Getting creative in everyday life: Investigating arts and crafts hobbyists' information behavior

While there has been increasing interest in how creative professionals find information to drive creative outputs, previous information behavior research has largely ignored how arts and crafts hobbyists look for information sources in their everyday lives. To fill this literature gap, we conducted interviews and observations with arts and crafts hobbyists to find out how they conceive potential DIY projects. The findings highlight three themes: the dearth of human sources, the prevalence of domain-specific information, and the use of self-curated information. In addition to empirical results, this work also broadens the understanding of information behavior in an arts and crafts context by studying populations beyond professional artists

Comparison of agar gel immunodiffusion test, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and PCR in diagnostics of enzootic bovine leukosis

Bovine leukaemia virus (BLV) is a retrovirus that induces a chronic infection in cattle. Once infected, cattle remain virus carriers for life and start to show an antibody response within a few weeks after infection. Eradication and control of the disease are based on early diagnostics and segregation of the carriers. The choice of a diagnostic method depends on the eradication programme, money resources and characteristics of the herd to be analysed. The agar gel immunodiffusion (AGID) test has been the serological test of choice for routine diagnosis of serum samples. Nevertheless, in more recent years, the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) has replaced the AGID for large scale testing. For this purpose, commercially available BLV-ELISA kits were compared to the AGID and to the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method performed with two sets of primers, amplifying env region. The ELISA kit based on the p24 core protein was found to be less specific and served as a screening test. The ELISA kit based on the envelope glycoprotein (gpSI) served as a verification test and gave a good correlation with the AGID test and PCR method. However, ELISA showed a higher sensitivity than AGID. The p24 based ELiSA was useful for screening a large number of samples, whereas gp51 based ELISA, AGID and PCR were more important for detecting the antibody response against the individual BLV-proteins and therefore for verification of the infection with BLV

Maize silage as enrichment material improves the welfare of growing-finishing pigs in environmentally-friendly pens

Provision of enrichment in welfare- and environmentally-friendly pig pens is important for sustainable pig production. The primary aim of the present experiment was to investigate the effects of maize silage as a singular enrichment compared to a combination of maize silage and chopped straw on behaviours important for determining pig welfare (play, locomotion, exploration, social contact, aggression, manipulation, eating, drinking, lying/sleeping, sitting/standing and nosing objects) in growing-finishing pigs (pigs, n = 432; batch, n = 2; pens n = 12 per batch). Secondly, the impact of drinker position (IN: two drinkers placed in the inside area; OUT: two drinkers in the outside area; IN_OUT: a drinker in each of the inside and outside areas; n = 8 pens per group) on pig behaviour was assessed. There were no statistically significant influences of enrichment treatments on behaviour. The OUT group performed less manipulation behaviour than the IN (mean difference = 2.65; 90 % highest density interval (HDI): 0.46, 4.84) and IN-OUT (mean difference = 2.88 HDI: 0.69, 5.15) groups, and drank more than the IN-OUT group (mean difference = -3.87; HDI: -6.76, -0.90). In addition, we found that a one standard deviation (∼ 2 days) increase in observation days/pig age significantly decreased manipulation (log coefficient = -0.32; HDI: -0.42, -0.22) and aggressive behaviours (log coefficient = -0.46; HDI: -0.57, -0.36), but there was an increase in drinking (log coefficient = 0.13; HDI: 0.09, 0.18) and nosing objects (log coefficient = 0.12; HDI: 0.06, 0.18). Significant associations were also found for batch (season), as well as correlations between behaviours. In summary, our results showed that pig behaviours during the growing-fattening period were similarly expressed in the maize silage and combined maize silage and chopped straw treatments, suggesting that maize silage in environmentally-friendly pig pens is adequate in ensuring welfare standards. Furthermore, placing drinkers in the outside area reduced manipulation between pen-mates, thus, could improve pig welfare

Information Behavior Patterns: A New Theoretical Perspective from an Empirical Study of Naturalistic Information Acquisition

This empirical study offers a new theoretical perspective in information behavior research by identifying interrelationships between certain information behaviors. While previous work recognizes the iterative nature of information acquisition, information behavior research has so far been dominated by the identification and conceptual elaboration of discrete behaviors. We introduce the theoretical concept of ‘information behavior patterns’ to characterize the intricate connectedness of information interaction in an arts and crafts context. A qualitative study comprising naturalistic observation and semi-structured interviews with 20 arts and crafts hobbyists was conducted in two ‘browse-first’ information environments that support various forms of active and passive information acquisition: Pinterest and a brick-and-mortar crafts store. Findings revealed a variety of information behavior patterns across both environments. We illustrate several of these through in-depth discussions of two specific information acquisition sessions. We visualize observed patterns from these sessions to illustrate the interweaving of active, passive acquisition, and personal goals. Our findings demonstrate the complex interconnectedness of human information behavior, highlighting the importance of going beyond compartmentalizing behaviors into ‘buckets’ when trying to understand the complex, dynamic and evolving nature of information interaction

