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Sample records for ruling animal collective

  1. Collective animal behavior from Bayesian estimation and probability matching.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alfonso Pérez-Escudero

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available Animals living in groups make movement decisions that depend, among other factors, on social interactions with other group members. Our present understanding of social rules in animal collectives is mainly based on empirical fits to observations, with less emphasis in obtaining first-principles approaches that allow their derivation. Here we show that patterns of collective decisions can be derived from the basic ability of animals to make probabilistic estimations in the presence of uncertainty. We build a decision-making model with two stages: Bayesian estimation and probabilistic matching. In the first stage, each animal makes a Bayesian estimation of which behavior is best to perform taking into account personal information about the environment and social information collected by observing the behaviors of other animals. In the probability matching stage, each animal chooses a behavior with a probability equal to the Bayesian-estimated probability that this behavior is the most appropriate one. This model derives very simple rules of interaction in animal collectives that depend only on two types of reliability parameters, one that each animal assigns to the other animals and another given by the quality of the non-social information. We test our model by obtaining theoretically a rich set of observed collective patterns of decisions in three-spined sticklebacks, Gasterosteus aculeatus, a shoaling fish species. The quantitative link shown between probabilistic estimation and collective rules of behavior allows a better contact with other fields such as foraging, mate selection, neurobiology and psychology, and gives predictions for experiments directly testing the relationship between estimation and collective behavior.

  2. Ontogeny of collective behavior reveals a simple attraction rule.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hinz, Robert C; de Polavieja, Gonzalo G

    2017-02-28

    The striking patterns of collective animal behavior, including ant trails, bird flocks, and fish schools, can result from local interactions among animals without centralized control. Several of these rules of interaction have been proposed, but it has proven difficult to discriminate which ones are implemented in nature. As a method to better discriminate among interaction rules, we propose to follow the slow birth of a rule of interaction during animal development. Specifically, we followed the development of zebrafish, Danio rerio , and found that larvae turn toward each other from 7 days postfertilization and increase the intensity of interactions until 3 weeks. This developmental dataset allows testing the parameter-free predictions of a simple rule in which animals attract each other part of the time, with attraction defined as turning toward another animal chosen at random. This rule makes each individual likely move to a high density of conspecifics, and moving groups naturally emerge. Development of attraction strength corresponds to an increase in the time spent in attraction behavior. Adults were found to follow the same attraction rule, suggesting a potential significance for adults of other species.

  3. Bayesian inference for identifying interaction rules in moving animal groups.

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    Richard P Mann

    Full Text Available The emergence of similar collective patterns from different self-propelled particle models of animal groups points to a restricted set of "universal" classes for these patterns. While universality is interesting, it is often the fine details of animal interactions that are of biological importance. Universality thus presents a challenge to inferring such interactions from macroscopic group dynamics since these can be consistent with many underlying interaction models. We present a Bayesian framework for learning animal interaction rules from fine scale recordings of animal movements in swarms. We apply these techniques to the inverse problem of inferring interaction rules from simulation models, showing that parameters can often be inferred from a small number of observations. Our methodology allows us to quantify our confidence in parameter fitting. For example, we show that attraction and alignment terms can be reliably estimated when animals are milling in a torus shape, while interaction radius cannot be reliably measured in such a situation. We assess the importance of rate of data collection and show how to test different models, such as topological and metric neighbourhood models. Taken together our results both inform the design of experiments on animal interactions and suggest how these data should be best analysed.

  4. A simple threshold rule is sufficient to explain sophisticated collective decision-making.

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    Elva J H Robinson

    Full Text Available Decision-making animals can use slow-but-accurate strategies, such as making multiple comparisons, or opt for simpler, faster strategies to find a 'good enough' option. Social animals make collective decisions about many group behaviours including foraging and migration. The key to the collective choice lies with individual behaviour. We present a case study of a collective decision-making process (house-hunting ants, Temnothorax albipennis, in which a previously proposed decision strategy involved both quality-dependent hesitancy and direct comparisons of nests by scouts. An alternative possible decision strategy is that scouting ants use a very simple quality-dependent threshold rule to decide whether to recruit nest-mates to a new site or search for alternatives. We use analytical and simulation modelling to demonstrate that this simple rule is sufficient to explain empirical patterns from three studies of collective decision-making in ants, and can account parsimoniously for apparent comparison by individuals and apparent hesitancy (recruitment latency effects, when available nests differ strongly in quality. This highlights the need to carefully design experiments to detect individual comparison. We present empirical data strongly suggesting that best-of-n comparison is not used by individual ants, although individual sequential comparisons are not ruled out. However, by using a simple threshold rule, decision-making groups are able to effectively compare options, without relying on any form of direct comparison of alternatives by individuals. This parsimonious mechanism could promote collective rationality in group decision-making.

  5. A simple threshold rule is sufficient to explain sophisticated collective decision-making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robinson, Elva J H; Franks, Nigel R; Ellis, Samuel; Okuda, Saki; Marshall, James A R

    2011-01-01

    Decision-making animals can use slow-but-accurate strategies, such as making multiple comparisons, or opt for simpler, faster strategies to find a 'good enough' option. Social animals make collective decisions about many group behaviours including foraging and migration. The key to the collective choice lies with individual behaviour. We present a case study of a collective decision-making process (house-hunting ants, Temnothorax albipennis), in which a previously proposed decision strategy involved both quality-dependent hesitancy and direct comparisons of nests by scouts. An alternative possible decision strategy is that scouting ants use a very simple quality-dependent threshold rule to decide whether to recruit nest-mates to a new site or search for alternatives. We use analytical and simulation modelling to demonstrate that this simple rule is sufficient to explain empirical patterns from three studies of collective decision-making in ants, and can account parsimoniously for apparent comparison by individuals and apparent hesitancy (recruitment latency) effects, when available nests differ strongly in quality. This highlights the need to carefully design experiments to detect individual comparison. We present empirical data strongly suggesting that best-of-n comparison is not used by individual ants, although individual sequential comparisons are not ruled out. However, by using a simple threshold rule, decision-making groups are able to effectively compare options, without relying on any form of direct comparison of alternatives by individuals. This parsimonious mechanism could promote collective rationality in group decision-making.

  6. Multi-scale inference of interaction rules in animal groups using Bayesian model selection.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Richard P Mann

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Inference of interaction rules of animals moving in groups usually relies on an analysis of large scale system behaviour. Models are tuned through repeated simulation until they match the observed behaviour. More recent work has used the fine scale motions of animals to validate and fit the rules of interaction of animals in groups. Here, we use a Bayesian methodology to compare a variety of models to the collective motion of glass prawns (Paratya australiensis. We show that these exhibit a stereotypical 'phase transition', whereby an increase in density leads to the onset of collective motion in one direction. We fit models to this data, which range from: a mean-field model where all prawns interact globally; to a spatial Markovian model where prawns are self-propelled particles influenced only by the current positions and directions of their neighbours; up to non-Markovian models where prawns have 'memory' of previous interactions, integrating their experiences over time when deciding to change behaviour. We show that the mean-field model fits the large scale behaviour of the system, but does not capture fine scale rules of interaction, which are primarily mediated by physical contact. Conversely, the Markovian self-propelled particle model captures the fine scale rules of interaction but fails to reproduce global dynamics. The most sophisticated model, the non-Markovian model, provides a good match to the data at both the fine scale and in terms of reproducing global dynamics. We conclude that prawns' movements are influenced by not just the current direction of nearby conspecifics, but also those encountered in the recent past. Given the simplicity of prawns as a study system our research suggests that self-propelled particle models of collective motion should, if they are to be realistic at multiple biological scales, include memory of previous interactions and other non-Markovian effects.

  7. Modeling collective animal behavior with a cognitive perspective: a methodological framework.

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    Sebastian Weitz

    Full Text Available The last decades have seen an increasing interest in modeling collective animal behavior. Some studies try to reproduce as accurately as possible the collective dynamics and patterns observed in several animal groups with biologically plausible, individual behavioral rules. The objective is then essentially to demonstrate that the observed collective features may be the result of self-organizing processes involving quite simple individual behaviors. Other studies concentrate on the objective of establishing or enriching links between collective behavior researches and cognitive or physiological ones, which then requires that each individual rule be carefully validated. Here we discuss the methodological consequences of this additional requirement. Using the example of corpse clustering in ants, we first illustrate that it may be impossible to discriminate among alternative individual rules by considering only observational data collected at the group level. Six individual behavioral models are described: They are clearly distinct in terms of individual behaviors, they all reproduce satisfactorily the collective dynamics and distribution patterns observed in experiments, and we show theoretically that it is strictly impossible to discriminate two of these models even in the limit of an infinite amount of data whatever the accuracy level. A set of methodological steps are then listed and discussed as practical ways to partially overcome this problem. They involve complementary experimental protocols specifically designed to address the behavioral rules successively, conserving group-level data for the overall model validation. In this context, we highlight the importance of maintaining a sharp distinction between model enunciation, with explicit references to validated biological concepts, and formal translation of these concepts in terms of quantitative state variables and fittable functional dependences. Illustrative examples are provided of the

  8. 76 FR 49479 - Franchise Rule Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-08-10

    ... FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION Franchise Rule Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection... Concerning Franchising (``Franchise Rule''). That clearance expires on December 31, 2011. DATES: Comments... INFORMATION section below. Write ``Franchise Rule, PRA Comment, FTC File No. P094400'' on your comment, and...

  9. Multi-scale inference of interaction rules in animal groups using Bayesian model selection.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Richard P Mann

    Full Text Available Inference of interaction rules of animals moving in groups usually relies on an analysis of large scale system behaviour. Models are tuned through repeated simulation until they match the observed behaviour. More recent work has used the fine scale motions of animals to validate and fit the rules of interaction of animals in groups. Here, we use a Bayesian methodology to compare a variety of models to the collective motion of glass prawns (Paratya australiensis. We show that these exhibit a stereotypical 'phase transition', whereby an increase in density leads to the onset of collective motion in one direction. We fit models to this data, which range from: a mean-field model where all prawns interact globally; to a spatial Markovian model where prawns are self-propelled particles influenced only by the current positions and directions of their neighbours; up to non-Markovian models where prawns have 'memory' of previous interactions, integrating their experiences over time when deciding to change behaviour. We show that the mean-field model fits the large scale behaviour of the system, but does not capture the observed locality of interactions. Traditional self-propelled particle models fail to capture the fine scale dynamics of the system. The most sophisticated model, the non-Markovian model, provides a good match to the data at both the fine scale and in terms of reproducing global dynamics, while maintaining a biologically plausible perceptual range. We conclude that prawns' movements are influenced by not just the current direction of nearby conspecifics, but also those encountered in the recent past. Given the simplicity of prawns as a study system our research suggests that self-propelled particle models of collective motion should, if they are to be realistic at multiple biological scales, include memory of previous interactions and other non-Markovian effects.

  10. Collective behaviour across animal species.

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeLellis, Pietro; Polverino, Giovanni; Ustuner, Gozde; Abaid, Nicole; Macrì, Simone; Bollt, Erik M; Porfiri, Maurizio

    2014-01-16

    We posit a new geometric perspective to define, detect, and classify inherent patterns of collective behaviour across a variety of animal species. We show that machine learning techniques, and specifically the isometric mapping algorithm, allow the identification and interpretation of different types of collective behaviour in five social animal species. These results offer a first glimpse at the transformative potential of machine learning for ethology, similar to its impact on robotics, where it enabled robots to recognize objects and navigate the environment.

  11. Approval of raxibacumab for the treatment of inhalation anthrax under the US Food and Drug Administration Animal rule

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chia-Wei eTsai

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available On December 14, 2012, the FDA approved raxibacumab, the first product developed under Project BioShield to achieve this milestone, and the first biologic product to be approved through the FDA animal efficacy rule (or Animal Rule. Raxibacumab is approved for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients with inhalational anthrax due to Bacillus anthracis in combination with appropriate antibiotic drugs and for prophylaxis of inhalational anthrax when alternative therapies are not available or are not appropriate. The approval of Raxibacumab illustrates many of the challenges that product developers may encounter when pursuing approval under the Animal Rule and highlights a number of important regulatory and policy issues.

  12. International Clostridium difficile animal strain collection and large diversity of animal associated strains

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Janezic, Sandra; Zidaric, Valerija; Pardon, Bart

    2014-01-01

    Background: Clostridium difficile is an important cause of intestinal infections in some animal species and animals might be a reservoir for community associated human infections. Here we describe a collection of animal associated C. difficile strains from 12 countries based on inclusion criteria...... of one strain (PCR ribotype) per animal species per laboratory. Results: Altogether 112 isolates were collected and distributed into 38 PCR ribotypes with agarose based approach and 50 PCR ribotypes with sequencer based approach. Four PCR ribotypes were most prevalent in terms of number of isolates...... as well as in terms of number of different host species: 078 (14.3% of isolates; 4 hosts), 014/020 (11.6%; 8 hosts); 002 (5.4%; 4 hosts) and 012 (5.4%; 5 hosts). Two animal hosts were best represented; cattle with 31 isolates (20 PCR ribotypes; 7 countries) and pigs with 31 isolates (16 PCR ribotypes; 10...

  13. Swarm intelligence in animal groups: when can a collective out-perform an expert?

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    Konstantinos V Katsikopoulos

    Full Text Available An important potential advantage of group-living that has been mostly neglected by life scientists is that individuals in animal groups may cope more effectively with unfamiliar situations. Social interaction can provide a solution to a cognitive problem that is not available to single individuals via two potential mechanisms: (i individuals can aggregate information, thus augmenting their 'collective cognition', or (ii interaction with conspecifics can allow individuals to follow specific 'leaders', those experts with information particularly relevant to the decision at hand. However, a-priori, theory-based expectations about which of these decision rules should be preferred are lacking. Using a set of simple models, we present theoretical conditions (involving group size, and diversity of individual information under which groups should aggregate information, or follow an expert, when faced with a binary choice. We found that, in single-shot decisions, experts are almost always more accurate than the collective across a range of conditions. However, for repeated decisions - where individuals are able to consider the success of previous decision outcomes - the collective's aggregated information is almost always superior. The results improve our understanding of how social animals may process information and make decisions when accuracy is a key component of individual fitness, and provide a solid theoretical framework for future experimental tests where group size, diversity of individual information, and the repeatability of decisions can be measured and manipulated.

  14. Collection and presentation of animal data relating to internally distributed radionuclides

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lathrop, K.A.

    1981-01-01

    Data obtained from laboratory animals on the distribution of an internally administered radionuclide may be put to use by various people in ways quite different from the one for which the original observations were made. Consideration for these other scientists, sometimes in unrelated fields, can be shown by attention to a few details in the method of data collection and reporting that may improve the author's credibility, the reader's comprehension, and the value of the data. Briefly stated, two rules should be followed: Account for 100% of the administered radioactivity; and report data as fraction of administered activity per organ. The first rule serves as an internal check on the proper functioning of counting equipment, and may disclose excretion, contamination of counting tubes, or failure to inject the desired amount of activity. The second rule allows anyone to make use of the raw data. Presentation of the data only in complicated, manipulated form either totally prevents reconstruction of the raw data, or demands tedious, uncertain conversions. Examples of such manipulated data include percent dose per gram per 1% body weight and percent kilogram dose per gram. At the other extreme in reporting data for radioactivity, and to be equally avoided, are completely unprocessed values, such as counts per minute, with no reference made to the number of counts injected or to the time lapse between counts. Adherence to these two principles will permit the reader to follow through on any permutations of the data that the author may make, and to apply the data in unrelated situations

  15. Swarm intelligence in fish? The difficulty in demonstrating distributed and self-organised collective intelligence in (some) animal groups.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ioannou, Christos C

    2017-08-01

    Larger groups often have a greater ability to solve cognitive tasks compared to smaller ones or lone individuals. This is well established in social insects, navigating flocks of birds, and in groups of prey collectively vigilant for predators. Research in social insects has convincingly shown that improved cognitive performance can arise from self-organised local interactions between individuals that integrates their contributions, often referred to as swarm intelligence. This emergent collective intelligence has gained in popularity and been directly applied to groups of other animals, including fish. Despite being a likely mechanism at least partially explaining group performance in vertebrates, I argue here that other possible explanations are rarely ruled out in empirical studies. Hence, evidence for self-organised collective (or 'swarm') intelligence in fish is not as strong as it would first appear. These other explanations, the 'pool-of-competence' and the greater cognitive ability of individuals when in larger groups, are also reviewed. Also discussed is why improved group performance in general may be less often observed in animals such as shoaling fish compared to social insects. This review intends to highlight the difficulties in exploring collective intelligence in animal groups, ideally leading to further empirical work to illuminate these issues. Copyright © 2016 The Author. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. Modelling collective foraging by means of individual behaviour rules in honey-bees

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vries, Han de; Biesmeijer, J.C.

    1998-01-01

    An individual-oriented model is constructed which simulates the collective foraging behaviour of a colony of honey-bees, Apis mellifera. Each bee follows the same set of behavioural rules. Each rule consists of a set of conditions followed by the behavioural act to be performed if the

  17. Challenges and solutions for studying collective animal behaviour in the wild.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hughey, Lacey F; Hein, Andrew M; Strandburg-Peshkin, Ariana; Jensen, Frants H

    2018-05-19

    Mobile animal groups provide some of the most compelling examples of self-organization in the natural world. While field observations of songbird flocks wheeling in the sky or anchovy schools fleeing from predators have inspired considerable interest in the mechanics of collective motion, the challenge of simultaneously monitoring multiple animals in the field has historically limited our capacity to study collective behaviour of wild animal groups with precision. However, recent technological advancements now present exciting opportunities to overcome many of these limitations. Here we review existing methods used to collect data on the movements and interactions of multiple animals in a natural setting. We then survey emerging technologies that are poised to revolutionize the study of collective animal behaviour by extending the spatial and temporal scales of inquiry, increasing data volume and quality, and expediting the post-processing of raw data.This article is part of the theme issue 'Collective movement ecology'. © 2018 The Author(s).

  18. Modelling collective foraging by means of individual behaviour rules in honey-bees

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Vries, H; Biesmeijer, JC

    1998-01-01

    An individual-oriented model is constructed which simulates the collective foraging behaviour of a colony of honey-bees, Apis mellifera. Each bee follows the same set of behavioural rules. Each rule consists of a set of conditions followed by the behavioural act to be performed if the conditions are

  19. Bringing a Time-Depth Perspective to Collective Animal Behaviour.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biro, Dora; Sasaki, Takao; Portugal, Steven J

    2016-07-01

    The field of collective animal behaviour examines how relatively simple, local interactions between individuals in groups combine to produce global-level outcomes. Existing mathematical models and empirical work have identified candidate mechanisms for numerous collective phenomena but have typically focused on one-off or short-term performance. We argue that feedback between collective performance and learning - giving the former the capacity to become an adaptive, and potentially cumulative, process - is a currently poorly explored but crucial mechanism in understanding collective systems. We synthesise material ranging from swarm intelligence in social insects through collective movements in vertebrates to collective decision making in animal and human groups, to propose avenues for future research to identify the potential for changes in these systems to accumulate over time. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Behavior of Collective Cooperation Yielded by Two Update Rules in Social Dilemmas: Combining Fermi and Moran Rules

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xia Chengyi; Wang Lei; Wang Jinsong; Wang Juan

    2012-01-01

    We combine the Fermi and Moran update rules in the spatial prisoner's dilemma and snowdrift games to investigate the behavior of collective cooperation among agents on the regular lattice. Large-scale simulations indicate that, compared to the model with only one update rule, the cooperation behavior exhibits the richer phenomena, and the role of update dynamics should be paid more attention in the evolutionary game theory. Meanwhile, we also observe that the introduction of Moran rule, which needs to consider all neighbor's information, can markedly promote the aggregate cooperation level, that is, randomly selecting the neighbor proportional to its payoff to imitate will facilitate the cooperation among agents. Current results will contribute to further understand the cooperation dynamics and evolutionary behaviors within many biological, economic and social systems.

  1. Behavior of Collective Cooperation Yielded by Two Update Rules in Social Dilemmas: Combining Fermi and Moran Rules

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xia, Cheng-Yi; Wang, Lei; Wang, Juan; Wang, Jin-Song

    2012-09-01

    We combine the Fermi and Moran update rules in the spatial prisoner's dilemma and snowdrift games to investigate the behavior of collective cooperation among agents on the regular lattice. Large-scale simulations indicate that, compared to the model with only one update rule, the cooperation behavior exhibits the richer phenomena, and the role of update dynamics should be paid more attention in the evolutionary game theory. Meanwhile, we also observe that the introduction of Moran rule, which needs to consider all neighbor's information, can markedly promote the aggregate cooperation level, that is, randomly selecting the neighbor proportional to its payoff to imitate will facilitate the cooperation among agents. Current results will contribute to further understand the cooperation dynamics and evolutionary behaviors within many biological, economic and social systems.

  2. An Algorithm for Global Optimization Inspired by Collective Animal Behavior

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erik Cuevas

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available A metaheuristic algorithm for global optimization called the collective animal behavior (CAB is introduced. Animal groups, such as schools of fish, flocks of birds, swarms of locusts, and herds of wildebeest, exhibit a variety of behaviors including swarming about a food source, milling around a central locations, or migrating over large distances in aligned groups. These collective behaviors are often advantageous to groups, allowing them to increase their harvesting efficiency, to follow better migration routes, to improve their aerodynamic, and to avoid predation. In the proposed algorithm, the searcher agents emulate a group of animals which interact with each other based on the biological laws of collective motion. The proposed method has been compared to other well-known optimization algorithms. The results show good performance of the proposed method when searching for a global optimum of several benchmark functions.

  3. The Cynomolgus Macaque Natural History Model of Pneumonic Tularemia for Predicting Clinical Efficacy Under the Animal Rule

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guina, Tina; Lanning, Lynda L.; Omland, Kristian S.; Williams, Mark S.; Wolfraim, Larry A.; Heyse, Stephen P.; Houchens, Christopher R.; Sanz, Patrick; Hewitt, Judith A.

    2018-01-01

    Francisella tularensis is a highly infectious Gram-negative bacterium that is the etiologic agent of tularemia in animals and humans and a Tier 1 select agent. The natural incidence of pneumonic tularemia worldwide is very low; therefore, it is not feasible to conduct clinical efficacy testing of tularemia medical countermeasures (MCM) in human populations. Development and licensure of tularemia therapeutics and vaccines need to occur under the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) Animal Rule under which efficacy studies are conducted in well-characterized animal models that reflect the pathophysiology of human disease. The Tularemia Animal Model Qualification (AMQ) Working Group is seeking qualification of the cynomolgus macaque (Macaca fascicularis) model of pneumonic tularemia under Drug Development Tools Qualification Programs with the FDA based upon the results of studies described in this manuscript. Analysis of data on survival, average time to death, average time to fever onset, average interval between fever and death, and bacteremia; together with summaries of clinical signs, necropsy findings, and histopathology from the animals exposed to aerosolized F. tularensis Schu S4 in five natural history studies and one antibiotic efficacy study form the basis for the proposed cynomolgus macaque model. Results support the conclusion that signs of pneumonic tularemia in cynomolgus macaques exposed to 300–3,000 colony forming units (cfu) aerosolized F. tularensis Schu S4, under the conditions described herein, and human pneumonic tularemia cases are highly similar. Animal age, weight, and sex of animals challenged with 300–3,000 cfu Schu S4 did not impact fever onset in studies described herein. This study summarizes critical parameters and endpoints of a well-characterized cynomolgus macaque model of pneumonic tularemia and demonstrates this model is appropriate for qualification, and for testing efficacy of tularemia therapeutics under Animal Rule. PMID

  4. Collective Behaviors of Mobile Robots Beyond the Nearest Neighbor Rules With Switching Topology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ning, Boda; Han, Qing-Long; Zuo, Zongyu; Jin, Jiong; Zheng, Jinchuan

    2018-05-01

    This paper is concerned with the collective behaviors of robots beyond the nearest neighbor rules, i.e., dispersion and flocking, when robots interact with others by applying an acute angle test (AAT)-based interaction rule. Different from a conventional nearest neighbor rule or its variations, the AAT-based interaction rule allows interactions with some far-neighbors and excludes unnecessary nearest neighbors. The resulting dispersion and flocking hold the advantages of scalability, connectivity, robustness, and effective area coverage. For the dispersion, a spring-like controller is proposed to achieve collision-free coordination. With switching topology, a new fixed-time consensus-based energy function is developed to guarantee the system stability. An upper bound of settling time for energy consensus is obtained, and a uniform time interval is accordingly set so that energy distribution is conducted in a fair manner. For the flocking, based on a class of generalized potential functions taking nonsmooth switching into account, a new controller is proposed to ensure that the same velocity for all robots is eventually reached. A co-optimizing problem is further investigated to accomplish additional tasks, such as enhancing communication performance, while maintaining the collective behaviors of mobile robots. Simulation results are presented to show the effectiveness of the theoretical results.

  5. Sum rules for nuclear collective excitations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bohigas, O.

    1978-07-01

    Characterizations of the response function and of integral properties of the strength function via a moment expansion are discussed. Sum rule expressions for the moments in the RPA are derived. The validity of these sum rules for both density independent and density dependent interactions is proved. For forces of the Skyrme type, analytic expressions for the plus one and plus three energy weighted sum rules are given for isoscalar monopole and quadrupole operators. From these, a close relationship between the monopole and quadrupole energies is shown and their dependence on incompressibility and effective mass is studied. The inverse energy weighted sum rule is computed numerically for the monopole operator, and an upper bound for the width of the monopole resonance is given. Finally the reliability of moments given by the RPA with effective interactions is discussed using simple soluble models for the hamiltonian, and also by comparison with experimental data

  6. 76 FR 34031 - Notice of Request for Extension of Approval of an Information Collection; Animal Welfare

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-06-10

    ...] Notice of Request for Extension of Approval of an Information Collection; Animal Welfare AGENCY: Animal... information collection associated with Animal Welfare Act regulations for the humane handling, care, treatment... FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the Animal Welfare Act regulations, contact Dr. Barbara...

  7. 77 FR 34934 - Notice of Request for Extension of Approval of an Information Collection; Animal Welfare

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-06-12

    ...] Notice of Request for Extension of Approval of an Information Collection; Animal Welfare AGENCY: Animal... information collection associated with its Animal Welfare Act regulations for the humane handling, care... coming. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the Animal Welfare Act regulations, contact...

  8. Collective animal decisions: preference conflict and decision accuracy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Conradt, Larissa

    2013-12-06

    Social animals frequently share decisions that involve uncertainty and conflict. It has been suggested that conflict can enhance decision accuracy. In order to judge the practical relevance of such a suggestion, it is necessary to explore how general such findings are. Using a model, I examine whether conflicts between animals in a group with respect to preferences for avoiding false positives versus avoiding false negatives could, in principle, enhance the accuracy of collective decisions. I found that decision accuracy nearly always peaked when there was maximum conflict in groups in which individuals had different preferences. However, groups with no preferences were usually even more accurate. Furthermore, a relatively slight skew towards more animals with a preference for avoiding false negatives decreased the rate of expected false negatives versus false positives considerably (and vice versa), while resulting in only a small loss of decision accuracy. I conclude that in ecological situations in which decision accuracy is crucial for fitness and survival, animals cannot 'afford' preferences with respect to avoiding false positives versus false negatives. When decision accuracy is less crucial, animals might have such preferences. A slight skew in the number of animals with different preferences will result in the group avoiding that type of error more that the majority of group members prefers to avoid. The model also indicated that knowing the average success rate ('base rate') of a decision option can be very misleading, and that animals should ignore such base rates unless further information is available.

  9. Animation of Mapped Photo Collections for Storytelling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fujita, Hideyuki; Arikawa, Masatoshi

    Our research goal is to facilitate the sharing of stories with digital photographs. Some map websites now collect stories associated with peoples' relationships to places. Users map collections of places and include their intangible emotional associations with each location along with photographs, videos, etc. Though this framework of mapping stories is important, it is not sufficiently expressive to communicate stories in a narrative fashion. For example, when the number of the mapped collections of places is particularly large, it is neither easy for viewers to interpret the map nor is it easy for the creator to express a story as a series of events in the real world. This is because each narrative, in the form of a sequence of textual narratives, a sequence of photographs, a movie, or audio is mapped to just one point. As a result, it is up to the viewer to decide which points on the map must be read, and in what order. The conventional framework is fairly suitable for mapping and expressing fragments or snapshots of a whole story and not for conveying the whole story as a narrative using the entire map as the setting. We therefore propose a new framework, Spatial Slideshow, for mapping personal photo collections and representing them as stories such as route guidances, sightseeing guidances, historical topics, fieldwork records, personal diaries, and so on. It is a fusion of personal photo mapping and photo storytelling. Each story is conveyed through a sequence of mapped photographs, presented as a synchronized animation of a map and an enhanced photo slideshow. The main technical novelty of this paper is a method for creating three-dimensional animations of photographs that induce the visual effect of motion from photo to photo. We believe that the proposed framework may have considerable significance in facilitating the grassroots development of spatial content driven by visual communication concerning real-world locations or events.

  10. 76 FR 37814 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; New Animal Drugs...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-06-28

    ... laboratory studies with good laboratory practices, (4) name and address of each clinical investigator, (5... assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected... technology. New Animal Drugs for Investigational Uses--21 CFR Part 511 (OMB Control Number 0910-0117...

  11. Young children consider individual authority and collective agreement when deciding who can change rules.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Xin; Kushnir, Tamar

    2018-01-01

    Young children demonstrate awareness of normativity in various domains of social learning. It is unclear, however, whether children recognize that rules can be changed in certain contexts and by certain people or groups. Across three studies, we provided empirical evidence that children consider individual authority and collective agreement when reasoning about who can change rules. In Study 1, children aged 4-7years watched videos of children playing simply sorting and stacking games in groups or alone. Across conditions, the group game was initiated (a) by one child, (b) by collaborative agreement, or (c) by an adult authority figure. In the group games with a rule initiated by one child, children attributed ability to change rules only to that individual and not his or her friends, and they mentioned ownership and authority in their explanations. When the rule was initiated collaboratively, older children said that no individual could change the rule, whereas younger children said that either individual could do so. When an adult initiated the rule, children stated that only the adult could change it. In contrast, children always endorsed a child's decision to change his or her own solitary rule and never endorsed any child's ability to change moral and conventional rules in daily life. Age differences corresponded to beliefs about friendship and agreement in peer play (Study 2) and disappeared when the decision process behind and normative force of collaboratively initiated rules were clarified (Study 3). These results show important connections between normativity and considerations of authority and collaboration during early childhood. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. Health care fraud and abuse data collection program: technical revisions to Healthcare Integrity and Protection Data Bank data collection activities. Final rule.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2004-09-21

    The rule finalizes technical changes to the Healthcare Integrity and Protection Data Bank (HIPDB) data collection reporting requirements by clarifying the types of personal numeric identifiers that may be reported to the data bank in connection with adverse actions. The rule clarifies that in lieu of a Social Security Number (SSN), an individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN) may be reported to the data bank when, in those limited situations, an individual does not have an SSN.

  13. 75 FR 4451 - Financial Management Service; Proposed Collection of Information: Final Rule-Management of...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-27

    ... DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY Fiscal Service Financial Management Service; Proposed Collection of Information: Final Rule--Management of Federal Agency Disbursements. AGENCY: Financial Management Service, Fiscal Service, Treasury. ACTION: Notice and Request for comments. SUMMARY: The Financial Management...

  14. 9 CFR 202.101 - Rule 1: Meaning of words.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 9 Animals and Animal Products 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Rule 1: Meaning of words. 202.101 Section 202.101 Animals and Animal Products GRAIN INSPECTION, PACKERS AND STOCKYARDS ADMINISTRATION...: Meaning of words. In these rules, words in the singular form shall be deemed to import the plural, and...

  15. 75 FR 11451 - New Animal Drugs for Use in Animal Feeds; Zilpaterol

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-03-11

    .... FDA-2010-N-0002] New Animal Drugs for Use in Animal Feeds; Zilpaterol AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the animal drug regulations to reflect approval of three abbreviated new animal drug applications (ANADAs) filed...

  16. 9 CFR 11.3 - Scar rule.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Scar rule. 11.3 Section 11.3 Animals and Animal Products ANIMAL AND PLANT HEALTH INSPECTION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE ANIMAL... inflammation, and, other bilateral evidence of abuse indicative of soring including, but not limited to...

  17. 75 FR 52504 - Notice of Request for Approval of an Information Collection; National Animal Health Monitoring...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-08-26

    ...; National Animal Health Monitoring System; Dairy Heifer Raiser 2010 Study AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health... Service's intention to initiate an information collection to support the National Animal Health Monitoring... Warnken, Management and Program Analyst, Centers for Epidemiology and Animal Health, VS, APHIS, 2150...

  18. 76 FR 76894 - New Animal Drugs for Use in Animal Feeds; Tilmicosin

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-12-09

    .... FDA-2011-N-0003] New Animal Drugs for Use in Animal Feeds; Tilmicosin AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the animal drug regulations to reflect approval of a supplemental new animal drug application (NADA) filed by...

  19. 75 FR 9334 - New Animal Drugs for Use in Animal Feeds; Chlortetracycline

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-03-02

    .... FDA-2010-N-0002] New Animal Drugs for Use in Animal Feeds; Chlortetracycline AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the animal drug regulations to reflect approval of a supplemental new animal drug application (NADA) filed by ADM...

  20. 75 FR 54019 - New Animal Drugs for Use in Animal Feed; Ractopamine

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-09-03

    .... FDA-2010-N-0002] New Animal Drugs for Use in Animal Feed; Ractopamine AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the animal drug regulations to reflect approval of two supplemental new animal drug applications (NADAs) filed by...

  1. 75 FR 34361 - New Animal Drugs for Use in Animal Feeds; Florfenicol

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-06-17

    .... FDA-2010-N-0002] New Animal Drugs for Use in Animal Feeds; Florfenicol AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the animal drug regulations to reflect approval of a supplemental new animal drug application (NADA) filed by...

  2. 77 FR 24138 - New Animal Drugs for Use in Animal Feeds; Tiamulin

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-04-23

    .... FDA-2012-N-0002] New Animal Drugs for Use in Animal Feeds; Tiamulin AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the animal drug regulations to reflect approval of a supplemental new animal drug application (NADA) filed by...

  3. 77 FR 4228 - New Animal Drugs for Use in Animal Feeds; Monensin

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-27

    .... FDA-2011-N-0003] New Animal Drugs for Use in Animal Feeds; Monensin AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the animal drug regulations to reflect approval of a supplemental new animal drug application (NADA) filed by...

  4. 76 FR 79064 - New Animal Drugs for Use in Animal Feeds; Monensin

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-12-21

    .... FDA-2011-N-0003] New Animal Drugs for Use in Animal Feeds; Monensin AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the animal drug regulations to reflect approval of a supplemental new animal drug application (NADA) filed by...

  5. 77 FR 22667 - New Animal Drugs for Use in Animal Feeds; Tiamulin

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-04-17

    .... FDA-2012-N-0002] New Animal Drugs for Use in Animal Feeds; Tiamulin AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the animal drug regulations to reflect the withdrawal of approval of those parts of a new animal drug application...

  6. A simple frequency-scaling rule for animal communication

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fletcher, Neville H.

    2004-05-01

    Different animals use widely different frequencies for sound communication, and it is reasonable to assume that evolution has adapted these frequencies to give greatest conspecific communication distance for a given vocal effort. Acoustic analysis shows that the optimal communication frequency is inversely proportional to about the 0.4 power of the animal's body mass. Comparison with observational data indicates that this prediction is well supported in practice. For animals of a given class, for example mammals, the maximum communication distance varies about as the 0.6 power of the animal's mass. There is, however, a wide spread of observed results because of the different emphasis placed upon vocal effort in the evolution of different animal species.

  7. Assessment of listing and categorisation of animal diseases within the framework of the Animal Health Law (Regulation (EU) No 2016/429)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    More, Simon J.; Bøtner, Anette; Butterworth, Andrew

    2017-01-01

    Ebola virus disease has been assessed according to the criteria of the Animal Health Law (AHL), in particular criteria of Article 7 on disease profile and impacts, Article 5 on the eligibility of Ebola virus disease to be listed, Article 9 for the categorisation of Ebola virus disease according...... to disease prevention and control rules as in Annex IV and Article 8 on the list of animal species related to Ebola virus disease. The assessment has been performed following a methodology composed of information collection and compilation, expert judgement on each criterion at individual and...... to the assessment performed, Ebola virus disease can be considered eligible to be listed for Union intervention as laid down in Article 5(3) of the AHL. The disease would comply with the criteria as in Sections 4 and 5 of Annex IV of the AHL, for the application of the disease prevention and control rules referred...

  8. 75 FR 5887 - New Animal Drugs for Use in Animal Feeds; Ractopamine; Monensin

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-02-05

    .... FDA-2010-N-0002] New Animal Drugs for Use in Animal Feeds; Ractopamine; Monensin AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the animal drug regulations to reflect approval of an original new animal drug application (NADA) filed by Elanco...

  9. 76 FR 9319 - Notice of Request for Reinstatement of an Information Collection; National Animal Health...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-02-17

    ...In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request a reinstatement of an information collection to support the National Animal Health Monitoring Feedlot 2011 Study.

  10. 76 FR 52633 - Notice of Request for Reinstatement of an Information Collection; National Animal Health...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-08-23

    ...In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request a reinstatement of an information collection to support the National Animal Health Monitoring System's Swine 2012 Study.

  11. Potential impact of the HIPAA privacy rule on data collection in a registry of patients with acute coronary syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Armstrong, David; Kline-Rogers, Eva; Jani, Sandeep M; Goldman, Edward B; Fang, Jianming; Mukherjee, Debabrata; Nallamothu, Brahmajee K; Eagle, Kim A

    2005-05-23

    Implementation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule has the potential to affect data collection in outcomes research. To examine the extent to which data collection may be affected by the HIPAA Privacy Rule, we used a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest study design to assess participation rates with informed consent in 2 cohorts of patients eligible for the University of Michigan Acute Coronary Syndrome registry. The pre-HIPAA period included telephone interviews conducted at 6 months that sought verbal informed consent from patients. In the post-HIPAA period, informed consent forms were mailed to ask for permission to call to conduct a telephone interview. The primary outcome measure was the percentage of patients who provided consent. Incremental costs associated with the post-HIPAA period were also assessed. The pre-HIPAA period included 1221 consecutive patients with acute coronary syndrome, and the post-HIPAA period included 967 patients. Consent for follow-up declined from 96.4% in the pre-HIPAA period to 34.0% in the post-HIPAA period (Pconsent forms during the post-HIPAA period were older, were more likely to be married, and had lower mortality rates at 6 months. Incremental costs for complying with the HIPAA Privacy Rule were $8704.50 for the first year and $4558.50 annually thereafter. The HIPAA Privacy Rule significantly decreases the number of patients available for outcomes research and introduces selection bias in data collection for patient registries.

  12. 78 FR 52429 - New Animal Drugs; Withdrawal of Approval of New Animal Drug Applications; Diethylcarbamazine...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-08-23

    ... 558 [Docket No. FDA-2013-N-0839] New Animal Drugs; Withdrawal of Approval of New Animal Drug...: Final rule. SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the animal drug regulations to reflect the withdrawal of approval of three new animal drug applications (NADAs) at the sponsors' request...

  13. 75 FR 52711 - Notice of Request for Approval of an Information Collection; National Animal Health Monitoring...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-08-27

    ...In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to initiate an information collection to support the National Animal Health Monitoring System Sheep 2011 Study.

  14. 76 FR 28414 - Notice of Request for Approval of an Information Collection; National Animal Health Monitoring...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-05-17

    ...In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to initiate Emergency Epidemiologic Investigations, an information collection to support the National Animal Health Monitoring System.

  15. Health care fraud and abuse data collection program: technical revisions to healthcare integrity and protection data bank data collection activities. Interim final rule with comment period.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2004-06-17

    The rule makes technical changes to the Healthcare Integrity and Protection Data Bank (HIPDB) data collection reporting requirements set forth in 45 CFR part 61 by clarifying the types of personal numeric identifiers that may be reported to the data bank in connection with adverse actions. Specifically, the rule clarifies that in lieu of a Social Security Number (SSN), an individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN) may be reported to the data bank when, in those limited situations, an individual does not have an SSN.

  16. Animal welfare: an animal science approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koknaroglu, H; Akunal, T

    2013-12-01

    Increasing world population and demand for animal-derived protein puts pressure on animal production to meet this demand. For this purpose animal breeding efforts were conducted to obtain the maximum yield that the genetic makeup of the animals permits. Under the influence of economics which is the driving force behind animal production, animal farming became more concentrated and controlled which resulted in rearing animals under confinement. Since more attention was given on economics and yield per animal, animal welfare and behavior were neglected. Animal welfare which can be defined as providing environmental conditions in which animals can display all their natural behaviors in nature started gaining importance in recent years. This does not necessarily mean that animals provided with good management practices would have better welfare conditions as some animals may be distressed even though they are in good environmental conditions. Consumers are willing to pay more for welfare-friendly products (e.g.: free range vs caged egg) and this will change the animal production practices in the future. Thus animal scientists will have to adapt themselves for the changing animal welfare rules and regulations that differ for farm animal species and countries. In this review paper, animal welfare is discussed from an animal science standpoint. Crown Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. 78 FR 24153 - Notice of Emergency Approval of an Information Collection; National Animal Health Monitoring...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-04-24

    ...In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has requested and received emergency approval of an information collection for a National Animal Health Monitoring System Equine Herpesvirus Myeloencephalopathy Study to support the equine industry in the United States.

  18. Collective animal navigation and migratory culture: from theoretical models to empirical evidence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dell, Anthony I.

    2018-01-01

    Animals often travel in groups, and their navigational decisions can be influenced by social interactions. Both theory and empirical observations suggest that such collective navigation can result in individuals improving their ability to find their way and could be one of the key benefits of sociality for these species. Here, we provide an overview of the potential mechanisms underlying collective navigation, review the known, and supposed, empirical evidence for such behaviour and highlight interesting directions for future research. We further explore how both social and collective learning during group navigation could lead to the accumulation of knowledge at the population level, resulting in the emergence of migratory culture. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Collective movement ecology’. PMID:29581394

  19. 76 FR 13969 - Notice of Request for Approval of an Information Collection; National Animal Health Monitoring...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-03-15

    ...In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to initiate an information collection to support the research and development phase of surveys entitled National Animal Health Monitoring System needs assessments.

  20. Long distance animal transport: the way forward.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Osinga, Klaas Johan

    2008-01-01

    Too often, the issue of animal welfare during transport is the subject of emotional debates. For farmers within the International Federation of Agricultural Producers, it is important that the economic, scientific and practical aspects be taken into account when setting international rules for animal welfare. Farmers also stress the need to combine scientific data with their practical experience. Raising awareness, adopting a risk-based approach, education, labelling, slaughterhouse capacity and animal health, as well as standards and rules, are issues of importance for developing a long distance transportation infrastructure respectful of animal welfare around the world.

  1. The Magnus-Rademaker Scientific Film Collection: Ethical Issues on Animal Experimentation (1908-1940).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koehler, Peter J; Lameris, Bregt

    2016-01-01

    The Magnus-Rademaker scientific film collection (1908-1940) deals with the physiology of body posture by the equilibrium of reflex musculature contractions for which experimental studies were carried out with animals (e.g., labyrinthectomies, cerebellectomies, and brain stem sections) as well as observations done on patients. The films were made for demonstrations at congresses as well as educational objectives and film stills were published in their books. The purpose of the present study is to position these films and their makers within the contemporary discourse on ethical issues and animal rights in the Netherlands and the earlier international debates. Following an introduction on animal rights and antivivisection movements, we describe what Magnus and Rademaker thought about these issues. Their publications did not provide much information in this respect, probably reflecting their adherence to implicit ethical codes that did not need explicit mentioning in publications. Newspaper articles, however, revealed interesting information. Unnecessary suffering of an animal never found mercy in Magnus' opinion. The use of cinematography was expanded to the reduction of animal experimentation in student education, at least in the case of Rademaker, who in the 1930s was involved in a governmental committee for the regulation of vivisection and cooperated with the antivivisection movement. This resulted not only in a propaganda film for the movement but also in films that demonstrate physiological experiments for students with the purpose to avert repetition and to improve the teaching of experiments. We were able to identify the pertinent films in the Magnus-Rademaker film collection. The production of vivisection films with this purpose appears to have been common, as is shown in news messages in European medical journals of the period.

  2. 78 FR 58269 - Notice of Request for Approval of an Information Collection; National Animal Health Monitoring...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-09-23

    ...In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request approval of a new information collection for the National Animal Health Monitoring System's Bison 2014 Study to support the bison industry of the United States.

  3. 78 FR 58268 - Notice of Request for Approval of an Information Collection; National Animal Health Monitoring...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-09-23

    ...In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request approval of a new information collection for the National Animal Health Monitoring System's Cervid 2014 Study to support the farmed cervid industry in the United States.

  4. 77 FR 59590 - Notice of Request for Extension of Approval of an Information Collection; National Animal Health...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-09-28

    ...In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request an extension of approval of an information collection associated with the National Animal Health Reporting System.

  5. 9 CFR 202.113 - Rule 13: Written hearing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 9 Animals and Animal Products 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Rule 13: Written hearing. 202.113 Section 202.113 Animals and Animal Products GRAIN INSPECTION, PACKERS AND STOCKYARDS ADMINISTRATION... waiver of the right to file such evidence. (g) Extension of time for depositions. If any party timely...

  6. [The diversity of animal ethics].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vilmer, J B Jeangène

    2013-01-01

    Animal ethics is not a set of rules telling humans how to behave when interacting with animals, but an area for research into the moral responsibility of humans towards animals as individuals. The present article studies the subject by examining a number of dichotomies: French humanism and Anglo-Saxon animal ethics, justice vs. compassion, welfarism and abolitionism, and the divide between proponents of animal rights and those who prefer to speak of "interests".

  7. Energy-Neutral Data Collection Rate Control for IoT Animal Behavior Monitors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jay Wilhelm

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Energy-neutral operation (ENO is a major concern for Internet of things (IoT sensor systems. Animals can be tagged with IoT sensors to monitor their movement and behavior. These sensors wirelessly upload collected data and can receive parameters to change their operation. Typically, the behavior monitors are powered by a battery where the system relies upon harvesting solar radiation for sustainable operation. Solar panels typically are used as the harvesting mechanism and can have a level of uncertainty regarding consistent energy delivery due to factors such as adverse weather, foliage, time of day, and individual animal behavior. The variability of available energy inevitably creates a trade-off in the rate at which data can be collected with respect to incoming and stored energy. The objective of this research was to investigate and simulate methods and parameters that can control the data collection rate of an IoT behavior monitor to achieve sustained operation with unknown and random energy harvesting. Analysis and development of a control system were performed by creating a software model of energy consumption and then simulating using different initial conditions and random energy harvesting rates for evaluation. The contribution of this effort was the exploration into the usage of a discrete-time gain scheduled Proportional–Integral–Derivative (PID that was tuned to a specific device configuration, using battery state of charge as an input, and found to maintain a battery level set-point, reject small solar harvesting energy disturbances, and maintain a consistent data collection rate throughout the day.

  8. 7 CFR 3560.157 - Occupancy rules.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ..., the occupancy rules must address: (1) The tenant's rights and responsibilities under the lease or... be consistent with Federal, state, and local law. (e) Pets/Assistance Animals. All housing projects... by a household member who requires a service or assistance animal. In elderly housing, borrowers must...

  9. Use of aspiration method for collecting brain samples for rabies diagnosis in small wild animals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iamamoto, K; Quadros, J; Queiroz, L H

    2011-02-01

    In developing countries such as Brazil, where canine rabies is still a considerable problem, samples from wildlife species are infrequently collected and submitted for screening for rabies. A collaborative study was established involving environmental biologists and veterinarians for rabies epidemiological research in a specific ecological area located at the Sao Paulo State, Brazil. The wild animals' brains are required to be collected without skull damage because the skull's measurements are important in the identification of the captured animal species. For this purpose, samples from bats and small mammals were collected using an aspiration method by inserting a plastic pipette into the brain through the magnum foramen. While there is a progressive increase in the use of the plastic pipette technique in various studies undertaken, it is also appreciated that this method could foster collaborative research between wildlife scientists and rabies epidemiologists thus improving rabies surveillance. © 2009 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

  10. 75 FR 24394 - Animal Drugs, Feeds, and Related Products; Withdrawal of Approval of a New Animal Drug...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-05-05

    ... [Docket No. FDA-2010-N-0002] Animal Drugs, Feeds, and Related Products; Withdrawal of Approval of a New Animal Drug Application; Buquinolate; Coumaphos AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the animal drug regulations by...

