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Early nutritional intervention through enteral feeding can reduce treatment alterations and complications in patients with Oropharyngeal Cancer (OPC) undergoing Chemoradiation Treatment (CRT).

Significant laryngeal injuries are rare and often fatal. Incidence is estimated to be one in 30,000 emergency room visits. A much smaller subset result in complete laryngotracheal separation, classically as a result of blunt force trauma [1]. To the author's knowledge, only two cases of such injury sustained by stabbing have been reported in the literature [2,3]. Here we present the third reported case. Keywords: Laryngotracheal, Separation, Complete, Knife, Esophagus

The STECF expert working group (EWG) on Fisheries Dependant Information (FDI) took place in JRC, Ispra from 23 to 27 October 2017 to review the data transmitted by Member States under a new data call (‘New-FDI’). The new data call specification was designed with three broad aims in mind i) Compatibility between the New-FDI data and the data held in the Fleet Economic database. ii) Ability to encompass all EU registered vessels including those from the Mediterranean, Black Sea and external waters fleets. iii) Ability to assess effects of management measures. The main purpose of the EWG was to judge if the call specification was appropriate to accomplish the above aims and to consider any difficulties encountered by member states in fulfilling the data call. Two terms of reference also allowed trial analyses to be conducted of a type relevant to the third broad aim. The EWG addressed all Terms of Reference during the meeting and drew conclusions on the modifications required for the New-FDI data call going forwards. Prior to the EWG it had been agreed by STECF Bureau that the report of the meeting would not be presented to STECF for approval as an STECF report but published separately (as a JRC technical report). This report therefore presents the data, methods observations and findings of an EWG of the STECF but the findings presented in this report do not necessarily constitute the opinion of the STECF or reflect the views of the European Commission and in no way anticipate the Commission’s future policy in this area., JRC.D.2-Water and Marine Resources

The evaluation of multi-annual plans to manage demersal fisheries performed by STECF (2016) is revisited to calculate an additional indicator of fishing mortality that better captures the effect of using ranges. The results presented are more aligned with the recent multi-annual plans objectives of providing flexible tactics. The analysis is still not a mixed fisheries analysis, it is an alternative approach to the one used by STECF (2016) which increases the degree of comparability across the different options, in particular across single point target approaches and value-range approaches., JRC.D.2-Water and Marine Resources

The Mediterranean and Black Sea list of stocks to be used for computing the indicators was based on a ranking system approach for which the species having a rank in the first ten positions either in total live weight or total economic values were chosen. Landings and economic values for the Mediterranean and Black Sea (FAO area 37) provided by “2016_STECF 16-11 - EU Fleet Economic and Transversal data tables” were used. The reference years were 2012 and 2014 (the last three years available for all the GSAs) and, as geographic strata, the Geographical Sub Areas (GSAs) belonging to EU countries and for which data were available were considered. In the top ranking 10 stocks based on both in terms of live weight and economic value by GSA applied to AER Landings, many combined/nei groups categories were selected. Based on local expert knowledge it was possible split some mixed categories at species level while, it was decided to drop from the list both the misreporting species and the mixed categories for which it wasn't possible defined clearly the species composition. Eventually 230 stocks were selected., JRC.D.2-Water and Marine Resources

In this document the FMZs in the CFP sampling frame for FAO area 27 (Northeast Atlantic) are matched to the corresponding ICES stock assessment. The matching is performed through the ICES rectangles that make up the FMZs and stock assessment areas. Some TACs are matched to multiple assessments and some TACs are not matched to any assessments. The matching is peformed by the R code that is embedded in the document., JRC.D.2-Water and Marine Resources

For the analysis of the CFP indicators it is necessary to generate the sampling frame. The sampling frame is the collection of species in EU Fisheries Managment Zones (FMZ) for which the CFP is at least partially responsible for their management. This document describes the generation of the sampling frame. Embedded R code is executed to generate the sampling frame., JRC.D.2-Water and Marine Resources

The a4a approach to Management Strategies Evaluation ( MSE ) is to develop a set of common methods and procedures to build a minimal standard MSE algorithm. This has the most common elements of both uncertainty and management options. Such a tool set should allow for the development of MSE simulations for many fisheries in an operational time frame. Between the 30th of January and the 3rd of February, in Ispra, Italy, the JRC organized a workshop on development of MSE algorithms with R/FLR/a4a. The workshop was a mix of hands-on coding and discussion/implementation of concepts associated with MSEs. The participants used the most recent version of the a4a MSE code, modularized the most important processes and developed their own version of several processes so that the MSE could model and test alternative management procedures to the one initially coded., JRC.D.2-Water and Marine Resources

