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The Effect of Optimizing Diets for Vitamin D3, Calcium and Phosphorus for Performance and Exterior Traits in Growing-Finishing Pigs and Nursery Pigs
Get PDFLocomotive problems and poor bone health are a known welfare and economic challenge in modern pig production. The aim of this study was to examine how calcium, phosphorus and vitamin D3 , with a particular focus on two dietary sources of vitamin D3, affect serum vitamin D3 status in pigs, exterior traits and overall performance. The study included 160 pigs divided into four diet groups, receiving either standard vitamin D3 or 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 through the whole period, or both by switching in the second part of the trial.
Blood samples were taken twice during the trial to measure circulating 25-OH-D3 levels. All pigs were scored for exterior traits related to address their locomotive abilities, and individual feed intake and growth were recorded using automated FIRE feeding stations.
The results from the study showed that pigs receiving the 25-OH-D3 supplement had significantly higher serum 25-OH-D3 levels compared to those fed standard vitamin D3. Some improvements in exterior trait were also observed in the group fed the 25-OH-D3 supplement through the whole trial, although the differences where minor between the groups and further research should be done. No significant effects were seen on daily growth rate, average daily feed intake or feed conversion ratio, but there were observed higher start weight on pigs fed 25-OH-D3 in the start that might indicate a positive effect of 25-OH.D3 on growth perfomance in piglets.
The results suggest that 25-OH-D3 is more effective in raising vitamin D3 status in pigs, and that consistent supplementation from nursery stage until finishing stage might contribute to improve skeletal health. It also highlights the importance of adequate levels of calcium and phosphorus to gain optimal results
Property regimes and designing commons institutions to address the environmental crisis
Get PDFThis thesis argues if common-property regimes can provide ecological and social benefits, compared to private ownership in local sustainable resource management. Through examination and discussion of commonization, the processes of establishing new commons institutions, may be an effective alternative to privatization. This thesis demonstrates that successfully designed commons can decrease soil degradation, enhance biodiversity and increase tree cover. However, to achieve this there must be a certain set of factors that enable effective governance. These conditions align closely with Ostrom´s (1990) design principles covering participatory decision-making, clearly defined boundaries and capable management mechanisms such as monitoring and sanctions systems.
Central to commons sustainability are the dynamics of coordination and exclusion costs. When these costs exceed institutional capacity, commons regimes risk fragmentation into individual property. The relationship between coordination costs and commons regimes are heavily influenced by external actors. External factors such as NGOs, governments and firms can lower these costs through legal recognition, technical support and solutions and resource provision. Additionally, the actors can also hinder commons development and raising the costs by top-down regulation, rights disputes and encroachment of commons territory. This thesis will draw on empirical cases on commonization and how external intervention can support community-led governance to create sustainable commons.B-D
Objectively measured environmental factors in relation to school travel mode among adolescents: a decision tree analysis
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Effects of Environmental Enrichment on Behavior and Growth of Juvenile Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) – Relevance for Fish Welfare and Aquaculture Production
Get PDFIntensive aquaculture production imposes a range of problems related to fish health and welfare, threatening both economical and ethical sustainability of fish production. Increasing the complexity of the holding environment (environmental enrichment, EE) has been shown to have a range of positive effects on physiology, health, and welfare of fish in captivity. EE is assumed to encourage the expression of natural and adaptive behaviors, thereby promoting improved animal welfare. How these advantages translate into an actual impact on central production parameters such as growth remains insufficiently documented, and EE is not yet broadly adopted in current aquaculture practices. This study investigates how early exposure to environmental complexity affects growth and welfare- related behavioral responses in juvenile rainbow trout and discusses the potential relevance of such environmental manipulation in aquaculture. Behaviour of fish in EE vs BE (barren environment) tanks suggest that structural complexity fosters natural, rewarding activities and supports positive welfare states. After 90 days of rearing in EE or BE, fish were transferred to individual isolation for two weeks, allowing for observations of differences in stress coping ability. Mass gain was more than twice as high in fish transferred from enriched compared to barren rearing. Additionally, EE led to significantly lower frequencies of stereotypic vertical swimming following transfer to the novel environment, suggesting