For the modern dairy cow, advances in genetics and breeding for productivity has resulted in an increasing incidence of health disorders and reduced longevity. One of the most important health problems is lameness, which has led to significant economic, production and welfare consequences. A reduction in lameness will improve the economic future of the dairy industry through increased profitability and decreased welfare-related problems. Although positive attempts have been made by researchers and the industry towards improving lameness, it has remained a persistent ailment for dairy farmers. Further analysis of the genetic and environmental factors influencing lameness is warranted so that selection indices and management practices can be modified leading to improved health and welfare of the dairy cow. Several factors that cause dairy cow lameness have been implicated. I reviewed previous studies on these causative factors as well as the association between lameness, longevity and fertility. It has also been suggested that lameness affects milk production of dairy cows, but reports on the association between lameness and daily milk yield of cows have varied among researchers. Using locomotion score data on 248 cows from the Langhill herd, I investigated the relationship between locomotion score which has a high genetic correlation with lameness and various explanatory variables and also the association between daily milk yield and lameness. The study revealed that the most significant factors affecting locomotion are management regime (high concentrate feed and all year indoor housing; low concentrate feed and outdoors in summer) and time of year when cows are locomotion scored. It also showed that lameness adversely affects the milk yield of later lactation cows, and that high yielding cows are more susceptible to lameness. Housing environment plays a significant role in the health and welfare of dairy cows. With national type evaluation records, I estimated the association between housing systems and lameness-related type traits as well as genetic parameters for the locomotion traits. The analysis indicated that cows kept at pasture had favourable linear and composite type trait scores compared with cows in cubicles, straw yards and slatted floors or loafing yards. Locomotion score had strong genetic and phenotypic correlations with the leg and feet composite. Bone quality, which is a new trait in the UK type classification scheme, was moderately heritable (0.23) and had a moderate and positive genetic association with locomotion and leg and feet composite. This suggests that breeding for flatter, more refined bones could reduce locomotion disorders and help improve the longevity of the dairy cow. Analysis of national data again showed reduced incidence of digital dermatitis (DD) for cows at pasture and those with flatter, more refined bones, higher locomotion score and better leg and feet composite. Estimates of genetic parameters indicated heritable variation of DD among cows and moderate genetic associations between DD and production traits and longevity. Incorporating DD in future selection indices will be useful for increased productive life. Using random regression, I analysed changes in type traits associated with lameness (locomotion, rear legs, side view, foot angle and leg and feet composite) in relation to time (months) that cows had spent in cubicles before being classified. The general trend supported the fact that cubicle housing is unfavourable to these traits. There was significant evidence of a genotype x environment interaction, suggesting variation between bulls in the sensitivity of their daughters to cubicle housing with time.

The association between dialect and perceived personality traits has been studied for a number of years. The purpose of this study was to examine how the dialect, the gender of both the speaker and the listener, and the perceived age of the speaker affected the listeners' perception of the speaker's personality. The spontaneous speech samples were drawn from existing corpora. There were 48 speakers, 24 New Zealanders and 24 Utahns. Each dialect group was stratified into three age groups (young, middle, older), and within each age group there were an equal number of males and females. The listener group included 40 adults aged 18-30, 20 females and 20 males. The listeners used a computerized visual analog scale to rate the samples on four personality traits: credibility, confidence, prestige, and pleasantness. They also estimated the age of each speaker. Statistical analysis demonstrated that there were several significant differences in how listeners rated the speakers. Main effects of speaker dialect, speaker age, and speaker and listener gender were observed in age estimation as well as personality perception. The results suggest that listeners' perceptions of personality traits are influenced by the speaker's age, dialect, and gender. Additionally, male and female listeners differed significantly on several measures. The findings of this study demonstrate that speaker dialect and listener gender can influence listener perceptions.

