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Mixed Support (mixed + support)
Selected AbstractsIndividualism,collectivism and the role of goal orientation in organizational trainingINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 3 2009Altovise Rogers This research examines how individualism,collectivism and goal orientation impact training effectiveness through study of an internationally diverse sample of engineers who were undergoing technical training. In light of contemporary views of individualism,collectivism, we argue that collectivism will moderate the influence of learning and performance goal orientations on training by shaping the impact of one's perceived social context on existing performance concerns and goals. Using a sample from a large multinational corporation, we examined the effects of individualism,collectivism and goal orientation on training transfer intentions, motivation to learn, and test performance. Mixed support for our hypotheses was found. Collectivists were found to exhibit higher levels of training transfer intentions and motivation to learn. However, when collectivism was combined with a performance goal orientation, its effects on training outcomes were diminished. Applications for organizations and future extensions of the present research are discussed. [source] THE IMPACT OF BRITISH COUNTERTERRORIST STRATEGIES ON POLITICAL VIOLENCE IN NORTHERN IRELAND: COMPARING DETERRENCE AND BACKLASH MODELS,CRIMINOLOGY, Issue 1 2009GARY LAFREE Since philosophers Beccaria and Bentham, criminologists have been concerned with predicting how governmental attempts to maintain lawful behavior affect subsequent rates of criminal violence. In this article, we build on prior research to argue that governmental responses to a specific form of criminal violence,terrorism,may produce both a positive deterrence effect (i.e., reducing future incidence of prohibited behavior) and a negative backlash effect (i.e., increasing future incidence of prohibited behavior). Deterrence-based models have long dominated both criminal justice and counterterrorist policies on responding to violence. The models maintain that an individual's prohibited behavior can be altered by the threat and imposition of punishment. Backlash models are more theoretically scattered but receive mixed support from several sources, which include research on counterterrorism; the criminology literature on labeling, legitimacy, and defiance; and the psychological literature on social power and decision making. In this article, we identify six major British strategies aimed at reducing political violence in Northern Ireland from 1969 to 1992 and then use a Cox proportional hazard model to estimate the impact of these interventions on the risk of new attacks. In general, we find the strongest support for backlash models. The only support for deterrence models was a military surge called Operation Motorman, which was followed by significant declines in the risk of new attacks. The results underscore the importance of considering the possibility that antiterrorist interventions might both increase and decrease subsequent violence. [source] Egg Colour Covaries with Female Expression of a Male Ornament in the Spotless Starling (Sturnus unicolor)ETHOLOGY, Issue 10 2007Isabel López-Rull The sexually selected egg colour hypothesis (SSECH) proposes that egg colouration is as a post-mating sexually selected signal of female phenotypic quality, maintained by a higher allocation of paternal care. Similarly, some female traits can reflect genetic quality or condition and males could use this information in mate choice or in modulating parental investment. In our study, we examined the correlation of individual variation in egg colouration with female expression of a male ornament and how male feeding covaried with these two female traits in the spotless starling, in which egg colour varies widely between clutches and where both sexes possess showy throat feathers that are age dependent and that may signal individual quality. According to the SSECH, high-quality females (females with longer throat feathers) are expected to lay more colourful eggs than low-quality females and males should modify their feeding behaviour accordingly. By means of a principal component analysis, we found that most of the variation in egg colouration was due to brightness differences, and in a lower proportion to chromatic variation. Chromatic variation reflected a ultraviolet (UV) vs. greenness trade-off and was positively associated with throat feather length: females with larger throat feathers laid eggs with higher UV and lower green reflectance. However, egg brightness was not related to female feather length, as the SSECH would predict. Male feedings were positively related to female throat feather length and negatively related to chromatic variation, meaning that males contributed more to nests of females with long throat feathers who laid eggs with higher UV and lower green reflectance. In conclusion, our data provide mixed support for the SSECH: although egg chromatic variation was related to female expression of a male ornament and male parental care, we found no evidence that egg brightness was involved in these processes. [source] PARENTS BENEFIT FROM EATING OFFSPRING: DENSITY-DEPENDENT EGG SURVIVORSHIP COMPENSATES FOR FILIAL CANNIBALISMEVOLUTION, Issue 10 2006Hope Klug Abstract Why should animals knowingly consume their own young? It is difficult to imagine many circumstances in which eating one's own young (i.e., filial cannibalism) actually increases an individual's fitness; however, filial cannibalism commonly co-occurs with parental care in fishes. The evolutionary significance of filial cannibalism remains unclear. The most commonly accepted explanation is that filial cannibalism is a mechanism by which caring males gain energy