Cognitive fusion as a candidate psychological vulnerability factor for psychosis: An experimental study of acute ∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) intoxication

Heavy cannabis use is associated with an increased risk of psychosis. However, the psychological mechanisms involved, and interactions with established risk factors for cannabis-related psychosis, remain unclear. This study examined the role of cognitive fusion, a candidate vulnerability factor for psychosis, during acute THC intoxication, and the interaction with key risk factors – developmental trauma and schizotypy. Twenty general population cannabis-using participants were administered THC or placebo in a within-participants, double-blinded randomised study. Developmental trauma, schizotypy and cognitive fusion were all associated with psychotic experiences during intoxication. Cognitive fusion accounted for increased psychotic experiences in those with developmental trauma and high schizotypy. Cognitive fusion may be a key mechanism by which developmental trauma and schizotypy increase risk of psychosis from cannabis use. This initial study is limited by a small sample and correlational design; a larger scale mediation study is now needed to support a causal argument. The findings have implications for psychological treatments and identifying those at risk of cannabis-related psychosis. Psychological interventions that target cognitive fusion may be more effective than generic approaches. People prone to cognitive fusion, particularly those with a history of developmental trauma and high in schizotypy, may be at higher risk for cannabis-related psychosis

Impacts of lower speed limits in South Australia

ustralia has recently undergone a change of urban speed limits in most of its jurisdictions. The political and social shift in attitudes required for this change is significant in a country that has a strong reliance on the use of the private motor vehicle. At present five states and one territory have lowered the speed limit in urban areas from 60km/h to 50km/h. Of the remaining two states and territories, one has already implemented lower speed limits (40km/h) in small areas within cities. In the majority of cases, the only criterion for judging the success of such schemes is an observed reduction in both speeds and crash numbers. This paper reports on a more holistic assessment of such schemes taking into account factors in addition to speed and crashes including: traffic volume displacement, physical road network characteristics, environmental factors, community ownership and acceptance, enforcement effort and impact on travel times. The research work has included the analysis of extensive traffic data, community surveys and focus groups, the collection of environmental and travel time data from an instrumented probe vehicle and the computer modelling of road networks. The work reported is based on over 10 years of working with a 40km/h lower urban speed limit area in South Australia. The paper expands the notion of using speed and crash outcomes as the only criteria for measuring the success of lower speed limit schemes. Document type: Articl

Beyond species distribution modelling: A landscape genetics approach to investigating range shifts under future climate change

Understanding how biodiversity will respond to future climate change is a major conservation and societal challenge. Climate change is predicted to force many species to shift their ranges in pursuit of suitable conditions. This study aims to use landscape genetics, the study of the effects of environmental heterogeneity on the spatial distribution of genetic variation, as a predictive tool to assess how species will shift their ranges to track climatic changes and inform conservation measures that will facilitate movement. The approach is based on three steps: 1) using Species Distribution Models (SDMs) to predict suitable ranges under future climate change, 2) using the landscape genetics framework to identify landscape variables that impede or facilitate movement, and 3) extrapolating the effect of landscape connectivity on range shifts in response to future climate change. I show how this approach can be implemented using the publicly available genetic dataset of the grey long-eared bat,Plecotus austriacus, in the Iberian Peninsula. Forest cover gradient was the main landscape variable affecting genetic connectivity between colonies. Forest availability is likely to limit future range shifts in response to climate change, primarily over the central plateau, but important range shift pathways have been identified along the eastern and western coasts. I provide outputs that can be directly used by conservation managers and review the viability of the approach. Using landscape genetics as a predictive tool in combination with SDMs enables the identification of potential pathways, whose loss can affect the ability of species to shift their range into future climatically suitable areas, and the appropriate conservation management measures to increase landscape connectivity and facilitate movement

Do red deer stags (Cervus elaphus) use roar fundamental frequency (F0) to assess rivals?

