Personality composition, group norms, and group effectiveness in military work teams

An internet-based field study of 40 military service teams explored relationships among personality variables - agreeableness and conscientiousness, process variables - task and social group norms, and group effectiveness. At the individual level of analysis, it was hypothesized that agreeableness and conscientiousness were positively related to individual performance. At the group level of analysis for agreeableness and conscientiousness, it was hypothesized that the group average, minimum, maximum, and variance scores, as well as the percentage of team members scoring above the mean were related to group effectiveness - group performance, group cohesion, and group viability. Each operationalization has distinct implications for work teams. Groups high in agreeableness and conscientiousness were expected to be more effective than other types of groups. Group task and social norms were expected to correlate with conscientiousness and agreeableness, respectively. Groups with high scores for both task and social norms were expected to be more effective than other types of groups. Surveys and performance ratings were administered and collected electronically over the internet. Supervisors provided performance ratings for individuals (N = 198) and work teams (N = 40), as well as ratings of group viability for teams. Eight of nine hypotheses were at least partially supported. Individual performance is related to agreeableness and conscientiousness. Group average, minimum, maximum, and variance scores, and percentage of team members scoring above the mean correlate with group effectiveness. Groups high in agreeableness and conscientiousness are more cohesive than other types of groups. Group conscientiousness is related to group task norms, and group agreeableness is related to group social norms. Groups with high levels of task and social norms are more cohesive than other types of groups. Post hoc analyses revealed that task interdependence moderates relationships between group conscientiousness and group task norms, as well as group agreeableness and group viability. In addition to illustrating that personality is related to performance at the individual and group levels, this study extends the current literature on group composition by demonstrating linkages between group conscientiousness and group task norms, and group agreeableness and group social norms. Results carry implications for staffing specialists by demonstrating that high levels of conscientiousness and agreeableness are related to increased cohesion, which is related to group performance. A summary of findings is presented, and an agenda for future research is suggested

Conservation implications of genetic variation in three rare species endemic to Florida rosemary scrub

Habitat conversion and fire suppression during the last 50 yr have greatly reduced and altered Florida scrub vegetation, resulting in threats to the persistence of its unique flora. As part of a larger conservation project, we investigated patterns of isozyme variation in three rare perennial scrub plants with overlapping ranges endemic to Florida rosemary scrub on the Lake Wales Ridge. All three species have low levels of genetic variation, comparable to or lower than those generally reported for rare plants with restricted geographic ranges. Liatris ohlingerae has more than twice the expected heterozygosity of the other two species, with little population differentiation. In contrast, Hypericum cumulicola has highly differentiated populations with little apparent interpopulation gene flow and heterozygote deficiencies indicative of inbreeding. Eryngium cuneifolium, the species with the narrowest range and fewest populations, has intermediate values for genetic parameters. Although the three species have narrow and overlapping geographic ranges and similar habitat specificity, we discuss how optimal conservation of each species differs

Group personality composition and performance in military service teams

A field study of intact military teams tested hypotheses about group personality composition on conscientiousness and agreeableness. Members of 47 intact military service teams completed questionnaires assessing individual personality traits, and their supervisors rated team performance. Group average agreeableness and conscientiousness correlated positively with group performance ratings, as did the group minimum score for both traits. Variance for group agreeableness correlated negatively with group performance. Groups with high scores on both conscientiousness and agreeableness received higher performance ratings than all other group compositions, pointing to the possibility of synergy of complementary, collective personality traits in work teams. Results carry implications for theory, application, and future research

Transcriptional responses of Arabidopsis thaliana plants to As (V) stress

Background Arsenic is toxic to plants and a common environmental pollutant. There is a strong chemical similarity between arsenate [As (V)] and phosphate (Pi). Whole genome oligonucleotide microarrays were employed to investigate the transcriptional responses of Arabidopsis thaliana plants to As (V) stress. Results Antioxidant-related genes (i.e. coding for superoxide dismutases and peroxidases) play prominent roles in response to arsenate. The microarray experiment revealed induction of chloroplast Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD) (at2g28190), Cu/Zn SOD (at1g08830), as well as an SOD copper chaperone (at1g12520). On the other hand, Fe SODs were strongly repressed in response to As (V) stress. Non-parametric rank product statistics were used to detect differentially expressed genes. Arsenate stress resulted in the repression of numerous genes known to be induced by phosphate starvation. These observations were confirmed with qRT-PCR and SOD activity assays. Conclusion Microarray data suggest that As (V) induces genes involved in response to oxidative stress and represses transcription of genes induced by phosphate starvation. This study implicates As (V) as a phosphate mimic in the cell by repressing genes normally induced when available phosphate is scarce. Most importantly, these data reveal that arsenate stress affects the expression of several genes with little or unknown biological functions, thereby providing new putative gene targets for future research

Genetic load and transgenic mitigating genes in transgenic Brassica rapa (field mustard) × Brassica napus (oilseed rape) hybrid populations

