Short communication: Mutual olfactory relationships in rabbits raised in individual cages

[EN] A set of three contiguous cages was utilised to test the possibility that rabbits establish sniffing relationships when housed in contiguous cages as occurs on farms. The single cages were separated by a tin divider slide in which very small holes were made. This system allows the smell to be sensed while a visual relationship was not possible. The experimental set was then located in an open air shed under a roof with no walls, in order to allow olfactory stimuli and to make it possible to perceive its direction and possibly its origin. This set-up avoided the odours saturating the environment so that the animals could sense each other's presence. Three 16 wk old does were housed in contiguous cages at the same time. The animals were video-recorded at one frame per minute for 8 consecutive days and a total of 11,500 frames per animal were recorded. The trial was replicated under the same conditions with three new does. Progressively decreasing sniffing behaviour (P<0.001) was observed. The behaviour of all the does in the lateral cages was similar and there were no significant differences. Frequent reciprocal sniffing was also observed, mainly in the first few days. The results indicate that a sniffing relationship is established among rabbits but this behaviour decreases rapidly. It is possible that after the initial interest shown, rabbits do not show any specific behavioural changes when sensing other animals.Negretti, P.; Bianconi, G.; Finzi, A. (2010). Short communication: Mutual olfactory relationships in rabbits raised in individual cages. World Rabbit Science. 18(1):33-36. doi:10.4995/wrs.2010.18.05333618

Tracking social regulation of learning in interdisciplinary group work

Recent years have seen a growing interest in how student groups regulate their learning when taking part in collaborative and interdisciplinary project-courses that are increasingly becoming popular in Engineering Education programs. While there is a rich research landscape on self-regulated learning, more empirical studies are needed on social regulation of peer-learning in collaborative group work. This study addresses this gap by conducting a narrative comparative case study to document shared regulation in three student groups from three project-based courses. Qualitative data was collected through interviews with members from those interdisciplinary groups working on real world challenges. The interviews were analysed for regulation episodes and synthesised into narratives representing key aspects of the groups regulative behaviours. The results are expected to highlight numerous instances of social regulation of learning within the various groups’ at different stages of the project. Preliminary results presented here demonstrate challenges faced by a group when attempting to socially regulate their learning, underlining the importance of scaffolding for collaborative learning. Findings from the full study will highlight the important role that social regulation processes play in group learning and add to the current understanding of the interplay between different modes of social regulation in groups

English for Specific Playfulness? How doctoral students find fun in the development of genre knowledge, authorial voice, and genre innovation

The power of genre analysis to foster graduate students\u27 awareness of genre convention and context-related variation (Cheng, 2018) is well established. Nonetheless, concerns remain that the approach risks promoting rhetorical \u27painting by numbers\u27, in which writers glumly surrender their creativity and authorial voice to the demands of their genre. Thus, recent reappraisals of genre pedagogy encourage fostering innovation, play and challenge to convention in academic writing (e.g. Tardy, 2016). In this paper, we show that ESP-based pedagogy can promote a sense of playfulness with genre, or at the very least, some pleasure in the enhanced sense of control over genre convention. Data is derived from interviews with 24 doctoral students in the hard sciences over a two-year period. Transcripts were analysed using a cross-comparative method to extract comments indexing enjoyment, fun, and deliberate author choices that challenge convention. The findings reveal students\u27 appreciation of the sense of control derived from knowledge of typical rhetorical structures and recurrent linguistic forms, which affords them both confidence in their writing and an appreciation of the variation found within genres. Further, students reported making rhetorical choices based on their own stylistic preferences, a desire to engage their readers, the "fun" derived from experimentation, and the creation of a personal voice. Crucially, the data suggests that students do not ‘surrender’ and are in fact deliberate and metacognitive in their approach to writing. Our paper thus shows how doctoral students in the sciences can use their developed rhetorical consciousness metacognitively to trouble, bend, critique and innovate their genres.Cheng, A. (2018). Genre and graduate-level research writing. University of Michigan Press ELTTardy, C. M. (2016). Beyond convention: Genre innovation in academic writing. University of Michigan Press EL

Reviews

Mark Kerr, How to Promote your Web Site Effectively, London: Aslib/IMI, ISBN: 0–85142–424–4. Paperback, 87 pages, £13.99

Nonlinearity-assisted quantum tunneling in a matter-wave interferometer

We investigate the {\em nonlinearity-assisted quantum tunneling} and formation of nonlinear collective excitations in a matter-wave interferometer, which is realised by the adiabatic transformation of a double-well potential into a single-well harmonic trap. In contrast to the linear quantum tunneling induced by the crossing (or avoided crossing) of neighbouring energy levels, the quantum tunneling between different nonlinear eigenstates is assisted by the nonlinear mean-field interaction. When the barrier between the wells decreases, the mean-field interaction aids quantum tunneling between the ground and excited nonlinear eigenstates. The resulting {\em non-adiabatic evolution} depends on the input states. The tunneling process leads to the generation of dark solitons, and the number of the generated dark solitons is highly sensitive to the matter-wave nonlinearity. The results of the numerical simulations of the matter-wave dynamics are successfully interpreted with a coupled-mode theory for multiple nonlinear eigenstates.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, accept for publication in J. Phys.

