In Spain, several Autonomous Communities have granted licenses to capture European goldfinches (Carduelis carduelis parva) during the post-breeding period, from August to December. In Galicia (NW Spain) and other Autonomous Communities, after 5-7 months of captivity, many birds are released. We tested the hypothesis that captivity results in biometric and body condition changes which affect the post-release survival of these birds. We used two groups captured in Galicia, the first made up of birds captured for ringing and the second consisting of birds captured by bird-trappers, kept in captivity for 5-7 months and then released. Two-way ANOVA tests were used to test the effect of group and sex on the wing, bill, head, tarsus and tail measurements. Birds held in captivity had shorter wings and longer bills than those captured for ringing. The significance of these morphometric changes is unknown but it is possible that they could have a detrimental effect on foraging behaviour and post-release survival. In light of this, those involved in keeping wild birds in captivity should review their husbandry techniques.

Livestock welfare assessment helps monitor animal health status to maintain productivity, identify injuries and stress, and avoid deterioration. It has also become an important marketing strategy since it increases consumer pressure for a more humane transformation in animal treatment. Common visual welfare practices by professionals and veterinarians may be subjective and cost-prohibitive, requiring trained personnel. Recent advances in remote sensing, computer vision, and artificial intelligence (AI) have helped developing new and emerging technologies for livestock biometrics to extract key physiological parameters associated with animal welfare. This review discusses the livestock farming digital transformation by describing (i) biometric techniques for health and welfare assessment, (ii) livestock identification for traceability and (iii) machine and deep learning application in livestock to address complex problems. This review also includes a critical assessment of these topics and research done so far, proposing future steps for the deployment of AI models in commercial farms. Most studies focused on model development without applications or deployment for the industry. Furthermore, reported biometric methods, accuracy, and machine learning approaches presented some inconsistencies that hinder validation. Therefore, it is required to develop more efficient, non-contact and reliable methods based on AI to assess livestock health, welfare, and productivity.

In 2016, the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), which produces Pakistan’s biometric-based national identity card, publicly announced that it would be “re-verifying” identity cards for a national security drive. NADRA relies on the documentation of descent-based relations, including genealogical charts (shajarah-yi-nasab), for its verification procedures. In so doing, NADRA asks the difficult question of who belongs where and who is a citizen, based on who they used to be. This article historically traces the movement of genealogies between the realm of the familial and the bureaucratic. I examine how the colonial state deployed genealogical expertise and how this formation folds into the postcolonial present in ways that shape capacities for genealogy-based claims to identity. It demonstrates how what I term “genealogical computation” extends beyond the domain of governance into articulations of identity that seek to establish status, reliability, and trustworthiness. I argue that “reliable persons” are produced in contemporary Pakistan through an encounter between the genealogical computations of citizens and the expectations of an ethno-securitized state. This encounter is borne out of a rehearsed relation where one’s genealogy, which has held a particular meaning in relation to one kind of security state (the colonial), is now asked to take on another.

Biometric recognition technologies have become more important in the modern society due to their convenience with the recent informatization and the dissemination of network services. Among such technologies, face recognition is one of the most convenient and practical because it enables authentication from a distance without requiring any authentication operations manually. As far as we know, face recognition is susceptible to the changes in the appearance of faces due to aging, the surrounding lighting, and posture. There were a number of technical challenges that need to be resolved. Recently, remarkable progress has been made thanks to the advent of deep learning methods. In this position paper, we provide an overview of face recognition technology and introduce its related applications, including face presentation attack detection, gaze estimation, person re-identification and image data mining. We also discuss the research challenges that still need to be addressed and resolved.

In the global effort to strengthen national identification systems (SDG 16.9), biometric identification technologies and civil registration systems have been associated with different motives and applications, thus fuelling their competition for public attention and resources. The case of Ghana illustrates how these alternative systems, along with further sources of personal data, have recently been integrated into the larger political vision of a centralised, national population data system. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, the paper traces the difficulties and institutional negotiations that accompany this integration into a centralised population data infrastructure. Acknowledging how sets of actors, infrastructures and power relations are layered onto each other to unintended effects, the article describes the historical process of institutional and infrastructural harmonisation in the production of biometric population registers in Ghana.

We have monitored tributyltin (TBT) pollution in Galicia (NW Spain) for more than a decade by means of assessing gastropod imposex in populations of Nucella lapillus (N ≥ 34) and Tritia reticulata (N ≥ 18) at regular intervals. Several thousand specimens were processed to obtain their shell height (SH), penis length (PL) and vas deferens sequence (VDS); imposex indices (including the VDS index, VDSI) were subsequently calculated. The regional mean SH of both females and males has not changed significantly in either species throughout the study. This also applies to the mean male PL in N. lapillus, but male T. reticulata penises surprisingly enlarged. On the contrary, the regional mean female PL (MFPL) and all imposex indices significantly decreased in both snails. Results confirm previous conclusions based on the chemical analyses of tissues and partial imposex observations. In addition, the close correlations between MFPL and VDSI show some potential applications to TBT biomonitoring.

This article aims to acknowledge and articulate the notion of “humanitarian experimentation”. Whether through innovation or uncertain contexts, managing risk is a core component of the humanitarian initiative – but all risk is not created equal. There is a stark ethical and practical difference between managing risk and introducing it, which is mitigated in other fields through experimentation and regulation. This article identifies and historically contextualizes the concept of humanitarian experimentation, which is increasingly prescient, as a range of humanitarian subfields embark on projects of digitization and privatization. This trend is illustrated here through three contemporary examples of humanitarian innovations (biometrics, data modelling, cargo drones), with references to critical questions about adherence to the humanitarian “do no harm” imperative. This article outlines a broad taxonomy of harms, intended to serve as the starting point for a more comprehensive conversation about humanitarian action and the ethics of experimentation.

