Perceived Attractiveness of Two Types of Altruist

Empirical evidence has demonstrated that in long-term romantic contexts altruists are favoured over non-altruists. Costly signalling theory suggests that altruism informs observers that cooperating with the altruist is beneficial. This paper distinguishes between types of altruism to investigate if there is a differential effect on desirability across types. Using dating advertisements, participants (observers) received information about a considerate altruist, heroic altruist or neutral character and then rated their attraction to the character in a range of romantic and non-romantic contexts. It was hypothesised that both considerate and heroic characters would be rated by observers as more desirable than the neutral advert in long-term romantic contexts and that there would be a difference in desirability scores between the considerate and heroic characters. The results of study 1 showed that considerate altruists were significantly more desirable than the neutral advert in long-term romantic contexts, but heroic altruists did not differ significantly from neutral or considerate characters. Study 2 did not find the same pattern of results across the whole sample – but younger participants did demonstrate the same preference for considerate altruists over a neutral character in long-term romantic contexts. The findings are discussed in the context of the sex difference in mate preferences where females more than males desire qualities that signal resource acquisition. Overall, these findings suggest that considerate altruism signals good character traits to observers, such as kindness, which could indicate parenting ability and characters who signal these traits will have increased reproductive success because they are more desirable and therefore have access to more/better quality reproductive mates. Furthermore, the results suggest that considerate and heroic altruism may be distinct, and that considerate altruism is the more desirable type of altruism

Image Analysis of Sludge Aggregates in Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME)

Palm oil mill effluent (POME) is a wastewater produced by palm oil milling activities which generated from crude oil clarification process, sterilization process and cracked mixture separation process. Palm oil mill effluent (POME) is a highly polluting material and activated sludge system is now commonly used for the process of purification of the wastewater. Activated sludge system is a complex ecosystem in which the efficiency is quite dependent on the operating conditions of the process. Due to its complexity, any imbalance between the different types of microorganism may take place and affect the efficiency of the plant with profound economic and environmental consequences. To observe and regulate activated sludge system, bright field microscopy is acquired to monitor the sludge aggregates in palm oil mill effluent (POME). Furthermore, the association of image processing and analysis methodologies with microscopy allows a precise evaluation of the activated sludge status. The most common problems on activated sludge is filamentous bulking due to the extensive growth of the filamentous bacteria which led to poor sludge settling ability and poor thickening characteristics of the sludge thus increase the sludge volume index (SVI). Therefore, the main objectives of the research work is to develop image analysis algorithm by using Matlab in order to identify aggregates characterization in activated sludge system and to develop a correlation between image data obtained and sludge volume index (SVI) for POME. In this research work, two samples will be obtained which are fresh POME collected from the mill and POME undergo Fenton Reagent process. A few process will be prepared for the sample collected namely calculating sludge volume index, image acquisition using microscopy, image processing and analysis, identify image analysis parameter and plot the correlation between SVI with determine parameter. By conducting this research, image analysis algorithm can be developed to monitor sludge aggregates in POME. Thus, this algorithm can be used to identify bulking problems in the POME and establish the true nature of the phenomenon occurring inside the activated sludge system which normally will affect the quality of the effluen

The western blue groper (Achoerodus gouldii), a protogynous hermaphroditic labrid with exceptional longevity, late maturity, slow growth, and both late maturation and sex change

The western blue groper (Achoerodus gouldii) is shown to be a temperate protogynous hermaphrodite, which spawns between early winter and mid-spring. Because A. gouldii changes body color at about the time of sex change, its color can be used as a proxy for sex for estimating the size and age at sex change and for estimating growth when it is not possible to use gonads for determining the sex of this fish. The following characteristics make A. gouldii highly susceptible to overfishing: 1) exceptional longevity, with a maximum age (70 years) that is by far the greatest yet estimated for a labrid; 2) slow growth for the first 15 years and little subsequent growth by females; and 3) late maturation at a large total length (TL50 = 653 mm) and old age (~17 years) and 4) late sex change at an even greater total length (TL50 = 821 mm) and age (~35 years). The TL50 at maturity and particularly at sex change exceeded the minimum legal total length (500 mm) of A. gouldii and the lengths of many recreationally and commercially caught fish. Many of these characteristics are found in certain deep-water fishes that are likewise considered susceptible to overfishing. Indeed, although fishing effort for A. gouldii in Western Australia is not particularly high, per-recruit analyses indicate that this species is already close to or fully exploited

Testing a model of absence and intent to stay in employment : a study of registered nurses in Malta

