The dog: a biologist's best friend AdamMiklosiDog behaviour, evolution and cognition2008Oxford University PressOxford, UKISBN 978-0-19-929585-2

Unknow

Self-Reinforcing and Self-Frustrating Decisions

There is a sense of the term ‘ought’ according to which what a person ought to do depends not on how the world is, but on how the person believes the world to be. Philosophers typically isolate this as their intended sense of the term by talking of what people ‘subjectively ought’ to do. Suppose, for example, that you are offered hors d'oeuvres at a fancy party. They look delicious, you are hungry, and you wish to please your host. However, unbeknownst to you, they are riddled with a lethal strain of botulism. A philosopher may say that, in light of your beliefs, you subjectively ought to eat the hors d'oeuvres, though the consequences of your doing so will be disastrous. Our focus here will be on theories of the subjective ought that imply Decision Dependence In some cases what you subjectively ought to do at a certain time depends on what you believe you will do at that time

Edge-pancyclic block-intersection graphs

AbstractIt is shown that the block-intersection graph of both a balanced incomplete block design with block size at least 3 and λ = 1, and a transversal design is edge-pancyclic

Psychological Health of Orphan Bonobos and Chimpanzees in African Sanctuaries

Background: Facilities across Africa care for apes orphaned by the trade for "bushmeat." These facilities, called sanctuaries, provide housing for apes such as bonobos (Pan paniscus) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) who have been illegally taken from the wild and sold as pets. Although these circumstances are undoubtedly stressful for the apes, most individuals arrive at the sanctuaries as infants and are subsequently provided with rich physical and social environments that can facilitate the expression of species-typical behaviors. Methods and Findings: We tested whether bonobo and chimpanzee orphans living in sanctuaries show any behavioral, physiological, or cognitive abnormalities relative to other individuals in captivity as a result of the early-life stress they experience. Orphans showed lower levels of aberrant behaviors, similar levels of average cortisol, and highly similar performances on a broad battery of cognitive tests in comparisons with individuals of the same species who were either living at a zoo or were reared by their mothers at the sanctuaries. Conclusion: Taken together, these results support the rehabilitation strategy used by sanctuaries in the Pan-African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA) and suggest that the orphans we examined did not show long-term signs of stress as a result of their capture. Our findings also show that sanctuary apes are as psychologically healthy as apes in other captive settings and thus represent a valuable resource for non-invasive research.Human Evolutionary Biolog

Bonobos Exhibit Delayed Development of Social Behavior and Cognition Relative to Chimpanzees

Phenotypic changes between species can occur when evolution shapes development. Here, we tested whether differences in the social behavior and cognition of bonobos and chimpanzees derive from shifts in their ontogeny, looking at behaviors pertaining to feeding competition in particular. We found that as chimpanzees (n = 30) reached adulthood they became increasingly intolerant of sharing food, whereas as adults, bonobos (n = 24) maintained high, juvenile levels of food-related tolerance. We also investigated the ontogeny of inhibition during feeding competition. In two different tests, we found that bonobos (n = 30) exhibited developmental delays relative to chimpanzees (n = 29) in the acquisition of social inhibition, with these differences resulting in less skill among adult bonobos. The results suggest that these social and cognitive differences between two closely related species result from evolutionary changes in brain development.Human Evolutionary Biolog

Enhanced Selection of Assistance and Explosive Detection Dogs Using Cognitive Measures

