Evaluation of the effectiveness of enrichment for a group of captive squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) using time-lapse recording and instantaneous scan sampling

One aim of providing enrichment to captive animals is to promote the expression of behavioural patterns similar to their wild conspecifics. We evaluated the effectiveness of four types of simple feeding enrichment, using surveillance cameras to record the behaviour of 11 captive squirrel monkeys housed in a single enclosure at Alma Park Zoo in Brisbane, Australia. The enrichment involved differences in presentation (whole/chopped) and distribution (localised/scattered) of fruit and vegetables that were part of the normal diet of these animals. Distinguishing between individual squirrel monkeys was not possible from the videos, so Instantaneous Scan Sampling was used to record the numbers of animals performing particular behaviours every 15 minutes over the 24 hour period as well as every 5 minutes for the hour following provision of enrichment. This provided an estimation of the percentage of time spent by the group in various activities. As a result of the enrichment, the activity budget of the group more closely approximated that of wild squirrel monkeys. However on a number of occasions where the enrichment required the squirrel monkeys to work to obtain their food (whole fruit and vegetables), a number of individuals became aggressive towards the zookeepers. This result highlights the variation in responses of individual animals towards enrichment and indicates that in enclosures with large numbers of animals, the response of each individual should be evaluated in addition to the overall benefit of the enrichment for the group. Furthermore, this variation also suggests that it may be beneficial to provide the animals with choices of enrichment as opposed to providing single forms of enrichment that may only be effective for a proportion of the animals in the enclosure, and may even result in undesirable responses from some individuals.

Defining an OWL ontology that could be used to integrate mental-health risk information within a decision support system

In the field of mental health risk assessment, there is no standardisation between the data used in different systems. As a first step towards the possible interchange of data between assessment tools, an ontology has been constructed for a particular one, GRiST (Galatean Risk Screening Tool). We briefly introduce GRiST and its data structures, then describe the ontology and the benefits that have already been realised from the construction process. For example, the ontology has been used to check the consistency of the various trees used in the model. We then consider potential uses in integration of data from other sources. © 2009 IEEE.

Representing human expertise by the OWL web ontology language to support knowledge engineering in decision support systems

Clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) often base their knowledge and advice on human expertise. Knowledge representation needs to be in a format that can be easily understood by human users as well as supporting ongoing knowledge engineering, including evolution and consistency of knowledge. This paper reports on the development of an ontology specification for managing knowledge engineering in a CDSS for assessing and managing risks associated with mental-health problems. The Galatean Risk and Safety Tool, GRiST, represents mental-health expertise in the form of a psychological model of classification. The hierarchical structure was directly represented in the machine using an XML document. Functionality of the model and knowledge management were controlled using attributes in the XML nodes, with an accompanying paper manual for specifying how end-user tools should behave when interfacing with the XML. This paper explains the advantages of using the web-ontology language, OWL, as the specification, details some of the issues and problems encountered in translating the psychological model to OWL, and shows how OWL benefits knowledge engineering. The conclusions are that OWL can have an important role in managing complex knowledge domains for systems based on human expertise without impeding the end-users' understanding of the knowledge base. The generic classification model underpinning GRiST makes it applicable to many decision domains and the accompanying OWL specification facilitates its implementation.

Building OWL Ontology of Unique Bulgarian Bells Using Protégé Platform

We describe an ontological representation of data in an archive containing detailed description of church bells. As an object of cultural heritage the bell has general properties such as geometric dimensions, weight, sound of each of the bells, the pitch of the tone as well as acoustical diagrams obtained using contemporary equipment. We use Protégé platform in order to define basic ontological objects and relations between them.

Reconciling OWL and non-monotonic rules for the semantic web

We propose a description logic extending SROIQ (the description logic underlying OWL 2 DL) and at the same time encompassing some of the most prominent monotonic and nonmonotonic rule languages, in particular Datalog extended with the answer set semantics. Our proposal could be considered a substantial contribution towards fulfilling the quest for a unifying logic for the Semantic Web. As a case in point, two non-monotonic extensions of description logics considered to be of distinct expressiveness until now are covered in our proposal. In contrast to earlier such proposals, our language has the "look and feel" of a description logic and avoids hybrid or first-order syntaxes. © 2012 The Author(s).

Behavioural profiles of captive capuchin monkeys (Sapajus spp.): analyses at group and individual levels