This study used a cross-sectional, correlational design to test a model of absence and turnover of registered nurses developed from a review of the research literature (Gauci Borda and Norman, 1997). Testing the model involved comparing the relationship between job satisfaction, kinship responsibility, pay, employment opportunity, intent to stay in employment and absence for male and female registered nurses. All registered nurses (n = 254) working in clinical areas on a full-time shift basis, in one large general hospital in Malta were surveyed by questionnaire and their absence data were obtained from the hospital personnel records. A response rate of 67% (n = 171) was achieved. The results showed that nurses were satisfied with their job and intended to stay in their present employment for the next 12 months. Relationships between variables differed between male and female nurses, with job satisfaction being associated with intent to stay for male nurses but not for females and kinship responsibility and intent to stay being associated with absence in female but not male nurses. In contrast to many previous studies of nurses, an association was found between job satisfaction and absence. Several variables, including fear of change, which may influence intent to stay of Maltese nurses, were identified. The proposed model of absence and turnover stood up reasonably well to testing, but the results for the whole sample, and the sub-samples of male and female nurses supported different parts of the model. The main implication for future research is that male and female nurses should be studied separately due to differences found between the two groups.peer-reviewe

Recommended Procedure for Future MODSS in Farm Forestry

This chapter proposes a procedure for future MODSS in farm forestry. It assumes similar limitations as those which applied in the South-east Queensland and the Hodgson Creek study. The most critical constraint was that contact with the stakeholders, especially landholders, was limited to a half-day workshop. A recommended procedure is described, which aims to support and facilitate the decision-making process and maximise community input to support implementation

Order and chaos in the local disc stellar kinematics induced by the Galactic bar

(Abridged) The Galactic bar causes a characteristic splitting of the disc phase space into regular and chaotic orbit regions which is shown to play an important role in shaping the stellar velocity distribution in the Solar neighbourhood. A detailed orbital analysis within an analytical 2D rotating barred potential reveals that this splitting is mainly dictated by the value of the Hamiltonian H and the bar induced resonances. Test particle and N-body simulations reveal how the decoupled evolution of the disc distribution function in the two kind of regions and the process of chaotic mixing lead to overdensities in the H>H_12 chaotic part of the u-v velocity distributions outside corotation, where H_12 is the effective potential at the Lagrangian points L_1/2. In particular, for realistic space positions of the Sun near or slightly beyond the outer Lindblad resonance and if u is defined positive towards the anti-centre, the eccentric quasi-periodic orbits trapped around the stable x1(1) orbits - i.e. the bar-aligned closed orbits which asymptotically become circular at larger distances - produce a broad u<0 regular arc in velocity space extending within the H>H_12 zone, whereas the corresponding u>0 region appears as an overdensity of chaotic orbits forced to avoid that arc. This chaotic overdensity provides an original interpretation, distinct from the anti-bar elongated quasi-periodic orbit interpretation proposed by Dehnen (2000), for the prominent stream of high asymmetric drift and predominantly outward moving stars clearly emerging from the Hipparcos data. The effects of spiral arms and of molecular clouds are also briefly discussed within this context.Comment: 25 pages, 20 figures (3 in gif format). A&A, in press. Full resolution postscript paper (5Mb) and MPEG movies available at http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/~fux/streams.htm

The Sustainable Design Award: supporting 16 plus students in addressing sustainable design issues

This paper outlines a new award scheme currently being trialled in nine schools in England and Wales with AS and A2 design and technology students and discusses some early feedback. The scheme’s fundamental aim is to integrate thinking about sustainability into advanced level work. Students who show they have thought through sustainability issues at each stage of their coursework option will be given an award. The scheme is designed to provide students with ideas for devising design briefs and specifications from genuine, real life contexts from around the world. It is backed by a number of different organisations which will give back-up information and feedback to students throughout their AS and A2 coursework. Teachers in the pilot schools have access to a sustainability pack that helps both them and their students to tackle fundamental issues of sustainability such as reducing, recycling and reusing. The scheme is currently funded by the Department for International Development (DFID), the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) with in-kind support from other organisations, including DATA. Over 70 schools have expressed an interest in becoming involved in the Sustainable Design Award (SDA) scheme in 2003/4

Geographical text analysis:a new approach to understanding nineteenth-century mortality

This paper uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Corpus Linguistics to extract disease related keywords from the Registrar-General’s Decennial Supplements. Combined with known mortality figures, this provides, for the first time, a spatial picture of the relationship between the Registrar-General’s discussion of disease and deaths in England and Wales in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Techniques such as collocation, density analysis, the Hierarchical Regional Settlement matrix and regression analysis are employed to extract and analyse the data resulting in new insight into the relationship between the Registrar-General’s published texts and the changing mortality patterns during this time