  11. 9 CFR 201.4 - Bylaws, rules and regulations, and requirements of exchanges, associations, or other...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 9 Animals and Animal Products 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Bylaws, rules and regulations, and... 201.4 Animals and Animal Products GRAIN INSPECTION, PACKERS AND STOCKYARDS ADMINISTRATION (PACKERS AND... of any exchange, association, or other organization, or any other valid law, rule or regulation, or...

  12. Poisoned social climate, collective responsibility, and the abuse at Abu Ghraib--Or, the establishment of "rule that is lack of rule".

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mestrovic, Stjepan G; Romero, Rachel

    2012-01-01

    The authors draw upon the experiences of one of the co-authors as an expert witness in sociology for mitigation at three of the courts-martial pertaining to the abuse at Abu Ghraib that were held at Ft. Hood, Texas in the year 2005 (for Javal Davis, Sabrina Harman, and Lynndie England). In addition, this paper is based upon the thousands of pages of affidavits, testimony, and U.S. Government reports concerning Abu Ghraib. These internal government reports, as well as the Levin-McCain report, point to collective responsibility and the responsibility of individuals high in the chain of command for establishing unlawful techniques. We review the shortcomings of a purely psychological approach for understanding the abuse, and turn to Durkheim's original understanding of anomie as a state of social derangement or rule by lack of rule to introduce the ideas of the social origins of and social responsibility for the abuse. We conclude with sociological suggestions for reforming some of the legal, medical, psychiatric, and other professional complicity in the abuse at Abu Ghraib. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Communication and Collective Consensus Making in Animal Groups via Mechanical Interactions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Várkonyi, Péter L.

    2011-06-01

    Mechanical constraints have a strong influence on the dynamics and structure of granular aggregations. The contact forces within dense suspensions of active particles may give rise to intriguing phenomena, including anomalous density fluctuations, long-range orientational ordering, and spontaneous pattern formation. Various authors have proposed that these physical phenomena contribute to the ability of animal groups to move coherently. Our systematic numerical simulations confirm that spontaneous interactions of elongated individuals can trigger oriented motion in small groups. They are, however, insufficient in larger ones, despite their significant imprint on the group's internal structure. It is also demonstrated that preferred directions of motion of a minority of group members can be communicated to others solely by mechanical interactions. These findings strengthen the link between pattern formation in active nematics and the collective decision making of social animals.

  14. Evolution of Collective Behaviour in an Artificial World Using Linguistic Fuzzy Rule-Based Systems.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jure Demšar

    Full Text Available Collective behaviour is a fascinating and easily observable phenomenon, attractive to a wide range of researchers. In biology, computational models have been extensively used to investigate various properties of collective behaviour, such as: transfer of information across the group, benefits of grouping (defence against predation, foraging, group decision-making process, and group behaviour types. The question 'why,' however remains largely unanswered. Here the interest goes into which pressures led to the evolution of such behaviour, and evolutionary computational models have already been used to test various biological hypotheses. Most of these models use genetic algorithms to tune the parameters of previously presented non-evolutionary models, but very few attempt to evolve collective behaviour from scratch. Of these last, the successful attempts display clumping or swarming behaviour. Empirical evidence suggests that in fish schools there exist three classes of behaviour; swarming, milling and polarized. In this paper we present a novel, artificial life-like evolutionary model, where individual agents are governed by linguistic fuzzy rule-based systems, which is capable of evolving all three classes of behaviour.

  15. Definition of key parameters for constructing an online reference micrographs collection of processed animal particles in feed

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Belinchon Crespo, C.

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The European Union Reference Laboratory for the detection of animal proteins in feedingstuffs (EURL-AP has developed an online micrographs collection supporting its network activities within the European Union for the detection of prohibited animal by-products in feed. So far, the only official method for detecting these by-products is light microscopy, which is highly dependent on the skills of a microscopist because it relies on particle recognition. In order to help the microscopist network to achieve high proficiency levels, it was necessary to create an online reference tool based on micrographs and accessible via an Intranet platform. Members of the National Reference Laboratories for animal proteins in feedingstuffs (NRL-AP and the International Association for Feedingstuff Analysis – Section Feedingstuff Microscopy (IAG have access to this micrographs collection. This paper describes how the online collection was created and what conditions had to be taken into account in creating such a tool. It also describes how information are periodically updated and managed within the context of the large amount of information included in each micrograph. The need for a robust back-office system as the foundation for all the research activities in this project is also covered, and the evaluation of the use of the online collection is discussed.

  16. A new animal welfare concept based on allostasis

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Korte, S. Mechiel; Olivier, Berend; Koolhaas, Jaap M.

    2007-01-01

    Animal welfare is an increasing issue of public concern and debate. As a result, many countries are reconsidering the way animal welfare is embedded in the legislation and rules for housing and care of animals. This requires general agreement of what animal welfare is. Unfortunately, the current

  17. Rules and routines in organizations and the management of safety rules

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Weichbrodt, J. Ch.

    2013-07-01

    This thesis is concerned with the relationship between rules and routines in organizations and how the former can be used to steer the latter. Rules are understood as formal organizational artifacts, whereas organizational routines are collective patterns of action. While research on routines has been thriving, a clear understanding of how rules can be used to influence or control organizational routines (and vice-versa) is still lacking. This question is of particular relevance to safety rules in high-risk organizations, where the way in which organizational routines unfold can ultimately be a matter of life and death. In these organizations, an important and related issue is the balancing of standardization and flexibility – which, in the case of rules, takes the form of finding the right degree of formalization. In high-risk organizations, the question is how to adequately regulate actors’ routines in order to facilitate safe behavior, while at the same time leaving enough leeway for actors to make good decisions in abnormal situations. The railroads are regarded as high-risk industries and also rely heavily on formal rules. In this thesis, the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) were therefore selected for a field study on rules and routines. The issues outlined so far are being tackled theoretically (paper 1), empirically (paper 2), and from a practitioner’s (i.e., rule maker’s) point of view (paper 3). In paper 1, the relationship between rules and routines is theoretically conceptualized, based on a literature review. Literature on organizational control and coordination, on rules in human factors and safety, and on organizational routines is combined. Three distinct roles (rule maker, rule supervisor, and rule follower) are outlined. Six propositions are developed regarding the necessary characteristics of both routines and rules, the respective influence of the three roles on the rule-routine relationship, and regarding organizational aspects such as

  18. Rules and routines in organizations and the management of safety rules

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Weichbrodt, J. Ch.

    2013-01-01

    This thesis is concerned with the relationship between rules and routines in organizations and how the former can be used to steer the latter. Rules are understood as formal organizational artifacts, whereas organizational routines are collective patterns of action. While research on routines has been thriving, a clear understanding of how rules can be used to influence or control organizational routines (and vice-versa) is still lacking. This question is of particular relevance to safety rules in high-risk organizations, where the way in which organizational routines unfold can ultimately be a matter of life and death. In these organizations, an important and related issue is the balancing of standardization and flexibility – which, in the case of rules, takes the form of finding the right degree of formalization. In high-risk organizations, the question is how to adequately regulate actors’ routines in order to facilitate safe behavior, while at the same time leaving enough leeway for actors to make good decisions in abnormal situations. The railroads are regarded as high-risk industries and also rely heavily on formal rules. In this thesis, the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) were therefore selected for a field study on rules and routines. The issues outlined so far are being tackled theoretically (paper 1), empirically (paper 2), and from a practitioner’s (i.e., rule maker’s) point of view (paper 3). In paper 1, the relationship between rules and routines is theoretically conceptualized, based on a literature review. Literature on organizational control and coordination, on rules in human factors and safety, and on organizational routines is combined. Three distinct roles (rule maker, rule supervisor, and rule follower) are outlined. Six propositions are developed regarding the necessary characteristics of both routines and rules, the respective influence of the three roles on the rule-routine relationship, and regarding organizational aspects such as

  19. 77 FR 76815 - Handling of Animals; Contingency Plans

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-12-31

    ... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service 9 CFR Parts 2 and 3 [Docket No. APHIS-2006-0159] RIN 0579-AC69 Handling of Animals; Contingency Plans AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: We are amending the Animal Welfare Act...

  20. 43 CFR 404.60 - Does this rule contain an information collection that requires approval by the Office of...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 43 Public Lands: Interior 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Does this rule contain an information collection that requires approval by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)? 404.60 Section 404.60 Public Lands: Interior Regulations Relating to Public Lands BUREAU OF RECLAMATION, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR RECLAMATION RURAL WATER SUPPLY PROGRAM...

  1. 9 CFR 202.111 - Rule 11: Hearing, oral or written.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 9 Animals and Animal Products 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Rule 11: Hearing, oral or written. 202.111 Section 202.111 Animals and Animal Products GRAIN INSPECTION, PACKERS AND STOCKYARDS... for oral hearing, timely filed. Declining to make such withdrawal shall not affect the rights or...

  2. 9 CFR 202.115 - Rule 15: Submission for final consideration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 9 Animals and Animal Products 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Rule 15: Submission for final consideration. 202.115 Section 202.115 Animals and Animal Products GRAIN INSPECTION, PACKERS AND STOCKYARDS... the judicial officer for decision. (d) Oral argument. There shall be no right to oral argument other...

  3. 9 CFR 355.43 - Scope and applicability of rules of practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... AND VOLUNTARY INSPECTION AND CERTIFICATION CERTIFIED PRODUCTS FOR DOGS, CATS, AND OTHER CARNIVORA... 9 Animals and Animal Products 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Scope and applicability of rules of practice. 355.43 Section 355.43 Animals and Animal Products FOOD SAFETY AND INSPECTION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT...

  4. 36 CFR 520.11 - Dogs and other animals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Dogs and other animals. 520.11 Section 520.11 Parks, Forests, and Public Property SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION RULES AND REGULATIONS... Dogs and other animals. Dogs and other animals, except seeing-eye dogs, shall not be brought upon the...

  5. Repeatable group differences in the collective behaviour of stickleback shoals across ecological contexts

    Science.gov (United States)

    2018-01-01

    Establishing how collective behaviour emerges is central to our understanding of animal societies. Previous research has highlighted how universal interaction rules shape collective behaviour, and that individual differences can drive group functioning. Groups themselves may also differ considerably in their collective behaviour, but little is known about the consistency of such group variation, especially across different ecological contexts that may alter individuals' behavioural responses. Here, we test if randomly composed groups of sticklebacks differ consistently from one another in both their structure and movement dynamics across an open environment, an environment with food, and an environment with food and shelter. Based on high-resolution tracking data of the free-swimming shoals, we found large context-associated changes in the average behaviour of the groups. But despite these changes and limited social familiarity among group members, substantial and predictable behavioural differences between the groups persisted both within and across the different contexts (group-level repeatability): some groups moved consistently faster, more cohesively, showed stronger alignment and/or clearer leadership than other groups. These results suggest that among-group heterogeneity could be a widespread feature in animal societies. Future work that considers group-level variation in collective behaviour may help understand the selective pressures that shape how animal collectives form and function. PMID:29436496

  6. 75 FR 81455 - New Animal Drugs; Deslorelin

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-12-28

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration 21 CFR Parts 510 and 522 [Docket No. FDA-2010-N-0002] New Animal Drugs; Deslorelin AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the animal drug...

  7. 75 FR 1275 - New Animal Drugs; Ractopamine

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-11

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration 21 CFR Part 558 [Docket No. FDA-2009-N-0665] New Animal Drugs; Ractopamine AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the animal drug regulations to...

  8. Grant Patents on Animals? An Ethical and Legal Battle Looms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wheeler, David L.

    1987-01-01

    Rulings on applications for animal patents being considered by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office could profoundly influence university patent and research income. Many animal-rights advocates have expressed philosophical objections to genetic engineering of animals. (MLW)

  9. EU sales ban on new cosmetics tested on animals: impact on alternative methods, WTO implications and animal welfare aspects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruhdel, Irmela W

    2004-06-01

    In 1993, the European Union (EU) adopted Directive 93/35/EEC, calling for a sales ban on new cosmetic products containing ingredients tested on animals after 1 January, 1998, provided that alternative methods had been developed by then. In May 2000, for the second time, the European Commission postponed that ban. The Commission justified the repeated postponement of the sales ban by saying that no animal-free methods were available, although three in vitro methods were scientifically approved in 1997. With three years delay, these methods have been published and therefore "made available" in the EU. OECD acceptance is still awaited. Another reason for the postponement was the fear of possible World Trade Organisation (WTO) conflicts. However, according to WTO rules, the protection of public morality or animal health could justify a restriction of the free trade principle. From the animal welfare point of view, an unqualified EU sales ban, combined with an animal testing ban, would provide the incentive to further promote the development and acceptance of alternative methods and to prove that ethical standards are legitimate concerns under WTO rules.

  10. 78 FR 42451 - Animal Feeds Contaminated With Salmonella Microorganisms

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-07-16

    .... FDA-2013-N-0253] Animal Feeds Contaminated With Salmonella Microorganisms AGENCY: Food and Drug... revoking an advisory opinion on animal feeds contaminated with Salmonella microorganisms. This action is... articulated in a final compliance policy guide (CPG) on Salmonella in food for animals. DATES: This rule is...

  11. Animals Alive! An Ecological Guide to Animal Activities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holley, Dennis

    Animals Alive! is designed to help teachers develop an inquiry-oriented program for studying the animal kingdom in which, whenever possible, live animals are collected locally, studied, observed, and then released completely unharmed back into their natural habitats. By careful selection and modification of the chapter questions, activities, and…

  12. 76 FR 6326 - New Animal Drugs; Masitinib

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-02-04

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration 21 CFR Parts 510 and 516 [Docket No. FDA-2011-N-0003] New Animal Drugs; Masitinib AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the animal drug regulations to...

  13. 75 FR 79295 - New Animal Drugs; Mupirocin

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-12-20

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration 21 CFR Parts 510 and 524 [Docket No. FDA-2010-N-0002] New Animal Drugs; Mupirocin AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the animal drug regulations to...

  14. Preschoolers can infer general rules governing fantastical events in fiction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van de Vondervoort, Julia W; Friedman, Ori

    2014-05-01

    Young children are frequently exposed to fantastic fiction. How do they make sense of the unrealistic and impossible events that occur in such fiction? Although children could view such events as isolated episodes, the present experiments suggest that children use such events to infer general fantasy rules. In 2 experiments, 2- to 4-year-olds were shown scenarios in which 2 animals behaved unrealistically (N = 78 in Experiment 1, N = 94 in Experiment 2). When asked to predict how other animals in the fiction would behave, children predicted novel behaviors consistent with the nature of the fiction. These findings suggest that preschoolers can infer the general rules that govern the events and entities in fantastic fiction and can use these rules to predict what events will happen in the fiction. The findings also provide evidence that children may infer fantasy rules at a more superordinate level than the basic level. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

  15. How to escape from haller's rule

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Woude, van der Emma; Smid, Hans M.

    2016-01-01

    While Haller's rule states that small animals have relatively larger brains, minute Trichogramma evanescens Westwood (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) parasitic wasps scale brain size linearly with body size. This linear brain scaling allows them to decrease brain size beyond the predictions of

  16. Ethics in research: from science fairs to clinical trials, the same golden rules apply

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Wright, C

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available opinion and not causing anyone physical harm. Similar ?golden rules? apply when you do research and these are called research ethics. When you decide to do a research project that involves humans or animals, whether you are at school, at university... or a professor, there are important steps and rules that you need to follow. Why? Most importantly the steps and rules are there to protect you, the researcher, from making a mistake that may harm a person or an animal. There are important...

  17. Levels of Organisation in agent-based modelling for renewable resources management. Agricultural water management collective rules enforcement in the French Drome River Valley Case Study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abrami, G.

    2004-11-01

    Levels of Organisation in agent-based modelling for renewable resources management. Agricultural water management collective rules enforcement in the French Dr me River Valley Case Study. In the context of Agent-Based Modelling for participative renewable resources management, this thesis is concerned with representing multiple tangled levels of organisation of a system. The Agent-Group-Role (AGR) formalism is borrowed from computer science research. It has been conceptually specified to handle levels of organisation, and behaviours within levels of organisation. A design methodology dedicated to AGR modelling has been developed, together with an implementation of the formalism over a multi-agent platform. AGR models of agricultural water management in the French Dr me River Valley have been built and tested. This experiment demonstrates the AGR formalism ability to (1) clarify usually implicit hypothesis on action modes, scales or viewpoints (2) facilitate the definition of scenarios with various collective rules, and various rules in enforcement behaviours (3) generate bricks for generic irrigated catchment models. (author)

  18. Collective behavior of mice passing through an exit under panic

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Teng; Zhang, Xuelin; Huang, Shenshi; Li, Changhai; Lu, Shouxiang

    2018-04-01

    Collective movement of animal in emergency condition has attracted growing attentions among researchers. However, many rules still need to be confirmed with adequate explanation. Study of collective behavior of mice can improve our understanding about the dynamics of pedestrian movement. However, its rules still need to be confirmed with adequate explanation. In this paper, collective behavior of mice passing through an exit under panic was investigated. The results showed that the total evacuation time decreased with exit width increasing in a certain range. Based on the different tendency of the curve in temporal evolution, the process of mice flow was divided into three stages. The density of mice near the exit peaks at a certain horizontal offset and starts to decrease over time. With the increase of the exit width, the duration of the higher density state decreased. We found that the frequency of time intervals obeyed a lognormal distribution or an exponential decay for different exit widths. In addition, the relationship between the group size and the group flow rate in different scenarios was analyzed. The phenomena found in our experiments show the collective behavioral characteristic of mice under panic. Our analysis in this paper will deepen our understanding of crowd dynamics in emergency condition.

  19. Animals and the law of armed conflict

    OpenAIRE

    Roscini, M.

    2017-01-01

    The main purposes of this article are to assess whether the existing rules of the law of armed conflict provide adequate protection to animals and to highlight the fault lines in the law. The article distinguishes the general provisions of the law of armed conflict, i.e. those that were not adopted with specific regard to animals but the application of which might restrict the killing and injuring of animals, from the provisions that specifically provide protection to animals. The analysis es...

  20. 77 FR 42255 - Notice of Request for Approval of a New Information Collection; National Animal Health Monitoring...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-07-18

    ...In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to initiate the Layers 2013 Study, an information collection to support the U.S. poultry industry.

  1. Legal regulation of protection of animals against cruelty

    OpenAIRE

    Spurná, Jana

    2006-01-01

    Diploma thesis: Legal regulation of protection of animals against cruelty This diploma thesis deals with national and transnational legal regulation of the protection of animals against cruelty. It comprises of four chapters. First chapter concerns ethical grounds of given issue and it provides analysis of term "animal welfare". Second chapter contains the most significant transnational legal rules of the protection of animals against cruelty adopted within the Council of Europe or the Europe...

  2. Religion and Animal Welfare-An Islamic Perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rahman, Sira Abdul

    2017-02-17

    Islam is a comprehensive religion guiding the lives of its followers through sets of rules governing the personal, social, and public aspects through the verses of the Holy Qur'an and Hadiths, the compilation of the traditions of Prophet Mohammed (pbuh), the two main documents that serve as guidelines. Islam is explicit with regard to using animals for human purposes and there is a rich tradition of the Prophet Mohammad's (pbuh) concern for animals to be found in the Hadith and Sunna. Islam has also laid down rules for humane slaughter. In many countries animals are killed without pre-stunning. Regardless of pre-stunning, such meat should not be treated as halāl or at least be considered as Makrooh (detestable or abominable), because the animals have been beaten or treated without compassion during production, handling, transport, and slaughter. Many Muslims and Islamic religious leaders are not aware of the cruelty that is routinely inflicted on animals during transport, pre-slaughter, and slaughter in many Islamic countries. There is an urgent need to sensitize all Muslims to the teachings of animal welfare in the Qur'an and the Hadiths. A campaign is needed to apprise religious leaders of the current cruelty that occurs during transport and slaughter.

  3. Religion and Animal Welfare—An Islamic Perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sira Abdul Rahman

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Islam is a comprehensive religion guiding the lives of its followers through sets of rules governing the personal, social, and public aspects through the verses of the Holy Qur’an and Hadiths, the compilation of the traditions of Prophet Mohammed (pbuh, the two main documents that serve as guidelines. Islam is explicit with regard to using animals for human purposes and there is a rich tradition of the Prophet Mohammad’s (pbuh concern for animals to be found in the Hadith and Sunna. Islam has also laid down rules for humane slaughter. In many countries animals are killed without pre-stunning. Regardless of pre-stunning, such meat should not be treated as halāl or at least be considered as Makrooh (detestable or abominable, because the animals have been beaten or treated without compassion during production, handling, transport, and slaughter. Many Muslims and Islamic religious leaders are not aware of the cruelty that is routinely inflicted on animals during transport, pre-slaughter, and slaughter in many Islamic countries. There is an urgent need to sensitize all Muslims to the teachings of animal welfare in the Qur’an and the Hadiths. A campaign is needed to apprise religious leaders of the current cruelty that occurs during transport and slaughter.

  4. 77 FR 22200 - Rescission of Rules

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-04-13

    ... ``Identity Theft Rules,'' 16 CFR part 681, and its rules governing ``Disposal of Consumer Report Information...; Duties of Creditors Regarding Risk-Based Pricing, 16 CFR part 640; Duties of Users of Consumer Reports... collection, assembly, and use of consumer report information and provides the framework for the credit...

  5. Categorization: The View from Animal Cognition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, J David; Zakrzewski, Alexandria C; Johnson, Jennifer M; Valleau, Jeanette C; Church, Barbara A

    2016-06-15

    Exemplar, prototype, and rule theory have organized much of the enormous literature on categorization. From this theoretical foundation have arisen the two primary debates in the literature-the prototype-exemplar debate and the single system-multiple systems debate. We review these theories and debates. Then, we examine the contribution that animal-cognition studies have made to them. Animals have been crucial behavioral ambassadors to the literature on categorization. They reveal the roots of human categorization, the basic assumptions of vertebrates entering category tasks, the surprising weakness of exemplar memory as a category-learning strategy. They show that a unitary exemplar theory of categorization is insufficient to explain human and animal categorization. They show that a multiple-systems theoretical account-encompassing exemplars, prototypes, and rules-will be required for a complete explanation. They show the value of a fitness perspective in understanding categorization, and the value of giving categorization an evolutionary depth and phylogenetic breadth. They raise important questions about the internal similarity structure of natural kinds and categories. They demonstrate strong continuities with humans in categorization, but discontinuities, too. Categorization's great debates are resolving themselves, and to these resolutions animals have made crucial contributions.

  6. Decision rules and group rationality: cognitive gain or standstill?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Petru Lucian Curşeu

    Full Text Available Recent research in group cognition points towards the existence of collective cognitive competencies that transcend individual group members' cognitive competencies. Since rationality is a key cognitive competence for group decision making, and group cognition emerges from the coordination of individual cognition during social interactions, this study tests the extent to which collaborative and consultative decision rules impact the emergence of group rationality. Using a set of decision tasks adapted from the heuristics and biases literature, we evaluate rationality as the extent to which individual choices are aligned with a normative ideal. We further operationalize group rationality as cognitive synergy (the extent to which collective rationality exceeds average or best individual rationality in the group, and we test the effect of collaborative and consultative decision rules in a sample of 176 groups. Our results show that the collaborative decision rule has superior synergic effects as compared to the consultative decision rule. The ninety one groups working in a collaborative fashion made more rational choices (above and beyond the average rationality of their members than the eighty five groups working in a consultative fashion. Moreover, the groups using a collaborative decision rule were closer to the rationality of their best member than groups using consultative decision rules. Nevertheless, on average groups did not outperformed their best member. Therefore, our results reveal how decision rules prescribing interpersonal interactions impact on the emergence of collective cognitive competencies. They also open potential venues for further research on the emergence of collective rationality in human decision-making groups.

  7. Decision rules and group rationality: cognitive gain or standstill?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Curşeu, Petru Lucian; Jansen, Rob J G; Chappin, Maryse M H

    2013-01-01

    Recent research in group cognition points towards the existence of collective cognitive competencies that transcend individual group members' cognitive competencies. Since rationality is a key cognitive competence for group decision making, and group cognition emerges from the coordination of individual cognition during social interactions, this study tests the extent to which collaborative and consultative decision rules impact the emergence of group rationality. Using a set of decision tasks adapted from the heuristics and biases literature, we evaluate rationality as the extent to which individual choices are aligned with a normative ideal. We further operationalize group rationality as cognitive synergy (the extent to which collective rationality exceeds average or best individual rationality in the group), and we test the effect of collaborative and consultative decision rules in a sample of 176 groups. Our results show that the collaborative decision rule has superior synergic effects as compared to the consultative decision rule. The ninety one groups working in a collaborative fashion made more rational choices (above and beyond the average rationality of their members) than the eighty five groups working in a consultative fashion. Moreover, the groups using a collaborative decision rule were closer to the rationality of their best member than groups using consultative decision rules. Nevertheless, on average groups did not outperformed their best member. Therefore, our results reveal how decision rules prescribing interpersonal interactions impact on the emergence of collective cognitive competencies. They also open potential venues for further research on the emergence of collective rationality in human decision-making groups.

  8. 76 FR 45259 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Substances...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-07-28

    ... of information technology. Substances Prohibited From Use in Animal Food or Feed--21 CFR Part 589 (OMB Control Number 0910-0627)--(Extension) The final rule on bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE...

  9. Assessing predation risk: optimal behaviour and rules of thumb.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Welton, Nicky J; McNamara, John M; Houston, Alasdair I

    2003-12-01

    We look at a simple model in which an animal makes behavioural decisions over time in an environment in which all parameters are known to the animal except predation risk. In the model there is a trade-off between gaining information about predation risk and anti-predator behaviour. All predator attacks lead to death for the prey, so that the prey learns about predation risk by virtue of the fact that it is still alive. We show that it is not usually optimal to behave as if the current unbiased estimate of the predation risk is its true value. We consider two different ways to model reproduction; in the first scenario the animal reproduces throughout its life until it dies, and in the second scenario expected reproductive success depends on the level of energy reserves the animal has gained by some point in time. For both of these scenarios we find results on the form of the optimal strategy and give numerical examples which compare optimal behaviour with behaviour under simple rules of thumb. The numerical examples suggest that the value of the optimal strategy over the rules of thumb is greatest when there is little current information about predation risk, learning is not too costly in terms of predation, and it is energetically advantageous to learn about predation. We find that for the model and parameters investigated, a very simple rule of thumb such as 'use the best constant control' performs well.

  10. Prevention of occupational risks in animal experimentation; Prevencion de riesgos laborales en experimentacion animal

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Martinez Palacio, J. (ed.)

    2007-07-01

    This work focuses on the main specific risks for those working with laboratory animals in a Research Center such as CIEMAT. First we present the general biological risks, their laws and rules. Next, we development the specific risks associated with the laboratory animals, zoonotic diseases and allergies. then we deal with the risks that can be consequence of working with laboratory animals, ionizing radiations, chemical products, genetically modified organisms, liquid nitrogen management, bio containment and human samples management. As they are subjects of interest, we also include the workers health assesment for those exposed to biological agents, including recommendations about hygiene and disinfections. (Author)

  11. 21 CFR 500.46 - Hexachlorophene in animal drugs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 21 Food and Drugs 6 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Hexachlorophene in animal drugs. 500.46 Section 500.46 Food and Drugs FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (CONTINUED) ANIMAL DRUGS, FEEDS, AND RELATED PRODUCTS GENERAL Specific Administrative Rulings and Decisions § 500.46...

  12. 76 FR 9537 - Secretary's Advisory Committee on Animal Health; Meetings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-02-18

    ...This is a notice to inform the public of three upcoming meetings of the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Animal Health. The meetings are being organized by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to discuss matters of animal health, including the pending proposed rule implementing USDA's traceability framework and establishing an aquaculture subcommittee.

  13. Factors influencing interactions in zoos: animal-keeper relationship, animal-public interactions and solitary animals groups

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giovanni Quintavalle Pastorino

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Interactions that animals experience can have a significant influence on their health and welfare. These interactions can occur between animals themselves, but also between animals and keepers, and animals and the public. Human and non-human animals come into contact with each other in a variety of settings, and wherever there is contact there is the opportunity for interaction to take place. Interaction with companion animals are well known, but human–animal interaction (HAR (Hosey, 2008 also occurs in the context of farms (Hemsworth and Gonyou, 1997; Hemsworth, 2003, laboratories (Chang and Hart, 2002, zoos (Kreger and Mench, 1995 and even the wild (e.g. Cassini, 2001. This project proposes a permanent monitoring scheme to record animal-human interactions and animal-animal interactions in zoos. This will be accompanied by a survey of animal personality for welfare, husbandry, breeding programs and reintroduction purposes. The pilot project is currently based on direct monitoring of animal behaviour, use of time lapse cameras and animal personality questionnaires completed by experienced keepers. The goal of this project is to create a network between zoos to explore the aforementioned interactions to produce husbandry protocols and explore personality and behavioural traits in multiple species. We present provisional data regarding polar bear (Fasano Zoosafari, Italy, Sumatran tigers, Amur tigers and Asiatic lion (ZSL London and Whipsnade zoo interactions with humans and conspecifics. This data is collected across a broad range of environmental conditions and outlines the monitoring protocols developed to collect this data. The first year data show the great adaptability of these species to ex situ environments, low or absent negative impact of visitors’ presence and the relevance of individual personality in these interactions.

  14. COLLECTIVE VORTEX BEHAVIORS: DIVERSITY, PROXIMATE, AND ULTIMATE CAUSES OF CIRCULAR ANIMAL GROUP MOVEMENTS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Delcourt, Johann; Bode, Nikolai W F; Denoël, Mathieu

    2016-03-01

    Ant mill, caterpillar circle, bat doughnut, amphibian vortex, duck swirl, and fish torus are different names for rotating circular animal formations, where individuals turn around a common center. These "collective vortex behaviors" occur at different group sizes from pairs to several million individuals and have been reported in a large number of organisms, from bacteria to vertebrates, including humans. However, to date, no comprehensive review and synthesis of the literature on vortex behaviors has been conducted. Here, we review the state of the art of the proximate and ultimate causes of vortex behaviors. The ubiquity of this behavioral phenomenon could suggest common causes or fundamental underlying principles across contexts. However, we find that a variety of proximate mechanisms give rise to vortex behaviors. We highlight the potential benefits of collective vortex behaviors to individuals involved in them. For example, in some species, vortices increase feeding efficiency and could give protection against predators. It has also been argued that vortices could improve collective decision-making and information transfer. We highlight gaps in our understanding of these ubiquitous behavioral phenomena and discuss future directions for research in vortex studies.

  15. Prevalence of Helminth Infections in Dairy Animals of Nestle Milk Collection Areas of Punjab (Pakistan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M.K. Khan

    2010-02-01

    Full Text Available The objective of the current research project was to document the prevalent helminths of dairy animals of Nestle milk collection areas of Punjab (Pakistan. For this purpose, seven high milk-producing areas of Punjab province including Farooqa, Kot Adu, Dunya Pur, Layyah, Mor Mandi, Shorkot and Jalapur were selected. The animals were randomly selected and screened for parasitic eggs through standard coprological examination procedures. The helminth species found prevalent in the study areas included; Ascaris vitulorum, Fasciola hepatica, Haemonchus contortus, Bunostomum phlebotomum, Ostertagia circumcinta, Oesophagostomum radiatum, and Trichostrongylus spp. The possible determinants associated with the prevalence of these parasites were also studied in this project. The results of this study provided a basic epidemiological data for planning a wide scaled helminth control program in the above-mentioned high producing areas of Pakistan.

  16. Study of QCD medium by sum rules

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mallik, S [Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Calcutta (India)

    1998-08-01

    Though it has no analogue in condensed matter physics, the thermal QCD sum rules can, nevertheless, answer questions of condensed matter type about the QCD medium. The ingredients needed to write such sum rules, viz. the operator product expansion and the spectral representation at finite temperature, are reviewed in detail. The sum rules are then actually written for the case of correlation function of two vector currents. Collecting information on the thermal average of the higher dimension operators from other sources, we evaluate these sum rules for the temperature dependent {rho}-meson parameters. Possibility of extracting more information from the combined set of all sum rules from different correlation functions is also discussed. (author) 30 refs., 2 figs.

  17. Collective excitations of strongly coupled bilayer charged Bose liquids in the third-frequency-moment sum rule

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tas, Murat; Tanatar, B.

    2008-01-01

    We calculate the collective excitation modes of strongly coupled bilayer charged Bose systems. We employ the dielectric matrix formulation to study the correlation effects within the random-phase approximation (RPA), the self consistent field approximation Singwi, Tosi, Land, and Sjoelander (STLS), and the quasilocalized charge approximation (QLCA), which satisfies the third-frequency-moment ( 3 >) sum rule. We find that the QLCA predicts a long-wavelength correlation-induced energy gap in the out-of-phase plasmon mode, similar to the situation in electronic bilayer systems. The energy gap and the plasmon density of states are studied as a function of interlayer separation and coupling parameter r s . The results should be helpful for experimental investigations

  18. Legal Limitations Regarding Experimentation in the New Animals Act

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vera Lucia da Silva

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available This article introduces the Animal Act provisions about animal testing. At first, it was proposed a bioethical and biolaw theoretical approach. Following, it was mentioned the Arouca Law, current norm that rules the Article 225 on the Federal Constitution, and authorizes experiments on animals. Then was introduced some elements of the Bills in proceeding at the Senate aimed at changing the Arouca Law. The point is to present an interpretation that focus on a wider view of the Animal Act protective aspect, especially concerning animal testing.

  19. 76 FR 2807 - New Animal Drugs; Change of Sponsor

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-18

    .... FDA-2010-N-0002] New Animal Drugs; Change of Sponsor AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the animal drug regulations to...., Cambridge, MA 02141 has informed FDA that it has transferred ownership of, and all rights and interest in...

  20. Brazilian law for scientific use of animals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marques, Ruy Garcia; Morales, Marcelo Marcos; Petroianu, Andy

    2009-01-01

    The Brazilian scientific community claimed for a definitive systematization and for comprehensive and realistic national rules, to provide guidance and regulation, instead of sanctions, so that the question of scientific research involving animals could be better contemplated. This is beginning to occur now with Law no. 11.794, sanctioned by the President of the Republic on November 8, 2008. To describe the evolution of Brazilian regimentation for scientific use of animals and to analyze Law no. 11.794. The legislation about the use of animals in teaching and in scientific research in Brazil and in Rio de Janeiro State was identified and discussed. Until now, there was no updated general and systematizing rule regarding animal vivisection and experimentation for didactic or scientific purposes. The only specific law dates back to 1979 and was not regimented. More recent laws equated the practice of scientific experiments to acts of abuse and mistreatment of animals, when alternative technology was available. Municipal laws that restricted the scientific practice of vivisection and experimentation with animals were created in the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Florianopolis. With the claim and collaboration of the scientific community, the sanction of Law no. 11.794 regarding the scientific use of animals represented an invaluable advance in spite of the presence of some points that eventually may require another type of treatment. The new Law states that it will be regimented within 180 (one-hundred-and-eighty) days, when some of these points could be better elucidated.

  1. 77 FR 2302 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Antimicrobial...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-17

    ...] Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Antimicrobial Animal Drug... distribution reports for antimicrobials in food producing animals. DATES: Submit either electronic or written... techniques, when appropriate, and other forms of information technology. Antimicrobial Animal Drug...

  2. Religion and Animal Welfare—An Islamic Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rahman, Sira Abdul

    2017-01-01

    Simple Summary Cruelty to animals occurs during production, handling, transport, and slaughter in most countries where Islam is a major religion. Most of the people involved in this, such as those involved in the transport of animals, animal handlers, and butchers, are Muslims. However, many Muslims and Islamic religious leaders are not aware of this cruelty. Islam is a religion that shows compassion to animals as mentioned in the holy book Qur’an and sayings of the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh). This paper highlights what Islam says of the welfare of animals and how animal welfare can be improved by sensitizing all Muslims and religious leaders to the teachings on animal welfare in the Qur’an and the Hadiths so that they can influence their followers. Abstract Islam is a comprehensive religion guiding the lives of its followers through sets of rules governing the personal, social, and public aspects through the verses of the Holy Qur’an and Hadiths, the compilation of the traditions of Prophet Mohammed (pbuh), the two main documents that serve as guidelines. Islam is explicit with regard to using animals for human purposes and there is a rich tradition of the Prophet Mohammad’s (pbuh) concern for animals to be found in the Hadith and Sunna. Islam has also laid down rules for humane slaughter. In many countries animals are killed without pre-stunning. Regardless of pre-stunning, such meat should not be treated as halāl or at least be considered as Makrooh (detestable or abominable), because the animals have been beaten or treated without compassion during production, handling, transport, and slaughter. Many Muslims and Islamic religious leaders are not aware of the cruelty that is routinely inflicted on animals during transport, pre-slaughter, and slaughter in many Islamic countries. There is an urgent need to sensitize all Muslims to the teachings of animal welfare in the Qur’an and the Hadiths. A campaign is needed to apprise religious leaders of the current

  3. Can experiments on animals constitute a criminal offence of cruelty to animals?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ristivojevic Branislav

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The criminal offence “killing and torturing animals” under Article 269 of the Criminal Code says that it can be committed only “contrary to regulations”. The regulations governing the treatment of experimental animals are the Animal Welfare Law from 2009 and the Law on the Ratification of the European Convention for the Protection of Vertebrate Animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes amended by the Protocol of amendment to the European Convention for the Protection of Vertebrate Animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes from 2010. The first one imposes numerous obligations and introduces numerous prohibitions in the treatment of experimental animals, which at first sight make the possibilities of committing this criminal offence greater. The other law does not contain most of the prohibitions and restrictions that are included in the Animal Welfare Law. Thanks to a legal rule which says that a later law regulating the same subject replaces the former one (lex posterior derogate legi priori and the aforementioned unconstitutionality of many provisions of the Animal Welfare Law, researchers and teachers in Serbia are not in particular danger of criminal prosecution. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 179079: Biomedicine, Environmental Protection and the Law

  4. Breaking Haller's rule: brain-body size isometry in a minute parasitic wasp.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Woude, van der E.; Smid, H.M.; Chittka, L.; Huigens, M.E.

    2013-01-01

    Throughout the animal kingdom, Haller's rule holds that smaller individuals have larger brains relative to their body than larger-bodied individuals. Such brain-body size allometry is documented for all animals studied to date, ranging from small ants to the largest mammals. However, through

  5. Sum rule approach to nuclear vibrations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Suzuki, T.

    1983-01-01

    Velocity field of various collective states is explored by using sum rules for the nuclear current. It is shown that an irrotational and incompressible flow model is applicable to giant resonance states. Structure of the hydrodynamical states is discussed according to Tomonaga's microscopic theory for collective motions. (author)

  6. 12 CFR 621.7 - Rule of aggregation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Rule of aggregation. 621.7 Section 621.7 Banks... Performance and Valuation Assessment § 621.7 Rule of aggregation. (a) When one loan to a borrower is placed in... risk and are fully collectible, then they may remain in their current performance category. (c) When an...

  7. Haldane's rule in the 21st century

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schilthuizen, M.; Giesbers, M. C. W. G.; Beukeboom, L. W.

    Haldane's Rule (HR), which states that 'when in the offspring of two different animal races one sex is absent, rare, or sterile, that sex is the heterozygous (heterogametic) sex', is one of the most general patterns in speciation biology. We review the literature of the past 15 years and find that

  8. 78 FR 9370 - Notice of Scope Rulings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-02-08

    .... Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230; telephone: 202-482...). Scope Rulings Made Between July 1, 2012, and September 30, 2012 People's Republic of China A-570-504: Petroleum Wax Candles From the People's Republic of China Requestor: FashionCraft-Excello, Inc.; six animal...

  9. 75 FR 8991 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Extension

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-02-26

    ...The information collection requirements described below will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (``OMB'') for review, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act (``PRA''). The FTC is seeking public comments on its proposal to extend through May 31, 2013, the current PRA clearance for information collection requirements contained its Antitrust Improvements Act Rules (``HSR Rules'') and corresponding Notification and Report Form for Certain Mergers and Acquisitions (``Notification and Report Form''). That clearance expires on May 31, 2010.

  10. When Rules Really Make a Difference : The Effect of Cooperation Rules and Self-Sacrificing Leadership on Moral Norms in Social Dilemmas

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mulder, Laetitia B.; Nelissen, Rob M. A.

    If self-interested behavior conflicts with the collective welfare, rules of cooperation are often installed to prevent egoistic behavior. We hypothesized that installing such rules may instigate personal moral norms of cooperation, but that they fail in doing so when installed by a leader who is

  11. 76 FR 59023 - Oral Dosage Form New Animal Drugs; Tylosin

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-09-23

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration 21 CFR Part 520 [Docket No. FDA-2011-N-0003] Oral Dosage Form New Animal Drugs; Tylosin AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the animal drug...

  12. 77 FR 3927 - Oral Dosage Form New Animal Drugs; Deracoxib

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-26

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration 21 CFR Part 520 [Docket No. FDA-2011-N-0003] Oral Dosage Form New Animal Drugs; Deracoxib AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the animal drug...

  13. 76 FR 18648 - Oral Dosage Form New Animal Drugs; Robenacoxib

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-04-05

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration 21 CFR Part 520 [Docket No. FDA-2011-N-0003] Oral Dosage Form New Animal Drugs; Robenacoxib AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the animal drug...

  14. 76 FR 40808 - Oral Dosage Form New Animal Drugs; Amprolium

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-07-12

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration 21 CFR Part 520 [Docket No. FDA-2011-N-0003] Oral Dosage Form New Animal Drugs; Amprolium AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the animal drug...

  15. 77 FR 15960 - Oral Dosage Form New Animal Drugs; Pergolide

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-03-19

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration 21 CFR Part 520 [Docket No. FDA-2011-N-0003] Oral Dosage Form New Animal Drugs; Pergolide AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the animal drug...

  16. 75 FR 67031 - Oral Dosage Form New Animal Drugs; Domperidone

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-11-01

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration 21 CFR Part 520 [Docket No. FDA-2010-N-0002] Oral Dosage Form New Animal Drugs; Domperidone AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the animal drug...

  17. 76 FR 78149 - Oral Dosage Form New Animal Drugs; Estriol

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-12-16

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration 21 CFR Part 520 [Docket No. FDA-2011-N-0003] Oral Dosage Form New Animal Drugs; Estriol AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the animal drug...

  18. Designing Fuzzy Rule Based Expert System for Cyber Security

    OpenAIRE

    Goztepe, Kerim

    2016-01-01

    The state of cyber security has begun to attract more attention and interest outside the community of computer security experts. Cyber security is not a single problem, but rather a group of highly different problems involving different sets of threats. Fuzzy Rule based system for cyber security is a system consists of a rule depository and a mechanism for accessing and running the rules. The depository is usually constructed with a collection of related rule sets. The aim of this study is to...

  19. 76 FR 48714 - New Animal Drugs; Change of Sponsor; Moxidectin

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-08-09

    ... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration 21 CFR Parts 520, 522, and 524 [Docket No. FDA-2011-N-0003] New Animal Drugs; Change of Sponsor; Moxidectin AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the animal...

  20. 76 FR 28910 - Secretary's Advisory Committee on Animal Health; Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-05-19

    ...This document informs the public of the next meeting of the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Animal Health. In this document, we provide a new date for the July 2011 meeting, which had been scheduled for the previous week. The meeting is being organized by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to discuss matters of animal health, including the pending proposed rule implementing USDA's traceability framework and establishing an aquaculture subcommittee.

  1. [Status of law-making on animal welfare].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Polten, B

    2007-03-01

    Since the last report there have been major revisions of laws and ordinances. Deliberations on rules of Community law were also continued. On national level, the Act on the Shoeing of Horses amending the Animal Welfare Act and amendments of animal welfare provisions as well as the Deregulation Act were prepared, some of which have meanwhile entered into force. At legislative level, the work on the ratification laws for the Council of Europe conventions (Strasbourg) was concluded in order to enable Germany to adopt the revisions. They include (1) the European Convention for the protection of animals used for experimental purposes and (2) the European Convention for the protection of animals during international transport. At the level of ordinances, the amendment and extension of the Animal Welfare -Farm Animal Husbandry Ordinance are of vital importance for the sections on pig farming and laying hen husbandry. Another section refers to the husbandry of fur animals, on which an ordinance has been submitted to the Bundesrat (German upper house of Parliament). Deliberations on this issue have been adjourned. Drafts of a circus register were prepared to amend the Animal Welfare Act and to adopt a separate ordinance, and they are being discussed with the federal states and associations. Previously,the rules of Community law in the area of animal welfare were adopted as EC directives which the member states had to transfer in national law. This was done by incorporating them into national laws or ordinances, with non-compliance having to be sanctioned. It is the member states' responsibility to establish sanctions. Yet the Commission has introduced a directly operative animal welfare legislation by adopting EC Regulation 1/2005 on the protection of animals during transport. This means that a national implementation is not required. Nevertheless, the establishment of sanctions continues to be the responsibility of the member states. A special authorisation by the

  2. 21 CFR 510.110 - Antibiotics used in food-producing animals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 21 Food and Drugs 6 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Antibiotics used in food-producing animals. 510... Rulings and Decisions § 510.110 Antibiotics used in food-producing animals. (a) The Food and Drug... has requested an evaluation of the public health aspects of the use of antibiotics in veterinary...

  3. Class association rules mining from students’ test data (Abstract)

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Romero, C.; Ventura, S.; Vasilyeva, E.; Pechenizkiy, M.; Baker, de R.S.J.; Merceron, A.; Pavlik Jr., P.I.

    2010-01-01

    In this paper we propose the use of a special type of association rules mining for discovering interesting relationships from the students’ test data collected in our case with Moodle learning management system (LMS). Particularly, we apply Class Association Rule (CAR) mining to different data

  4. Social behaviour and collective motion in plant-animal worms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Franks, Nigel R; Worley, Alan; Grant, Katherine A J; Gorman, Alice R; Vizard, Victoria; Plackett, Harriet; Doran, Carolina; Gamble, Margaret L; Stumpe, Martin C; Sendova-Franks, Ana B

    2016-02-24

    Social behaviour may enable organisms to occupy ecological niches that would otherwise be unavailable to them. Here, we test this major evolutionary principle by demonstrating self-organizing social behaviour in the plant-animal, Symsagittifera roscoffensis. These marine aceol flat worms rely for all of their nutrition on the algae within their bodies: hence their common name. We show that individual worms interact with one another to coordinate their movements so that even at low densities they begin to swim in small polarized groups and at increasing densities such flotillas turn into circular mills. We use computer simulations to: (i) determine if real worms interact socially by comparing them with virtual worms that do not interact and (ii) show that the social phase transitions of the real worms can occur based only on local interactions between and among them. We hypothesize that such social behaviour helps the worms to form the dense biofilms or mats observed on certain sun-exposed sandy beaches in the upper intertidal of the East Atlantic and to become in effect a super-organismic seaweed in a habitat where macro-algal seaweeds cannot anchor themselves. Symsagittifera roscoffensis, a model organism in many other areas in biology (including stem cell regeneration), also seems to be an ideal model for understanding how individual behaviours can lead, through collective movement, to social assemblages. © 2016 The Author(s).

  5. Does a Simple Cope's Rule Mechanism Overlook Predators?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Penteriani, V.; Kenward, R.

    2007-01-01

    The Copes rule predicts a tendency for species to evolve towards an increase in size. Recently, it has been suggested that such a tendency is due to the fact that large body sizes provide a general increase in individual fitness. Here we highlight evidence that predator species do not always fit the large-size = high-fitness mechanism for Copes rule. Given the specific requirements of predators and the complexity of prey-predator relationships, any analysis that does not take into account all animal groups may overlook a significant portion of evolutive trends. Generalisations may not be possible regardless of taxa.

  6. Distribution of radionuclides by organs of wild animals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kudryashov, V.P.; Korol', R.A.; Bykovskij, V.V.; Bazhanov, V.A.

