Observers Of Behavior Research Articles

A Crisis Like No Other: Understanding and Defeating Global Warming

.: Robert De Saro has written an important book that provides a comprehensive and accurate account of the scientific basis of climate change and the human activities that cause it. More importantly, the author explores in considerable detail how the information about climate change is processed. For example, he discusses how cognitive biases might affect the appreciation of evidence, and therefore either facilitate taking actions to address climate change or divert from doing so. De Saro is an engineer, a scientist, and an astute observer and student of human behavior. His book is thus an important tool for those who wish to communicate effectively about climate change. In fact, his book is itself a model of good communication. De Saro injects humor into the discussion and provides illustrations when they are most needed. He writes with a personal touch, giving the reader a chance to know and trust him. A Crisis Like No Other: Understanding and Defeating Global Warming is an important contribution to the literature on climate change and, in particular, on climate communication, which is most deserving of our attention at this crucial juncture in the history of the world.

Hubungan Pengetauan Siswa terhadap Ketaatan Perilaku Konsumsi Jajanan Sehat di SDN 03 Sumber Salak Ledokombo Jember

School children are susceptible to various snacks sold both at school and outside school. Lack of attention to the consumption of healthy snacks, resulting in the impact of decreased health, ranging from poisoning due to unhygienic storage and presentation processes to the risk of cancer due to the use of harmful food additives (Anak et al., 2019). This study aims to determine the relationship between students' knowledge of the observance of healthy snacks consumption behavior in sdn 03 source salak ledokombo jember, This type of research is a quantitative descriptive research, the sample in this study is students with a total of 40 students. Two variables, namely the relationship between students' knowledge of the observance of healthy snack consumption behavior in sdn 03 source salak ledokombo jember, the instrument used is using a questionnaire, based on table 4.6, the results obtained are categorized as good (22.8%) as many as 29 students, categorized as moderate (7.2%) as many as 11 students and categorized as less none. Based on the results of research that has been conducted by researchers regarding the relationship between students' knowledge of eating healthy snacks, it can be concluded as follows: the relationship between students' knowledge of eating healthy snacks is categorized as good there are 29 students (22.8%) and categorized as moderate as 11 students (7.2%).

Eating disorder symptom non-endorsers in hospitalised patients with anorexia nervosa: Who are they?

Impaired insight and illness denial are common in anorexia nervosa (AN). Missing an AN diagnosis may delay treatment and negatively impact outcomes. The current retrospective study examined the prevalence and characteristics of AN symptom non-endorsement (i.e., scoring within the normal range on the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire [EDE-Q] or the Eating Disorder Examination [EDE] interview) in three independent samples of hospitalised patients with AN (N1=154; N2=300; N3=194). A qualitative chart review of a subsample of non-endorsers (N4=32) extracted reports of disordered eating behaviours observed by the treatment team. The prevalence of non-endorsement ranged from 11% to 34% across sites. Non-endorsers were more likely to be diagnosed with AN restricting type (AN-R) and reported fewer symptoms of co-occurring psychopathology than endorsers. Groups benefitted equally from treatment. The qualitative chart review indicated that objective symptoms of AN were recorded by staff in over 90% of non-endorsers. Eating disorder symptom assessments using the EDE-Q or EDE may miss symptomatology in up to a third of individuals hospitalised with AN. This study highlights the potential utility of multi-modal assessment including patient interviews, collateral informants, and behavioural observation to circumvent non-endorsement.

