Managing the Risk of Aggressive Dog Behavior: Investigating the Influence of Owner Threat and Efficacy Perceptions

Aggressive behavior in pet dogs is a serious problem for dog owners across the globe, with bite injuries representing a serious risk to both people and other dogs. The effective management of aggressive behavior in dogs represents a challenging and controversial issue. Although positive reinforcement training methods are now considered to be the most effective and humane technique to manage the risk of aggression, punishment‐based methods continue to be used. Unfortunately, there has been little scientific study into the various factors influencing whether dog owners choose to use positive reinforcement techniques to manage aggression in their dogs. As such, current understanding of how best to encourage and support dog owners to use these methods remains extremely limited. This article uses a survey methodology based on protection motivation theory (PMT) to investigate the factors that influence owner use of positive reinforcement methods to manage aggressive behavior, in an attempt to understand potential barriers and drivers of use. In addition, the article provides an initial exploration of the potential role of wider psychological factors, including owner emotional state, social influence, and cognitive bias. Findings show that the perceived efficacy of positive reinforcement methods and the perceived ability of owners to effectively implement the technique are both key factors predicting future intentions and current reported use. Future interventions should focus on enhancing owner confidence in the effective use of positive reinforcement techniques across multiple scenarios, as well as helping owners manage their own emotional responses when they encounter challenging situations and setbacks.     

A review of the epidentiological research on child sexual abuse. Community and college student samples

This article is the first of two consecutive reviews on the major empirical studies which have been carried out in an attempt to estimate the prevalence of child sexual abuse among females. The research is structured in terms of three sample categories: (a) probability and non-probability samples of the general population; (b) college student samples; and (c) clinical inpatient and outpatient samples. This part of the review deals with (a) and (b) and highlights a number of unresolved methodological issues which may contribute to the variance in reported prevalence rates. These include a myriad of definitions of child sexual abuse and different methods of eliciting information on possible histories of abuse. Despite these problems. taken as a whole the prevalence studies indicate the significant numbers of people who have experienced abuse and who are willing to disclose aspects of these abusive experiences.     

完善我国动物致害责任的思考

动物致害责任是典型的对物的替代责任。饲养的动物指一切为人实际控制的动物。动物基于本身的危险性,以独立的动作侵害他人的民事权益,动物的所有人或管理人即应承担责任,不问其主观过错。混合过错下,所有人、管理人、第三人承担连带责任。而不可抗力、受害人的过错、第三人的故意以及受害人的承诺是责任主体据以援引的当然免责事由。     

动物权利论的一种古代形式——中国传统的害虫防治理论和技术

病虫害的发生是“反常”,是由于气的正常运动受到了干拢,偏离了常规。气的运动之所以会偏离常规,则是由人们违反自然的不当的行为造成的。因此防止病虫为害的根本措施就是要根据气阴阳运动规律,严格按照天时地宜行事。     

动物遗传育种系列课程双螺旋循环教学模式的建立与实践

根据动物遗传育种系列课程的结构、教学特点、本学科学生的层次性、学科发展和对教师多能性的要求 ,对该系列课程进行了教学内容、教学方式、教学手段的全面改革 ,构建了一套双螺旋循环教学模式 ,即教师与课程的螺旋循环链和学生层次与学习过程的螺旋循环链。这两条“教”、“学”互动的螺旋循环链有机结合 ,每完成一次循环教学过程 ,双螺旋上升一个螺距 ,教师的教学水平提高 ,学生的综合素质和学历提高一个层次。     

Hearts and Minds and Morality: Analyzing Moral Vocabularies in Qualitative Studies

A strategy of analyzing the moral vocabulary of a social movement or subculture is proposed by which ethnographies and other qualitative works may place the moral and ethical concepts used by respondents into a broader sociological context. Through examining the moral resources, the status hierarchy which the specific moral resources within a given moral vocabulary form, and the historical and cultural contexts within which these moral resources exist, it is argued that it becomes possible to analyze and anticipate the moral claims and form of discourse which will be produced by a specific movement and/or subculture. It is also argued that this method may be used to predict how the opposition to a movement and/or subculture is perceived through the formation of an antithetical moral vocabulary.     

畜产品质量安全监管研究综述

随着经济的发展和社会的进步，畜产品在人们的日常生活中占有越来越重要的地位，目前我国对畜产品质量安全的监管还很不到位。文章总结了我国畜产品安全监管的现状，并介绍了国外畜产品安全监管的现状，通过比较找出我国监管的不足，从而进一步加强我国对畜产品质量安全的监管。     

A simple estimator for a shared frailty regression model

Summary. We propose a simple estimation procedure for a proportional hazards frailty regression model for clustered survival data in which the dependence is generated by a positive stable distribution. Inferences for the frailty parameter can be obtained by using output from Cox regression analyses. The computational burden is substantially less than that of the other approaches to estimation. The large sample behaviour of the estimator is studied and simulations show that the approximations are appropriate for use with realistic sample sizes. The methods are motivated by studies of familial associations in the natural history of diseases. Their practical utility is illustrated with sib pair data from Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.     

The epidemiology of schizophrenia among Caribbean-born and first- and second-generation migrants in Britain

The study of migrants in their new environments is often a useful means of investigating environmental influences on health. Migrants have been found to develop higher rates of mental illness compared to their counterparts who remain at home. These deleterious effects of migration have been attributed to selection factors and stressful life experiences. Migration from an agricultural and traditional society to an urban industrial society where value systems can be demanding, often leads to role strain and role conflict. These kinds of incongruities are the beginning of a series of stressful experiences that contribute to poor health/mental health status. The extent to which one experiences stress is dependent on a number of factors. First, it depends on the perceived difference between home and the new environment. Second, it depends on the cultural homogeneity of the new environment, that is, the extent to which the migrant is readily assimilated into the new culture or is able to maintain a traditional lifestyle by living in an ethnic enclave, and the psychological resources available to successfully access services in the new environment. This paper examines the rates, incidence, and prevalence of schizophrenia found in Caribbean-born immigrants to Britain, and first- and second-generation people of Caribbean background born in Britain. It is argued that Afro-Caribbean people in England are overrepresented in the diagnosis of schizophrenia. Factors that may contribute to this finding range from unemployment, social disadvantage status, social adversity, racism in the health and criminal justice systems, and misdiagnosis.This paper was completed when the author served as Distinguished Visiting Professor-William Patterson College, Wayne, New Jersey.     

Pluralism and Universality of Environmental Discourse: The Dilemma Between Damage Caused by the Japanese Macaque and its Protection

Abstract:  The subject of this paper is to describe the complexity of relations between man and wild monkeys, which causes difficulties in forming a social consensus related to their conservation and management. To present how the relations are in everyday life, and how they are simplified in universal discursive spaces, interviews and a questionnaire survey have been conducted. As a result, it is clarified that there are three kinds of discursive spaces, that of politics, natural science, and residents. People who share the land with wild monkeys have various terms and stories about their relations with monkeys. The monkeys have various values in the discourse of residents, including many troubles. The existence of monkeys is vivid and close, and can be described as "accessible" nature. However, in discussion of politics or natural sciences, there is less diversity in monkeys' values. In these discursive spaces, monkeys are described simply in the framework of "distant" nature, and wild monkey issues are constructed as a "pest animal issue". The simplified protocol between accessible and distant nature makes the wild monkey issues simple. And the attitudes of residents are shown as controversial through the contradiction between simple-complex issues. In conclusion, this contradiction cannot be solved only by filling the gap between accessible and distant nature with social consensus, but also by connecting the two and enhancing the dynamism of society as a whole.