Owner-Perception of the Effects of Two Long-Lasting Dog-Appeasing Pheromone Analog Devices on Situational Stress in Dogs

Devices that release a synthetic analog of the canine-appeasing pheromone can help to relax dogs during stressful situations, but they usually last for only one month. Two new devices with this analog were tested by owners of dogs showing signs of stress in a range of everyday situations: Zenidog™ collar, lasting three months, and Zenidog™ diffusing gel, lasting two months (Virbac, Carros, France). They were compared against reference products that last for one month. In the three-month study with collars, one group received Zenidog™ collar, one received the reference collar, and one group of dogs wore an antiparasitic collar alongside a Zenidog™ collar. In the two-month study with diffusers, groups received either the unpowered Zenidog™ gel diffuser or the reference electric diffuser. Owners regularly completed a questionnaire that assessed seventeen general behaviors and sources of fear and eleven specific signs of stress. Global scores for these two main scales were calculated, and the evolution of scores was compared between groups. Non-parametric tests with a Bonferroni correction were used for statistical analysis. An improvement of all global scores was observed in all groups (p < 0.001), including in puppies, and there was no difference between groups. Zenidog™ devices were as effective as the reference devices and lasted longer.

Exploring the Links Between Biophilic and Restorative Qualities of Exterior and Interior Spaces in Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico

The interactive role of the ecological, architectural, biophilic, and sensory qualities of outdoor and indoor spaces in the restorative experiences of urban inhabitants is little known. We analyzed the restorative influence on mood states and situational stress related to exposure to vegetation proportion, spatial extension, landmark salience, biophilic architecture, people density, street visual access, olfactory pleasantness, and noise of 65 public spaces in a Mexican city. The environmental qualities of these places were analyzed with multidimensional scaling (MDS), leading to eight space categories (e.g., historic squares with biophilic architecture, large parks, street scenes, and interiors with non-biophilic architecture). Ratings of the restorative potential, mood states, situational stress, olfactory pleasantness, and noise annoyance were evaluated on such places and modeled through a structural equation modeling (SEM). The model shows that the restorative influence of the environmental qualities on moods and stress was related to a decrease in experiences of negative moods and perceived stress, and an increase of positive mood states. Based on our findings, we discuss design guidelines, emphasizing the relevance of including vegetation and built elements with biophilic qualities to create restorative environments.

Multifactorial Evaluation of Relaxing Properties of Juniperus virginiana L. Essential Oil and Comparison with Salvia sclarea L. Essential Oil

Virginian cedarwood (Juniperus virginiana L.) essential oil is an important component of a very large number of fragrances, used in cosmetics or household products. Clary sage (Salvia sclarea L.) essential oil is well known in aromatherapy for its sedative property. The essential oils of Virginian cedarwood’s crushed barks and clary sage’s leaves were analyzed by GC/MS. Respectively, seven and seventeen compounds; representing 78% and 94.13% of the essential oils, were identified. The main components of the cedar oil are cedrene alpha (25%) and cedrol (20%). The main components of the clary sage oil are linalyl acetate (69.4%) and linalool (11.9%). Cedarwood oil exhibits significant relaxing activity, influencing physiological and biochemical parameters in human. This shows repercussions on situational stress. Virginian Cedarwood essential oil activity is compared with clary sage essential oil, which proved to be less efficient on stress relief.

Life of Cops at Work Areas and their Social Relationships with the Society

Stress is a symptom of imbalance in health in daily life. The more stress, the individual health life becomes more painful. It is a psychological disorder for every individual who is in pressure, anxiety, hyper tension and so on. From the Two-corner side of stress, sometimes the Eu-stress brings positive nature in individual life and sometimes the distress makes people conscious. Stressors always suffer with psychological, Physical health problems when they are in duty which also reflects in the work-life balance with family members. Sometimes they face burnout situations which lead to suicidal thoughts and also burnout occurs more frequently among professionals who work with other persons, especially as service providers while they face with them by some situations. This paper focussed on the two district Police Constables to find the stress levels at work. The districts are in Odisha state i.e. Gajapathi district, border to Andhra Pradesh and Nuapada District, border to Chhattisgarh state to find the outcomes associated with Social and individual life. Data has been analysed by Independent T-test, Pearson Correlation test and also Factor analysis has been taken to find the gender wise with social domain variables and descriptive statistics has been taken to find the general values. Findings and suggestions has been given based on the results and along with the strategies to make them free with situational stress life.

