Showing papers by "Lancaster University published in 1970"

The relationships between personality, study methods and academic performance

Abstract: Summary. 139 university students and 118 students at a college of education were given the Eysenck Personality Inventory and a questionnaire relating to academic motivation and study methods. A correlational analysis of these scores in relation to academic performance at the end of the first year showed the superiority of introverts and students with good study methods. Introverts also tended to have better study methods, but this only partially explained their high academic performance. There was no relationship between neuroticism and attainment. A supplementary approach used an item-analysis to identify the characteristics of successful students. From this analysis, items which identified good students were also positively related to stability and introversion.

Matrix transformations between some classes of sequences

Abstract: Let A = (ank) be an infinite matrix of complex numbers ank (n, k = 1, 2,…) and X, Y two subsets of the space s of complex sequences. We say that the matrix A defines a (matrix) transformation from X into Y, and we denote it by writing A: X → Y, if for every sequence x = (xk)∈X the sequence Ax = (An(x)) is in Y, where An(x) = Σankxk and the sum without limits is always taken from k = 1 to k = ∞. The sequence Ax is called the transformation of x by the matrix A. By (X, Y) we denote the class of matrices A such that A: X → Y.

Direct effect of SO2 pollution on the degree of opening of stomata.

Abstract: THE way in which air pollutants damage plants has been investigated several times, but there is still little real information as to how essential processes are affected. This is particularly the case with SO2, the physiological and biochemical effects of which are largely unexplained.

Salt and water balance in salmon smolts.

Abstract: 1. Salmon smolts adapted to sea water maintain a high rate of turnover of both sodium and chloride, but when adapted to fresh water the rate of turnover is low. 2. Only a small part of the influx takes place through the gut. 3. On immediate transfer from sea water to dilute sea water or to fresh water the influxes decline rapidly, but on transfer from fresh water to sea water the restoration of the fluxes takes place slowly. 4. The alternative hypotheses that the rapid changes are due to exchange diffusion or to rapid adjustments of the sodium pump are discussed.

Further observations of cation‐stimulated stomatal opening in isolated epidermis

Abstract: Summary Measurements of apparent osmotic pressures of guard cells in isolated epidermis of Commelina communis indicate a considerable rise (up to 26.3 bars) when K+ ions are added to the incubation medium. This rise in apparent osmotic pressure appears to be the major cause of the stomatal opening that is stimulated by K+ ions, but reduction in turgor of the epidermal cells, owing to the solutes in the incubation medium, may also contribute to the wide stomatal apertures. Histochemical tests on epidermis taken from leaves with stomata that were closed in darkness, or that were open in light, suggest that K+ accumulates in guard cells when stomata open in response to light. No movements of K+ or Na+ from epidermis to mesophyll could be detected and it is concluded that ion movements associated with changes in guard cell turgor are probably confined to the epidermis in C. communis. Ion uptake (indicated by 86Rb and 24Na) into epidermis was stimulated by light but not by a reduction in CO2 concentration, whereas stomatal apertures were affected by these environmental factors to approximately the same extent. It is tentatively concluded that active transport of monovalent cations into guard cells might explain the CO2-independent light responses of stomata, but not their light-independent CO2 responses.

Research on research

Abstract: Problem areas currently receiving attention in the literature are discussed. It is suggested that considerable effort will be needed before much of the theory will be translated into practice. In certain areas it is argued that methods which have been proposed in the past have not been based on adequate descriptions of the real problems. A plea is made for more research into the research process and for more empirical testing and validation of the methods and procedures which have been proposed as aids to research managers.

Effects of some metabolic inhibitors and temperature on ion-stimulated stomatal opening in detached epidermis

