Pet sense: sistema de monitorização de animais em hospitalização

The observation and treatment of animals in veterinary hospitals is still very dependent on manual procedures, including the collection of vital signs (temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate and blood pressure). These manual procedures are time-consuming and invasive, affecting the animal’s well-being. In this work, we purpose the use of IoT technologies to monitor animals in hospitalization, wearing sensors to collect vitals, and low-cost hardware to forward them into a cloud backend that analyses and stores data. The history of observed vitals and alarms can be accessed in the web, included in the Pet Universal software suite. The overall architecture follows a stream processing approach, using telemetry protocols to transport data, and Apache Kafka Streams to analyse streams and trigger alarms on potential hazard conditions. The system was fully implemented, although with laboratory sensors to emulate the smart devices to be worn by the animals. We were able to implement a data gathering and processing pipeline and integrate with the existing clinical management information system. The proposed solution can offer a practical way for long-term monitoring and detect abnormal values of temperature and heart rate in hospitalized animals, taking into consideration the characteristics of the monitored individual (species and state).A observação e tratamento de animais hospitalizados continua muito dependente de procedimentos manuais, especialmente no que diz respeito à colheita de sinais vitais (temperatura, frequência cardíaca, frequência respiratória e pressão arterial). Estes procedimentos manuais são dispendiosos em termos de tempo e afetam o bem-estar do animal. Neste projeto, propomos o recurso a tecnologias IoT para monitorizar animais hospitalizados equipados com sensores que medem sinais vitais, com hardware acessível, e envio dos dados para um serviço na cloud que os analisa e armazena. O histórico dos valores e alarmes podem ser acedidos na web e incluídos na plataforma comercial da Pet Universal. A arquitetura geral segue uma abordagem de processamento funcional, usando protocolos de telemetria para transportar dados e Apache Kafka Streams, analisando e lançando alarmes sobre potenciais condições de risco de acordo com a temperatura e pulsação. O sistema foi totalmente implementado, embora com sensores de laboratório para simular os dispositivos a serem usados pelos animais. Conseguimos implementar um circuito de colheita e processamento de dados e integrar com o sistema de gestão clínica já existente. A solução proposta oferece uma forma prática de monitorização continuada e de deteção de valores anormais de temperatura e frequência cardíaca em animais hospitalizados, tomando em conta as características do indivíduo monitorado (espécie e estado).Mestrado em Engenharia Informátic

Kaasumaisten tuoksukomponenttien tuottaminen keinotekoisille haistelujärjestelmille

Even though recent studies have led to a more refined understanding of the mechanisms related to odorant detection, the vertebrate olfactory system remains the least understood sense of the human senses. The total amount of sensing elements, olfactory receptor proteins, in the human nose is counted in tens or hundreds of millions, thus recreating this kind of complex system artificially is challenging. Human nose cannot be seen as an objective sensor, so creating an artificial olfactory system, often called electronic nose or “e-nose”, which is capable to objectively and reliably classify odors in a wide range is a key research question in the field of artificial olfaction. In addition to the detection system in e-nose instruments, something analogical to human brain is needed to interpret the signals in the detecting sensors. Production of easily controllable and measurable odor stimulus is needed when studying human olfaction, olfaction-related physiology and psychological reactions to odors. Controlled odor producing instruments are called olfactometers. In this Master Thesis, a compact olfactometer able to produce controlled continuous odor stimuli from three individual gaseous components is presented. The main objective was to study and verify if the presented system can produce gas streams with the stable concentrations of different odor components. For measuring the output air stream, the device used is a chemical detector ChemPro 100i, that is based on aspiration ion mobility spectrometry (aIMS) technology. The presented olfactometer was used to produce synthetic jasmine scent using three main odor components from jasmine oil. Experiments were conducted to verify the functionality of our olfactometer and to analyze the capability to distinguish different odor component concentrations using the ChemPro 100i data. Further to test the functionality of our olfactometer, we run a short pilot test in which human participants compared a synthetically created scent of jasmine and the scent of real jasmine oil. Results showed that from the measurement data, different concentration sets of three components were able to be distinguished. Human pilot results showed that human nose was confused when comparing three component synthetic jasmine with real jasmine scent but could distinguish between two component synthetic jasmine and real jasmine scent

