This article seeks to examine the co-productions of security and emerging technologies in the two contexts of forensic genetics and forensic facial identifcation. These surfacing co-productions, deemed here as 'forensic biosecurity', are evolving rapidly in both theoretical and practical terms. Defnitions and conceptualisations of security are contingent and multiple, impacting forensic biological techniques and innovations in both predictable and unpredictable ways. The military, counter-terrorism, law enforcement, immigration, customs, border patrol, mass disasters, cold case reviews, health, defence, private security, and biometric applications are just a few of the many security environments where forensic biological techniques are applied. The continual development of variations in forensic genetics and facial identifcation renders a futher blurring of traditional evidence with that of intelligence. Drawing in particular from Joly's (in: S. Hilgartner, C. Miller, and R. Hagendijk (eds) Science and democracy: Making knowledge and making power in the biosciences and beyond, Taylor and Francis, London, 2015) work on emerging technologies, forensic biosecurity is analysed from a science and technology studies (STS) perspective. An emerging technology in the initial stages is thought to be highly flexible with the potential impacts on society and criminal justice being possibly difficult to predict. Once the science and/or technology has become entrenched and mainstream, it may be difficult to change. The enthusiasm portrayed by law enforcement and security agencies regarding emerging technologies, shows that it is important to remain somewhat cautious about the proliferation of these techniques. While such science and technologies appear to be effective and innovative in the present, it is difficult to accurately forecast or predict the future consequences of such innovations.

The habituation-dishabituation (H-D) paradigm is an established measure of sensory perception in animals. However, it has rarely been applied to canine olfaction. It proposes that animals will lose interest in, or habituate to, a stimulus after successive exposures but will regain interest in, or dishabituate to, a novel stimulus if they can perceive it. This study assessed an H-D test's practicability to determine dogs' olfactory detection thresholds (ODTs) for a neutral odorant. A random selection of mixed-breed pet dogs (n = 26) participated in two H-D tests in a repeated-measures crossover design. They were first habituated to a carrier odor and then presented with either ascending concentrations of n-amyl acetate in the known ODT range (experimental condition) or repeated carrier odor presentations (control condition). No single odor concentration elicited dishabituation in the majority of the dogs. However, individual dogs dishabituated at differing experimental concentrations significantly more often than in the control condition (p = .012). These findings provide some tentative support for using this method in studying canine olfaction. However, further assessment and refinement are needed before it can be a viable alternative to traditional ODT measurement.

This study investigated the effects of a brief mindfulness meditation induction on trait mindfulness, and its components, mind-wandering, and negative affect, in comparison to control conditions. Fifty-five non-meditators (M = 48 years, SD = 16 years" 62% female) completed pre- and post-intervention measures of trait mindfulness, negative affect, and both state and trait mind-wandering. Participants were randomly allocated to one of three 15 min intervention conditions: brief mindfulness meditation (MM) induction, progressive muscle relaxation (PMR" active control), or viewing a Ted Talk video (passive control). There were non-significant increases in trait mindfulness and its components, non-significant decreases in mind-wandering and negative affect, and the groups did not differ significantly from each other. However, medium and large within-group effect sizes were found for attention and non-judging, respectively with other effect sizes being either small or negligible. Time x condition interaction effect sizes were medium for trait mindfulness, acceptance, and non-judging, and small or negligible for all others. The 15-min brief mindfulness meditation induction was insufficient to produce statistically significant changes in trait mindfulness, attention, non-judging, mind-wandering or negative affect. Although the time x condition interaction for acceptance was significant, this relates to increases in the MM group in comparison to decreases in the control conditions, which needs further investigation. The medium within-group effect size for attention suggests that longer mindfulness meditation inductions may result in larger increased levels of attention. Larger samples are recommended for future studies, with longitudinal designs to determine any lasting beneficial impacts.

