ABSTRACT Pain is considered a condition that most affect the welfare of animals and its measurement is seen as a difficult task. This research aimed to determine the level of pain in pigs by their vocalization. It was recorded the vocalizations of 20 male piglets under normal circumstances (I), marking by Australian method (II), tail trimming management (III), and castration (IV). A unidirectional microphone and a digital recorder were used to record the sound signals. The results suggested that Pitch frequency (Hz), the maximum amplitude (Pa), and intensity (dB) increased from pain-free pigs to the marking procedure; and from marking to both tail trimming and castration The tail trimming and castration vocal response did not differ.

ABSTRACT Light is important for the physiology and zootechnical development of broilers and is characterized by the type of source defined by the spectral emission and geometry of the lamp, as well as the intensity and spatial distribution of the illuminance. The aim of this study was to verify the influence of an artificial lighting system based on tubular Light Emitting Diode (LED) lamps on the productive performance of broilers. The study was carried out in two broiler houses located in Londrina-PR. The lighting system for one of the broiler houses was composed of 52 tubular LED bulbs of 18 W powers, and the control broiler house consisted of 75 incandescent bulbs with 60 W powers. This research was divided into two parts; the first phase was evaluated the environmental similarity (dry bulb temperature, air velocity, and illuminance) between the two broiler houses. The second was based on the zootechnical indexes: average body weight, feed intake, feed conversion and mortality. Only the illuminance variable differed statistically. The lighting system based on the use of a tubular LED lamp, with fewer points of illumination and more distant positioning between lamps and lower power installed, did not compromise the zootechnical performance.

ABSTRACT: Ventilation systems used in swine facilities deserve to be studied because they directly affect productivity in the pig farming sector. Bearing this in mind the uniformity of air distribution and temperature is essential to animal welfare in this breeding environment. Thus, the purpose of this study was to identify whether changes in air entrances and exhaust fan positioning could influence air velocity and temperature distribution. The experimental data were collected in a commercial full-scale sow facility. Validation was carried out by comparing the simulated air temperatures and data measured in the field. These results showed agreement between data with a maximum relative error of approximately 3 %. The real settings showed a gradual increase in the air velocity from the air entrances and dead zones due to the change in airflow direction. There was no difference when the positioning of the exhaust fans was altered or was maintained in the original air entrances. The proposed arrangement with only one air inlet reduced the areas of low air movement as a consequence of the change in flow direction. Furthermore, the variables have the same pattern along the transversal plane. The simulations showed that the position of the air inlets had a higher influence on temperature distribution.

ABSTRACT: This study aim to develop a system, called FANS-N, for evaluation the exhaust fans in the ventilation system of broiler facilities. The system is divided into: 1) Mechanical Structure - consisting of two stepper motors for positioning a anemometer sensor in the vertical and horizontal coordinates; 2) Electronic Interface - control of the anemometer positioning and record data of wind speed; 3) Control Programming Module – accountable for the cursor movement, measurement and record the wind speed data with the anemometer at predetermined points; and 4) Analysis Programming Module - responsible for the interpretation of wind speed values at each point. The software uses artificial neural networks (Multi-Layer Perceptron) for images analyses of data base. The output of neural network give to the user the following recommendations: "possible changing", "maintenance", "standard limit", and "within standard". The system was able to evaluate the exhaust fans, identify the failures and proposing solutions to farmers of a preventive diagnosis.

ABSTRACT Ventilation systems are incorporated at intensive poultry farms to control environment conditions and thermal comfort of broilers. The ventilation system operates based on environmental data, particularly measured by sensors of temperature and relative humidity. Sensors are placed at different positions of the facility. Quality, number and positioning of the sensors are critical factors to achieve an efficient performance of the system. For this reason, a strategic positioning of the sensors associated to controllers could support the maintenance and management of the microclimate inside the facility. This research aims to identify the three most representative points for the positioning of sensors in order to support the ventilation system during the critical period from 12h00 to 15h00 on summer days. Temperature, relative humidity and wind speed were measured in four different tunnel ventilated barns at the final stage of the production cycle. The descriptive analysis was performed on these data. The Temperature and Humidity Index (THI) was also calculated. Then, the geostatistical analysis of THI was performed by GS+ and the position of sensors was determined by ordinary kriging. The methodology was able to detect the most representative points for the positioning of sensors in a case study (southeastern Brazil). The results suggested that this strategic positioning would help controllers to obtain a better inference of the microclimate during the studied period (the hottest microclimate), considered critical in Brazil. In addition, these results allow developing a future road map for a decision support system based on 24 h monitoring of the ventilation systems in broiler houses.

