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Animal personality can be defined as behavioral individual consistency across contexts and time, and sociability may facilitate it. Boldness and exploration can be considered as social conflictive behaviors and in lizards, social scent can either diminish or promote social conflicts. We studied boldness and exploration in Liolaemus albiceps Lobo and Laurent, 1995 and Liolaemus coeruleus Cei and Ortiz, 1983, and tested whether Liolaemus albiceps, a lesser aggressive species, presents higher individual consistency in a socially nonconflictive behavior, such as escape (boldness). We also expect Liolaemus coeruleus, a more aggressive species, to present higher individual consistency in exploration, which is socially more conflictive behavior. We exposed lizards to their own conspecifics and control scent treatments. We calculated the repeatability for boldness and exploration, analyzed their correlation, and tested for behavioral plasticity. Boldness and exploration were repeatable in Liolaemus albiceps at species level, with females showing highly repeatable boldness, and males, highly repeatable exploration. Liolaemus coeruleus exhibited no significant repeatability for either behavior. There was no correlation between these two behaviors, and both species showed plasticity. Liolaemus albiceps individuals were bolder and explored less under conspecific scents. Liolaemus coeruleus individuals explored less in presence of their own scents than novelty scents, and presented interindividual variation in plasticity. A peaceful lifestyle may favor behavioral consistency within individuals, whereas a more aggressive lifestyle may constrain within and among individual consistency in a chemical communication context. However, individual differences in plasticity could counterbalance this constraint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individual differences in behaviors are seen across many species, and investigations have focused on traits linked to aggression, risk taking, emotionality, coping styles, and differences in cognitive systems. The current study investigated whether there were individual differences in proactive interference tasks in rats (Rattus Norvegicus), and tested hypotheses suggesting that these tasks should load onto a single factor and there should be clusters of rats who perform well or poorly on these tasks. The performance of 39 rats was tested across three learning tasks that all involved disengagement from an irrelevant previously learned stimulus to a relevant stimulus: latent inhibition (LI), partial reinforcement extinction effect (PREE), and reversal learning (RL). An exploratory factor analysis revealed the existence of one factor underlying performance. A cluster analysis revealed the existence of sets of rats displaying either weak LI and strong PREE and RL effects, or vice versa. These findings suggest that proactive interference may be based on a single underlying psychological system in rats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bayesian optimal experiments that maximize the information gained from collected data are critical to efficiently identify behavioral models. We extend a seminal method for designing Bayesian optimal experiments by introducing two computational improvements that make the procedure tractable: (1) a search algorithm from artificial intelligence that efficiently explores the space of possible design parameters, and (2) a sampling procedure which evaluates each design parameter combination more efficiently. We apply our procedure to a game of imperfect information to evaluate and quantify the computational improvements. We then collect data across five different experimental designs to compare the ability of the optimal experimental design to discriminate among competing behavioral models against the experimental designs chosen by a "wisdom of experts" prediction experiment. We find that data from the experiment suggested by the optimal design approach requires significantly less data to distinguish behavioral models (i.e., test hypotheses) than data from the experiment suggested by experts. Substantively, we find that reinforcement learning best explains human decision-making in the imperfect information game and that behavior is not adequately described by the Bayesian Nash equilibrium. Our procedure is general and computationally efficient and can be applied to dynamically optimize online experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Familiarity with the landscape increases foraging efficiency and safety. Thus, when animals are confronted with a novel environment, either by natural dispersal or translocation, establishing a home range becomes a priority. While the search for a home range carries a cost of functioning in an unfamiliar environment, ceasing the search carries a cost of missed opportunities. Thus, when to establish a home range is essentially a weighted sum of a two-criteria cost-minimization problem. The process is predominantly heuristic, where the animal must decide how to study the environment and, consequently, when to stop searching and establish a home range in a manner that will reduce the cost and maximize or at least satisfice its fitness. These issues fall within the framework of optimal stopping theory. In this paper we review stopping theory and three stopping rules relevant to home range establishment: the best-of-n rule, the threshold rule, and the comparative Bayes rule. We then describe how these rules can be distinguished from movement data, hypothesize when each rule should be practiced, and speculate what and how environmental factors and animal attributes affect the stopping time. We provide a set of stopping-theory-related predictions that are testable within the context of translocation projects and discuss some management implications.

