57 research outputs found
Feeding behaviour related to different feeding devices
No full textSlow feeding devices (SFDs) are useful tools in order to improve the horse wellbeing
and to reduce wastage, but their use may result in unnatural posture
during feeding and frustration behaviours. Moreover, it may be important to
evaluate the laterality during feeding. The aim of the study was to investigate
ponies' feeding behaviour (i.e., lateralisation, frustration, postural eating style)
with different hay feeding methods: on the ground (G), a fully filled hay net (HF),
a partially filled hay net (HL), and a slow feeder hay box (HB). Nine ponies of two
different breed types (Shetland and Welsh/Cob) were evaluated. Video
recordings were obtained and then behavioural analysis was conducted. Data
were analysed statistically using k‐means cluster analysis, repeated measurement
mixed model procedure, principal component analysis (PCA) and Pearson's
correlation coefficient. Head tilting was more often performed during feeding
from HF and HL compared to G and HB. Forelimb forward, referring to the
position that ponies assumed during feeding, was performed less frequently
with the hay nets. Ponies, in particular Welsh/Cobs, tended to be more leftlateralized
and performed more backward ears when feeding from the hay
nets. Blink rate was observed to be greater when ponies were fed from G.
No head pushing, striking with forelimb and pawing while feeding was seen.
Animals fed from HF tended to eat from the top of the hay net and
consequently showed an arched neck; while HL and HB showed for elongated
neck an intermediate pattern between G and HF. From our results, HB seemed
to be a useful compromise between natural feeding on the ground and the use
of hay nets
Obtuse, Flitting by, and Nevertheless There – Image Archives in Practice
No full textOver the past thirty years, the status of the archive as well as the state of what we call “documentary” have dominated discussions in and around photography. Although it is now commonplace to presume the objectifying gesture of documentary photography, the complex question of how, as a working artist/photographer, to approach the archive has not yet been adequately addressed. The purpose of this research is to raise questions about how, after the critique of the documentary image, the artist/photographer addresses, indeed, finds the archive. I am starting with the assumption that the archive is not only a place of storage but also a place of production, where our relation to the past is materialised and where our present writes itself into the future; thus, accordingly, I understand the archive as a place of negotiation and writing.
After the problems of the archive have been identified theoretically, the practice in the archive still encounters challenges and contradictions. This project explores those difficulties that remain within the practice in and around the archive, even after the critique has been stated. It is not about simply extending the critique, but finding an archive and the practice with it.
I am approaching these questions as a practitioner. As an artist and photographer, I am concerned with two practices in relation to archives: working with existing archives, and making work that will itself be archived. The point raised by those two activities is not to find or create another institutional archive per se, but to develop an archival practice in which the set of problems that the archives produce is in fact part of the process one engages in. Hence the work is a theoretical and practical set of experiments that may never be complete and conclusive
WALOWA (WAVE LOADS ON WALLS) - LARGE SCALE EXPERIMENTS IN THE DELTA FLUME
No full textWaLoWa stands for Wave Loads on Walls and is a Hydralab+ project funded by the European Union. Ghent University (Belgium), TU Delft (The Netherlands), RWTH Aachen (Germany), Politechnico Bari and University of Florence (Italy) and Flanders Hydraulics Research (Belgium) are jointly working on the WaLoWa project. The user team leader is Ghent University. The WaLoWa project is hosted by Deltares and the Delta Flume facility.
When storm walls and buildings are located on top of a dike or promenade, overtopping waves can induce large forces on these structures as has e.g. been observed at the Belgian coast which has a specifically shallow foreshore. Especially during storm season and in times of sea level rise these loads can be highly destructive. It is therefore the key objective of WaLoWa to study overtopped wave loads on structures situated on top of a dike and in shallow foreshore conditions
The Child is Mother of the Woman: Parenting and Self-Parenting in Emma and Middlemarch
No full textIn order to examine the significance of parent-child relationships vis á vis the growing autonomy of Emma Woodhouse and Dorothea Brooke, we must first look at them as daughters in relation to parents, real or surrogate, ineffectual or influential. Next, to what extent do these two women act as counsellors and parents for siblings and friends, and how does their attitude to that role change? Last, both these novels feature heroines whose husbands or future husbands are much older than they are, and who assume parental roles with them. How does each heroine relate to this father/lover figure? Is he the cause or the catalyst of her maturation?
