries are perennial plants with the capacity to store and reuse nutrients in old leaves, wood, and roots. A unique and important feature of cranberries is that they maintain their leaves over the winter. These leaves also serve as a nutrient source when the plants resume growth in the spring. Commercially, cranberries are grown in either organic soils modified by surface application of sand, or in mineral soils. The rooting zone typically contains about 95% sand. Average organic matter in the surface horizon of Massachusetts cranberry soils is less than 3.5% and silt and clay make up less than 3% of the soil. Therefore, cranberry soil has low cation exchange capacity - little ability to hold positively charged nutrients such as ammonium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium. However, downward leaching of nutrients is minimized by the layered structure of cranberry bog soil. Layers of sand are added to the bogs every 2-5 years leading to alternating sandy and organic layers. The organic layers are comprised of decaying roots and leaves. Nutrient leaching is also minimized in peat based soils by the high organic matter content of the subsoil. Why cranberries need fertilizer: Each season nutrients are removed from the bog during harvest and detrashing (removal of fallen leaves from the bog floor). When the fruit is harvested, the elements removed in the largest quantities are nitrogen, potassium, and calcium, at \u3e20 lb/A (nitrogen) or \u3e15 lb/A (potassium and calcium) in an average (150 bbl/A) crop. The amount of nutrient removal increases with increasing crop load and is less when crops are small. It is to compensate for nutrient removal that cranberry growers add fertilizer to their bogs. Most fertilizer added to producing cranberry bogs contains nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (N-P-K fertilizer). Phosphorus is included in the mixture to maintain nutrient balance and because much of the phosphorus in cranberry bog soil is not available to the plants at crucial growth stages. Fertilizer is applied to cranberry bogs using ground rigs (spreaders and seeders), helicopters (aerial application), and the sprinkler system (fertigation)

Weed Management

In order to select the best management practices for weed management, it is important to understand how weeds grow, how they affect cranberry yields, how weeds are affected by environmental factors, and how the various herbicides work. Often, using several strategies in an integrated program may produce better weed management than any single control measure alone

Insect Management

Minimizing damage to the plants and crop by insect pests is one of the most important challenges in cranberry production. Failure to manage pest insects properly can result in severe crop loss, vine damage, or in extreme cases, the death of large areas of the bog. The most effective insect management strategy is an integrated approach using scouting techniques to monitor insect populations. Cultural, biological, or chemical control measures are applied only when the pest pressure (insect population) reaches an action threshold. The action or economic threshold is the ‘break even’ point where damage by a certain pest population begins to exceed the cost of the control measure (usually a biological or chemical pesticide application). The threshold number varies depending on the potential of a given insect species to cause economic damage

Subsidizing Religious Participation through Groups: A Model of the “Megachurch” Strategy for Growth

Either despite or because of their non-traditional approach, megachurches have grown significantly in the United States since 1980. This paper models religious participation as an imperfect public good which, absent intervention, yields suboptimal participation by members from the church’s perspective. Megachurches address this problem in part by employing secular-based group activities to subsidize religious participation that then translates into an increase in the attendees’ religious investment. This strategy not only allows megachurches to attract and retain new members when many traditional churches are losing members but also results in higher levels of an individual’s religious capital. As a result, the megachurch may raise expectations of members’ levels of commitment and faith practices. Data from the FACT2000 survey provide evidence that megachurches employ groups more extensively than other churches, and this approach is consistent with a strategy to use groups to help subsidize individuals’ religious investment. Religious capital rises among members of megachurches relative to members of non-megachurches as a result of this strategy

