Invited review: integration of technologies and systems for precision animal agriculture-a case study on precision dairy farming.

Precision livestock farming (PLF) offers a strategic solution to enhance the management capacity of large animal groups, while simultaneously improving profitability, efficiency, and minimizing environmental impacts associated with livestock production systems. Additionally, PLF contributes to optimizing the ability to manage and monitor animal welfare while providing solutions to global grand challenges posed by the growing demand for animal products and ensuring global food security. By enabling a return to the "per animal" approach by harnessing technological advancements, PLF enables cost-effective, individualized care for animals through enhanced monitoring and control capabilities within complex farming systems. Meeting the nutritional requirements of a global population exponentially approaching ten billion people will likely require the density of animal proteins for decades to come. The development and application of digital technologies are critical to facilitate the responsible and sustainable intensification of livestock production over the next several decades to maximize the potential benefits of PLF. Real-time continuous monitoring of each animal is expected to enable more precise and accurate tracking and management of health and well-being. Importantly, the digitalization of agriculture is expected to provide collateral benefits of ensuring auditability in value chains while assuaging concerns associated with labor shortages. Despite notable advances in PLF technology adoption, a number of critical concerns currently limit the viability of these state-of-the-art technologies. The potential benefits of PLF for livestock management systems which are enabled by autonomous continuous monitoring and environmental control can be rapidly enhanced through an Internet of Things approach to monitoring and (where appropriate) closed-loop management. In this paper, we analyze the multilayered network of sensors, actuators, communication, networking, and analytics currently used in PLF, focusing on dairy farming as an illustrative example. We explore the current state-of-the-art, identify key shortcomings, and propose potential solutions to bridge the gap between technology and animal agriculture. Additionally, we examine the potential implications of advancements in communication, robotics, and artificial intelligence on the health, security, and welfare of animals.

Precision technologies are revolutionizing animal agriculture by enhancing the management of animal welfare and productivity. To fully realize the potential benefits of precision livestock farming (PLF), the development and application of digital technologies are needed to facilitate the responsible and sustainable intensification of livestock production over the next several decades. Importantly, the digitalization of agriculture is expected to provide collateral benefits of ensuring audibility in value chains while assuaging concerns associated with labor shortages. In this paper, we analyze the multilayered network of sensors, actuators, communication, and analytics currently in use in PLF. We analyze the various aspects of sensing, communication, networking, and intelligence on the farm leveraging dairy farms as an example system. We also discuss the potential implications of advancements in communication, robotics, and artificial intelligence on the security and welfare of animals.

Short-Term Adaptation of Dairy Cattle Production Parameters to Individualized Changes in Dietary Top Dress.

Immediate and short-term changes in diet composition can support individualized, real-time interventions in precision dairy production systems, and might increase feed efficiency (FE) of dairy cattle in the short-term. The objective of this study was to determine immediate and short-term effects of changes in diet composition on production parameters of dairy cattle fed varying amounts of top dressed commodities. A 4 × 4 replicated Latin square design was used to evaluate responses of twenty-four Holstein cows fed either no top dress (Control) or increasing amounts of: corn grain (CG), soybean meal (SBM), or chopped mixed grass hay (GH) top dressed on a total mixed ration (TMR) over four, 9-day periods. Throughout each period, top dressed commodities were incrementally increased, providing 0% to 20% of calculated net energy of lactation (NEL) intake. Measured production responses were analyzed for each 9-d period using a mixed-effects model considering two different time ranges. Samples collected from d 3 and 4 and from d 7 and 8 of each period were averaged and used to reflect "immediate" vs. "short-term" responses, respectively. In the immediate response time frame, control fed cows had lower milk yield, milk fat yield, and milk true protein yield than CG and SBM supplemented animals but similar responses to GH supplemented animals. Milk fat and protein percentages were not affected by top dress type in the immediate term. In the short-term response time-frame, GH supplemented animals had lower DMI and milk fat yield than all other groups. Control and GH supplemented cows had lower milk yield than CG and SBM fed cows. In the immediate response time frame, FE of SBM supplemented cows was superior to other groups. In the short-term time frame, FE of GH and SBM groups was improved over the control group. Results suggest that lactating dairy cows show rapid performance responses to small (<20% NEL) changes in dietary composition, which may be leveraged within automated precision feeding systems to optimize efficiency of production. Before this potential can be realized, further research is needed to examine integration of such strategies into automatic feeding systems and downstream impacts on individual animal FE and farm profitability.

Counseling in Pediatric Audiology: Audiologists' Perceptions, Confidence, and Training.

