Bait Shyness and Neophobia in Several Species of Osteichthyes: An Extension of Taste Aversion Studies to the Superclass Pices

Three experiments were conducted with five species of tropical fish to investigate the phenomena of taste aversion and food neophobia. In addition, an experiment determined specifically if position in the tank could acquire conditioned aversive properties. In Experiment 1 , four habituated fish were fed novel meat-flavored pellets on the treatment day. Six were made ill within 30, 60, or 90 minutes (2 subjects each) by intragastric administration of syrup or Epicac. The following day all were fed familiar commercial pellets. On the second day after treatment, all were offered the meat-flavored pellets. Results showed longer latencies, more tasting, and decreased consumption of novel pellets. All measures differed significantly for the treatment subjects compared to their own baseline and controls. Experiment II demonstrated food neophobia in four in experienced fish. After habituation they were fed novel meat-flavored pellets but not made ill (day 0). On day 1 and 2 they received familiar diet and were made ill after the feeding on day 2. On day 3 they received familiar food again and no change in approach latency, testing response, or quantity consumed occurred. On day 4, they were offered the novel meat-flavored pellets which they refused. These results indicate that the fish associated the illness with the more novel food even though their familiar diet was temporally closer to the illness. In Experiment III five species of naive fish were habituated to 20-gallon tanks and made ill after eating in one end and not in the other. The same food was us ed in both ends. The illness end could have taken on discriminitive properties and food consumption there should have decreased, as opposed to the other safe end . The results indicated that place did not acquire aversive discriminitive properties. Food consumption decreased in quantity, food approach latencies increased and length of tasting bouts increased in both ends. These experiments were the first to use these species of fish in this type of research. The results extend the phenomena of taste aversion and food neophobia. In addition, Experiment III systematically replicated the hypothesis of relevant relations between stimuli and showed that it is easier to learn certain consequences with certain cues than with others. In this case illness was quickly associated with taste but place was treated as irrelevant

The Case for Conscientiousness: Evidence and Implications for a Personality Trait Marker of Health and Longevity

Purpose Recent initiatives by major funding agencies have emphasized translational and personalized approaches (e.g., genetic testing) to health research and health management. While such directives are appropriate, and will likely produce tangible health benefits, we seek to highlight a confluence of several lines of research showing relations between the personality dimension of conscientiousness and a variety of health-related outcomes. Methods Using a modified health process model, we review the compelling evidence linking conscientiousness to health and disease processes, including longevity, diseases, morbidity-related risk factors, health-related psycho-physiological mechanisms, health-related behaviors, and social environmental factors related to health. Conclusion We argue the accumulated evidence supports greater integration of conscientiousness into public health, epidemiological, and medical research, with the ultimate aim of understanding how facilitating more optimal trait standing might foster better health

Duel or Diversion? Conscientiousness and Executive Function in the Prediction of Health and Longevity

Response to Hall and Fong Letter to the Editor in Annals of Behavioral Medicine 45(3)

Low self-esteem prospectively predicts depression in adolescence and young adulthood

Low self-esteem and depression are strongly correlated in cross-sectional studies, yet little is known about their prospective effects on each other. The vulnerability model hypothesizes that low self-esteem serves as a risk factor for depression, whereas the scar model hypothesizes that low self-esteem is an outcome, not a cause, of depression. To test these models, the authors used 2 large longitudinal data sets, each with 4 repeated assessments between the ages of 15 and 21 years and 18 and 21 years, respectively. Cross-lagged regression analyses indicated that low self-esteem predicted subsequent levels of depression, but depression did not predict subsequent levels of self-esteem. These findings held for both men and women and after controlling for content overlap between the self-esteem and depression scales. Thus, the results supported the vulnerability model, but not the scar model, of self-esteem and depression

Different Forces, Same Consequence: Conscientiousness and Competence Beliefs are Independent Predictors of Academic Effort and Achievement

Conscientiousness and domain-specific competence beliefs are known to be highly important predictors of academic effort and achievement. Given their basis in distinct research traditions, however, these constructs have rarely been examined simultaneously. Three studies with 571, 415, and 1,535 students, respectively, found a moderate association between conscientiousness and competence beliefs, but competence beliefs meaningfully predicted both conscientiousness and academic effort, irrespective of how academic effort was measured (student report or diary data). The associations of competence beliefs with academic effort were highly domain specific, whereas conscientiousness was predictive of academic effort across a wide range of academic subjects. Conscientiousness and competence beliefs were also associated with academic achievement. Cognitive ability, although associated with academic achievement, only loosely predicted academic effort

Importance of Perioperative Processes of Care for Length of Hospital Stay after Laparoscopic Surgery

