Digital Commons Network^™

Fine-Tuning The Criteria For Inferring Sentience, Culum Brown

Animal Sentience

“Sentience” means the capacity to feel, and feelings are private affairs. Sentience is hence extremely difficult to quantify in nonhuman animals. We have no direct means of determining whether an animal is sentient. Thus we rely on a series of indirect measures or criteria which collectively provide some level of confidence about the probability that an animal is sentient. Crump et al. propose a modified framework based on 8 criteria for estimating the likelihood of sentience in a target taxon. Whereas I very much like their proposed framework, I would suggest a couple of amendments that may improve it further: …

Emotional Component Of Pain Perception In The Medicinal Leech?, Brian D. Burrell

Animal Sentience

Crump et al. have provided a series of criteria to assess animal sentience that is focused on the perception of pain, which is known to have both sensory and emotional components. They also provide a qualitative scoring system to assess data that address the eight criteria and apply this paradigm to decapod crustaceans. The criteria laid out have the potential to be applied to other invertebrates typically thought to have sensory response to tissue damage, but no emotional component to pain perception.

Generalizing Frameworks For Sentience Beyond Natural Species, Michael Levin

Animal Sentience

Crump et al. (2022) offer a well-argued example of an essential development: a rigorous framework for assessing sentience from the perspective of moral concern over an agent’s welfare. Current and forthcoming developments in bioengineering, synthetic morphology, artificial intelligence, biorobotics, and exobiology necessitate an expansion and generalization of this effort. Verbal reports (the Turing Test) and homology to human brains are utterly inadequate criteria for assessing the status of novel, unconventional agents that offer no familiar touchstone of phylogeny or anatomy. We must develop principled approaches to evaluating the sentience of (and thus, our responsibility to) beings of unfamiliar provenance and …

Sentience In Decapods: An Open Question, Mark Briffa

Animal Sentience

Crump et al.’s framework is a powerful tool designed to assist decisions on the ethical treatment of decapod crustaceans. However, the question of whether decapods are sentient (i.e., whether they feel), remains open, perhaps indefinitely. More optimistically, we might design experiments that distinguish among different levels of awareness, sometimes viewed as components of sentience. We should strike a balance between assuming that all organisms are sentient and making unnecessary anatomical assumptions about sentience. Refining current experiments may provide concrete insights about awareness in Decapoda and other taxa.

Unresolved Issues Of Behavioral Analysis In Invertebrates, Charles I. Abramson, Paco Calvo

Animal Sentience

Crump et al. (2022) provide a framework for determining the presence of sentience in organisms. Their target article is interesting and thought-provoking, but it does not consider the many unresolved issues related to behavioral analysis – especially when it concerns invertebrates. We feel that no real progress can be made until such fundamental issues as the need for a consistent definition of conditioning phenomena, the lack of a generally accepted behavioral taxonomy, and the use of cognitive terms to explain invertebrate behavior are examined critically.

Does The Sentience Framework Imply All Animals Are Sentient?, Kristin Andrews

Animal Sentience

The eight criteria proposed in Crump et al.’s framework for evaluating pain sentience in decapod crustaceans are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to markers that could increase confidence in an animal’s sentience more generally. Some of the commentaries have already pointed out that pain is only one kind of sentience (Souza Valente). It has also already been pointed out that there are other criteria for pain that could be usefully added to the framework’s eight (Burrell). This expansive thinking about criteria that can be used to increase confidence in sentience raisess the question: in an expansive …

Distinguishing Epistemic And Moral Grounds For Legal Protection, Carlos Montemayor

Animal Sentience

The criteria proposed by Crump et al. are based on various cognitive roles associated with sentience. A subset of them may be sufficient for certain kinds of welfare, but the presence of all of them should be considered as clearly sufficient for substantial kinds of legal protection based on their relation to capacities that we consider essential for moral standing in human beings.

