Lying, Feeding and Activity Preference of Weaned Piglets for LED-Illuminated vs. Dark Pen Compartments

Little is known on the effect of light on pig behaviour. The choice behaviour of weaned piglets kept under two different light-emitting diode (LED) illuminance levels was investigated: 32 piglets (in two batches) were housed in a preference test room composed of two identical double pen units. One side of the pen unit was permanently illuminated with 600 lux, while the other was darkened to almost 0 lux (~0 lx); by using a passageway, piglets could move between the two sides. The “lying”, “eating” and “activity” behaviours were evaluated during three days in the first, third and fifth experimental week based on video recordings and a 5-min time sampling method. At first, piglets preferred to stay in the 600 lux illuminated compartments. Then, this preference decreased for the “eating” and “activity” behaviours and reversed for the “lying” behaviour, with the darkened compartments being preferred. The results also show that pen soiling was higher under 600 lux, but feed consumption was not affected by the illuminance. Since pigs choose between the two illuminance levels to perform specific behaviours, illuminance could be used to divide the pens into functional areas and, thus, help in meeting pigs’ behavioural needs.

Helping as a Concurrent Activity: How Students Engage in Small Groups While Pursuing Classroom Tasks

This study examines interactions in which students help each other with their learning during classroom instruction, forming groups in the process. From a conversation analytic perspective, helping is assumed to be a sequentially organized activity jointly accomplished by the participants. As an activity that proceeds alongside other ongoing classroom activities, helping can be conceived as part of a multiactivity that poses students with multi-faceted interactional and moral challenges. While previous research on helping in educational contexts has primarily focused on the influence of helping on learning outcomes and social dynamics in helping interactions, the present study investigates how students cope with the intricacies of moral commitments inherent in helping as a concurrent activity. The aim of this paper is two-fold. First, we aim to elaborate on how students’ dual involvements – i.e., their involvement in classroom activities while simultaneously providing help – manifest in the ways in which groups are constituted, maintained, and dissolved. The analyses reveal that both the compatibility of helping with the activity already in progress as well as the students’ problem definition are consequential for the sequential and bodily-spatial unfolding of the help interaction, inducing different arrangements that constitute a continuum, at each end of which there is a dominant orientation toward the shared space of helping or toward the individual/collective space. Furthermore, from a methodological perspective, our study aims to demonstrate the extent to which multimodal interaction analysis is applicable when examining naturally occurring groups, in this case, in interactive processes of helping. The study is based on a data corpus that comprises video recordings of mathematics and German lessons from two fifth-grade classrooms.

Walking through the city soundscape: an audio-visual analysis of sensory experience for people with psychosis

This article discusses how an aspect of urban environments – sound and noise – is experienced by people walking in the city; it particularly focuses on atypical populations such as people diagnosed with psychosis, who are reported to be particularly sensitive to noisy environments. Through an analysis of video-recordings of naturalistic activities in an urban context and of video-elicitations based on these recordings, the study details the way participants orient to sound and noise in naturalistic settings, and how sound and noise are reported and reexperienced during interviews. By bringing together urban context, psychosis and social interaction, this study shows that, thanks to video recordings and conversation analysis, it is possible to analyse in detail the multimodal organization of action (talk, gesture, gaze, walking bodies) and of the sensory experience(s) of aural factors, as well as the way this organization is affected by the ecology of the situation.

Statistical analysis reveals the onset of synchrony in sparse swarms of Photinus knulli fireflies

Flash synchrony within firefly swarms is an elegant but elusive manifestation of collective animal behaviour. It has been observed, and sometimes demonstrated, in a few populations across the world, but exactly which species are capable of large-scale synchronization remains unclear, especially in low-density swarms. The underlying question which we address here is: how does one qualify a collective flashing display as synchronous, given that the only information available is the time and location of flashes? We propose different statistical approaches and apply them to high-resolution stereoscopic video recordings of the collective flashing of Photinus knulli fireflies, hence establishing the occurrence of synchrony in this species. These results substantiate detailed visual observations published in the early 1980s and made at the same experimental site: Peña Blanca Canyon, Coronado National Forest, Arizona, USA. We also remark that P. knulli's collective flashing patterns mirror that observed in Photinus carolinus fireflies in the Eastern United States, consisting of synchronous flashes in periodic bursts with rapid accretion and quick decay.

