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Traditionally, interpretations of Rio Sonora/Serrana's social organization often focus on long-distance trade, relying heavily on ethnohistorical sources. The local ceramic tradition—primarily brownware with textured motifs—has been overlooked in socio-political studies. This research proposes a typology of textured decoration to explore social organization, identity, and interactions across the Sonora, Moctezuma, and Fronteras Valleys. Findings reveal distinct decorative patterns unique to each valley, with variations at inter-valley, intra-valley, and intra-site scales. Patterns in decoration are interpreted as expressions of identity and social dynamics, which aid in assessing existing models of social organization. Public architecture in the Sonora Valley is interpreted as spaces for social gatherings and integration among nearby groups. While this analysis enriches existing social organization models, it also enhances understanding of Pre-Colonial and Proto-Colonial groups in eastern Sonora, providing a refined framework for interpreting socio-political integration in the region and evaluating data from neighboring regions in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars of civic and political participation have been puzzled by questions of disengagement among socially, economically, and politically marginalized groups. Drawing on 32 in-depth interviews with long-time Black residents of San Francisco's historic Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood, this analysis examines the factors that influence the civic participation choices of residents. By employing conceptual tools from previous studies of civic participation, this article demonstrates how local opportunities and constraints influence civic attitudes and behaviors. The narratives offered by residents in this study reveal that civic participation is not a fixed practice but instead a dynamic process of adapting political attitudes and behaviors to evolving environmental conditions. These findings present a micro-level account of the effects of political exclusion and disadvantage on civic engagement practices and hold important implications for our approaches to broadly mobilizing perceivably disengaged populaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• hypotheses on music evolution must rely on structural and functional features of music • cultural transmission within social units determines the genesis of music structures • human music finds continuity with animal calls through the agency of "personal song" • the rise of human conspecific sympathy promoted the genesis of music and language • evolutionary changes in aggression management underlay the advance of music and language Together with language, music is perhaps our most distinctive behavioral trait. Following the lead of evolutionary linguistic research, different hypotheses have been proposed to explain why only humans perform music and how this ability might have evolved in the species. In this paper, we advance a new model of music evolution that builds on the theory of self-domestication, according to which the human phenotype is, at least in part, the outcome of a process similar to mammal domestication, triggered by a progressive reduction in reactive aggression levels in response to environmental changes. In the paper, we specifically argue that changes in aggression management through the course of human cultural evolution can account for the behaviors conducive to the emergence and evolution of music. We hypothesize 4 stages in the evolutionary development of music under the influence of environmental changes and evolution of social organization: starting from musilanguage, 1) proto-music gave rise to 2) personal and private forms of timbre-oriented music, then to 3) small-group ensembles of pitch-oriented music, at first of indefinite and then definite pitch, and finally to 4) collective (tonal) music. These stages parallel what has been hypothesized for languages and encompass the diversity of music types and genres described worldwide. Overall, music complexity emerges in a gradual fashion under the effects of enhanced abilities for cultural niche construction, resulting from the stable trend of reduction in reactive aggression towards the end of the Pleistocene, leading to the rise of hospitality codes, and succeeded by the increase in proactive aggression from the beginning of the Holocene onward. This paper addresses numerous controversies in the literature on the evolution of music by providing a clear structural definition of music, identifying its structural features that distinguish it from oral language, and summarizing the typology of operational functions of music and formats of its transmission. The proposed framework of structural approach to music arms a researcher with means to identify and comparatively analyze different schemes of tonal organization of music, placing them in the context of human social and cultural evolution. Especially valuable is the theory of so-called "personal song", described and analyzed here from ethological, social, cultural, cognitive, and musicological perspectives. Personal song seems to constitute a remnant of the proto-musical transition from animal communication to human music as we know it today. We interlink the emergence of personal song with the evolution of kinship, placing both of them on the timeline of cultural evolution - based on totality of ethnographic, archaeological, anthropological, genetic, and paleoclimatic data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Has global capitalism reduced inequality and poverty? How do today's young people reactto cultural changes in organizations in a world that demands more and more flexibility? How do organizational and social transformations impact the lives of individuals? These and other questions are the starting point of our reflection which will attempt to investigate, through theoretical sources and research on the field, the possible correlation between the social phenomena of Tang Ping, Quiet Quitting and Great Resignations. Today, the capitalist model, with its promises of global progress and social equity, is showing its first cracks and needs to be redefined. Similarly, the concepts of growth anddevelopment need to be rethought. If globalization encourages welfare models that shift the boundaries between public and private, in the same way 'flexible capitalism' triggers new dynamics of individuals' exploitation. Are cultural and organizational models of our recent past still effective in keeping the promise of development and progress? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social organizations, which exist outside of governmental and market systems, are vital actors in social governance. Investigating the pathways through which social organizations participate in vaccination and immunization efforts can significantly contribute to the advancement of immunization programs. This paper elaborates on the practical need, theoretical basis, and policy support for social organizations′ involvement in vaccination and immunization activities. It identifies various challenges faced by these organizations, including incomplete collaborative mechanisms, limited societal recognition, and intrinsic organizational shortcomings. Furthermore, the paper explores strategies for enhancing social organizations′ participation in vaccination and immunization work, such as strengthening public education, providing consultation and advice, supporting grassroots immunization efforts, offering psychological assistance, linking social resources, and aiding in quality assurance. Recommendations are proposed with the aim of providing a reference for the efficient involvement of social organizations in vaccination and immunization activities.