Current fisheries advice requires an increased consideration of bioeconomics and the interactions of fishing fleets with the biological stocks. This is particularly important when evaluating proposed multi-annual management plans. To achieve this, modelling tools need to be able to consider the dynamics of individual fisheries. This becomes more challenging with mixed fisheries when multiple species are caught by multiple fleets. A suitable balance needs to be found between replicating the details of the complex fishery system and simplifying a model to the level that makes it tractable but still useful. Much of the bioeconomic fisheries modelling work performed at the JRC uses the FLR software framework. The JRC has developed a new FLR package, FLasher, for performing projections and forecasts with multiple individual fisheries and multiple species. This allows the dynamics of mixed fisheries to be more accurately modelled and allows the evaluation of the economic performance of alternative management decisions. This document presents some of the features and capabilites of FLasher using a case study based on a semi-realistic flatfish fishery: two fleets with different selectiviuty patterns, bottom trawl and gillnet, catching two species with different life histories and maximum sizes, European plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) and common sole (Solea solea). FLasher expands the current modelling capabilities of FLR, allowing the impacts of proposed management plans to be evaluated in greater detail by (1) explicitly modelling the dynamics of each individual fleets, which could be affected in different ways by management, (2) forecasting in parallel the full species and fleet assemblage found in mixed fisheries, and (3) employing the latest iteration of the C++ language and a new library for automatic differentation., JRC.D.2-Water and Marine Resources

1. Much of the bioeconomic modelling work performed at the JRC has been in relation to the evaluation of proposed multi-annual management plans for fisheries. These plans increasingly require the calculation and consideration of a range of economic indicators. A key element of this work is the parameterisation of the fisheries bioeconomic models. These models require a mix of economic, fisheries and biological data. The required data may be available in different data calls making it necessary to integrate data from different data sets. This integration can be performed using the common variables between the data sets, known as transversal variables. However, the different data sets can report the data at different aggregation levels. This makes linking the data sets challenging, particularly as the evaluation of a management plan requires the economic costs and revenues to be at the same scale as the plan. Modelling approaches have been developed to overcome the different levels of aggregation 2. The methods developed at the JRC for linking the data and parameterising the models were applied to STECF evaluations of multi-annual management plans in the North Sea and the Western Mediterranean. When the data is of a suitable quality the method works well even when the fisheries are complicated and involve multiple species being fished by multiple gears, for example with the North Sea evaluation. However, when the data is poor, for example with the Western Mediterranean evaluation, it is not possible to perform this type of analysis. This problem will remain unless the data collection process is improved. 3. Even when data is not missing there is the concern that it is being recorded differently by the member states, i.e. even within the same data set the data is not consistent. For example, Member States can interpret fishing effort differently. To help ensure consistency between data sets two workshops have been held on transversal variables. One of the outcomes of these workshops is a JRC led package for R, fecR, that will allow the transparent and repeatable calculation of two different types of fishing effort. 4. This report presents the experiences from two STECF EWG where the JRC modelling approaches has been used and the new R package for effort calculation., JRC.D.2-Water and Marine Resources

Under the scope of the a4a Initiative, the JRC is promoting cooperative activities between fisheries scientists with the aim to test, disseminate and promote a4a methods. These Small Research Projects (SRP) are focused on (i) comparing the a4a statistical catch-at- age model with results from other assessment models, and (ii) exploring research questions using case studies. The Workshop dedicated to the North Sea took place in Ispra, Italy, the 1st to the 5th of December. The main objectives were to study spatial effects on stock dynamics through the use of stock assessment models. The terms of reference of the workshop were: 1. Use the a4a stock assessment framework to study spatial effects on stock dynamics; 2. Apply the methodology to the stocks of cod in the North Sea and plaice in the Skagerrak. 3. Report to STECF and other relevant management bodies., JRC.G.3-Maritime affairs

The Workshop on the Transversal Variables took place in Zagreb from the 19th to 23rd of January, 2015 mainly to tackle the issues related to the increasing need of having fisheries fleet economic data and fisheries biologic data on a level of disaggregation that would allow a proper interoperability between datasets to underpin bioeconomic modelling. For that, several analyses were carried out and conclusions taken. These analyses were : 1. comparison of economic and biological effort data calls both with respect to their level of resolution and the landings and effort values obtained from equivalent aggregations was performed. This was compared to what would be needed in order to undertake bioeconomic modelling for a chosen management plan. 2. The description of how MS are calculating effort variables and a proposal on the way forward to harmonize approaches, 3. Conclusions on how to harmonize levels of resolution, the variable definitions and the codification in use amongst data calls, in order to make them comparable and based on coherent standard codifications., JRC.G.3-Maritime affairs