Abstract: Summary Ion-stimulated stomatal opening in isolated epidermis of Commelina commons is shown to be influenced by temperature in the manner expected for a process dependent on metabolism. The effects of three metabolic inhibitors on this stomatal opening in light and darkness and two concentrations of CO2 are reported. 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl),I,I-dimethylurea (DCMU) caused partial stomatal closure in light but this was reversed in CO2-free conditions, suggesting that open chain photophosphorylation is not essential for stomatal opening in light. Salicylaldoxime suppressed the light-stimulated component of stomatal opening and the effect was not reversed in CO2-free conditions. This suggests that photosystem 1 or cyclic photophosphorylation supplied the energy for ion uptake in guard cells in light. Supporting evidence comes from the finding that 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP) also suppressed the light-stimulated component of opening. In darkness, ion-stimulated opening occurs, but to smaller apertures than in the light. This opening is insensitive to DNP treatment, suggesting that ATP from oxidative phosphorylation is not required. A possible interpretation of the results is that in darkness the energy for active transport into the guard cells is obtained from a direct linkage to the mitochondrial electron transport chain; the same could be true in light, with an additional linkage to electron transport in photosystem I. Lack of information on the movement of specific ions means that some doubt must remain about which ions are actively transported. A comparison of the behaviour of stomata on detached and attached epidermis suggests that care is required if data from this study are to be applied to the stomatal mechanism in intact Plants.

Increases in the Diffusion Resistances of Leaves in a Carbon Dioxide-Enriched Atmosphere

Abstract: The stomatal closing reaction to C02, which has been observed in laboratory studies by many workers, was investigated in plant-growth cabinets under conditions similar to those in glass houses with C02-enriched atmospheres. Lettuce and Xanthium plants grown in a normal atmosphere showed the expected stomatal closure in response to increasing 0O2 concentrations, and lettuce plants grown in 1000 ppm C02 showed the same response, even after 4 weeks. Thus there was no evidence of acclimatization of the stomata and it is concluded that they must remain partially closed during C02-enrichment. Estimates of diffusion resistances to COa intake in lettuce leaves showed that in light of 14-4 J m-2 s_1, 880 ppm C02 in the atmosphere resulted in a concentration of 367 ppm near the mesophyll cell walls. If the stomata remained open this same internal concentration could be achieved with an external concentration of only 640 ppm. There could, therefore, be some economic advantage if stomatal closure were prevented during C02-enrichment.

Sectarian Characteristics of Alcoholics Anonymous

Abstract: The practice of drawing too sharp a line between transcendental and non-transcendental belief systems is to be criticized, for there is often an overlap between them. Alcoholics Anonymous displays sectarian characteristics in its internal structure and behaviour. From available information on the development of Alcoholics Anonymous an appreciable level of religious commitment among members might be expected, but a study of groups on Merseyside did not find this. Many members felt the tone of A.A. to be too religious. Previous studies concerned with religious affiliation and alcohol consumption suggest a relationship between the two. A characteristic shared by such movements as sects and Alcoholics Anonymous is the high degree of involvement exhibited by their members. The underlying common structure of apparently dissimilar movements deserves further examination which it is hoped will throw light on sect structure and secular value-oriented organizations.

In defence of anachronism

Abstract: I N Professor J. G. A. Pocock‘s book, The Ancient Constitution and the Feudal Law,2 there is an account of a curious historical irony. He describes how the humanists of the Renaissance set out to study antiquity, in the confident expectation that they would be able to learn from the Romans and model themselves upon their illustrious predecessors. So as to be able to emulate the Romans, they tried to discover as much as possible about them and developed historical techniques for doing so. But here the logic of their own enterprise betrayed them; for as they elaborated methods of studying the past, they found that the past receded from them. The more they learned about the Romans, the more they became aware of an impassable gulf between the ancient world and themselves. They developed a sense of anachronism, of the specificity of particular historical periods, and found that the ideas, the institutions and the methods of the Romans were too deeply rooted in the time to which they belonged to have immediate relevance in the sixteenth century. Their scholarship, motivated by the assumption that Roman wisdom would be relevant to their own times, had itself undermined that assumption. Once the past was properly understood their impulse to copy it led them into pedantic academicism; and that in turn provoked a revolt against the past by writers like Bacon and Hobbes, who asserted that modern men ought to stand on their own feet and think for themselves. This example illustrates what appears to be a persistent dialectic in the history of European thought. Because we are conscious of the riches of our inherited culture and wish to exploit them, we engage in historical investigation: but, ironically, this seems to destroy the very treasure that we seek, leaving only the dust of scholarship. The humanists of the Renaissance, who apparently managed to discredit classical wisdom by their own reverence for it, have been followed by the biblical scholars, who have been engaged for centuries in the same sort of pious destruction. Biblical scholarship was