A global, accurate estimation of the Southern Gelada (Theropithecus gelada obscurus, Heuglin 1863) population is poorly available. This study aimed to investigate the population size and structure of the Southern Gelada in the Abune Yosef Zigit Community Conservation Area. Population counts were done at six counting blocks covering both the dry and wet seasons in 2021. The total mean population size of the Southern Gelada in Abune Yosef Zigit Community Conservation Area was 929 (±8.46). The population comprised 9% (82±0.92) adult males, 34% (314±3.47) adult females, 11% (99 ±1.23) sub-adult males, 10% (95±1.30) sub-adult females, 24% (128±1.92) juveniles, and 13% (121±1.73) infants. However, all age groups of Southern Gelada showed insignificant seasonal variation in abundance, except for infants (P = 0.027). The mean age and sex ratio of males to females (χ² = 89.97, P ≤ 0.05), adult males to adult females (1:4.18, χ² = 135.92, P ≤ 0.05), and infants to adult females (1:3.04, χ² = 85.63, P ≤ 0.05), varied significantly between seasons. These age and sex ratios also exhibited notable differences between the dry and wet seasons in the area (P ≤ 0.05). Geladas exist in social groups ranging from the basic all-male unit (10.37 ±1.04) to complicated social bands (157.58±5.84). The population estimate is crucial and contributes to an accurate global population estimate and, consequently, better conservation of the species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous studies have explored the organization of pollination networks and the factors influencing these interactions at various spatial and temporal scales. Within these networks, species vary in their significance and influence on one another (i.e. their interactive roles), and understanding which factors determine this significance enables us to better comprehend the interconnected relationships that drive the resilience and diversity of ecosystems. Nevertheless, despite the ectothermic nature of bees and the potential impact of social behaviour on bee foraging patterns on plants, the amount of theoretical and empirical information available regarding how bee thermal tolerance limits and sociality affect their interactive roles within pollination networks remains relatively scarce. In this study, we assess how sociality and physiological (thermal tolerance) traits shape the interactive role of bees within a pollination network in a coastal environment of the Gulf of Mexico, Mexico. For sociality, we classified bees as eusocial, subsocial, and solitary while for the limits of thermal tolerance, we used both warmest (i.e. critical thermal maximum, CTmax) and coldest (i.e. critical thermal minimum, CTmin) temperature. In general, we found that bees' sociality and thermal tolerance limits explain the interactive role of bees within the pollination network studied. Specifically, eusocial bees had a greater interactive role than subsocial and solitary bees. Moreover, we observed that bees with lower CTmax and higher CTmin (i.e. less heat and cold tolerant) had greater interactive role. Our findings suggest that traits inherent to the life history of bees are valuable for predicting the interactive roles of bees within pollination networks and may have implications for various ecological, functional and evolutionary processes within ecosystems, including potential impacts resulting from climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sleep and sleep-related behaviors are integral components of primate behavior and ecology that are linked to various habitat-specific factors and often are modified in response to environmental fluctuations and threats. Despite the growing literature on primates, information on sleep-related behaviors of tarsiers remains sparse, especially for Philippine tarsiers, where our current understanding is hampered by the paucity of studies on wild populations. We radio-tracked eight Philippine tarsiers inhabiting a protected forest fragment between December 2016 and February 2018 to assess their sleeping site selection, sleep-related positional behavior, and social system. From 266 instantaneous sampling bouts, where each tarsier was observed a maximum of once per day, we found that the tarsiers frequently used trees with thickets of lianas and at least 15 plant species as sleeping sites. They slept from ground level to above 8 m, with most sightings at 3 to 6 m, and recurrent detections above 8 m, and preferred a flexed resting posture, on angled or horizontal, small-sized lianas or branches. Although frequently solitary, they also slept in pairs and in small groups of up to four individuals. We inferred polygyny based on observations of one adult male who associated and huddled with two nonassociated adult females, and direct male care through huddling and accompaniment. Our study revealed increased height use and gregariousness not previously described for Philippine tarsiers, shedding light on potential flexible behaviors by nocturnal primates in fragmented landscapes. Sleep-related behaviors present another avenue of research that has important implications on their conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sexual selection predicts that males invest in sperm competition when females mate with multiple males. Because group residency facilitates access to mates, we hypothesized that variation in within-group mate competition influences investment in sperm competition. Verreaux's sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi) live in both single and multimale groups, allowing us to test the effect of within-group sperm competition on testes size. We predicted that dominant males living in multimale groups have larger testes than males in single-male groups. We also predicted that within multimale sifaka groups, dominant males have larger testes than subordinate males, due to either reproductive suppression or alternative mating tactics. We collected testes size and body mass from 23 adult male sifaka across 56 captures at the Ankoatsifaka Research Station in Kirindy Mitea National Park in western Madagascar from 2006 to 2019. Consistent with our predictions, we found that dominant males in multimale groups had significantly larger estimated testes mass than males in single-male groups. Within multimale groups, dominant males had significantly larger estimated testes mass than subordinate males. Males observed living in both conditions (multimale and single-male groups) exhibited larger estimated testes mass when they were dominant males in