Acoustic signals are widely used by fish such as pomacentrids, to communicate during courtship and agonistic activities. Adult Stegastes lividus holds a permanent territory in a coral reef environment. Previous studies suggested that S. lividus seems to produce clicking sounds when intruders close to its territory. This study aimed to describe (1) the sounds produced by this species; (2) the behavioral pattern associated with these acoustic signals; (3) vocal activity of diurnal variation. The study site was near the water inlet of the Third Nuclear Power Plant in southern Taiwan (120¡C45¡¬E , 21¡C57¡¬N). 24-hour recordings at the habitat of S. lividus at 5-6 m and at 2-3 m were made in February, March and April, 2005. The synchronous video-audio recordings were also made at the colonies of S. lividus at 2-3 m. The observations showed that S. lividus produced clicking sounds for territorial defense (e.g. aggressive behavior). These sounds were composed of a variable number of pulses that had a dominant frequency at 200 to 400 Hz. Stegastes lividus produced different sound types to defend against conspecifics or heterospecifics. Although the acoustic signals were emitted throughout all day, more sounds were recorded during the noon, fewer sounds at night, and a small peak presented at sunset. Therefore, I suggested the acoustic signals of S. lividus may be also serves as species recognition. The fish may be a diurnal fish, and its social interaction peaks at noon.

As more and more multimedia applications are integrated in mobile devices, a significant amount of energy is devoted to digital signal processing (DSP). Thus, reducing energy consumption for DSP systems has become an important design goal for battery operated mobile devices. Since supply voltage scaling is one of the most effective methods to reduce power/energy consumption, this study examines aggressive voltage scaling to achieve significant energy savings by allowing some output quality degradation for error tolerant image processing system. The objective of proposed research is to explore ultra-low energy image processing system design methodologies based on efficient accuracy (quality)-energy tradeoffs. This dissertation presents several new analyses and techniques to achieve significant energy savings without noticeable quality degradation under aggressive voltage scaling. In the first, this work starts from accurate error analysis and a model based on input sequence dependent delay estimation. Based on the analysis, we explain the dependence of voltage scalability on input image types, which may be used for input dependent adaptive control for optimal accuracy-energy tradeoffs. In addition, this work includes the system-level analysis of the impact of aggressive voltage scaling on overall energy consumption and a low-cost technique to reduce overall energy consumption. Lastly, this research exploits an error concealment technique to improve the efficiency of accuracy-energy tradeoffs. For an image compression system, the technique minimizes the impact of delay errors on output quality while allowing very low voltage operations for significant energy reduction.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--North Carolina State University, 2003. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Aug. 21, 2004). Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Social aggression -- the use of covert forms of aggression such as betrayal, gossip, and rumor-spreading -- has only recently been the focus of research and is not yet well understood. This study hypothesizes that the tactics of socially aggressive children are consistent with the social manipulations of Machiavelli. Niccolo Machiaveli wrote extensively on the coercive techniques he used to gain power, achieve his goals, and defend his country (e.g. Machiavelli, 1513/1968). Christie and Geis (1970), inspired by Machiaveli, began researching a form of social manipulation that they term Machiavellianism. While the similarities in characteristics of Machiavellian and socially aggressive children seem to indicate that they may share behavioral strategies and social goals, there is no research to date that compares these children. Additionally, since little research has examined the goals of social aggression in relational conflict situations this study used a quantitative measure of social goals in order to better understand the purpose of a child's behavior. / text

Low-power digital design has been a widely researched area for the past twenty years. The growing demand for mobile computing made low power an especially important quality for such systems and encouraged researchers to find new ways of reducing power dissipation. Aggressive voltage scaling was recently published as a new paradigm for reducing power dissipation in digital circuits and the use of soft-edge flip-flops is one such technique in this category. In this thesis, we propose a soft-edge flip-flop topology that is better suited to implement the soft-edge property compared to the previously published implementations. In addition, we present the effectiveness of the soft-edge flip-flop technique by applying it to a practical VLSI design implemented with the TSMC 0.18um standard cell library. Using HSIM transistor-level SPICE simulator, we show that at least 25% power reduction is achievable in the whole circuit with a negligible area overhead. / text

