The dimensions of personality in humans and other animals: A comparative and evolutionary perspective

This paper considers the structure and proximate mechanisms of personality in humans and other animals. Significant similarities were found between personality structures and mechanisms across species in at least two broad traits: Extraversion and Neuroticism. The factor space tapped by these personality dimensions is viewed as a general integrative framework for comparative and evolutionary studies of personality in humans and other animals. Most probably, the cross-species similarities between the most broad personality dimensions like Extraversion and Neuroticism as well as other Big Five factors reflect conservative evolution: constrains on evolution imposed by physiological, genetic and cognitive mechanisms. Lower-order factors, which are more species- and situation-specific, would be adaptive, reflecting correlated selection on and trade-offs between many traits

The Statistical Analysis of Behavioural Latency Measures

This article concerns two important problems with the statistical analysis of behavioural latency measures: they typically have severely skewed distributions, and are often censored (truncated). These problems, however, were not generally recognised by animal behaviour researchers: most people either allot an arbitrary score to all censored values or simply ignore them. Yet, such treatments could easily lead to dubious conclusions because of reduction of power and spuriously significant p-values. Thus, one should always use specially devised survival analysis methods whenever the study involves the measurement of censored latencies. The present article provides a short catalogue of some appropriate references, concentrating on the methods which are not “standard” for the common biomedical applications of survival analysis, but may be crucial in many behavioural studies. The statistical analysis of uncensored latencies is also discussed, with a particular attention to the analysis of variance

Habituation of Predator Inspection and Boldness in the Guppy (Poecilia reticulata)

This study examined habituation of the predator inspection behavior in the guppy (Poecilia reticulata) and its relationship with boldness (open field locomotion). Two different strategies were discovered: (1) initial inspection of a predator-like fish, correlated with boldness; (2) subsequent surveillance, governed by a random underlying process and unrelated with boldness. The surveillance inspection is probably linked with anti-predator vigilance. Possible implications to between-population variation in inspection behavior are discussed

Multivariate methods and small sample size: combining with small effect size

This manuscript is the author's response to: "Dochtermann, N.A. & Jenkins, S.H. Multivariate methods and small sample\ud sizes, Ethology, 117, 95-101." and accompanies this paper: "Budaev, S. Using principal components and factor analysis in animal behaviour research: Caveats and guidelines. Ethology, 116, 472-480"\u

Individuality in Fish Behavior: Ecology and Comparative Psychology

This work is a brief review of a series of studies of the phenotypic organization and ecological significance of individual differences in fish behavior. The following species were studied: guppy Poecilia retuculata, lion-headed cichlid Steatocranus cassuarius, and the convict cichlid Archocentrus nigrofasciatum. We developed methods for the analysis of individual differences in fish behavior and studied their structure, development, and ecological and evolutionary significance

Fermi-LAT kills dark matter interpretations of AMS-02 data. Or not?

A number of papers attempt to explain the positron anomaly in cosmic rays, observed by PAMELA and AMS-02, in terms of dark matter (DM) decays or annihilations. However, the recent progress in cosmic gamma-ray studies challenges these attempts. Indeed, as we show, any rational DM model explaining the positron anomaly abundantly produces final state radiation and Inverse Compton gamma rays, which inevitably leads to a contradiction with Fermi-LAT isotropic diffuse gamma-ray background measurements. Furthermore, the Fermi-LAT observation of Milky Way dwarf satellites, supposed to be rich in DM, revealed no significant signal in gamma rays. We propose a generic approach in which the major contribution to cosmic rays comes from the dark matter disc and prove that the tension between the DM origin of the positron anomaly and the cosmic gamma-ray observations can be relieved. We consider both a simple model, in which DM decay/annihilate into charged leptons, and a model-independent minimal case of particle production, and we estimate the optimal thickness of DM disk. Possible mechanisms of formation and its properties are briefly discussed.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Metaphors of disease in the russian press [Метафоры болезни в российской прессе]

Russian Science Foundation: 16-18-02102This article is published with the support of Russian Science Foundation (Pro-ject number 16-18-02102)

Safety and Reverence: How Roman Catholic Liturgy Can Respond to the COVID-19 Pandemic

The current COVID-19 pandemic is a major challenge for many religious denominations. The Roman Catholic Church strongly depends on physical communal worship and sacraments. Disagreements grow concerning the best balance between safety and piety. To address this issue, I review the major transmission risks for the SARS-CoV-2 virus and list certain measures to enhance the safety of the Roman Catholic Liturgy without compromising its intrinsic beauty and reverent spiritual attitude. This can be achieved through assimilation of several traditional elements into the modern liturgy. I emphasize that religious leadership and decision-making should be transparent and based on inclusiveness, pluralism, best scientific evidence and voluntary cooperation.publishedVersio