Most domestic goose breeds were domesticated from the Greylag goose. Even though domestication resulted in a change in the production and behaviour of birds compared to their ancestors, geese are ...relatively recently domesticated and less intensively selected for production compared to other species (i.e. chickens or dairy cattle). In this respect, we hypothesised that the territorial defence of ganders would be present during the laying season similar to the wild ones. The behaviour of birds was expected to differ by sex, the month of the laying season and the time of the day. We assumed that the hierarchy within a group would be affected by the influence of other groups. Altogether 150 birds in three fifty-bird groups were examined over five observation events indicating the onset (December), the peak (the start, the middle and the end of January) and the end (the end of February) of the laying season. Twenty behaviour elements classified into five categories (locomotion, static behaviours, feed intake, comfort behaviours and social behaviours) were examined regarding the three groups as replicates. The territorial defence of ganders was evaluated by spatial distribution analysis, and the relations within groups were investigated by social network analysis. Between sexes, only the frequency of social behaviours presented differences. Ganders showed social behaviour more frequently than geese (10.89% vs 1.49%, P= 0.000). The frequency of static behaviours was the lowest at the onset of January and the highest in February (21.18% vs 38.03%, P= 0.000). The frequency of feed intake was the highest in December and the lowest in February (18.33% vs 4.83%, P= 0.000). Comfort behaviours showed the lowest frequency in December and the highest at the onset of January (36.65% vs 57.63%, P= 0.000). The social behaviours were unchanged in December and January but decreased in February (4.40–6.37% vs 1.16%, P=0.000). Only the frequency of social behaviours differed by the time of the day, indicating the highest frequency in the morning (55.60%, P=0.003). The results of the spatial distribution analysis did not strongly support the presence of territorial defence of ganders. The structure within a group was the most explicit in Group 1 having an adjacent large group and another small group by which it was likely to be influenced. It might be concluded that domestic geese ganders did not keep their territory-holding ability to a full extent during domestication and the behaviour (mainly social interactions) of domestic geese is influenced by sex, the month of the laying season and the time of the day. The structure within a group was somewhat influenced by the adjacent groups.
•Geese ate more at the onset and ate less at the end of the laying season.•The frequency of social behaviours decreased by the end of the laying season.•Comfort behaviours showed the highest frequency at the peak of the laying season.•Compared to the wild ones, domestic ganders lost their territory-holding ability.•The hierarchy within a group can be strongly affected by the adjacent groups.
This study empirically analyzed the effects of job autonomy and job satisfaction on organizational commitment of firefighters performing the current standard daily routine for firefighters, and aimed ...to provide basic data for standard days and improvements that reflect the working environment and dispatch characteristics. It is unreasonable to uniformly apply the current standard routine to the unpredictable dispatch environment of firefighters. As a result of analyzing a sample of firefighters nationwide, it was found that the current standard work and performance hindered job autonomy and job satisfaction. As a result of empirical analysis with job autonomy and job satisfaction as independent variables and organizational commitment as a dependent variable, it had a positive (+) effect. Therefore, the results of this study suggest that there is a need to increase organizational commitment through the current standard work and improvement of firefighters. However, there is a limitation in that research does not reflect all matters such as differences in work patterns by region, characteristics of dispatch by region, and characteristics by position, and it should be improved into a standard routine that can be commonly applied to firefighters nationwide through future research.
Small birds overwintering in cold climates must meet the daily challenge of accumulating sufficient energy reserves throughout the day to ensure overnight survival. Theoretical work suggests that ...risk of starvation is a major force shaping optimal daily foraging routines. Animals are predicted to adjust how they distribute their daily foraging activity in relation to environmental harshness, which largely determines the risk of starvation. Here, we used radiofrequency identification (RFID)-enabled bird feeders to test whether mountain chickadees, Poecile gambeli – small, resident, food-caching birds – exhibited different daily foraging routines in harsher (higher elevation) versus milder (lower elevation) environments in the Sierra Nevada. In addition, we assessed foraging routines between four different periods of the nonbreeding season ranging from autumn (milder conditions) to winter and early spring (harsher conditions) and to late spring (milder conditions). We also tested whether individual variation in spatial cognition associated with food caching, which represents a more reliable food source that can be expected to lower risk of starvation, is associated with differences in daily foraging routines. Chickadees from both elevations distributed their daily foraging efforts differently throughout the nonbreeding season, consistent with theoretical predictions for milder and harsher conditions. Differences between chickadees from high and low elevations were especially pronounced during harsher winter periods, with chickadees from high elevations showing a bimodal daily routine, while low-elevation birds showed an inverted U-shaped daily routine, with most foraging during the middle of the day. Finally, significant differences in daily routines were associated with variation in spatial learning and memory performance. Overall, our study shows that daily foraging routines are consistent with risk of starvation under different degrees of environmental harshness, whether across nonbreeding seasons or between elevations, and that perception of harshness may be associated with cognitive abilities.
