107 research outputs found
Investigating the effects of free lactation crates on sow and piglet welfare
No full textFarrowing crates, which are widely used in commercial pig farming, present major animal welfare problems. Sows are severely confined, being only able to stand up and lie down and not turn around for a period of five weeks around farrowing. This study compared the welfare of sows and piglets housed in two types of farrowing accommodation, free lactation pens (Free, n = 22) and conventional farrowing crate pens (Control, n = 24). Free lactation pens allowed for temporary confinement of sows at the most critical period for piglet pre-weaning mortality, from the onset of farrowing until day 4 post-farrowing. For the remainder of the time the sows were in the pens, the crate was opened wide enough for them to turn around. Sows were monitored from entry to the farrowing room (approximately day 108 of gestation) until weaning (approximately day 26 of lactation). The study examined 675 piglets, the offspring of these sows, from birth until slaughter. A range of behaviour and physical health measures were utilised to assess animal welfare and performance. Sows in the Free treatment had greater freedom of movement, as demonstrated by their use of the available space to turn around in the crates while they were open. At weaning, Free sows had significantly lower (better) locomotory scores than those which were housed in Control pens, this may be related to their improved ability to move during the 5-week treatment period. These sows also had significantly lower (better) tear stain scores around their left eyes at weaning, indicating reduced stress. Although Free sows had higher salivary cortisol concentrations overall when compared with Control sows, this is a measure that may reflect increased activity rather than higher levels of stress.
Overall, piglets from the Free treatment performed better than those from Control pens; pre-weaning Free piglets had a tendency to be heavier than those from the Control treatment, and this difference became significant post-weaning, leading to Free pigs having a mean finishing weight of 114.73kg, compared to 110.82kg for Control pigs. This increase in weight gain did not affect ADFI (average daily feed intake) and resulted in Free pigs having a significantly better FCE (feed conversion efficiency) in the weaner stage. There was a reduction in days to slaughter with free pigs reaching the 105kg target weigh in 147.56 days compared with 149.23 days for Control pigs. This is a very promising result regarding both productivity and welfare, and could result in increased profitability for producers. Prior to weaning Free piglets tended to perform less damaging behaviour than Control piglets, although this result was not significant. Most importantly, overall mortality was unaffected by treatment with total mortality of 15.95% for Free pigs and 14.42% for Control pigs (P = 0.61). Overall, the results from this study suggest that implementing a management strategy where sows have increased freedom of movement during lactation compared to traditional farrowing crates may help to improve sow and piglet welfare. Further research investigating the best length of time to confine the sow, taking litter size into consideration, would be beneficial to developing the most effective management practices for free lactation crates
Orla assets before the Birżan Radziwiłł`s takeover
No full textThis text concerns the history of the Orla assets before 1585, up to the Bierżan Radziwiłł’s takeover. Through descriptions of political conflicts and settler movements the author presents the story of the Orla possessions up to the turn of fifteenth and sixteenth century, which is the time when first written sources covering this issue became available. Those days the first municipalities constituting the Orla assets were noted. Michajło Bohusz Bohowitynowicz took control over Topczykały, Werweczki and Koszele with its surroundings. Those villages became a cornerstone for building and developing the possessions followed by the brisk colonization action by Bohowitynowicz and his successors: daughter Anna – wife of Stanisław Tęczyński and granddaughter Catherina – wife of George Olelkowicz Słucki.
The text also presents the conflicts involving the ownership of the Orla assets, marking out and delimiting their borders, e.g. including the Koszki village in 1562. Most important part of the article is based on the presentation of detailed data from the tax register of 1570s, which brings a complete information about the scale and status of those assets. The comparison analysis between the Orla possessions and other properties of the Bielsk Land and Podlasie summarizes the article
Dobra Orla przed przejęciem ich przez Radziwiłłów birżańskich
No full textThis text concerns the history of the Orla assets before 1585, up to the Bierżan Radziwiłł’s takeover. Through descriptions of political conflicts and settler movements the author presents the story of the Orla possessions up to the turn of fifteenth and sixteenth century, which is the time when first written sources covering this issue became available. Those days the first municipalities constituting the Orla assets were noted. Michajło Bohusz Bohowitynowicz took control over Topczykały, Werweczki and Koszele with its surroundings. Those villages became a cornerstone for building and developing the possessions followed by the brisk colonization action by Bohowitynowicz and his successors: daughter Anna – wife of Stanisław Tęczyński and granddaughter Catherina – wife of George Olelkowicz Słucki.
