scholarly journals Evaluating the effects of arousal and emotional valence on performance of racing greyhounds

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Starling ◽  
Anthony Spurrett ◽  
Paul McGreevy
Keyword(s):  
Poor Performance ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Linear Regression Models ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Predicting Performance ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Eye Temperature

AbstractThe racing greyhound industry in Australia has come under scrutiny in recent years due to animal welfare concerns, including so-called behavioural wastage whereby physically sound greyhounds are removed from the racing industry because of poor performance. The non-medical reasons why greyhounds perform poorly at the racetrack are not well understood, but may include insufficient reinforcement for racing, or negative affective states associated with the context of racing. This study sought evidence for the affective states of greyhounds (n=525) at race meets and associations of those states with performance. It collected demographic, behavioural and performance data, along with infrared thermographic images of greyhounds at race-meets to investigate whether arousal influenced performance. It also collected behavioural data in the catching pen at the completion of races to examine possible evidence of frustration that may reflect sub-optimal behavioural reinforcement.Linear regression models were built to determine factors affecting greyhound performance. Increasing mean eye temperature after the race and increasing greyhound age both had a statistically significant, negative effect on performance. The start box number also had a significant effect, with boxes 4, 5 and 7 having a negative effect on performance. There was a significant effect of track on mean eye temperatures before and after the race, suggesting that some tracks may be inherently more stressful for greyhounds than others. Behaviours that may indicate frustration in the catching pen were extremely common at two tracks, but much less common at the third, where play objects in motion were used to draw greyhounds into the catching pen. The study provides evidence for the use of eye temperature in predicting performance, guidance for assessment of poor performance in greyhounds and suggested approaches to the management of frustration in racing greyhounds.

scholarly journals A Pilot Study of Methods for Evaluating the Effects of Arousal and Emotional Valence on Performance of Racing Greyhounds

Animals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 1037 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Starling ◽  
Anthony Spurrett ◽  
Paul McGreevy
Keyword(s):  
Demographic Data ◽  
Poor Performance ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
Negative Association ◽  
P Value ◽  
Affective States ◽  
The Third ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Negative Affective States ◽  
Eye Temperature

The racing greyhound industry in Australia has come under scrutiny in recent years due to animal welfare concerns, including wastage where physically sound greyhounds fail to enter or are removed from the racing industry because of poor performance. The reasons why some greyhounds perform poorly in racing are not well understood, but may include insufficient reinforcement for racing or negative affective states in response to the race meet environment. The current study investigated ways to measure affective states of greyhounds (n = 525) at race meets across three racetracks and the factors influencing performance by collecting behavioural and demographic data, and infrared thermographic images of greyhounds’ eyes at race meets. Increasing Eye Temp After had a negative association with performance (n = 290, Effect = −0.173, s.e. = 0.074, p-value = 0.027), as did increasing age (n = 290, Effect = −0.395, s.e. = 0.136, p-value = 0.004). The start box number also had a significant association, with boxes 4, 5 and 7 having an inverse relationship with performance. There was a significant effect of racetrack on mean eye temperatures before and after the race (n = 442, Effect = 1.910, s.e. = 0.274, p-value < 0.001; Effect = 1.595, s.e. = 0.1221, p-value < 0.001 for Gosford and Wentworth respectively), suggesting that some tracks may be inherently more stressful for greyhounds than others. Mean eye temperature before the race increased as the race meet progressed (n = 442, Effect = 0.103, s.e. = 0.002, p-value < 0.001). Behaviours that may indicate frustration in the catching pen were extremely common at two of the tracks but much less common at the third, where toys attached to bungees were used to draw greyhounds into the catching pen.

scholarly journals The Impact of Coating Ingredients on the Aging Resistance of Topcoat Paints by Model Trees

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tzu-Tsung Wong ◽  
Shih-Hsuan Hung
Keyword(s):  
Linear Regression ◽  
Regression Models ◽  
Prediction Method ◽  
Linear Regression Models ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Model Trees ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Aging Resistance ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Impact