Endosymbiotic association is frequent in insects, and endosymbionts influence a range of biological processes in these organisms. The endosymbiont–insect association and interdependence allegedly result from random selection where ecological trade-offs take place and usually differ between the involved species. Insect behavior is potentially affected by this association, but the focus in such studies is symbiont presence rather than load, and overall behavioral patterns, not the individual set of integrated behavioral tendencies (i.e., individual personality). This knowledge gap limits the understanding of how the endosymbiont–insect association affects insect behavior and how this translates into fertility, as a measure of fitness. Here, we assessed the endosymbiont load of maize weevils [Sitophilus zeamais Motschulsky (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)], which hosts two symbiont species—Sodalis pierantonius and Wolbachia, and their association with weevil personality and reproductive consequences. Thus, individual female weevils were subjected to oral administration of antibiotics (ciprofloxacin and tetracycline) to secure a range of symbiont loads, which were quantified by qPCR. Individual personality of these females was recorded before and after endosymbiont suppression, and also that of their progeny. Female weevils maintained their personality with symbiont suppression, which was not transferred to their progeny. Nonetheless, personality itself was more important in determining female reproductive output than endosymbiont load, which did not significantly alter individual integrated behavior. Thus, management tactics targeting endosymbiont suppression may not be as effective as initially anticipated, unless complete suppression of the obligatory symbiont S. pierantonius takes place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We apply the classifier-Lasso (Su et al. 2016) to detect the presence of latent types in two data sets of previous contest experiments, one that keeps the grouping of contestants fixed over the experiment and one that randomly regroups contestants after each round. Our results suggest that there exist three distinct types of players in both contest regimes. The majority of contestants in fixed groups behaves reciprocal to opponents' previous choices. A higher share of reciprocators per group is associated to lower average overspending which hints at cooperative attempts. For experiments in which contestants are regrouped, we find a significantly lower share of 'reciprocators' and no significant association between the share of reciprocators and average efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of environmental enrichment on the behavior and welfare in captivity of reptiles and of freshwater turtles in particular, which are popular aquarium and pet species, is very little studied compared to other taxa. We carried out a small scale case‐study on the effect of colored object enrichment, with and without fish scent, on the behavior of a group of 15 cooters (Pseudemys sp.) and sliders (Trachemys scripta ssp.) on display at a public aquarium. The new enrichment aimed to reduce the escape behavior (interaction with transparent boundaries) and increase exploration and random swimming. We used simultaneous recording of behavior at whole group level and for focal individually‐marked turtles. The escape behavior decreased on days with new enrichment before feeding at whole group level and for the focal turtles overall, in spite of the relatively low interest in the colored objects. Fish‐scented objects attracted significantly more interest. Random swimming, enrichment focus, aggression and submission increased significantly, and basking decreased significantly at whole group level before feeding, with smaller differences after feeding. There were large differences between individual turtles with respect to activity budgets and changes in behavior on days with new enrichment, with both increases and decreases seen in escape behavior, aggression, and levels of activity. Our outcomes suggested that introducing new colored objects with food scent may be beneficial for reducing escape behavior in captive freshwater turtles. However, careful monitoring of effects at individual level and much larger scale investigations, including postenrichment periods, are needed. Research Highlights: The presence of colored objects reduced the escape behavior of freshwater turtles, mainly before feeding.There was more interest when the new objects were fish‐scented.There were differences in behavior and response to enrichment at individual level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Animal personalities have been studied in a wide variety of taxa, but among rodents, available studies are relatively scarce and have focused mainly on social species. In this study, we evaluated the existence of personality in the solitary subterranean rodent Ctenomys talarum. Specifically, we aimed to test individual differences in behavior that are stable over time and context in males of C. talarum captured in the wild. Methods Our experimental design included two series of three behavioral tests each, carried out with a 35 day time interval. Each series included an Open Field test, a Social Encounter test, and an Open Field test with a predator stimulus. Results Of the total recorded behaviors, 55.55% showed temporal consistency. Principal component analysis of consistent behaviors grouped them into four dimensions that explain inter individual behavioral variability, in order of importance: activity, socioaversion, boldness and exploration. Therefore, our results suggest that the concept of animal personality is applicable to C. talarum and the dimensions found are in accordance with the ecological and behavioral characteristics of this species.

