1 On the basis of these findings we concluded that spatial working memory (but not visual or verbal memory) is critically dependent

on activity in the eye-movement system, consistent with the claims advanced by an oculomotor account of VSWM. However, this involvement appeared task-specific; namely, that the oculomotor system contributes when memorized locations are directly indicated by a change in visual salience (as with Corsi Blocks), but not when memorized locations are indirectly indicated by the meaning of symbolic cues (as occurs with Arrow Span). This pattern of results is consistent with the earlier finding that stimulus-driven shifts of attention triggered by peripheral cues are abolished by eye-abduction, while volitional attentional orienting made in response to symbolic cues remains unimpaired BTK inhibitors high throughput screening ( Smith et al., 2012). A key element of the method used by Ball et al. (2013)

is that eye-abduction was applied through-out the encoding, retention, and retrieval of memoranda. Therefore, while an overall selective impairment of Corsi performance was observed, it could not be established from the data whether this disruption occurred during the encoding, maintenance, or retrieval stages of the task. This is an important limitation, as our claim

the oculomotor system acts as a rehearsal mechanism for salient Stem Cell Compound Library solubility dmso spatial locations assumes eye-abduction restricts the retention of memoranda presented to the abducted temporal hemifield. However, the data presented in Ball et al. (2013) cannot rule out the possibility that eye-abduction impaired only the retrieval stage of the Corsi task, in which participants moved a mouse in order to select the memorized locations on a screen. The present study aimed to directly address this issue, and establish MYO10 the specific contribution made by the oculomotor system to encoding, maintenance, and retrieval processes in spatial working memory. We report three experiments that have examined the effect of eye-abduction on the encoding (Experiment 1), maintenance (Experiment 2), and retrieval (Experiment 3) of memoranda in spatial and visual working memory. Spatial memory was assessed using the Corsi Blocks task (De Renzi et al., 1977) and visual memory using the Visual Patterns task (Della Sala et al., 1999). Unlike selective interference paradigms that require participants to actively produce responses such as eye-movements, eye-abduction is a passive manipulation that can be selectively applied to the encoding and retrieval stages of a memory task.

Subsequent to the 2009 floods, several mines in northwest Queensland were charged for environmental offences including the LACM. The mine company was eventually fined $0.5 (Australian) million Pifithrin-�� mw in March 2012 for causing serious environmental harm after its storage

ponds discharged waste water into the Saga and Inca creeks (Queensland Government, 2012a). Numerous studies are available on soil-and sediment-associated metals and metalloids (hereafter referred to as ‘metals’) within urban and industrial centres in Australia (e.g. Birch et al., 1997, Birch and Taylor, 1999, Birch and Vanderhayden, 2011, Chattopadhyay et al., 2003, Ford and Dale, 1996, Laidlaw and Taylor, 2011, Laidlaw et al., 2014, Markus and McBratney, 1996, Martley et al.,

2004 and Rouillon et al., 2013). By contrast, however, research into the environmental effects of mining on remote rangeland agricultural catchments, is notably absent. This lack of research is surprising given that the minerals sector is a major industry in Australia, contributing Selleckchem TSA HDAC approximately 8% to the nation’s annual gross domestic product (Roarty, 2010). Although interest in northwest Queensland environments is increasing (e.g. Mackay and Taylor, 2013, Mackay et al., 2011, Taylor and Hudson-Edwards, 2008 and Taylor et al., 2009), much of the earlier work focused largely on ecology studies (e.g. Hoffman et al., 2000, Hoffman et al., 2002, Hortle and Person, 1990 and Pyatt and Pyatt, 2004). On the whole, the impact of mining on channel and floodplain environments on the region has received little attention in peer-reviewed literature. In general, an extensive research literature examines heavy metal transport and storage in temperate environments whereas a comparatively smaller body of work addresses effects in arid and semi-arid systems, even though such effects

may be equally widespread (Taylor and Hudson-Edwards, 2008). Significant limitations exist, however, in applying models across regions or hydroclimatic environments, because of the heterogeneity of responses between river systems (see Miller, 1997 for a review of these issues) or even within an individual system clonidine (Marcus et al., 2001). River networks are pivotal for the transport, dispersal and storage of contaminants, with up to 90% of the total metal load in a catchment transported (and stored) by river-related processes (e.g. Macklin et al., 2006, Marcus, 1987, Miller, 1997, Taylor, 2007 and Walling and Owens, 2003). Contaminants may be transported in solution or combined with mineral grains. They could also mobilise as grain surface coatings or adsorbe to grain surfaces (Miller and Orbock Miller, 2007). The physical and chemical availability of contaminants to the system can have measureable impacts on sediment quality, which in turn may increase potential exposure risk factors for human activity associated with channels and floodplains (cf.

It is likely that this channel was one of the Brenta river mouths cited find more by Comel (1968) and by Bondesan and Meneghel (2004) closed by the Venetians in 1191 in order to slow down the filling process of the lagoon. Before this diversion the Brenta river flowed to the city of Venice through the ancient “Canal de Botenigo” into the Giudecca Channel (Fig. 3) through the island of Tronchetto. This

hypothesis is confirmed by the presence of a similar channel deposition in the transect B–B′ between Santa Marta and the Canal Grande shown on page 20 in Zezza (2008). This palaeochannel is further described in Zezza (2010), where it is observed that in the city area “the lithostratigraphic model of the subsoil reveals that alluvial processes lasted until the verge of the Holocene Period and, furthermore, that the Flandrian transgression determined first all the widening and successively the partial Selleckchem AZD6244 filling of the alluvial channel, incised into the caranto and evolved into a tide channel during the Holocene”. Finally in the southern part of profile 4 (Fig. 2d) one can see the chaotic and structureless filling of a recent superficial palaeochannel (CL3). This kind of acoustic signal probably corresponds to a sandy filling of the channel. The absence

of stratified reflectors implies a highly energetic environment and a fast channel filling. The palaeochannel CL3 corresponds to the “Coa de Botenigo” (Fig. 4b). The map of the areal extension of all palaeochannels reconstructed in the study area is shown in Fig. 4 for five different times: Fig. 4a represents the palaeochannels that were dated between 2000 BC and 0 AD, active during the Bronze, Iron Age and Roman Times reconstructed using as a basis the acoustic survey and the geological data. This corresponds

to a natural environment immediately before the first stable human settlements. Instead, the map of 1691, which is one of the first detailed cartographic representation of the area, refers to a time when some of the main river and channel paths were already modified by the Venetians. Fig. 4b–d depicts not only the reconstructed palaeochannels but also channel paths (and when available the land extension), digitized from the historical maps of Acesulfame Potassium 1691, 1810, 1901, respectively. The present situation is shown in Fig. 4e. Many palaeochannels were reconstructed in the area, adding more information to the historical maps. In general they flow almost parallel in the west-east direction, with a slightly sinuous path. This orientation can be explained by the fact that this hydrographic system probably belonged to the Brenta megafan (Bondesan and Meneghel, 2004 and Fontana et al., 2008). A few palaeochannels have a north–south direction. This orientation may be related to the natural development of tidal networks. We show the patterns of the palaeochannels that existed before or that formed immediately after the lagoon expansion in the area (Fig. 4a).