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The effect of social environment on the development of object play in domestic horse foals
No full textIntroductionFree-ranging horses exist in cohesive social groups that usually consist of one to six mares, their offspring and a stallion. Foals normally have several conspecifics to engage with in social play. Object play is described as “manipulation of an inanimate object with out obvious purpose or reward” (Hughes, 2002). It has been suggested that providing foals with objects at weaning may improve their welfare as a substitute for social play (Mills and Nankervis, 1999). Object play has been reported to substitute for social play in free-roaming dogs (Bekoff, 1974) and marmosets (Jolly, 1985).In the preceding two studies (Hughes, 2002) the authors studied 24 foals. In the first study the foals were from different breeds and kept either socially, or isolated from other foals. The breed of the foals was thought to be an important factor in the large differences in object play behaviour observed between the foals. Therefore, the second study included only Arabian foals. These foals were all kept with at least one other foal. However, individual differences were again observed. The aim of the study reported here was to determine whether social environment affects the display of object play in domestic horse foals within a single breed group.MethodsThree solitary and three socially kept Arabian foals were observed for 30 minutes, once a week from one week to three months of age. All the foals were handled daily by staff at the stud farms. They were maintained at pasture during the day and stabled with their dam at night. Two of the foals were located in the South of England, three were located in South Wales and one was located in the West Midlands of England. The size of the sample was small due to a foot and mouth disease outbreak in the UK, which restricted the type of land that could be visited. During these observations a Jolly Ball (Horseman’s Pride, Ravenna, OH, USA), a large ball (25cm in diameter) with a handle, was placed in the field to ensure that all the foals had the opportunity to manipulate an object. An observer using a hand held video camera filmed the observations. During observations the observer was located in the same field as the foals, but did not interact with them. The videotapes were then viewed and the duration of object play behaviour was timed using a stopwatch and recorded using check sheets.As in previous studies a “boldness” score was devised based on the foals’ interaction with the observer (observer score). Boldness was defined as the willingness of the foals to take risks. The observer score was then compared to an object score, based on the foals’ interaction with objects in the presence of the observer. These scores were as follows: 0 = Foal displays no interest in the object/observer; 1 = Foal orients toward the object/observer; 2 = Foal approaches object/observer; 3 = Foal sniffs object/observer; 4 = Foal makes physical contact with the object/observer.ResultsTotal duration of object manipulation was greater for solitary than social foals. The mean duration during observations for solitary foals was 1.65% versus 1.19% for social foals (Z=-2.04, P<0.05). Total duration of observer interaction was also greater for solitary than social foals. The mean duration during observations for solitary foals was 7.64% versus 2.33% for social foals (Z=-2.70, p<0.01). The solitary kept foals also had significantly higher object and observer scores than the socially kept foals (Object score: Z=-2.51, p<0.05; Observer score: Z=-2.79, p<0.01).DiscussionSolitary kept foals appear to be bolder with objects and people than socially kept foals. This could be because their owners have more time to spend with them and so they receive more handling. However, solitary kept foals also appear to manipulate objects more than socially kept foals. It is possible that the isolated foals are re-directing frustrated social play behaviour toward the object. The lower duration of object manipulation displayed by the socially kept foals may be due to competition between the foals for objects. It could also be that the socially kept foals play with objects less because they are able to engage in social play. In this case the composition of the social group could affect the levels of object manipulation observed.Social environment does appear to have an effect on the levels of object play displayed by foals. Isolated foals appear to manipulate objects for longer than socially kept foals. The initial results of this study indicate that object manipulation and play could be useful as a substitute for social play in socially isolated foals. However, the sample size for this study was small and further studies will be required to increase sample size and therefore reliability.<br/
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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