Social wasps are well-known for aggressively defending their nests when these are approached, threatened, or directly attacked. However, the variability, consistency, and the determinants of such defensive and aggressive responses of wasp colonies are largely unknown. Here, we quantify the aggressiveness of Vespula vulgaris and V. germanica wasp colonies to determine if colonies exhibit consistent differences in aggression across different spans of time and disturbance contexts, and if colony-level aggression is linked to intrinsic and/or extrinsic parameters that seem to predict the aggressive response of other social insects. We conducted three experiments in locations throughout the South Island of New Zealand, where we quantified foraging activity, as well as unprovoked, and provoked (post-disturbance) colony aggression across short (one day), moderate (one week), and long (one month) spans of time. We also estimated the colony investment into nest size and pupae, as well as the temperature near the nest entrance, to determine if these intrinsic and extrinsic parameters could predict colony-level defensive response to a simulated predator attack. We found that, across all three durations of time, some wasp colonies are consistently aggressive, while other colonies exhibit little to no aggressive response to disturbance. We show that colony aggression levels are consistent across contexts over moderate and long spans of time, and that the intensity of colony response is consistent under different types of nest disturbance. The aggressive response of wasp colonies could not be predicted by activity level, temperature, or investment into nest or pupae. The existence of consistent differences in wasp colony aggression suggests that both aggressive and non-aggressive behavioral types can have fitness benefits in a population. Aggressive colonies might defend their nests more effectively, deterring potential predators better than docile colonies. On the other end, less aggressive colonies could go unnoticed by humans and develop undisturbed. Our study further suggests that different mechanisms could underlie the evolution of a wide spectrum of aggressive colony phenotypes in the eusocial Hymenoptera. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Animal personalities have been studied in a wide variety of taxa, but among rodents, available studies are relatively scarce and have focused mainly on social species. In this study, we evaluated the existence of personality in the solitary subterranean rodent Ctenomys talarum. Specifically, we aimed to test individual differences in behavior that are stable over time and context in males of C. talarum captured in the wild. Methods: Our experimental design included two series of three behavioral tests each, carried out with a 35 day time interval. Each series included an Open Field test, a Social Encounter test, and an Open Field test with a predator stimulus. Results: Of the total recorded behaviors, 55.55% showed temporal consistency. Principal component analysis of consistent behaviors grouped them into four dimensions that explain inter individual behavioral variability, in order of importance: activity, socioaversion, boldness and exploration. Therefore, our results suggest that the concept of animal personality is applicable to C. talarum and the dimensions found are in accordance with the ecological and behavioral characteristics of this species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interface automata [deH01] have been introduced as an interface theory [deH01a] capable of functioning as a behavioral type system. Behavioral type systems describe dynamic properties of components and their compositions. Like traditional (data) type systems, behavioral type systems can be used to check compatibility of components. In this paper, we use interface automata to devise a behavioral type system for Ptolemy II, leveraging the contravariant and optimistic properties of interface automata to achieve behavioral subtyping and polymorphism. Ptolemy II is a software framework supporting concurrent component composition according to diverse models of computation. In this paper, we focus on representing the communication protocols used in component communication within the behavioral type system. In building this type system, we identify two key limitations in interface automata formalisms; we overcome these limitations with two extensions, transient states and projection automata. In addition to static type checking, we also propose to extend the use of interface automata to the on-line reflection of component states and to run-time type checking, which enable dynamic component creation, morphing application structure, and admission control. We discuss the trade-offs in the design of behavioral type systems.

Correlated and repeatable patterns of behavior, termed behavioral types, can affect individual fitness. The most advantageous behavioral type may differ across predictable environments (e.g., seasonally), and maternally mediated effects may match hatchling behavior to the environment. We measured righting response, an indicator of behavioral type, of juvenile red‐eared slider turtles (Trachemys scripta) emerging from early and late season clutches to understand if the production of behavioral types differs across the nesting season. There was a significant effect of season, with early season hatchlings righting more quickly than late season hatchlings, and we explored two potential underlying mechanisms, maternal estrogens and maternal investment (e.g., yolk allocation). We dosed early season eggs with an estrogen mixture to mimic late season eggs and assayed hatchling righting response, but found no significant effect of this maternal effect. We assessed maternal investment by measuring egg, hatchling, and residual yolk masses. We found a seasonal pattern in yolk allocation, where early season eggs have more yolk than late season eggs. Early season hatchlings used more yolk for growth rather than maintenance of existing tissues, resulting in larger hatchlings. Interestingly, across both seasons, hatchlings that received less maternal yolk appeared to be more efficient at converting yolk to tissue, but we found no direct correlation with righting behavior. We demonstrate that the prevalence of behavioral types varies across the nesting season, creating correlated suites of seasonal phenotypes in turtle hatchlings, but it appears that neither maternal estrogens or investment in yolk directly underlie this shift in behavior. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Behavioral types vary between Trachemys scripta hatchlings from early or late season clutches.Early season hatchlings receive more yolk and utilize yolk differently than late season hatchlings.Though seasonal shifts in behavioral type are not mediated by maternal estrogens or yolk allocation, clear seasonal differences in suites of phenotypic traits continue to emerge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Behaviors may enhance fitness in some situations while being detrimental in others. Linked behaviors (behavioral syndromes) may be central to understanding the maintenance of behavioral variability in natural populations. The spillover hypothesis of premating sexual cannibalism by females explains genetically determined female aggression towards both prey and males: growth to a larger size translates into higher fecundity, but at the risk of insufficient sperm acquisition. Here, we use an individual-based model to determine the ecological scenarios under which this spillover strategy is more likely to evolve over a strategy in which females attack approaching males only once the female has previously secured sperm. We found that a classic spillover strategy could never prevail. However, a more realistic early-spillover strategy, in which females become adults earlier in addition to reaching a larger size, could be maintained in some ecological scenarios and even invade a population of females following the other strategy. We also found under some ecological scenarios that both behavioral types coexist through frequency-dependent selection. Additionally, using data from the spider Lycosa hispanica, we provide strong support for the prediction that the two strategies may coexist in the wild. Our results clarify how animal personalities evolve and are maintained in nature.