•Chickadees exhibit different daily foraging routines across the nonbreeding season.•Chickadees at high and low elevations exhibit different daily foraging routines.•Elevation-related differences were especially pronounced in winter.•Perception of environmental harshness may be associated with cognitive abilities.
Introduction. Training in medical universities is characterized by high labor intensity, a large volume of classroom and extracurricular workload and has a serious impact on health. As it is known, ...one of the most important components of students' health is a rational diet, moreover, the state of human health is determined by more than 50% and depends on nutrition. Aim. To study the nutritional characteristics of medical university students during the period of isolation due to the coronavirus infection pandemic. Patients and Methods. The study was conducted online using a specially designed questionnaire in a remote format using a Google form. Each question assumed an answer in a time period: before the pandemic and now (the pandemic of coronavirus infection). The study included the results of a survey of 127 students of 4-6 courses of three medical universities of St. Petersburg. Results. 35.8% of our respondents reported three meals a day (breakfast, lunch, dinner) before the pandemic. During the survey, the optimal frequency of meals is adhered to by almost 2 times more - 64.1% of students. The commitment to eating fast food was not affected by the arrival of COVID-19 in our lives. There were no significant changes during the period of the pandemic with the use of semi-finished products and compliance with the principles of a balanced diet. Conclusion. In the conditions of the coronavirus infection pandemic, more students began to adhere to the optimal three-time frequency of meals. The pandemic of coronavirus infection has practically not changed the attitude of students to healthy eating - the unbalanced diet, the use of fast food and semi-finished products that took place before the arrival of COVID-19 have been preserved.
As the population in the Western world is rapidly aging, the remote monitoring solutions integrated into the living environment of seniors have the potential to reduce the care burden helping them to ...self-manage problems associated with old age. The daily routine is considered a useful tool for addressing age-related problems having additional benefits for seniors like reduced stress and anxiety, increased feeling of safety and security. In this paper, we propose a solution for identifying the daily routines of seniors using the monitored activities of daily living and for inferring deviations from the routines that may require caregivers' interventions. A Markov model-based method is defined to identify the daily routines, while entropy rate and cosine functions are used to measure and assess the similarity between the daily monitored activities in a day and the inferred routine. A distributed monitoring system was developed that uses Beacons and trilateration techniques for monitoring the activities of older adults. The results are promising, the proposed techniques can identify the daily routines with confidence concerning the activity duration of 0.98 and the sequence of activities in the interval of 0.0794, 0.0829. Regarding deviation identification, our method obtains 0.88 as the best sensitivity value with an average precision of 0.95.
Engagement in interactive game-playing and passive TV watching has become an integral part of young children's routines. While there is a consensus regarding the harmful effect of long passive TV ...viewing on child development, the influence of interactive game playing is much less clear. This study seeks to specifically explore the association between passive TV watching and interactive-game playing, to executive functions (EF) in typically developing children in their natural environment. A convenience sample of 194 Israeli children (aged 5-7 years) was recruited for our cross-sectional study. Parents provided information on the average daily time their children spent watching TV and playing interactive games. In addition, parents fulfilled the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) to assess everyday executive skills in natural settings. Our findings revealed significant correlations between TV viewing and poor EF in five out of eight subscales of BRIEF, in addition to the indexes and the global executive composite (
< 0.05). However, the time spent on playing interactive games was not correlated with any of the BRIEF's subscales except one. Moreover, longer time spent watching TV was found to be a significant predictor of low EF among children (F(1,189) = 8.37;
= .004,
= 3.7%). The current study results show that passive viewing led to worse EF performance than active digital gaming. As a consequence, our study supports previous professional recommendations to limit passive TV viewing.