Topcoat paint is mainly composed of resin and pigment and hence its quality highly depends on the type and proportion of these two ingredients. This study aims at testing the formula of the topcoat paint for finding one that can achieve better quality for anti-aging. Various formulas of paint are applied on boards that will be put into ultraviolet accelerated test machines to simulate weathering tests. The gloss and color, before and after the tests, are collected and numerical prediction method M5P is used to grow model trees for discovering the key factors affecting aging. Based on the structure and the linear regression models in the trees, a better topcoat paint should be composed of a high proportion of resin and generally a low proportion of pigment. Good types of resin and pigment are also identified for keeping color and gloss.

scholarly journals The Factors Affecting Volunteers’ Willingness to Participate in Disaster Preparedness

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (8) ◽  
pp. 4141
Author(s):  
Yingnan Ma ◽  
Wei Zhu ◽  
Huan Zhang ◽  
Pengxia Zhao ◽  
Yafei Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Identification ◽  
Disaster Preparedness ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Willingness To Participate ◽  
Linear Regression Models ◽  
Effective Response ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Attitudinal Factors ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Recruitment And Selection

Disaster preparedness is crucial for providing an effective response to, and reducing the possible impacts of, disasters. Although volunteers’ participation plays an important role in disaster preparedness, their actual participation in disaster preparedness activities is still low. To find ways to encourage more volunteers to participate, this study analyzed the social background and organizational and attitudinal factors affecting the volunteers’ willingness to participate. Questionnaires were distributed to 990 registered disaster volunteers across Beijing and the data were analyzed using linear regression models. Results revealed a weak willingness to participate in disaster preparedness. Only 28.08% of the respondents indicated that they were “very ready” to participate in voluntary disaster preparedness, and 14.65% showed “a little bit” of interest. The following was concluded: (1) Disaster volunteers’ social background variables were related to their willingness to participate in disaster preparedness. Compared to male volunteers, female volunteers were more willing to participate. Chinese Communist Party members were more willing to participate than non-members. (2) Providing accidental life insurance for the volunteers had a positive effect on their willingness to participate in disaster preparedness. Provision of more training had a negative effect on the volunteers’ willingness to participate, indicating a low quality of training. (3) Organizational identification was positively related to the volunteers’ willingness to participate. According to these results, we suggest that volunteer organizations should improve their standards and procedures for disaster volunteer recruitment and selection, and gain a deeper understanding of the needs of the disaster volunteers in order to better motivate them to participate.

scholarly journals Information discernment and the psychophysiological effects of misinformation

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoff Walton ◽  
Matthew Pointon ◽  
Jamie Barker ◽  
Martin Turner ◽  
Andrew Joseph Wilkinson
Keyword(s):  
Information Literacy ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Cardiovascular Responses ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Negative Effect

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine to what extent a person’s psychophysiological well-being is affected by misinformation and whether their level of information discernment has any positive or negative effect on the outcome. Design/methodology/approach Participants (n = 48) were randomly and blindly allocated to one of two groups: control group participants were told a person they were working with was a student; experimental group participants were additionally led to believe that this other participant had extreme religious views. This was both stigmatising and misinforming, as this other person was an actor. Participants completed a pre-screening booklet and a series of tasks. Participants’ cardiovascular responses were measured during the procedure. Findings Participants with high levels of information discernment, i.e. those who are curious, use multiple sources to verify information, are sceptical about search engine information, are cognisant of the importance of authority and are aware that knowledge changes and is contradictory at times exhibited an adaptive stress response, i.e. healthy psychophysiological outcomes and responded with positive emotions before and after a stressful task. Social implications The findings indicate the potential harmful effects of misinformation and discuss how information literacy or Metaliteracy interventions may address this issue. Originality/value The first study to combine the hitherto unrelated theoretical areas of information discernment (a sub-set of information literacy), affective states (positive affect negative affect survey) and stress (challenge and threat cardiovascular measures).

