Recognition of conspecific odours by laboratory rats (Rattus norvegicus) does not show context specificity.

Recognition of conspecific odours by laboratory rats (Rattus norvegicus) does not show context specificity

If insects have phenomenal consciousness, could they suffer?

Klein & Barron’s (K & B’s) suggestion that insects have the capacity for phenomenal consciousness is a refreshing and challenging departure from the cautious and agnostic stance that is taken by many researchers when considering this possibility. It is impossible to falsify the sceptic’s view that neural and behavioural parallels between humans and insects need not imply either similar conscious experience or even any phenomenal consciousness in insects at all. But if K & B are right, it is important to consider the possible contents of insect consciousness. Here we discuss whether affective consciousness, with its implications for potential suffering, might also be part of the simulated perceptual conscious world that K & B propose

Short-term social memory in the laboratory rat: its susceptibility to disturbance.

Short-term social memory in the laboratory rat: its susceptibility to disturbance

The influence of pre-experimental experience on social discrimination in rats (Rattus norvegicus)

The authors used laboratory rats (Rattus norvegicus) of known relatedness and contrasting familiarity to assess the potential effect of preexperimental social experience on subsequent social recognition. The authors used the habituation-discrimination technique, which assumes that multiple exposures to a social stimulus (e.g., soiled bedding) ensure a subject discriminates between the habituation stimulus and a novel stimulus when both are introduced simultaneously. The authors observed a strong discrimination if the subjects had different amounts of preexperimental experience with the donors of the 2 stimuli but a weak discrimination if the subjects had either equal amounts of preexperimental experience or no experience with the stimuli. Preexperimental social experience does, therefore, appear to influence decision making in subsequent social discriminations. Implications for recognition and memory research are discussed

Novel SERS-based process analysis for label-free segmented flow screenings

In microfluidic segmented flow processes label-free analytical techniques like surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) can reveal the chemical composition of the individual droplet contents. The SERS system developed in this work enables a simple connection to micro segmented flow processes through miniaturization. The concept is based on the parallelization of silver/polyacrylamide composite SERS spots on a carrier plate on which the segments are deposited. The transfer of the segments allows an easy connection to existing flow processes and provides optimal conditions for Raman measurements using miniaturized spectrometers. The preparation of the SERS polymer composite was optimized in terms of the silver content in the polymer matrix to obtain a high SERS signal. The performance and long-term stability of the polymer have been successfully demonstrated. The deamination of adenine with sodium nitrite to hypoxanthine was chosen as a case study to demonstrate the capability of the novel SERS-based process analysis. A sequence of approximately one hundred segments in combination with a gradient of the nitrite concentration (0 to 0.4 mol L−1) was generated at two temperatures. The concentration of adenine and hypoxanthine were determined by using a multivariate calibration model, since the Raman spectra of both substances are overlapping. It was shown that the conversion of adenine is increased with higher nitrite concentration and temperature. A conversion of 35% was obtained at 50 °C and a conversion of 60% at 80 °C, respectively