1,720,959 research outputs found
Performance and Welfare of Reproducing Does and Growing Rabbits in Alternative Housing Systems
Get PDFThe behavior of domestic rabbits is influenced by their natural behavior, which is based on the model of wild rabbits living in colonies. These behaviors involve locomotor and exploratory activities. Rabbits move primarily by hopping and living in groups, stabilize sex-specific dominance hierarchies, and display aggressive behaviors primarily during hierarchical formation, the breeding season, and competition for resources. In conventional breeding, rabbits are kept in individual wire cages, limiting their natural behaviors, and leading to abnormal behavior. Alternative systems such as parks offer more space and ample opportunity for the installation of environmental enrichments, improving the welfare of rabbits. However, raising rabbits in the group presents challenges regarding aggression and health.
This thesis fits into a context in which society pays more and more attention to the well-being of farmed animals, pushing towards more animal-friendly farming systems. There is growing pressure from consumers and animal rights activists to pay more attention to the welfare of farmed rabbits. Although several studies have been conducted to improve their well-being and health, many unanswered questions remain, especially regarding the types of housing that can contribute to good health and appropriate behaviors.
In this thesis various aspects regarding breeding in cage-free environments have been explored, evaluating the use of hay blocks to improve the welfare of growing rabbits, analyzing welfare in different housing systems, evaluating the effect of size of the group and the moment of formation of the groups on the behavior of the reproductive rabbits and the characterization of the locomotory behaviour, with special emphasis on hopping, to analyze the behavior of the rabbits at different moments
Impact of heat stress on growth performance and carcass traits of fast- medium- and slow-growing broiler chicken genotypes
Get PDFThe present study aimed to evaluate the effects of genotype, environmental temperature, and pen enrichment on
growth performance and carcass traits in three broiler chicken genotypes. A total of 720 day-old male chickens
belonging to three genetic lines differing from growth rate (fast-growing – FG; medium-growing – MG; and slow-
growing – SG) were reared in 36 pens (3 m2 per pen; 20 birds per pen) across two separate rooms (18 pens per
room) under either controlled environmental temperatures (22.8 ± 2.8◦C) or heat stress (HS) conditions (27.2 ±
2.8◦C) until slaughter (40 d for FG; 55 d for MG; and 76 d for SG). In half of the pens (18 in total; 9 per room), a
perch was provided as environmental enrichment. FG broilers exhibited the highest daily weight gain, feed
intake, and the most efficient feed conversion ratio, whereas MG and SG chickens showed intermediate and
lowest performance levels, respectively (P < 0.001). MG chickens showed the highest slaughter yield but an
intermediate breast yield, which was surpassed by that of FG broilers (P < 0.001). In the pectoralis major muscle,
FG chickens displayed the highest values for ultimate pH, lightness, and yellowness, whereas SG birds showed
the highest redness index (P < 0.001). HS conditions significantly reduced growth performance (P < 0.001) and
slaughter yield (0.05 < P < 0.001) across all three genotypes, while increasing the incidence of wooden breast in
FG chickens (P < 0.05), compared to those reared under controlled conditions. However, the three genotypes
exhibited differential responses to HS, particularly in terms of growth performance. Indeed, the negative effects
of HS were more pronounced in FG and MG chickens, whereas SG chickens demonstrated greater resilience to the
same environmental challenge (0.05 < P < 0.001; significant Genotype × Temperature interaction). Providing a
perch as environmental enrichment had no significant effect on broiler growth performance but significantly
reduced the incidence of white striping in the breast fillets of FG chickens (P < 0.05). In conclusion, SG broilers
showed the lowest growth performance and slaughter yield but exhibited greater resilience to chronic HS
compared to FG and MG genotypes
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
Sustainability assessment of local and crossbred chickens under low-input diets using life cycle analysis
Get PDFThis study assessed growth performance, diet digestibility, and environmental impacts in broiler chickens from different genotypes: commercial hybrids (Ross 308), two Italian local breeds (Bionda Piemontese, BP and Robusta Maculata, RM), and their crosses with Sasso T44 hens (BP×SA, RM×SA), fed either a standard (ST) or low-input (LI) diet. A total of 442 one-day-old chicks (102 Ross 308, 76 BP, 72 RM, 97 BP × SA, and 94 RM × SA) were allocated to 40 pens, with two replicates per group and monitored until the end of the rearing period (47 days for Ross 308, 105 days for local breeds and crosses). Life Cycle Assessment was conducted using 1 kg of live weight and 1 kg of ready-to-cook carcass as functional units. Ross 308 exhibited the highest final weight, daily weight gain, and feed conversion ratio, followed by crosses and local breeds. The LI diet resulted in reduced final weight (−13 %) and increased feed conversion ratio (+8 %) compared to ST diet, with commercial hybrids showed the greatest reduction in performance. The LI diet also reduced digestibility coefficients for dry matter, crude protein, and gross energy. Feed production was the dominant contributor to environmental impacts. Genotype influenced all impact categories, with Ross 308 showing the lowest values, while BP × SA and BP exhibited the highest ones. The LI diet reduced global warming potential with land use change (−46 %) but increased land occupation (+22 %) and water use (+26 %). In conclusion, a multifaceted approach is necessary for sustainable poultry production, balancing high yields to reduce environmental impact and adaptive traits that contribute to system resilience
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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