Preparation and stability of the hexagonal phase of samarium oxide on Ru(0001)

We have used low-energy electron microscopy (LEEM), micro-illumination low-energy electron diffraction (µLEED) supported by ab initio calculations, and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) to investigate in-situ and in real-time the structural properties of Sm₂O₃ deposits grown on Ru(0001), a rare-earth metal oxide model catalyst. Our results show that samarium oxide grows in a hexagonal A-Sm₂O₃ phase on Ru(0001), exhibiting a (0001) oriented-top facet and (113) side facets. Upon annealing, a structural transition from the hexagonal to cubic phase occurs, in which the Sm cations exhibit the +3 oxidation state. The unexpected initial growth in the A-Sm₂O₃ hexagonal phase and its gradual transition to a mixture with cubic C-Sm₂O₃ showcases the complexity of the system and the critical role of the substrate in the stabilization of the hexagonal phase, which was previously reported only at high pressures and temperatures for bulk samaria. Besides, these results highlight the potential interactions that Sm could have with other catalytic compounds with respect to the here gathered insights on the preparation conditions and the specific compounds with which it interacts.

A mixture Rasch facets model for rater's illusory halo effects

A rater's overall impression of a ratee's essay (or other assessment) can influence ratings on multiple criteria to yield excessively similar ratings (halo effect). However, existing analytic methods fail to identify whether similar ratings stem from homogeneous criteria (true halo) or rater bias (illusory halo). Hence, we introduce and test a mixture Rasch facets model for halo effects (MRFM-H) that distinguishes true halo versus illusory halo effects to classify normal versus halo raters. In a simulation study, when raters assessed enough ratees, MRFM-H accurately identified halo raters. Also, more rating criteria increased classification accuracy. A simpler model ignored halo effects and biased the parameters for evaluation criteria and for rater severity but not for ratee assessments. MRFM-H application to three empirical datasets showed that (a) experienced raters were subject to illusory halo effects, (b) illusory halo effects were less likely with greater numbers of criteria, and (c) more informative survey responses were more distinguishable from less informative responses.

Five Factor Model Personality Traits and Subjective Cognitive Failures

Momentary lapses in memory, perception, or action, known as cognitive failures, are relatively common. These lapses may reflect, in part, aspects of psychological functioning, such as personality traits. The present research addresses how Five Factor Model personality traits and facets are associated with cognitive failures, and whether these associations are accounted for by depressed affect. Participants (N=5,133; 50% female) who ranged in age from 18 to 91 completed an online survey that assessed their personality traits, cognitive failures, and depressed affect. Higher neuroticism was associated with more cognitive failures, whereas Conscientiousness and Agreeableness were associated with fewer failures, controlling for sociodemographic characteristics. Controlling for depressed affect reduced the associations in most cases by about 50%, but most relations were still apparent. Facet-level analyses provided a more detailed picture of how the traits are associated with cognitive failures. Subjective perceptions of lapses in cognition are associated with basic personality traits and may reflect, in part, processes related to those traits beyond depressed affect.

Objective Assessment of Nose Tip Light Reflections in Rhinoplasty

PURPOSE

To assess the objective and subjective analysis of facet and infratip lobule in postoperative digital pictures of rhinoplasty patients and compare them with the people with good-looking noses. With the help of simple software that measures the brightness of the pixels, we investigated the relation between light reflections and patient satisfaction.

METHODS

egardless of the technique, forty patients who underwent external open approach rhinoplasty were selected randomly. Twenty participants with a good-looking nose without operation history were selected as the control group. Digital Color Meter® in MacOS X® was used for measuring the brightness of the facets and infratip lobule. As a subjective outcome measure, the visual analog scale (VAS) was used and compared with brightness ratios.

RESULTS

The mean brightness ratios and VAS of operated noses were statistically low from the control group. There was a significant positive correlation between brightness ratios and VAS in all groups.

CONCLUSION

Our study presents the results of a simple method of measuring the light reflections of the nose tip. Noses with a good aesthetic outcome have more symmetric and subtle facets and infratip lobule. This method was feasible, and its results were correlated with patients' aesthetic perceptions.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE IV

This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .

Facets of openness to experience are associated with cardiovascular reactivity and adaptation across both active and passive stress exposures

Research suggests the personality trait of Openness to Experience is associated with cardiovascular stress processes. It is unknown if the underlying facets of Openness are associated with cardiovascular responsivity, and whether adaptation is evident across active and passive stress. The objective of this study was to determine if the facets of Openness are related to cardiovascular reactivity and adaptation across active and passive stress exposures. Personality measures and continuous cardiovascular data from sixty-six female adults across a protocol of active and passive stress tasks were collated. Multiple regression analysis revealed that the facet of Feelings was associated with systolic blood pressure (SBP) reactivity to active stress. Examination of cardiovascular adaption revealed that the facet of Feelings was positively associated with SBP and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) adaptation, whereas the facet of Actions demonstrated a negative association. Supplementary analyses revealed the significant effects for Feelings were not reliant on the remaining Openness facets, whereas the significant effects for Actions were. No significant effects emerged for the higher-order trait of Openness. These findings suggest that the underlying facet of Feelings is associated with active stress reactivity, with the facets of Feelings and Actions appearing to be of importance to cardiovascular adaptation. This study is the first to demonstrate personality effects on cardiovascular adaptation across active and passive stress. Attending to the facets of personality traits may provide a more precise understanding of the personality effects on cardiovascular stress psychophysiology.

Polygenic Score for Alzheimer Disease and cognition: The mediating role of personality

Alzheimer's disease (AD) polygenic risk score (PGS) is associated with lower cognitive functioning even among older individuals without dementia. We tested the hypothesis that personality traits mediate the association between AD genetic risk and cognitive functioning. Participants (N > 7,000, aged 50-99 years old) from the Health and Retirement Study were genotyped and completed personality and cognition tests at baseline. Cognition was assessed again four years later. Bootstrap analysis revealed that a higher AD polygenic risk score was associated with lower cognitive scores at baseline through higher neuroticism, lower conscientiousness, and lower levels of the industriousness facet of conscientiousness. In addition, a higher polygenic score for AD was associated with decline in cognition over four years in part through higher neuroticism and lower conscientiousness. The findings support the hypothesis that the genetic vulnerability for AD contributes to cognitive functioning in part through its association with personality traits.

Transitional Female Sacrum: Dimensions, Alterations in Dorsal Pelvic Structure, and Potential Obstetric Implications

Objectives

The space available within the female pelvis is determined by the morphology of all bony components constituting the pelvic skeleton. Although several studies have investigated the impact of hip-bone structural variations in on parturition, the potential effects of commonly occurring lumbosacral transitional vertebrae (LSTV) variations have been underreported. This descriptive morphometric study reports dimensions of the female sacrum associated LSTV variations and suggests their probable mechanistic effects on normal labor.

Methods

One hundred and twelve female osteological sacral specimens with LSTV were examined for the type of transitional anomaly. Position, height, and surface areas of the auricular surfaces, interauricular distances, sacral heights, S1 body width and upper surface areas, and articulating areas of S1 facets were measured and compared with data from non-transitional samples.

Results

Female LSTV predominantly presented as accessory L5-S1 articulations (unilateral and bilateral) and degrees of lumbarization (separation of the first sacral segment). Since some of these alterations were found to be significantly associated with changes in sacral size, these features, in conjunction with cranial shift of the auricular surfaces, may be associated with overall in dorsal pelvic dimensions.

Conclusions

Structural alterations identified in female LSTV sacrum may change dorsal pelvic dimensions and thus, the availability of dorsal pelvic space, potentially altering the biomechanics of normal labor.

[Does the French Big Five Inventory evaluate facets other than the Big Five factors?]

INTRODUCTION

The Big Five Inventory (BFI) developed by John et al. (1991) is one of the most widely accepted tools for assessing dimensions of personality. It comprises 44 items that assess five broad dimensions of personality (the Big Five Factors): Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism and Openness to experience. Based on correlations with the facets described in the NEO Personality Inventory Revised (NEO PI-R), another Big Five assessment tool with 240 items and 6 facets per dimension, Soto and John (2009) showed that the dimensions in the BFI could be divided into two facets each (ten facets altogether). These results are in line with those of DeYoung et al. (2007), who ran factorial analyses with all the NEO PI-R facets and the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP) and identified ten intermediate factors (between facets and dimensions) which they called "aspects" (two per dimension). The goal of the present study is to investigate the ten facets described by Soto and John in a French sample, using the French version of the BFI (BFI-Fr), which has good psychometric properties, and to check whether the pattern of correlations of these facets with the NEO PI-R match those of the American version.