Individual behavioral types (i.e., personality traits) and their interrelations (i.e., behavioral syndrome) are recognized in arthropods and are of ecological and evolutionary importance. This aspect is also important in applied entomology, as distinct personality types may exhibit different fitness consequences. Here, we attempt to understand how within-population variation in a personality trait responds to selection and affects other personality traits. Our main focus was a quantifiable behavioral trait (i.e., walking velocity), its potential association with other personality traits, and how these traits are related to the reproductive output. The maize weevil (Sitophilus zeamais), a key pest of stored cereal grains, was used to test these hypotheses, and we detected that walking velocity is amenable to selection in this species. Furthermore, bidirectional selection with regard to walking velocity (i.e., either high or low) had an impact on the behavioral type, thereby allowing the recognition of different behavioral patterns among the strains. The generated multi-dimensional behavioral constructs of personality indicate consistent divergence among the strains with a stronger contribution of the activity dimension. Walking velocity was associated with other behavioral traits, particularly within the activity dimension, indicating the existence of a behavioral syndrome in the maize weevil. Furthermore, this behavioral dimension (i.e., activity), and particularly walking velocity, was associated with the reproductive output of maize weevil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Behavioral characteristics importantly shape an animals' ability to adapt to changing conditions. The notion that behavioral flexibility facilitates exploitation of urban environments has received mixed support, but recent studies propose that between-individual differences are important. We leverage existing knowledge on three species of orb-web spider (Araneidae, Araneae) whose abundances differ along an urban-rural gradient to test predictions about between- and within-species/individual behavioral variation. We sampled Larinioides sclopetarius from their urban environment, and two species from suburban environments, Zygiella x-notata and Nuctenea umbratica. For each species, we quantified activity in a novel environment and within-species aggression. We analyzed between- and within-individual variation in behavior as well as their repeatability and correlations. As predicted, L. sclopetarius exhibited the highest activity in a novel environment and N. umbratica the lowest. Across all species, males were more aggressive than females and Z. x-notata was the most aggressive, followed by L. sclopetarius and N. umbratica. For all species, between-individual differences in activity and aggressiveness were repeatable; but the two behaviors were not correlated for any species. We next tested how group composition in relation to aggressiveness affects survival in high density conditions. Groups of Z. x-notata consisting of aggressive and tolerant spiders had higher survival rates than groups composed of only aggressive or tolerant individuals. Ultimately, we uncovered a complex pattern of behavioral variation between species as well as between and within individuals and we discuss the relative roles of this variation with respect to adapting to urban environments. Significance statement: Urbanization has drastically changed biodiversity patterns. While the majority of species cope poorly with urban habitats, some species flourish in cities. Our understanding of behavioral characteristics that facilitate this exploitation, however, remains poor. We explored between and within species and individual variation in behaviors in ecologically similar orb-weaving spider species whose abundances differ along the urban-rural gradient. We detect both consistent individual differences and plasticity, in individuals' response to a novel environment, suggesting that some degree of flexibility in reaction to novelty may be crucial in an urbanized environment. We also found that variation in aggressiveness type enables survival in high density conditions, conditions typical for urban populations. Urban populations thus exhibit a complex pattern of behavioral flexibility and behavioral stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novel selective pressures derived from human activities challenge the persistence of animal populations worldwide. Behavior is expected to be a major factor driving animals' responses to global change because it largely determines how animals interact with the environment. However, the role of individual variation in behavior to facilitate the persistence of animals in changing environments remains poorly understood. Here, we adopted an animal personality approach to investigate whether different behavioral traits allow animals to deal with two major components of global change: urbanization and biological invasions. By studying six populations of Anolis sagrei lizards, we found for the first time that anoles vary consistently in their behavior across different times and contexts. Importantly, these animal personalities were consistent in the wild and in captivity. We investigated whether behavioral traits are pulled in different directions by different components of global change. On the one hand, we found that lizards from urban areas differ from nearby forest lizards in that they were more tolerant of humans, less aggressive, bolder after a simulated predator attack, and they spent more time exploring new environments. Several of these risk-taking behaviors constituted a behavioral syndrome that significantly differed between urban and forest populations. On the other hand, the behavior of urban A. sagrei coexisting with the invasive predatory lizard Leiocephalus carinatus was associated with dramatic changes in their foraging niche. Overall, we provide evidence that differences in animal personalities facilitate the persistence of animals under novel selective regimes by producing