Human responses to live snakes and their photographs: Evaluation of beauty and fear of the king snakes

Animals are ancestrally important stimuli for us and thus, we pay disproportional attention to them over other objects. Some of them, like snakes, attract attention as well as elicit fear reactions. We assessed human aesthetic preferences and fear reaction aroused by 20 forms of king snakes, represented by live snakes and their photographs. There was no correlation between the beauty and fear response exuded by live snakes, which indicates that these are two independent processes. Evaluation of live snakes tightly correlated with the results obtained from photographs in both beauty and fear tasks. Respondents evaluated aposematic (black-and-white/yellow-red striped) and purely black species as the most fear-evoking, which is discussed in an evolutionary framework. Interestingly, irrespective of the actual task, i.e. evaluation of beauty or fear, respondents categorized the species within similar clusters (cognitive categories).     

Sorption, desorption, and degradation of (4-chloro-2-methylphenoxy)acetic acid in representative soils of the Danubian Lowland, Slovakia

Herbicide leaching through soil into groundwater greatly depends upon sorption-desorption and degradation phenomena. Batch adsorption, desorption and degradation experiments were performed with acidic herbicide MCPA and three soil types collected from their respective soil horizons. MCPA was found to be weakly sorbed by the soils with Freundlich coefficient values ranging from 0.37 to 1.03 mg^1−1/n kg⁻¹ L^1/n. It was shown that MCPA sorption positively correlated with soil organic carbon content, humic and fulvic acid carbon contents, and negatively with soil pH. The importance of soil organic matter in MCPA sorption by soils was also confirmed by performing sorption experiments after soil organic matter removal. MCPA sorption in these treated soils decreased by 37-100% compared to the original soils. A relatively large part of the sorbed MCPA was released from soils into aqueous solution after four successive desorption steps, although some hysteresis occurred during desorption of MCPA from all soils. Both sorption and desorption were depth-dependent, the A soil horizons exhibited higher retention capacity of the herbicide than B or C soil horizons. Generally, MCPA sorption decreased in the presence of phosphate and low molecular weight organic acids. Degradation of MCPA was faster in the A soil horizons than the corresponding B or C soil horizons with half-life values ranging from 4.9 to 9.6 d in topsoils and from 11.6 to 23.4 d in subsoils.     

Effects of enhanced sanctions for high-BAC DWI offenders on case dispositions and rates of recidivism

Implemented January 1, 1998, Minnesota's high-BAC law mandates more severe administrative pre-conviction penalties and more severe post-conviction penalties for offenses with BACs > or = 0.20%. Most notably, the law provides for the administrative impoundment of the license plate of first-time DWI offenders with BACs > or = 0.20. During the three years after the law took effect, a large majority of first-time and repeat offenders with BACs > or = 0.20% did, in fact, receive high-BAC administrative dispositions and/or high-BAC court convictions, which carried more severe penalties. For example, in 1998 85.6% of first offenders with BACs > or = 0.20% received a high-BAC administrative disposition and/or a high-BAC court conviction; 65.0% received both high-BAC administrative and high-BAC court dispositions. The proportion of high-BAC first-time offenders who received the statutory high-BAC dispositions declined from 1998 to 1999 and 2000. Based on survival analysis, the one-year recidivism rate among first offenders arrested in 1998 with BACs > or = 0.20% was significantly lower than for offenders with BACs 0.17-0.19% (who also had relatively high BACs but were not subject to enhanced sanctions), after controlling for age and gender. There were similar, but not significant, results for first offenders arrested in 1999.     

Predictive models of safety belt use: a regression analysis of MVOSS data

A substantial portion of the U.S. population fails to regularly use their safety belts. The explanations for the differential belt use have addressed, for example, socioeconomics, state law, attitudes, and perceived likelihood of being ticketed. The current analyses create predictive models of safety belt use. Using NHTSA's Motor Vehicle Occupant Safety Surveys (Years 1998 and 2000; N = 9577), variables related to belt use were entered into backward stepwise logistic regressions to produce two predictive models (Demographic and Attitudinal) of safety belt use (Always versus Not always). The results indicated that belt use is a complicated issue as there were several interactions between variables. The Demographic predictive model contained main effects for, law types, socioeconomics, population density, a gender-law type interaction, and a three-way interaction between age, marital status, and vehicle type. The Attitudinal model included perceived effectiveness of the belt, fatalistic attitudes, and an interaction between perceived effectiveness of the belt and perceived risk of being ticketed. These models survived a multinomial logistic regression when belt use was parsed into three categories (Always, Part-time, and Infrequent). In addition to variables that affect belt use, the results suggested that the structure of "belt use" as a psychological/behavioral construct is more complicated than once thought. Specifically, a dichotomous breakdown of belt use (Always and Not always) oversimplifies the construct because the predictor factors sometimes affect "part-time" belt users differently than "infrequent" belt users (compared to "full-time" users). Many of the factors included in the models have been previously shown to impact belt use, but the interaction effects--indicating a more complicated relationship between these variables than previously suggested--may contribute to a better understanding of safety belt use.     

