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In commercial dairy cows, the conditions in which they are kept may lead to negative emotional states associated with the development of chronic physiological and behavioural abnormalities that may compromise their health, welfare and productivity. Such states include fear, stress or anxiety. Behavioural rather than physiological tests are more likely to be used to indicate these states but can be limited by their subjectivity, need for specialised infrastructure and training (of the operator and sometimes the animal) and the time-consuming nature of data collection. Popularly used physiological measures such as blood cortisol may be more appropriate for acute rather than chronic assessments but are easily confounded, for example by a response to the act of measurement per se. More sophisticated physiological measures such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) may be impractical due to cost and time and, like blood cortisol, have the confounding associated with the act of measurement. By contrast, infrared thermography of external body surfaces is remote, non-invasive, easily repeated and follows an objective methodology, allowing longitudinal data acquisition for the inference of changes in chronic emotional state over time. The objective of this review was to investigate the potential of infrared thermography to measure cow emotions. In lactating dairy cows, maximum IRT of the eyes and coronary band of the limbs seem to be most representative of thermoregulatory changes, which are repeatable and correlate with behavioural and physiological indicators of emotional state. IRT methodologies have the potential to become a fundamental tool for the objective assessment of welfare state in dairy cows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emotions of cows could be reflected in their body temperature, productivity and behaviours. We tested whether there is a positive correlation between non-invasive infrared temperature (IRT) and right-side laterality (presumed to indicate anxiety), and negative correlation with milk production in a large group of randomly selected cows. Lactating cows (n = 171) were examined individually in 3 consecutive one-month periods. Each month maximum infrared temperatures of the head and coronary bands of forelimbs were recorded daily for 6 days and lateralisation was determined from ten daily forced lateralisation tests. In the first month right-lateralised cows had higher IRT in their eyes than left-lateralised cows. The absence of an association between IRT and laterality in periods 2 and 3 suggests habituation to the test conditions. Right lateralised cows waited for longer before milking than left lateralised cows, and limb IRTs were negatively related to the waiting time before milking. We conclude that the connection between lateralised behaviour and eye IRT in this study provides evidence of differences in cows' emotional response to the forced lateralisation test. • Non-invasive infrared temperature (IRT) of cows appeared to be related to emotions. • Cows with apparently negative emotions had greater eye IRT temperature. • Higher IRT of eyes was also linked to poor milk quality. • IRT only related to emotional responses in the first month.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a new manufacturing method for producing a double paddle oscillator geometry using a printable fused silica glass suspension. The method includes casting a printable glass mixture into a polymer mold, followed by multiple thermal processing steps. This process results in the production of clear and high-quality fused silica devices. Our approach for fabricating fused silica devices is easy to use, extremely robust, needs fewer manufacturing stages, and enables batch fabrication of multiple devices. In this work, we investigate the quality factor and first two resonance modes of fused silica based double paddle oscillators (DPOs) with varying thicknesses using computational and experimental techniques. We can experimentally detect two resonance modes, including cantilever and standard torsion modes for 0.5 mm, 0.8 mm, and 1 mm thick DPOs, with thicker devices providing a higher quality factor. Additionally, our optimized fabrication method ensures a device yield of over 90 %. All fabrication steps used in our method can be accomplished outside of a cleanroom facility. • A new fabrication method that utilizes a printable polymer glass suspension to create fused silica is presented. • Double paddle resonators with thicknesses of 0.5 mm, 0.8 mm, and 1 mm are produced. • This new process offers two main advantages: the ability to create complex resonator geometries and to print thicker devices. • The first two resonance modes were successfully identified for three different thicknesses. • A maximum quality factor of 4563 achieved for a 1 mm-thick double paddle oscillator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Studies have reported significant differences in baseline characteristics and outcomes of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients