The Destructive Effect of Ingroup Competition on Ingroup Favoritism

Ingroup favoritism has been widely verified in the context of intergroup competition; however, how competition among ingroup members affects ingroup favoritism remains unclear. We hypothesized that competition among ingroup members may disrupt individuals’ ingroup-favoring behavior because of conflicts of interest; we tested this hypothesis in two studies. In Study 1, we manipulated competitive intragroup outcome interdependence (present vs. absent) and the manner in which results were presented (public vs. anonymous). We found that regardless of result presentation, when competitive intragroup outcome interdependence was present, ingroup members did not exhibit ingroup favoritism; when such interdependence was absent, they showed ingroup favoritism. In Study 2, we introduced the manipulation of social identification, and reverified the main result that individuals under competitive intragroup outcome interdependence do not exhibit ingroup favoritism. Even the degree of social identification—a vital factor for intergroup behavior—could not moderate the destructive effect of competitive intragroup outcome interdependence on ingroup favoritism. Together, these findings indicate that ingroup favoritism would indeed be damaged by competition among ingroup members

Genetic diversity analysis of cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata L.) accessions with sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) and inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers

Sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) and inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR), two advanced molecular markers for genetic research in grass and forage, were used to analyze the genetic diversity among 44 accessions of cocksfoot collected from seven countries and regions. 21 SRAP primer combinations generated 476 bands, of which 401 were polymorphic (84.24%). Using 12 ISSR primers, 100 polymorphic bands out of 115 bands in total were generated (86.96%). The coefficient of genetic similarity from SRAP and ISSR data ranged from 0.6838 to 0.9686 and from 0.6935 to 0.9231, respectively. Based on unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) cluster and principal component analysis (PCA) on a series of genetic characteristics, all accessions were divided into three clusters and four clusters using two markers, respectively. Those, accessions collected from the identical continent were classified into the same cluster, suggesting the geographical distribution of genetic diversity of cocksfoot. The genetic diversity of Chinese cocksfoot except for three Chinese cultivars was rather rich and greater than that of other regions. We proposed that both SRAP and ISSR markers were considered as useful tools for evaluating the genetic diversity of cocksfoot. Especially, SRAP detected more variance and gave clearer cluster groups.Keywords: Cocksfoot, genetic diversity, sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP), inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR), germplas

Nonlinear dynamic responses of shell structures using vector form intrinsic finite element method

In this paper, in order to compute nonlinear dynamic responses of shell structures, formulations of the internal forces of the shell element in vector form intrinsic finite element (VFIFE) method are developed. This novel shell element is named by VFIFE-DKT element. These elements are to compute internal forces from the deformations and the motion of the shell structures. The VFIFE method is a particle-based method. They have three key VFIFE processes such as the point value description, path element and convected material frame. Thus, the shell structure is represented by finite particles. Each particle is subjected to the external forces and internal forces. The particle satisfies the Newton’s Law. A fictitious reversed rigid body motion is used to remove the rigid body motion from the deformations of the element. The internal forces of the element in deformation coordinates satify the equilibrium equations. Through the numerical examples of the benchmark structures undergo extermly-large displacements, rotation and motion, the proposed procedures using the novel element demonstrates its accuracy and efficiency

Symmetry of Dirac Equation and Corresponding Phenomenology

It has been suggested that the high symmetries in the Schr\"odinger equation with the Coulomb or harmonic oscillator potentials may remain in the corresponding relativistic Dirac equation. If the principle is correct, in the Dirac equation the potential should have a form as ${(1+\beta)\over 2}V(r)$ where $V(r)$ is ${-e^2\over r}$ for hydrogen atom and $\kappa r^2$ for harmonic oscillator. However, in the case of hydrogen atom, by this combination the spin-orbit coupling term would not exist and it is inconsistent with the observational spectra of hydrogen atom, so that the symmetry of SO(4) must reduce into SU(2). The governing mechanisms QED and QCD which induce potential are vector-like theories, so at the leading order only vector potential exists. However, the higher order effects may cause a scalar fraction. In this work, we show that for QED, the symmetry restoration is very small and some discussions on the symmetry breaking are made. At the end, we briefly discuss the QCD case and indicate that the situation for QCD is much more complicated and interesting.Comment: 15pages, 3 figures, accepted by International Journal of Modern Physics