12,471 research outputs found
Service-oriented models for audiovisual content storage
No full textWhat are the important topics to understand if involved with storage services to hold digital audiovisual content? This report takes a look at how content is created and moves into and out of storage; the storage service value networks and architectures found now and expected in the future; what sort of data transfer is expected to and from an audiovisual archive; what transfer protocols to use; and a summary of security and interface issues
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The effects of organic management on greenhouse gas emissions and energy efficiency in livestock production
No full textSetting the scene - the continued drive to improve organic animal farming
No full textAll the elements of current global development – urbaniszation, industrialization, population growth, food insecurity, environmental degradation, climate change and other universal issues – call for more equitable and balanced agricultural systems, including new and innovative ways of keeping and integrating animals into our food production systems. This chapter introduces the chapters in this book, each of which addresses some of the key issues in organic animal farming and the continued drive to improve it, focusing on key challenges such as climate change and the role of smallholders. The chapter highlights important points made in the book ‘Improving organic animal farming’, addressing both offers an overview of organic farming of key farm animal species as well as species less frequently discussed until now, such as fish and bees. Finally, the chapter looks ahead to future research trends in this area
Improving organic animal farming for the future
No full textRecognising and promoting multi-levelled diversity on farms, between farms and across the world is a critical pre-condition for development of organic farming. To ensure that farming can continuously develop in diverse ways to meet the multiple needs and aims of current and future generations of humans, animals and ecosystems, we need institutional frameworks that build on a development agenda that incorporates issues such as resource allocation, knowledge transfer, public goods and research. The key four organic principles of fairness, care, health and ecology give us the necessary benchmark from which we can continue to characterise farms as organic. Although organic certification provides us with the critical guarantee, we also need to maintain sufficient pragmatism and flexibility to account for diversity and equality. The broad organic farming community should be inclusive of systems that aspire to meet the key organic principles, even though they may not qualify as being certifiably organic.
Animals on organic farms should be seen as complementary parts of the farm ecosystem rather than competitors. We have identified embedded integration as a key aspiration for all organic farms with animals, as this contributes to more efficient resource utilisation, dietary diversity and sustainable economies. However, regardless of the nature of the interactions, underpinning the thought processes should be the notion that farmed animals are sentient beings, and other non-farmed animals are also key contributors to the key ecological processes. A part of embracing sentience should be appreciating animals’ opportunity for natural behaviour which in turn requires us to broaden our view of the health of animals to that of their resilience. By recognising and promoting resilience, we can create systems that allow animals to deal effectively with their surroundings and to have positive experiences, as well as being free from disease. The organic farming systems that we create and develop when we recognise and promote resilience, integration and diversity requires shared knowledge, skills and experience. In this respect, creating the right environment and emphasis on communication between farmers, between farmers and advisors, and at another level, communication between humans and animals, becomes particularly important
Implementation of farmer groups for animal health and welfare planning considering different contexts
No full textThis paper reflects some of the discussions that took place during the ANIPLAN workshop where participants discussed the special farming and farmer characteristics, needs and conditions in their own country in relation to farmer discussion groups, as well as more generic issues to consider when taking a farmer group approach to animal health and welfare planning.
Farmer discussion groups are not unique, and there are examples of different approaches to, and aims of, farmer groups worldwide. Perhaps an important starting point when analysing the successes and characteristics of these groups is to consider their original purpose. The starting point of the discussion in the ANIPLAN project has been the so-called Danish Stable Schools (Vaarst et al., 2007; Vaarst et al. 2008; mentioned in Vaarst ibid.), as well as existing approaches within the other participating countries, such as the Dutch Caring Dairy groups (Smolders, ibid.). A major feature of the Danish Stable Schools has been the time limited intensive working towards a common goal based around equal participation within the group. This is quite a different approach to other examples, such as the so-called ‘erfa-groups’ in Denmark (‘erfa’ as an abbreviation of ‘erfaring’, which in Danish means ‘experience’) that have worked for decades on dissemination of new knowledge and ideas to and among farmers, focusing on separate themes at each meeting, such as approaches to parasite control, winter feeding strategies, or the use of body condition scores. Similar focused dissemination programmes exist in many countries. What characterises the ANIPLAN project is that the focus is on a rather more systematic animal health and welfare planning process which is meant to be continuous at the farm level
The ANIPLAN project: Reflections on the research approaches, methods and challenges
No full textThe objective of the ANIPLAN project is to ‘investigate active and well planned animal health and welfare promotion and disease prevention as a means of minimising medicine use in organic dairy herds’. The basic idea lying behind this objective is that the active development of plans at the farm level to improve herd health and welfare will enable individual farmers to practically achieve the organic principles with regard to the health and well-being of organically-farmed animals.
To fulfil the objective, the project needs to be carried out in close collaboration with farmers and conducted in real farm situations. This means that the research is being carried out in an environment which is not under control the control of researchers. This, in turn means that there are inevitable methodological issues which will arise during the course of the study. This paper describes some of the issues arising during the first part of the study i.e the setting up of the project and the first year of data collection.