    2008-01-01

    The distribution of radionuclides by organs of wild animals, are studied, for evacuation zone of Chernobyl NPP. The distribution of Cs 137 have a total character, Sr 90 are distributed on critical organs, us a rule. (authors)

  7. Animals Alive! An Ecological Guide to Animal Activities. Revised Edition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holley, Dennis

    This guide is designed to help teachers develop an inquiry-oriented program for studying the animal kingdom in which live animals are collected locally, studied, observed, and then released completely unharmed back into their natural habitats. This book addresses such concerns of life science teachers as the environmental soundness of methods and…

  8. Preserving the collective memory and re-creating identity through animation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Carpe Pérez, Inmaculada Concepción; Pedersen, Hanne

    of the autobiographic memory and documentary through animation techniques. When we produce an animated film, we can appreciate how the creation of characters and scenarios are transformed into visual metaphors, making possible the re-creation of past moments or the simulation of possible ones. We experience, thanks...

  9. Experimental liver fibrosis research: update on animal models, legal issues and translational aspects

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-01

    Liver fibrosis is defined as excessive extracellular matrix deposition and is based on complex interactions between matrix-producing hepatic stellate cells and an abundance of liver-resident and infiltrating cells. Investigation of these processes requires in vitro and in vivo experimental work in animals. However, the use of animals in translational research will be increasingly challenged, at least in countries of the European Union, because of the adoption of new animal welfare rules in 2013. These rules will create an urgent need for optimized standard operating procedures regarding animal experimentation and improved international communication in the liver fibrosis community. This review gives an update on current animal models, techniques and underlying pathomechanisms with the aim of fostering a critical discussion of the limitations and potential of up-to-date animal experimentation. We discuss potential complications in experimental liver fibrosis and provide examples of how the findings of studies in which these models are used can be translated to human disease and therapy. In this review, we want to motivate the international community to design more standardized animal models which might help to address the legally requested replacement, refinement and reduction of animals in fibrosis research. PMID:24274743

  10. Prevention of occupational risks in animal experimentation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martinez Palacio, J.

    2007-01-01

    This work focuses on the main specific risks for those working with laboratory animals in a Research Center such as CIEMAT. First we present the general biological risks, their laws and rules. Next, we development the specific risks associated with the laboratory animals, zoonotic diseases and allergies. then we deal with the risks that can be consequence of working with laboratory animals, ionizing radiations, chemical products, genetically modified organisms, liquid nitrogen management, bio containment and human samples management. As they are subjects of interest, we also include the workers health assesment for those exposed to biological agents, including recommendations about hygiene and disinfections. (Author)

  11. Isolation of Ganjam virus from ticks collected off domestic animals around Pune, Maharashtra, India.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joshi, M V; Geevarghese, G; Joshi, G D; Ghodke, Y S; Mourya, D T; Mishra, A C

    2005-03-01

    Studies on viruses of zoonotic importance in certain villages around Pune were undertaken between December 2000 and January 2002. A total of 1,138 adult ticks belonging to six different species were collected off domestic animals and processed for virus isolation. Six virus isolates were obtained. All six isolates were identified as Ganjam virus by Quick Complement Fixation test and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction using RNA nucleocapsid gene amplification. Five isolates were from the pools of adult Hemaphysalis intermedia ticks, and one isolate was from a pool of adult Rhipecephalus hemaphysaloides. This is the first report of isolation of Ganjam virus from Maharashtra state of India.

  12. 78 FR 46255 - Handling of Animals; Contingency Plans; Stay of Regulations

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-07-31

    ... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service 9 CFR Part 2 [Docket No...: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA. ACTION: Final rule; stay of regulations. SUMMARY: On....22, 2.80, and 371.7. Done in Washington, DC, this 29th day of July 2013. Kevin Shea, Administrator...

  13. 75 FR 66304 - New Animal Drugs; Change of Sponsor; Monensin Blocks

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-28

    ... [Docket No. FDA-2010-N-0002] New Animal Drugs; Change of Sponsor; Monensin Blocks AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the animal... 64116, has informed FDA that it has transferred ownership of, and all rights and interest in, NADA 118...

  14. Technical Note: Animal-borne CTD-Satellite Relay Data Loggers for real-time oceanographic data collection

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    L. Boehme

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available The increasing need for continuous monitoring of the world oceans has stimulated the development of a range of autonomous sampling platforms. One novel addition to these approaches is a small, relatively inexpensive data-relaying device that can be deployed on marine mammals to provide vertical oceanographic profiles throughout the upper 2000 m of the water column. When an animal dives, the CTD-Satellite Relay Data Logger (CTD-SRDL records vertical profiles of temperature, conductivity and pressure. Data are compressed once the animal returns to the surface where it is located by, and relays data to, the Argos satellite system. The technical challenges met in the design of the CTD-SRDL are the maximising of energy efficiency and minimising size, whilst simultaneously maintaining the reliability of an instrument that cannot be recovered and is required to survive its lifetime attached to a marine mammal. The CTD-SRDLs record temperature and salinity with an accuracy of better than 0.005 °C and 0.02 respectively. However, due to the limited availability of reference data, real-time data from remote places are often associated with slightly higher errors. The potential to collect large numbers of profiles cost-effectively makes data collection using CTD-SRDL technology particularly beneficial in regions where traditional oceanographic measurements are scarce or even absent. Depending on the CTD-SRDL configuration, it is possible to sample and transmit hydrographic profiles on a daily basis, providing valuable and often unique information for a real-time ocean observing system.

  15. Veterinary Medicine and Animal Health Technology Handbook.

    Science.gov (United States)

    New York State Education Dept., Albany. Office of the Professions.

    The laws, rules, and regulations of the New York State Education Department that govern professional veterinary medicine and animal health technology practice in the state are presented. Licensure requirements are described, and complete application forms and instructions for obtaining license and first registration as a licensed veterinarian and…

  16. Neural decoding of collective wisdom with multi-brain computing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eckstein, Miguel P; Das, Koel; Pham, Binh T; Peterson, Matthew F; Abbey, Craig K; Sy, Jocelyn L; Giesbrecht, Barry

    2012-01-02

    Group decisions and even aggregation of multiple opinions lead to greater decision accuracy, a phenomenon known as collective wisdom. Little is known about the neural basis of collective wisdom and whether its benefits arise in late decision stages or in early sensory coding. Here, we use electroencephalography and multi-brain computing with twenty humans making perceptual decisions to show that combining neural activity across brains increases decision accuracy paralleling the improvements shown by aggregating the observers' opinions. Although the largest gains result from an optimal linear combination of neural decision variables across brains, a simpler neural majority decision rule, ubiquitous in human behavior, results in substantial benefits. In contrast, an extreme neural response rule, akin to a group following the most extreme opinion, results in the least improvement with group size. Analyses controlling for number of electrodes and time-points while increasing number of brains demonstrate unique benefits arising from integrating neural activity across different brains. The benefits of multi-brain integration are present in neural activity as early as 200 ms after stimulus presentation in lateral occipital sites and no additional benefits arise in decision related neural activity. Sensory-related neural activity can predict collective choices reached by aggregating individual opinions, voting results, and decision confidence as accurately as neural activity related to decision components. Estimation of the potential for the collective to execute fast decisions by combining information across numerous brains, a strategy prevalent in many animals, shows large time-savings. Together, the findings suggest that for perceptual decisions the neural activity supporting collective wisdom and decisions arises in early sensory stages and that many properties of collective cognition are explainable by the neural coding of information across multiple brains. Finally

  17. Spatio-temporal correlations in models of collective motion ruled by different dynamical laws.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cavagna, Andrea; Conti, Daniele; Giardina, Irene; Grigera, Tomas S; Melillo, Stefania; Viale, Massimiliano

    2016-11-15

    Information transfer is an essential factor in determining the robustness of biological systems with distributed control. The most direct way to study the mechanisms ruling information transfer is to experimentally observe the propagation across the system of a signal triggered by some perturbation. However, this method may be inefficient for experiments in the field, as the possibilities to perturb the system are limited and empirical observations must rely on natural events. An alternative approach is to use spatio-temporal correlations to probe the information transfer mechanism directly from the spontaneous fluctuations of the system, without the need to have an actual propagating signal on record. Here we test this method on models of collective behaviour in their deeply ordered phase by using ground truth data provided by numerical simulations in three dimensions. We compare two models characterized by very different dynamical equations and information transfer mechanisms: the classic Vicsek model, describing an overdamped noninertial dynamics and the inertial spin model, characterized by an underdamped inertial dynamics. By using dynamic finite-size scaling, we show that spatio-temporal correlations are able to distinguish unambiguously the diffusive information transfer mechanism of the Vicsek model from the linear mechanism of the inertial spin model.

  18. An evaluation and implementation of rule-based Home Energy Management System using the Rete algorithm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kawakami, Tomoya; Fujita, Naotaka; Yoshihisa, Tomoki; Tsukamoto, Masahiko

    2014-01-01

    In recent years, sensors become popular and Home Energy Management System (HEMS) takes an important role in saving energy without decrease in QoL (Quality of Life). Currently, many rule-based HEMSs have been proposed and almost all of them assume "IF-THEN" rules. The Rete algorithm is a typical pattern matching algorithm for IF-THEN rules. Currently, we have proposed a rule-based Home Energy Management System (HEMS) using the Rete algorithm. In the proposed system, rules for managing energy are processed by smart taps in network, and the loads for processing rules and collecting data are distributed to smart taps. In addition, the number of processes and collecting data are reduced by processing rules based on the Rete algorithm. In this paper, we evaluated the proposed system by simulation. In the simulation environment, rules are processed by a smart tap that relates to the action part of each rule. In addition, we implemented the proposed system as HEMS using smart taps.

  19. A Conservation Ethic and the Collecting of Animals by Institutions of Natural Heritage in the Twenty-First Century: Case Study of the Australian Museum

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Timothy Ikin

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available Collecting of animals from their habitats for preservation by museums and related bodies is a core operation of such institutions. Conservation of biodiversity in the current era is a priority in the scientific agendas of museums of natural heritage in Australia and the world. Intuitively, to take animals from the wild, while engaged in scientific or other practices that are supposed to promote their ongoing survival, may appear be incompatible. The Australian Museum presents an interesting ground to consider zoological collecting by museums in the twenty-first century. Anderson and Reeves in 1994 argued that a milieu existed that undervalued native species, and that the role of natural history museums, up to as late as the mid-twentieth century, was only to make a record the faunal diversity of Australia, which would inevitably be extinct. Despite the latter, conservation of Australia’s faunal diversity is a key aspect of research programmes in Australia’s institutions of natural heritage in the current era. This paper analyses collecting of animals, a core task for institutions of natural heritage, and how this interacts with a professed “conservation ethic” in a twenty-first century Australian setting.

  20. Evolution of a flexible rule for foraging that copes with environmental variation

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Andrew D.HIGGINSON; Tim W.FAWCETT; Alasdair I.HOUSTON

    2015-01-01

    Models of adaptive behaviour typically assume that animals behave as though they have highly complex,detailed strategies for making decisions.In reality,selection favours the optimal balance between the costs and benefits of complexity.Here we investigate this trade-off for an animal that has to decide whether or not to forage for food-and so how much energy reserves to store-depending on the food availability in its environment.We evolve a decision rule that controls the target reserve level for different ranges of food availability,but where increasing complexity is costly in that metabolic rate increases with the sensitivity of the rule.The evolved rule tends to be much less complex than the optimal strategy but performs almost as well,while being less costly to implemem.It achieves this by being highly sensitive to changing food availability at low food abundance-where it provides a close fit to the optimal strategy-but insensitive when food is plentiful.When food availability is high,the target reserve level that evolves is much higher than under the optimal strategy,which has implications for our understanding of obesity.Our work highlights the important principle of generalisability of simple decision-making mechanisms,which enables animals to respond reasonably well to conditions not directly experienced by themselves or their ancestors [Current Zoology 61 (2):303-312,2015].

  1. The Anime Revelation: How I Learned to Love Japanese Animation and Changed Our Teen Video Collection Forever

    Science.gov (United States)

    Halsall, Jane

    2004-01-01

    What is the appeal of anime? For one thing, the graphic storytelling is uniquely compelling and spans multiple genres. It tends to be targeted to different audiences: young children and families, males or females aged 10-18, or strictly adults for the mature genre called hentai. In America, almost all animation is produced for and watched by…

  2. Spreading of occupational allergens: laboratory animal allergens on hair-covering caps and in mattress dust of laboratory animal workers

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Krop, Esmeralda J. M.; Doekes, Gert; Stone, Martin J.; Aalberse, Rob C.; van der Zee, Jaring S.

    2007-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Family members of laboratory animal workers are at risk of developing allergy to laboratory animals. Little is known about the spreading of laboratory animal allergens outside the animal facilities. OBJECTIVE: To assess the presence of laboratory animal allergens in dust collected from

  3. Experimental control of neoplastic progression in cell populations: Foulds' rules revisited.

    OpenAIRE

    Rubin, H

    1994-01-01

    Foulds introduced six rules of tumor progression based on his observations of spontaneous mammary cancer in mice and generalized them to all forms of neoplasia [Foulds, L. (1954) Cancer Res. 14, 327-339 and Foulds, L. (1969) Neoplastic Development (Academic, New York), Vol. 1, preface and pp. 72-74.] Rules III, IV, and V are considered controversial, and research in animals seems inadequate to resolve the controversies. A subline of NIH 3T3 cells undergoes progressive transformation to produc...

  4. Animal Welfare Groups Press for Limits on High School Research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    BioScience, 1979

    1979-01-01

    Discussions from the conference on "The Use of Animals in High School Biology Classes" are highlighted in this article. The list of science fair rules, which resulted from the conference, is included. (SA)

  5. Simple models for studying complex spatiotemporal patterns of animal behavior

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tyutyunov, Yuri V.; Titova, Lyudmila I.

    2017-06-01

    Minimal mathematical models able to explain complex patterns of animal behavior are essential parts of simulation systems describing large-scale spatiotemporal dynamics of trophic communities, particularly those with wide-ranging species, such as occur in pelagic environments. We present results obtained with three different modelling approaches: (i) an individual-based model of animal spatial behavior; (ii) a continuous taxis-diffusion-reaction system of partial-difference equations; (iii) a 'hybrid' approach combining the individual-based algorithm of organism movements with explicit description of decay and diffusion of the movement stimuli. Though the models are based on extremely simple rules, they all allow description of spatial movements of animals in a predator-prey system within a closed habitat, reproducing some typical patterns of the pursuit-evasion behavior observed in natural populations. In all three models, at each spatial position the animal movements are determined by local conditions only, so the pattern of collective behavior emerges due to self-organization. The movement velocities of animals are proportional to the density gradients of specific cues emitted by individuals of the antagonistic species (pheromones, exometabolites or mechanical waves of the media, e.g., sound). These cues play a role of taxis stimuli: prey attract predators, while predators repel prey. Depending on the nature and the properties of the movement stimulus we propose using either a simplified individual-based model, a continuous taxis pursuit-evasion system, or a little more detailed 'hybrid' approach that combines simulation of the individual movements with the continuous model describing diffusion and decay of the stimuli in an explicit way. These can be used to improve movement models for many species, including large marine predators.

  6. Rule base system in developing groundwater pollution expert system: predicting model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mongkon Ta-oun; Mohamed Daud; Mohd Zohadie Bardaie; Shamshuddin Jusop

    2000-01-01

    New techniques are now available for use in the protection of the environment. One of these techniques is the use of expert system for prediction groundwater pollution potential. Groundwater Pollution Expert system (GWPES) rules are a collection of principles and procedures used to know the comprehension of groundwater pollution prediction. The rules of groundwater pollution expert system in the form of questions, choice, radio-box, slide rule, button or frame are translated in to IF-THEN rule. The rules including of variables, types, domains and descriptions were used by the function of wxCLIPS (C Language Integrate Production System) expert system shell. (author)

  7. Biphilic Surfaces for Enhanced Water Collection from Humid Air

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benkoski, Jason; Gerasopoulos, Konstantinos; Luedeman, William

    Surface wettability plays an important role in water recovery, distillation, dehumidification, and heat transfer. The efficiency of each process depends on the rate of droplet nucleation, droplet growth, and mass transfer. Unfortunately, hydrophilic surfaces are good at nucleation but poor at shedding. Hydrophobic surfaces are the reverse. Many plants and animals overcome this tradeoff through biphilic surfaces with patterned wettability. For example, the Stenocara beetle uses hydrophilic patches on a superhydrophobic background to collect fog from air. Cribellate spiders similarly collect fog on their webs through periodic spindle-knot structures. In this study, we investigate the effects of wettability patterns on the rate of water collection from humid air. The steady state rate of water collection per unit area is measured as a function of undercooling, angle of inclination, water contact angle, hydrophilic patch size, patch spacing, area fraction, and patch height relative to the hydrophobic background. We then model each pattern by comparing the potential and kinetic energy of a droplet as it rolls downwards at a fixed angle. The results indicate that the design rules for collecting fog differ from those for condensation from humid air. The authors gratefully acknowledge the Office of Naval Research for financial support through Grant Number N00014-15-1-2107.

  8. Does Bertrand's rule apply to macronutrients?

    OpenAIRE

    Raubenheimer, D; Lee, K.P; Simpson, S.J

    2005-01-01

    It has been known for over a century that the dose–response curve for many micronutrients is non-monotonic, having an initial stage of increasing benefits with increased intake, followed by increasing costs as excesses become toxic. This phenomenon, termed Bertrand's rule, is widely assumed not to apply to caloric macronutrients. To date this assumption has been safe, owing to the considerable methodological challenges involved in coaxing animals to over-ingest macronutrients in a way that en...

  9. Assessment of listing and categorisation of animal diseases within the framework of the Animal Health Law (Regulation (EU) No 2016/429)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    EFSA Panel on Animal Health and Welfare; More, Simon J.; Bicout, Dominique

    2017-01-01

    A specific concept of strain was developed in order to classify the BTV serotypes ever reported in Europe based on their properties of animal health impact: the genotype, morbidity, mortality, speed of spread, period and geographical area of occurrence were considered as classification parameters...... of the Animal Health Law (AHL), in particular criteria of Article 7, Article 5 on the eligibility of bluetongue to be listed, Article 9 for the categorisation according to disease prevention and control rules as in Annex IV and Article 8 on the list of animal species related to bluetongue. The assessment has...

  10. Rule-Based Storytelling Text-to-Speech (TTS Synthesis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ramli Izzad

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, various real life applications such as talking books, gadgets and humanoid robots have drawn the attention to pursue research in the area of expressive speech synthesis. Speech synthesis is widely used in various applications. However, there is a growing need for an expressive speech synthesis especially for communication and robotic. In this paper, global and local rule are developed to convert neutral to storytelling style speech for the Malay language. In order to generate rules, modification of prosodic parameters such as pitch, intensity, duration, tempo and pauses are considered. Modification of prosodic parameters is examined by performing prosodic analysis on a story collected from an experienced female and male storyteller. The global and local rule is applied in sentence level and synthesized using HNM. Subjective tests are conducted to evaluate the synthesized storytelling speech quality of both rules based on naturalness, intelligibility, and similarity to the original storytelling speech. The results showed that global rule give a better result than local rule

  11. 77 FR 5403 - Conservation of Antarctic Animals and Plants

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-02-03

    ... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 45 CFR Part 670 Conservation of Antarctic Animals and Plants AGENCY: National Science Foundation. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Antarctic Conservation Act of 1978, The National Science Foundation (NSF) is amending its regulations to reflect newly designated...

  12. New DEA rules expand options for controlled substance disposal.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peterson, David M

    2015-03-01

    Prescription drug abuse and overdose are rapidly growing problems in the United States. The United States federal Disposal of Controlled Substances Rule became effective 9 October 2014, implementing the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010 (Disposal Act). These regulations target escalating prescription drug misuse by reducing accumulation of unused controlled substances that may be abused, diverted or accidentally ingested. Clinical areas that can now participate in collecting unused controlled substances include retail pharmacies, hospitals or clinics with an onsite pharmacy, and narcotic treatment programs. Collection methods include placing a controlled substance collection receptacle or instituting a mail-back program. Because prompt onsite destruction of collected items is required of mail-back programs, collection receptacles are more likely to be used in clinical areas. Retail pharmacies and hospitals or clinics with an onsite pharmacy may also place and maintain collection receptacles at long-term care facilities. The Act and Rule are intended to increase controlled substance disposal methods and expand local involvement in collection of unused controlled substances. Potential barriers to participating in controlled substance collection include acquisition of suitable collection receptacles and liners, lack of available space meeting the necessary criteria, lack of employee time for verification and inventory requirements, and program costs.

  13. The Organizational Weapon: Ruling Parties in Authoritarian Regimes

    OpenAIRE

    Meng, Anne

    2016-01-01

    This project examines party building in authoritarian regimes. The overarching puzzle I seek to address is: why are some autocratic ruling parties stronger organizations than others? What explains variation in the institutional capacity of autocratic rule? The collection of three essays in this dissertation outline the strategic logic of party institutionalization, in addition to providing new and original ways in which to measure this key concept of authoritarian party strength. It tests pre...

  14. Visitor interest in zoo animals and the implications for collection planning and zoo education programmes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moss, Andrew; Esson, Maggie

    2010-01-01

    As zoos have sought to further their conservation missions, they have become powerful providers of environmental education. Outside of "formal" education initiatives, such as those designed for school and other organized groups, or structured public talks programmes, much of the learning potential that the zoo has to offer is around the viewing of animals and the response of visitors to them. In this, zoo learning is a very personal construct, develops from the previous knowledge, and experiences and motivations of each individual. In this article, we make the assertion that learning potential, although difficult to quantify, is very much related to the attractiveness of animal species and the interest that visitors show in them. Using standard behaviorist measures of attraction and interest (the proportion of visitors that stop and for how long), we analyzed the relative interest in 40 zoo species held in a modern UK zoo and the variables that are significant in predicting that popularity. Further to this, the suggestion is made that the zoo collection planning process could use such information to make more informed decisions about which species should be housed for their educational value. Taxonomic grouping was found to be the most significant predictor of visitor interest--that is, visitors were far more interested in mammals than any other group--although body size (length), increasing animal activity and whether the species was the primary or "flagship" species in an exhibit or not, were all found to have a significant bearing on visitor interest. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  15. Inverse modeling and animation of growing single-stemmed trees at interactive rates

    Science.gov (United States)

    S. Rudnick; L. Linsen; E.G. McPherson

    2007-01-01

    For city planning purposes, animations of growing trees of several species can be used to deduce which species may best fit a particular environment. The models used for the animation must conform to real measured data. We present an approach for inverse modeling to fit global growth parameters. The model comprises local production rules, which are iteratively and...

  16. VT Vehicle-Animal Collisions - 2006

    Data.gov (United States)

    Vermont Center for Geographic Information — (Link to Metadata) This data (ROADKILL06) describes the locations of vehicle-animal collisions. This shapefile is a collection of collsion information collected by...

  17. Companion Animals. [Information Packet.

    Science.gov (United States)

    National Anti-Vivisection Society, Chicago, IL.

    This collection of articles reprinted from other National Anti-Vivisection Society (NAVS) publications was compiled to educate the public on issues of importance to NAVS concerning companion animals. Topics covered include spaying and neutering, animal safety, pet theft, and the use of cats and dogs in research. The article on spaying and…

  18. A Rules-Based Simulation of Bacterial Turbulence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mikel-Stites, Maxwell; Staples, Anne

    2015-11-01

    In sufficiently dense bacterial populations (>40% bacteria by volume), unusual collective swimming behaviors have been consistently observed, resembling von Karman vortex streets. The source of these collective swimming behavior has yet to be fully determined, and as of yet, no research has been conducted that would define whether or not this behavior is derived predominantly from the properties of the surrounding media, or if it is an emergent behavior as a result of the ``rules'' governing the behavior of individual bacteria. The goal of this research is to ascertain whether or not it is possible to design a simulation that can replicate the qualitative behavior of the densely packed bacterial populations using only behavioral rules to govern the actions of each bacteria, with the physical properties of the media being neglected. The results of the simulation will address whether or not it is possible for the system's overall behavior to be driven exclusively by these rule-based dynamics. In order to examine this, the behavioral simulation was written in MATLAB on a fixed grid, and updated sequentially with the bacterial behavior, including randomized tumbling, gathering and perceptual sub-functions. If the simulation is successful, it will serve as confirmation that it is possible to generate these qualitatively vortex-like behaviors without specific physical media (that the phenomena arises in emergent fashion from behavioral rules), or as evidence that the observed behavior requires some specific set of physical parameters.

  19. 76 FR 54814 - Proposed Collection; Comment Request

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-09-02

    ... Office of Management and Budget (``OMB'') for extension and approval. Rule 30b2-1 (17 CFR 270.30b2-1...'') requires a registered investment company (``fund'') to (1) File a report with the Commission on Form N-CSR... collection of information requirements of rule 30e-1 and Form N-CSR, rather than the rule. The Commission has...

  20. THE GRAMMAR OF DISNEY LONG ANIMATIONS: A STRUCTURALIST READING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vyrna Santosa

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available Treating several animated films as texts, the analysis of this particular genre of entertainment is using structuralist narratology, which is applied to establish a general grammar of Disney long animations by revealing the underlying rules governing the tilm narratives. Discussing the typical characters and actions, the construction of "function", and the significant actions which shape the story, this study reveals the six actant/roles based on the prescribed characterization, three basic patterns of how each actant is related to one another, and the twelve sets of basic arrangement of functions as the single basic structure of all Disney long animations. This study proves how loyal and consistent the creators of Disney long animations are toward the underlying basic structure of the story.

  1. From animals to robots and back reflections on hard problems in the study of cognition a collection in honour of Aaron Sloman

    CERN Document Server

    Petters, Dean; Hogg, David

    2014-01-01

    Cognitive Science is a discipline that brings together research in natural and artificial systems and this is clearly reflected in the diverse contributions to From Animals to Robots and Back: Reflections on Hard Problems in the Study of Cognition. In tribute to Aaron Sloman and his pioneering work in Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence, the editors have collected a unique collection of cross-disciplinary papers that include work on: · intelligent robotics; · philosophy of cognitive science; · emotional research · computational vision; · comparative psychology; and · human-computer interaction. Key themes such as the importance of taking an architectural view in approaching cognition, run through the text. Drawing on the expertize of leading international researchers, contemporary debates in the study of natural and artificial cognition are addressed from complementary and contrasting perspectives with key issues being outlined at various levels of abstraction. From Animals to Robots and Back:...

  2. Vacuum structure and QCD sum rules

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shifman, M.A.

    1992-01-01

    The method of the QCD sum rules was and still is one of the most productive tools in a wide range of problems associated with the hadronic phenomenology. Many heuristic ideas, computational devices, specific formulae which are useful to theorists working not only in hadronic physics, have been accumulated in this method. Some of the results and approaches which have originally been developed in connection with the QCD sum rules can be and are successfully applied in related fields, as supersymmetric gauge theories, nontraditional schemes of quarks and leptons, etc. The amount of literature on these and other more basic problems in hadronic physics has grown enormously in recent years. This volume presents a collection of papers which provide an overview of all basic elements of the sum rule approach and priority has been given to the works which seemed most useful from a pedagogical point of view

  3. Vacuum structure and QCD sum rules

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shifman, M.A.

    1992-01-01

    The method of the QCD sum rules was and still is one of the most productive tools in a wide range of problems associated with the hadronic phenomenology. Many heuristic ideas, computational devices, specific formulae which are useful to theorists working not only in hadronic physics, have been accumulated in this method. Some of the results and approaches which have been originally developed in connection with the QCD sum rules can be and are successfully applied in related fields, such as supersymmetric gauge theories, nontraditional schemes of quarks and leptons, etc. The amount of literature on these and other more basic problems in hadronic physics has grown enormously in recent years. This collection of papers provides an overview of all basic elements of the sum rule approach. Priority has been given to those works which seemed most useful from a pedagogical point of view

  4. Dynamical Modeling of Collective Behavior from Pigeon Flight Data: Flock Cohesion and Dispersion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Xiao-Ke; Small, Michael

    2012-01-01

    Several models of flocking have been promoted based on simulations with qualitatively naturalistic behavior. In this paper we provide the first direct application of computational modeling methods to infer flocking behavior from experimental field data. We show that this approach is able to infer general rules for interaction, or lack of interaction, among members of a flock or, more generally, any community. Using experimental field measurements of homing pigeons in flight we demonstrate the existence of a basic distance dependent attraction/repulsion relationship and show that this rule is sufficient to explain collective behavior observed in nature. Positional data of individuals over time are used as input data to a computational algorithm capable of building complex nonlinear functions that can represent the system behavior. Topological nearest neighbor interactions are considered to characterize the components within this model. The efficacy of this method is demonstrated with simulated noisy data generated from the classical (two dimensional) Vicsek model. When applied to experimental data from homing pigeon flights we show that the more complex three dimensional models are capable of simulating trajectories, as well as exhibiting realistic collective dynamics. The simulations of the reconstructed models are used to extract properties of the collective behavior in pigeons, and how it is affected by changing the initial conditions of the system. Our results demonstrate that this approach may be applied to construct models capable of simulating trajectories and collective dynamics using experimental field measurements of herd movement. From these models, the behavior of the individual agents (animals) may be inferred. PMID:22479176

  5. Dynamical modeling of collective behavior from pigeon flight data: flock cohesion and dispersion.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Graciano Dieck Kattas

    Full Text Available Several models of flocking have been promoted based on simulations with qualitatively naturalistic behavior. In this paper we provide the first direct application of computational modeling methods to infer flocking behavior from experimental field data. We show that this approach is able to infer general rules for interaction, or lack of interaction, among members of a flock or, more generally, any community. Using experimental field measurements of homing pigeons in flight we demonstrate the existence of a basic distance dependent attraction/repulsion relationship and show that this rule is sufficient to explain collective behavior observed in nature. Positional data of individuals over time are used as input data to a computational algorithm capable of building complex nonlinear functions that can represent the system behavior. Topological nearest neighbor interactions are considered to characterize the components within this model. The efficacy of this method is demonstrated with simulated noisy data generated from the classical (two dimensional Vicsek model. When applied to experimental data from homing pigeon flights we show that the more complex three dimensional models are capable of simulating trajectories, as well as exhibiting realistic collective dynamics. The simulations of the reconstructed models are used to extract properties of the collective behavior in pigeons, and how it is affected by changing the initial conditions of the system. Our results demonstrate that this approach may be applied to construct models capable of simulating trajectories and collective dynamics using experimental field measurements of herd movement. From these models, the behavior of the individual agents (animals may be inferred.

  6. Animal health in organic livestock production systems: a review

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kijlstra, A.; Eijck, I.A.J.M.

    2006-01-01

    Organic livestock production is a means of food production with a large number of rules directed towards a high status of animal welfare, care for the environment, restricted use of medical drugs and the production of a healthy product without residues (pesticides or medical drugs). The intentions

  7. People are Conditional Rule Followers : Preprints of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods Bonn 2017/9

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    P.T.M. Desmet (Pieter); C.W. Engel (Christoph)

    2017-01-01

    textabstractExperimental participants are more likely to follow an arbitrary rule the more of their peers do so as well. The difference between unconditional and conditional rule following is most pronounced for individuals who follow few rules unconditionally.

  8. Computer Animation Based on Particle Methods

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rafal Wcislo

    1999-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper presents the main issues of a computer animation of a set of elastic macroscopic objects based on the particle method. The main assumption of the generated animations is to achieve very realistic movements in a scene observed on the computer display. The objects (solid bodies interact mechanically with each other, The movements and deformations of solids are calculated using the particle method. Phenomena connected with the behaviour of solids in the gravitational field, their defomtations caused by collisions and interactions with the optional liquid medium are simulated. The simulation ofthe liquid is performed using the cellular automata method. The paper presents both simulation schemes (particle method and cellular automata rules an the method of combining them in the single animation program. ln order to speed up the execution of the program the parallel version based on the network of workstation was developed. The paper describes the methods of the parallelization and it considers problems of load-balancing, collision detection, process synchronization and distributed control of the animation.

  9. Nasonia Parasitic Wasps Escape from Haller's Rule by Diphasic, Partially Isometric Brain-Body Size Scaling and Selective Neuropil Adaptations

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Groothuis, Jitte; Smid, Hans M.

    2017-01-01

    Haller's rule states that brains scale allometrically with body size in all animals, meaning that relative brain size increases with decreasing body size. This rule applies both on inter- and intraspecific comparisons. Only 1 species, the extremely small parasitic wasp Trichogramma evanescens, is

  10. A sum rule description of giant resonances at finite temperature

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meyer, J.; Quentin, P.; Brack, M.

    1983-01-01

    A generalization of the sum rule approach to collective motion at finite temperature is presented. The m 1 and msub(-1) sum rules for the isovector dipole and the isoscalar monopole electric modes have been evaluated with the modified SkM force for the 208 Pb nucleus. The variation of the resulting giant resonance energies with temperature is discussed. (orig.)

  11. 21 CFR 58.43 - Animal care facilities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... testing facility shall have a sufficient number of animal rooms or areas, as needed, to assure proper: (1... (4) routine or specialized housing of animals. (b) A testing facility shall have a number of animal... shall exist for the collection and disposal of all animal waste and refuse or for safe sanitary storage...

  12. Inferring the rules of social interaction in migrating caribou.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torney, Colin J; Lamont, Myles; Debell, Leon; Angohiatok, Ryan J; Leclerc, Lisa-Marie; Berdahl, Andrew M

    2018-05-19

    Social interactions are a significant factor that influence the decision-making of species ranging from humans to bacteria. In the context of animal migration, social interactions may lead to improved decision-making, greater ability to respond to environmental cues, and the cultural transmission of optimal routes. Despite their significance, the precise nature of social interactions in migrating species remains largely unknown. Here we deploy unmanned aerial systems to collect aerial footage of caribou as they undertake their migration from Victoria Island to mainland Canada. Through a Bayesian analysis of trajectories we reveal the fine-scale interaction rules of migrating caribou and show they are attracted to one another and copy directional choices of neighbours, but do not interact through clearly defined metric or topological interaction ranges. By explicitly considering the role of social information on movement decisions we construct a map of near neighbour influence that quantifies the nature of information flow in these herds. These results will inform more realistic, mechanism-based models of migration in caribou and other social ungulates, leading to better predictions of spatial use patterns and responses to changing environmental conditions. Moreover, we anticipate that the protocol we developed here will be broadly applicable to study social behaviour in a wide range of migratory and non-migratory taxa.This article is part of the theme issue 'Collective movement ecology'. © 2018 The Authors.

  13. Business rules for creating process flexibility : Mapping RIF rules and BDI rules

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gong, Y.; Overbeek, S.J.; Janssen, M.

    2011-01-01

    Business rules and software agents can be used for creating flexible business processes. The Rule Interchange Format (RIF) is a new W3C recommendation standard for exchanging rules among disparate systems. Yet, the impact that the introduction of RIF has on the design of flexible business processes

  14. 76 FR 56823 - Proposed Collection; Comment Request

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-09-14

    ... forth several information collection requirements. Rule 6e-2 provides a separate account with an... the collection of information on respondents, including through the use of automated collection..., Copies Available From: Securities and Exchange Commission, Office of Investor Education and Advocacy...

  15. Rule-Based Event Processing and Reaction Rules

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paschke, Adrian; Kozlenkov, Alexander

    Reaction rules and event processing technologies play a key role in making business and IT / Internet infrastructures more agile and active. While event processing is concerned with detecting events from large event clouds or streams in almost real-time, reaction rules are concerned with the invocation of actions in response to events and actionable situations. They state the conditions under which actions must be taken. In the last decades various reaction rule and event processing approaches have been developed, which for the most part have been advanced separately. In this paper we survey reaction rule approaches and rule-based event processing systems and languages.

  16. Children and their 4-H animal projects: How children use science in agricultural activity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Emo, Kenneth Roy

    Many children are introduced to science through informal educational programs. 4-H, an educational youth program, has a history of introducing scientific practices into agriculture. The purpose of this ethnographically-driven case study is to examine how science informs the actions of children raising market animals in a 4-H project. For two years the researcher collected data on 4-H children with market animal projects. Observations, interviews, and artifacts gathered are interpreted using the framework of activity theory. This study provides evidence for how the context of an activity system influences individual actions. Rules developed by the organization guide the actions of children to incorporate physical and psychological tools of science into their project to achieve the object: producing animals of proper weight and quality to be competitive in the county fair. Children learn the necessary actions from a community of practitioners through which expertise is distributed. Children's learning is demonstrated by the way their participation in their project changes with time, from receiving assistance from others to developing expertise in which they provide assistance to others. The strength of this educational experience is how children apply specific tools of science in ways that provide meaning and relevancy to their 4-H activity.

  17. Mechanisms of rule acquisition and rule following in inductive reasoning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crescentini, Cristiano; Seyed-Allaei, Shima; De Pisapia, Nicola; Jovicich, Jorge; Amati, Daniele; Shallice, Tim

    2011-05-25

    Despite the recent interest in the neuroanatomy of inductive reasoning processes, the regional specificity within prefrontal cortex (PFC) for the different mechanisms involved in induction tasks remains to be determined. In this study, we used fMRI to investigate the contribution of PFC regions to rule acquisition (rule search and rule discovery) and rule following. Twenty-six healthy young adult participants were presented with a series of images of cards, each consisting of a set of circles numbered in sequence with one colored blue. Participants had to predict the position of the blue circle on the next card. The rules that had to be acquired pertained to the relationship among succeeding stimuli. Responses given by subjects were categorized in a series of phases either tapping rule acquisition (responses given up to and including rule discovery) or rule following (correct responses after rule acquisition). Mid-dorsolateral PFC (mid-DLPFC) was active during rule search and remained active until successful rule acquisition. By contrast, rule following was associated with activation in temporal, motor, and medial/anterior prefrontal cortex. Moreover, frontopolar cortex (FPC) was active throughout the rule acquisition and rule following phases before a rule became familiar. We attributed activation in mid-DLPFC to hypothesis generation and in FPC to integration of multiple separate inferences. The present study provides evidence that brain activation during inductive reasoning involves a complex network of frontal processes and that different subregions respond during rule acquisition and rule following phases.

  18. Why Antibiotic Use Data in Animals Needs to Be Collected and How This Can Be Facilitated

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jorge Pinto Ferreira

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Antimicrobial resistance (AMR is currently recognized as one of the most significant threats to public health worldwide. It is a phenomenon that highlights the interconnectivity between human and animal health since any use of antibiotics in humans can eventually lead to resistance in the microbial populations colonizing animals and vice versa. In recent years, our understanding of the relationship between the use of antibiotics and the consequent development of resistance in microbial populations to these (or similar antibiotics has increased. Having accurate data, ideally in a digital format, on the use of antibiotics are therefore of paramount importance. Current obstacles to having such data include, among others, the lack of consensual and harmonized technical methods and units that represent antimicrobial use (AMU, the insufficient incentives to motivate primary producers to report their use of antibiotics, and the inexistence of user-friendly technologies for the collection of such data, despite the generalized use of Internet and electronic devices. Further development and adoption of the units proposed by the European Surveillance of Veterinary Antimicrobial Consumption will contribute to the long-desired harmonization. Rewarding the animal producers (via tax incentives, for example that use less antibiotics and the development of an app, to which producers could orally report the used antibiotics are among the solutions that could help to overcome the current challenges. I here also argue that having mandatory electronic veterinary prescriptions and awareness campaings, funded via public–private partnerships, should also be considered as methods that could help for the control of societal problems like AMR.

  19. 78 FR 77173 - Proposed Collection; Comment Request

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-12-20

    ... because they effect transactions in securities futures products. The information obtained from Rule 17a-13... time complying with the rule, given that they do not do a public securities business or do not hold... SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Proposed Collection; Comment Request Upon Written Request...

  20. 76 FR 25538 - Criteria Used To Order Administrative Detention of Food for Human or Animal Consumption

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-05-05

    ... Consumption AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Interim final rule; request for comments... food for human or animal consumption. As required by the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), FDA... provide procedures for administrative detention of food for human or animal consumption under the...

  1. Globalizing animal care and use: making the dream a reality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bielitzki, J. T.

    1999-01-01

    What will drive the globalization of animal care in the 21st century? Will targeted concerns from privately funded groups be the motivating factors? Will the threat of disease, and the concomitant hue and cry from a threatened public, be responsible for bringing nations together to collaborate on rules and regulations? The author, who is responsible for the animal use protocols on NASA's space station, explains why globalization on Planet Earth may be guided by what happens in outer space.

  2. Phonological reduplication in sign language: rules rule

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Iris eBerent

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Productivity—the hallmark of linguistic competence—is typically attributed to algebraic rules that support broad generalizations. Past research on spoken language has documented such generalizations in both adults and infants. But whether algebraic rules form part of the linguistic competence of signers remains unknown. To address this question, here we gauge the generalization afforded by American Sign Language (ASL. As a case study, we examine reduplication (X→XX—a rule that, inter alia, generates ASL nouns from verbs. If signers encode this rule, then they should freely extend it to novel syllables, including ones with features that are unattested in ASL. And since reduplicated disyllables are preferred in ASL, such rule should favor novel reduplicated signs. Novel reduplicated signs should thus be preferred to nonreduplicative controls (in rating, and consequently, such stimuli should also be harder to classify as nonsigns (in the lexical decision task. The results of four experiments support this prediction. These findings suggest that the phonological knowledge of signers includes powerful algebraic rules. The convergence between these conclusions and previous evidence for phonological rules in spoken language suggests that the architecture of the phonological mind is partly amodal.

  3. Individual animals and other data collected using visual observations and other instruments from AIRCRAFT in the Arctic Ocean from 02 August 1979 to 18 October 1982 (NODC Accession 8400149)

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Individual animals and other data were collected using visual observations and other instruments in the Arctic Ocean by AIRCRAFT. Data were collected from 02 August...

  4. Collecting Societies, Competition and the Services Directive

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Riis, Thomas

    2011-01-01

    the harms to cultural diversity. In addition to the competition law complications, the Services Directive puts significant restrictions on the member states to adopt or maintain national rules for collecting societies and that creates an urgent need for adopting a framework directive for collecting......The market for collective management of copyrights in the EU is in transition and the collecting societies are facing a number of challenges primarily based on the EU rules on competition and the freedom to provide services. Some of the major right holders are withdrawing their rights from...... the system of reciprocal representation agreements which fragments the repertoire. This is partly due to the market evolution and the emergence of new business models but also promoted by the European Commission initiatives intended to introduce a certain degree of competition in the collective management...

  5. 26 CFR 301.6511(e)-1 - Special rules applicable to manufactured sugar.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 26 Internal Revenue 18 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Special rules applicable to manufactured sugar... Assessment and Collection § 301.6511(e)-1 Special rules applicable to manufactured sugar. (a) Use as... the person entitled thereto. Such right accrues as of the date the manufactured sugar, or article...

  6. 18 CFR 385.104 - Rule of construction (Rule 104).

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... Definitions § 385.104 Rule of construction (Rule 104). To the extent that the text of a rule is inconsistent with its caption, the text of the rule controls. [Order 376, 49 FR 21705, May 23, 1984] ...

  7. 75 FR 51077 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Information From...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-08-18

    ..., dairy products, game meat, game meat products, animal casings, gelatin, and collagen to the European... animal-derived products (e.g., shell eggs, dairy products, game meat, game meat products, animal casings... this collection of information include U.S. producers of shell eggs, dairy products, game meat, game...

  8. Generation of facial expressions from emotion using a fuzzy rule based system

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bui, T.D.; Heylen, Dirk K.J.; Poel, Mannes; Nijholt, Antinus; Stumptner, Markus; Corbett, Dan; Brooks, Mike

    2001-01-01

    We propose a fuzzy rule-based system to map representations of the emotional state of an animated agent onto muscle contraction values for the appropriate facial expressions. Our implementation pays special attention to the way in which continuous changes in the intensity of emotions can be

  9. FeynRules - Feynman rules made easy

    OpenAIRE

    Christensen, Neil D.; Duhr, Claude

    2008-01-01

    In this paper we present FeynRules, a new Mathematica package that facilitates the implementation of new particle physics models. After the user implements the basic model information (e.g. particle content, parameters and Lagrangian), FeynRules derives the Feynman rules and stores them in a generic form suitable for translation to any Feynman diagram calculation program. The model can then be translated to the format specific to a particular Feynman diagram calculator via F...

  10. Forensic Entomology in Animal Cruelty Cases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brundage, A; Byrd, J H

    2016-09-01

    Forensic entomology can be useful to the veterinary professional in cases of animal cruelty. A main application of forensic entomology is to determine the minimum postmortem interval by estimating the time of insect colonization, based on knowledge of the rate of development of pioneer colonizers and on insect species succession during decomposition of animal remains. Since insect development is temperature dependent, these estimates require documentation of the environmental conditions, including ambient temperature. It can also aid in the detection and recognition of wounds, as well as estimate the timing of periods of neglect. Knowledge of the geographic distribution of insects that colonize animal remains may suggest that there has been movement or concealment of the carcass or can create associations between a suspect, a victim, and a crime scene. In some instances, it can aid in the detection of drugs or toxins within decomposed or skeletonized remains. During animal cruelty investigations, it may become the responsibility of the veterinary professional to document and collect entomological evidence from live animals or during the necropsy. The applications of forensic entomology are discussed. A protocol is described for documenting and collecting entomological evidence at the scene and during the necropsy, with additional emphasis on recording geographic location, meteorological data, and collection and preservation of insect specimens. © The Author(s) 2016.

  11. The island rule in the Brazilian frog Phyllodytes luteolus (Anura: Hylidae: incipient gigantism?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marcio Mageski

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT The island rule suggests that, when mainland animals are isolated on islands, large animals tend to become smaller, while small animals tend to become larger. A small frog in eastern Brazil, Phyllodytes luteolus (Wied-Neuwied, 1824, is widely distributed in association with bromeliads. At the end of the last glaciation, parts of the mainland became islands due to rising sea levels, thereby isolating frog populations on these islands. If the island rule holds, we predicted that frogs on islands would tend to be larger than frogs on the mainland. We compared sizes (weight and length of 30 randomly selected male frogs from the mainland with 30 from an island in the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil. We also sampled population density on the island and mainland because concurrent with changing sizes, depending on the causal relationship, density may also change. As predicted, island frogs tended to be larger (both in snout-vent length and weight and were much more abundant. While not specifically addressed in this study, the absence of predators and interspecific competitors may explain both of these trends.

  12. Development and Characterization of a Multiplexed RT-PCR Species Specific Assay for Bovine and one for Porcine Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus Rule-Out Supplemental Materials

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Smith, S; Danganan, L; Tammero, L; Lenhoff, R; Naraghi-arani, P; Hindson, B

    2007-08-06

    Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), in collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS) has developed advanced rapid diagnostics that may be used within the National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN), the National Veterinary Services Laboratory (Ames, Iowa) and the Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC). This effort has the potential to improve our nation's ability to discriminate between foreign animal diseases and those that are endemic using a single assay, thereby increasing our ability to protect animal populations of high economic importance in the United States. Under 2005 DHS funding we have developed multiplexed (MUX) nucleic-acid-based PCR assays that combine foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) detection with rule-out tests for two other foreign animal diseases Vesicular Exanthema of Swine (VESV) and Swine Vesicular Disease (SVD) and four other domestic viral diseases Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus (BVDV), Bovine Herpes Virus 1 (BHV-1 or Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitus IBR), Bluetongue virus (BTV) and Parapox virus complex (which includes Bovine Papular Stomatitis Virus BPSV, Orf of sheep, and Pseudocowpox). Under 2006 funding we have developed a Multiplexed PCR [MUX] porcine assay for detection of FMDV with rule out tests for VESV and SVD foreign animal diseases in addition to one other domestic vesicular animal disease vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) and one domestic animal disease of swine porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS). We have also developed a MUX bovine assay for detection of FMDV with rule out tests for the two bovine foreign animal diseases malignant catarrhal fever (MCF), rinderpest virus (RPV) and the domestic diseases vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV), infectious bovine rhinotracheitus virus (BHV-1), bluetongue virus (BTV), and the Parapox

  13. Biologic History and the Cardinal Rule of Life

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schopf, J. W.