How Task Experience Influences Students' Performance Expectancies: The Role of Certainty

2011 ◽  
Vol 109 (2) ◽  
pp. 380-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Dickhäuser ◽  
Marc-André Reinhard ◽  
Chris Englert
Keyword(s):  
Expectancy Value ◽  
Performance Expectancy ◽  
Performance Expectancies ◽  
Predicting Performance ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Mathematics Examination ◽  
Predicting Behavior ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Task Experience

The importance of performance expectancies for predicting behavior has long been highlighted in research on expectancy-value models. These models do not take into account that expectancies may vary in terms of their certainty. The study tested the following predictions: task experience leads to a higher certainty of expectancies; certainty and mean expectancies are empirically distinguishable; and expectancies held with high certainty are more accurate for predicting performance. 273 Grade 8 students reported their performance expectancy and the certainty of expectation with regard to a mathematics examination immediately before and after the examination. Actual grades on the examination were also assessed. The results supported the predictions: there was an increase in certainty between the two times of measurement; expectancies and certainty were unrelated at both times of measurement; and for students initially reporting higher certainty, the accuracy of the performance expectancy (i.e., the relation between expectancy and performance) was higher than for students reporting lower certainty. Given lower certainty, the accuracy increased after the students had experience with the examination. The data indicate that it may be useful to include certainty as an additional variable in expectancy-value models.

scholarly journals Political Stability, Firm Characteristics and Performance: Evidence from 6,083 Private Firms in the Middle East

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amr Hosny
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Political Instability ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Private Firms ◽  
Firm Characteristics ◽  
Linear Regression Models ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
And Performance

AbstractUsing firm-level data from an EBRD/EIB/WB joint survey covering more than 6,000 private firms in eight countries in the Middle East and North Africa, this paper (i) examines the relationship between firm characteristics and their perception of the effect of political instability on their operations and (ii) tests whether political instability has had a negative effect on firm performance. Using ordered and binary probit/logit models, we find that (i) export-oriented and larger-sized firms are more likely to report political instability as a sever obstacle to their operations. Using OLS and an endogenous treatment linear regression models, we find that (ii) the perception of political instability is negatively

Indian MFI at crossroads: sustainability perspective

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 728-748 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pinky Dutta ◽  
Debabrata Das
Keyword(s):  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Linear Regression ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Financial Sustainability ◽  
Linear Regression Models ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Substantial Change

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors affecting the financial sustainability of the Indian Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) post-Andhra Pradesh (AP) crisis Design/methodology/approach – Regression analysis is used to test the significance of the independent variables on the variable of interest, i.e. the operational self-sustainability. Three-stage regression analysis, i.e. Partial F-test, residual analysis and Box–Cox-type transformations is applied to see the impact of the variables on financial sustainability of the Indian MFIs. The study is based on the data of the Indian MFIs during three fiscal years from 2010-2011 to 2012-2012 reported in the Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX). Findings – The authors’ results indicate that in 2010-2011, the linear regression model seems to be good fit to the data, whereas in 2011-2012 and 2012-2013, the appropriateness of the linear regression models seems questionable (the error distribution seems to be skewed). It is observed that square root of the dependent variable exhibits adequate fit for 2011 and 2012. Therefore, a substantial change in the model for estimating sustainability of Indian MFIs is observed in the post-AP crisis era. It is observed that portfolio quality and capital management are important determinants for the financial sustainability of the MFIs. Practical implications – This study identifies the factors affecting the sustainability of the Indian MFIs, especially after the reforms following the AP crisis in India. The study suggests that from 2012-2013, the factors such as write-off ratio, capital-to-asset ratio, ratio of financial revenue to assets and provision for loan impairment-to-asset ratio are the main factors which have significant impact on the operational self-sufficiency (OSS) of Indian MFIs. This indicates that the quality of portfolio must be improved to reduce the vulnerability of the Indian MFIs. Social implications – After the AP crisis, the performance of Indian MFIs is stabilized to a greater extent. The various performance indicators are improving. Originality/value – The paper provides a detailed comparative analysis of the factors effecting financial sustainability of the Indian MFIs, before and after the regulatory reforms in 2011. A substantial change is observed after 2011-2012. Such a study on the Indian microfinance sector seems to be new (to the best of the authors’ knowledge).

scholarly journals Healthy Migrants? Comparing Subjective Health of German Emigrants, Remigrants, and Non-Migrants

2021 ◽  
pp. 205-225
Author(s):  
Nico Stawarz ◽  
Andreas Ette ◽  
Heiko Rüger
Keyword(s):  
Panel Study ◽  
Subjective Health ◽  
Linear Regression Models ◽  
Weak Evidence ◽  
Health Differences ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Health Dynamics ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Self Assessed Health

