2,408 research outputs found
A pilot of the use of the WAIS III in learning disability services
Get PDFThe present study is a pilot examining how a group of people (n=133) with a learning disability perform on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale – Third Edition (1997). The study found that Full Scale IQ was not always predictive of performance on individual subtests or of performance on the Indices. Implications for clinical practice are discussed
Ape recognition of familiar human faces changed by time and COVID-19 face masks
Get PDFReports of primates being able to recognise familiar humans are rare in the literature and tend to be regarded as anecdotal. The COVID-19 pandemic created two unique conditions facilitating the observation of spontaneous face recognition in zoo apes: i) lengthy gaps in contact with human visitors due to lockdowns and zoo closures, and ii) the wearing of face masks obscuring at least half the face of familiar individuals. Here, I report on the historical context of the familiarity between a primatologist and individual apes of two species, how those apes consistently showed recognition of this particular human over a time span of up to thirty years, how facial recognition was extended to family members, and how recognition persisted even when a significant portion of the face was obscured by a mask. This constitutes, to my knowledge, the first documented cases of recognition of familiar human faces changed by time and COVID-19 face masks in two great ape species. Although based on just two individuals, the documentation of this ability is important because it arose in a more naturalistic and spontaneous context compared to typical face processing research in which primates are tested with experimental stimuli in a laboratory setting. Implications for face processing theory and applications for the therapeutic utility of faces are discussed. These observations provide insight into the evolutionary origins of face recognition and, sitting at the interface of science and society, are of interest to a wide audience
Temperature Tolerance In Crustaceans: Critical Temperatures And The Heart
Get PDFAt certain upper and lower threshold temperatures (critical temperatures (Tc) crustaceans switch to anaerobic metabolism despite sufficient oxygen availability in the environment. I tested the hypothesis that failure of the heart at critical temperatures leads to insufficient oxygen delivery and subsequent anaerobiosis in peripheral tissues.
I exposed rock crabs, Cancer irroratus, as whole animals, and their buffer-perfused semi-isolated hearts to a progressive temperature increase, while monitoring heart rate and lactate accumulation. The whole animals heart rate increased with temperature following a Q10 of 2.8. An abrupt decline in heart rate occurred at 25°C and lactate accumulation occurred between 25°C and 30°C. The semi-isolated hearts followed a Q10 of only 1.2 during temperature increase. A second set of semi-isolated hearts were perfused and paced at a heart rate comparable to the whole animals at each temperature. The lactate concentration in the paced semi-isolated hearts did not significantly increase. AMPK activity and HSP70 levels were measured to investigate cellular changes occurring at Tc. Preliminary data suggests they are not good indicating parameters of Tc for isolated hearts.
I conclude that the whole animal’s Tc is 5°C lower than that of the heart muscle. Therefore, the onset of anaerobiosis in the peripheral tissues is not due to failure of the heart muscle. The processes within the whole animal that lead to anaerobiosis are set by other organ systems
Role of Schizosaccharomyces pombe RecQ homolog recombination and checkpoint genes in UV Damage tolerance
Get PDFThe cellular responses to DNA damage are complex and include direct DNA repair pathways that remove the damage and indirect damage responses which allow cells to survive DNA damage that has not been, or cannot be, removed. We have identified the gene mutated in the rad12.502 strain as a Schizosaccharomyces pombe recQ homolog. The same gene (designated rqh1) is also mutated in the hus2.22 mutant. We show that Rqh1 is involved in a DNA damage survival mechanism which prevents cell death when UV-induced DNA damage cannot be removed. This pathway also requires the correct functioning of the recombination machinery and the six checkpoint tad gene products plus the Cds1 kinase. Our data suggest that Rqh1 operates during S phase as part of a mechanism which prevents DNA damage causing cell lethality. This process may involve the bypass of DNA damage sites by the replication fork. Finally, in contrast with the reported literature, we do not find that rqh1 (rad12) mutant cells are defective in UV dimer endonuclease activity
Limb preference and personality in donkeys (Equus asinus)
