The cybernetics of concepts: An integrated system of postulates to explain their nature, origins, use, malfunction and maintenance within a natural neural-molecular medium in the brain. [Original title]

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Behaviourists and Logical Positivists commendably set out to purge prejudiced arguments from science, but where it is obvious that there remains some sort of "ghost" in their rational "machine", it is self-defeating simply to ignore its existence. Freaud, Piaget, and the ethologists have made some progress in grasping this nettle -- moving towards a material explanation of the "other-worldly" properties of the individual -- but their models of the individual remain nebulously structured in their basic elements. Consequently such theories remain disturbingly controversial, and circumscribed in their applicability. [#] The present work accordingly sets out to bridge this gap by postulating plausible functions for existing micro-structure which could account both for observed behavioural phenomena, and for many of the existing vaguer theoretical constructs. Part A develops such an explanation for Piagetian constructs, while Part B fills in some of the technical details concerning quantitative problems of signal generation, transmission, and selective reception. [#] Part C applies these notions to other non-Piagetian descriptions and interpretations of psychological phenomena, thereby offering an integration and reconciliation of various schools of theory. (Major areas considered include Ashby's "homeostat" approach, biological self-organization, sleep-modes and dreaming, Freudian theories of neuroses, and various theories concerning psychosis). The basic theory itself is meanwhile developed in much greater detail. [#] A recurring theme throughout the work is the notion that knowledge-acquisition by any independent system depends not only on "external" interaction with the "real" world, but also on an active seeking for internal consistency within the resulting "internal" model. This concept is crucial to the study in two ways:- (i) The operation of the brain-systems being considered, and (ii) As a guuide to the methodology of the present study itself -- in an area where experimental data is uncomfortably sparse, and likely to remain so

Regional diagenetic porosity change in palaeocene oilfield sandstones, U.K. North Sea

Palaeocene Montrose Group sandstones form a regionally extensive sequence of stacked sandbodies within the Central North Sea. The diagenetic sequence has been characterised as chlorite; micro-dolomite; pyrite; early carbonate concretions; dissolution of feldspars; steady precipitation of kaolinite during burial; quartz overgrowths increasing during deep burial; late calcite concretions; illite. Epigenetic chlorite, and pyrite precipitated within depositional marine porefluids (a180 -0.9%oSMOW). During the late Palaeocene-early Eocene, shortly after deposition of the Montrose Group, a dramatic sea-level fall and eastward delta progradation of the Moray group resulted in the regional meteoric flushing of the Montrose Group sands. This flushing is recorded in the isotopic signatures of early carbonate concretions, which indicate that aquifer waters had light meteoric a 180 values. Many of these concretions precipitated from bacterially-mediated reactions. This included fermentation and shallow anaerobic oxidation of hydrocarbons migrating 3km vertically from the underlying Kimmeridge Clay. Examination of 115 well logs shows that locations of vertical migration were structurally controlled, above faulted graben edges, or above thick shales along graben axes. Strontium ratios indicate that dissolution of detrital calcite supplied the calcium. Kaolinite volumes are usually 2-4%; anomalously high volumes of kaolinite (up to 12%) are found close to deltaic palaeo-shorelines and may represent precipitation during vigorous meteoric flushing of the sandstones. Kaolinite isotopic compositions throughout the Central North Sea indicate that precipitation took place within mixed meteoric-marine pore fluids, whilst surrounding marine shales compacted into a meteoric aquifer, over a temperature range of 30-8S·C. Deuterium values are unusually depleted -53 to -76, and suggest a combination of meteoric water and organic interaction. Quartz cement appears to be generally depth-controlled and forms about 4% at 8,SOOft burial. There is also a possibility of 8% quartz overgrowth adjacent to salt diapirs. Secondary porosity does not vary much with depth, always being 2-4%. This· indicates that any increase in porosity due to dissolution of feldspars has been thwarted by continued compaction and no net increase of porosity has occurred. During precipitation of late calcite concretions, pore-water a 180 was isotopically marine and C supplied by decarboxylation. This indicates that porewaters had become dominated by the introduction of evolved-marine compactional waters from overlying Palaeogene mudrocks. Late carbonate concretions contain up to 10% M nCO 3 and are enriched in radiogenic 87 Sr compared to Palaeocene shell ratios. This trend is similar to that noted in cements from the underlying Chalk. It is possible that strontium-rich fluids may have been transferred vertically into the Palaeocene from the deeper-buried Jurassic sequence. Porosity-depth profiles from conventional core analysis data in 42 wells show porosities of 22-36%, with permeabilities of 40-3,000mD at 5,700-9,200ft. The dominant controls are depositional facies, and compaction. Dewatering structures can reduce vertical permeability by lOx. Authigenic chlorite maintains high porosities, but with permeability reduced by lOx. Vertical gradients of porosity and of permeability with depth exhibit "bow curves", which· decrease at the top and base of each channel sand unit. Shorter core lengths give systematically higher rates of porosity decline, due to insufficient sampling of depositionally thick channels, whereas cores longer than 30m give gradients of 5-13%.km- 1. Porosity varies regionally, but no regional variation of decline-gradient was found

Good Food for All in Glasgow: An Interim Assessment of the Glasgow City Food Plan

No abstract available

Find the weakest link. A comparison between demographic, genetic and demo-genetic metapopulation extinction times

