Do Movement Patterns of GPS-Tracked Cattle on Extensive Rangelands Suggest Independence among Individuals?

In behavioral studies, cattle within the same pasture are not considered as independent experimental units because of the potential confounding effects of the herd’s social interactions. However, evaluating cattle behavior on extensive rangelands is logistically challenging for researchers, and treating individual animals as independent experimental units may be beneficial for answering specific research questions. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association patterns among global positioning system (GPS)-tracked cattle at six different study sites in the western United States. A Half-Weight Index (HWI) association value was calculated for each pair of GPS-tracked cows (i.e., dyad) to determine the proportion of time that cattle were within 75 m and 500 m of each other. Cattle at two study sites exhibited relatively low mean HWI-association values (i.e., less than 0.23 HWI); whereas, cattle at other study sites tended to have greater mean HWI associations (i.e., greater than 0.35 HWI). Distinguishing features between study sites with low and high association values were the management of cattle prior to the study, herd size, pasture size, and the number of watering points. However, at all ranches except one, at least 75% of all dyadic associations had HWI values of less than 0.5 at 500 m, indicating that most of the GPS-tracked cows were greater than 500 m from each other for over 50% of tracking period. While interactions among cattle in the same pasture are often inevitable, our data suggests that under some situations, movement patterns of a sub-set of individual GPS-tracked cows may have levels of independence that are sufficient for analysis as individual experimental units. Understanding the level of independence among GPS-tracked cattle may provide options for analysis of grazing behavior for individual cattle within the same pasture

Spontaneous Mimicry of Emotional Facial Expressions as a Function of Trait Sadism

Using electromyography (EMG), it has been shown that facial muscles imperceptibly mirror the facial expressions of others, a phenomenon referred to as spontaneous facial mimicry. Facial mimicry may be involved in empathy processing, and is impaired in several empathy deficit disorders. It was previously believed to follow the direct-matching principle, a theory postulating that spontaneous facial mimicry involves the observer mirroring their partner’s expression exactly. However, several recent studies have demonstrated that context and individual differences may be influencing factors of spontaneous facial mimicry. In the present study, we propose to investigate the relationship between facial mimicry and empathy through measuring the EMG response of participants with high and low trait sadism. EMG recordings will be measured from the corrugator supercilii, zygomaticus major, lateral frontalis, and levator labii superioris. In Study 1, participants will view dynamic emotional expression videos, then identify the emotion and rate the genuineness and intensity of the emotion. In Study 2, participants will view images of limbs in pain or in similar neutral situations. In Study 3, participants will compete against an alleged opponent for the chance to punish their opponent. We hypothesize that mimicry does not follow the direct matching principle, but reflects the endogenous emotional state of the observer. This study will allow for a better understanding of the nuanced mechanisms of empathy, and may resolve the current debate regarding which theory best describes the operation of mimicry

The Dissociable Impact of Auditory vs. Visual Emotional Cues on Visual Processing

Background: Emotional information has privileged access to processing resources, which can cause it to have a distracting or facilitating effect on task performance for reasons that are poorly understood. The sensory modality through which it is presented may be one determining factor. Some findings suggest that auditory stimuli facilitate visual task performance while visual stimuli interfere with it, but there are conflicting findings. Hypothesis: We hypothesize that emotional content of a different sensory modality from the task improves task-related performance via a general alerting and arousing effect for all stimuli, while emotional content of the same modality disrupts performance when task-relevant neutral stimuli compete with emotional stimuli for processing resources. Methods: Participants will attempt to identify the location of a Gabor patch (a sinusoidal grating of horizontal lines), either on the left or right side of the computer screen, while a negative or neutral image or sound is presented. Their reaction times will be compared across conditions. Expected Results: We expect that emotional content presented through the auditory modality will result in faster responses on the visual perception task, compared to neutral content. Conversely, compared to neutral stimuli, emotional content presented visually will lead to slower responses. Discussion: This research will lead to a better understanding of how the manner in which emotional information is presented can determine its effect on task performance. This is a key step in determining how emotional content perceived through multiple modalities interacts to affect a person’s perceptual abilities in complex emotional situations

#ArsonEmergency and Australia's "Black Summer": Polarisation and misinformation on social media

During the summer of 2019-20, while Australia suffered unprecedented bushfires across the country, false narratives regarding arson and limited backburning spread quickly on Twitter, particularly using the hashtag #ArsonEmergency. Misinformation and bot- and troll-like behaviour were detected and reported by social media researchers and the news soon reached mainstream media. This paper examines the communication and behaviour of two polarised online communities before and after news of the misinformation became public knowledge. Specifically, the Supporter community actively engaged with others to spread the hashtag, using a variety of news sources pushing the arson narrative, while the Opposer community engaged less, retweeted more, and focused its use of URLs to link to mainstream sources, debunking the narratives and exposing the anomalous behaviour. This influenced the content of the broader discussion. Bot analysis revealed the active accounts were predominantly human, but behavioural and content analysis suggests Supporters engaged in trolling, though both communities used aggressive language.Comment: 16 pages, 8 images, presented at the 2nd Multidisciplinary International Symposium on Disinformation in Open Online Media (MISDOOM 2020), Leiden, The Netherlands. Published in: van Duijn M., Preuss M., Spaiser V., Takes F., Verberne S. (eds) Disinformation in Open Online Media. MISDOOM 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 12259. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61841-4_1

Putting phenomenology into practice - towards an ontology of person centered healthcare

In this research I have set out a philosophical basis for person centered healthcare. I have uncovered the philosophical ground on which this rests in an attempt to show how practice can be improved, and how examples of person centered practice can be transferred between individuals and institutions involved in the commissioning and provision of healthcare. Philosophy is the instrument through which we understand why systems work and philosophy is therefore the key to unlock the potential of person centered healthcare. By providing an underlying architectonic this work will help to enable practitioners to understand the benefits of person centered healthcare practice in promoting autonomy in those who are suffering from chronic and other illnesses. I have used the existential phenomenology of Martin Heidegger and Gadamer’s work on hermeneutics to provide support to the argument in favour of a person centered approach to healthcare. Phenomenology offers a rich and subtle way of thinking about how we know what we know, and this applies to our knowledge and understanding of how healthcare works just as much as it does to all other kinds of knowledge. Existential phenomenology, with its emphasis on the first person lived experience of people who are ill and receiving care provides a method of discussing, understanding and grounding person centered healthcare which is philosophically robust, and which offers policy makers, and those commissioning and providing healthcare, clear guidance on how to make their practice person centered. Using examples from my own experience of illness and healthcare along with account given by others I have shown how the purpose of healthcare is understood as the preservation, restoration and maximisation of personal autonomy, how a person centered approach is the most appropriate response to this purpose, and how the philosophical ground which I have set out becomes manifest in the practice of person centered healthcare