Unconscious Humans, Autonomous Machines And The Difficulty Of Knowing Which Animals Are Sentient, Marian Stamp Dawkins

Animal Sentience

The framework proposed by Crump et al. still leaves much doubt about whether invertebrates such as crabs are sentient. For example, many complex behaviours - even in humans - occur without sentience. Also, simple machines could easily meet all of Crump et al.’s eight proposed criteria for sentience. Acknowledging the limitations of what we currently know about sentience is important both for formulating legislation correctly and for advancing scientific understanding of this most puzzling of biological phenomena.

Modernizing Medical Research To Benefit People And Animals, Jarrod Bailey, Carla Owen, Isobel Hutchinson

General - Animal Welfare

In the context of widespread public and political concern around the use of animals in research, we sought to examine the scientific, ethical, and economic arguments around the replacement of animals with New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) and to situate this within a regulatory context. We also analyzed the extent to which animal replacement aligns with British public and policymakers’ priorities and explored global progress towards this outcome. The global context is especially relevant given the international nature of regulatory guidance on the safety testing of new medicines. We used a range of evidence to analyze this area, including scientific papers; …

The Un-Iversalization Of Animal Welfare Law, Sabine Brels

Legislation and regulation

Advancing the protection of animal beings is becoming a universal mission in this early twenty-first century. A few years ago, animal welfare was knocking at the door of the United Nations (UN). Today, it is entering this door. Animal lawyers and protectionists are working to support the full inclusion of animal welfare concerns into the agenda of the UN and its organizations, and to create a new UN-iversal regime. The protection of animal beings, long a missing piece of the international law puzzle, seems likely soon to take its place as a UN objective, alongside protection of human beings and …

The Un-Iversalization Of Animal Welfare Law, Sabine Brels

Law

Advancing the protection of animal beings is becoming a universal mission in this early twenty-first century. A few years ago, animal welfare was knocking at the door of the United Nations (UN). Today, it is entering this door. Animal lawyers and protectionists are working to support the full inclusion of animal welfare concerns into the agenda of the UN and its organizations, and to create a new UN-iversal regime. The protection of animal beings, long a missing piece of the international law puzzle, seems likely soon to take its place as a UN objective, alongside protection of human beings and …

More Evidence Suggests That Vegetarianism Is Mostly Due To Genes, Harold Herzog

Herzog - Animal policy and attitudes

The relative influence of genes and environment on human behavior is one of the most persistent, interesting, and divisive issues in psychology. The human penchant for eating animals is a good example. Clearly, culture has a huge influence on the amount of flesh people consume. The average American, for example, consumes about 240 pounds of meat a year while per capita meat consumption in India is only 10 pounds per year. And your chances of being a vegetarian or vegan are nearly seven times higher if you live in India than in the United States (39% versus 6%). Further, cultures …

Is Time With Pets Good For Our Cardiovascular Health? The Surprising Results Of 129 Studies On Dogs’ Effect On Human Health., Harold Herzog

Herzog - Companion Animals and Health

https://www.wellbeingintlstudiesrepository.org/sc_herzog_comphealth/

The well-studied health benefits (of pet ownership) are claimed to be much greater than the research results actually support. For example, it is claimed that a beloved dog will lower a person’s blood pressure, reduce stress hormones, calm anxiety, and even make it easier to interact with other human beings. A recent systematic review indicate that the physiological effects of interacting with a pet may not be as strong as is commonly reported.

Operationalising One Health-One Welfare, Janice H. Cox

One Health

The World Health Organisation (WHO) describes One Health as an approach to designing and implementing programmes, policies, legislation and research in which multiple sectors communicate and work together to achieve better public health outcomes. WHO considers the ‘One Health’ approach to be “critical to addressing health threats in the animal, human and environment interface”.

Variation In Alkaloid Composition And Sequestration In Dendrobatid Poison Frogs, Katherine R. Waters

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Dairy Digest 2022 : A Hoofprint In Time, South Dakota State University Dairy Club

Dairy Digest

This is the 2022 Dairy Digest. The Diary Digest is published annually by the South Dakota State University Dairy Club. The Digest contains information and news about the activities and members of the SDSU Dairy Club for the academic year 2021 - 2022.

