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Banditry, Kidnapping, cultism: NEC sets up Security, Policing Committee
in News, News Update
The National Economic Council(NEC) on Thursday set up a Security and Policing Committee to address the challenge of banditry, kidnapping, cultism and other security issues confronting the country.
The Inspector-General of Police (IG-P) Mohammed Adamu, disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents after the maiden NEC meeting presided over Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
President Muhammadu Buhari had earlier inaugurated the 2019 to 2023 NEC which admitted 12 new governors.
NEC comprises governors of the 36 states, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Ministers of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Agriculture, FCT and the Minister of State, Petroleum.
The IG-P said he gave the council the general internal security situation in the country and presented the strategy put in place in order to reduce crime and insecurity.
He listed the challenges as kidnapping, banditry, cultism and armed robbery.
Read also: UPDATED: FG to proscribe Almajiri, other groups
According to him, kidnapping and banditry are prevalent in the North Western and North Central and the South West, with cultism and some pockets of kidnapping while the South-South and South East have challenges of cultism and elements of kidnappings.
Adamu said that the council observed that the situation was being stablised as a result of some of the strategies in terms of liaising and cooperating with members of the public.
He said that that another key issue discussed was revisiting of the Safer City initiative which entailed the installation of CCTV cameras in FCT and major cities across the country.
""It was as a result of human intelligence that we got from members of the public that made us achieve the feat in stablising security situation in the country.
"This came under the strategic cooperation that we came up with which we called `Operation Puff Adder.
"And within the framework of that operation a lot of kidnapping suspects were arrested; a lot of arms were recovered and this we succeeded with the cooperation from members of the public," he stated.
According to the IGP the council concluded that a Security and Policing Committee should be set up; so, it has been set up.
""Membership includes the governors of Ekiti, Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Kastina State, Kogi and Borno.
"They will be joined by the National Security Adviser, the IG-P and the Chief of Defence Staff or his representative, he said.
"Adamu said that part of the strategy to deal with the security situation and to prevent crime he presented was "to bring back the `Safer City concept where all our major cities are fixed with CCTV.
"The project has been going on but now we resuscitated the programme and we have started with FCT.
""Within our Command and Control Office, we are able to put some cameras at strategic places in FCT with a view to reviving this Safer City initiative.
"We have written to state governors also asking the state governors to key into that strategy so that major cities within the state also have CCTV coverage.
""The latest technology we are brining on will cost little or nothing to the government,'' he said.
According to him the Police are reinvigorating the Safer Highway initiative as they are getting more fleets of vehicles with cameras on them that will patrol the highways.
He said that the challenge confronting the police was that of funding which the council had taken note of including the idea of the Police Reform Bill that was passed by National Assembly.
On his part the National Security Adviser (NSA), Mr Babagana Monguno, said he briefed council on the North East particularly on Boko haram issue in relations to the security issues in the country.
He said he also briefed council on the activities of herdsmen/farmers which were limited to 16 states so far, adding that the council was working on the blueprint to solve the problem.
""I briefed council also on the menace of pipeline vandalism, illegal oil refineries and piracy.
"In recent month, we were able to destroy 373 illegal refineries and curtailed the activities of pirates.
""This situation in the Niger Delta is also affecting security in the Gulf of Guinea and we have been collaborating with the secretariat in Luanda to work to reduce the activities of these people,'' he said.
Mungono said that that the government would proscribe the Almajiri phenomenon because Nigeria could not continue to have street children roaming around only for them in a couple of years or decades to become a problem to society.
He said the Federal Government would work with the state governors to enforce the policy of education for every child as education was the entitlement of every child.(NAN)


The best advice I've heard all week? Learn to fail fast.
A couple of weeks ago, in this blog I was wrestling with the question of whether my idea for a green investing platform was a failure or not.
After a few conversations with advisory board members and investors, I realized that I need to give myself permission to declare this idea a failure -- for now -- and move on. Why?
Everyone I talked to says the investing climate is the worst they've ever seen. Deals are taking longer, money is staying on the sidelines, and valuations are completely out of whack.
As I understand it, deals that took two months are now taking six or nine, while many investors play a waiting game. This just exacerbates the slowing rate at which deals can get done and makes it difficult for entrepreneurs to close deals.
And for an idea like mine, which is really still in its infancy, the current climate makes it nearly impossible to get the jump start it needs.
Then I came across Brad Feld's post of a couple of nights ago, on Mark Pincus and the concept of failing fast.
If you haven't read this piece or watched Pincus's interview on Vator.tv, do yourself a favor and go do so now.
It doesn't matter whether you are working on a start-up, a business unit in a big company, a social enterprise, or developing a product, the advice is golden: learn to fail fast and learn from the experience.
I'll be back with another idea and will be, as Feld says in his post, "super-extraordinary-amazingly hungry for a success."
Philly Mayor Michael A. Nutter and the Mayor's Office of Sustainability today announced Greenworks Philadelphia, an ambitious, comprehensive framework to make Philadelphia the greenest city in the United States of America by 2015.
It sets goals in five areas — energy, environment, equity, economy and engagement — and encompasses more than 150 initiatives. Together, they will reduce the city's vulnerability to rising energy prices, limit its environmental footprint, and reposition its workforce and job development strategies to build upon Philadelphia's competitive advantages in the emerging green economy.
"Greenworks Philadelphia is a vision for how Philadelphia can and should seize this moment, building on the assets of the city left to us by the past and creating a better future for ourselves, our children and generations to come," said Mayor Nutter.
Greenworks Philadelphia seeks to make more homes and buildings weather-tight, increase recycling and minimize trash, give residents better access to parks and fresh food, and capture the benefits of solar and geothermal energy. It envisions planting thousands of trees, equipping the municipal fleet with less-polluting engines and expanding green job training, so plenty of Philadelphia's workers have the skills to retrofit buildings and install solar arrays.
For more info: www.phila.gov/green/mos.html or www.greenworksphila.org or a full copy of the report.
We burn coal. We can't ignore it. It's a plentiful resource and fuels the cheap electricity we use everyday. Like it or not, that's the way it is.
Don't get me wrong, I hate things like mountaintop removal and the dangers coal-miners have to face every day. But I'm a realist and I don't believe we're going to be able to transition fast enough to alternatives to completely eliminate coal from our energy diet.
My pal Gregor MacDonald had a stimulating post on Earth Day that generated some lively dialogue on the subject in which he argued that it's hard to win a fight against a cheap BTU. Gregor is smarter than I am on this subject, so you should definitely check out his blog: Gregor.us.
Readers of the green skeptic know that I think there is a need for some serious R&D into Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) and that we need to figure out whether we can really make coal clean.
