Jubileumshefte – NIBIO Tromsø 100 år

Den 10. april 1923 overtok staten gården Holt på Tromsøya, og Forsøksgården Holt ble etablert. Den har seinere skiftet navn flere ganger etter ulike omorganiseringer, og har i dag navnet NIBIO Tromsø (Norsk institutt for bioøkonomi). Gården var og er verdens nordligste forskingsstasjon innen jord- og plantekultur. Den var samtidig en av de første vitenskapelige institusjonene i Tromsø, nest etter Tromsø Museum (1872) og Geofysisk Institutt/Værvarslinga for Nord-Norge (1918–20). Gården Holt ligger landlig til på vestsiden av Tromsøya, men samtidig nært bysentrum og flyplass.Jubileumshefte – NIBIO Tromsø 100 årpublishedVersio

GNSS-Denied Navigation using Direction of Arrival from Low-Cost Software Defined Radios and Signals of Opportunity

This paper describes a novel navigation system for outdoor navigation in conditions where reliable satellite navigation cannot be assumed. It is build around inexpensive of-the-shelf hardware and could be used with several different signal types, allowing flexibility in usage. The system is currently in a proof-of-concept stage, and this paper shows that there are promising preliminary results.acceptedVersio

Root development in potato and carrot crops – influences of soil compaction

Row crops such as potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.) and carrots (Daucus carota L.) are of high economic value in the Nordic countries. Their production is becoming more and more specialized, including continuous arable cropping and heavier farm machinery, with increased risk of soil compaction. The result may be restricted root development and economic losses. Potatoes have widely branched adventitious roots, whereas carrots have taproots with fibrous roots extending from them. Under optimal soil conditions, total root length per surface area may reach more than 10 km m−2 for both species. Maximal root depth is about 140 cm for potato and more than 200 cm in carrots. Most of the root mass is usually distributed within the upper 100 cm, whereof more than 50% may be deeper than 30 cm. Soil compaction causes a dense soil with few large pores, poor drainage and reduced aeration, especially in wet soils with low organic matter content and high proportions of silt or clay. With compacted subsoil layers, roots will be concentrated more in the upper layers and thus explore a smaller soil volume. This will lead to reduced water and nutrient uptake, reduced yields and low nutrient utilization efficiency. In this review article, we describe the interactions between root development and soil conditions for potatoes and carrots, with special focus on sub-optimal conditions caused by soil compaction. We also discuss the effects of tilling strategies, organic material, irrigation and fertilization strategies and controlled traffic systems on root and yield development. To reduce subsoil compaction there is a need to implement practises such as controlled traffic farming, new techniques for ploughing, better timing of soil operations, crop rotations with more perennial crops and supplements of organic material. Moreover, there is a need for a stronger focus on the impacts of farm machinery dimensions

Lagringskvalitet i gulrot - kan noe gjøres?

Storage diseases is a serious challenge in carrots. Effects on storage quality of studies to loosen soil structure, combined with studies of carrot varieties, carrot age and storage conditions are presented in this paper, intended for Norwegian growers

Time of day for vaccination, outcomes, and relative effectiveness of high-dose vs. standard-dose quadrivalent influenza vaccine: a post-hoc analysis of the DANFLU-1 randomized clinical trial

Objectives Morning influenza vaccination enhances antibody response. In this posthoc analysis of the DANFLU-1 trial, we sought to evaluate the association between time of day for vaccination (ToV) and outcomes, and whether ToV modified the relative effectiveness of high-dose (QIV-HD) vs. standard-dose (QIV-SD) quadrivalent influenza vaccine. Methods DANFLU-1 was a pragmatic feasibility trial of QIV-HD vs. QIV-SD. Outcomes included hospitalizations and mortality. For subgroup analysis, the population was dichotomized at median ToV into two groups (early and late). Results The study population included 12,477 participants. Mean age was 71.7±3.9 years with 5,877 (47.1%) female participants. Median ToV was 11.29AM. Earlier ToV was associated with fewer respiratory hospitalizations independent of vaccine type, which persisted in adjusted analysis (IRR 0.88 per 1-hour decrement (95% CI 0.78- 0.98, p=0.025). No effect modification by continuous or dichotomous ToV was found. In subgroup analysis, effects consistently favored QIV-HD against hospitalizations for pneumonia or influenza (early: IRR 0.30; late: 0.29), all-cause hospitalizations (early: IRR 0.87; late: 0.86), and mortality (early: HR 0.53; late: 0.50). Conclusion In this exploratory post-hoc analysis, earlier ToV was associated with fewer respiratory hospitalizations. The relative effectiveness of QIV-HD vs. QIV-SD was not modified by ToV. Further research is needed to confirm findings. Trial Registration Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT0504858