The use of behavioural indicators of suffering and welfare in captive animals has produced ambiguous results. In comparisons between groups, those in worse condition tend to exhibit increased overall rate of Behaviours Potentially Indicative of Stress (BPIS), but when comparing within groups, individuals differ in their stress coping strategies. This dissertation presents analyses to unravel the Behavioural Profile of a sample of 26 captive capuchin monkeys, of three different species (Sapajus libidinosus, S. flavius and S. xanthosternos), kept in different enclosure types. In total, 147,17 hours of data were collected. We explored four type of analysis: Activity Budgets, Diversity indexes, Markov chains and Sequence analyses, and Social Network Analyses, resulting in nine indexes of behavioural occurrence and organization. In chapter One we explore group differences. Results support predictions of minor sex and species differences and major differences in behavioural profile due to enclosure type: i. individuals in less enriched enclosures exhibited a more diverse BPIS repertoire and a decreased probability of a sequence with six Genus Normative Behaviour; ii. number of most probable behavioural transitions including at least one BPIS was higher in less enriched enclosures; iii. proeminence indexes indicate that BPIS function as dead ends of behavioural sequences, and proeminence of three BPIS (pacing, self-direct, active I) were higher in less enriched enclosures. Overall, these data are not supportive of BPIS as a repetitive pattern, with a mantra-like calming effect. Rather, the picture that emerges is more supportive of BPIS as activities that disrupt organization of behaviours, introducing “noise” that compromises optimal activity budget. In chapter Two we explored individual differences in stress coping strategies. We classified individuals along six axes of exploratory behaviour. These were only weakly correlated indicating low correlation among behavioural indicators of syndromes. Nevertheless, the results are suggestive of two broad stress coping strategies, similar to the bold/proactive and shy/reactive pattern: more exploratory capuchin monkeys exhibited increased values of proeminence in Pacing, aberrant sexual display and Active 1 BPIS, while less active animals exhibited increased probability in significant sequences involving at least one BPIS, and increased prominence in own stereotypy. Capuchin monkeys are known for their cognitive capacities and behavioural flexibility, therefore, the search for a consistent set of behavioural indictors of welfare and individual differences requires further studies and larger data sets. With this work we aim contributing to design scientifically grounded and statistically correct protocols for collection of behavioural data that permits comparability of results and meta-analyses, from whatever theoretical perspective interpretation it may receive.

Tractable approximate deduction for OWL

Acknowledgements This work has been partially supported by the European project Marrying Ontologies and Software Technologies (EU ICT2008-216691), the European project Knowledge Driven Data Exploitation (EU FP7/IAPP2011-286348), the UK EPSRC project WhatIf (EP/J014354/1). The authors thank Prof. Ian Horrocks and Dr. Giorgos Stoilos for their helpful discussion on role subsumptions. The authors thank Rafael S. Gonçalves et al. for providing their hotspots ontologies. The authors also thank BoC-group for providing their ADOxx Metamodelling ontologies.

OWL (Older Women's Liberation) conference

General note: Title and date provided by Bettye Lane.

Wear and its effects on dental topography measures in howling monkeys (Alouatta palliata).

OBJECTIVES: Three dental topography measurements: Dirichlet Normal Energy (DNE), Relief Index (RFI), and Orientation Patch Count Rotated (OPCR) are examined for their interaction with measures of wear, within and between upper and lower molars in Alouatta palliata. Potential inferences of the "dental sculpting" phenomenon are explored. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifteen occluding pairs of howling monkey first molars (15 upper, 15 lower) opportunistically collected from La Pacifica, Costa Rica, were selected to sample wear stages ranging from unworn to heavily worn as measured by the Dentine Exposure Ratio (DER). DNE, RFI, and OPCR were measured from three-dimensional surface reconstructions (PLY files) derived from high-resolution CT scans. Relationships among the variables were tested with regression analyses. RESULTS: Upper molars have more cutting edges, exhibiting significantly higher DNE, but have significantly lower RFI values. However, the relationships among the measures are concordant across both sets of molars. DER and EDJL are curvilinearly related. DER is positively correlated with DNE, negatively correlated with RFI, and uncorrelated with OPCR. EDJL is not correlated with DNE, or RFI, but is positively correlated with OPCR among lower molars only. DISCUSSION: The relationships among these metrics suggest that howling monkey teeth adaptively engage macrowear. DNE increases with wear in this sample presumably improving food breakdown. RFI is initially high but declines with wear, suggesting that the initially high RFI safeguards against dental senescence. OPCR values in howling monkey teeth do not show a clear relationship with wear changes.

Early Bird & Night Owl Evaluation Tool (EBNOET) v2015

The early bird and night owl restaurant tool found in the accompanying Excel file provides an estimate of the effects of offering off-peak special menu prices. Unlike the classic back-of-envelope calculation, the tool includes the effect of anticipated cannibalization of full-price covers and seeks to optimize table use. The tool also considers the revenue from new customers attracted by the early bird or night owl promotions, as well as the level of increased business needed to achieve the net monetary value target for the promotion.

How task format affects cognitive performance: a memory test with two species of New World monkeys

In cognitive tests, animals are often given a choice between two options and obtain a reward if they choose correctly. We investigated whether task format affects subjects' performance in a physical cognition test. In experiment 1, a two-choice memory test, 15 marmosets, Callithrix jacchus, had to remember the location of a food reward over time delays of increasing duration. We predicted that their performance would decline with increasing delay, but this was not found. One possible explanation was that the subjects were not sufficiently motivated to choose correctly when presented with only two options because in each trial they had a 50% chance of being rewarded. In experiment 2, we explored this possibility by testing eight naïve marmosets and seven squirrel monkeys, Saimiri sciureus, with both the traditional two-choice and a new nine-choice version of the memory test that increased the cost of a wrong choice. We found that task format affected the monkeys' performance. When choosing between nine options, both species performed better and their performance declined as delays became longer. Our results suggest that the two-choice format compromises the assessment of physical cognition, at least in memory tests with these New World monkeys, whereas providing more options, which decreases the probability of obtaining a reward when making a random guess, improves both performance and measurement validity of memory. Our findings suggest that two-choice tasks should be used with caution in comparisons within and across species because they are prone to motivational biases.