As I wrote in my comment on Gregor's post: I know this isn't a popular view, but coal is still so cheap and plentiful that it's hard to ignore. Of course, there are those who say it can't be done and others who say we'll hit peak coal before getting the technology right. If we do nothing, however, and others continue to ramp up coal production in its dirtiest form, where will we be?
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) announced the results of a study that shows how energy use in buildings can be cut by 60 percent by 2050, but noted that it will require immediate action to transform the building sector.
The four-year, $15 million research project released its report today in Paris at the Alliance to Save Energy's EE Global Forum and Exposition. Transforming the Market: Energy Efficiency in Buildings, as the report is known, uses new modeling techniques and provides a roadmap to transform the building sector.
"Energy efficiency is fast becoming one of the defining issues of our times, and buildings are that issue's 'elephant in the room'," said Björn Stigson, president of the WBCSD, in a press release. "Buildings use more energy than any other sector and as such are a major contributor to climate change."
According to the WBCSD, the "project took a bottom-up, market-driven approach to understanding the barriers to lower energy use, based on the most detailed view ever of the current state of energy demand in buildings. Energy use by building type was analyzed for millions of existing and new buildings and projected out to 2050, accounting for differences such as climate and building design."
Researchers used computer simulations to show the market response to various financial, technical, behavioral, and policy options, identifying the optimum mix to achieve transformation for each market studied, according to WBCSD.
Strengthen building codes and energy labeling for increased transparency.
Use subsidies and price signals to create incentives for energy-efficient investments.
Encourage integrated design approaches and innovations.
Develop and use advanced technology to enable energy-saving behavior.
Develop workforce capacity for energy saving.
"The Smart Grid is the iPod of the energy industry," Audrey Zibelman, CEO of Viridity Energy, said last week. Getting a sophisticated, two-way communication system that matches knowledge with efficiency, and maybe even gets better information into the hands of energy consumers is a critical step in ensuring we have reliable power to meet increasing demand.
Now the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is getting into the act, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, to be precise, as they announce plans to distribute more than $3.3 billion in so called smart-grid technology development grants and an additional $615 million for smart grid storage, monitoring and technology viability.
Read the Full Story: DOE & Smart Grid.
Business Week is featuring 25 of America's Most Promising Social Entrepreneurs and asking readers to view a slide show and vote "for the business you feel holds the most promise, from now until Apr. 26."
They will announce the top five vote-getters on May 2.
"Social entrepreneurs—enterprising individuals who apply business practices to solving societal problems such as pollution, poor nutrition, and poverty—are now 30,000 strong and growing, according to B Lab, a nonprofit organization that certifies these purpose-driven companies. Together, they represent some $40 billion in revenue.
"Not surprising, then, that they've caught the attention of venture capitalists such as those at Acumen Fund, a nonprofit that invests in companies that try to alleviate poverty, and Bay Area Equity Fund, which backs businesses aiming to make social or environmental improvements to San Francisco's needier neighborhoods. President Obama has even suggested starting a new government agency to help socially conscious startups gain more access to venture capital."
Go watch the slide show of these very inspiring people and their ideas. You won't be disappointed.
Today, I'm speaking at Drexel's Town Hall on a Just and Clean Energy Future, part of Focus the Nation's Nationwide series of Town Hall meetings.
I'll be part of a panel on the Clean Energy Economy, with Audrey Zibelman, Viridity, LLC, Jason Brady of the Blue Green Alliance, and Kate Houstoun of Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia.
Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter is scheduled to lead the a Town Hall style discussion before my panel. I will be interested to hear his remarks and hope the focus is on energy efficiency, innovation, and private sector investments to jump start the new green economy.
Will try to update with a post tonight.
Robert Galvin knows a thing or two about technology revolutions. As founder and CEO of Motorola, Galvin helped transform the telecommunications industry. The cell phone was developed while he led Motorola and went up against a deeply entrenched and government regulated monopoly.
Galvin foresees a similar opportunity – and similar challenges – with the electricity revolution. Just as the decentralized cell phone was a threat to hard-wired phone companies, decentralized energy is a similar threat to centralized power.
In Perfect Power: How the Microgrid Revolution Will Unleash Cleaner, Greener, and More Abundant Energy, Galvin and co-author Kurt Yeager, from power-industry think-tank the Electric Power Research Institute, offer their view on the coming energy revolution.
The revolution will not be postponed, Galvin and Yeager conclude, because today's consumers and their devices demand it. But what's needed is for electricity to be viewed, as Edison originally envisioned it, "as the enabling vehicle for innovative consumer products and services, not as just another form of commodity energy."
Galvin and Yeager's answer is a new, revitalized smart microgrid system to replace the outmoded centralized system based on technologies developed prior to the 1950s. Galvin and Yeager call for investment in a transformative infrastructure and loosening of rules and regulations that inhibit decentralized, entrepreneurial responses to increasing energy needs.
One such bureaucratic barrier to distributed generation and decentralized microgrids, according to Galvin and Yeager, is that "only public utilities or governments [can] run wires that cross a public street or even to power remote villages."
While we've seen challenges to this status quo from energy entrepreneurs around the world, such as Fabio Rosa in Brazil, I wonder whether a certain amount of regulation is appropriate here in the US. I'm not sure I want my neighbor tapping into the electrical wires running down our street, potentially putting the whole system at risk. But a well-trained, certified group of service providers might be a different story.
Indeed, this is what the authors call for, envisioning "the emergence and growth of local service businesses, not unlike plumbing, heating, and electronic specialists, that install, maintain, and fine-tune the perfect power system to the highest quality standards, while dramatically cutting costs for all consumers."
Increasing energy demand in the US and around the world – almost one-third of the world's population is currently without electricity and that number is expected to double by mid-century – will force the hand, much like consumer demand for cell phones transformed the way we communicate.
Galvin and Yeager see an abundance of opportunity in the problem of upwardly spiraling demand and need, but not from government prescriptions and regulations, despite recent developments in the US.
"The key to change is free enterprise," the authors conclude. "This means no barriers to entry, the availability of clear and accurate price signals, an absence of subsidies, and the elimination of predatory practices."
In fact, the revolution has already begun. As the authors suggest, "Consumers, communities, and utilities alike are being confronted with a 'perfect storm' of converging cost, quality, and environmental issues that urgently require the smart, entrepreneurial transformation of our obsolete electricity infrastructure and its state-regulated monopoly, retail service business model."
The book struggles between being a manifesto for a new energy model and investment advice manual. The lists of companies and institutions at the end of each chapter seem tangential and superfluous. I would have cut the book by 100 pages or more, making it the perfect size for a cross country flight.
As it is, I'm not sure the audience for this book will wade through the authors' enthusiasm for their "perfect" model and promotional language associated with Galvin's Electricity Institute to find the kernels of good information about the coming energy revolution.
