The role of reputations in the evolution of human cooperation

In human societies, cooperation between strangers flourishes despite the risk of being exploited. Correct evaluation of others‟ cooperative intentions aids in selecting partners for profitable interactions. Assessment of intentions can be made by (a) considering individuals‟ reputations gained through observed interactions with others and third-party information (gossip) or (b) interpreting immediate cues such as facial expressions and body language. I empirically investigated the role reputations play in human economic decisions. More specifically, I addressed research questions such as (1) how and why people manage cooperative reputations, (2) what role reputations play in partner choice, (3) whether reputations can stabilize cooperation in groups, (4) whether people have a memory bias for specific reputations and (5) whether the ability to assess trustworthiness in faces relates to mind reading skills known as Theory of Mind (ToM). Student participants were recruited for five experiments, all involving the use of economic games to a greater or lesser extent. Depending on the study, participants either played social dilemma games in groups under various experimental conditions or performed individual tasks e.g. recalled information previously presented in different contexts or assessed photographed faces with regard to their cooperativeness and completed ToM tasks. The results provide evidence for the existence of reputation-based partner choice („competitive altruism‟). Participants strategically invested in reputations and reaped benefits from such investments in the form of profitable interactions with the most desired partners. By varying endowments I demonstrated that resource inequalities affect the way people invest in reputation with low-resource individuals behaving in a relatively more generous way than their high-resource counterparts. Moreover, I showed that cooperation in social dilemmas can be stabilized by introducing reputational incentives in the form of partner choice. My results also suggest that people have a memory bias for information about uncooperative acts which is independent of the cooperativeness of the environment they are exposed to. I found no relationship between the ability to identify cooperative intentions in faces and ToM skills. In summary, by unravelling the mechanisms behind reputational cooperation my thesis sheds light on the reasons for extensive cooperation among strangers observed in humans.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceInstitute of Neuroscience, Newcastle UniversityGBUnited Kingdo

Prematurity-Related Hypertension in Children and Adolescents

Due to the functional and structural immaturity of different organ systems, preterms have a higher rate of morbidity and mortality. The prevention and treatment of the complications of prematurity is a major challenge in perinatal health care. Recently, there have been several multicenter research trials analysing the impact of prematurity or low birth weight on the health problems of children and adolescents. Many of these studies deal with the issue of pediatric hypertension. An analysis of 15 studies conducted in the years 1998–2011, in which blood pressure values in ex-preterm children were measured, was performed. Comparison was based on several issues: measurement method, cohorts age, size, and birthweight. It has been proven that hypertension occurs more often in former preterm infants; however the etiologic pathways that cause this condition still remain unclear. Moreover, pediatric hypertension is a significant problem, because of its transformation into adult hypertension and increased cardiovascular risk later in life. Therefore it is crucial to introduce wide-spread screening and detection of elevated blood pressure, especially among prematurely born children

To what extent can mutual shifting of folded carbonaceous walls in slit-like pores affect their adsorption properties?

We have performed systematic Monte Carlo studies on the influence of shifting the walls in slit-like systems constructed from folded graphene sheets on their adsorption properties. Specifically, we have analysed the effect on the mechanism of argon adsorption (T = 87 K) and on adsorption and separation of three binary gas mixtures: CO2/N2, CO2/CH4 and CH4/N2 (T = 298 K). The effects of the changes in interlayer distance were also determined. We show that folding of the walls significantly improves the adsorption and separation properties in comparison to ideal slit-like systems. Moreover, we demonstrate that mutual shift of sheets (for small interlayer distances) causes the appearance of small pores between opposite bulges. This causes an increase in vapour adsorption at low pressures. Due to overlapping of interactions with opposite walls causing an increase in adsorption energy, the mutual shift of sheets is also connected with the rise in efficiency of mixtures separation. The effects connected with sheet orientation vanish as the interlayer distance increases

Combined probiotics with vitamin D3 supplementation improved aerobic performance and gut microbiome composition in mixed martial arts athletes

IntroductionMixed Martial Arts (MMA) is characterized as an interval sport in which the training program focuses on enhancing both aerobic and anaerobic capacities. Therefore, strategies targeting the intestinal microbiome may be beneficial for MMA athletes. Moreover, vitamin D supplementation may amplify the positive effects of certain bacterial strains. We previously demonstrated that the combined of probiotics and vitamin D3 supplementation improved the lactate utilization ratio, total work, and average power achieved during anaerobic tests in MMA. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate whether combined probiotic and vitamin D3 ingestion can modify the composition of the gut microbiome and epithelial cell permeability, influence the inflammatory response, and ultimately enhance aerobic capacity.MethodsA 4-week clinical trial was conducted with 23 male MMA athletes randomly assigned to either the probiotic + vitamin D3 (PRO + VIT D) group or the vitamin D3 group (VIT D). The trial employed a double-blind, placebo-controlled design and involved measurements of serum inflammatory markers, gut microbiome composition, epithelial cell permeability, and aerobic performance.ResultsAfter 4-week of supplementation, we found a significantly lower concentration of calprotectin in the PRO + VIT D group (34.79 ± 24.38 mmol/L) compared to the value before (69.50 ± 46.91) supplementation (p = 0.030), augmentation of beta diversity after the intervention in the PRO + VIT D group (p = 0.0005) and an extended time to exhaustion to 559.00 ± 68.99; compared to the value before (496.30 ± 89.98; p = 0.023) after combined probiotic and vitamin D3 supplementation in MMA athletes. No effect was observed in the VIT D group.ConclusionOur results indicate that combined treatment of probiotics and vitamin D3 may cause alterations in alpha and beta diversity and the composition of the gut microbiota in MMA athletes. We observed an improvement in epithelial cell permeability and an extended time to exhaustion during exercise in MMA athletes following a 4-week combined probiotic and vitamin D3 treatment

Twitter language use reflects psychological differences between Democrats and Republicans

Previous research has shown that political leanings correlate with various psychological factors. While surveys and experiments provide a rich source of information for political psychology, data from social networks can offer more naturalistic and robust material for analysis. This research investigates psychological differences between individuals of different political orientations on a social networking platform, Twitter. Based on previous findings, we hypothesized that the language used by liberals emphasizes their perception of uniqueness, contains more swear words, more anxiety-related words and more feeling-related words than conservatives' language. Conversely, we predicted that the language of conservatives emphasizes group membership, contains more certainty and more references to achievement and religion than liberals' language. We analysed Twitter timelines of 5,373 followers of three Twitter accounts of the American Democratic and 5,386 followers of three accounts of the Republican parties' Congressional Organizations. The results support most of the predictions and previous findings, confirming that Twitter behaviour offers valid insights to offline behaviour

Methods for diagnosing defects in glued joints - a methods review

The paper presents the applications of glued joints in many industry branches. The advantages and disadvantages of glued joints as well as the methods of detecting weld damage are presented. The methods of damage analysis to the glued joints were divided and explained. The most important detection techniques are the X-ray method, the ultrasonic method, the Laser Ultrasound method, the guided wave method, the electromechanical impedance method and the active thermography method. The advantages and limitations that may allow for the proper selection of the research method depending on the diagnosed material and the conditions accompanying the study were indicated