    2004-12-01

    ,000 Ma ago, they first evolved slowly -- following the Cardinal Rule of Life -- until ˜1,000 Ma ago when sexual reproduction took over. This development markedly speeded the development of new species that could compete, and eventually dominate, in habitats previously owned by their non-sexual prokaryotic ancestors, as evidenced both in the fossil record and by molecular biology-based rRNA phylogenetic trees. The third innovation was cellular differentiation and multicelluarity. Although the "Cambrian Explosion" -- the great radiation of animal life during the Cambrian Period beginning ˜550 Ma ago -- is commonly viewed as reflecting this event, it seems more a continuum than a step-function change. Evolution speeded in the half-billion years between 1,000 Ma ago and the beginning of the Cambrian: phytoplankton gave rise to multicellular seaweeds by ˜850 Ma; and primitive protozoans, present as early as ˜950 Ma, had by ˜600 Ma given rise to soft-bodied multicelled animals. Soon thereafter, animals developed shelly protective armor -- marking the beginning of the Cambrian Period, and thus of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Phanerozoic history of life is familiar to all, from spore-producing to seed-producing to flowering plants, from animals without backbones to fish, land-dwelling vertebrates, then birds and mammals. Plants ("eatees") and animals ("eaters") co-evolved in sequence. Again, life followed the Cardinal Rule, changing little, then evolving rapidly, as new ecologic opportunities became available.

  14. Parasites of domestic and wild animals in South Africa. XLIV. Fleas (Insecta : Siphonaptera : Pulicidae collected from 15 carnivore species

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    I.G. Horak

    2004-11-01

    Full Text Available Fleas were collected from 61 wild carnivores belonging to 13 species in various nature reserves and on farms, two feral domestic cats in a nature reserve and a domestic dog in the city of Johannesburg. Eleven flea species, including two subspecies of one of these, belonging to six genera were recovered. Amongst these only Ctenocephalides felis felis and Ctenocephalides felis strongylus are considered specific parasites of carnivores. The remaining ten species normally infest the prey animals of the various carnivores.

  15. Path-integral quantization of solitons using the zero-mode Feynman rule

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sung Sheng Chang

    1978-01-01

    We propose a direct expansion treatment to quantize solitons without collective coordinates. Feynman's path integral for a free particle subject to an external force is directly used as the generating functional for the zero-frequency mode. The generating functional has no infrared singularity and defines a zero-mode Feynman rule which also gives a correct perturbative expansion for the harmonic-oscillator Green's function by treating the quadratic potential as a perturbation. We use the zero-mode Feynman rule to calculate the energy shift due to the second-order quantum corrections for solitons. Our result agrees with previous predictions using the collective-coordinate method or the method of Goldstone and Jackiw

  16. What do animals learn in artificial grammar studies?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beckers, Gabriël J L; Berwick, Robert C; Okanoya, Kazuo; Bolhuis, Johan J

    2017-10-01

    Artificial grammar learning is a popular paradigm to study syntactic ability in nonhuman animals. Subjects are first trained to recognize strings of tokens that are sequenced according to grammatical rules. Next, to test if recognition depends on grammaticality, subjects are presented with grammar-consistent and grammar-violating test strings, which they should discriminate between. However, simpler cues may underlie discrimination if they are available. Here, we review stimulus design in a sample of studies that use particular sounds as tokens, and that claim or suggest their results demonstrate a form of sequence rule learning. To assess the extent of acoustic similarity between training and test strings, we use four simple measures corresponding to cues that are likely salient. All stimulus sets contain biases in similarity measures such that grammatical test stimuli resemble training stimuli acoustically more than do non-grammatical test stimuli. These biases may contribute to response behaviour, reducing the strength of grammatical explanations. We conclude that acoustic confounds are a blind spot in artificial grammar learning studies in nonhuman animals. Copyright © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  17. The Rule of Saint Basil the Great

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Piotr Pietrow

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available The rules of monasticism were collected and published in a single work entitled Asketikon by Saint Basil the Great. It is arranged in the form of questions and answers to create one coherent work. It has two different publications.The first publication named The Small Asketikon dates to 370-370. It is the fruit of the Saint’s work among Pontic communities and consists of 203 questions and answers. The orignial Greek manuscript has not survived and it is available only in two translations: the Latin Rufin and fragments in Syrian language. The second publication named The Great Asketikon appeard in about 377 and presents the most mature step of cenobitic monasticismin Basil’s elaboration. The Great Asketikon was created by adding new questions to The Small Asketikon and consists of two parts called the The Longer Rules and The Shorter Rules. The Longer Rules are primarily a set of questions and answers. It includes a wide range of rules and norms of the overall life in community. It refers to the fundamental rules of spirituality, such as love, sacrifice, obedience and rudimental problems connected withcommunity organization, cenobitic monasticism and the role of the superior, work and prayer. The second part of The Great Asketikon consists of shorter rules. Two publications are known: the first one originated in Pont andincludes 286 questions and answers and second arose in Cezarei and includes 318 questions and answers. In this work, the Hierarch explains in detail issues regarding community life and solves difficult problems connected with conscience. He writes about behavior towards brothers and explains the significance of weaknesses and virtues.

  18. Trouton’s Rule for Vapor Sorption in Solids

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ard-Jan de Jong

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Hygroscopic salts exhibiting fast and reversible hydration are promising systems for seasonal heat storage, providing the possibility of storing excess solar energy from the warm season for later use during the cold season. For heat storage, the salt is dehydrated with the available heat, and for heat recovery, the salt is rehydrated. There are many salt hydration transitions and for selecting the most suited ones with respect to the envisaged use cases, temperatures of dehydration and rehydration are needed, as well as the heat storage density. Estimation of these properties requires entropy and enthalpy changes of the transitions. Collections of hydration entropies and enthalpies have been published, but not all data seems reliable for various reasons, and it is often hard to access original sources and experimental conditions. For the necessary data validation, we propose the use of Trouton’s rule, known to hold for the evaporation of classes of fluids. Besides data validation, Trouton’s rule is useful for predicting heat storage densities and vapor pressures when only the transition enthalpy is known. We discuss the validity of Trouton’s rule for salt hydration and ammoniation transitions by theoretical and experimental evidence on the available extensive data collections.

  19. Is the ‘n = 30 rule of thumb’ of ecological field studies reliable? A call for greater attention to the variability in our data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martínez–Abraín, A.

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available A common practice of experimental design in field ecology, which relies on the Central Limit Theorem, is the use of the ‘n = 30 rule of thumb’. I show here that papers published in Animal Biodiversity and Conservation during the period 2010–2013 adjust to this rule. Samples collected around this relatively small size have the advantage of coupling statistically–significant results with large effect sizes, which is positive because field researchers are commonly interested in large ecological effects. However, the power to detect a large effect size depends not only on sample size but, importantly, also on between–population variability. By means of a hypothetical example, I show here that the statistical power is little affected by small–medium variance changes between populations. However, power decreases abruptly beyond a certain threshold, which I identify roughly around a five–fold difference in variance between populations. Hence, researchers should explore variance profiles of their study populations to make sure beforehand that their study populations lies within the safe zone to use the ‘n = 30 rule of thumb’. Otherwise, sample size should be increased beyond 30, even to detect large effect sizes.

  20. New Safety rules

    CERN Multimedia

    Safety Commission

    2008-01-01

    The revision of CERN Safety rules is in progress and the following new Safety rules have been issued on 15-04-2008: Safety Procedure SP-R1 Establishing, Updating and Publishing CERN Safety rules: http://cern.ch/safety-rules/SP-R1.htm; Safety Regulation SR-S Smoking at CERN: http://cern.ch/safety-rules/SR-S.htm; Safety Regulation SR-M Mechanical Equipment: http://cern.ch/safety-rules/SR-M.htm; General Safety Instruction GSI-M1 Standard Lifting Equipment: http://cern.ch/safety-rules/GSI-M1.htm; General Safety Instruction GSI-M2 Standard Pressure Equipment: http://cern.ch/safety-rules/GSI-M2.htm; General Safety Instruction GSI-M3 Special Mechanical Equipment: http://cern.ch/safety-rules/GSI-M3.htm. These documents apply to all persons under the Director General’s authority. All Safety rules are available at the web page: http://www.cern.ch/safety-rules The Safety Commission

  1. Greenhouse Gases and Animal Agriculture

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Takahashi, J. (ed.) [Department of Animal Science, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, Hokkaido (Japan); Young, B.A. (ed.) [The University of Queensland, Gatton, Queensland 4343 (Australia)

    2002-07-01

    Reports from interdisciplinary areas including microbiology, biochemistry, animal nutrition, agricultural engineering and economics are integrated in this proceedings. The major theme of this book is environmental preservation by controlling release of undesirable greenhouse gases to realize the sustainable development of animal agriculture. Technology exists for the effective collection of methane generated from anaerobic fermentation of animal effluent and its use as a biomass energy source. Fossil fuel consumption can be reduced and there can be increased use of locally available energy sources. In addition, promoting environmentally-conscious agriculture which does not rely on the chemical fertilizer can be realized by effective use of animal manure and compost products.

  2. 78 FR 1214 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection: Comment Request

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-08

    ... OMB approval of the information collections contained in regulations found at 45 CFR Part 60 governing... the HIPDB was delegated by the HHS Office of the Inspector General to HRSA. This rule [[Page 1215..., to identify and discipline those who engage in unprofessional behavior; and to restrict the ability...

  3. 78 FR 32659 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-05-31

    ... other forms of information technology to minimize the information collection burden. 1. Type of... Disclosures under MHPAEA; Use: The Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity... Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (75 FR 5410, February 2, 2010) set forth rules for...

  4. The Effect of Steps to Promote Higher Levels of Farm Animal Welfare across the EU. Societal versus Animal Scientists' Perceptions of Animal Welfare.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Averós, Xavier; Aparicio, Miguel A; Ferrari, Paolo; Guy, Jonathan H; Hubbard, Carmen; Schmid, Otto; Ilieski, Vlatko; Spoolder, Hans A M

    2013-08-14

    Information about animal welfare standards and initiatives from eight European countries was collected, grouped, and compared to EU welfare standards to detect those aspects beyond minimum welfare levels demanded by EU welfare legislation. Literature was reviewed to determine the scientific relevance of standards and initiatives, and those aspects going beyond minimum EU standards. Standards and initiatives were assessed to determine their strengths and weaknesses regarding animal welfare. Attitudes of stakeholders in the improvement of animal welfare were determined through a Policy Delphi exercise. Social perception of animal welfare, economic implications of upraising welfare levels, and differences between countries were considered. Literature review revealed that on-farm space allowance, climate control, and environmental enrichment are relevant for all animal categories. Experts' assessment revealed that on-farm prevention of thermal stress, air quality, and races and passageways' design were not sufficiently included. Stakeholders considered that housing conditions are particularly relevant regarding animal welfare, and that animal-based and farm-level indicators are fundamental to monitor the progress of animal welfare. The most notable differences between what society offers and what farm animals are likely to need are related to transportation and space availability, with economic constraints being the most plausible explanation.

  5. Evolution and inheritance of animal mitochondrial DNA: rules and exceptions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ladoukakis, Emmanuel D; Zouros, Eleftherios

    2017-12-01

    Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has been studied intensely for "its own" merit. Its role for the function of the cell and the organism remains a fertile field, its origin and evolution is an indispensable part of the evolution of life and its interaction with the nuclear DNA is among the most important cases of genome synergism and co-evolution. Also, mtDNA was proven one of the most useful tools in population genetics and molecular phylogenetics. In this article we focus on animal mtDNA and discuss briefly how our views about its structure, function and transmission have changed, how these changes affect the information we have accumulated through its use in the fields of phylogeny and population structure and what are the most important questions that remain open for future research.

  6. MPEG-4-based 2D facial animation for mobile devices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riegel, Thomas B.

    2005-03-01

    The enormous spread of mobile computing devices (e.g. PDA, cellular phone, palmtop, etc.) emphasizes scalable applications, since users like to run their favorite programs on the terminal they operate at that moment. Therefore appliances are of interest, which can be adapted to the hardware realities without loosing a lot of their functionalities. A good example for this is "Facial Animation," which offers an interesting way to achieve such "scalability." By employing MPEG-4, which provides an own profile for facial animation, a solution for low power terminals including mobile phones is demonstrated. From the generic 3D MPEG-4 face a specific 2D head model is derived, which consists primarily of a portrait image superposed by a suited warping mesh and adapted 2D animation rules. Thus the animation process of MPEG-4 need not be changed and standard compliant facial animation parameters can be used to displace the vertices of the mesh and warp the underlying image accordingly.

  7. The influence of collective behaviour on pacing in endurance competitions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrew eRenfree

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available A number of theoretical models have been proposed to explain pacing strategies in individual competitive endurance events. These have typically related to internal regulatory processes informing the making of decisions relating to muscular work rate. Despite a substantial body of research investigating the influence of collective group dynamics on individual behaviours in various animal species, this issue has not been comprehensively studied in individual athletic events. This is surprising given that athletes directly compete in close proximity to one another, and that collective behaviour has also been observed in other human environments. Whilst reasons for adopting collective behaviour are not fully understood, it is thought to result from individual agents following simple local rules resulting in seemingly complex large systems acting to confer some biological advantage to the collective as a whole. Although such collective behaviours may generally be beneficial, endurance events are complicated by the fact that increasing levels of physiological disruption as activity progresses may compromise the ability of individuals to continue to interact with other group members. This could result in early fatigue and relative underperformance due to suboptimal utilisation of physiological resources by some athletes. Alternatively, engagement with a collective behaviour may benefit all due to a reduction in the complexity of decisions to be made and a subsequent reduction in cognitive loading and mental fatigue. This paper seeks evidence for collective behaviour in previously published analyses of pacing behaviour and proposes mechanisms through which it could potentially be either beneficial, or detrimental to individual performance.

  8. Model of Collective Fish Behavior with Hydrodynamic Interactions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Filella, Audrey; Nadal, François; Sire, Clément; Kanso, Eva; Eloy, Christophe

    2018-05-01

    Fish schooling is often modeled with self-propelled particles subject to phenomenological behavioral rules. Although fish are known to sense and exploit flow features, these models usually neglect hydrodynamics. Here, we propose a novel model that couples behavioral rules with far-field hydrodynamic interactions. We show that (1) a new "collective turning" phase emerges, (2) on average, individuals swim faster thanks to the fluid, and (3) the flow enhances behavioral noise. The results of this model suggest that hydrodynamic effects should be considered to fully understand the collective dynamics of fish.

  9. 21 CFR 510.106 - Labeling of antibiotic and antibiotic-containing drugs intended for use in milk-producing animals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 21 Food and Drugs 6 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Labeling of antibiotic and antibiotic-containing... ANIMAL DRUGS Specific Administrative Rulings and Decisions § 510.106 Labeling of antibiotic and antibiotic-containing drugs intended for use in milk-producing animals. Whenever the labeling of an...

  10. Antibiotic resistance in animals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barton, Mary D; Pratt, Rachael; Hart, Wendy S

    2003-01-01

    There is currently no systematic surveillance or monitoring of antibiotic resistance in Australian animals. Registration of antibiotics for use in animals is tightly controlled and has been very conservative. Fluoroquinolones have not been registered for use in food producing animals and other products have been removed from the market because of human health concerns. In the late 1970s, the Animal Health Committee coordinated a survey of resistance in Salmonella and Escherichia coli isolates from cattle, pigs and poultry and in bovine Staphylococcus aureus. Some additional information is available from published case reports. In samples collected prior to the withdrawal of avoparcin from the market, no vancomycin resistant Enterococcus faecium or Enterococcus faecalis were detected in samples collected from pigs, whereas some vanA enterococci, including E. faecium and E. faecalis, were found in chickens. No vanB enterococci were detected in either species. Virginiamycin resistance was common in both pig and poultry isolates. Multiple resistance was common in E. coli and salmonellae isolates. No fluoroquinolone resistance was found in salmonellae, E. coli or Campylobacter. Beta-lactamase production is common in isolates from bovine mastitis, but no methicillin resistance has been detected. However, methicillin resistance has been reported in canine isolates of Staphylococcus intermedius and extended spectrum beta-lactamase producing E. coli has been found in dogs.

  11. Participatory evaluation of delivery of animal health care services by community animal health workers in Karamoja region of Uganda.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bugeza, James; Kankya, Clovice; Muleme, James; Akandinda, Ann; Sserugga, Joseph; Nantima, Noelina; Okori, Edward; Odoch, Terence

    2017-01-01

    An evaluation exercise was carried out to assess the performance of Community Animal Health Workers (CAHWs) in the delivery of animal health care services in Karamoja region, identify capacity gaps and recommend remedial measures. Participatory methods were used to design data collection tools. Questionnaires were administered to 204 CAHWs, 215 farmers and 7 District Veterinary Officers (DVOs) to collect quantitative data. Seven DVOs and 1 Non Government Organization (NGO) representative were interviewed as key informants and one focus group discussion was conducted with a farmer group in Nakapiripirit to collect qualitative data. Questionnaire data was analyzed using SPSS version 19. Key messages from interviews and the focus group discussion were recorded in a notebook and reported verbatim. 70% of the farmers revealed that CAHWs are the most readily available animal health care service providers in their respective villages. CAHWs were instrumental in treatment of sick animals, disease surveillance, control of external parasites, animal production, vaccination, reporting, animal identification, and performing minor surgeries. Regarding their overall performance 88.8%(191/215) of the farmers said they were impressed. The main challenges faced by the CAHWs were inadequate facilitation, lack of tools and equipments, unwillingness of government to integrate them into the formal extension system, poor information flow, limited technical capacity to diagnose diseases, unwillingness of farmers to pay for services and sustainability issues. CAHWs remain the main source of animal health care services in Karamoja region and their services are largely satisfactory. The technical deficits identified require continuous capacity building programs, close supervision and technical backstopping. For sustainability of animal health care services in the region continuous training and strategic deployment of paraprofessionals that are formally recognised by the traditional civil

  12. Participatory evaluation of delivery of animal health care services by community animal health workers in Karamoja region of Uganda.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    James Bugeza

    Full Text Available An evaluation exercise was carried out to assess the performance of Community Animal Health Workers (CAHWs in the delivery of animal health care services in Karamoja region, identify capacity gaps and recommend remedial measures.Participatory methods were used to design data collection tools. Questionnaires were administered to 204 CAHWs, 215 farmers and 7 District Veterinary Officers (DVOs to collect quantitative data. Seven DVOs and 1 Non Government Organization (NGO representative were interviewed as key informants and one focus group discussion was conducted with a farmer group in Nakapiripirit to collect qualitative data. Questionnaire data was analyzed using SPSS version 19. Key messages from interviews and the focus group discussion were recorded in a notebook and reported verbatim.70% of the farmers revealed that CAHWs are the most readily available animal health care service providers in their respective villages. CAHWs were instrumental in treatment of sick animals, disease surveillance, control of external parasites, animal production, vaccination, reporting, animal identification, and performing minor surgeries. Regarding their overall performance 88.8%(191/215 of the farmers said they were impressed. The main challenges faced by the CAHWs were inadequate facilitation, lack of tools and equipments, unwillingness of government to integrate them into the formal extension system, poor information flow, limited technical capacity to diagnose diseases, unwillingness of farmers to pay for services and sustainability issues.CAHWs remain the main source of animal health care services in Karamoja region and their services are largely satisfactory. The technical deficits identified require continuous capacity building programs, close supervision and technical backstopping. For sustainability of animal health care services in the region continuous training and strategic deployment of paraprofessionals that are formally recognised by the

  13. 75 FR 35853 - Proposed Collection; Comment Request

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-06-23

    ..., Washington, DC 20549-0213. Extension: Rule 15Ba2-1 and Form MSD; SEC File No. 270-0088; OMB Control No. 3235... collection of information provided for in Rule 15Ba2-1 (17 CFR 240.15Ba2-1) and Form MSD (17 CFR 249.1100... bank municipal securities dealer must be filed on Form MSD. The Commission uses the information...

  14. 78 FR 36605 - Proposed Collection; Comment Request

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-06-18

    ..., Washington, DC 20549-0213. Extension: Rule 15Ba2-1 and Form MSD. SEC File No. 270-0088, OMB Control No. 3235... existing collection of information provided for in Rule 15Ba2-1 (17 CFR 240.15Ba2-1) and Form MSD (17 CFR... registration with the Commission by a bank municipal securities dealer must be filed on Form MSD. The...

  15. Making Humanoid Robots More Acceptable Based on the Study of Robot Characters in Animation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fatemeh Maleki

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we take an approach in Humanoid Robots are not considered as robots who resembles human beings in a realistic way of appearance and act but as robots who act and react like human that make them more believable by people. Regarding this approach we will study robot characters in animation movies and discuss what makes some of them to be accepted just like a moving body and what makes some other robot characters to be believable as a living human. The goal of this paper is to create a rule set that describes friendly, socially acceptable, kind, cute... robots and in this study we will review example robots in popular animated movies. The extracted rules and features can be used for making real robots more acceptable.

  16. Exploration of SWRL Rule Bases through Visualization, Paraphrasing, and Categorization of Rules

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hassanpour, Saeed; O'Connor, Martin J.; Das, Amar K.

    Rule bases are increasingly being used as repositories of knowledge content on the Semantic Web. As the size and complexity of these rule bases increases, developers and end users need methods of rule abstraction to facilitate rule management. In this paper, we describe a rule abstraction method for Semantic Web Rule Language (SWRL) rules that is based on lexical analysis and a set of heuristics. Our method results in a tree data structure that we exploit in creating techniques to visualize, paraphrase, and categorize SWRL rules. We evaluate our approach by applying it to several biomedical ontologies that contain SWRL rules, and show how the results reveal rule patterns within the rule base. We have implemented our method as a plug-in tool for Protégé-OWL, the most widely used ontology modeling software for the Semantic Web. Our tool can allow users to rapidly explore content and patterns in SWRL rule bases, enabling their acquisition and management.

  17. Only half right: species with female-biased sexual size dimorphism consistently break Rensch's rule.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thomas J Webb

    2007-09-01

    Full Text Available Most animal species display Sexual Size Dimorphism (SSD: males and females consistently attain different sizes, most frequently with females being larger than males. However the selective mechanisms driving patterns of SSD remain controversial. 'Rensch's rule' proposes a general scaling phenomenon for all taxa, whereby SSD increases with average body size when males are larger than females, and decreases with body size when females are larger than males. Rensch's rule appears to be general in the former case, but there is little evidence for the rule when females are larger then males.Using comprehensive data for 1291 species of birds across 30 families, we find strong support for Rensch's rule in families where males are typically larger than females, but no overall support for the rule in families with female-biased SSD. Reviewing previous studies of a broad range of taxa (arthropods, reptiles, fish and birds showing predominantly female-biased SSD, we conclude that Rensch's conjecture is the exception rather than the rule in such species.The absence of consistent scaling of SSD in taxa with female-biased SSD, the most prevalent direction of dimorphism, calls into question previous general evolutionary explanations for Rensch's rule. We propose that, unlike several other ecological scaling relationships, Rensch's rule does not exist as an independent scaling phenomenon.

  18. Globalization, international trade and animal health: the new roles of OIE.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thiermann, Alejandro B

    2005-02-01

    In order for countries and their stakeholders to maximize the benefits of globalization they must become familiar with, and must adhere to, the rights and obligations set out by the World Trade Organization (WTO) under the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS). For the purpose of trade in animals and animal products, they must also adhere to the standards, guidelines and recommendations established by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). Countries are also encouraged to participate in this standard setting process of the OIE. Only after implementing these requirements and after strengthening the veterinary infrastructures and their surveillance and monitoring systems, will countries be able to fully benefit from these new international trade rules.

  19. Australian road rules

    Science.gov (United States)

    2009-02-01

    *These are national-level rules. Australian Road Rules - 2009 Version, Part 18, Division 1, Rule 300 "Use of Mobile Phones" describes restrictions of mobile phone use while driving. The rule basically states that drivers cannot make or receive calls ...

  20. 75 FR 366 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-05

    ... automotive fuel ratings and comply with the Rule. Industry members, however, incur the cost of procuring fuel...) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (4) ways to... alternative fuel industry members to determine and monitor fuel ratings in the normal course of their business...

  1. Rule Versus the Causality Rule in Insurance Law

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lando, Henrik

    When the Buyer of insurance has negligently kept silent or misrepresented a (material) fact to the Seller, one of two rules will determine the extent to which cover will consequently be reduced. The pro-rata rule lowers cover in proportion to how much the Seller would have increased the premium had...... he been correctly informed; the causality rule provides either zero cover if the omitted fact has caused the insurance event, or full cover if the event would have occurred regardless of the fact. This article explores which rule is more efficient. Using the framework proposed by Picard and Dixit...... it subjects the risk averse Buyer of insurance to less variance. This implies that the pro rata rule should apply when there is significant risk for a Buyer of unintentional misrepresentation, and when the incentive to intentionally misrepresent can be curtailed through frequent verification of the Buyer...

  2. Sum rule approach to the nuclear response in the isovector spin channel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alberico, W.M.; Ericson, M.; Molinari, A.

    1982-01-01

    We study the global features of the response of infinite nuclear matter in the spin-isospin channel through the energy weighted sum rules S 1 and Ssub(-) 1 . In particular we compare the outcome of the ring approximation with the exact RPA evaluation of the sum rules. We also investigate the influence of the collective character of the response, induced by the particle hole force for a longitudinal and transverse spin couplings. We show that S 1 is insensitive to the collectivity of the response, as long as the Δ degree of freedom is ignored. The inverse energy weighted sum rule on the other hand, which is linked to the paramagnetic susceptibility, always reflects the hardening or softening of the nuclear response, due to the repulsive or attractive character of the p-h force. This quantity is well suited to the comparison with the experiments, which we perform for 12 C and 56 Fe. (orig.)

  3. The Three Rs of Animal Research: What they Mean for the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee and Why.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Curzer, Howard J; Perry, Gad; Wallace, Mark C; Perry, Dan

    2016-04-01

    The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) is entrusted with assessing the ethics of proposed projects prior to approval of animal research. The role of the IACUC is detailed in legislation and binding rules, which are in turn inspired by the Three Rs: the principles of Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement. However, these principles are poorly defined. Although this provides the IACUC leeway in assessing a proposed project, it also affords little guidance. Our goal is to provide procedural and philosophical clarity to the IACUC without mandating a particular outcome. To do this, we analyze the underlying logic of the Three Rs and conclude that the Three Rs accord animals moral standing, though not necessarily "rights" in the philosophical sense. We suggest that the Rs are hierarchical, such that Replacement, which can totally eliminate harm, should be considered prior to Reduction, which decreases the number of animals harmed, with Refinement being considered last. We also identify the need for a hitherto implicit fourth R: Reject, which allows the IACUC to refuse permission for a project which does not promise sufficient benefit to offset the pain and distress likely to be caused by the proposed research.

  4. 76 FR 81806 - Ophthalmic and Topical Dosage Form New Animal Drugs; Ivermectin Topical Solution

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-12-29

    .... FDA-2011-N-0003] Ophthalmic and Topical Dosage Form New Animal Drugs; Ivermectin Topical Solution... solution of ivermectin. DATES: This rule is effective December 29, 2011. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT... ANADA 200-318 for [[Page 81807

  5. 77 FR 31722 - New Animal Drugs; Change of Sponsor; Estradiol; Estradiol Benzoate and Testosterone Propionate...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-05-30

    ..., Division of Eli Lilly & Co. DATES: This rule is effective May 30, 2012. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT... this table to Elanco Animal Health, Division of Eli Lilly & Co., Lilly Corporate Center, Indianapolis...

  6. Formulation of the verbal thought process based on generative rules

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Suehiro, N; Fujisaki, H

    1984-01-01

    As assumption is made on the generative nature of the verbal thought process, based on an analogy between language use and verbal thought. A procedure is then presented for acquiring the set of generative rules from a given set of concept strings, leading to an efficient representation of verbal knowledge. The non-terminal symbols derived in the acquisition process are found to correspond to concepts and superordinate concepts in the human process of verbal thought. The validity of the formulation and the efficiency of knowledge representation is demonstrated by an example in which knowledge of biological properties of animals is reorganized into a set of generative rules. The process of inductive inference is then defined as a generalization of the acquired knowledge, and the principle of maximum simplicity of rules is proposed as a possible criterion for such generalization. The proposal is also tested by an example in which only a small part of a systematic body of knowledge is utilized to make interferences on the unknown parts of the system. 6 references.

  7. How should the welfare of fetal and neurologically immature postnatal animals be protected?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Campbell, M.L.H.; Mellor, D.J.; Sandøe, Peter

    2014-01-01

    Legal protection of the welfare of prenatal animals has not previously been addressed as a discrete subject within the academic literature on animal welfare, ethics and law. This paper aims to rectify this by reviewing the protections (or absence of protections) provided for fetuses by existing...... such protection via rules or laws relating to the use of certain techniques and the management of pregnant animals, rather than via direct legal protection of fetuses themselves. In order to provide such protection effectively we need to know more about the relationship between maternal nutrition, stress...... legislation in various jurisdictions, and considering the extent to which legal protection of animal fetuses can be justified on animal welfare grounds. Questions related to the need to protect the welfare of neurologically immature postnatal animals are also considered. We argue that there are reasons...

  8. Parental monitoring and rule-breaking behaviour in secondary school students

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kovačević-Lepojević Marina

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Parental monitoring is recognised as one of the most important family factors that are associated with rule-breaking behaviour. The objective of this paper is to determine the nature of correlations between parental monitoring and its key components (parents’ knowledge, child disclosure, parental solicitation and parental control and rule-breaking behaviour. Additionally, the prediction of the rule-breaking behaviour by parental monitoring variables, age and gender will be considered. The sample included 507 secondary school students from Belgrade, aged 15 to 18. The data on rule-breaking behaviour were collected through ASEBA YSR/11-18, and on parental monitoring via the Parental monitoring scale. The most important conclusions are the following: the strongest negative correlations are found between parental knowledge and child disclosure with rule-breaking behaviour; child disclosure is the most important source of parental knowledge; the variables of parental monitoring, gender and age explained 31.4% of the variance of rule-breaking behaviour; finally, parental control and age, unlike other variables, did not predict rule-breaking behaviour. Given that parents mostly know how children spend their free time only if the children tell this to them, it is recommended that the prevention programme of rule-breaking behaviour should be oriented towards the improvement of parent-child relationships instead of focusing on parental control and supervision. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 179017: Socijalna participacija osoba sa intelektualnom ometenošću

  9. Transformation of Arden Syntax's medical logic modules into ArdenML for a business rules management system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jung, Chai Young; Choi, Jong-Ye; Jeong, Seong Jik; Cho, Kyunghee; Koo, Yong Duk; Bae, Jin Hee; Kim, Sukil

    2016-05-16

    Arden Syntax is a Health Level Seven International (HL7) standard language that is used for representing medical knowledge as logic statements. Arden Syntax Markup Language (ArdenML) is a new representation of Arden Syntax based on XML. Compilers are required to execute medical logic modules (MLMs) in the hospital environment. However, ArdenML may also replace the compiler. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that MLMs, encoded in ArdenML, can be transformed into a commercial rule engine format through an XSLT stylesheet and made executable in a target system. The target rule engine selected was Blaze Advisor. We developed an XSLT stylesheet to transform MLMs in ArdenML into Structured Rules Language (SRL) in Blaze Advisor, through a comparison of syntax between the two languages. The stylesheet was then refined recursively, by building and applying rules collected from the billing and coding guidelines of the Korean health insurance service. Two nurse coders collected and verified the rules and two information technology (IT) specialists encoded the MLMs and built the XSLT stylesheet. Finally, the stylesheet was validated by importing the MLMs into Blaze Advisor and applying them to claims data. The language comparison revealed that Blaze Advisor requires the declaration of variables with explicit types. We used both integer and real numbers for numeric types in ArdenML. "IF∼THEN" statements and assignment statements in ArdenML become rules in Blaze Advisor. We designed an XSLT stylesheet to solve this issue. In addition, we maintained the order of rule execution in the transformed rules, and added two small programs to support variable declarations and action statements. A total of 1489 rules were reviewed during this study, of which 324 rules were collected. We removed duplicate rules and encoded 241 unique MLMs in ArdenML, which were successfully transformed into SRL and imported to Blaze Advisor via the XSLT stylesheet. When applied to 73

  10. Animations to illustrate the Autocalibration process of accelerometer data

    OpenAIRE

    van Hees, Vincent

    2014-01-01

    .avi files: animation_a_6_3D_prepostautocal.avi – 3D animation showing static points before and after autocalibration process. animation_c_4_2D_duringautocal.avi – 2D animation showing how static points moved during autocalibration. animation_d_3_3D_duringautocal.avi – 3D animation showing how static points moved during autocalibration. Supplementary graphics for paper "Autocalibration of accelerometer data collected in daily life based on local gravity and temperature: an evalua...

  11. Collection and processing of plant, animal and soil samples from Bikini, Enewetak and Rongelap Atolls

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stuart, M.L.

    1995-09-01

    The United States used the Marshall Islands for its nuclear weapons program testing site from 1946 to 1958. The BRAVO test was detonated at Bikini Atoll on March 1, 1954. Due to shifting wind conditions at the time of the nuclear detonation, many of the surrounding Atolls became contaminated with fallout (radionuclides carried by the wind currents). Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory`s (LLNL) Marshall Islands Project has been responsible for the collecting, processing, and analyzing of food crops, vegetation, soil, water, animals, and marine species to characterize the radionuclides in the environment, and to estimate dose at atolls that may have been contaminated. Tropical agriculture experiments reducing the uptake of {sup 137}Cs have been conducted on Bikini Atoll. The Marshall Islands field team and laboratory processing team play an important role in the overall scheme of the Marshall Islands Dose Assessment and Radioecology Project. This report gives a general description of the Marshall Islands field sampling and laboratory processing procedures currently used by our staff.

  12. Collection and processing of plant, animal and soil samples from Bikini, Enewetak and Rongelap Atolls

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stuart, M.L.

    1995-09-01

    The United States used the Marshall Islands for its nuclear weapons program testing site from 1946 to 1958. The BRAVO test was detonated at Bikini Atoll on March 1, 1954. Due to shifting wind conditions at the time of the nuclear detonation, many of the surrounding Atolls became contaminated with fallout (radionuclides carried by the wind currents). Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's (LLNL) Marshall Islands Project has been responsible for the collecting, processing, and analyzing of food crops, vegetation, soil, water, animals, and marine species to characterize the radionuclides in the environment, and to estimate dose at atolls that may have been contaminated. Tropical agriculture experiments reducing the uptake of 137 Cs have been conducted on Bikini Atoll. The Marshall Islands field team and laboratory processing team play an important role in the overall scheme of the Marshall Islands Dose Assessment and Radioecology Project. This report gives a general description of the Marshall Islands field sampling and laboratory processing procedures currently used by our staff

  13. Identifying Kinds of Reasoning in Collective Argumentation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Conner, AnnaMarie; Singletary, Laura M.; Smith, Ryan C.; Wagner, Patty Anne; Francisco, Richard T.

    2014-01-01

    We combine Peirce's rule, case, and result with Toulmin's data, claim, and warrant to differentiate between deductive, inductive, abductive, and analogical reasoning within collective argumentation. In this theoretical article, we illustrate these kinds of reasoning in episodes of collective argumentation using examples from one…

  14. Privacy rules for DNA databanks. Protecting coded 'future diaries'.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Annas, G J

    1993-11-17

    In privacy terms, genetic information is like medical information. But the information contained in the DNA molecule itself is more sensitive because it contains an individual's probabilistic "future diary," is written in a code that has only partially been broken, and contains information about an individual's parents, siblings, and children. Current rules for protecting the privacy of medical information cannot protect either genetic information or identifiable DNA samples stored in DNA databanks. A review of the legal and public policy rationales for protecting genetic privacy suggests that specific enforceable privacy rules for DNA databanks are needed. Four preliminary rules are proposed to govern the creation of DNA databanks, the collection of DNA samples for storage, limits on the use of information derived from the samples, and continuing obligations to those whose DNA samples are in the databanks.

  15. Collective motion in animal groups from a neurobiological perspective: the adaptive benefits of dynamic sensory loads and selective attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lemasson, B H; Anderson, J J; Goodwin, R A

    2009-12-21

    We explore mechanisms associated with collective animal motion by drawing on the neurobiological bases of sensory information processing and decision-making. The model uses simplified retinal processes to translate neighbor movement patterns into information through spatial signal integration and threshold responses. The structure provides a mechanism by which individuals can vary their sets of influential neighbors, a measure of an individual's sensory load. Sensory loads are correlated with group order and density, and we discuss their adaptive values in an ecological context. The model also provides a mechanism by which group members can identify, and rapidly respond to, novel visual stimuli.

  16. Delayed rule following

    OpenAIRE

    Schmitt, David R.

    2001-01-01

    Although the elements of a fully stated rule (discriminative stimulus [SD], some behavior, and a consequence) can occur nearly contemporaneously with the statement of the rule, there is often a delay between the rule statement and the SD. The effects of this delay on rule following have not been studied in behavior analysis, but they have been investigated in rule-like settings in the areas of prospective memory (remembering to do something in the future) and goal pursuit. Discriminative even...

  17. Rule-guided human classification of Volunteered Geographic Information

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ali, Ahmed Loai; Falomir, Zoe; Schmid, Falko; Freksa, Christian

    2017-05-01

    During the last decade, web technologies and location sensing devices have evolved generating a form of crowdsourcing known as Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI). VGI acted as a platform of spatial data collection, in particular, when a group of public participants are involved in collaborative mapping activities: they work together to collect, share, and use information about geographic features. VGI exploits participants' local knowledge to produce rich data sources. However, the resulting data inherits problematic data classification. In VGI projects, the challenges of data classification are due to the following: (i) data is likely prone to subjective classification, (ii) remote contributions and flexible contribution mechanisms in most projects, and (iii) the uncertainty of spatial data and non-strict definitions of geographic features. These factors lead to various forms of problematic classification: inconsistent, incomplete, and imprecise data classification. This research addresses classification appropriateness. Whether the classification of an entity is appropriate or inappropriate is related to quantitative and/or qualitative observations. Small differences between observations may be not recognizable particularly for non-expert participants. Hence, in this paper, the problem is tackled by developing a rule-guided classification approach. This approach exploits data mining techniques of Association Classification (AC) to extract descriptive (qualitative) rules of specific geographic features. The rules are extracted based on the investigation of qualitative topological relations between target features and their context. Afterwards, the extracted rules are used to develop a recommendation system able to guide participants to the most appropriate classification. The approach proposes two scenarios to guide participants towards enhancing the quality of data classification. An empirical study is conducted to investigate the classification of grass

  18. 1971 Animal Investigation Program. Annual report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smith, D.D.; Giles, K.R.

    1975-07-01

    Data are presented that were obtained from the radioanalysis of tissues collected from cattle, deer, desert bighorn sheep, and other wildlife that reside on or near the Nevada Test Site. Cesium-137 and 106 Ru were the only gamma-emitting radionuclides detected in the soft tissues of range cattle. Ruthenium-106 was detected only in the lungs of animals sampled in May. Strontium-90 levels in the cattle femurs ranged from 2 to 37 pCi/g of ash. The latter value was found in the bones of a 14-year-old cow that had lived on the Nevada Test Site her entire life. The bones of the same animal also had the highest level of 239 Pu (46 pCi/g of ash) that was reported. Analysis of her 8-month-old fetus revealed the presence of detectable levels of 239 Pu which indicates placental transfer of this radionuclide. The average 90 Sr levels in the bones from deer and desert bighorn sheep were 3.2 and 4.7 pCi/g of ash, respectively. Elevated levels of 106 Ru and 3 H were found in the tissues of two mule deer collected near the drainage ponds that collect runoff waters from mines used for nuclear testing activities. Other animals sampled included Golden eagles, feral horses, coyotes, and chukar. The 137 Cs levels in an eagle collected during 1964 varied only slightly from one collected during 1971. No gross or microscopic lesions were detected that could be attributable to the effects of ionizing radiation. (auth)

  19. Animal models in biological and biomedical research - experimental and ethical concerns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andersen, Monica L; Winter, Lucile M F

    2017-09-04

    Animal models have been used in experimental research to increase human knowledge and contribute to finding solutions to biological and biomedical questions. However, increased concern for the welfare of the animals used, and a growing awareness of the concept of animal rights, has brought a greater focus on the related ethical issues. In this review, we intend to give examples on how animals are used in the health research related to some major health problems in Brazil, as well as to stimulate discussion about the application of ethics in the use of animals in research and education, highlighting the role of National Council for the Control of Animal Experimentation (Conselho Nacional de Controle de Experimentação Animal - CONCEA) in these areas. In 2008, Brazil emerged into a new era of animal research regulation, with the promulgation of Law 11794, previously known as the Arouca Law, resulting in an increased focus, and rapid learning experience, on questions related to all aspects of animal experimentation. The law reinforces the idea that animal experiments must be based on ethical considerations and integrity-based assumptions, and provides a regulatory framework to achieve this. This review describes the health research involving animals and the current Brazilian framework for regulating laboratory animal science, and hopes to help to improve the awareness of the scientific community of these ethical and legal rules.

  20. 78 FR 73192 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-12-05

    ... the relationship continues. Staff's estimates assume that the affiliate marketing opt-out will be... collection requirements in its Affiliate Marketing Rule (or ``Rule''), which applies to certain motor vehicle... Marketing Disclosure Rule, PRA Comment: FTC File No. P0105411'' on your comment, and file your comment...

  1. Case note: ECHR (Animal Defenders International v UK: App no 48876/08: Political Advertising Bans and Freedom of Expression)

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ó Fathaigh, R.

    2013-01-01

    In Animal Defenders International v UK, the 17-judge Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the UK’s ban on political advertising on television, as applied to an animal rights organisation, did not violate freedom of expression. The Court divided nine votes to eight, with the

  2. Action Rules Mining

    CERN Document Server

    Dardzinska, Agnieszka

    2013-01-01

    We are surrounded by data, numerical, categorical and otherwise, which must to be analyzed and processed to convert it into information that instructs, answers or aids understanding and decision making. Data analysts in many disciplines such as business, education or medicine, are frequently asked to analyze new data sets which are often composed of numerous tables possessing different properties. They try to find completely new correlations between attributes and show new possibilities for users.   Action rules mining discusses some of data mining and knowledge discovery principles and then describe representative concepts, methods and algorithms connected with action. The author introduces the formal definition of action rule, notion of a simple association action rule and a representative action rule, the cost of association action rule, and gives a strategy how to construct simple association action rules of a lowest cost. A new approach for generating action rules from datasets with numerical attributes...

  3. Closer to Nature: the Ethics of ‘Green’ Representations in Animal Product Marketing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Borkfelt, Sune; Kondrup, Sara Vincentzen; Gjerris, Mickey

    2013-01-01

    – thus attempting to display a green, eco-, climate-, and animal friendly production. The tension between marketing and the idea of ethical consumerism is apparent as the need for independent information to make value-based choices is challenged by the liberal rules of the market and more specifically......Empirical cases from the Danish food market are examined in order to critically discuss the respective modes of communication in light of the premises of socially responsible consumer marketing. This analysis suggests that specific marketing instruments are used to sell animal products by blurring...... by the lack of a restrictive food labelling policy. The relationship between the ways in which animal welfare is communicated and emphasized through food marketing, and commonly held perceptions of acceptable standards for animal welfare, is discussed and the need for transparency in the area of animal...

  4. 77 FR 66626 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Administrative Rulings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-11-06

    ... technology; and (e) the annual cost burden to respondents or record keepers from the collection of...: 12,000. Estimated Time per Respondent: 10 hours. Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 120,000. Appeals: Estimated Number of Respondents: 200. Estimated Time per Respondent: 40 hours. Estimated Total...

  5. Wildlife specimen collection, preservation, and shipment

    Science.gov (United States)

    White, C. LeAnn; Dusek, Robert J.; Franson, J. Christian; Friend, Milton; Gibbs, Samantha E.J.; Wild, Margaret A.

    2015-01-01

    Specimens are used to provide supporting information leading to the determination of the cause of disease or death in wildlife and for disease monitoring or surveillance. Commonly used specimens for wildlife disease investigations include intact carcasses, tissues from carcasses, euthanized or moribund animals, parasites, ingested food, feces, or environmental samples. Samples from live animals or the environment (e.g., contaminated feed) in the same vicinity as a mortality event also may be helpful. The type of specimen collected is determined by availability of samples and biological objectives. Multiple fresh, intact carcasses from affected species are the most useful in establishing a cause for a mortality event. Submission of entire carcasses allows observation of gross lesions and abnormalities, as well as disease testing of multiple tissues. Samples from live animals may be more appropriate when sick animals cannot be euthanized (e.g., threatened or endangered species) or for research and monitoring projects examining disease or agents circulating in apparently healthy animals or those not exhibiting clinical signs. Samples from live animals may include collections of blood, hair, feathers, feces, or ectoparasites, or samples obtained by swabbing lesions or orifices. Photographs and videos are useful additions for recording field and clinical signs and conveying conditions at the site. Collection of environmental samples (e.g., feces, water, feed, or soil) may be appropriate when animals cannot be captured for sampling or the disease agent may persist in the environment. If lethal collection is considered necessary, biologists should refer to the policies, procedures, and permit requirements of their institution/facility and the agency responsible for species management (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or State natural resource agency) prior to use in the field. If threatened or endangered species are found dead, or there is evidence of illegal take, field

  6. Adaptive-network models of collective dynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zschaler, G.

    2012-09-01

    Complex systems can often be modelled as networks, in which their basic units are represented by abstract nodes and the interactions among them by abstract links. This network of interactions is the key to understanding emergent collective phenomena in such systems. In most cases, it is an adaptive network, which is defined by a feedback loop between the local dynamics of the individual units and the dynamical changes of the network structure itself. This feedback loop gives rise to many novel phenomena. Adaptive networks are a promising concept for the investigation of collective phenomena in different systems. However, they also present a challenge to existing modelling approaches and analytical descriptions due to the tight coupling between local and topological degrees of freedom. In this work, which is essentially my PhD thesis, I present a simple rule-based framework for the investigation of adaptive networks, using which a wide range of collective phenomena can be modelled and analysed from a common perspective. In this framework, a microscopic model is defined by the local interaction rules of small network motifs, which can be implemented in stochastic simulations straightforwardly. Moreover, an approximate emergent-level description in terms of macroscopic variables can be derived from the microscopic rules, which we use to analyse the system's collective and long-term behaviour by applying tools from dynamical systems theory. We discuss three adaptive-network models for different collective phenomena within our common framework. First, we propose a novel approach to collective motion in insect swarms, in which we consider the insects' adaptive interaction network instead of explicitly tracking their positions and velocities. We capture the experimentally observed onset of collective motion qualitatively in terms of a bifurcation in this non-spatial model. We find that three-body interactions are an essential ingredient for collective motion to emerge

  7. The effect of steps to promote higher levels of farm animal welfare across the EU. Societal versus animal scientists’ perceptions of animal welfare

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Averós, X.; Aparicio, M.A.; Ferrari, P.; Guy, J.H.; Hubbard, C.; Schmid, O.; Ilieski, V.; Spoolder, H.A.M.

    2013-01-01

    Information about animal welfare standards and initiatives from eight European countries was collected, grouped, and compared to EU welfare standards to detect those aspects beyond minimum welfare levels demanded by EU welfare legislation. Literature was reviewed to determine the scientific

  8. 76 FR 46818 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Veterinary Feed...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-08-03

    ...] Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Veterinary Feed Directive... distribution and use of Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD) drugs and animal feeds containing VFD drugs. DATES... of information technology. Veterinary Feed Directive--21 CFR Part 558 (OMB Control Number 0910- 0363...

  9. Weird Animals, Sex, and Genome Evolution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Graves, Jennifer A Marshall

    2018-02-15

    Making my career in Australia exposed me to the tyranny of distance, but it gave me opportunities to study our unique native fauna. Distantly related animal species present genetic variation that we can use to explore the most fundamental biological structures and processes. I have compared chromosomes and genomes of kangaroos and platypus, tiger snakes and emus, devils (Tasmanian) and dragons (lizards). I particularly love the challenges posed by sex chromosomes, which, apart from determining sex, provide stunning examples of epigenetic control and break all the evolutionary rules that we currently understand. Here I describe some of those amazing animals and the insights on genome structure, function, and evolution they have afforded us. I also describe my sometimes-random walk in science and the factors and people who influenced my direction. Being a woman in science is still not easy, and I hope others will find encouragement and empathy in my story.

  10. The Effect of Steps to Promote Higher Levels of Farm Animal Welfare across the EU. Societal versus Animal Scientists’ Perceptions of Animal Welfare

    Science.gov (United States)

    Averós, Xavier; Aparicio, Miguel A.; Ferrari, Paolo; Guy, Jonathan H.; Hubbard, Carmen; Schmid, Otto; Ilieski, Vlatko; Spoolder, Hans A. M.

