Daily Behavior Patterns Research Articles

Visualization, Spatiotemporal Patterns, and Directional Analysis of Urban Activities Using Geolocation Data Extracted from LBSN

Location-based social networks (LBSNs) have rapidly prevailed in China with the increase in smart devices use, which has provided a wide range of opportunities to analyze urban behavior in terms of the use of LBSNs. In a LBSN, users socialize by sharing their location (also referred to as “geolocation”) in the form of a tweet (also referred to as a “check-in”), which contains information in the form of, but is not limited to, text, audio, video, etc., which records the visited place, movement patterns, and activities performed (e.g., eating, living, working, or leisure). Understanding the user’s activities and behavior in space and time using LBSN datasets can be achieved by archiving the daily activities, movement patterns, and social media behavior patterns, thus representing the user’s daily routine. The current research observing and analyzing urban activities behavior was often supported by the volunteered sharing of geolocation and the activity performed in space and time. The objective of this research was to observe the spatiotemporal and directional trends and the distribution differences of urban activities at the city and district levels using LBSN data. The density was estimated, and the spatiotemporal trend of activities was observed, using kernel density estimation (KDE); for spatial regression analysis, geographically weighted regression (GWR) analysis was used to observe the relationship between different activities in the study area. Finally, for the directional analysis, to observe the principle orientation and direction, and the spatiotemporal movement and extension trends, a standard deviational ellipse (SDE) analysis was used. The results of the study show that women were more inclined to use social media compared with men. However, the activities of male users were different during weekdays and weekends compared to those of female users. The results of the directional analysis at the district level reflect the change in the trajectory and spatiotemporal dynamics of activities. The directional analysis at the district level reveals its fine spatial structure in comparison to the whole city level. Therefore, LBSN can be considered as a supplementary and reliable source of social media big data for observing urban activities and behavior within a city in space and time.

Indicators of retention in remote digital health studies: a cross-study evaluation of 100,000 participants

Digital technologies such as smartphones are transforming the way scientists conduct biomedical research. Several remotely conducted studies have recruited thousands of participants over a span of a few months allowing researchers to collect real-world data at scale and at a fraction of the cost of traditional research. Unfortunately, remote studies have been hampered by substantial participant attrition, calling into question the representativeness of the collected data including generalizability of outcomes. We report the findings regarding recruitment and retention from eight remote digital health studies conducted between 2014–2019 that provided individual-level study-app usage data from more than 100,000 participants completing nearly 3.5 million remote health evaluations over cumulative participation of 850,000 days. Median participant retention across eight studies varied widely from 2–26 days (median across all studies = 5.5 days). Survival analysis revealed several factors significantly associated with increase in participant retention time, including (i) referral by a clinician to the study (increase of 40 days in median retention time); (ii) compensation for participation (increase of 22 days, 1 study); (iii) having the clinical condition of interest in the study (increase of 7 days compared with controls); and (iv) older age (increase of 4 days). Additionally, four distinct patterns of daily app usage behavior were identified by unsupervised clustering, which were also associated with participant demographics. Most studies were not able to recruit a sample that was representative of the race/ethnicity or geographical diversity of the US. Together these findings can help inform recruitment and retention strategies to enable equitable participation of populations in future digital health research.

Characterizing Behavioral Activity Rhythms in Older Adults Using Actigraphy.

Wrist actigraphy has been used to assess sleep in older adult populations for nearly half a century. Over the years, the continuous raw activity data derived from actigraphy has been used for the characterization of factors beyond sleep/wake such as physical activity patterns and circadian rhythms. Behavioral activity rhythms (BAR) are useful to describe individual daily behavioral patterns beyond sleep and wake, which represent important and meaningful clinical outcomes. This paper reviews common rhythmometric approaches and summarizes the available data from the use of these different approaches in older adult populations. We further consider a new approach developed in our laboratory designed to provide graphical characterization of BAR for the observed behavioral phenomenon of activity patterns across time. We illustrate the application of this new approach using actigraphy data collected from a well-characterized sample of older adults (age 60+) with osteoarthritis (OA) pain and insomnia. Generalized additive models (GAM) were implemented to fit smoothed nonlinear curves to log-transformed aggregated actigraphy-derived activity measurements. This approach demonstrated an overall strong model fit (R2 = 0.82, SD = 0.09) and was able to provide meaningful outcome measures allowing for graphical and parameterized characterization of the observed activity patterns within this sample.