Background and Purpose: The technologic imperative has prompted the adoption of complex laparoscopic techniques by physicians with various degrees of skill. We sought to measure the impact of both case mix and physician practice (perioperative process/risk factors) on length of stay (LOS)—a common benchmark— after laparoscopic surgery. Patients and Methods: We identified 911 patients undergoing laparoscopic retroperitoneal surgery between 1996 and 2004, who comprise our study population. Patients remaining in the hospital >5 days—the 90th percentile for the sample—were classified as having a prolonged LOS. Adjusted models were developed to determine the independent association of case mix and process measures with a prolonged LOS. The likelihood ratio test was used to discern the improvement of fit of the process model compared with the case-mix model. Results: Among factors related to case mix and structure of care, increasing age (odds ratio [OR] 1.1; 95% CI 1.0, 1.2), less surgeon experience (OR 6.1; 95% CI 2.1, 17.2), male gender (OR 2.1; 95% CI 1.2, 4.0), and American Society of Anesthesiologists score of 3 or 4 (OR 7.2; 95% CI 2.2, 23.3) were independently associated with a prolonged LOS. The need for a transfusion (OR 9.4; 95% CI 33.9, 23.2), the development of a postoperative complication (OR 4.6; 95% CI 2.2, 9.5), and longer operative time (OR 1.5; 95% CI 1.3, 1.8) explained additional variation in prolonged LOS outcomes when considering perioperative process/risk factors in the model. Perioperative factors significantly improved the fit of the model (χ 2 statistic 101.8; p < 0.0001). Conclusions: Significant variation in outcomes is explained by factors describing aspects of surgical expertise. Variability in the surgical skill set is likely greatest during the laparoscopic learning curve, which raises a quality-of-care concern during the initial implementation of the technique. Policies attempting to smooth the laparoscopic learning curve, such as mentoring and skill measurement prior to credentialing, could improve the quality of care.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/63271/1/end.2006.20.776.pd

Predicting the Counterproductive Employee in a Child-to-Adult Prospective Study

Abstract The present research tested the relations between a battery of background factors and counterproductive work behaviors in a 23-year longitudinal study of young adults (N = 930). Background information, such as diagnosed adolescent conduct disorder, criminal conviction records, intelligence, and personality traits, was assessed before participants entered the labor force. These background factors were combined with work conditions at age 26 to predict counterproductive work behaviors at age 26. The results showed that people diagnosed with childhood conduct disorder were more prone to commit counterproductive work behaviors in young adulthood and that these associations were partially mediated by personality traits measured at age 18. Contrary to expectations, criminal convictions that occurred prior to entering the workforce were unrelated to counterproductive work behaviors. Job conditions and personality traits had independent effects on counterproductive work behaviors, above and beyond background factors

Calibration and Image Reconstruction for the Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD)

The Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD) is a new airborne passive microwave synthetic aperture radiometer designed to provide wide swath images of ocean surface wind speed under heavy precipitation and, in particular, in tropical cyclones. It operates at 4, 5, 6 and 6.6 GHz and uses interferometric signal processing to synthesize a pushbroom imager in software from a low profile planar antenna with no mechanical scanning. HIRAD participated in NASA s Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes (GRIP) mission during Fall 2010 as its first science field campaign. HIRAD produced images of upwelling brightness temperature over a aprox 70 km swath width with approx 3 km spatial resolution. From this, ocean surface wind speed and column averaged atmospheric liquid water content can be retrieved across the swath. The calibration and image reconstruction algorithms that were used to verify HIRAD functional performance during and immediately after GRIP were only preliminary and used a number of simplifying assumptions and approximations about the instrument design and performance. The development and performance of a more detailed and complete set of algorithms are reported here

Attractiveness Compensates for Low Status Background in the Prediction of Educational Attainment

People who are perceived as good looking or as having a pleasant personality enjoy many advantages, including higher educational attainment. This study examines (1) whether associations between physical/personality attractiveness and educational attainment vary by parental socioeconomic resources and (2) whether parental socioeconomic resources predict these forms of attractiveness. Based on the theory of resource substitution with structural amplification, we hypothesized that both types of attractiveness would have a stronger association with educational attainment for people from disadvantaged backgrounds (resource substitution), but also that people from disadvantaged backgrounds would be less likely to be perceived as attractive (amplification)

Personality change through a digital-coaching intervention: Using measurement invariance testing to distinguish between trait domain, facet, and nuance change

Recent intervention research has shown that personality traits can be modified through psychological interventions. However, it is unclear whether reported effects represent changes in the trait domain or only some facets or items. Using data ( N = 552) from a recent intervention trial, the present study examined the effects of a digital-coaching intervention on self- and observer-reported personality facets and items. We focused on participants who wanted to decrease in Negative Emotionality, increase in Conscientiousness or increase in Extraversion. We used measurement invariance testing to examine which level of the trait domain hierarchy changed during the intervention. For the self-reports, we found some heterogeneity in the effects on all three trait domains, but most notably Extraversion and Conscientiousness. Specifically, participants reported to increase strongly on sociability (Extraversion), and moderately on productiveness and organization (Conscientiousness), but not on the other facets of these trait domains. Observers generally reported small but non-significant changes, with no scalar invariance violations except for Extraversion. Overall, this suggests considerable heterogeneity in intervention-related personality change that can be overlooked if only focusing on the trait domain level. We discuss the relevance of measurement invariance testing and measurement approaches for personality development and intervention research