Working dogs play a variety of important roles, ranging from assisting individuals with disabilities, to explosive and medical detection work. Despite widespread demand, only a subset of dogs bred and trained for these roles ultimately succeed, creating a need for objective measures that can predict working dog aptitude. Most previous research has focused on temperamental characteristics of successful dogs. However, working dogs also face diverse cognitive challenges both in training, and throughout their working lives. We conducted a series of studies investigating the relationships between individual differences in dog cognition, and success as an assistance or detection dog. Assistance dogs (N = 164) and detection dogs (N = 222) were tested in the Dog Cognition Test Battery, a 25-item instrument probing diverse aspects of dog cognition. Through exploratory analyses we identified a subset of tasks associated with success in each training program, and developed shorter test batteries including only these measures. We then used predictive modeling in a prospective study with an independent sample of assistance dogs (N = 180), and conducted a replication study with an independent sample of detection dogs (N = 90). In assistance dogs, models using data on individual differences in cognition predicted higher probabilities of success for dogs that ultimately succeeded in the program, than for those who did not. For the subset of dogs with predicted probabilities of success in the 4th quartile (highest predicted probability of success), model predictions were 86% accurate, on average. In both the exploratory and prospective studies, successful dogs were more likely to engage in eye contact with a human experimenter when faced with an unsolvable task, or when a joint social activity was disrupted. In detection dogs, we replicated our exploratory findings that the most successful dogs scored higher on measures of sensitivity to human communicative intentions, and two measures of short term memory. These findings suggest that that (1) individual differences in cognition contribute to variance in working dog success, and (2) that objective measures of dog cognition can be used to improve the processes through which working dogs are evaluated and selected

Evaluation of Packaging Film Mechanical Integrity Using a Standardized Scratch Test

Polymeric packaging films see widespread use in the food packaging industry, and their mechanical integrity is paramount to maintaining product appearance, freshness, and overall food safety. Current testing methods, such as tensile or puncture tests, do not necessarily correlate well with field damages that are observed to be scratch-like. The standardized linearly increasing load scratch test is investigated as a new means of evaluating the mechanical integrity of packaging films. Mechanical clamp and vacuum fixtures were considered for securing the films to a set of backing materials and tested under various testing rates and film orientation conditions. Film performance was evaluated according to their puncture load. Based on the above study, the vacuum fixture offers the most consistent and meaningful results by providing a more intimate contact between film and backing and minimizing uncontrolled buckling of the film during testing. Additional testing was also carried out on a commercial film to confirm similarity between damage observed in the scratched films and that from the field. The scratch test gives good correlation between field performance and scratch test results on a set of commercial films. The usefulness of the scratch test methodology for packaging film mechanical integrity evaluation is discussed. Scratch-induced damages on multi-layer commercial packaging films are investigated using cross- and longitudinal-sectioning. Scratch test results show clear distinction between the two tested systems on both the inside and outside surfaces. Microscopy was performed to investigate the feasibility of utilizing this methodology as a tool for packaging film structure evaluation by determining the effect each layer has on the resistance of scratch damages. It is shown that the film showing superior scratch test results also shows significantly better stress distribution through its layers during the scratch test, as well as better layer adhesion during severe deformation. The scratch test shows good ability to provide more in-depth film mechanical integrity testing by allowing for layer-by-layer analysis of damages and layer adhesion after testing

Reaching around barriers: the performance of the great apes and 3–5-year-old children

Inhibitory control has been suggested as a key predictive measure of problem-solving skills in human and nonhuman animals. However, there has yet to be a direct comparison of the inhibitory skills of the nonhuman apes and their development in human children. We compared the inhibitory skills of all great ape species, including 3–5-year-old children in a detour-reaching task, which required subjects to avoid reaching directly for food and instead use an indirect reaching method to successfully obtain the food. We tested 22 chimpanzees, 18 bonobos, 18 orangutans, 6 gorillas and 42 children. Our sample included chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans housed in zoos (N = 27) and others housed in sanctuaries in their native habitats (N = 37). Overall, orangutans were the most skilful apes, including human children. As expected older children outperformed younger children. Sanctuary chimpanzees and bonobos outperformed their zoo counterparts whereas there was no difference between the two orangutan samples. Most zoo chimpanzees and bonobos failed to solve the original task, but improved their performance with additional training, although the training method determined to a considerable extent the level of success that the apes achieved in a transfer phase. In general, the performance of the older children was far from perfect and comparable to some of the nonhuman apes tested