adaptive behaviors relevant to their ecology such as predator avoidance. Our results suggest that natural selection can favor certain behaviors over others when animals are confronted with different ecological challenges posed by global change. Therefore, we underscore the need to incorporate behavioral ecology into the study of how animals adaptively respond to human-induced environmental changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The potential relevance of complete metamorphosis for the individual variation in sets of behavioral traits and their fitness consequences in predatory species led to the present study. A set of nine behavioral traits were assessed for the larvae and adults of a pyrethroid-resistant and a susceptible population of the lady beetle Eriopis connexa. The aim was to assess: 1) the average individual behavioral (pheno)types and their within-population variation, 2) their ontogenic behavioral consistency from larva to adult, and 3) whether the observed correlated sets of behavioral traits can impact fitness. The average behavioral type differed between populations. The pyrethroid-resistant population consistently exhibited lower aggressiveness (as larvae) and exploration, but showed higher activity, as well as larva sociality, and sometimes boldness than the susceptible population. Behavioral trait variation was higher among pyrethroid-resistant individuals, particularly during the larval stage, but there was significant behavior correlation between larvae and adults, regardless of the insect population. Reduced aggressiveness, and to a lesser extent intermediate levels of boldness against heterospecific individuals were associated with higher population growth. Besides shedding light on the ontogenic consistency of behavioral traits and their fitness impact, our results also suggest that reduced aggressiveness is associated with predator population increase, but may compromise its effectiveness as a biocontrol agent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protocols in distributed settings usually rely on the interaction of several parties and often identify the roles involved in communications. Roles may have a behavioral interpretation, as they do not necessarily correspond to sites or physical devices. Notions of role authorization thus become necessary to consider settings in which, e.g., different sites may be authorized to act on behalf of a single role, or in which one site may be authorized to act on behalf of different roles. This flexibility must be equipped with ways of controlling the roles that the different parties are authorized to represent, including the challenging case in which role authorizations are determined only at runtime. We present a typed framework for the analysis of multiparty interaction with dynamic role authorization and delegation. Building on previous work on conversation types with role assignment, our formal model is based on an extension of the $${\pi}$$ -calculus in which the basic resources are pairs channel-role, which denote the access right of interacting along a given channel representing the given role. To specify dynamic authorization control, our process model includes (1) a novel scoping construct for authorization domains, and (2) communication primitives for authorizations, which allow to pass around authorizations to act on a given channel. An authorization error then corresponds to an action involving a channel and a role not enclosed by an appropriate authorization scope. We introduce a typing discipline that ensures that processes never reduce to authorization errors, including when parties dynamically acquire authorizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Communication-centric systems are software systems built as assemblies of distributed artifacts that interact following predefined communication protocols. Session-based concurrency is a type-based approach to ensure the conformance of communication-centric systems to such protocols. This paper presents a model of session-based concurrency with mechanisms for run-time adaptation. Our model allows us to specify communication-centric systems whose session behavior can be dynamically updated at run-time. We improve on previous work by proposing an event-based approach: adaptation requests, issued by the system itself or by its context, are assimilated to events which may trigger adaptation routines. These routines exploit type-directed checks to enable the reconfiguration of processes with active protocols. We equip our model with a type system that ensures communication safety and consistency properties: while safety guarantees absence of run-time communication errors, consistency ensures that update actions do not disrupt already established session protocols. We provide soundness results for binary and multiparty protocols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of behavior in insecticide susceptibility is broadly recognized, in addition to the physiological effects of insecticides. Curiously, the recognition of the importance of behavior does not extend to the control by physical agents, like inert dusts such as diatomaceous earth (DE). Furthermore, behavioral traits are typically regarded as isolated traits and not as suite of traits simultaneously expressed in individual organisms, referred to as personality (or individuality). Because the set of behavioral traits of an individual may play a role in susceptibility to physical control agents, such as DE, a set of six behavioral traits encompassing three personality dimensions (i.e., activity, boldness/shyness, and exploration/avoidance), were assessed in six populations of the maize weevil Sitophilus zeamais. The (average) behavioral types varied among populations (Wilks´ lambda = 0.09, F = 10.72, P < 0.001), as did the susceptibility to DE ( χ2 = 11.0, df = 5, P = 0.05), with median survival times (95 % CL) ranging from 144.00 (119.69-168.31) h to 216.00 (179.10-252.90) h. These different behavioral types were not recognized when individual-based analysis was