1,720,954 research outputs found
Behavioural characteristics of pure-bred dogs in Italy; comparison with US and UK
No full textIn recent times the selection of dog breeds for functionality has progressively lost its importance and the behavioural attitudes originally selected are often considered as problems in household environments (Coppinger, 1995, Coppinger, 1998, Coppinger, 2001, Willis, 1989, Willis, 1995). It is difficult to carry out genetic studies in order to identify inherited behavioural traits in a large sample of the numerous breeds and these studies would probably have many ethical, economical and practical implications ( Brown, 1978, Dykermann, 1979,Goddart & Beilharz, 1985, Scott & Fuller, 1965, Svartberg, 2002) .
The present study intends to obtain information about dog behavioural characteristics by following the same methodology as the ones used in the studies conducted in the USA by Hart &Hart (1983) and in the UK by Bradshaw, Goodwin, Lea and Whitehead (1996). The comparison of the results with those of the USA and UK studies can give further information about this topic. One-hundred and twelve Italian veterinarians and fifty-six dog experts (trainers, behaviour counsellors and animal charity officers) were asked to complete a questionnaire with 13 questions about behavioural characteristics of dogs and to compare male and female behaviour. The breeds chosen for the survey were selected among the most popular ones present in Italy. On the basis of the number of enrolments to the Italian Kennel Club (average for years 2000, 2001 and 2002) in the different groups as divided by Federation Cynologique International (FCI), 49 breeds were selected ( Fiorone, 1987, Gallicchio, 2001). Many of these breeds were the same as those studied in the UK and USA studies.
On the basis of the replies, factor analysis was carried out and two principal factors called “aggressivity” and “reactivity/immaturity” were found (Fisher & Yates, 1963, Petrie, 1999, Spss, 1998). Nine different breed groups with different behavioural characteristics (described by the two factors) were formed. This grouping had some similarities with the groupings presented in the USA and UK studies.
Female were considered as more trainable for obedience, more demanding for affection and more housetrainable, thus reflecting the general tendency shown in previous studies.
In the present study factor analysis generated factors that accounted for 56,676% of the total variance; these results, when compared with the studies conducted by Hart & Hart (1983) and by Bradhaw, Goodwin, Lea and Whitehead (1996), that generated factors that accounted for 88% of the total variance, can lead to several reflections about the different evaluations of dog breed behaviour both between and within groups of respondents. Probably both differences in breeding in the different countries and differences in cultural perception of dog behaviour can explain these results
Effects of early gentling and early enviroment on emotional development of puppies,
Full text linkIn recent years much interest has been focused on early experiences and numerous studies have been
carried out in order to understand their effects on the behaviour of adult animals. The aim of this preliminary
study was to assess the effects of early gentling and early environment on the emotional stability of puppies.
Forty-three dogs (16 females and 27 males) from seven litters were used. Four of these litters (in total 23
puppies) were raised in a professional breeding kennel, while the remaining litters lived in their owner’s
home, in a family atmosphere. Half of every litter was gently handled daily from the 3rd day postpartum
until the 21st. In order to assess the puppies’ emotionality, an isolation test followed by an arena test were
conducted on every puppy at the age of 8 weeks. Video recording of the tests allowed the measurement of
each puppy’s vocalization and exploratory activity. Data were analysed with the Newmann–Keuls’ test
comparing four groups: non-handled puppies raised in family (NHF); handled puppies raised in family
(HF); non-handled puppies raised in a professional breeding kennel (NHB); handled puppies raised in a
professional breeding kennel (HB).
The results suggest that early environment strongly influences the emotional stability of puppies
when put in isolation: latency to the first yelp was longer ( p < 0.05) in the HB group (89.46 66.42)
compared to NHB (45.90 52.76), NHF (13.10 12.17) and HF (17.90 14.32), and in the NHB
compared to NHF and HF; duration of vocalizations was shorter ( p < 0.05) in the HB (36.77 54.16)
and NHB group (72.80 60.57) compared to NHF (149.78 19.52) and HF (132.50 45.24).
Moreover, early gentling had a cumulative positive effect on the emotional development of puppies.
For both environments, handled puppies were calmer. In fact, they showed longer latency to vocalize and handled puppies (HB = 119.00 39.85; HF = 97.12 33.56) spent significantly more time (seconds)
in exploratory activity ( p < 0.05) compared to the corresponding non-handled puppies
(NHB = 64.90 34.06; NHF = 57.00 26.61).
Therefore, it is concluded that the deliberate inclusion of gentling during early puppyhood would be
advantageous to the emotional development and welfare of the puppy, in particular for those at risk of
limited or poor tactile stimulation in the early weeks
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe 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
Full text link“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
Full text linkWe 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
Full text linkWe 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
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
- …