The text also presents the conflicts involving the ownership of the Orla assets, marking out and delimiting their borders, e.g. including the Koszki village in 1562. Most important part of the article is based on the presentation of detailed data from the tax register of 1570s, which brings a complete information about the scale and status of those assets. The comparison analysis between the Orla possessions and other properties of the Bielsk Land and Podlasie summarizes the article
Overlapping montage: a comparative study of mainstream film and moving-image installations
No full textThis dissertation develops a discussion on the need for a comparative approach to the study of film and moving- image installations. It addresses the lack of critical attention given to moving-image installations within film studies generally and academic teaching programmes in particular. The development of a comparative approach requires researching a number of interlinking and independent fields of study such as film studies, art history/criticism, photography, literary theory, critical theory, anthropology and philosophy. While arguing against traditional disciplinary boundaries, the discussion critiques the accepted articulations of current interdisciplinary approaches.
The dissertation discusses how an expanded field of comparative film studies needs to concern itself with both diachronic and synchronic axes, requiring a longer historical framework to analyse shifts in technologies of representation and related theories of subjectivity within particular capitalist formations. It is argued that this type of comparative model elaborates a more critically productive and conceptually expansive discussion of cultural products, whether they are mainstream film or moving-image installations. As such it aligns itself with an awareness of the political importance of history, memory and personal experience.
The theoretical ground for a comparative approach is developed through exploring montage and fragmentation. While articulating the significance of theories of fragmentation to discussions of modernity and modernism, the thesis foregrounds the significance of understanding all cultural production as ‘montages’ - as elaborations of a number of competing discourses, both when they are made and when they are read. A reconceptualization of montage as a dominant component in cultural meaning making moves away from montage as an aesthetics of form. Rather than understanding film and moving-image installations as rigidly delineated objects, they are explored through hybridity and overlap, for example through the multiple scopic regimes, which shape and form them. In this enterprise, the significance of an anthropological materialist’ approach to cinema and moving-image installations is articulated as a means of developing a critical cognitive engagement with our varied cultural and ever changing social environment
Freedom to Grow: Improving Sow Welfare also Benefits Piglets
No full textPiglet mortality, especially due to crushing, is a concern in pig production. While current systems use farrowing crates to reduce mortality, they present major animal welfare problems for the sow. This study investigated the effects of free lactation farrowing accommodation on the welfare of piglets born and reared in such accommodation when compared with conventional farrowing crates. Piglets were born to sows in one of two farrowing accommodation treatments and followed from birth to slaughter. Treatments were conventional farrowing crates (control, n = 24 litters) and free lactation pens, which were larger and allowed the sow freedom of movement both pre and post farrowing, (free, n = 22 litters) (675 total piglets). Individual weights were recorded from birth to slaughter. Hoof score was recorded at weaning. Behaviour was recorded during lactation and during the weaner stage. Pre-weaning percentage mortality was equal in treatments (free = 15.95 ± 2.31, control = 14.42 ± 2.15, p = 0.61). Final weight was influenced by treatment (p < 0.05) with pigs from free lactation pens significantly heavier at 114.73 kg compared to 110.82 kg for control pigs. Free pigs took fewer days than control pigs to reach the target weight of 105 kg (147.6 vs. 149.23 days). Throughout lactation, fewer instances of damaging behaviour (ear and tail biting) were observed in free pigs (p = 0.07). Improved growth rates and a decrease in damaging behaviours provide evidence to suggest that pigs from free lactation pens experience improved welfare when compared with control pigs
Freedom to Move: Free Lactation Pens Improve Sow Welfare