performed, although the individual hierarchical level represented over 63 % of the variance in the behavioral traits. Weevil activity was successfully used to describe survival time and, therefore, the susceptibility to diatomaceous earth, but the population-based response was crudely oversimplified. Therefore, to disregard the inter-individual behavioral variation, even when simple behavioral traits suitably describe the susceptibility to DE, in favor of interpopulation variation is temerary and may lead to management shortcomings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The basic behavioral activity of nonlinear rats was evaluated from the sum of crossed peripheral and central squares and peripheral and central rearing postures in the open fi eld test. This index was low (<20 episodes), intermediate (20-29 episodes), or high (>30 episodes). Male rats with high score of orientation and exploratory activity were characterized by higher indexes of total heart rate variability than rats with low or intermediate activity. Specimens with a greater contribution of VLF waves into the total power spectrum of heart rate variability were shown to dominate among the rats with high behavioral activity. Our results are consistent with the notions of a suprasegmental nature of VLF waves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detecting programming errors in software is increasingly important, and building tools that help developers with this task is a crucial area of investigation on which the industry depends. Leveraging on the observation that in Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) it is natural to define stateful objects where the safe use of methods depends on their internal state, we present Java Typestate Checker (JATYC), a tool that verifies Java source code with respect to typestates. A typestate defines the object's states, the methods that can be called in each state, and the states resulting from the calls. The tool statically verifies that when a Java program runs: sequences of method calls obey to object's protocols; objects' protocols are completed; null-pointer exceptions are not raised; subclasses' instances respect the protocol of their superclasses. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first OOP tool that simultaneously tackles all these aspects. • Java Typestate Checker is a tool that verifies Java code with respect to typestates. • It verifies that sequences of method calls obey to object's protocols. • It verifies that objects' protocols are completed. • It verifies that null-pointer exceptions are not raised. • It verifies that subclasses' instances respect the protocol of their superclasses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In crisis bargaining literature, it is conventional wisdom that the ability of generating higher audience costs is an advantage for a leader of a state. However, empirical studies show that democratic states use this mechanism only occasionally. This paper formally shows that higher audience costs may be good or bad depending on (1) the benefit-cost ratio of the crisis, (2) initial probability of resolve, and (3) how fast states generate audience costs with time. In particular, if the value of the prize over the cost of attacking is low or the initial probability of resolve is high enough, then having greater ability to generate audience costs may undermine democratic states' diplomatic success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Video playback was used to examine if female Siamese fighting fish use male behavioral type in mate choice decisions. Males in this species exhibit consistent individual differences in their behavior when encountering a male and female simultaneously (Lover, Fighter, Divider). Females avoided the most aggressive male behavioral type, the Fighter male. We believe this is one of the first, if not the first, study to examine the role of female preference in maintaining consistent individual differences in male fish.There has been growing interest in the causes and consequences of different behavioral types within members of the same species. Male Siamese fighting fish consistently adopt 1 of 3 behavioral strategies (i.e., fighter, lover, or divider) when encountering a male and female conspecific simultaneously. These strategies may carry fitness consequences if female conspecifics attend to these differences and use them when selecting mates. To address this question, female Siamese fighting fish were repeatedly presented with video playback images of males expressing these strategies in a series of preference tests. Subjects were exposed to male stimuli both sequentially and simultaneously. The results suggest that females prefer males using the lover strategy and actively avoid fighter males. This avoidance is found regardless of whether the male stimuli are presented sequentially or simultaneously. Although presentation type did not affect expressed preference, it did influence strength of preference, with females attending more to the divider and lover behavioral types in the simultaneous presentations. This study highlights the importance of using multiple presentation formats when examining mate preference and demonstrates that male behavioral type may influence female choice. In addition, it is one of the first examinations of how male behavioral type may influence female mate choice and suggests that female choice may be a mechanism for generating and/or maintaining differences in behavioral type. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Movement and habitat use patterns are fundamental components of the behaviors of mobile animals and help determine the scale and types of interactions they have with their environments. These behaviors are especially important to quantify for top predators because they can have strong effects on lower trophic levels as well as the wider ecosystem. Many studies of top predator movement and habitat use focus on general population level trends, which may overlook important intra-population variation in behaviors that now appear to be common. In an effort to better understand the prevalence of intra-population variation in top predator movement behaviors and the potential effects of such variation on ecosystem dynamics, we examined the movement and habitat use patterns of a population of adult American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) in a subtropical estuary for nearly four years. We found that alligators exhibited divergent behaviors with respect to activity ranges, movement rates, and habitat use, and that individualized behaviors were stable over multiple years. We also found that the variations across the three behavioral metrics were correlated such that consistent behavioral types emerged, specifically more exploratory individuals and more sedentary individuals. Our study demonstrates that top predator populations can be characterized by high degrees of intra-population variation in terms of movement and habitat use behaviors that could lead to individuals filling different ecological roles in the same ecosystem. By extension, one-size-fits-all ecosystem and species-specific conservation and management strategies that do not account for potential intra-population variation in top predator behaviors may not produce the desired outcomes in all cases. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

After the technological revolution and globalization, many professions have had an up and, consequently, they were forced to adapt to the new reality. Within this new reality, the profile of the secretarial professional evolved and developed a path of struggles and victories, changing significantly. With the change it also increased the responsibilities and challenges. Playing purely operational functions, the professional of secretarial began to think and act strategically with their executives, engaging in projects and goals and also meeting these goals. This paper shows how professionals can perform secretarial duties and manage its function to assist executives with very different behavioral types. It indicates the position that secretarial professionals need to adopt towards these types of behavior and the use of elements of Emotional Intelligence and Social Intelligence can help creating a friendly atmosphere where everyone can live in harmony. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We present a type theory for analyzing concurrent multiparty interactions as found in service-oriented computing. Our theory introduces a novel and flexible type structure, able to uniformly describe both the internal and the interface behavior of systems, referred respectively as choreographies and contracts in web-services terminology. The notion of conversation builds on the fundamental concept of session, but generalizes it along directions up to now unexplored; in particular, conversation types discipline interactions in conversations while accounting for dynamical join and leave of an unanticipated number of participants. We prove that well-typed systems never violate the prescribed conversation constraints. We also present techniques to ensure progress of systems involving several interleaved conversations, a previously open problem. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We develop a notion of spatial-behavioral typing suitable to discipline concurrent interactions and resource usage in distributed object systems. Our type structure reflects a resource sensitive model, where a parallel composition type operator expresses resource independence, a sequential composition type operator expresses resource synchronization, and a type modality expresses resource ownership. We model the intended computational systems using a concurrent object calculus. Soundness of our type system is established using a logical relations technique, building on a interpretation of types as properties expressible in a spatial logic. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We consider concurrent models of computation where "actors" (components that are in charge of their own actions) communicate by exchanging messages. The interfaces of actors principally consist of "ports," which mediate the exchange of messages. Actor-oriented architectures contrast with and complement object-oriented models by emphasizing the exchange of data between concurrent components rather than transformation of state. Examples of such models of computation include the classical actor model, synchronous languages, data-flow models, process networks, and discrete-event models. Many experimental and production languages used to design embedded systems are actor oriented and based on one of these models of computation. Many of these models of computation benefit considerably from having access to causality information about the components. This paper augments the interfaces of such components to include such causality information. It shows how this causality information can be algebraically composed so that compositions of components acquire causality interfaces that are inferred from their components and the interconnections. We illustrate the use of these causality interfaces to statically analyze timed models and synchronous language compositions for causality loops and data-flow models for deadlock. We also show that that causality analysis for each communication cycle can be performed independently and in parallel, and it is only necessary to analyze one port for each cycle. Finally, we give a conservative approximation technique for handling dynamically changing causality properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Morphological characters allow the Sichuan snub-nosed monkey ( Rhinopithecus roxellana) to use multiple tree levels, but very few studies have quantified the terrestriality and tree stratum use of the species. I investigated the terrestriality and tree stratum use in a group of the monkeys from July 2003 to September 2004 (except February) in the Qianjiaping area of Shennongjia Nature Reserve, China. I collected data on the vertical position of individual monkeys