Behavior of Shelter Animals

This book has resulted from collaborative interactions between academic institutions and animal shelters. It contains a collection of eleven papers (one review and ten research articles) on the behavior of dogs and cats in animal shelters, which can be very challenging environments. The papers focus on stress and behaviors associated with stress; the effectiveness of shelter enrichment programs in reducing stress; the usefulness of shelter behavioral evaluations in predicting behavior and assessing adoptability; and interactions between humans and companion animals. The aim of this book is to provide information that will inform shelter programs and policies, and thereby improve the welfare of shelter animals

Can DAVE (Dog-Assisted Virtual Environment) be used in the assessment of human behaviour towards dogs?

Despite the popularity of pet dogs and their broad benefits to humans, there are also disadvantages of human-dog interactions, such as human-directed dog aggression potentially resulting in injury or death and/or psychological distress. Such incidents may also impact the welfare of dogs as they may be punished, rehomed, abandoned, seized or euthanised. While there are many contributing factors leading to dog bites, little research to date has explored human behaviour in the presence of dogs displaying aggressive behaviour, due to the ethical and practical implications of conducting such research in real life scenarios. To address this, a virtual reality (VR) dog model was developed by VR and animation experts at the Virtual Engineering Centre UK, with input from qualified dog behaviourists. DAVE (Dog-Assisted Virtual Environment) was developed to display “aggressive” and non-reactive behaviours. The “aggressive” behaviour was based on the Canine Ladder of Aggression model. The size, colour, environment and audio of the dog could be modified and an indoor (house) and outdoor (park) environment was available. Both the VR dog model (VR tasks) and videos of the virtual dog model (online survey) were used to assess human behaviour and their ability to interpret dog behaviour. This included evaluating differences in participant approach-stop distance around the two different virtual dogs, varying colour, size, environment, audio and participant characteristics. In addition, DAVE was used to assess the effectiveness of veterinary student training in animal behaviour and handling. Participants were able to use the VR equipment with limited instructions needed and user responses indicated that there was no evidence of simulator sickness during the VR tasks. Presence scores were rated as high demonstrating evidence of suitable immersion in the virtual environment. Participants regarded the dog models behaviour and appearance to be similar to that of a real dog, whether in VR or watching videos. Participants moved closer to the non-reactive dog model compared to the aggressive dog model. Participants also moved closer to the dog model if they were male, had less experience with dogs or if the size of dog was small. Whereas there was no evidence of a difference in how close participants got to the medium sized, yellow dog model displaying aggressive behaviour when comparing audio (presence versus absence) or environment type (indoor versus outdoor). There was no evidence of a difference in approach-stop distance based on coat colour (yellow and black). Participants most frequently blamed themselves or the owners for the dog’s behaviour and rarely the dog, similar to real-life scenarios. Veterinary students moved closer to the virtual dog before their teaching and training sessions than after. This research demonstrates that DAVE can be used to assess aspects of human behaviour in the presence of a virtual dog model and provides further insight into human interpretation of specific dog behaviour signals which may aid in dog bite prevention education and training. Given that this is the first model of its kind, based on expert feedback and a theoretical dog behaviour model, these results are encouraging and highlight the need for future work with a broader range of participants, particularly those that are at a higher risk of dog bites