Decisions and delays within stroke patients' route to the hospital: a qualitative study.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: We examine acute stroke patients' decisions and delays en route to the hospital after onset of symptoms. METHODS: This was a qualitative study carried out in the West Midlands, United Kingdom. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 30 patients (6 accompanied by partners). Patients were asked about their previous experience of having had a stroke and their initial engagement with health services. "One sheet of paper" and thematic analyses were used. RESULTS: Three potential types of delay were identified from onset of symptoms to accessing stroke care in the hospital: primary delays caused by lack of recognition of symptoms or not dealing with symptoms immediately, secondary delays caused by initial contact with nonemergency services, and tertiary delays in which health service providers did not interpret the patients' presenting symptoms as suggestive of stroke. The main factors determining the speed of action by patients were the presence and influence of a bystander and the perceived seriousness of symptoms. CONCLUSION: Despite campaigns to increase public awareness of stroke symptoms, the behavior of both patients and health service providers apparently led to delays in the recognition of and response to stroke symptoms, potentially reducing access to optimum and timely acute specialist assessment and treatment for acute stroke

The association between prehospital care and in-hospital treatment decisions in acute stroke: a cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Hospital prealerting in acute stroke improves the timeliness of subsequent treatment, but little is known about the impact of prehospital assessments on in-hospital care. OBJECTIVE: Examine the association between prehospital assessments and notification by emergency medical service staff on the subsequent acute stroke care pathway. METHODS: This was a cohort study of linked patient medical records. Consenting patients with a diagnosis of stroke were recruited from two urban hospitals. Data from patient medical records were extracted and entered into a Cox regression analysis to investigate the association between time to CT request and recording of onset time, stroke recognition (using the Face Arm Speech Test (FAST)) and sending of a prealert message. RESULTS: 151 patients (aged 71±15 years) travelled to hospital via ambulance and were eligible for this analysis. Time of symptom onset was recorded in 61 (40%) cases, the FAST test was positive in 114 (75%) and a prealert message was sent in 65 (44%). Following adjustment for confounding, patients who had time of onset recorded (HR 0.73, 95% CI 0.52 to 1.03), were FAST-positive (HR 0.54, 95% CI 0.37 to 0.80) or were prealerted (HR 0.26, 95% CI 0.18 to 0.38), were more likely to receive a timely CT request in hospital. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the importance of hospital prealerting, accurate stroke recognition, and recording of onset time. Those not recognised with stroke in a prehospital setting appear to be excluded from the possibility of rapid treatment in hospital, even before they have been seen by a specialist

When has service provision for transient ischaemic attack improved enough? A discrete event simulation economic modelling study.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to examine the impact of transient ischaemic attack (TIA) service modification in two hospitals on costs and clinical outcomes. DESIGN: Discrete event simulation model using data from routine electronic health records from 2011. PARTICIPANTS: Patients with suspected TIA were followed from symptom onset to presentation, referral to specialist clinics, treatment and subsequent stroke. INTERVENTIONS: Included existing versus previous (less same day clinics) and hypothetical service reconfiguration (7-day service with less availability of clinics per day). OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome of the model was the prevalence of major stroke after TIA. Secondary outcomes included service costs (including those of treating subsequent stroke) and time to treatment and attainment of national targets for service provision (proportion of high-risk patients (according to ABCD2 score) seen within 24 hours). RESULTS: The estimated costs of previous service provision for 490 patients (aged 74±12 years, 48.9% female and 23.6% high risk) per year at each site were £340 000 and £368 000, respectively. This resulted in 31% of high-risk patients seen within 24 hours of referral (47/150) with a median time from referral to clinic attendance/treatment of 1.15 days (IQR 0.93-2.88). The costs associated with the existing and hypothetical services decreased by £5000 at one site and increased £21 000 at the other site. Target attainment was improved to 79% (118/150). However, the median time to clinic attendance was only reduced to 0.85 days (IQR 0.17-0.99) and thus no appreciable impact on the modelled incidence of major stroke was observed (10.7 per year, 99% CI 10.5 to 10.9 (previous service) vs 10.6 per year, 99% CI 10.4 to 10.8 (existing service)). CONCLUSIONS: Reconfiguration of services for TIA is effective at increasing target attainment, but in services which are already working efficiently (treating patients within 1-2 days), it has little estimated impact on clinical outcomes and increased investment may not be worthwhile