ABSTRACT With the recent increase in the number of acclimatized broiler houses in Brazil, design and adaptation of facilities to withstand the tropical weather conditions enabling the maintenance of ideal conditions without increasing costs have been major challenges. The aim of this study was to evaluate the ventilation system in solid-wall broiler houses using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The research was carried out in the city of Amparo - SP (Brazil). The facility consisted of a broiler house enclosed by masonry sidewalls with tunnel ventilation equipped with exhaust fans (air outlet) and cooling pads (air inlet). The following variables were collected: wind speed and dry bulb temperature over 27 equidistant points inside the house at bird height (0.30 m above the floor), wind speed in inlet – cooling pad, and static pressure in the outlet (exhaust fans) as a boundary condition. The data were monitored at the most critical time of the day – 2 pm during the final rearing stage in summer. The CFD technique allowed visualizing the air flow according to each running condition for exhaust fans, as well as determined the best setting of exhaust fans, avoiding a low air area renewal and turbulence.

ABSTRACT This study aimed at identifying the best gender division pattern for swine at nursery stage, through the evaluation of behavioral and environmental parameters. Three treatments were established to achieve our objective: single-sex housing of 26 surgically castrated male pigs; mixed-sex housing of 13 castrated males and 13 females; and single-sex housing of 26 females. Environmental and behavioral data have been recorded. It was used an ethogram to make an inventory of behaviors and that was used in multivariate analysis. Bite addiction differed statistically among treatments, and the lowest occurrence was in mixed-sex housing. Results of the multivariate analysis suggested that regardless of the treatment chosen, relative humidity is positively associated with the production of gases and dry-bulb temperature with airspeed. Mixed-sex housing had multivariate relations suggesting less aggressive behaviors over food resources, being an example of social interaction that improves swine welfare.

ABSTRACT Using geostatistics, this study aimed to analyze environmental conditions for wean-to-finish swines at 3 pm, during the most sensitive phases to thermal stress (growth/ finishing and finishing). To this end, dry-bulb temperature, relative humidity, air speed, ammonia and carbon dioxide concentrations were measured at 81 equidistant points within the barn. Descriptive statistics was used to classify attribute variability, generating mean, median, variation coefficient, asymmetry and kurtosis, through the normality of Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS). For that, it was used Minitab 15 software. Moreover, semivariograms were used to assess spatial dependence using the GS+ software, and through Surfer, spatial distribution maps were designed. Dry-bulb temperature and relative humidity showed a more homogeneous distribution whether compared to the other attributes. Furthermore, critical points were observed within the facility, with temperatures and low humidity, indicating the need for fogging equipment and fans to improve thermal comfort and animal welfare.

RESUMO O aquecimento global aumenta a ocorrência de eventos extremos como as ondas de calor. Pesquisas sobre como as condições térmicas e aéreas afetam o ambiente de produção de frangos de corte são importantes para se avaliar o bem-estar animal sob condições extremas de calor, objetivando medidas mitigadoras. Este estudo pretende avaliar o efeito da simulação de ondas de calor em câmara climática, sobre o ambiente térmico e aéreo de frangos de corte com 42 dias de idade. 160 frangos foram alojados e criados, de 1 a 42 dias de idade, em câmara climática que foi dividida em oito baias. A simulação de onda de calor foi realizada no 42º dia de criação das aves, memento de maior impacto e da coleta dos dados. As variáveis foram coletadas em intervalos de duas horas a partir das 8 horas da manhã, simulando o aquecimento do dia até às 16 horas, horário de máxima, sendo coletados temperatura ambiente, temperatura da cama, umidade relativa do ar, concentrações de oxigênio, monóxido de carbono e amônia em cada baia, nos intervalos de duas em duas horas. Com os resultados obtidos na câmara climática, foi possível concluir que o aumento da temperatura ambiente ocasionou aumento na temperatura da cama, o que, consequentemente, contribuiu para o aumento da volatilização da amônia. A concentração de oxigênio foi reduzida enquanto a temperatura foi aumentada. A presença de monóxido de carbono foi observada quando a temperatura ambiente estava acima de 27,0 ºC, a umidade relativa superior a 88,4% e a temperatura da cama estava superior a 30,3 ºC.