This study aims to provide data on the physical profiles of the red goat of Maradi. It was conducted in the centre of the goat's main territory, and further comprised 4 departments of the Maradi area (Tessaoua in the east, Dakoro in the north, Madarounfa in the south and Guidan Roumdji in the west). This work was performed on 339 animals including 77 in the centre, 88 in the east, 69 in the north, 50 in the south and 55 in the west. It focused on the following measurements: height at withers, scapulo-ischial length, chest size, back length, length of the horns, ears and head, the presence of “pendeloques” and goatees, the coat color and structure of the hair. The results have shown differences between body variable measurements related to geographical position. In fact, the geographical position has significantly influenced body profiles, IGS and IAT indices (P < 0.0001). The dominant trend of the red color is probably an adaptation character of Maradi goats. Our contribution to define the standard of this breed of red goats should be summary as a population with medium size, short and erect ears, two horns (most developed in males) tilting back, short hair and the presence of a beard (beard developed in males) in both sexes. We also note the presence of “pendeloques” in some animals in the East of Maradi.

Recent studies in Asian populations have identified variants in the EDAR and FGFR2 genes that arose following the divergence of Asians and Europeans and are associated with thick straight hair. To date no genetic variants have been identified influencing hair texture in Europeans. In the current study we examined the heritability of hair curliness in three unselected samples of predominantly European ancestry (NS1 = 2717; NS2 = 3904; NS3 = 5079). When rated using a three point scale (Straight/Wavy/Curly) males were ~5% more likely to report straight hair than females and there were suggestions in the data that curliness increased slightly with age. Across samples significant additive and dominant genetic influences were detected resulting in a broad sense heritability of 85–95%. Given the magnitude and the specificity of the EDAR effect on hair morphology in Asian populations we are hopeful that future association studies will detect similar genetic influences in European populations.

Nesting hawksbill turtles Eretmochelys imbricata and their eggs and young were studied on Cousine Island, Seychelles from 1995 to 1999. Numbers of females known to nest (tagged individuals) on Cousine was 146. An average of 75% of emerging adults were intercepted, and this rose to 81.6% in 1999. Mean carapace lengths and widths of adult females were 81.2×60.8 cm, and included some of the longest carapace lengths known for hawksbill turtles. There were poor correlations between adult weight and carapace length or width, but better correlations between adult weight and the product of carapace length and width. Width to length carapace proportions averaged 0.75. The mean weight of nesting females before their first recorded nesting on Cousine was 65.6 kg (51.2–83.0 kg). These were the first recorded weights for nesting hawksbills from the Seychelles. Individuals lose 8.5–15% of their body weight after laying three to five clutches. Mean clutch size was 176.7, and clutch sizes for any season showed great variation for some individuals. Clutch sizes tended to decrease after the main nesting month for the population but not necessarily for the individual. The largest clutch size of 264 is the largest recorded for hawksbill turtles worldwide. Turtles with longer carapaces tended to lay larger clutches than those with shorter carapaces, and heavier turtles generally laid heavier clutches than did lighter turtles. Eggs were usually (85.6%) somewhat elongate, measuring on average 36.3×35.5 mm, and weights averaged 25.5 g. Very few ‘pea’ eggs were found. The average hatchling weight was 14.5 g and the average carapace length and width were 39.2 and 30.1 mm, giving a mean ratio of carapace length to width of 0.77.

Between 80 000 and 150 000 marine birds wintering in the Bay of Biscay were killed during the “Erika” oil spill. Three complementary studies were conducted to investigate the geographic origins of these birds. The common guillemot, Uria aalge, represented more than 80% of the oiled birds and these studies thus focused primarily on this species. Analyses of 184 ring recoveries and biometry of 1851 corpses indicated that guillemots originated from a large geographic area, including colonies from across the British Isles and the North Sea, along with more northern localities. However, the majority of individuals came from colonies located between western Scotland and the Celtic Sea. The third study, based on a population genetic approach using microsatellite markers (samples from dead oiled birds and from more than 600 birds caught in 19 breeding colonies), showed little genetic differentiation among north-eastern Atlantic guillemot colonies. This result limits the ability to identify the geographic origins of the birds using only DNA samples, but reveals a significant amount of gene flow among colonies. Overall, results indicate the large spatial scale of the oil spill's impact and underline the usefulness of combining multiple approaches to assess the local and regional effects of such accidents.

More than 3000 mammals were captured and translocated during a rescue operation conducted in French Guiana during the filling of a hydroelectric dam, a unique opportunity to gather biological data on many aspects of the Guianan fauna. All animals were identified, anaesthetized, measured, and biological samples (blood, skin biopsies) were collected and preserved. This study presents morphological data on all captured mammals belonging to 40 species of Marsupialia, Xenarthra, Primates, Carnivora, Artiodactyla, Rodentia and Sirenia. Data reported here include weight, shoulder height, head and body, tail, hind foot, head, and ear lengths, and some additional measurements for particular species. Some species were found to be larger than previously reported, which may be attributed to the large sample size, circumstances of data collection or to geographic variations. Such basic data appear to be hardly available on neotropical mammals, and thus provide useful comparative material for further studies.