"I know your blog, I follow you on Twitter, and you're speaking at this conference," a number of people said to me in Aspen last week. "But what do you do?"
It's a question that comes up a lot these days. The answer is I'm doing a lot of things, wearing a lot of hats. (And trying to find one that fits.) I've learned to be nimble over the past six months.
Six months ago, I left Ashoka to develop my idea for a green energy investing platform. Needless to say, it's been a wild ride. I wrote about it on my second day on the job, when Career-man was at war with Entrepreneur-man within.
I rode a roller coaster through those early days and, more often than not, Entrepreneur-man ruled the day. Then September devolved into October, and November was fast on its heals. The credit crisis, collapsing financial markets, and freezing up of capital flows all combined to make it quickly apparent that my timing was off.
Luckily, I was too small to fail, to borrow my pal Howard Lindzon's phrase. I hadn't taken anybody's money and didn't have any employees to lay-off. I started consulting more and began retooling my idea to adapt to the market realities.
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans," sang John Lennon in one of the last songs he recorded before his untimely death.
Am I wiser for this experience? It's too soon to tell. Too soon to tell if it is a failure. Is an idea a failure if it doesn't evolve beyond the idea stage? Or is it still just an idea? I do know a lot more now about what it feels like to put yourself out there and try to prove an idea.
Of course, my idea isn't dead. Indeed, I had more interest in it last week than I've had in 3-4 months. So much so that I started dusting off the PowerPoint slides and the rudimentary business plan. Rather, the idea is in a holding pattern while life happens.
So, I haven't given up the dream. My entrepreneurial dream is still alive, and I get more excited and animated about it when I talk to people about it. Even last night, talking about it with a stranger, an investment banker, in my neighborhood bar: I got excited about it, and he could see the value, had a couple of ideas about people to whom I should talk.
Why am I telling you all this? I've learned it pays to be forthright.
So, consider this a six-month gut-check. No one could have foreseen where we'd be right now, either in the markets or in our enterprises. We have a long way to go, but being nimble, wisely paying attention to signals, and being forthright may help us along the journey.
Obama Tells G20: "I'm Putting a Gag Order on Greenhouse Gases"
LONDON, April 1 - US President Barack Obama today told the leaders of the G20 that he was "putting a gag order on greenhouse gas emissions" and that the US was going to start at home, with Congress and members of his own Administration.
"Today I have imposed a gag order on the most harmful greenhouse gas polluters in the United States," President Obama told the group of leaders gathered in London. "I have put a gag order on certain members of Congress and on members of my own Administration."
In an unusual move, the President revealed details of his plan, which many are calling the "Greenhouse Gag-order," specifically referencing some of the most wasteful CO2 polluters in Washington.
"I have put Representative Barney Frank on notice," Mr. Obama told an enthralled crowd. "Look, it's as simple as this: If he opens his mouth again, he will have to pay a hefty fine."
In addition to Congressman Frank, Chairman of the Financial Services Committee, Mr. Obama named Timothy Geithner in his gag order, suggesting that his Treasury Secretary will only be allowed to speak during the work week. This move may be designed to help curtail the Secretary's long-winded explanations on weekend television news media, which have only exacerbated the financial picture.
"Look, we have to do something about the windbags in Washington," Mr. Obama said. "It is my hope that the Secretary and Mr. Frank will be leaders in putting a cap on the greenhouse gas emissions in our own hallowed halls."
Mr. Obama went on to say that he hoped others in Washington would follow suit, and that he was considering a voluntary carbon credit option to be implemented as early as this summer.
Secretary Geithner, when asked for comment on the President's plan, said, "This is consistent with the Administration's plans to tax wealthy individuals across the board. We feel a carbon cap on loquacious individuals is totally within our reach."
A person close to the Office of the President indicated the Administration was considering similar sanctions on vociferous celebrities, such as Rush Limbaugh, Oprah Winfrey, and Robert Scoble.
Calls made to Rep. Frank's office for comment went unanswered.
President Obama wants to help fight climate change by capping emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, or CO2, from big industries -- and now individuals -- and allowing them to trade rights to pollute. Such systems are commonly called "cap and trade."


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Home Law The Legal Tech's Predictions for 2021
The Legal Tech's Predictions for 2021
The evolution of the legal technology industry has progressed significantly over the last few years. This has resulted in the provision of legal services and the practice of law needing to adapt accordingly.
Legal practitioners have had to ensure that their services remain inventive, applicable, and obtainable to their diverse client base as their practices become more dependent on technology.
With the outbreak of COVID-19, many businesses across many industries were negatively affected, and law firms were not exempted from the same repercussions.
A general reduction in customers' business activities was observed, and multiple M&A transactions were either postponed or canceled.
Additionally, courts and other legal resource centers were closed to help curb the spread of the disease. Research also showed that the income of law firms decreased by 15 to 20 percent in 2020, when compared to reports of the previous year.
So what does the future of legal technology in 2021 look like as the industry tries to find new ways to navigate this pandemic?
The Shift Towards Digitization
With new regulations, lockdown measures, and social distancing rules being enforced by most governments, law firms and practices have had to upgrade and digitize their services or else risk losing business. Legal firms have been forced to take an inventory of potentially outdated systems so as to adapt to the new normal.
Meetings, briefs, and client interactions had to be moved away from the traditional face-to-face environment into a digital arena that saw huge increases in the use of video conferencing tools and software. Social distancing will still largely be with us for the remaining year, and possibly longer.
Another huge change that the virus brought about has been the sudden shift to remote working. The traditional legal industry was not known for accommodating remote working. In fact, in certain instances, it was just not practical. The pandemic has forced a lot of law firms to adopt remote or hybrid methodologies and adapt their infrastructure much faster than anticipated.
All of these changes are here to stay for the year 2021 and beyond. This is despite the very real threat of cybersecurity., which was projected to cost the world $6 trillion a year by 2021. With remote working, the opening up of on-site servers has also opened up the way for an increase in data breaches and other cyber attacks. Off-site employees who have traditionally used weak passwords within their company networks could now easily become the source for an account takeover.
Companies have had to scramble to adjust and update their systems and plug any security vulnerabilities as quickly as they could. Employees also had to be retrained on the most effective and secure ways of working remotely. In fact, the automation of cybersecurity itself is another rising trend that is one to watch out for in 2021 and further on.
The Age of Automation
Digital transformation has increasingly been implemented into various aspects of business processes. Legal tech companies have started to recognize areas where certain tasks can be automated to lower expenditure and increase productivity. This makes good business sense and appeals to progressive mindsets.
