\u27Social license to operate\u27 in the Blue Economy

The Blue Economy is an ocean based economic growth model gaining traction around the world. The way in which the Blue Economy is conceived and understood differs significantly across different sets of actors. A particular area of contestation exists around which ocean based industries or sectors can be considered to be \u27Blue\u27. This highlights the possibility of the Blue Economy becoming a forum through which the legitimacy of different private uses of ocean resources is contested and debated. The question of legitimacy of Blue Economy activities and sectors is explored through a critical engagement with the notion of a \u27social license to operate\u27 (SLO). Whilst SLO is normally considered in the context of individual businesses or developments, in this article we explore the applicability of SLO at a cross-sectoral scale. In doing so we examine how the concept of SLO may inform debates over appropriate private use of public ocean resources, and how this might influence the legitimacy of the broader concept of a Blue Economy. A case study involving a range of private sectors actors engaged in diverse ocean industries was conducted, drawing on interviews, a cross-sectoral survey and an interactive workshop with the ocean business community. The case study explores the role that SLO is currently playing in ocean industries. In particular we explore perceptions of who grants a SLO, what kind of concerns impact a SLO and how sectors work to obtain, or maintain, a SLO. By comparing the responses of individual sectors to these three critical questions, we identify that many of the SLO challenges currently being experienced by ocean industries relate to conflicting social and political values. This is creating a range of complex, sometimes irresolvable, SLO challenges for maritime industries, largely concentrated in sectors engaged in resource extraction, such as mining and oil and gas. In addition we find that attempts to address SLO challenges to date focus mostly on technical or technological adaptations. When comparing this to Blue Economy narratives we find that current engagement with SLO speaks primarily to interpretations of the Blue Economy which favour growth based narratives, and largely neglect competing discourses. This has considerable implications for the overall legitimacy of the Blue Economy, as the loss of SLO within one sector may undermine the credibility of the concept overall. This research highlights the importance of broader societal and political engagement in questions about appropriate use and management of private sector activities in the ocean

The evolution of parental care strategies in subsocial wasps

This is the final version. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.Code accessibility Code used for this study will be archived on Dryad digital repository on acceptance.Data accessibility All data will be archived on Dryad digital repository on acceptance.Insect parental care strategies are particularly diverse, and prolonged association between parents and offspring may be a key precursor to the evolution of complex social traits. Macroevolutionary patterns remain obscure, however, due to the few rigorous phylogenetic analyses. The subsocial sphecid wasps are a useful group in which to study parental care because of the diverse range of strategies they exhibit. These strategies range from placing a single prey item in a pre-existing cavity to mass provisioning a pre-built nest, through to complex progressive provisioning where a female feeds larvae in different nests simultaneously as they grow. We show that this diversity stems from multiple independent transitions between states. The strategies we focus on were previously thought of in terms of a stepping-stone model in which complexity increases during evolution, ending with progressive provisioning which is a likely precursor to eusociality. We find that evolution has not always followed this model: reverse transitions are common, and the ancestral state is the most flexible rather than the simplest strategy. Progressive provisioning has evolved several times independently, but transitions away from it appear rare. We discuss the possibility that ancestral plasticity has played a role in the evolution of extended parental care

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Implemented Synthetic Indole and Indazole Cannabinoid Detection, Identification, and Quantification

The present invention provides a method for detecting synthetic indole and indazole cannabinoids in a sample known or suspected to contain a synthetic indole or indazole cannabinoid. A deuterated solvent is added to the solid sample, creating a suspension. The suspension is mixed to release the cannabinoid from the solid sample. The suspension is subject to a NMR spectroscopy process to produce a sample NMR spectrum

Maximising community wellbeing: Assessing the threats to the benefits communities derive from the marine estate

© 2018 The coastal and marine environment is often managed according to the principles of sustainable development, which include environmental, economic, and social dimensions. While each are equally important, social sustainability receives a lower priority in both policy and research. Methodologies for assessing social sustainability are less developed than for environmental and economic sustainability, and there is a lack of data on the social aspects of sustainable development (such as social equity), which constitutes a barrier to understanding social considerations and integrating them into natural resource management. This paper explores a threat and risk assessment to the marine estate in New South Wales, Australia, which identified and categorised both the benefits that communities gain from the marine estate and the threats to those benefits. A broad range of benefits were identified including participation (e.g., socialising and sense of community), enjoyment (e.g., enjoying the biodiversity and beauty), cultural heritage and use, intrinsic and bequest values, the viability of businesses, and direct economic values. Threats to community benefits were categorised as resource use conflict, environmental, governance, public safety, critical knowledge gaps and lack of access. An integrated threat and risk assessment approach found that the priority threats to community benefits were environmental threats (e.g., water pollution), critical knowledge gaps (e.g., inadequate social and economic information), governance (e.g., lack of compliance), resource-use conflict (e.g., anti-social behaviour), and lack of access (e.g., loss of fishing access). Threat and risk assessment is an evidence-based tool that is useful for marine planning because it provides a structured approach to incorporating multiple types of knowledge and enables limited resources to be targeted to the threats identified as being most important to address

Using a well-being approach to develop a framework for an integrated socio-economic evaluation of professional fishing