when managed in private versus public hospitals. Aims: To compare disease, treatment and survival outcomes of patients with mCRC in public versus private hospitals in South Australia (SA). Methods: Analysis of prospectively collected data from the SA mCRC Registry. Patterns of care and outcome data according to location of care and socioeconomic status based on Index of Relative Socio‐Economic Advantage and Disadvantage were analysed. Results: A total of 3470 patients' data was analysed during February 2006–January 2015. The majority (70%) of patients received treatment in public hospitals. Patients in the upper 50% for Index of Relative Socio‐Economic Advantage and Disadvantage score were more likely to receive treatment at a private hospital (41.2% vs 21.56%) compared to <50%. Public patients had higher burden of disease (10.49% vs 7.41%, P = 0.005). Public patients received less treatment compared to the private patients (odds ratio = 0.48 (0.38–0.61), P = 0.01) and rates of surgical resections were lower in public patients. After adjusting for the covariates, public patients survive 1.33 months (P = 0.025) shorter than private patients with follow‐up time of 5 years. Patients receiving metastasectomy and more than three lines of treatment were shown to have the greatest survival benefit. Conclusion: Public patients have a higher burden of disease and in comparison are less likely to receive systemic therapy and have lower survival than patients treated in private hospitals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infrared thermography is a tool to investigate the welfare of cattle. This study aimed to identify a sampling strategy for recording infrared thermograms in dairy cows, in order to most efficiently determine biologically relevant changes in the maximum infrared temperature (IRT) of the eyes and coronary band of forelimbs. Thirty-one dairy cows were used for the study. They were assessed with four replicates of thermograms for each of the head and lower forelimb per cow for 6 mostly consecutive days (sessions). The data obtained were subjected to random effects Analysis of Variance which was used to estimate the variance components for this sampling model, using maximum IRT of both eyes; (left + right eye)/2 and both limbs; (left + right coronary band of forelimb)/2 as dependant variables. The variance components were used to calculate least significant differences (LSD) between two theoretical treatment groups under different sampling scenarios. Analysis showed that there was minimal improvement in precision beyond 2 thermograms within a session but there was improvement with increasing the number of sessions from 2 to 3. The LSD of both eyes and both limbs reached a biologically relevant difference (0.4 and 0.9 °C, respectively) at a minimum number of 14 - 16 cows monitored for 2 consecutive thermography sessions, or 10 – 12 cows for 3 sessions. We conclude that no more than 2 replicate IRT measures are required per session but that measuring on 3 consecutive days should be considered, depending on whether time or number of cows used is the primary limitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I argue that genuine ethical deliberation, and hence ethical agency, is incompatible in principle with the possession of determinate practical prescriptions concerning how best to act in a concrete ethical situation. I make this argument principally by way of an analogy between gameplay and ethical deliberation. I argue that trivially solved games of perfect information (the example I use is tic‐tac‐toe) are, or become, in some sense unplayable for the individual for whom the game is trivially solved. The reason for this, I suggest, is that there ceases to be space within the game for the distinction between that individual being a better and being a worse player of the game. I then use this example as an occasion to reflect on the kind of epistemic indeterminacy that appears to be a condition of genuine ethical deliberation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In one of the most famous essays in the history of film theory, André Bazin writes, "One no longer believes in the ontological identity of the model and its portrait, but we acknowledge that the latter helps us to recollect the former, and thus, to save it from a second spiritual death" (Bazin 1958: 10). This essay interprets Plato's Phaedo as centrally concerned with the problem of how to understand the Sôcratikoi logoi as aids to the recollection of Socrates' philosophic practice, and it takes its inspiration from reflections in contemporary film theory on the relation between film and the ghostly or spectral. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the author discusses about crises surrounding legal services market in Utah. Topics discussed include measuring of legal market based on money and people; list of categories with the greatest number of case filings such as divorce, protective orders, and debt collection; and a table depicting self-represented petitioners and self-represented respondent in the number of cases.

