A proliferation of conspiracy theories has emerged during the Covid-19 health pandemic. The present study investigated individual susceptibility to conspiracy beliefs and the mediating role of Covid related conspiracy beliefs on links between personality and intentional dissemination of Covid-19 conspiracies and willingness to obtain a Covid-19 vaccine. Specifically, we focused on trait psychopathy, Machiavellianism and collective narcissism, as these traits have previously been linked to heightened conspiracy mentalities. We recruited 406 UK participants to take part in an online survey investigating personality and Covid-19 information. Machiavellianism and primary psychopathy positively predicted general and Covid specific conspiracy beliefs, whereas collective narcissism positively predicted Covid specific conspiracy beliefs only. Covid-19 conspiracy beliefs mediated the negative relationships between all traits and willingness to obtain a future vaccine. We discuss possible implications of these findings and provide direction for future research.

The performance of human subjects was investigated on fixed-interval (FI) schedules of reinforcement where responses meeting the schedule requirement produced points, later exchanged for money. For one group (the conventional FI condition) presses on a single response-panel were reinforced according to an FI schedule. For another group the procedure was the same as in the conventional FI condition, except that each response also illuminated a digital clock for 0.5 s. A third group responded on two panels; presses on one panel produced reinforcement on an FI schedule, and presses on the second panel illuminated the digital clock for 0.5 s. Responding in the conventional FI condition varied considerably both within and between subjects and different response measures showed no systematic relationship with FI value. For subjects in the other two groups, the pattern of responding on the clock-illuminating panel was scalloped, showing a pause after reinforcement followed by an accelerated response rate; the post-reinforcement pause was an increasing function, and running rate (calculated after excluding the post-reinforcement pause) was a decreasing function, of the value of the FI schedule. The data were compared with results of animal studies on FI schedules and some of the factors which affect performance on these schedules were analysed.

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ABSTRACT:Sugar beet pulb (SBP) pectins were isolated from the proteolysis hydrolysates or extracted by HCI (pH 1.5, 85°C for l-6h and pH 1.5, 4h at 40--90°C), ethylenediamine tetraacetate (EDTA, 0.2%, pH 3.3, 85°C, 1, 4h), ammonium oxalate (AO, 0.2%, pH 3.3, 4h), and sodium hexametaphosphate (SHP, 0.2%, pH 3.3, 4h). An optimal HCI extraction (pH 1.5, 85°C, 4h) yielded 16.94% pectin from the dewaxed and protein-free SBP. The HCI extracted pectin contained 84.61% galacturonic acid and low ash, 2.69%. The degree of methylation was over 60% in all the pectin samples, indicating that the sugar beet pectin is a high methoxy pectin. The degree of acetylation ranged between 10.80% and 14.78%, resulting in poor gelling capacity of the pectins. The pectins also contained 7.21 % to 10.73% neutral sugars, which were mainly arabinose and galactose. The molecular-average weights ranged between around 60000 and 90000 Da. It was found that lignin in SBP cell walls is tightly associated with pectin. Besides the esterified ferulic acid, seven other phenolic monomers, principally vanillin and p-hydroxybenzoic acid, were initially identified in the alkaline nitrobenzene oxidation of bound lignin in the isolated pectin samples.KEY WORDS Sugar Beet Pulp / Pectin / Galacturonic Acid / Sugars / Molecular Weight / Extraction / Ferulic Acid / Phenolics / Lignin / Sugar beet pulp (SBP) is a by-product of the sugar refining industry, and it is used as animal feed at relatively low price. It consists mainly of polysaccharides (approximately 70% of the dry matter), of which pectin (25%), arabinan (21 %), and cellulose (24%) prevail. It is therefore a potentially rich source. 1 • 2 The pectins of sugar beet are complex heteropolysaccharides containing galacturonic acid, rhamnose, arabinose, and galactose as the major sugar constituents. They are characterized by a backbone of ix-(l -4)-linked galacturonic acid residues, forming long smooth regions which may be interrupted by hairy regions, consisting of a 1 : 1 ratio of galacturonic acid and (l-2)-linked rhamnose residues in the backbone, and a high degree of substitution of the rhamnogalacturonan. Some rhamnose residues carry side chains, consisting mainly of (l-5)-linked a-arabinans with branches attached to position 3, (l-4)-linked /J-galactans of low polymerization degree, and highly branched (l-3,6)-linked galactans. 3 • 4 Beet pectins, however, differ from pectins isolated from apple or citrus by their high rhamnose content, 5 by the presence of acetyl groups linked to the a-o-galacturonic acid and by the presence of ferulic acid; which is associated almost exclusively with the pectic side chains and is found ester-linked to either the C-2 of arabinofurance or to the C-6 of galactopyranose residue. 6 • 7 Further studies suggest that the ferulic acid is distributed about equally between the arabinan and galactan moieties of SBP. 4 • 8 Due to the low molecular weight and the presence of acetyl groups, the pectins of SBP have poor gelling properties and low viscosity which limit its use a...