Open Problems in Extracellular RNA Data Analysis: Insights From an ERCC Online Workshop

We now know RNA can survive the harsh environment of biofluids when encapsulated in vesicles or by associating with lipoproteins or RNA binding proteins. These extracellular RNA (exRNA) play a role in intercellular signaling, serve as biomarkers of disease, and form the basis of new strategies for disease treatment. The Extracellular RNA Communication Consortium (ERCC) hosted a two-day online workshop (April 19–20, 2021) on the unique challenges of exRNA data analysis. The goal was to foster an open dialog about best practices and discuss open problems in the field, focusing initially on small exRNA sequencing data. Video recordings of workshop presentations and discussions are available (https://exRNA.org/exRNAdata2021-videos/). There were three target audiences: experimentalists who generate exRNA sequencing data, computational and data scientists who work with those groups to analyze their data, and experimental and data scientists new to the field. Here we summarize issues explored during the workshop, including progress on an effort to develop an exRNA data analysis challenge to engage the community in solving some of these open problems.

Indonesian Language Characteristics of Deaf Children and Implications for Literacy Skills

This research aimed to reveal the characteristics of the Indonesian language in deaf children and the implications for their literacy skills. A qualitative approach was used on the subjects determined through purposive sampling. Data were collected by recording student performance portfolios, interviewing teachers, and observing video recordings. The data were analyzed descriptively and explanatively. The results showed that the Indonesian language for deaf children is limited, as seen through four ways. First, the vocabulary of deaf children is dominated by general words (hypernyms) and concrete references. Second, they do not use figures of speech or idioms, compound words, and terms. Third, their ability to form derivative words is still low. Fourth, they generally produce core and single sentences, and only a small part uses compound sentences. The main and single sentences have an inversion pattern, where the verb precedes the subject. Moreover, they fail to use linking between sentences, and the resulting discourse is a collection of separate sentences. The linguistic barriers resulted in a low effective reading speed of 33.04 – 68, 30 words per minute. This has implications for low literacy skills. Therefore, an intervention program is needed to improve the language skills of deaf children.

Thinking Language Awareness at a Science Centre

Situated in the highly multilingual context of Vancouver, this article discusses aspects of a collaborative research project, intertwining the development of language awareness and scientific, technological, and multilingual literacies in a science centre environment. Participants were multilingual, kindergarten-aged children who attended an interactive, activity-based science educational program in a local science centre and participated in writing activities in a nearby community centre. The article will discuss the science centre as a transformative learning environment to harness cultural and linguistic diversity, a vital resource to simultaneously develop language awareness, and science knowledge. Multimodal data sources include visual documentation of the linguistic landscape at the science centre, as well as photographs, video recordings and field notes of children working individually or in small groups, and a selection of the products children created.

Evaluation of a novel communication and consultation skills model (WISE COACH) on dog owner perceptions of veterinarians and projected spending on veterinary care

