• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.1038-1043
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• 2015

In this study, we investigated the effects of mixing on the aggressive behavior of commercially housed pigs. The behavioral patterns of 36 groups of pigs (a total of 360 animals) were observed over 3 consecutive days directly after weaning ($25{\pm}1.2$ days of age), and 25 and 50 days later with the aid of video technology. Fight latency and total duration and frequency of fighting were significantly different among the age groups. The aggressive behaviors decreased in 75-day old pigs if compared to 25- and 50-day old animals. Moreover, dominance index (DI) was higher in 25-day old and lower in 75-day old pigs. A comparison of dominant (DI>0) and submissive (DI<0) pigs showed significant differences (p<0.05) for major aggressive behaviors in all age groups. Dominant pigs were involved in more aggressive interactions, had longer fights, and initiated more fights than submissive pigs. Post-mixing aggressive behavior was altered by previous experience of mixing. Aggressive behavior and DI are suitable methods for analyzing the effects of mixing on commercially housed growing pigs.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.62 no.2
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• pp.247-262
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• 2020

Birth weight and subsequent weight gain is of critical importance in the survival and performance of piglets on a commercial swine farm setting. Oropharyngeal microbiome could influence immunity, and feeding behavior thus impacting health and weight gain. We used 16S rRNA gene sequencing to profile the composition and predicted metabolic functionality of the oropharyngeal microbiota in 8 piglets (4 with a birthweight ≤ 1.0 kg and 4 with a birthweight ≥ 1.7 kg) at 11, 26, and 63 days of age. We found 9 genera that were significantly associated with average daily gain (ADG) at 11 days (false discovery rate, FDR < 0.05) and 26 days of age (FDR < 0.1), respectively. The microbial functional profile revealed several pathways associated with ADG (FDR < 0.05). Among these, pathways related to degradation of catechols showed a positive association with ADG at 11, 26, and 63 days of age, implying a potential to breakdown the host-derived catecholamines. We also noted that pathways related to the biodegradation of nucleosides and nucleotides increased with ADG during the pre-weaning phase, while those involved in their biosynthesis decreased. Our findings provide insights into the oropharyngeal microbial memberships and metabolic pathways that are involved in a piglet's weight gain. Thus, providing a basis for the development of strategies aimed at improving weight gain in pigs.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.431-438
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• 1999

The environmental control based on interactive thermoregulatory behavior for swine production has many advantages over the conventional temperature-based control methods. Therefore, this study was conducted to compare various feature selection methods using postural images of growing pigs under various environmental conditions. A color CCD camera was used to capture the behavioral images which were then modified to binary images. The binary images were processed by thresholding, edge detection, and thinning techniques to separate the pigs from their background. Following feature were used for the input patterns to the neural network ; \circled1 perimeter, \circled2 area, \circled3 Fourier coefficients (5$\times$5), \circled4 combination of (\circled1 ＋ \circled2), \circled5 combination of (\circled1 ＋ \circled3), \circled6 combination of (\circled2 ＋ \circled3), and \circled7 combination of (\circled1 ＋ \circled2 ＋ \circled3). Using the above each input pattern, the neural network could classify training images with the success rates of 96%, 96%, 96%, 100%, 100%, 96%, 100%, and testing images with those of 88%, 86%, 93%, 96%, 91%, 90%, 98%, respectively. Thus, the combination of perimeter, area and Fourier coefficients of the thinning images as neural network features gave the best performance (98%) in the behavioral classification.

• Journal of Information Science Theory and Practice
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.42-53
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• 2013

Timely access to quality healthcare information during an outbreak plays an important role in curtailing its spread. The aim of this study was to investigate the information needs and seeking behavior of the general public in Singapore during the H1N1 pandemic. A pre-tested questionnaire was used for data collection. The convenience snowball sampling method was used and 260 working adults and tertiary-level students participated in this study. The most crucial information needs of a majority of the participants were: symptoms of H1N1, causes of the infection, preventive measures, and possible treatments. Data analysis also revealed that mass media such as television, newspapers, and radio were most frequently used for seeking the needed information. The use of human information sources was also quite high while only a small number of the respondents accessed online news and healthcare websites. About three-quarters of the participants indicated that the gathered information helped them to stay vigilant and take necessary precautionary measures. A major problem identified by the participants in using H1N1 information was the lack of understanding of certain terms used in public communications. This paper suggests certain measures for strengthening health information communication during future outbreaks.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.282-289
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• 2017

Animal Welfare is spreading throughout the world, but remains weak in Korean swine farms. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify the effect of floor type and hanging type environmental enrichment on the behavior of growing pigs under the traditional feeding environment. A total of 45 crossbred pigs (Yorkshire${\times}$Landrace${\times}$Duroc; average weight, $33.35{\pm}5.5kg$) were assigned into three treatments consisting of control, hanging type(T1) and floor type(T2) with three replicates in semi-slurry pen. The hanging enrichment was suspended at shoulder height of the pigs, and the floor enrichment was fixed in the center of the pens. Growth and cortisol were estimated at the end of the experimental period. Behaviour patterns were analyzed on the first and eighth days after starting the experiment. Growth was not differed among control and treatments. However, cortisol was decreased in T2 compared to control(25.28 vs. 46.75 ng/mL; p<0.05). On the first day, movement and aggression were lower in both treatments than in control(p<0.01). On the eighth day, time and frequency of playing action were increased in T2 compared to T1(p<0.01) and both treatment groups showed more active behaviour than control(p<0.01). These results suggested that the enrichment may meet the natural action requirement of pigs. Therefore, our data can be utilized as basic information for welfare with environmental enrichments in farm animals.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.1354-1360
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• 2010