Automated mailing systems, for instance, could remove a lot of manual administrative work, and make record-keeping easy and accurate. The reports and statistics provided by automated systems can also help decision-makers to understand various trends and client actions.
This could in turn lead to better-targeted marketing efforts and leads which then provide a much higher return on investment. As automation becomes more and more integrated into the daily tasks and processes of a company, the documentation needs to improve concurrently.
Accurate and comprehensive record-keeping needs to be maintained to ensure continuity. Detailed documentation on every aspect of an automated process should include points such as:
The motivation behind the automation – what gap or administrative task was being addressed?· The processes and platforms involved – with full details on the software, login accounts, and access levels, which staff members are involved in managing the process?
The results or reports generated – what is the expected outcome of the automation and who is responsible for addressing the results?
The support available – this is often overlooked; if the automation fails for any reason, who is the person or company responsible for fixing it, and what is their support offering or service level agreement (SLA)?
These are important considerations, not to be overlooked. Once the above documentation is in place and is continuously reviewed and updated, then a legal firm can be assured that they can provide legal services without interruption of processes. This is even more pressing during the pandemic where efficiency is critical. Accurate and comprehensive record-keeping will undoubtedly be here to stay during 2021.
Effects on the Industry and Clients
When legal billing is automated and standardized, law firms increase their top-line revenues, reach their operational goals, and identify and fix internal inefficiencies.
However, it is the company's responsibility to keep clients updated on best security practices. This way they avoid falling prey to ransomware attacks and other types of cybercrime.
Automation can still pose a risk to companies and client information. The infrastructure, platforms, or software must be from a reputable vendor and set up securely to protect client privacy. The lawyer-client relationship is based on trust, and it's certainly expected that the legal industry has the funds to protect this trust.
If the platform has any security vulnerabilities it can result in severe data breaches, which in turn can lead to severe repercussions such as an account takeover or ransomware attacks. The reputational fallout will be too dire. Similar to financial institutions, public perception is that a client's data should be the most secure in the hands of a law firm.
As 2021 progresses we can expect to see continued rapid trends in both digital transformation and automation. Artificial intelligence will continue to transform legal services, with multiple ramifications and benefits as well. The legal tech industry will have to keep up to provide the best experience to their clients and retain them for future business. The alternative is to risk being left behind.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Equipo DRT's display will be located at stand C2 in Hall 2 of Feria Valencia, in the Design Pavilion. As it has in the past, this new edition of one of the most important events of the textile design field to take place in Spain is sure to bring together exhibitors and visitors from all over the world.
Every year we return from Heimtextil in Frankfurt with new ideas, fresh ways of thinking, and upcoming tendencies confirmed in editions like the one published for the first major annual fair in the industry: Color Trends 2018-2019.
Dubai in particular — and the United Arab Emirates as a whole — comprise an important business opportunity for Equipo DRT. For this reason, our textile company has decided to participate in the International Design Exhibition, or INDEX Dubai, where we will present fabrics that speak, listen, adorn, and inspire at the grand Dubai World Trade Centre from March 26th to the 29th.


Yup, three lucky ladies will be getting copies of our newest book, JUST 4 FUN, and we think they are really going to have fun with all the projects in the book.
We had entries from 23 states and 5 countries. The internet opens up the world to all of us.
If you are one of the lucky three, please email us your mailing address so we can get your book in the mail. Email us at abbeylanequilts@yahoo.com.
The picks for the favorite quilt were almost even, but the JUST FOR THE SMILES edged out as the winner.
Thanks again for everyone who entered. We will be having more giveaways so stay tuned.
I got my book and I love it... Can't wait to start BOO.


Ewen has a diverse background that consists of researching, teaching, coaching, and community involvement. He holds undergraduate degrees in Biology and Education. After 4 years of coaching competitive swimming and teaching junior high and high school science and mathematics, Ewen joined the Action in Complex Environments Lab and the Bionic Limbs for Improved Natural Control Lab as a graduate student with his research focused on using various technologies to assist in the performance assessment of upper limb prosthetic devices. Over the years, Ewen has volunteered with a number of organizations around Edmonton, and continues to assist the Steadward Bears Paraswimming Program, as well as the Paediatric Rehabilitation Unit at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital. Ewen is passionate about science, education, and creating positive situations and environments for individuals to grow, be challenged, and pursue their goals. When not in the lab, Ewen is either swimming, cycling, throwing a Frisbee, reading, or taking a photo.


text:
Information retrieval (IR) has changed considerably in the last years with the expansion of the Web (World Wide Web) and the advent of modern and inexpensive graphical user interfaces and mass storage devices. As a result, traditional IR textbooks have become quite out-of-date which has led
The eyes have it: A task by data type taxonomy for information visualizations
by Ben Shneiderman - IN IEEE SYMPOSIUM ON VISUAL LANGUAGES , 1996
"... A useful starting point for designing advanced graphical user interjaces is the Visual lnformation-Seeking Mantra: overview first, zoom and filter, then details on demand. But this is only a starting point in trying to understand the rich and varied set of information visualizations that have been ..."
A useful starting point for designing advanced graphical user interjaces is the Visual lnformation-Seeking Mantra: overview first, zoom and filter, then details on demand. But this is only a starting point in trying to understand the rich and varied set of information visualizations that have been
Formal Ontology and Information Systems
by Nicola Guarino , 1998
"... Research on ontology is becoming increasingly widespread in the computer science community, and its importance is being recognized in a multiplicity of research fields and application areas, including knowledge engineering, database design and integration, information retrieval and extraction. We sh ..."
Research on ontology is becoming increasingly widespread in the computer science community, and its importance is being recognized in a multiplicity of research fields and application areas, including knowledge engineering, database design and integration, information retrieval and extraction. We
Advertising as Information
by José C. Nelson, Manuel Galán, Antonio Ocón, Enrique Rubio - Journal of Political Economy , 1974
"... for a R+D+I Centre to organize, retrieve and share ..."
for a R+D+I Centre to organize, retrieve and share
We describe Freenet, an adaptive peer-to-peer network application that permits the publication, replication, and retrieval of data while protecting the anonymity of both authors and readers. Freenet operates as a network of identical nodes that collectively pool their storage space to store
The Context Toolkit: Aiding the Development of Context-Enabled Applications
by Daniel Salber, Anind K. Dey, Gregory D. Abowd - University of Karlsruhe , 1999
"... Context-enabled applications are just emerging and promise richer interaction by taking environmental context into account. However, they are difficult to build due to their distributed nature and the use of unconventional sensors. The concepts of toolkits and widget libraries in graphical user inte ..."
interfaces has been tremendously successtil, allowing programmers to leverage off existing building blocks to build interactive systems more easily. We introduce the concept of context widgets that mediate between the environment and the application in the same way graphical widgets mediate between the user
Using Linear Algebra for Intelligent Information Retrieval
by Michael W. Berry, Susan T. Dumais - SIAM REVIEW , 1995
"... Currently, most approaches to retrieving textual materials from scientific databases depend on a lexical match between words in users' requests and those in or assigned to documents in a database. Because of the tremendous diversity in the words people use to describe the same document, lexical ..."