multimale groups than when in single-male groups. Sperm competition is typically examined via interspecific comparisons of testes size and mating system. Our study shows a similar pattern within the same species and a single population of wild primates. Our results show that (1) males flexibly respond to the current level of within-group sperm competition, and (2) within-group contest competition impacts male investment in sperm competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Population density is a potentially significant determinant of social organization, with high densities often expected to result in greater spatial and social contact among conspecifics. As part of ongoing efforts to document behavioral diversity among tuco-tucos (Rodentia: Ctenomyidae: Ctenomys), we characterized the social organization of a population in Valle Encantado, Parque Nacional Los Cardones, Salta Province, Argentina. Live-trapping and radiotelemety data revealed that despite one of the highest densities recorded for the genus Ctenomys (~75 adults per ha), members of the study population were solitary, with each adult occupying a distinct burrow system and nest site. Co-occurrence of adults at the same point in space and time was detected only twice (<0.5% of data points, n = 997 telemetry fixes). Spatial overlap between neighboring animals was limited and resulted from occasional incursions by 1 individual into the area occupied by a conspecific, with most (87.5%, n = 8) such events occurring when an adult male entered the area occupied by an adult female. Comparisons with other species of Ctenomys for which telemetry data are available did not suggest a relationship between population density and social organization within this genus. Although a formal taxonomic assessment of the tuco-tucos from Valle Encantado is needed, our findings add to a growing comparative understanding of variation in social organization within Ctenomys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of History / Habaršy Tarihi Seriâsy is the property of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Kin selection is important for understanding the evolution of social behaviour in group-living species. Yet, the role of kinship in solitary species has received little attention. We studied how kinship influences intraspecific variation in social organization and spatial structure in a predominantly solitary species, the bush Karoo rat, Otomys unisulcatus , from the Succulent Karoo semidesert of South Africa. We predicted that if social groups occur, they should consist of close kin. We further predicted that the spatial structure is not random, but that close kin live closer to each other. Over 5 years we performed trapping and focal animal observations and fitted mini-GPS dataloggers simultaneously on 125 neighbouring female bush Karoo rats to investigate how their spatial structure was influenced by kinship. Females were mainly solitary, although small social groups also occurred, all consisting of close kin, typically females, such as a mother and her adult daughter or sisters. Although females did have more nonkin than kin neighbours, kin lived closer to each other than nonkin. Daily ranges were larger in the breeding than in the nonbreeding season and overlapped more between kin than nonkin females. We conclude that kinship should be considered when studying solitary species as it might influence variation in social organization and spatial structure. • This study is the first use of mini-GPS devices in a small rodent. • Female bush Karoo rat females are mainly solitary. • Sometimes they form small groups, always consisting of close kin. • They display a kinship spatial structure. • Kinship is important to understand solitary species' social system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Estudios Politicos (01215167) is the property of Universidad de Antioquia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

To unravel the roots of the relationship between the individualism–collectivism dimension of culture (IC) and market-supporting institutions, we develop a model where the two interact and coevolve. IC and institutions are related indirectly via social organization: agents settle either in the Town, a loose organization where they work independently, or in the Clan, a cohesive organization where they engage in collective work. The town's relative economic potential positively affects the town's size and institutional quality. A larger town then renders society more individualistic, which attracts even more agents to the town and improves its institutional quality. The resulting positive feedback loop drives societies toward different steady states. If the town's relative economic potential is sufficiently high, the society converges to a steady state with a completely individualistic culture, high institutional quality, and a large town. Otherwise, the society converges to a steady state with a completely collectivistic culture, weak institutions, and a large clan. We conclude that contemporary IC and institutions exhibit path dependence and are thus related to the historical exogenous conditions in each region. Using current and historical data, we provide empirical evidence supporting our model. In addition, we apply the model to discuss the historical divergence between China and Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeological research in northern Sweden has customarily proposed models based on assumed migration patterns to portray resource utilization of prehistoric hunter-gatherers. An average hunting household needs about 500km2 for its subsistence. This assumption, as well as the temporal and spatial distribution of animal resources available for hunting households in the interior of Northern Sweden, is investigated using Agent Based Modelling (ABM) with explicitly identified factors and conditions. ABM simulations were run in order to analyse the relationships between hunters, moose (Alces alces), predators, landscapes and how human migration patterns could be adjusted in order to coincide with moose migrations. The results suggest that wolves and human hunters could coexist if the landscape had a moose density of 0.6 moose/km2 or more and if each hunting household possessed territories of 400–500km2. In accordance with the model’s parameters, the simulation identifies those factors that are particularly sensitive to change and those factors that are necessary in order to maintain an ecological balance between hunters and their prey.