Ціннісні виміри правомірної поведінки

The article provides a theoretical and legal analysis of the definition of lawful behavior, an understanding of its criteria, types, mechanism of formation and implementation in modern circumstances. Lawful behavior as a type of social behavior is a complex process of human and law interaction. This interaction consists in the influence of law on the behavior of an individual who, guided by the value system established in his mind, chooses his own model of behavior. It is the values that form and characterize the inner world of an individual: his spiritual state, will, feelings, mind, attitude to the macrocosm. On the other hand, an individual, being in society, performing certain acts and performing specific actions, may not always be educated about their regulation by law, but is mostly able to analyze his own behavior and evaluate it in relation to the task of harming or benefiting other members of society. Lawful behavior is the basis of the legal order of modern civil society and the rule of law. It is through universal observance of lawful behavior that the state is able to perform its delegated functions realistically and optimally, and the right to realize its direct purpose. Therefore, state legal institutions, realizing that the key to their effectiveness is the ability to adopt fair laws and correct decisions that will be followed by society, should act in such a way that will maximally stimulate a lawful model of behavior. The social role of legal behavior is directly related to the social purpose of law. In the process of its implementation, the goals and objectives of legal regulation are achieved. The lawful behavior of an individual in accordance with its results and objective meaning, and is actually a right in action. Legitimate behavior is a socially beneficial activity of an individual aimed at ensuring state, legal, public and personal interests, values and goals. It is a value for the law precisely because the individual itself is a real value for it. It was found that lawful behavior is based on the following basic value elements: legal awareness and legal culture; an individual's understanding that his rights and freedoms are guaranteed by laws and can be optimally implemented in practice; freedom of choice, which enables the individual to act at his own discretion and without any interference; the presence of a special relationship between the government and the individual, when the latter is an equal partner of the state, who participates in decision-making, exercises control over the activities of the state and its institutions, as well as in other processes.

The inscrutable baseline and the problem of attribution

This paper examines the problem of attribution in the evaluation of energy efficiency program impact. The methodological problem concerns the observability of consumer behavior under the baseline condition of no program intervention. The statistical solution to the problem, which entails randomized exposure of targeted individuals to program influence, is not a viable alternative in most applications. Randomized opt-in and randomized encouragement designs do not conform to this requirement because all targeted individuals are encouraged to participate in the program, resulting in negative exposure bias. Quasi-experimental methods which utilize non-targeted individuals or targeted nonparticipants as baseline surrogates are further subject to selection bias of unknown magnitude and direction. Valid attribution in the general case of unrestricted eligibility depends on prior knowledge of the determinants of measure adoption and program participation. In default of such knowledge, evaluators must rely upon structural assumptions that have no foundation in empirical science. On the other hand, established measurement and verification methods which exploit scientific knowledge of the determinants of end-use energy consumption should be utilized to obtain unbiased estimates of individual measure and gross program energy savings.

Minimizing observer bias in animal behavior studies revisited: Improvement, but a long way to go

AbstractFor decades, texts on methods in animal behavior research have stressed the need for observers of behavior to work to minimize potential unconscious biases in their coding of data. Two major ways of minimizing these biases are to carry out data coding blind to the key comparisons being made in the study and to have high inter‐observer reliability. Over 10 years ago, Burghardt et al. (2012, Ethology, 118, 511) reviewed five major journals in the field of animal behavior and coded randomly selected articles from five decadal volumes (1970 to 2010). That earlier article found poor rates of reporting these two common methods for minimizing potential biases. Here, we carried out similar coding for the 2020 volumes from those same five journals. We found that rates of reporting have increased in all five journals – some substantially. However, rates of reporting still lag behind the journal Infancy, which publishes research on human infant development and relies on many of the same behavioral observation and coding methods used by animal behavior researchers. Given increased calls for transparency and reproducibility in many different fields of scientific study, we argue that we – researchers, reviewers, and editors – can and need to do better at making sure we are actively conducting research in ways to minimize potential observer biases.

An Online Course Recommender System in e-Learning Using Learners’ Profile and Learning Behavior-Based Mechanism

The advent of online learning platforms, such as Coursera and Udemy, has facilitated global access to diverse educational opportunities. However, integrating recommender algorithms into these online learning systems presents a notable challenge. To address this challenge, this research paper proposes an architecture for online course recommender systems that leverages learners’ profiles and learning behavior. The proposed architecture comprises six core components: 1) User Management Engine, 2) Online Course Content Management Engine, 3) Learning Behavior Observer and Recorder, 4) Profile and Learning Behavior Builder Engine, 5) Course Recommendation and Filtering Engine, and 6) Feedback Engine. These components collectively form the foundation of the online course recommender system. In order to facilitate practical implementation, a prototype of the online course recommender system has been developed. To evaluate the system’s performance, a comparative analysis was conducted, to compare the personalized recommended list with the non-personalized recommended list. The analysis revealed an average precision of 77.60% for the personalized recommended list, while the non-personalized recommended list achieved an average precision of 65.60%. These findings highlight the superiority of the personalized approach in generating more accurate and relevant online course recommendations.