Changes in catch rates and length and age at maturity, but not growth, of an estuarine plotosid (Cnidoglanis macrocephalus) after heavy fishing

The hypothesis that heavy fishing pressure has led to changes in the biological characteristics of the estuary cobbler (Cnidoglanis macrocephalus) was tested in a large seasonally open estuary in southwestern Australia, where this species completes its life cycle and is the most valuable commercial fish species. Comparisons were made between seasonal data collected for this plotosid (eeltail catfish) in Wilson Inlet during 2005–08 and those recorded with the same fishery-independent sampling regime during 1987–89. These comparisons show that the proportions of larger and older individuals and the catch rates in the more recent period were far lower, i.e., they constituted reductions of 40% for fish ≥430 mm total length, 62% for fish ≥4 years of age, and 80% for catch rate. In addition, total mortality and fishing-induced mortality estimates increased by factors of ~2 and 2.5, respectively. The indications that the abundance and proportion of older C. macrocephalus declined between the two periods are consistent with the perception of long-term commercial fishermen and their shift toward using a smaller maximum gill net mesh to target this species. The sustained heavy fishing pressure on C. macrocephalus between 1987–89 and 2005–08 was accompanied by a marked reduction in length and age at maturity of this species. The shift in probabilistic maturation reaction norms toward smaller fish in 2005–08 and the lack of a conspicuous change in growth between the two periods indicate that the maturity changes were related to fishery-induced evolution rather than to compensatory responses to reduced fish densities

Distinguishing between altruistic behaviours: the desirability of considerate and heroic altruism and their relationship to empathic concern.

Debate exists within the fields of evolutionary and social psychology around the concept of Altruism. From an evolutionary perspective, this relates to how a behaviour that is costly to the fitness of the altruist but beneficial to the recipient has evolved, particularly when the recipient is a stranger. From a psychological perspective the debate surrounds whether the motivations for altruism are instrumental to helping the altruist achieve a selfish goal (egoism) or whether motivations can be ultimate goals, with the purpose of improving the wellbeing of the recipient (altruism). Altruism within both of these perspectives has been operationalised in numerous ways but without consideration that different behaviours that fit the respective definitions of altruism could impact upon the ultimate evolutionary function of altruism or the psychological mechanisms that motivate altruism. Study 1, a qualitative content analysis of altruistic behaviour within newspaper articles examined the extent to which different altruistic behaviours are presented distinctly. The findings demonstrated that there are three broad categories of altruism; considerate, heroic and philanthropic. Study 2 examines whether participants display intra-individual variation in their altruistic intentions as determined by the operationalisation of altruism. A principal components analysis of participant responses to an altruistic intentions questionnaire demonstrated that there were two stable altruistic components that reflected considerate altruism and heroic altruism. The altruistic intentions questionnaire was validated in studies 3 and 4, to show that intentions do correlate with behaviours for each component. Within study 2, predictor models were also created through regression analyses, which demonstrated that whilst communal orientation and prior altruistic behaviour were predictive of both considerate and heroic altruistic intentions, disinhibition, social dominance and emotional reactivity were uniquely predictive of considerate altruistic intentions and agreeableness and openness were uniquely predictive of heroic altruistic intentions. The finding that emotional reactivity, a factor of the Empathy Quotient, was predictive of considerate but not heroic altruistic intentions was examined further in study 5, using a laboratory experiment. It was found that empathic concern was predictive of considerate altruistic behaviour but not heroic altruistic behaviour. Study 5 also found that agreeableness was not predictive of heroic altruistic behaviour, unlike study 2; this suggests that considerate helping behaviours may be more likely to be motivated by altruistic ultimate goals. Studies 6 through 10 explore the desirability of considerate and heroic altruists, as costly signalling theory suggests that altruism acts as a costly signal of a desirable underlying quality which increases opportunities to form cooperative and reproductive relationships, which offset the cost to the altruist. The findings were mixed, providing no clear evidence that considerate or heroic altruists are more desirable. However, study 10 demonstrated that whilst considerate and heroic altruists had similar desirability ratings, participants associated different underlying qualities to each type of altruist. Considerate altruists were perceived to be more intelligent, easy going, creative, cooperative, sympathetic, wealthy and thought to be better parents. Heroic altruists were perceived to be kinder, healthier, more understanding, more competitive, more physically attractive and have more exciting personalities. Overall, the evidence suggests that critical consideration of how altruism is operationalised is required to facilitate cross study comparisons so that researchers can construct a better understanding of what altruism signals and what the underlying motivations of altruism are