Writing at work: Transfer of genre knowledge to research writing in the medical field

Transfer is often defined in terms of “transfer of knowledge” and “knowledge transformation” (Donahue, 2016). Transfer is a complex concept, operationalized as “near” vs. “far” transfer—referring to the proximity between context and tasks, and “high-road” vs. “low-road” transfer—referring to the amount of deliberate abstraction and search for connection that the transfer situation requires (Perkins &amp; Salomon, 1992).In connection to writing, transfer entails a definition of what writing knowledge is (Donahue, 2016). We conceptualize this knowledge as “genre knowledge” (Tardy, 2009); in genre theory transfer often designates autonomy and the ability to make deliberate authorial choices across writing genres and tasks. Specifically, we investigate metacognition and its role in students’ ability to transfer and adapt genre knowledge to research writing tasks. The metacognitive facet of transfer has surfaced repeatedly in genre pedagogy (Artemeva &amp; Fox, 2010; Reiff and Bawarshi, 2011), and as Anson &amp; Moore emphatically stress in their recent work, “transfer happens through awareness and metacognition” (2016, p.333, emphasis in the original).This poster presents part of the data collected over 2 years in a longitudinal project on writing transfer in a Scandinavian university of technology, involving doctoral students in various scientific and technical disciplines. Our question is: How do students transfer the genre knowledge developed through a genre-based writing course? We present the preliminary results obtained from doctoral students in the medical field, who therefore “write at work” as they engage in research writing. Our data comes from interviews conducted with these professionals 6 months to a year after the conclusion of the course.The emerging picture is that genre analysis, especially if aimed at highlighting conventions but also variation, often becomes a\ua0tool\ua0in the writing process, i.e. a cognitive strategy used particularly in the planning phases of the writing endeavour. These tools—ranging from textual skills such as paragraphing to voice and stance markers, to conventional rhetorical patterns and moves—suggest metacognition and high-road transfer: (genre) knowledge is applied flexibly. Depending on their goals and readers’ expectations, writers make deliberate and autonomous choices. Several students reported an increased sense of control and efficiency, and—not trivially—an increased sense of enjoyment in writing.\ua0Anson, C. &amp; Moore, J. (Eds.) (2016).\ua0Critical Transitions: Writing and the Question of Transfer. The WAC Clearinghouse.\ua0http://wac.colostate.edu/books/ansonmoore/Artemeva, N. &amp; Fox, J. (2010). Awareness vs. production: Probing students’ antecedent genre knowledge.\ua0Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 24,476-515.\ua0doi:10.1177/1050651910371302Donahue, C. (2016). Writing and Global Transfer Narratives: Situating the Knowledge Transformation Conversation.\ua0In Anson, C., &amp; Moore, J. (Eds.),\ua0Critical Transitions: Writing and the Question of Transfer\ua0(pp. 107-136).Perkins, D. N., &amp; Salomon, G. (1992). Transfer of Learning.\ua0International Encyclopedia of Education,\ua02, 6452-6457.Reiff, M. J., &amp; Bawarshi, A. (2011). Tracing discursive resources: How students use prior genre knowledge to negotiate new writing contexts in first-year composition.\ua0Written Communication, 28(3), 312-337.Tardy, C. M. (2009).\ua0Building Genre Knowledge. West Lafayette, IN: Parlor Press

Famous sheep breeds : the Merino

THE Merino breed has often been described as the Royal Family of the Sheep World and this title was never more applicable than in the case of the presentday Australian Merino—a sheep which, in addition to producing the world\u27s most valuable wool is so staunchly-constitutioned that it will thrive under a wide range of conditions and has survived droughts in which the hardy native animals perished in thousands

Morfometrik Kambing Perah G1 Sapera Betina Berdasarkan Analisa Citra Digital

Estimasi ukuran-ukuran tubuh ternak melalui teknik analisa citra digital mampu menyajikan data morfometrik secara akurat dan memberi rasa nyaman kepada ternak. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui tingkat akurasi estimasi sejumlah ukuran tubuh melalui teknik citra digital dibandingkan metode pengukuran manual. Sampel adalah kambing perah silangan generasi pertama (G1) ‘Sapera’ (50% Saanen, 50% PE) betina meliputi kambing dara (1-1.5 tahun) (13 ekor) dan betina dewasa (> 1.5-3 tahun) (17 ekor). Dilakukan pengukuran secara manual dan perekaman secara citra digital terhadap tujuh variabel ukuran tubuh. Data dianalisis secara deskriptif dan uji-T. Hasil ukuran tubuh kambing G1 Sapera secara manual dan citra digital berurutan untuk dalam dada (28,26±2,54 cm, 35,32±2,042 cm), panjang badan (59,93±5,12 cm, 64,20±4,28 cm), tinggi pundak 64,87±5,31 cm, 64,09±5,31 cm), tinggi panggul (65,33±5,0 cm, 66,89±4,073 cm), panjang kaki depan (51,75±3,29 cm, 50,17±2,58 cm) dan panjang kaki belakang (26,86±1,82 cm, 27,55±1,22 cm), serta lebar panggul (15,37±2,23 cm, 14,75±1,57 cm). Kambing dara memiliki ukuran-ukuran tubuh lebih seragam dibandingkan kambing dewasa, dengan Kk = 4,04-9,29 % vs 5,94-11.81 %. Data sejumlah ukuran tubuh kambing Sapera memungkinkan diperoleh dengan teknik citra digital karena menghasilkan perbedaan terhadap data ukuran manual yang rendah

ピエール・ロシエ： 東アジアにおける写真の開拓者

International Conference on Research of Old Japanese Photographs "International Exchange Depicted in Old Photographs": November 16th-17th 2007, Nagasaki University (2F Multipurpose Hall, General Education and Reserch Building)古写真研究国際カンファレンス「イメージのなかの国際交流」: 2007年11月16-17日, 長崎大学(総合教育研究棟2階多目的ホール