Shark personalities? Repeatability of social network traits in a widely distributed predatory fish. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 68, 1995-2003.

Interest in animal personalities has generated a burgeoning literature on repeatability in individual traits such as boldness or exploration through time or across different contexts. Yet, repeatability can be influenced by the interactive social strategies of individuals, for example, consistent inter-individual variation in aggression is well documented. Previous work has largely focused on the social aspects of repeatability in animal behaviour by testing individuals in dyadic pairings. Under natural conditions, individuals interact in a heterogeneous polyadic network. However, the extent to which there is repeatability of social traits at this higher order network level remains unknown. Here, we provide the first empirical evidence of consistent and repeatable animal social networks. Using a model species of shark, a taxonomic group in which repeatability in behaviour has yet to be described, we repeatedly quantified the social networks of ten independent shark groups across different habitats, testing repeatability in individual network position under changing environments. To understand better the mechanisms behind repeatable social behaviour, we also explored the coupling between individual preferences for specific group sizes and social network position. We quantify repeatability in sharks by demonstrating that despite changes in aggregation measured at the group level, the social network position of individuals is consistent across treatments. Group size preferences were found to influence the social network position of individuals in small groups but less so for larger groups suggesting network structure, and thus, repeatability was driven by social preference over aggregation tendency.

Non-agrocultural co-peratives and economy transformation in Cuba: politic processes and strategies

Contribution of co-operatives has been demonstrated since the 1970s as the main development line in agricultural production in Cuba. In contrast, there has been a late recognition of urban co-operatives, even if the need of transformations based on the realization of property in different territorial scenarios had been identified. The article analyses the reform processes launched since the first decade of the 21st century focusing on the nature of the initiatives fostering formation and promotion of nonagricultural co-operatives including follow up of their performance. The potential and limitations of the recent experiences are examined in order to reflect on the organizational processes and transformations from the point of view of their members. To conclude, some questions are posed about whether these co-operatives are capable of avoiding the impact of earlier employment circumstances and of developing strategies aimed at reinforcing voluntary membership and autonomy on which they are founded.

Estimates of peer effects in adolescent smoking across twenty six European countries

Although it is widely believed that one of the key factors influencing whether an adolescent smokes or not is the smoking behaviour of his or her peers, empirical evidence on the magnitude of such peer effects, and even on their existence, is mixed. This existing evidence comes from a range of studies using a variety of country-specific data sources and a variety of identification strategies. This paper exploits a rich source of individual level, school-based, survey data on adolescent substance use across countries - the 2007 European Schools Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs - to provide estimates of peer effects between classmates in adolescent smoking for 75,000 individuals across 26 European countries, using the same methods in each case. The results suggest statistically significant peer effects in almost all cases. These peer effects estimates are large: on average across countries, the probability that a 'typical' adolescent smokes increases by between.31 and.38 percentage points for a one percentage point increase in the proportion of classmates that smoke. Further, estimated peer effects in adolescent smoking are stronger intra-gender than inter-gender. They also vary across countries: in Belgium, for example, a one percentage point increase in reference group smoking is associated with a.16 to.27 percentage point increase in own smoking probability; in the Netherlands the corresponding increase is between.42 and.59 percentage points. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.

Production of polyclonal antibodies directed to recombinant methionyl bovine somatotropin

The administration of recombinant methionyl bovine somatotropin (rMbST) to dairy cows to increase milk yield remains a common practice in many countries including the USA, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa and Korea, whereas it has been forbidden within the European Union (EU) since 1999. A rapid screening immunoanalytical method capable of the unequivocal determination of rMbST in milk would be highly desirable in order to effectively monitor compliance with the EU-wide ban for home-made or imported dairy products. For decades, the production of specific antibodies for this recombinant isoform of bovine somatotropin (bST) has remained elusive, due to the high degree of sequence homology between both counterparts (e.g. methionine for rMbST in substitution of alanine in bST at the N-terminus). In this study, we compared several immunizing strategies for the production of specific polyclonal antibodies (pAbs), based on the use of the full-length recombinant protein, an rMbST N-terminus peptide fragment and a multiple antigen peptide (MAP) which consists of an oligomeric branching lysine core attached to the first two N-terminus amino acids of rMbST, methionine and phenylalanine (MF-MAP). The immunization with KLH-conjugated MF-MAP led to the production of the pAb with the highest rMbST/bST recognition ratio amongst the generated battery of antibodies. The pAb exhibited a specific binding ability to rMbST in a competitive antigen-coated ELISA format, which avidity was further improved after purification by rMbST N-terminus peptide-based affinity chromatography. These results suggest that immunodiscrimination between structurally related proteins can be achieved using immuno-enhanced immunogens such as MAPs. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.

