The visualisation on Pangolin scales using gelatine lifters

Recent media reports document the plight of the Pangolin and its current position as “the most trafficked mammal in the world”. They are described by some as scaly anteaters as all species are covered in hard keratinous tissue in the form of overlapping scales acting as a “flexible dermal armour”. It is estimated that between 2011 and 2013, 117,000 to 234,000 pangolins were slaughtered, but the seizures may only represent as little as 10% of the true volume of pangolins being illegally traded. In this paper, methods to visualise fingermarks on Pangolin scales using gelatine lifters is presented. The gelatine lifters provide an easy to use, inexpensive but effective method to help wildlife crime rangers across Africa and Asia to disrupt the trafficking. The gelatine lifting process visualised marks producing clear ridge detail on 52% of the Pangolin scales examined, with a further 30% showing the impression of a finger with limited ridge detail. The paper builds on an initial sociotechnical approach to establishing requirement, then it focuses on the methods and outcomes lifting fingermarks off Pangolin scales using gelatine lifters, providing an evaluation of the viability of using the lifters in practice

Cardio-visual full body illusion alters bodily self-consciousness and tactile processing in somatosensory cortex.

Prominent theories highlight the importance of bodily perception for self-consciousness, but it is currently not known whether this is based on interoceptive or exteroceptive signals or on integrated signals from these anatomically distinct systems, nor where in the brain such integration might occur. To investigate this, we measured brain activity during the recently described ‘cardio-visual full body illusion’ which combines interoceptive and exteroceptive signals, by providing participants with visual exteroceptive information about their heartbeat in the form of a periodically illuminated silhouette outlining a video image of the participant’s body and flashing in synchrony with their heartbeat. We found, as also reported previously, that synchronous cardio-visual signals increased self-identification with the virtual body. Here we further investigated whether experimental changes in self-consciousness during this illusion are accompanied by activity changes in somatosensory cortex by recording somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs). We show that a late somatosensory evoked potential component (P45) reflects the illusory self-identification with a virtual body. These data demonstrate that interoceptive and exteroceptive signals can be combined to modulate activity in parietal somatosensory cortex

Astrological factors and personality: A southern hemisphere replication

The following astrological and empirical predications were investigated in this stud:y: (a) Extraversion is related to birth under the odd numbered sun signs, and introversion to birth under the even numbered signs; and (b) people born under the water signs are more “emotional” than others. Data were collected from 692 male and female university students born in the Southern hemisphere who were administered the Eysenck Personality Inventory. Results showed no significant differences in extraversion scores of Ss born under odd or even numbered sun signs; or in neuroticism scores of Ss born under water signs

Social and spatial organization of male behaviour in mated domestic fowl

Observations were made of male spacing, mating and agonistic behaviour in 2 pens of mated domestic fowl. In both pens, site attachment was found, with a bunching of observations for cocks living close to a wall. High-ranking males appeared to move over smaller areas than did low-ranking males. A simple model of dominance relationships between cocks provided a good explanation of the interferences to mating by threatening neighbours. In the larger pen (3.18 m2/cock), the interference was best explained by a territorial type of model, with the most dominant cocks threatening subordinate males mating close to the range centres of either. In the smaller pen (1.95 m2/cock), the effects of fixed sites were negligible, while the threats by dominant neighbours depended on the distance between the males and the orientation of the mating subordinate towards the dominant. The results emphasise the dynamic nature of social systems and the types of social control operating on interactions

Introduction : Diplomacy Re-imagined

Diplomacy is changing. This chapter introduces diplomatic change in Britain in the period 1995–2015, and outlines the main questions and issues taken up in this book. It focuses specifically on the importance of discourses around public diplomacy, digital diplomacy and soft power as motivators and signifiers of organisational reform. The chapter establishes the background, research questions and conduct of the study, and provides an overview of the work as a whole