GABA_{B} Receptors Regulate Chick Retinal Calcium Waves

Correlated spiking activity and associated Ca²⁺ waves in the developing retina are important in determining the connectivity of the visual system. Here, we show that GABA, via GABA_{B} receptors, regulates the temporal characteristics of Ca²⁺ waves occurring before synapse formation in the embryonic chick retina. Blocking ionotropic GABA receptors did no affect these Ca²⁺ transients. However, when these receptors were blocked, GABA abolished the transients, as did the GABA_{B} agonist baclofen. The action of baclofen was prevented by the GABA_{B} antagonistp-3-aminopropyl-p-diethoxymethyl phosphoric acid (CGP35348). CGP35348 alone increased the duration of the transients, showing that GABA_{B} receptors are tonically activated by endogenous GABA. Blocking the GABA transporter GAT-1 with 1-(4,4-diphenyl-3-butenyl)-3-piperidine carboxylic acid (SKF89976A) reduced the frequency of the transients. This reduction was prevented by CGP35348 and thus resulted from activation of GABA_{B} receptors by an increase in external [GABA]. The effect of GABA_{B} receptor activation persisted in the presence of activators and blockers of the cAMP–PKA pathway. Immunocytochemistry showed GABA_{B} receptors and GAT-1 transporters on ganglion and amacrine cells from the earliest times when Ca²⁺ waves occur (embryonic day 8). Patch-clamp recordings showed that K⁺ channels on ganglion cell layer neurons are not modulated by GABA_{B} receptors, whereas Ca²⁺ channels are; however, Ca²⁺ channel blockade with ω-conotoxin-GVIA or nimodipine did not prevent Ca²⁺ waves. Thus, the regulation of Ca²⁺ waves by GABA_{B} receptors occurs independently of N- and L-type Ca²⁺ channels and does not involve K⁺ channels of the ganglion cell layer. GABA_{B} receptors are likely to be of key importance in regulating retinal development

Intimate scrutiny: using rotoscoping to unravel the auteur-animator beneath the theory

The act of Rotoscoping by its very nature takes live-action film and passes it through the hand and eye of the animator, with results that can heighten and intensify every flicker of emotion. (Ruddell 2012) This intense, frame by frame scrutiny can potentially capture through hand drawn art the most fleeting of micro-expressions, and when the filmed subject is themselves the animator, the auteur, the act of animating over filmed footage becomes a potential means for exploring intimate and sometimes distressing personal issues; capturing, dissecting and scrutinising emotions ranging from delight to subjective pain. I will discuss the following questions: What effect does this have on the animator, who is forced to re-live and re-invent very personal subjects? How can rotoscoping be used as a tool for unwrapping the subtleties of body-language and fleeting expressions? By quantifying and qualifying emotion through practical research, theory and self-reflective study, via the production of an animated artefact, the animator as auteur-researcher hopes to establish new avenues of study in emotion and animation. Buchanan, A. 2007, "Facial Expressions for Empathic Communication of Emotion in Animated Characters", Online Journal for Animation History and Theory, vol. Animated Dialogues, pp. 22nd February 2011. Mehrabian, A. 1981, Silent Messages: Implicit Communication of Emotions and Attitudes, Wadsworth Publishing Company, USA. Ruddell, C. 2012, "'Don't Box Me In': Blurred Lines in Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly", Animation: An Interdisciplinary Journal, [Online], vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 7-23. Russell, J.A. 1997, "Reading emotions from and into faces: Resurrecting a dimensional-contextual perspective" in The Psychology of Facial Expression (Studies in Emotion and Social Interaction), eds. J.M. Fernández-Dols & J.A. Russell, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 295

The evocation and expression of emotion through documentary animation

How might an animator distil and study emotion? Could animation itself be a means to unlock meaning that previous experiments have not been able to access? Animation has the power to both highlight and conceal emotions as expressed through body movement and gesture. When we view live action (human interview) documentary footage, we are exposed not just to the spoken words, but the subtle nuances of body movements. How much might be lost when documentary footage is transposed into animation, or indeed, what might be gained, translated through the personal and artistic view of the animator? Drawing on my own previous experience as a games animator, now using research through practice methodology, this paper explores the results of the first of a series of animations created to explore the more subtle nuances of gesture. Though the medium of a documentary style interview, opposing topics are used to evoke strong emotions; firstly of happiness, then of sadness, with a view to accessing real rather than acted (simulated) emotions and their associated body movements

