An investigation into differential lateral dispersion of fossil forest tree pollen

Pollen rain phenomena with particular reference to forest pollen are discussed with evidence from FAEGRI.K and IVERSON.J, TAUBER.H, TURNER.J, and DAVIS .M. B. The existence of fossil tree pollen rain in raised bogs is postulated. The problem of local bog pollen in the peat against which to count a varying forest pollen rain is seen as the major statistical problem', relating to even distribution both vertically and horizontally in the peat. Bolton Fell is described as an ideal zone VIb bog to illustrate fossil tree pollen dispersion. Preliminary Investigation of peat showed this bog to contain VIIb peat and the N. margin of the bog proved most suitable. A 500m transect was laid out and levelled with depth measurements every l0m. Thirteen profile simples were taken at Intervals. From eight replicate samples taken over the centre metre of each profile pollen slides were prepared and all grains counted until 150 tree grains had bean recorded. The varying numbers of bog plant pollen were used to compute the actual change in forest pollen frequency. The figures obtained are plotted against distance. A real reduction in forest pollen frequency is clearly shown from 0-100m with differences between values statistically valid, so confirming the work of TAUBER and TURNER on extant forest pollen dispersion. Anomalously higher values for fores pollen further out on transect are discussed, and an explanatory hypothesis outlined of a slowly growing bog with trees possibly growing in it on 'islands' of shallow peat

Can we use starlings' aversion to eyespots as the basis for a novel 'cognitive bias' task?

Experiments in humans have shown that changes in emotional (affective) state cause adaptive changes in the processing of incoming information, termed "cognitive bias". For instance, the states of anxiety and depression have been shown to be associated with "pessimistic" judgements of ambiguous stimuli intermediate between stimuli associated with positive and negative outcomes. This phenomenon provides a promising method for objectively assessing animal emotional states and has been successfully demonstrated in preliminary studies. However, the experiments yielding these results required extensive training to establish the necessary positive and negative associations. Here we present an experiment using responses to eyespot stimuli that are naturally aversive to many bird species, and require no explicit associative training. We manipulated the state of wild-caught European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) by playing one of four possible sounds: starling "threat call" (control manipulation), a sparrowhawk call (i.e. predator), starling alarm call or white noise, on the assumption that the latter three sounds would cause anxiety. Immediately following the auditory stimulus, we recorded the birds' behaviour in the presence of each of three visual stimuli: eyespots, ambiguous eyespots or no eyespots. We hypothesised that there would be an interaction between the state of the birds and their response to eyespots, with birds showing enhanced aversion to ambiguous eyespots when anxious. We found evidence that white noise and alarm calls generated anxiety, and that eyespots were aversive. However, there was no interaction between state and response to eyespots. In an attempt to understand our failure to obtain the predicted cognitive bias, we discuss evidence that the aversive nature of eyespots is not attributable to predator mimicry, and is therefore not modulated by anxiety. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Seeing but not perceiving: Inattentional blindness as a cause of missed cues in the general practice (GP) consultation

Background It is well known that healthcare professionals, including GPs, frequently fail to respond to cues made by their patients. A possible explanation for this behaviour is that the phenomenon of IB could lead to a failure to observe the cue, rather than a deliberate choice to ignore it. This study sought to explore that possibility, and to consider whether GP trainees are more susceptible to IB than GP trainers. Aim A pre-recorded video of a simulated consultation was used, where the patient gave two significant cues which were not picked up by the doctor in the video. The aim was to compare the rates with which both trainee GPs and GP trainers observed these missed cues. Methods The research was a case study involving two groups of participants - GP trainees and GP trainers from a localised GP Training Scheme. Actors were used to record a video of a pre-defined GP consultation involving a patient affected by headaches, who gave two significant cues which were not responded to in the video. Participants observed the video while being asked to focus on the diagnosis and management of the patient’s headaches, following which they completed a questionnaire, including questions about the cues. Results Cues were missed by 24-53% of participants, suggesting a high rate of IB within the GP consultation. Unexpected findings included the recording by some participants of false observations from the video. There was no significant difference between trainers and trainees in the rates of IB. Conclusions IB appears to be a real and significant phenomenon within the GP consultation, and is likely to have important implications for patient care. More research is needed to confirm these findings, establish IB rates as a cause of missed cues among healthcare professionals and evaluate possible interventions to reduce susceptibility to IB

The Knowledge of the Grid: A Grid Ontology

This paper presents a knowledge architecture and set of ontologies that can be used as the foundation to facilitate the matching of abstract resource requests to services and resources, to determine the functional equivalence of Grid middle wares and deployments and to allow the description of ‘hybrid’ compound Grids composed of individual heterogeneous Grids. This is necessary as in all these cases what is required is mediation between different views or descriptions of Grids, which requires a formal reference vocabulary. We present a framework and ontologies for achieving this

A novel approach for quality control system using sensor fusion of infrared and visual image processing for laser sealing of food containers

This paper presents a new mechatronic approach of using infrared thermography combined with image processing for the quality control of a laser sealing process for food containers. The suggested approach uses an on-line infrared system to assess the heat distribution within the container seal in order to guarantee the integrity of the process. Visual image processing is then used for quality assurance to guarantee optimum sealing. The results described in this paper show examples of the capability of the condition monitoring system to detect faults in the sealing process. The results found indicate that the suggested approach could form an effective quality control and assurance system