Dominance in dogs as rated by owners corresponds to ethologically valid markers of dominance

Dominance is well defined in ethology, debated in psychology, and is often unclear among the dog owning public and in the press. However, to date, no study has examined how owners perceive dominance in dogs, and what different behaviours and personality types are used to describe dominant and subordinate individuals. A questionnaire study was launched to investigate the external validity of owner-derived estimates of dominance in dog dyads sharing the same household (N = 1,151). According to the owners, dogs rated as dominant (87%) have priority access to resources (resting place, food, and rewards), undertake certain tasks (defend and lead the group, bark more), display dominance (win fights, lick the other’s mouth less, and mark over the other’s urine), share certain personality traits (smarter, more aggressive and impulsive), and are older than their partner dog (all p < 0.0001). An age-related hypothesis has been suggested to explain dominance in dogs; but we found that dog age did not explain the occurrence of dominance related behaviours over the owners’ estimate of dominance status. Results suggest that owner-derived reports of dominance ranks of dogs living in multi-dog households correspond to ethologically valid behavioural markers of dominance. Size and physical condition were unrelated to the perceived dominance. Surprisingly, in mixed-sex dyads, females were more frequently rated as dominant than males, which might correspond to a higher proportion of neutered females in this subgroup. For future studies that wish to allocate dominance status using owner report, we offer a novel survey

Aging of Attentiveness in Border Collies and Other Pet Dog Breeds: The Protective Benefits of Lifelong Training

Aging of attentiveness affects cognitive functions like perception and working memory, which can seriously impact communication between dogs and humans, potentially hindering training and cooperation. Previous studies have revealed that aged laboratory beagles and pet Border collies (BC) show a decline in selective attention. However, much less is known about the aging of attentiveness in pet dogs in general rather than in specific breeds. Using 185 pet dogs (75 BC and 110 dogs of other breeds) divided into three age groups [late adulthood (6-= 10 year)], we assessed the progress of aging of attentional capture, sustained and selective attention in older dogs in order to explore if prior results in BC are generalizable and to evaluate the influence of lifelong training on measures of attention. Each dog's lifelong training score (ranging from 0 to 52) was calculated from a questionnaire filled in by the owners listing what kinds of training the dog participated in during its entire life. Dogs were tested in two tasks; the first, measuring attentional capture and sustained attention toward two stimuli (toy and human); and the second, measuring selective attention by means of clicker training for eye contact and finding food on the floor. In the first task, results revealed a significant effect of age but no effect of lifelong training on latency to orient to the stimuli. Duration of looking decreased with age and increased with lifelong training. In the second task, while lifelong training decreased the latency of dogs to form eye contact, aged dogs needed longer to find food. BC did not differ from other dogs in any measures of attention except latency to find food. In conclusion, aged dogs showed a decline in attentional capture and sustained attention demonstrating that these tests are sensitive to detect aging of attentiveness in older pet dogs. Importantly, selective attention remained unchanged with age and lifelong training seemed to delay or reduce the aging of attentiveness, further highlighting the importance of lifelong training in retaining general cognitive functions

The Relationship Between Student Demographics and Student Engagement with Online Library Instruction Modules

Objective – To investigate whether there are any demographic trends affecting student engagement with online library instruction which might have implications for practice, the authors designed a case study to examine the relationship between student demographic characteristics and engagement with online library instruction modules in English 102 courses at a single university. Methods – The authors recruited 181 students from English 102 (ENG 102), a research-based composition course, to participate in the study. ENG 102 instructors asked all participants to complete an online library instruction module embedded in the university’s course management system, either before in-person library instruction or in lieu of face-to-face library instruction. No external incentive was provided for online module completion. The research team measured levels of student engagement by recording the amount of time students spent on each page of the online module. In collaboration with the Office of Institutional Research, the authors then pulled demographic data on each participant using the university’s student information system. Pearson chi-square tests were performed to determine whether there were any notable associations between levels of student engagement and student age, grade point average, gender, and race/ethnicity. Results – Observable trends tied age and higher grade point average to higher levels of engagement with online instruction. There was additionally a slight trend linking female participants to higher levels of engagement than their male peers. In the category of race/ethnicity, the two largest subgroups, Hispanic and Caucasian students, exhibited similar levels of engagement. Conclusions – The authors conclude that there may be demographic implications for practice in designing online library instruction programs, especially when considering student age and academic performance indicators. They also conclude that, owing to this case study’s limited sample size, further study is warranted to investigate these conclusions, and to further examine the possible impact of gender and race/ethnicity on engagement with online library instruction modules

The Impact of COVID-19 on the Use of Academic Library Resources

The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly impacted higher education, including academic libraries. This paper compares the use of library resources (including interlibrary loan, website and discovery tool pageviews, database use, patron interactions, etc.) at three university libraries before and after the pandemic. The latter part of the 2019 and 2020 spring semesters are the timeframes of focus, although two control timeframes from earlier in those semesters are used to determine how the semesters differed when the coronavirus was not a factor. The institutions experienced similar patterns of use across many metrics

The Impact of COVID-19 on the Use of Academic Library Resources

The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly impacted higher education, including academic libraries. This paper compares the use of library resources (including interlibrary loan, website and discovery tool pageviews, database use, patron interactions, etc.) at three university libraries before and after the pandemic. The latter part of the 2019 and 2020 spring semesters are the timeframes of focus, although two control timeframes from earlier in those semesters are used to determine how the semesters differed when the coronavirus was not a factor. The institutions experienced similar patterns of use across many metrics