Lower body positive pressure (LBPP), or 'anti-gravity' treadmills ® have become increasingly popular among elite distance runners. However, to date, few studies have assessed the effect of body weight support (BWS) on the metabolic cost of running among elite runners. This study evaluated how BWS influenced the relationship between velocity and metabolic cost among 6 elite male distance runners. Participants ran three- 16 minute tests consisting of 4 stages of 4 minutes at 8, 7, 6 and 5 min⋅mile-1 pace (3.35, 3.84, 4.47 and 5.36 m⋅s-1), while maintaining an aerobic effort (Respiratory Exchange Ratio ≤1.00). One test was run on a regular treadmill, one on an anti-gravity treadmill with 40% BWS and one with 20% BWS being provided. Expired gas data were collected and regression equations used to determine and compare slopes. Significant decreases in oxygen uptake (...O2) were found with each increase in BWS (p < 0.001). At 20% BWS, the average decrease in net VO2 was greater than proportional (34%), while at 40% BWS, the average net reduction in VO2 was close to proportional (38%). Across velocities, the slope of the relationship between VO2 and velocity (...O2/Δv) was steeper with less support. The slopes at both the 20% and 40% BWS conditions were similar, especially when compared to the regular treadmill. Variability in VO2 between athletes was much greater on the LBPP treadmill and was greater with increased levels of BWS. In this study we evaluated the effect of body weight support on ...O2 among elite distance runners. We have shown that oxygen uptake decreased with support, but not in direct proportion to that support. Further, because of the high variability in oxygen uptake between athletes on the LBPP treadmill, prediction equations may not be reliable and other indicators (heart rate, perceived exertion or directly measured oxygen uptake) should be used to guide training intensity when training on the LBPP treadmill. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Freedom's Right Axel Honneth seeks to provide a theory of justice by appropriating Hegel's account of ethical substance in the Philosophy of Right, but he wants to do so without endorsing Hegel's more robust idealist commitments. I argue that this project can only succeed if Honneth can offer an alternative, comparatively robust demonstration of the rationality and normative coherence of existing social institutions. I contend that the grounds Honneth provides for this claim are insufficient for his purposes. In particular, I argue that Honneth's claim that 'justice and individual self-determination are mutually referential,' even were it to be accepted, would be insufficient to underwrite his more robust identification between the normative foundations of justice, autonomy and reciprocal self-realization. In the final section of the paper, I turn to Honneth's analysis of the 'social institution' of friendship, which he, following Hegel, holds up as a paradigmatic instantiation of social freedom understood as, in Hegel's words, 'being with oneself in another' ( Beisichselbstsein in einem Anderen). I argue that an analysis of the normative import of friendship wholly in terms of mutual recognition misses an important aspect of the kind of self-realization that friendship makes possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Body weight-supported treadmill training using positive air pressure has become increasingly popular, but little is known about the metabolic adaptations to these treadmills. This study aimed to evaluate the existence and length of a metabolic accommodation period to running on a lower body positive pressure (LBPP) treadmill. Methods: A total of eight recreational runners (5 males and 3 females) ran 15 min trials (5 min at 50, 70, and 90 % body weight) on the AlterG Anti-gravity P200 treadmill. No verbal instruction was given on how to run on the device. Their trial pace corresponded to 70-80 % of their velocity measured at $$\dot{V}$$ Omax on a standard treadmill. Trials were continued until no significant metabolic change was observed. Two-way repeated measures analysis of variance was used to analyze changes in $$\dot{V}$$ O across trials and levels of unloading. Results: Participants completed 7 trials. Comparing trial 1 to the average of trials 5, 6, and 7, $$\dot{V}$$ O decreased from 29.6 ± 3.8 to 23.6 ± 4.4 ml/kg/min at 50 % body weight (~20 % reduction), from 33.7 ± 4.5 to 29.2 ± 5.1 ml/kg/min at 70 % body weight (~13 % reduction), and from 41.0 ± 7.7 to 36.6 ± 5.6 ml/kg/min at 90 % body weight (~11 % reduction). No significant reduction occurred after trial 4 at any level of support. Conclusions: An accommodation effect of running on a treadmill with LBPP was observed and reached after 60 min of running (4 trials of 15 min). The accommodation effect was the largest at the greatest level of body weight support. These data suggest the importance of an accommodation period for reliable measures of metabolic cost to be made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses research which investigated body weight support (BWS) accuracy of the AlterG Anti-Gravity treadmill. Topics explored include the experimental protocol observed such as machine calibration and predicted weight calculation, statistical analyses of predicted and measured mean weights gathered, and the factors that need to be considered by coaches before incorporating the AlterG treadmill in exercise programs.

