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Current and future genetic technologies for fisheries and aquaculture: implications for the work of FAO
Get PDFWithin the last few decades, advances in genetic technologies have created powerful and efficient tools for fisheries stock identification, genetic improvement and domestication of aquaculture species andcharacterization of changes in aquatic life due to environmental or anthropogenic influences. Emerging genetic tools are improving our understanding of organisms in aquatic ecosystems, in terms of diversity, distribution, abundance, movement, function and adaptation, and are being applied in aquaculture facilities and across fishery and aquaculture value chains.In this study expert elicitation was used to examine and predict current and potential future (10 year) impacts of the application of these novel technologies in fisheries and aquaculture. Highlighting the need to prepare sectors for likely changes that will follow. All suggestions received were collated into themes, to provide a conceptual framework that partitions potential impacts, and calls for required action — action required on governance, management and practical application of these innovations at both a national and internationallevel.A range of fundamental shifts in fisheries and aquaculture were suggested as a result of the advancement and application of cost-effective genetic technologies. The advice highlighted both positive and negative impacts, including:● increased understanding of genetics and basic biology that will provide better insight into how genes function in the organism, the production system and in the ecosystem;● characterization of fishery stocks increasingly informed by genetic information rather than geo-politics, which will assist, but likely also challenge, traditional fisheries management;● increased understanding by aquaculturists and breeders, of genes and gene sequences, with access to synthetic biology that will result in the creation of improved farmed types, and probably their privatization;● ability of aquaculturists to produce aquatic species in more environments, more efficiently and according to market demand, stemming from the ability of growers to ensure farmed types more precisely meet local conditions and consumer preferences;● increased ability for compliance in fisheries and aquaculture along the full production value chain, with the ability to identify fisheries and aquaculture products and their origin through more accurate and informative genetic traceability analyses;● advancement of ecosystem studies, using a range of technologies including environmental DNA (eDNA), to improve ecosystem management, rehabilitation actions, and present potential challenges on how to characterize and manage synthetic biology. Such technologies will provide a clearer view of the fundamental building blocks of aquatic life, resulting in novel actions and new opportunities. However, such advances will also challenge managers in terms of using these novel technologies, but also in responding to the implications of their use across value chains.Expert advice on the impacts of genetic technologies were collated, including actions needed to address those impacts for management and conservation in fisheries and aquaculture. Within its mandate for fisheries and aquaculture, the role FAO will need to play in providing support for its Membership in addressing present and future issues is considered, although it was recognized that no one organization could address them all. Thisreport outlines potential future steps for, and requirements of, international development, conservation communities, national governments, industry and civil society, with need to further support the fishery and aquaculture sector through transformations brought about by rapidly developing genetic technologies
In cars (are we really safest of all?): Interior sensing and emotional opacity
Get PDFThis paper analyses expert and regulatory perspectives on car driver-monitoring systems that measure bodies to infer and react to emotions, fatigue, and attentiveness. Developers of driver-monitoring systems promise increased safety on the road, alongside comfort for cabin occupants through personalisation and automation. The impetus is three-fold, namely: (1) European road safety policy seeks to vastly reduce road deaths using computational surveillance; (2) there is a growing interest around in cabin safety solutions that sense emotion and affective states of drivers and passengers; and (3) autonomous driving trends are changing the nature of interactions between vehicle and driver. Safety led applications are of special interest because they are backed by policy and standards initiatives including the European Union’s Vision Zero policy and the industry led New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP). Informed by 13 interviews with experts working in and around in-cabin sensing technologies, this paper first identifies and explores features of emergent in-cabin profiling through emotional artificial intelligence (AI) and biometric measures. It then examines how in-car sensing should be regulated by analysing data protection laws and the proposed EU AI Act. A deep ambivalence emerged from our participants around the emergence of emotional AI in cars, and how best to regulate these technologies
The effects of population management on wild ungulates: A systematic map of evidence for UK species