Purpose - Criminology both as a field of study and as a practice draws on a broad range of disciplines from the social, behavioural, human, natural and medical sciences. However, over recent times, the natural and medical sciences have been dismissed, overlooked and even ridiculed, largely since the rise of critical criminology and related contemporary conflict and social harm approaches from the 1960s onwards. This has led to a chasm emerging between the study of criminology and the practice of criminology such as within a policing context. This paper aims to provide a review of an emerging forensic biological method, that of neuroscience, within a criminological context, to illustrate the importance of criminology embracing and reawakening its natural and medical science roots. Design/methodology/approach - The paper draws on a conceptual design to realign criminology with the full range of disciplines used to inform its theory and application. Findings - Through illustrating the role of forensic neuroscience, the paper reawakens the scientific method and inquiry of criminology reflecting the importance of the discipline being, and remaining, multi and trans-disciplinary in nature. The paper, while reflecting on the limitations of scientific method and inquiry, outlines the strengths this approach to criminology engenders, promoting and delivering a scientific-based research agenda that aims to support industry partners in the prevention, disruption and reduction of crime, disorder and threats to public security.Practical implications - Firstly, it is important for criminology as a field of study to (re)engage with its scientific method and inquiry. Secondly, criminology, by engaging in robust scientific method and inquiry, has a significant contribution to make to professional practice and the work of industry professionals. Thirdly, while there are limitations to such scientific method and inquiry, it should not lead to this component of criminology being discarded. Fourthly, there is a need for contemporary research in the area of scientific method and inquiry and its application to criminological contexts, including that of police practice. Finally, by engaging in scientific method and inquiry that is evidence based, a chasm between the field of study and the practice associated with criminology can be addressed.Originality/value - This paper addresses the gap between criminology as a field of study and as a practice by reengaging with scientific method and inquiry, illustrating the need and value of criminology being and remaining multi-and trans-disciplinary, ensuring professions underpinned by criminology are supported in their practice.

Biosecurity screening in Australia includes detector dogs that search for potential biological hazards arriving in luggage and mail. To further improve biosecurity screening, we propose that these detector dogs could be used to screen for high-risk invasive insects; in particular, the brown marmorated stink bug Halyomorpha halys (BMSB) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae). This research project investigated the feasibility of the use of training aids as odour proxies when conditioning dogs to detect live, exotic insects that are inaccessible for training purposes. Chemical odour comparisons using headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) in combination with canine scent detection testing were used to assess two potential training aids – a novel scent extract and dead specimens - for their efficacy in training for live insect detection.

A locally abundant pentatomid species, the bronze orange bug Musgraveia sulciventris (BOB) (Hemiptera: Tessaratomidae), was used as an experimental model to test these training aids and provide a proof-of-concept for future application of these training aids in BMSB detection training. Headspace GC-MS analyses identified considerable similarities in volatile organic compounds (VOCs) between live BOB specimens and both BOB training aids. Following this, canine scent detection testing demonstrated that among biosecurity detector dogs (n = 4), most were able to generalize from scent extract (2/2) or dead specimens (1/2) to live specimens of that species (p = 0.008). A follow-up experiment further assessed the use of scent extract and investigated how dogs might generalize between different insect species for insect detection training. This experiment revealed that, after being trained with only BOB scent extract, all biosecurity detector dogs (n = 4) generalized to dead BOB specimens (p < 0.05), and only one dog generalized to dead BMSB specimens with sufficient accuracy (p < 0.05). However, contrary to expectations, the dogs also all falsely responded to several unrelated insect species in the following trials.

Subsequent experiments compared chemical odour profiles of BMSB training aids and live BMSB specimens using headspace GC-MS and revealed substantial VOC similarities, supporting their use for canine BMSB detection. In particular, BMSB scent extract appeared to have a very similar composition to live specimens.

Finally, using a novel method - a habituation-dishabituation paradigm – we tested dogs’ (n = 13) detection threshold of the BMSB scent extract, revealing dogs’ apparent ability to perceive the scent extract at very low concentrations - between the lowest concentration tested, a 1:1000 extract-pentane dilution, and 1:500 dilution. The novel application of this paradigm for determining canine odour thresholds had not been tested previously.

Overall, the findings of this research suggest that scent extract and dead specimens may be effective and practical training aids for training biosecurity detector dogs for live BMSB detection, and these training aids are now being used to train biosecurity detector dogs to screen for BMSB in Australia. Following future research, this method may also be applicable for other species of high-risk insect pests.

Objective: This study investigated if meditators living in India (Eastern Meditators: EMs) differed from those living in Western countries (WMs) in self-reported levels of mindfulness, depression, anxiety, stress, and life satisfaction and the association between these variables.

Method: The 229 participants (18-81 years, M = 34.7 years, SD = 13.3; 52% EMs) completed scales measuring depression, anxiety, stress, life satisfaction, and mindfulness and its components.