A qualitative study of psychological, social and behavioral barriers to appropriate food portion size control

Background: Given the worldwide prevalence of overweight and obesity, there is a clear need for meaningful practical healthy eating advice - not only in relation to food choice, but also on appropriate food portion sizes. As the majority of portion size research to date has been overwhelmingly quantitative in design, there is a clear need to qualitatively explore consumers’ views in order to fully understand how food portion size decisions are made. Using qualitative methodology this present study aimed to explore consumers’ views about factors influencing their portion size selection and consumption and to identify barriers to appropriate portion size control.

Methods: Ten focus groups with four to nine participants in each were formed with a total of 66 persons (aged 19–64 years) living on the island of Ireland. The semi-structured discussions elicited participants’ perceptions of suggested serving size guidance and explored the influence of personal, social and environmental factors on their food portion size consumption. Audiotapes of the discussions were professionally transcribed verbatim, loaded into NVivo 9, and analysed using an inductive thematic analysis procedure.
Results: The rich descriptive data derived from participants highlight that unhealthy portion size behaviors emanate from various psychological, social and behavioral factors. These bypass reflective and deliberative control, and converge to constitute significant barriers to healthy portion size control. Seven significant barriers to healthy portion size control were apparent: (1) lack of clarity and irrelevance of suggested serving size guidance; (2) guiltless eating; (3) lack of self-control over food cues; (4) distracted eating; (5) social pressures; (6) emotional eating rewards;
and (7) quantification habits ingrained from childhood.

Conclusions: Portion size control strategies should empower consumers to overcome these effects so that the consumption of appropriate food portion sizes becomes automatic and habitual.
Keywords: Food portion size, Barriers, Obesity, Consumers, Qualitative study. © 2013 Spence et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd

Peer injecting: implications for injecting order and blood-borne viruses among men and women who inject heroin

A large body of research has highlighted practices and rituals that characterise injecting drug use and behavioural and environmental risks that can contribute to the transmission of blood-borne viruses. Compared with other injecting practices, considerably less is known about peer injecting, i.e. receiving or giving injections, particularly the social context in which it occurs. In this article, we explore peer injecting and injecting order at initiation into injecting drug user (IDU) and during subsequent injection episodes. Using data from semi-structured interviews, we highlight the experiences of 41 males and females who had received injections from other IDUs. Respondents were recruited through various strategies, largely chain referral. The results suggest gendered similarities as well as differences in terms of peer injecting, the order of injection and micro-risk contexts for blood-borne viruses. © 2013 Informa UK Ltd.

Movement and Perceptual Strategies to Intercept Virtual Sound Sources

To intercept a moving object, one needs to be in the right place at the right time. In order to do this, it is necessary to pick up and use perceptual information that specifies the time to arrival of an object at an interception point. In the present study, we examined the ability to intercept a laterally moving virtual sound object by controlling the displacement of a sliding handle and tested whether and how the interaural time difference (ITD) could be the main source of perceptual information for successfully intercepting the virtual object. The results revealed that in order to accomplish the task, one might need to vary the duration of the movement, control the hand velocity and time to reach the peak velocity (speed coupling), while the adjustment of movement initiation did not facilitate performance. Furthermore, the overall performance was more successful when subjects employed a time-to-contact (tau) coupling strategy. This result shows that prospective information is available in sound for guiding goal-directed actions.