Virtue Discounting: Observability Reduces Moral Actors' Perceived Virtue.

Performing prosociality in public presents a paradox: only by doing so can people demonstrate their virtue and also influence others through their example, yet observers may derogate actors' behavior as mere "virtue signaling." Here we investigate the role of observability of actors' behavior as one reason that people engage in such "virtue discounting." Further, we investigate observers' motivational inferences as a mechanism of this effect, using the comparison of generosity and fairness as a case study among virtues. Across 14 studies (7 preregistered, total N = 9,360), we show that public actors are perceived as less virtuous than private actors, and that this effect is stronger for generosity compared to fairness (i.e., differential virtue discounting). Exploratory factor analysis suggests that three types of motives-principled, reputation-signaling, and norm-signaling-affect virtue discounting. Using structural equation modeling, we show that observability's effect on actors' trait virtue ratings is largely explained by inferences that actors have less principled motivations. Further, we leverage experimental evidence to provide stronger causal evidence of these effects. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of our findings, as well as future directions for research on the social perception of virtue.

Rearing laying hens: the effect of aviary design and genetic strain on pullet exercise and perching behavior

IntroductionTo prepare laying hens for life in cage-free aviaries, they must be reared in aviaries that accustom them to the challenges of navigating a complex three-dimensional structure. Rearing aviaries vary in design and contain a brooding compartment in which chicks are confined during the first six weeks of age. These compartments vary greatly in their size and complexity. The present study aimed to examine the impact of environmental complexity during early life and birds’ genetic strain on their space use and forms/types of exercise.MethodsFour consecutive flocks of brown and white chicks were raised in three styles of rearing aviary with low, intermediate, or high complexity. Behavioral observations were performed at three ages during the brooding phase (weeks 1, 3, and 5) and the open phase when the brooding compartments were opened (weeks 7, 11, and 17). Behaviors observed were categorized as aerial locomotion, perching, dynamic load-bearing behavior (DLB), and wing-involved load-bearing behavior (WLB).ResultsDuring the brooding phase, chicks in aviaries of high complexity exercised most frequently (e.g., DLB events/minute: 1.75 in High vs 1.11 in Mid and 0.10 in Low, p<0.0001), and the effect remained for whites, but not the browns, during the open phase. White pullets exercised more than brown pullets both in brooding (e.g., 1.47 vs 1.28 DLB events/minute, p<0.0001) and open phases in High and Mid (e.g., 1.17 vs 0.93 DLB events/minute, housing x stain interaction p=0.009). Throughout rearing, whites had higher odds of perching than browns (brooding: 0.52 vs 0.45, p=0.04, open: 0.27 vs 0.17, p=0.0007).DiscussionWe concluded that rearing aviary design can affect behavior during the brooding phase; however, once the brooding compartments were opened, housing differences almost exclusively affected white pullets. The data suggest that genetic strain of birds must be considered in the design of pullet housing with the goal of maximizing space use and musculoskeletal development of laying hen pullets.