ABSTRACT Global warming increases the occurrence of events such as extreme heat waves. Research on thermal and air conditions affecting broiler-rearing environment are important to evaluate the animal welfare under extreme heat aiming mitigation measures. This study aimed at evaluating the effect of a simulated heat wave, in a climatic chamber, on the thermal and air environment of 42-day-old broilers. One hundred and sixty broilers were housed and reared for 42 days in a climatic chamber; the animals were divided into eight pens. Heat wave simulation was performed on the 42nd day, the period of great impact and data sampling. The analyzed variables were room and litter temperatures, relative humidity, concentrations of oxygen, carbon monoxide and ammonia at each pen. These variables were assessed each two hours, starting at 8 am, simulating a day heating up to 4 pm, when it is reached the maximum temperature. By the results, we concluded that increasing room temperatures promoted a proportional raise in litter temperatures, contributing to ammonia volatilization. In addition, oxygen concentrations decreased with increasing temperatures; and the carbon monoxide was only observed at temperatures above 27.0 °C, relative humidity higher than 88.4% and litter temperatures superior to 30.3 °C.

The main objective of this paper is to present how in the Environments of Personalized Learning for the careers of agricultural profile the information can be recovered by the application of the techniques of Mining of Processes. It is started from the identification of common aspects among the concept of unit of learning of the standard IMS-LD, the pattern of data XES and social graph ontology. Are show up the main advances in the area of the Environments of Personalized Learning as well as some elements of the didactics that base the learning in systems centered in the student. Are described some concepts defined in the ontology, which can be used to develop computer systems that support those scenarios. The vocabulary was defined reutilizing FOAF and the OpenSocial specifications. By means of the concept of Activity defined in the ontology and of their relationships, are represented the events of the social nets as those that compose a unit of learning compatible with IMS-LD. It is explained how managing the similarity among the concepts defined in IMS-LD and the pattern of XES data is possible to apply the techniques of the Mining of Processes to discover learning models, patterns of activities and to carry out social mining. By way of example it is shown how in a learning unit you can apply the technique of Alignment of Appearances to detect possible learning patterns.

El objetivo principal de este artículo es presentar cómo en los Entornos de Aprendizaje Personalizado para las carreras de perfil agropecuario se puede recuperar información mediante la aplicación de técnicas de Minería de Procesos. Se parte de la identificación de aspectos comunes entre el concepto de unidad de aprendizaje del estándar IMS-LD, el modelo de datos XES y una ontología de grafo social. Se presentan los principales avances que existen en el área de los Entornos de Aprendizaje Personalizado así como algunos elementos de la didáctica que fundamentan el aprendizaje en sistemas centrados en el estudiante. Se describen algunos conceptos definidos en la ontología, la cual puede utilizarse para desarrollar sistemas informáticos que soporten esos escenarios. El vocabulario se definió reutilizando FOAF y las especificaciones de OpenSocial. Mediante el concepto de Actividad definido en la ontología y de sus relaciones, se representan tanto los eventos de las redes sociales como aquellos que componen una unidad de aprendizaje compatible con IMS-LD. Se explica cómo manejando la similitud entre los conceptos definidos en IMS-LD y el modelo de datos XES es posible aplicar las técnicas de la Minería de Procesos para descubrir modelos de aprendizaje, patrones de actividades y realizar minería social. A modo de ejemplo se muestra cómo en una unidad de aprendizaje se puede aplicar la técnica de Alineación de Trazas para detectar posibles patrones de aprendizaje.