METHOD

We created three groups. The first comprised 360 students from the Institut libre d'éducation physique supérieure (ILEPS) and Tours University (psychology undergraduates). Participants (mean age 21.1 years±2.30; 58% women) completed the BFI-Fr and the NEO PI-R. The second comprised 142 psychology students from Tours University (mean age 20.6 years±1.78; 81% women); they completed the BFI-Fr twice, two weeks apart (test and retest). The third comprised 252 psychology students from Paris-Nanterre University (mean age 23 years±4.2; 89% women) who described a total of 405 people they knew well (mean age 35.2±10.8; 49% women) using the peer-report format of the BFI-Fr.

RESULTS

In the self-report format, eight of Soto and John's ten aspects had acceptable internal consistency (based on Guildford's (1954) internal consistency criteria, due to the small number of items), with Cronbach's α between 0.60 and 0.86 and test-retest correlations between 0.71 and 0.89, showing satisfactory temporal stability. We found a single facet for Extraversion (Assertiveness), two for Agreeableness (Altruism and Compliance), two for Conscientiousness (Self-Discipline and Order), one for Neuroticism (Anxiety), and two for Openness to Experience (Openness to aesthetics and Openness to ideas). Based on their convergence with the corresponding facets in the NEO PI-R, these eight facets showed satisfactory external validity. With regard to the peer-report format, the Activity facet of Extraversion, which did not have sufficient internal consistency in the self-report format, had acceptable properties (i.e. 9 out of 10 facets). Only the Depression facet of Neuroticism still had insufficient internal consistency. In this study, we proposed an improvement of two facets (Activity and Compliance) and added one facet specific to the French version (Emotional Instability) in place of the Depression facet.

DISCUSSION

We showed that the BFI-Fr can be used to assess nine of the ten facets described by Soto and John. We also identified an Emotional Instability facet, replacing the Depression facet of Neuroticism. DeYoung et al. (2007) considered that anxiety and depression are indissociable and can be represented by a Neuroticism aspect they labeled Withdrawal. They suggested a second aspect of this dimension they called Volatility (with the N2 Angry Hostility facet of the NEO PI-R as main marker and the N5 Impulsiveness and N3 Depression as secondary markers). The Emotional Instability facet we found corresponds closely to the N2 Angry Hostility facet of the NEO PI-R and appears to be a satisfactory marker of DeYoung et al.'s (2007) Volatility aspect. Although this study has limitations, particularly related to the samples (students), the BFI-Fr facets (derived from those defined by Soto and John in the BFI or proposed as improvements on the original facets) match the corresponding NEO PI-R facets and can also be seen as main markers of the aspects defined by DeYoung et al.

Interactive Effects of Trait Self-Control and Stress Appraisals on Blood Pressure Responses to a Laboratory Stressor

Purpose

Stress may play a role in explaining part of the conscientiousness-longevity relationship. Conscientiousness (C) is associated with the appraisals of stressors and its lower-order facets have been shown to differentially moderate the experience of stress in daily life. This study investigated whether the lower-order facet, self-control (SC), moderated the relationship between stress appraisals and blood pressure responses to a laboratory stressor.

Methods

Ninety participants (selected from the upper and lower quartiles for C scores from a sample of 679 participants) were invited to complete the Maastricht Acute Stress Test (MAST). Systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were assessed throughout the stress task. Stress appraisals were assessed at baseline.

Results

Blood pressure responses to the MAST were similar in participants who scored high and low in SC. However, primary appraisals were negatively associated with BP reactivity and recovery in the high SC group but not in the low SC group. Moreover, SC was found to moderate the relationship between primary appraisals and SBP and DBP reactivity values, such that higher primary appraisals were associated with lower BP reactivity in individuals high in SC but not in those low in SC. In addition, lower SBP recovery values were observed in the high SC group compared to their low SC counterparts.

Conclusions

These findings indicate that SC may influence health status by modifying the relationship between perceived demands and blood pressure. Moreover, having a greater stake in stressors may yield health benefits in the longer term for individuals high in SC.

