Using internship placements to road test threshold learning outcomes for environment and sustainability

In 2015 the threshold learning outcomes (TLOs) for Australian bachelor degree graduates in the discipline of Environment and Sustainability were released.  This study road tested the Environment and Sustainability TLOs in the workplace via environmental science students’ internship placement. The study, which incorporated surveys of host-supervisors, students and teaching staff, was conducted over four years. The surveys enabled comparisons between the performance expected of a new graduate by employers with the level of performance students achieved while on placement. Overall, hosts expect new graduates to be ‘Capable’ performers (2.8 on a 5 point scale). Host-supervisors also rated the overall performance of interns as ‘Capable’ (3.4/5). Expected performance of a new graduate for individual TLOs was compared with the performance of interns. Students exceeded the expectations of host-supervisors for all TLOs. In contrast, teaching staff rated the performance of students lower than students themselves and host-supervisors. Fundamental differences in the way students are assessed in the workplace and the classroom may account for the difference in perceived student performance. The results of the surveys can be used as evidence that the degree is meeting the needs of industry and for graduates to undertake professional work in the Environment and Sustainability discipline. The methodology has the potential to be used in any discipline that has published TLOs. The authors recommend that the Australian Qualifications Framework is reviewed and a rubric that describes student behaviour is used rather than vague terms such as ‘well developed’

Defining Sheep Grazing Environments Using Remotely Sensed Data at a Range of Scales

The grazing environment (i.e. the quantity and quality of pasture available) drives sheep production in Australia. The long-term viability of the sheep industry is dependent on the sustainable use of pasture, which requires monitoring. Remotely sensed data have the potential to monitor changes in pasture resources within and between seasons. Remotely sensed data have the potential to; map pasture resources within a paddock, differentiate paddocks within a farm, differentiate farms within a region and differentiate grazing environments across the country. This thesis examines the application of remotely sensed data in the sheep industry at three scales (within a paddock, at the paddock/farm scale and at a continental scale). Data from a hand-held active sensor (Crop Circle™) were used to estimate green dry matter (GDM) within a paddock and produce a map that highlighted the variability within the paddock. The normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) and soil adjusted vegetation index (SAVI) were used to estimate GDM in mixed annual and perennial swards over three years at two sites. Comparisons between NDVI, SAVI, pasture height and GDM indicated that producers should continue to use pasture height to estimate GDM but the Crop Circle™ could be used to map GDM variability within a paddock

The Impact of Thyroid Cancer and Post-Surgical Radioactive Iodine Treatment on the Lives of Thyroid Cancer Survivors: A Qualitative Study

BACKGROUND: Adjuvant treatment with radioactive iodine (RAI) is often considered in the treatment of well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma (WDTC). We explored the recollections of thyroid cancer survivors on the diagnosis of WDTC, adjuvant radioactive iodine (RAI) treatment, and decision-making related to RAI treatment. Participants provided recommendations for healthcare providers on counseling future patients on adjuvant RAI treatment. METHODS: We conducted three focus group sessions, including WDTC survivors recruited from two Canadian academic hospitals. Participants had a prior history of WDTC that was completely resected at primary surgery and had been offered adjuvant RAI treatment. Open-ended questions were used to generate discussion in the groups. Saturation of major themes was achieved among the groups. FINDINGS: There were 16 participants in the study, twelve of whom were women (75%). All but one participant had received RAI treatment (94%). Participants reported that a thyroid cancer diagnosis was life-changing, resulting in feelings of fear and uncertainty. Some participants felt dismissed as not having a serious disease. Some participants reported receiving conflicting messages from healthcare providers on the appropriateness of adjuvant RAI treatment or insufficient information. If RAI-related side effects occurred, their presence was not legitimized by some healthcare providers. CONCLUSIONS: The diagnosis and treatment of thyroid cancer significantly impacts the lives of survivors. Fear and uncertainty related to a cancer diagnosis, feelings of the diagnosis being dismissed as not serious, conflicting messages about adjuvant RAI treatment, and treatment-related side effects, have been raised as important concerns by thyroid cancer survivors

Advancing human health risk assessment

Acknowledgements: The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and authors wish to thank the participants of the break‐out session ‘Advancing risk assessment science – Human health’ at EFSA's third Scientific Conference ‘Science, Food and Society’ (Parma, Italy, 18–21 September 2018) for their active and valuable contributions to the discussion. We also thank Hans Verhagen for carefully proofreading it.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Inshore and offshore marine migration pathways of Atlantic salmon post-smolts from multiple rivers in Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and Ireland

The migratory behavior of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) post-smolts in coastal waters is poorly understood. In this collaborative study, 1914 smolts, from 25 rivers, in four countries were tagged with acoustic transmitters during a single seasonal migration. In total, 1105 post-smolts entered the marine study areas and 438 (39.6%) were detected on a network of 414 marine acoustic receivers and an autonomous underwater vehicle. Migration pathways (defined as the shortest distance between two detections) of up to 575 km and over 100 days at sea were described for all 25 populations. Post-smolts from different rivers, as well as individuals from the same river, used different pathways in coastal waters. Although difficult to generalize to all rivers, at least during the year of this study, no tagged post-smolts from rivers draining into the Irish Sea were detected entering the areas of sea between the Hebrides and mainland Scotland, which is associated with a high density of finfish aquaculture. An important outcome of this study is that a high proportion of post-smolts crossed through multiple legislative jurisdictions and boundaries during their migration. This study provides the basis for spatially explicit assessment of the impact risk of coastal pressures on salmon during their first migration to sea

