Evaluation of the anticoccidial efficacy of Cycostat (R) in experimentally infected breeding rabbits housed under conventional conditions

The present study was designed in order to evaluate the effi cacy and safety of Cycostat (R) 66G in the prevention and control of coccidiosis in breeding does after experimentally induced infection with common Eimeria spp. at the age of 18 wk. The inoculum was prepared based on faecal samples collected on farms in the Czech Republic. A total of 94 young and pregnant does were divided into 4 groups and enrolled in the study. The zootechnical, clinical and parasitological results of 2 control groups were compared, a non-infected non-treated (NI-NT) and an infected non-treated (I-NT), and 2 infected and dietary supplemented groups, with 50 (I-50) and 66 mg/kg (I-66) robenidine, respectively. Does in the I-NT group showed a significant drop in weight gain and feed intake during the fi rst 14 d after inoculation. No treatment related effects on the weight development of the does were observed, although does in the I-NT group always had approximately ± 200 g lower body weight. Litter size (live born) was not signifi cantly different at either the fi rst or second parturition and amounted to 9.0, 8.2, 10.1 and 9.8 (1st litter) and 11.3, 10.4, 10.1 and 11.0 (2nd litter) in NI-NT, I-NT, I-50 and I-66 does, respectively. At weaning, both in the 1st and 2nd cycle, the highest litter weight was obtained in the I-50 and I-66 groups. Litter weaning weight values for I-66 (litter 2) were higher but not significant (P=0.069) compared to the NI-NT litters. The lowest young mortality was also observed in the I-66 litters, both in the first and second cycles. Between 6 to 11 d after inoculation, the oocyst excretion of both supplemented groups was reduced by more than 90% in comparison to the I-NT. Supplementation with Cycostat (R) 66G diminished the excretion of E. flavescens and E. intestinalis, the most pathogenic species, by 100%. The excretion of E. magna was reduced by >90 and 100% for the I-50 and I-66 groups, respectively. The reduction in oocyst excretion of E. media was less pronounced. It was concluded that Cycostat (R) 66G supplemented in the feed at a concentration of 50 or 66mg/kg was able to prevent coccidiosis in breeding does after experimental inoculation.Maertens, L.; Van Gaver, D. (2010). Evaluation of the anticoccidial efficacy of Cycostat (R) in experimentally infected breeding rabbits housed under conventional conditions. World Rabbit Science. 18(2). doi:10.4995/WRS.2010.18.0918

Understanding concurrent earcons: applying auditory scene analysis principles to concurrent earcon recognition

Two investigations into the identification of concurrently presented, structured sounds, called earcons were carried out. One of the experiments investigated how varying the number of concurrently presented earcons affected their identification. It was found that varying the number had a significant effect on the proportion of earcons identified. Reducing the number of concurrently presented earcons lead to a general increase in the proportion of presented earcons successfully identified. The second experiment investigated how modifying the earcons and their presentation, using techniques influenced by auditory scene analysis, affected earcon identification. It was found that both modifying the earcons such that each was presented with a unique timbre, and altering their presentation such that there was a 300 ms onset-to-onset time delay between each earcon were found to significantly increase identification. Guidelines were drawn from this work to assist future interface designers when incorporating concurrently presented earcons

Modeling and analysis of uncertain time-critical tasking problems

Naval Research Logistics, 53 , No. 6, (Sept. 2006), 588-599.This paper describes modeling and operational analysis of a generic asymmetric services-system situation in which (a) Red agents, potentially threatening, but in another but important interpretation, are isolated friendlies, such as downed pilots, that require assistance and "arrive" according to some partially known and potentially changing pattern in time and space: and (b) Reds have effectively limited unknown deadlines or times of availability for Blue service, i.e., detection, classification, and attack in a military setting or emergency assistance in others. We discuss various service options by Blue service agents and devise several approximations allowing one to compute efficiently those proportions of tasks of different classes that are successfully serviced, or more generally, if different rewards are associated with different classes of tasks, the percentage of the possible reward gained. We suggest heuristic policies of a Blue server to select the next task to perform and to decide how much time to allocate to that service. We discuss this for a number of specific examples

