A novel measure of changes in force applied to the Perruchet Effect.

The reaction time (RT) version of the Perruchet Effect demonstrates a concurrent dissociation between RTs to respond and conscious expectancy of the outcome across runs of repeated trials. Consequently, the Perruchet Effect is considered strong evidence for multiple learning processes. This conclusion, however, relies on the RT trend being driven by associative learning rather than, as some have argued, US recency or priming mechanisms. Recent research examining the mechanisms underlying the RT trend do so by examining motor activity associated with the response. With this aim in mind, the current study developed, and assessed the usefulness of, a novel method to measure changes in the amount of force applied to the response button in an RT Perruchet paradigm. The results obtained could not be explained by a single mechanism, but suggest multiple factors underlying the RT version of the Perruchet effect

Trace Element Signatures in Otoliths Record Natal River of Juvenile American Shad (Alosa Sapidissima)

The elemental composition of fish otoliths may represent a permanent record of the environmental conditions an individual has experienced as trace elements, incorporated into the growing surface of the otolith, reflect the physical and chemical characteristics of the ambient water. We tested the utility of trace element signatures in otoliths as natural tags of the river of origin of juvenile American shad (Alosa sapidissima) collected from the Connecticut, Hudson and Delaware Rivers in August and October 1994. Four elements (K, Mn, Sr, and Ba) showed significant variability among sites within rivers in August, although only Mg showed a significant site effect by October. Four elements (Mg, Mn, St, and Ba) differed significantly among rivers in both months. Linear discriminant functions based on the trace element signatures classified fish to their natal river with ~90% accuracy in both August and October collections. The discriminant function generated from the August data was able to classify fish collected in October successfully with better than 80% accuracy. On the basis of our findings, the river of origin of adult fish could be accurately determined by quantifying the trace element composition of the juvenile portion of their otoliths

Revised stratigraphy of the Blanchetown Clay, Murray Basin: age constraints on the evolution of paleo Lake Bungunnia

Paleo Lake Bungunnia covered more than 40 000 km2 of southern Australia during the Plio-Pleistocene, although the age and origin of the lake remain controversial. The Blanchetown Clay is the main depositional unit and outcrop at Nampoo Station in far-western New South Wales provides the most continuous lacustrine section preserved in the basin. Here the Blanchetown Clay represents the maximum lake fill and comprises: (i) a basal well-sorted sand with interbedded clay (Chowilla Sand), representing initial flooding at the time of lake formation; (ii) a thick sequence of green-grey clay comprised dominantly of kaolinite and illite, with the apparently cyclic occurrence of illite interpreted to represent cool and dry glacial climatic intervals; and (iii) a 2.6 m-thick sequence of finely laminated silt and silty clay, here defined as the Nampoo Member of the Blanchetown Clay. New magnetostratigraphic data constrain the age of the oldest lake sediments to be younger than 2.581 Ma (Matuyama-Gauss boundary) and probably as young as 2.4 Ma. This age is significantly younger than the age of 3.2 Ma previously suggested for lake formation. The youngest Blanchetown Clay is older than 0.781 Ma (Brunhes-Matuyama boundary) and probably as old as 1.2 Ma. The Nampoo Station section provides a framework for the construction of a regional Plio-Pleistocene stratigraphy in the Murray Basin.<br /

On Dialectics and Human Decency: Education in the Dock

Set against the backdrop of the contemporary crisis of capitalism and world-historical events, this article examines the advance of globalized imperialism from the perspective of a Marxist-humanist approach to pedagogy known as ‘revolutionary critical pedagogy’ enriched by liberation theology. It is written as an epistolic manifesto to the transnational capitalist class, demanding that those who willingly serve its interests reconsider their allegiance and calling for a planetary revolution in the way that we both think about capitalism and how education and religion serves to reproduce it at the peril of both students and humanity as a whole

Ergot: A New Disease Threat to Sorghum in the Americas and Australia

Sorghum, Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench, is the world’s fifth most important cereal crop, cultivated on about 45 million hectares for food, feed, beverage, and fodder. The most significant technological change since the 1960s has been the development and use of F1 hybrid seed (14), which has lead to a dramatic improvement in the crop’s productivity. Sorghum cultivation in intensive, commercialized systems where yields average 3 to 5 t ha-1 relies almost totally on hybrid seed. In contrast, yields vary widely and average less than 1 t ha-1 in low-input production systems

p53 autoantibodies in patients with malignant mesothelioma: stability through disease progression

Malignant mesothelioma (MM) generally occurs as a pleural tumour, related to the inhalation of asbestos fibres. It is highly aggressive and largely unresponsive to treatment. The incidence of MM is particularly high in Western Australia because of the extensive blue asbestos mining operations that occurred in the north of the state until 1966. MM is unusual in that mutations in the tumour suppressor gene p53 are rarely observed, whilst over-expression of p53 protein is common. As the level of antibodies directed against p53 is thought to be of prognostic value in some cancers and as MM is known to be immunogenic, we studied a cohort of Western Australian patients to determine the prevalence of anti-p53 antibodies and their value as diagnostic markers or prognostic indicators. 6/88 (7%) of patients had high titres (>2 SD above the mean of controls) of anti-p53 antibodies. There was no correlation between antibody titre and survival. Although 3/38 (8%) of sera obtained from patients exposed to asbestos but prior to a diagnosis of MM contained antibodies, the same proportion of sera obtained from patients exposed to asbestos but who remained disease free also contained antibodies (2/40; 8%). Sera collected sequentially demonstrated a profound temporal stability in the titre of anti-p53 antibodies in patients with MM throughout the course of their illness. These results show that anti-p53 antibodies are observed only at a low frequency in the sera of MM patients and where they do occur, their elicitation is an early event that may be unrelated to antigen load. The occurrence of anti-p53 antibodies does not serve as either a useful prognostic or diagnostic indicator in MM. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign http://www.bjcancer.co

Micro-fading spectrometry: investigating the wavelength specificity of fading

A modified microfading spectrometer incorporating a linear variable filter is used to investigate the wavelength dependence of fading of traditional watercolour pigments, dosimeters and fading standards at a higher spectral resolution and/or sampling than had previously been attempted. While the wavelength dependence of photochemical damage was largely found to correlate well with the absorption spectra of each material, exceptions were found in the case of Prussian blue and Prussian green pigments (the latter includes Prussian blue), for which an anti-correlation between the spectral colour change and the absorption spectrum was found

‘I will not be thrown out of the country because I’m an immigrant’: Eastern European migrants’ responses to hate crime in a semi-rural context in the wake of Brexit

This article examines Eastern European migrants’ experiences of and responses to hate crime. Following the UK European Union Membership Referendum (‘Brexit’ vote), there was an increase in reported hate crimes against immigrants. The study focuses on the experiences of migrants in Lincolnshire, a region of England which has a significant migrant population, and which had one of the highest ‘leave’ votes. The focus on white migrants in this semi-rural setting offers an original perspective in the field of hate crime studies. We draw on semi-structured interviews and observations to identify temporal, spatial, and relational factors in responses to hate crime. We uncover the insecure occupation of a ‘third space’ constituted by material, discursive, and emotional practices. This positioning was destabilised post referendum; but there was also evidence of the operation of agency within processes of ‘othering’, suggesting a transition from victim identity to emergent political subject