In this paper, I put forth the idea that a process in the production of speech can also be found, on an entirely different scale, in theatrical and film performance. Not simply that actors speak, but the semiotics of language, as a dynamic system, also appear, on their own, in the semiotics of theater. It forms a kind of “triangle” of gesture mimicry: actor → audience, audience → actor, and author → actor. Each leg has its own realization. Many reactions take place and are part of the performance triangle. The actor to audience portion is similar to what gesture coders do – spontaneously mimic the gesture and speech of a subject on video made even decades before. The author to actor leg is more surprising. Carefully written ‘scanable’ prose contains gesture-like imagery. Part of writing is building in gesture, not describing it but placing it as a pattern on which the written text is orchestrated. Actors can recover the author’s built-in gestures. Finally, the audience to actor leg arises when the actor mimics what have been termed ‘phantom’ gestures and bodily attitudes sensed in the audience. The triangle exists in film acting with the actor conjuring an audience of his or her own to complete it, and explains why in fact film actors do this (even endowing the camera with personal properties). The audience is active on its leg of the triangle. The audience is more complex and participatory than just watching. Overall, theatre and film have the same dialectic of semiotic opposites as gesture and language. As actors speak and gesture the performance itself, too, is a process of imagery and codified form, and they are in a dialectic unity. In this sense, in heightened and public form, theatre is a continuation (and not just an exploiter) of language, which perhaps partly explains its appeal and universality. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We extend Werner and Kaplan’s (1963) account of early language development as symbol formation to the development of cohesion in young children’s narratives. We propose that the development of cohesion relies on imagistic gestures, specifically on gestural catchments – series of gestures (not necessarily continuous) with recurring features that embody discourse themes. Our argument is supported by the narratives of a child recorded and transcribed by Forrester (2002, 2008), and available on Child Language Data Exchange System (CHILDES). From ages 1;5 to 2;9 we find three periods of changing relationships between speech and gesture – in the first, gestures helping to create simple referring-and-predicating constructions, and in the last marking what is newsworthy relative to what has come before. The period between is a time of transition from gestures in an extralinguistic to an intralinguistic function. We examine this change in the context of Werner and Kaplan’s (1963) shift from parataxis to hypotaxis, and with respect to the semiotics of symbol formation – a shift from a single to a dual semiotic. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Most retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) convey contrast and motion information to visual brain centers. Approximately 2% of RGCs are intrinsically photosensitive (ipRGCs), express melanopsin and are necessary for light to modulate specific physiological processes in mice. The ipRGCs directly target the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) to photoentrain circadian rhythms, and the olivary pretectal nucleus (OPN) to mediate the pupillary light response. How and when this ipRGC circuitry develops is unknown. Results: Here, we show that some ipRGCs follow a delayed developmental time course relative to other imageforming RGCs. Specifically, ipRGC neurogenesis extends beyond that of other RGCs, and ipRGCs begin innervating the SCN at postnatal ages, unlike most RGCs, which innervate their image-forming targets embryonically. Moreover, the appearance of ipRGC axons in the OPN coincides precisely with the onset of the pupillary light response. Conclusions: Some ipRGCs differ not only functionally but also developmentally from RGCs that mediate patternforming vision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines changes in curatorial practice using a comparison between the 52nd Venice Biennale, 2007, and Documenta 12, 2007, as its point of departure. Through a reading of Manuel Delanda's theory of 'assemblages' it detects a tendency to offer constellations of works rather than collections of individual art pieces presented as self-sufficient aesthetic entities. It argues that progressive exhibitions now tend to orchestrate complex meanings and affects through the adroit juxtapositioning of works even at the price of subordinating authorial intent and the autonomy of discrete works. It suggests, further, that art exhibitions, conceived of as 'assemblages', offer a fertile forum for the presentation of complex and subtle transnational cultural connections that may otherwise be too easily overlooked. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1993, Aboriginal Australian rules footballer Nicky Winmar mounted a protest against racism in the game by approaching abusive supporters of an opposing team, lifting his jersey and pointing to his black skin. The now famous photograph which captured the incident condenses in a single image a key moment in the long history of struggle by Indigenous Australians for cultural recognition and economic equality. Taking the photograph as its cue, this article explores the ways in which Australia's residual white-settler culture continues to exclude certain groups from national belonging. In particular, it is argued that Winmar and other black sports stars of the early 1990s were able to challenge the unofficial code of 'mateship' in Australian male culture which, more recently, has been an important bulwark of the country's post-9/11 neo-nationalist mood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blindness might be described as a biological condition, and thus remedies could be in the realm of biotechnology. However, the convergence of information technology and cognitive science offers great opportunities for understanding and helping blind children as they learn mathematics, the crosscutting discipline most important for all branches of science and engineering. This article outlines our logic and approach for providing blind students with awareness of the embodiment of their teachers to maintain situated communication. First, we shall show that math discourse is inherently spatiotemporal, and that this information is carried by gesticulation in conjunction with speech. Second, we shall explore the capacity of those who are blind for the imagism necessary for mathematics reasoning. Third, we shall advance a set of augmentative devices suggested by our analysis. Finally, we shall outline our ongoing experiments to validate our rationale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the views of Socrates on the different representations of eros made by Plato in his literary writings. Role of eros in the genesis of the tyrant; Association between the implanted eros and imported madness; Relationship between human discursive activity and the intelligible realm.