Influences of Stress on Interactions with Decision Support

People regularly interact with automation to make decisions. Research shows that reliance on recommendations can depend on user trust in the decision support system (DSS), the source of information (i.e. human or automation), and situational stress. This study explored how information source and stress affect trust and reliance on a DSS used in a baggage scanning task. A preliminary sample of sixty-one participants were given descriptions for a DSS and reported trust before and after interaction. The DSS gave explicit recommendations when activated and participants could choose to rely or reject the choice. Results revealed a bias towards self-reliance and a negative influence of stress on trust, particularly for participants receiving help from automation. Controlling for perceived reliability may have eliminated trust biases prior to interaction, while stress may have influenced trust during the task. Future research should address potential differences in task motivation and include physiological measures of stress.

Effect of Levels of Self-Regulation and Situational Stress on Achievement Emotions in Undergraduate Students: Class, Study and Testing

Achievement emotions constitute one important variable among the many variables of students’ learning. The aim of this research was to analyze the differential effect of university students’ levels of self-regulation (1 = low, 2 = medium and 3 = high), and of their level of perceived stress in three academic situations (1 = class, 2 = study time and 3 = testing), on the type of achievement emotionality they experience (positive and negative emotions). The following hypotheses were established: (1) a higher level of student self-regulation would be accompanied by higher levels of positive emotionality and lower levels of negative emotionality and (2) a higher level of situational stress would predispose higher levels of negative emotionality and lower levels of positive emotionality. A total of 520 university students completed three self-reports with validated inventories. Descriptive, correlational, and structural prediction analyses (SEM) were performed, as well as 3 × 3 ANOVAs, under an ex post facto design by selection. The results showed overall fulfillment of the hypotheses, except for a few specific emotions. Implications for prevention and psychoeducational guidance in the sphere of university education are discussed.

Context matters: Situational stress impedes functional reorganization of intrinsic brain connectivity during problem solving

Extensive research has established the relationship between individual differences in brain activity in a resting state and individual differences in behavior. Conversely, when individuals are engaged in various tasks, certain task-evoked reorganization occurs in brain functional connectivity, which consequently can influence individuals’ performance as well. Here, we show that resting state and task-dependent state brain patterns interact as a function of contexts engendering stress. Findings revealed that when the resting state connectome was examined during performance, the relationship between connectome strength and performance only remained for participants under stress (who also performed worse than all other groups on the math task), suggesting stress preserved brain patterns indicative of underperformance whereas non-stressed individuals spontaneously transitioned out of brain patterns indicative of underperformance. These findings were subsequentially replicated in an independent sample set. Implications are discussed for network dynamics as a function of context.

Are Negative Parental Attributions Predicted by Situational Stress?: From a Theoretical Assumption Toward an Experimental Answer

In an experimental within-subjects research design, we studied the theoretical assumption that stress predicts negative parental attributions, which until now was mainly studied using cross-sectional study designs. During home visits to 105 families, mothers and fathers were subjected to two experimental conditions and two control conditions. In the experimental conditions, parents completed the Parental Attributions of Child behavior Task (PACT, a computerized attribution task) under two different stressful conditions (i.e., cognitive load and white noise); in the control conditions, the PACT was completed without additional stressors. Furthermore, parents completed questionnaires about existing risk factors (i.e., partner-related stress, parenting stress, and abuse risk). There were no main effects of induced stress on attributions for fathers and mothers, but we found that a combination of induced situational stress (cognitive load) and high risk resulted in the most negative parental attributions in mothers. The discussion focuses on intensity and origin of stressors, comparison between mother and father attributions, implications for interventions, and possible future research directions.