Differential effects of COVID-19 lockdowns on well-being: interaction between age,gender and chronotype

The unprecedented restrictions imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic altered our daily habits and severely affected our well-being and physiology. The effect of these changes is yet to be fully understood. Here, we analysed highly detailed data on 169 participants for two to six months, before and during the second COVID-19 lockdown in Israel. We extracted 12 well-being indicators from sensory data of smartwatches and from self-reported questionnaires, filled daily using a designated mobile application. We found that, in general, lockdowns resulted in significant changes in mood, sleep duration, sport duration, social encounters, resting heart rate and number of steps. Examining subpopulations, we found that younger participants (aged 20–40 years) suffered from a greater decline in mood and number of steps than older participants (aged 60–80 years). Likewise, women suffered from a higher increase in stress and reduction in social encounters than men. Younger early chronotypes did not increase their sleep duration and exhibited the highest drop in mood. Our findings underscore that while lockdowns severely impacted our well-being and physiology in general, greater damage has been identified in certain subpopulations. Accordingly, special attention should be given to younger people, who are usually not in the focus of social support, and to women.     

Technological coupling, job characteristics and operators' well-being as moderated by desirability of control

This study proposes that the nature of Automated Manufacturing Technology (AMT)-as reflected in the degree of 'technological coupling' and as perceived by shop floor operators in terms of new job control characteristics (timing and method control, monitoring and problem solving demand, production responsibility)-affects operators' psychological well-being (satisfaction and mental health). The study sample consisted of 216 operators of AMT equipment. Findings indicate that technological coupling is negatively related to the job characteristics of timing and method control, and to psychological well-being variables. Operators' satisfaction is positively related to problem solving, production responsibility and timing and method control. Mental health is negatively related to production responsibility. Implications for job redesign and employees selection to AMT work units are discussed. Yet, results indicate that operators' response to technological coupling is contingent upon their desirability of control (DC). For operators with low DC (as opposed to high DC) coupling conditions did not make any difference in psychological well-being.     

Electrodeposited Quantum Dots. 6. Epitaxial Size Control in Cd(Se,Te) Nanocrystals on {111} Gold

Size control in epitaxial Cd(Se, Te) quantum dots (QDs) electrochemically deposited on {111} textured Au is achieved by mismatch tuning. The formation of QDs as a form of relaxation of heteroepitaxial strain energy is demonstrated. The increased lattice parameter resulting from incorporation of small amounts of Te in the CdSe lattice leads to reduced mismatch-induced strain energy and therefore larger QD size. While the QD interatomic spacings at the interface are shown to be unchanged due to the heteroepitaxy with the Au substrate, the perpendicular QD d-spacings (along the c-axis) strongly increase with increasing Te content due to strain relaxation.     

Transition to adulthood as a parent-youth project: Governance transfer, career promotion, and relational processes.

This study determined how youth (ages 17-21) and their parents jointly constructed and acted on goals and strategies pertinent to the transition to adulthood. Twenty parent-youth dyads were followed over an 8-month period using the qualitative action-project method. Data included their joint conversations, video recall of internal processes, self-monitoring logs, and researcher telephone monitoring. Detailed and repeated analysis of elements, functional steps, and goals resulted in the identification of an explicit joint project for each dyad that the participants saw as pertinent to the transition to adulthood. These projects referred broadly to the youth development of identity and social inclusion in the adult world and included the specific projects of career promotion, governance transfer, and parent-youth relational processes. The findings illustrate the complexity of the transition-to-adulthood process as well as its joint construction by parent and youth. Implications for practice include identifying and following the joint parent-youth transition project. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Identification of Host Attractants for the Ethiopian Fruit Fly, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Dacus ciliatus</Emphasis> Loew

The Ethiopian fruit fly, Dacus ciliatus, is an oligophagous pest of cucurbit crops, particularly melons, cucumbers, and marrows (summer squash). The present study aimed to identify host attractants for D. ciliatus and was guided by a behavioral bioassay and an electrophysiological assay. We tested volatile compounds from the fruits of a host plant, ripe and unripe Galia melon, Cucumis melo var. reticulates. Both sexes were attracted to melon volatiles. Those of ripe melon were preferred. Gas chromatography-electroantennographic detection analysis of the behaviorally active ripe melon volatiles consistently showed that 14 compounds elicited similar antennal responses from both sexes. Twelve compounds were identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) using GC-MS libraries, retention indices (RI), and authentic standards. The electrophysiological activities of the compounds that were present at sufficient levels for identification, benzyl acetate, hexanyl acetate, (Z)-3-hexenyl acetate, (Z)-3-octenyl acetate, octanyl acetate, (Z)-3-decenyl acetate, and (E)-β-farnesene, were evaluated at six different dosage levels by using electroantennography (EAG). Benzyl and hexanyl acetates elicited dose responses only in males, while other tested compounds elicited dose responses in both sexes. The strongest responses were observed for doses between 100 ng and 10 μg. The dose response, in terms of attractiveness to synthetic compounds within the active range (as determined by EAG), also was evaluated in the behavioral bioassay. Synthetic acetates were attractive to both sexes when tested individually. Significant attraction was observed when individual compounds were applied in the bioassay arena at doses of 0.5–1 μg/dispenser. Blends of compounds in equal proportions also were attractive to the insects. The most attractive blend was a mixture of four or five identified acetates. The addition of an equal proportion of (E)-β-farnesene to this mixture had a deterrent effect.     