It is well established that in humans, male voices are disproportionately lower pitched than female voices, and recent studies suggest that this dimorphism in fundamental frequency (F0) results from both intrasexual (male competition) and intersexual (female mate choice) selection for lower pitched voices in men. However, comparative investigations indicate that sexual dimorphism in F0 is not universal in terrestrial mammals. In the highly polygynous and sexually dimorphic Scottish red deer Cervus elaphus scoticus, more successful males give sexually-selected calls (roars) with higher minimum F0s, suggesting that high, rather than low F0s advertise quality in this subspecies. While playback experiments demonstrated that oestrous females prefer higher pitched roars, the potential role of roar F0 in male competition remains untested. Here we examined the response of rutting red deer stags to playbacks of re-synthesized male roars with different median F0s. Our results show that stags’ responses (latencies and durations of attention, vocal and approach responses) were not affected by the F0 of the roar. This suggests that intrasexual selection is unlikely to strongly influence the evolution of roar F0 in Scottish red deer stags, and illustrates how the F0 of terrestrial mammal vocal sexual signals may be subject to different selection pressures across species. Further investigations on species characterized by different F0 profiles are needed to provide a comparative background for evolutionary interpretations of sex differences in mammalian vocalizations

The Schwinger Variational Method

Variational methods have proven invaluable in theoretical physics and chemistry, both for bound state problems and for the study of collision phenomena. For collisional problems they can be grouped into two types: those based on the Schroedinger equation and those based on the Lippmann-Schwinger equation. The application of the Schwinger variational (SV) method to e-molecule collisions and photoionization has been reviewed previously. The present chapter discusses the implementation of the SV method as applied to e-molecule collisions

Lees and Moonshine: Remembering Richard III, 1485-1635

Published version of article deposited in accordance with Sherpa Romeo guidelines. © University of Chicago Press, 2010publication-status: AcceptedNot long after Shakespeare’s birth (1564) the last witnesses to the reign of Richard III (1483-85) would have reached the end of their lives. Richard III (c. 1592) occupies a distinctive historical moment in relation to its subject – a period after the extinction of living memory, but still within the horizon of communicative memory, the period in which stories and recollections may be transmitted across multiple generations. This essay explores how memories and “postmemories” of Richard’s reign were preserved, transmitted and transformed over the course of the sixteenth century and into the seventeenth. Whilst reflecting the powerful influence of emerging contexts including the Reformation and, ultimately, Shakespeare’s play, these memories remained distinct from and sometimes at odds with textual history. They survived because they offered their bearers a resource for interpreting and resisting the predicaments of the present, from the problem of tyranny to the legacies of the Reformation

Coastal scenic assessment and tourism management in western Cuba

Coastal scenic assessments via checklist tables (18 natural, 8 human related parameters), can provide benchmark measures regarding desirable/non-desirable beach conditions and also classify sites. The scenic value for 43 sites in western Cuba was investigated, with the aim of helping managers improve bathing areas, especially for tourism purposes. Sites were categorised from Class 1, (top grade scenery), between La Habana and Matanzas, as extremely attractive, with white sand, turquoise water and additional scenic elements. Class 2 sites were located in Varadero, and their high scores were greatly due to appropriate human interventions, e.g. beach nourishment and dune restoration works. Classes 3 to 5 (the latter having very poor scenery), included sites with low scores for natural parameters. For these sites, coastal managers can do little to alleviate scenic impact, apart from addressing the human parameters, where improvement is possible, e.g. by litter removal together with the present chaotic protective structures

Treatment-Resistant Schizophrenia: Treatment Response and Resistance in Psychosis (TRRIP) Working Group Consensus Guidelines on Diagnosis and Terminology