L’objectif de ce travail de recherche est de déterminer si les suicidants français diffèrent des suicidants vietnamiens au niveau des traits de personnalité, des évènements de vie, des stratégies de coping et du soutien social, ce qui nous permettrait de mettre en évidence des facteurs universels déclencheurs du passage à l’acte suicidaire. De même, il s’agit de déterminer si les témoins français et vietnamiens diffèrent entre eux concernant les traits de personnalité, des évènements de vie, des stratégies de coping et le soutien social, des résultats qui nous permettront de vérifier s’il existe des facteurs culturels spécifiques à chaque groupe. Vingt-deux suicidants et 22 témoins vietnamiens non psychiatriques ont été évalués, ainsi que 28 suicidants et 28 témoins français non psychiatriques. Tous les groupes étaient appariés pour l’âge, le sexe et le niveau d’études. Les tests suivants ont été administrés : le MMPI-2 (ECPA, 1996), le questionnaire d’évènements de vie pour adolescents (adapté aux adultes à partir de la version française de Diwo, 1999), la Brief Cope de Carver (version française, Muller et Spitz, 2003), et le questionnaire de soutien social (version française, Bruchon-Schweitzer et al., 1997). Les résultats ont montré que les suicidants français et vietnamiens ont des traits spécifiques de personnalité, caractérisés par un profil associant des traits paranoïaques, schizophréniques et psychasthéniques, et que les témoins français et vietnamiens partagent des traits communs de personnalité indépendamment de la culture. Les suicidants français et vietnamiens ne partagent aucun évènement de vie en commun. En effet, les suicidants français ont plus de difficultés au niveau familial que les suicidants vietnamiens qui eux, ont plus de problèmes individuels et plus de problèmes centrés sur le travail. Cependant, tous les suicidants ont connu plus d’évènements de vie négatifs que leurs témoins et les ont vécus de manière plus stressante. Les suicidants français et vietnamiens ont une stratégie de coping moins centrée sur l’acceptation que leurs témoins. Les suicidants français ont également des stratégies de coping plus centrées sur le déni et l’utilisation de substances que leurs témoins. Les suicidants vietnamiens ont une stratégie de coping plus centrée sur la religion que les suicidants français, alors que les suicidants français ont une stratégie plus centrée sur le blâme que les suicidants vietnamiens. Les témoins français expriment plus leurs sentiments, ont une stratégie de coping plus centrée sur le blâme et moins centrée sur la religion que les témoins vietnamiens. Les suicidants français ont un réseau moins étendu de personnes disponibles, mais ils sont aussi satisfaits du soutien obtenu que leurs témoins. Les suicidants vietnamiens ont un réseau social égal à leurs témoins mais sont plus satisfaits du soutien obtenu que leurs témoins. En conlusion, ces résultats montrent qu’il existe des traits spécifiques de personnalité des suicidants, au moins dans deux cultures. Ces traits sont nécessaires mais pas suffisants pour le passage à l’acte suicidaire. En effet, les facteurs contextuels déclencheurs de la tentative de suicide sont indispensables, et ceux-ci dépendent de la culture / The objective of this research was to determine whether french suicide attempters differ from vietnamese suicide attempters on personality traits, life events, coping strategies, and social support ; this would suggest that there are universal factors leading to a suicide attempt. The aim of this study was also to determine whether french and vietnamese controls differ on personality traits, life events, coping strategies and social support ; this would indicate whether some factors are specific to each culture. Twenty-two vietnamese suicide attempters, 22 vietnamese controls, 28 french suicide attempters and 28 french controls, all free of psychiatric disease, were studied. All groups were matched on age, sex, and education. The following tests were administered : the MMPI-2 (ECPA, 1996), a questionnaire of life events (adapted for adults from one developed by Diwo, 1999), the Brief Cope by Carver (french version by Muller & Spitz, 2003), and the social support questionnaire by Sarason et al. (french version by Bruchon-Schweitzer et al., 1997). The results showed that french and vietnamese suicide attempters have specific personality traits, caracterized by paranoïd, schizophrenic, and psychastenic traits. French and vietnamese controls share common personality traits, independent of their culture. French and vietnamese suicide attempters do not share any life events. French suicide attempters had more family problems, whereas vietnamese suicide attempters had more individual and work-related problems. All suicide attempters lived more negative life events and these were perceived as more stressful. Both french and vietnamese suicide attempters have a coping strategy less based on acceptance than their controls. French suicide attempters also had coping strategies more centered on denial and substance use than their controls. Vietnamese suicide attempters had a coping strategy more centered on religion than french suicide attempters, who in turn had coping strategies more centered on blame and substance use than their vietnamese counterparts. French controls expressed more their feelings, and had a coping strategy more centered on blame, and less on religion, relative to vietnamese controls. French suicide attempters had a smaller social network, but were as satisfied as controls from the support obtained. Vietnamese suicide attempters had equivalent social networks compared to their controls, but were more satisfied than controls about the social support obtained. In conclusion, these results suggest that there are specific personality traits that characterize suicide attempters in at least two cultures. These traits are necessary, but not sufficient for a suicide attempt. This research shows that other contextual factors are necessary for a suicide attempt, and that these factors are culture-dependent