Currently, most approaches to retrieving textual materials from scientific databases depend on a lexical match between words in users' requests and those in or assigned to documents in a database. Because of the tremendous diversity in the words people use to describe the same document
-level functional partitioning. These partitions are mapped into information process-ing modules. The modules are assigned to nodes of the distributed information systems. A central role is assigned to modules that mediate between the users ' workstations and data re-sources. Mediators contain
A Language Modeling Approach to Information Retrieval
by Jay M. Ponte, W. Bruce Croft , 1998
"... Models of document indexing and document retrieval have been extensively studied. The integration of these two classes of models has been the goal of several researchers but it is a very difficult problem. We argue that much of the reason for this is the lack of an adequate indexing model. This sugg ..."
Models of document indexing and document retrieval have been extensively studied. The integration of these two classes of models has been the goal of several researchers but it is a very difficult problem. We argue that much of the reason for this is the lack of an adequate indexing model


"Kensington Place" penthouse (top floor NW corner) oak floors, gas fireplace, skylight, wrap around balcony, large rooms with crown molding touches, underground secured parking and storage locker. Very pleasant outlook with mountain views, just 2 blocks to South Granville shopping and restaurants. 3 blocks to Vancouver General Hospital. Just minutes to downtown and UBC.


The best company i have ever worked for!!! They have a great family friendly atmosphere and promote making work enjoyable and fun. Senior Management are very supportive and are easily approachable with any queries/problems.
I cant say a bad word.
Training, people, office environment. It's a place where you are valued and your career is as important to Yolk as it is to you.
Yolk are the fastest growing agency in Wales so there can sometimes be growing pains. But they are always positive changes that enable the consultants to do a better job or earn more. It's better than working in a small, stale environment with no ambition.
Rewards, Supper Club, Great atmosphere, Very supportive, Clear Career Progression.
Keep doing what you're doing - I love my job and I love Yolk. Thank you for all the amazing opportunities.
"Autonomous yet supportive, fun yet professional..."
Keep engaging with your staff, listening to their needs and rewarding them for their hard work.
"Fantastic Company and group of people"
Whist the amenities of the city centre are walkable there is very little in the immediate vicinity for lunch so advice would be to bring your own and enjoy the break out area.
Not necessarily a negative but the people that struggle are the people that sit in silence, worried about asking for guidance. If you don't know something or need help never be afraid to ask (anyone) for it. Other consultants will go out of their way to guide you but they do have targets too.
Keep doing what your doing, innovating, inspiring and growing. You've made Yolk a genuinely amazing place to work for all of the YolkFolk - we salute you!
"Best recruitment company to date!"
Yolk provide the best training and support. When i started i had been in recruitment for 2 years before but since i joined here i have learnt so much more then i ever had at my last company. They make you feel so welcome from day one and really bring you into the "yolk Folk" family. Plus the benefits and career opportunities make you work so much harder as they offer the best of the best.
Apart from the obvious (work a 4 day week, get a £10k pay rise!) Dunc and Dale run a good ship.
The introduction of annual employee satisfaction surveys can be a good way to gauge the overall feel of staff and receive suggestions for ideas and improvements.
One of the directors is a closet Sutton fan *claims to be a Chelsea fan* , the other is a Liverpool fan and is horrendous at Fifa..... Unfortunately you can't have it all.
Keep doing what you're doing, great working environment and culture.. make sure all of the target clubs are on a fair level.
Glassdoor has 36 Yolk Recruitment reviews submitted anonymously by Yolk Recruitment employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Yolk Recruitment is right for you.


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telecoms, internet and broadcast in Africa
Rwanda: Financial Literacy Game Launched in Schools
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Visa Inc. and the government of Rwanda on Wednesday officially launched financial literacy in schools across the country dubbed 'Visa Financial Football game.'
Financial Football is a free computer game that combines the world's most popular sport with a financial literacy curriculum developed especially for Rwanda. The interactive game provides essential information on personal financial management.
Pichette Kampeta Sayinzoga, the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Finance and economic planning, explained that it is in line with the government's commitment to increase financial literacy and to make children familiar with managerial skills at an early age so that they can be able to manage little resources they have and preparing them to be financial literate in the future.
"The idea is that students should understand that managing money doesn't start when you are adult - it's starts when you are a young person and the real message is to get information about financial literacy, what is to have an account, have a loan, how to use an ATM card and the message is really to say that you can learn while having a fun," she explained.
The PS was talking to journalist on Wednesday after officially launching the Visa Financial Football game at Lycee de Kigali. The same campaign is to be undertaken throughout the country in both.
The game, which will be distributed for free in public and private schools, is available in both Kinyarwanda and English. Ginger Baker, managing director of Visa Rwanda, expressed his excitement to introduce the Financial Football game in Rwanda given that access to financial services is essential for economic progress.
"We hope this game will bear tangible results for financial access in Rwanda, empowering young people to tackle real-life personal finance situations with confidence," he said.
Accessible at www.rwanda.financialfootball.com, the game challenges players on their level of financial literacy through a set of multiple choice questions. The questions cover a wide range of topics including saving, budgeting, setting financial goals and what to do in the event of losing a bank card.
The Financial Football game is part of a nation-wide financial literacy program announced last year in December by Visa and the government of Rwanda in a bid to develop a wide range of solutions of electronic financial services in the country.
Telecoms EN Issue no 625 5th October 2012
Africa's future data architecture beginning to fall into place – exchange points and data centres
Sierra Leone: Top-Up Sold at Higher Cost in Moyamba
Tunisia to dissolve fixed-line monopoly to focus on 3G
Sonitel union seeks end to duplicate fibre rollouts
Uganda Faces Uncertainty Over SIM Registration
Telecoms News - In Brief
Tanzania: Tigo Launches SMS Internet Browsing
iROKING launches new mobile site and announces redesign of online platform
Benin university gets high speed bandwidth
Ericsson to provide Internet access to youth in conflict areas in Uganda, South Sudan
Internet News - In Brief
Computer News - In Brief
Ghana - 60,000 laptops in 2,500 schools by the end of the month
MTN Uganda claims largest Facebook following
East Africa: Local Internet Provider Launches Video Call Tool
Telecoms, Rates, Offers and Coverage
Ghana called on to list Vodafone, Airtel shares
ICT gets lion's share of venture capital funding
Money News - In Brief
South Sudan Soon to Launch Tele-Education and Medicine
Eat Out extends hands to Google, Wazi Wi-Fi for connected restuarants
Nigerians Pay Frequently On Mobile Apps Than Mobile Sites
Mobile money start-up MFS's founder Dare Okoujdou on how he raised US$4.5 million


In January leading practitioners and coaches of the Kanban Method gathered at the Kanban Leadership Retreat. While preparing our "just-in-time" agenda at the start, a topic suggested for discussion was a variation on a question we had all heard often, "How does 'kanban' impact my role: as a Project Manager, or as a Business Analyst, or as Product Manager, or as a Program Manager?" It was definitely interesting to hear responses from others to this question, and for me it was one of the more useful sessions.
