Genotype independent aspects of seed ecology in Taraxacum

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DXN016245 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Comparison of dietary intakes of 7-year-old children enrolled in observational birth cohort studies on the Isle of Man and in south-west England

There is concern regarding the amount of fruit and vegetables consumed and high sugar intakes in children’s diets. Regional dietary differences in the British Isles could underlie variations in health outcomes, but little is known about these differences. Our aim was to compare diets of children enrolled in observational birth cohort studies in the Isle of Man (IoM-ELSPAC) and in south-west England (ALSPAC). Dietary intakes were assessed by 3-day food records in IoM and ALSPAC at an age of 7 years. Comparisons of mean daily nutrient, and food and food group intakes were made between the studies and with UK national dietary guidelines. Diets in both regions were adequate for most nutrients except dietary fibre, but in both groups intake of free sugars was three times higher than the UK recommended maximum. There were differences between the two regions, particularly higher energy, protein, and carbohydrate intakes in IoM. IoM children consumed greater amounts of red meat, bread, full-fat milk, and sugar-sweetened drinks. IoM children had higher intakes of energy and some nutrients and food groups than ALSPAC children, and similar low intakes of fruits and vegetables. Children’s diets in both regions could be improved, particularly considering the increasing prevalence of childhood obesity and the UK recommendation to lower the intake of free sugars

Implications of External Memory for Investigations of Mind

External memory–records of experiences that are maintained in repositories that are external to their users–provides context for many everyday cognitive acts. Some initial research has shown that such context influences learning, remembering, and judgements of knowing. The scope of both basic and applied memory research should be broadened in ways that address issues about the interaction of external memory and mind

The Search for Invariance: Repeated Positive Testing Serves the Goals of Causal Learning

Positive testing is characteristic of exploratory behavior, yet it seems to be at odds with the aim of information seeking. After all, repeated demonstrations of one’s current hypothesis often produce the same evidence and fail to distinguish it from potential alternatives. Research on the development of scientific reasoning and adult rule learning have both documented and attempted to explain this behavior. The current chapter reviews this prior work and introduces a novel theoretical account—the Search for Invariance (SI) hypothesis—which suggests that producing multiple positive examples serves the goals of causal learning. This hypothesis draws on the interventionist framework of causal reasoning, which suggests that causal learners are concerned with the invariance of candidate hypotheses. In a probabilistic and interdependent causal world, our primary goal is to determine whether, and in what contexts, our causal hypotheses provide accurate foundations for inference and intervention—not to disconfirm their alternatives. By recognizing the central role of invariance in causal learning, the phenomenon of positive testing may be reinterpreted as a rational information-seeking strategy

Temporal trends in the concentration of arsenic, chromium, copper, iron, nickel, vanadium and zinc in mosses across Europe between 1990 and 2000

The European heavy metals in mosses biomonitoring network provides data on the concentration of ten heavy metals in naturally growing mosses and is currently coordinated by the UNECE ICP Vegetation (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe International Cooperative Programme on Effects of Air Pollution on Natural Vegetation and Crops). The technique of moss analysis provides a surrogate, time-integrated measure of metal deposition from the atmosphere to terrestrial systems. It is easier and cheaper, less prone to contamination and allows a much higher sampling density than conventional precipitation analysis. Moss surveys have been repeated at five-yearly intervals and in this paper we report on the temporal trends in the concentration of arsenic, chromium, copper, iron, nickel, vanadium and zinc between 1990 and 2000. Maps were produced of the metal concentration in mosses for 1990, 1995 and 2000, showing the mean concentration per metal per 50 km x 50 km EMEP grid square. Metal- and country-specific temporal trends were observed. Although the metal concentration in mosses generally decreased with time for all metals, only the decreases for arsenic, copper, vanadium and zinc were statistically significant. The observed temporal trends were compared with emission trends for Europe reported by EMEP (Co-operative Programme for Monitoring and Evaluation of the Long-range Transmission of Air Pollutant in Europe)

The cognitive integration of scientific instruments: Information, situated cognition, and scientific practice

Researchers in the biological and biomedical sciences, particularly those working in laboratories, use a variety of artifacts to help them perform their cognitive tasks. This paper analyses the relationship between researchers and cognitive artifacts in terms of integration. It first distinguishes different categories of cognitive artifacts used in biological practice on the basis of their informational properties. This results in a novel classification of scientific instruments, conducive to an analysis of the cognitive interactions between researchers and artifacts. It then uses a multidimensional framework in line with complementarity-based extended and distributed cognition theory to conceptualize how deeply instruments in different informational categories are integrated into the cognitive systems of their users. The paper concludes that the degree of integration depends on various factors, including the amount of informational malleability, the intensity and kind of information flow between agent and artifact, the trustworthiness of the information, the procedural and informational transparency, and the degree of individualisation