    2013-01-01

    Simple Summary We studied different EU production standards and initiatives to determine whether there is still room or not for further animal welfare improvement, and which should be the best way to achieve it. Many of the adopted measures in these standards and initiatives are scientifically supported, but other aspects that are equally important for animal welfare are not included in any of them. Animal welfare improvement should consider, for each country, those aspects actually benefiting animals, but also the social expectations within each country. Economic constraints might explain the gap between what society demands, and what farm animals actually need. Abstract Information about animal welfare standards and initiatives from eight European countries was collected, grouped, and compared to EU welfare standards to detect those aspects beyond minimum welfare levels demanded by EU welfare legislation. Literature was reviewed to determine the scientific relevance of standards and initiatives, and those aspects going beyond minimum EU standards. Standards and initiatives were assessed to determine their strengths and weaknesses regarding animal welfare. Attitudes of stakeholders in the improvement of animal welfare were determined through a Policy Delphi exercise. Social perception of animal welfare, economic implications of upraising welfare levels, and differences between countries were considered. Literature review revealed that on-farm space allowance, climate control, and environmental enrichment are relevant for all animal categories. Experts’ assessment revealed that on-farm prevention of thermal stress, air quality, and races and passageways’ design were not sufficiently included. Stakeholders considered that housing conditions are particularly relevant regarding animal welfare, and that animal-based and farm-level indicators are fundamental to monitor the progress of animal welfare. The most notable differences between what society offers and what

  11. Collective excitations in deformed alkali metal clusters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lipparini, E.; Stringari, S.; Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Povo

    1991-01-01

    A theoretical study of collective excitations in deformed metal clusters is presented. Sum rules are used to study the splittings of the dipole surface plasma resonance originating from the cluster deformation. The vibrating potential model is developed and used to predict the occurrence of a low lying collective mode of orbital magnetic nature. (orig.)

  12. Proof of Kochen–Specker Theorem: Conversion of Product Rule to Sum Rule

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Toh, S.P.; Zainuddin, Hishamuddin

    2009-01-01

    Valuation functions of observables in quantum mechanics are often expected to obey two constraints called the sum rule and product rule. However, the Kochen–Specker (KS) theorem shows that for a Hilbert space of quantum mechanics of dimension d ≤ 3, these constraints contradict individually with the assumption of value definiteness. The two rules are not irrelated and Peres [Found. Phys. 26 (1996) 807] has conceived a method of converting the product rule into a sum rule for the case of two qubits. Here we apply this method to a proof provided by Mermin based on the product rule for a three-qubit system involving nine operators. We provide the conversion of this proof to one based on sum rule involving ten operators. (general)

  13. 75 FR 34941 - Review of the Commission's Program Access Rules and Examination of Programming Tying Arrangements

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-06-21

    ... Commission's Program Access Rules and Examination of Programming Tying Arrangements AGENCY: Federal... Program Access Rules and Examination of Programming Tying Arrangements, MB Docket No. 07-198, FCC 10-17... information collection is contained in Sections 4(i), 303(r), and 628 of the Communications Act of 1934, as...

  14. [Practical problems in criminal laws of prevention of cruelty to animals].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iburg, U

    2000-03-01

    1. To ascertain serious pains and sufferings in the meaning of section 17 no. 2 b law of prevention of cruelty to animals you cannot do without the help of an expert witness for taking possession of evidence--apart from simple cases. Except the clarifying of fundamental questions concerning prevention of cruelty to animals a professional statement of the administrative veterinary surgeon will be as a rule sufficient. 2. For the actual seizure of animals for the purpose of confiscation and compulsory disposal the criminal justice is extremely dependent on the support of the authorities of administration. Therefore a trouble-free cooperation of criminal justice, veterinary authorities, animal homes and--concerning the protection of species--authorities for protection of endangered nature is imperative. 3. The main problems with the application of the regulation concerning the interdiction of keeping animals according to sections 20 and 20 a law of prevention of cruelty to animals are justified in the legal prerequisites. It is unsatisfactory that an interdiction of keeping animals cannot be imposed by summary punishment order and that a confiscation of animals is not possible by criminal proceedings in case of offence against sections 20 subsection 3, 20 a subsection 3 law of prevention of cruelty to animals. Therefore an admission of the sections as mentioned above to section 19 law of prevention of cruelty to animals seems to be convenient.

  15. Using Rule-Based Computer Programming to Unify Communication Rules Research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sanford, David L.; Roach, J. W.

    This paper proposes the use of a rule-based computer programming language as a standard for the expression of rules, arguing that the adoption of a standard would enable researchers to communicate about rules in a consistent and significant way. Focusing on the formal equivalence of artificial intelligence (AI) programming to different types of…

  16. A rule-based fault detection method for air handling units

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schein, J.; Bushby, S. T.; Castro, N. S. [National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD (United States); House, J. M. [Iowa Energy Center, Ankeny, IA (United States)

    2006-07-01

    Air handling unit performance assessment rules (APAR) is a fault detection tool that uses a set of expert rules derived from mass and energy balances to detect faults in air handling units (AHUs). Control signals are used to determine the mode of operation of the AHU. A subset of the expert rules which correspond to that mode of operation are then evaluated to determine whether a fault exists. APAR is computationally simple enough that it can be embedded in commercial building automation and control systems and relies only upon the sensor data and control signals that are commonly available in these systems. APAR was tested using data sets collected from a 'hardware-in-the-loop' emulator and from several field sites. APAR was also embedded in commercial AHU controllers and tested in the emulator. (author)

  17. Convention on nuclear safety. Rules of procedure and financial rules

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1998-01-01

    The document presents the Rules of Procedure and Financial Rules that apply mutatis mutandis to any meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention on Nuclear Safety (INFCIRC/449) convened in accordance with Chapter 3 of the Convention. It includes four parts: General provisions, Preparatory process for review meetings, Review meetings, and Amendment and interpretation of rules

  18. Delayed rule following.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmitt, D R

    2001-01-01

    Although the elements of a fully stated rule (discriminative stimulus [S(D)], some behavior, and a consequence) can occur nearly contemporaneously with the statement of the rule, there is often a delay between the rule statement and the S(D). The effects of this delay on rule following have not been studied in behavior analysis, but they have been investigated in rule-like settings in the areas of prospective memory (remembering to do something in the future) and goal pursuit. Discriminative events for some behavior can be event based (a specific setting stimulus) or time based. The latter are more demanding with respect to intention following and show age-related deficits. Studies suggest that the specificity with which the components of a rule (termed intention) are stated has a substantial effect on intention following, with more detailed specifications increasing following. Reminders of an intention, too, are most effective when they refer specifically to both the behavior and its occasion. Covert review and written notes are two effective strategies for remembering everyday intentions, but people who use notes appear not to be able to switch quickly to covert review. By focusing on aspects of the setting and rule structure, research on prospective memory and goal pursuit expands the agenda for a more complete explanation of rule effects.

  19. Hamburg rules V Hague Visby rules an English perspective

    OpenAIRE

    Tozaj Dorian; Xhelilaj Ermal

    2010-01-01

    It has often been argued for the effect of defences provided to carriers under Art IV (2) of Hague Visby Rules to almost nullify the protection guaranteed to shippers in other provisions of this convention. Therefore an all embracing universal shipper friendly convention, merely the Hamburg Rules, need be incorporated in all countries in order to address this issue and fully satisfy the intentions of the parties for the establishment of international rules in international trade

  20. Animal investigation program 1978 annual report: Nevada Test Site and vicinity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smith, D.D.; Bernhardt, D.E.; Giles, K.R.

    1980-12-01

    Data are presented from the radioanalyses of tissues collected from cattle, mule deer, desert bighorn sheep, rabbits, golden eagles, and other wildlife that resided on or near the Nevada Test Site during 1978. Routine and special activities of the Animal Investigation Program are also discussed. Other than the naturally occurring Potassium-40, gamma-emitting radionuclides were detected infrequently with the exception of short-lived radionuclides found in samples from animals collected soon after March 14 (the date of a nuclear test by the People's Republic of China). Strontium-90 concentrations in bones from deer, cattle, and desert bighorn sheep were consistent with those of recent years. Tritium concentrations were generally within expected environmental limits with the exception of animals exposed to sources of contamination; e.g., drainage ponds from Area 12 tunnels. Plutonium levels in all tissues from all species showed little variation from recent years. However, cattle tissue sampled in the fall were higher than those collected in the spring. Radionuclide tissue concentrations were generally higher in the tissues of animals residing in Area 15 than in similar animals collected from other Nevada Test Site areas. Hypothetical dose estimates to man were calculated on the basis of the daily consumption of 0.5 kilogram of liver or muscle from animals that contained peak radionuclide levels. The movements of 13 mule deer outfitted with collars containing a radio transmitter unit were monitored on a weekly basis. No gross or microscopic lesions were found in necropsied animals that could be directly attributed to the effects of ionizing radiation

  1. Evidence Based Cataloguing: Moving Beyond the Rules

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kathy Carter

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available Cataloguing is sometimes regarded as a rule-bound, production-based activity that offers little scope for professional judgement and decision-making. In reality, cataloguing involves challenging decisions that can have significant service and financial impacts. The current environment for cataloguing is a maelstrom of changing demands and competing visions for the future. With information-seekers turning en masse to Google and their behaviour receiving greater attention, library vendors are offering “discovery layer” products to replace traditional OPACs, and cataloguers are examining and debating a transformed version of their descriptive cataloguing rules (Resource Description and Access or RDA. In his “Perceptions of the future of cataloging: Is the sky really falling?” (2009, Ivey provides a good summary of this environment. At the same time, myriad new metadata formats and schema are being developed and applied for digital collections in libraries and other institutions. In today’s libraries, cataloguing is no longer limited to management of traditional AACR and MARC-based metadata for traditional library collections. And like their parent institutions, libraries cannot ignore growing pressures to demonstrate accountability and tangible value provided by their services. More than ever, research and an evidence based approach can help guide cataloguing decision-making.

  2. Georeferencing Animal Specimen Datasets

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Erp, M.G.J.; Hensel, R.; Ceolin, D.; van der Meij, M.

    2014-01-01

    For biodiversity research, the field of study that is concerned with the richness of species of our planet, it is of the utmost importance that the location of an animal specimen find is known with high precision. Due to specimens often having been collected over the course of many years, their

  3. Exploring the age of onset and recurrence of childhood animal cruelty: can animal cruelty be learned from witnessing others commit it?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hensley, Christopher; Tallichet, Suzanne E; Dutkiewicz, Erik L

    2012-06-01

    Despite recent research, few studies have examined the specific social contexts in which animal cruelty may be learned. Using data collected from 180 inmates at a medium- and maximum-security prison in a southern state, the authors seek to replicate findings from the Hensley and Tallichet study that examined the potential for the onset and recurrence of childhood animal cruelty to become a learned behavior, specifically in terms of demographic characteristics and childhood experiences with witnessing animal abuse. In the current study, those who were younger when they first witnessed animal cruelty initially hurt or killed animals themselves at a younger age. Respondents who had witnessed a family member hurt or kill animals reported engaging in recurrent animal cruelty and were older when they committed their first act of animal cruelty.

  4. Salmonella contamination: a significant challenge to the global marketing of animal food products.

    Science.gov (United States)

    L Plym, Forshell; Wierup, M

    2006-08-01

    Salmonellosis is the most common food-borne bacterial disease in the world. Salmonella is a significant pathogen for food-producing animals and these animals are the primary source of salmonellosis. It is estimated that herd prevalence varies between 0% and 90%, depending on the animal species and region. The pathogen is spread by trade in animals and non-heated animal food products. The emergence of strains that are resistant to antimicrobials, often as a result of antimicrobial usage in animals, is a public health hazard of great concern. It is increasingly accepted that the prevalence of Salmonella in animal production must be decreased and, in the European Union, plans to achieve this are currently being implemented. In this paper, the authors propose various risk mitigation strategies. Successful control must focus on a range of preventive actions because there is no simple 'silver bullet' solution to reduce Salmonella contamination. The authors conclude that the key to controlling Salmonella is to follow the general rules that have been successfully applied to other infectious diseases.

  5. Uranium transfer in the food chain from soil to plants, animals and man

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mueller, R.; Betz, I.; Anke, M.; Witte, H.; Schilling, C.; Knoth, E.

    2010-01-01

    Our investigations aimed at following up the scientific basis of uranium transfer from the soils of different geological origins and from the immediate vicinity of uranium waste dumps in the vegetation, in waters (drinking water, mineral water and medicinal water), vegetable and animal foodstuffs and beverages; the regional human uranium intake, excretion, apparent absorption and balance in Germany and Mexico. Another aim of the investigations was to draw conclusions from the rules of transfer of this element from the rocks and soils to plants, animals and man. (authors)

  6. 10 CFR 824.15 - Collection of civil penalties.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Collection of civil penalties. 824.15 Section 824.15 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY PROCEDURAL RULES FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF CIVIL PENALTIES FOR CLASSIFIED INFORMATION SECURITY VIOLATIONS § 824.15 Collection of civil penalties. If any person fails to pay an...

  7. Resolving task rule incongruence during task switching by competitor rule suppression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meiran, Nachshon; Hsieh, Shulan; Dimov, Eduard

    2010-07-01

    Task switching requires maintaining readiness to execute any task of a given set of tasks. However, when tasks switch, the readiness to execute the now-irrelevant task generates interference, as seen in the task rule incongruence effect. Overcoming such interference requires fine-tuned inhibition that impairs task readiness only minimally. In an experiment involving 2 object classification tasks and 2 location classification tasks, the authors show that irrelevant task rules that generate response conflicts are inhibited. This competitor rule suppression (CRS) is seen in response slowing in subsequent trials, when the competing rules become relevant. CRS is shown to operate on specific rules without affecting similar rules. CRS and backward inhibition, which is another inhibitory phenomenon, produced additive effects on reaction time, suggesting their mutual independence. Implications for current formal theories of task switching as well as for conflict monitoring theories are discussed. (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved

  8. 78 FR 16534 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Existing Collection; Comments Requested;Extension of a...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-03-15

    ... special needs such as mental health holds or alcohol detoxifications, transferring inmates to court... inmates housed in state prisons, BJS plans to collect data from the non-selected California jails in the... Court upheld the ruling by a lower three-judge court that the State of California must reduce its prison...

  9. [Anatomia sacra. Religiously motivated interventions on human or animal bodies].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gladigow, B

    1995-01-01

    Controlled surgery in the interior of human or animal bodies in classical antiquity was allowed only under certain circumstances. Bloody animal sacrifice and its rules for the interpretation of entrails as well as the rare examples of 'ritual anatomy' presented a religious framework for the opening of bodies. Greek mythology provided several examples of medical operations, for example, the Caesarean section, transplantations and plastic surgery. Great cultic significance was given to organ votives or reproductions of human inner organs which were offered in temples ex voto or with request for their curing. The anatomical knowledge transported along with these offerings represents a separate tradition different from the state of anatomical knowledge found in medical literature of the period.

  10. Animals In Synchrotrons: Overcoming Challenges For High-Resolution, Live, Small-Animal Imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Donnelley, Martin; Parsons, David; Morgan, Kaye; Siu, Karen

    2010-01-01

    Physiological studies in small animals can be complicated, but the complexity is increased dramatically when performing live-animal synchrotron X-ray imaging studies. Our group has extensive experience in high-resolution live-animal imaging at the Japanese SPring-8 synchrotron, primarily examining airways in two-dimensions. These experiments normally image an area of 1.8 mmx1.2 mm at a pixel resolution of 0.45 μm and are performed with live, intact, anaesthetized mice.There are unique challenges in this experimental setting. Importantly, experiments must be performed in an isolated imaging hutch not specifically designed for small-animal imaging. This requires equipment adapted to remotely monitor animals, maintain their anesthesia, and deliver test substances while collecting images. The horizontal synchrotron X-ray beam has a fixed location and orientation that limits experimental flexibility. The extremely high resolution makes locating anatomical regions-of-interest slow and can result in a high radiation dose, and at this level of magnification small animal movements produce motion-artifacts that can render acquired images unusable. Here we describe our experimental techniques and how we have overcome several challenges involved in performing live mouse synchrotron imaging.Experiments have tested different mouse strains, with hairless strains minimizing overlying skin and hair artifacts. Different anesthetics have also be trialed due to the limited choices available at SPring-8. Tracheal-intubation methods have been refined and controlled-ventilation is now possible using a specialized small-animal ventilator. With appropriate animal restraint and respiratory-gating, motion-artifacts have been minimized. The animal orientation (supine vs. head-high) also appears to affect animal physiology, and can alter image quality. Our techniques and image quality at SPring-8 have dramatically improved and in the near future we plan to translate this experience to the

  11. Detection Accuracy of Collective Intelligence Assessments for Skin Cancer Diagnosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurvers, Ralf H J M; Krause, Jens; Argenziano, Giuseppe; Zalaudek, Iris; Wolf, Max

    2015-12-01

    Incidence rates of skin cancer are increasing globally, and the correct classification of skin lesions (SLs) into benign and malignant tissue remains a continuous challenge. A collective intelligence approach to skin cancer detection may improve accuracy. To evaluate the performance of 2 well-known collective intelligence rules (majority rule and quorum rule) that combine the independent conclusions of multiple decision makers into a single decision. Evaluations were obtained from 2 large and independent data sets. The first data set consisted of 40 experienced dermoscopists, each of whom independently evaluated 108 images of SLs during the Consensus Net Meeting of 2000. The second data set consisted of 82 medical professionals with varying degrees of dermatology experience, each of whom evaluated a minimum of 110 SLs. All SLs were evaluated via the Internet. Image selection of SLs was based on high image quality and the presence of histopathologic information. Data were collected from July through October 2000 for study 1 and from February 2003 through January 2004 for study 2 and evaluated from January 5 through August 7, 2015. For both collective intelligence rules, we determined the true-positive rate (ie, the hit rate or specificity) and the false-positive rate (ie, the false-alarm rate or 1 - sensitivity) and compared these rates with the performance of single decision makers. Furthermore, we evaluated the effect of group size on true- and false-positive rates. One hundred twenty-two medical professionals performed 16 029 evaluations. Use of either collective intelligence rule consistently outperformed single decision makers. The groups achieved an increased true-positive rate and a decreased false-positive rate. For example, individual decision makers in study 1, using the pattern analysis as diagnostic algorithm, achieved a true-positive rate of 0.83 and a false-positive rate of 0.17. Groups of 3 individuals achieved a true-positive rate of 0.91 and a

  12. 75 FR 26647 - Ophthalmic and Topical Dosage Form New Animal Drugs; Ivermectin Topical Solution

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-05-12

    .... FDA-2010-N-0002] Ophthalmic and Topical Dosage Form New Animal Drugs; Ivermectin Topical Solution... are treated with a topical solution of ivermectin. DATES: This rule is effective May 12, 2010. FOR... ANADA 200-340 for PRIVERMECTIN (ivermectin), a topical solution used on cattle to control infestations...

  13. Multilevel Association Rule Mining for Bridge Resource Management Based on Immune Genetic Algorithm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yang Ou

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper is concerned with the problem of multilevel association rule mining for bridge resource management (BRM which is announced by IMO in 2010. The goal of this paper is to mine the association rules among the items of BRM and the vessel accidents. However, due to the indirect data that can be collected, which seems useless for the analysis of the relationship between items of BIM and the accidents, the cross level association rules need to be studied, which builds the relation between the indirect data and items of BRM. In this paper, firstly, a cross level coding scheme for mining the multilevel association rules is proposed. Secondly, we execute the immune genetic algorithm with the coding scheme for analyzing BRM. Thirdly, based on the basic maritime investigation reports, some important association rules of the items of BRM are mined and studied. Finally, according to the results of the analysis, we provide the suggestions for the work of seafarer training, assessment, and management.

  14. Electronuclear sum rules

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arenhoevel, H.; Drechsel, D.; Weber, H.J.

    1978-01-01

    Generalized sum rules are derived by integrating the electromagnetic structure functions along lines of constant ratio of momentum and energy transfer. For non-relativistic systems these sum rules are related to the conventional photonuclear sum rules by a scaling transformation. The generalized sum rules are connected with the absorptive part of the forward scattering amplitude of virtual photons. The analytic structure of the scattering amplitudes and the possible existence of dispersion relations have been investigated in schematic relativistic and non-relativistic models. While for the non-relativistic case analyticity does not hold, the relativistic scattering amplitude is analytical for time-like (but not for space-like) photons and relations similar to the Gell-Mann-Goldberger-Thirring sum rule exist. (Auth.)

  15. Does Witnessing Animal Cruelty and Being Abused During Childhood Predict the Initial Age and Recurrence of Committing Childhood Animal Cruelty?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Browne, John A; Hensley, Christopher; McGuffee, Karen M

    2017-12-01

    The goal of the current study was to examine the association between demographic characteristics and childhood experiences on the respondents' age of committing childhood animal cruelty and its recurrency. Using data collected from 257 male inmates at a Southern medium-security state prison, the current study seeks to replicate a study by Hensley, Tallichet, and Dutkiewicz. Results revealed that those respondents who were physically abused as children reported engaging in recurrent animal cruelty. The younger the age of respondent for first witnessing animal cruelty, the sooner his initiation to hurting and killing animals occurred. In addition, those who reported witnessing a parent commit acts of animal abuse reported that they committed animal abuse themselves at an older age, while those who witnessed a brother/sister commit animal abuse reported engaging in it at an earlier age. Therefore, physical abuse and witnessing primary socializers engage in animal abuse seem to be important in understanding the respondents' age of onset and repeated childhood animal cruelty.

  16. Choosing the rules: distinct and overlapping frontoparietal representations of task rules for perceptual decisions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Jiaxiang; Kriegeskorte, Nikolaus; Carlin, Johan D; Rowe, James B

    2013-07-17

    Behavior is governed by rules that associate stimuli with responses and outcomes. Human and monkey studies have shown that rule-specific information is widely represented in the frontoparietal cortex. However, it is not known how establishing a rule under different contexts affects its neural representation. Here, we use event-related functional MRI (fMRI) and multivoxel pattern classification methods to investigate the human brain's mechanisms of establishing and maintaining rules for multiple perceptual decision tasks. Rules were either chosen by participants or specifically instructed to them, and the fMRI activation patterns representing rule-specific information were compared between these contexts. We show that frontoparietal regions differ in the properties of their rule representations during active maintenance before execution. First, rule-specific information maintained in the dorsolateral and medial frontal cortex depends on the context in which it was established (chosen vs specified). Second, rule representations maintained in the ventrolateral frontal and parietal cortex are independent of the context in which they were established. Furthermore, we found that the rule-specific coding maintained in anticipation of stimuli may change with execution of the rule: representations in context-independent regions remain invariant from maintenance to execution stages, whereas rule representations in context-dependent regions do not generalize to execution stage. The identification of distinct frontoparietal systems with context-independent and context-dependent task rule representations, and the distinction between anticipatory and executive rule representations, provide new insights into the functional architecture of goal-directed behavior.

  17. Visualizing Infrared (IR) Spectroscopy with Computer Animation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abrams, Charles B.; Fine, Leonard W.

    1996-01-01

    IR Tutor, an interactive, animated infrared (IR) spectroscopy tutorial has been developed for Macintosh and IBM-compatible computers. Using unique color animation, complicated vibrational modes can be introduced to beginning students. Rules governing the appearance of IR absorption bands become obvious because the vibrational modes can be visualized. Each peak in the IR spectrum is highlighted, and the animation of the corresponding normal mode can be shown. Students can study each spectrum stepwise, or click on any individual peak to see its assignment. Important regions of each spectrum can be expanded and spectra can be overlaid for comparison. An introduction to the theory of IR spectroscopy is included, making the program a complete instructional package. Our own success in using this software for teaching and research in both academic and industrial environments will be described. IR Tutor consists of three sections: (1) The 'Introduction' is a review of basic principles of spectroscopy. (2) 'Theory' begins with the classical model of a simple diatomic molecule and is expanded to include larger molecules by introducing normal modes and group frequencies. (3) 'Interpretation' is the heart of the tutorial. Thirteen IR spectra are analyzed in detail, covering the most important functional groups. This section features color animation of each normal mode, full interactivity, overlay of related spectra, and expansion of important regions. This section can also be used as a reference.

  18. Smooth criminal: convicted rule-breakers show reduced cognitive conflict during deliberate rule violations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jusyte, Aiste; Pfister, Roland; Mayer, Sarah V; Schwarz, Katharina A; Wirth, Robert; Kunde, Wilfried; Schönenberg, Michael

    2017-09-01

    Classic findings on conformity and obedience document a strong and automatic drive of human agents to follow any type of rule or social norm. At the same time, most individuals tend to violate rules on occasion, and such deliberate rule violations have recently been shown to yield cognitive conflict for the rule-breaker. These findings indicate persistent difficulty to suppress the rule representation, even though rule violations were studied in a controlled experimental setting with neither gains nor possible sanctions for violators. In the current study, we validate these findings by showing that convicted criminals, i.e., individuals with a history of habitual and severe forms of rule violations, can free themselves from such cognitive conflict in a similarly controlled laboratory task. These findings support an emerging view that aims at understanding rule violations from the perspective of the violating agent rather than from the perspective of outside observer.

  19. Effects of departing individuals on collective behaviors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nishiyama, Yuta; Okuda, Shoma; Migita, Masao; Murakami, Hisashi; Tomaru, Takenori

    2017-07-01

    Utilizing living organisms' abilities is an effective approach to realize flexible and unconventional computing. One possible bio-inspired computer might be developed from animal collective research by clarifying collective behaviors. Therefore, it is important to reveal how collective animal behaviors emerge. In many studies, individuals departing from the other individualsare generally ignored. Is it not possible that such departing individuals contribute to the organization of such collectives? To investigate the effects of individuals departing from a collective against collective behaviors, we observed and analyzed the behaviors of 40 soldier crabs in four types of experimental arenas. The recorded behaviors demonstrate a temporally changing pattern and the existence of departing individuals. We analyzed the relationship between global activity and cohesion levels and verified the features of departing individuals. The results imply that departing individuals contribute to collective behaviors.

  20. The Rules of the Game—The Rules of the Player

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thorhauge, Anne Mette

    2013-01-01

    of the game manager in order to implement the rules and provide a world for the other players. In online role-playing games, a programmed system simulates the rule system as well as part of the game manager’s tasks, while the rest of the activity is up to the players to define. Some aspects may translate more......This article presents a critical view of the concept of rules in game studies on the basis of a case study of role-playing across media. Role-playing in its traditional form is a complex activity including a game system and a number of communicative conventions where one player takes the role...... or less unproblematically across media, others are transformed by the introduction of the programmed system. This reveals some important perspectives on the sort of rules that can be simulated in a programmed system and what this means to the concept of rules in game studies....

  1. 47 CFR 64.1505 - Restrictions on collect telephone calls.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... SERVICES (CONTINUED) MISCELLANEOUS RULES RELATING TO COMMON CARRIERS Interstate Pay-Per-Call and Other Information Services § 64.1505 Restrictions on collect telephone calls. (a) No common carrier shall provide interstate transmission or billing and collection services to an entity offering any service within the scope...

  2. Proposal to modify Rule 6, Rule 10a, and Rule 12c of the International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oren, Aharon; Garrity, George M; Schink, Bernhard

    2014-04-01

    According to the current versions of Rule 10a and Rule 12c of the International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes, names of a genus or subgenus and specific epithets may be taken from any source and may even be composed in an arbitrary manner. Based on these rules, names may be composed of any word or any combination of elements derived from any language with a Latin ending. We propose modifying these rules by adding the text, currently part of Recommendation 6, according to which words from languages other than Latin or Greek should be avoided as long as equivalents exist in Latin or Greek or can be constructed by combining word elements from these two languages. We also propose modification of Rule 6 by adopting some of the current paragraphs of Recommendation 6 to become part of the Rule.

  3. Setting the farm animal welfare scene in North America /ESTABELECENDO O CENÁRIO DE BEM-ESTAR ANIMAL NA AMÉRICA DO NORTE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ANNA K. JOHNSON

    2008-04-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRACTThe main areas of interest that this paper will address are to, set the scene on what animal welfare is, the schools that one can subscribe and how this could influence the direction that farm animal welfare could go. Second, to provide an overview on some of the critical farm animal welfare events that have occurred over the past 10 years in North America and finally to detail the legislative events; past and future that will affect farm animal welfare. Animal welfare is not a term that arose in science to express a scientific concept; rather it arose in western civilization through society to express ethical concern regarding the treatment of animals. There are three “schools of welfare”, the first school is feeling-based, the second is functioning-based and the third is nature-based. Over the past decade there has been an escalation of welfare related events inNorth America, ranging from agribusiness and marketing through to humane and animal rights groups. These events include under cover investigations that have been conducted on farm and in plants. There have been numerous campaigns against fast food chain restaurants and more recently humane and rights groups have purchased shares into these companies to voice their opinions and to have a vote. In addition there has been a push for assuring on farm animal welfarethrough a plethora of assessment, certification and third party auditing programs. More recently, successful legislative initiatives have altered the way producers are able to house farm animals in several states and in 2005 there was an update to the 28 hour rule. In conclusion, all individuals involved in keeping animals for food have a huge responsibility in making sure that their animals are housed, raised, transported and processed humanely. In addition agribusinesses will need to show increasing accountability back to their customers and consumers that farm animal welfare is of critical

  4. Public Attitudes toward Animal Research: A Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elisabeth H. Ormandy

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available The exploration of public attitudes toward animal research is important given recent developments in animal research (e.g., increasing creation and use of genetically modified animals, and plans for progress in areas such as personalized medicine, and the shifting relationship between science and society (i.e., a move toward the democratization of science. As such, public engagement on issues related to animal research, including exploration of public attitudes, provides a means of achieving socially acceptable scientific practice and oversight through an understanding of societal values and concerns. Numerous studies have been conducted to explore public attitudes toward animal use, and more specifically the use of animals in research. This paper reviews relevant literature using three categories of influential factors: personal and cultural characteristics, animal characteristics, and research characteristics. A critique is given of survey style methods used to collect data on public attitudes, and recommendations are given on how best to address current gaps in public attitudes literature.

  5. The Fate of Anatomical Collections

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Knoeff, Rina; Zwijnenberg, Robert

    Almost every medical faculty possesses anatomical and/or pathological collections: human and animal preparations, wax- and other models, as well as drawings, photographs, documents and archives relating to them. In many institutions these collections are well-preserved, but in others they are poorly

  6. 77 FR 5480 - Notice of Request for Approval of an Information Collection; Importation of Animal and Poultry...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-02-03

    ...; Importation of Animal and Poultry Products (Milk and Eggs) Into the United States AGENCY: Animal and Plant... regulations for the importation of animal and poultry products (milk and eggs) into the United States. DATES...: For information on the importation of animal and poultry products (milk and eggs) into the United...

  7. Extracting classification rules from an informatic security incidents repository by genetic programming

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos Javier Carvajal Montealegre

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available This paper describes the data mining process to obtain classification rules over an information security incident data collection, explaining in detail the use of genetic programming as a mean to model the incidents behavior and representing such rules as decision trees. The described mining process includes several tasks, such as the GP (Genetic Programming approach evaluation, the individual's representation and the algorithm parameters tuning to upgrade the performance. The paper concludes with the result analysis and the description of the rules obtained, suggesting measures to avoid the occurrence of new informatics attacks. This paper is a part of the thesis work degree: Information Security Incident Analytics by Data Mining for Behavioral Modeling and Pattern Recognition (Carvajal, 2012.

  8. 76 FR 52698 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-08-23

    ... administration of the byproduct material or the radiation there from to human beings or animals. Possession of... collection techniques or other forms of information technology? The public may examine and have copied for a...

  9. The Translation of Graphemes in Anime in Its Original and Fansubbed Versions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel E. Josephy-Hernández

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Anime, Japanese animation, is massive, with “60% of the animation in the world made in Japan” (Goto-Jones 2009, 3. Anime occasionally makes an innovative use of graphemes on screen, but this has not been studied so far. This study, then, describes and analyses how graphemes have been translated in anime, presenting a series of cases, but concentrating on three particular releases: Gurren Lagann, Kill la Kill, and Tōkyō Godfathers, products that feature a frequent and innovative use of graphemes in its anime. These graphemes are categorised into two types: (1 the ones that are part of the original anime and (2 the graphemes added in fansubbed anime. Much anime is fansubbed (subtitled by fans, and these fans are not constrained by the industry’s rules, meaning that they have complete liberty in subtitling, allowing for really creative forms of subtitling. Even if this freedom can sometimes be taken to the extreme—with subtitles covering the entire screen—fansubs have shown creative subtitling solutions, specially in the case of graphemes that cover a great part of the screen. After describing and analysing these graphemes and how they have been subtitled, this article concludes that, even if fansubs can frequently be excessive, they are at the fore of creativity, and present better solutions than official subtitles in the translation of graphemes in anime.

  10. [Animal experimentation, computer simulation and surgical research].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carpentier, Alain

    2009-11-01

    We live in a digital world In medicine, computers are providing new tools for data collection, imaging, and treatment. During research and development of complex technologies and devices such as artificial hearts, computer simulation can provide more reliable information than experimentation on large animals. In these specific settings, animal experimentation should serve more to validate computer models of complex devices than to demonstrate their reliability.

  11. Visualization and Animation in Civil Engineering

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Turner, Howard

    2002-01-01

    ..., more than $7 million, allowed the curriculum to be modified. A new course CE 420 Digital Mapping was added to the curriculum This new course focuses on 3D data collection, modeling, visualization and animation...

  12. SEARCH: Spatially Explicit Animal Response to Composition of Habitat.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pauli, Benjamin P; McCann, Nicholas P; Zollner, Patrick A; Cummings, Robert; Gilbert, Jonathan H; Gustafson, Eric J

    2013-01-01

    Complex decisions dramatically affect animal dispersal and space use. Dispersing individuals respond to a combination of fine-scale environmental stimuli and internal attributes. Individual-based modeling offers a valuable approach for the investigation of such interactions because it combines the heterogeneity of animal behaviors with spatial detail. Most individual-based models (IBMs), however, vastly oversimplify animal behavior and such behavioral minimalism diminishes the value of these models. We present program SEARCH (Spatially Explicit Animal Response to Composition of Habitat), a spatially explicit, individual-based, population model of animal dispersal through realistic landscapes. SEARCH uses values in Geographic Information System (GIS) maps to apply rules that animals follow during dispersal, thus allowing virtual animals to respond to fine-scale features of the landscape and maintain a detailed memory of areas sensed during movement. SEARCH also incorporates temporally dynamic landscapes so that the environment to which virtual animals respond can change during the course of a simulation. Animals in SEARCH are behaviorally dynamic and able to respond to stimuli based upon their individual experiences. Therefore, SEARCH is able to model behavioral traits of dispersing animals at fine scales and with many dynamic aspects. Such added complexity allows investigation of unique ecological questions. To illustrate SEARCH's capabilities, we simulated case studies using three mammals. We examined the impact of seasonally variable food resources on the weight distribution of dispersing raccoons (Procyon lotor), the effect of temporally dynamic mortality pressure in combination with various levels of behavioral responsiveness in eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus), and the impact of behavioral plasticity and home range selection on disperser mortality and weight change in virtual American martens (Martes americana). These simulations highlight the relevance of

  13. RuleMaDrone: A Web-Interface to Visualise Space Usage Rules for Drones

    OpenAIRE

    Trippaers, Aäron

    2015-01-01

    RuleMaDrone, an application developed within this thesis, is presented as a solution to communicate the rules and regulations to drone operators. To provide the solution a framework for drone safety was designed which consists of the rules and regulations, the drone properties and the environmental factors. RuleMaDrone is developed with this framework and thus will provide drone operators with an application which they can use to find a safe and legal fly zone. RuleMaDrone u...

  14. Using association rule mining to identify risk factors for early childhood caries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ivančević, Vladimir; Tušek, Ivan; Tušek, Jasmina; Knežević, Marko; Elheshk, Salaheddin; Luković, Ivan

    2015-11-01

    Early childhood caries (ECC) is a potentially severe disease affecting children all over the world. The available findings are mostly based on a logistic regression model, but data mining, in particular association rule mining, could be used to extract more information from the same data set. ECC data was collected in a cross-sectional analytical study of the 10% sample of preschool children in the South Bačka area (Vojvodina, Serbia). Association rules were extracted from the data by association rule mining. Risk factors were extracted from the highly ranked association rules. Discovered dominant risk factors include male gender, frequent breastfeeding (with other risk factors), high birth order, language, and low body weight at birth. Low health awareness of parents was significantly associated to ECC only in male children. The discovered risk factors are mostly confirmed by the literature, which corroborates the value of the methods. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. The evolution of social learning rules: payoff-biased and frequency-dependent biased transmission.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kendal, Jeremy; Giraldeau, Luc-Alain; Laland, Kevin

    2009-09-21

    Humans and other animals do not use social learning indiscriminately, rather, natural selection has favoured the evolution of social learning rules that make selective use of social learning to acquire relevant information in a changing environment. We present a gene-culture coevolutionary analysis of a small selection of such rules (unbiased social learning, payoff-biased social learning and frequency-dependent biased social learning, including conformism and anti-conformism) in a population of asocial learners where the environment is subject to a constant probability of change to a novel state. We define conditions under which each rule evolves to a genetically polymorphic equilibrium. We find that payoff-biased social learning may evolve under high levels of environmental variation if the fitness benefit associated with the acquired behaviour is either high or low but not of intermediate value. In contrast, both conformist and anti-conformist biases can become fixed when environment variation is low, whereupon the mean fitness in the population is higher than for a population of asocial learners. Our examination of the population dynamics reveals stable limit cycles under conformist and anti-conformist biases and some highly complex dynamics including chaos. Anti-conformists can out-compete conformists when conditions favour a low equilibrium frequency of the learned behaviour. We conclude that evolution, punctuated by the repeated successful invasion of different social learning rules, should continuously favour a reduction in the equilibrium frequency of asocial learning, and propose that, among competing social learning rules, the dominant rule will be the one that can persist with the lowest frequency of asocial learning.

  16. Strategy as simple rules.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eisenhardt, K M; Sull, D N

    2001-01-01

    The success of Yahoo!, eBay, Enron, and other companies that have become adept at morphing to meet the demands of changing markets can't be explained using traditional thinking about competitive strategy. These companies have succeeded by pursuing constantly evolving strategies in market spaces that were considered unattractive according to traditional measures. In this article--the third in an HBR series by Kathleen Eisenhardt and Donald Sull on strategy in the new economy--the authors ask, what are the sources of competitive advantage in high-velocity markets? The secret, they say, is strategy as simple rules. The companies know that the greatest opportunities for competitive advantage lie in market confusion, but they recognize the need for a few crucial strategic processes and a few simple rules. In traditional strategy, advantage comes from exploiting resources or stable market positions. In strategy as simple rules, advantage comes from successfully seizing fleeting opportunities. Key strategic processes, such as product innovation, partnering, or spinout creation, place the company where the flow of opportunities is greatest. Simple rules then provide the guidelines within which managers can pursue such opportunities. Simple rules, which grow out of experience, fall into five broad categories: how- to rules, boundary conditions, priority rules, timing rules, and exit rules. Companies with simple-rules strategies must follow the rules religiously and avoid the temptation to change them too frequently. A consistent strategy helps managers sort through opportunities and gain short-term advantage by exploiting the attractive ones. In stable markets, managers rely on complicated strategies built on detailed predictions of the future. But when business is complicated, strategy should be simple.

  17. 49 CFR 222.41 - How does this rule affect Pre-Rule Quiet Zones and Pre-Rule Partial Quiet Zones?

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ...-Rule Quiet Zone may be established by automatic approval and remain in effect, subject to § 222.51, if... Zone may be established by automatic approval and remain in effect, subject to § 222.51, if the Pre... 49 Transportation 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false How does this rule affect Pre-Rule Quiet Zones and...

  18. Using the Chain Rule as the Key Link in Deriving the General Rules for Differentiation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sprows, David

    2011-01-01

    The standard approach to the general rules for differentiation is to first derive the power, product, and quotient rules and then derive the chain rule. In this short article we give an approach to these rules which uses the chain rule as the main tool in deriving the power, product, and quotient rules in a manner which is more student-friendly…

  19. A Kenyan perspective on the use of animals in science education ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Methods: Data was collected using questionnaires, administered at 39 highly ranked academic and research institutions aiming to identify those that used animals, their sources of animals, and application of the three Rs. Perceived challenges to the use of non-animal alternatives and common methods of euthanasia were ...

  20. Animal and non-animal experiments in nanotechnology - the results of a critical literature survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sauer, Ursula G

    2009-01-01

    A literature survey funded by the Foundation Animalfree Research was performed to obtain an overview on animal experiments in nanotechnology. Scientific articles from Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands and Switzerland published between 2004 and 2007 were collected. A total of 164 articles was retrieved covering in vivo nanotechnological research. The majority of animal experiments were conducted in "nanomedicine", i.e. nanotechnology in the health care area, to study targeted drug, vaccine or gene delivery. Further areas of research relate to nanotechnology-based imaging technologies, the toxicity of nanomaterials, tissue engineering for regenerative treatments, and magnetic tumour thermotherapy. Many experiments were classified as moderately and even severely distressful to the animals. Due to the significance of the scientific topics pursued, the possible scientific benefit of the research depicted in the articles is also assigned to be moderate to high. Nevertheless, it has to be asked whether such animal experiments are truly the only means to answer the scientific questions addressed in nanotechnology. An overview on non-animal test methods used in nanotechnological research revealed a broad spectrum of methodologies applied in a broad spectrum of scientific areas, including those for which animal experiments are being performed. Explicit incentives to avoid animal experiments in nanotechnology currently can only be found in the area of nanotoxicology, but not in the area of nanomedicine. From the point of view of animal welfare, not least because of the new technologies that arise due to nanotechnology, it is time for a paradigm change both in fundamental and applied biomedical research to found research strategies on non-animal test methods.

  1. Rules, culture, and fitness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baum, W M

    1995-01-01

    Behavior analysis risks intellectual isolation unless it integrates its explanations with evolutionary theory. Rule-governed behavior is an example of a topic that requires an evolutionary perspective for a full understanding. A rule may be defined as a verbal discriminative stimulus produced by the behavior of a speaker under the stimulus control of a long-term contingency between the behavior and fitness. As a discriminative stimulus, the rule strengthens listener behavior that is reinforced in the short run by socially mediated contingencies, but which also enters into the long-term contingency that enhances the listener's fitness. The long-term contingency constitutes the global context for the speaker's giving the rule. When a rule is said to be "internalized," the listener's behavior has switched from short- to long-term control. The fitness-enhancing consequences of long-term contingencies are health, resources, relationships, or reproduction. This view ties rules both to evolutionary theory and to culture. Stating a rule is a cultural practice. The practice strengthens, with short-term reinforcement, behavior that usually enhances fitness in the long run. The practice evolves because of its effect on fitness. The standard definition of a rule as a verbal statement that points to a contingency fails to distinguish between a rule and a bargain ("If you'll do X, then I'll do Y"), which signifies only a single short-term contingency that provides mutual reinforcement for speaker and listener. In contrast, the giving and following of a rule ("Dress warmly; it's cold outside") can be understood only by reference also to a contingency providing long-term enhancement of the listener's fitness or the fitness of the listener's genes. Such a perspective may change the way both behavior analysts and evolutionary biologists think about rule-governed behavior.

  2. Ontology-based concept map learning path reasoning system using SWRL rules

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chu, K.-K.; Lee, C.-I. [National Univ. of Tainan, Taiwan (China). Dept. of Computer Science and Information Learning Technology

    2010-08-13

    Concept maps are graphical representations of knowledge. Concept mapping may reduce students' cognitive load and extend simple memory function. The purpose of this study was on the diagnosis of students' concept map learning abilities and the provision of personally constructive advice dependant on their learning path and progress. Ontology is a useful method with which to represent and store concept map information. Semantic web rule language (SWRL) rules are easy to understand and to use as specific reasoning services. This paper discussed the selection of grade 7 lakes and rivers curriculum for which to devise a concept map learning path reasoning service. The paper defined a concept map e-learning ontology and two SWRL semantic rules, and collected users' concept map learning path data to infer implicit knowledge and to recommend the next learning path for users. It was concluded that the designs devised in this study were feasible and advanced and the ontology kept the domain knowledge preserved. SWRL rules identified an abstraction model for inferred properties. Since they were separate systems, they did not interfere with each other, while ontology or SWRL rules were maintained, ensuring persistent system extensibility and robustness. 15 refs., 1 tab., 8 figs.

  3. 78 FR 27183 - Notice of Request for Reinstatement of an Information Collection; National Animal Health...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-05-09

    ... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service [Docket No. APHIS-2013-0010....), the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture is... birth to weaning; Describe antibiotic use and residue prevention methods used to ensure milk and meat...

  4. An Animal-Centered Perspective on Colonial Oppression: Animal Representations and the Narrating Ox in Uwe Timm’s ‘‘Morenga’’ (1978

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Steffen Röhrs

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available As a result of its topic and its narrative style, Uwe Timm’s novel ‘Morenga’ (1978 marks an important step in the development of postcolonial German literature. The main theme of the book is the bloody suppression of the Herero and the Nama uprisings through the German army in South-West Africa at the beginning of the 20th century. With recourse to historical and fictional documents and by using different narrative perspectives, the text achieves a plurality of voices and thereby destabilizes a one-dimensional view on colonialism. The present article discusses the functions of the nonhuman animals appearing in ‘Morenga’. It is assumed that the animal representations are an essential part of the plot and underscore the criticism of colonial rule in a narrative manner too. The novel contains several descriptions of suffering animals and links them to the harm of the Herero and the Nama in order to point out the ruthlessness of the colonists. Moreover, the book features a story-telling ox, which initiates a reflection process about possible ways of narrating colonial history. The talking ox adds a specific animal-centered perspective on colonial oppression and raises questions about emancipation, self-determination, and the agency of the nonhuman ‘other’

  5. The flaws and human harms of animal experimentation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akhtar, Aysha

    2015-10-01

    Nonhuman animal ("animal") experimentation is typically defended by arguments that it is reliable, that animals provide sufficiently good models of human biology and diseases to yield relevant information, and that, consequently, its use provides major human health benefits. I demonstrate that a growing body of scientific literature critically assessing the validity of animal experimentation generally (and animal modeling specifically) raises important concerns about its reliability and predictive value for human outcomes and for understanding human physiology. The unreliability of animal experimentation across a wide range of areas undermines scientific arguments in favor of the practice. Additionally, I show how animal experimentation often significantly harms humans through misleading safety studies, potential abandonment of effective therapeutics, and direction of resources away from more effective testing methods. The resulting evidence suggests that the collective harms and costs to humans from animal experimentation outweigh potential benefits and that resources would be better invested in developing human-based testing methods.

  6. Consistence of Network Filtering Rules

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    SHE Kun; WU Yuancheng; HUANG Juncai; ZHOU Mingtian

    2004-01-01

    The inconsistence of firewall/VPN(Virtual Private Network) rule makes a huge maintainable cost.With development of Multinational Company,SOHO office,E-government the number of firewalls/VPN will increase rapidly.Rule table in stand-alone or network will be increased in geometric series accordingly.Checking the consistence of rule table manually is inadequate.A formal approach can define semantic consistence,make a theoretic foundation of intelligent management about rule tables.In this paper,a kind of formalization of host rules and network ones for auto rule-validation based on SET theory were proporsed and a rule validation scheme was defined.The analysis results show the superior performance of the methods and demonstrate its potential for the intelligent management based on rule tables.

  7. Spatial-Temporal Dynamics of High-Resolution Animal Networks: What Can We Learn from Domestic Animals?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shi Chen

    Full Text Available Animal social network is the key to understand many ecological and epidemiological processes. We used real-time location system (RTLS to accurately track cattle position, analyze their proximity networks, and tested the hypothesis of temporal stationarity and spatial homogeneity in these networks during different daily time periods and in different areas of the pen. The network structure was analyzed using global network characteristics (network density, subgroup clustering (modularity, triadic property (transitivity, and dyadic interactions (correlation coefficient from a quadratic assignment procedure at hourly level. We demonstrated substantial spatial-temporal heterogeneity in these networks and potential link between indirect animal-environment contact and direct animal-animal contact. But such heterogeneity diminished if data were collected at lower spatial (aggregated at entire pen level or temporal (aggregated at daily level resolution. The network structure (described by the characteristics such as density, modularity, transitivity, etc. also changed substantially at different time and locations. There were certain time (feeding and location (hay that the proximity network structures were more consistent based on the dyadic interaction analysis. These results reveal new insights for animal network structure and spatial-temporal dynamics, provide more accurate descriptions of animal social networks, and allow more accurate modeling of multiple (both direct and indirect disease transmission pathways.

