Opinion of organic and free-range pig farmers on animal welfare and the PIGLOW app for animal welfare self-assessments

The PIGLOW app was designed for the PPILOW project, enabling organic and free-range pig farmers to monitor the welfare of their pigs. The app is based on the 4 principles of the Welfare Quality protocol: good housing, good feeding, good health and appropriate behaviour. The tool includes automated feedback and anonymous benchmarking. A longitudinal study on 20-30 pig farms has started in order to determine the long-term effect of the use of the app on animal welfare. A survey is being conducted to assess participants’ views on animal welfare and their expectations of the app (n=10). Answers are given on a scale of 1 (disagree completely/not important at all) to 7 (agree completely/very important). When asked how they would define good animal welfare, 7/10 farmers included the possibility to express natural behaviour. The farmers scored the importance of 16 welfare aspects addressed in the PIGLOW app. The lowest score was given for thermal comfort (x̄=5.3, sd=1.1) and the highest score for the availability of drinking water (x̄=7, sd=0). Thus, even the least important of the indicators were scored above the point of neutrality (score 4). When asked how they think their own farm performs on these same 16 aspects, the scores for all except one (feed structure) were lower than those they gave for the importance of the aspect. The mean difference between these two values was largest for absence of wounds/lesions (x̄1-2=1, sd=1.3) and absence of lameness (x̄1-2=1, sd=1.7). It therefore seems likely that these are the welfare aspects for which farmers think improvement on their farm is most desirable. Farmers expect a historical record of their data (x̄=5.9, sd=1.2) and benchmarking (x̄=5.7, sd=1.5) to be the most useful aspects of the PIGLOW app. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement N°816172

Opinion of organic and free-range pig farmers on animal welfare and the PIGLOW app for animal welfare self-assessments

International audienc

Promoting physical distancing during COVID-19: a systematic approach to compare behavioral interventions.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, physical distancing behavior turned out to be key to mitigating the virus spread. Therefore, it is crucial that we understand how we can successfully alter our behavior and promote physical distancing. We present a framework to systematically assess the effectiveness of behavioral interventions to stimulate physical distancing. In addition, we demonstrate the feasibility of this framework in a large-scale natural experiment (N = 639) conducted during an art fair. In an experimental design, we varied interventions to evaluate the effect of face masks, walking directions, and immediate feedback on visitors’ contacts. We represent visitors as nodes, and their contacts as links in a contact network. Subsequently, we used network modelling to test for differences in these contact networks. We find no evidence that face masks influence physical distancing, while unidirectional walking directions and buzzer feedback do positively impact physical distancing. This study offers a feasible way to optimize physical distancing interventions through scientific research. As such, the presented framework provides society with the means to directly evaluate interventions, so that policy can be based on evidence rather than conjecture

Smart Distance Lab's art fair, experimental data on social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the absence of a vaccine, social distancing behaviour is pivotal to mitigate COVID-19 virus spread. In this large-scale behavioural experiment, we gathered data during Smart Distance Lab: The Art Fair (n = 839) between August 28 and 30, 2020 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. We varied walking directions (bidirectional, unidirectional, and no directions) and supplementary interventions (face mask and buzzer to alert visitors of 1.5 metres distance). We captured visitors’ movements using cameras, registered their contacts (defined as within 1.5 metres) using wearable sensors, and assessed their attitudes toward COVID-19 as well as their experience during the event using questionnaires. We also registered environmental measures (e.g., humidity). In this paper, we describe this unprecedented, multi-modal experimental data set on social distancing, including psychological, behavioural, and environmental measures. The data set is available on figshare and in a MySQL database. It can be used to gain insight into (attitudes toward) behavioural interventions promoting social distancing, to calibrate pedestrian models, and to inform new studies on behavioural interventions

Virological and Social Outcomes of HIV-Infected Adolescents and Young Adults in The Netherlands Before and After Transition to Adult Care

As a result of effective combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) and advanced supportive healthcare, a growing number of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected children survive into adulthood. The period of transition to adult care is often associated with impaired adherence to treatment and discontinuity of care. We aimed to evaluate virological and social outcomes of HIV-infected adolescents and young adults (AYAs) before and after transition, and explore which factors are associated with virological failure. We included 59 HIV-infected AYAs from the Netherlands who had entered into pediatric care and transitioned from pediatric to adult healthcare. We used HIV RNA load and cART data from the Dutch Stichting HIV Monitoring database (1996-2014), and collected social and treatment data from patients' medical records from all Dutch pediatric HIV treatment centers and 14 Dutch adult treatment centers involved. We evaluated risk factors for virological failure (VF) in a logistic regression model adjusted for repeated measurements. HIV VF occurred frequently during the study period (14%-36%). During the transition period (from 18 to 19 years of age) there was a significant increase in VF compared with the reference group of children aged 12-13 years (odds ratio, 4.26 [95% confidence interval, 1.12-16.28]; P = .03). Characteristics significantly associated with VF were low educational attainment and lack of autonomy regarding medication adherence at transition. HIV-infected AYAs are vulnerable to VF, especially during the transition period. Identification of HIV-infected adolescents at high risk for VF might help to improve treatment success in this grou

Virological and Social Outcomes of HIV-Infected Adolescents and Young Adults in the Netherlands before and after Transition to Adult Care

Background. As a result of effective combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) and advanced supportive healthcare, a growing number of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected children survive into adulthood. The period of transition to adult care is often associated with impaired adherence to treatment and discontinuity of care. We aimed to evaluate virological and social outcomes of HIV-infected adolescents and young adults (AYAs) before and after transition, and explore which factors are associated with virological failure. Methods. We included 59 HIV-infected AYAs from the Netherlands who had entered into pediatric care and transitioned from pediatric to adult healthcare. We used HIV RNA load and cART data from the Dutch Stichting HIV Monitoring database (1996-2014), and collected social and treatment data from patients' medical records from all Dutch pediatric HIV treatment centers and 14 Dutch adult treatment centers involved. We evaluated risk factors for virological failure (VF) in a logistic regression model adjusted for repeated measurements. Results. HIV VF occurred frequently during the study period (14%-36%). During the transition period (from 18 to 19 years of age) there was a significant increase in VF compared with the reference group of children aged 12-13 years (odds ratio, 4.26 [95% confidence interval, 1.12-16.28]; P =. 03). Characteristics significantly associated with VF were low educational attainment and lack of autonomy regarding medication adherence at transition. Conclusions. HIV-infected AYAs are vulnerable to VF, especially during the transition period. Identification of HIV-infected adolescents at high risk for VF might help to improve treatment success in this group