Aktivitas dan Perilaku Pasangan Owa Jawa (Hylobates moloch) di Javan Gibbon Centre

Since 2008 Javan Gibbon’s ( Hylobates moloch ) status is endangered due to the capture of gibbons in the wild to be used as pets which are increasingly prevalent. Conservation efforts of Javan Gibbon population have been conducted at the rescue populations of Javan Gibbons in Javan Gibbon Centre (JGC). Javan Gibbon are the result of voluntary surrender of the community and confiscation of quarantine officer. Rehabilitation in JGC aims to restore the wild instincts of Javan Gibbon before being release d in to the wild environment . This study aimed to identify the daily activities and behavior patterns of Javan gibbon pair and to analyze the abiotic factors that influence them in Javan Gibbon Centre (JGC) as one aspect of the ir readiness to be release d into the wild environment . The study focused on three pairs of Javan Gibbons namely Boby-Jolly, Willie-Sasa , and Asep-Dompu. Based on the observation of three pair s of Javan gibbon, rest ing is the most dominant activity with the percentage of 60 - 80% followed by traveling (8 - 20%), feeding (7 - 13%), social (0 - 4%) , and aggressive behavior ( <1% ) . The most common social behavior s of Javan Gibbon pairs were allogrooming, courtship , and vocalization. Ambient temperature and rainfall were abiotics factors the most affecting the activity and behavior of the Javan Gibbon pair in terms of vocalization. Javan Gibbon will stop vocalization if the ambient temperature is low and when rainfall is high. Based on the observation data, Willie-Sasa was considered to have fulfilled one aspect of the assessment for the ir release into the wild environment . The dominant aspect of this pair is the frequency of socialization and vocalization that approaches frequency of Javan Gibbon behavior in the wild environment .

Growth and Behavior of Congenitally Anophthalmic Lee-Sung Pigs.

Circadian rhythm is usually regulated by the environmental light-dark cycle. Congenitally anophthalmic miniature pigs provide a valuable model for the study of factors affecting circadian rhythms in the absence of visual exposure to the light-dark cycle. This study investigated the growth and daily behavior patterns of Lee-Sung pigs with congenital anophthalmia. Growth in 5 Lee-Sung pigs (LSP) with congenital anophthalmia (LSP-A) and 10 normally developed pigs (LSP-N) was assessed when they were 1 through 6 mo old. Behavioral studies using digital video recording were completed in 6 sexually mature LSP (3 LSP-A and 3 LSP-N). MRI showed that LSP-A lose their vision because of a lack of retinal input and optic chiasm development. LSP-N and LSP-A did not differ in body weight or size at 2, 4, and 6 mo of age. Behavior and activity pattern studies showed that both LSP-A and LSP-N were active mainly during daylight, but LSP-A spent significantly more time exploring their environment during the day (28%) and night (10%) than did LSP-N. This study revealed that growth performance was similar between LSP-A and normal pigs, but their behavior and activity patterns differed. LSP-A showed circadian rhythm abnormalities similar to those in blind humans. This study provides basic data on LSP-A as a model for studying compensatory cross-modal brain plasticity and hormone regulation in the absence of retinal input is deficient and for understanding the role of circadian rhythm regulation.