Since the Kanban Method is not a specific workflow methodology or process, and therefore is not something that replaces your current workflow process, but rather a tool that can be used to improve any workflow process, it doesn't prescribe specific roles. It isn't that kind of tool.
The latest variation of my presentations on this topic was at the Agile New England user group in Boston, where they capture many, if not all of their monthly presentations, on video and make them available publicly. You'll find this video below. If you're in the Boston area and not familiar with ANE yet, I'd encourage you to visit their website here.
To assist with viewing the video I've listed a mini-index (below) indicating a few logical partitions where one might stop and come back to if you're unable to sit through the presentation in a single sitting. [Note: this particular presentation allowed for a number of questions to be taken throughout, and not just at the end.] I hope you find it interesting. As per a quote I heard once somewhere that has really stuck with me, "the greatest learning occurs at the interface of disagreement" (adding, provided there is some constructive dialogue). So, if you feel I've mistated something, could articulate something a bit more effectively, or you disagree with something, please let me know.
I want to thank again here a few of the people from ANE who work hard on a volunteer basis to provide this first class user group in the Boston area. Thanks to ANE Member Shyam Kumar for his persistance, as we started talking about this opportunity some time ago and patitiently working through schedules. Also thanks to ANE's President, David Grabel, ANE's Vice-President, Tom Woundy, and ANE's Program Coordindator, Ron Morsicato, for their efforts that evening and prior, contributing to a first class user group operation. Lastly, thanks to ANE Member Ron Verge who video-taped, edited, and put togther the video.
I had two immediate responses to this interesting question. First, teams in a number of software development and IT/IS organizations are familiar with the basis for this question, and I'm guessing it comes up in a number of non-IT/IS or non-software development contexts as well.
Second, there is already an upfront discomfort with the idea of moving workitems back to the "backlog" that have been "pulled" into the ToDo (or Ready, On Deck, etc.) workflow process states. I'm wondering what signal is this discomfort providing to us? I'm guessing the discomfort is even greater with the idea of moving workitems back to the backlog that have made it to some state of Doing in the workflow process. In essence, this would be "resetting the clock" for a number of workitems already considered work in progress for some period of time, and with expectations I'm sure they would be completed within some known SLA.
Just what I like, "real world" questions in particular when they come with some "pain points" clearly identified upfront. As I continued to think about this one more, it felt like a "perfect" opportunity to raise what I feel is a related question and discuss them some together in this post. When discussing metrics as part of measuring and managing flow, the question below is one I raise often with others who are applying the Kanban Method to their workflow processes.
How might we in the case of a "Lab Week" produce the metrics we want and visualize this information without any "discomfort" of doing post collection adjustments or moving (resetting) workitems back into the backlog? What can we learn from thinking about and responding to this "Lab Week" question that applies beyond the original basis itself in how we develop policies for managing our workflow processes?
In November 2012 I attended the Kanban Leaders Retreat (KLRUS) in San Diego. Over two days there I had an opportunity to take part in a number of break out sessions with several other leading coaches, trainers, and practitioners of the Kanban Method. In one of the sessions we focused on identifying some of the "surprising" myths and misconceptions we were hearing about the Kanban Method while coaching, training, and working with others. As summarized by some participating, "there really is a lot of surprising 'stuff' out there!" In the context of this post I'll limit myself to providing a taste of our discussion there at KLRUS. In particular, focusing for the moment on a misconception I hear often, the Kanban Method: It's just Scrum with tweaks.


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Home » LOTTOMATICA GROUP
LOTTOMATICA GROUP
Walter Bugnohas been named chief executive officer of Lottomatica Group's Gaming Division, comprising Atronic Group and Spielo. He will report to Lottomatica CEO Marco Sala. Bugno brings more than 25 years of experience leading and growing international customer-driven companies. He joins Lottomatica from Bokks, a global luxury-brand supply network based in London, where he was managing director and CEO. From 2006 to 2009, he was CEO, Casinos, for Tabcorp Holdings, where he transformed the business by revitalizing the customer casino experience. Prior to joining Tabcorp he was president of Campbell Soup Co. in the Asia-Pacific region. A lifelong football (soccer) enthusiast, he was inaugural chairman of Sydney's professional football club from 2004 to 2006.Publicly traded Lottomatica Group is a market leader in the Italian gaming industry and one of the largest lottery operators in the world. Through its subsidiary GTECH Corp. the company also is a leading global provider of lottery and gaming technology solutions.
Paysafe Group appoints Ismail ("Izzy") Dawood as group chief financial officer
INSPIRED GAMING GROUP
Executive Q&A: Jamie l. Fullmer, Chairman and Ceo, Blue Stone Strategy Group
SUZO HAPP GROUP


Divided into four sections, for the seasons, this epic elegy to the old English farmer's year was first published in 1927.
It is now regarded as a native classic in the pastoral tradition.
With woodcuts by George Plank.


HONG KONG — Of all the mysteries surrounding the emergence of a new and deadly strain of avian influenza around Shanghai, one of the biggest is why China's hundreds of medical and veterinary labs did not spot the problem sooner — or if they did, why it was not disclosed.
Even the censored Chinese news media has begun cautiously questioning why the authorities did not say anything sooner about a disease that resulted in the first known human case in eastern China on Feb. 19, but was not announced to the public until March 31. The announcement came two weeks after the closing of the National People's Congress, a show event during which the Communist Party traditionally avoids acknowledging problems.
China's health ministry is now finding three to five human cases a day, a brisk pace for a disease that Chinese officials and the World Health Organization assert is still transmitted from animals to people, and not from person to person. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta activated its emergency operations center this week as governments around the world began making preparations in case of a flu pandemic.
Yet Chinese government officials have not yet publicly identified any farms with poultry infected with the new strain of bird flu, H7N9 avian influenza. The government has focused so far on closing wholesale markets in Shanghai and several nearby cities, and it has sent guards with nets to chase pigeons in Shanghai parks, to snare and later euthanize the potentially infected birds.
