Squeezed in the Middle: The Middle Status Trade Creativity for Focus

Classical research on social influence suggested that people are the most conforming in the middle of a status hierarchy as opposed to the top or bottom. Yet, this promising line of research was abandoned before the psychological mechanism behind middle status conformity had been identified. Moving beyond the early focus on conformity, we propose that the threat of status loss may make those with middle status more wary of advancing creative solutions in fear that they will be evaluated negatively. Using different manipulations of status and measures of creativity, we found that when being evaluated, middle status individuals were less creative than either high status or low status individuals (Studies 1 & 2). In addition, we found that anxiety at the prospect of status loss also caused individuals with middle status to narrow their focus of attention and to think more convergently (Study 3). We delineate the consequences of power and status both theoretically and empirically by showing that, unlike status, the relationship between power and creativity is positive and linear (Study 4). By both measuring status (Studies 2 & 3) and by manipulating it directly (Study 5), we demonstrate that the threat of status loss explains the consequences of middle status. Finally, we discuss the theoretical implications of our results for future research on status and problem solving on tasks that require either focus or flexibility

Follow the Crowd in a New Direction: When Conformity Pressure Facilitates Group Creativity (And When It Does Not)

Adopting a person by situation interaction approach, we identified conditions under which conformity pressure can either stifle or boost group creativity depending on the joint effects of norm content and group personality composition. Using a 2 x 2 x 2 experimental design, we hypothesized and found that pressure to adhere to an individualistic norm boosted creativity in groups whose members scored low on the Creative Personality Scale (Gough, 1979), but stifled creativity in groups whose members scored high on that measure. Our findings suggest that conformity pressure may be a viable mechanism for boosting group creativity, but only among those who lack creative talent

Hidden Consequences of the Group Serving Bias: Causal Attributions and the Quality of Group Decision Making

A long stream of research in attribution theory suggests that groups are biased toward attributing their success to factors that are internal to their group. However, the existing research has confounded two types of attributions that are both internal to the group, but theoretically distinct: (1) Attributions that differentiate between the contributions made by each individual group member and (2) attributions that focus on the group as a whole. This dichotomy is important because, drawing on theories of social influence, we predict that different types of attributions will have different consequences for the quality of group decision making. In experiment 1, individually focused attributions for past success caused groups to consider more divergent alternatives prior to making a shared decision. In experiment 2, individually focused attributions for past success facilitated the sharing of unique information and improved decision accuracy. These findings suggest that the group serving tendency to internalize success may have important consequences for group performance that have not yet been considered in current research

Fact book on aging in British Columbia, 2nd Edition

Table of Contents1. Size of the Elderly Population;1.1 Past Trends and Future Growth; 1.2 Population Aging Within the Older Population Itself; 1.3 Median Age of the Population; 2. Sex Ratios; 3. Mortality; 3.1 Trends in Life Expectancy; 3.2 Mortality Rates; 3.3 Causes of Death; 4. Marital Status; 5. Geographic Distribution and Mobility; 5.1 The Older Population of B.C. in Relation to Other Provinces; 5.2 Rural-Urban Distribution; 5.3 Geographic Distribution Within British Columbia; 5.3.1 Geographic Distribution Within the Greater Vancouver Regional District; 5.3.2 Geographic Distribution Within the Capital Regional District; 5 .4 Mobility; 4.1 Total Population and Population Aged 65+; 5.4.2 Distance Moved; 6. Ethnic Composition; 6.1 Predominant Groups; 6.2 Proportion of Ethnic Origin Groups Aged 65+; 6.3 Aboriginal People; 7. Living Arrangements; 7.1 Persons by Type; 7.2 Private Households - Present and Future; 8. Housing; 8.1 Home Ownership; 8.2 Preferred Structural Type; 8.3 Housing Costs; 9. Education; 9.1 Educational Attainment; 10. Labour Force; 10.1 Labour Force Participation Trends; 10.2 Full and Part-time Employment; 11 Income; 11.1 Median Income of Individuals; 11.2 Poverty Rate; 12 Disabilities;12.1 Disability Rates; 12.2 Seniors with Disabilities in Private Households and Institutions; 12.3 Nature of Disabilities; 12.4 Severity of Disabilities; 13 Health Service; 13.1 Hospitals; 13.2 Continuing Care; Appendix

Material transport through porous media: a finite-element Galerkin model

A two-dimensional transient model for flow of a dissolved constituent through porous media has been developed. Mechanisms for advective transport, hydrodynamic dispersion, chemical absorption, and radioactive decay are included in the mathematical formulation. Implementations of quadrilateral finite elements, bilinear spatial interpolation, and Gaussian elimination are used in the numerical formulation. The programming language FORTRAN IV is used exclusively in the computer implementation. A listing of the program is included. This material-transport model is completely compatible with our moisture- transport model (Reeves and Duguid, 1975) for predicting advective Darcy velocities for porous media which may be partly unsaturated. In addition to a description of the mathematical formulation, the numerical treatment and the computer implementation results of two computer simulations are included in this document. One is a comparison with a well-known analytical treatment (Lapidus and Amundson, 1952) and is intended as a partial validation. The other simulation, a seepage-pond problem, is a more realistic demonstration of the capabilities of the computer model. Complete listings of input and output are given in the appendices so that this simulation may be used for check-out purposes. A comprehensive description of the material-transport computer model is given