In Japan, a variety of traditional dietary habits and daily routines have developed in many regions. The effects of these behaviors, and the regional differences in the composition of the gut ...microbiota, are yet to be sufficiently studied. To characterize the Japanese gut microbiota and identify the factors shaping its composition, we conducted 16S metagenomics analysis of fecal samples collected from healthy Japanese adults residing in various regions of Japan. Each participant also completed a 94-question lifestyle questionnaire.
We collected fecal samples from 516 healthy Japanese adults (325 females, 191 males; age, 21-88). Heatmap and biplot analyses based on the bacterial family composition of the fecal microbiota showed that subjects' region of residence or gender were not strongly correlated with the general composition of the fecal microbiota. Although clustering analysis for the whole cohort did not reveal any distinct clusters, two enterotype-like clusters were observed in the male, but not the female, subjects. In the whole subject population, the scores for bowel movement frequency were significantly correlated with the abundances of Christensenellaceae, Mogibacteriaceae, and Rikenellaceae in the fecal microbiota (P < 0.001). These three bacterial families were also significantly more abundant (P < 0.05 or 0.01) in lean subjects (body mass index (BMI) < 25) than in obese subjects (BMI > 30), which is consistent with previously published results. However, a previously reported correlation between BMI and bowel movement frequency was not observed. In addition, the abundances of these three families were positively correlated with each other and comprised a correlative network with 14 other bacterial families.
The present study showed that the composition of the fecal microbiota of healthy Japanese adults at the national level was not strongly correlated with subjects' area of residence or gender. In addition, enterotype partitioning was ambiguous in this cohort of healthy Japanese adults. Finally, the results implied that the abundances of Christensenellaceae, Mogibacteriaceae, and Rikenellaceae, along with several other bacterial components that together comprised a correlative network, contributed to a phenotype characterized by a high frequency of bowel movements and a lean body type.
Identifying dietary and physical activity (PA) patterns in Russian youths and examining their dependence on gender, age, family characteristics and area of residence features. The research involved ...783 school students 10-17 years of age and their parents living in the cities of Moscow and Murmansk. Using the principal component analysis, four integral indices were identified that characterized the habits and dietary patterns, PA and lifestyle. Boys, compared with girls, were more likely to consume unhealthy foods but less likely to practice malnutrition. Within the age ranges of 13-15 years old and 16-17 years old, the proportions of school students with a poor sleep pattern and low PA were higher than in children 10-12 years of age. In smoking families, children were less likely to consume healthy foods and more likely to eat unhealthy foods. In Murmansk school students, compared with their Moscow peers, a reduction in both sleep time and PA was observed less often. Our study demonstrated that the most significant factors of a balanced and healthy diet, rational daily routine and lifestyle in school students were their gender and age characteristics, as well as some contextual factors.
1. A fundamental issue in foraging theory is whether it is possible to find a simple currency that characterizes foraging behaviour. If such a currency exists, then it is tempting to argue that the ...selective forces that have shaped the evolution of foraging behaviour have been understood. 2. We review previous work on currencies for the foraging behaviour of an animal that maximizes total energy gained. In many circumstances, it is optimal to maximize a suitably modified form of efficiency. 3. We show how energy gain, predation and damage can be combined in a single currency based on reproductive value. 4. We draw attention to the idea that hard work may have an adverse effect on an animal's condition. We develop a model of optimal foraging over a day when a forager's state consists of its energy reserves and its condition. Optimal foraging behaviour in our model depends on energy reserves, condition and time of day. The pattern of optimal behaviour depends strongly on assumptions about the probability that the forager is killed by a predator. 5. If condition is important, no simple currency characterizes foraging behaviour, but behaviour can be understood in terms of the maximization of reproductive value. It may be optimal to adopt a foraging option that results in a rate of energy expenditure that is less than the rate associated with maximizing efficiency.
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