or nutrients that they reinvest into future reproduction, thereby increasing net reproductive success. There is mixed support for this hypothesis and, at best, it can only explain filial cannibalism in some species. A recent alternative hypothesis suggests that filial cannibalism improves the survivorship of remaining eggs by increasing oxygen availability, and thus increases current reproductive success. This theory has received little attention as of yet. We evaluated the hypothesis of oxygen-mediated filial cannibalism in the sand goby by examining the effect of oxygen and egg density on the occurrence of filial cannibalism, evaluating the effects of partial clutch cannibalism on the survivorship of remaining eggs, and comparing potential costs and benefits of filial cannibalism related to the net number of eggs surviving. Indeed, we found that oxygen level and egg density affected the occurrence of cannibalism and that simulated partial clutch cannibalism improved survivorship of the remaining eggs. Additionally, because increased egg survivorship, stemming from partial egg removal, compensated for the cost of cannibalism (i.e., number of eggs removed) at a range of cannibalism levels, filial cannibalism potentially results in no net losses in reproductive success. However, oxygen did not affect egg survivorship. Thus, we suggest a more general hypothesis of filial cannibalism mediated by density-dependent egg survivorship. [source] GENETIC EVIDENCE ON THE DEMOGRAPHY OF SPECIATION IN ALLOPATRIC DOLPHIN SPECIESEVOLUTION, Issue 4 2002Matthew P. Hare Abstract Under a neutral model, the stochastic lineage sorting that leads to gene monophyly proceeds slowly in large populations. Therefore, in many recent species with large population size, the genome will have mixed support for monophyly unless historical bottlenecks have accelerated coalescence. We use genealogical patterns in mitochondrial DNA and in introns of four nuclear loci to test for historical bottlenecks during the speciation and divergence of two temperate Lagenorhynchus dolphin species isolated by tropical Pacific waters (an antitropical distribution). Despite distinct morphologies, foraging behaviors, and mitochondrial DNAs, these dolphin species are polyphyletic at all four nuclear loci. The abundance of shared polymorphisms between these sister taxa is most consistent with the maintenance of large effective population sizes (5.09 × 104 to 10.9 × 104) during 0.74,1.05 million years of divergence. A variety of population size histories are possible, however. We used gene tree coalescent probabilities to explore the rejection region for historical bottlenecks of different intensity given best estimates of effective population size under a strict isolation model of divergence. In L. obliquidens the data are incompatible with a colonization propagule of an effective size of 10 or fewer individuals. Although the ability to reject less extreme historical bottlenecks will require data from additional loci, the intermixed genealogical patterns observed between these dolphin sister species are highly probable only under an extended history of large population size. If similar demographic histories are inferred for other marine antitropical taxa, a parsimonious model for the Pleistocene origin of these distributions would not involve rare breaches of a constant dispersal barrier by small colonization propagules. Instead, a history of large population size in L. obliquidens and L. obscurus contributes to growing biological and environmental evidence that the equatorial barrier became permeable during glacial/interglacial cycles, leading to vicariant isolation of antitropical populations. [source] Predicting avian patch occupancy in a fragmented landscape: do we know more than we think?JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY, Issue 5 2009Danielle F. Shanahan Summary 1.,A recent and controversial topic in landscape ecology is whether populations of species respond to habitat fragmentation in a general fashion. Empirical research has provided mixed support, resulting in controversy about the use of general rules in landscape management. Rather than simply assessing post hoc whether individual species follow such rules, a priori testing could shed light on their accuracy and utility for predicting species response to landscape change. 2.,We aim to create an a priori model that predicts the presence or absence of multiple species in habitat patches. Our goal is to balance general theory with relevant species life-history traits to obtain high prediction accuracy. To increase the utility of this work, we aim to use accessible methods that can be applied using readily available inexpensive resources. 3.,The classification tree patch-occupancy model we create for birds is based on habitat suitability, minimum area requirements, dispersal potential of each species and overall landscape connectivity. 4.,To test our model we apply it to the South East Queensland region, Australia, for 17 bird species with varying dispersal potential and habitat specialization. We test the accuracy of our predictions using presence,absence information for 55 vegetation patches. 5.,Overall we achieve Cohen's kappa of 0·33, or ,fair' agreement between the model predictions and test data sets, and generally a very high level of absence prediction accuracy. Habitat specialization appeared to influence the accuracy of the model for different species. 6.,We also compare the a priori model to the statistically derived model for each species. Although this ,optimal model' generally differed from our original predictive model, the process revealed ways in which it could be improved for future attempts. 