Common Fisheries Policy Monitoring - Protocol for computing indicators This document presents the protocol to compute indicators for monitoring the Common Fisheries Policy. A set of indicators both design-based and model-based are described mathematically. The list of stocks that should form the dataset on which the indicators are computed is also described as well as a set of rules to update the stocks' lists when needed. The protocol was presented and approved by the STECF's 2015 winter plenary (STECF-PLEN-15-03)., JRC.G.3-Maritime affairs

In terms of analysing and simulating fisheries management systems, implementation error can be considered to be the difference between management decisions (for example, the TAC or effort limits set for the following year) and what the fishing fleets actually do (for example, the actual catch taken or fishing effort applied that year). It is thought that implementation error can have a strong impact on the potential success of a management plan, but the precise level of impact and the effect of implementation error combined with other sources of uncertainty requires further study. This document describes the application of a simple Management Strategy Evaluation simulation to investigate the potential impacts of management plan implementation error on the sustainability of a stock. The simulation is based on the cod stock in the Eastern English Channel and Southern Celtic Seas. The results are illustrative only and are not meant to provide advice for the stock. It was found that including implementation error in the projections (i.e. the realised catch being greater than the desired TAC) not only led to the stock being more exploited (lower SSB, higher fishing mortality) but also increased the uncertainty in the stock status. This will be of particular interest when a risk-based approach to fisheries management is being considered. The implementation of a management plan is strongly in influenced by a range of economic factors that drive the dynamics of the fishing fleet. The simulations here do not make a full economic analysis and focus on the sustainabilty of the stock rather than the economic viability of the fishing fleet. Future work will include more economic modelling to improve the implementation error model. Note that this report was not prepared using MS Word. It was prepared using Latex / KnitR and R. This allows the computer code that was used to generate the results to be embedded in the report and executed during the report compilation, including the plotting of figures. This is preferable for scientific report writing as it ensures that the results presented here are ‘live’. Consequently, the following report may not strictly adhere to the JRC template., JRC.G.3-Maritime affairs

Developing and parameterising fisheries bioeconomic models is seen as playing an important role in the evaluation of proposed fisheries management strategies. One of the key challenges in doing this has been the different aggregation levels of the biological and economic data. For example, economic data (costs, prices etc) is aggregated at the supra-region level as a function of fleet components, whereas biological data is collected at the smaller regional level. Management plan evaluations are required at the regional level which means methods must be developed to scale and merge the economic and biological data at this level. Here we present a method based on the use of transversal variables (such as effort). By calculating a ‘unit cost per effort’ at the supraregion level, we are able to estimate costs at the regional level. This is made more difficult by the aggregation of fishing metiers and gears in the economic data, which have their own cost structure. Linear modelling techniques are used to help overcome to this issue. This report presents these methods using the North Sea fisheries as a case study. Note that this report was not prepared using MS Word. It was prepared using Latex / KnitR and R. This allows the computer code that was used to generate the results to be embedded in the report and executed during the report compilation, including the plotting of figures. This is preferable for scientific report writing as it ensures that the results presented here are ‘live’. Consequently, the following report may not strictly adhere to the JRC template., JRC.G.3-Maritime affairs

With the objective of applying the a4a methods to real life situations the JRC held a Workshop on stock assessment for the Hellenic small pelagic stocks in the Aegean Sea (JRC, Italy) between the 4th and 7th of May 2015. The main objectives were to compare assessment models and incorporate environmental indices into stock forecasts., JRC.G.3-Maritime affairs

This work presents the application to Mediterranean stocks of a set of model-based indicators, being developed for monitoring the implementation of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). The work constitutes an application of the methodology, as such the results should not be used as representative of the CFP implementation in the Mediterranean. This document is mainly constituted of R code, showing how the indicators can be computed and presenting a set of diagnostics and stability tests. The models tested were a linear model, a linear mixed effects model with random intercept by stock, a GAMM with random intercept by stock and a GAMM with random intercept by Mediterranean GSA and species. The stability tests were designed to evaluate the estimates of recent (2003-2013) time series of trends in SSB and annual mean values of F/Fmsy. The results were presented to the STECF's 2015 winter plenary (STECF-PLEN-15-03)., JRC.G.3-Maritime affairs