  8. A rule of thumb in mammalian herbivores?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Augner; Provenza; Villalba

    1998-08-01

    In two experiments on appetitive learning we conditioned lambs, Ovis aries, to particular concentrations of a flavour by mixing the flavour with an energy-rich food that complemented their energy-poor diet. The lambs were subsequently offered energy-rich food with five different concentrations of the flavour (the concentration to which they were conditioned, two higher concentrations, and two lower concentrations). At these tests, the lambs consistently preferred the weaker flavours. This finding stands in contrast to earlier results on generalization gradients. In a third experiment, similarly designed to the other two, we tested for effects of a strong flavour on the behaviour of lambs when they were offered a novel nutritious food. Half of the lambs were offered unadulterated wheat, and the others strongly flavoured wheat. We found that the flavour in itself was initially aversive. We propose that the lambs' avoidance of foods with strong flavours may be an expression of a rule of thumb of the type 'given a choice, avoid food with strong flavours'. Such a rule could be part of a risk-averse foraging strategy displayed by mammalian herbivores, and which could be of particular importance when they encounter unfamiliar foods. Copyright 1998 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour

  9. Animal Investigation Program: Nevada Test Site and Vicinity. Annual report, 1979

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smith, D.D.; Giles, Jr.; Bernhardt, D.E.

    1981-05-01

    Data are presented from the radioanalyses of tissues collected from cattle, mule deer, desert bighorn sheep, rabbits, chukar, golden eagles, and other wildlife that resided on or near the Nevada Test Site during 1979. Routine and special activities of the Animal Investigation Program are also discussed. Other than the naturally occurring potassium-40, gamma-emitting radionuclides were detected infrequently. Strontium-90 concentrations in bones from deer, cattle, and desert bighorn sheep were lower than those of recent years. Tritium concentrations were generally within expected environmental limits with the exception of animals exposed to known sources of contamination; e.g., drainage ponds from Area 12 tunnels or the Sedan Crater. Plutonium levels in all tissues from all species showed little variation to those levels in samples collected in recent years. Radionuclide tissue concentrations were generally higher in the tissues of animals residing in Area 15 than in similar animals collected from other Nevada Test Site areas. Hypothetical annual dose estimates to man were calculated on the basis of the daily consumption of 0.5 kilogra of liver or muscle from animals that contained peak radionuclide levels. The movements of 25 mule deer outfitted with collars containing a radio transmitter unit were monitored on a weekly basis. No gross or microscopic lesions were found in necropsied animals that could be directly attributed to the effects of ionizing radiation

  10. Max-out-in pivot rule with Dantzig's safeguarding rule for the simplex method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tipawanna, Monsicha; Sinapiromsaran, Krung

    2014-01-01

    The simplex method is used to solve linear programming problem by improving the current basic feasible solution. It uses a pivot rule to guide the search in the feasible region. The pivot rule is used to select an entering index in simplex method. Nowadays, many pivot rule have been presented, but no pivot rule shows superior performance than other. Therefore, this is still an active research in linear programming. In this research, we present the max-out-in pivot rule with Dantzig's safeguarding for simplex method. This rule is based on maximum improvement of objective value of the current basic feasible point similar to the Dantzig's rule. We can illustrate by Klee and Minty problems that our rule outperforms that of Dantzig's rule by the number of iterations for solving linear programming problems

  11. The rules of information aggregation and emergence of collective intelligent behavior

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bettencourt, Luis

    2008-01-01

    Information is a peculiar quantity. Unlike matter or energy, the aggregation of knowledge from many individuals can in fact produce more (or less) information than the sum of its parts. We use the formalism of information theory to derive general principles of information aggregation and collective organization under which information pooling can be synergetic or to identify when it will be redundant. We then show how several problems of collective cognition and coordination can be understood in terms of the conditions that allow for the minimization of uncertainty (maximization of predictability) under information pooling over many individuals. We discuss in some detail how collective coordination in swarms, markets, language processing and collaborative filtering may be guided by the optimal aggregation of information over many sources and identify circumstances when these processes fail, leading e.g. to inefficient markets. The contrast to approaches to understand coordination and collaboration via traditional decision and game theory is discussed as well as the incentives to individuals and groups to find optimal information aggregation mechanisms.

  12. Totally optimal decision rules

    KAUST Repository

    Amin, Talha

    2017-11-22

    Optimality of decision rules (patterns) can be measured in many ways. One of these is referred to as length. Length signifies the number of terms in a decision rule and is optimally minimized. Another, coverage represents the width of a rule’s applicability and generality. As such, it is desirable to maximize coverage. A totally optimal decision rule is a decision rule that has the minimum possible length and the maximum possible coverage. This paper presents a method for determining the presence of totally optimal decision rules for “complete” decision tables (representations of total functions in which different variables can have domains of differing values). Depending on the cardinalities of the domains, we can either guarantee for each tuple of values of the function that totally optimal rules exist for each row of the table (as in the case of total Boolean functions where the cardinalities are equal to 2) or, for each row, we can find a tuple of values of the function for which totally optimal rules do not exist for this row.

  13. Totally optimal decision rules

    KAUST Repository

    Amin, Talha M.; Moshkov, Mikhail

    2017-01-01

    Optimality of decision rules (patterns) can be measured in many ways. One of these is referred to as length. Length signifies the number of terms in a decision rule and is optimally minimized. Another, coverage represents the width of a rule’s applicability and generality. As such, it is desirable to maximize coverage. A totally optimal decision rule is a decision rule that has the minimum possible length and the maximum possible coverage. This paper presents a method for determining the presence of totally optimal decision rules for “complete” decision tables (representations of total functions in which different variables can have domains of differing values). Depending on the cardinalities of the domains, we can either guarantee for each tuple of values of the function that totally optimal rules exist for each row of the table (as in the case of total Boolean functions where the cardinalities are equal to 2) or, for each row, we can find a tuple of values of the function for which totally optimal rules do not exist for this row.

  14. Empirical questions for collective-behaviour modelling

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    The collective behaviour of groups of social animals has been an active topic of study ... Models have been successful at reproducing qualitative features of ... quantitative and detailed empirical results for a range of animal systems. ... standard method [23], the redundant information recorded by the cameras can be used to.

  15. Use of the information from experiment by animal

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Inaba, Jiro

    1976-01-01

    In order to calculate the radiation dose to various parts of human body tissue from internally deposited radionuclides, we need to know their pattern of uptake and retention within the human body. In the case that appropriate data for man are not available it is commonly necessary to use data collected from experimental animals. Since animal experiment can offer analytical approaches to the subject, the information from the experiment is considered to be rather essential for biologically logical description of the metabolism of the radionuclides. The animal experiment can be divided into three categories by the purpose; i.e., construction of a quantitative metabolic model, evaluation of the factors affecting the parameters used in the model and understanding the mechanisms of the metabolism. Extrapolation of animal data to man are subject to considerable criticism, and probably justifiably so because of the variations among species. An example of species variability is the difference of the whole-body retention rate of radiocesium between newborn of rat and human. Until adequate experimental data are collected from human subjects, we have no choice to rely mainly on information from experimental animals. As our knowledge is insufficient to provide a strong theoretical basis for the extraporation from animal to human, we should be very careful at the practice of the extrapolation, moreover, we should promote the study to establish a good interspecies correlation which will provide a better basis for the extrapolation. (auth.)

  16. Animal investigation program 1980 annual report: Nevada Test Site and vicinity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smith, D.D.; Bernhardt, D.E.; Giles, K.R.

    1982-07-01

    This report summarizes the data collected through the Animal Investigation Program during 1980. A major goal of the Program is to assess the radionuclide burden in the tissues of wild and domesticated animals around the Nevada Test Site and to detect pathological effects resulting from the burdens. Other than naturally occurring potassium-40, gamma emitting radionuclides were detected infrequently. Strontium-90 and plutonium concentrations in tissues from deer, cattle, and desert bighorn sheep were similar to those found in samples collected during recent years. Lesions found in necropsied animals were similar to those found in animals from other areas of the U.S. and would not be attributable to ionizing radiation exposure. The report also describes other activities of the program, including the deer migration study and census

  17. Anticipatory Governance: Bioethical Expertise for Human/Animal Chimeras

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harvey, Alison; Salter, Brian

    2012-01-01

    The governance demands generated by the use of human/animal chimeras in scientific research offer both a challenge and an opportunity for the development of new forms of anticipatory governance through the novel application of bioethical expertise. Anticipatory governance can be seen to have three stages of development whereby bioethical experts move from a reactive to a proactive stance at the edge of what is scientifically possible. In the process, the ethicists move upstream in their engagement with the science of human-to-animal chimeras. To what extent is the anticipatory coestablishment of the principles and operational rules of governance at this early stage in the development of the human-to-animal research field likely to result in a framework for bioethical decision making that is in support of science? The process of anticipatory governance is characterised by the entwining of the scientific and the philosophical so that judgements against science are also found to be philosophically unfounded, and conversely, those activities that are permissible are deemed so on both scientific and ethical grounds. Through what is presented as an organic process, the emerging bioethical framework for human-to-animal chimera research becomes a legitimating framework within which ‘good’ science can safely progress. Science gives bioethical expertise access to new governance territory; bioethical expertise gives science access to political acceptability. PMID:23576848

  18. Do Group Decision Rules Affect Trust? A Laboratory Experiment on Group Decision Rules and Trust

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Julie Hassing

    2016-01-01

    Enhanced participation has been prescribed as the way forward for improving democratic decision making while generating positive attributes like trust. Yet we do not know the extent to which rules affect the outcome of decision making. This article investigates how different group decision rules......-hierarchical decision-making procedures enhance trust vis-à-vis other more hierarchical decision-making procedures....... affect group trust by testing three ideal types of decision rules (i.e., a Unilateral rule, a Representative rule and a 'Non-rule') in a laboratory experiment. The article shows significant differences between the three decision rules on trust after deliberation. Interestingly, however, it finds...

  19. Verification of business rules programs

    CERN Document Server

    Silva, Bruno Berstel-Da

    2013-01-01

    Rules represent a simplified means of programming, congruent with our understanding of human brain constructs. With the advent of business rules management systems, it has been possible to introduce rule-based programming to nonprogrammers, allowing them to map expert intent into code in applications such as fraud detection, financial transactions, healthcare, retail, and marketing. However, a remaining concern is the quality, safety, and reliability of the resulting programs.  This book is on business rules programs, that is, rule programs as handled in business rules management systems. Its

  20. RIGHTS, RULES, AND DEMOCRACY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Richard S. Kay, University of Connecticut-School of Law, Estados Unidos

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract: Democracy require protection of certain fundamental rights, but can we expect courts to follow rules? There seems little escape from the proposition that substantive constitutional review by an unelected judiciary is a presumptive abridgement of democratic decision-making. Once we have accepted the proposition that there exist human rights that ought to be protected, this should hardly surprise us. No one thinks courts are perfect translators of the rules invoked before them on every occasion. But it is equally clear that rules sometimes do decide cases. In modern legal systems the relative roles of courts and legislators with respect to the rules of the system is a commonplace. Legislatures make rules. Courts apply them in particular disputes. When we are talking about human rights, however, that assumption must be clarified in at least one way. The defense of the practice of constitutional review in this article assumes courts can and do enforce rules. This article also makes clear what is the meaning of “following rules”. Preference for judicial over legislative interpretation of rights, therefore, seems to hang on the question of whether or not judges are capable of subordinating their own judgment to that incorporated in the rules by their makers. This article maintains that, in general, entrenched constitutional rules (and not just constitutional courts can and do constrain public conduct and protect human rights. The article concludes that the value judgments will depend on our estimate of the benefits we derive from the process of representative self-government. Against those benefits we will have to measure the importance we place on being able to live our lives with the security created by a regime of human rights protected by the rule of law. Keywords: Democracy. Human Rights. Rules. Judicial Review.

  1. Medicare program; offset of Medicare payments to individuals to collect past-due obligations arising from breach of scholarship and loan contracts--HCFA. Final rule.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1992-05-04

    This final rule sets forth the procedures to be followed for collection of past-due amounts owed by individuals who breached contracts under certain scholarship and loan programs. The programs that would be affected are the National Health Service Corps Scholarship, the Physician Shortage Area Scholarship, and the Health Education Assistance Loan. These procedures would apply to those individuals who breached contracts under the scholarship and loan programs and who-- Accept Medicare assignment for services; Are employed by or affiliated with a provider, Health Maintenance Organization, or Competitive Medical Plan that receives Medicare payment for services; or Are members of a group practice that receives Medicare payment for services. This regulation implements section 1892 of the Social Security Act, as added by section 4052 of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987.

  2. Ketamine-Induced Changes in the Signal and Noise of Rule Representation in Working Memory by Lateral Prefrontal Neurons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Liya; Skoblenick, Kevin; Seamans, Jeremy K; Everling, Stefan

    2015-08-19

    Working memory dysfunction is an especially debilitating symptom in schizophrenia. The NMDA antagonist ketamine has been successfully used to model working memory deficits in both rodents and nonhuman primates, but how it affects the strength and the consistency of working memory representations remains unclear. Here we recorded single-neuron activity in the lateral prefrontal cortex of macaque monkeys before and after the administration of subanesthetic doses of ketamine in a rule-based working memory task. The rule was instructed with a color cue before each delay period and dictated the correct prosaccadic or antisaccadic response to a peripheral stimulus appearing after the delay. We found that acute ketamine injections both weakened the rule signal across all delay periods and amplified the trial-to-trial variance in neural activities (i.e., noise), both within individual neurons and at the ensemble level, resulting in impaired performance. In the minority of postinjection trials when the animals responded correctly, the preservation of the signal strength during the delay periods was predictive of their subsequent success. Our findings suggest that NMDA receptor function may be critical for establishing the optimal signal-to-noise ratio in information representation by ensembles of prefrontal cortex neurons. In schizophrenia patients, working memory deficit is highly debilitating and currently without any efficacious treatment. An improved understanding of the pathophysiology of this symptom may provide critical information to treatment development. The NMDA antagonist ketamine, when injected at a subanesthetic dose, produces working memory deficit and other schizophrenia-like symptoms in humans and other animals. Here we investigated the effects of ketamine on the representation of abstract rules by prefrontal neurons, while macaque monkeys held the rules in working memory before responding accordingly. We found that ketamine weakened the signal

  3. Methods for discovering and validating relationships among genotyped animals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Genomic selection based on single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) has led to the collection of genotypes for over 2.2 million animals by the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding in the United States. To assure that a genotype is assigned to the correct animal and that the animal’s pedigree is correct, t...

  4. Morally relevant differences between animals and human beings justifying the use of animals in biomedical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dennis, J U

    1997-03-01

    I have attempted to show that the differential qualities of animals and human beings indeed to have bearing on moral rules and the derivation of rights, including rights established on the basis of reason and utilitarianism. Special rights for members of our species are not simply a consequence of human domination and self-interest. I also have tried to show that rights arise from values and that the qualities we value most highly often are the ones that distinguish human beings from other species. I maintain that giving more value to human lives over animal lives achieves reflective balance with the commonsense notions that most of us have developed. Because utilitarianism, contractualism, and the classical philosophical methods of Kant and Aristotle all may allow favoring human interests over animal interests, it seems reasonable to suspect that animal rights activists embrace narrow, extremist views. There are many uniquely human experiences to which we ascribe high value-deep interpersonal relationships, achieving a life's goal, enjoying a complex cultural event such as a play or an opera, or authoring a manuscript. Therefore, it would seem improper that social and ethical considerations regarding animals be centered entirely on the notion of a biological continuum, because there are many kinds of human experience-moral, religious, aesthetic, and otherwise-that appear to be outside the realm of biology. Knowledge about the biology of animals is helpful for making moral decisions about our obligations to them. Why, then, is there a substantial population of animal rights activists in Europe, the United States, and throughout the world, who would not agree with my conclusions? Certain habitual ways of thinking may encourage anthropomorphism and equating animal interests with human interests. Certain metaphysical beliefs, such as a belief in reincarnation, also might favor animal rights. It also is possible that a number of people are being deceived and misled by

  5. [Application of association rule in mental health test for employees in a petrochemical enterprise].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, L F; Zhang, D N; Wang, Z P

    2017-10-20

    Objective: To investigate the occurrence ruleof common psychological abnormalities in petrochemical workers using association rule. Methods: From July to September,2014,the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90)was used for the general survey of mental healthamong all employees in a petrochemical enterprise.The association rule Apriori algorithm was used to analyze the data of SCL-90 and investigate the occurrence rule of psychological abnormalities in petrochemical workers with different sexes,ages,or nationalities. Results: A total of 8 248 usable questionnaires were collected. The SCL-90 analysis showed that 1623 petrochemical workers(19.68%) had positive results,among whom 567(34.94%)had one positive factor and 1056 (65.06%)had two or more positive factors. A total of 7 strong association rules were identified and all of them included obsessive-compulsive symptom and depression. Male({obsessive-compulsive symptom,anxiety}=>{depression}) and female workers ({somatization,depression}=>{obsessive-compulsive symptom}) had their own special association rules. The workers aged 35-44 years had 17 special association rules,and ethnic minorities had 5 special association rules. Conclusion: Employeesin the petrochemical enterprise have multiple positive factors in SCL-90, and employees aged 35-44 years and ethnic minorities have a rich combination of psychological symptoms and need special attention during mental health intervention.

  6. Differences in nutrient requirements imply a non-linear emergence of leaders in animal groups.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cédric Sueur

    Full Text Available Collective decision making and especially leadership in groups are among the most studied topics in natural, social, and political sciences. Previous studies have shown that some individuals are more likely to be leaders because of their social power or the pertinent information they possess. One challenge for all group members, however, is to satisfy their needs. In many situations, we do not yet know how individuals within groups distribute leadership decisions between themselves in order to satisfy time-varying individual requirements. To gain insight into this problem, we build a dynamic model where group members have to satisfy different needs but are not aware of each other's needs. Data about needs of animals come from real data observed in macaques. Several studies showed that a collective movement may be initiated by a single individual. This individual may be the dominant one, the oldest one, but also the one having the highest physiological needs. In our model, the individual with the lowest reserve initiates movements and decides for all its conspecifics. This simple rule leads to a viable decision-making system where all individuals may lead the group at one moment and thus suit their requirements. However, a single individual becomes the leader in 38% to 95% of cases and the leadership is unequally (according to an exponential law distributed according to the heterogeneity of needs in the group. The results showed that this non-linearity emerges when one group member reaches physiological requirements, mainly the nutrient ones - protein, energy and water depending on weight - superior to those of its conspecifics. This amplification may explain why some leaders could appear in animal groups without any despotism, complex signalling, or developed cognitive ability.

  7. 78 FR 79028 - Proposed Collection; Comment Request

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-12-27

    ... the account of any customer under certain circumstances. In addition, the information required by Rule..., including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology..., Copies Available From: Securities and Exchange Commission, Office of Investor Education and Advocacy...

  8. Convention on nuclear safety. Rules of procedure and financial rules

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1999-01-01

    The document is the first revision of the Rules of Procedures and Financial Rules that apply mutatis mutandis to any meetings of the Contracting Parties to the Convention on Nuclear Safety (INFCIRC/573), convened in accordance with the Chapter 3 of the Convention

  9. Convention on Nuclear Safety. Rules of procedure and financial rules

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2002-01-01

    The document is the second revision of the Rules of Procedures and Financial Rules that apply mutatis mutandis to any meetings of the Contracting Parties to the Convention on Nuclear Safety (INFCIRC/573), convened in accordance with the Chapter 3 of the Convention

  10. 76 FR 30713 - Information Collection Being Reviewed by the Federal Communications Commission

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-05-26

    ... use of Federal funds would be compromised. The Commission's rules for ETCs require the collection of.... Rule 54.209 requires Federally designated ETCs to submit each year an annual report on October 1 that...(e) requires all ETCs to keep for a period of at least five years all records required to demonstrate...

  11. Using an improved association rules mining optimization algorithm in web-based mobile-learning system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Yin; Chen, Jianhua; Xiong, Shaojun

    2009-07-01

    Mobile-Learning (M-learning) makes many learners get the advantages of both traditional learning and E-learning. Currently, Web-based Mobile-Learning Systems have created many new ways and defined new relationships between educators and learners. Association rule mining is one of the most important fields in data mining and knowledge discovery in databases. Rules explosion is a serious problem which causes great concerns, as conventional mining algorithms often produce too many rules for decision makers to digest. Since Web-based Mobile-Learning System collects vast amounts of student profile data, data mining and knowledge discovery techniques can be applied to find interesting relationships between attributes of learners, assessments, the solution strategies adopted by learners and so on. Therefore ,this paper focus on a new data-mining algorithm, combined with the advantages of genetic algorithm and simulated annealing algorithm , called ARGSA(Association rules based on an improved Genetic Simulated Annealing Algorithm), to mine the association rules. This paper first takes advantage of the Parallel Genetic Algorithm and Simulated Algorithm designed specifically for discovering association rules. Moreover, the analysis and experiment are also made to show the proposed method is superior to the Apriori algorithm in this Mobile-Learning system.

  12. Complex-energy approach to sum rules within nuclear density functional theory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hinohara, Nobuo; Kortelainen, Markus; Nazarewicz, Witold; Olsen, Erik

    2015-04-01

    Background: The linear response of the nucleus to an external field contains unique information about the effective interaction, the correlations governing the behavior of the many-body system, and the properties of its excited states. To characterize the response, it is useful to use its energy-weighted moments, or sum rules. By comparing computed sum rules with experimental values, the information content of the response can be utilized in the optimization process of the nuclear Hamiltonian or the nuclear energy density functional (EDF). But the additional information comes at a price: compared to the ground state, computation of excited states is more demanding. Purpose: To establish an efficient framework to compute energy-weighted sum rules of the response that is adaptable to the optimization of the nuclear EDF and large-scale surveys of collective strength, we have developed a new technique within the complex-energy finite-amplitude method (FAM) based on the quasiparticle random-phase approximation (QRPA). Methods: To compute sum rules, we carry out contour integration of the response function in the complex-energy plane. We benchmark our results against the conventional matrix formulation of the QRPA theory, the Thouless theorem for the energy-weighted sum rule, and the dielectric theorem for the inverse-energy-weighted sum rule. Results: We derive the sum-rule expressions from the contour integration of the complex-energy FAM. We demonstrate that calculated sum-rule values agree with those obtained from the matrix formulation of the QRPA. We also discuss the applicability of both the Thouless theorem about the energy-weighted sum rule and the dielectric theorem for the inverse-energy-weighted sum rule to nuclear density functional theory in cases when the EDF is not based on a Hamiltonian. Conclusions: The proposed sum-rule technique based on the complex-energy FAM is a tool of choice when optimizing effective interactions or energy functionals. The method

  13. Collective movement in ecology: from emerging technologies to conservation and management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Westley, Peter A H; Berdahl, Andrew M; Torney, Colin J; Biro, Dora

    2018-05-19

    Recent advances in technology and quantitative methods have led to the emergence of a new field of study that stands to link insights of researchers from two closely related, but often disconnected disciplines: movement ecology and collective animal behaviour. To date, the field of movement ecology has focused on elucidating the internal and external drivers of animal movement and the influence of movement on broader ecological processes. Typically, tracking and/or remote sensing technology is employed to study individual animals in natural conditions. By contrast, the field of collective behaviour has quantified the significant role social interactions play in the decision-making of animals within groups and, to date, has predominantly relied on controlled laboratory-based studies and theoretical models owing to the constraints of studying interacting animals in the field. This themed issue is intended to formalize the burgeoning field of collective movement ecology which integrates research from both movement ecology and collective behaviour. In this introductory paper, we set the stage for the issue by briefly examining the approaches and current status of research in these areas. Next, we outline the structure of the theme issue and describe the obstacles collective movement researchers face, from data acquisition in the field to analysis and problems of scale, and highlight the key contributions of the assembled papers. We finish by presenting research that links individual and broad-scale ecological and evolutionary processes to collective movement, and finally relate these concepts to emerging challenges for the management and conservation of animals on the move in a world that is increasingly impacted by human activity.This article is part of the theme issue 'Collective movement ecology'. © 2018 The Author(s).

  14. Empirical questions for collective-behaviour modelling

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    2015-02-04

    Feb 4, 2015 ... The collective behaviour of groups of social animals has been an active topic of study across many disciplines, and has a long history of modelling. Classical models have been successful in capturing the large-scale patterns formed by animal aggregations, but fare less well in accounting for details, ...

  15. Legal assistance on the application of public procurement rules in the waste sector

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andrecka, Marta

    2016-01-01

    The report presents the results of a study investigating the application of public procurement rules in the municipal waste sector across the European Union conducted by Ramboll Management Consulting for the European Commission (DG GROW). The study is part of a process launched by the European...... Commission to analyse the application of public procurement rules in different market sectors. The scope of the study was set by the definition of municipal [solid] waste as presented in the Waste Framework Directive.1 The geographical scope of data collection was focused on seven Member States: Germany...

  16. DEVELOP-FPS: a First Person Shooter Development Tool for Rule-based Scripts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bruno Correia

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available We present DEVELOP-FPS, a software tool specially designed for the development of First Person Shooter (FPS players controlled by Rule Based Scripts. DEVELOP-FPS may be used by FPS developers to create, debug, maintain and compare rule base player behaviours, providing a set of useful functionalities: i for an easy preparation of the right scenarios for game debugging and testing; ii for controlling the game execution: users can stop and resume the game execution at any instant, monitoring and controlling every player in the game, monitoring the state of each player, their rule base activation, being able to issue commands to control their behaviour; and iii to automatically run a certain number of game executions and collect data in order to evaluate and compare the players performance along a sufficient number of similar experiments.

  17. Animal ethics profiling of vegetarians, vegans and meat-eaters

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lund, Thomas Bøker; McKeegan, Dorothy E. F.; Cribbin, Clare

    2016-01-01

    The aims of this study were to identify the animal ethical profile of vegetarians, vegans, and meat-eaters. Using questionnaire data collected in 2013 (n = 356), we measured propensity to subscribe to five different po- sitions within animal ethics based on a novel measure of animal ethical stance......), but predominantly the utilitarian position. Propensity to hold animal rights and re- lational views increased with the number of meat products not consumed by meat-eaters. Vegans and vegetarians revealed more consistent animal ethics viewpoints, especially the vegan group which had a very high propen- sity to hold...... an animal rights position. Vegetarians were also inclined to hold the animal rights position, but additionally had a tendency to draw on utilitarian reasoning. Subscription to animal rights views was a defining char- acteristic of vegans regardless of the number of years they had followed the diet, while...

  18. Babesia, Theileria, and Hepatozoon species in ticks infesting animal hosts in Romania.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andersson, Martin O; Tolf, Conny; Tamba, Paula; Stefanache, Mircea; Radbea, Gabriel; Rubel, Franz; Waldenström, Jonas; Dobler, Gerhard; Chițimia-Dobler, Lidia

    2017-08-01

    Babesia spp., Theileria spp., and Hepatozoon spp. are tick-transmitted apicomplexan parasites that cause several important diseases in animals. To increase current knowledge about the diversity of tick-transmitted pathogens in Romania, we investigated the occurrence of Babesia spp., Theileria spp., and Hepatozoon spp. in a wide range of tick species infesting animal hosts. We collected 852 ticks from 10 different animal species from 20 counties in Romania. The assessment was based on detection of parasite DNA by PCR. Five different apicomplexan parasite species were detected; among them three different species of Babesia: B. canis, B. microti, and B. ovis. Hepatozoon canis was the most frequently detected parasite, found predominately in Ixodes ricinus ticks collected from domestic dogs. It was also detected in I. ricinus collected from goat, fox, and cat. Furthermore, H. canis was found in Haemaphysalis punctata and Haemaphysalis concinna ticks. In addition, Theileria buffeli was detected in Rhipicephalus bursa ticks collected from cattle.

  19. WellnessRules: A Web 3.0 Case Study in RuleML-Based Prolog-N3 Profile Interoperation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boley, Harold; Osmun, Taylor Michael; Craig, Benjamin Larry

    An interoperation study, WellnessRules, is described, where rules about wellness opportunities are created by participants in rule languages such as Prolog and N3, and translated within a wellness community using RuleML/XML. The wellness rules are centered around participants, as profiles, encoding knowledge about their activities conditional on the season, the time-of-day, the weather, etc. This distributed knowledge base extends FOAF profiles with a vocabulary and rules about wellness group networking. The communication between participants is organized through Rule Responder, permitting wellness-profile translation and distributed querying across engines. WellnessRules interoperates between rules and queries in the relational (Datalog) paradigm of the pure-Prolog subset of POSL and in the frame (F-logic) paradigm of N3. An evaluation of Rule Responder instantiated for WellnessRules revealed acceptable Web response times.

  20. Ticks infesting wild and domestic animals and humans of Sri Lanka with new host records.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liyanaarachchi, D R; Rajakaruna, R S; Dikkumbura, A W; Rajapakse, R P V J

    2015-02-01

    An island-wide collection of tick species infesting humans, domesticated and wild animals and questing ticks in domestic and peridomestic environments was carried out during 2009-2011. A total of 30,461 ticks were collected from 30 different hosts and free living stages from the ground. The collection consisted of 22 tick species from 30 different hosts recording 12 tick species from humans, 19 from domesticated animals and 21 from wild animals, with a total of 97 new host records. The most common tick species on humans were Dermacentor auratus and Amblyomma testudinairum, while Haemaphysalis intermedia, Rhipicephalus microplus and Rhipicephalus sanguineus were common in domesticated and wild animals sharing 20 host species. Among the questing ticks, immature D. auratus was the most abundant. Humans and domesticated animals were mostly infested by the nymphal stages while adult ticks were found on wild animals. High number of new host records could be due to domestic animals picking tick species from wildlife and vise versa at the human/animal interface. Habitat destruction due to forest fragmentation has lead to wild animals roaming in urban and semi-urban neighbourhoods increasing the interactions of wild animals with domesticated animals. Wild animals play a significant role as a reservoir of many tick borne infections which can easily be spread to domesticated animals and then to humans via tick infestations. Data in this paper are useful for those interested in tick infesting wild and domestic animals and humans in describing the zoonotic potential of tick borne infections. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. The role of traffic rules.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Noordzij, P.C.

    1988-01-01

    Experienced road users seem to have their own set of traffic rules (including rules about when to violate the official rules). The number of violations is enormous, causing great concern for the authorities. The situation could be improved by separating a set of rules with the aim of deterring road

  2. Life fraction rules

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Maile, K.

    1989-01-01

    Evaluations for lifetime estimation of high temperature loaded HTR-components under creep fatigue load had been performed. The evaluations were carried out on the basis of experimental data of strain controlled fatigue tests with respectively without hold times performed on material NiCr 22 Co 12 Mo (Inconel 617). Life prediction was made by means of the linear damage accumulation rule. Due to the high temperatures no realistic estimates of creep damage can be obtained with this rule. Therefore the rule was modified. The modifications consist in a different analysis of the relaxation curve including different calculation of the creep damage estimate resp. in an extended rule, taking into consideration the interaction between creep and fatigue. In order to reach a better result transparency and to reduce data set dependent result scattering a round robin with a given data set was carried out. The round robin yielded that for a given test temperature of T = 950deg C realistic estimate of damage can be obtained with each modification. Furthermore a reduction of resulting scatterbands in the interaction diagram can be observed, i.e. the practicability of the rule has been increased. (orig.)

  3. Individual animals and other data collected using visual observations and other instruments from AIRCRAFT in the Bering Sea and other seas from 02 September 1990 to 07 November 1991 (NODC Accession 9200080)

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Individual Animal and other data were collected using visual observation and other instruments from AIRCRAFT in the Bering Sea, Chukchi Sea, and Arctic Ocean. Data...

  4. Analysis of Rules for Islamic Inheritance Law in Indonesia Using Hybrid Rule Based Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khosyi'ah, S.; Irfan, M.; Maylawati, D. S.; Mukhlas, O. S.

    2018-01-01

    Along with the development of human civilization in Indonesia, the changes and reform of Islamic inheritance law so as to conform to the conditions and culture cannot be denied. The distribution of inheritance in Indonesia can be done automatically by storing the rule of Islamic inheritance law in the expert system. In this study, we analyze the knowledge of experts in Islamic inheritance in Indonesia and represent it in the form of rules using rule-based Forward Chaining (FC) and Davis-Putman-Logemann-Loveland (DPLL) algorithms. By hybridizing FC and DPLL algorithms, the rules of Islamic inheritance law in Indonesia are clearly defined and measured. The rules were conceptually validated by some experts in Islamic laws and informatics. The results revealed that generally all rules were ready for use in an expert system.

  5. Can collective searches profit from Levy walk strategies?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Santos, M C; Da Luz, M G E [Departamento de Fisica, Universidade Federal do Parana, Curitiba-PR, 81531-990 (Brazil); Raposo, E P [Laboratorio de Fisica Teorica e Computacional, Departamento de Fisica, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife-PE, 50670-901 (Brazil); Viswanathan, G M [Instituto de Fisica, Universidade Federal de Alagoas, Maceio-AL, 57072-970 (Brazil)], E-mail: luz@fisica.ufpr.br

    2009-10-30

    We address the problem of collective searching in which a group of walkers, guided by a leader, looks for randomly located target sites. In such a process, the necessity to maintain the group aggregated imposes a constraint in the foraging dynamics. We discuss four different models for the system collective behavior, with the leader and followers performing Gaussian as well as truncated Levy walks. In environments with low density of targets we show that Levy foraging is advantageous for the whole group, when compared with Gaussian strategy. Furthermore, certain extra rules must be incorporated in the individuals' dynamics, so that a compromise between the trend to keep the group together and the global efficiency of search is met. The exact character of these rules depends on specific details of the foraging process, such as regeneration of target sites and energy costs.

  6. A Better Budget Rule

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dothan, Michael; Thompson, Fred

    2009-01-01

    Debt limits, interest coverage ratios, one-off balanced budget requirements, pay-as-you-go rules, and tax and expenditure limits are among the most important fiscal rules for constraining intertemporal transfers. There is considerable evidence that the least costly and most effective of such rules are those that focus directly on the rate of…

  7. 75 FR 27558 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request; Extension

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-05-17

    ...The information collection requirements described below will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (``OMB'') for review, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act (``PRA''). The FTC is seeking public comments on its proposal to extend through May 31, 2013, the current PRA clearance for information collection requirements contained its Antitrust Improvements Act Rules (``HSR Rules'') and corresponding Notification and Report Form for Certain Mergers and Acquisitions (``Notification and Report Form''). That clearance expires on May 31, 2010.

  8. Challenges for Rule Systems on the Web

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Yuh-Jong; Yeh, Ching-Long; Laun, Wolfgang

    The RuleML Challenge started in 2007 with the objective of inspiring the issues of implementation for management, integration, interoperation and interchange of rules in an open distributed environment, such as the Web. Rules are usually classified as three types: deductive rules, normative rules, and reactive rules. The reactive rules are further classified as ECA rules and production rules. The study of combination rule and ontology is traced back to an earlier active rule system for relational and object-oriented (OO) databases. Recently, this issue has become one of the most important research problems in the Semantic Web. Once we consider a computer executable policy as a declarative set of rules and ontologies that guides the behavior of entities within a system, we have a flexible way to implement real world policies without rewriting the computer code, as we did before. Fortunately, we have de facto rule markup languages, such as RuleML or RIF to achieve the portability and interchange of rules for different rule systems. Otherwise, executing real-life rule-based applications on the Web is almost impossible. Several commercial or open source rule engines are available for the rule-based applications. However, we still need a standard rule language and benchmark for not only to compare the rule systems but also to measure the progress in the field. Finally, a number of real-life rule-based use cases will be investigated to demonstrate the applicability of current rule systems on the Web.

  9. Catalysis by nonmetals rules for catalyst selection

    CERN Document Server

    Krylov, Oleg V

    1970-01-01

    Catalysis by Non-metals: Rules of Catalyst Selection presents the development of scientific principles for the collection of catalysts. It discusses the investigation of the mechanism of chemosorption and catalysis. It addresses a series of properties of solid with catalytic activity. Some of the topics covered in the book are the properties of a solid and catalytic activity in oxidation-reduction reactions; the difference of electronegativities and the effective charges of atoms; the role of d-electrons in the catalytic properties of a solid; the color of solids; and proton-acid and proton-ba

  10. How accurate are interpretations of curriculum-based measurement progress monitoring data? Visual analysis versus decision rules.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Norman, Ethan R; Christ, Theodore J

    2016-10-01

    Curriculum based measurement of oral reading (CBM-R) is used to monitor the effects of academic interventions for individual students. Decisions to continue, modify, or terminate these interventions are made by interpreting time series CBM-R data. Such interpretation is founded upon visual analysis or the application of decision rules. The purpose of this study was to compare the accuracy of visual analysis and decision rules. Visual analysts interpreted 108 CBM-R progress monitoring graphs one of three ways: (a) without graphic aids, (b) with a goal line, or (c) with a goal line and a trend line. Graphs differed along three dimensions, including trend magnitude, variability of observations, and duration of data collection. Automated trend line and data point decision rules were also applied to each graph. Inferential analyses permitted the estimation of the probability of a correct decision (i.e., the student is improving - continue the intervention, or the student is not improving - discontinue the intervention) for each evaluation method as a function of trend magnitude, variability of observations, and duration of data collection. All evaluation methods performed better when students made adequate progress. Visual analysis and decision rules performed similarly when observations were less variable. Results suggest that educators should collect data for more than six weeks, take steps to control measurement error, and visually analyze graphs when data are variable. Implications for practice and research are discussed. Copyright © 2016 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Communicating rules in recreation areas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Terence L. Ross; George H. Moeller

    1974-01-01

    Five hundred fifty-eight campers were surveyed on the Allegheny National Forest to determine their knowledge of rules governing recreation behavior. Most of them were uninformed about the rules. Results of the study suggest that previous camping experience, age, camping style, and residence significantly affect knowledge of rules. Campers who received rule brochures or...

  12. Factors affecting collective action for forest fire management: a comparative study of community forest user groups in central Siwalik, Nepal.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sapkota, Lok Mani; Shrestha, Rajendra Prasad; Jourdain, Damien; Shivakoti, Ganesh P

    2015-01-01

    The attributes of social ecological systems affect the management of commons. Strengthening and enhancing social capital and the enforcement of rules and sanctions aid in the collective action of communities in forest fire management. Using a set of variables drawn from previous studies on the management of commons, we conducted a study across 20 community forest user groups in Central Siwalik, Nepal, by dividing the groups into two categories based on the type and level of their forest fire management response. Our study shows that the collective action in forest fire management is consistent with the collective actions in other community development activities. However, the effectiveness of collective action is primarily dependent on the complex interaction of various variables. We found that strong social capital, strong enforcement of rules and sanctions, and users' participation in crafting the rules were the major variables that strengthen collective action in forest fire management. Conversely, users' dependency on a daily wage and a lack of transparency were the variables that weaken collective action. In fire-prone forests such as the Siwalik, our results indicate that strengthening social capital and forming and enforcing forest fire management rules are important variables that encourage people to engage in collective action in fire management.

  13. Methodological approaches based on business rules

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anca Ioana ANDREESCU

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Business rules and business processes are essential artifacts in defining the requirements of a software system. Business processes capture business behavior, while rules connect processes and thus control processes and business behavior. Traditionally, rules are scattered inside application code. This approach makes it very difficult to change rules and shorten the life cycle of the software system. Because rules change more quickly than the application itself, it is desirable to externalize the rules and move them outside the application. This paper analyzes and evaluates three well-known business rules approaches. It also outlines some critical factors that have to be taken into account in the decision to introduce business rules facilities in a software system. Based on the concept of explicit manipulation of business rules in a software system, the need for a general approach based on business rules is discussed.

  14. Mathematical modelling approach to collective decision-making

    OpenAIRE

    Zabzina, Natalia

    2017-01-01

    In everyday situations individuals make decisions. For example, a tourist usually chooses a crowded or recommended restaurant to have dinner. Perhaps it is an individual decision, but the observed pattern of decision-making is a collective phenomenon. Collective behaviour emerges from the local interactions that give rise to a complex pattern at the group level. In our example, the recommendations or simple copying the choices of others make a crowded restaurant even more crowded. The rules o...

  15. Occupational therapists as dog handlers: the collective experience with animal-assisted therapy in Iraq.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fike, Lorie; Najera, Cecilia; Dougherty, David

    2012-01-01

    The first pair of US Army animal-assisted therapy (AAT) dogs deployed to Iraq in December 2007 with the 85th Medical Detachment Combat and Operational Stress Control unit. As of this writing, 6 dogs have deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, offering Soldiers a small reminder of home. Army occupational therapists led the way in this endeavor as primary handlers; the path has been rocky but ultimately rewarding. This article depicts how occupational therapists used AAT and animal-assisted activities to help Soldiers cope with the stressors of living in a deployed environment. Challenges and lessons-learned, including anecdotal examples, are discussed.

  16. Man-animal relationships in Central Nepal

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lohani Usha

    2010-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Nepal is small in size but rich in bio-cultural diversity. The rugged terrain of the country is home to a number of unique assemblages of fauna, some of which are endemic. Not only faunal resources the country also harbors some very ancient populations whose interrelationship with these diverse faunal resources is very intimate and thus demands scientific study. Animals play important role in both material and spiritual spheres of their life. There are more than hundred groups of such populations in the country and the group Tamang is one of these. The present paper studies Tamang-animal relationships in central Nepal. There is a growing trend of scientific ethnozoological studies all across the globe, but this field is yet in its infancy in Nepal. The country is losing important fauna as well as ancient human cultures at the advent of development processes. As a result, ethnozoological knowledge is also teetering on the brink of extinction. Methods Ethnozoological data were collected by applying different participatory approaches techniques such as semi-structured interviews, participatory rural appraisal, key informant interviews and focus group discussions. Quantitative data were obtained by employing a household level questionnaire survey. Data were collected from the period of September 2004 to August 2005. Most of the animals were identified up to the species level with the help of standard taxonomic keys. Results The Tamang community treasures knowledge on various uses of 41 genera belonging to 28 families. Out of total number of animals, 14.6% belong to the Invertebrate group and the rest to the Vertebrate group. Of the total uses 58% fall in the food and medicinal use category, 16% in the magico-religious use category, 18% in the category of omen indication, and 2% each in the categories such as weather forecasting, trophy, ethnomusical and taboos. Conclusions The Tamang maintain strong ties with animals both at a

  17. 78 FR 25324 - Proposed Collection; Comment Request

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-04-30

    ... rules governing offers and sales of securities made outside the United States without registration under... 5 of the Securities Act applies to offers and sales of securities outside of the United States... information on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of...

  18. Refining animal models in fracture research: seeking consensus in optimising both animal welfare and scientific validity for appropriate biomedical use

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Schneider Erich

    2007-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background In an attempt to establish some consensus on the proper use and design of experimental animal models in musculoskeletal research, AOVET (the veterinary specialty group of the AO Foundation in concert with the AO Research Institute (ARI, and the European Academy for the Study of Scientific and Technological Advance, convened a group of musculoskeletal researchers, veterinarians, legal experts, and ethicists to discuss, in a frank and open forum, the use of animals in musculoskeletal research. Methods The group narrowed the field to fracture research. The consensus opinion resulting from this workshop can be summarized as follows: Results & Conclusion Anaesthesia and pain management protocols for research animals should follow standard protocols applied in clinical work for the species involved. This will improve morbidity and mortality outcomes. A database should be established to facilitate selection of anaesthesia and pain management protocols for specific experimental surgical procedures and adopted as an International Standard (IS according to animal species selected. A list of 10 golden rules and requirements for conduction of animal experiments in musculoskeletal research was drawn up comprising 1 Intelligent study designs to receive appropriate answers; 2 Minimal complication rates (5 to max. 10%; 3 Defined end-points for both welfare and scientific outputs analogous to quality assessment (QA audit of protocols in GLP studies; 4 Sufficient details for materials and methods applied; 5 Potentially confounding variables (genetic background, seasonal, hormonal, size, histological, and biomechanical differences; 6 Post-operative management with emphasis on analgesia and follow-up examinations; 7 Study protocols to satisfy criteria established for a "justified animal study"; 8 Surgical expertise to conduct surgery on animals; 9 Pilot studies as a critical part of model validation and powering of the definitive study design

  19. Spatio-Temporal Rule Mining

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gidofalvi, Gyozo; Pedersen, Torben Bach

    2005-01-01

    Recent advances in communication and information technology, such as the increasing accuracy of GPS technology and the miniaturization of wireless communication devices pave the road for Location-Based Services (LBS). To achieve high quality for such services, spatio-temporal data mining techniques...... are needed. In this paper, we describe experiences with spatio-temporal rule mining in a Danish data mining company. First, a number of real world spatio-temporal data sets are described, leading to a taxonomy of spatio-temporal data. Second, the paper describes a general methodology that transforms...... the spatio-temporal rule mining task to the traditional market basket analysis task and applies it to the described data sets, enabling traditional association rule mining methods to discover spatio-temporal rules for LBS. Finally, unique issues in spatio-temporal rule mining are identified and discussed....

  20. Organisational Rules in Schools: Teachers' Opinions about Functions of Rules, Rule-Following and Breaking Behaviours in Relation to Their Locus of Control

    Science.gov (United States)

    Demirkasimoglu, Nihan; Aydin, Inayet; Erdogan, Cetin; Akin, Ugur

    2012-01-01

    The main aim of this research is to examine teachers' opinions about functions of school rules, reasons for rule-breaking and results of rule-breaking in relation to their locus of control, gender, age, seniority and branch. 350 public elementary school teachers in Ankara are included in the correlational survey model study. According to the…

  1. Locust Collective Motion and Its Modeling.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gil Ariel

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Over the past decade, technological advances in experimental and animal tracking techniques have motivated a renewed theoretical interest in animal collective motion and, in particular, locust swarming. This review offers a comprehensive biological background followed by comparative analysis of recent models of locust collective motion, in particular locust marching, their settings, and underlying assumptions. We describe a wide range of recent modeling and simulation approaches, from discrete agent-based models of self-propelled particles to continuous models of integro-differential equations, aimed at describing and analyzing the fascinating phenomenon of locust collective motion. These modeling efforts have a dual role: The first views locusts as a quintessential example of animal collective motion. As such, they aim at abstraction and coarse-graining, often utilizing the tools of statistical physics. The second, which originates from a more biological perspective, views locust swarming as a scientific problem of its own exceptional merit. The main goal should, thus, be the analysis and prediction of natural swarm dynamics. We discuss the properties of swarm dynamics using the tools of statistical physics, as well as the implications for laboratory experiments and natural swarms. Finally, we stress the importance of a combined-interdisciplinary, biological-theoretical effort in successfully confronting the challenges that locusts pose at both the theoretical and practical levels.

  2. Bioethical Problems: Animal Welfare, Animal Rights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    March, B. E.

    1984-01-01

    Discusses various bioethical issues and problems related to animal welfare and animal rights. Areas examined include: Aristotelian views; animal welfare legislation; Darwin and evolutionary theory; animal and human behavior; and vegetarianism. A 14-point universal declaration of the rights of animals is included. (JN)

  3. Calcium isotope ratios in animal and human bone

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reynard, L. M.; Henderson, G. M.; Hedges, R. E. M.

    2010-07-01

    Calcium isotopes in tissues are thought to be influenced by an individual's diet, reflecting parameters such as trophic level and dairy consumption, but this has not been carefully assessed. We report the calcium isotope ratios (δ 44/42Ca) of modern and archaeological animal and human bone ( n = 216). Modern sheep raised at the same location show 0.14 ± 0.08‰ higher δ 44/42Ca in females than in males, which we attribute to lactation by the ewes. In the archaeological bone samples the calcium isotope ratios of the herbivorous fauna vary by location. At a single site, the archaeological fauna do not show a trophic level effect. Humans have lower δ 44/42Ca than the mean site fauna by 0.22 ± 0.22‰, and the humans have a greater δ 44/42Ca range than the animals. No effect of sex or age on the calcium isotope ratios was found, and intra-individual skeletal δ 44/42Ca variability is negligible. We rule out dairy consumption as the main cause of the lower human δ 44/42Ca, based on results from sites pre-dating animal domestication and dairy availability, and suggest instead that individual physiology and calcium intake may be important in determining bone calcium isotope ratios.