Animals’ personality traits are defined as consistent behavior tendencies and the function of them in life-history strategy and reproductive success has been given a lot of explanations in a large amount of research. However, the behavior consistency of individuals in different sexes, mating status and selection regimes is rarely mentioned. In this research, we were interested in personality traits and their consistency in inter-individuals and intra-individuals, and proposed that with the removal of fecundity selection males would evolve to be more female-like and decrease their locomotor activity, and copulation would change the physiological status of females and thus alter their levels of activity.   In the experiment, seed beetles (Callosobruchus maculatus) that were artificially selected in monogamy, polygamy and male-limited selection regimes were weighed, dropped in a designed arena and their behaviors were recorded with a camera for four minutes in the first day when they were newborn and virgin. In the next day, the virgin beetles were randomly paired to mate, weighed afterwards, and dropped in the arena again for videoing the same setting as yesterday. In data collection step, with these videos four behaviors types including walking, entering squares, time spent on roof and entering a new area were observed, scored and noted down. To process the data, we made correlation analysis and it was found that walking, entering square and a new area were positively correlated. After building the linear mixed effect models we found that sex together with mating significantly act in modifying beetles’ behaviors, males were more active than females but the difference was narrowed after mating, and copulation caused a significant increase in the level of locomotor activity in females. To our disappointment, selection regimes did not have any significant impact on locomotor activity. Our work gave an insight that copulation changed individuals’ behaviors more in females than in males and dimorphic expression of sex-biased genes differed due to mating effect.

A recent meta-analysis by Berry, Ones, and Sackett (2007) revealed that perceptions of organizational justice and employee personality were two significant predictors of counterproductive work behaviors. The facets that make up the organizational justice construct are: procedural justice, distributive justice, interpersonal justice, and informational justice (Berry et al., 2007). Employees perceive justice when organizational justice rules are adhered to. However, when these rules are violated, employees may perceive injustice. The effect of perceived injustice on CWB might depend on individual characteristics, such as personality, particularly Dark Tetrad traits. The Dark Tetrad includes narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism (Buckels, Jones, & Paulhus, 2013). The intent of this study was to investigate the relationship between the Dark Tetrad traits and counterproductive work behaviors, as well as examine the moderating influence of perceived organizational injustice (distributive, procedural, interpersonal, informational, and overall injustice) on the relationship between the Dark Tetrad personality traits and four types of CWB; CWB directed towards supervisors, coworkers, the organization itself, and total CWB. Participants completed a two-part online study through Amazon Mechanical Turk, the first of which assessed perceptions of organizational (in)justice (Full-range justice scale; Colquitt, Long, Rodell, & Halvorsen-Ganepola, 2015) as well as levels of Dark Tetrad personality traits (Short Dark Triad Scale SD-3; Jones and Paulhus, 2014, and the Short Sadistic Impulse Scale SSIS; O'Meara, Davies, & Hammond, 2011). The first part of the survey also assessed participants’ negative affectivity (Negative Affectivity subscale of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule; Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988), and justice sensitivity (Victim Perspective subscale of the Justice Sensitivity Scale; Schmitt, Gollwitzer, & Arbach, 2005). The second survey was distributed 5 days after the first survey and assessed participants’ frequency of engagement in each type of CWB (Workplace Deviance Scale (WDS); Bennett & Robinson, 2000; modified using items from the Supervisor-Directed Deviance Scale; Mitchell & Ambrose, 2007). It was hypothesized that each DT trait would have a significant positive relationship with each type of CWB. This hypothesis was shown to be supported. It was also hypothesized that low levels of perceived organizational justice would moderate the relationships between the DT traits and CWB. This hypothesis was partially supported. Linear regression analyses were conducted, and the results showed that none of the justice facets significantly moderated the relationship of Machiavellianism with any of type of CWB. However, several justice facets showed significant moderating effects between the other three DT traits (narcissism, psychopathy, and sadism) and types of CWB. These results suggest that when individuals perceive a higher level of perceived organizational justice, those with dark tetrad personality traits are more likely to report engaging in fewer counterproductive work behaviors, relative to those who perceive lower levels of perceived organizational justice. The implications are that by improving perceptions of organizational justice, organizations could potentially reduce counterproductive work behavior in employees with strong dark tetrad personality traits.