Get PDFIntroduction: Over recent decades, the abundance and geographic ranges of wild ungulate species have expanded in many parts of Europe, including the UK. Populations are managed to mitigate their ecological impacts using interventions, such as shooting, fencing and administering contraception. Predicting how target species will respond to interventions is critical for developing sustainable, effective and efficient management strategies. However, the quantity and quality of evidence of the effects of interventions on ungulate species is unclear. To address this, we systematically mapped research on the effects of population management on wild ungulate species resident in the UK. Methods: We searched four bibliographic databases, Google Scholar and nine organisational websites using search terms tested with a library of 30 relevant articles. Worldwide published peer-reviewed articles were considered, supplemented by ‘grey’ literature from UK-based sources. Three reviewers identified and screened articles for eligibility at title, abstract and full-text levels, based on predefined criteria. Data and metadata were extracted and summarised in a narrative synthesis supported by structured graphical matrices. Results: A total of 123 articles were included in the systematic map. Lethal interventions were better represented (85%, n=105) than non-lethal interventions (25%, n=25). Outcomes related to demography and behaviour were reported in 95% of articles (n=117), whereas effects on health, physiology and morphology were studied in only 11% of articles (n=14). Well-studied species included wild pigs (n=58), red deer (n=28) and roe deer (n=23). Conclusions: Evidence for the effects of population management on wild ungulate species is growing but currently limited and unevenly distributed across intervention types, outcomes and species. Priorities for primary research include: species responses to non-lethal interventions, the side-effects of shooting and studies on sika deer and Chinese muntjac. Shooting is the only intervention for which sufficient evidence exists for systematic review or meta-analysis. <br/
Dynamics of sex-biased gene expression during development in the stick insect Timema californicum
Get PDFSexually dimorphic phenotypes are thought to arise primarily from sex-biased gene expression during development. Major changes in developmental strategies, such as the shift from hemimetabolous to holometabolous development, are therefore expected to have profound consequences for the dynamics of sex-biased gene expression. However, no studies have previously examined sex-biased gene expression during development in hemimetabolous insects, precluding comparisons between developmental strategies. Here we characterized sex-biased gene expression at three developmental stages in a hemimetabolous stick insect (Timema californicum): hatchlings, juveniles, and adults. As expected, the proportion of sex-biased genes gradually increased during development, mirroring the gradual increase of phenotypic sexual dimorphism. Sex-biased genes identified at early developmental stages were generally consistently male- or female-biased at later stages, suggesting their importance in sexual differentiation. Additionally, we compared the dynamics of sex-biased gene expression during development in T. californicum to those of the holometabolous fly Drosophila melanogaster by reanalyzing publicly available RNA-seq data from third instar larval, pupal and adult stages. In D. melanogaster, 84% of genes were sex-biased at the adult stage (compared to only 20% in T. californicum), and sex-biased gene expression increased abruptly at the adult stage when morphological sexual dimorphism is manifested. Our findings are consistent with the prediction that the dynamics of sex-biased gene expression during development differ extensively between holometabolous and hemimetabolous insect species
Rhythmic Relating: Bidirectional Support for Social Timing in Autism Therapies.
Get PDFWe propose Rhythmic Relating for autism: a system of supports for friends, therapists, parents, and educators; a system which aims to augment bidirectional communication and complement existing therapeutic approaches. We begin by summarizing the developmental significance of social timing and the social-motor-synchrony challenges observed in early autism. Meta-analyses conclude the early primacy of such challenges, yet cite the lack of focused therapies. We identify core relational parameters in support of social-motor-synchrony and systematize these using the communicative musicality constructs: pulse; quality; and narrative. Rhythmic Relating aims to augment the clarity, contiguity, and pulse-beat of spontaneous behavior by recruiting rhythmic supports (cues, accents, turbulence) and relatable vitality; facilitating the predictive flow and just-ahead-in-time planning needed for good-enough social timing. From here, we describe possibilities for playful therapeutic interaction, small-step co-regulation, and layered sensorimotor integration. Lastly, we include several clinical case examples demonstrating the use of Rhythmic Relating within four different therapeutic approaches (Dance Movement Therapy, Improvisational Music Therapy, Play Therapy, and Musical Interaction Therapy). These clinical case examples are introduced here and several more are included in the Supplementary Material (Examples of Rhythmic Relating in Practice). A suite of pilot intervention studies is proposed to assess the efficacy of combining Rhythmic Relating with different therapeutic approaches in playful work with individuals with autism. Further experimental hypotheses are outlined, designed to clarify the significance of certain key features of the Rhythmic Relating approach
The politics of the rural and relational values: Contested discourses of rural change and landscape futures in west wales