The increasing proportion of the elderly population presents a significant challenge for the future. It is projected that in a few decades, the number of elderly individuals will reach a highly significant figure compared to the current situation. Institutional care systems have their shortcomings, often alienating the elderly from their communities. This paper aims to initiate discussions on alternative approaches, particularly considering ways for the elderly to live within their natural environments. This study was conducted in Lingga Village, Indonesia, through in-depth interviews with 15 elderly individuals and other relevant stakeholders. The findings reveal remarkable narratives about the resilience of the elderly. They are able to maintain their independence due to the support from family members, the presence of their families, and the social roles shaped by their environment. These activities provide a space for the elderly to contribute, allowing them to continue being themselves despite the physical limitations that come with age. In conclusion, this research offers a new perspective on the social landscape approach to anticipating potential negative issues related to elderly life in the future.

We show that the globally invasive, human-infectious flatworm, Haplorchis pumilio, possesses the most physically specialized soldier caste yet documented in trematodes. Soldiers occur in colonies infecting the first intermediate host, the freshwater snail Melanoides tuberculata, and are readily distinguishable from immature and mature reproductive worms. Soldiers possess a pharynx five times absolutely larger than those of immature and mature reproductives, lack a germinal mass, and have a different developmental trajectory than reproductives, indicating that H. pumilio soldiers constitute a reproductively sterile physical caste. Neither immature nor mature reproductives showed aggression in in vitro trials, but soldiers readily attacked heterospecific trematodes that coinfect their host. Ecologically, we calculate that H. pumilio caused ~94% of the competitive deaths in the guild of trematodes infecting its host snail in its invasive range in southern California. Despite being a dominant competitor, H. pumilio soldiers did not attack conspecifics from other colonies. All prior reports documenting division of labor and a trematode soldier caste have involved soldiers that may be able to metamorphose to the reproductive stage and have been from nonhuman-infectious marine species; this study provides clear evidence for an obligately sterile trematode soldier, while extending the phenomenon of a trematode soldier caste to freshwater and to an invasive species of global public health concern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ecological success of social insects makes their colony organization fascinating to scientists studying collective systems. In recent years, the combination of automated behavioural tracking and social network analysis has deepened our understanding of many aspects of colony organization. However, because studies have typically worked with single species, we know little about interspecific variation in network structure. Here, we conduct a comparative network analysis across five ant species from five subfamilies, separated by more than 100 Myr of evolution. We find that social network structure is highly conserved across subfamilies. All species studied form modular networks, with two social communities, a similar distribution of individuals between the two communities, and equivalent mapping of task performance onto the communities. Against this backdrop of organizational similarity, queens of the different species occupied qualitatively distinct network positions. The deep conservation of the two community structure implies that the most fundamental behavioural division of labour in social insects is between workers that stay in the nest to rear brood, and those that leave the nest to forage. This division has parallels across the animal kingdom in systems of biparental care and probably represents the most readily evolvable form of behavioural division of labour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Play has been underrepresented in studies of Andean communities, together with the children who are its protagonists. This article, part of a larger ethnographic study, reviews and analyzes manifestations of play in rural localities of the province of Yauyos. It aims to interpret the role of play and reevaluate its importance. With the support of numerous descriptions of places of play, toys, the actors, their motivations and relations, it examines the presence of a "rhetoric of progress" and a "rhetoric of power" in Yauyos children's play. Play constitutes a dominion where the agency of boys, girls, and adolescents emerges with special clarity. The result is the structuring of a child's society that incorporates alliances and cooperation as well as conflicts and exclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To develop a diagnosis of the governance system of the Mil Diez ejido in Durango through a comparison between 2010 and 2020. Methodology: Evaluation of two key variables for analyzing community governance: the index of social organization and community institutionality. Data collection included surveys applied to ejidatarios, and the results were analyzed using a database designed in Excel (version 2312), which allowed for statistical processing of the information obtained in the field. Results: This decreased both variables during the decade analysis, reflecting greater internal disorganization. This deterioration is related to the aging of the founding ejidatarios and the generational impact on their descendants (second, third, and fourth generations). Limitations: The low participation of ejidatarios in decision-making processes stands out as a clear indicator of the weakening of internal organizational mechanisms. Conclusions: The ejido's governance system has neither been efficient nor effective, highlighting the need to strengthen community organization and participation processes to ensure sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historically, cities have emerged as epicenters for demographic convergence, epitomizing the nexus of authority and the crucibles for commercial and economic exchanges. They catalyze social