No full textSIMPLE SUMMARY: Pigs in Ireland are reared in intensive indoor systems, with sows normally confined in farrowing crates for a period of five weeks each time they farrow. This practice presents major animal welfare problems, with permeant confinement being banned at all other stages of production due to the negative impact on welfare. This study identified positive effects on sow behaviour and welfare when housed in free lactation pens compared with conventional farrowing crates. Such pens allow sows greater freedom of movement throughout farrowing and lactation, and this resulted in decreased locomotion score impact for sows housed in the free lactation treatment. This could be beneficial with regard to both sow longevity and sow welfare. ABSTRACT: Farrowing crates present a major animal welfare problem. This study investigated the effects of temporary confinement at farrowing on sow welfare and aimed to determine whether this type of system could improve sow welfare through increased freedom of movement. Sows were housed in one of two farrowing accommodation treatments: conventional farrowing crates (Control) or free lactation pens (Free). Sows in the Control treatment were confined from entry to weaning, a period of five weeks. Sows in the Free treatment were temporarily confined from before farrowing (approximately 24 h) until day 4 post-partum, after which time the crate was opened, and they had increased freedom of movement. Sow physical measures (weight, back-fat thickness, hoof score, locomotion score and tear stain score) were measured at entry to farrowing accommodation and at weaning. Salivary cortisol concentration was measured throughout lactation. Farrowing duration and sow posture (Days 1, 3, 7 and 34 after entry) were recorded. Between entry and weaning, locomotion scores significantly increased for sows housed in the Control treatment compared with those housed in Free lactation pens (p < 0.01). Sows in the Free treatment were observed to use all orientations in the pen, showing that when more space is made available to them, they will choose to utilise the space. Tear staining under the left eye was found to be less in Free sows at weaning (p = 0.05), indicating reduced stress. However, salivary cortisol concentration was higher in Free sows overall; cortisol is affected by both positive and negative stimuli, and so, this may be due to factors other than stress, such as higher levels of activity and mental stimulation. These results suggest that free lactation pens can benefit sow welfare; increased freedom of movement throughout lactation can improve sow locomotory health, and as suggested by improved tear stain scores, sow stress levels may be reduced in this type of system compared with conventional farrowing crates
Zamuda slovenske objave Orla in korenin
No full textThe paper treats the circumstances which have resulted in an eighteen-year delay in publication of the Slovene edition of The Eagle and the Roots, the last book by the Slovene-American author Louis Adamic. It initially explains that the Slovene edition is an authentic translation of the unabridged American edition and not a much censored version, as general opinion would wrongly have it. The opinions of some of the author’s contemporaries on the reasons for the delay in publication of the Slovene edition and a comment upon the supposition that Adamic was killed by agents o f the Yugoslav government are followed by an insight into the disagreement between Adamic and the Yugoslav political leadership in the years 1949-51. First presented are the obstacles which lay in the way of Adamic’s cooperation with the Yugoslavs regarding the preparation o f a Slovene and a partial Serbo-Croatian translation of the book The Eagle and the Roots. The author identifies the reasons why Adamic’s text was unacceptable in Yugoslavia during the 1950’s by offering a short review of the most disputable political aspects and of the methodological approaches in this, Adamic’s last book. They are: Adamic’s viewpoint about the Yugoslav-Soviet split and about the necessity for economic aid from the United States to Yugoslavia; his indirect criticism of privileges given to Yugoslav state dignitaries; his view of the justification for existing government property in Yugoslavia; and his stressing of the need for internal democratization in the country, including the delivery of more information to both domestic and foreign publics - matters which, in that system , one could not discuss openly in a literary work intended for a broad readership. Besides that, some people were upset by Adamic’s free interpretation of his discussions with Yugoslav politicians and other public workers and by his peculiar approach to the biography of president Tito. It is possible, however, that further research could prove that all these elements are only secondary factors in the sudden »distance« our politicians took soon after Louis Adamic’s last return to the United States.Prispevek osvetljuje vzroke za osemnajstletno zamudo slovenske objave Orla in korenin, zadnje knjige slovenskoameriškega pisatelja Louisa Adamiča. Ideološka in druga razhajanja med pisateljem ter jugoslovanskimi političnimi in kulturnimi predstavniki v času, ko je Adamič pisal rokopis svoje zadnje knjige, so predstavljena na osnovi neobjavljenih delov tega rokopisa, njegove tedanje korespondence ter intervjujev, ki jih je imela avtorica prispevka z nekaterimi Adamičevimi sodobniki
Mapping the works of Manuel de Pedrolo in relation to the post-civil war Catalan landscape