AbstractThis article analyses the self-rated health of German emigrants and remigrants compared to non-mobile Germans. Moreover, using a scale measuring self-assessed health changes, we are able to research the health dynamics immediately before and after the migration event. Data from the German Emigration and Remigration Panel Study (GERPS) as well as from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) that covers the general German population are used. In researching how self-selectivity of German migrants contributes to health differences, we use linear regression models to control for a series of relevant covariates. Our findings show a healthy migrant effect for German emigrants and remigrants compared to the German general population. This advantage diminishes after controlling for the covariates, but remains relevant in size and significance. Moreover, the health advantage increases with age at the time of migration. Furthermore, we find only weak evidence that migration has a negative effect on health. The analyses rather show that more than 50% of the migrants report that their health is the same as before the migration, around 30% report health improvements, and only a minor group report worsening health.

scholarly journals Climatic and Economic Factors Affecting the Annual Supply of Wild Edible Mushrooms and Berries in Finland

Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veera Tahvanainen ◽  
Jari Miina ◽  
Mikko Kurttila
Keyword(s):  
Market Price ◽  
Forest Products ◽  
International Markets ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
Linear Regression Models ◽  
Market Prices ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Non Timber Forest Products ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Species Specific

Finnish non-timber forest products (NTFPs) are valued on the national and international markets. Yet, the annual marketed quantities vary considerably, causing instability in supply chains. Thus, climatic and economic factors affecting the annually aggregated supply of top-marketed mushrooms (ceps, milk caps, and chanterelle) and berries (bilberry, cowberry, and cloudberry) in Finland were studied. Data on mushroom and berry market prices (€/kg) and quantities (kg) were obtained from the statistics on annual quantities of berries and mushrooms bought by organized trade and industry in Finland (1978–2016). The species-specific supply functions were described as linear regression models, where annually aggregated quantities were predicted as a function of climatic and economic variables. Our results suggested that climatic variables influenced the marketed quantities of NTFPs through the biological yields of berries and mushrooms, and that the market price had a negative effect on the marketed quantities of ceps, milk caps, and berries. The markets for NTFPs have become more international at the second half of the study period (1999–2016), modifying the price-quantity relationships of ceps, milk caps and cloudberries. Additionally, the number of visas issued to Thai pickers increased the marketed quantities of bilberries and cowberries.

Hygienic assessment of learning environment conditions (by the example of higher educational institutions of the city of Ufa)

2020 ◽  
Vol 99 (4) ◽  
pp. 405-411
Author(s):  
Elena Ju. Gorbatkova
Keyword(s):  
Ionizing Radiation ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Higher Educational Institutions ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Republic Of Bashkortostan ◽  
Average Relative Humidity ◽  
Higher Educational ◽  
The Republic ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The City

Introduction. The important factors affecting health and performance of young people are the conditions of education, in particular, a comfortable microclimate in the classrooms of higher educational institutions. Materials and methods. In view of the urgency of this problem, an analysis was made of the microclimate parameters of educational organizations of different profiles (Ufa city, the Republic of Bashkortostan). 294 classrooms were studied in 22 buildings of 4 leading universities in Ufa. A total of 3,822 measurements were taken to determine the parameters of the microclimate. The analysis of ionizing radiation in the aerial environment of classrooms. There was performed determination of radon and its affiliated products content. In order to assess the conditions and lifestyle of students of 4 higher educational institutions of the city of Ufa, we conducted an anonymous survey of 1,820 students of I and IV years of education. Results. The average temperature in the classrooms of all universities studied was 23.9±0.09 C. The average relative humidity in all classrooms was 34.2 ± 0.42%. Analysis of ionizing radiation (radon and its daughter products decay) in the aerial environment of the classrooms and sports halls located in the basement determined that the average annual equivalent equilibrium volumetric activity of the radon daughter products (EROA ± Δ222Rn) ranged from 28 ± 14 to 69 ± 34.5 meter, which meets the requirements established by SanPiN. Conclusion. The hygienic assessment of the microclimate parameters of educational institutions of various profile revealed a number of deviations from the regulated norms. The results indicate the need to control the parameters of the microclimate, both from the administration of universities, and from the professors. According to the results of the study, recommendations were prepared for the management of higher educational institutions in Ufa.

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