The activities distinguished during in focal point observation data collection. This table restricts which activities can be used with which sampling protocol (SAMPLES.SType).
ACTIVITIES defines values for the Activity of the POINT_DATA table.
The value F has a
special meaning to the system. It indicates feeding and
triggers a required Foodcode in
POINT_DATA.Foodcode.
When TRUE the activity can be used in focal points
sample data, POINT_DATA rows, collected
using the juvenile/infant focal point sampling protocol --
when the related SAMPLES.SType is
J. When FALSE the
activity value may not be used in focal point observation
data collected using the juvenile focal point sampling
protocol.
This column may not be NULL.
When TRUE the activity can be used in focal points
sample data, POINT_DATA rows, collected
using the female focal point sampling protocol -- when the
related SAMPLES.SType is
F. When FALSE the
activity value may not be used in focal point observation
data collected using the female focal point sampling
protocol.
This column may not be NULL.
The different kinds of (non-multiparty) interactions between individuals which may be recorded.
The various kinds of interactions may be grouped together into larger categories, which are themselves valid kinds of interactions. The Class column is used for this purpose. The Class column contains an Act value identifying the larger class of interactions to which the interaction belongs. If the interaction does not belong to a larger category, the Class should contain the row's own Act value. Only 1 level of classification hierarchy is allowed -- the ACTS row referenced in the Class column must have a Class value equal to its Act value.
Rows that contain a TRUE value in the Retired column
may not be referred to by newly created database rows,
although, presumably older, pre-existing rows may contain the
Act values of these retired rows. Should it be necessary to
create such new rows, retired ACTS may be temporarily
un-retired.
ACTS defines values for the Act column of INTERACT_DATA.
All of the Class codes on ACTS have a special meaning to the system's programs. New Class codes may not be created and rows that represent the classifications, have an Act equal to their Class, cannot have their Act, Class, or Descr values changed.[237]
The ACTS row of interaction classification. (See
above.) This column may not be NULL.
One row for each version of data structure produced by the palmtops.
The primary purpose of this table is to ensure that the data coming off the palmtop is correctly interpreted and loaded into the right tables. The structure and semantics of the data collected by the palmtop is determined by the setup file, but various setup files can produce the same output. The DATA_STRUCTURES table contains only one row for every data layout produced by the palmtops.
For further comments see the SETUPIDS file.
DATA_STRUCTURES defines vocabulary for SETUPIDS.Data_Structure.
The Data_Structure value
1 is the data
structure understood by the Psionload
program.
The social contexts in which multiparty interactions occur.
CONTEXT_TYPES defines values for MPIS.Context_type.
Special CONTEXT_TYPES
N
No context. The MPIS.MPIS-Context column must be NULL when
this code is used.
C
Consortship. The multiparty interaction occurred in the context of a consortship.
The MPIS.MPIS-Context column must be NULL when
this code is used. The MPIS.Context_type column must be
C when a related
CONSORTS row exists. The system
will generate a warning when the MPIS.Context_type
column is C and
there is no related CONSORTS
row.
The different food items eaten by baboons.
FOODCODES defines values for POINT_DATA.Foodcode.
Food items are themselves categorized into types. This column contains the type of the food item. Valid food type values are those stored in the FOODTYPES.Ftype column.
There are no special FOODCODE values, however it is
worth remarking on the POINT_DATA.Activity
F value, which has
special meaning to the system. The POINT_DATA.Foodcode
column must contain a value when and only when POINT_DATA.Activity
is F, otherwise POINT_DATA.Foodcode
must be NULL.
Food items are categorized into broader classifications using the codes defined on the FOODTYPES tables.
The different spatial relationships between mother and infant recorded during adult female all-occurrences point sampling.
KIDCONTACTS defines vocabulary for the Kidcontact column of the FPOINTS table.
The different kinds of dyadic interactions which may be recorded as interactions occurring during a multiparty interaction event. There are 4 mutually exclusive categories of interactions: Agnoisims, Requests for help, Help given, and Other.
The Decided column cannot be TRUE unless the kind of
the act is an agonism -- the Kind column is
A.
Because the first interaction of a multiparty
interaction must be an agonism Multi_first cannot be TRUE
unless Kind is A.
Although Babase stores multiparty interactions using a data structure similar to that used to store non-multiparty interactions the data sets are separate, different kinds of interactions are recorded using different codes, and the interactions are never recorded in both data sets.
The value AH must be
the code used to indicate the giving of active help. The
value PH must be the code
used to indicate the giving of passive help. These codes
are tested for in the process of generating warnings
indicating that the MPI_DATA.Active value may be incorrect.
Some values have special meaning to the Upmpi program, in that the program changes act values in the uploaded file to particular values. See the documentation on this for more detail.
This column classifies the kind of interaction into one of 4 distinct types, as listed below.
MPIACTS.Kind values
A
An Agonism interaction.
R
A Request for help.
H
Help given.
O
Other.
This column may not be NULL.
A TRUE value in this column indicates that the
action was an agonism resulting in a definite winner and
loser, FALSE indicates otherwise.
This column may not be NULL.