Creativity from Constraint? How Political Correctness Influences Creativity in Mixed-Sex Work Groups

Most group creativity research is premised on the assumption that creativity is unleashed by removing normative constraints. As work organizations become increasingly diverse in terms of gender, however, this assumption needs to be reconsidered since mixed-sex interactions carry a high risk of offense. Departing from the assumption that normative constraints necessarily stifle creativity, we develop a theoretical perspective in which creativity in mixed-sex groups is enhanced by imposing a norm to be politically correct (PC)—a norm that sets clear expectations for how men and women should interact with one another. We present evidence from two group experiments showing that the PC norm promotes rather than suppresses members’ free expression of ideas by reducing the uncertainty they experience in mixed-sex work groups. These results highlight a paradoxical consequence of the PC norm: A term that has been used to undermine expectations to censor offensive language as a threat to free speech actually provides a normative foundation upon which demographically heterogeneous work groups can freely exchange creative ideas. We discuss the implications of our findings for managing creativity in diverse groups and under conditions of uncertainty, and the counterintuitive role that normative constraints play in that process

β-Glucan is a major growth substrate for human gut bacteria related to Coprococcus eutactus

A clone encoding carboxymethyl cellulase activity was isolated during functional screening of a human gut metagenomic library using Lactococcus lactis MG1363 as heterologous host. The insert carried a glycoside hydrolase family 9 (GH9) catalytic domain with sequence similarity to a gene from Coprococcus eutactus ART55/1. Genome surveys indicated a limited distribution of GH9 domains among dominant human colonic anaerobes. Genomes of C. eutactus-related strains harboured two GH9-encoding and four GH5-encoding genes, but the strains did not appear to degrade cellulose. Instead, they grew well on β-glucans and one of the strains also grew on galactomannan, galactan, glucomannan and starch. Coprococcus comes and Coprococcus catus strains did not harbour GH9 genes and were not able to grow on β-glucans. Gene expression and proteomic analysis of C. eutactus ART55/1 grown on cellobiose, β-glucan and lichenan revealed similar changes in expression in comparison to glucose. On β-glucan and lichenan only, one of the four GH5 genes was strongly upregulated. Growth on glucomannan led to a transcriptional response of many genes, in particular a strong upregulation of glycoside hydrolases involved in mannan degradation. Thus, β-glucans are a major growth substrate for species related to C. eutactus, with glucomannan and galactans alternative substrates for some strains

Politically correct norms encourage creativity among mixed-sex work groups

They reduce uncertainty, write Jack A. Goncalo, Jennifer Chatman, Michelle M. Duguid and Jessica A. Kenned

The dispersion of spherical droplets in source–sink flows and their relevance to the COVID-19 pandemic

In this paper, we investigate the dynamics of spherical droplets in the presence of a source-sink pair flow field. The dynamics of the droplets is governed by the Maxey-Riley equation with Basset-Boussinesq history term neglected. We find that, in the absence of gravity, there are two distinct behaviours for the droplets: small droplets cannot go further than a specific distance, which we determine analytically, from the source before getting pulled into the sink. Larger droplets can travel further from the source before getting pulled into the sink by virtue of their larger inertia, and their maximum travelled distance is determined analytically. We investigate the effects of gravity, and we find that there are three distinct droplet behaviours categorised by their relative sizes: small, intermediate-sized, and large. Counterintuitively, we find that the droplets with minimum horizontal range are neither small nor large, but of intermediate size. Furthermore, we show that in conditions of regular human respiration, these intermediate-sized droplets range in size from a few $\mu$m to a few hundred $\mu$m. The result that such droplets have a very short range could have important implications for the interpretation of existing data on droplet dispersion.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figure

Coverage gaps in empiric antibiotic regimens used to treat serious bacterial infections in neonates and children in Southeast Asia and the Pacific

Background: High levels of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are propagating deaths due to neonatal and paediatric infections globally. This is of particular concern in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, where healthcare resources are constrained and access to newer agents to treat multidrug-resistant pathogens is limited. Methods: To assess the coverage provided by commonly prescribed empiric antibiotic regimens for children in low- and middle-income countries in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, we built a weighted incidence syndromic combination antibiogram (WISCA), parameterised using data obtained from a systematic review of published literature incorporating WHO-defined SEARO and WPRO regions in Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE, Global Health and PubMed. Susceptibility data for bacterial pathogens were extracted to provide coverage estimates for pre-specified antibiotics (aminopenicillins, gentamicin, third-generation cephalosporins and carbapenems), reported at the regional level. Findings: 6648 bacterial isolates from 11 countries across 86 papers were included in the Bayesian WISCA model, which weighted bacterial incidence and antimicrobial susceptibility of relevant isolates. Coverage provided by aminopenicillins in neonatal sepsis/meningitis was 26% (80% credible interval: 16–49) whilst gentamicin coverage was 45% (29–62). Third-generation cephalosporin coverage was only 29% (16–49) in neonatal sepsis/meningitis, 51% (38–64) in paediatric sepsis and 65% (51–77) in paediatric meningitis. Carbapenems were estimated to provide the highest coverage: 81% (65–90) in neonatal sepsis/meningitis, 83% (72–90) in paediatric sepsis and 79% (62–91) in paediatric meningitis. Interpretation: These findings reveal alarmingly high rates of resistance to commonly prescribed empirical therapies for neonatal and paediatric sepsis and meningitis in the Asia–Pacific region