Pattern of Habitual Physical Exercise in Myasthenia Gravis Patients

Notwithstanding the amount of deliberate exercise, the daily patterns of active versus sedentary behavior have a major influence on health outcomes [1]. Patterns of habitual active and sedentary behavior in Myasthenia Gravis (MG) patients, as well as their possible relations to disease activity, are not known. To evaluate baseline patterns of physical and sedentary behavior in MG patients. Activity patterns of twenty-seven MG patients were assessed by a Dynaport MoveMonitor (McRoberts) accelerometer, worn for seven consecutive days. The amount of time spent in moderate and vigorous intensity activities, physical activity level (PAL), number of steps/day and sedentary time were assessed and correlations to disease severity were analyzed. The results were compared to general recommendations and published data of healthy individuals and to data of patients with the chronic disorders chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and mitochondrial myopathy. MG patients had sedentary behavior during 78±7% of the day. There was neither a correlation between disease severity and number of steps/day (R = -0.15; p = 0.56) nor between disease severity and PAL (R = 0.33; p = 0.26). Nevertheless, the MG patients met the recommendations of daily deliberate exercise (181±158 MET min/day). PAL was lower in MG patients (1.5±0.138) than in healthy individuals (1.67±0.145, p < 0.00001). Although a majority of MG patients meet the recommendations of deliberate exercise, their baseline physical activity levels are dominated by sedentary behavior. In comparison with a healthy population, MG patients are less physically active, but the reason for this remains unclear with no correlations between disease severity and physical activity patterns.

Daily behavioural activity patterns and reproductive ecology of urban rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) in human dominated landscape and its implication in management

We observed behavioural activity patterns, daily movements and reproductive ecology (birth rate, death rate, breeding seasons, mating) of urban rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) in man-made environment after their reintroduction in Asola-Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary, Delhi, India using instantaneous sampling or scan sampling method. The daily activity patterns of rhesus macaques inhabiting in the sanctuary were observed from 6:00 h to 18:00 hrs per day from March 2016 to June 2017. The percentage of each activity was estimated quantitatively and birth rate per female per troop in a year was calculated in total 21 troops of rhesus macaques. Macaques adopted different time slot for maximum utilization of food and space available and we estimated the percent time spent of each activity pattern and their variations in a particular geographic area. Daily average distance travelled was 1.89 km/day and it was restricted to the feeding platforms. Mortality was incredibly low (0.17) and high reproductive success was in females per troop. Number of females per troop was 4.48 on average, mean birth rate was calculated 2.20 per female per troop in a year, gestation length 160 days on average. Breeding seasons were April to June and late August to October, although there was no seasonal variation in daily activity pattern and movement ranges throughout the year in the sanctuary. Our study recommendation will help in reducing human-macaque conflicts in urban areas and will serve as a potential source of information of ecology, behaviour of urban rhesus macaques and their management.

Indicators of resilience during the transition period in dairy cows: A case study

The transition period is a demanding phase in the life of dairy cows. Metabolic and infectious disorders frequently occur in the first weeks after calving. To identify cows that are less able to cope with the transition period, physiologic or behavioral signals acquired with sensors might be useful. However, it is not yet clear which signals or combination of signals and which signal properties are most informative with respect to disease severity after calving. Sensor data on activity and behavior measurements as well as rumen and ear temperature data from 22 dairy cows were collected during a period starting 2 wk before expected parturition until 6 wk after parturition. During this period, the health status of each cow was clinically scored daily. A total deficit score (TDS) was calculated based on the clinical assessment, summarizing disease length and intensity for each cow. Different sensor data properties recorded during the period before calving as well as the period after calving were tested as a predictor for TDS using univariate analysis of covariance. To select the model with the best combination of signals and signal properties, we quantified the prediction accuracy for TDS in a multivariate model. Prediction accuracy for TDS increased when sensors were combined, using static and dynamic signal properties. Statistically, the most optimal linear combination of predictors consisted of average eating time, variance of daily ear temperature, and regularity of daily behavior patterns in the dry period. Our research indicates that a combination of static and dynamic sensor data properties could be used as indicators of cow resilience.