BACKGROUND: Pediatric audiologists are an important source of support for parents when a child is identified with hearing loss. As parents learn how to manage their child's hearing loss they often need help navigating challenges that arise; however, audiologists may experience a variety of barriers implementing effective counseling strategies. Many internal and external barriers experienced by parents can be appropriately supported and navigated within audiology services. PURPOSE: To investigate audiologists' perceptions, training, and confidence related to counseling and to explore the influence of years practicing audiology and taking a counseling course on perceptions and confidence. RESEARCH DESIGN: A cross-sectional, population-based survey. STUDY SAMPLE: Three hundred and fifty surveys were analyzed from pediatric audiologists across the U.S. Responses were received from 26 states and one U.S. territory. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Data were collected through the mail and online. Descriptive and comparative statistics were used to analyze the information. Content analysis was performed to identify emergent themes from the responses to open-ended questions. RESULTS: Pediatric audiologists reported their perceptions about importance of counseling skills, challenges they encounter, their confidence in counseling, and how often they use the skills when needed in practice. Most audiologists (≥75%) felt it was very or extremely important to talk with parents about nine of the ten items (e.g., their [parents'] expectations). Three-fourth of the audiologists reported experiencing a moderate challenge or greater in knowing how to assess the presence of psychosocial challenges and in having enough time to address emotional needs. Many of the audiologists felt very or extremely confident in guiding parents in the development of an action plan (62%) and determining if parents have external barriers (60%). Approximately one-third or less of the participants reported performing any of the skills (e.g., determining if parent has external or internal barriers) ≥75% of the time, and a statistically significant difference was found with participants practicing ≤10 yr using the skills more frequently than participants practicing for ≥11 yr. In addition, there was a statistically significant difference between participants who had taken an audiology-specific counseling course and those who had not; those who had reported being more confident and using counseling skills more often than audiologists did not have a counseling course. CONCLUSIONS: This study found strong support for audiologist perceived importance of counseling; however, fewer audiologists reported confidence in their counseling skills and in using counseling skills. Counseling training was variable; audiologists would benefit from a more systematic approach to counseling instruction within graduate training.

Counselling users of hearing technology: a comprehensive literature review.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this review is to determine the scope of peer-reviewed empirical research related to counselling in audiology with patients using hearing technology and to identify limitations and gaps to guide recommendations for future research. DESIGN: A rapid evidence assessment was used to identify relevant articles for the review. STUDY SAMPLE: Eighteen articles met the inclusion criteria. RESULTS: Three themes were identified: (1) audiologist counselling perspectives, (2) counselling communication trends in practice and (3) audiologist experiences with professional training and reported patient outcomes. Findings revealed audiologists are more confident providing information than counselling that addresses adjustment aspects, and other communication gaps have been observed. CONCLUSIONS: There is limited research related to counselling in audiology. Audiologists continue to report a need for more training in counselling in their graduate programmes. Additional research is needed to determine effective ways to implement counselling in practice and to improve graduate student supervision for the development of counselling competencies and confidence in using skills in practice.

Improving support for parents of children with hearing loss: provider training on use of targeted communication strategies.

BACKGROUND: When proper protocols are followed, children who are identified with a permanent hearing loss early in life have opportunities to develop language on par with their typical hearing peers. Young children with hearing loss are dependent on their parents to manage intervention during early years critical to their development, and parents' ability to effectively integrate recommendations in daily life is foundational for intervention success. Audiologists and early intervention professionals not only need to provide current evidence-based services, but also must address parents' emotional and learning needs related to their child's hearing loss. PURPOSE: This study explored practice patterns related to education and support provided to parents of children with hearing loss and the influence of an in-service training on provider attitudes. RESEARCH DESIGN: This study used a prepost design with a self-report questionnaire to identify practice patterns related to communication skills and support used by providers when working with parents of children with hearing loss. STUDY SAMPLE: A total of 45 participants (21 professionals and 24 graduate students) currently working with children completed the pretraining questionnaire, and 29 participants (13 professionals and 16 graduate students) completed the postquestionnaire. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Data were collected using an online questionnaire before the training and 1 mo after training. Descriptive analyses were done to identify trends, and paired-samples t-tests were used to determine changes pretraining to posttraining. RESULTS: Findings revealed that professionals most frequently teach skills to mothers (91%) and infrequently teach skills to fathers (19%) and other caregivers (10%). Professionals reported frequently collaborating with other intervention providers (76%) and infrequently collaborating with primary care physicians (19%). One-third of the professionals reported addressing symptoms of depression and anxiety as an interfering factor with the ability to implement management recommendations. For providers who completed both the prequestionnaires and postquestionnaires, an increase in confidence was reported for several areas of communication; however, as expected, practices remained similar, and all of the practicing professionals and 94% of the graduate students indicated a desire for more training on how to be effective in supporting parents with implementing intervention recommendations. CONCLUSIONS: Providers do not necessarily use effective methods of communication, needed to adequately help parents, requiring additional focused training to change how providers interact with parents and how support is provided.