292 Hyperorality in Frontotemporal Dementia: Psychiatric and Neural Correlates Across the Disease Course

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: To describe cognitive and psychiatric symptom profiles of individuals with bvFTD and hyperorality. We test two hypotheses: (1) individuals with hyperorality show more severe psychiatric profiles and (2) neuroanatomic correlates of hyperorality in advanced bvFTD differ from those with early bvFTD. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Participants were enrolled in ALLFTD–a multi-site longitudinal study in FTD. We selected the 354 participants who had a primary clinical diagnosis of bvFTD, 344 of whom had data on hyperorality. Each participant underwent extensive clinical interviews and examinations, structural neuroimaging, and blood sampling. Five anatomic regions of interest were identified and analyzed based on previously identified neuroanatomic correlates of hyperorality. Differences in participant characteristics and clinical outcomes were compared using t-tests for continuous variables and Pearsonχ2 tests for categorical variables. Linear multivariate regression controlling for age and total intracranial volume (TIV) was used to examine associations between atrophy in regions of interest and hyperorality status. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Early-stage participants with hyperorality had poorer self-monitoring, empathic concern, and perspective taking as well as higher CDR behavioral subscale scores compared to those without hyperorality. Advanced stage participants with hyperorality had higher scores on the Social Behavior Observer Checklist compared to those without hyperorality. Early-stage participants with hyperorality displayed higher rates of ritualistic/compulsive behavior and motor disturbance. Advanced stage participants had higher rates of apathy, ritualistic/compulsive behavior, anxiety, and elation. In the advanced stage participants, hyperorality was associated with atrophy in the right dorsal striatum, the right ventral striatum, and the right insula cortex. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Hyperorality emerges early and is accompanied by neuropsychiatric symptoms prior to significant neurodegeneration. Overtime, participants with hyperorality develop more psychiatric symptoms as well as atrophy in striatal and insular brain regions. Our findings suggest a role for novel interventions like non-invasive brain stimulation.

At Risk Safety Behaviors of the Perioperative Nursing Team: A Direct Observational Study

The operating room setting has unique workforce hazards and extremely high ergonomic demands due to patient lifting/positioning requirements, long periods of standing, and the heavy equipment and supplies that are needed for surgical procedures. Despite worker safety policies, injuries among registered nurses are increasing. Most of the research on the ergonomic safety of nurses is conducted utilizing survey methodology, which may not provide accurate data. It is imperative to understand the at-risk safety behaviors that perioperative nurses face if we are to design interventions to prevent injury. Two perioperative nurses were directly observed during 60 different operating room surgical procedures (n = 120 different nurses). Data were collected utilizing the job safety behavioral observation process (JBSO), which is designed specifically for the operating room environment. There were 82 total at-risk behaviors observed amongst the 120 perioperative nurses. More specifically, 13 (11%) of the surgical procedures had at least one perioperative nurse observed in a position of at-risk behavior, and a total of 15 (12.5%) individual perioperative nurses performed at least one at-risk behavior. More attention must be placed on the safety of the perioperative nurse if we are to retain a healthy, productive workforce to provide the highest quality patient care.

Application of Caenorhabditis elegans in Lipid Metabolism Research.

Over the last decade, the development and prevalence of obesity have posed a serious public health risk, which has prompted studies on the regulation of adiposity. With the ease of genetic manipulation, the diversity of the methods for characterizing body fat levels, and the observability of feeding behavior, Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) is considered an excellent model for exploring energy homeostasis and the regulation of the cellular fat storage. In addition, the homology with mammals in the genes related to the lipid metabolism allows many aspects of lipid modulation by the regulators of the central nervous system to be conserved in this ideal model organism. In recent years, as the complex network of genes that maintain an energy balance has been gradually expanded and refined, the regulatory mechanisms of lipid storage have become clearer. Furthermore, the development of methods and devices to assess the lipid levels has become a powerful tool for studies in lipid droplet biology and the regulation of the nematode lipid metabolism. Herein, based on the rapid progress of C. elegans lipid metabolism-related studies, this review outlined the lipid metabolic processes, the major signaling pathways of fat storage regulation, and the primary experimental methods to assess the lipid content in nematodes. Therefore, this model system holds great promise for facilitating the understanding, management, and therapies of human obesity and other metabolism-related diseases.