Animating observed emotional behaviour: a practice-based investigation comparing three approaches to self-figurative animation

This research explores different animation approaches to rendering observed emotional behaviour, through the creation of an animated artefact. It opens with an introduction to the research and the methodology chosen before progressing to a review of academic and practitioner-based literature associated with observed emotional behaviour. Building upon this foundation of literature, the thesis outlines how the artifact was created with a practice based approach drawn from Haseman’s cycle of creation, feedback, reflection and then creation. The main research question is augmented by a series of contributory questions that explore the research through iterations of animation drawn from a base of live action footage of observed emotional behaviour. These exploratory iterations progress though motion capture, rotoscopy and finally freeform animation. The completed artifact and its findings are explored first though a perception study and then a production study. This thesis is based on the investigation and discourse of observed emotional behaviour surrounding the use of animation, specifically, the direct study of the observation of emotional behaviour through the application of animation as a tool of research. It aims to provide a basis of discussion and contribution to knowledge for animation practitioners, theorists and practitioner-researchers seeking to use less performative and exaggerated forms

The evocation and expression of emotion through documentary animation

How might an animator distil and study emotion? Could animation itself be a means to unlock meaning that previous experiments have not been able to access? Animation has the power to both highlight and conceal emotions as expressed through body movement and gesture. When we view live action (human interview) documentary footage, we are exposed not just to the spoken words, but the subtle nuances of body movements. How much might be lost when documentary footage is transposed into animation, or indeed, what might be gained, translated through the personal and artistic view of the animator? Drawing on my own previous experience as a games animator, now using research through practice methodology, this paper explores the results of the first of a series of animations created to explore the more subtle nuances of gesture. Though the medium of a documentary style interview, opposing topics are used to evoke strong emotions; firstly of happiness, then of sadness, with a view to accessing real rather than acted (simulated) emotions and their associated body movements

Departmental Strategic Planning: Examining the Institutional and Organizational Linkages that Influence Departmental Strategic Planning Processes in Local Government

This paper examines the organizational and institutional factors that contribute to strategic planning efforts within the specific context of municipal government departments. It uses a mixed-methods approach consisting of a quantitative and qualitative analysis. The qualitative data was collected through interviews with department heads from two municipalities – Markham and Vaughan – that demonstrated enhanced strategic management processes, while the quantitative data was collected through a questionnaire that measured the perceptions of department heads employed by mid-sized Ontario municipalities. The findings reveal that each measure contained in the Strategic Management Processes Index demonstrates a relatively healthy level of management processes in Ontario, but there are relatively low rates of employee engagement at the departmental level

What can the social emotions of dogs teach us about human emotions?

It has long been believed that social emotions such as guilt and jealousy are only expressed in humans. In the case of jealousy, its adaptive value has been linked to the prevention of sexual infidelity or fairness. So why would dogs feel jealousy? I suggest that understanding how social emotions have been bred into dogs can help us understand our own emotions, including their functionality — and potentially their mechanisms

The ethological deconstruction of fear(s)

The natural world presents a myriad of dangers that can threaten an organism's survival. This diversity of threats is matched by a set of universal and species specific defensive behaviors which are often subsumed under the emotions of fear and anxiety. A major issue in the field of affective science, however, is that these emotions are often conflated and scientists fail to reflect the ecological conditions that gave rise to them. I attempt to clarify these semantic issues by describing the link between ethologically defined defensive strategies and fear. This in turn, provides a clearer differentiation between fears, the contexts that evoke them and how they are organized within defensive survival circuits

The ethological deconstruction of fear(s)

The natural world presents a myriad of dangers that can threaten an organism's survival. This diversity of threats is matched by a set of universal and species specific defensive behaviors which are often subsumed under the emotions of fear and anxiety. A major issue in the field of affective science, however, is that these emotions are often conflated and scientists fail to reflect the ecological conditions that gave rise to them. I attempt to clarify these semantic issues by describing the link between ethologically defined defensive strategies and fear. This in turn, provides a clearer differentiation between fears, the contexts that evoke them and how they are organized within defensive survival circuits