Although all cases should be approached comprehensively, restoring a limited segment in the esthetic zone presents challenges particularly related to microesthetics. Microesthetics are those criteria related to the subtle intricacies of shade, textures, translucencies, and surface effects that make teeth look like teeth. These are the criteria that aid dentists in fooling the eye and allowing restorations to blend invisibly into the smile. Completing a comprehensive assessment of a patient ensures that the restorative foundation will remain biologically and structurally predictable, durable, and above all, esthetically pleasing. Starting esthetic treatment without first doing a comprehensive assessment will result in a compromised result. Within the criteria of microesthetics, the utilization of a common nomenclature and quantitative means of communication between the restorative dentist and the laboratory ceramist are at the core of success. The use of prototypes during the provisionalization phase and progressive techniques in digital photography are invaluable tools. Along with traditional techniques in acquiring proper shade selection, the use of cross-polarization filters has been proven to be an effective way to eliminate spectral artifacts typically found in flash photography. Additionally, the use of a color-corrected master die system provides the ceramist a method to calibrate shades on the lab bench by capturing images--via the cross-polarization filters--that are similar to what is observed clinically.

Under the scope of the a4a Initiative, the JRC is promoting cooperative activities between fisheries scientists with the aim to test, disseminate and promote a4a methods. These Small Research Projects (SRP) are focus on comparing the results of assessments from other models to assessments obtained from the a4a statistical catch-at-age model, and explore research questions using case studies. The Workshop dedicated to the Mediterranean took place in Ispra, Italy, the 23rd to the 27th of June. The main objectives were to compare assessment models and develop multi-fleet forecasts methodologies. These can be applied in the context of ex-ante/ex- post evaluations of multi-annual plans, performed by STECF in order to provide scientific advice to the European Commission., JRC.G.3-Maritime affairs

The development and implementation of fisheries management plans can be expensive and time consuming. It is therefore essential to be able to determine if a plan has been effective in achieving its objectives. When the objectives of a management plan have been achieved (for example F, has been reduced to below some threshold level) it is important to determine if it was as a direct result of elements of the plan (for example, TAC restricting fishing mortality) or because of an external factor that was not included or considered by the plan (for example, fuel price rises causing a reduction in fishing effort). In the former case, we want to be able to understand which aspects of a management plan were effective so they can be considered in the design for future plans. In the latter case, there is the possibility of falsely attributing success to aspects of a plan that had no impact, thereby needlessly including them in the design of future plans. These issues can become more complicated in mixed fisheries where multiple gear types catch multiple stocks because interactions between the different biological and economic elements are not straightforward., JRC.G.3-Maritime affairs

DG MARE requested that STECF evaluate the proposed management plan of herring in VIaS and VIIbc as part of the plenary meeting 13-01. The rst Term of Reference was to assess the plan for compatibility with the Precautionary Approach and its ability to manage the stock to MSY by 2015. This was investigated using stochastic medium term forecasts, the methods and results of which are presented here. As noted in the STECF 2012 autumn plenary meeting, some points of the revised plan require clarication with the Pelagic RAC. The simulations were performed under several assumptions and with dierent scenarios: whether there continue to be overcatches (i.e. the total catch is greater than the TAC) and whether the TAC is allowed to be set to zero if the SSB falls below 76 kt., JRC.G.4-Maritime affairs

The a4a initiative seeks to overcome these issues by developing a flexible, robust and easy to use stock assessment model, thus making stock assessment accessible to a wide range of scientists that do not have the high skilled quantitative background required to run very complex models. Forthcoming research will describe how to overcome the burden of producing catch advice for such a large number of stocks. This technical report presents assessment model simulation testing undertaken under the a4a Initiative., JRC.G.4-Maritime affairs

Addressing the uncertainties in fishing activities, the CEDER project examines the use of observer reports, landings, e-logbooks, VMS and GPS tracks, and fishery-specific information. Such information was assessed in order to provide more accurate and timelier data on effort, catches, discards, and/or landings. This document contains CEDER¿s Project Implementation Plan for policy makers, as well as expected benefits for government, industry, and science. The CEDER consortium advocates the use of GPS data at 15 minute intervals for scientific purposes. Among these are improved spatial planning and a new fishing effort measure, the actual effort while fishing, which can be inferred from vessel behaviour. The correlation between catch and effort can be used as an indicator for inspectors, but one cannot reliably guess catches from effort. VMS and logbook data can be matched using rule-bases systems, leading to higher data quality and better use of quota. Furthermore, if fishing mortality were known in near real time, then the integration of current year fishing mortality into management plans would yield benefits for stock recovery. The full realisation of such benefits requires a re-appraisal of the 15% TAC revision rule. The CEDER consortium insists that any roll-out of the ERS e-logbook must be properly enforced, and that the e-logbook cannot by itself replace observer reports. Finally, estimating discards may be feasible in selected fisheries, but additional means such as gear sensors may be required in order to get more reliable data in the general case., JRC.G.4-Maritime affairs