A Circadian Rhythm in the Level of the Carbon Dioxide Compensation Point in Bryophyllum and Coffea

Abstract: Measurements of C02 compensation were made over long periods of time for Coffea arabica and Bryophyllum daigremontianum For each species there was a marked rhythm in the level of C02 compensation, even though all major factors of the environment were held as constant as possible The rhythm in Coffea was susceptible to phase-shift and had a period slightly greater than 24 h The rhythm in Bryophyllum had a period of c 23 h These observations show that the rhythm is probably endogenous in nature

Watt's Expansive Principle in the Work of Sadi Carnot and Nicolas Clement

Abstract: I mentioned to you a method of still doubling the effect of the steam, and that tolerably easy, by using the power of steam rushing into a vacuum, at present lost... it is peculiarly applicable to wheel-engines, and may supply the want of a condenser where force of steam is only used; for, open one of the steam-valves, and admit steam until one-fourth of the distance between it and the next valve is filled with steam; shut the valve, the steam will continue to expand, and to press round the wheel with a diminishing power ending in one-fourth of its first exertion. The sum of this series you will find greater than one-half, though only one-fourth steam was used. Watt to Dr William Small, 28 May 1769 (1) My first new improvement in steam or fire engines consists in admitting steam into the cylinders or steam vessels of the engine only during some certain part or portion of the descent or ascent of the piston of the said cylinder, and using the elastic forces, wherewith the said steam expands itself in proceeding to occupy larger spaces, as the acting powers on the piston through the other parts or portions of the length of the stroke of the said piston; and in applying combinations of levers, or other contrivances, to cause the unequal powers wherewith the steam acts upon the piston, to produce uniform effects in working the pumps or other machinery required to be wrought by the said engine: whereby certain large proportions of the steam hitherto found necessary to do the same work are saved. Watt’s patent specification of 12 March 1782 (2)

Multiphase eruptions associated with the craters Tycho and Aristarchus.

Abstract: In 1967 part of Tycho and all of Aristarchus were photographed from Orbiter 5 with a ground resolution of about 5 m Geologic units of Tycho are discussed together with crater counts in and near to Tycho, counts of small craters near to Surveyor 7, geologic units of Aristarchus, and crater counts in and near to Aristarchus It is concluded that both Tycho and Aristarchus probably originated in the same manner, although there were differences in their later development Extensive lava flows issued from the inner and outer rims of both craters Flows from small craters in the vicinity of the Tycho and Aristarchus structures show that these small craters are volcanic This establishes that one class of lunar volcano, at least, resembles an impact crater

Religion and voting: a critical review and a new analysis*

Abstract: SURVEY s of the electorate in Britain have established pretty conclusive and consistent evidence of the relationship between various social and demographic variables and voting behaviour. Thus, for example, Benewick et al. find it possible to say in a recent article that, ‘There is a clear relationship between occupation and voting behaviour too familiar to need repetition’.’ Similarly clear relationships have been shown between such variables as parents’ party choice and that of their children,2 and education and party choice.3 It is part of the lore of British politics that religious aililiation too, is related to voting behaviour, but despite what Runciman calls ‘ . . . the known correlation between party and religion’,4 attempts that have so far been made to investigate the relationship between religious affiliation and voting behaviour have produced inconsistent and inconclusive results. It is the purpose of this paper to test further this relationship in respect of two aspects of voting behaviour, namely, party choice and turnout. We suggest that at least part of the explanation for the inconsistent and inconclusive findings of previous studies is the inadequacy of much of the data collected, and the type of analysis made hitherto. In Small-Town Politics Birch reported that amongst industrial workers, ‘The proportion of Anglicans who voted Conservative is almost exactly twice as great as the proportion of non-Anglicans who did so; and threefifths of all industrial workers who voted Conservative were Anglicans’.s Birch suggested that the relative Conservatism of industrial workers in the north-west may be explained in part by the fact that ‘religion and politics

Further studies on the sodium and water metabolism of the fresh-water medusa, Craspedacusta sowerbyi

Abstract: 1. Water turnover rates in Craspedacusta sowerbyi medusae ranged from 600% to 1,200%/hr. 2. Sodium turnover rates ranged from 2% to 30%/hr. 3. Ionic and volume regulation are accomplished in the medusa by voiding of a hypertonic solution via the manubrium.