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>While the ultimate causes of most species extinctions are environmental, environmental constraints have various secondary consequences on evolutionary and ecological processes. The roles of demographic, genetic mechanisms and their interactions in limiting the viabilities of species or populations have stirred much debate and remain difficult to evaluate in the absence of demography-genetics conceptual and technical framework. Here, I computed projected times to metapopulation extinction using (1) a model focusing on the effects of species properties, habitat quality, quantity and temporal variability on the time to demographic extinction; (2) a genetic model focusing on the dynamics of the drift and inbreeding loads under the same species and habitat constraints; (3) a demo-genetic model accounting for demographic-genetic processes and feedbacks.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Results indicate that a given population may have a high demographic, but low genetic viability or vice versa; and whether genetic or demographic aspects will be the most limiting to overall viability depends on the constraints faced by the species (e.g., reduction of habitat quantity or quality). As a consequence, depending on metapopulation or species characteristics, incorporating genetic considerations to demographically-based viability assessments may either moderately or severely reduce the persistence time. On the other hand, purely genetically-based estimates of species viability may either underestimate (by neglecting demo-genetic interactions) or overestimate (by neglecting the demographic resilience) true viability.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Unbiased assessments of the viabilities of species may only be obtained by identifying and considering the most limiting processes (i.e., demography or genetics), or, preferentially, by integrating them.</p

Observation of an Excited Bc+ State

Using pp collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 8.5 fb-1 recorded by the LHCb experiment at center-of-mass energies of s=7, 8, and 13 TeV, the observation of an excited Bc+ state in the Bc+π+π- invariant-mass spectrum is reported. The observed peak has a mass of 6841.2±0.6(stat)±0.1(syst)±0.8(Bc+) MeV/c2, where the last uncertainty is due to the limited knowledge of the Bc+ mass. It is consistent with expectations of the Bc∗(2S31)+ state reconstructed without the low-energy photon from the Bc∗(1S31)+→Bc+γ decay following Bc∗(2S31)+→Bc∗(1S31)+π+π-. A second state is seen with a global (local) statistical significance of 2.2σ (3.2σ) and a mass of 6872.1±1.3(stat)±0.1(syst)±0.8(Bc+) MeV/c2, and is consistent with the Bc(2S10)+ state. These mass measurements are the most precise to date

Bose-Einstein correlations of same-sign charged pions in the forward region in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV

Bose-Einstein correlations of same-sign charged pions, produced in protonproton collisions at a 7 TeV centre-of-mass energy, are studied using a data sample collected by the LHCb experiment. The signature for Bose-Einstein correlations is observed in the form of an enhancement of pairs of like-sign charged pions with small four-momentum difference squared. The charged-particle multiplicity dependence of the Bose-Einstein correlation parameters describing the correlation strength and the size of the emitting source is investigated, determining both the correlation radius and the chaoticity parameter. The measured correlation radius is found to increase as a function of increasing charged-particle multiplicity, while the chaoticity parameter is seen to decreas

Measurement of the inelastic pp cross-section at a centre-of-mass energy of 13TeV

The cross-section for inelastic proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13TeV is measured with the LHCb detector. The fiducial cross-section for inelastic interactions producing at least one prompt long-lived charged particle with momentum p &gt; 2 GeV/c in the pseudorapidity range 2 &lt; η &lt; 5 is determined to be ϭ acc = 62:2 ± 0:2 ± 2:5mb. The first uncertainty is the intrinsic systematic uncertainty of the measurement, the second is due to the uncertainty on the integrated luminosity. The statistical uncertainty is negligible. Extrapolation to full phase space yields the total inelastic proton-proton cross-section ϭ inel = 75:4 ± 3:0 ± 4:5mb, where the first uncertainty is experimental and the second due to the extrapolation. An updated value of the inelastic cross-section at a centre-of-mass energy of 7TeV is also reported

Speech Communication

Contains table of contents for Part IV, table of contents for Section 1, an introduction, reports on seven research projects and a list of publications.C.J. Lebel FellowshipDennis Klatt Memorial FundNational Institutes of Health Grant T32-DC00005National Institutes of Health Grant R01-DC00075National Institutes of Health Grant F32-DC00015National Institutes of Health Grant R01-DC00266National Institutes of Health Grant P01-DC00361National Institutes of Health Grant R01-DC00776National Science Foundation Grant IRI 89-10561National Science Foundation Grant IRI 88-05680National Science Foundation Grant INT 90-2471

Language endangerment and language documentation in Africa

Non peer reviewe

The Inuit discovery of Europe? The Orkney Finnmen, preternatural objects and the re-enchantment of early-modern science.

The late-seventeenth century saw a peak in accounts of supposed encounters with ‘Finnmen’ in Orkney. These accounts have shaped the folklore of the Northern Isles. Scholars linked to the Royal Society suggested the accounts represented encounters with Inuit. Subsequent explanations included autonomous travel by Inuit groups and abduction and abandonment. These accounts should be understood as part of a European scientific tradition of preternatural philosophy, occupied with the deviations and errors of nature. Far from indicating the presence of Inuit individuals in Orkney waters, they provide evidence of the narrative instability of early-modern science and its habit of ‘thinking with things’. Captivated by Inuit artefacts, the natural philosophers and virtuosi of the Royal Society imagined Orkney as a site of reverse contact with the ‘primitive’. Nineteenth-century antiquarians and folklorists reliant on these texts failed to understand the extent to which objectivity was not an epistemic virtue in early-modern science