RESUMO O “wean to finish” é um sistema de criação de suínos, no qual os animais permanecem em uma mesma instalação do desmame até à fase de abate. Objetivou-se estudar o comportamento dos animais em alojamento exclusivo de 26 machos suínos (T1), misto (T2), contendo 13 machos e 13 fêmeas, e o tratamento único de fêmeas (T3), com 26 animais. Para isso, utilizou-se da análise multivariada, por meio da análise dos gráficos de componentes principais, por ser um artifício interessante utilizado por diversos pesquisadores para identificar quais variáveis são fortemente ou não correlatas. Assim, indica-se que o aumento da temperatura ambiental predispõe ao comportamento deitado em todos os tratamentos avaliados. No tratamento exclusivo de suínos machos castrados cirurgicamente, o comportamento de monta relaciona-se com vício, já o agrupamento misto, monta associa-se com lúdico. Todavia, fêmeas suínas alojadas unicamente não tendem a praticar o comportamento de monta.

ABSTRACT The "wean to finish" is a pig housing system, in which animals remains in the same building from the weaning to slaughter. The objective was to study the behavior of animals in unique accommodation of 26 male pigs (T1), mixed (T2), containing 13 males and 13 females, and the only treatment of females (T3) with 26 animals. For this, we used multivariate analysis, by analyzing the principal components, as an interesting tool used by many researchers to identify which variables are strongly correlated or not. Thus, we observed the main trends and characteristics in each treatment. The increase in air temperature has caused the behavior of lying down in every treatment. Only in the male treatment, the mount behavior is related to addiction, however in the mixed treatment the mount is related to a playful behavior. Only female pigs’ treatment did not show any mount behavior.

O sistema de ventilação e de resfriamento utilizado em instalações para frangos de corte desempenha um papel importante no controle ambiental, possibilitando que a ave expresse seu potencial máximo de produção. Nesse sentido, o objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar, por meio da geoestatística, a influência do sistema de ventilação e das diferentes tipologias construtivas em relação ao ambiente térmico e aéreo em aviários de frangos de corte na fase final de criação. Os aviários avaliados com sistema de ventilação artificial de pressão negativa, por meio de exaustores, foram: Blue House com nebulizadores na entrada de ar e vedação de cortinas; Dark House com painel evaporativo (tijolo cerâmico) e vedação de cortinas e Solid Wall com painel evaporativo (celulose) e vedação de alvenaria. Os atributos avaliados foram: temperatura, umidade relativa, velocidade do ar, concentração de dióxido de carbono e amônia, durante o período de verão às 14h, em 52 pontos equidistantes, no interior do aviário. Os dados foram avaliados pela análise estatística e geoestatística. A análise geoestatística apresentou-se como ferramenta eficiente para a avaliação da distribuição das condições ambientais nos aviários, e a presença ou não do painel evaporativo influenciou na condição padrão de funcionamento do sistema de ventilação.

The ventilation and cooling systems are important to environmental control inside broilers house enabling the bird to express the maximum potential of production. The aim of this study was to evaluate, using geostatistical analysis, the influence of the ventilation system and the different typologies of building in relation to thermal welfare and air quality in broilers house with birds in the final phase. The broiler facilities evaluated were: Blue House - ventilation systems with exhaust fans and nebulizers, Dark House - ventilation systems with exhaust fans and pad cooling and Solid Wall - ventilation systems with exhaust fans and pad cooling. The attributes evaluated were dry bulb temperature, relative humidity, air velocity, concentration of carbon dioxide and ammonia, during the summer time at 2PM on 52 equidistant points inside the building. The data analysis was by statistical and geostatistical. Geostatistical analysis was an efficient tool to evaluate distribution of environmental conditions in the broilers houses and was able to identify the influence of presence or absence of evaporative panel inside conditions.