© 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd The principles of Ecologically Sustainable Development and Ecosystem Based Fisheries Management require that fisheries be managed for social as well as environmental and economic objectives. Comprehensive assessments of the success of fisheries in achieving all three objectives are, however, rare. There are three main barriers to achieving integrated assessments of fisheries. Firstly, disciplinary divides can be considered “too hard” to bridge with inherent conflicts between the predominately empirical and deductive traditions of economics and biophysical sciences and the inductive and interpretative approach of much of the social sciences. Secondly, understanding of the social pillar of sustainability is less well developed. And finally, in-depth analysis of the social aspects of sustainability often involves qualitative analysis and there are practical difficulties in integrating this with largely quantitative economic and ecological assessments. This article explores the social well-being approach as a framework for an integrated evaluation of the social and economic benefits that communities in New South Wales, Australia, receive from professional fish harvesting. Using a review of existing literature and qualitative interviews with more than 160 people associated with the fishing industry the project was able to identify seven key domains of community well-being to which the industry contributes. Identification of these domains provided a framework through which industry contributions could be further explored, through quantitative surveys and economic analysis. This framework enabled successful integration of social and economic, and both qualitative and quantitative information in a manner that enabled a comprehensive assessment of the value of the fishery

LUT-less Sensorless Control of Synchronous Reluctance Machines using the Locus of Incremental Saliency Ratio Tracking (LIST)

This paper deals with the LUT-less sensorless control of synchronous reluctance (SyR) machines at zero and low speed, where LUT-less stands for avoiding the use of flux-map look-up tables (LUTs) or other pre-determined machine parameters. The new signal-injection based control scheme called the Locus of Incremental Saliency ratio Tracking (LIST) is presented, where a pulsating high-frequency voltage component is used for position tracking and a second rotating signal-injection is dedicated to on-line estimating the incremental saliency ratio. A trajectory of constant incremental saliency ratio is used for torque regulation, resulting in stable control at all operating conditions, including overload. This despite the effect of cross-saturation, which is known to introduce position error and harm the control stability progressively with the load. The proposed scheme is validated experimentally on a 1.1 kW SyR machine test-bench. Alternative LUT-less torque control laws are investigated, and their stability limits put in evidence using convergence analysis and experiments

Chasing the thrill or just passing the time? Trialing a new mixed methods approach to understanding heterogeneity amongst recreational fishers based on motivations

Human dimensions researchers and fisheries managers have long recognized the value of exploring the heterogeneity that exists amongst recreational fishers. Understanding the differences between fishers has the potential to assist managers in developing targeted communication strategies, direct resources to active management more efficiently and improve understanding of how fishers will respond to changes in regulations or new management interventions. Human dimensions research has traditionally explored fisher heterogeneity through research into the different reasons why people choose to fish, as well as attempts to categorize or segment fishers using variable based approaches. These studies have, to date, relied primarily on large scale, quantitative survey techniques with a particular focus on fisher avidity and commitment. They are therefore limited in their ability to explain how different fishing motivations might interact within an individual, why particular motivations are prioritized, and how this might influence fisher behavior and attitudes. This study trialed a mixed methods approach to understanding fisher heterogeneity based primarily on motivations using a case study in NSW, Australia. This trial involved utilizing a person-centered approach known as Latent Class Analysis (LCA), followed by qualitative, in depth focus group discussions. This revealed five distinct fisher classes; Social fishers, Trophy Fishers, Outdoor Enthusiasts, Generalists and Hunter-Gatherers, each with distinct and significantly different combinations of catch and non-catch-related motivations. The qualitative analysis sought to explore the intersection of motivations and attitudes towards management within and across the different fisher classes. The results highlighted the importance of more detailed examination of the intersection between motivations and attitudes in future LCA, with a particular focus on the potential influence of mastery (or challenge/experience) motivations on fisher attitudes to wards marine and fisheries management approaches

Carotenoid-dependent plumage coloration is associated with reduced male care in passerine birds

The immense diversity of plumage coloration exhibited by birds is the result of either pigments deposited in the feathers or microstructural arrangements of feather barbules. Some of the most common pigments are carotenoids, which produce bright yellow, orange, and red colors. Carotenoids differ from other pigments since birds cannot synthesize them de novo and must obtain them from the diet. Carotenoid pigments are usually associated with signaling and sexual selection, although they also have antioxidant properties and play a role in the immune response. Here, we hypothesize that carotenoid-dependent plumage coloration functions as a signal of a male’s tendency to invest in offspring care because they play an important role in self-maintenance and may provide key information about individual quality; allowing females to obtain information about a male’s tendency to invest in offspring care. Using phylogenetic comparative analyses across 349 passerine birds, we show that species that consume carotenoid-rich foods have more carotenoid-dependent plumage coloration than species with carotenoid-poor diets. In addition, carotenoid-dependent plumage coloration is associated with decreased male investment in offspring care. Our results suggest that investment in carotenoid-dependent plumage coloration trades off against male investment in offspring care and will likely have broad implications for our understanding of the ecological contexts that facilitate various evolutionary processes, such as sexual selection and signaling associated with plumage colors

Carotenoid-dependent plumage coloration is associated with reduced male care in passerine birds

The immense diversity of plumage coloration exhibited by birds is the result of either pigments deposited in the feathers or microstructural arrangements of feather barbules. Some of the most common pigments are carotenoids, which produce bright yellow, orange, and red colors. Carotenoids differ from other pigments since birds cannot synthesize them de novo and must obtain them from the diet. Carotenoid pigments are usually associated with signaling and sexual selection, although they also have antioxidant properties and play a role in the immune response. Here, we hypothesize that carotenoid-dependent plumage coloration functions as a signal of a male’s tendency to invest in offspring care because they play an important role in self-maintenance and may provide key information about individual quality; allowing females to obtain information about a male’s tendency to invest in offspring care. Using phylogenetic comparative analyses across 349 passerine birds, we show that species that consume carotenoid-rich foods have more carotenoid-dependent plumage coloration than species with carotenoid-poor diets. In addition, carotenoid-dependent plumage coloration is associated with decreased male investment in offspring care. Our results suggest that investment in carotenoid-dependent plumage coloration trades off against male investment in offspring care and will likely have broad implications for our understanding of the ecological contexts that facilitate various evolutionary processes, such as sexual selection and signaling associated with plumage colors