Soybean yield differences are a combination of the genotype, environmental conditions, and management practices. Understanding how these factors interact through the analysis of the components involved in yield determination, provides a way to increase potential and actual yields in Kentucky. Two irrigated experiments were conducted to quantify differences in the mechanisms of yield determination across soybean maturity groups (MG) 2 to 5 (Chapter 1), and to quantify management options (seeding rate and choice of MG cultivar) that increase yield potential of double crop soybean systems (Chapter 2). Results showed that cultivars used different physiological strategies to achieve high yields, but these were not always consistent across the environments studied. High yields were often associated to a higher efficiency partitioning biomass to seeds that lead to a higher seed number in some cultivars, as well as associated to low seed growth rates (Chapter 1). The choice of MG cultivar had a greater impact on double-crop soybean yields than increasing seeding rates from 40 to 54 seed m-2. The higher seeding rate increased yields by 5% without an interaction with cultivar. Optimal MG choices for double-crop soybean in KY were dependent on the environment.

Introduction. Callous-unemotional (CU) traits predict socially debilitating outcomes including Antisocial Personality Disorder and violent crime in adulthood. Despite significant research, the etiology of CU traits is not well understood. This dissertation incorporates genetic, physiological, neuroanatomical, and self-report measures to investigate the etiology of CU traits. Specifically, this project focuses on measures previously found to associate with impaired fear-processing observed in individuals high on CU. Brain morphometry for paralimbic regions of interest (ROIs) and electromyographic facial eyeblink reflex to startle and fear-potentiated startle probes were investigated as potential endophenotypes for CU traits. Methods. Two genetically informative (ages 9-20) twin samples (N=1696 individuals; 848 twin pairs) were used to estimate the changing heritable and environmental influences on CU over the age range of 9-20 using age-moderated biometric structural equation modeling (SEM). To determine potential endophenotypes, shared genetic variance with CU was examined for baseline and fear-potentiated startle reflex and morphometric measures of brain ROIs. Results. The heritability of CU increases over the ages of 9-20, from approximately 34% at age 9 to 47% at age 20. Therefore, environmental mechanisms for CU are most influential at younger ages. Although there were no significant associations after correction for multiple testing, there was some evidence to suggest potential positive associations between CU traits and baseline and fear-potentiated startle in younger (9-14) females. There was also evidence suggesting potential negative associations between CU traits and right anterior cingulate cortex thickness as well as right posterior cingulate cortex thickness in females only. There was no genetic covariance between CU and any of the examined physiological or neuroanatomical phenotypes. Discussion. These results suggest that middle childhood may be the most salient time for environmental interventions associated with preventing or ameliorating CU traits. Furthermore, these results suggest that the cingulate cortex may play a role in the development of CU traits, possibly in females specifically. The cingulate cortex may influence CU traits through its roles in emotional processing, learning, and memory. Larger samples will likely be needed to determine the genetic relationship between CU traits and the structural development of the cingulate cortex.