Validity of model devices used to assess canine temperament in behavioral tests

Temperament tests are widely accepted as instruments for profiling behavioral variability in dogs, and they are applied in numerous areas of investigation (e.g. suitability for adoption or for breeding). During testing, to elicit a dog's reaction toward novel stimuli and predict its behavior in everyday life, model devices such as a child-like doll, or a fake dog, are often employed. However, the reliability of these devices to accurately stimulate dogs' reactions to children or dogs, is unknown and perhaps overestimated. This may be a particular concern in the case of aggressive behavior toward humans, a significant public health issue. The aim of this study was to: (1) evaluate the correlation between dogs' reactions to these devices, and owners' reports of their dog's aggression history (using the C-BARQ ??); (2) compare reactions toward the devices of dogs with and without histories of aggression. Subjects were selected among those visiting for behavioral consultation at the Veterinary Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and previously categorized as aggressive toward unfamiliar children, conspecifics, or as non-aggressive dogs (control). The test consisted of different components: an unfamiliar female tester approaching the dog; the presentation of a child-like doll, an ambiguous object, and a fake plastic dog. All tests were videotaped and durations of behaviors were later analyzed on the basis of a specified ethogram. Dogs' reactions were compared to C-BARQ scores, and interesting correlations emerged for 'dog-directed aggression/fear' (R = 0.48, P = 0.004), and 'stranger-directed aggression' (R = 0.58, P <0.001) factors. Dogs differed in their reactions toward the devices: the child-like doll and the fake dog elicited more social behaviors than the ambiguous object used as a control stimulus. Issues concerning the reliability of these tools to assess canine temperament are discussed. ?? 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

TELL ME Design: Protective Behaviour During an Epidemic

The TELL ME agent based model simulates the connections between health agency communication, personal decisions to adopt protective behaviour during an influenza epidemic, and the effect of those decisions on epidemic progress. The behaviour decisions are modelled with a combination of personal attitude, behaviour adoption by neighbours, and the local recent incidence of influenza. This paper sets out and justifies the model design, including how these decision factors have been operationalised. By exploring the effects of different communication strategies, the model is intended to assist health authorities with their influenza epidemic communication plans. It can both assist users to understand the complex interactions between communication, personal behaviour and epidemic progress, and guide future data collection to improve communication planning.

The effectiveness of peer mentoring in promoting a positive transition to higher education for first-year undergraduate students: a mixed methods systematic review protocol

Background: The global transfer of nursing and midwifery education to higher education institutes has led to student nurses and midwives experiencing challenges previously faced by traditional third-level students, including isolation, loneliness, financial difficulties and academic pressure. These challenges can contribute to increased stress and anxiety levels which may be detrimental to the successful transition to higher education, thus leading to an increase in attrition rates. Peer mentoring as an intervention has been suggested to be effective in supporting students in the transition to third-level education through enhancing a sense of belongingness and improving student satisfaction, engagement and retention rates. This proposed systematic review aims to determine the effectiveness of peer mentoring in enhancing levels of student engagement, sense of belonging and overall satisfaction of first-year undergraduate students following transition into higher education.
Methods: MEDLINE, Web of Knowledge, ProQuest, Embase, CINAHL, ERIC, PsycINFO and CENTRAL databases will be searched for qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods studies on the implementation of peer assessment strategies in higher education institutes (HEIs) or universities for full-time, first-year adult students (>17 years). Included studies will be limited to the English language. The quality of included studies will be assessed using a validated Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT). The findings will be presented as a narrative synthesis or meta-analysis as appropriate following sequential explanatory synthesis.
Discussion: The review will provide clear, non-biased evidence-based guidance to all third-level educators on the effectiveness of peer-mentoring programmes for first-year undergraduates. The review is necessary to help establish which type of peer mentoring is most effective. The evidence from qualitative and quantitative studies drawn from the international literature will be utilised to illustrate the best way to implement and evaluate peer mentoring as an effective intervention and will be useful in guiding future research and practice in this area. These findings may be applied internationally across all disciplines.