that EE fish developed greater behavioral flexibility and resilience. The markedly increased occurrence of stereotypic behavior in BE fish, occurring only after exposure to the novel environment, supports the conclusion that differences in growth trajectories are strongly influenced by behavioral correlates of variable stress coping abilities in EE- and BE- reared fish. On the other hand, growth was generally faster in BE fish in their original environment prior to experimental intervention. The discussion that follows from these results revolve around identifying which of these factors is the main driver of contrasting phenotypes arising from EE vs BE environments. Further investigations are needed to determine the underlying biological mechanisms responsible for the distinct phenotypic divergence observed between EE- and BE reared fish- a difference that while expected, still raises questions about the casual factors. Finally, these results emphasize the value of broadening behavioral indicators used in aquaculture, as behavioral outcomes of welfare translate, to some degree, directly to growth performance following environmental change. This could serve as a strong motivation to maintain a clear focus on welfare status in aquaculture production
The effect of weather conditions from heading to harvest on gluten quality of spring wheat – A study of historical data 2005–2022
Get PDFThe gluten-viscoelastic properties are essential for breadmaking quality and are affected by both genotypes and environments, such as weather conditions. However, it is still not clear how weather conditions cause variation in gluten quality and at which stage of the grain filling they are critical. The aim of the study was to explore the relationship between weather parameters during grain filling and the viscoelastic properties of gluten. The gluten of spring wheat varieties grown over 17 seasons, resulting in a total of 70 different environments, was analyzed with the Kieffer extensibility rig. The variation in viscoelastic properties of gluten was mainly explained by environment, followed by genotype, while the genotype*environment interaction was small. The results also indicated that the periods around heading and physical maturity were the most critical when weather conditions affected the gluten quality. Our results also revealed that factors other than weather conditions are responsible for the variation in gluten quality.publishedVersio
Multi-environment field trials indicate strong genetic control of seed polyphenol accumulation in faba bean
Get PDFThe interest towards faba bean as a source of plant-based protein is strongly increasing and the improvement of faba bean grain quality is pivotal to achieve a wider adoption by the food and feed industries. This study characterizes ten faba bean cultivars grown in a multi-environment field trial in Norway for their seed phenolic profile using untargeted liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry (LC–MS). The analyses identified 84 major phenolic compounds that significantly variates in their content across cultivars and locations. Variance component (VC) analyses found that genotype (G) and genotype by location (G × L) interaction VC were significant for all the identified compounds, with G having the strongest contribution to the phenotypic variance. Multivariate analyses indicated sizable differences in the phenolic profile of wild type/tannin containing cultivars, which were categorized in two distinguishable clusters mainly due to their different content of proanthocyanidins, prodelphinidins and flavan-3-ols. These results suggest that the improvement of faba bean grain quality can be achieved through breeding of new cultivars with specific phenolic profiles having enhanced health and nutritional properties.Multi-environment field trials indicate strong genetic control of seed polyphenol accumulation in faba beanpublishedVersio
Analyzing deterministic and stochastic influences on the power grid frequency dynamics with explainable artificial intelligence
Get PDFPower grids are essential for our society, connecting consumers and generators. Their frequency stability is impacted by supply and demand changes, including deterministic and stochastic dynamics, e.g., from market activities or fluctuating renewables. The first two Kramers–Moyal coefficients allow for a description of both the deterministic (via drift) and stochastic (via diffusion) aspects of these dynamics. Such a description and understanding could be critical to stabilizing power systems. However, how drift and diffusion differ between synchronous areas, how they vary over time, and how the generation mix influences them, remains unclear. Analyzing temporal patterns in drift and diffusion for frequency data from Australia (AUS) and Continental Europe (CE), we reveal a positive correlation between drift and diffusion. In addition, we utilize both gradient-boosted trees and neural network models to train drift and diffusion models for AUS and CE. Shapley additive explanations make these black-box models transparent and allow us to identify the total generation and load to influence the drift, while calendar features seem critical for the diffusion coefficient estimates.Analyzing deterministic and stochastic influences on the power grid frequency dynamics with explainable artificial intelligencepublishedVersio
Image Analysis Methods to Unfold Semi Rigid Materials
Get PDFManuell håndtering av semi-rigide materialer som kjøttstykker er