Results: WMs indicated significantly higher levels of acceptance and non-judging than EMs, but similar levels of mindful attention. For EMs, mindful attention was negatively associated with acceptance and non-judging, while for WMs these variables were not associated. WMs reported lower levels of depression, anxiety and stress than EMs but the groups did not differ in levels of life satisfaction. Multiple regression analyses showed that, for both WMs and EMs, acceptance explained significant proportions of the variance in depression, anxiety, and stress. Acceptance and non-judging explained significant proportions of the variance in life satisfaction for WMs, but only mindful attention did so for EMs.

Conclusions: Results suggest that Western and Eastern conceptualisations of mindfulness and associated meditation practices may differ in critical ways. There is a need to develop valid mindfulness scales for use in Eastern collectivist cultures.

Key points

What is already known about this topic:

1. Mindfulness meditation (MM) alleviates symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress and improves life satisfaction.
2. Acceptance and non-judging components of mindfulness are negatively correlated with anxiety and stress but are positively related to life satisfaction.
3. The above findings are mainly from studies that used Western samples, with limited cross-cultural studies conducted to replicate the findings in Eastern samples.

This study investigated if trait mindfulness and its components, mindful attention, acceptance, and non-judging correlate negatively with self-reported and indirect markers of mind-wandering. The 552 participants of the study completed an anonymous online questionnaire consisting of trait mindfulness and mind-wandering scales. They also completed the computer-based Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART), an objective measure of mind-wandering. The total mindfulness score and acceptance and non-judging subscale scores were strongly negatively correlated with both self-reported trait mind-wandering (TMW) and SART indices of mind-wandering. In contrast, attention was significantly positively correlated with both. These findings suggest that trait mindfulness conceptualised as a multi-component construct, but not a uni-component one, is probably an opposing construct to trait mind-wandering. Furthermore, mindfulness and its components, acceptance and non-judging, are associated with a reduction in the more common form of SART errors. However, only the acceptance component made a unique contribution to the variance in TMW and SART performance. Therefore, it is advisable for researchers to specify whether they investigated mindfulness as a uni-component or multi-component construct. Furthermore, it would be beneficial if future research investigates the relationship of mindfulness and its components with mind-wandering further by also incorporating a measure of state mindfulness.

Understanding how reinforced variability contributes to both animal and human learning is critical in contexts where behavioural variability is an essential attribute of the operant behaviour. Reinforced variability may prove to have some benefits not evident in traditional operant learning procedures, such as its ability to promote generalisation of the operant to new contexts (e.g., Kong, McEwan, Bizo, & Foster, 2019; Neuringer, Deiss & Olson, 2000), and adding to its resistance to extinction (Neuringer, Kornell & Olufs, 2001). While inconsistencies exist between results from animal and human studies, there is evidence to suggest that reinforced variability may prove to be beneficial as a learning tool for humans in areas such as creativity, skill acquisition, as well as in the development of more productive treatments for some areas of psychopathology (e.g., Hopkinson & Neuringer, 2003; Saldana & Neuringer, 1998). Both empirical and applied studies provide evidence for the importance of understanding reinforced variability as a deeper understanding of it may allow for further development of learning technologies for promoting and maintaining variable responding in contexts where that is a desired characteristic of behaviour.

The series of experiments in this dissertation addressed methodological concerns that have been raised by others in previous studies on reinforced variability (e.g., Doolan & Bizo, 2013; Maes & van der Goot, 2006; Neuringer et al., 2000) in an attempt to identify those factors that may moderate the learning of a response sequence by humans and non-humans. These experiments have explored the role reinforced variability plays in the learning of target sequences by modifying the methodology of previous studies to more closely replicate the work of Neuringer et al. (2000) with three species (humans, hens & possums).

