The Fixation of Belief
Robert Schehr in Convictions Without Truth, 2022
In this chapter, the author introduces the innovative insights provided by Harrison and his assessment of neoteny – how cultures continue to develop new ideas through dialectical interaction with existing ones. One of the most efficacious ways that the author had found to understand the criminal legal system’s persistent reliance upon well-established but less-than-optimal unscientific forensic practices is through application of the theory of path dependency, combined with application of C.S. Peirce’s brilliant explication of “the fixation of belief.” The theory of path dependence emerged from mathematics as part of non linear modeling designed to comprehend complex systems based upon identification of initial conditions and has subsequently made significant inroads into economic theory. In the most colloquial terms possible, path dependence, which is intimately associated with the concept lock-in, refers to the perpetuation of institutional intertemporal activities that have been predicated upon previously successful behavior.
Glossary
I F Spellerberg in Amphibians & Reptiles of North-West Europe, 2002
These are non-biological or environmental factors such as temperature, light intensity, humidity, etc. The process of physiological adjustment which occurs under laboratory conditions. The process of physiological adjustment to changing seasonal temperature levels, pH, light intensity, etc., which occurs under natural conditions. If two or more species have an allopatric distribution, their distribution is geographically dissimilar. Living in trees. Living in water. A biological region classified on the basis of climate and the major vegetation type, e.g., tropical rainforest biome, taiga - coniferous forest biome. A period of activity which is about 24 hours long. A graded series of different forms of the same species. Active during sunrise or evening (twilight). In amphibians and reptiles, the lower body temperature at which locomotion is no longer possible. During the daily (day and night) cycle. Active during the hours of daylight. In reference to rhythmic behaviour, it is that behaviour which has a rhythm based on an organism’s biochemical cycles - cf. Exogenous. The nutrient enrichment of bodies of water caused by organic enrichment. Although a natural process, rapid eutrophication can use up oxygen in the water and this may result in the mortality of the aquatic organisms. A species that is able to tolerate a wide range of conditions or is not specialised, e.g., an eurythermal species of frog is one which may tolerate a wide range of water temperature conditions (cf. stenoecious). Refers to rhythmic behaviour which is based on environmental Fecundity Genetic (variability, variation) Gestation Habitat Hibernation Impervious Metamorphosis Microhabitat Neoteny Niche Nocturnal Optimal foraging Paedomorphosis pH Pheromone Reproductive isolation cycles such as changes in the seasons, tides and cycles of day and night. The capacity of an individual to multiply (breed): for example, the number of eggs produced gives a level of fecundity.
The relative influence of facial neoteny and waist-to-hip ratio on judgements of female attractiveness and fecundity
Published in Psychology, Health & Medicine, 2006
Numerous studies have demonstrated that waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) affects perceptions of female physical attractiveness and fecundity. This study tested the assumption that facial attractiveness explained more variance in overall ratings and fecundity than WHR, when the latter is manipulated within the normal range (0.67 – 0.85). One hundred and sixty-one participants (mean age = 21.5) rated the attractiveness, youthfulness, fertility, healthiness and likelihood of being pregnant for 27 photographs of three females in which facial attractiveness in terms of neoteny (three levels) and WHR (three levels) had been systematically digitally manipulated. Facial attractiveness exerted a significant influence on judgements of attractiveness, youthfulness, fertility and healthiness, whereas WHR only affected likelihood of being pregnant. Results are interpreted in terms of neotenous facial attractiveness providing potential mates with information concerning phenotypic and genetic quality.
A comparative study of the deacetylation of paracetamol by urodele and anuran amphibian organ cultures
Published in Xenobiotica, 1981
R. H. Clothier, Jane R. Dewar, Maria Ana Santos, A. D. North, Susan Foster, M. Balls
1. p-Aminophenol is the major metabolite produced by urodele amphibian tissues in vitro. The deacetylation enzyme system involved is located in the liver microsomal fraction of Amphiuma means. 2. Paracetamol was deacetylated to p-aminophenol by organ cultures of liver, kidney, pancreas and stomach epithelium from adult A. means, by liver, stomach epithelium, bladder and lung cultures from neotenic larval Ambystoma tigrinum, and by adult Triturus cristatus carnifex in vivo. 3. Liver cultures from all seven urodele amphibian species metabolized paracetamol and produced p-aminophenol, but no evidence was found of paracetamol metabolism by liver cultures from any of five anuran amphibian species. 4. The significance of p-aminophenol production from paracetamol and of this difference within the Amphibia are discussed.
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