Transfer of Dietary Plant Natural Flavor Compounds From Essential Oils to Maternal Fluids in Pigs

Fetal flavor conditioning during the perinatal stage could be essential at the time of the weaning to reduce the stress and improve the feed intake in pigs. The transfer of flavor compounds from maternal diet to amniotic fluid and milk has been shown in behavioral experiments, but not through analytical procedures such as gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). The aim of the experiment was to trace the principal essential oils compounds supplied in the diet in maternal fluids. Twenty Large White sows around their 104th gestational day were allocated to individual farrowing crates. Two groups of 10 sows were fed either a standard gestation diet or the same diet supplemented with a mix of 8 essential oils at a rate of 1kg/ton during the last 10 days of gestation. At approximately the 113th gestational day, animals were individually treated with 10mg of Lutalyse IM was to induce farrowing. Fresh amniotic fluid was collected during the farrowing in 100-mL glass bottles and immediately stored at −20 °C freezer. During the second lactation day, 10–20 IU of Oxytocin IM was administered to each sow to facilitate collection of milk samples in 20-mL glass bottles. The samples were stored at −20 °C until analyzed by GC–MS. The presence of significant amounts of principal components of all the essential oils except one were found in the milk and amniotic fluid samples of the treated sows relative to the control sows. Our data prove the transfer of selected dietary flavors to maternal fluids and sets the scenario for further trials to manipulate postweaning behavior in piglets.

The Ethics of a Co-regulatory Model for Farm Animal Welfare Research

Standards for farm animal welfare are variously managed at a national level by government-led regulatory control, by consumer-led welfare economics and co-regulated control in a partnership between industry and government. In the latter case the control of research to support animal welfare standards by the relevant industry body may lead to a conflict of interest on the part of researchers, who are dependent on industry for continued research funding. We examine this dilemma by reviewing two case studies of research published under an Australian co-regulated control system. Evidence of unsupported conclusions that are favourable to industry is provided, suggesting that researchers do experience a conflict of interest that may influence the integrity of the research. Alternative models for the management of research are discussed, including the establishment of an independent research management body for animal welfare because of its public good status and the use of public money derived from taxation, with representation from government, industry, consumers, and advocacy groups.

Fracture Behavior of Multidirectional DCB Specimen: Higher-Order Beam Theories

Mathematical models, for the stress analysis of symmetric multidirectional double cantilever beam (DCB) specimen using classical beam theory, first and higher-order shear deformation beam theories, have been developed to determine the Mode I strain energy release rate (SERR) for symmetric multidirectional composites. The SERR has been calculated using the compliance approach. In the present study, both variationally and nonvariationally derived matching conditions have been applied at the crack tip of DCB specimen. For the unidirectional and cross-ply composite DCB specimens, beam models under both plane stress and plane strain conditions in the width direction are applicable with good performance where as for the multidirectional composite DCB specimen, only the beam model under plane strain condition in the width direction appears to be applicable with moderate performance. Among the shear deformation beam theories considered, the performance of higher-order shear deformation beam theory, having quadratic variation for transverse displacement over the thickness, is superior in determining the SERR for multidirectional DCB specimen.

Gap acceptance behavior of mobile phone distracted drivers at roundabouts

While mobile phones have become ubiquitous in modern society, the use of mobile phones while driving is increasing at an alarming rate despite the associated crash risks. A significant safety concern is that driving while distracted by a mobile phone is more prevalent among young drivers, a less experienced driving cohort with elevated crash risk. The objective of this study was to examine the gap acceptance behavior of distracted young drivers at roundabouts. The CARRS-Q Advanced Driving Simulator was used to test participants on a simulated gap acceptance scenario at roundabouts. Conflicting traffic from the right approach of a four-legged roundabout were programmed to have a series of vehicles having the gaps between them proportionately increased from two to six seconds. Thirty-two licensed young drivers drove the simulator under three phone conditions: baseline (no phone conversation), hands-free and handheld phone conversations. Results show that distracted drivers started responding to the gap acceptance scenario at a distance closer to the roundabout and approached the roundabout at slower speeds. They also decelerated at faster rates to reduce their speeds prior to gap acceptance compared to non-distracted drivers. Although accepted gap sizes were not significantly different across phone conditions, differences in the safety margins at various gap sizes—measured by Post Encroachment Time (PET) between the driven vehicle and the conflicting vehicle—were statistically significant across phone conditions. PETs for distracted drivers were smaller across different gap sizes, suggesting a lower safety margin taken by distracted drivers compared to non-distracted drivers. The results aid in understanding how cognitive distraction resulting from mobile phone conversations while driving influences driving behavior during gap acceptance at roundabouts.

Evolution of Social Behavior Through Interpopulation Selection

Under certain special conditions natural selection can be effective at the level of local populations, or demes. Such interpopulation selection will favor genotypes that reduce the probability of extinction of their parent population even at the cost of a lowered inclusive fitness. Such genotypes may be characterized by altruistic traits only in a viscous population, i.e., in a population in which neighbors tend to be closely related. In a non-viscous population the interpopulation selection will instead favor spiteful traits when the populations are susceptible to extinction through the overutilization of the habitat, and cooperative traits when it is the newly established populations that are in the greatest danger of extinction.

Can moral potency and psychological risk close the gap between ethical beliefs and unacceptable consumer behavior?

Depending on how they perceive risk, consumers may not always act according to their ethical beliefs, exposing a gap between beliefs and behavior. We investigate the effect of moral potency on perceived psychological risk of committing an unacceptable behavior. The results suggest that perceived risk is triggered by moral ownership.