Clekship Student Perceive Professional and Unprofessional Behaviors of Student and Physicians

This study aimed to explore a Korean medical student’s perception of professional and unprofessional behaviors by peers and physicians. A total of 144(56.92%) out of 253 graduating students from three medical schools in Korea completed an online survey. The survey used the Climate of Professionalism in a Clinical Teaching Environment scale, which queries the subjects’ observations of professional and unprofessional behaviours. An analysis was derived from reliability, factor analysis, descriptive statistics, and a paired t-test. The reliability was identified in the peers (Cronbach’s alpha=.83) and the physicians (Cronbach’s alpha= .88). By the respondents’ reports, both the peers and the physicians were less professional in their error handling. The difference in observed behaviours between the two groups existed in “disrespect to others” (p .000), “the expense of others” (p .05), and “ignorance of the other’s unprofessional behaviour” (p .000). In their clinical practice, the students are watching professional or unprofessional behaviours of peer students and physicians. Instructional intervention is needed to ensure that the unprofessional behaviours observed by the students are not transformed into a learning experience.

Behavior-based safety program for process industries

Objectives. This article describes the reduction of unsafe behaviors observed at a fertilizer complex by implementation of a behavior-based safety (BBS) program via a behavior observation form developed by a multidisciplinary team. Methods. Six observation categories, i.e., position of people, reaction of people, personal protective equipment (PPE), tools used, operating procedures and housekeeping, are used to monitor safe and unsafe behaviors for a period of 18 months. Results. Safe behaviors increased from 57 to 70% and unsafe behaviors reduced from 40 to 26%. Behaviors of employees working in various sections of fertilizer complex such as ammonia, urea, utility, bagging/shipping and workshop were also observed. Non-compliance with PPE, housekeeping and standard operating procedures was also monitored in individual sections. Non-operational areas including the administration block, housing colony, maintenance workshop, warehouse, fire station and electrical substation were also observed. Among these, the maximum unsafe behaviors are for the housing colony and minimum for the electrical substation. Conclusion. It has been concluded that working on the housing colony, administration block and fire station areas will address 74% unsafe behaviors of non-operational areas. For practical applications, worldwide industries can implement this BBS program to enhance BBS, thus reducing unsafe behaviors and increasing employee morale.

GAYA HIDUP KELUARGA BERPERILAKU MENYIMPANG DI PEKANBARU

The research was carried out in Sidomulyo Housing RT. 02 RW. 01 Village Maharatu, Marpoyan Damai District, Pekanbaru. The purpose of this research is to knowing the life Style of family members who behave deviantly, to fine out the cause of deviant behavior and to find out the importance of inculcating good values and norms in the family. Benefits of research this is to make new knowledge in communication science that education values and norms in the family are very important. Become of referencefor researchers and observers of deviant behavior and make new study in the world of communication. Understanding can prevent deviant behavior in socienty. The implementation time of this research starts from April to June 2021. Data collection techniques with observation, interviews and dokumentation. Technique data analysis with qualitative analysis. From the results of the study it was found that the style of life (Life Style) must be adapted to the family economy, in the family it is necessary instilled basic moral values such as religion and shame in order to avoid behavior deviant, and a lazy lifestyle makes the family economy low. It is expected that parents and family members shoud have a lifestyle adjusted to economic capacity. To compete in the midst of urban progress we must have adequate education and skills. very good communication needed in a family. A very good father/family head fiqure determine so that family members avoid deviant behavior