  4. Animal Exposure During Burn Tests

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gaume, J. G.

    1978-01-01

    An animal exposure test system (AETS) was designed and fabricated for the purpose of collecting physiological and environmental (temperature) data from animal subjects exposed to combustion gases in large scale fire tests. The AETS consisted of an open wire mesh, two-compartment cage, one containing an exercise wheel for small rodents, and the other containing one rat instrumented externally for electrocardiogram (ECG) and respiration. Cage temperature is measured by a thermistor located in the upper portion of the rat compartment. Animal activity is monitored by the ECG and the records indicate an increase in EMG (electromyograph) noise super-imposed by the increased activity of the torso musculature. Examples of the recordings are presented and discussed as to their significance regarding toxicity of fire gases and specific events occurring during the test. The AETS was shown to be a useful tool in screening materials for the relative toxicity of their outgassing products during pyrolysis and combustion.

  5. 76 FR 32088 - Cotton Board Rules and Regulations: Adjusting Supplemental Assessment on Imports

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-06-03

    ... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Agricultural Marketing Service 7 CFR Part 1205 [Doc. AMS-CN-11-0026; CN...: Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA. ACTION: Proposed rule. SUMMARY: The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS... assessment and ensure that assessments collected on imported raw cotton and the cotton content of imported...

  6. 75 FR 27602 - Proposed Collection; Comment Request

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-05-17

    ... rules governing offers and sales of securities made outside the United States without registration under... clarification of the extent to which Section 5 of the Securities Act applies to offers and sales of securities... collection techniques or other forms of information technology. Consideration will be given to comments and...

  7. 76 FR 15004 - Proposed Collection; Comment Request

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-03-18

    ... that as a matter of good business practices, and for tax preparation reasons, UITs would collect and... company (``fund'') distributions of long-term capital gains made more frequently than once every twelve...) The capital gains distribution falls within one of several categories specified in the rule \\2\\ and...

  8. 77 FR 36587 - Proposed Collection; Comment Request

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-06-19

    ... securities from taking into account broker-dealers' promotional or sales efforts when making those decisions... information summarized below. The Commission plans to submit this existing collection of information to the... adequate information to evaluate and approve a rule 12b-1 plan and, thus, are necessary for investor...

  9. Binary effectivity rules

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Keiding, Hans; Peleg, Bezalel

    2006-01-01

    is binary if it is rationalized by an acyclic binary relation. The foregoing result motivates our definition of a binary effectivity rule as the effectivity rule of some binary SCR. A binary SCR is regular if it satisfies unanimity, monotonicity, and independence of infeasible alternatives. A binary...

  10. Technical rules in law

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Debelius, J

    1978-08-01

    An important source of knowledge for technical experts is the state of the art reflected by catalogues of technical rules. Technical rules may also achieve importance in law due to a legal transformation standard. Here, rigid and flexible reference are controversial with regard to their admissibility from the point of view of constitutional law. In case of a divergence from the generally accepted technical rules, it is assumed - refutably - that the necessary care had not been taken. Technical rules are one out of several sources of information; they have no normative effect. This may result in a duty of anyone applying them to review the state of technology himself.

  11. Technical rules in law

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Debelius, J.

    1978-01-01

    An important source of knowledge for technical experts is the state of the art reflected by catalogues of technical rules. Technical rules may also achieve importance in law due to a legal transformation standard. Here, rigid and flexible reference are controversial with regard to their admissibility from the point of view of constitutional law. In case of a divergence from the generally accepted technical rules, it is assumed - refutably - that the necessary care had not been taken. Technical rules are one out of several sources of information; they have no normative effect. This may result in a duty of anyone applying them to review the state of technology himself. (orig.) [de

  12. Following the Rules.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Katz, Anne

    2016-05-01

    I am getting better at following the rules as I grow older, although I still bristle at many of them. I was a typical rebellious teenager; no one understood me, David Bowie was my idol, and, one day, my generation was going to change the world. Now I really want people to understand me: David Bowie remains one of my favorite singers and, yes, my generation has changed the world, and not necessarily for the better. Growing up means that you have to make the rules, not just follow those set by others, and, at times, having rules makes a lot of sense.
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  13. 77 FR 19037 - Proposed Collection; Comment Request

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-03-29

    ... in order for the investment adviser to obtain the benefits of Rule 206(3)-2. The collection of... techniques or other forms of information technology. Consideration will be given to comments and suggestions..., 6432 General Green Way, Alexandria, VA 22312; or send an email to: [email protected] . Dated: March...

  14. Aggregation of measures to produce an overall assessment of animal welfare. Part 1: a review of existing methods

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Boteau, R.; Bonde, Marianne; Butterworth, A.

    2007-01-01

    Several systems have been proposed for the overall assessment of animal welfare at the farm level for the purpose of advising farmers or assisting public decision-making. They are generally based on several measures compounded into a single evaluation, using different rules to assemble the inform...

  15. Firm heterogeneity, Rules of Origin and Rules of Cumulation

    OpenAIRE

    Bombarda , Pamela; Gamberoni , Elisa

    2013-01-01

    We analyse the impact of relaxing rules of origin (ROOs) in a simple setting with heterogeneous firms that buy intermediate inputs from domestic and foreign sources. In particular, we consider the impact of switching from bilateral to diagonal cumulation when using preferences (instead of paying the MFN tariff) involving the respect of rules of origin. We find that relaxing the restrictiveness of the ROOs leads the least productive exporters to stop exporting. The empirical part confirms thes...

  16. Developing Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) in Animal Physiology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pusparini, F.; Riandi, R.; Sriyati, S.

    2017-09-01

    The purpose of this study is to describe preservice teacher’s learning during lecturing Animal Physiology and investigate it’s impact on preservice teacher’s technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK). How was the lecturing process can improve TPACK of preservice teacher on Biology education espescially in Animal Physiology. There are four experiment classes using Solomon four group design, there are pedagogic treatment, content treatment and technological treatment, the last class without any treatment. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected. Quantitative data were collected through a questionaire of TPACK. Qualitative data were collected through a lesson plan and teaching simulation. Findings has revealed that participants experienced significant gains in all TPACK constructs. Both of pedagogic and technology treatment is better than others, but pedagogical treatment didn’t also increase PCK most of participants. Findings has implications for teacher education programs to be a professional teachers and for researchers interested.

  17. Animal models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walker, Ellen A

    2010-01-01

    As clinical studies reveal that chemotherapeutic agents may impair several different cognitive domains in humans, the development of preclinical animal models is critical to assess the degree of chemotherapy-induced learning and memory deficits and to understand the underlying neural mechanisms. In this chapter, the effects of various cancer chemotherapeutic agents in rodents on sensory processing, conditioned taste aversion, conditioned emotional response, passive avoidance, spatial learning, cued memory, discrimination learning, delayed-matching-to-sample, novel-object recognition, electrophysiological recordings and autoshaping is reviewed. It appears at first glance that the effects of the cancer chemotherapy agents in these many different models are inconsistent. However, a literature is emerging that reveals subtle or unique changes in sensory processing, acquisition, consolidation and retrieval that are dose- and time-dependent. As more studies examine cancer chemotherapeutic agents alone and in combination during repeated treatment regimens, the animal models will become more predictive tools for the assessment of these impairments and the underlying neural mechanisms. The eventual goal is to collect enough data to enable physicians to make informed choices about therapeutic regimens for their patients and discover new avenues of alternative or complementary therapies that reduce or eliminate chemotherapy-induced cognitive deficits.

  18. The Product and Quotient Rules Revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eggleton, Roger; Kustov, Vladimir

    2011-01-01

    Mathematical elegance is illustrated by strikingly parallel versions of the product and quotient rules of basic calculus, with some applications. Corresponding rules for second derivatives are given: the product rule is familiar, but the quotient rule is less so.

  19. Social Environment and Control Status of Companion Animal-Borne Zoonoses in Japan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takahashi-Omoe, Hiromi; Omoe, Katsuhiko

    2012-01-01

    Simple Summary The risk of companion animal-borne zoonoses has been rising in Japan with the tendency for increasing number of households to ever-growing numbers and varieties of animals as pets. In response, the Japanese government has implemented measures for the domestic and border control of zoonoses. However, it is impossible to determine whether these measures have adequately controlled the transmission of companion animal-borne zoonoses, due to a lack of (i) direct evidence linking companion animal involvement in disease and (ii) understanding of current trends in disease outbreak. Active surveillance should be conducted on a national level to collect the data necessary to make this determination and identify these trends. Abstract Changing social and environmental factors have been the cause of an increase in the number and variety of animals are being imported into Japan. Moreover, the number of Japanese households are keeping companion animals has also risen. These factors, along with the high density of the Japanese population and the low percentage of registered dogs, have increased the risk of animal-to-human transmission of zoonoses. To control zoonosis outbreaks, the Japanese government has implemented a three-stage approach for the border control of zoonoses and has stipulated the monitoring and reporting of eight companion animal-borne zoonoses under the Rabies Prevention Law and the Infectious Diseases Control Law. The fact that no case of human and animal rabies has been reported over the past 50 years indicates that these measures are highly effective in preventing rabies transmission. Although it is known that the total number of possible companion animal-borne zoonosis outbreaks decreased between 2005 and 2009 when compared with numbers between 2001 and 2004, the number of zoonosis cases that can be attributed to transmission by companion animals remains unclear. Active surveillance should be conducted on a national level to collect the data

  20. Ética da pesquisa em modelos animais Research ethics in animal models

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ivan Dieb Miziara

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available A utilização de animais em experimentos científicos é descrita desde o século V a.C. Avanços científicos na área da saúde são atribuídos a modelos animais. O status moral dos animais sempre foi debatido. OBJETIVOS: Este artigo visa à revisão histórica e resumo da legislação atual, para orientar pesquisadores ao utilizar modelos animais na pesquisa em otorrinolaringologia. MATERIAL E MÉTODOS: Pesquisa na base de dados Medline. RESULTADOS: no Brasil, por muitos anos não havia regulamentação para o uso de animais em experimentação. Eram seguidas normas de organizações nacionais e internacionais. Recentemente, foi sancionada a lei nº 11.794/08, que estabelece procedimentos para o uso científico de animais. Na otorrinolaringologia, os estudos com laringe utilizaram coelho, porco, cachorro, cobaias (Cavia porcellus e camundongo; estudos para face coelho, rato e cachorro; rinoplastia com coelho; e orelha interna com ratos e cobaias (albinas. CONCLUSÕES: Os pesquisadores envolvidos em trabalhos científicos com animais devem conhecer os princípios da lei nº 11.794/08 e pesquisar quais animais são apropriados para cada subárea estudada seus modelos com maior aplicabilidade. Os otorrinolaringologistas, especialmente aqueles que se dedicam à pesquisa, necessitam estar sempre atentos para o respeito às regras éticas de utilização de animais em seus estudos.The use of animals in scientific experiments has beendescribed since the fifth century BC. A number of scientific advances in health are attributed to animal models. The issue of the moral status of animals has always been debated. OBJECTIVES: This article aims to review and to present a historical summary of the current laws, to guide researchers who wish to use animal models in otolaryngology research. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Research on the medline database. RESULTS: For many years there were no laws ruling the use of animals in scientific experimentation in Brazil

  1. Power theories for multi-choice organizations and political rules: Rank-order equivalence

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roland Pongou

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Voting power theories measure the ability of voters to influence the outcome of an election under a given voting rule. In general, each theory gives a different evaluation of power, raising the question of their appropriateness, and calling for the need to identify classes of rules for which different theories agree. We study the ordinal equivalence of the generalizations of the classical power concepts–the influence relation, the Banzhaf power index, and the Shapley–Shubik power index–to multi-choice organizations and political rules. Under such rules, each voter chooses a level of support for a social goal from a finite list of options, and these individual choices are aggregated to determine the collective level of support for this goal. We show that the power theories analyzed do not always yield the same power relationships among voters. Thanks to necessary and/or sufficient conditions, we identify a large class of rules for which ordinal equivalence obtains. Furthermore, we prove that ordinal equivalence obtains for all linear rules allowing a fixed number of individual approval levels if and only if that number does not exceed three. Our findings generalize all the previous results on the ordinal equivalence of the classical power theories, and show that the condition of linearity found to be necessary and sufficient for ordinal equivalence to obtain when voters have at most three options to choose from is no longer sufficient when they can choose from a list of four or more options.

  2. 75 FR 51934 - Telemarketing Sales Rule

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-08-24

    ... FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 16 CFR Part 310 Telemarketing Sales Rule AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission. ACTION: Final rule; correction. SUMMARY: The Federal Trade Commission (``Commission'') published a final rule on August 10, 2010, adopting amendments to the Telemarketing Sales Rule that address the...

  3. Autonomous Rule Creation for Intrusion Detection

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Todd Vollmer; Jim Alves-Foss; Milos Manic

    2011-04-01

    Many computational intelligence techniques for anomaly based network intrusion detection can be found in literature. Translating a newly discovered intrusion recognition criteria into a distributable rule can be a human intensive effort. This paper explores a multi-modal genetic algorithm solution for autonomous rule creation. This algorithm focuses on the process of creating rules once an intrusion has been identified, rather than the evolution of rules to provide a solution for intrusion detection. The algorithm was demonstrated on anomalous ICMP network packets (input) and Snort rules (output of the algorithm). Output rules were sorted according to a fitness value and any duplicates were removed. The experimental results on ten test cases demonstrated a 100 percent rule alert rate. Out of 33,804 test packets 3 produced false positives. Each test case produced a minimum of three rule variations that could be used as candidates for a production system.

  4. Methodological approaches based on business rules

    OpenAIRE

    Anca Ioana ANDREESCU; Adina UTA

    2008-01-01

    Business rules and business processes are essential artifacts in defining the requirements of a software system. Business processes capture business behavior, while rules connect processes and thus control processes and business behavior. Traditionally, rules are scattered inside application code. This approach makes it very difficult to change rules and shorten the life cycle of the software system. Because rules change more quickly than the application itself, it is desirable to externalize...

  5. Greek classicism in living structure? Some deductive pathways in animal morphology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zweers, G A

    1985-01-01

    Classical temples in ancient Greece show two deterministic illusionistic principles of architecture, which govern their functional design: geometric proportionalism and a set of illusion-strengthening rules in the proportionalism's "stochastic margin". Animal morphology, in its mechanistic-deductive revival, applies just one architectural principle, which is not always satisfactory. Whether a "Greek Classical" situation occurs in the architecture of living structure is to be investigated by extreme testing with deductive methods. Three deductive methods for explanation of living structure in animal morphology are proposed: the parts, the compromise, and the transformation deduction. The methods are based upon the systems concept for an organism, the flow chart for a functionalistic picture, and the network chart for a structuralistic picture, whereas the "optimal design" serves as the architectural principle for living structure. These methods show clearly the high explanatory power of deductive methods in morphology, but they also make one open end most explicit: neutral issues do exist. Full explanation of living structure asks for three entries: functional design within architectural and transformational constraints. The transformational constraint brings necessarily in a stochastic component: an at random variation being a sort of "free management space". This variation must be a variation from the deterministic principle of the optimal design, since any transformation requires space for plasticity in structure and action, and flexibility in role fulfilling. Nevertheless, finally the question comes up whether for animal structure a similar situation exists as in Greek Classical temples. This means that the at random variation, that is found when the optimal design is used to explain structure, comprises apart from a stochastic part also real deviations being yet another deterministic part. This deterministic part could be a set of rules that governs

  6. Monitoring of small laboratory animal experiments by a designated web-based database.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frenzel, T; Grohmann, C; Schumacher, U; Krüll, A

    2015-10-01

    Multiple-parametric small animal experiments require, by their very nature, a sufficient number of animals which may need to be large to obtain statistically significant results.(1) For this reason database-related systems are required to collect the experimental data as well as to support the later (re-) analysis of the information gained during the experiments. In particular, the monitoring of animal welfare is simplified by the inclusion of warning signals (for instance, loss in body weight >20%). Digital patient charts have been developed for human patients but are usually not able to fulfill the specific needs of animal experimentation. To address this problem a unique web-based monitoring system using standard MySQL, PHP, and nginx has been created. PHP was used to create the HTML-based user interface and outputs in a variety of proprietary file formats, namely portable document format (PDF) or spreadsheet files. This article demonstrates its fundamental features and the easy and secure access it offers to the data from any place using a web browser. This information will help other researchers create their own individual databases in a similar way. The use of QR-codes plays an important role for stress-free use of the database. We demonstrate a way to easily identify all animals and samples and data collected during the experiments. Specific ways to record animal irradiations and chemotherapy applications are shown. This new analysis tool allows the effective and detailed analysis of huge amounts of data collected through small animal experiments. It supports proper statistical evaluation of the data and provides excellent retrievable data storage. © The Author(s) 2015.

  7. Endogeneously arising network allocation rules

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Slikker, M.

    2006-01-01

    In this paper we study endogenously arising network allocation rules. We focus on three allocation rules: the Myerson value, the position value and the component-wise egalitarian solution. For any of these three rules we provide a characterization based on component efficiency and some balanced

  8. Performance based regulation - The maintenance rule

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Correia, Richard P. [NRR/DOTS/TQMP, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, M/S OWFN 10A19, Washington, D.C. 20555 (United States)

    1997-07-01

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has begun a transition from 'process-oriented' to 'results-oriented' regulations. The maintenance rule is a results-oriented rule that mandates consideration of risk and plant performance. The Maintenance Rule allows licensees to devise the most effective and efficient means of achieving the results described in the rule including the use of Probabilistic Risk (or Safety) Assessments. The NRC staff conducted a series of site visits to evaluate implementation of the Rule. Conclusions from the site visits indicated that the results-oriented Maintenance Rule can be successfully implemented and enforced. (author)

  9. Performance based regulation - The maintenance rule

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Correia, Richard P.

    1997-01-01

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has begun a transition from 'process-oriented' to 'results-oriented' regulations. The maintenance rule is a results-oriented rule that mandates consideration of risk and plant performance. The Maintenance Rule allows licensees to devise the most effective and efficient means of achieving the results described in the rule including the use of Probabilistic Risk (or Safety) Assessments. The NRC staff conducted a series of site visits to evaluate implementation of the Rule. Conclusions from the site visits indicated that the results-oriented Maintenance Rule can be successfully implemented and enforced. (author)

  10. Persistent Rule-Following in the Face of Reversed Reinforcement Contingencies: The Differential Impact of Direct Versus Derived Rules.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harte, Colin; Barnes-Holmes, Yvonne; Barnes-Holmes, Dermot; McEnteggart, Ciara

    2017-11-01

    Rule-governed behavior and its role in generating insensitivity to direct contingencies of reinforcement have been implicated in human psychological suffering. In addition, the human capacity to engage in derived relational responding has also been used to explain specific human maladaptive behaviors, such as irrational fears. To date, however, very little research has attempted to integrate research on contingency insensitivity and derived relations. The current work sought to fill this gap. Across two experiments, participants received either a direct rule (Direct Rule Condition) or a rule that involved a novel derived relational response (Derived Rule Condition). Provision of a direct rule resulted in more persistent rule-following in the face of competing contingencies, but only when the opportunity to follow the reinforced rule beforehand was relatively protracted. Furthermore, only in the Direct Rule Condition were there significant correlations between rule-compliance and stress. A post hoc interpretation of the findings is provided.

  11. Evaluation of IOTA Simple Ultrasound Rules to Distinguish Benign and Malignant Ovarian Tumours.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garg, Sugandha; Kaur, Amarjit; Mohi, Jaswinder Kaur; Sibia, Preet Kanwal; Kaur, Navkiran

    2017-08-01

    IOTA stands for International Ovarian Tumour Analysis group. Ovarian cancer is one of the common cancers in women and is diagnosed at later stage in majority. The limiting factor for early diagnosis is lack of standardized terms and procedures in gynaecological sonography. Introduction of IOTA rules has provided some consistency in defining morphological features of ovarian masses through a standardized examination technique. To evaluate the efficacy of IOTA simple ultrasound rules in distinguishing benign and malignant ovarian tumours and establishing their use as a tool in early diagnosis of ovarian malignancy. A hospital based case control prospective study was conducted. Patients with suspected ovarian pathology were evaluated using IOTA ultrasound rules and designated as benign or malignant. Findings were correlated with histopathological findings. Collected data was statistically analysed using chi-square test and kappa statistical method. Out of initial 55 patients, 50 patients were included in the final analysis who underwent surgery. IOTA simple rules were applicable in 45 out of these 50 patients (90%). The sensitivity for the detection of malignancy in cases where IOTA simple rules were applicable was 91.66% and the specificity was 84.84%. Accuracy was 86.66%. Classifying inconclusive cases as malignant, the sensitivity and specificity was 93% and 80% respectively. High level of agreement was found between USG and histopathological diagnosis with Kappa value as 0.323. IOTA simple ultrasound rules were highly sensitive and specific in predicting ovarian malignancy preoperatively yet being reproducible, easy to train and use.

  12. Using Diffraction Tomography to Estimate Marine Animal Size

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jaffe, J. S.; Roberts, P.

    In this article we consider the development of acoustic methods which have the potential to size marine animals. The proposed technique uses scattered sound in order to invert for both animal size and shape. The technique uses the Distorted Wave Born Approximation (DWBA) in order to model sound scattered from these organisms. The use of the DWBA also provides a valuable context for formulating data analysis techniques in order to invert for parameters of the animal. Although 3-dimensional observations can be obtained from a complete set of views, due to the difficulty of collecting full 3-dimensional scatter, it is useful to simplify the inversion by approximating the animal by a few parameters. Here, the animals are modeled as 3-dimensional ellipsoids. This reduces the complexity of the problem to a determination of the 3 semi axes for the x, y and z dimensions from just a few radial spokes through the 3-dimensional Fourier Transform. In order to test the idea, simulated scatter data is taken from a 3-dimensional model of a marine animal and the resultant data are inverted in order to estimate animal shape

  13. "Chaos Rules" Revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murphy, David

    2011-01-01

    About 20 years ago, while lost in the midst of his PhD research, the author mused over proposed titles for his thesis. He was pretty pleased with himself when he came up with "Chaos Rules" (the implied double meaning was deliberate), or more completely, "Chaos Rules: An Exploration of the Work of Instructional Designers in Distance Education." He…

  14. Idioms-based Business Rule Extraction

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    R Smit (Rob)

    2011-01-01

    htmlabstractThis thesis studies the extraction of embedded business rules, using the idioms of the used framework to identify them. Embedded business rules exist as source code in the software system and knowledge about them may get lost. Extraction of those business rules could make them accessible

  15. The results of the toxicity and hazard studies of isopropyl meta-carborane with single administration to laboratory animals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yushkov G.G.

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Intensive research on the chemistry of borohydrides and the creation of high-energy fuels led to the discovery of a completely new type of organoboron compounds, which were collectively called carboranes. Taking into account the scope of application of organoboron compounds in various branches of human economic activity, we present for publication the quantitative data of a toxicological study of the higher isomer of carboranes of isopropyl meta-carborane at the level of a single injection into the laboratory animals through the mouth and lungs. Background. Supplementing data on toxicity and the hazard of organoboron compounds requires the study of the response of the organism to the action of isopropyl meta-carborane. The purpose of the study: identification of possible features and specificity of the toxic effect of carboranes on the example of isopropyl meta-carborane. Methods. The object of the study is nonlinear laboratory animals: rats, mice and rabbits contained in standard vivarium conditions, with observance of the rules of humane treatment of animals. Traditional methods of research (physiological, hematological, morphological have been used. Statistical processing of data was carried out using the programs «Microsoft Office Excel 2007» and «Biostat». Differences were considered statistically significant at p ≤ 0.05, using a parametric test. Results. Acute toxicity parameters were obtained, which allowed the substance to be classified as moderately hazardous (3rd hazard class according to GOST 12.1.007, which does not have selective irritant, pneumotoxic and fibrogenic effects. Conclusion. Thus, the predominant influence of the substance is established objectively with a single exposure to the blood system as its toxicological feature, and its effect on spermatozoa is a specificity of the action, which stimulates the study of this carborane under conditions of chronic administration to the animals.

  16. 18 CFR 39.10 - Changes to an Electric Reliability Organization Rule or Regional Entity Rule.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... RULES CONCERNING CERTIFICATION OF THE ELECTRIC RELIABILITY ORGANIZATION; AND PROCEDURES FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT, APPROVAL, AND ENFORCEMENT OF ELECTRIC RELIABILITY STANDARDS § 39.10 Changes to an Electric... Reliability Organization Rule or Regional Entity Rule. 39.10 Section 39.10 Conservation of Power and Water...

  17. Incremental Learning of Context Free Grammars by Parsing-Based Rule Generation and Rule Set Search

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nakamura, Katsuhiko; Hoshina, Akemi

    This paper discusses recent improvements and extensions in Synapse system for inductive inference of context free grammars (CFGs) from sample strings. Synapse uses incremental learning, rule generation based on bottom-up parsing, and the search for rule sets. The form of production rules in the previous system is extended from Revised Chomsky Normal Form A→βγ to Extended Chomsky Normal Form, which also includes A→B, where each of β and γ is either a terminal or nonterminal symbol. From the result of bottom-up parsing, a rule generation mechanism synthesizes minimum production rules required for parsing positive samples. Instead of inductive CYK algorithm in the previous version of Synapse, the improved version uses a novel rule generation method, called ``bridging,'' which bridges the lacked part of the derivation tree for the positive string. The improved version also employs a novel search strategy, called serial search in addition to minimum rule set search. The synthesis of grammars by the serial search is faster than the minimum set search in most cases. On the other hand, the size of the generated CFGs is generally larger than that by the minimum set search, and the system can find no appropriate grammar for some CFL by the serial search. The paper shows experimental results of incremental learning of several fundamental CFGs and compares the methods of rule generation and search strategies.

  18. Rules Extraction with an Immune Algorithm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Deqin Yan

    2007-12-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, a method of extracting rules with immune algorithms from information systems is proposed. Designing an immune algorithm is based on a sharing mechanism to extract rules. The principle of sharing and competing resources in the sharing mechanism is consistent with the relationship of sharing and rivalry among rules. In order to extract rules efficiently, a new concept of flexible confidence and rule measurement is introduced. Experiments demonstrate that the proposed method is effective.

  19. Total mercury in water, sediments, and animals along the Indian Coast

    Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

    Sanzgiri, S.; Mesquita, A.; Kureishy, T.W.

    Total mercury (Hg) in water, sediments and animals along the coast of India is estimated. Water samples were collected on board of R.V. Gaveshani.The zooplankton samples were collected by Indian Ocean Standard Net and Heron Tranter nets of 500 mesh...

  20. Proof Rules for Recursive Procedures

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hesselink, Wim H.

    1993-01-01

    Four proof rules for recursive procedures in a Pascal-like language are presented. The main rule deals with total correctness and is based on results of Gries and Martin. The rule is easier to apply than Martin's. It is introduced as an extension of a specification format for Pascal-procedures, with

  1. Animal Autobiography; Or, Narration beyond the Human

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Herman

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available In engaging with acts of self-narration that cross species lines, creators of animal autobiographies also broach questions about genre, truth status, and the structure as well as the politics of narrative representation. To address these questions, the present article draws not just on scholarship on (animal autobiography but also on ideas from the fields of linguistic semantics, politeness theory, and discourse analysis, including the “framing and footing” approach that focuses on talk emerging in contexts of face-to-face interaction and that derives most directly from the work of Erving Goffman. On the basis of this research, and using case studies that range from animal riddles to Ceridwen Dovey’s Only the Animals (2014, a collection of life stories posthumously narrated by a variety of nonhuman tellers, I profile autobiographical acts that reach beyond the human as ways of speaking for or in behalf of animal others. Some animal autobiographies correlate with acts of telling for which humans themselves remain the principals as well as authors; their animal animators remain relegated to the role of commenting on human institutions, values, practices, and artifacts. Other examples, however, can be read as co-authored acts of narrating in behalf of equally hybrid (or “humanimal” principals. These experiments with narration beyond the human afford solidarity-building projections of other creatures’ ways of being-in-the-world—projections that enable a reassessment, in turn, of forms of human being.

  2. Animal biometrics: quantifying and detecting phenotypic appearance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kühl, Hjalmar S; Burghardt, Tilo

    2013-07-01

    Animal biometrics is an emerging field that develops quantified approaches for representing and detecting the phenotypic appearance of species, individuals, behaviors, and morphological traits. It operates at the intersection between pattern recognition, ecology, and information sciences, producing computerized systems for phenotypic measurement and interpretation. Animal biometrics can benefit a wide range of disciplines, including biogeography, population ecology, and behavioral research. Currently, real-world applications are gaining momentum, augmenting the quantity and quality of ecological data collection and processing. However, to advance animal biometrics will require integration of methodologies among the scientific disciplines involved. Such efforts will be worthwhile because the great potential of this approach rests with the formal abstraction of phenomics, to create tractable interfaces between different organizational levels of life. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Rules Versus Discretion in Monetary Policy

    OpenAIRE

    Stanley Fischer

    1988-01-01

    This paper examines the case for rules rather than discretion in the conduct of monetary policy, from both historical and analytic perspectives. The paper starts with the rules of the game under the gold standard. These rules were ill-defined and not adhered to; active discretionary policy was pursued to defend the gold standard -- but the gold standard came closer to a regime of rules than the current system. The arguments for rules in general developed by Milton Friedman are described mo ap...

  4. Assessing animal welfare in sow herds using data on meat inspection, medication and mortality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knage-Rasmussen, K M; Rousing, T; Sørensen, J T; Houe, H

    2015-03-01

    This paper aims to contribute to the development of a cost-effective alternative to expensive on-farm animal-based welfare assessment systems. The objective of the study was to design an animal welfare index based on central database information (DBWI), and to validate it against an animal welfare index based on-farm animal-based measurements (AWI). Data on 63 Danish sow herds with herd-sizes of 80 to 2500 sows and an average herd size of 501 were collected from three central databases containing: Meat inspection data collected at animal level in the abattoir, mortality data at herd level from the rendering plants of DAKA, and medicine records at both herd and animal group level (sow with piglets, weaners or finishers) from the central database Vetstat. Selected measurements taken from these central databases were used to construct the DBWI. The relative welfare impacts of both individual database measurements and the databases overall were assigned in consultation with a panel consisting of 12 experts. The experts were drawn from production advisory activities, animal science and in one case an animal welfare organization. The expert panel weighted each measurement on a scale from 1 (not-important) to 5 (very important). The experts also gave opinions on the relative weightings of measurements for each of the three databases by stating a relative weight of each database in the DBWI. On the basis of this, the aggregated DBWI was normalized. The aggregation of AWI was based on weighted summary of herd prevalence's of 20 clinical and behavioural measurements originating from a 1 day data collection. AWI did not show linear dependency of DBWI. This suggests that DBWI is not suited to replace an animal welfare index using on-farm animal-based measurements.

  5. Rule Making and Rule Breaking: Game Development and the Governance of Emergent Behaviour

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jennifer R. Whitson

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available Discussions of ‘control’ in games often center on players and their myriad attempts to push back upon the systems that seek to constrain them. The fact that players resist the constraints imposed upon them is not surprising, nor is it surprising that counterplay and control are such rich topics for game studies academics. In this article, I argue that players are invited by games to bend the rules. It is in the very nature of play to find the movement between the rules, and for many players the ‘fun’ in play is the inherent challenge of attempting to master, defeat, or remake games’ formal structures. These rationalities of play preclude blind obedience to the rules and have distinct implications for how games are governed. While there have been numerous studies of players who bend or break the rules (Consalvo, 2007; Foo and Koivisto, 2004; Dibbell, 1998; Kolko and Reid, 1998; Williams, 2006; Mnookin, 1997 and players who alter and re-make the rules in their role of co-producers (Sotamaa, 2009; Kücklich, 2005; Humphreys, 2005; Taylor, 2006b, there is little research on game development companies and their attempts to harness these rationalities of play and uphold the rules beyond the reflexive writings of game designers themselves (Curtis, 1992; Morningstar and Farmer, 1991; Koster, 2002.

  6. Gaming the system. Dodging the rules, ruling the dodgers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morreim, E H

    1991-03-01

    Although traditional obligations of fidelity require physicians to deliver quality care to their patients, including to utilize costly technologies, physicians are steadily losing their accustomed control over the necessary resources. The "economic agents" who own the medical and monetary resources of care now impose a wide array of rules and restrictions in order to contain their costs of operation. However, physicians can still control resources indirectly through "gaming the system," employing tactics such as "fudging" that exploit resource rules' ambiguity and flexibility to bypass the rules while ostensibly honoring them. Physicians may be especially inclined to game the system where resource rules seriously underserve patients' needs, where economic agents seem to be "gaming the patient," with needless obstacles to care, or where others, such as hospitals or even physicians themselves, may be denied needed reimbursements. Though tempting, gaming is morally and medically hazardous. It can harm patients and society, offend honesty, and violate basic principles of contractual and distributive justice. It is also, in fact, usually unnecessary in securing needed resources for patients. More fundamentally, we must reconsider what physicians owe their patients. They owe what is theirs to give: their competence, care and loyalty. In light of medicine's changing economics, two new duties emerge: economic advising, whereby physicians explicitly discuss the economic as well as medical aspects of each treatment option; and economic advocacy, whereby physicians intercede actively on their patients' behalf with the economic agents who control the resources.

  7. Animal models: an important tool in mycology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Capilla, Javier; Clemons, Karl V; Stevens, David A

    2007-12-01

    Animal models of fungal infections are, and will remain, a key tool in the advancement of the medical mycology. Many different types of animal models of fungal infection have been developed, with murine models the most frequently used, for studies of pathogenesis, virulence, immunology, diagnosis, and therapy. The ability to control numerous variables in performing the model allows us to mimic human disease states and quantitatively monitor the course of the disease. However, no single model can answer all questions and different animal species or different routes of infection can show somewhat different results. Thus, the choice of which animal model to use must be made carefully, addressing issues of the type of human disease to mimic, the parameters to follow and collection of the appropriate data to answer those questions being asked. This review addresses a variety of uses for animal models in medical mycology. It focuses on the most clinically important diseases affecting humans and cites various examples of the different types of studies that have been performed. Overall, animal models of fungal infection will continue to be valuable tools in addressing questions concerning fungal infections and contribute to our deeper understanding of how these infections occur, progress and can be controlled and eliminated.

  8. [Animal experimentation, animal welfare and scientific research].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tal, H

    2013-10-01

    Hundreds of thousands of laboratory animals are being used every year for scientific experiments held in Israel, mostly mice, rats, rabbits, guinea pigs, and a few sheep, cattle, pigs, cats, dogs, and even a few dozen monkeys. In addition to the animals sacrificed to promote scientific research, millions of animals slain every year for other purposes such as meat and fine leather fashion industries. While opening a front against all is an impossible and perhaps an unjustified task, the state of Israel enacted the Animal Welfare (Animal Experimentation) Law (1994). The law aims to regulate scientific animal experiments and to find the appropriate balance between the need to continue to perform animal experiments for the advancement of research and medicine, and at the same time to avoid unnecessary trials and minimize animal suffering. Among other issues the law deals with the phylogenetic scale according to which experimental animals should be selected, experiments for teaching and practicing, and experiments for the cosmetic industry. This article discusses bioethics considerations in animal experiments as well as the criticism on the scientific validity of such experiments. It further deals with the vitality of animal studies and the moral and legal obligation to prevent suffering from laboratory animals.

  9. Competition and constraint drove Cope's rule in the evolution of giant flying reptiles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benson, Roger B J; Frigot, Rachel A; Goswami, Anjali; Andres, Brian; Butler, Richard J

    2014-04-02

    The pterosaurs, Mesozoic flying reptiles, attained wingspans of more than 10 m that greatly exceed the largest birds and challenge our understanding of size limits in flying animals. Pterosaurs have been used to illustrate Cope's rule, the influential generalization that evolutionary lineages trend to increasingly large body sizes. However, unambiguous examples of Cope's rule operating on extended timescales in large clades remain elusive, and the phylogenetic pattern and possible drivers of pterosaur gigantism are uncertain. Here we show 70 million years of highly constrained early evolution, followed by almost 80 million years of sustained, multi-lineage body size increases in pterosaurs. These results are supported by maximum-likelihood modelling of a comprehensive new pterosaur data set. The transition between these macroevolutionary regimes is coincident with the Early Cretaceous adaptive radiation of birds, supporting controversial hypotheses of bird-pterosaur competition, and suggesting that evolutionary competition can act as a macroevolutionary driver on extended geological timescales.

  10. 18 CFR 385.2201 - Rules governing off-the-record communications (Rule 2201).

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 603, a neutral (other than an arbitrator) under Rule 604 in an alternative dispute resolution... any person outside the Commission, any off-the-record communication. (c) Definitions. For purposes of... in which an intervenor disputes any material issue, any proceeding initiated pursuant to rule 206 by...

  11. Interaction rules underlying group decisions in homing pigeons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pettit, Benjamin; Perna, Andrea; Biro, Dora; Sumpter, David J. T.

    2013-01-01

    Travelling in groups gives animals opportunities to share route information by following cues from each other's movement. The outcome of group navigation will depend on how individuals respond to each other within a flock, school, swarm or herd. Despite the abundance of modelling studies, only recently have researchers developed techniques to determine the interaction rules among real animals. Here, we use high-resolution GPS (global positioning system) tracking to study these interactions in pairs of pigeons flying home from a familiar site. Momentary changes in velocity indicate alignment with the neighbour's direction, as well as attraction or avoidance depending on distance. Responses were stronger when the neighbour was in front. From the flocking behaviour, we develop a model to predict features of group navigation. Specifically, we show that the interactions between pigeons stabilize a side-by-side configuration, promoting bidirectional information transfer and reducing the risk of separation. However, if one bird gets in front it will lead directional choices. Our model further predicts, and observations confirm, that a faster bird (as measured from solo flights) will fly slightly in front and thus dominate the choice of homing route. Our results explain how group decisions emerge from individual differences in homing flight behaviour. PMID:24068173

  12. Design of exploration and minerals-data-collection programs in developing areas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Attanasi, E.D.

    1981-01-01

    This paper considers the practical problem of applying economic analysis to designing minerals exploration and data collection strategies for developing countries. Formal decision rules for the design of government exploration and minerals-data-collection programs are derived by using a minerals-industry planning model that has been extended to include an exploration function. Rules derived are applicable to centrally planned minerals industries as well as market-oriented minerals sectors. They pertain to the spatial allocation of exploration effort and to the allocation of activities between government and private concerns for market-oriented economies. Programs characterized by uniform expenditures, uniform information coverage across regions, or uniform-density grid drilling progrmas are shown to be inferior to the strategy derived. Moreover, for market-oriented economies, the economically optimal mix in exploration activities between private and government data collection would require that only private firms assess local sites and that government agencies carry out regional surveys. ?? 1981.

  13. KEBERADAAN KONSEP RULE BY LAW (NEGARA BERDASARKAN HUKUM DIDALAM TEORI NEGARA HUKUM THE RULE OF LAW

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Made Hendra Wijaya

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available This research titled, the existence of the concept of rule by law (state law within thestate theories of law the rule of law, which is where the first problem: How can theadvantages of Rule by Law in the theory of law Rule of Law?, How is the dis advantages of aconcept of Rule by law in the theory of law Rule of Law.This research method using the method of normative, legal research that examines thewritten laws of the various aspects, ie aspects of the theory, history, philosophy, comparative,structure and composition, scope, and content, consistent, overview, and chapter by chapter,formality, and the binding force of a law, and the legal language used, but did not examine orimlementasi applied aspects. By using this approach of Historical analysis and approach oflegal conceptual analysis.In this research have found that the advantages of the concept of Rule by Law lies in theproviding of certainty, can also be social control for the community, thus ensuring all citizensin good order at all reciprocal relationships within the community. And Disadvantages of theconcept of Rule by Law if the Law which legalized state action is not supported by democracyand human rights, and the principles of justice, there will be a denial of human rights,widespread poverty, and racial segregation, and if the law is only utilized out by theauthorities as a means to legalize all forms of actions that violate human can inflicttotalitarian nature of the ruling

  14. 26 CFR 601.102 - Classification of taxes collected by the Internal Revenue Service.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... Rules § 601.102 Classification of taxes collected by the Internal Revenue Service. (a) Principal... 26 Internal Revenue 20 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Classification of taxes collected by the Internal Revenue Service. 601.102 Section 601.102 Internal Revenue INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF...

  15. Multimedia Pivot Tables for Multimedia Analytics on Image Collections

    OpenAIRE

    Worring, M.; Koelma, D.; Zahálka, J.

    2016-01-01

    We propose a multimedia analytics solution for getting insight into image collections by extending the powerful analytic capabilities of pivot tables, found in the ubiquitous spreadsheets, to multimedia. We formalize the concept of multimedia pivot tables and give design rules and methods for the multimodal summarization, structuring, and browsing of the collection based on these tables, all optimized to support an analyst in getting structural and conclusive insights. Our proposed solution p...

  16. Do Fiscal Rules Matter?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Grembi, Veronica; Nannicini, Tommaso; Troiano, Ugo

    2016-01-01

    , the central government imposed fiscal rules on municipal governments, and in 2001 relaxed them below 5,000 inhabitants. We exploit the before/after and discontinuous policy variation, and show that relaxing fiscal rules increases deficits and lowers taxes. The effect is larger if the mayor can be reelected......Fiscal rules are laws aimed at reducing the incentive to accumulate debt, and many countries adopt them to discipline local governments. Yet, their effectiveness is disputed because of commitment and enforcement problems. We study their impact applying a quasi-experimental design in Italy. In 1999...

  17. Small Animal Models for Evaluating Filovirus Countermeasures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Banadyga, Logan; Wong, Gary; Qiu, Xiangguo

    2018-05-11

    The development of novel therapeutics and vaccines to treat or prevent disease caused by filoviruses, such as Ebola and Marburg viruses, depends on the availability of animal models that faithfully recapitulate clinical hallmarks of disease as it is observed in humans. In particular, small animal models (such as mice and guinea pigs) are historically and frequently used for the primary evaluation of antiviral countermeasures, prior to testing in nonhuman primates, which represent the gold-standard filovirus animal model. In the past several years, however, the filovirus field has witnessed the continued refinement of the mouse and guinea pig models of disease, as well as the introduction of the hamster and ferret models. We now have small animal models for most human-pathogenic filoviruses, many of which are susceptible to wild type virus and demonstrate key features of disease, including robust virus replication, coagulopathy, and immune system dysfunction. Although none of these small animal model systems perfectly recapitulates Ebola virus disease or Marburg virus disease on its own, collectively they offer a nearly complete set of tools in which to carry out the preclinical development of novel antiviral drugs.

  18. Biomimetic water-collecting materials inspired by nature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Hai; Guo, Zhiguang; Liu, Weimin

    2016-03-11

    Nowadays, water shortage is a severe issue all over the world, especially in some arid and undeveloped areas. Interestingly, a variety of natural creatures can collect water from fog, which can provide a source of inspiration to develop novel and functional water-collecting materials. Recently, as an increasingly hot research topic, bioinspired materials with the water collection ability have captured vast scientific attention in both practical applications and fundamental research studies. In this review, we summarize the mechanisms of water collection in various natural creatures and present the fabrications, functions, applications, and new developments of bioinspired materials in recent years. The theoretical basis related to the phenomenon of water collection containing wetting behaviors and water droplet transportations is described in the beginning, i.e., the Young's equation, Wenzel model, Cassie model, surface energy gradient model and Laplace pressure equation. Then, the water collection mechanisms of three typical and widely researched natural animals and plants are discussed and their corresponding bioinspired materials are simultaneously detailed, which are cactus, spider, and desert beetles, respectively. This is followed by introducing another eight animals and plants (butterfly, shore birds, wheat awns, green bristlegrass, the Cotula fallax plant, Namib grass, green tree frogs and Australian desert lizards) that are rarely reported, exhibiting water collection properties or similar water droplet transportation. Finally, conclusions and outlook concerning the future development of bioinspired fog-collecting materials are presented.

  19. H. A. Gleason's 'individualistic concept' and theory of animal communities: a continuing controversy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McIntosh, R P

    1995-05-01

    A tradition of natural history and of the lore of early twentieth-century ecology was that organisms lived together and interacted to form natural entities or communities. Before there was a recognizable science of ecology, Mobius (1877) had provided a name 'biocoenosis' for such entities. This concept persisted in the early decades of ecological science; at an extreme it was maintained that the community had integrating capabilities and organization like those of an individual organism, hence the term organismic community. In the 1950s-1970s an alternative individualist concept, derived from the ideas of H. A. Gleason (1939), gained credence which held that communities were largely a coincidence of individualistic species characteristics, continuously varying environments and different probabilities of a species arriving on a given site. During the same period, however, a body of population based theory of animal communities became dominant which perpetuated the idea of patterns in nature based on biotic interactions among species resulting in integrated communities. This theory introduced an extended terminology and mathematical models to explain the organization of species into groups of compatible species governed by rules. In the late 1970s the premises and methods of the theory came under attack and a vigorous debate ensued. The alternatives proposed were, at an extreme, null models of random aggregations of species or stochastic, individualistic aggregations of species, sensu Gleason. Extended research and debate ensued during the 1980s resulting in an explosion of studies of animal communities and a plethora of symposia and volumes of collected works concerning the nature of animal communities. The inherent complexity of communities and the traditional differences among animal ecologists about how they should be defined and delimited, at what scale of taxa, space and time to study them, and appropriate methods of study and analysis have resulted in extended

  20. OBT analysis method using polyethylene beads for limited quantities of animal tissue

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, S.B.; Stuart, M.

    2015-01-01

    This study presents a polyethylene beads method for OBT determination in animal tissues and animal products for cases where the amount of water recovered by combustion is limited by sample size or quantity. In the method, the amount of water recovered after combustion is enhanced by adding tritium-free polyethylene beads to the sample prior to combustion in an oxygen bomb. The method reduces process time by allowing the combustion water to be easily collected with a pipette. Sufficient water recovery was achieved using the polyethylene beads method when 2 g of dry animal tissue or animal product were combusted with 2 g of polyethylene beads. Correction factors, which account for the dilution due to the combustion water of the beads, are provided for beef, chicken, pork, fish and clams, as well as egg, milk and cheese. The method was tested by comparing its OBT results with those of the conventional method using animal samples collected on the Chalk River Laboratories (CRL) site. The results determined that the polyethylene beads method added no more than 25% uncertainty when appropriate correction factors are used. - Highlights: • Polyethylene beads method for OBT determination in animal tissues and animal products were determined. • The method reduces process time. • The polyethylene beads method added no more than 25% uncertainty when appropriate correction factors are used

  1. Social Environment and Control Status of Companion Animal-Borne Zoonoses in Japan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hiromi Takahashi-Omoe

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available Changing social and environmental factors have been the cause of an increase in the number and variety of animals are being imported into Japan. Moreover, the number of Japanese households are keeping companion animals has also risen. These factors, along with the high density of the Japanese population and the low percentage of registered dogs, have increased the risk of animal-to-human transmission of zoonoses. To control zoonosis outbreaks, the Japanese government has implemented a three-stage approach for the border control of zoonoses and has stipulated the monitoring and reporting of eight companion animal-borne zoonoses under the Rabies Prevention Law and the Infectious Diseases Control Law. The fact that no case of human and animal rabies has been reported over the past 50 years indicates that these measures are highly effective in preventing rabies transmission. Although it is known that the total number of possible companion animal-borne zoonosis outbreaks decreased between 2005 and 2009 when compared with numbers between 2001 and 2004, the number of zoonosis cases that can be attributed to transmission by companion animals remains unclear. Active surveillance should be conducted on a national level to collect the data necessary to determine this number and identify trends in companion-animal transmitted diseases. Using the data collected, regulation systems should be evaluated to determine whether they have met reasonable goals and policy planning conducted for the control of emerging diseases.