Study on the rural residence heating temperature based on the residents behavior pattern in South Liaoning province

An intensive study on the heating temperature aimed to create a satisfying indoor condition that should meet the residents’ thermal requirements in accordance to their daily behavior pattern. Unlike urban residents who stay indoors for a long time, rural residents constantly live in a dynamic environment: they often leave their residences and get busy with numerous labor activities. Therefore, the thermal sensation questionnaire survey performed in a steady environment is not suitable for them. To study the rural heating temperature in a dynamic environment, a three-years field investigation was performed in South Liaoning province. During the investigation, a continuous tracking method was adopted to record the residents’ behavior; objective environmental parameters test and subjective thermal sensation surveys were rigorously recorded.The results indicate that the residents behavior pattern exerts an influence on the heating temperature by influencing the residents’ clothing insulation. Heating temperature in auxiliary rooms can be directly determined by the residents’ thermal sensation, with the reasonable value of 11 °C. The influence of residents’ behavior on clothing should be considered when determining heating temperature in the master bedroom, the reported value of which is 13 °C. The heating temperature obtained by the thermal sensation fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model in paper reflects the rural residents’ real-life requirements on thermal environment, and it provides a reference for designing rural residences.

Replacing sedentary time with physical activity or sleep: effects on cancer-related cognitive impairment in breast cancer survivors

BackgroundEvidence suggests reallocating daily sedentary time to physical activity or sleep confers important health benefits in cancer survivors. Despite emerging research suggesting physical activity as a treatment for cancer-related cognitive impairment (CRCI), little is known about the interactive effects of behaviors across the 24-h period. The present purpose was to examine the cognitive effects of reallocating sedentary time to light-intensity physical activity, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), or sleep in breast cancer survivors.MethodsBreast cancer survivors (N = 271, Mage = 57.81 ± 9.50 years) completed iPad-based questionnaires and cognitive tasks assessing demographics, health history, executive function, and processing speed (Task-Switch, Trail Making). Participants wore an accelerometer for seven consecutive days to measure their sedentary, physical activity, and sleep behaviors. Single effects (each behavior individually) and partition (controlling for other behaviors) models were used to examine associations among behaviors and cognitive performance. Isotemporal substitution models were used to test the cognitive effects of substituting 30 min of sedentary time with 30 min of light-intensity activity, MVPA, and sleep.ResultsMVPA was associated with faster Task-switch reaction time in the partition models (stay: B = − 35.31, p = 0.02; switch: B = − 48.24, p = 0.004). Replacing 30 min of sedentary time with 30 min of MVPA yielded faster reaction times on Task-Switch stay (B = − 29.37, p = 0.04) and switch (B = − 39.49, p = 0.02) trials. In Trails A single effects models, sedentary behavior was associated with faster completion (B = − 0.97, p = 0.03) and light-intensity activity with slower completion (B = 1.25, p = 0.006). No single effects were observed relative to Trails B completion (all p > 0.05). Only the effect of MVPA was significant in the partition models (Trails A: B = − 3.55, p = 0.03; Trails B: B = − 4.46, p = 0.049). Replacing sedentary time with light-intensity activity was associated with slower Trails A (B = 1.55 p = 0.002) and Trails B (B = 1.69, p = 0.02) completion. Replacing light activity with MVPA yielded faster Trails A (B = − 4.35, p = 0.02) and Trails B (B = − 5.23, p = 0.03) completion.ConclusionsFindings support previous research suggesting MVPA may be needed to improve cognitive function in breast cancer survivors. Trails findings underscore the need to dissect sedentary contexts to better understand the impact of daily behavioral patterns on CRCI. Additional research investigating the cognitive impacts of behaviors across the 24-h period is warranted.Trial registrationThis study is registered with United States ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02523677; 8/14/2015).

Localization and expression of putative circadian clock transcripts in the brain of the nudibranch Melibe leonina

The nudibranch, Melibe leonina, expresses a circadian rhythm of locomotion, and we recently determined the sequences of multiple circadian clock transcripts that may play a role in controlling these daily patterns of behavior. In this study, we used these genomic data to help us: 1) identify putative clock neurons using fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH); and 2) determine if there is a daily rhythm of expression of clock transcripts in the M. leonina brain, using quantitative PCR. FISH indicated the presence of the clock-related transcripts clock, period, and photoreceptive and non-photoreceptive cryptochrome (pcry and npcry, respectively) in two bilateral neurons in each cerebropleural ganglion and a group of <10 neurons in the anterolateral region of each pedal ganglion. Double-label experiments confirmed colocalization of all four clock transcripts with each other. Quantitative PCR demonstrated that the genes clock, period, pcry and npcry exhibited significant differences in expression levels over 24 h. These data suggest that the putative circadian clock network in M. leonina consists of a small number of identifiable neurons that express circadian genes with a daily rhythm.