7.,Synthesis and applications. Our study demonstrates that ecological generalizations alongside basic resources (a vegetation map and some species-specific information) can provide conservative accuracy for predicting species occupancy in remnant vegetation patches. We show that the process of testing and developing models based on general rules could provide basic tools for conservation managers to understand the impact of current or planned landscape change on wildlife populations. [source] Determinants of the magnitude of willingness to accept relative to willingness to payJOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL DECISION MAKING, Issue 2 2001Hersh Shefrin Abstract In this paper we test two hypotheses that stem from the work of Mellers, Chang, Birnbaum and Ordonez (1992). The first hypothesis is that in a binary gamble, the ratio of WTA to WTP is decreasing in the probability attached to a nonzero event. The second hypothesis is that this ratio is independent of the size of stakes. We find support for the first hypothesis, but mixed support for the second. The second hypothesis holds in the case of gains, but not in the case of losses. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] The Multijurisdictional Disclosure System and Value of Equity OfferingsJOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTING, Issue 1 2006Usha R. Mittoo The Canada and US multijurisdictional disclosure system (MJDS) implemented in 1991 lowered the indirect barriers for investors and issuers by easing reporting and disclosure requirements for cross-border issues. This paper examines the impact of the MJDS and related regulatory changes on Canada,US equity market segmentation using a sample of Canadian seasoned equity offerings in the 1991,1998 period. We find that the number of cross-border issues by Canadian firms increased, and the typical negative stock price reaction that accompanies seasoned equity issues declined over time, supporting increased integration between the two markets after the MJDS. We also document that cross-border issues experience about 1.4 per cent lower negative stock price reaction compared with domestic issues, consistent with Canada,US market segmentation. We find mixed support for Merton's (1987) investor recognition hypothesis. While Canadian firms cross-listed in the US experience a less adverse price reaction to their cross-border offerings compared with their non-US-listed peers, there is no significant difference between the two groups in the case of purely domestic issues. [source] Is Partner Violence Worse in the Context of Control?JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY, Issue 5 2008Kristin L. Anderson M. P. Johnson's (1995) proposal that there are two qualitatively distinct types of intimate partner violence,intimate terrorism and situational couple violence,has been an influential explanation for disparate findings on sex symmetry in domestic violence. This study examines whether this typology increases our ability to explain variations in the negative outcomes of partner violence as compared with the use of a continuous measure of violence. This study also considers whether the use of control to differentiate between types of violence helps to explain the negative consequences of partner violence. The results, based on analyses of data on 4,575 married women from National Violence Against Women survey, indicate mixed support for Johnson's argument for a qualitative distinction between IT and SCV. [source] A longitudinal study of the relationship between career management and organizational commitment among graduates in the first ten years at workJOURNAL OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR, Issue 6 2002Jane Sturges This paper reports the findings of a two-wave longitudinal study investigating relationships between organizational and individual career management activities and organizational commitment in the early years of graduate careers. Several hypotheses are tested and receive mixed support. High organizational commitment predicts the practice of career management activities by graduates to further their career within the organization while low commitment is closely associated with behaviour aimed at furthering the career outside the organization. Graduates who manage their own careers also receive more career management help from their employer. This suggests that there may be the potential for employers to create a ,virtuous circle' of career management in which individual and organizational activities complement each other. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Naltrexone Decreases Heavy Drinking Rates in Smoking Cessation Treatment: An Exploratory StudyALCOHOLISM, Issue 6 2009Andrea King Background:, There is mixed support for the efficacy of the opioid antagonist naltrexone in the treatment of nicotine dependence. One potential unexplored mechanism underlying naltrexone's effects in smoking cessation may be in its ability to reduce alcohol consumption. Methods:, Alcohol consumption and liver enzyme levels (aspartate aminotransferase and alanine transaminase) were examined in a sample of 78 nonalcoholic social drinking smokers (34 naltrexone, 44 placebo) enrolled in a double-blind randomized clinical trial of naltrexone in smoking cessation. Naltrexone or placebo began 3 days prior to the quit date (25 mg daily) and continued for 8 weeks (50 mg daily). All participants received nicotine patches and behavioral counseling up through 4 weeks after the quit date. Results:, Naltrexone significantly reduced weekly heavy drinking rates. This effect was associated with greater nausea and pill taking adherence within the naltrexone group. Within heavy drinkers, naltrexone also directionally improved smoking quit rates compared with placebo. Liver enzyme levels did not differ during treatment with naltrexone compared with placebo. Conclusions:, Naltrexone may reduce the frequency of heavy drinking in nonalcoholics attempting to quit smoking. Further, naltrexone