Abstract

Sixty pullets, aged 17 weeks, were presented when presumed to be ‘dead’ after being exposed to wet-cold weather transportation. The birds appeared unconscious and their feathers were soaking wet, and with a body rigid and cold to touch. The aim of the study was to resuscitate the hypothermic pullets. Blood samples were obtained and core body temperature recorded before and after rewarming. The birds were resuscitated using active external rewarming technique. Blood samples revealed significant (P < 0.05) decreases in the concentrations of serum electrolytes of Na, Cl, K, Ca and P; and renal function and activities of the serum enzymes of AST, ALT, ALP and CRT decreased compared to baseline reference normal values. Colonic temperature, recorded through the cloacae, revealed a temperature of 29 ± 0.4°C. The presumptive diagnosis was severe hypothermia. Treatment of the pullets using active external rewarming technique for 7 to 10 h resulted in successful restoration of all the behavioural, biochemical and colonic temperature responses to normal values. The treatment resulted in a complete recovery of all the birds with no signs of illness at 4-week follow-up. To the best of our knowledge, this study is one of the first reports to evaluate the behavioural and biochemical responses of pullets accidentally exposed to severe hypothermia, and successful treatment of the birds using active external rewarming technique.

Abstract

This paper analyzes communication for health in Africa through some fields experiences. These education compaigns show that the communication approaches are little participative. They don’t take into account the socio–cultural reality of local communities and then face various methodological problems. Yet, if well conducted, health oriented communication can help to reduce the impact of recurrent health problems in Africa.

Abstract

International audience; The temporal evolution of mobile processes is governed by independently operating local clocks and their migration timeouts. We define a formalism modelling such distributed systems allowing (maximal) parallel execution at each location. Taking into account explicit timing constraints based on migration and interprocess communication, we introduce and study a number of timed behavioural equivalences, aiming to provide theoretical underpinnings of verification methods. We also investigate relationships between such behavioural equivalences. Document type: Part of book or chapter of book

Abstract

International audience; This chapter focuses on the impacts of traffic congestion in the daily life of metropolitan motorized households. It is based on a doctoral dissertation defended in 2012, which studied three megacities: Paris in France, Sao Paulo in Brazil and Mumbai in India. A stated-adaptation survey was conducted in 2009–2010 to identify behavioral responses to traffic congestion and to estimate the threshold of household tolerance to congestion in the three regions. The implemented stated-adaptation survey was based on increasing the travel time. It allowed us to comprehend behavioral responses to traffic congestion. The survey had two stages: the respondent filled up a trip diary listing all trips, no matter what purpose or mode of transport was used, for several consecutive days, and during an in-depth face-to-face interview, the respondent reacted to hypothetical situations based on selected trips from the trip diary.

Abstract

This report describes the research conducted by De Montfort University as part of the My Electric Avenue project to investigate public acceptance of the Esprit system for control of electric vehicle (EV) charging. Esprit provides ‘demand side response’ (DSR) for local electricity network protection by intervening in the charging of electric vehicles (EVs) when demands on the local electricity network reach a certain threshold. The aim of the research was to provide a response to SDRC 9.6 set out in the Project Direction: And to address the additional learnings: T.1.1.1 - How does a trial encourage the uptake of low carbon technology? T.1.1.2 - What social factors have an impact on the use of the Technology? T.1.1.3 - How can a trial be used to educate customers about the electricity network and low carbon technologies? Acceptability of Esprit Research findings suggest that the Esprit system for control of EV charging was acceptable to the majority of participants in the My Electric Avenue Technical Trial. The degree of acceptability of Esprit was not related to whether or not participants experienced curtailment of charging by Esprit Most of the participants in the Domestic Clusters whose charging was curtailed were either not aware of the curtailment, or were not impacted by it. In face-to-face data collection, only one participant reported a significant issue with curtailment where changes to plans were required due to insufficient charge in the vehicle. Curtailment of charging by Esprit was more of an issue for participants in the Workplace Cluster of the Technical Trial. The majority of participants opted not to charge at the workplace after curtailment began due to the uncertainty of receiving sufficient charge. This uncertainty may result from the interaction of Esprit and the load profile for the Workplace Cluster which caused Esprit to operate in an impractical way. In face-to-face data collection with Workplace Cluster participants those individuals who needed to charge at the workplace reported being very unhappy with the technology. Acceptability of Esprit by the Workplace Cluster participants as a whole, however, was comparable to the acceptance by Domestic Cluster participants. This may be due to the majority of the Workplace cluster participants choosing to charge at home rather than at work and therefore not being impacted by curtailment. 9.6 An assessment of the public acceptance (or otherwise) to Demand Side Response of EVs using this sort of technology. SDRC 9.6: Public Acceptance of Esprit My Electric Avenue (I²EV) – SSET205 4 The control of charging by Esprit was more acceptable to participantsin the Technical Trial who viewed EVs more positively (as measured by Experience of and Attitude towards EVs). This greater degree of acceptance was the case whether or not participants had experienced curtailment by Esprit during the course of the trial. The relationship between the acceptability of Esprit and a positive view of EVs suggests that the concept and reality of curtailment are more acceptable to drivers with a more positive view of EVs. Acceptability of Esprit was also found to be greater among participants who were more comfortable with a lower level of charge in their battery. Additionally, participants with greater confidence in finding alternative charging locations to their home charger had a higher level of acceptance of Esprit. The types of journeys (e.g. commuting, shopping, transporting others) for which EVs were used over the trial period did not appear to affect participants’ view of Esprit. However, with regard to trip length, drivers who had a higher proportion of journeys between 11 and 30 miles at the end of the trial were more likely to find Esprit acceptable; acceptability was also higher amongst those drivers who took more unplanned trips. Overall there were few changes in either charging patterns or travel patterns following the introduction of curtailment. This lack of change suggests that Esprit control of charging had little impact on the use of EVs or attitudes towards them. Uptake of Low Carbon Technology Findings suggest that the My Electric Avenue Trial encouraged the uptake of low carbon technology with some participants installing or intending to install PV, adopting energy efficiency measures, and/or intending to acquire EVs after the trial. By allowing direct experience of a low carbon technology, such as EVs, in a supportive social and economic environment, participants were able to familiarise themselves with the technology, which encouraged them to consider investing in EVs after the trial. A few participants also felt that being involved with the trial had raised their awareness of low carbon technology more generally. Social Factors Social factors did not appear to be related to the use of the technology (Esprit). However, the trial participants were not representative of the UK population as a whole in terms of socio-demographics or household composition. Knowledge of the Electricity Network and Low Carbon Technologies Pre-trial involvement with the My Electric Avenue trial increased participants’ awareness and understanding of both the electricity network and low carbon technologies. Awareness and understanding of low carbon technologies continued to increase during the course of the trial, with actual experience of the technology being the most important factor in increasing both awareness and understanding. The trial also appeared to be successful in educating both participants and the wider community about EVs.