Patient Adherence to Dysphagia Recommendations: A Systematic Review.

Patient adherence to treatment recommendations is an important issue for healthcare providers, in a multitude of specialties, and is critical when assessing the efficacy and effectiveness of a particular treatment approach. Patients who have swallowing impairment often require complex and specific interventions requiring altered daily patterns of behavior. Patients with dysphagia who do not follow recommendations or prescribed exercises may not receive maximum benefit of an intervention. Poor adherence also makes it more difficult to evaluate efficacy of a treatment both clinically and in experimental settings. Further, swallow safety can be compromised if certain recommendations are not followed. Our purpose was to systematically review the literature to understand what is known about adherence within the field of dysphagia treatment. We systematically identified 12 studies that tracked and reported patient-specific adherence. In this review, we found that the average adherence rate from these studies ranges between 21.9 and 51.9%. Adherence to prophylactic treatment recommendations for patients with head and neck cancer was the focus in 9/12 studies. The findings of this review identify a large gap in knowledge regarding adherence to dysphagia treatment. Few studies account for adherence within their study designs. When planning dysphagia treatment studies, it is imperative that investigators include information regarding patient adherence to accurately interpret findings. Given the variable adherence rates found in this review, factors influencing patient adherence with dysphagia treatments should be identified to increase adherence in future trials.

Effect of no-night light environment on behaviour, learning performance and personality in zebra finches

A periodic day–night environment is critical for daily behavioural patterns and advanced brain functions such as learning and cognition in animals. We investigated whether a no-night light environment would impair these functions in parent and F1 and F2 zebra finches, Taeniopygia guttata . Particularly, we examined song acquisition as a measure of learning, tested cognitive performance with reference to spatial and colour association tasks, and assessed personality with respect to an exploratory trait, first in the parent (P) and subsequently in F1 and F2 birds born and raised under 12:12 h light:dark or constant light (hence no-night, LL) environments. Daily patterns in activity and singing were monitored as circadian response indicators. After initial decay, the rhythmic patterns in daily activity and singing were restored after several weeks in the majority of P and F1 birds under LL; F2 birds displayed robust circadian rhythms in both behavioural patterns under LL. Further, LL decreased participation and performance in cognitive tests and reduced exploratory behaviour in birds from all generations. Overall, we found negative effects of the LL environment on daily behavioural patterns, advanced brain functions (i.e. learning and cognition) and personality in zebra finches when adult and in subsequent generations. These results give insights into the possible impact on animals of night-time illumination such as in an overly lit urban habitat.

Three-Dimensional, Kinematic, Human Behavioral Pattern-Based Features for Multimodal Emotion Recognition

This paper presents a multimodal emotion recognition method that uses a feature-level combination of three-dimensional (3D) geometric features (coordinates, distance and angle of joints), kinematic features such as velocity and displacement of joints, and features extracted from daily behavioral patterns such as frequency of head nod, hand wave, and body gestures that represent specific emotions. Head, face, hand, body, and speech data were captured from 15 participants using an infrared sensor (Microsoft Kinect). The 3D geometric and kinematic features were developed using raw feature data from the visual channel. Human emotional behavior-based features were developed using inter-annotator agreement and commonly observed expressions, movements and postures associated to specific emotions. The features from each modality and the behavioral pattern-based features (head shake, arm retraction, body forward movement depicting anger) were combined to train the multimodal classifier for the emotion recognition system. The classifier was trained using 10-fold cross validation and support vector machine (SVM) to predict six basic emotions. The results showed improvement in emotion recognition accuracy (The precision increased by 3.28% and the recall rate by 3.17%) when the 3D geometric, kinematic, and human behavioral pattern-based features were combined for multimodal emotion recognition using supervised classification.

