A Double-Track Pathway to Fast Strategy in Humans and Its Personality Correlates

The fast-slow paradigm of life history (LH) focuses on how individuals grow, mate, and reproduce at different paces. This paradigm can contribute substantially to the field of personality and individual differences provided that it is more strictly based on evolutionary biology than it has been so far. Our study tested the existence of a fast-slow continuum underlying indicators of reproductive effort¿offspring output, age at first reproduction, number, and stability of sexual partners¿in 1,043 outpatients with healthy to severely disordered personalities. Two axes emerged reflecting a double-track pathway to fast strategy, based on restricted and unrestricted sociosexual strategies. When rotated, the fast-slow and sociosexuality axes turned out to be independent. Contrary to expectations, neither somatic effort¿investment in status, material resources, social capital, and maintenance/survival¿was aligned with reproductive effort, nor a clear tradeoff between current and future reproduction was evident. Finally, we examined the association of LH axes with seven high-order personality pathology traits: negative emotionality, impulsivity, antagonism, persistence-compulsivity, subordination, and psychoticism. Persistent and disinhibited subjects appeared as fast-restricted and fast-unrestricted strategists, respectively, whereas asocial subjects were slow strategists. Associations of LH traits with each other and with personality are far more complex than usually assumed in evolutionary psychology

Investigation of lower hybrid physics through power modulation experiments on Alcator C-Mod

Lower hybrid current drive (LHCD) is an attractive tool for off-axis current profile control in magnetically confined tokamak plasmas and burning plasmas (ITER), because of its high current drive efficiency. The LHCD system on Alcator C-Mod operates at 4.6 GHz, with ~ 1 MW of coupled power, and can produce a wide range of launched parallel refractive index (n[subscript ∣∣]) spectra. A 32 chord, perpendicularly viewing hard x-ray camera has been used to measure the spatial and energy distribution of fast electrons generated by lower hybrid (LH) waves. Square-wave modulation of LH power on a time scale much faster than the current relaxation time does not significantly alter the poloidal magnetic field inside the plasma and thus allows for realistic modeling and consistent plasma conditions for different n[subscript ∣∣] spectra. Inverted hard x-ray profiles show clear changes in LH-driven fast electron location with differing n[subscript ∣∣]. Boxcar binning of hard x-rays during LH power modulation allows for ~ 1 ms time resolution which is sufficient to resolve the build-up, steady-state, and slowing-down phases of fast electrons. Ray-tracing/Fokker-Planck modeling in combination with a synthetic hard x-raydiagnostic shows quantitative agreement with the x-ray data for high n[subscript ∣∣] cases. The time histories of hollow x-ray profiles have been used to measure off-axis fast electron transport in the outer half of the plasma, which is found to be small on a slowing down time scale.United States. Dept. of Energy (Award DE-FC02-99ER54512)United States. Dept. of Energy (Award DE-AC02-76CH03073

Particle-in-cell simulation study of a lower-hybrid shock

The expansion of a magnetized high-pressure plasma into a low-pressure ambient medium is examined with particle-in-cell simulations. The magnetic field points perpendicular to the plasmas expansion direction and binary collisions between particles are absent. The expanding plasma steepens into a quasi-electrostatic shock that is sustained by the lower-hybrid (LH) wave. The ambipolar electric field points in the expansion direction and it induces together with the background magnetic field a fast E cross B drift of electrons. The drifting electrons modify the background magnetic field, resulting in its pile-up by the LH shock. The magnetic pressure gradient force accelerates the ambient ions ahead of the LH shock, reducing the relative velocity between the ambient plasma and the LH shock to about the phase speed of the shocked LH wave, transforming the LH shock into a nonlinear LH wave. The oscillations of the electrostatic potential have a larger amplitude and wavelength in the magnetized plasma than in an unmagnetized one with otherwise identical conditions. The energy loss to the drifting electrons leads to a noticeable slowdown of the LH shock compared to that in an unmagnetized plasma. Published by AIP Publishing.Funding Agencies|EPSRC [EP/N022696/1]</p

Do criminals live faster than soldiers and firefighters? : a comparison of biodemographic and psychosocial dimensions of life history theory

A high risk of morbidity-mortality caused by a harsh and unpredictable environment is considered to be associated with a fast life history (LH) strategy, commonly linked with criminal behavior. However, offenders are not the only group with a high exposure to extrinsic morbidity-mortality. In the present study, we investigated the LH strategies employed by two groups of Polish men: incarcerated offenders (N = 84) as well as soldiers and firefighters (N = 117), whose professions involve an elevated risk of injury and premature death. The subjects were asked to complete the Mini-K (used as a psychosocial LH indicator) and a questionnaire which included a number of biodemographic LH variables. Although biodemographic and psychosocial LH indicators should be closely linked with each other, the actual connection between them is unclear. Thus, this study was driven by two aims: comparing LH strategies in two groups of men with a high risk of premature morbidity-mortality and investigating the relationship between the biodemographic and psychosocial LH dimensions. The study showed that incarcerated men employed faster LH strategies than soldiers and firefighters, but only in relation to biodemographic variables (e.g., number of siblings, age of sexual initiation, life expectancy). No intergroup differences emerged regarding psychosocial LH indicators. Moreover, the correlation analysis showed a weak association between biodemographic and psychosocial LH indicators. The results strengthen the legitimacy of incorporating biodemographic LH traits into research models and indicate the need for further research on the accuracy of the Mini-K. The possible explanations for the intergroup differences in LH strategies are discussed

