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There is currently little regulation of training and behaviour modification processes in the UK (CAWC 2008) besides measures enshrined in the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and a voluntary Code of Practice launched in 2010 (see: http://www.cawc.org.uk/080603.pdf). This Code is consistent with current UK legislation outside of Wales and emphasises the need to safeguard the welfare of all interested parties involved in the "training contract" (animals and people alike) and the importance of adopting sound scientific methods within the skills base of the practitioner. There is much debate and opinion over whether the use of certain training techniques and devices meet these requirements, especially the use of electric pulse training aids (EPTAs). An EPTA is defined for the purposes of this report as a device designed for use in the training of dogs, cats and other companion animal species, which involves the application of an electric current to the skin to aid the training process. In Wales the use of all electronic collars has been banned ostensibly on animal welfare grounds, including those related to boundary fencing (The Animal Welfare (Electronic Collars) (Wales) Regulations 2010). It has been suggested that there are currently around 350000 EPTAs in the UK, although the number in active use is unknown. Nonetheless they clearly represent a significant practice within the sphere of animal training and it is appropriate that careful consideration be given to their use, especially when there appears to be so much contradictory information available and such passionately held convictions (often linked to ethical and animal welfare concerns) by those expressing an opinion. This report critically reviews current evidence and arguments used both for and against the use of such devices and the conclusions drawn. It highlights gaps in our knowledge and awareness of both theory and practice. Recommendations are drawn on this basis.

After the ethnic clashes and generally poor plight of Solomon Islands at the turn of the millennium, the country has been the recipient of substantial international foreign aid, which has included journalism education and training, particularly from Australia. However, little independent research has been done about the role of Australian trainers and the history of journalism training in this period of change and restoration. This article seeks to provide a point-in-time report on journalism training in an aid context, in a bid to provide a baseline for future investigation of changes in the media landscape and training in Solomon Islands. This research draws on independent in-depth interviews with engaged stakeholders in the Solomon Islands, including journalists, civil leaders and government figures. It also discusses the Australian government-funded media aid programmes, including the Solomon Islands Media Assistance Scheme (SOLMAS) and its unnamed predecessor.

The United States and our allies and partners have adopted a humane approach to warfare based on established principle of the laws of war centered on the principles of Military Necessity, Humanity, Proportionality, Distinction, and Honor. These principles dictate that US Military forces conduct warfare with a careful consideration of our impact on civilian populations with a special duty to protect and limit harm as much as possible given the accomplishment of a mission. Likewise, the US Military has developed a sound counterinsurgency and unified action military model that recognizes that warfare is not fought simply with kinetic force, but rather is conducted across an array of areas, including the battle for "hearts and minds" of civilian populations to assist with military actions and legitimize lawful governments. These two factors contribute to a steady requirement to train military forces to respond properly when confronted with civilians on the battlefield. Unfortunately, the only viable method to provide this training is to employ large numbers of role-players – either in a live training setting or controlling entities in a wargame. These role-players must either be hired or be tasked from other military units. There are currently no viable autonomous solutions. The result is that commanders often choose to forego this training as too costly – which could have serious long-term ramifications for military forces confronting civilians in the real world. Can agent based modelling accurately represent civilians confronted with military operations to provide realistic training for military leaders and Soldiers? This thesis investigates this question and develops an agent-based model to explore the answer.

Shipping list no.: 88-507-P. ; Prepared by the Interagency Committee on Dam Safety. ; Spine title: TADS : documenting and reporting findings from a dam safety inspection. ; Bibliography: leaf B-1. ; Mode of access: Internet.

In their commentary, Sargisson and McLean (2021) object to our conclusion that the use of e-collars are unnecessary in dog training (China et al 2020). Their criticisms make 4 broad claims: firstly that the training approaches were not the most effective means of training with e-collars; secondly that the paper focussed on measures of efficacy and did not present data on welfare; thirdly that the study did not include long term measures of efficacy; and fourthly our statistical approaches were not appropriate. Sargisson and McLean (2021) also question whether the research should be used to inform policy decisions with regard to use of e-collars in dog training, although we were cautious not to make any specific recommendations regarding legislation in our paper. We shall deal with each of these objections in turn, placing the first three in the context of the research project as well as related published work, clarifying the statistical approaches as there appear to be misunderstandings by Sargisson and McLean (2021) and finally relating the research to policy implications.