O "wean to finish" é um sistema de criação de suínos que ainda é novo no Brasil, e não existem muitos estudos a respeito do ambiente onde estes animais são criados. Assim, o objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o ambiente térmico e aéreo por meio da técnica da geoestatística em galpão de suínos criados no sistema "wean to finish", na fase de terminação, nos horários das 09h, 12h e 15h. A variabilidade dos atributos foi baseada na estatística descritiva dos dados de temperatura, umidade relativa, velocidade do ar, concentrações de amônia e dióxido de carbono, obtendo-se: média, mediana, coeficiente de variação, assimetria e curtose, com o teste de normalidade de Kolmogorov-Smirnov, através do programa estatístico Minitab 15. Para a determinação da existência ou não da dependência espacial, utilizou-se do exame de semivariograma, através do programa GS+, e, na elaboração dos mapas de distribuição espacial das variáveis, foi utilizado o programa Surfer. Os atributos de velocidade do ar e as concentrações dos gases NH3 e CO2 apresentaram alto coeficiente de variação devido aos dados serem heterogêneos, pois a instalação apresentava ventilação natural. O uso dos mapas de krigagem permitiu observar a diferença espacial da distribuição das variáveis avaliadas com diferentes números de animais/baia e em diferentes horários.

The "wean to finish" is a new pig production system in Brazil. To date, few research have investigated the environmental conditions of this pig farming system. The aim of this study was to evaluated the thermal environmental conditions and gases concentration using geostatistical techniques of a wean-to-finish barn during finishing phase at 9AM, 12PM e 3PM. The data variability was evaluated by the descriptive analysis, of the temperatures, relative humidity, air velocity, ammonia and carbon dioxide concentration. The results showed the average, median, coefficient of variation, asymmetry and curtosis and the Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test with the software Minitab 15. To determine the spatial dependence, the semivariogram exam was done, with the software GS+. The air velocity and gases concentration showed the highest coefficient of variation. This has happened because of the heterogeneity of the data caused by the natural ventilation. The Krigging maps showed the spacial differences of the pens with different numbers of animals in different hour of the day.

Thermal comfort is of great importance in preserving body temperature homeostasis during thermal stress conditions. Although the thermal comfort of horses has been widely studied, there is no report of its relationship with surface temperature (T S). This study aimed to assess the potential of data mining techniques as a tool to associate surface temperature with thermal comfort of horses. T S was obtained using infrared thermography image processing. Physiological and environmental variables were used to define the predicted class, which classified thermal comfort as "comfort" and "discomfort". The variables of armpit, croup, breast and groin T S of horses and the predicted classes were then subjected to a machine learning process. All variables in the dataset were considered relevant for the classification problem and the decision-tree model yielded an accuracy rate of 74 %. The feature selection methods used to reduce computational cost and simplify predictive learning decreased model accuracy to 70 %; however, the model became simpler with easily interpretable rules. For both these selection methods and for the classification using all attributes, armpit and breast T S had a higher power rating for predicting thermal comfort. Data mining techniques show promise in the discovery of new variables associated with the thermal comfort of horses.

Este trabalho teve como objetivo comparar matrizes pesadas na fase de incubação em incubatório, utilizando o método Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Esse método é uma técnica de análise de decisão e planejamento de múltiplos critérios. O trabalho foi conduzido em incubatório comercial localizado no Estado de São Paulo, Brasil. Duas idades de matrizes pesadas (42 e 56 semanas) foram comparadas em relação a dados/taxa de produção. Dados de índice de produção foram submetidos à análise de decisão utilizando o método AHP. Os resultados indicaram que as matrizes de frangos de corte de 42 semanas apresentaram melhor desempenho do que aquelas de 56 semanas. A fase da incubadora é mais crítica do que a fase do nascedouro. O método AHP foi eficiente para a análise e pode ser utilizado como base metodológica para estudos futuros para melhorar a eclodibilidade.

This research aimed to compare two female broiler breeder ages during the incubation period regarding management using the Analytic Hierarchy Process method (AHP). This method is characterized by the possibility of analyzing a multicriteria problem and assists a decision making. This study was carried out on a commercial hatchery located in São Paulo, Brazil. Two ages of broiler breeder (42 and 56 weeks) were compared relative to production rate. Production index data were the same in both ages and were submitted to multicriteria decision analysis using the AHP method. The results indicate that broiler breeders of 42 weeks presented better performance than those of 56 week-old. The setter phase (incubation) is more critical than the hatcher. The AHP method was efficient for this analysis and can serve as a methodological basis for future studies to improve the hatchability of broilers eggs.