The study used a cross-sectional survey design to investigate anger, impulsivity, sensation seeking and driver attitudes as correlates for self-reported acts of risky driving behaviour (RDB), among young drivers. A non-probability sample of 306 university students from two universities in the Durban region completed the self-administered questionnaire. A key focus area included an examination of age and gender differences in the above-mentioned constructs. Fifty four percent of the sample were male (N = 165) and 46% female (N = 141). The mean age of males and females in the sample was 29 years and 25 years respectively. The majority of the sample (75%) indicated that they drive either on a daily basis or 3-6 days a week. With regard to the relationship between the various personality constructs and selfreported acts of RDB, the results indicate that driver anger, sensation seeking, a sense of urgency and a lack of premeditation and perseverance were significantly related to self-reported acts of RDB. That is, drivers with higher driver anger, sensation seeking, urgency, and with a greater lack of premeditation and perseverance in daily activities were statistically more likely to report riskier driving acts. With respect to gender differences, males reported significantly more acts of RDB, while females displayed a significantly lower amount of premeditation in their general daily activities. However no other significant gender differences were observed. The results suggested that driver attitudes were significantly related to self-reported acts of RDB on most indicators. That is, drivers with a negative attitude towards RDB-related behaviours reported significantly less engagement in RDB-related actions.Finally, with respect to age differences, older drivers (25 years and older) reported significantly more negative attitudes towards rule violations/speeding and the careless driving of others. Also, older drivers reported a significantly lower sense of sensation seeking and urgency in life. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sci.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.

While researchers have assessed the prevalence and health impact of bullying, there are still relatively few successful interventions and strategies implemented to reduce and prevent bullying. A particular promising area is to know more about students who may be willing to intervene in a bullying situation, which is the focus of this thesis. Using the data from the Georgia Student Health Survey II (GSHS 2006) (n=175,311) an empirical analyses of students who state that they are willing to intervene in a bullying situation, their demographic characteristics and psychosocial attributes will be examined. The survey administered to students across Georgia in grades 6th, 8th, 10th and 12th measured the number of students who reported being a bully-victim, bully or a victim of bullying, and their likelihood to engage in risky behaviors. The results demonstrated students who were white and were girls were most likely to intervene in bullying situations. Grade level was not significant when it involved intervening, but was an important marker for the co-occurrence of bully-victims. One compelling finding is that the bully subgroup was most likely to always intervene. School climate factors such as success in school, clear expectations and liking school were significant indicators of willingness to intervene. These findings assist researchers and schools to better understand the characteristics of students who are willing to intervene and school factors that may promote students likelihood of intervening. These findings may guide how bullying is addressed in Georgia schools, and underscore the importance of providing safe school climates.

Darbas skirtas Lietuvos vairuotojų agresyvumo ir saviveiksmingumo įvertinimui bei analizei. Tyrimo tikslas: išanalizuoti Lietuvos vairuotojų agresyvumo lygį ir jo sąsajas su saviveiksmingumu. Patogiosios atrankos metodu apklausta buvo 18-74 metų 196 respondentai. Psichologiniam įvetinimui naudotas A.H. Buss’o ir M. Perry „Agresijos klausimynas“, J. L. Deffenbacher’o ir bendraautorių “Vairavimo pykčio skalė”, bei S. George ir kolegų „Adelaidės vairavimo saviveiksmingumo skalė“. Rezultatai atskleidė, kad vairuotojams pasižymintiems aukštesniu agresijos lygiu būdingesnis didesnis pyktis už vairo negu mažiau agresyviems vairuotojams. Taip pat vairuotojai su žemesniu saviveiksmingumu labiau linkę pykti už vairo, negu vairuotojai su aukštesniu saviveiksmingumu. Vertinant lyties skirtumus, vyrai vairuotojai pasižymi aukštesniu agresijos lygiu negu vairuotojos moterys. Moterys vairuotojos nėra labiau linkusios pykti už vairo negu vairuotojai vyrai. Tuo tarpu, vyrų vairuotojų saviveiksmingumas yra aukštesnis negu moterų vairuotojų. Logistinė regresijos analizė nustatė, kad vairuotojų agresyvumas ir žemas saviveiksmingumas didina eismo įvykio tikimybę. / The paper was designed to analize and evaluate the aggressiveness and self- efficacy of Lithuanian drivers. The aim of this study was : to evaluate the level of aggressiveness of Lithuanian drivers and to eveluate the reliationship between self- efficacy and aggressive driving. The data was collected from 196 participants ( 18-74 years old). Buss - Perry Aggression Questionnaire, Deffenbacher and his colleagues’ Driving Anger Scale (DAS) and George and his joint authors’ Adelaide Driving Self-Efficacy Scale (ADSES) were used for psychological evaluations. The results showed that more aggressive drivers tend to express the higher levels of driving anger, than less aggressive drivers. Drivers with lower self- efficacy reported more driving anger than drivers with higher self- efficacy either. The results of sex differences revealed that men are more aggressive drivers than women. Women didn’t express the higher level of driving anger compared with men. The level of driving self- efficacy was higher for men than for women. The Logistic regression found the drivers’ aggressiveness and low self- efficacy to increase the probability to crash involvement.