New methodologies for directed functional connectivity applied to brain neuroimaging research

Tese de doutoramento, Engenharia Biomédica e Biofísica, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências, 2015

The dynamics of brand loyalty across a consumer’s lifetime

This project studies the Portuguese female fashion market. We intend to determine patterns of consumer brand loyalty across brands and ages. By interviewing 8 young adults and surveying 125 teens and 87 adults, we found that brands’ segmentation by usage per age segment is related with differentiation in brand loyalty and peer pressure. We also found that teens have higher attitudinal brand loyalty while adults have higher behavioral loyalty. Moreover, brand loyalty in teens is more susceptible to peer pressure. The results imply that customer relationship management strategies should be differentiated according to age segment. We also derive marketing implications with a focus on each brand’s loyalty profile.

Biological colonization on majolica glazed tiles: biodeterioration, bioreceptivity and mitigation strategies

The impact of microbial activity on the deterioration of cultural heritage is a well-recognized global problem. Glazed wall tiles constitute an important part of the worldwide cultural heritage. When exposed outdoors, biological colonization and consequently biodeterioration may occur. Few studies have dealt with this issue, as shown in the literature review on biodiversity, biodeterioration and bioreceptivity of architectural ceramic materials. Due to the lack of knowledge on the biodeteriogens affecting these assets, the characterization of microbial communities growing on Portuguese majolica glazed tiles, from Pena National Palace (Sintra, Portugal) and another from Casa da Pesca (Oeiras, Portugal) was carried out by culture and molecular biology techniques. Microbial communities were composed of microalgae, cyanobacteria, bacteria and fungi, including a new fungal species (Devriesia imbrexigena) described for the first time. Laboratory-based colonization experiments were performed to assess the biodeterioration patterns and bioreceptivity of glazed wall tiles produced in laboratory. Microorganisms previously identified on glazed tiles were inoculated on pristine and artificially aged tile models and incubated under laboratory conditions for 12 months. Phototrophic microorganisms were able to grow into glaze fissures and the tested fungus was able to form oxalates over the glaze. The bioreceptivity of artificially aged tiles was higher for phototrophic microorganisms than pristine tile models. A preliminary approach on mitigation strategies based on in situ application of commercial biocides and titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles on glazed tiles demonstrated that commercial biocides did not provide long term protection. In contrast, TiO2 treatment caused biofilm detachment. In addition, the use of TiO2 thin films on glazed wall tiles as a protective coating to prevent biological colonization was analysed under laboratorial conditions. Finally, conservation notes on tiles exposed to biological colonization were presented.

Perceived behavioral changes in early multiple sclerosis.

Acquired behavioral changes have essentially been described in advanced multiple sclerosis (MS). The present study was designed to determine whether behavioral modifications specifically related to the MS pathological process could be identified in the initial phase of the disease, as compared to control patients with chronic, relapsing and progressive inflammatory disorders not involving the central nervous system (CNS). Eighty-eight early MS patients (Expanded Disability Status Scale score <or= 2.5) and 48 controls were tested. Perceived changes by informants in behavioral control, goal-directed behavior, decision making, emotional expression, insight and interpersonal relationships were assessed using the Iowa Scale of Personality Change (ISPC). Executive behavioral disturbances were screened using the Dysexecutive Questionnaire (DEX). The mean change between the premorbid and postmorbid ISPC ratings was similar in the MS [12.2 (SD 15.6)] and in the control [11.5 (SD 15.1)] group. The perceived behavioral changes (PBCs) most frequently reported in both groups were lack of stamina, lability/moodiness, anxiety, vulnerability to stress and irritability. Pathological scores in the DEX were also similar in both groups. Correlations between PBCs and DEX scores were different in MS and control groups. MS patients with cognitive impairment had a marginally higher number of PBCs than control patients (p=0.056) and a significantly higher DEXp score (p=0.04). These results suggest that (1) PBCs occurring in early MS patients were not different from those induced by comparable chronic non-CNS disorders, (2) qualitative differences in the relationship between behavioral symptoms and executive-behavioral changes may exist between MS and control groups, and (3) behavioral symptoms seem associated with cognitive deficits in MS. We further plan to assess these observations longitudinally.