The relationships between a number of environmental variables and the number of Atlantic salmon Salmo salar smolts migrating in the Burrishoole system, western Ireland, were examined over a 30 year period from 1970 to 2000. The number of Atlantic salmon smolts recorded migrating downstream decreased significantly from an annual mean of 11 579 in the 1970s to a mean of 6272 in the 1990s. The primary factor in the decline in Atlantic salmon numbers was a consistent decline in the number of returning adults from the 1970s until the mid 1990s. Timing of the smolt migrations (runs) was consistent throughout the three decades. The mean durations of the smolt runs were 102Á1, 92Á6 and 103Á2 days for the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s respectively. Mean surface water temperatures at key points in the smolt run for the three decades were also similar. Mean water temperature values were 5Á4, 5Á1 and 5Á3 C at the start of the smolt runs and 15Á2, 14Á9 and 15Á3 C at the end of the smolt runs in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s respectively. Multivariate analysis identified two groups of environmental variables which had a significant influence on the daily smolt catch. One group of variables dominated by photoperiod and temperature operated prior to the smolt run and was considered to regulate the development of smoltification. The second group of variables dominated by total light and water level operated within the smolt run and was considered to control daily smolt migration.

Europe's social agenda for the "active elderly" is based upon a series of programs that provide a flexible infrastructure for their lives so that they are motivated, engaged in lifelong learning, and contributing to society. Economically speaking, Europe must engage in active aging research in order to avoid unsustainable health costs, and ambient assisted living (AAL) systems provide a platform for the elderly to remain living independently. This paper reviews research conducted within the area of AAL, and offers a taxonomy within which such systems may be classified. This classification distinguishes itself from others in that it categorises AAL systems in a top-down fashion, with the most important categories placed immediately to the left. In this paper, each section is explored further, and AAL systems are the focus. Entire AAL systems still cannot be fully evaluated, but their constituent technical parts can be assessed. The activities of daily living (ADLs) component was given further priority due to its potential for system evaluation, based on its ability to recognise ADLs with reasonable accuracy.Information 2018, 9, 182 2 of 24 ensure that future system features include the minimum requirements necessary for AAL research and commercial usage, thus ensuring that the elderly and their families have systems capable of meeting their current and future ADL needs. Previous reviews have taken different approaches, yet all failed to provide a framework within which all AAL systems could be classified according to their primary function [5,6]. Some applied specific guidelines to predominantly single-use systems, compared platform performance, or personalised healthcare systems. The evolution of AAL technology [7] has taken us through three generations, from wearable devices that respond to an emergency, to automatic response home sensors, to a third generation combining less-intrusive monitoring with preventive functionalities. Another review approach of surveying ambient environment services [8] under event-, context-, or device-aware services was categorised in terms of a service-oriented, user-centered, and event-aware monitoring service. This review technique compared various ambient services of response time, success rate, low/high-level failures, power consumption, and service reliability/adaption, yet offered no classification. A comprehensive literature review [9] on platforms and systems [10] provided no taxonomy for researchers, and excluded ambient intelligence (AmI) research that is pivotal within robotics and wearable computing. A recent review paper [11] described AAL as the culmination of the following five technologies: sensors, context awareness, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, announcing the importance of device interoperability, yet offering no template for achieving this goal. AALIANCE [12] proffered a roadmap for AAL system standardisation and a possible future evolutionary structure for systems, yet this aspirational template lacks the necessary structure to accommodate curr...

No abstract

A monolayer culture of fibroblast-like cells was initiated from a trypsin digest of heart, liver, kidney, and spleen tissue of young Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). This culture has been subcultured 81 times over a period of 21 months and appears to be an established cell line, which we have designated AS. Cells of the AS line multiply over a temperature range of 4–28 C with an optimum growth temperature of 20 C. Temperatures in excess of 29 C cause rapid cell death. The AS cells remain viable for periods up to 6 months at 4 C. An absolute plating efficiency of 30% has been determined for AS cells at 20 C. Analysis of the cell cycle of AS cells reveals a generation time (Gt) of 19.5 hr. The duration of the DNA synthetic period (S) is 10.5 hr, while the G1 and G2 periods are 1.1 and 7.1 hr, respectively. The duration of mitosis (M) has been calculated to be 0.9 hr with a mitotic index (M.I.) for the culture of 3.3%. Preliminary studies indicate a modal chromosome number of 54. The AS cell line is susceptible to infectious pancreatic necrosis (IPN) virus, infectious hematopoietic necrosis (IHN) virus and the myxovirus of bluegills.

No abstract

Ireland, being an island situated on Europe's western seaboard, has a fewer number of native species than mainland European Union Member States (MS). Increased numbers of vectors and pathways have reduced the island's biotic isolation, increasing the risk of new introductions and their associated impacts on native biodiversity. It is likely that these risks are greater here than they are in continental MSs, where the native biodiversity is richer. A horizon scanning approach was used to identify the most likely invasive alien species (IAS) (with the potential to impact biodiversity) to arrive on the island of Ireland within the next ten years. To achieve this, we used a consensus-based approach, whereby expert opinion and discussion groups were utilised to establish and rank a list of 40 species of the most likely terrestrial, freshwater and marine IAS to arrive on the island of Ireland within the decade 2017-2027. The list of 40 included 18 freshwater, 15 terrestrial and seven marine IAS. Crustacean species (freshwater and marine) were taxonomically dominant (11 out of 40); this reflects their multiple pathways of introduction, their ability to act as ecosystem engineers and their resulting high impacts on biodiversity. Freshwater species dominated the top ten IAS (seven species out of ten), with the signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus) highlighted as the most likely species to arrive and establish in freshwaters, while roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) (second) and the warm-water barnacle (Hesperibalanus fallax) (fifth), were the most likely terrestrial and marine invaders. This evidence-based list provides important information to the relevant statutory agencies in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland to prioritise the prevention of the most likely invaders and aid in compliance with legislation, in particular the EU Regulation on Invasive Alien Species (EU 1143/2014). Targeted biosecurity in both jurisdictions is urgently required in order to manage the pathways and vectors of arrival, and is vital to maintaining native biodiversity on the island of Ireland.

The aim of the present study was to compare the helminth infra and component communities of wild and stocked brown trout in Lough Feeagh, in the west of Ireland, and also to examine the establishment and development of helminth communities in stocked brown trout. Fish were sampled in May, August and November 1997 and 1998 and an additional sample of wild brown trout was examined in April 1997. In total 217 wild trout and 122 stocked trout were examined. The acanthocephalans Acanthocephalus clavula and Pomphorhynchus laevis were the first parasite species to infect stocked trout in May 1997. In May 1998 both acanthocephalan species along with the trout specialists Eubothrium crassum and Crepidostomum farionis were the first to infect trout. Mean species richness values for stocked trout increased from May to November, in 1997 and 1998. For wild trout, mean species richness values increased from April to November, in 1997 and decreased from May to November in 1998. The parasite communities of wild trout were richer than those of stocked trout in May of both years. In August the parasite communities recorded for wild and stocked trout were similar in terms of the number of species present but differed in terms of structure, and in November the parasite communities of stocked trout were richer than those of wild trout.

No abstract