Impact of Incision of Gravel‐bed Rivers on Ground Beetle Assemblages

The impact of river incision induced by channelization and gravel mining on the structure of ground beetle assemblages in riparian habitats was investigated on three montane rivers in southern Poland. Ground beetles were collected on three benches of different elevation in 11 incised and 14 vertically stable cross sections of the rivers. In total, 5821 individuals representing 106 species were collected. The effect of river incision on the diversity and abundance of ground beetles depended on bench height. Only on the lowest bench, inundated about once per year on average, species richness of the assemblages was significantly reduced in incised river cross sections. On this bench, the abundance of the specialists of exposed riverine sediments, i.e. small and medium‐sized predators with high dispersal power and spring breeding strategy, was highly negatively affected by river incision. On the highest bench, large, brachypterous species with spring and autumn breeding strategy, typical of undisturbed habitats, were more abundant in incised cross sections. As this bench is practically not subjected to flooding even in vertically stable cross sections, these species probably benefited from the occurrence of riparian forest along most incised river sections, whereas the riparian areas along vertically stable sections are subjected to higher agricultural pressure. This study shows that in the mountain region where high precipitation helps to maintain moisture of the riparian habitats, river incision has a negative impact only on the specialists of exposed riverine sediments. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Chronic psychosocial factors and acute physiological responses to laboratory-induced stress in healthy populations: A quantitative review of 30 years of investigations.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 135(5) of Psychological Bulletin (see record 2009-12487-006). There is an error in Table 1. On p. 840 the entry for Hill et al. 1987 should be Masters et al. 2004.] This meta-analysis included 729 studies from 161 articles investigating how acute stress responsivity (including stress reactivity and recovery of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal [HPA] axis, autonomic, and cardiovascular systems) changes with various chronic psychosocial exposures (job stress; general life stress; depression or hopelessness; anxiety, neuroticism, or negative affect; hostility, aggression, or Type-A behavior; fatigue, burnout, or exhaustion; positive psychological states or traits) in healthy populations. In either the overall meta-analysis or the methodologically strong subanalysis, positive psychological states or traits were associated with reduced HPA reactivity. Hostility, aggression, or Type-A behavior was associated with increased cardiovascular (heart rate or blood pressure) reactivity, whereas anxiety, neuroticism, or negative affect was associated with decreased cardiovascular reactivity. General life stress and anxiety, neuroticism, or negative affect were associated with poorer cardiovascular recovery. However, regarding the sympathetic nervous system and parasympathetic nervous system, there were no associations between the chronic psychosocial factors and stress reactivity or recovery. The results largely reflect an integrated stress response pattern of hypo- or hyperactivity depending on the specific nature of the psychosocial background. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sensory acceptability and personality traits both determine which contexts are preferred for consumption of alcoholic cocktails

Alcoholic cocktails are consumed in very different situations and then consumers may differ in their favorite context to drink a cocktail. Diversity in the preferred context of cocktail consumption may reflect individual differences in taste responsiveness and personality traits as well as cocktail liking. This study aims at: 1) extending the efficacy of a coupled semiotic and statistical methodology for text analysis in uncovering aspects of preferred contexts of cocktail consumption; 2) testing if specific preferred contexts of cocktail consumption are related to individual differences; 3) investigating the relationships between preferred context to have cocktails and patterns of liking for cocktails. 159 cocktails consumers were characterized by personality traits, cocktail involvement, alcoholic beverages intake and PROP taster status and were asked to describe their preferred context to consume an alcoholic cocktail. Consumers were then asked to taste in blind conditions and rate their liking of six alcoholic aperitif cocktails. Three thematic clusters were identified (relax, sociability, aperitif). The relax lovers preferred a comforting context to have a cocktail; these consumers expressed a lower liking for the six evaluated samples than aperitif lovers but resulted more involved with cocktails as compared to the cluster sociability. This latter group of consumers focused on social aspects and novelty; they reported a higher intake of spirits than the cluster aperitif and showed higher scores in sensation seeking and disinhibition than the other clusters. The cluster aperitif described their favorite context as a “before dinner” situation; they were more involved with cocktails than the sociability cluster. Finally, the three clusters did not differ in PROP taster status distribution. The approach has proven to be useful to collect information and to segment consumers on the preferred aspects of cocktail experience. The study showed that consumer clusters with different preferred context for cocktail consumption differ in liking for the cocktails, personality traits, attitudes and alcohol intake.     