in forest in relation to behavior types, diet, age/sex classes, vegetation types, tree height, and distribution of predators. The monkeys were much more arboreal than they were thought to be. They spent 97.1% of their time in trees ( n = 21,234 records) and 2.9% on the ground, and mainly used the middle (74.4%) and upper strata (17.4%). The monkeys displayed all behavioral types except searching in the middle and upper strata. The percentage of use of a stratum (except the low stratum) varied among months, and there was a difference in the percentage of use of a stratum among age/sex classes and between vegetation types. Approximately 94.2% of trees used by the monkeys were >6 m tall. They mainly fed on lichens, young leaves, mature leaves, flowers, fruits or seeds, and buds in the middle and upper strata, bark in the low and middle strata and herbs on the ground. Wolf ( Canis lupus), leopard ( Panthera pardus), and golden eagle ( Aquila chrysaetos) are predators threatening the survival of individual monkeys in the study site. The results suggested that the seasonal vertical distribution of food items eaten in forest, predators, and vegetation types had important effects on the terrestriality and tree stratum use of the monkeys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consider a two-person intertemporal bargaining problem in which players choose actions and offers each period, and collect payoffs (as a function of that period's actions) while bargaining proceeds. This can alternatively be viewed as an infinitely repeated game wherein players can offer one another enforceable contracts that govern play for the rest of the game. Theory is silent with regard to how the surplus is likely to be split, because a folk theorem applies. Perturbing such a game with a rich set of behavioral types for each player yields a specific asymptotic prediction for how the surplus will be divided, as the perturbation probabilities approach zero. Behavioral types may follow nonstationary strategies and respond to the opponent's play. In equilibrium, rational players initially choose a behavioral type to imitate and a war of attrition ensues. How much should a player try to get and how should she behave while waiting for the resolution of bargaining? In both respects she should build her strategy around the advice given by the "Nash bargaining with threats" (NBWT) theory developed for two-stage games. In any perfect Bayesian equilibrium, she can guarantee herself virtually her NBWT payoff by imitating a behavioral type with the following simple strategy: in every period, ask for (and accept nothing less than) that player's NBWT share and, while waiting for the other side to concede, take the action Nash recommends as a threat in his two-stage game. The results suggest that there are forces at work in some dynamic games that favor certain payoffs over all others. This is in stark contrast to the classic folk theorems, to the further folk theorems established for repeated games with two-sided reputational perturbations, and to the permissive results obtained in the literature on bargaining with payoffs as you go. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Re-introduction programs for endangered animals operate under the hope that protected habitats can sustain viable populations that rely little on humans. The goal of these programs is to supply animals with the resources and skills they need to succeed in the modern wild. However, predicting the set of skills necessary to respond to unpredictable selection events is difficult and efforts sometimes fail as animals respond inappropriately to environmental variation because they lack behavioral flexibility. Population resilience to environmental change may be enhanced if all members of a population do not exhibit the same response when selection pressures change. In many species individual animals express behavioral types that exhibit alternative responses to the same stimuli. Yet when animals are prepared for release to the wild, there is rarely consideration of consistent behavioral variation between individuals. Since experience influences both behavioral and physiological responses to varied stimuli and can shape the future behavioral type of captive animals, pre-release environmental enrichment may be successful in facilitating the expression of varied behavioral types in populations slated for release. This approach to environmental enrichment requires a departure from a ‘one size fits all’ strategy and may also involve exposure to increased challenge and competition. In addition, there is a need for empirical evidence to better understand the role of environmental enrichment and behavioral types on post-release success. The zoo environment provides an excellent arena for examining the development and expression of behavioral types and for taking a novel functional approach to environmental enrichment research that may prove to be very important to re-introduction efforts. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A large and growing literature on reputation in games builds on the insight that the possibility of one or more players being boundedly rational can have significant effects on equilibrium behavior. This literature leaves unexplained the presence of behavioral players in the first place, as well as the particular forms of irrationality assumed and the population shares of the various types. In this paper we endogenize departures from rationality on the basis of an evolutionary stability criterion, under the assumption that rational players incur a cost which reflects the greater sophistication of their behavior. This cost may be arbitrarily small. Within the context of a reputational model of bargaining, we show that evolutionary stability necessitates the presence of behavioral players. It also places significant joint restrictions on the set of behavioral types that can coexist, their respective population shares, and the long run population share of rational players. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]