Get PDFThis is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Laterality on 5th February 2021, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/1357650X.2021.1882480Interhemispheric laterality has often been linked to different behavioural styles. This study investigates the link between limb preference and personality in donkeys. The sample consisted of 47 donkeys (Equus asinus), 30 males and 17 females. Limb preference was determined using observation of the leading limb in a motionless posture and personality was measured using the Donkey Temperament Questionnaire (French, J. M. (1993). Assessment of donkey temperament and the influence of home environment. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 36(2), 249–257. doi:10.1016/0168-1591(93)90014-G) completed by the donkeys’ keepers. A Principal Component Analysis obtained two components: Agreeableness and Extraversion. Age showed a positive relationship with Agreeableness, echoing trends in humans Donkeys did not show a population-level preference towards either side. Limb preference significantly predicted the trait difficult to handle: donkeys with a preference to keep the right foot forward when motionless were harder to handle. This study presents the first investigation into limb preference and personality in donkeys, although more research is needed to clarify whether there is a population-level limb preference bias in donkeys, and the relationship between limb preference and Agreeableness
Localisation of Theiler's Murine Encephalomyelitis virus non-structural proteins 2B, 2C, 2BC and 3A in BHK-21 cells, and the effect of amino acid substitutions in 2C on localisation and virus replication
Get PDFThe picornavirus family includes significant human and animal viruses such as poliovirus (PV), human rhinovirus (HRV) and foot-and-mouth-disease virus (FMDV). Current disease treatment and control strategies are limited by an incomplete understanding of the interactions between the non-structural, replicative picornavirus proteins and host cell components. To investigate these interactions, Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV) 2B, 2C, 2BC and 3A proteins were transiently expressed in BHK-21 cells and detected by indirect immunostaining and laser-scanning or epifluorescence microscopy. The signal of the 2B protein overlapped with that of the ER marker protein, ERp60, as well as that of the peripheral Golgi marker protein, β-COP. The 2C protein overlapped with ERp60 in a faint reticular stain, and localised to large punctate structures that partially overlapped with β-COP at higher levels of expression. The 2BC protein located to large perinuclear structures that overlapped exclusively with β-COP. The TMEV 3A protein signal overlapped with both ERp60 and β-COP stains, in addition in cells expressing the 3A protein the ER appeared swollen and bulbous while the Golgi was dispersed in some cells. 2C and 2BC proteins with C-terminal deletions localised in the same manner as the wild type proteins indicating that the localisation signals that determine subcellular localisation of the proteins are within the N-terminal 60 amino acids of the 2C protein. The significance of the high degree of conservation of the N-terminal domain of the 2C protein throughout the Picornaviridae was investigated through the introduction of amino acid substitution mutations at highly conserved residues in the N-terminal domain of 2C into the viral cDNA. Upon transfection of the viral RNA into BHK-21 cells, it was observed that substitution of amino acid residues 8, 18 and 29 abolished the ability of TMEV to induce cytopathic effect (CPE), while substitution of residues 4, 14 and 23 only attenuated the ability of TMEV to induce CPE. To determine whether amino acid substitution mutations would affect the localisation of the 2C protein, 2C proteins with substitution mutations at amino acids 4, 8, 14, 18, 23 and 29 were transiently expressed in BHK-21 cells and detected by indirect imrnunostaining and examination by laser-scanning confocal and epifluorescence microscopy. The 2C mutant 4, 8 and 29 proteins showed slightly altered localisation patterns compared to the wild type protein with a significant portion of the proteins localising in a perinuclear stain suggesting possible localisation to the nuclear envelop. The 2C mutant 14 and 18 proteins localised to a diffuse pattern in BHK-21 cells while the 2C mutant 23 protein located to small punctate structures that partially overlapped with the ERp60 stain but were completely separate from the β-COP stain. Finally, a hydrophilic, antigenic region of the 2C protein was expressed in frame with an N-terminal GST tag and was successfully purified on a pilot-scale and detected by Western analysis. This 2C178 peptide will be used to generate antibodies against the 2C and 2BC proteins for use in future studies. This study has furthered our knowledge of the localisation of the picornavirus 2B, 2C, 2BC and 3A proteins in host cells and identified a possible link between this localisation and an ability of TMEV to replicate in BHK-21 cells