A comparison of bi-directional disc brake rotor passage designs

An important part of automobile safety is the braking system. Disc brakes have been widely used in automobiles for sped retardation for over 30 years. During that time, they have developed from a simple disc to a complex disc with channels, vanes, holes and grooves. The stopping capability of disc brakes is affected by the rate at which heat is dissipated by forced convection and the thermal capacity of the rotor. Catastrophic failure of brake rotors can occur during rapid increases or decreases in rotor temperature where regions of high temperature gradients result in high thermal strains. There is little information in the public domain regarding the relative merits of different disc brake rotor geometries, particularly in terms of airflow patterns, heat transfer rates, and internal thermal gradients. The aim of this research project was to investigate how geometrical variations affect the thermal performance of bi-directional disc brake rotors, particularly for high performance applications. Dynamometer testing showed that respectable increases in braking performance are achievable with relatively simple machining modifications. Tuft and smoke visualization techniques provided a preliminary understanding of the airflow in the passages of three distinct bi-directional rotor designs. Particle Image Velocimetry was used for detailed flow measurements which supported the numerical simulations. Computational Fluid Dynamics was used to predict the airflow and heat transfer associated with eight bi-directional brake rotor designs. The results show that 'pillared' passage designs can achieve higher heat transfer rates than traditional straight radial vane designs and that the heat loss from pillared rotors is generally more uniform than from vaned rotors. Subsequent conjugate heat transfer simulations found that temperature gradients inside pillared rotors are typically lower than inside vaned rotors. Thus failure rates due to excessive thermal strain are expected to be lower for pillared rotors. It was shown that rotor selection based solely on heat transfer rates is inappropriate and different passage designs are suited to different applications. The findings of this research will directly benefit local disc brake manufacturers, who do not have resources to conduct thorough studies comparing the thermal characteristics of different brake rotor designs

Percutaneous coronary intervention still not accessible for many South Africans

Introduction: The incidence of myocardial infarction is rising in Sub-Saharan Africa. In order to reduce mortality, timely reperfusion by percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or thrombolysis followed by PCI is required. South Africa has historically been characterised by inequities in healthcare access based on geographic and socioeconomic status. We aimed to determine the coverage of PCI-facilities in South Africa and relate this to access based on population and socio-economic status. Methods: This cross-sectional study obtained data from literature, directories, organisational databases and correspondence with Departments of Health and hospital groups. Data was analysed descriptively while Spearman's Rho sought correlations between PCI-facility resources, population, poverty and medical insurance status. Results: South Africa has 62 PCI-facilities. Gauteng has the most PCI-facilities (n = 28) while the Northern Cape has none. Most PCI-facilities (n = 48; 77%) are owned by the private sector. A disparity exists between the number of private and state-owned PCI-facilities when compared to the poverty (r = 0.01; p = 0.17) and insurance status of individuals (r = -0.4; p = 0.27). Conclusion: For many South Africans, access to PCI-facilities and primary PCI is still impossible given their socio-economic status or geographical locale. Research is needed to determine the specific PCI-facility needs based on geographic and epidemiological aspects, and to develop a contextualised solution for South Africans suffering a myocardial infarction. (C) 2017 African Federation for Emergency Medicine. Publishing services provided by Elsevier B.V.Peer reviewe

Adolescent Healthcare Brokering: Prevalence, Experience, Impact, and Opportunities

BACKGROUND: Limited health literacy disproportionately affects those with limited English proficiency (LEP). Parents with LEP might rely on their adolescent children to interpret health information. We call this adolescent health care brokering. This study uncovers the prevalence of brokering, kinds of tasks, emotional and academic impact, and desired support. METHODS: We invited 165 students from health classes (in a community in which 29.8% are foreign-born and 53.4% speak another language at home) to complete a survey. We used IBM SPSS to calculate descriptive statistics. RESULTS: Of the 159 who received parental consent and assented, 54.1% (n=86) assist with healthcare tasks. When brokering, 80.2% (n=69) translate. Most common tasks were talking to a doctor, reading prescriptions, and searching on the Internet. Participants were most confident reading prescriptions and talking to a doctor and least confident finding healthcare services. Among brokers, 29.1% (n=24) missed school; 33.7% did not complete homework. They most wanted to learn about filling out insurance forms and talking to doctors. CONCLUSIONS: Despite assurances that children are not permitted to interpret, adolescents are acting as healthcare brokers. The impact can be academic and emotional. Findings indicate a need for further research and support for adolescents who want to learn about healthcare tasks

The Adolescent Health Care Broker – Adolescents Interpreting for Family Members and Themselves in Health Care

Parents with limited English proficiency might rely on their adolescent children to interpret health information. We call this adolescent healthcare brokering. Using a mixed-methods, transformative research approach rooted in grounded theory, we sought to answer these questions: (a) “What is happening? What are people doing?” and (b) “What do these stories indicate? What might they suggest about social justice?” High school students from a community in which 53.4% speak another language at home were invited to participate in a survey and focus groups. Of 238 survey participants, 57.5% (n=137) indicated they assisted with healthcare tasks. When doing so, 81.7% (n=112) translated. Common tasks were reading prescriptions and talking to doctors. While some participants cited negative emotions associated with brokering, the net emotion was positive. Focus groups (n=11) revealed that tasks varied broadly in complexity and type, emotional experiences were dichotomous, and access to interpreting services and other supports was inconsistent