The cultural divide in Europe: migration, multiculturalism, and political trust

One of the defining features of modern states is their incorporation of notions of political and social community based on shared language, history, and myths. However, large numbers of citizens in modern states have come to believe their national communities are under threat from several modern forces, including immigration. Using the European Social Survey (2002-2009), this paper explores the extent to which perceived threats posed by large-scale immigration undermine national political communities by reducing trust in national politicians and political institutions. The findings indicate that even after controlling for other predictors of trust in the political system, concerns about the effect of immigration on the national community have an impact on trust in politics. Moreover, having a lengthy post-war history with mass immigration mediates this effect, while the potentially mobilizing effects of far-right parties on the relationship between concern about immigration and political distrust are somewhat limited

Perceptual impairment in face identification with poor sleep

Previous studies have shown impaired memory for faces following restricted sleep. However, it is not known whether lack of sleep impairs performance on face identification tasks that do not rely on recognition memory, despite these tasks being more prevalent in security and forensic professions—for example, in photo-ID checks at national borders. Here we tested whether poor sleep affects accuracy on a standard test of face-matching ability that does not place demands on memory: the Glasgow Face-Matching Task (GFMT). In Experiment 1, participants who reported sleep disturbance consistent with insomnia disorder show impaired accuracy on the GFMT when compared with participants reporting normal sleep behaviour. In Experiment 2, we then used a sleep diary method to compare GFMT accuracy in a control group to participants reporting poor sleep on three consecutive nights—and again found lower accuracy scores in the short sleep group. In both experiments, reduced face-matching accuracy in those with poorer sleep was not associated with lower confidence in their decisions, carrying implications for occupational settings where identification errors made with high confidence can have serious outcomes. These results suggest that sleep-related impairments in face memory reflect difficulties in perceptual encoding of identity, and point towards metacognitive impairment in face matching following poor sleep

Effect of homogenisation conditions on recrystallisation in the Al-Mg-Mn alloy AA5454

The purpose of the present work is to understand the microstructure development and, particularly, to control the progress of recrystallisation in hot strip in the Al-Mg-Mn alloy AA 5454, which is typically used for the manufacture of structural automotive components. The chemical composition, together with the thermomechanical processing history of this material, has a strong influence on the microstructure of the product and the resulting properties as it is supplied to the customer. Electrical conductivity measurements, thermal analysis and electron microscopy have been carried out to characterise the evolution of precipitation state at various stages in the processing route. The conditions of the homogenisation heat treatment have been varied, and the effect on subsequent recrystallisation after hot rolling has been evaluated in both the as cast and rough rolled condition by optical microscopy techniques. Results indicate that the conditions of homogenisation heat treatment and roughing rolling are critical for the generation of a suitable recrystallised microstructure in AA 5454 hot strip. A new two stage homogenisation practice has been developed to expedite post-rolling recrystallisation in this alloy

Explaining Opposition to Turkish Membership of the EU

This article examines EU citizen attitudes to Turkey's bid to join the EU. The key theoretical constructs investigated to explain opposition to Turkey's EU membership are related to rational economic self-interest and group-level interests and concerns. The findings indicate that the former are irrelevant for distinguishing between opponents and supporters of Turkey's candidacy, while the latter do provide fairly powerful explanations for opposition to Turkish EU membership. However, because these factors do not completely explain overall levels of hostility to Turkey's candidacy, context is also introduced, particularly the threatening context provided by Turkish migration. The findings indicate that migration from Turkey to some of the EU member states has combined with feelings of group protectiveness to produce widespread animosity to Turkey's entry into the EU

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

Heterodyne detection of CO2 emission lines and wind velocities in the atmosphere of Venus

Strong 10 micrometer line emission from (c-12)(o-16)2 in the upper atmosphere of Venus was detected by heterodyne techniques. Observations of the absolute Doppler shift of the emission features indicate mean zonal wind velocities less than 10 m/sec in the upper atmosphere near the equator. No evidence was found of the 100 m/sec wind velocity implied by the apparent 4-day rotation period of ultraviolet cloud features

Enzyme activity in terrestrial soil in relation to exploration of the Martian surface

Urease activity in soil is persistent for long periods under low water, low temperature, and sterile regimes, and it was suggested that some form of enzyme-protective mechanism exists in soil. Dublin soil was extracted by sonication in water followed by adding a mixture of salts. Urease activity is associated with the organo-mineral complex thus obtained and is resistant to the activities of proteolytic enzymes. Clay free soil organic matter prepared subsequently by filtration also exhibits urease activity which is resistant to proteolysis. Models consisting of enzymes with bentonite and lignin were found to mimic this resistance to proteolysis. A model system is presented which suggests both the origin and location of soil ureases and a reason for their persistence in nature