Report on findings on transportation and logistics of selected food value chains:Salmon to fillet case study

• Transportation has significant impact on food costs and the environment. It is a major contributor to carbon emissions, accounting for almost a quarter of the CO2 emissions in the EU, of which 30% is attributed to the food sector. • This deliverable addresses the modelling of food chains’ transportation and logistics. It develops a robust model for policy support, which is applied to a specific case as a worked example. The approach can be used to model the transport and logistics of other food supply chains, given data availability. • The mathematical modelling aims to optimise the cost and effectiveness of logistics operations. It also allows for the integration and consideration of environmental aspects within transportation, processing and distribution operations. • Specifically, the deliverable focuses on the development of a logistics mathematical model using Atlantic salmon as an exemplary example of a globally integrated food supply chain. A Norwegian salmon exporter was engaged to supply data for validating the mathematical model. • The model follows a multi-objective optimization approach that captures the trade-off between total logistics cost and the environment. It has two objectives. Firstly, to minimize total costs associated with transportation, fuel consumption, inventory holding, processing and residuals/waste. Secondly, to reduce CO2 emissions incurred by production at plants, transportation from suppliers to plants, and transportation from plants to customers. • Constraints related to supply, processing capacity, storage capacity, demand, carbon emissions, inventory balancing, transportation capacity, and different modes of transportation between different types of plants and facilities are also consider within the model. • Model development, validation and policy recommendation occurred in four stages: (i) mapping supply chain linkages and product flows, (ii) designing the mathematical model, (iii) data collection for parameters of the model and (iv) model validation and deriving policy recommendation. • Before modeling, consultation with salmon supply chain actors occurred as a first step to map the supply chain linkages. This involved expert interviews with VALUMICS partners. • Based on the mapping of the supply chain, a mathematical model was developed. However, given the complexity of the supply chain and the limited information that can be drawn from a single company which completely covers both the supply and the demand ends of the value chains, the model was divided into two stages (Model N1 and N2) • First it optimises the supply chain network from salmon farms, abattoirs, primary processing plants, secondary processing plants and wholesalers so to meet the demand of the Secondary Processing Plants and Wholesalers for Fresh HOG (Head-on-Gutted) product (Model N1) (farm to wholesaler). • Second, it addresses the supply chain from the secondary processing plants and wholesalers to retailers. The secondary processing plants process HOG into whole fillet, salmon by-products and some residual amount so to meet the demand of retailers (Model N2) (wholesaler to retailer). • An additional model (Model M) allows for the optimisation of the overall supply chain network where, for example, a Company X tries to meet the demand of retailers in different time periods (farm to retailer). • A transportation scenario analysis was also conducted by considering options for various maritime transportation routes from primary processing plant to secondary processing and primary processing plant to various wholesalers. • The results from the three models highlight that it is essential for any company to optimise the overall supply chain network system (from salmon farms to retailers), as the total cost for model M is relatively much lower than the combined total cost of N1 and N2. • Each model also shows that the supply chain network is sensitive to fuel cost and consequently, fuel consumption and distances between actors across the supply chain. • Environmental impact is generally measured by fuel consumption during operations and in the case of food chain, transportation and distribution are important contributors via the use of fuel-based vehicles, sea vessels and/or airplanes. • The scenarios analysis highlights the importance of adopting maritime transportation routes in terms of significantly reducing the total cost, fuel cost and overall carbon emission. Hence shifting certain logistics operations from road to maritime transportation from the perspective of economic and environmental benefits are advocated. • For short to medium distances (vans, trucks, rails and sea vessels) that covers transportation trips to reach airport hubs and big cities, lowering CO2 emissions depends on the emissions ratio (the relative emissions impact of delivery vehicle when compared to personal vehicle – mostly applied in urban logistics) and customer density. • For long distance transport (air), environmental improvement can be mainly achieved through technological development and this has been well supported by research dedicated specifically to address EU aviation industry challenges. • The models are developed for a planning horizon consisting of discrete time periods, aiding the possibility of studying demand and supply uncertainty and its consequences in supply chain decision making. Hence, they help decision makers to identify the changes in a supply chain network when different transportation routes are adopted (for example whether maritime routes can be adopted or not in place of road/rail transportation, to address environmental concerns related to fuel consumption and carbon emissions). • The models are valuable for policy makers in terms of understanding the costs and emissions associated with different food supply chains, as well as the effects of particular policy interventions and market developments (e.g. variation in demand, fuel costs, emission and waste constraints). • They can aid supply chain managers to make decisions regarding the amountof inventory to be kept in different time periods.Aditjandra, P., De, A., M., Gorton, M., Hubbard, C., Pang, G., Mehta, S., Thakur, M., Richardson, M., Bogasson, S., Olafsdottir, G. (2019) Report on findings on transportation and logistics of selected food value chains. VALUMICS "Understanding Food Value Chains and Network Dynamics", funded by European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme GA No 727243. Deliverable: D7.1, Newcastle University, UK, 94 page