Comparisons of spontaneous speech-synchronized gestures for the same events by monolingual speakers of English and Spanish during narrations of a cartoon story show differences in the visuospatial cognition associated with the satellite-framed and verb-framed systems of motion event encoding. These are striking differences, given the potential for uniformity of space and motion representations across languages. 1. Objectively curvilinear paths are broken into straight-line segments in English—they are unbroken and remain curvilinear in Spanish. This visuospatial difference is apparent in children as young as three years old. 2. Borders are treated like other path sequences in English—they are given special treatment in Spanish that removes them from path schematizations. 3. Manner is projected onto the figure in both English and Spanish—it is also projected onto the ground in Spanish (a unique resource of visuospatial cognition in this language). From these contrasts we infer cross-linguistic differences in thinking for speaking, a real-time version of the linguistic relativity (Whorfian) hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the influence of economic crisis on the multimedia sector in Japan. Reconstruction of telecommunications, computer and electronics industries; Context of the economic reform policies of the government; Diversification strategy in multimedia investments of Sony Corp.; Role of multimediatization in restoring the economic condition.

Discourse cohesion is viewed from the perspective of a speech/gesture synthesis. Based on narrative and conversational data, we present cross-cultural evidence of cohesive elements marked by repetitive gestures that maintain continuity with respect to their location in space, the hand with which they are produced, and/or their form. The data show the joint contribution made by speech and gesture to the process of creating and maintaining discourse topics. It is claimed that an approach to discourse that focuses on events taking place at the moment of speaking, unlike approaches that assume the prior existence of planned discourse units, can account for the impact of speech and gesture on thought; for example, the execution of a gesture helps the speaker to track presupposed background information, and so provides a basis for the production of the communicatively dynamic part of an utterance. The proposed model of discourse production is a dialectic, in which gesture and speech provide interacting voices, and the relationship between the voices moves the discourse forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we argue that on-line linguistic choices are made in a matrix of continuous discourse connections. We investigate the hypothesis that communicative dynamism (CD) is this representation of the whole in the parts. We view CD as a graded variable that can be measured only with respect to large stretches of discourse. Based on our analysis of extended narrative and conversational data, we find that CD directly correlates with the quantity of linguistic material devoted to a reference. We identify two strategies with which this is accomplished: one constructive, the other anticipatory. We find that gestures of the kind co-occurring with speech also reflect the communicative status of the utterance. Initial positions of explicitly delineated narrative units are accompanied by more gestures (both pointing and beats). A similar phenomenon appears in a highly unstructured conversation, with pointing gestures accompanying initial references to topics. We interpret these correlations of the quantity of gesture and the quantity of linguistic referring material as reflecting an underlying unity of speech and gesture. Thought itself, Vygotsky (1962) argued, is the formation of psychological predicates--elements of discontinuity from the existing context. A speaker highlights these discontinuities by adding to the quantity and multiplying the avenues of departure from the context in both speech and gesture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the review of the child language in Chicago, Illinois. The language of the child involves more than just naming and more than just words for perceptions where a child follows semantic principles which demonstrate consistency but which often prove difficult for adults to state. A claim that motivates acquisition research is not simply that children learn an adult system of language but at speech displays as a series of evolutionary systems and constructions that lead to adult grammar.

Reports on an experimental attempt to test whether the understandings by observers of a speaker are affected by the speaker's gestures. Comparison of discourses that present fitting gestures with those in which gestures have been mismatched; Integration of information presented in gesture with that presented in speech.

The article reviews the film "Yasukuni," directed by Li Ying.

