Dysfunctional play and dopamine physiology in the Fischer 344 rat

Juvenile Fischer 344 rats are known to be less playful than other inbred strains, although the neurobiological substrate(s) responsible for this phenotype is uncertain. In the present study, Fischer 344 rats were compared to the commonly used outbred Sprague-Dawley strain on several behavioral and physiological parameters in order to ascertain whether the lack of play may be related to compromised activity of brain dopamine (DA) systems. As expected, Fischer 344 rats were far less playful than Sprague-Dawley rats, with Fischer 344 rats less likely to initiate playful contacts with a playful partner and less likely to respond playfully to these contacts. We also found that Fischer 344 rats showed less of a startle response and greater pre-pulse inhibition (PPI), especially at higher prepulse intensities. The increase in PPI seen in the Fischer 344 rat could be due to reduced DA modulation of sensorimotor gating and neurochemical measures were consistent with Fischer 344 rats releasing less DA than Sprague-Dawley rats. Fast scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV) revealed Fischer 344 rats had less evoked DA release in dorsal and ventral striatal brain slices and high-performance liquid chromatography revealed Fischer 344 rats to have less DA turnover in the striatum and prefrontal cortex. We also found DA-dependent forms of cortical plasticity were deficient in the striatum and prefrontal cortex of the Fischer 344 rat. Taken together, these data indicate that deficits in play and enhanced PPI of Fischer 344 rats may be due to reduced DA modulation of corticostriatal and mesolimbic/mesocortical circuits critical to the execution of these behaviors

Fischer Decomposition for Difference Dirac Operators

We establish the basis of a discrete function theory starting with a Fischer decomposition for difference Dirac operators. Discrete versions of homogeneous polynomials, Euler and Gamma operators are obtained. As a consequence we obtain a Fischer decomposition for the discrete Laplacian

Communities of practice in academia

Up to now, the relationships among the fundamental notions of communities of practice (CoPs), i.e. knowledge, participation, identity, and artefact development have been based mainly on results from qualitative studies; they are not yet sufficiently based on quantitative evidence. Starting from a literature review, we formulate a quantitative, causal model of CoPs that describes these variables in the context of academic communities, and aim to validate this model in two academic CoPs with a total of N = 208 participants. A cluster analysis classifies the participants into clusters that are in line with the core-periphery structure known from previous qualitative studies. A regression analysis provides evidence for the hypothesized model on the basis of quantitative data. Suggested directions for future research are to focus on factors that determine CoP participants’ contributions to artefact development and on approaches to automated monitoring of virtual CoPs

The Fischer controversy, the war origins debate and France: a non-history

The controversy that followed publication in 1961 of Fritz Fischer’s Griff nach der Weltmacht was not restricted to West Germany. Even if the Fischer debate abroad did not acquire the vehemence it took on domestically, intellectually the effect was powerful. This article will demonstrate that France was potentially a most propitious terrain for the Fischer controversy to spread. Yet for a variety of reasons, largely to do with the nature of history practised in France in the 1950s and 1960s, it had remarkably little impact. The reasons for there being little reaction to the Fischer controversy also explain the state of the war origins debate in France fifty years on and why the war’s causes have not been seriously investigated by French historians for several decades

Contempt's Evaluative Presentation and Connection to Accountability

In this chapter, I defend a novel account of contempt’s evaluative presentation by synthesizing relevant psychological work (Rozin et al. 1999; Fischer and Roseman 2007; Fischer 2011; Hutcherson and Gross 2011) with philosophical insights (Mason 2003; Bell 2005; Abramson 2009; Bell 2013). I then show how a concern about contempt’s status as an emotion involved in holding people accountable can be helpfully addressed. Finally, I gesture at an account of why, when we feel contemptuous toward people, our accountability responses involve withdrawal and exclusion rather than approach and confrontation

Two powerful theorems in Clifford analysis

Two useful theorems in Euclidean and Hermitean Clifford analysis are discussed: the Fischer decomposition and the Cauchy-Kovalevskaya extension

Science and Subpoenas: When do the Courts Become Instruments of Manipulation?

Fischer says he believes that the uneasy relationship between law and science is likely to continue regarding disclosure of scientific research materials