1,720,970 research outputs found
Evaluation of costs and benefits in the use of environmental enrichment: an innovative tool for supporting farmers to make the right choice
No full textThe EU legislation strongly encourages the use of environmental enrichments for pigs of different ages, housed in intensive farms. Many advantages derive from the permanent use of straw or manipulable materials: increased explorative behaviours, low levels of aggressiveness or reduced incidence of tail biting. Despite that, farmers are not always aware about the advantages and frequently worried about the possible increase of costs and labour. Within the framework of Ager project “Filiera Verde del Suino”, a detailed comparative economic analysis was performed taking into account different manipulable materials for environmental enrichment in weaning and fattening pigs: costs, benefits and their effect on meat production were calculated. The results of this analysis were made available to farmers by the development of a useful tool able to provide information and improve the awareness about the use of environmental enrichments. This tool is a free and open-source form currently available on the project website. Farmers may select the category of animals, housing system and type of environmental enrichments (different woods and ropes, presented with different devices); the system automatically calculates costs (split into investment, amortisation, labour and material) and suggests how to use that enrichment, for improving the results in terms of animal welfare and profit. The tool also calculates the costs when no environmental enrichment is used: common welfare issues are described and the farmer is asked to complete information about the incidence of tail biting in the farm. The economic loss resulting is automatically generated.
Raising awareness and promoting the spread of knowledge on the correct application of the environmental enrichment in pigs might ensure the effectiveness of their introduction and assure compliance with the EU legislation. Innovative tool (e.g. web-based survey, learning object) will help to reach a large number of farmers and support them directly in management decisions
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
Influence of piglet’s age on the use of different environmental enrichments after early weaning
No full textIndagine sull’uso del materiale manipolabile come arricchimento ambientale nell’allevamento suinicolo italiano
No full textInfluence of different straw bedding management on welfare of growing pigs in low environmental impact farming system
No full textLow environmental farming system requires nutrient recycle and production of renewable energy. The anaerobic digestion of pig manure produces a low quality biogas; hence, the addition of plant biomass results necessary. Straw bedding is the most effective environmental enrichment for pigs housed in intensive farms, facilitating exploratory behaviours and reducing negative behaviours (e.g. excessive aggressiveness, cannibalism).
The aim of this study is to evaluate welfare of growing pigs in a straw-based housing system with different frequencies of bedding removal.
This research promotes the implementation of sustainable farming systems with respect of animal welfare and environmental protection.
A total of 840 growing pigs were equally allocated to a 2x2 experimental design according to quantity of straw provided (LQ=250g/pig/die; HQ=450 g/pig/die) and frequency of removal (LF=additional bedding added at day 30; HF=bedding removed and replaced every 15 days). Pigs were housed for two months in identical pens with resting area on straw bedding and feeding area on partially slatted floor. Animals were fed ad libitum. Cleanliness of straw bedding and lesion and cleanliness of pigs were collected three times (at day: 30, 45, 60).
Straw bedding resulted dirtier when low quantity of straw was provided (LQ=74.24%; HQ=61.97%). Significant differences were found for pig cleanliness both in LQ (P=0.002) and HQ (P=0.013) groups. Frequency of removal never influenced cleanliness of pigs and bedding. The incidence of lesions was always low without differences among groups.
High quantity of straw provided showed advantages in terms of welfare compared to the quantity normally suggested in straw-based systems (200-250 g/pig/die), whereas adding straw during the production cycle is sufficient to assure a good management of the bedding. Further research is needed to evaluate the economic impact of the quantity provided, considering the adding value of a good quality and more sustainable biogas production
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
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