Daily movement behavior of two Neotropical armored catfish species (Ancistrusaff. cirrhosusValenciennes, 1836 andHypostomus ancistroidesIhering, 1911) at a road-stream crossing culvert

We hypothesized that the use of habitat by two armored catfish species, Ancistrus aff. cirrhosus and Hypostomus ancistroides, which share the same stream reach, is temporally segregated. To test this, fish residence time within a culvert and fish movements through the culvert were analyzed in relation to the daily hours, lunar cycle and discharge using Passive Integrated Transponder telemetry. The residence time for A. aff. cirrhosus conducting upstream movements was longer than H. ancistroides. Both species exhibited high nocturnal activity, although at different periods: A. aff. cirrhosus was most active at dawn (00:00–05:59 hr), while H. ancistroides exhibited intense activity at night (18:00–23:59 hr), indicating temporal segregation of movement behavior between species. In addition, A. aff. cirrhosus was most active in the new moon phase and when there was high water discharge, while H. ancistroides was most active only when there was high water discharge. This study elucidates the patterns of daily movement behavior and temporal habitat use of these fish species.

A Visual Analytics Approach for Detecting and Understanding Anomalous Resident Behaviors in Smart Healthcare

With the development of science and technology, it is possible to analyze residents’ daily behaviors for the purpose of smart healthcare in the smart home environment. Many researchers have begun to detect residents’ anomalous behaviors and assess their physical condition, but these approaches used by the researchers are often caught in plight caused by a lack of ground truth, one-sided analysis of behavior, and difficulty of understanding behaviors. In this paper, we put forward a smart home visual analysis system (SHVis) to help analysts detect and comprehend unusual behaviors of residents, and predict the health information intelligently. Firstly, the system classifies daily activities recorded by sensor devices in smart home environment into different categories, and discovers unusual behavior patterns of residents living in this environment by using various characteristics extracted from those activities and appropriate unsupervised anomaly detection algorithm. Secondly, on the basis of figuring out the residents’ anomaly degree of every date, we explore the daily behavior patterns and details with the help of several visualization views, and compare and analyze residents’ activities of various dates to find the reasons why residents act unusually. In the case study of this paper, we analyze residents’ behaviors that happened over two months and find unusual indoor behaviors and give health advice to the residents.

An Evaluation of Accelerometer-derived Metrics to Assess Daily Behavioral Patterns.

The way physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB) are accumulated throughout the day (i.e., patterns) may be important for health, but identifying measurable and meaningful metrics of behavioral patterns is challenging. This study evaluated accelerometer-derived metrics to determine whether they predicted PA and SB patterns and were reliably measured. We defined and measured 55 metrics that describe daily PA and SB using data collected by using the activPAL monitor in four studies. The first two studies were randomized crossover designs that included recreationally active participants. Study 1 experimentally manipulated time spent in moderate-to-vigorous-intensity PA and sedentary time, and study 2 held time in exercise constant and manipulated SB. Study 3 included inactive participants who increased exercise, decreased sedentary time, or both. The study conditions induced distinct behavioral patterns; thus, we tested whether the new metrics could improve the prediction of an individual's study condition after adjusting for the overall volume of PA or SB using conditional logistic regression. In study 4, we measured the 3-month reliability for the pattern metrics by calculating intraclass correlation coefficients in a community-dwelling sample who wore the activPAL monitor twice for 7 d. In each of the experimental studies, we identified new metrics that could improve the accuracy for predicting condition beyond SB and moderate-to-vigorous-intensity PA volume. In study 1, 23 metrics were predictive of a highly active condition, and in study 2, 24 metrics were predictive of a highly sedentary condition. In study 4, the median intraclass correlation coefficients (25-75th percentiles) of the metrics were 0.59 (0.46-0.65). Several new metrics were predictive of patterns of SB, exercise, and nonexercise behavior and are moderately reliable for a 3-month period. Applying these metrics to determine whether daily behavioral patterns are associated with health-outcomes is an important area of future research.