Abstract sounds and their applications in audio and perception research

International audienceRecognition of sound sources and events is an important pro- cess in sound perception and has been studied in many research domains. Conversely sounds that cannot be recognized are not often studied except by electroacoustic music composers. Besides, considerations on recogni- tion of sources might help to address the problem of stimulus selection and categorization of sounds in the context of perception research. This paper introduces what we call abstract sounds with the existing musical background and shows their relevance for different applications

Painting the ideal home: using art to express visions of technologically supported independent living for older people in North East England

This paper describes the investigation of the development of future technological products to support older people in everyday living through the agency of a community art group. Recent research has identified a number of challenges facing designers seeking to use traditional participatory design approaches to gather technology requirements data from older people. Here, a project is described that sought to get a group of older people to think creatively about their needs and desires for technological support through the medium of paint. The artistic expression technique described in this article allowed the identification of issues that had also been found by previous research that used a range of different techniques. This indicates that the approach shows promise, as it allows information to be gathered in an environment that is comfortable and familiar using methods already known by the participants and which they find enjoyable. It provides a complement (or possible alternative) to standard protocols and has the potential benefit of extracting even richer information as the primary task for participants is enjoyable in its own right and is not associated with an interrogative process. Furthermore, it is argued that some of the key risks of traditional approaches are lessened or removed by the naturalistic setting of this approach

Designing novel applications for emerging multimedia technology

Current R&D in media technologies such as Multimedia, Semantic Web and Sensor Web technologies are advancing in a fierce rate and will sure to become part of our important regular items in a 'conventional' technology inventory in near future. While the R&D nature of these technologies means their accuracy, reliability and robustness are not sufficient enough to be used in real world yet, we want to envision now the near-future where these technologies will have matured and used in real applications in order to explore and start shaping many possible new ways these novel technologies could be utilised. In this talk, some of this effort in designing novel applications that incorporate various media technologies as their backend will be presented. Examples include novel scenarios of LifeLogging application that incorporate automatic structuring of millions of photos passively captured from a SenseCam (wearable digital camera that automatically takes photos triggered by environmental sensors) and an interactive TV application incorporating a number of multimedia tools yet extremely simple and easy to use with a remote control in a lean-back position. The talk will conclude with remarks on how the design of novel applications that have no precedence or existing user base should require somewhat different approach from those suggested and practiced in conventional usability engineering methodology

Research Project as Boundary Object: negotiating the conceptual design of a tool for International Development

This paper reflects on the relationship between who one designs for and what one designs in the unstructured space of designing for political change; in particular, for supporting “International Development” with ICT. We look at an interdisciplinary research project with goals and funding, but no clearly defined beneficiary group at start, and how amorphousness contributed to impact. The reported project researched a bridging tool to connect producers with consumers across global contexts and show players in the supply chain and their circumstances. We explore how both the nature of the research and the tool’s function became contested as work progressed. To tell this tale, we invoke the idea of boundary objects and the value of tacking back and forth between elastic meanings of the project’s artefacts and processes. We examine the project’s role in India, Chile and other arenas to draw out ways that it functioned as a catalyst and how absence of committed design choices acted as an unexpected strength in reaching its goals

Designing informative warning signals: Effects of indicator type, modality, and task demand on recognition speed and accuracy

An experiment investigated the assumption that natural indicators which exploit existing learned associations between a signal and an event make more effective warnings than previously unlearned symbolic indicators. Signal modality (visual, auditory) and task demand (low, high) were also manipulated. Warning effectiveness was indexed by accuracy and reaction time (RT) recorded during training and dual task test phases. Thirty-six participants were trained to recognize 4 natural and 4 symbolic indicators, either visual or auditory, paired with critical incidents from an aviation context. As hypothesized, accuracy was greater and RT was faster in response to natural indicators during the training phase. This pattern of responding was upheld in test phase conditions with respect to accuracy but observed in RT only in test phase conditions involving high demand and the auditory modality. Using the experiment as a specific example, we argue for the importance of considering the cognitive contribution of the user (viz., prior learned associations) in the warning design process. Drawing on semiotics and cognitive psychology, we highlight the indexical nature of so-called auditory icons or natural indicators and argue that the cogniser is an indispensable element in the tripartite nature of signification