Efficacy of clinical interventions for indirect exposure to terrorism.

Two clinical interventions to moderate negative responses to media exposure to terrorism were tested. Participants were 300 young Israeli adults randomly allocated to a terrorism or nonterrorism televised news clip and assigned to 1 of 3 preexposure intervention conditions--cognitive, emotional, or control. Emotional responses of anxiety and anger and attitudinal responses of stereotypes and enemy perception were measured prior and subsequent to manipulation. Results indicated higher posttest levels of anxiety, anger, stereotypes, and negative enemy perception in the terrorism versus nonterrorism media exposure. In the terrorism group, clinical interventions moderated anxiety and increased willingness for conflict resolution. Findings indicate contributions of preparatory interventions for the public in certain contexts of terrorism and its media coverage. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Exploring Team Support: The Role of Team's Design, Values, and Leader's Support.

This study addressed the issue of team support and explored the role of structural factors, namely, job enrichment designs; the role of cultural factors, namely, individualism-collectivism and power distance; and the role of the leader's support, which served as support carrier in teams. With 56 nursing teams, the results demonstrated that whereas leader's support, collectivism, and low power distance facilitated team support, job enrichment designs placed constraints on the accessibility of support to team members. Additionally, leader's support and low power distance moderated the negative impact of job enrichment on team support. These findings suggest that support is not primarily a burst of altruism displayed by individuals, and they draw attention to the teams' contexts that most likely serve to encourage team members to engage in support. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptual priming of proper names in young and older normal adults and a patient with prosopanomia.

The purpose of this study was to determine if normal participants and a patient with prosopanomia can be perceptually primed for proper names. To this end, 2 experiments were conducted. In Experiment 1, normative data were collected on 4 proper-name priming tasks. The variables of levels of processing at encoding and age were manipulated. Robust priming results were obtained that were not influenced by either of these variables. The results of Experiment 2 indicated that prosopanomic patient, N.G., demonstrated normal repetition priming, despite her marked impairment in deliberate retrieval of person and city names. These results are interpreted in terms of a dissociation between explicit and implicit memory for proper names and suggest that the deficit in prosopanomia only involves deliberate access to the name; access to presemantic representations of the visual word form remains intact. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Compound-specific chlorine isotope analysis: a comparison of gas chromatography/isotope ratio mass spectrometry and gas chromatography/quadrupole mass spectrometry methods in an interlaboratory study

Chlorine isotope analysis of chlorinated hydrocarbons like trichloroethylene (TCE) is of emerging demand because these species are important environmental pollutants. Continuous flow analysis of noncombusted TCE molecules, either by gas chromatography/isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC/IRMS) or by GC/quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC/qMS), was recently brought forward as innovative analytical solution. Despite early implementations, a benchmark for routine applications has been missing. This study systematically compared the performance of GC/qMS versus GC/IRMS in six laboratories involving eight different instruments (GC/IRMS, Isoprime and Thermo MAT-253; GC/qMS, Agilent 5973N, two Agilent 5975C, two Thermo DSQII, and one Thermo DSQI). Calibrations of (37)Cl/(35)Cl instrument data against the international SMOC scale (Standard Mean Ocean Chloride) deviated between instruments and over time. Therefore, at least two calibration standards are required to obtain true differences between samples. Amount dependency of δ(37)Cl was pronounced for some instruments, but could be eliminated by corrections, or by adjusting amplitudes of standards and samples. Precision decreased in the order GC/IRMS (1σ ≈ 0.1‰), to GC/qMS (1σ ≈ 0.2-0.5‰ for Agilent GC/qMS and 1σ ≈ 0.2-0.9‰ for Thermo GC/qMS). Nonetheless, δ(37)Cl values between laboratories showed good agreement when the same external standards were used. These results lend confidence to the methods and may serve as a benchmark for future applications.