Chinese health officials assert that they have acted promptly upon laboratory confirmation of cases. Agriculture officials have said less, but they have also said that they are being transparent.
Western health officials and scientists say that they do not know whether China deliberately concealed the disease for six weeks after the first person fell sick with it; China says lab confirmation did not come until March 29. But they note that unusual properties of the virus, together with a controversial Chinese response to a previous bird flu outbreak of distributing millions of free vaccines, may have made the outbreak harder than usual to detect at first.
The virus can be detected in animals in two ways: a widely used, easily performed test for antibodies in the serum or plasma of poultry, known as a serology test, or a much more expensive and difficult experiment to isolate specific viruses from the birds, which can only be done in a few well-equipped labs in China.
The crucial question is whether veterinary technicians were doing serology tests only for H5N1 bird flu, which has been a chronic problem in China for 16 years, or whether they were testing for a broader range of avian influenza viruses and misread, ignored or decided not to publicize any detection of H7N9.
Chinese officials have been largely silent on the details of their test protocols. The Agriculture Ministry had no immediate response to questions submitted by fax on Wednesday.
Dr. Juan Lubroth, the chief veterinary officer of the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization, said that he suspected China had been testing broadly for more avian influenza viruses than just H5N1. "When you are running a serology, you usually don't run it against one, you run it against a battery of viruses that you know are circulating," he said in a telephone interview.
But while H7N9 has been spotted before in the West, it has not been documented before this spring in East Asia. Dr. Lubroth said that he did not know the details of the Chinese test protocol, and that if the Chinese were focused on H5N1 test results, these tests would not detect H7N9.
At least 31 human cases, including nine deaths, have been confirmed by the Chinese government so far, and the Chinese police have been detaining people who assert on the Internet that there are more cases. Chinese officials say that one patient has recovered and the rest are still sick in hospitals, mostly in serious or critical condition.
Dr. Malik Peiris, the director of the Center of Influenza Research at Hong Kong University, said that another serious challenge in finding the disease was that poultry, unlike people, can be infected with H7N9 and show very few symptoms. So Chinese technicians may not have seen a need to do much testing in recent months when there was little sign of H5N1, which does kill chickens.
"Generally people don't go around testing apparently healthy poultry," he said.
The World Organization for Animal Health, a veterinary group in Paris that sets international standards for animal care, has a mandatory policy for China and other member countries. Members must report all outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in wild or domesticated birds, and outbreaks of low-pathogenic avian influenza in domesticated birds.
Dr. Alex Thiermann, the president of the organization's standard-setting Code Commission, said that H7N9 qualifies as a low-pathogenic bird flu virus, so China had an international obligation to report it to the World Organization for Animal Health. China did so last week.
Dr. Thiermann said that the organization's rules allowed a country to fully confirm the presence of a virus before reporting it, but he declined to say whether he thought China had been slow in reporting it.
He also expressed concern that China might have initially missed the virus because of its controversial approach to fighting H5N1 virus ever since the disease led to mass deaths of chickens in 2004 and 2005: a massive vaccination for poultry across the country. The advantage of vaccination is that while it does not stop all infections, it reduces the amount of virus that a bird sheds when infected. The disadvantage is that the poultry develops antibodies to the virus, so serology tests become unreliable.
Dr. Thiermann says that his organization recommends mass culling of birds as a more reliable way to stamp out a disease and then monitor for any resurgence. He warned that vaccination for H5N1 might have masked the emergence of H7N9.
Dr. Arnold Monto, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan, said that there might have been a slight delay in disclosing the emergence of the virus in people, since the Chinese government had already calculated the entire genetic sequence of the virus before announcing it. But other scientists said that decoding a gene sequence can now be done in China in two days and was a natural step before announcing the disease.
Shi Da and Sue-Lin Wong contributed research from Beijing.


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(-) Macaque
(-) Squirrel monkey
(-) Chicken & Turkey
(-) Elephant
(-) Restraint
Buckmaster, C. L., Levesque, D., LaFollette, M. et al. 2022. Five hot topics in refinement of nonhuman primate neuroscience research. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 10(1) (January/February), 24-26.
Members of the North American 3Rs Collaborative (NA3RsC) refinement initiative have chosen to summarize developments in five hot topics of interest: 1. Tips for welfare-friendly transport, chairing, and restraint; 2. Guidance on refining food and...
Davies, J. R., Purawijaya, D. A., Bartlett, J. M. et al. 2022. Impact of refinements to handling and restraint methods in mice. Animals 12(17), 2173.
There is increasing evidence that, compared to non-aversive handling methods (i.e., tunnel and cupping), tail handling has a negative impact on mouse welfare. Despite this evidence, there are still research organisations that continue to use...
Bethell, E. J., Khan, W., Hussain, A. 2022. A deep transfer learning model for head pose estimation in rhesus macaques during cognitive tasks: Towards a nonrestraint noninvasive 3Rs approach. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 255, 105708.
Head orientation is a measure of attention used in behavioral psychological research with non-human primates. It is used across a broad range of disciplines and settings, from the field to the laboratory. Field methods are...
Barkus, C., Bergmann, C., Branco, T. et al. 2022. Refinements to rodent head fixation and fluid/food control for neuroscience. Journal of Neuroscience Methods 381, 109705.
The use of head fixation in mice is increasingly common in research, its use having initially been restricted to the field of sensory neuroscience. Head restraint has often been combined with fluid control, rather than...
Jacob, G., Katti, H., Cherian, T. et al. 2021. A naturalistic environment to study visual cognition in unrestrained monkeys. eLife 10, e63816.
Macaque monkeys are widely used to study vision. In the traditional approach, monkeys are brought into a lab to perform visual tasks while they are restrained to obtain stable eye tracking and neural recordings. Here...
Stracke, J., Volkmann, N., May, F. et al. 2021. Walking on tiptoes: Digital pads deserve increased attention when scoring footpad dermatitis as an animal welfare indicator in turkeys. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 7, 613516.
Animal welfare is one of the most challenging issues in modern farm animal husbandry. Animal welfare indicators can be used to monitor welfare on farms or at slaughterhouses, with footpad dermatitis (FPD) being one of...
Petek, M.,Çavuşoğlu, E. 2021. Welfare assessment of two free-range laying hen flocks in Turkey. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 24(1), 56-63.
This study aimed to determine the prevalence of keel bone deviations and feather damage of laying hens in two different free-range housing systems under commercial conditions. Both of the free-range systems had an indoor barn...
Tahamtani, F. M., Herskin, M. S., Foldager, L. et al. 2021. Assessment of mobility and pain in broiler chickens with identifiable gait defects. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 234, 105183.