Remote Laboratories in Engineering Education: Trends in Students' Perceptions
Get PDFRemotely accessible laboratories are an increasingly popular innovation in engineering education. Since 2001, The University of Technology, Sydney has implemented a number of remotely accessible laboratories. This paper presents an analysis of students' feedback responses to their use of the laboratories. The responses show that students not only appreciate the flexibility of the remote access option, but also that they feel that the remote option encourages them to take a deep learning approach to the material
Adapting a Remote Laboratory Architecture to Support Collaboration and Supervision
Get PDFInterest in, and use of, remote laboratories has been rapidly growing. These laboratories provide remote access, via the internet, to real laboratory equipment. Under appropriate circumstances they can support or even replace traditional (proximal) laboratories, provide improved access at reduced cost, and encourage inter-institutional sharing of expensive resources. Most attention to date has been on the development of the core infrastructure that manages access and interaction, and to a lesser extent consideration of pedagogic issues such as which learning outcomes are best suited to this modality. There has however been a recent recognition of the importance of also considering how collaboration and supervision can also be supported. In this paper we discuss a novel approach to the integration of support for multi-user distributed access to a single laboratory instance. The approach retains the benefits of the lightweight client inherent in the underlying architecture
There is no Other Monkey in the Mirror for Spider Monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi)
Get PDF©American Psychological Association, 2020. This paper is not the copy of record and may not exactly replicate the authoritative document published in the APA journal. Please do not copy or cite without author's permission. The final article is available, upon publication, at: https://doi.org/10.1037/com0000243Mirror self-recognition (MSR), usually considered a marker of self-awareness, occurs in several species and may reflect a capacity that has evolved in small incremental steps. In line with research on human development and building on previous research adopting a gradualist framework, we categorized the initial mirror responses of naïve spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) according to four levels. We compared social, exploratory, contingent and self-exploratory responses to a mirror and faux mirror during three short trials. If spider monkeys respond as most monkey species, we predicted they would perform at level 0, mainly showing social behavior toward their mirror-image. However, because spider monkeys show enhancement of certain cognitive skills comparable to those of great ape species, we predicted that they would perform at level 1a (showing exploratory behavior) or 1b (showing contingent behavior). GLMMs revealed that monkeys looked behind and visually inspected the mirror significantly more in the mirror than the faux mirror condition. Although the monkeys engaged in contingent body movements at the mirror, this trend was not significant. Strikingly, they showed no social behaviors toward their mirror-image. We also measured self-scratching as an indicator of anxiety and found no differences in frequencies of self-scratching between conditions. Therefore, in contrast to most findings on other species, spider monkeys did not treat their image as another monkey during their initial exposure to the mirror. In fact, they reached at least level 1a within minutes of mirror exposure. These responses recommend spider monkeys as good candidates for further explorations into monkey self-recognition
TEACHER COLLABORATIVE INQUIRY IN ONTARIO ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS: AN ANALYSIS OF PROVINCIAL AND SCHOOL BOARD POLICIES AND SUPPORT DOCUMENTS
Get PDFCollaborative inquiry (CI) has emerged as a dominant structure for educators’ professional learning in the 21st century. The purpose of this paper is to analyze publicly available documents and policies related to CI in Ontario in order to better understand the documentary scope and spread of this professional learning model in the province. We begin by defining the parameters of CI as a dominant professional learning model before detailing our methodology for selecting and analyzing CI policies and documents at both ministry and school board levels. In our subsequent analysis, we enumerate emergent themes and findings and offer three sample case studies that illustrate how school boards in the province are documenting their experiences with CI. Finally, we conclude with a discussion of potential tensions within current CI policies as a basis for future research and policy development.
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