The credible witness: Bede's response to doubt

This paper focuses on miracle accounts in Bede’s Ecclesiastical History, especially accounts of visions of divine light, and argues that in order to understand the meaning and rationale of such accounts Bede’s understanding of the reliability and trustworthiness of his witnesses also needs to be considered. The paper argues that Bede attributes to those witnesses whom he perceives as credible in these matters not only rational and moral but also certain religious qualifications, which enable them to perceive and understand the spiritual meaning of the events which they relate and thus underpin their credibility

Dissociating the effect of disruptive colouration on localisation and identification of camouflaged targets

Disruptive camouflage features contrasting areas of pigmentation across the animals’ surface that form false edges which disguise the shape of the body and impede detection. In many taxa these false edges feature local contrast enhancement or edge enhancement, light areas have lighter edges and dark areas have darker edges. This additional quality is often overlooked in existing research. Here we ask whether disruptive camouflage can have benefits above and beyond concealing location. Using a novel paradigm, we dissociate the time courses of localisation and identification of a target in a single experiment. We measured the display times required for a stimulus to be located or identified (the critical duration). Targets featured either uniform, disruptive or edge enhanced disruptive colouration. Critical durations were longer for identifying targets with edge enhanced disruptive colouration camouflage even when presented against a contrasting background, such that all target types were located equally quickly. For the first time, we establish empirically that disruptive camouflage not only conceals location, but also disguises identity. This shows that this form of camouflage can be useful even when animals are not hidden. Our findings offer insights into how edge enhanced disruptive colouration undermines visual perception by disrupting object recognition

Giving to Excellence: Generating Philanthropic Support for UK Higher Education

This report shows trends in philanthropic giving to UK Universities, based on analysis done on data provided by nearly 100 Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) for each of the three years (i.e. 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2013-14):Total new funds secured rose significantly by 21 percent since 2012-13 to £795.2 million (among these institutions). Cash income received changed marginally by only 1 percent since 2012-13 which reflects that cash receipts tend to lag the pledges that are included in the study's definition of new funds secured. There was also a sizeable increase in the number of donors - a 25 percent rise since 2011-12 - and in alumni donors, which rose by 14 percent since 2011-12. The number of alumni in contact with their university continued to rise in 2013-14, increasing by 15 percent between 2011-12 and 2013-14. Universities spent 12 percent more on fundraising in 2013-14 than they did in 2012-13

Homelessness and gambling: a complex relationship

Homelessness and gambling: a complex relationshi

Quantum repeaters based on individual electron spins and nuclear-spin-ensemble memories in quantum dots

Inspired by recent developments in the control and manipulation of quantum dot nuclear spins, which allow for the transfer of an electron spin state to the surrounding nuclear-spin ensemble for storage, we propose a quantum repeater scheme that combines individual quantum dot electron spins and nuclear-spin ensembles, which serve as spin-photon interfaces and quantum memories respectively. We consider the use of low-strain quantum dots embedded in high-cooperativity optical microcavities. Quantum dot nuclear-spin ensembles allow for the long-term storage of entangled states, and heralded entanglement swapping is performed using cavity-assisted gates. We highlight the advances in quantum dot technologies required to realize our quantum repeater scheme which promises the establishment of high-fidelity entanglement over long distances with a distribution rate exceeding that of the direct transmission of photons.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figure

Gambling and crime: An exploration of gambling availability and culture in an English prison

Background: There is evidence that prisoners have the highest rate of problem gambling in any population, but little is known about the nature of in-prison gambling, the motives for it or how it relates to prior gambling behaviour. Aims: To investigate the prevalence and type of gambling prior to prison and the prevalence, type, and reasons for gambling in prison. Methods: Two hundred and eighty-two male volunteers in a Category B male prison in England completed a questionnaire which included the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI). Results: One hundred and twenty-six (45%) reported gambling in prison, with eighty-one (30%) of participants reporting that gambling was a normal part of prison life. Pre-prison behaviour, whether type of index offence or prior gambling, had little relationship to in-prison gambling. Frequency of gambling in prison increased with increasing PGSI risk category. The most common types of gambling in prison were card/dice games, sports and ball games, while the most common motives were entertainment, excitement or sense of challenge and to win prizes, with significant differences in motive between PGSI risk categories. Prison canteen items formed the most common currency gambled. People within the higher PGSI risk category were more likely to have borrowed items from other prisoners. Conclusions: Our research has added to existing literature by identifying high rates of gambling in prison and showing that prisoners' perceptions of gambling are as a normal part of prison life. Findings suggest that screening and support should be available to manage gambling in prison, including support to reduce gambling-related debt, particularly given associations between debt and violence in prison. Relief from boredom and need for excitement were among the most common reasons for gambling in prison, indicating that there is a need to provide a more appropriately stimulating prison environment

Should GPs routinely screen for gambling disorders?

