Accessibility and universal design: motorization and improvement of a wheelchair

Treball desenvolupat dins el marc del programa 'European Project Semester'.Using electric power wheelchairs improves the mobility, independence and autonomy of many disabled patients and elders. But for every using group there are different needs and requirements that needs to be meet, such as size, height and steering methods. Many markets offer wheelchairs in different sizes and with different steering methods so that every use group can move independently. In this paper, we show how we will meet the requirements of a specific client who’s main priority is to become more accessible in daily events. We will combine two different wheelchairs, an electric power wheelchair and a non-electric buggy and we will show how to make the control of the steering and a communication system more accessible. These solutions will solve the problem and improve the mobility of a specific user

Diel differences in catches of Western Baltic Spring Spawning Herring Larvae (Clupea harengus)

Comparative night and day catches of herring larvae were taken during the Rügen-Herring-Larval-Survey (RHLS) in 2007 and 2008 in the Greifswalder Bodden which is the main spawning area of the Western Baltic Spring Spawning Herring. The quantities and the size composition of larvae caught during night and day were examined. During night more larvae were caught compared to the samples taken at daytime, especially with larvae larger than 25 mm. This indicates avoidance reactions, which increase with the developmental stage of the larvae. The differences of the night and day catches are relatively constant until a length of about 25 mm, thus the night/day effect does not influence estimations concerning larvae smaller than 25 mm (e.g. N20 index). There might be an impact on estimations for larger larvae due to the night/day effect. For further research other aspects like cloud coverage at night, phase of the moon, underwater visibility and turbidity should be taken into account. These aspects might influence the avoidance reactions

Estimating abundances of 0-group western Baltic cod by using pound net fisheries

Nearshore 0-group western Baltic cod are frequently caught as bycatch in the commercial pound net fishery. Pound net fishermen from the Danish Isle of Funen and Lolland and the German Isle of Fehmarn have recorded their catches of small cod between September and December 2008. Abundance patterns were analysed, particularly concerning the influence of abiotic factors (hydrography, meteorology) and the differences between sampling sites. Catch per unit effort (CPUE) differed by site and location, whereas CPUE were highest at Lolland. Correlation between catch and wind/currents were generally weak. However, wind directions and current speeds seem to affect the catch rates. Finally an algorithm was developed to calculate a recruitment index for western Baltic cod recruitment success based on previous analyses

Report of the Cruise N 739, by the FRV Solea from 12:09 to 28:09:2017 Cruise leaders Juan Santos & Dr. Daniel Stepputtis

Two innovative grid systems were experimentally tested in the North Sea- brown shrimp fishery. The systems were proposed to supplement codend selectivity, as a strategy to reduce the wide selection ranges provided by standard gears. Results show promising results of the concepts tested, as the selection ranges obtained with both grid systems were significantly lower than those obtained with any of the codends tested during the CRANNET project. However, the concepts tested here require further development before being considered for commercial use

Egg mortality: predation and hydrography in the central Baltic

Cod and sprat are the dominant fish species in the Baltic pelagic ecosystem, both of great economic importance and ecologically strongly interlinked. Management of both species is challenged by highly variable recruitment success. Recent studies have identified predation and hydrographic conditions during the egg phase to be of critical importance. Two years of extensive field investigations in the Bornholm Basin, central Baltic Sea, were undertaken. In 2002, a typical stagnation situation characterized by low salinity and poor oxygen conditions was investigated, and in early 2003, a major inflow of North Sea water completely changed the hydrographic conditions by increasing salinity and oxygen content, thereby altering ecological conditions. The goal was to quantify egg mortality caused by predation and hydrography, and to compare these estimates with independent estimates based on cohort analysis. Results indicated high intra-annual variability in egg mortality. Cod and sprat egg mortality responded differently to the major Baltic inflow: mortality related to hydrographic conditions increased for sprat and decreased for cod. On the other hand, predation mortality during peak spawning decreased for sprat and increased for cod

Technical approaches to avoid cod catches in Baltic Sea trawl fisheries : A report for the BALTFISH high level group

In the last few years, the Thünen Institute of Baltic Sea Fisheries developed and tested several selectivity devices for demersal trawls with the aim to reduce the unwanted bycatch of Baltic cod, while maintaining the high catchability of flatfish. This research is a direct response to the poorstatus of both Baltic cod stocks(ICES, 2019a, 2019b), resulting in reduced catch opportunities (Western Baltic cod) or a closure of the directed fishery (Eastern Baltic cod), respectively.to ad-hoc measures to alleviate a serious threat to the conservation of eastern Baltic cod, im-plemented by the European Commission by July 22, 2019(EU 2019/1248). The presented workup dates and complements the ICES report on ‘Technical strategies to avoid catches in the Baltic Sea trawl fisheries’ (ICES, 2019c). There is now (April 2020) much knowledge gained compared to the state of play in the ICES report. This can now be considered state-of-the-art technology. Since September 2019, two different approaches and a combination of the two were investigated: 1. modifications of the extensions and 2. modifications of the codend. For approach 1., the following selectivity devices were (further) developed and tested(Figure 1): (1)CODEX (COD EXcluder): A guiding panel in the extension of a trawl guides cod towards an escape opening. (2)ROOFLESS (in various configurations): The top panel of the trawl extension was removed to build a large escape opening (175cm, or330cm long). Additionally, configurations with stimulation ropes (STIPED) were tested. Both devices were mounted in a standardized 4-panel extension of the trawl, developed at the Thünen Institute (NEMOS, NEt Enabling MOdular Selectivity, Figure 3) to ensure a firm shape of the extension and hence reduce variability in the efficiency of the selection process. The experimental work was conducted during four cruises between September 2019 and February 2020. For CODEX, it was shown that cod catches could be reduced significantly, but also flatfish catches were reduced largely. The different ROOFLESS-configurations have also shown very good capabilities to reduce the bycatch of cod, while the catch efficiency was higher for flatfish species compared to CODEX..

Review on patterns and dynamics of drivers of biodiversity (species, communities, habitats) across Baltic Sea ecosystems in space and time including socio-economy

At the beginning we present a review on the imprecise use of the ‘Driver’ and ‘Pressure’ terms and give a possible definition in line with the Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) approach (Oesterwind et al, 2016). With the help of the whole consortium we produced a general table of potential important drivers and pressures of the Baltic Sea which will be used as a basis in task 5.1 (table is already discussed with task leader). In the following sections main pressures were reviewed concerning status, impact and outlook or model results were presented if available