Application of a Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram to horses competing at 5-star three-day-events: Comparison with performance

A Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram (RHpE) was previously developed to facilitate the detection of musculoskeletal pain. The objectives were to apply the RHpE during warm-up for the dressage phase of two 5* three-day events and to correlate the RHpE scores with subsequent performance. It was hypothesised that there would be a higher rate of failure to complete the cross-country phase in horses which exhibited ≥7 behaviours compared with those showing <7 behaviours. The RHpE, comprising 24 behaviours, was applied for 10–12 min during warm-up. Gait abnormalities in trot and canter were recorded. Dressage penalties, cross-country performance, showjumping penalties and final placings were documented. Horses were categorised as those which completed cross-country, or those which did not complete because of elimination or retirement. RHpE scores (n = 137) ranged from 0 to 9/24 (median 3 [range 0–9] for nonlame horses; median 5 [range 1–9] for horses with gait abnormalities in trot or canter). There was a moderate correlation between dressage penalty scores and the RHpE score (rho = 0.4, P<0.001, Spearman rank). Fifty-nine per cent of horses (n = 10/17) with a RHpE score ≥7 failed to complete cross-country, compared with 33% (n = 39/117) with a score <7. Horses that failed to complete the cross-country phase had higher RHpE scores compared with those that completed (P = 0.04, W = 8.3, Kruskal–Wallis; pairwise comparison Bonferroni, P = 0.06). There was a significant (rho = 0.3) relationship between total RHpE score and final horse placings (n = 80, P<0.01, Spearman rank). Horses with lameness or gait abnormalities in canter had significantly higher RHpE scores (P<0.01, χ² = 35, chi-square test) compared with other horses. There was a strong correlation between the RHpE scores for horses which competed at both events (P<0.001, rho = 0.6, Spearman rank). The RHpE should facilitate earlier identification of horses which may benefit from diagnosis and treatment, resulting in improvement in both performance and equine welfare.     

Stringency of environmental regulation and aquaculture growth: A cross-country analysis

During the last three decades, aquaculture has been the fastest growing animal-food-producing sector in the world, accounting for half of the present seafood supply. However, there is a significant growth disparity among aquaculture-producing countries. The reasons why some countries have achieved remarkable growth in aquaculture while others have stagnated or even declined have not been determined. In this article, we investigate whether environmental regulations have an impact on aquaculture growth. Using a cross-country regression analysis, we show that stringent environmental regulations are negatively related to aquaculture growth, whereas GDP growth has a positive effect. Countries often face a difficult balancing act between growth and environmental considerations when devising regulations. Our empirical results suggest that stricter environmental regulations in developed countries have contributed to lower growth rates and that these countries are falling behind emerging and developing economies that have more lenient environmental regulations.     

基于双目视觉的智能车辆障碍物探测技术研究

鉴于障碍物探测是越野智能车辆自主导航的关键环节,为此针对越野环境光照多变、地形复杂的特点,提出了一种适用于越野环境的双目视觉障碍物检测技术,即首先对系统进行标定和坐标变换,以抵消地形的影响;然后采用高斯滤波和有限对比适应性直方均衡化(CLAHE)对图像进行预处理,以削弱噪声、光照和对比度的影响;接着在特征匹配部分,用提取的图像的亚像素级Harris角点特征参与匹配;同时基于RANSAC方法估计基础矩阵,再通过对极几何约束匹配来提高系统的实时性,并采用连续性约束消除误匹配,最终获取环境的3维信息;在障碍物提取部分,则通过线性插值来构建车前环境的高程图像;最后通过边缘提取和形态学处理来最终检测障碍物。此外还通过不同环境中的检测实验,验证了该算法的可行性及有效性。