3 Towards Automated Behavior Analysis for Individually Housed Piglets–Sampling Considerations

Abstract Behavior sampling is commonly applied to represent a complete picture of animal behavior. Traditional sampling methods often fail to capture complete sequences of events, diurnal behavior, or behavior patterns. As digital technologies allow more frequent collection of behavior, there is a need to understand if the potential increase in sampling frequency yields an increase in the knowledge we gain from additional observations. In this study, 24-h behavior was labelled for three individually housed research piglets, creating a ground truth dataset. An ethogram with five categories (resting, consumption, maintenance, exploratory, and social interactions) including 23 behavior labels was applied for behavior observation for every frame in the video data set. Using Python to automatically sample behavior data from the complete dataset, the results of instantaneous and continuous sampling strategies at various sampling intervals and times of day were compared with the ground truth continuous data set using a two-sample t-test for: (a) total percentage of observations, (b) average bout length, and (c) normalized number of occurrences. Results were considered significant for alpha< 0.05, which indicated a sampling method was different from ground truth. Continuously sampled data were collected at the start of each hour for 2, 5, 10, 15, and 20-min periods. Instantaneously sampled data were collected at the intervals: 1, 5, 10, 20, and 40-s; 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, and 60-min. Every sampling strategy resulted in misrepresentation of behavior. For example, results for the 1-s instantaneous sampling method (every 15th frame versus every frame) revealed that seven of the 23 behaviors observed were misrepresented in at least one metric: (a) total percentage of observations [P=0.027 (drinking behavior); P=0.027 (sham chewing), P=0.011 (head tossing)]; (b) average bout length [P=0.033 (feeding behavior), P=0.032 (nosing), P=0.040 (exploring pen), P=0.039 (head tossing)]; and (c) normalized number of occurrences [P=0.005 (exploring pen), P=0.018 (head tossing)].

Understanding the Consequences of Unethical Behavior

In recent years, there has been a large body of research examining why employees engage in unethical behavior. Scholars have made substantial progress in terms of understanding the antecedents and processes associated with unethicality. Yet, there remains an important opportunity to more systematically investigate the consequences of unethical behavior from a variety of perspectives. For observers of unethical behavior, there may be a variety of negative consequences as well as potentially unanticipated positive consequences. These effects might occur through the specific morally-relevant emotions, such as anger or vicarious shame, experienced by the observers of unethicality and their subsequent behavioral responses. Additionally, the motives of the transgressor may play an important role in shaping the reactions of others. Observers may also react differently to victims of unethical behavior based on whether the victims decide to forgive the perpetrator. Finally, to pursue ethicality in the workplace, an employee’s own ethical focus on a given day may influence how they feel and whether or not they rise to the occasion when presented with an opportunity to do the right thing. The purpose of this symposium is to deepen scholars’ understanding of the consequences of unethicality via multiple perspectives and methodologies. Are there Benefits or Detriments (or Both) to Observing Coworker Cheating Behavior? Presenter: Marie S. Mitchell; U. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Presenter: Shubha Sharma; U. of Georgia Presenter: Mo Chen; School of Management, Harbin Institute of Technology Presenter: Mingyun Huai; Tongji U. How does Observing a Member's Unethical Behavior Influence Your Group Behavior? Intention Matters Presenter: Young Won Rhee; U. of Washington Presenter: Elizabeth Eve Umphress; U. of Washington Understanding Why Employees Cover Up Unethical Behaviors Presenter: Jenny Hejia Wang; U. of Guelph Presenter: Laurie Barclay; U. of Guelph To Forgive or to Show Integrity? Forgiveness Decreases Integrity but Increases Benevolence Presenter: Rebecca Schaumberg; The Wharton School, U. of Pennsylvania Presenter: Scott Wiltermuth; USC Presenter: Gabrielle Adams; U. of Virginia Compliant not Courageous? Paradoxical Ethical Consequences of Focusing on Values versus Compliance Presenter: Grace Ching Chi Ho; Arizona State U. Presenter: David Welsh; Arizona State U. Presenter: Michael Baer; Arizona State U. Presenter: John Bush; U. of Central Florida

Analysis of Interannual and Seasonal Nearshore Bar Behaviour Observed from Decadal Optical Satellite Data in the Curonian Spit, Baltic Sea