The diagnosis of schizophrenia has been associated with increased risk of violence and aggression. However, the extent of this association in relation to displayed personality traits among individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia have not been fully investigated. The lack of research has resulted in an inability to determine why only some individuals with schizophrenia display violent tendencies when others do not. Guided by Costa and McCrae's five-factor model of personality and Eysenck's theory of personality and crime, the purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the five personality traits and the display of violence among individuals with schizophrenia, as well as the predictability of violence. A personality assessment was used to explore the personality of the participants (n = 111), individuals obtained by convenience sampling of data originally collected by Ohi, Shimada, and Kawasaki. Each of the participants included had been diagnosed with schizophrenia by at least two clinical physicians. One-way analyses of variance were performed for each of the five personality traits in order to distinguish any relationships. A binary logistic regression model was conducted in order to discover a model of predictability in regards to violent behavior among individuals with schizophrenia. Results confirmed previous research findings of a statistically significant relationship between neuroticism and violence. However, adding to the research was the result of a significant contribution of neuroticism in the prediction of violence among schizophrenics. Positive social changes arising from these findings include practitioners having the future abilities of designing specific treatment options for individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia based on personality.

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(人間・環境学) / 甲第23993号 / 人博第1045号 / 新制||人||245(附属図書館) / 2022||人博||1045(吉田南総合図書館) / 京都大学大学院人間・環境学研究科相関環境学専攻 / (主査)教授 瀬戸口 浩彰, 教授 市岡 孝朗, 教授 宮下 英明, 准教授 西川 完途, 准教授 池田 啓 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Human and Environmental Studies / Kyoto University / DGAM

Dans le cadre de cette thèse, je me suis intéressée aux traits colorés chez les rapaces. Plus particulièrement, j'ai tenté de comprendre les fonctions potentielles associées à deux types de traits colorés chez les rapaces, les traits à base de caroténoïdes (et qui reflètent dans les ultraviolets), et les traits à base de mélanine, à travers l'étude du polymorphisme de plumage. Pour ce faire, j'ai choisi d'étudier deux espèces proches de busards, le Busard des roseaux Circus aeruginosus et le Busard cendré Circus pygargus et j'ai employé des méthodes à la fois empirique et expérimentale. Dans un premier temps, j'ai tenté de comprendre l'origine et le maintien du polymorphisme de plumage existant au sein d'une population de Busard des roseaux, en tentant d'une part de décrire précisément les variations de coloration au sein de ce polymorphisme, et en m'intéressant d'autre part à l'existence d'éventuels avantages adaptatifs selon les différents morphes exprimés chez les individus, et en particulier les mâles, en terme d'accès aux ressources alimentaires, de dominance sociale et d'accès aux partenaires de reproduction. Très brièvement, le polymorphisme de plumage existant au sein de cette population semble être du à une très forte densité, qui aurait engendrée l'apparition de deux stratégies comportementales alternatives au sein du sexe mâle, la première étant la plus répandue dans les populations à faible densité et concernant des mâles exprimant un morphe 'gris', à tendance solitaire et territoriale, et la seconde concernant l'apparition d'un morphe 'sombre', de type femelle, pour lequel les mâles seraient beaucoup plus sociaux, et bénéficierait de l'imitation du plumage des femelles à travers la réduction des conflits avec les mâles 'gris'. Par ailleurs, j'ai également étudié les fonctions potentielles de ce polymorphisme au cours d'un type particulier de relations sociales existant chez les busards, la défense de groupe ou « mobbing ». Il apparaît des 'rôles' au sein d'une séquence de défense de groupe classique définis entre autre par les morphes exprimés par les individus. Dans un deuxième temps, j'ai analysé les mécanismes de développement, et j'ai testé une fonction potentielle associée à l'expression des traits à base de caroténoïdes chez les poussins de busards. Plus particulièrement, j'ai démontré que les jeunes busards expriment des traits à base de caroténoïdes dès leur plus jeune âge, mais qu'ils sont limités, en condition naturelle, pour l'accès aux caroténoïdes, et ce, essentiellement à travers l'abondance de leur espèce-proie principale, le campagnol. Par ailleurs, il semble apparaître que les traits colorés des jeunes busards seraient impliqués dans la communication parents-enfants, et plus particulièrement, que la modification de leur coloration, au niveau des ultraviolets ou du 'jaune' (i.e. caroténoïdes), entraîne des conséquences en terme de nourrissage, de la part de leurs parents. Il reste cependant encore à analyser plus en détail la fonction associé aux traits colorés chez les jeunes busards, comme par exemple au niveau de la communication entre jeunes d'une même nichée.