Cultural Phylogenetics of the Tupi Language Family in Lowland South America

Background: Recent advances in automated assessment of basic vocabulary lists allow the construction of linguistic phylogenies useful for tracing dynamics of human population expansions, reconstructing ancestral cultures, and modeling transition rates of cultural traits over time. Methods: Here we investigate the Tupi expansion, a widely-dispersed language family in lowland South America, with a distance-based phylogeny based on 40-word vocabulary lists from 48 languages. We coded 11 cultural traits across the diverse Tupi family including traditional warfare patterns, post-marital residence, corporate structure, community size, paternity beliefs, sibling terminology, presence of canoes, tattooing, shamanism, men’s houses, and lip plugs. Results/Discussion: The linguistic phylogeny supports a Tupi homeland in west-central Brazil with subsequent major expansions across much of lowland South America. Consistently, ancestral reconstructions of cultural traits over the linguistic phylogeny suggest that social complexity has tended to decline through time, most notably in the independent emergence of several nomadic hunter-gatherer societies. Estimated rates of cultural change across the Tupi expansion are on the order of only a few changes per 10,000 years, in accord with previous cultural phylogenetic results in other languag

OpenMx 2.0:Extended Structural Equation and Statistical Modeling

The new software package OpenMx 2.0 for structural equation and other statistical modeling is introduced and its features are described. OpenMx is evolving in a modular direction and now allows a mix-and-match computational approach that separates model expectations from fit functions and optimizers. Major backend architectural improvements include a move to swappable open-source optimizers such as the newly-written CSOLNP. Entire new methodologies such as Item Factor analysis (IRT) and State-space modeling have been implemented. New model expectation functions including support for the expression of models in LISREL syntax and a simplified multigroup expectation function are available. Ease-of-use improvements include helper functions to standardize model parameters and compute their Jacobian-based standard errors, access to model components through standard R $ mechanisms, and improved tab completion from within the R Graphical User Interface

Heritability of Intraindividual Mean and Variability of Positive and Negative Affect : Genetic Analysis of Daily Affect Ratings Over a Month

Positive affect (e.g., attentiveness) and negative affect (e.g., upset) fluctuate over time. We examined genetic influences on interindividual differences in the day-to-day variability of affect (i.e., ups and downs) and in average affect over the duration of a month. Once a day, 17-year-old twins in the United Kingdom (N = 447) rated their positive and negative affect online. The mean and standard deviation of each individual’s daily ratings across the month were used as the measures of that individual’s average affect and variability of affect. Analyses revealed that the average of negative affect was significantly heritable (.53), but the average of positive affect was not; instead, the latter showed significant shared environmental influences (.42). Fluctuations across the month were significantly heritable for both negative affect (.54) and positive affect (.34). The findings support the two-factor theory of affect, which posits that positive affect is more situational and negative affect is more dispositional

Beware a Homogenized Press

The John Peter Zenger Award for Freedom of the Press and the People's Right to Know, 1978 / Beware a Homogenized Press, An Address by Robert H. EstabrookIncludes list of previous Zenger Award winners and foreword by Donald W. Carson, University of Arizona.This title from the Zenger Awards collection is made available by the University of Arizona School of Journalism and the University of Arizona Libraries. For more information about the Zenger Awards, visit http://journalism.arizona.edu/zenger

Personal Papers (MS 80-0002)

Letter from Robert J. Lewis to Harris L. Kempner discussing his and Nell's plans for a trip to Houston and asking if Harris could have a luncheon with them

Perceptions of worksite support and employee obesity, activity, and diet

OBJECTIVES: To examine the associations of perceptions of organizational commitment to employee health and coworker physical activity and eating behaviors with body mass index (BMI), physical activity, and eating behaviors in hospital employees. METHODS: Baseline data from 899 employees participating in a worksite weight-gain prevention trial were analyzed. RESULTS: Greater perception of organizational commitment to employee health was associated with lower BMI. Greater perceptions of coworker healthy eating and physical activity behaviors were associated with fruit and vegetable and saturated fat consumption and physical activity, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Improving organizational commitment and facilitating supportive interpersonal environments could improve obesity control among working populations

Weight loss motivations: a latent class analysis approach

OBJECTIVE: To identify subgroups of adults with respect to weight loss motivations and assess factors associated with subgroup membership. METHOD: A cross-sectional survey among 414 overweight/ obese employees in 12 Massachusetts high schools was conducted. Latent class analysis (LCA) defined distinct weight loss motivation classes. Multinomial logistic regression assessed participant characteristics with class membership. RESULTS: Three classes emerged: improving health; improving health and looking/feeling better; and improving health, looking/feeling, better and improving personal/social life. Compared to class 1, class 2 was more likely to be female and younger and class 3 was more likely to be female, younger, have children at home, and perceive themselves as very over-weight. CONCLUSIONS: Findings can inform targeted weight loss interventions