An interview with Dr Carmen Herrero, an expert in film and language education

An interview with Dr Carmen Herrero

Early animal management strategies during the Neolithic of the Konya Plain, Central Anatolia: integrating micromorphological and microfossil evidence

This paper examines the contribution of microscopic multi-proxy approaches to the study of early husbandry practices and animal diet by integrated micromorphological, phytolith, and calcitic dung spherulite analyses of midden deposits at the three neighbouring Neolithic sites of Boncuklu (9th-8th millennium cal BC), Pınarbaşı (7th millennium cal BC) and Çatalhöyük (8th-6th millennium cal BC) in the Konya Plain, Central Turkey. The results reveal considerable chronological and contextual variation in human-animal inter-relations in open areas between different communities and sites. At Boncuklu, middens display well-defined areas where phytoliths and substantial accumulations of omnivore faecal matter low in spherulite content have been identified. By contrast, open spaces at the Late Neolithic campsite of Pınarbaşı comprise large concentrations of herbivore dung material associated with neonatal ovicaprine remains from spring birthing. Here, the deposits represent repeated dung-burning events, and include high concentrations of dung spherulites and phytoliths from wild grasses, and leaves and culms of reeds that, we suggest here, derive from fodder and fuel sources. Late middens at Çatalhöyük are characterised by thick sequences derived from multiple fuel burning events and rich in ashes, charred plants, articulated phytoliths – mainly from the husk of cereals, as well as the leaves and stems of reeds and sedges – and omnivore/ruminant coprolites, the abundance of the latter declining markedly in the latest levels of occupation. The application of this integrated microscopic approach to open areas has contributed to unravelling the complexity of formation processes at these sites, providing new insights into herding practices, diet, and the ecological diversity of Neolithic communities in Central Anatolia

Serial dependence in the perception of visual variance

The recent history of perceptual experience has been shown to influence subsequent perception. Classically, this dependence on perceptual history has been examined in sensory adaptation paradigms, wherein prolonged exposure to a particular stimulus (e.g. a vertically oriented grating) produces changes in perception of subsequently presented stimuli (e.g. the tilt aftereffect). More recently, several studies have investigated the influence of shorter perceptual exposure with effects, referred to as serial dependence, being described for a variety of low and high-level perceptual dimensions. In this study, we examined serial dependence in the processing of dispersion statistics, namely variance - a key descriptor of the environment and indicative of the precision and reliability of ensemble representations. We found two opposite serial dependencies operating at different timescales, and likely originating at different processing levels: A positive, Bayesian-like bias was driven by the most recent exposures, dependent on feature-specific decision-making and appearing only when high confidence was placed in that decision; and a longer-lasting negative bias - akin to an adaptation after-effect - becoming manifest as the positive bias declined. Both effects were independent of spatial presentation location and the similarity of other close traits, such as mean direction of the visual variance stimulus. These findings suggest that visual variance processing occurs in high-level areas, but is also subject to a combination of multi-level mechanisms balancing perceptual stability and sensitivity, as with many different perceptual dimensions

Las acciones de reintegración

Este TFG muestra la importancia de nuestro sistema de reintegración concursal, por el cual se facilita a los acreedores del deudor concursado el poder para defender sus derechos de crédito. De tal manera, la ley concursal permite el ejercicio de las acciones de reintegración sobre los actos ejercidos en perjuicio del patrimonio concursal, que provocan la imposibilidad de satisfacer el conjunto de créditos que soporta el patrimonio del deudor, ya que a consecuencia de tales actos dicho patrimonio y por consiguiente la masa activa del concurso quedarían disminuidos. Además, nuestro vigente sistema de reintegración amplía la defensa del patrimonio concursal implantando la compatibilidad del ejercicio de las acciones de reintegración concursales con el de otras acciones de impugnación, que de igual manera harán que se restituyan las prestaciones de los actos que perjudicaron el patrimonio del deudor de forma reciproca, con sus frutos e intereses.Grado en Administración y Dirección de Empresa

Contextual modulation of visual variability: perceptual biases over time and across the visual field

The visual system extracts statistical information about the environment to manage noise, ensure perceptual stability and predict future events. These summary representations are able to inform sensory information received in subsequent times or in other regions of the visual field. This has been conceptualized in terms of Bayesian inference within the predictive coding framework. Nevertheless, contextual influence can also drive anti-Bayesian biases, as in sensory adaptation. Variance is a crucial statistical descriptor, yet relatively overlooked in ensemble vision research. We assessed the mechanisms whereby visual variability exerts and is subject to contextual modulation over time and across the visual field. Perceptual biases over time: serial dependence (SD) In a series of visual experiments, we examined SD on visual variance: the influence of the variance of previously presented ensembles in current variance judgments. We encountered two history-dependent biases: a positive bias exerted by recent presentations and a negative bias driven by less recent context. Contrary to claims that positive SD has low-level sensory origin, our experiments demonstrated a decisional bias requiring perceptual awareness and subject to time and capacity limitations. The negative bias was likely of sensory origin (adaptation). A two-layer model combining population codes and Bayesian Kalman filters replicated positive and negative effects in their approximate timescales. Perceptual biases across the visual field: Uniformity Illusion (UI) In UI, presentation of a pattern with uniform foveal components and more variable peripheral elements results in the latter taking the appearance of the foveal input. We studied the mechanistic basis of UI on orientation and determined that it arose without changes in sensory encoding at the primary visual cortex. Conclusions We studied perceptual biases on visual variability across space and time and found a combination of sensory negative and positive decisional biases, likely to handle the balance between change sensitivity and perceptual stability

Asymmetric Gold(I)‐Catalyzed Tandem Hydroarylation–Nazarov Cyclization: Enantioselective Access to Cyclopentenones

The asymmetric synthesis of cyclopentachromenones from gold-catalyzed reaction of readily available skipped alkenynones is described. This cascade reaction involves an initial anti-Michael hydroarylation of the ynone moiety to form a gold-functionalized dialkenylketone intermediate, followed by a Nazarov cyclization that proceeds in an unprecedented enantioselective manner. Excellent enantiomeric ratios and chemical yields are obtained under mild reaction conditions.We gratefully acknowledge Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación and FEDER (CTQ2016-75023-C2-1-P and PID2020- 115789GB-C21), and Junta de Castilla y León and FEDER (BU291P18 and BU049P20) for financial support. The project leading to these results has received funding from “la Caixa” Foundation, under the Agreement LCF/PR/ PR18/51130007> (CAIXA-UBU001). M.S. and S.S.-P. thank Junta de Castilla y León (Consejería de Educación) and Fondo Social Europeo (ESF+) for a predoctoral and a postdoctoral contract, respectively

Perceptual content, not physiological signals, determines perceived duration when viewing dynamic, natural scenes

The neural basis of time perception remains unknown. A prominent account is the pacemaker-accumulator model, wherein regular ticks of some physiological or neural pacemaker are read out as time. Putative candidates for the pacemaker have been suggested in physiological processes (heartbeat), or dopaminergic mid-brain neurons, whose activity has been associated with spontaneous blinking. However, such proposals have difficulty accounting for observations that time perception varies systematically with perceptual content. We examined physiological influences on human duration estimates for naturalistic videos between 1-64 seconds using cardiac and eye recordings. Duration estimates were biased by the amount of change in scene content. Contrary to previous claims, heart rate, and blinking were not related to duration estimates. Our results support a recent proposal that tracking change in perceptual classification networks provides a basis for human time perception, and suggest that previous assertions of the importance of physiological factors should be tempered