Phosphorus management in the Baltic Sea historic evidence and future options

Phosphorus being one of the essential elements for all forms of life is also a finite resource. The extensive use of Phosphorus in anthropogenic activities has lead to high nutrient load in surface waters causing eutrophication. The Baltic Sea being a semi enclosed water body and a good example of eutrophication has been chosen as model basis. To determine the magnitude of phosphorus use in Riparian States and the total loads to the sea is investigated using a systems analysis approach. In this thesis the phosphorous flows were examined using substance flow analysis of two types of systems: anthropogenic system and a sub basin system. The anthropogenic system presents the flows and stocks of phosphorus within processes with phosphorus utilization within each Riparian country and the total load of phosphorus to the Baltic Sea. The sub basin system models individual sub basins to determine the total input of phosphorus and the resident stocks of phosphorus in sea water and biomass. Based on the sub basin a hypothesis is formulated to determine the fate of phosphorus in the sea and the identify sinks of phosphorus. Hypothesis: The inflow of phosphorus into the Baltic Sea is not coupled with an increase in phosphorus stock but result in a high sedimentation rate. The sub basins represent phosphorus exporters to other neighboring basins. Within the anthropogenic system, agriculture and food market posses the largest flows and stocks of phosphorus. While the largest loads from the anthropogenic systems are from agricultural run off and waste water discharge. Poland is found to have major share in this contribution of phosphorus flows to the Baltic Sea. The sub basin Baltic Proper contains the largest stock of phosphorus among all the other sub basins. The test of the hypothesis hold true and sediments of the Baltic Sea have been recognized as major sinks of phosphorus

Bayesian nonparametric density estimation and sufficient dimension reduction in survival analysis

Sufficient dimension reduction with logistic Gaussian process priors have been used successfully in a Bayesian nonparametric regression setting. In this thesis, we describe extensions of these methods to handle time-to-event data. We consider both a partial-likelihood approach, where we model the hazard function, and a full-likelihood approach, where we model the density. In both cases, our approach simultaneously estimates the covariate subspace and the conditional density given this subspace. Simulation studies are used to compare these methods with random survival forests and Cox\u27s proportional hazards model in terms of identifying important covariates and predicting survival. These studies show that our two approaches result in more consistent covariate selection and our full-likelihood method results in more accurate predictions

Traceability of hides through the supply chain - Norilia Hide Case

This study is a part of iProcess project funded by the Research Council of Norway (NFR 255596). The aim of this study was to evaluate various data capture technologies for traceability of hides in a pilot setting. The RFID enabled hide tags provided best readability while there were challenges with the other technologies. RFID tags were used for tracking between the slaughterhouse and Skjeberg. Hides which had dot peening and laser engravings went through the tanning process and the hides returned still had hair on them which made it difficult to read the markings. The UHF and LF RFID tags could not be located in the hides after the tanning process. In theory, all tags and markings tested in the study should be readable, but the tanning process is the main challenge for the available technology. Traceability from the farm to the raw hide processor (Skjeberg) is possible with the technologies available and RFID tags provide promising results. lf the machine-readable requirement is not essential, laser engraving can be used for traceability also including the tanning process.publishedVersio

β Receptors: role in cardiometabolic disorders

Pharmacological and molecular approaches have shown that an atypical β-adrenoceptor (AR), called β 3 -AR, that is distinct from β 1 -ARs and β 2 -ARs, exists in some tissues in heterogeneous populations such as β 3a -ARs and β 3b -ARs. β 3 -ARs belong to a superfamily of receptors linked to guanine nucleotide binding proteins (G proteins). The β 3 -AR gene contains two introns whereas the β 1 -AR and β 2 -AR genes are intronless, leading to splice variants. β 3 -ARs can couple to G i and G s and they are reported to be present in brown adipose tissue, vasculature, the heart, among other tissues. β 3 -ARs cause vasodilation of microvessels in the islets of Langerhans and may participate in the pathogenesis of cardiac failure, during which modification of β 1 -AR and β 2 -AR expression occurs. The development of β 3 -AR agonists has led to the elaboration of promising new drugs, including antiobesity and antidiabetic drugs. This article reviews the various pharmacological actions of β 3 -ARs and their clinical implications for diabetes and cardiovascular diseases

Greenhouse gas emissions of Norwegian salmon products

Greenhouse gas emissions have been quantified for 11 Norwegian salmon supply chains. This is the third comprehensive assessment carried out for the Norwegian farmed salmon supply chains with some differences in the data used and the method chosen. Hence results presented in this report must be compared keeping in mind the differences and changes in the GHG emissions cannot be interpreted as a direct result of aquaculture industry's reduction measures. Greenhouse gas emission reduction potential of 19 improvement measures including changes in feed composition, distribution to the market, reduced losses and electrification of grow-out farms among others was quantified. The effects of the measures vary from 19% lower emission to 29% higher emissions than the base case farmgate salmon at 3.8 kg CO2e/kg liveweight. The analysis is mainly based on the LCA method while Environmentally Extended Input-Output method is used as a supplementing method. The present study is carried out in a collaboration between SINTEF Ocean AS, Asplan Viak AS and RISE Research Institutes of Sweden.Greenhouse gas emissions of Norwegian salmon productspublishedVersio