  2. GPR Imaging of Prehistoric Animal Bone-beds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schneider, Blair Benson

    This research investigates the detection capabilities of Ground-penetrating radar for imaging prehistoric animal bone-beds. The first step of this investigation was to determine the dielectric properties of modern animal bone as a proxy for applying non-invasive ground-penetrating radar (GPR) for detecting prehistoric animal remains. Over 90 thin section samples were cut from four different modern faunal skeleton remains: bison, cow, deer, and elk. One sample of prehistoric mammoth core was also analyzed. Sample dielectric properties (relative permittivity, loss factor, and loss-tangent values) were measured with an impedance analyzer over frequencies ranging from 10 MHz to 1 GHz. The results reveal statistically significant dielectric-property differences among different animal fauna, as well as variation as a function of frequency. The measured sample permittivity values were then compared to modeled sample permittivity values using common dielectric-mixing models. The dielectric mixing models were used to report out new reported values of dry bone mineral of 3-5 in the frequency range of 10 MHz to 1 GHz. The second half of this research collected controlled GPR experiments over a sandbox containing buried bison bone elements to evaluate GPR detection capabilities of buried animal bone. The results of the controlled GPR sandbox tests were then compared to numerical models in order to predict the ability of GPR to detect buried animal bone given a variety of different depositional factors, the size and orientation of the bone target and the degree of bone weathering. The radar profiles show that GPR is an effective method for imaging the horizontal and vertical extent of buried animal bone. However, increased bone weathering and increased bone dip were both found to affect GPR reflection signal strength. Finally, the controlled sandbox experiments were also utilized to investigate the impact of survey design for imaging buried animal bone. In particular, the

  3. 77 FR 46411 - Agency Information Collection Activities Under OMB Review

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-08-03

    ... orderly procedures for membership and disciplinary actions. The Commission's review of decisions of... disciplinary, membership denial, registration, and member responsibility actions to the Commission for review... AGENCY: Commodity Futures Trading Commission. ACTION: Notice; Information Collection 3038-0043, Rules...

  4. Clostridium difficile PCR Ribotypes from Different Animal Hosts and Different Geographic Regions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zidaric, V.; Janezic, S.; Indra, A.

    Clostridium difficile is an anaerobic sporogenic bacterium traditionally associated with human nosocomial infections, and animals have been recognized as an important potential reservoir for human infections (Rodriguez-Palacios et al., 2013). Ribotype 078 is often reported in animals but according...... was to establish an international C. difficile animal collection with one PCR ribotype per species per country/laboratory and to compare PCR ribotypes across animal hosts and countries....... to recent studies the overlap between PCR ribotypes found in humans and animals seems to be increasing (Bakker et al., 2010; Gould and Limbago, 2010; Janezic et al., 2012; Keel et al., 2007; Koene et al., 2011). However, genetic diversity among animal strains remains poorly understood. The aim of our work...

  5. Evaluation of IOTA Simple Ultrasound Rules to Distinguish Benign and Malignant Ovarian Tumours

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaur, Amarjit; Mohi, Jaswinder Kaur; Sibia, Preet Kanwal; Kaur, Navkiran

    2017-01-01

    Introduction IOTA stands for International Ovarian Tumour Analysis group. Ovarian cancer is one of the common cancers in women and is diagnosed at later stage in majority. The limiting factor for early diagnosis is lack of standardized terms and procedures in gynaecological sonography. Introduction of IOTA rules has provided some consistency in defining morphological features of ovarian masses through a standardized examination technique. Aim To evaluate the efficacy of IOTA simple ultrasound rules in distinguishing benign and malignant ovarian tumours and establishing their use as a tool in early diagnosis of ovarian malignancy. Materials and Methods A hospital based case control prospective study was conducted. Patients with suspected ovarian pathology were evaluated using IOTA ultrasound rules and designated as benign or malignant. Findings were correlated with histopathological findings. Collected data was statistically analysed using chi-square test and kappa statistical method. Results Out of initial 55 patients, 50 patients were included in the final analysis who underwent surgery. IOTA simple rules were applicable in 45 out of these 50 patients (90%). The sensitivity for the detection of malignancy in cases where IOTA simple rules were applicable was 91.66% and the specificity was 84.84%. Accuracy was 86.66%. Classifying inconclusive cases as malignant, the sensitivity and specificity was 93% and 80% respectively. High level of agreement was found between USG and histopathological diagnosis with Kappa value as 0.323. Conclusion IOTA simple ultrasound rules were highly sensitive and specific in predicting ovarian malignancy preoperatively yet being reproducible, easy to train and use. PMID:28969237

  6. Multimedia Pivot Tables for Multimedia Analytics on Image Collections

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Worring, M.; Koelma, D.; Zahálka, J.

    2016-01-01

    We propose a multimedia analytics solution for getting insight into image collections by extending the powerful analytic capabilities of pivot tables, found in the ubiquitous spreadsheets, to multimedia. We formalize the concept of multimedia pivot tables and give design rules and methods for the

  7. [Techniques and possibilities of traceability of food: genotyping of the domestic animal population as an innovative contribution to food safety].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brem, G

    2004-07-01

    Traceability of meat has become a very important aspect of quality assurance of food. DNA analyses could be used for identification and verification of farm animals and animal derived products. A prerequisite is the collection of qualified samples from entire populations of production animals or from regionally or specially characterised animal populations. The expenditure for conventional carrying out collection, preservation, cataloguing, and storage would be enormous. Therefore we have developed a simple, reliable, and inexpensive method for the collection using the ear tagging process and for preservation of samples at room temperature. A similar collection technology can also be used for sampling of carcasses, meat and meat products. Isolation of DNA from these tissue samples can be preformed using a new single step technology. For identifying individuals microsatellites and single nucleotide polymorphisms are analysed. Comparison of DNA fingerprints or SNP signatures allows to traceback samples collected from products to the animals they are coming from. If the system will be established on a nationwide basis the total costs would be less than 0.05 EUR per kilogram meat sold.

  8. Rule-Governed Behavior: Teaching a Preliminary Repertoire of Rule-Following to Children With Autism

    OpenAIRE

    Tarbox, Jonathan; Zuckerman, Carrie K; Bishop, Michele R; Olive, Melissa L; O'Hora, Denis P

    2011-01-01

    Rule-governed behavior is generally considered an integral component of complex verbal repertoires but has rarely been the subject of empirical research. In particular, little or no previous research has attempted to establish rule-governed behavior in individuals who do not already display the repertoire. This study consists of two experiments that evaluated multiple exemplar training procedures for teaching a simple component skill, which may be necessary for developing a repertoire of rule...

  9. Transmission of Salmonella between wildlife and meat-production animals in Denmark

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Skov, M. N.; Madsen, J. J.; Rahbek, C.

    2008-01-01

    Aims: To investigate the transmission of Salmonella spp. between production animals (pigs and cattle) and wildlife on production animal farms in Denmark. Methods and Results: In the winter and summer of 2001 and 2002, 3622 samples were collected from Salmonella-infected and noninfected herds...... of pigs and cattle and surrounding wildlife. Salmonella was detected in wildlife on farms carrying Salmonella-positive production animals and only during the periods when Salmonella was detected in the production animals. The presence of Salmonella Typhimurium in wild birds significantly correlated...... to their migration pattern and food preference. Conclusions: Salmonella was transmitted from infected herds of production animals (cattle and pigs) to wildlife that lived amongst or in close proximity to them. Significance and Impact of the Study: Salmonella in animal food products is associated with the occurrence...

  10. 26 CFR 49.4264(c)-1 - Special rule for the payment of tax.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... international air transportation and such carrier shall collect the tax at the time the flight is rescheduled or... of his international air transportation between Chicago and New York became subject to tax. The... 26 Internal Revenue 16 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 true Special rule for the payment of tax. 49.4264(c...

  11. Engineering to support wellbeing of dairy animals

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Caja, Gerardo; Castro-Costa, Andreia; Knight, Christopher Harold

    2016-01-01

    Current trends in the global milk market and the recent abolition of milk quotas have accelerated the trend of the European dairy industry towards larger farm sizes and higher-yielding animals. Dairy cows remain in focus, but there is a growing interest in other dairy species, whose milk is often...... directed to traditional and protected designation of origin and gourmet dairy products. The challenge for dairy farms in general is to achieve the best possible standards of animal health and welfare, together with high lactational performance and minimal environmental impact. For larger farms, this may...... need to be done with a much lower ratio of husbandry staff to animals. Recent engineering advances and the decreasing cost of electronic technologies has allowed the development of 'sensing solutions' that automatically collect data, such as physiological parameters, production measures and behavioural...

  12. Atypical Rulings of the Indonesian Constitutional Court

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bisariyadi

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available In deciding judicial review cases, the Court may issue rulings that is not in accordance to what is stipulated in the Constitutional Court Law (Law Number 8 Year 2011. Atypical rulings means that the court may reconstruct a provision, delay the legislation/rulings enactment or give instruction to lawmakers. In addition, the court also introduce the “conditionally (unconstitutional” concept. This essay attempts to identify and classify these atypical rulings, including conditionally (un constitutional rulings, by examined the constitutional court judicial review rulings from 2003 to 2015. This study will provide a ground work for advance research on typical rulings by the Indonesian constitutional court.

  13. Characterizacion of Alocasia spp. for use in animal feed

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marilys Milián Jiménez

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Finding new alternative sources for animal food is a need in Cuba. the evaluation of Alocasia genus clones seems to be a starting point. This research was done at the Research Institute of Tropical Root and Tuber Crops (INIVIT. Three accessions were collected throughout the country and were tested in order to analyze their potential for use . While the collected accessions were characterized and evaluated, the descriptors list for this genus was elaborated, including qualitative and quantitative traits for each plant organ. A list of descriptors, which is a contribution to the description of Alocasia species, was elaborated. Alocasisa spp. is an unknown crop in Cuba. However, the germplasm characterization, carried out in this study, provides information to identify clones that can be cropped for animal feed based on sustainable agriculture principles

  14. The wild animal as a research animal

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Swart, JAA

    2004-01-01

    Most discussions on animal experimentation refer to domesticated animals and regulations are tailored to this class of animals. However, wild animals are also used for research, e. g., in biological field research that is often directed to fundamental ecological-evolutionary questions or to

  15. Comparison of different methods for ectoparasite infestation detection in Laboratory bred animals and standardization of their health certificate

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    mohammad Abdigoudarzi

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available In order to study external parasites of laboratory reared animals at Razi institute, different methods including brushing of animal's surface body, cellophane tape of body surface, peri-anal cellophane tape test (CTT and skin scrapings and digestive method were applied and collected samples were studied. In addition, field collected rats were tested using brushing method. One mouse had been infested by some mites. Rabbits, rats, mice and guinea pigs had not been infested with external parasites. Field collected rats had been highly infested with mites from the family Laelapidae. The, brushing method was confirmed to be a useful method for mite detection. According to the methods used in this study and these recommended by SOP from international animal breeding centers the CTT method was proposed to be useful for preparing health certificate of laboratory animals at the department of laboratory animal breading at Razi institute.

  16. 77 FR 59030 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; BATS Exchange, Inc.; Order Granting Approval of Proposed Rule...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-09-25

    ... (collectively, ``Derivative Securities Products'') \\5\\ when applying the quantitative generic listing criteria... or other Derivative Securities Products. \\4\\ The Exchange notes that NYSE Arca uses the term...\\ Rule 14.11 includes criteria for derivative securities that may be listed or traded on the Exchange...

  17. Animal rights and animal experimentation. Implications for physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gelpi, A. P.

    1991-01-01

    Practicing physicians are just becoming aware of the animal rights movement, which during the 1980s spawned numerous acts of violence against research facilities throughout the United States. The animal rightists are challenging physicians to show moral justification for the human exploitation of nature and the world of subhuman species. They have aroused public interest in animal welfare, sparked protective legislation for experimental animals, and indirectly encouraged the creation of committees to oversee the conduct of animal experimentation and the conditions of animal confinement. This controversy has necessitated a closer look at the questions of animal experimentation and animal rights against the backdrop of human experimentation and human rights. Physicians and specialists in animal care seek to alleviate suffering and anxiety, and, as moderates, they may be able to bring both sides of the animal rights controversy together in a spirit of mutual tolerance and in the common cause of promoting both human and animal welfare. PMID:1949772

  18. An innovative approach to sampling complex industrial emissions for use in animal toxicity tests: application to iron casting operations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palmer, W G; Scholz, R C; Moorman, W J

    1983-03-01

    Sampling of complex mixtures of airborne contaminants for chronic animal toxicity tests often involves numerous sampling devices, requires extensive sampling time, and yields forms of collected materials unsuitable for administration to animals. A method is described which used a high volume, wet venturi scrubber for collection of respirable fractions of emissions from iron foundry casting operations. The construction and operation of the sampler are presented along with collection efficiency data and its application to the preparation of large quantities of samples to be administered to animals by intratracheal instillation.

  19. Investigating decision rules with a new experimental design: the EXACT paradigm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biscione, Valerio; Harris, Christopher M.

    2015-01-01

    In the decision-making field, it is important to distinguish between the perceptual process (how information is collected) and the decision rule (the strategy governing decision-making). We propose a new paradigm, called EXogenous ACcumulation Task (EXACT) to disentangle these two components. The paradigm consists of showing a horizontal gauge that represents the probability of receiving a reward at time t and increases with time. The participant is asked to press a button when they want to request a reward. Thus, the perceptual mechanism is hard-coded and does not need to be inferred from the data. Based on this paradigm, we compared four decision rules (Bayes Risk, Reward Rate, Reward/Accuracy, and Modified Reward Rate) and found that participants appeared to behave according to the Modified Reward Rate. We propose a new way of analysing the data by using the accuracy of responses, which can only be inferred in classic RT tasks. Our analysis suggests that several experimental findings such as RT distribution and its relationship with experimental conditions, usually deemed to be the result of a rise-to-threshold process, may be simply explained by the effect of the decision rule employed. PMID:26578916

  20. Comparison of Heuristics for Inhibitory Rule Optimization

    KAUST Repository

    Alsolami, Fawaz

    2014-09-13

    Knowledge representation and extraction are very important tasks in data mining. In this work, we proposed a variety of rule-based greedy algorithms that able to obtain knowledge contained in a given dataset as a series of inhibitory rules containing an expression “attribute ≠ value” on the right-hand side. The main goal of this paper is to determine based on rule characteristics, rule length and coverage, whether the proposed rule heuristics are statistically significantly different or not; if so, we aim to identify the best performing rule heuristics for minimization of rule length and maximization of rule coverage. Friedman test with Nemenyi post-hoc are used to compare the greedy algorithms statistically against each other for length and coverage. The experiments are carried out on real datasets from UCI Machine Learning Repository. For leading heuristics, the constructed rules are compared with optimal ones obtained based on dynamic programming approach. The results seem to be promising for the best heuristics: the average relative difference between length (coverage) of constructed and optimal rules is at most 2.27% (7%, respectively). Furthermore, the quality of classifiers based on sets of inhibitory rules constructed by the considered heuristics are compared against each other, and the results show that the three best heuristics from the point of view classification accuracy coincides with the three well-performed heuristics from the point of view of rule length minimization.

  1. Decision mining revisited - Discovering overlapping rules

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mannhardt, Felix; De Leoni, Massimiliano; Reijers, Hajo A.; Van Der Aalst, Wil M P

    2016-01-01

    Decision mining enriches process models with rules underlying decisions in processes using historical process execution data. Choices between multiple activities are specified through rules defined over process data. Existing decision mining methods focus on discovering mutually-exclusive rules,

  2. Decision Mining Revisited - Discovering Overlapping Rules

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mannhardt, F.; De Leoni, M.; Reijers, H.A.; van der Aalst, W.M.P.; Nurcan, S.; Soffer, P.; Bajec, M.; Eder, J.

    2016-01-01

    Decision mining enriches process models with rules underlying decisions in processes using historical process execution data. Choices between multiple activities are specified through rules defined over process data. Existing decision mining methods focus on discovering mutually-exclusive rules,

  3. 75 FR 31745 - Notice of Request for Approval of an Information Collection; National Veterinary Services...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-06-04

    ...] Notice of Request for Approval of an Information Collection; National Veterinary Services Laboratories... collection associated with the National Veterinary Services Laboratories animal health diagnostic system...: For information on request forms associated with the National Veterinary Services Laboratories animal...

  4. The INCOTERMS rules and their importance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anca LAZĂR

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available The content INCOTERMS are a set of rules that determine the rights and obligations of the international sales contract, selecting a rule of interpretation of commercial terms INCOTERMS, progress is the result of negotiation between the parties and expresses the ratio of these economic forces. In relation to the obligations of the parties to an international sales contract are several different types of contracts covered by the clause. To define the main rules INCOTERMS was considered as a starting point delivery of goods, establishment of the seller and the buyer2, the rules concerning the obligations of each party that are grouped into ten items with identical titles for all the rules. Due to significant developments in international trade, for making available to retailers in the interpretation of the rules commonly used trade terms in international trade, the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris draw a set of delivery conditions for their interpretation in international sales, rules that were in international trade practice some habits, but who were not of equal significance to traders in different countries.

  5. Targeted training of the decision rule benefits rule-guided behavior in Parkinson's disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ell, Shawn W

    2013-12-01

    The impact of Parkinson's disease (PD) on rule-guided behavior has received considerable attention in cognitive neuroscience. The majority of research has used PD as a model of dysfunction in frontostriatal networks, but very few attempts have been made to investigate the possibility of adapting common experimental techniques in an effort to identify the conditions that are most likely to facilitate successful performance. The present study investigated a targeted training paradigm designed to facilitate rule learning and application using rule-based categorization as a model task. Participants received targeted training in which there was no selective-attention demand (i.e., stimuli varied along a single, relevant dimension) or nontargeted training in which there was selective-attention demand (i.e., stimuli varied along a relevant dimension as well as an irrelevant dimension). Following training, all participants were tested on a rule-based task with selective-attention demand. During the test phase, PD patients who received targeted training performed similarly to control participants and outperformed patients who did not receive targeted training. As a preliminary test of the generalizability of the benefit of targeted training, a subset of the PD patients were tested on the Wisconsin card sorting task (WCST). PD patients who received targeted training outperformed PD patients who did not receive targeted training on several WCST performance measures. These data further characterize the contribution of frontostriatal circuitry to rule-guided behavior. Importantly, these data also suggest that PD patient impairment, on selective-attention-demanding tasks of rule-guided behavior, is not inevitable and highlight the potential benefit of targeted training.

  6. Staff rules and regulations

    CERN Multimedia

    HR Department

    2007-01-01

    The 11th edition of the Staff Rules and Regulations, dated 1 January 2007, adopted by the Council and the Finance Committee in December 2006, is currently being distributed to departmental secretariats. The Staff Rules and Regulations, together with a summary of the main modifications made, will be available, as from next week, on the Human Resources Department's intranet site: http://cern.ch/hr-web/internal/admin_services/rules/default.asp The main changes made to the Staff Rules and Regulations stem from the five-yearly review of employment conditions of members of the personnel. The changes notably relate to: the categories of members of the personnel (e.g. removal of the local staff category); the careers structure and the merit recognition system; the non-residence, installation and re-installation allowances; the definition of family, family allowances and family-related leave; recognition of partnerships; education fees. The administrative circulars, some of which are being revised following the m...

  7. Staff rules and regulations

    CERN Multimedia

    HR Department

    2007-01-01

    The 11th edition of the Staff Rules and Regulations, dated 1 January 2007, adopted by the Council and the Finance Committee in December 2006, is currently being distributed to departmental secretariats. The Staff Rules and Regulations, together with a summary of the main modifications made, will be available, as from next week, on the Human Resources Department's intranet site: http://cern.ch/hr-web/internal/admin_services/rules/default.asp The main changes made to the Staff Rules and Regulations stem from the five-yearly review of employment conditions of members of the personnel. The changes notably relate to: the categories of members of the personnel (e.g. removal of the local staff category); the careers structure and the merit recognition system; the non-residence, installation and re-installation allowances; the definition of family, family allowances and family-related leave; recognition of partnerships; education fees. The administrative circulars, some of which are being revised following the ...

  8. Classifiers based on optimal decision rules

    KAUST Repository

    Amin, Talha

    2013-11-25

    Based on dynamic programming approach we design algorithms for sequential optimization of exact and approximate decision rules relative to the length and coverage [3, 4]. In this paper, we use optimal rules to construct classifiers, and study two questions: (i) which rules are better from the point of view of classification-exact or approximate; and (ii) which order of optimization gives better results of classifier work: length, length+coverage, coverage, or coverage+length. Experimental results show that, on average, classifiers based on exact rules are better than classifiers based on approximate rules, and sequential optimization (length+coverage or coverage+length) is better than the ordinary optimization (length or coverage).

  9. Classifiers based on optimal decision rules

    KAUST Repository

    Amin, Talha M.; Chikalov, Igor; Moshkov, Mikhail; Zielosko, Beata

    2013-01-01

    Based on dynamic programming approach we design algorithms for sequential optimization of exact and approximate decision rules relative to the length and coverage [3, 4]. In this paper, we use optimal rules to construct classifiers, and study two questions: (i) which rules are better from the point of view of classification-exact or approximate; and (ii) which order of optimization gives better results of classifier work: length, length+coverage, coverage, or coverage+length. Experimental results show that, on average, classifiers based on exact rules are better than classifiers based on approximate rules, and sequential optimization (length+coverage or coverage+length) is better than the ordinary optimization (length or coverage).

  10. The efficiency of the negligence rules

    OpenAIRE

    Nikolić, Ljubica; Mojašević, Aleksandar

    2012-01-01

    This study comparatively analizes economic effects of different negligence rules, contained in American law on the one hand, and Serbian law on the other. It is important to establish economic implications of the different negligence rules, based on the incentives for tortfeasor’s and victim’s precaution under the different negligence rules. Study of the efficiency of several different forms of negligence rules: simple negligence, negligence with a defense of contributory negligence, comparat...

  11. Designing collective behavior in a termite-inspired robot construction team.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Werfel, Justin; Petersen, Kirstin; Nagpal, Radhika

    2014-02-14

    Complex systems are characterized by many independent components whose low-level actions produce collective high-level results. Predicting high-level results given low-level rules is a key open challenge; the inverse problem, finding low-level rules that give specific outcomes, is in general still less understood. We present a multi-agent construction system inspired by mound-building termites, solving such an inverse problem. A user specifies a desired structure, and the system automatically generates low-level rules for independent climbing robots that guarantee production of that structure. Robots use only local sensing and coordinate their activity via the shared environment. We demonstrate the approach via a physical realization with three autonomous climbing robots limited to onboard sensing. This work advances the aim of engineering complex systems that achieve specific human-designed goals.

  12. 78 FR 70237 - Operation of Wireless Communications Services in the 2.3 GHz Band; Establishment of Rules and...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-11-25

    ... rules. To request materials in accessible formats for people with disabilities (Braille, large print... benefits. Statutory authority for this information collection is contained in 47 U.S.C. 154, 302(a), 303...

  13. Regulating manure application discharges from concentrated animal feeding operations in the United States

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Centner, Terence J.; Feitshans, Theodore A.

    2006-01-01

    In the United States, reducing pollution from agriculture has received attention due to data suggesting that this is the leading source of impairment of many waterbodies. The federal government revised its regulations governing concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) to enhance governmental oversight over sources of pollution. For the application of manure resulting in pollutant discharges, CAFOs need to implement nutrient management plans. A federal court affirmed the ability of the US federal government to oversee the application of manure from CAFOs that have discharges. Simultaneously, owners and operators of CAFOs who have implemented an appropriate nutrient management plan may forgo securing a permit if their discharges qualify under the agricultural stormwater discharge exemption. - New rules applying to the application of manure by large concentrated animal feeding operations should reduce water contamination

  14. Social coordination in animal vocal interactions. Is there any evidence of turn-taking? The starling as an animal model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laurence eHenry

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Turn-taking in conversation appears to be a common feature in various human cultures and this universality raises questions about its biological basis and evolutionary trajectory. Functional convergence or homoplasy is a widespread phenomenon in evolution, revealing sometimes striking functional similarities between very distant species even though the mechanisms involved may be different. Studies on mammals (including non-human primates and bird species with different levels of social coordination reveal that temporal and structural regularities in vocal interactions may depend on the species’ social structure. Here we test the hypothesis that turn-taking and associated rules of conversations may be an adaptive response to the requirements of social life, by testing the applicability of turn-taking rules to an animal model, the European starling. Birdsong has for many decades been considered as one of the best models of human language and starling songs have been well described in terms of vocal production and perception. Starlings do have vocal interactions where alternating patterns predominate. Observational and experimental data on vocal interactions reveal that 1 there are indeed clear temporal and structural regularities, 2 the temporal and structural patterning is influenced by the immediate social context, the general social situation, the individual history, or the internal state of the emitter. Comparison of phylogenetically close species of Sturnids reveals that the alternating pattern of vocal interactions varies greatly according to the species social structure, suggesting that interactional regularities may have evolved together with social systems. These findings lead to solid bases of discussion on the evolution of communication rules in relation to social evolution. They will be discussed also in terms of processes, at the light of recent neurobiological findings.

  15. ADVANCES IN ANIMAL WELFARE FOR FREE-LIVING ANIMALS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-04-01

    Over several decades, animal welfare has grown into its own free-standing field of scientific study, from its early beginnings in laboratory animal research to eventually include exhibited animals and farm animals. While it has always been present to some degree, consideration of animal welfare for free-ranging animals has lagged behind, developing as a field of study in the last 20 yr or so. Part of that increase was that animal welfare legislation was finally applied to studies being done on free-ranging animals. But it is the appreciation by the biologists and veterinarians working on wild animals, in which the quality of their results is largely controlled by the quality of the animals they use in their studies, which has resulted in increased attention to the well-being or welfare of the animals that they use. Other important influences driving the recognition of wildlife welfare have been changes in the public's expectations of how wild animals are dealt with, a shift in focus of wildlife professionals from managing animals that can be hunted or angled to include nongame species, the decrease in participation in hunting and fishing by members of the public, and the entry of large numbers of women into fish and wildlife agencies and departments and into veterinary medicine. Technical improvements have allowed the safe capture and handling of large or dangerous animals as immobilization drugs and equipment have been developed. The increasing use of sedating drugs allows for handling of animals with reduced stress and other impacts. A number of topics, such as toe-clipping, branding, defining which taxa can or cannot feel pain, catch-and-release fishing, and more, remain controversial within wildlife science. How we treat the wild animals that we deal with defines who we are as wildlife professionals, and animal welfare concerns and techniques for free-ranging animals will continue to develop and evolve.

  16. HOW SHOULD THE WELFARE OF FETAL AND NEUROLOGICALLY IMMATURE POSTNATAL ANIMALS BE PROTECTED?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Campbell, Madeleine L.H.; Mellor, David J.; Sandøe, Peter

    2016-01-01

    Legal protection of the welfare of prenatal animals has not previously been addressed as a discrete subject within the academic literature on animal welfare, ethics and law. This paper aims to rectify this by reviewing the protections (or absence of protections) provided for fetuses by existing legislation in various jurisdictions, and considering the extent to which legal protection of animal fetuses can be justified on animal welfare grounds. Questions related to the need to protect the welfare of neurologically immature postnatal animals are also considered. We argue that there are reasons to protect animal fetuses, both in order to protect fetuses themselves against possible suffering, and in order to protect the animals which fetuses will become against negative welfare impacts that originate prenatally. We review the science on whether fetuses can suffer, and argue that extant regulations do not fully reflect current scientific understanding. Following the precautionary principle, we further argue that regulators should consider the possibility that foetuses and neurologically immature postnatal animals may suffer due to subcortically based ‘raw basic affects’ (i.e. relatively undifferentiated experiences of discomfort suggested to be generated by neural processing at levels below the cerebral cortex). Furthermore we show that there are reasons for affording fetuses protection in order to safeguard the long-term welfare of future animals. However, it may be possible to provide such protection via rules or laws relating to the use of certain techniques and the management of pregnant animals, rather than via direct legal protection of fetuses themselves. In order to provide such protection effectively we need to know more about the relationship between maternal nutrition, stress, exercise, management and fetal health, and about the impact of the timing of a fetal insult on long-term postnatal welfare. PMID:26973382

  17. Estimates of radionclide export by animals-migrants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Frantsevich, L.I.; Komissar, A.D.; Ermakov, A.A.; Kryzhanovskij, V.I.; Sabinevskij, B.V.; Gajchenko, V.A.; Arkhipchuk, V.A.; Panov, G.M.; Mikityuk, A.Yu.; Kolesnik, A.D.

    1989-01-01

    For estimation of zoogenic radionuclide export from the emergency ChNPP area the following aspects were studied: biomass of dry land animals withing the 30 km area; radionuclide amount in zoomass of settled animals; annual radionuclide export by migrants, a collective dose for a direct take-in way by people. It is revealed that a major part of radionuclides is dispersed to the south and south-east of the accident place. Annual export does not exceed a Curie unit. The upper value of radiocesium absorbed by a man with bird's meat (ducks) was up to 0.1 Ci/yr, the lower value was up to 1400 BER. refs. 7; tabs. 6

  18. [Human nutrition with reference to animals as sources of protein (author's transl)].

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Wijn, J F

    1981-03-01

    In achieving adequate nutrition for all people in the world foods of animal origin are indispensable to supply sufficient protein and essential nutrients. All foods of animal origin have a number of characteristics in common, in view of which they should be regarded as highly valuable human food because of the considerable biological value of the proteins, their ready digestibility and their palatability. A number of nutritional features of animal versus vegetable protein are discussed. Several queries have to be placed against the health aspects of the copious consumption of animal protein as has increasingly become the practice in Europe. The consumption of dishes prepared from food of animal origin high in protein will inevitably be associated with a high fat content. It is not likely that, specifically, the incidence of human cancer will also be increased by the allegedly carcinogenic effects of meat persé, however using nitrite in meats may be hazardous when consumption of meat is considerable because of the carcinogenic effects of nitrosamines. In addition, there are drawbacks to the copious consumption of food of animal origin as part of the daily diet because of the high fat content and low dietary fibre content of this food. A conference of managers in the animal-food industry and experts from the professional medical and dietetic organizations would be a desirable improvement in achieving an optimum situation. Sufficient production and distribution will not fully ensure adequate nutrition of animal origin. Its valuable nutrients must be available from food which is acceptable to the individual consumer. Those factors which decide what is eaten and why, are not known to a sufficient extent. Cultural and environmental factors also play a highly decisive role in the matter. There are religious rules regarding food of animal origin, which obtain for large sections of the population all over the world. Other practices concerning the consumption of food of

  19. Highlighting ethical decisions underlying the scoring of animal welfare in the Welfare Quality® scheme

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Veissier, I.; Jensen, Karsten Klint; Botreau, R.

    2011-01-01

    dimension of scoring and labelling does not mean that we should reject them, but it does mean that we need to make the normative and ethical background explicit. The Welfare Quality® scoring system is used as a case study in order to highlight the role of underlying value-based decisions. In this scoring......, but the rules governing the assignment of an animal unit to a category take into account what had been observed on European farms. The scientists behind Welfare Quality® are keen to make the value-based choices underlying assessments of animal welfare transparent. This is essential to allow stakeholder groups......All systems of scoring animal units (groups, farms, slaughter plants, etc.) according to the level of the animals’ welfare are based inevitably on normative decisions. Similarly, all methods of labelling, in terms of acceptability, are based on choices reflecting ethical values. The evaluative...

  20. An algorithm for rule-in and rule-out of acute myocardial infarction using a novel troponin I assay.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lindahl, Bertil; Jernberg, Tomas; Badertscher, Patrick; Boeddinghaus, Jasper; Eggers, Kai M; Frick, Mats; Rubini Gimenez, Maria; Linder, Rickard; Ljung, Lina; Martinsson, Arne; Melki, Dina; Nestelberger, Thomas; Rentsch, Katharina; Reichlin, Tobias; Sabti, Zaid; Schubera, Marie; Svensson, Per; Twerenbold, Raphael; Wildi, Karin; Mueller, Christian

    2017-01-15

    To derive and validate a hybrid algorithm for rule-out and rule-in of acute myocardial infarction based on measurements at presentation and after 2 hours with a novel cardiac troponin I (cTnI) assay. The algorithm was derived and validated in two cohorts (605 and 592 patients) from multicentre studies enrolling chest pain patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) with onset of last episode within 12 hours. The index diagnosis and cardiovascular events up to 30 days were adjudicated by independent reviewers. In the validation cohort, 32.6% of the patients were ruled out on ED presentation, 6.1% were ruled in and 61.3% remained undetermined. A further 22% could be ruled out and 9.8% ruled in, after 2 hours. In total, 54.6% of the patients were ruled out with a negative predictive value (NPV) of 99.4% (95% CI 97.8% to 99.9%) and a sensitivity of 97.7% (95% CI 91.9% to 99.7%); 15.8% were ruled in with a positive predictive value (PPV) of 74.5% (95% CI 64.8% to 82.2%) and a specificity of 95.2% (95% CI 93.0% to 96.9%); and 29.6% remained undetermined after 2 hours. No patient in the rule-out group died during the 30-day follow-up in the two cohorts. This novel two-step algorithm based on cTnI measurements enabled just over a third of the patients with acute chest pain to be ruled in or ruled out already at presentation and an additional third after 2 hours. This strategy maximises the speed of rule-out and rule-in while maintaining a high NPV and PPV, respectively. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

  1. Sum rules in classical scattering

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bolle, D.; Osborn, T.A.

    1981-01-01

    This paper derives sum rules associated with the classical scattering of two particles. These sum rules are the analogs of Levinson's theorem in quantum mechanics which provides a relationship between the number of bound-state wavefunctions and the energy integral of the time delay of the scattering process. The associated classical relation is an identity involving classical time delay and an integral over the classical bound-state density. We show that equalities between the Nth-order energy moment of the classical time delay and the Nth-order energy moment of the classical bound-state density hold in both a local and a global form. Local sum rules involve the time delay defined on a finite but otherwise arbitrary coordinate space volume S and the bound-state density associated with this same region. Global sum rules are those that obtain when S is the whole coordinate space. Both the local and global sum rules are derived for potentials of arbitrary shape and for scattering in any space dimension. Finally the set of classical sum rules, together with the known quantum mechanical analogs, are shown to provide a unified method of obtaining the high-temperature expansion of the classical, respectively the quantum-mechanical, virial coefficients

  2. Students’ Learning Obstacles and Alternative Solution in Counting Rules Learning Levels Senior High School

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M A Jatmiko

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The counting rules is a topic in mathematics senior high school. In the learning process, teachers often find students who have difficulties in learning this topic. Knowing the characteristics of students' learning difficulties and analyzing the causes is important for the teacher, as an effort in trying to reflect the learning process and as a reference in constructing alternative learning solutions which appropriate to anticipate students’ learning obstacles. This study uses qualitative methods and involves 70 students of class XII as research subjects. The data collection techniques used in this study is diagnostic test instrument about learning difficulties in counting rules, observation, and interview. The data used to know the learning difficulties experienced by students, the causes of learning difficulties, and to develop alternative learning solutions. From the results of data analysis, the results of diagnostic tests researcher found some obstacles faced by students, such as students get confused in describing the definition, students difficulties in understanding the procedure of solving multiplication rules. Based on those problems, researcher analyzed the causes of these difficulties and make hypothetical learning trajectory as an alternative solution in counting rules learning.

  3. 78 FR 54889 - Proposed Information Collection Request; Comment Request; Confidentiality Rules (Renewal)

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-09-06

    ... received will be included in the public docket without change including any personal information provided, unless the comment includes profanity, threats, or information claimed to be Confidential Business... of appropriate automated electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or...

  4. Atomic Energy (factories) rules: 1988

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1988-01-01

    These rules are made by the Central Government under the Factories Act, 1948 and extend to all factories engaged in carrying out the purposes of the Atomic Energy Act, 1962. The rules cover the requirements of inspecting staff, health aspects, personnel safety, personnel welfare, working hours, employment of young persons, special provisions in case of dangerous manufacturing processes or operations, supplemental rules for administrative aspects and special powers of competent authority. (M.G.B.)

  5. Evolving temporal association rules with genetic algorithms

    OpenAIRE

    Matthews, Stephen G.; Gongora, Mario A.; Hopgood, Adrian A.

    2010-01-01

    A novel framework for mining temporal association rules by discovering itemsets with a genetic algorithm is introduced. Metaheuristics have been applied to association rule mining, we show the efficacy of extending this to another variant - temporal association rule mining. Our framework is an enhancement to existing temporal association rule mining methods as it employs a genetic algorithm to simultaneously search the rule space and temporal space. A methodology for validating the ability of...

  6. Animal alternatives for whole effluent toxicity testing ...

    Science.gov (United States)

    Since the 1940s, effluent toxicity testing has been utilized to varying degrees in many countries to assess potential ecological impacts and assist in determining necessary treatment options for environmental protection. However, it was only in the early 1980’s that toxicity based effluent assessments and subsequent discharge controls became globally important, when it was recognized that physical and chemical measurements alone did not protect the environment from potential impacts. Consequently, various strategies using different toxicity tests, whole effluent assessment techniques (incorporating bioaccumulation potential and persistence) plus supporting analytical tools have been developed over 30 years of practice. Numerous workshops and meetings have focused on effluent risk assessment through ASTM, SETAC, OSPAR, UK competent authorities, and EU specific country rules. Concurrent with this drive to improve effluent quality using toxicity tests, interest in reducing animal use has risen. The Health and Environmental Sciences Institute (HESI) organized and facilitated an international workshop in March 2016 to evaluate strategies for concepts, tools, and effluent assessments and update the toolbox of for effluent testing methods. The workshop objectives were to identify opportunities to use a suite of strategies for effluents, and to identify opportunities to reduce the reliance on animal tests and to determine barriers to implementation of new methodologie

  7. Rules of thumb in life-cycle savings models

    OpenAIRE

    Rodepeter, Ralf; Winter, Joachim

    1999-01-01

    We analyze life-cycle savings decisions when households use simple heuristics, or rules of thumb, rather than solve the underlying intertemporal optimization problem. The decision rules we explore are a simple Keynesian rule where consumption follows income; a simple consumption rule where only a fraction of positive income shocks is saved; a rule that corresponds to the permanent income hypothesis; and two rules that have been found in experimental studies. Using these rules, we simulate lif...

  8. Animals

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Skuterud, L.; Strand, P. [Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority (Norway); Howard, B.J. [Inst. of Terrestrial Ecology (United Kingdom)

    1997-10-01

    The radionuclides of most concern with respect to contamination of animals after a nuclear accident are radioiodine, radiocaesium and radiostrontium (ICRP 30, 1979). Of the other significant anthropogenic radionuclides likely to be released in most accidents, only small proportions of that ingested will be absorbed in an animals gut, and the main animal products, milk and meat, will not normally be contaminated to a significant extent. Animal products will mostly be contaminated as a result of ingestion of contaminated feed and possibly, but to a much lesser extent, from inhalation (for radioiodine only). Direct external contamination of animals is of little or no consequence in human food production. Radioiodine and radiostrontium are important with respect to contamination of milk; radiocaesium contaminates both milk and meat. The physical and chemical form of a radionuclide can influence its absorption in the animal gut. For example, following the Chernobyl accident radiocaesium incorporated into vegetation by root uptake was more readily absorbed than that associated with the original deposit. The transfer of radiocaesium and radiostrontium to animals will be presented both as transfer coefficients and aggregated transfer coefficients. For most animal meat products, only radiocaesium is important as other radionuclides do not significantly contaminate muscle. Farm animal products are the most important foodstuff determining radiocaesium intake by the average consumer in the Nordic countries. The major potential source of radioiodine and radiostrontium to humans is milk and milk products. Of the different species, the smaller animals have the highest transfer of radiocaesium from fodder to meat and milk. (EG). 68 refs.

  9. Animals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Skuterud, L.; Strand, P.; Howard, B.J.

    1997-01-01

    The radionuclides of most concern with respect to contamination of animals after a nuclear accident are radioiodine, radiocaesium and radiostrontium (ICRP 30, 1979). Of the other significant anthropogenic radionuclides likely to be released in most accidents, only small proportions of that ingested will be absorbed in an animals gut, and the main animal products, milk and meat, will not normally be contaminated to a significant extent. Animal products will mostly be contaminated as a result of ingestion of contaminated feed and possibly, but to a much lesser extent, from inhalation (for radioiodine only). Direct external contamination of animals is of little or no consequence in human food production. Radioiodine and radiostrontium are important with respect to contamination of milk; radiocaesium contaminates both milk and meat. The physical and chemical form of a radionuclide can influence its absorption in the animal gut. For example, following the Chernobyl accident radiocaesium incorporated into vegetation by root uptake was more readily absorbed than that associated with the original deposit. The transfer of radiocaesium and radiostrontium to animals will be presented both as transfer coefficients and aggregated transfer coefficients. For most animal meat products, only radiocaesium is important as other radionuclides do not significantly contaminate muscle. Farm animal products are the most important foodstuff determining radiocaesium intake by the average consumer in the Nordic countries. The major potential source of radioiodine and radiostrontium to humans is milk and milk products. Of the different species, the smaller animals have the highest transfer of radiocaesium from fodder to meat and milk. (EG)

  10. BIG DATA ANALYTICS AND PRECISION ANIMAL AGRICULTURE SYMPOSIUM: Machine learning and data mining advance predictive big data analysis in precision animal agriculture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morota, Gota; Ventura, Ricardo V; Silva, Fabyano F; Koyama, Masanori; Fernando, Samodha C

    2018-04-14

    Precision animal agriculture is poised to rise to prominence in the livestock enterprise in the domains of management, production, welfare, sustainability, health surveillance, and environmental footprint. Considerable progress has been made in the use of tools to routinely monitor and collect information from animals and farms in a less laborious manner than before. These efforts have enabled the animal sciences to embark on information technology-driven discoveries to improve animal agriculture. However, the growing amount and complexity of data generated by fully automated, high-throughput data recording or phenotyping platforms, including digital images, sensor and sound data, unmanned systems, and information obtained from real-time noninvasive computer vision, pose challenges to the successful implementation of precision animal agriculture. The emerging fields of machine learning and data mining are expected to be instrumental in helping meet the daunting challenges facing global agriculture. Yet, their impact and potential in "big data" analysis have not been adequately appreciated in the animal science community, where this recognition has remained only fragmentary. To address such knowledge gaps, this article outlines a framework for machine learning and data mining and offers a glimpse into how they can be applied to solve pressing problems in animal sciences.

  11. How Politics Shapes the Growth of Rules

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jakobsen, Mads Leth Felsager; Mortensen, Peter Bjerre

    2015-01-01

    when, why, and how political factors shape changes in the stock of rules. Furthermore, we test these hypotheses on a unique, new data set based on all Danish primary legislation and administrative rules from 1989 to 2011 categorized into 20 different policy domains. The analysis shows......This article examines the impact of politics on governmental rule production. Traditionally, explanations of rule dynamics have focused on nonpolitical factors such as the self-evolvement of rules, environmental factors, and decision maker attributes. This article develops a set of hypotheses about...... that the traditional Weberian “rules breed rules” explanations must be supplemented with political explanations that take party ideology and changes in the political agenda into account. Moreover, the effect of political factors is indistinguishable across changes in primary laws and changes in administrative rules...

  12. Effects of Memorization of Rule Statements on Acquisition and Retention of Rule-Governed Behavior in a Computer-Based Learning Task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Towle, Nelson J.

    One hundred and twenty-four high school students were randomly assigned to four groups: 33 subjects memorized the rule statement before, 29 subjects memorized the rule statement during, and 30 subjects memorized the rule statement after instruction in rule application skills. Thirty-two subjects were not required to memorize rule statements.…

  13. Animal interactions and the emergence of territoriality.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luca Giuggioli

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available Inferring the role of interactions in territorial animals relies upon accurate recordings of the behaviour of neighbouring individuals. Such accurate recordings are rarely available from field studies. As a result, quantification of the interaction mechanisms has often relied upon theoretical approaches, which hitherto have been limited to comparisons of macroscopic population-level predictions from un-tested interaction models. Here we present a quantitative framework that possesses a microscopic testable hypothesis on the mechanism of conspecific avoidance mediated by olfactory signals in the form of scent marks. We find that the key parameters controlling territoriality are two: the average territory size, i.e. the inverse of the population density, and the time span during which animal scent marks remain active. Since permanent monitoring of a territorial border is not possible, scent marks need to function in the temporary absence of the resident. As chemical signals carried by the scent only last a finite amount of time, each animal needs to revisit territorial boundaries frequently and refresh its own scent marks in order to deter possible intruders. The size of the territory an animal can maintain is thus proportional to the time necessary for an animal to move between its own territorial boundaries. By using an agent-based model to take into account the possible spatio-temporal movement trajectories of individual animals, we show that the emerging territories are the result of a form of collective animal movement where, different to shoaling, flocking or herding, interactions are highly heterogeneous in space and time. The applicability of our hypothesis has been tested with a prototypical territorial animal, the red fox (Vulpes vulpes.

  14. Safe reduction rules for weighted treewidth

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Eijkhof, F. van den; Bodlaender, H.L.; Koster, A.M.C.A.

    2002-01-01

    Several sets of reductions rules are known for preprocessing a graph when computing its treewidth. In this paper, we give reduction rules for a weighted variant of treewidth, motivated by the analysis of algorithms for probabilistic networks. We present two general reduction rules that are safe for

  15. Oxytocin modulates trait-based rule following

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gross, J.; de Dreu, C.K.W.

    Rules, whether in the form of norms, taboos or laws, regulate and coordinate human life. Some rules, however, are arbitrary and adhering to them can be personally costly. Rigidly sticking to such rules can be considered maladaptive. Here, we test whether, at the neurobiological level, (mal)adaptive

  16. Assessment of pack animal welfare in and around Bareilly city of India

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Probhakar Biswas

    2013-12-01

    animals in regards to animal welfare. A more detailed in-depth study is needed regarding welfare issues in all varied pack animals, designing of scientific efficient carts, working hours and special requirements related to feed and other managemental practices for pack and draught animals. Rules and Regulations advocated by Government Act can be used to enforce welfare laws of the animals but thrust should be more in regard to development of awareness among owners for animal welfare. [Vet World 2013; 6(6.000: 332-336

  17. Knowledge of the Animal Welfare Act and Animal Welfare Regulations Influences Attitudes toward Animal Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-01-01

    Recent public-opinion polls indicate that Americans have shown a decline in support for animal experimentation, and several reports suggest a relationship between people's knowledge of animal welfare regulations and their attitudes toward animal research. Therefore, this study was designed to assess respondent's knowledge of several provisions in the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) and Animal Welfare Regulations (AWR), and determine whether exposure to elements of this legislation would influence an individual's attitudes toward the use of animals in research. A survey was used to assess knowledge of animal research regulations and attitudes toward animal research from a sample of individuals recruited through Amazon's Mechanical Turk crowdsourcing marketplace. Results from study 1 confirmed the hypothesis that respondents had little knowledge of various federal regulations that govern animal research activities. Data from study 2 revealed that exposure to elements of the AWA and AWR influenced participants’ attitudes toward the use of animals in research. These results suggest that providing information to the general public about the AWA and AWR that protect laboratory animals from abuse and neglect may help alleviate concerns about using animals in research settings. PMID:25651094

  18. KTA nuclear safety rules, or the love for service according to the rules

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sauer, G.W.

    1993-01-01

    This paper presents some critical comments on the question as to what extent the KTA rules really support the safety-oriented and in this sense purposeful implementation of the Atomic Energy Act. The authors review some specific KTA rules for their expediency, not with holding disapproval in some cases. (HP) [de

  19. Collective Decision Mechanisms and Efficient Stock Market Allocations: Existence of a Participation Equilibrium.

    OpenAIRE

    Forsythe, Robert; Suchanek, Gerry L

    1984-01-01

    The recent literature on economies with an incomplete set of markets has been devoted to the study of the efficiency properties of collective stockholder decision mechanisms for guiding the behavior of firms when the restrictive Ekern-Wilson spanning condition is not satisfied. The results have been essentially negative; a majority voting rule and controlling interest rules will not yield efficient equilibrium allocations in general. However, in a recent paper, Helpman and Razin (1978) sugges...

  20. Animal research

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Olsson, I.A.S.; Sandøe, Peter

    2012-01-01

    This article presents the ethical issues in animal research using a combined approach of ethical theory and analysis of scientific findings with bearing on the ethical analysis. The article opens with a general discussion of the moral acceptability of animal use in research. The use of animals...... in research is analyzed from the viewpoint of three distinct ethical approaches: contractarianism, utilitarianism, and animal rights view. On a contractarian view, research on animals is only an ethical issue to the extent that other humans as parties to the social contract care about how research animals...... are faring. From the utilitarian perspective, the use of sentient animals in research that may harm them is an ethical issue, but harm done to animals can be balanced by benefit generated for humans and other animals. The animal rights view, when thoroughgoing, is abolitionist as regards the use of animals...

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