For the human component of the dissertation, three experiments explored the role of reinforced variability in sequence learning. In Experiment 1, in separate conditions, participants either had a visual record of the sequence components, as they were selected and displayed on a computer screen or had no record of the sequence components, and in both conditions, participants were given feedback after the last component was entered. Participants earned points for producing the target sequence. In conditions where variability in some aspect of the operant was a contingent requirement for reinforcement, participants experienced a secondary contingency for which they could earn points for producing sequences that met a variability criterion. In Experiment 2, the sequence length was manipulated and was either nine- or 12-digits long. Experiment 3 was a partial replication of Experiments 1 and 2 but with minimal task instruction. For the shorter six-digit sequences used in the No-Record condition of Experiment 1, direct reinforcement of the target sequence promoted higher production of the target sequence compared to the reinforcement of sequence variability. For a nine-digit sequence, the added requirement of variability promoted better learning of the target sequence than did direct reinforcement of the target sequence alone. There was no difference between the groups for the 12-digit sequence. The results of Experiment 1 replicate previous findings with humans on this procedure, while the results from Experiment 2, where a nine-digit sequence was required, were more consistent with reports from studies using a similar procedure with animals rather than human participants. The removal of detailed instructions in Experiment 3 appeared to increase the difference in the pattern of responding for the two groups for the six-digit sequence condition, suggesting that the difference between animal and human studies on behavioural variability is both a function of instruction and display of the just-completed sequence.

For the non-human component of the dissertation, five separate experiments explored factors that affect behavioural variability and learning by hens (Experiments 4, 6, 7, & 8) and possums (Experiment 5). Experiments 4 and 5 were partial replications of Neuringer et al. (2000) and explored the role of reinforced variability in sequence learning in non-human animals. For Experiment 4, eighteen Shaver Starcross hens (Gallus gallus domesticus) served as subjects. The experiments consisted of the same five experimental phases, as described by Neuringer et al. (2000). The target sequences consisted of Left (L) and Right (R) key pecks and were the same for all hens and experimental groups across each phase (RLL, LLR, RRLR, LR, & RLLRL). The hens in the Control group could earn reinforcement for emitting the target sequence only. The hens in the Variable group could earn reinforcement for emitting the target sequence and producing a sequence that met the variability criteria. The hens in the Any group could also earn reinforcement for emitting the target sequence and on a variable interval (VI) 60-s schedule for any sequence they entered after the time interval had passed.

Six Brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) served as the subjects for Experiment 5. The general procedure and first three phases of the experiment were the same as described above for Experiment 4, and the remaining phases were replaced with the remaining possible three-component sequences, RRL, LRL, RRR, LLL, RLR, LLR. Variability criteria for secondary reinforcement only facilitated more production of the target sequence compared to when there was secondary reinforcement for any sequence that was produced for the first phase of Experiment 4. There was no difference in target sequence production between the possums’ that only received direct reinforcement of the target sequence and those possums’ that were exposed to the secondary variability schedule in any of the five phases. In Phases 1-5 of Experiment 5, the pattern of responding was consistent with those reported by Neuringer et al. (2000) with their rats that were exposed to the secondary variability schedule producing more target sequences than the other experimental groups, however, the difference between groups was not significant. For the remaining phases, the Control group (i.e., direct reinforcement of the target sequence) produced the target sequence more frequently than the other experimental groups. However, the difference was not significant.

In studies with humans, it has been suggested that responding may not be under the control of the reinforcement contingencies and that rules may influence responding such that behaviour must be considered rule-governed rather than contingency shaped, however, the comparable response patterns across species within this series of experiments suggest that there may be other individual differences that impact on the influence reinforced variability has on learning of a target sequence that had not yet been considered in previous research.

A final series of experiments with hens explored the role that reinforced behavioural variability may play in the learning of a different non-sequence target behaviour by hens. Eighteen Shaver Starcross hens served as subjects in Experiments 6 - 8 and were required to make two screen pecks within a set target distance (distance bin) on a touchscreen to earn reinforcement. Experiment 6 was used as a baseline phase to ensure that the varying distance requirements were physically possible for the hens to complete. In Experiment 7, reinforcement was available for producing two consecutive pecks within the target distance bin, hens in the variability group would also earn reinforcement if their two consecutive pecks met a variability criterion. The hens could be exposed to both experimental conditions throughout the experiment as they were randomly allocated at the start of each phase. Experiment 8 compared six naive hens to six experienced hens from Experiment 7, to assess the role that previous exposure to the variability contingency may have on learning the target behaviour

The original article by Neuringer et al. (2000) has been cited numerous times as a potential ‘game-changer' in both experimental and applied psychology, however, the findings of this series of experiments suggest that the benefits of reinforced variability in promoting the acquisition of a novel behaviour that Neuringer et al. reported with rats do not readily generalise across species or behavioural tasks. This calls into question the utility and potential benefits that might result from the application of these general principles in applied settings. It also highlights the limiting factors such as the nature of the operant, the difficulty of the task, and the instructions given to participants are important moderators of the impact of reinforcing behavioural variability on learning.