fortsatt en vanlig flaskehals i industriell automatisering og krever ofte
at menneskelige operatører bretter ut og posisjonerer gjenstander før
bearbeiding. Denne oppgaven presenterer et modulært, visjonsbasert
system for å automatisere slike oppgaver ved bruk av en robotarm og
RGB-D-avbildning. Den foreslåtte arbeidsflyten omfatter objektdetek-
sjon, segmentering av topplag, brettklassifisering og grunnlaget for valg
av gripepunkt. Klassiske bildeteknikker kombineres med dybdeavbild-
ning og lette maskinlæringsmodeller for å identifisere brett og klassifis-
ere kanter med høy nøyaktighet, selv i nærvær av sensorstøy og vari-
erende objektegenskaper. Systemet valideres på to datasett med hver
sine representative objekter: det første er et vanlig norsk kjøttprodukt,
ribbe, og det andre er en matte, som er et tykkere stykke tekstilkom-
positt med lignende egenskaper som kjøtt. Sterk ytelse ble oppnådd in-
nen objektdeteksjon (mAP@50 > 0,97), segmentering (IoU > 0,88) og
brettklassifisering (F1-score > 0,92 med SMOTE) på begge datasett, i
tillegg til en pipeline-kjøretid på 0,6–0,7 sekunder. Sammenlignet med
moderne metoder rettet mot tekstilhåndtering unngår denne tilnærmin-
gen avhengighet av toarmsoppsett eller dype læringsmodeller som krever
omfattende treningsdata, og tilbyr en mer tolkbar og utrullbar løsning
for industrielle applikasjoner. Begrensninger knyttet til dybdesensorikk
og datavariabilitet diskuteres, og forslag til å utvide arbeidsflyten til full
gripepunkt- og baneplanlegging presenteres.Manual manipulation of semi-rigid materials such as pieces of meat
remains a common bottleneck in industrial automation, often requiring
human workers to unfold and reposition items before processing. This
thesis presents a modular, vision-based system for automating such tasks
using a single robotic arm and RGB-D imaging. The proposed pipeline
comprises object detection, top-layer segmentation, fold classification,
and the groundwork for grasp point selection. Classical computer vision
techniques are combined with depth imaging and lightweight machine
learning models to identify folds and classify edges with high accuracy,
even in the presence of sensor noise and variable object properties. The
system is validated on two datasets, featuring each their own represen-
tative objects, the first is a common Norwegian meat product, pork side,
and the second is a mat, which is a thicker pieces of textile composite
with similar characteristics to that of meat. Strong performance across
object detection (mAP@50 > 0.97), segmentation (IoU > 0.88), and
fold classification (F1-score > 0.92 with SMOTE) was achieved on both
datasets, as well as a pipeline runtime of 0.6 to 0.7 seconds. Compared
to state-of-the-art methods focused on textile handling, this approach
avoids reliance on dual-arm setups or deep learning models requiring
extensive training data, offering a more interpretable and deployable so-
lution for real-world industrial applications. Limitations related to depth
sensing and data variability are discussed, and suggestions for extending
the pipeline to full grasp point and trajectory planning are proposed
Flooded with potential: urban drainage science as seen by early-career researchers
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Dype postoperative sårinfeksjoner ved sykehusene i Helse Nord - forekomst og forbedringsarbeid 2012-2022
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Bakgrunn
Ifølge Norsk overvåkingssystem for antibiotikabruk og helsetjenesteassosierte infeksjoner (NOIS) om infeksjoner i operasjonsområdet, må alle sykehus registrere og sende inn data etter gitte kirurgiske inngrep. I oppdragsdokument for 2017 og 2018 fra Helse Nord RHF ble det stilt krav til helseforetakene om å gjennomføre forbedringsarbeid etter påvisning av alle dype postoperative sårinfeksjoner. Formålet med studien var å kartlegge av forekomsten av dype postoperative sårinfeksjoner etter innsetting av hofteprotese, fjerning av galleblære og keisersnitt ved alle små og store sykehus i Helse Nord RHF i perioden 2012-2022. Videre ble det for perioden 2018-2022 kartlagt andelen av forbedringsarbeid ved små og store sykehus etter at en postoperativ sårinfeksjon ble påvist etter disse inngrepene.
Materiale og metode
Studien ble gjennomført som en registerbasert prevalensstudie med bruk av kvantitativ metode. Smittevernsykepleiere ved foretakene i Helse Nord RHF, som ordinært jobber med innlevering av data til Norsk overvåkingssystem for antibiotikabruk og helsetjenesteassosierte infeksjoner (NOIS), bistod i datainnsamlingen til denne studien. Dyp postoperativ sårinfeksjon ble definert ut ifra kriteriene til European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Registrering av forbedringsarbeid forutsatte bruk av prosedyre for tverrfaglig gjennomgang etter dyp postoperativ sårinfeksjon. Studiet inkluderte totalt 21 288 pasienter som hadde gjennomgått innsetting av hofteprotese, keisersnitt og fjerning av galleblære ved et sykehus i Helse Nord i perioden 2012-2022.
Resultater
Blant 21 288 inkluderte pasienter ble det påvist 204 dype postoperative sårinfeksjoner. Insidens for alle sykehus uavhengig av type inngrep var 1,13 %. Tilsvarende for store sykehus hvor det ble utført 9217 inngrep, ble påvist 115 dype postoperative sårinfeksjoner som gir en insidens på1,25 %. Ved små sykehus ble det utført 12071 inngrep og påvist 125 dype postoperative sårinfeksjoner som gir en insidens på 1,04 %.