Ce 652 Syllabus: Treatment Planning, Rieko Miyakuni

Counselor Education Syllabi

This course is designed to assist mental health counselors in designing client-centered, individualized, and culturally sound treatment plans for a wide variety of clinical mental health disorders. Course content will include a strong focus on the diagnosis of mental health disorders based on criteria from the DSM-5, and the subsequent treatment planning and provision of evidence based clinical care. Students completing this course with a satisfactory evaluation will be familiar with evidence-based treatment as a philosophy of practice as well as interventions indicated for specific mental health disorders, and be able to create basic treatment plans that include evidence-based interventions …

Censorship Of The Marketplace Of Ideas: Why Critical Race Theory Bans In Public Schools Violate The First And Fourteenth Amendments, Maria Ignacia Araya

Nova Law Review

No abstract provided.

School Of Health And Consumer Sciences Free Communication Day: Research Abstracts, Spring 2022., Mary Beth Zwart, Elizabeth Droke, Hungling (Stella) Liu

Health and Nutritional Sciences Graduate Students Plan B Capstone Projects

This document contains Plan B abstracts presented by graduate students at the School of Health and Nutritional Sciences Free Communication Day: Research Dissemination held on May 3rd, 2022.

Project titles and presenter included:

• Development of Balanced Budget Bites and Feasibility Evaluation
  (Holly Hansen)
  
  
• The Effectiveness of Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy on Reducing Pain and Improving Functionality in Athletes with Patellar Tendinopathy
  (Maranna Gunnerson)
  
  
• Community Perception of Small Town Outdoor Aquatic Facility: Case of the Huether Family Aquatic Center.
  (Logan Haak)
  
  
• The Gut Microbiome Profile of the American Indian and Alaska Native Population: A Narrative Review
  (Blair Groebner)
  
  
• The Prevalence of Myocarditis …

Species Effect On The Ecohydrology Of A Floodplain Forest In The Upper Mississippi, Claire Mchenry

Geology Honors Projects

The primary objective of this study is to understand how soil moisture is depleted underneath native and non-native Minnesotan tree species following a rain event. It is hypothesized that soil moisture will deplete more significantly and faster underneath drought intolerant, shallow rooted species native to Minnesota. This study also focuses on utilizing remote sensing techniques to calculate the soil moisture availability across a floodplain forest using Landsat 8 images to compare satellite-derived and field-recorded soil moisture values to assess the potential of these images to remotely estimate soil moisture in floodplains.

Hierarchical Classification Of Deep-Sea Videos, Lubomir Stanchev, Hanson Egbert

Computer Science and Software Engineering

This research is based on previous research that proposes the use of AI algorithms to automatically annotate deep-sea videos [1]. Regardless of whether a deep-sea video is annotated automatically or by a human expert, some frames are difficult to annotate because one or more objects may be ambiguous to interpret. For example, the Funiculina and Umbellula Lindahli are two types of sea pens that are difficult to distinguish. Similarly, an object may be easily identified as a fish, but the type of fish may be difficult to determine. For these types of circumstances, we propose a hierarchical classification algorithm that …

Study Of The Efficacy Of Probiotic Bacteria To Reduce Acrylamide In Food And In Vitro Digestion, Siu Mei, Emily Choi

Faculty of Science & Technology (THEi)

In this study, probiotic bacteria as a new post-processing approach to reduce acrylamide (AA) was investigated. The AA reduction ability of selected Lactobacillus strains and Bifidobacterium strains was demonstrated in (a) AA chemical solutions; (b) food matrices (biscuits and chips) and (c) in vitro digestion. The findings showed tested bacteria exhibited AA reduction ability which was probiotic strain-, AA concentration-, probiotic concentration-, incubation time- and pH-dependent. L. acidophilus LA 45 and B. longum ATCC 15707 (109 CFU/mL) showed the highest AA reduction (86.85 and 88.85%, respectively) when exposed to 350 ng/mL AA solution for 8 h. The findings also demonstrated …

Match Demands Of Male And Female International Lacrosse Players Competing Under The World Lacrosse Sixes Format, Anthony Weldon, Adam L. Owen, Irineu Loturco, Yianni Kyriacou, Wesley Wong, Shane Malone, Jaime Sampaio, Aaron T. Scanlan