transformations through intricate interactions and integrations, harnessing their organizational capacities and robust legal frameworks to meticulously orchestrate life. The domain of urban development has undergone a remarkable evolution and extensive expansion, positioning urban life as the quintessential manifestation of civilized existence. Within these urban confines, citizens are afforded a myriad of rights and luxuries, continually enhanced and diversified over time to facilitate individual and community well-being. This dynamic serves as a critical metric for evaluating the prosperity and welfare of urban centers. Tibilis, while maintaining a rustic and agrarian demeanor reminiscent of smaller hamlets, boasts 23 documented professions from antiquity, when wood was the primary resource, reflecting its untapped wealth. These professions, revealed through archaeological inscriptions, range from postal carriers (Viator) and livestock traders (Catervarius) to farmers (Arator) and landowners (Posse(ssor)). The city's significant development has also fostered a flourishing of crafts such as pottery, construction, and carpentry, substantially contributing to its prosperity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Complutum is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Certain fields of research are deeply shaped by their proximity with policy-makers and administrations. The so-called 'regulatory sciences' and their corresponding expert communities emerge from this intermediary space between science and policy. Social studies of expertise and scientific experts show, however, that modes of engagement with policy-making vary greatly from one scientist to another. Two scientists that are part of the same research group or laboratory may engage the policy realm differently. How then does the social organization of research influence scientists' participation in scientific advice and the production of regulatory sciences? The paper looks at toxicology, a field in which knowledge production is centrally motivated by risk assessment, but one that has also seen the emergence of different knowledge-making motives, including advancement of fundamental knowledge and frontier research. A toxicology laboratory may thus harbor a diversity of moral economies of scientific advice. The paper argues that scientists' engagements with policy, through scientific advice and regulatory risk assessment, create organizational tensions and force changes to the standard, team-based social organization of research work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social Health Organizations (SHOs) are private entities that receive resources from governments for the management of public healthcare services. With the history of market interest in public health and the high volume of resources transferred to SHOs, one must question if the market logic continues to be inserted in this management model. The understanding of the dynamics of providing healthcare services to the population in the different contracts may help to understand how possible changes in the contracted services may have an influence. This is a descriptive-exploratory study using quantitative and qualitative approaches. Documental research was conducted through the collection of data from management contracts and amendments. The State of São Paulo was chosen because of its economic representativeness and for being the pioneer state in the implementation of SUS services managed by SHO. Medical specialties were included in 184 renegotiations (6.14%) and excluded in 187 (6.24%), whereas non-medical services were included in 26 renegotiations (2.97%) and excluded in 144 (16.44%). Regarding examinations, 101 renegotiations (18.07%) had their goals increased and 60 (10.73%) reduced, while 6 renegotiations (1.07%) included exams and 12 (2.14%) excluded them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay characterizes one way people are organized by their ideas about the ideas of others, namely, "ideational structure." I clarify its role in social explanation, compare it to some standard social ontologies, and propose that it is an important element in an ideology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Much evidence supports the ecological and agronomic benefits of diversity, of both crops and environments, for building resilience and sustainability in agroecosystems. Farmers' knowledge about crop diversity is well‐documented, but aside from studies on how farmers exchange seeds and knowledge through networks, the interactions of social factors and the diversity of crops and cultivated environments have been mainly overlooked. One factor receiving attention is farmers' access to land, but in only one of its dimensions, the security of access. Here we address the different strategies by which farmers gain access to land. How does the plurality of modes of access to land influence crop choices, and thereby crop diversity? How does this plurality influence the range of environments available to individual farmers for cultivating crop diversity? Analysing data from 51 interviews with farmers and 312 plots in agrosilvopastoral systems in northwestern Morocco, we described eight different modes of access. Each mode offers different opportunities and constraints concerning the kind of crops that can be grown on the plot. We found that an increase in the number of modes of access to land increases the crop diversity of farmers' holdings, regardless of the total area each farmer cultivates. Accessing additional plots contributed to both environmental heterogeneity and to crop diversity of farms. In striving to gain access to land and to grow diverse crops, farmers are motivated by their notion of what it means to be a ‘real farmer’, that is, the relation to their identity. Farmers mobilize not only their economic power but also their social relationships to gain access to plots of land. Their choices are also based on their relationships to tree crops such as olive, which are economic and cultural keystone species, as well as markers of land ownership and control. Multiple modes of access to land characterize many smallholder farming systems, which support a large fraction of the world's population. Recognizing diverse social practices of access to land that allow farmers to continue to mobilize multiple modes of access can increase resilience against unpredictable events and help maintain sustainable agroecosystems. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