Use of genetic engineering in plant breeding — arrival of transgenic crop varieties on the market and public acceptance

Summarising the European situation of the use of genetically modified (GM) plant varieties one may state: 1. Europe moves slowly due to over‐regulation and lack of public acceptance of the technology. 2. Europe is top in high ranking science of genetic engineering. 3. In transfer and exploitation it is uneasy and anxious. 4. The globalisation of economy will change perceptions in the long term and will so, finally, lead to acceptance of the use of scientific progress in practice.     

Effect of dietary supplementation of Spirulina (Arthrospira platensis) and Thyme (Thymus vulgaris) on rabbit meat appearance,oxidative stability and fatty acid profile during retail display

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of Spirulina and Thyme supplementation on rabbit meat during retail display. At weaning 294 rabbits were allocated to 7 different treatments (42 rabbits/treatment). Rabbits of the control group (C) received a diet without any supplementation throughout the experiment (5–11 weeks of age). The other groups were fed diets containing 5% Spirulina (S), 3% Thyme (T) or both supplements (ST) for the whole trial (5–11 weeks; treatments S, T and ST), or for a part of the growing period (8–11 weeks; treatments C–S, C–T and C–ST). Colour parameters, pH, water holding capacity and drip loss were determined on fresh and stored Longissimus dorsi muscle of 5 rabbits/treatment. Spirulina- and Thyme-supplemented diets had a significant effect on redness and yellowness of Longissimus dorsi. Drip loss was significantly reduced in C–T and T groups that also showed the highest content of α-tocopherol and n − 3 fatty acids content and the lower lipid oxidation.     

Coat of Arctic Fox (Alopex lagopus L.) of Different Genetic Groups in Micro- and Macroscopic Studies and in DSC Investigations

The objective of this research project was to compare in different genetic groups of arctic foxes the composition of the coat, hair length, and thickness as well as the medulla of four hair types but, primarily, to investigate the hair of the two layers of the coat hair (the underhair and the overcoat) using, for this purpose, the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) method. Generally speaking, Finnish foxes were characterized by the most favorable indices of these traits. Different proportions of genes exerted a different impact on the level of these traits.     

Another brick in the Facebook wall – How personality traits relate to the content of status updates

Status updates represent a new form of one-to-many communication which is widely used among members of social networking sites (SNS). The present study investigated the question of who in particular uses the self-presentational opportunities of this feature and which users engage in riskier self-disclosures than others. Combining questionnaire and content analysis, we related self-reports on users’ personality traits (extraversion, narcissism, self-efficacy, need to belong, need for popularity) to the actual use of Facebook status updates. Results showed that higher degrees of narcissism led to deeper self-disclosures and more self-promotional content within these messages. Users with higher need to belong disclosed more intimate information in status updates, while perceived efficacy of self-presentation was negatively related to the mass suitability of postings. Findings extend prior research on personality and SNS usage with regard to dynamic features and content differences in online self-presentation.     

The Person Reference Process in Spontaneous Trait Inferences.

Five studies examined whether spontaneous trait inferences uniquely reference the person who performed a trait-implying behavior. On each study trial in 5 studies, participants saw 2 faces and a behavioral sentence referring to one of them. Later, participants saw face-trait pairs and indicated whether they had seen the trait word in the sentence presented with the face. Participants falsely recognized implied traits more when these traits were paired with actors' faces than with control faces. This effect was replicated for a large set effaces (120), after a week delay between study and recognition test, when equal attention was paid to each face, and when the orientation of the face at recognition was different from the orientation at encoding. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived self and behavioral traits as antecedents of an online empathic experience and prosocial behavior: Evidence from South Korea

The current study identified and examined perceived self-traits and behavioral traits as antecedents of online empathic experiences and prosocial behavior. Our findings suggest that perceived self-traits (i.e., self-efficacy in online relationship and self-disclosure) are strongly associated with both empathic experiences and prosocial behavior. Findings for the behavioral trait, interaction pattern of an individual, indicate that patterns of an individual's networking produce mixed results in regard to association with prosocial behavior. Bonding networking was found to positively predict prosocial behavior, while bridging networking showed a negative association with the same dependent measure. Identity discrepancy and writing activities were also found to positively affect prosocial behavior. Overall, the finding of this study indicates that perceived self-traits tend to display stronger explanatory power over both empathy and prosocial behavior than do behavioral traits.     

液体动压轴承特性试验方法的研究

简要说明了液体动压轴承的特性与润滑油的粘度,滑动速度、轴承比压及轴承摩擦系数有关,从而制定了特性试验方法,采用CAT试验系统,并给出了几种关系特性曲线.