Measurement of fast electron transport by lower hybrid modulation experiments in Alcator C-Mod

The Lower Hybrid Current Drive (LHCD) system on Alcator C-Mod can produce spectra with a wide range of peak parallel refractive index (n||). An experiment in which LH power is square-wave modulated on a time scale much faster than the current relaxation time does not significantly alter the poloidal magnetic field inside the plasma and thus allows for realistic modeling and consistent plasma conditions for different ny spectra. Boxcar binning of hard x-rays during LH power modulation allows for time resolution sufficient to resolve the build-up, steady-state, and slowing-down of fast electrons. A transport model built in Matlab has been used to determine a fast electron pinch velocity for a high-n|| case of 1-2 m/s.United States. Dept. of Energy (US DOE award DE-FC02- 99ER54512)United States. Dept. of Energy (US DOE award DE-AC02-76CH03073

Music preference as an indicator of reproductive strategy

Life History Theory (LHT) is an evolutionary framework constructed to explain variation in human behavior and development based on a cost-benefit analysis. As such, individuals exhibit life history (LH) strategies, which reside on a slow to fast continuum. Environment is a key factor in influencing individual LH trajectories, which impact many other features including reproductive timing, amount of offspring, and parental investment (Del Giudice, Gangestad, & Kaplan, 2015 & Mittal, & Griskevicius, 2014). In addition, there are several studies linking music to environment, but few to none who examine this relationship through an evolutionary perspective. This paper investigates the relationship between LHT and music preference. It was predicted that slow strategists would prefer jazz and classical music, fast strategists would prefer rap/hip-hop, rock, and heavy metal, and individuals who preferred pop and country music would not correlate with a specific LH Strategy. Results indicated that preferences for heavy metal music have a positive relationship with short-term mating and a negative relationship with long-term mating, correlating to characteristics of fast LH strategies. There was also a negative relationship between a preference for religious music and short-term mating and a positive relationship between a preference for classical and alternative music with long-term mating, all of which correlate to characteristic of slow LH strategies. These results propose that there is a link between music preference and LH strategy

Measurement of LHCD edge power deposition through modulation techniques on Alcator C-Mod

The efficiency of LHCD on Alcator C-Mod drops exponentially with line average density. At reactor relevant densities (> 1 · 1020 [m[-3 superscript]]) no measurable current is driven. While a number of causes have been suggested, no specific mechanism has been shown to be responsible for the loss of current drive at high density. Fast modulation of the LH power was used to isolate and quantify the LHCD deposition within the plasma. Measurements from these plasmas provide unique evidence for determining a root cause. Modulation of LH power in steady plasmas exhibited no correlated change in the core temperature. A correlated, prompt response in the edge suggests that the loss in efficiency is related to a edge absorption mechanism. This follows previous results which found the generation of n||-independent SOL currents. Multiple Langmuir probe array measurements of the conducted heat conclude that the lost power is deposited near the last closed flux surface. The heat flux induced by LH waves onto the outer divertor is calculated. Changes in the neutral pressure, ionization and hard X-ray emission at high density highlight the importance of the active divertor in the loss of efficiency. Results of this study implicate a mechanism which may occur over multiple passes, leading to power absorption near the LCFS

Eating Disorders and Intrasexual Competition: Testing an Evolutionary Hypothesis among Young Women

The sexual competition hypothesis (SCH) contends that intense female intrasexual competition (ISC) is the ultimate cause of eating disorders. The SCH explains the phenomenon of the pursuit of thinness as an adaptation to ISC in the modern environment. It argues that eating disorders are pathological phenomena that arise from the mismatch between the modern environment and the inherited female adaptations for ISC. The present study has two aims. The first is to examine the relationship between disordered eating behavior (DEB) and ISC in a sample of female undergraduates. The second is to establish whether there is any relationship between disordered eating behavior and life history (LH) strategy. Participants completed a battery of questionnaires examining eating-related attitudes and behaviors, ISC, and LH strategy. A group of 206 female undergraduates were recruited. A structural equation model was constructed to analyze the data. ISC for mates was significantly associated with DEB, as predicted by the SCH. DEB was found to be predicted by fast LH strategy, which was only partially mediated by the SCH. The results of this study are supportive of the SCH and justify research on a clinical sample