Sortering av type inngrep og insidens for alle sykehus viste at keisersnitt hadde høyest (1,37 %) og fjerning av galleblære hadde lavest (0,85 %). Ved store sykehus var insidensen lik for keisersnitt og innsetting av hofteprotese (1,02 %) og lavest for fjerning av galleblære (0,75 %). Insidensen ved små sykehus var høyest for keisersnitt (2,53 %), lavest for fjerning av galleblære (0,89 %), mens innsetting av hofteprotese viste en insidens på 1,23 %. Andelen av forbedringsarbeid i perioden 2018-2022 var 46,67 % for alle sykehusene, 45,24 % for store sykehus og 45,83 % for små sykehus.
Konklusjon
1,13 % av alle pasientene som gjennomgikk keisersnitt, fjerning av galleblære eller innsetting av hofteprotese fikk en dyp postoperativ sårinfeksjon. Tilsvarende insidens var for store sykehus 1,25 % og små sykehus 1,04 %, -noe som kunne indikere at det er lavere insidens ved små sykehus uavhengig av type inngrep. Men når det sorteres på type inngrep, så er det imidlertid høyere insidens for alle tre typer inngrep ved små sykehus sett i forhold til store sykehus. I oppgaven refereres studier som viser til at det kan være en sammenheng mellom volum på type operasjoner ved det enkelte sykehus og forekomsten av postoperative sårinfeksjoner. Forbedringsarbeid ved både små og store sykehus ble gjennomført i mindre enn halvparten av de tilfellene hvor det ble påvist en dyp postoperativ sårinfeksjon.Summary in English
Background
According to the Norwegian Surveillance System for Antibiotic Use and Healthcare-Associated Infections (NOIS) on infections in the surgical area, all hospitals must register and submit data after given surgical procedures. In the assignment document for 2017 and 2018 from Helse Nord RHF, the health trusts were required to carry out improvement work after detection of all deep postoperative wound infections. The purpose of the study was to map the occurrence of deep postoperative wound infections after hip replacement, gallbladder removal and cesarean section at all small and large hospitals in Helse Nord RHF in the period 2012-2022. Furthermore, for the period 2018-2022, the proportion of improvement work at small and large hospitals after a postoperative wound infection was detected after these procedures was mapped.
Material and method
The study was conducted as a register-based prevalence study using a quantitative method. Infection Control Nurses at the enterprises in Helse Nord RHF, who normally work with submitting data to the Norwegian Surveillance System for Antibiotic Use and Health Service-Associated Infections (NOIS), assisted in the data collection for this study. Deep postoperative wound infection was defined based on the criteria of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Registration of improvement work required the use of a procedure for interdisciplinary review after deep postoperative wound infection. The study included a total of 21,288 patients who had undergone hip replacement, cesarean section and gallbladder removal at a hospital in Helse Nord in the period 2012-2022.
Results
Among 21,288 included patients, 204 deep postoperative wound infections were detected. The incidence for all hospitals regardless of the type of procedure was 1.13%. Similarly, for large hospitals where 9217 procedures were performed, 115 deep postoperative wound infections were detected, giving an incidence of 1.25%. At small hospitals, 12071 procedures were performed and 125 deep postoperative wound infections were detected, giving an incidence of 1.04%.
Sorting by type of procedure and incidence for all hospitals showed that cesarean section had the highest (1.37%) and gallbladder removal had the lowest (0.85%). At large hospitals, the incidence was similar for cesarean section and hip replacement (1.02%) and lowest for gallbladder removal (0.75%). The incidence at small hospitals was highest for cesarean section (2.53%), lowest for gallbladder removal (0.89%), while hip replacement showed an incidence of 1.23%. The proportion of improvement work in the period 2018-2022 was 46.67% for all hospitals, 45.24% for large hospitals and 45.83% for small hospitals.
Conclusion
1.13% of all patients who underwent caesarean section, gallbladder removal or hip replacement surgery developed a deep postoperative wound infection. The corresponding incidence for large hospitals was 1.25% and small hospitals 1.04%, which could indicate that there is a lower incidence in small hospitals regardless of the type of procedure. However, when sorted by type of procedure, there is a higher incidence for all three types of procedures in small hospitals compared to large hospitals. The paper refers to studies that show that there may be a relationship between the volume of type of surgery at the individual hospital and the incidence of postoperative wound infections. Improvement work at both small and large hospitals was carried out in less than half of the cases where a deep postoperative wound infection was detected