Long-term observations of nearshore bar behaviour are a vital component of coastal monitoring, management, and prediction. Optical satellite remote sensing enables the possibility of such observations over large spatial areas, but its full potential remains unexploited. This study assessed alongshore variability in cross-shore nearshore bar behaviour on a wave-dominated multi-bar coast of the Curonian Spit (south-eastern Baltic Sea) between 2011 and 2021, using satellite-derived bar data. Nearshore bars were extracted from a time series of PlanetScope and RapidEye satellite images with an automated GIS-based algorithm, previously proposed by the study authors. The cross-shore behaviour of a multiple bar system was analysed by adapting traditional bathymetry-based analysis techniques to satellite-derived data that included bar crestlines and images of multi-scale Relative Bathymetric Position Index (RBPI). The analysis was performed on 1071 shore-perpendicular transects. Multi-bar onshore and offshore migration rates were quantified on interannual and seasonal timescales. The results show that, on an interannual timescale, bars migrated offshore at rates up to 9.7 m/month, while the rates of onshore migration reached up to 11 m/month. During the months of low wave energy, bars moved offshore at rates up to 6.2 m/month, and during the months of high wave energy, up to 12.9 m/month. However onshore migration rates, during the months of low and high wave energy, reached up to 7.0 and 13.4 m/month, respectively. A complex empirical orthogonal function (CEOF) analysis was performed on RBPI-derived cross-shore profiles, and cyclic offshore directed bar behaviour was examined. For the first time, the net offshore migration (NOM) cycle with bar cycle return periods of 1.8 to 13.5 years was investigated on the south-eastern Baltic Sea coast. Bar cycle return periods increased and rates of bar cross-shore migration decreased from north to south along the Curonian Spit. Similar nearshore bar behaviour regions were identified using clustering analysis based on quantified temporal and morphological characteristics of the bars. Factors controlling alongshore variability in bar cross-shore behaviour were determined. The study results suggest that small alongshore variations in nearshore hydrodynamics, caused by the local wave climate and its interplay with the shoreline orientation, determine the morphological and temporal variability of the multi-bar system in the Curonian Spit.

Determining the Frequency of Discomfort-Related Behaviors Displayed by Horses When Pulling Carriages

The aim was to quantify the frequency of distress and discomfort related behaviors displayed by horses during their carriage pulling activity. The study lasted three months during the 2018 rainy season in Merida, México, using 24 light-morphology (400 ± 50 kg liveweight) horses randomly selected to be observed. All animals were in good body condition and health status. Horses served for tourism tours of five kilometers, being theoretically used for a maximum of six tours per day and having one resting day every three working days. Behavior observations were performed at three points of the carriage tour: at the start point with horses stopped at the middle during carriage pulling activity, at the end with horses stopped. Behaviors chosen corresponded to measurable criteria, for the welfare of working equids according to the World Organization for Animal Health and easy to be observed on field conditions: aberrant vocalization as related to distress or high-level stressors exposure, and nodding, nibbling, limp and hit the floor as related to discomfort or mid to low-level stressors. Frequencies of behaviors were compared between the three points of the tour using a Fisher Exact Test in R Studio software. Horses were tracked from one to six tours performed in different days totaling 66 observed tours. None of the horses had aberrant vocalizations. Seven horses (62.5%) showed zero or one concerning behavior (8 horses), and only a 4.2% (one horse) demonstrated six behaviors. No discomfort behaviors were observed in 60.6% of the tours, with one discomfort behavior noted in 25.7% of the tours, and 1.5% of the tours where five discomfort behaviors were noted. Similar frequencies of behaviors (P>0.05) were found at the start, middle and final points of the tour. Although it was displayed at a low frequency, nodding at the start point was the main behavior observed (19.6% of the 66 tours). This frequency could have been lower if drivers had avoided staying more than 90 minutes in the waiting zones with the animals stopped.

Breeding history and husbandry of the Raggiana Bird-of-paradise (Paradisaea raggiana).

The Raggiana Bird-of-paradise (Paradisaea raggiana) has been held by the San Diego Zoo for more than 50 years, but the population remained in low numbers until the mid-1990s. A previous article published in 1997 documented the beginning of the rise in the population; however, no new information has been published since that time. Over the past 25 years, behavioral observations by animal staff have led to improvements in husbandry techniques, which includes artificial incubation of eggs and hand-rearing of chicks. The ability to simulate a lek with various housing arrangements, in which the males can display with each other, be given access to a female for copulation, and then be separated again has proven paramount for breeding success. Additionally, females are allowed mate choice, further mimicking natural behaviors observed by this species. The refinement of these methods has led to a greater number of fertile eggs as well as higher hatchability and survivability, which in turn has resulted in a significant increase in the captive population.