Faculty of Management & Hospitality (THEi)

Weldon, A, Owen, AL, Loturco, I, Kyriacou, Y, Wong, W, Malone, S, Sampaio, J, and Scanlan, AT. Match demands of male and female international lacrosse players competing under the World Lacrosse Sixes format. J Strength Cond Res XX(X): 000–000, 2022—World Lacrosse recently announced World Lacrosse Sixes, which aims to be a smaller, faster, and more accessible format of lacrosse, when compared with traditional field lacrosse. This investigation aimed to quantify the movement and physiological demands of World Lacrosse Sixes in male (n = 25) and female (n = 22) international players. Match data were collected using Catapult Sports …

The Correlation Between Spiritual Well-Being And Burnout Of Teachers, Joe Pong

Faculty of Management & Hospitality (THEi)

This study examines the correlation between spiritual well-being and burnout symptoms, including emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalisation (DP), and personal accomplishment (PA), among Chinese secondary school teachers in Hong Kong. The data were collected from 427 Chinese secondary school teachers (189 males, 238 females) aged 25–37 from different schools with one to eight years of teaching experience. The participants completed the Spiritual Health and Life-orientation Measure (SHALOM) to evaluate the status of their spiritual well-being in the personal and communal, environmental, and transcendental domains. The Maslach Burnout Inventory—Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS) was also used to measure the extent of burnout in …

The Impact Of Gram Positive Bacteria On Semen Quality In Infertile Men And Assessment Antibiotic Susceptibility Profile, Huda Mohammed Jawed, Mohammed Sh. Jebur

Al-Nisour Journal for Medical Sciences

Despite of bacterial infections have been known as a potential condition of male infertility but clear definition and role of these conditions is not very clear. Presence of bacteria in the genital tract has been frequently discovered to be associated with reduced sperm function and as a result causes infertility. The goal of this study was to identify bacterial pathogens in infertile men's sperm culture and their antibiotic susceptibility patterns in vitro, which would aid in the formulation and monitoring of antibiotic policies and appropriate empiric therapy. A total of 50 semen specimen were collected from infertile men and 50 …

Role Of Grasses In Oviposition Site Selection By Malaria Vectors In Western Kenya, Eticha Bokore Getachew

All PhD Dissertations

Malaria continues to be among the top leading causes of illness and deaths in Africa. Its elimination is challenging in high transmission areas using insecticide-based intervention tools alone. Understanding the ecology and behaviour of disease vectors, including the olfactory cues, are essential for the development of novel, insecticide-free control tools. Recent work has highlighted that selected graminoid plants release volatile chemicals that attract malaria vectors. However, there is dearth of information on the type of dominant graminoid plants in habitats, nature of volatiles they emit and how volatiles affect behaviour of malaria vectors during oviposition sites selection. The objectives of …

Management Of Tuta Absoluta With Introduced And Native Biocontrol Agents, Mama S. Sambo

All PhD Dissertations

Tomato, Solanum lycopersicum L. (Solanaceae) is severely damaged by the South American tomato moth, Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae). Surveys among producers confirmed that the use of synthetic insecticides increased since the invasion of T. absoluta. The risks associated with the residual effect of insecticides in edible food and the negative effects it may have on ecosystem services,also increased. The aim of this project was to investigate the management of T. absoluta with introduced and native biocontrol agents in Kenya. These included a parasitoid introduced from South America,Dolichogenidea gelechiidivoris Marsh (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), native parasitoids, and the entomopathogenic fungus, Metarhizium anisopliae …

Student Handbook 2022-2023, Sacred Heart University

Handbooks & Factbooks

This handbook was prepared by the Director of Student Conduct & Community Standards and approved by the Dean of Students.

President's Report (5-4-2022), California State University, San Bernardino

President’s Office records

No abstract provided.

A Primer On Obesity-Related Cardiomyopathy, Willis K. Samson, Gina L.C. Yosten, Carol Ann Remme

Biological Sciences Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.