Animal Welfare Assessment

This Special Issue provides a collection of recent research and reviews that investigate many areas of welfare assessment, such as novel approaches and technologies used to evaluate the welfare of farmed, captive, or wild animals. Research in this Special Issue includes welfare assessment related to pilot whales, finishing pigs, commercial turkey flocks, and dairy goats; the use of sensors or wearable technologies, such as heart rate monitors to assess sleep in dairy cows, ear tag sensors, and machine learning to assess commercial pig behaviour; non-invasive measures, such as video monitoring of behaviour, computer vision to analyse video footage of red foxes, remote camera traps of free-roaming wild horses, infrared thermography of effort and sport recovery in sport horses; telomere length and regulatory genes as novel biomarkers of stress in broiler chickens; the effect of environment on growth physiology and behaviour of laboratory rare minnows and housing system on anxiety, stress, fear, and immune function of laying hens; and discussions of natural behaviour in farm animal welfare and maintaining health, welfare, and productivity of commercial pig herds

Representations of human directed aggressive behaviour of dogs in Western countries versus Japan

Human-directed aggressive behaviour is considered to be the most serious behaviour prob-lem of dogs worldwide as people are seriously hurt and the dog is often euthanized or aban-doned. One important fundamental problem is that people may not perceive aggressive behaviour in dogs appropriately (based on scientific evidence). Therefore, it is argued that a motivation and emotion based consistent assessment for human-directed aggressive behaviour in dogs (HDAB) needs to be established. If there is no clear terminology for the description of ag-gressive behaviour in dogs, people may label a dog’s behaviour according to their own eval-uation, which may be affected by cultural difference such as belief, personality, and knowledge. No previous research has attempted to investigate which cultural differences influence peo-ple’s perception of HDAB. Therefore, the aim of this thesis explored the representation of people’s perception of HDAB in Western countries versus Japan in order to try to establish a consistent HDAB assessment frame work. In the initial review of the scientific literature and the popular media, there were inconsistent or limited descriptions for motivation and emotion of dogs, e.g., describing emotion as mostly fear and anxiety. In the study of the popular media, differences in the styles of presentation were found between English and Japanese language respondents. The UK me-dia presented information more as text rather than as photos or illustrations (low-context cul-ture), while the Japanese media used more photos or illustrations than text (high-context cul-ture). The style of presentation may affect people’s understanding and perception of HDAB differently. The Internet survey and video assessment study were developed to identify people’s percep-tion of HDAB and which cultural factors influence people’s perception of HDAB. Both studies showed the respondents (particularly Japanese respondents) were less likely to recog-nise mild or subtle signs of dog’s behaviour and recognised limited dog’s emotions. As cul-tural factors, “nationality” and “level of handling experience with dogs” predicted strong ef-fect on people’s perception of HDAB. In order to develop a consistent systematic framework to assess HDAB, power point inter-vention material which described the assessment based on dog’s motivation and emotion was presented to the respondents. However, it did not have a significant effect on the partici-pants’ assessment of the dog’s emotion, which may be affected by the way of presentation without adjusting the level of people’s understanding or cultural factors, e.g., the role and value of dogs, handling experience. This thesis demonstrates evidence that the lack of consensus for description of HDAB may influence people’s perception of HDAB and cultural differences affects people’s perception of HDAB. Therefore it is necessary to develop the consistent systematic framework for the assessment of HDAB based on dog’s motivation and emotion and convey to experts and dog owners through both scientific literature and popular media. It will enhance appropriate communication between owners and dogs