Accuracy of Self-Reported Estimates of Daily Voice Use in Adults With Normal and Disordered Voices.

Accurate estimation of daily patterns of vocal behavior is essential to understanding the role of voice use in voice disorders. Given that clinicians currently rely on patient self-report to assess daily vocal behaviors, this study sought to assess the accuracy with which adults with and without voice disorders can estimate their amount of daily voice use in terms of phonation time. Eighteen subjects (6 patients, 6 matched members of a control group without voice disorders, 6 low voice users) wore the accelerometer-based Ambulatory Phonation Monitor (APM; model 3200, KayPENTAX, Montvale, NJ) for at least 5 workdays. Subjects were instructed to provide hourly self-reports of time spent talking using a visual analog scale. Spearman correlation coefficients and errors between self-reported and APM-based estimates of phonation time revealed subject- and group-specific characteristics. A majority of subjects exhibited a significant bias toward overestimating their phonation times, with an average absolute error of 113%. Correlation coefficients between self-reported and APM-based estimates of phonation time ranged from statistically nonsignificant to .91, reflecting large intersubject variability. Subjects in all 3 groups were moderately accurate at estimating their hourly voice use, with a consistent bias toward overestimation. The results support the potential role that ambulatory monitoring could play in improving the clinical assessment of voice disorders.

Circadian Rhythm Determines the Timing of Activity, and Ingestive and Grooming Behaviours in Indian House Crows, Corvus splendens

Corvids show an episodic memory with the temporal information on 'when' an event has actually occurred. We propose that crows keep the time and duration of an event by involving the endogenous circadian clocks, reliably measured in behavioural rhythms. The aim of the present study is to find out if circadian rhythms were involved in the organization of daily behavioural patterns in Indian house crows, Corvus splendens . We monitored the activity, ingestive (feeding: eating and drinking) and grooming (preening) behaviours in crows sequentially exposed to 12 h light : 12 h darkness (12 L : 12 D) and dim constant light (LL dim ) for one and three weeks respectively. The behavioural patterns were synchronized and diurnal was under 12 L : 12 D, while freeran had a circadian period under the LL dim . In general, eating and drinking, not grooming, patterns were more closely related to the activity - rest cycle. These results show the persistence of circadian rhythms in behavioural patterns, and extend the idea that endogenous circadian clocks determine daily timing of the physiology and behaviour in Indian house crows, in particular, and birds, in general.

Violence and the Illicit Drug Market: Before During and After Disasters

This paper examines violence and underlying contexts and social processes that occurred among drug users/ dealers before, during and after major disasters: Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. A Stages paradigm is used to study violence during this time. Daily lives, conduct norms and behavior patterns associated with violence are illustrated. At each stage of the hurricanes, people drew heavily upon what they previously learned about behaving in stressful situations. Study Background: Data for this paper comes from a National Institutes of Health research titled “Stages of Drug Market Disruption and Reformulation in Disaster Cities.” Hurricanes Gustav and Ike in September 2008 provided an opportunity to document the impacts of multiple instances of violence stemming from the illicit drug market in Houston, New Orleans, and Galveston. Methods: From 2006-2013 a large scale ethnographic study was conducted in three major cities: New Orleans, Louisiana, Houston and Galveston, Texas. Staff completed in-depth interviews with 132 focal respondents of drug users and sellers. There were 57 focus groups with 243 focus group participants; 350 drug using/selling respondents completed a survey protocol (CAPI), organized around their experiences during the hurricanes. These provided extensive, information for analysis which was performed using Filemaker Pro. Results: Accounts given by respondents before, during, and after the hurricanes gave a picture of types of violence that took place with people frantically displaying and modeling behaviors that they had acquired through their interaction patterns over time. Chaos and pandemonium, last minute decisions to leave while the water was rising and attempts to purchase or sell drugs all took place together. This presented people with a frenzied and disordered situation. Violence was prominent in drug use and sales due mainly to pressures to leave and deciding where to go or where to stay.