Motivation to learn, aggressive treatment and addictions expressions’ dependence on teenagers physical activity and gender SUMMARY In this study were analysed correlation between motivation of learning, aggressive treatment, addictions and teenagers’ physical activity. Absence of definite answer, how sport activity governs students’ motivation of learning and attitude to school, initiated this study. Researches don’t answer, are the physical active pupil more susceptible to aggressive treatment and addictions. In this case as independent variable was chose pupils’ physical activity and gender, and dependent variable – attitude to school, learning and motivation of learning peculiarity, aggressive treatment and addictions expression. Our purpose – to find motivation of learning, aggressive treatment and addictions expression dependence on teenagers’ physical activity and gender. Research tasks 1. To find attitude to school and motivation of learning subject to teenagers’ physical activity and gender. 2. To evaluate aggressive treatment expression subject to teenagers’ physical activity and gender. 3. To evaluate addictions expression subject to teenagers’ physical activity and gender. To serve the purpose were investigated 230 the eighth class students of Kaunas secondary schools. Were investigated 105 boys and 125 girls. Students were picked accidentally using serial principle from ten different schools and in every one was examined by one the eighth class. We used... [to full text]

The study analyses harmful behaviour towards self and others among students studying in the 5th to 12th grades. Harmful behaviour towards self and others is defined as substance use, suicidal and aggressive behaviour. This study explores an assumption that tobacco, alcohol and other drug abuse, suicidal and aggressive behaviour constitute one problem behaviour syndrome, as they perform the same functions in the life of an adolescent. The study is aimed to determine whether harmful behaviour towards self and others can be identified with the same psychosocial factors. Due attention is focused in the study on the changes of this behaviour from grades 5 to 12, in the duration of three years in different student groups. The empirical part of the dissertation presents a study of a large group of secondary school students during a period of 3 years. The results illustrate that substance use, suicidal behaviour and aggressive behaviour can be understood as a problem behaviour syndrome, but only in the girls’ group. Depressive mood, poor relations with teachers and negative learning attitudes predict all three forms of harmful behaviour towards self and others. Prevalence of this behaviour becomes increasingly evident during adolescence, but its different forms undergo different transformation processes. Changes in harmful behaviour towards self and others occur due to the age effect, but not the cohort effect. / Disertacijoje nagrinėjamas 5 – 12 klasių mokinių save ir kitus žalojantis elgesys, kuris apibrėžiamas kaip tabako, alkoholio, kitų narkotinių medžiagų vartojimas, agresyvus ir savižudiškas elgesys. Darbe tikrinama prielaida, kad šios save ir kitus žalojančio elgesio formos paauglystėje sudaro vieną elgesio konstruktą, nes atlieka tas pačias funkcijas paauglio gyvenime. Siekiama įvertinti, ar save ir kitus žalojantis elgesys gali būti aprašytas tais pačiais psichosocialiniais veiksniais. Darbe didelis dėmesys skiriamas šio elgesio kitimams nuo 5 iki 12 klasės ir per tris tyrimo metus skirtingose mokinių amžiaus grupėse. Empirinėje darbo dalyje pristatomas 3 metus trukęs didelės mokinių grupės tyrimas. Išanalizavus rezultatus, nustatyta, kad tabako, alkoholio, kitų narkotinių medžiagų vartojimas, agresyvus ir savižudiškas elgesys gali būti suprantami kaip vieno elgesio konstrukto dalys, tačiau tik mergaitėms. Pablogėjusi nuotaika, prasti santykiai su mokytojais ir neigiamas požiūris į mokymąsi geriausiai nusako paauglių save ir kitus žalojantį elgesį. Šio elgesio kitimų analizė atskleidė, kad save ir kitus žalojančio elgesio paauglystės laikotarpiu daugėja, tačiau kinta jo pasireiškimo forma. Save ir kitus žalojančio elgesio kitimai atsiranda dėl amžiaus įtakos, bet ne dėl kohortos efekto.