Inshore and offshore marine migration pathways of Atlantic salmon post-smolts from multiple rivers in Scotland, England, Northern Ireland, and Ireland

The migratory behavior of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) post-smolts in coastal waters is poorly understood. In this collaborative study, 1914 smolts, from 25 rivers, in four countries were tagged with acoustic transmitters during a single seasonal migration. In total, 1105 post-smolts entered the marine study areas and 438 (39.6%) were detected on a network of 414 marine acoustic receivers and an autonomous underwater vehicle. Migration pathways (defined as the shortest distance between two detections) of up to 575 km and over 100 days at sea were described for all 25 populations. Post-smolts from different rivers, as well as individuals from the same river, used different pathways in coastal waters. Although difficult to generalize to all rivers, at least during the year of this study, no tagged post-smolts from rivers draining into the Irish Sea were detected entering the areas of sea between the Hebrides and mainland Scotland, which is associated with a high density of finfish aquaculture. An important outcome of this study is that a high proportion of post-smolts crossed through multiple legislative jurisdictions and boundaries during their migration. This study provides the basis for spatially explicit assessment of the impact risk of coastal pressures on salmon during their first migration to sea

Relationships between pasture availability, wool profile and staple strength in various sheep grazing environments

Information on variation in fibre diameter during the wool growing season derived using optical fibre diameter analysis (OFDA2000) can be used to predict wool staple strength. Information on fibre diameter can also be used to initiate nutritional management strategies for preventing wool tenderness and the associated price reduction. However, OFDA2000 measurements involve costs associated with the collection of mid-side wool samples and laboratory analyses. In addition, the information is retrospective, as results are usually obtained too late for feeding and management interventions. We investigated the use of real-time pasture availability data obtained using satellite imaging to predict fibre diameter profile and staple strength. Correlations between pasture availability and changes in fibre diameter were strong, but varied between environments. In general, the rate of reduction in pasture availability was moderately correlated with the reduction in fibre diameter; on average it accounted for 28% of the variation in fibre diameter, and in some environments it accounted for up to 75% of the variation in fibre diameter. The decrease in pasture availability was positively correlated with staple strength and accounted for 26% of the variation in staple strength. The use of satellite-derived pasture availability estimates in feeding strategies designed to prevent wool tenderness is discussed, as is the potential of satellite data for predicting regional staple strength changes

The potential for predicting Australian wool supply using remotely sensed data

This paper examines the potential of using remote sensing data to make forecasts of Australian wool production more reliable. At present AWI's Production Forecasting Committee relies heavily on expert opinion and consensus. A model of the Australian flock at a regional scale is critical to enable reliable forecasts. Given technological advances and proven applications like the CSIRO's Pasture from Space program, remote sensing has considerable potential to reduce uncertainty in production forecasting. It can be used to differentiate regions on the basis of the predicted quantity and quality of pasture available for sheep grazing throughout the year. Integrating estimated pasture productivity, flock size and flock structure into a simple simulation model should provide an improved and more precise forecast of wool production across the Australian continent

Classifying sheep grazing environments using satellite data to quantify genotype by environment interactions

Australian sheep grazing environments are currently classified into 3 very broad zones (High Rainfall, Wheat/Sheep and Pastoral) that do not differentiate sheep grazing environments to a level allowing sheep producers to assess the impact grazing environments may have on sire progeny performance. If a genotype by environment interaction (GEI) is expressed more as environments diverge then a finer classification of environments may help breeders when selecting stud rams. A sheep grazing environment classification system has been developed in this study using readily obtainable monthly Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), from satellite data, and monthly maximum temperature for a 10 year period. Cluster analysis was used on the NVDI and temperature data to create 25 sheep grazing environment classes (SGEclass) around Australia. Two-way analysis of variance revealed a significant interaction between sire progeny performance and SGEclass for hogget weight, fibre diameter and greasy fleece weight. Further ASReml analysis of Merino data from Sheep Genetics illustrated that sire by SGEclass explained similar amounts of variation as sire by flock. Recording the geographic location of the flock would improve the ability to account for environmental differences between flocks

The relationship between a satellite derived vegetation index and wool fibre diameter profiles

Satellite data provide a systematic and reliable method for recording pasture availability. Pastures from Space (PfS) provides estimates of pasture growth on a weekly basis throughout Australia. The wool fibre diameter profile (FDP) changes in response to feed intake and offers a mechanism for recording the nutritional status of sheep. The aim of this project was to define the nature of the relationship between FDP and a normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) from PfS. The FDPs and weekly NDVIs were scaled to the same time period for 62 FDPs from 26 flocks throughout Australia. FDP and NDVI were graphed together and relationships were categorised as strong (39), neutral (17) and poor (6). Cross correlation and regression of rate of change of FDP and NDVI curves provide further characterization of the relationship. Supplementary feeding and temperature were factors that may contribute to poor correlations. Where strong relationships exist between FDP and NDVI, they could be used to predict tenderness and average diameter of the wool clip in a region. The relationship could also be used to predict the impacts of climate change on wool production