Afropolitan satire: a critical investigation and Volta: a novel

This thesis investigates satire as a mode for expressing the African diasporic experience, using a synergy between creative and critical research. The critical research probes the intersections of satire and African migration, termed Afropolitanism, by examining what it means to posit the following Afropolitan novels as satirical creations: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah (2013), NoViolet Bulawayo’s We Need New Names (2013) and Imbolo Mbue’s Behold the Dreamers (2016). The study analyses the different kinds of satiric devices in these novels, drawing on principles from the various western satiric traditions, showing these writers’ relationships to other twentieth-century satirical writers (western and African), and also exploring the origins of these Afropolitan novels in African oral traditions. The research scrutinises these novels’ treatment of economic inequality, unsafe political climates, shaky racial relations, thorny class boundaries. It argues that relocating overseas squeezes Africans into new behaviour, culture, and perspectives that necessitate them to modify their identities and beliefs which have hitherto underpinned their existence. This new frame of mind upsets the foundations of their moral reasoning. Furthermore, it contends that these unexpected changes lend themselves to a kind of satire that fluctuates artistically and multiculturally. The creative strand (“Volta,” a novel) is interwoven with the findings from the critical aspect, using the architecture of satire to construct a novel that explores a protagonist fraught with unexpected displacements in circumstances, physical and psychological. It extends the critical research by exploring the question of globalisation when identity and belonging are fractured, and migrants struggle for acceptance and validation but are constantly hampered by many shades of prejudice and obstacles. “Volta” delves into the harrowing effects of a forced escape from home, the abandonment of an opulent past to embrace a prickly transformation in a foreign society that offers only a marginal compensation for every effort

Evaluation of the ingestive behaviour of the dairy cow under two systems of rotation with slope

The ingestive behaviour of grazing animals is modulated by the vegetation characteristics, topography and the type of stocking method. This research was carried out in 2019, at the Rumipamba CADER-UCE. It aimed to evaluate the impact of two contrasting stocking methods of dairy cows grazing a pasture with an average of slope >8.5%. Four dairy cows were set to graze a 0.4 ha paddock for 5 days for continuous stocking methods, while for the electric fence methods the dairy cows were restricted to 0.2 ha and the fence was moved uphill every 3 hours, repeating this process four times a day. Cow were equipped with activity sensors for 12 h per day. The whole procedure was repeated 2 times after realizing an equalization cuts and both paddocks, a rest time of 30 days and a random reassignment of paddocks to one of the treatments. The cows showed a difference in terms of the percentage of grazing P=0.0072, being higher with the electric fence (55% of the measurement time). From rising-plate-meter estimates of available biomass along the grazing periods, we calculated despite similar forage allowances (electric fence = 48.06 kg DM/cow/d and continuous = 48.21 DM/cow/d) a higher forage intake was obtained in the electric fence treatment (17.5 kg DM/cow/d) compared the continuous stocking (15.7 kg DM/cow/d) (P=0.006). In terms of milk production animals grazing under the differences electrical fence stocking method tended (P=0.0985) to produce more milk (17.39 kg/d) than those grazing in the continuous system (15.16 kg/d) due to the influence of the slope (P=0.05), while for milk quality the protein content was higher for the electric fence (33.7 g/l) than the continuous method (30.5 g/l) (P=0.039). None of the other milk properties differed between methods (P>0.05)

Maritime expressions:a corpus based exploration of maritime metaphors

This study uses a purpose-built corpus to explore the linguistic legacy of Britain’s maritime history found in the form of hundreds of specialised ‘Maritime Expressions’ (MEs), such as TAKEN ABACK, ANCHOR and ALOOF, that permeate modern English. Selecting just those expressions commencing with ’A’, it analyses 61 MEs in detail and describes the processes by which these technical expressions, from a highly specialised occupational discourse community, have made their way into modern English. The Maritime Text Corpus (MTC) comprises 8.8 million words, encompassing a range of text types and registers, selected to provide a cross-section of ‘maritime’ writing. It is analysed using WordSmith analytical software (Scott, 2010), with the 100 million-word British National Corpus (BNC) as a reference corpus. Using the MTC, a list of keywords of specific salience within the maritime discourse has been compiled and, using frequency data, concordances and collocations, these MEs are described in detail and their use and form in the MTC and the BNC is compared. The study examines the transformation from ME to figurative use in the general discourse, in terms of form and metaphoricity. MEs are classified according to their metaphorical strength and their transference from maritime usage into new registers and domains such as those of business, politics, sports and reportage etc. A revised model of metaphoricity is developed and a new category of figurative expression, the ‘resonator’, is proposed. Additionally, developing the work of Lakov and Johnson, Kovesces and others on Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), a number of Maritime Conceptual Metaphors are identified and their cultural significance is discussed