A review on exploring the behavior of multi-layer composite structures under dynamic loading

This paper reviews the recent research progress on multi-layer composite structures composed of variety of materials. The utilization of multi-layer composite system is found to be common in metal structures and pavement systems. The layer of composite structure designed to encounter heavy dynamic energy should have sufficient ductility to counteract the intensity of energy. Therefore, the selection of materials and enhancement of interface bonding become crucial and both are discussed in this paper. The failure modes have also been explored in conjunction with stresses at failures and inferred solutions are also revealed. The paper attempts to reveal all technical facts on multi-layer composite structure in a broad field.

Expanding the research area of behavior change support systems

The First International Workshop on Behavior Change Support Systems attracted a great research interest. The selected papers focused on abstraction, implementation and evaluation of Behavior Change Support Systems. The workshop is an evidence of how researchers from around the globe have their own perspective of behavior change interventions. In this abstract, we have attempted to outline core issues that can enhance persuasiveness of such support systems. Finally, we highlight important research questions relating to the development of effective Behavior Change Support Systems.

Load-Deflection Behavior of Restrained R/C Skew Slabs

A method is presented for determining the complete load-deflection behavior of reinforced concrete skew slabs restrained at the edges and subjected to uniformly-distributed loading. The analysis is considered in three stages. In the first stage the load-deflection behavior up to the cracking load is considered. The behavior between the cracking load and the yield line load is considered in the second stage. The load-deflection behavior beyond the yield line load, taking into account the effect of the membrane action, is considered in the third stage. Details of an experimental program of casting and testing 12 reinforced concrete skew slabs restrained at the edges are presented to verify the results of the analysis.

Interactions of nandrolone and psychostimulant drugs on central monoaminergic systems

It has been hypothesized that abuse of supra-therapeutic doses of anabolic androgenic steroids (AASs) can lead to dependence and function as a gateway to abuse of other drugs. This is supported by behavioral studies on animal models and psychiatric evaluations of human subjects, although their neurochemical effects remain largely unknown. A large body of evidence suggests that the ability of the drugs to induce a strong elevation of extracellular dopamine (DA) levels in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), especially, plays a crucial role in their reinforcing effects. -- This study had four main aims. The first was to explore the effects of nandrolone decanoate on dopaminergic and serotonergic activities in the brains of rats. The second aim was to assess whether or not nandrolone pre-exposure modulates the acute neurochemical and behavioral effects of psychostimulant drugs in experimental animals. The third was to investigate if the AAS-pre-treatment induced changes in brain reward circuitry are reversible. And the fourth main goal was to evaluate the role of androgen and estrogen receptors in the modulation of the dopaminergic and serotonergic effects of acute injections of stimulant drugs by sub-chronic nandrolone treatment. The results showed that nandrolone decanoate at doses, high enough to induce erythropoiesis, significantly increased the levels of DOPAC and 5-HT in the cerebral cortex. Co-administration of AAS and psychostimulant drugs showed that the increase in extracellular DA and 5-HT concentration evoked by amphetamine, MDMA and cocaine in the NAc was attenuated dose-dependently by pretreatment with nandrolone. Nandrolone pre-exposure also attenuated the ability of stimulants to cause increased stereotyped behavior and locomotor activity. Despite the significant decrease in nandrolone concentration in blood, the attenuation of cocaine’s effects remained unchanged after a fairly long period without nandrolone, suggesting that nandrolone effects could be long lasting. Blockade of androgen receptors with flutamide abolished the attenuating effect of nandrolone pretreatment on amphetamine-induced elevation of extracellular DA concentration. --- In conclusion, the results show that AAS-pretreatment is able to inhibit the reward-related neurochemical and behavioral effects of amphetamine, MDMA and cocaine in experimental animals. Furthermore, it seems that these effects could be long lasting and it appears that the ability of nandrolone to modulate reward-related effects of stimulants is dependent on activation of androgen receptors.

I know what you did this summer: Users' behavior on internet

Human age is surrounded by assumed set of rules and behaviors imposed by local culture and the society they live in. This paper introduces software that counts the presence of a person on the Internet and examines the activities he/she conducts online. The paper answers questions such as how "old" are you on the Internet? How soon will a newbie be exposed to adult websites? How long will it take for a new Internet user to know about social networking sites? And how many years a user has to surf online to celebrate his/her first "birthday" of Internet presence? Paper findings from a database of 105 school and university students containing their every click of first 24 hours of Internet usage are presented. The findings provide valuable insights for Internet Marketing, ethics, Internet business and the mapping of Internet life with real life. Privacy and ethical issues related to the study have been discussed at the end. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010.

Influencing customers through customers: Simulation of herd behavior in supermarkets

This work proposes a supermarket optimization simulation model called Swarm-Moves is based on self organized complex system studies to identify parameters and their values that can influence customers to buy more on impulse in a given period of time. In the proposed model, customers are assumed to have trolleys equipped with technology like RFID that can aid the passing of products' information directly from the store to them in real-time and vice-versa. Therefore, they can get the information about other customers purchase patterns and constantly informing the store of their own shopping behavior. This can be easily achieved because the trolleys "know" what products they contain at any point. The Swarm-Moves simulation is the virtual supermarket providing the visual display to run and test the proposed model. The simulation is also flexible to incorporate any given model of customers' behavior tailored to particular supermarket, settings, events or promotions. The results, although preliminary, are promising to use RFID technology for marketing products in supermarkets and provide several dimensions to look for influencing customers via feedback, real-time marketing, target advertisement and on-demand promotions. ©2009 IEEE.