1,720,960 research outputs found
Measuring on farm welfare in rabbits: A review with emphasis on animal based indicators
No full textBased on latest definitions, animal welfare has to be referred to a life worth living, as perceived by animals, thanks to positive experiences rather than to the mere absence of negative ones. The measure of on-farm welfare of livestock is crucial to improve farming systems, to identify critical points, and to compare different farming systems in view of welfare labelling protocols. To this purpose, specie-specific protocols are necessary which should use different types of indicators, i.e. resources-based indicators, management-based indicators and, especially, animal-based indicators. These indicators should work under different farming systems and for different animal categories and can be used to assess welfare in the short term or during the productive life of the animal. Last but not least, indicators should be able to measure the affective state of animals as for positive emotions. In this scenario, rabbits are quite unique as little information is available about i) their behavioural needs under farming conditions; ii) the degree of suffering associated with the behavioural restrictions that can occur under farming conditions; iii) the indicators to be used in the very different housing and management conditions in which rabbits can be farmed; and iv) the relationships between emotions and affective states of animals as well as the effect on resiliency of rabbits under different conditions. In this context, the present review aimed at summarising the state of the art and designing a road map for assessing rabbit welfare on farm based on the most recent knowledge and approaches with special emphasis on candidate ABMs for measuring both negative and positive affective states of rabbits. The identification of positive welfare indicators is a big challenge, given the biological and behavioural characteristics of rabbits. Accordingly, a comprehensive and robust assessment of rabbit welfare on farm cannot do without structure- and management-based indicators, which should be included in validated and standardized protocols using a multi-indicator approach
Quality of relationships in reproducing does kept in a part-time collective housing system
No full textPart-time collective housing systems for reproducing rabbit does have raised concerns for aggression among animals and occurrence of injuries and lesions. Within this framework, the present study addressed social interactions among does in a part-time collective system based on negative (such as aggression) and positive (affiliative, resting, comfort) behaviors. Videos were recorded at −11 days before kindling – when does were first grouped in 18 collective parks containing 3 or 4 does (F3, F4) – and at +25 days after kindling – after individual housing from −2 days before until +18 d after kindling, with litter size standardized at 9, 10, and 11 kits. Behaviors were scored for each pen in the first 30 minutes of an hour. At the first grouping (−11 d), the number of interactions “seek-escape from the mate” was lower than “seek-remain with the mate” without differences between groups, as was the number of aggressive events (bites per doe: 0.620 vs. 0.500 in F3 vs. F4 parks; P>0.10). During resting, the does were found mainly with a crouched body, in pairs or alone. At +25 d after kindling, observations of does resting in pairs and/or in groups were higher than at −11 days before kindling; a higher number of observations of pair-resting with crouched body was recorded in F4 compared to F3 parks (1.108 vs. 0.760; P<0.05), whereas no significant effect of litter size was recorded. Based on the first results, under our conditions, reproducing does were observed seeking each other and resting together, which deserves further investigation to balance the negative and positive sides of group housing. Acknowledgement: The study has been funded by European Union – Next Generation EU, Project PRIN “No cage system for rabbits: indoor and outdoor scenarios – RABBINOUT” (Cod. 2022JAX4TZ; CUP: C53D23005340006)
Welfare assessment of farmed rabbits in Italy: preliminary data of the application of the Classyfarm protocol for official veterinary controls
No full textThis study aims to illustrate the results of the first-year application of a welfare assessment protocol for farmed rabbits by official veterinarians in Italy. The protocol judges 33 evaluation elements, divided into 4 Areas (Farm management and Personnel, Facilities and Equipment, Animal Based Measures (ABMs), Major Risks and Warning Systems), as Insufficient, Acceptable and Optimal. The vet inspector could choose ‘not applicable’ if no judgment could be applied. Two hundred forty-one farms were inspected in 2023. The total number of 'Insufficient', 'Acceptable', 'Optimal' values and 'Not applicable' decisions were counted for each item. These data were combined for each area to provide aggregated results after averaging the number of Acceptable, Insufficient, and Optimal responses. From the overall results, it can be seen that most farms were given a favourable judgement in all four Areas. Farm management and Personnel had the most Acceptable responses (76.5%), Facilities and Equipment had the most Insufficient responses (1.5%) and ABMs had the most Excellent responses (41.4%). Despite the small number of ABMs judged “Insufficient”, it was possible to trace them back to an inadequate state of structural and managerial items in 6 cases. Despite some critical points, these results showed promising rabbit farming conditions in Italy and highlighted the need to increase knowledge on rabbit ABMs and their relationship with indirect indicators
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
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