OBJECTIVE To assess the impact of a novel communication and consultation skills model (WISE COACH [WC]) on dog owner perceptions of veterinarians and projected spending on veterinary care. SAMPLE 1,200 US dog owners who had visited a veterinarian within the prior 18 months. PROCEDURES Video recordings of 2 staged client consultations were made, with the veterinarian following the WC recommendations in one video and not following them in the other (control). Participants were randomly assigned to view one of the videos and completed an online survey to assess their perceptions and projected spending. Qualitative responses were coded to identify themes. RESULTS The veterinarian was rated significantly higher in the WC video than in the control video for the characteristics first impression, skilled and knowledgeable, cares about me, cares about my pet, and communicates clearly, and was rated significantly lower for the characteristic rushed or abrupt. Participants who viewed the WC video were significantly more likely to follow the veterinarian’s recommendations, return to see the veterinarian, and recommend the veterinarian. They were also approximately 1.4 times as likely to approve the full recommended treatment plan, and their projected total spending was approximately 15% higher than projected spending for participants who viewed the control video. CLINICAL RELEVANCE Results showed improved client perceptions, client retention, quality of patient care, and financial metrics when the veterinarian followed the WC recommendations. Further study is needed to determine whether this model may also improve veterinarian well-being by improving client relationships and decreasing resistance to recommendations.

Using FPGA reconfigurable integrated circuits for monitoring, controlling and managing industrial processes in potentially explosive atmospheres

The implementation of calculation architectures, data acquisition and processing systems, VLSI type integrated circuits within driving systems shows and increased trend in the industry, due to the advantages of such circuits compared to microcontrollers and ASIC’s. In the first part of the paper is presented functional aspects of reconfigurable integrated circuits for monitoring, controlling and managing industrial processes. Compact RIO is a device developed by National Instruments and which is intended for monitoring and controlling industrial processes. This is also an “embedded” type system, which comprises a FPGA device, a processor with real-time operating system (RTOS) and various input-output modules which have to be attached by the user. Applications using such devices, usually also use an HMI (human machine interface) for creating a graphical interface with the user. The second part of the paper is allocated for establishing the requirements for using of such system in the explosive atmospheres. The practical achievement consists in the construction of a wirelessly PC-controlled robot and the analysis of measurements achieved, respectively data acquired from sensors and video recordings. Among conclusions is highlighted the opportunities brought by the use of the intrinsic safety and flame proof types of protection.

Kohti yhteiskehittelyä

Artikkelissa tarkastellaan peruskoulussa toteutettua keksintöprojektia, jonka aikana oppilasryhmä suunnitteli ja toteutti älyvaatteen. Tutkimus on osa laajempaa tutkimushanketta, jossa koulua kehitetään keksivänä ja innovatiivisena yhteisönä. Tässä tutkimuksessa selvitetään, miten oppilasryhmän älyvaatteen suunnittelu- ja valmistusprosessi eteni ja mikä rooli opettajilla oli prosessin aikana. Tutkimusaineisto sisältää yhdeksän opetuskerran videoinnit. Videoaineistoon tehdyn makroanalyysin perusteella kartoitettiin kaikki ne opetustilanteet, joissa ilmeni vuorovaikutusta opettajan ja oppilaiden välillä. Teoriaohjaavaan analyysiin pohjautuen erotellaan ja tulkitaan vuoro-vaikutuksen erilaisia muotoja. Tutkimustuloksissa korostuu opettajan rooli sekä vaatteen yhteiskehittelyssä että oppilaiden toiminnan ohjaamisessa. Yhteiskehittelyn toteutuminen edellyttää riittäviä aika- ja taitoresursseja sekä motivaatiota ratkaista haastavia suunnitteluongelmia. Towards co-creation: Observations of the teacher's role in the smart clothing project Abstract In this article we examined an invention project in a comprehensive school where a group of pupils designed and manufactured a set of smart clothing. The study is a part of a wider research project in which the school is being developed as an inventive and innovative community. In this study we analysed how the design and manufacturing processes of the smart clothing proceeded and what roles the teachers had during the process. The research data comprised video recordings of nine project sessions. All the teaching episodes containing interactions between the teacher and the pupils were surveyed as part of the macro level analysis. Based on the theory-driven analysis, the different forms of the interaction were identified and interpreted. In the results, the nature of the teacher's role emerged in both the co-creation of the smart clothing and in directing the pupils' actions. Successful co-creation requires enough time, skill, and motivation to solve challenging design problems. Keywords: discovery learning, e-textiles, apparel design, smart clothing