Gait defects, assessed as gait score (GS), is a common welfare problem in broiler chicken production. The aim of this study was to examine whether birds with GS2 experience pain and poor locomotor ability compared...
Labitt, R. N., Oxford, E. M., Davis, A. K. et al. 2021. A validated smartphone-based electrocardiogram reveals severe bradyarrhythmias during immobilizing restraint in mice of both sexes and four strains. JAALAS 60(2), 201-212.
Mouse handling and restraint affect behavior, physiology, and animal welfare, yet little information is available on how various mouse restraint methods affect cardiovascular parameters. We validated the use of a smartphone-based ECG sys- tem in...
Kittelsen, K. E., Gretarsson, P., Jensen, P. et al. 2021. Keel bone fractures are more prevalent in White Leghorn hens than in Red Jungle fowl hens—A pilot study. PLoS ONE 16(7), e0255234.
Fractures and deviations to the keel bone are common in commercial laying hens, with reported variations in occurrence across strains and breeds. The aetiology is not fully understood, however, modern genetics and selection for efficient...
Houser, L. A., Ramsey, C., de Carvalho, F. M. et al. 2021. Improved training and semen collection outcomes using the closed box chair for macaques. Animals 11(8), 2384.
Collaborative semen collection in monkeys is a valuable tool in research, animal collection management, and conservation efforts. To obtain samples, monkeys are often restrained in open restraint chairs (ORC) with the "pole and collar" technique...
Falendysz, E. A., Calhoun, D. M., Smith, C. A. et al. 2020. Outside the box: Working with wildlife in biocontainment. ILAR Journal 61(1), 72-85.
Research with captive wildlife in Animal Biosafety Level 2 (ABSL2) and 3 (ABSL3) facilities is becoming increasingly necessary as emerging and re-emerging diseases involving wildlife have increasing impacts on human, animal, and environmental health. Utilizing...
Redaelli, V., Bosi, A., Luzi, F. et al. 2021. Neuroinflammation, body temperature and behavioural changes in CD1 male mice undergoing acute restraint stress: An exploratory study. PLoS ONE 16(11), e0259938.
Background: Animal models used to study pathologies requiring rehabilitation therapy, such as cardiovascular and neurologic disorders or oncologic disease, must be as refined and translationally relevant as possible. Sometimes, however, experimental procedures such as those...
Piller, A., Bergmann, S., Schwarzer, A. et al. 2020. Validation of histological and visual scoring systems for foot-pad dermatitis in broiler chickens. Animal Welfare 29(2), 185-196.
In this study, an appropriate visual scoring system for foot-pad dermatitis was validated, considering the histologically measured depth of the inflammation zone and the histopathological grade (no lesion, mild lesion, ulcer). The aim being to...
Jones, P., Tahamtani, F., Pedersen, I. et al. 2020. The productivity and financial impacts of eight types of environmental enrichment for broiler chickens. Animals 10(3), 378.
Reduced mobility in broilers can contribute to leg health problems. Environmental enrichment has been suggested as one approach to combat this through stimulating increased physical activity. Past studies have tested the effect of environmental enrichments...
Baker, S. L., Robison, C. I., Karcher, D. M. et al. 2020. Keel impacts and associated behaviors in laying hens. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 222, 104886.
Factors contributing to the development of keel bone damage are not well understood. This study aimed to identify behaviors and cage structures associated with acceleration events experienced by individual hens at their keels as the...
Thøfner, I., Hougen, H. P., Villa, C. et al. 2020. Pathological characterization of keel bone fractures in laying hens does not support external trauma as the underlying cause. PLoS ONE 15(3), e0229735.
Keel bone fractures in laying hens have been described with increasing prevalence from several countries over the last twenty years and are considered one of the greatest welfare problems to the layer industry. In Denmark...
Armstrong, E. A., Rufener, C., Toscano, M. J. et al. 2020. Keel bone fractures induce a depressive-like state in laying hens. Scientific Reports 10(1), 3007.
In commercial flocks of laying hens, keel bone fractures (KBFs) are prevalent and associated with behavioural indicators of pain. However, whether their impact is severe enough to induce a depressive-like state of chronic stress is...
Zemanova, M. A. 2020. Towards more compassionate wildlife research through the 3Rs principles: Moving from invasive to noninvasive methods. Wildlife Biology 2020(1), no page numbers.
Research in ecology and wildlife biology remains crucial for increasing our knowledge and improving species management and conservation in the midst of the current biodiversity crisis. However, obtaining information on population status often involves invasive...
Wendler, P., Ertl, N., Flügger, M. et al. 2020. Influencing factors on the foot health of captive Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in European zoos. Zoo Biology 39(2), 109-120.
Pathological lesions of feet occur frequently in captive elephant populations. To improve foot health, it is important to identify risk factors associated with such pathologies. Several previous studies have analyzed potentially influencing factors but were...
Stracke, J., Klotz, D., Wohlsein, P. et al. 2020. Scratch the surface: Histopathology of foot-pad dermatitis in turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo). Animal Welfare 29(4), 419-432.
Foot-pad dermatitis (FPD) is an important indicator of animal welfare in turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo). The present study aimed to evaluate the reliability and validity of a commonly used five-point visual score (VC), assessing FPD based...
Ipema, A. F., Gerrits, W. J. J., Bokkers, E. A. M. et al. 2020. Provisioning of live black soldier fly larvae (Hermetia illucens) benefits broiler activity and leg health in a frequency- and dose-dependent manner. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 230, 105082.
Fast-growing broilers spend most their time inactive and are therefore prone to experience leg problems. Environmental enrichment that facilitates intrinsically motivated behaviours can potentially promote activity and reduce leg problems, thereby improving broiler welfare. A...
Jung, L., Brenninkmeyer, C., Niebuhr, K. et al. 2020. Husbandry conditions and welfare outcomes in organic egg production in eight European countries. Animals 10(11), 2102.
In the European research project HealthyHens, welfare indicators as well as husbandry and management conditions were recorded in 107 organic laying hen farms in eight countries. Farms were visited at peak and end of lay...
Rokavec, N., Zupan Šemrov, M. 2020. Psychological and physiological stress in hens with bone damage. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 7, 589274.
Abnormalities in bone development in humans and non-humans can lead to impaired physical and psychological health; however, evidence is lacking regarding the role of individual psychosocial factors in the development of poor bone conditions. Addressing...
Rufener, C., Rentsch, A. K., Stratmann, A. et al. 2020. Perch positioning affects both laying hen locomotion and forces experienced at the keel. Animals 10(7), 1223.
The aim of this study was to assess the effect of perch positioning on laying hens' locomotion and the resulting energy experienced at the keel. Twenty Nick Chick and 20 Brown Nick hens were trained...