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>One theoretical explanation for the relatively poor performance of <it>Brassica rapa </it>(weed) × <it>Brassica napus </it>(crop) transgenic hybrids suggests that hybridization imparts a negative genetic load. Consequently, in hybrids genetic load could overshadow any benefits of fitness enhancing transgenes and become the limiting factor in transgenic hybrid persistence. Two types of genetic load were analyzed in this study: random/linkage-derived genetic load, and directly incorporated genetic load using a transgenic mitigation (TM) strategy. In order to measure the effects of random genetic load, hybrid productivity (seed yield and biomass) was correlated with crop- and weed-specific AFLP genomic markers. This portion of the study was designed to answer whether or not weed × transgenic crop hybrids possessing more crop genes were less competitive than hybrids containing fewer crop genes. The effects of directly incorporated genetic load (TM) were analyzed through transgene persistence data. TM strategies are proposed to decrease transgene persistence if gene flow and subsequent transgene introgression to a wild host were to occur.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In the absence of interspecific competition, transgenic weed × crop hybrids benefited from having more crop-specific alleles. There was a positive correlation between performance and number of <it>B. napus </it>crop-specific AFLP markers [seed yield vs. marker number (r = 0.54, P = 0.0003) and vegetative dry biomass vs. marker number (r = 0.44, P = 0.005)]. However under interspecific competition with wheat or more weed-like conditions (i.e. representing a situation where hybrid plants emerge as volunteer weeds in subsequent cropping systems), there was a positive correlation between the number of <it>B. rapa </it>weed-specific AFLP markers and seed yield (r = 0.70, P = 0.0001), although no such correlation was detected for vegetative biomass. When genetic load was directly incorporated into the hybrid genome, by inserting a fitness-mitigating dwarfing gene that that is beneficial for crops but deleterious for weeds (a transgene mitigation measure), there was a dramatic decrease in the number of transgenic hybrid progeny persisting in the population.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The effects of genetic load of crop and in some situations, weed alleles might be beneficial under certain environmental conditions. However, when genetic load was directly incorporated into transgenic events, e.g., using a TM construct, the number of transgenic hybrids and persistence in weedy genomic backgrounds was significantly decreased.</p

Geoscience after IT: Part L. Adjusting the emerging information system to new technology

Coherent development depends on following widely used standards that respect our vast legacy of existing entries in the geoscience record. Middleware ensures that we see a coherent view from our desktops of diverse sources of information. Developments specific to managing the written word, map content, and structured data come together in shared metadata linking topics and information types

Genetic load and transgenic mitigating genes in transgenic \u3ci\u3eBrassica rapa\u3c/i\u3e (field mustard) × \u3ci\u3eBrassica napus\u3c/i\u3e (oilseed rape) hybrid populations

Abstract Background One theoretical explanation for the relatively poor performance of Brassica rapa (weed) × Brassica napus (crop) transgenic hybrids suggests that hybridization imparts a negative genetic load. Consequently, in hybrids genetic load could overshadow any benefits of fitness enhancing transgenes and become the limiting factor in transgenic hybrid persistence. Two types of genetic load were analyzed in this study: random/linkage-derived genetic load, and directly incorporated genetic load using a transgenic mitigation (TM) strategy. In order to measure the effects of random genetic load, hybrid productivity (seed yield and biomass) was correlated with crop- and weed-specific AFLP genomic markers. This portion of the study was designed to answer whether or not weed × transgenic crop hybrids possessing more crop genes were less competitive than hybrids containing fewer crop genes. The effects of directly incorporated genetic load (TM) were analyzed through transgene persistence data. TM strategies are proposed to decrease transgene persistence if gene flow and subsequent transgene introgression to a wild host were to occur. Results In the absence of interspecific competition, transgenic weed × crop hybrids benefited from having more crop-specific alleles. There was a positive correlation between performance and number of B. napus crop-specific AFLP markers [seed yield vs. marker number (r = 0.54, P = 0.0003) and vegetative dry biomass vs. marker number (r = 0.44, P = 0.005)]. However under interspecific competition with wheat or more weed-like conditions (i.e. representing a situation where hybrid plants emerge as volunteer weeds in subsequent cropping systems), there was a positive correlation between the number of B. rapa weed-specific AFLP markers and seed yield (r = 0.70, P = 0.0001), although no such correlation was detected for vegetative biomass. When genetic load was directly incorporated into the hybrid genome, by inserting a fitness-mitigating dwarfing gene that that is beneficial for crops but deleterious for weeds (a transgene mitigation measure), there was a dramatic decrease in the number of transgenic hybrid progeny persisting in the population. Conclusion The effects of genetic load of crop and in some situations, weed alleles might be beneficial under certain environmental conditions. However, when genetic load was directly incorporated into transgenic events, e.g., using a TM construct, the number of transgenic hybrids and persistence in weedy genomic backgrounds was significantly decreased