December 2016 - BERG - University of Stirling Mailing Lists

China announces ban on ivory trade by end of 2017
by Gillian Cross 30 Dec '16

30 Dec '16

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-38470861 [http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/1214/production/_93182640_med…]<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-38470861> China announces ban on ivory trade by end of 2017 - BBC News<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-38470861> www.bbc.co.uk China announces a ban on all ivory trade and processing activities by the end of 2017. ________________________________ The University is ranked in the QS World Rankings of the top 5% of universities in the world (QS World University Rankings, 2014) The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159.

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Police Dog saves Christmas
by Gillian Cross 21 Dec '16

21 Dec '16

Seeing as it's the holidays I thought I'd share this one. I like that his name is Rudi ... & just like Rudolph he & his fabulous nose saved Christmas http://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/glasgow-news/meet-glasgow-police-dog-who-…. Ho ho ho ... good dawg Rudi [♥] . [http://i4.glasgowlive.co.uk/incoming/article11328979.ece/ALTERNATES/s1200/P…]<http://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/glasgow-news/meet-glasgow-police-dog-who-…> Meet the Glasgow police dog who saved Christmas<http://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/glasgow-news/meet-glasgow-police-dog-who-…> www.glasgowlive.co.uk Rudi, the hero police dog who featured in Glasgow Live earlier this year, tracked down an alleged robber who was found with presents stolen from under someone's tree. ________________________________ The University is ranked in the QS World Rankings of the top 5% of universities in the world (QS World University Rankings, 2014) The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159.

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Chimpanzees & altruism ...
by Gillian Cross 21 Dec '16

21 Dec '16

Hi everyone This may be of interest http://phys.org/news/2016-12-chimpanzees-indifferent-altruism.html. [http://cdn.phys.org/newman/gfx/news/hires/2015/chimpanzees.jpg]<http://phys.org/news/2016-12-chimpanzees-indifferent-altruism.html> Chimpanzees are 'indifferent' when it comes to altruism<http://phys.org/news/2016-12-chimpanzees-indifferent-altruism.html> phys.org New research into chimpanzees suggests that, when it comes to altruistically helping a fellow chimpanzee, they are 'indifferent'. Have a great break, BW. ________________________________ The University is ranked in the QS World Rankings of the top 5% of universities in the world (QS World University Rankings, 2014) The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159.

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Getting to the Bottom of Face Processing. Species-Specific Inversion Effects for Faces & Behinds in Humans & Chimpanzees
by Gillian Cross 06 Dec '16

06 Dec '16

Hey BERGers This may be of interest http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0165357 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2016/12/05/chimpanzees-see-butts-… & http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2016/12/05/chimpanzees-see-butts-…. [http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/figure/image?id=10.1371/journal.po…]<http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0165357> Getting to the Bottom of Face Processing. Species-Specific Inversion Effects for Faces and Behinds in Humans and Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes)<http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0165357> journals.plos.org For social species such as primates, the recognition of conspecifics is crucial for their survival. As demonstrated by the 'face inversion effect', humans are experts in recognizing faces and unlike objects, recognize their identity by processing it configurally. The human face, with its distinct features such as eye-whites, eyebrows, red lips and cheeks signals emotions, intentions, health and sexual attraction and, as we will show here, shares important features with the primate behind. Chimpanzee females show a swelling and reddening of the anogenital region around the time of ovulation. This provides an important socio-sexual signal for group members, who can identify individuals by their behinds. We hypothesized that chimpanzees process behinds configurally in a way humans process faces. In four different delayed matching-to-sample tasks with upright and inverted body parts, we show that humans demonstrate a face, but not a behind inversion effect and that chimpanzees show a behind, but no clear face BW. ________________________________ The University is ranked in the QS World Rankings of the top 5% of universities in the world (QS World University Rankings, 2014) The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159.

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Today's BERG seminar
by Hannah Buchanan-Smith 02 Dec '16

02 Dec '16

Reminder of today's seminar As part of our Behaviour and Evolution Research Group (BERG) seminars, Wednesday (19th October, 5.30pm ) we have Professor Vernon Gayle, University of Edinburgh giving a short presentation on: Reproducible Research is 'Show Me' not 'Trust Me' Psychology Common Room, 3A94, Cottrell building, with usual drinks and nibbles. I think this topic is really important to consider in terms of our research process and workflow. Hope to see some of you there. Best, Hannah Abstract Despite the explosion in the number of research publications it is impossible to 'reproduce' the results of most analyses that are published. This is because information on how the work is undertaken in seldom made available. Most researchers will have a happy, or possibly even a terrifying, early educational memory of being told to "show their working out". Somewhere between primary school and graduate school this requirement has evaporated. Currently published research is far from transparent and a culture of 'trust me' rather than a culture of 'show me' exists. In this presentation I make an appeal for researchers to routinely provide enough information so that others can check that results are accurate, and that correct inferences and conclusions are reported in published work. This transparency will also allow others to test the robustness of the original piece of research, for example by employing new or additional data and alternative methods. I highlight the obstacles that are commonly encountered and provide some practicable steps for rendering research 'reproducible'. I argue that conventional research publications should, at best, be regarded as a palimpsest of the 'real work' undertaken within the data analytical process. Drawing on insights from computer science and other disciplines that have been engaged in e-Research I illustrate how contemporary digital resources could provide a useful and effective aid to making social science research more easily reproducible. I propose a set of guidelines which researchers should follow in order to enhance the reproducibility of their research. I conclude by suggesting a set of benchmarks against which the reproducibility can be assessed. Hannah M. Buchanan-Smith Professor, Behaviour and Evolution Research Group (BERG) Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences University of Stirling Stirling, FK9 4LA Scotland Tel: 01786 467674 Fax: 01786 467641 E-mail: h.m.buchanan-smith(a)stir.ac.uk<mailto:h.m.buchanan-smith@stir.ac.uk> Home page: https://rms.stir.ac.uk/converis-stirling/person/11925 http://marmosetcare.com/ http://www.247animalwelfare.eu/index.html Just launched: http://refiningdogcare.com/ http://www.refiningdogcare.com/images/RDC%20Flyer.pdf

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