Responsibility of drivers, by age and gender, for motor-vehicle crash deaths

Problem: Motor-vehicle crash rate comparisons by age and gender usually are based on the extent to which drivers in a particular age/gender category are themselves injured or involved in crashes (e.g., the number of 20-year-old females in crashes). Basing comparisons instead on the extent to which drivers in various age/gender groups are responsible for deaths (including themselves) in their crashes is more revealing of their overall contribution to the problem. Methods: Data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS, 1996–2000) were used in the analysis, which was based on crashes that involved one or two vehicles only. Drivers in fatal single-vehicle crashes were assumed to have responsibility for the crash. In fatal two-vehicle crashes, driver operator errors reported by police were used to assign crash responsibility. Results: When all crashes were considered, both the youngest and oldest drivers were most likely to be responsible for deaths in their crashes. In two-vehicle crashes, the oldest drivers were more likely than young drivers to be responsible. Young males were more likely than young females to be responsible for crash deaths, whereas females in their 50s and older were more likely than same-age males to be responsible. In terms of responsibility for deaths per licensed driver, young drivers, especially males, had the highest rates because of their high involvement rates and high responsibility rates. The majority of deaths for which young drivers were responsible occurred to people other than themselves, especially passengers in their vehicles, whereas the bulk of the deaths for which older drivers were responsible were their own. Discussion: The results highlight the contribution of young drivers to the motor-vehicle crash problem, the need for measures such as passenger restrictions in graduated licensing systems, and the need for vehicle modifications to better protect older occupants.     

Geographical subdivision,demographic history and gene flow in two sympatric species of intertidal snails, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Nerita scabricosta</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Nerita funiculata</Emphasis>, from the tropical eastern Pacific

The patchy distribution of rocky intertidal communities in the tropical eastern Pacific (TEP) may impose severe constraints on the genetic connectivity among populations of marine invertebrates associated with this habitat. In this study, we analyzed a portion of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene in two sympatric species of marine snails, Nerita scabricosta and Nerita funiculata, common inhabitants of the rocky intertidal from the Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez) and outer Pacific coast of the southern Baja California (Baja) peninsula to northern South America, to assess genetic connectivity among populations of each species. One of our aims was to determine whether the morphological, behavioral, and ecological differences observed among populations of both species throughout their range in the TEP corresponded to population genetic differences. In addition, we were interested in elucidating the demographic history of both species. We found no evidence of genetic structure throughout the Gulf of California and outer coast of the Baja peninsula region for either species. Comparisons between Gulf of California/Baja and Panama populations, however, showed significant genetic differentiation for N. scabricosta, but not for N. funiculata. The genetic differences between Mexican and Panamanian populations of N. scabricosta were consistent with previously reported ecological and behavioral differences for this species between these two distant regions. However, previously reported size differences between northern and central/southern Gulf of California individuals of N. scabricosta do not correspond with our findings of genetic connectivity among these populations. Results from neutrality tests (Tajima’s D and Fu’s F _S), the mismatch distribution, and Bayesian skyline analyses suggested that both species have experienced dramatic population expansions dating to the Pleistocene.     

Kinship and aggression: do house sparrows spare their relatives?

Kin-selection theory predicts that relatedness may reduce the level of aggression among competing group members, leading to indirect fitness benefits for kin-favoring individuals. To test this hypothesis, we investigated whether relatedness affects aggressive behavior during social activities in captive house sparrow (Passer domesticus) flocks. We found that sparrows did not reduce their aggression towards kin, as neither the frequency nor the intensity of fights differed between close kin and unrelated flock-mates. Fighting success was also unrelated to kinship and the presence of relatives in the flock did not influence the birds’ dominance rank. These results suggest that the pay-offs of reduced aggression towards kin may be low in non-breeding flocks of sparrows, e.g. due to competition among relatives as predicted by a recent refinement of kin-selection theory. Our findings indicate that the significance of kin selection may be restricted in some social systems such as winter aggregations of birds. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.