A spherical-plot solution to linking acceleration metrics with animal performance, state, behaviour and lifestyle.

Background: We are increasingly using recording devices with multiple sensors operating at high frequencies to produce large volumes of data which are problematic to interpret. A particularly challenging example comes from studies on animals and humans where researchers use animal-attached accelerometers on moving subjects to attempt to quantify behaviour, energy expenditure and condition.

Results: The approach taken effectively concatinated three complex lines of acceleration into one visualization that highlighted patterns that were otherwise not obvious.

Prying into the intimate secrets of animal lives; software beyond hardware for comprehensive annotation in 'Daily Diary' tags.

Background: Smart tags attached to freely-roaming animals recording multiple parameters at infra-second rates are becoming commonplace, and are transforming our understanding of the way wild animals behave. Interpretation of such data is complex and currently limits the ability of biologists to realise the value of their recorded information.

Description: This work presents Framework4, an all-encompassing software suite which operates on smart sensor data to determine the 4 key elements considered pivotal for movement analysis from such tags (Endangered Species Res 4: 123-37, 2008).

Malingering in children: fibs and faking.

Research has established that children can make efforts to deceive others and that malingering or underperformance in psychiatric and psychological evaluations is common. Clinicians often resist the idea that children can successfully fake mental disorders and formal assessment for malingering is rare in clinical practice. The author suggests that screening tests be performed during the initial evaluation of all children to identify deceptive behavior.