Abstract

Users of quantified self applications habitually log and track personal information, such as mood. Attempts to automate the procedure of logging mood have been made, but applications themselves rarely provide insights into the user’s mental well-being. In this paper we explore data from two small scale studies related to mobile device usage and mood tracking. We analyse associations between user’s mood throughout the day and the use of smartphone applications from different categories. Our analysis provides insights into the user’s behaviour based on their device usage. These insights mean that QS applications can independently use simple analysis tools to provide similar insights for the user.

Abstract

The article gives an overview about the results of the use of a newly developed measurement technique in order to analyse the behaviour of road users at level crossings. For the test of the measurement technique a before/after design was chosen in order to evaluate the effects of a speed bump on the behaviour of road users and on safety at level crossings. The measurement technique combines the use of (1) an infrared camera and (2) conventional video recording. The use of an infrared camera allows the registration of variables such as speed, position, distance and acceleration independent of lighting conditions. A conventional camera includes recording of road users' head movements on the basis of which one can conclude where their attention is directed. Besides the analysis of changes in motorists’ behaviour due to installation of a speed bump, data on the behaviour of vulnerable road users was also collected. The article concentrates especially on these results. It shows different forms of misconduct amongst the vulnerable road users that stems from different sources of error and could potentially lead to accidents. Crossings against red were observed as well as a negative effect of group size on the frequency of looking to the left and/or right. Generally vulnerable road users were crossing the railway mostly alone followed by crossing in pairs. Bigger groups were also observed but were more an exception like school classes or groups of recreational cyclists. The gaze behaviour of the vulnerable road users to the left and right hardly changed over the time and about two thirds of the pedestrians and cyclists were looking in at least one direction before crossing the railway. During the period without the speed bump eleven pedestrians and five cyclists were crossing the rail road while the red light was activated (none within the period where the speed bump was implemented – which might be due to the speed bump itself but cannot be ascribe to it with certainty). It can be concluded that the presented measurement technique could be suitable to be included in evaluations of the behaviour of vulnerable road users to achieve a more comprehensive format, which includes night time observations, observation of vulnerable road user behaviour and estimation of the effect of a safety measure. Document type: Article

Abstract

Population growth, disappearance of borders, ease of transport services, and particularly telecommunications networks have led people to interact much more with each other and to accentuate the social aspect of humankind within the general context of globalization. Moreover, the use of media and social networks has led to greater information exchange and closer cooperation, even among strangers. This phenomenon has important psychological implications for individuals in general and especially for librarians and information scientists, professionals who must have good skills to deal with users.

Abstract

Comparison of the characteristics and behaviour of people who are sorting and archiving physical and digital objects. There is limited selection –and also little interest– in tools for classifying digital objects that subsequently allow easy interaction with them or mental reflection while reviewing them. Thanks to the availability of inexpensive computer memory, people tend to save everything without categorizing, and trust –erroneously– only in good retrieval skills. Much more research in personal information management systems (PIM) is needed.