Editorial Board

Source at http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12888-017-1345-8 Background: The duration of untreated psychosis is determined by both patient and service related factors. Few studies have considered the geographical accessibility of services in relation to treatment delay in early psychosis. To address this, we investigated whether treatment delay is co-determined by straight-line distance to hospital based specialist services in a mainly rural mental health context. Methods: A naturalistic cross-sectional study was conducted among a sample of recent onset psychosis patients in northern Norway (n = 62). Data on patient and service related determinants were analysed. Results: Half of the cohort had a treatment delay longer than 4.5 months. In a binary logistic regression model, straight-line distance was found to make an independent contribution to delay in which we controlled for other known risk factors. Conclusions: The determinants of treatment delay are complex. This study adds to previous studies on treatment delay by showing that the spatial location of services also makes an independent contribution. In addition, it may be that insidious onset is a more important factor in treatment delay in remote areas, as the logistical implications of specialist referral are much greater than for urban dwellers. The threshold for making a diagnosis in a remote location may therefore be higher. Strategies to reduce the duration of untreated psychosis in rural areas would benefit from improving appropriate referral by crisis services, and the detection of insidious onset of psychosis in community based specialist services

Advancing multi-vehicle deployments in oceanographic field experiments

Our research concerns the coordination and control of robotic vehicles for upper water-column oceanographic observations. In such an environment, operating multiple vehicles to observe dynamic oceanographic phenomena, such as ocean processes and marine life, from fronts to cetaceans, has required that we design, implement and operate software, methods and processes which can support opportunistic needs in real-world settings with substantial constraints. In this work, an approach for coordinated measurements using such platforms, which relate directly to task outcomes, is presented. We show the use and operational value of a new Artificial Intelligence based mixed-initiative system for handling multiple platforms along with the networked infrastructure support needed to conduct such operations in the open sea. We articulate the need and use of a range of middleware architectures, critical for such deployments and ground this in the context of a field experiment in open waters of the mid-Atlantic in the summer of 2015.Advancing multi-vehicle deployments in oceanographic field experimentsacceptedVersio

Integrated monitoring of mola mola behaviour in space and time

Over the last decade, ocean sunfish movements have been monitored worldwide using various satellite tracking methods. This study reports the near-real time monitoring of finescale (< 10 m) behaviour of sunfish. The study was conducted in southern Portugal in May 2014 and involved satellite tags and underwater and surface robotic vehicles to measure both the movements and the contextual environment of the fish. A total of four individuals were tracked using custom-made GPS satellite tags providing geolocation estimates of fine-scale resolution. These accurate positions further informed sunfish areas of restricted search (ARS), which were directly correlated to steep thermal frontal zones. Simultaneously, and for two different occasions, an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) videorecorded the path of the tracked fish and detected buoyant particles in the water column. Importantly, the densities of these particles were also directly correlated to steep thermal gradients. Thus, both sunfish foraging behaviour (ARS) and possibly prey densities, were found to be influenced by analogous environmental conditions. In addition, the dynamic structure of the water transited by the tracked individuals was described by a Lagrangian modelling approach. The model informed the distribution of zooplankton in the region, both horizontally and in the water column, and the resultant simulated densities positively correlated with sunfish ARS behaviour estimator (r(s) = 0.184, p < 0.001). The model also revealed that tracked fish opportunistically displace with respect to subsurface current flow. Thus, we show how physical forcing and current structure provide a rationale for a predator's finescale behaviour observed over a two weeks in May 2014