The effect of familiarity on face adaptation

Face aftereffects can provide information on how faces are stored by the human visual system (eg Leopold et al, 2001 Nature Neuroscience 4 89 – 94), but few studies have used robustly represented (highly familiar) faces. In this study we investigated the influence of facial familiarity on adaptation effects. Participants were adapted to a series of distorted faces (their own face, a famous face, or an unfamiliar face). In experiment 1, figural aftereffects were significantly smaller when participants were adapted to their own face than when they were adapted to the other faces (ie their own face appeared significantly less distorted than a famous or unfamiliar face). Experiment 2 showed that this ‘own-face’ effect did not occur when the same faces were used as adaptation stimuli for participants who were unfamiliar with them. Experiment 3 replicated experiment 1, but included a pre-adaptation baseline. The results highlight the importance of considering facial familiarity when conducting research on face aftereffects

A Whitehall perspective on decentralisation in England’s emerging territories

Decentralisation is a key thread running through current UK policy making. The Coalition Government has abolished New Labour’s regional legacy in favour of a new set of strategies around growth and development that has tapped into the localist agenda. Drawing on a series of recent interviews conducted with civil servants, this article explores government initiatives aimed at enhancing local autonomy in England and provides new empirical insights into decentralisation from a Whitehall perspective. It examines departmental aspirations for decentralised structures and Whitehall perceptions of the capacity of local arrangements to successfully manage territorial development in an era of austerity. The article concludes that, in the fields of economic development, planning and transport, there are signs of enhanced local policy and fiscal autonomy. However, there are different levels of enthusiasm for decentralisation across and within Whitehall departments that continue to undermine a more cohesive approach. </jats:p

The Apollo 15 coarse fines (4-10 mm)

A new catalog of the Apollo 15 coarse fines particles is presented. Powell's macroscopic descriptions, resulting from his 1972 particle by particle binocular examination of all of the Apollo 15 4 to 10 mm fines samples, are retained. His groupings are also retained, but petrographic, chemical, and other data from later analyses are incorporated into this catalog to better characterize individual particles and describe the groups. A large number of particles have no characterization beyond that done by Powell. Complete descriptions of the particles and all known references are provided. The catalog is intended for anyone interested in the rock types collected by Dave Scott and Jim Irwin in the Hadley-Appenine region, and particularly for researchers requiring sample allocations

Defined by the Home: Housing and Class Connections in George Orwell’s \u3ci\u3eKeep the Aspidistra Flying\u3c/i\u3e

Focusing on the relationship between social class and living arrangements, George Orwell’s Keep the Aspidistra Flying portrays textually 1930s class differences in London, England. That a character’s class defines how he or she lives is made noticeably clear by Orwell, but his portrayal centers on the most central marker of class stratification: where each character lives. After World War I, there was a shortage of housing in London because little funding was available to build new houses. Slum clearing and updating was also put on the back burner and allowed to grow worse, thus allowing lower-class housing fall into greater ruin with the arrival of the Great Depression. As Charles Mowat explains, “[a]ny estimate of the condition of Great Britain in the thirties is bound to be […] affected by the continuing evidences of inequality between classes, including both those in work and the unemployed, in matters of income and capital, nutrition, the death rate, infant and maternal mortality, and shelter.” (emphasis added, 490). Using Keep the Aspidistra Flying as the primary text, I will attempt to show how Orwell argues that housing and class are dependent on each other, especially in regards to the exclusive nature of class, the size of personal space, ownership of personal space, levels of health, and freedom of sexuality

A World Apart: Silko’s Support of a Gynocentric Existence in Gardens in theDunes

Leslie Marmon Silko is a Native American feminist and author of the 1998 novel Gardens in the Dunes, which focuses on the contradictions between repressed females in the patriarchal Western culture and self-determined Native American women. Her skillful storytelling expresses the power that can be drawn from being part of “collective sisterhood” that resists existing within the confines defined by patriarchy. Silko’s representation of repressive upbringings of the character Hattie under patriarchy, her positive portrayal of self-determined sexuality through the experiences of female Native American characters, and the assertion of the existence of a “collective sisterhood” outside the influence of Western culture that welcomes all females that embrace matriarchy lays the foundation for Silko’s stance of challenging accepted gender roles in a mainly patriarchal world

Tying Community Science and Social Justice Together in an Urban Biology Class to Foster Environmental Responsibility

Research shows that students who are involved in projects within their communities feel more sense of belonging and connection to their space. This is also true when discussing environmental justice. Students who have been historically marginalized can feel more comfort within navigating science. The unit plan designed for this project addressed the research question: How can community science and social justice be tied together in an urban biology classroom to foster environmental responsibility? The unit plan combined the knowledge of community science which focuses on sense of place with social justice within science or critical pedagogy in order to support the teaching framework of Critical Pedagogy of Place. The unit plan focused on explicitly teaching students about community science first followed by social justice in science before having the students research and design a project themselves within the community. The goal of the project was to foster a sense of environmental responsibility within students

Legal Rigidity and Digital Fluidity: Relationships between the State and the Internet

This paper shall focus on the transformative nature of technology, namely in facilitating criminal and terrorist activity and the unique challenges to regulation. The Internet requires a re-examination of static concepts of territorial boundaries and legal jurisdictions which contribute to uncertainty in regulation.&nbsp