One major challenge for the research team involved in this project is to identify research methods which can describe and document the planning process as well as the disease, production and medicine use on study farms. This documentation will enable the researchers as well as the end-users of the research to evaluate the approach and the effect of animal health and welfare planning on herds. This includes the process of animal health and welfare planning, which can be regarded as an iterative social and individual human development process. The transformative learning process (Vaarst, ibid.) leading to a change of perceptions and priorities of those involved should be expected before actual changes are implemented in the herds. Again, there are methodological issues to consider in this respect
The process of researching animal health and welfare planning
No full text’Minimising medicine use in organic dairy herds through animal health and welfare planning’, ANIPLAN, is a CORE-Organic project which was initiated in June 2007. The main aim of the project is to investigate active and well planned animal health and welfare promotion and disease prevention as a means of minimising medicine use in organic dairy herds. This aim will be met through the development of animal health and welfare planning principles for organic dairy farms under diverse conditions based on an evaluation of current experiences. This also includes application of animal health and welfare assessment across Europe. In order to bring this into practice the project also aims at developing guidelines for communication about animal health and welfare promotion in different settings, for example, as part of existing animal health advisory services or farmer groups such as the Danish Stable School system and the Dutch network programme. The project is divided into the following five work packages, four of which comprise research activities with the other focused on coordination and knowledge transfer, through meetings, workshops and publications.
The content of this set of workshop proceedings reflects the fact that the workshop in Fokhol in Norway was held at a relatively early stage with regard to certain joint activities and methodological development. Training in animal welfare assessment had taken place for the first time in the project a couple of months previous to this workshop, and the results in terms of inter-observer reliability are presented by the organisers of this training workshop, Solveig March, Lisi Gratzer and Jan Brinkmann and their supervisor Christoph Winckler. This forms a good background for a reliable data collection in all countries. A presentation from a newly employed Ph.D. student linked to the ANIPLAN project, Lindsay Kay Whistance, gives insight into the study of defecation behaviour in dairy cattle. Although not directly part of the ANIPLAN studies, the presentation is particularly relevant to the considerations regarding animal welfare in housed and outdoor systems. Gidi Smolders from the Netherlands presented a paper about a Dutch farmer group initiative with a strong element of farmer ownership. Mette Vaarst contributes with a paper on farmer learning and empowerment in groups, with a background of Danish experiences with the so-called ‘Stable Schools’. Two papers by Roderick and Vaarst reflect the workshop discussions about research methodologies and the various contexts and conditions for farmer group work. These two papers demonstrate the complexity of the research requirements when conducting a trans-national and cross-disciplinary research project with many stakeholders
Self-consciousness and the image of self in the poetry of Stephen Spender, 1928 to 1934
Full text linkThe purpose of this thesis is twofold. First, to demonstrate the value and significance of Spender's early poetry in terms of its vision and technique. Through a series of close readings the thesis traces the ways in which Spender's early poetry not only shows itself to be self-conscious but also manipulates images of self. Presenting images of self, Spender achieves a balance between engagement with and distance from the self, and the reader shares in the process of poetic self-awareness. Secondly, to demonstrate the broader value of the poetry. Spender's poetry presents a distinctive exploration of the possibilities of self in relation to the external world. The resolution of Spender’s questioning and selection of both personal and public values, rooted in his contemporary situation and private circumstances, in his poetry takes the form less of historical document than of human record. The period on which I focus, 1928 to 1934, represents Spender’s first, and arguably most significant, poetic phase. The thesis is specifically concerned with four texts: Nine Experiments. Spender's contributions to Oxford Poetry (1929 and 1930), Twenty Poems and Poems (1933 and 1934). Nine Experiments marks the beginning of a particular approach and lyric style which finds its culmination in Poems (1933 and 1934). The earliest poetry is interesting largely insofar as it looks forward to later themes and techniques. In Nine Experiments and Oxford Poetry (1929 and 1930) we see Spender's often successful struggle to achieve effective forms in which to explore issues of self and value. Twenty Poems and Poems (1933 and 1934) concentrate on themes of love and friendship and the pressure on the poet of the contemporary political scene. The poetry does not reconcile the demands of the external, public world with his inner desires and aspirations, but presents a series of fascinatingly unresolved tensions. The thesis explores the way these poems strive for certainty. This striving stems from the tension between Spender's desire to politicize poetry and his tendency to the lyrical, personal statement
AC-6-U.S. Naval Planes Flying in Formation, Langley Field, VA/Thank-You Card from Stephen Tury to the Hungarian Defense Council.
No full textThis postcard, which depicts U.S. Naval planes flying in formation, was sent to the Hungarian Defense Council by Private Stephen Tury. The Council was organized in New Brunswick by leaders of local Hungarian churches and societies. During the Second World War it sent supplies, such as the carton of cigarettes Tury is thanking it for, to members of the military of Hungarian descent from the New Brunswick area
Author Stephen Flynn Discusses Resiliency
Full text linkCenter for Homeland Defense and Security, PRESS RELEASESOn September 25, Author Stephen E. Flynn stopped by the Center’s National Capital Region campus to speak with CHDS Master’s degree students about his latest book, answer questions and discuss..
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