A questionnaire on the status of animal welfare legislation and its implementation was distributed by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) to 172 Member Countries in 2008. Overall, 45% of questionnaires were returned. The response rate varied from 25% in Africa to 69% in Europe. Eighty-seven percent of respondent countries indicated that there was a competent national veterinary autho...

BACKGROUND While guidance exists for obtaining population size estimates using multiplier methods with respondent-driven sampling surveys, we lack specific guidance for making sample size decisions. OBJECTIVE To guide the design of multiplier method population size estimation studies using respondent-driven sampling surveys to reduce the random error around the estimate obtained. METHODS Th...

If natural language question-answering (NLQA) systems are to be truly effective and useful, they must respond to queries cooperatively, recognizing and accommodating in their replies a questioner's goals, plans, and needs. Transcripts of natural dialogue demonstrate that cooperative responses typically combine several communicative acts: a question may be answered, a misconception identified, a...