Comparison between AI and human expert performance in acute pain assessment in sheep.

This study explores the question whether Artificial Intelligence (AI) can outperform human experts in animal pain recognition using sheep as a case study. It uses a dataset of N = 48 sheep undergoing surgery with video recordings taken before (no pain) and after (pain) surgery. Four veterinary experts used two types of pain scoring scales: the sheep facial expression scale (SFPES) and the Unesp-Botucatu composite behavioral scale (USAPS), which is the 'golden standard' in sheep pain assessment.

Automated landmark-based cat facial analysis and its applications.

Facial landmarks, widely studied in human affective computing, are beginning to gain interest in the animal domain. Specifically, landmark-based geometric morphometric methods have been used to objectively assess facial expressions in cats, focusing on pain recognition and the impact of breed-specific morphology on facial signaling. These methods employed a 48-landmark scheme grounded in cat facial anatomy.

Behavioral red flags for optimizing castration-induced acute pain diagnosis in cattle.

Unesp-Botucatu Cattle Pain Scale (UCAPS) is widely used in experimental settings, however the high number of UCAPS behaviors might represent a barrier to its implementation in the farm's or hospital's routine. We aimed to identify a smaller combination of UCAPS behaviors that could be used as behavioral red flags for optimizing the acute pain diagnosis in cattle. We hypothesize that a specific set of UCAPS behaviors might be used as behavioral red flags for pain.

Unripe Plantain Peel Biohydrogel for Methylene Blue Removal from Aqueous Solution.

Dye contamination is a serious environmental issue, particularly affecting water bodies, driving efforts to synthesize adsorbent materials with high dye-removal capacities. In this context, eco-friendly and cost-effective materials derived from bioresidues are being explored to recycle and valorize waste. This study investigates the synthesis, characterization, and application of a biohydrogel made from unripe plantain peel (PP), modified with carboxymethyl groups and crosslinked using varying concentrations of citric acid (CA), an eco-friendly and economical organic acid.