Organisation of the nervous system in the Acoela: an immunocytochemical study

In order to broaden the information about the organisation of the nervous system in taxon Acoela, an immunocytochemical study of an undetermined Acoela from Cape Kartesh, Faerlea glomerata, Avagina incola and Paraphanostoma crassum has been performed. Antibodies to 5-HT and the native flatworm neuropeptide GYIRFamide were used. As in earlier studies, the pattern of 5-HT immunoreactivity revealed an anterior structure composed mainly of commissures, a so-called commissural brain. Three types of brain shapes were observed. No regular orthogon was visualised. GYIRFamide immunoreactive cell clusters were observed peripherally to the 5-HT immunoreactive commissural brain. Staining with anti-GYIRFamide revealed more nerve processes than did staining with anti-FMRFamide. As no synapomorphies were found in the organisation of the nervous system of the Acoela and that of the Platyhelminthes, the results support the view that the Acoela is not a member of the Platyhelminthes. (C) 2001 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.

Conflict, Regulation and Marginalisation in the North of Ireland: The Experiences of Children and Young People

Based on primary research and consultations conducted over the last four years in the north of Ireland, this article considers the lives and experiences of children and young people in communities where the legacy of conflict and economic deprivation are most marked. It explores the reality of differential policing in communities where paramilitaries filled the policing deficit during the Conflict through informal 'justice' and punishment beatings. Finally, it considers the potential for change in a climate increasingly hostile towards children and young people, and the realisation of their rights.

‘Dealing with the Leftovers: Post Conflict Imprisonment in Northern Ireland’

The criminal justice system in Northern Ireland is experiencing a period of transition from dealing with intense political violence to a situation of relative peace. Although this period has witnessed incredible changes to the justice systemit is evident that many challenges still lay ahead, particularly in regards to the penal system. This article explores the penal system in Northern Ireland since the signing of the peace agreement.

‘Risk, Politics and the ‘Scientification’ of Political Judgement: Prisoner Release and Conflict Transformation in Northern Ireland’

Drawing on research in Northern Ireland into the process of release under the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, this article explores the identification and classification of risk in relation to prisoners released early under the Sentences (NI) Act. The main argument is that conflict, post-conflict and transitional conditions expose more starkly the political underpinnings of risk-management strategy and the article demonstrates the particular variant of Politicized Risk Assessment (PRA) recently used in the release of prisoners in Northern Ireland

Protest practice and (tree) cultures of conflict: understanding the spaces of ‘tree maiming’ in eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century England

Developing understandings of protest and cultures of resistance has been a central theme of the 'new' cultural geography of the 1990s and 2000s. But whilst geographers of the here and now have been highly sensitive to the importance of acts of protest which occur outside of the context of broader social movements, geographers concerned with past protests have tended to focus overwhelmingly upon either understanding the development of social movements or highly specific place-based studies. Through a focus upon the hitherto ignored practice of 'tree maiming', this paper demonstrates not only the value of examining specific protest practices in helping to better understand the complexity of conflict, but also how in periods of acute socio-economic change the evolving relationship between humans and the non-human – in this case trees – is a central discourse to the protest practices of the poor. Such attacks often involved complex cultural understandings about the ways in which trees should – and should not – be socially enrolled.

Impaired conflict resolution and alerting in children with ADHD: evidence from the Attention Network Task (ANT)

An important theory of attention suggests that there are three separate networks that execute discrete cognitive functions. The 'alerting' network acquires and maintains an alert state, the 'orienting' network selects information from sensory input and the 'conflict' network resolves conflict that arises between potential responses. This theory holds promise for dissociating discrete patterns of cognitive impairment in disorders where attentional deficits may often be subtle, such as in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Enhancing the teaching of professional practice and key skills in engineering through the use of computer animation

This paper presents some observations on how computer animation was used in the early years of a degree program in Electrical and Electronic Engineering to enhance the teaching of key skills and professional practice. This paper presents the results from two case studies. First, in a first year course which seeks to teach students how to manage and report on group projects in a professional way. Secondly, in a technical course on virtual reality, where the students are asked to use computer animation in a way that subliminally coerces them to come to terms with the fine detail of the mathematical principles that underlie 3D graphics, geometry, etc. as well as the most significant principles of computer architecture and software engineering. In addition, the findings reveal that by including a significant element of self and peer review processes into the assessment procedure students became more engaged with the course and achieved a deeper level of comprehension of the material in the course.