may preferentially improve smoking quit rates within heavy drinkers who smoke, and further investigation in larger sample sizes is warranted. [source] Attachment style and intimacy in friendshipPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS, Issue 4 2000CHANDRA M. GRABILL Two studies with college students tested the hypothesis that a secure attachment style enhances intimacy in friendship. Three intimacy characteristics were studied: self-disclosure; responsiveness to a partner's disclosure; and feeling understood, validated, and cared for by a partner during conversations. In Study 1, individuals with a secure attachment style were higher on all three intimacy characteristics In Study 2, a lab-based assessment of intimacy revealed some relations between attachment and intimacy, providing mixed support for the hypothesis. Both studies found gender differences in intimacy characteristics The findings provide a starting point for a model accounting for individual differences in friendship. [source] The Changing Nature of Presidential Policy Making on International AgreementsPRESIDENTIAL STUDIES QUARTERLY, Issue 3 2006GLEN S. KRUTZ Why are executive agreements (EAs), rather than treaties, increasingly used to formalize U.S. relations with other countries? We examine this question from two perspectives. In the first, known as the "evasion" hypothesis, presidents act strategically to evade the Senate when governing circumstances are difficult. This strategic view reflects the conventional wisdom. Second, we consider whether organizational efficiency drives presidential use of EAs. As the number of countries increases, requiring more international agreements, it becomes necessary to rely more on an efficient mechanism to "get things done." We test these rival hypotheses by analyzing EA use as a percentage of all international agreements, as well as a subset of important EAs, from 1949 to 1998. In contrast to the conventional wisdom, we find consistent support for the efficiency hypothesis and only mixed support for the evasion hypothesis. Within these mixed findings, an interesting trend emerges. As expected, presidents act more strategically on the subset of important agreements, but this behavior appears to be driven by the ideological makeup of the Senate rather than partisan cleavages. [source] Worldwide allele frequencies of the human apolipoprotein E gene: Climate, local adaptations, and evolutionary historyAMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 1 2010Dan T.A. Eisenberg Abstract The ,4 allele of the apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene is associated with increased cholesterol levels and heart disease. Population allele frequencies of APOE have previously been shown to vary, with ,4 frequencies generally increasing with latitude. We hypothesize that this trend resulted from natural selection protecting against low-cholesterol levels. In high-latitude cold environments and low-latitude hot environments, metabolic rate is elevated, which could require higher cholesterol levels. To explore this hypothesis, we compiled APOE allele frequencies, latitude, temperature, and elevation from populations around the world. ,4 allele frequencies show a curvilinear relationship with absolute latitude, with lowest frequencies found in the mid-latitudes where temperatures generally require less expenditure on cooling/thermogenesis. Controlling for population structure in a subset of populations did not appreciably change this pattern of association, consistent with selection pressures that vary by latitude shaping ,4 allele frequencies. Temperature records also predict APOE frequency in a curvilinear fashion, with lowest ,4 frequencies at moderate temperatures. The model fit between historical temperatures and ,4 is less than between latitude and ,4, but strengthened after correcting for estimated temperature differences during the Paleolithic. Contrary to our hypothesis, we find that elevation did not improve predictive power, and an integrated measure of the cholesterol effect of multiple APOE alleles was less related to latitude than was ,4 alone. Our results lend mixed support for a link between past temperature and human APOE allele distribution and point to the need to develop better models of past climate in future analyses. Am J Phys Anthropol 143:13,20, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] The first year after breast cancer diagnosis: hope and coping strategies as predictors of adjustmentPSYCHO-ONCOLOGY, Issue 2 2002Annette L. Stanton Given the marked individual variability in psychological adjustment in response to breast cancer, it is important to specify factors contributing to adaptive survivorship. This longitudinal study of 70 women with Stage I or II breast cancer tested the ability of situation-specific coping strategies and a more stable attribute, hope, to predict adjustment prospectively from the point shortly following diagnosis through the first year. Consonant with previous studies, coping through active acceptance at diagnosis predicted more positive adjustment across time, and avoidance-oriented coping predicted greater fear of cancer recurrence, over and above participant age and initial status on dependent variables. The hypothesis that coping through turning to religion would be more effective for less hopeful women was supported, and mixed support emerged for the hypothesis that approach-oriented coping strategies would yield greater adaptational benefits for women high in hope. Findings suggest that risk and protective factors for adjustment across the first year of survivorship can be identified even prior to definitive surgery for breast cancer, particularly when both dispositional characteristics such as hope and situation-specific coping strategies are considered. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||