A TRUE value in this column indicates that the MPIAct code can be used as a MPI_DATA.MPIAct value
when there is more than one MPI_DATA row
for a multiparty interaction having a Seq value of 1 --
such interactions which initiate a collection of multiparty
interactions need not be dyadic, they can occur between more
than 2 individuals.[238] All other interactions (those where Multi_first
is FALSE) which begin a collection of multiparty
interactions (those having a Seq
value of 1) must involve just 2
individuals.
This column may not be NULL.
The different classification of neighbor distinguished during in focal point observation data collection. This table restricts which neighbor classifications can be used with which sampling protocol (SAMPLES.SType).[239]
A NCODES row may not have a Requires of NULL and a Nsex value of
O.
When TRUE the neighbor classification can be used in
focal points sample data, POINT_DATA rows,
collected using the juvenile/infant focal point sampling
protocol -- when the related SAMPLES.SType is
J. When FALSE the
neighbor classification value may not be used in focal point
sample data collected using the juvenile focal point
sampling protocol.
This column may not be NULL.
When TRUE the neighbor classification can be used in
focal points sample data, POINT_DATA rows,
collected using the female focal point sampling protocol --
when the related SAMPLES.SType is
F. When FALSE the
neighbor classification value may not be used in focal point
sample data collected using the female focal point sampling
protocol.
This column may not be NULL.
A Ncode. When a Ncode has a value in this column then
the Ncode cannot be used unless the point observation (POINT_DATA row) already has another NEIGHBORS row that uses the referenced value.
For example, supposing Ncode 2 is the
second nearest neighbor and Ncode 1 is
the nearest neighbor.[240]When Ncode 1 is placed in in
Ncode 2's Requires column, Babase will
not allow a sample to have a second nearest neighbor without
first having a nearest neighbor.
This column may be NULL, in which case the only
requirement is that the same Ncode not be used twice in one
point observation.
The sex that the neighbor must have. This is complicated because it may rely on the sex of the neighbor with the Ncode specified in the Requires column. The values the Nsex column may contain and their meanings are:
| Code | Mnemonic | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| A | Any | The neighbor with this Ncode may be of any sex. |
| M | Male | The neighbor with this Ncode must be male.[241] |
| O | Opposite | The neighbor with this Ncode must be of a different sex than the neighbor with the Requires Ncode. Note that because there are 3 sexes, male, female, and unknown, this does not strictly conform with the field monitoring guide which only takes males and females into account. If this is a problem then we need to do something about it. |
Neighbors with a Unksname rather than a Sname are always considered to be of
the opposite sex -- they satisfy the
O Nsex code.
This column must not be NULL.
A boolean value. When TRUE then the Sname must be unique among all the
neighbors of a particular point observation (POINT_DATA). When FALSE the Sname need not be unique.
This column must not be NULL.
One row for each Palmtop hand-held computer.[242]
From a research perspective there is no particular reason why this information would ever be useful as what is important is the software that is running on the Palmtop.
The different reasons why a participant in a multiparty interaction is unable to be identified during data collection.
The postures distinguished in focal point observation data collection.
POSTURES defines values for POINT_DATA.Posture.
When TRUE the posture value can only be used in
focal points sample data, POINT_DATA rows,
collected using the juvenile focal point sampling protocol
-- when the related SAMPLES.SType is
J. When FALSE the
posture value may be used in any focal point sampling
protocol.
This column may not be NULL.
One row for each version of each program used for data collection on the palmtop hand-held computers.
It is the setup file that determines the operation of the data collection program. See SETUPIDS.
Although not every setup file can be used with every version of every program, Babase makes no attempt to validate the setup files against the program files, or vice versa. This is because the data are expected to be generated by the palmtop programs and, unless they lie about the program they are running and the setup file used, whatever program id is reported must, ipso facto, work with the reported setup file.
The primary purpose of this table is to avoid storing relatively lengthy identical strings on the SAMPLES table. This table would probably not be worth having were not the program ID strings reported by the palmtops so long, and did we not need the SETUPIDS table, which is very similar to this table.
One row for each setup file used for data collection on the palmtop hand-held computers.
The primary purpose of this table is to ensure, via its relation with the DATA_STRUCTURES table, that the data coming off the palmtop is correctly interpreted and loaded into the right tables. The table also allows Babase to save space on the SAMPLES table by storing the small Setupid integer rather than the relatively long setup ID strings reported by the palmtops.
The setupid should determine the structure and semantics of the palmtop data files. If this assumption is violated, e.g. by having two different Psion programs produce different results from the same setup file, then the Psionload program may do bad things to the database.
For further comments see the PROGRAMIDS file.
The version of the data structure produced by the palmtops using the setup file. Valid Data_Structure values are those given by the values stored in the DATA_STRUCTURES.Data_Structure column.
This column may not be NULL. This column may not be empty, it must contain characters,
and it must contain at least one non-whitespace character.
Vocabulary describing the nature of an infant's suckling activity.
[237] Except by suitably privileged individuals. See Special Values.
[238] Although they are still recorded as dyadic pairs,
there can be more than one pair with a sequence number
of 1
[239] It seems easiest at this time to create the columns Juvenile and Female rather than add another table and have a fully normalized database.
[240] As is indeed the case as of this writing.
[241] There is no code for female because at present the protocols do not require one.
[242] Although all the computers used for data entry in the field are Psions, this will not always be the case. Hence, the generic name “PALMTOPS”.