The purpose of this study is to analyze the behavior of swine slurry wastewater from bogen, in the treatment of Aerobic Liquid-Composting treatment by Aerobic Liquid-Composting using a mixer and Micro Air Diffusion pH level was at the beginning and its rise was seemingly related to VFA. It appears that removal of BOD and COD are more effective by Aerobic than by Anaerobic. In terms of removal efficiency, it shows 70.9% of BOD and 39% of COD in M.A+Mix and 67.8% of BOD and 19% of COD in M.A. $NH_3-N$ decreases in all conditions, which is caused by both the characteristic of nitrogen and the rise of pH. $NO_3-N$ increases in all conditions. It is judged that the accumulation of $NO_3-N$ affects the reduction of the ratio of denitrification. In the result of the analysis of Manure in swine slurry of liquified fertilizer ingredients, content of Manure in swine slurry of liquified fertilizer ingredients in aerobic conditions (M.A+Mix) is higher than anaerobic conditions.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.380-385
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• 2006

A total 178 housewives in Gyoungnam province were surveyed with regard to branded pork purchasing behavior. The results of this study suggest the existence of income and age differences in attitudes toward branded pork. Based on the collected survey data, income level plays a significant role in the information/perception channel (p<0.01), purchasing power associated with brand name value (p<0.1), and attitudes toward quality assurance (p<0.01) of branded pork. Consumer age was significantly different with regard to the purchase place (p<0.05) and purchase frequency (p<0.1) of branded pork.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.12
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• pp.1817-1826
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• 2022

Public concern on the methods of raising food-producing animals has increased, especially in the last two decades, leading to voluntary and mandated changes in the animal production methods. The primary objective of these changes is to improve the welfare of farm animals. The use of gestational stalls is currently a major welfare issue in swine production. Several studies assessed the welfare of alternative housing systems for gestating sows. A comparative study was performed with gestating sows housed in either individual stalls or in groups in a pen with an electronic sow feeder. This review assessed the welfare of each housing system using physiological, behavioral, and reproductive performance criteria. The current review identified clear advantages and disadvantages of each housing system. Individual stall housing allowed each sow to be given an individually tailored diet without competition, but the sows had behavioral restrictions and showed stereotypical behaviors (e.g., bar biting, nosing, palate grinding, etc.). Group-housed sows had increased opportunities to display such behavior (e.g., ability to move around and social interactions); however, a higher prevalence of aggressive behavior, especially first mixing in static group type, caused a negative impact on longevity (more body lesions, scratch and bite injuries, and lameness, especially in subordinate sows). Conclusively, a more segmented and diversified welfare assessment could be beneficial for a precise evaluation of each housing system for sows. Further efforts should be made to reduce aggression-driven injuries and design housing systems (feeding regimen, floor, bedding, etc.) to improve the welfare of group-housed sows.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.142-148
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• 2016

The present study investigated the effects of back-fat thickness at d 107 of gestation and housing types during gestation on reproductive performance and behavior of sows. A total of 64 crossbred sows ($Landrace{\times}Yorkshire$) in their 3 to 4 parities were allotted to one of four treatments (n = 16) over two consecutive parities. During each parity, sows were assigned to two gestational housing types (stall or group housing) and two level of back-fat thickness (<20 or ${\geq}20$) at d 107 of gestation. Gestating sows were transferred from gestational crates to stalls or pens (group housing) 5 weeks before farrowing. All sows were moved to farrowing crates on d 109 of gestation. At weaning, back-fat thickness changes were lesser (p<0.05) in sows having back-fat thickness <20 mm than that of sows with ${\geq}20mm$ back-fat thickness at 107 d of gestation. Group housed sows had greater (p<0.05) feed intake and shorter (p<0.05) weaning-to-estrus interval than that of sows in stalls. At weaning, back-fat thickness changes were lesser (p<0.05) in group housed sows than that of sows in stalls. The number of piglets at weaning, growth rate and average daily gain were greater (p<0.05) in group housed sows than that of sows in stalls. During gestation, walking duration was more (p<0.05) in group housed sows. Group housed sows had lesser (p<0.05) farrowing duration and greater (p<0.05) eating time than that of sows in stalls. Result obtained in present study indicated that sows with ${\geq}20mm$ back-fat thickness at 107 days had better reproductive performance. Additionally, group housing of sows during last five week of gestation improved the performance and behavior and reproductive efficiency of sows.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.13-20
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• 2006

This experiment was carried out to determine the effect of breed and sex on behavioral characteristics and economic traits of performance-tested pigs. Totally 32 tested pigs in 4 different breeds were assigned for behavioral observation. Behavior was recorded for 4 hours(each 2 hours, before and after none) of tested pigs in each tested pen. The average daily gain, age at 90 kg and feed efficiency on the basis of the performance data were collected from 8,477 performance-tested pigs in which pure breeds of Duroc, Yorkshire, Landrace and Berkshire at the Korea Swine Testing Station. The results obtained in this study are summarized as follows; The effect of breed was statistically significant for all traits studied. Average daily gain were the highest(P<0.05) in Duroc and ages at 90 kg were the highest(P<0.05) in Berkshire. In feed efficiency of male, Landrace and Yorkshire were the most efficient. The average daily gain and feed efficiency were superior to those of female, however, the age at 90 kg was not different. Overally, females were superior to males in various traits examined. Berkshire breed had more proportion of time spent in ventral tying and sitting whereas the proportion of time spent in walking, drinking and eating was less than that of other breeds. The male pigs showed more time spent in standing and social behavior.