In this article, we delve into the role of religious images in the doctrine, worship, and social fabric of Catholic faithful in Tunja, Colombia. As a city steeped in colonial heritage, Christianity has become deeply ingrained in both spiritual and cultural aspects of life. The text explores the intricate relationships between believers and sacred images, reflecting on how the imagery encapsulates, while representing, forms of cohesion and social identification mediated by devotional and organizational experiences. It also presents ethnographic and historical references focusing on the experiences of devotion of members of brotherhoods and devotional groups, particularly their involvement in processions and religious celebrations within the city’s historic center. As a result of these public activities with the images, there is a binding association between believers and imagery that extends beyond the religious realm, influencing various aspects of collective life. The article discusses two key processes: the borrowing and extraction of images from religious sites, and the significance attributed to these images by believers outside the ecclesiastical institution, extending their value and meaning to guild and organizational processes that are also part of the faithful’s lives and social values.

Vasopressin and oxytocin are well known and evolutionarily ancient modulators of social behavior. The distribution and relative densities of vasopressin and oxytocin receptors are known to modulate the sensitivity to these signaling molecules. Comparative work is needed to determine which neural networks have been conserved and modified over evolutionary time, and which social behaviors are commonly modulated by nonapeptide signaling. To this end, we used receptor autoradiography to determine the distribution of vasopressin 1a and oxytocin receptors in the Southern giant pouched rat (Cricetomys ansorgei) brain, and to assess the relative densities of these receptors in specific brain regions. We then compared the relative receptor pattern to 23 other species of rodents using a multivariate ANOVA. Pouched rat receptor patterns were strikingly similar to hamsters and voles overall, despite the variation in social organization among species. Uniquely, the pouched rat had dense vasopressin 1a receptor binding in the caudate-putamen (i.e., striatum), an area that might impact affiliative behavior in this species. In contrast, the pouched rat had relatively little oxytocin receptor binding in much of the anterior forebrain. Notably, however, oxytocin receptor binding demonstrated extremely dense binding in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, which is associated with the modulation of several social behaviors and a central hub of the social decisionmaking network. Examination of the nonapeptide system has the potential to reveal insights into species-specific behaviors and general themes in the modulation of social behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Larq Journal for Philosophy, Linguistics & Social Sciences is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Chinese Immigration Act, 1923, also known as the Chinese Exclusion Act, banned the entry of Chinese people to Canada and required all Chinese in Canada, including the Canadian born, to register with the government. The act devastated Chinese Canadian lives and communities. This paper applies two of Hannah Arendt’s insights into the social organization of totalitarianism to understand how anti-Chinese racism has been structured. Focusing on the discourse of Asian/Chinese exclusion in the Canadian House of Commons and Senate in 1922 and 1923, the paper shows that the idea of Chinese exclusion was closely linked to the white supremacist vision of Canada that its land and resources were and should be the monopoly of people of European origins. As such, anti-Chinese racism was not just an ideology, or individual prejudices or ignorance, but it was a social structure that was integral to the making of the country, and whose invention can be traced historically. The historical activity of the Chinese in trying to stop the passing of the act brings the functioning of this social structure into sharp relief. The consequences of this structure continue today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Pacha: Journal of Contemporary Studies of the Global South / Revista de Estudios Contemporáneos del Sur Global is the property of PACHA REVISTA DE ESTUDIOS CONTEMPORANEOS DEL SUR GLOBAL and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

A house can be defined as an interpretation of perceptions of the society, inculcated within it, in a direct or indirect method. The social cycle of creation of space depends on parameters of site, settings, cultural history, and traditions. Therefore, it’s not only the house form or architectural elements of the space, which encapsulates the whole idea behind its invention but also the symbolic dimension added to it, defining its significance and identity. The study analyses the association of toy-making process of Kondapalli Village (Andhra Pradesh) with its impact on the built environment of the inhabitants over years. The following study attempts to analyze the toy-making process of Kondapalli Village and its impact on the built environment of the houses. The study is threefold, firstly it attempts to understand the traditional knowledge in the process of wooden toy making in Kondapalli; secondly, the spatial analysis of different house forms ranging from vernacular to modern house and their inter-relationship with the art form deduced to examine the sequential evolution of forms and functions; lastly, an establishment of the symbolic relationship of the toy-making process with the community. Therefore, the study helps to analyse and establish an inter-connection between the house forms, occupational practices and the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the considerable amount of research that has examined rework causation in construction, it remains an inherent problem that can potentially result in adverse project outcomes. This situation has arisen as studies have tended to ignore the social organization of errors (i.e. the pattern of relationships