Facets of the balanced minimal evolution polytope

The balanced minimal evolution (BME) method of creating phylogenetic trees can be formulated as a linear programming problem, minimizing an inner product over the vertices of the BME polytope. In this paper we undertake the project of describing the facets of this polytope. We classify and identify the combinatorial structure and geometry (facet inequalities) of all the facets in dimensions up to five, and classify even more facets in all dimensions. A full set of facet inequalities would allow a full implementation of the simplex method for finding the BME tree-although there are reasons to think this an unreachable goal. However, our results provide the crucial first steps for a more likely-to-be-successful program: finding efficient relaxations of the BME polytope.

Psychopathy, attention, and oddball target detection: New insights from PCL-R facet scores

Psychopathy is a disorder accompanied by cognitive deficits including abnormalities in attention. Prior studies examining cognitive features of psychopaths using ERPs have produced some inconsistent results. We examined psychopathy-related differences in ERPs during an auditory oddball task in a sample of incarcerated adult males. We extend previous work by deriving ERPs with principal component analysis (PCA) and relate these to the four facets of Hare's Psychopathy Checklist Revised (PCL-R). Features of psychopathy were associated with increased target N1 amplitude (facets 1, 4), decreased target P3 amplitude (facet 1), and reduced slow wave amplitude for frequent standard stimuli (facets 1, 3, 4). We conclude that employing PCA and examining PCL-R facets improve sensitivity and help clarify previously reported associations. Furthermore, attenuated slow wave during standards may be a novel marker for psychopaths' abnormalities in attention.

The conscientious retiree: The relationship between conscientiousness, retirement, and volunteering

The current study examined the relationship between conscientiousness, work status, and volunteering utilizing two large samples, the St. Louis Personality and Aging Network (SPAN) and the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). It was hypothesized that conscientious adults who were retired would be more likely to volunteer because, after retirement, they gain a substantial amount of free time, while losing an outlet for their industrious and achievement-striving tendencies. Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses revealed that conscientious, retired individuals were more likely to volunteer than conscientious, working individuals. Further analyses revealed that facets of conscientiousness provide differential information from the general trait. These findings indicate that volunteering during retirement fills an important niche for high-striving, conscientious individuals.

Double insurance transfacetal screws for lumbar spinal stabilization

AIM

The authors report experience with 14 cases where two screws or "double insurance" screws were used for transfacetal fixation of each joint for stabilization of the lumbar spinal segment. The anatomical subtleties of the technique of insertion of screws are elaborated.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

During the period March 2011 to June 2014, 14 patients having lumbar spinal segmental instability related to lumbar canal stenosis were treated by insertion of two screws into each articular assembly by transfacetal technique. After a wide surgical exposure, the articular cartilage was denuded and bone chips were impacted into the joint cavity. For screw insertion in an appropriate angulation, the spinous process was sectioned at its base. The screws (2.8 mm in diameter and 18 mm in length) were inserted into the substance of the medial or inferior articular facet of the rostral vertebra via the lateral limit of the lamina approximately 6-8 mm away from the edge of the articular cavity. The screws were inserted 3 mm below the superior edge and 5 mm above the inferior edge of the medial (inferior) facets and directed laterally and traversed through the articular cavity into the lateral (superior) articular facet of the caudal vertebra toward and into the region of junction of base of transverse process and of the pedicle. During the period of follow-up all treated spinal levels showed firm bone fusion. There was no complication related to insertion of the screws. There was no incidence of screw misplacement, displacementor implant rejection.

CONCLUSIONS

Screw insertion into the firm and largely cortical bones of facets of lumbar spine can provide robust fixation and firm stabilization of the spinal segment. The large size of the facets provides an opportunity to insert two screws at each spinal segment. The firm and cortical bone material and absence on any neural or vascular structure in the course of the screw traverse provides strength and safety to the process.

Pathological eating behaviors, BMI, and facet-level traits: the roles of conscientiousness, neuroticism, and impulsivity

The current study examined the bivariate and multivariate associations of personality with Body Mass Index (BMI) and several eating behavior inventories, focusing on facets of Neuroticism, Conscientiousness, and Impulsivity. Simultaneous multiple regressions showed that the facets Traditionalism, Urgency, and low Vulnerability were significant predictors of BMI. A factor analysis of the eating behavior scales revealed two dimensions: (a) Food and Body Preoccupation and (b) Cued Eating; Neuroticism, low Conscientiousness, and Perfectionism were significant predictors of both eating behavior factors. In addition, the Depression facet predicted Food and Body Preoccupation, and low Temperance predicted Cued Eating. Implications are discussed for the structure of eating pathology and the specificity of facet traits to eating behaviors and obesity.