The high temperature thermal stability of ultra-thin atomic layer deposited Al2O3 on sulphur passivated and hydrofluoric acid (HF) treated germanium surfaces was studied using soft x-ray photoemission spectroscopy. The interface sulphur component was stable up to 500 °C vacuum annealing. The interfacial oxides were completely removed at 600 °C for the sulphur passivated sample, whereas HF treated sample showed traces of residual oxides at the interface. However, this annealing treatment does not show any significant change in Al2O3 stoichiometry. The dielectric-semiconductor band offsets were estimated using photoemission spectroscopy measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of different inoculum-to-substrate ratios (ISRs) and feed mix (FM) ratios on the kinetics of methane production and yields during anaerobic digestion of spoiled silage mixture (SM) alone or co-digestion with cow manure (CM) was investigated in batch experiments at 37 °C. The silage mixture was prepared from spoiled silages of maize, lucerne and barley in equal proportions of 33% by wet weight. The effect of ISRs of 0.5, 1, 2 and 4 showed that methane yields increased with an increased ISR ratio. At ISRs of 1, 2 and 4, methane yields of 262.18 ± 14.96, 387.77 ± 14.43 and 482.23 ± 38.47 NmL CH4/gVSadded were obtained, respectively. Incubation at ISR 0.5 resulted in low methane yields (174.49 ± 9.29 NmL CH4/gVSadded) due to build-up of volatile fatty acids (VFAs). Further, co-digestion of spoiled SM with CM showed that the highest methane yields of 387.77 and 382.86 NmL CH4/gVSadded were obtained at SM:CM feed mix ratios of 100–0 and 75–25, respectively. The corresponding volatile solids (VS) removal rates were 72.80% and 70.82%, respectively. However, the best synergistic effect was noticed at a SM:CM = 50–50 feed mix ratio. Thus, this study shows that anaerobic digestion of spoiled silages is feasible and co-digestion of spoiled silage mixed with cow manure at a SM:CM feed mix ratio of 75–25 is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Olanzapine/fluoxetine combination therapy is a widely prescribed antipsychotic-antidepressant regimen for treatment resistant depression and is reported to have a side effect of peripheral edema. The theoretical underpinnings of peripheral edema in association with olanzapine/fluoxetine combination therapy are still unclear. Although peripheral edema associated with olanzapine/fluoxetine combination is rarely reported, the mechanism of drug interaction and effect on cytochrome P450 enzymes may induce it. We review the case of a middle-aged patient, who presented with peripheral edema after the administration of olanzapine/fluoxetine combination therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on retina-clock relations which dictate nocturnal to diurnal behaviors. It discusses that the electrical and gene expression rhythms in the circadian clock in both nocturnal and diurnal animals have similar phases with respect to dark and light cycle. It suggests that the phase difference in their activity is not caused by differences in the circadian clock but rather by how the clock couples to output mechanisms.

Although Arbib's extension of the mirror-system hypothesis neatly sidesteps one problem with the "gesture-first" theory of language origins, it overlooks the importance of gestures that occur in current-day human linguistic performance, and this lands it with another problem. We argue that, instead of gesture-first, a system of combined vocalization and gestures would have been a more natural evolutionary unit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Panting score (PS) is a common research tool used to assess the physiological state of cows exposed to heat stress, but it is subjective. Infrared temperature (IRT), measured by either infrared thermometers or cameras, may be a more objective and reliable alternative. Very few studies thus far have evaluated the associations between PS, IRT, and milk production. We investigated the applicability of IRT compared with PS as a means of assessing heat stress and milk yield reduction in dairy cows in tropical smallholder dairy farms (SDF). In autumn 2017, SDF located across 4 typical dairy regions of Vietnam were each visited once to collect farm (n = 32) and individual cow data (n = 344). For each SDF, heat load index (HLI) inside the cowsheds, an indicator of environmental heat load calculated from ambient temperature, humidity, and wind speed, was measured. For each cow, PS (0 indicates a cow breathing normally, not panting; 4.5 indicates an extremely heat-stressed cow with excessive panting, tongue fully extended, and excessive drooling), IRT of the cow's body, single-day energy-corrected milk yield (ECM), body weight, and body condition score were measured. Cow genotype, age, lactation number, and days in milk were recorded. The IRT of the cows' inner vulval lip (IVuT) were measured with an infrared thermometer; and the IRT of the cows' vulval surface (OVuT), inner tail base surface (ITBT), ocular area, muzzle, armpit area, paralumbar fossa area, fore udder, rear udder, fore hoof, and hind hoof were also measured with an infrared camera. Multivariate mixed-effects models were used to assess the associations between HLI with PS and IRT, and associations between PS and IRT with ECM while accounting for the effects of other cow variables. All IRT correlated positively with PS (Pearson correlation, r = 0.23–0.50). Each unit increase in HLI was associated with increases of 0.07 units in PS and 0.09 to 0.23°C in IRT. Each degree (°C) increase in IVuT, OVuT, and ITBT was associated with decreases of 0.75, 0.87, and 0.70 kg/cow per day in ECM, respectively, whereas PS and other IRT were not significantly associated with ECM. Thus, all IRT showed potential to assess the heat stress level of cows; and IVuT, OVuT, and ITBT, but not PS and other IRT, showed potential to predict ECM reduction in cows during heat stress. First cross (F1) Holstein Brown Swiss and F1 Holstein Jersey showed lower PS and yielded higher ECM than the third backcross (B3) Holstein Zebu (7/8 Holstein + 1/8 Zebu) and pure Holstein. Thus, F1 Holstein Brown Swiss and F1 Holstein Jersey could be more suitable for tropical SDF than B3 Holstein Zebu and pure Holstein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]