OBJECTIVE: Research and clinical translation in schizophrenia is limited by inconsistent definitions of treatment resistance and response. To address this issue, the authors evaluated current approaches and then developed consensus criteria and guidelines. METHODS: A systematic review of randomized antipsychotic clinical trials in treatment-resistant schizophrenia was performed, and definitions of treatment resistance were extracted. Subsequently, consensus operationalized criteria were developed through 1) a multiphase, mixed methods approach, 2) identification of key criteria via an online survey, and 3) meetings to achieve consensus. RESULTS: Of 2,808 studies identified, 42 met inclusion criteria. Of these, 21 studies (50%) did not provide operationalized criteria. In the remaining studies, criteria varied considerably, particularly regarding symptom severity, prior treatment duration, and antipsychotic dosage thresholds; only two studies (5%) utilized the same criteria. The consensus group identified minimum and optimal criteria, employing the following principles: 1) current symptoms of a minimum duration and severity determined by a standardized rating scale; 2) moderate or worse functional impairment; 3) prior treatment consisting of at least two different antipsychotic trials, each for a minimum duration and dosage; 4) systematic monitoring of adherence and meeting of minimum adherence criteria; 5) ideally at least one prospective treatment trial; and 6) criteria that clearly separate responsive from treatment-resistant patients. CONCLUSIONS: There is considerable variation in current approaches to defining treatment resistance in schizophrenia. The authors present consensus guidelines that operationalize criteria for determining and reporting treatment resistance, adequate treatment, and treatment response, providing a benchmark for research and clinical translation

Permanent upper plate deformation in western Myanmar during the great 1762 earthquake: Implications for neotectonic behavior of the northern Sunda megathrust

The 1762 Arakan earthquake resulted from rupture of the northern Sunda megathrust and is one of those rare preinstrumental earthquakes for which early historical accounts document ground deformations. In order to obtain more comprehensive and detailed measurements of coseismic uplift, we conducted comprehensive field investigations and geochronological analyses of marine terraces on the two largest islands in western Myanmar. We confirm 3–4 m of coseismic coastal emergence along southwestern Cheduba Island, diminishing northeastward to less than 1 m. Farther northeast, uplift associated with the earthquake ranges from slightly more than 1 m to 5–6 m along the western coast of Ramree Island but is insignificant along the island's eastern coast. This double-hump pattern of uplift coincides with the long-term anticlinal growth of these two islands. Thus, we propose that the 1762 earthquake resulted from slip on splay faults under the islands, in addition to rupture of the megathrust. Elastic modeling implies that fault slip during the 1762 earthquake ranges from about 9 to 16 m beneath the islands and corresponds to a magnitude of M_w 8.5 if the rupture length of the megathrust is ~500 km. The island's uplift histories suggest recurrence intervals of such events of about 500–700 years. Additional detailed paleoseismological studies would add significant additional detail to the history of large earthquakes in this region

Inequalities in the commuting burden: Institutional constraints and job-housing relationships in Tianjin, China

Encouraging transport equality is vital in order to create a liveable city. However, the burden of commuting has become a key concern in urban areas, particularly in developing countries. Inequalities in the commuting burden are accompanied by inequalities in housing and employment, because these institutions have a significant impact on individuals' choices of accommodation and jobs, thus shaping commuting behaviour and causing imbalances in job-housing relationships. Therefore, this paper aims to analyse the role of employment and housing system constraints in the unequal commuting burden by using Tianjin as a case study. The results of the study show that the effects of institutional factors, such as Hukou and the Danwei system, help to explain imbalances in the job-housing relationship and the unequal commuting burden. Some commuters are employed by Danweis or have Tianjin Hukou, and can, therefore, live in Danwei housing, which means that Danweis provide effective solutions for some people in terms of their accommodation, enabling them to significantly decrease the time they spend commuting. Moreover, our study provides new evidence that institutional barriers constrain the job-housing balance in the case of high-skilled immigrants, while local residents and low-skilled immigrants can avoid institutional barriers by returning to Danwei housing and choosing to live in informal housing. In terms of suggesting measures for improving commuting inequalities, commuters generally wanted to eliminate the housing benefits resulting from the legacy of the Danwei system and for equal housing subsidies to be implemented. At the same time, they appealed for improvements to be made in terms of housing benefits, the quality of public transport and mixed housing-workplace planning. This study finds that institutional discrimination causes social inequalities in relation to the commuting burden, which could continue to worsen unless the influence of institutional factors is eliminated. The findings could be used to assist planners and decision makers in developing effective strategies to promote sustainable urban development