and social interactions between and among individuals and teams). Instead, studies have adopted a 'reductionist view' of rework causation by identifying its proximal and root causes rather than addressing the conditions resulting in its manifestation. This paper uses a case study approach with a sense-making lens to create a series of narratives of rework events that arose while constructing a transport mega-project. By making sense of the context surrounding the error events, it is revealed rework manifests from failures in 'negotiated order' which stems from role ambiguity, misunderstandings, misinterpretations, and break-downs in communications and interactions between people and organizations. As a consequence of these findings, their theoretical and practical implications arising from the research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the influences of informal institutions on interorganizational trust. Based on a case study, it identifies five impact paths of informal institutions operating between government and social organizations in China: internal referencing, direct entrustment, office visits, favor provision, and key figure decision-making. Most of these function to maintain relationships and facilitate affection. Trust in these informal institutions is particularistic, exclusive, limited in transferability, discrete, and information based. Accordingly, this paper shows that while informal institutions can foster simple cooperation between a particular government and social organization, they can also strengthen the power imbalance between these two subjects and undermine basic public values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of People & Nature is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The village is usually viewed as a basic geographic and economic unit, characterized by unsophisticated social organization, limited interpersonal ties and weak external social networks. However, studies in rural archaeology and anthropology revealed that village life was more complex. This article offers a survey of several key theoretical issues relevant for interpreting archaeological remains of villages, farmsteads and estates/villas from a social perspective. It focuses mainly on the organization of the settlement as a holistic unit and the specific houses/households within it. The article seeks to explore the complex correlation between the spatial and social aspects of rural housing--the way in which the archaeological record attests to interpersonal contacts, their frequency and character. It demonstrates that the rural population was not merely a passive supplier of agricultural products to the neighboring towns and cities, but rather actively shaped its own culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conflict and displacement exacerbate violence against women, including intimate partner violence (IPV). Considering the rising prevalence and duration of conflict-displacement, how violence follows women through chains of related events and contexts, including across generations, demands attention and action. The current study investigates how conflict-displacement contributes to IPV across generations of displacement at the Thailand-Myanmar border, a particularly informative setting for understanding displacement histories. Analyzing survey interview data from 534 women in a population-based survey of two border subdistricts, it investigates evidence of theoretical perspectives informed by trauma, social violence, and social disorganization. Analyses compare IPV and social fear responses by displacement generation, and test potential mediators of IPV differences tied to each theoretical perspective using logistic regression-based effect decomposition. Among first-generation women with more proximate conflict exposure, both legacy effects of past social and individual trauma, and adverse effects of displacement circumstances, emerge. Meanwhile, second-generation women experienced the highest IPV odds, suggesting that violence and displacement have an enduring impact but through mechanisms unmeasured in the current study. Both first- and second-generation women demonstrate navigating everyday violence through social vigilance. Both these groups demonstrate general social fear that aligns with IPV prevalence while also demonstrating individual blunted fear responses to direct victimization, i.e., relatively low reported fear among women with a violent partner, a coping mechanism symptomatic of trauma. Findings warrant greater attention to trauma and structurally violent displacement contexts that persist long term. When unaddressed, these likely exacerbate IPV in ways unexplained by cultural norms, direct conflict, or displacement alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers have found that many post-secondary music students suffer from physical and mental health issues. However, researchers have mainly studied these problems at the individual level, with little investigation of how music students' work is shaped by the coordinating effects of policies, texts, and discourses at and beyond their local site. This paper describes a protocol for an international project that will explore the health of music students in the context of their daily work. Using an institutional ethnography approach, we will examine the social organization of music students' work at three universities: two in Canada and one in Australia. This will be the first set of studies that use institutional ethnography specifically for the purpose of understanding how the social organization of music students' work shapes their health. Data will be collected using several methods common to institutional ethnography: interviews, focus groups, observations, and collecting texts. Data analysis will begin during the data collection process and proceed in two fluid stages. The first stage will involve a detailed investigation of the pertinent work activities at each music school. The second will involve linking that work to specific social relations within and beyond the institution. After data analysis has been completed at all three sites, findings will be compared to one another to identify commonalities and differences in how students' work is organized. Findings of the entire project may inform policy-making and lead to positive change at the institutions studied, as