Creating by me, and for me: investigating the use of information creation in everyday life

Introduction. We investigate the use of information creation in everyday life, where individuals carry out various commonplace work. While there have been an increasing number of studies on information creation, little research exists on discussing its function and relationship to navigating life activities. Method. To identify the ways information creation facilitates information tasks in the everyday world, we conducted two qualitative studies, each reflecting a particular aspect of our daily lives. We held semi-structured interviews and think-aloud observation in physical grocery stores and on the Pinterest website. A total of twenty-eight participants (eighteen grocery shoppers and ten arts and crafts hobbyists) were recruited for the two studies. Analysis. Transcribed interview data and field notes were analysed inductively. We assigned and refined a series of codes iteratively to identify themes. Results. Findings highlight a variety of circumstances in which participants made use of information creation as an end product to support their ordinary actions (in this case, grocery shopping and idea collecting, respectively). Conclusions. This study gives an in-depth analysis of information creation, underlining its potential functions in efficiently and engagingly aiding the accomplishment of routine activities. We demonstrate the practical and affective value associated with information creation, expanding this concept in information behaviour research

International Clostridium difficile animal strain collection and large diversity of animal associated strains

Background: Clostridium difficile is an important cause of intestinal infections in some animal species and animals might be a reservoir for community associated human infections. Here we describe a collection of animal associated C. difficile strains from 12 countries based on inclusion criteria of one strain (PCR ribotype) per animal species per laboratory. Results: Altogether 112 isolates were collected and distributed into 38 PCR ribotypes with agarose based approach and 50 PCR ribotypes with sequencer based approach. Four PCR ribotypes were most prevalent in terms of number of isolates as well as in terms of number of different host species: 078 (14.3% of isolates; 4 hosts), 014/020 (11.6%; 8 hosts); 002 (5.4%; 4 hosts) and 012 (5.4%; 5 hosts). Two animal hosts were best represented; cattle with 31 isolates (20 PCR ribotypes; 7 countries) and pigs with 31 isolates (16 PCR ribotypes; 10 countries). Conclusions: This results show that although PCR ribotype 078 is often reported as the major animal C. difficile type, especially in pigs, the variability of strains in pigs and other animal hosts is substantial. Most common human PCR ribotypes (014/020 and 002) are also among most prevalent animal associated C. difficile strains worldwide. The widespread dissemination of toxigenic C. difficile and the considerable overlap in strain distribution between species furthers concerns about interspecies, including zoonotic, transmission of this critically important pathogen

Overview of cattle diseases listed under category C, D or E in the animal health law for wich control programmes are in place within Europe

13 páginas, 5 figuras, 3 tablas.The COST action “Standardising output-based surveillance to control non-regulated diseases of cattle in the European Union (SOUND control),” aims to harmonise the results of surveillance and control programmes (CPs) for non-EU regulated cattle diseases to facilitate safe trade and improve overall control of cattle infectious diseases. In this paper we aimed to provide an overview on the diversity of control for these diseases in Europe. A non-EU regulated cattle disease was defined as an infectious disease of cattle with no or limited control at EU level, which is not included in the European Union Animal health law Categories A or B under Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/2002. A CP was defined as surveillance and/or intervention strategies designed to lower the incidence, prevalence, mortality or prove freedom from a specific disease in a region or country. Passive surveillance, and active surveillance of breeding bulls under Council Directive 88/407/EEC were not considered as CPs. A questionnaire was designed to obtain country-specific information about CPs for each disease. Animal health experts from 33 European countries completed the questionnaire. Overall, there are 23 diseases for which a CP exists in one or more of the countries studied. The diseases for which CPs exist in the highest number of countries are enzootic bovine leukosis, bluetongue, infectious bovine rhinotracheitis, bovine viral diarrhoea and anthrax (CPs reported by between 16 and 31 countries). Every participating country has on average, 6 CPs (min–max: 1–13) in place. Most programmes are implemented at a national level (86%) and are applied to both dairy and non-dairy cattle (75%). Approximately one-third of the CPs are voluntary, and the funding structure is divided between government and private resources. Countries that have eradicated diseases like enzootic bovine leukosis, bluetongue, infectious bovine rhinotracheitis and bovine viral diarrhoea have implemented CPs for other diseases to further improve the health status of cattle in their country. The control of non-EU regulated cattle diseases is very heterogenous in Europe. Therefore, the standardising of the outputs of these programmes to enable comparison represents a challenge.Peer reviewe