Parental approaches to enhancing young people's online safety

Although there is evidence that young people are tech-savvy with the know-how to keep themselves safe online, this review has demonstrated that the technological generational gap remains large. There are divergent opinions over what constitutes online risks, dangers or threats to young people online. Online environments fostering anonymity, for example, can be perceived as both a risk and benefit to young people. Conversation between young people and adults regarding online safety is imperative to parents understanding cybersafety and young people staying safe online. It remains crucial that research is conducted to explore these questions with adults and young people

Wheat diseases in Western Australia

DISEASES caused by pathogenic organisms can seriously affect the yield of wheat. Some diseases are comparatively rare whereas others occur over a large area of the wheatbelt year after year

To Determine the Active and Inactive Hours for Sound Sows When Housed in Individual Pens

There are currently no analgesic drugs specifically approved for pain relief in livestock by the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Therefore, the objective of this study was to (1) identify the active hours of sound sows and (2) use this information to watch these active hours of the same sows when lame and after pain mitigation treatments. To avoid confounding injury due to aggression, twelve, clinically normal, mixed-parity, crossbred sows were purchased from a commercial producer in Iowa and housed in individual pens at Iowa State University. One 12 v black and white CCTV camera was affixed above the pen. Video was captured onto a DVR at 10 frames per second in black and white mode. Scoring of video began at 0600 and ended at 1800 and two postures (active and inactive), out of pen or unknown were collected. All behavioral data were expressed as percentages and were subjected to a square root arcsine transformation process to normalize the distribution. Transformed data were analyzed using the PROC MIXED procedure in SAS®. A P value of P ≤ 0.05 was considered to be significant. No differences were observed for out of pen (P = 0.24) or unknown (P = 0.71) for the sows. There was a difference for the time spent active (P = 0.0003) versus inactive (P = 0.0052) over the 12-h for sows. Sows were most active at 0800 (59 %) and at 1600 (66 %) which corresponded to the feeding schedule. The least active hours were 0600, 0700, and 1700 h respectively. In conclusion the critical active hours for these sows were around feeding schedules. Therefore, it is beneficial to watch from 0800 to 1659 to capture when the sows are most active in their home pen environment

Scan Sampling Techniques for Behavioral Validation in Nursery Pigs

Behavioral observations are a type of “assay” that is used to quantify animal biological responses. As with physiological measurements, methods of behavioral observation should be validated and selected based on the objectives of the particular study. The objective of this study was to validate the accuracy of scan samples at various predetermined intervals for confined nursery pigs. Twenty, 35 day old, crossbred PIC (USA) nursery pigs were housed in five pens within a confinement building. Eight scan sample treatments (1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 15, 30, and 60 minutes) were individually compared to continuous observation. Scan sample was defined as the first second for each scan interval (1 minute scan sample intervals provided 60 selected scans of one second duration per pig per hour). The percentage of the total time observed for each behavior and posture then calculated for each pen. Drinking differed (P = 0.0019) from the continuous data at intervals greater than 5 minutes or more. For all other behaviors and postures there were no (P \u3e 0.05) differences between scan treatments and the continuous data. In conclusion, scan samples under these experimental conditions were accurate for all behaviors and postures except drinking