well as others where similar social organization may occur. The novel approach described here will provide opportunities to expand current knowledge about music students' work and health beyond what has been learned through approaches that focus on students' individual behaviours and attributes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performance of ant workers in a given task can be highly variable, generating a non-homogenous workload in the colony. However, there is no information on whether high performance workers are more efficient, or have any morphometric and physiological variation that causes them to both start earlier and continue executing the task longer. Here, we demonstrate that non-homogeneous task distribution is common in small colonies and that different performance levels occur even among Acromyrmex subterraneus workers of the same size class. High Activity workers did more work and were faster, so they were more efficient than Low Activity workers. However, their efficiency was not related to their leg length, as it was for Low Activity workers. Also, the delay of the first loaded trip of High Activity workers was shorter than that of Low Activity workers, indicating an earlier response of the former to the task. Delay variation was not affected by mass-specific metabolic rate. Considering the first five trips, we found that the first trip had a longer duration than the others, and High Activity workers were faster than Low Activity workers, suggesting that the higher efficiency of High Activity workers may be related to the reinforcement mechanism, which in turn lessens their response threshold to the task. Finally, workers had similar mandible morphometry (length of the first and second tooth, number of teeth), and body mass components (water content, lean dry weight and lipid content) despite their activity category, indicating that these variables did not explain differences in performance or efficiency among workers. The hypometric mass scaling metabolic rate showed that Non-transporters had proportionally lower energy expenditure than other categories. High Activity workers showed remarkable performance, efficiency, and faster responses to foraging stimulus. We suggest that this heightened level of individual proficiency is in line with the threshold model, explaining the operation of the task allocation mechanism within the same worker size class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Members of several shoaling species have been shown to prefer to associate with familiar individuals, enhancing the benefits of aggregation. The authors used a series of social preference tasks in the laboratory to evaluate whether prior familiarity with potential partners influences preference of shoaling partner in male zebrafish (Danio rerio), a social species found in shallow, slow-moving waters. The authors found that though male zebrafish exhibited a strong preference for shoaling with a male conspecific as opposed to remaining alone, they exhibited no preference for familiar over unfamiliar conspecifics. This suggests that the benefits of familiarity for shoaling behaviour may not be as important for male zebrafish as has been shown in other social fish species.

This describes the factual and epistemological mistakes leading to the collapse of anthropological interest in the scientific analysis of kinship and social organization in the 1980s, their persistence to the present, and the alternative that avoids them. The basic argument is that while kinship was and is a challenging topic, the reason for the collapse of kinship studies in response to David Schneider's criticism in 1987 had did not reflect those inherent problems.  They reflected self-contradictions and counter-factual assumptions in the conceptions of science, meaning, and objectivity in the approaches that were taken to it, both by those Schneider criticised and by Schneider himself.The paper details the steps by which those errors accumuluted in this particular line of argument.  It does so in part by contrasting this line with my own approach that avoided them, and that Schneider knew about but evidently did not understand.

Vasopressin and oxytocin are well known and evolutionarily ancient modulators of social behavior. The distribution and relative densities of vasopressin and oxytocin receptors are known to modulate the sensitivity to these signaling molecules. Comparative work is needed to determine which neural networks have been conserved and modified over evolutionary time, and which social behaviors are commonly modulated by nonapeptide signaling. To this end, we used receptor autoradiography to determine the distribution of vasopressin 1a and oxytocin receptors in the Southern giant pouched rat (Cricetomys ansorgei) brain, and to assess the relative densities of these receptors in specific brain regions. We then compared the relative receptor pattern to 23 other species of rodents using a multivariate ANOVA. Pouched rat receptor patterns were strikingly similar to hamsters and voles overall, despite the variation in social organization among species. Uniquely, the pouched rat had dense vasopressin 1a receptor binding in the caudate-putamen (i.e., striatum), an area that might impact affiliative behavior in this species. In contrast, the pouched rat had relatively little oxytocin receptor binding in much of the anterior forebrain. Notably, however, oxytocin receptor binding demonstrated extremely dense binding in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, which is associated with the modulation of several social behaviors and a central hub of the social decision-making network. Examination of the nonapeptide system has the potential to reveal insights into species-specific behaviors and general themes in the modulation of social behavior.

In this essay, it's proposed that the kinship relationships of the Mesoamerican milperos, contained in a specific terminology, express the requirements of agricultural work and the demands of social and cultural reproduction. The fundamental characteristic of the social organization of Mesoamerican communities is the validity of patrilineal, exogamous systems, which constitute larger social units, domestic communities, the basis of the urban societies that make up the ancient history of Mesoamerica. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]