Get PDFAcross Europe, rural landscapes and communities are changing, following local, national and global pressures. The future physical makeup of these landscapes, the species, landforms and land uses that are present, and the relationship between these landscapes and local communities, is uncertain. At the same time, rural politics has moved from debates about agricultural production to broader considerations of ways of life, and who and what is appropriate in the countryside. As different visions for the physical makeup of landscapes are being proposed and negotiated, it is worth understanding how they fit into broader rural politics, and the values that underpin them, particularly relational landscape values. The purpose of this work is to understand contests over the future of landscapes in west Wales, with particular focus on the relational values that underpin different visions for the landscape. We use image based Q methodology to analyse different visions. We find two distinct visions which we name socio-ecological rebalancing and maintaining heritage farming landscapes. We find that relational and eudemonic values underpin these visions. Despite claims by participants and stakeholders to speak for rural communities, we find important difference within rural communities. We find that disagreements on the environmental and social future of the landscape are based on shared facts but divergent values and relationships with the landscape. These findings have important implications for the future of contested projects aimed at transforming the landscape of this region, and relevance for wider European landscape change. Our conceptual approach, which combines a focus on the politics of the rural with relational values, and our methodological approach, of image based Q methodology, have great potential for understanding debates over the future of rural landscapes
Diagnostic Journeys in Prostate Cancer: In what ways can the accounts of men with prostate cancer increase understanding and improve care in Wales? A qualitative study of men with prostate cancer
Get PDFReciprocal or independent hemispheric specializations: Evidence from cerebral dominance for fluency, faces, and bodies in right- and left-handers
Get PDFObjective: There are distinct cortical regions that respond preferentially to human faces and bodies. It is generally accepted that these face- and body-selective regions are lateralized with a preference for the right hemisphere, but unknown how frequently these biases occur or if they are lateralized in a complementary fashion to language processing. Methods: fMRI was used to examine face and body lateralization in two samples of right-handers (n’s = 31 and 18) and left-handers (n’s = 43 and 24) with ‘typical’, left hemisphere, language dominance to examine the frequency of these biases. Crucially, we also recruited individuals with ‘atypical’, right hemisphere, language dominance (n’s = 17 and 10) to examine complementarity with language. Results: Language typical right-handers had consistent population-level and average right-sided biases for face- and body perception. Language typical left-handers had population-level biases for faces in sample 2, but not sample 1; and for bodies in sample 1 but not sample 2. Language typical left-handers were, on average, right-lateralized for faces in both samples, but right-lateralized for bodies in sample 1 only. Language atypicals did not have a population-level bias for body- or face perception, and were, on average, left-lateralized for faces in sample 1, but not in sample 2. Atypicals were not lateralized for body perception.Conclusions: These results add to the growing literature which suggests that many right hemisphere processes are not lateralized in a fully complementary fashion to language. Left-handers seem to have more varied lateralization patterns even when language dominance is controlled for.<br/
How do King Cobras move across a major highway? Unintentional wildlife crossing structures may facilitate movement
Get PDFGlobal road networks continue to expand, and the wildlife responses to these landscape-level changes need to be understood to advise long-term management decisions. Roads have high mortality risk to snakes because snakes typically move slowly and can be intentionally targeted by drivers.We investigated how radio-tracked King Cobras ( Ophiophagus hannah) traverse a major highway in northeast Thailand, and if reproductive cycles were associated with road hazards.We surveyed a 15.3 km stretch of Highway 304 to determine if there were any locations where snakes could safely move across the road (e.g., culverts and bridges). We used recurse analyses to detect possible road-crossing events, and used dynamic Brownian Bridge Movement Models (dBBMMs) to show movement pathways association with possible unintentional crossing structures. We further used Integrated Step Selection Functions (ISSF) to assess seasonal differences in avoidance of major roads for adult King Cobras in relation to reproductive state.We discovered 32 unintentional wildlife crossing locations capable of facilitating King Cobra movement across the highway. While our dBBMMs broadly revealed underpasses as possible crossing points, they failed to identify specific underpasses used by telemetered individuals; however, the tracking locations pre- and post-crossing and photographs provided strong evidence of underpass use. Our ISSF suggested a lower avoidance of roads during the breeding season, although the results were inconclusive. With the high volume of traffic, large size of King Cobras, and a 98.8% success rate of crossing the road in our study (nine individuals: 84 crossing attempts with one fatality), we strongly suspect that individuals are using the unintentional crossing structures to safely traverse the road.Further research is needed to determine the extent of wildlife underpass use at our study site. We propose that more consistent integration of drainage culverts and bridges could help mitigate the impacts of roads on some terrestrial wildlife. </p