As I hope to show, the obstacles created by these various relationships ultimately enable our heroines to examine and accept their values and themselves. Each author explores the issue differently, however. Though Austen does not use the language and imagery of parenting, birth, and growth that Eliot does, she communicates her notion of parenting by concentrating on issues such as good judgment and compassion. In the end, they show that each heroine self-sufficiently creates and nurtures a self which is at least a partial realization of her great potential. In effect, she becomes maturely suited to parent as a consequence of becoming her own surrogate parent
The Use of Sound Recorders to Remotely Measure Grass Intake Behaviour in Horses
No full textVisual observation to record grass intake is time-consuming and labour-intensive. Technological methods, such as activity monitors, have been used but only record head position. This study aimed to evaluate sound recorders attached to headcollars to acoustically measure grass intake behaviour in horses as a low-cost alternative method. Pilot Study 1 assessed 6 × 11 min periods comparing bites/min and chews/min between video footage (VD) and sound recorders (SR). Grazing was identified audibly (SRear) and visually through soundwave pattern software (SRwav). Chew rates (SRear: 47 ± 5 chews/min, VD: 43 ± 4 chews/min) were similar between methods. Pilot Study 2 compared hourly grass intake times between SRwav and visual observation (VO) for two horses during a 3 h period. Results showed significant correlation between methods (rho = 0.99, p < 0.01, Spearman). The main study measured intake behaviour using SRwav and VO methods for three free-ranging horses during 3 h observation periods over multiple days, adding up to 3 × 24 h in winter and in spring (n = 48). Mean differences per period between SRwav and VO were 1.8% ± 3 s.d. Foraging duration per period measured with SRwav closely matched VO (r2 = 0.99, p < 0.001). Sound recorders accurately recorded grass intake time and chews in grazing horses during moderate weather conditions
Time Budgets in Domesticated Male Icelandic Horses on Pasture Turnout in Winter and Spring
No full textThere are few 24 h time budgets for horses, especially for domesticated horses kept at pasture. Most time budgets utilise short-term scan sampling, which can miss behaviours. This study aimed to assess the seasonal variation in continuous behaviour of domesticated Icelandic horses at pasture during winter and spring in fair weather. Eight Icelandic horses (11.25 ± 9.19 years; 7 geldings, 1 stallion) were observed in a 26 acre field. Herd location and individual behaviour were continuously observed during 3 h periods amounting to 3 × 24 h in winter and late spring, compiled over 43 days (~21 days per season). Seasonal variation in behaviour (ANOVA), body condition (RMANOVA), and age-group variation (independent t-test) were assessed, as well as associations between weather, time period, and habitat choice (chi-square). During spring, horses showed more foraging (+18%; p < 0.001), movement (+0.5%; p < 0.05), recumbency (+5.7%; p < 0.01) and less standing (−24.6%; p < 0.001) than in winter. Behavioural synchronicity occurred between adult and juvenile horses. Mean body condition reduced from 5.6 to 4.8 in the winter. Habitat preferences varied by daytime and season, and non-feeding periods lasted less than 2 h. The 24 h foraging activity (winter: 12.7 ± 0.4 h, spring: 17 ± 0.25 h) supported the current recommendation of 12 h/24 h for domesticated horses to meet ethological requirements
Uma aplicação da transformada wavelet à verificação on-line da assinaturas manuscritas
No full textDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência da Computação.Neste trabalho foi implementado um método direto que utiliza a transformada wavelet como o principal recurso para a verificação on-line de assinaturas manuscritas. As assinaturas, obtidas na forma de curvas x(t) e y(t) com o auxílio de uma prancheta digitalizadora, passam por uma etapa de pré-processamento e em seguida são submetidas a uma transformada wavelet. A partir destas funções transformadas, são obtidos números que caracterizam de maneira única cada assinatura. Em seguida, com base nestes números, são estabelecidas medidas de dissimilaridade (distância) entre cada assinatura a ser testada e uma assinatura padrão, previamente escolhida de uma amostra de dez assinaturas fornecidas pelo usuário durante um processo de cadastramento. Assume-se que toda nova assinatura deverá produzir distâncias até a padrão que estejam dentro de uma faixa aceitável em torno de médias verificadas no cadastramento. A determinação destas distâncias é efetuada de maneira não-linear, com o auxílio de uma técnica típica de reconhecimento de sons conhecida como "Dynamic Time Warping" (DTW). Esta técnica permite uma compensação em virtude de variações naturais no ritmo de escrita de cada pessoa a cada nova assinatura. Para recuperar a informação relativa à velocidade, perdida pela uniformização imposta pelo pré-processamento, é utilizada ainda uma outra medida de distância, calculada a partir do desvio das funções de warping para as diagonais correspondentes. A fim de justificar a inclusão da transformada wavelet, foi implementado um segundo sistema de verificação, seguindo uma abordagem em que as funções x(t) e y(t) são diretamente confrontadas com a assinatura padrão. Neste caso, as características são as próprias coordenadas dos pixels que descrevem cada assinatura e as medidas de dissimilaridade passam a ser simplesmente as normas das distâncias entre as curvas, cuja correspondência entre pontos também é determinada com o auxílio do DTW. A partir dos testes desenvolvidos, foram obtidas taxas de erro aceitáveis para este tipo de biometria nos dois sistemas implementados. O bom desempenho do caso em que as wavelets não foram incluídas, no entanto, sugere que, em ambos os sistemas, o principal mecanismo de verificação é a comparação não-linear entre parâmetros efetuada pelo DTW
The effect of presenting forage in multi-layered haynets and at multiple sites on night time budgets of stabled horses
No full textThe limits of feminism
No full textWhat is it about feminism that invites so many different opinions on what 'counts' and what doesn't? People from vastly different cultural situations variously categorise feminist practices as extreme, radical, reactionary, unbalanced, co-opted, revolutionary, elite, exclusive, progressive, passe, and hysterical. The desire of both feminists and anti-feminists to control feminism emerges as the limiting of what feminism is, whom it is for, and where it is going. The urge to limit feminism seems, in some cases, to overtake the urge to spread the word and celebrate feminism's successes. And it is not just anti-feminists who attempt to limit feminism - even feminists spend an inordinate amount of time defining certain practices out of the feminist spectrum. In this thesis, I document and analyse the way we limit feminism - its participants, meaning, practices, language, history, and future. I explore the reasons why we need to contain feminism in this way, looking in particular at those who have an investment in keeping feminism comfortably small. I invite back into the realm of feminism a wide range of activities and theories we generally invalidate as feminism, including the words of several 'unofficial' feminists I interviewed for this project. In essence, this project goes towards the rethinking of the term 'feminism' by examining the widely differing and often contradictory definitions of 'what counts.
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