No full textPolygraph author Manuel de Pedrolo stands as one of the most prolific Catalan writers in the twentieth century. Furthermore, he is a figure unquestionably associated with Catalan identity and the region’s struggle for self-determination. His corpus comprises over one hundred and twenty titles – poetry, drama, short stories and novels, as well as a number of political articles, mostly written for Catalan newspapers during the 1980s, and later collected in volumes. In spite of the recent revival of interest in his figure and his work, coinciding with the commemoration in Catalonia of the centenary of his birth, there has still not been an attempt to systematically measure his impact, nor even the kind of diachronic mapping of his legacy I propose here. This study will address a representative selection of thirteen short stories and twenty-one novels written by the author between 1938 and 1976 – in the genres of Sci-Fi and fantasy, crime fiction and realism – from a spatial point of view. Through a painstaking charting of the spaces represented by the author in his texts, this thesis maps Pedrolo’s contribution to the (re)construction of the twentieth-century Catalan literary landscape and visualises the scope of his overarching literary project. In order to aid in the deciphering of such a wide and heterogeneous corpus as that of Pedrolo, this study combines a critical approach that draws on a cultural studies toolkit (cultural geography, urban studies, postcolonial approaches) with distant-readings provided by the use of GIS and a text-mining script, benaura.py, specifically created for this project
A orla marítima de Ovar: sistemas de proteção de costas enquanto Lugares
No full textDissertação de mestrado integrado em Arquitectura (área de especialização em Cidade e Território)Esta tese visa a valorização dos sistemas de proteção de costa enquanto Lugares
integrantes da Paisagem da orla marítima de Ovar.
A proximidade do autor ao tema tratado, bem como a sua posição conceptual
sobre os temas desenvolvidos ao longo da presente tese, revelam-se como estímulos
essenciais no decorrer do trabalho, e por esse motivo são explicitados
inicialmente.
A análise e interpretação da Paisagem, considerada como um organismo composto
por várias partes em constante transformação, orienta o autor num sequente
processo de aproximação em busca da caracterização do geral através
do particular, reunindo diversos fragmentos identificados na orla marítima de
Ovar, permitindo transformar a forma de olhar o todo. O processo de aproximação
começa por uma abordagem da evolução Paisagem ao longo dos tempos,
passando posteriormente para a análise das estruturas existentes no presente,
onde se denota a importância das praias na caracterização da orla marítima de
Ovar. No estudo das praias e práticas sobressai a relação entre os sistemas de
proteção de costa e Homem, surgindo através da intimidade desta relação, a
identidade cultural da Paisagem.
O ato de projeto é reduzido ao essencial, imaginando-se que é a sua repetiçãosistemática
que poderá estabelecer relações de escala mais alargada e com
claras repercurssões na Paisagem. Contextualizando a proposta que responde
a questões intimas dos Lugares, em conformidade com a identidade alargada
da construção mental da Paisagem. O projeto tem como fundamental objetivo
reconhecer a relação da apropriação antrópica à Paisagem da Orla marítima de
Ovar, através da criação de uma (infra)estrutura para os Lugares.This thesis aims at valuing the coastal protection systems as places that are part
of the Ovar seashore landscape.
The author’s proximity to the topic discussed, as well as his conceptual position
on the themes developed throughout the present thesis, are essential stimuli in
the course of the work, and for this reason they are explicitly explained.
The analysis and interpretation of Landscape, considered as an organism composed
of several parts in constant transformation, guides the author in a sequential
process of approximation in search of the characterization of the general
through the particular one, gathering several fragments identified in the maritime
edge of Ovar, allowing to transform the way of looking at the whole. The process
of approach begins with an approach to landscape evolution over time, passing
later to the analysis of existing structures in the present, where the importance
of beaches in the characterization of the Ovar seafront is denoted. In the study of
beaches and practices, the relationship between the coastal and man protection
systems emerges, arising through the intimacy of this relationship, the landscape’s
cultural identity.
The project act is reduced to the essential, imagining that it is its systematic
repetition that can establish relations of wider scale and with clear repercussions
in the Landscape. Contextualizing the proposal that responds to intimate issues
of the Places, in accordance with the broad identity of the Landscape mental
construction. The main objective of the project is to recognize the relation of anthropic
appropriation to the Landscape of Ovar’s seafront, through the creation
of an (infra) structure for the Places
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