There is limited data regarding disclosure of gambling problems by patients, and awareness of gambling related symptoms and treatment options amongst GPs. A recent UK study determined the extent of gambling problems among patients attending GP services, and reported a gambling disorder in 5% of patients. Whilst reinforcing the potential for GP practices to be used for disorder detection, the study did not specially measure GPs awareness of both gambling disorder symptoms, or established care pathways for those experiencing the disorder4. To this end, data was collected via an online survey from 85 UK GPs (34 female)., from across the UK Respondents had been a GP for an average of 14.67 years (s.d. 9.58, range 1-40 years)

Mid-morning Break and Poster Sessions: Psychological and physiological responses to gambling cues in pathological gamblers

Introduction Gamblers experience exposure to gambling cues on a daily basis, ranging from celebrity-endorsed TV commercials, to walking past a high street bookmaker. Research on substance addictions indicates that these cues are likely to activate urges / cravings to gamble. Wulfert et al (2005) found higher ratings of subjective excitement following a horse race with a wager on in students, Kushner et al (2008) used frequent gamblers in a simulated casino environment and found positive anticipation and positive priming increased urges to gamble, however these studies used only a single self report item to measure craving. Ashrafioun et al (2012) used the Gambling Urge Scale (GUS, Raylu & Oei, 2004b) and found increases in craving following gambling cues in student gamblers. Craving comprises the short-term, acute ‘urges’ to obtain relief and reward (Raylu & Oei, 2004b), as well as more stable aspects of ‘preoccupation’ (Pallanti et al, 2005). The current study used the Gambling Craving Scale (Young & Wohl, 2009) to measure stable preoccupation, and the three most heavily loaded factors from the GACS to capture short-term gambling urges generated by the images / adverts on a block by block basis, thus capturing both facets of craving. Previous studies have used heart rate and skin conductance levels to measure physiological arousal following gambling cues, finding increased reactivity recreational gamblers (Ladouceur et al 2003) and pathological gamblers (Sodano et al 2010). However, different physiological parameters tend not to correlate with each other, or with subjective craving measures (Diskin et al, 2003) suggesting physiological and psychological measures are not necessarily capturing the same elements of craving. Arousal has been measured following different cue types videos and images, but to date not actual gambling adverts. When differentiating between different gambling forms, Sharpe & Tarrier (1995) showed EGM players showed increased skin conductance responses to EGM cues compared to horse race cues, while Franco et al (2008) demonstrated significant increases in heart rate in horse gamblers following exposure to horse races compared to scratchcards. We compared craving ratings and physiological responses to preferred and non-preferred games in pathological gamblers

An Eye Tracking Investigation of Young People’s Gaze Behaviour to Gambling and Non-Gambling Moving Adverts

Introduction: Data from several areas of public health (e.g., harmful alcohol and tobacco) are consistent with the assertion that children’s exposure to advertising strategies increases intention to consume such products. Most studies have measured self-rated impact of gambling advertising using questionnaires. Given that gambling advertisements come in different forms such as print media/television advertising and contain variable content, it is difficult to understand using subjective measures which aspects of the gambling advertisements increase craving and desire to trigger a gambling session. In the present study, we applied a novel data-driven methodology that directly tracks eye movements to reveal attentional biases towards gambling adverts and promotions by examining differences in young people’s eye gaze behaviour when watching gambling and non-gambling (control) moving adverts. Method: A total of 98 (16–18 years old) children who self-identify as having a low or high craving to gambling watched gambling and non-gambling (control) television adverts, while their eye movements were recorded. Results: The results show that the data-driven method can isolate video clips that best distinguish people on the low-high craving spectrum, reveal the type of each video clip with the largest group differences, and accurately predict young people’s gambling craving on the basis of eye movement patterns. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate that young people’s craving for gambling can be predicted based on their eye movements to video clips of gambling advertisements and that certain features of gambling advertisements may be more appealing to some group of viewers, particularly those with high craving for gambling