44,616 research outputs found

    Cooperation, collective action, and the archeology of large-scale societies

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    Archeologists investigating the emergence of large-scale societies in the past have renewed interest in examining the dynamics of cooperation as a means of understanding societal change and organizational variability within human groups over time. Unlike earlier approaches to these issues, which used models designated voluntaristic or managerial, contemporary research articulates more explicitly with frameworks for cooperation and collective action used in other fields, thereby facilitating empirical testing through better definition of the costs, benefits, and social mechanisms associated with success or failure in coordinated group action. Current scholarship is nevertheless bifurcated along lines of epistemology and scale, which is understandable but problematic for forging a broader, more transdisciplinary field of cooperation studies. Here, we point to some areas of potential overlap by reviewing archeological research that places the dynamics of social cooperation and competition in the foreground of the emergence of large-scale societies, which we define as those having larger populations, greater concentrations of political power, and higher degrees of social inequality. We focus on key issues involving the communal-resource management of subsistence and other economic goods, as well as the revenue flows that undergird political institutions. Drawing on archeological cases from across the globe, with greater detail from our area of expertise in Mesoamerica, we offer suggestions for strengthening analytical methods and generating more transdisciplinary research programs that address human societies across scalar and temporal spectra

    Sport Brands: Brand Relationships and Consumer Behavior

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    Mining safely: Examining the moderating role of safety climate on mineworkers\u27 mental health and safety behavior nexus

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    Purpose: The study aims to investigate the impact of anxiety and depression (dimensions of mental health) on mineworkers\u27 safety behaviors (safety compliance and safety participation) while examining the moderating role of safety climate on these relationships. Design/methodology/approach: A quantitative research approach with an explanatory cross-sectional survey research design was adopted. A total of 274 purposively selected mineworkers participated in the study. Responses were obtained from participants through a structured questionnaire which was analyzed using the partial least square structural equation modeling. Findings: Anxiety had a significant negative effect on safety compliance but not participation. However, depression was found to have a significant negative effect on both mineworkers\u27 safety compliance and participation behaviors. The findings of the study also show that safety climate moderates the relationships between the dimensions of mental health and mineworkers\u27 safety behavior except for the relationship between anxiety and mineworkers\u27 safety participation behavior. Originality/value: The study offers an account of the negative effect of mental health on mineworkers\u27 safety behavior whiles highlighting that safety climate is an important construct to mitigate the negative effects of mental illness on the safety behaviors of mineworkers. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited

    Detecting Low Rapport During Natural Interactions in Small Groups from Non-Verbal Behaviour

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    Rapport, the close and harmonious relationship in which interaction partners are "in sync" with each other, was shown to result in smoother social interactions, improved collaboration, and improved interpersonal outcomes. In this work, we are first to investigate automatic prediction of low rapport during natural interactions within small groups. This task is challenging given that rapport only manifests in subtle non-verbal signals that are, in addition, subject to influences of group dynamics as well as inter-personal idiosyncrasies. We record videos of unscripted discussions of three to four people using a multi-view camera system and microphones. We analyse a rich set of non-verbal signals for rapport detection, namely facial expressions, hand motion, gaze, speaker turns, and speech prosody. Using facial features, we can detect low rapport with an average precision of 0.7 (chance level at 0.25), while incorporating prior knowledge of participants' personalities can even achieve early prediction without a drop in performance. We further provide a detailed analysis of different feature sets and the amount of information contained in different temporal segments of the interactions.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure

    Why Congo Persists: Sovereignty, Globalization and the Violent Reproduction of a Weak State

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    Wherever one looks, many elements conspire to suggest that the Democratic Republic of Congo should have collapsed some time ago under the multiple assaults of its own inadequacies as a state, the extreme heterogeneity and polarization of its populations, and the dislocations of globalization and foreign occupation. Yet, Congo has gone on defying such expectations and has continued to display a stunning propensity for resilience. This paper tries to explain why Congo persists amid these overwhelming structural obstacles. It focuses particularly on the more recent period when state weakness, foreign invasions, the exploitation of its natural resources by transnational and informal networks, and the multiplicity of domestic rebellions linked to foreign interests have not managed to dent, however slightly, the generalized support that exists for the reproduction of the Congolese state among its elites and regular citizens, foreign political and economic interests, and the international community at large. Observing that, in many parts of Congo, local grievances against the state and the greed of political elites have been magnified by the circumstances of post -Cold War Africa, it takes as paradoxical the continued broadly unchallenged existence of Congo

    The Analysis of Existing Experience for the Ethnobotanical Information System

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    Ethnobotanical researches reflect the conventional learning of a region. Over the previous decade, medical plants which used for healing indigenous people has become a significant notion among the people and impacted improvement of scientific and ethnobotanical knowledge and investigations of eliminating health problems. A public database has been based on data assembled from various verifiable sources, including journals, travel records, and treatises on therapeutic plants, composed by explorers, botanists, doctors, researchers who went to the nations during the most recent three centuries. In addition, ethnobotanical data depicted in chronicled natural accumulations and in Ancient and Medieval writings from the inquired district have been incorporated into the database. The databases have to be sufficiently adaptable to illustrate a valuable tool for analysts who need to store and analyze present and past ethnobotanical data from the researched location. The ethnobotanical researches are improved in Azerbaijan day by day. The database is used for informing people about some national plants which are growing in the different region of Azerbaijan. The ethnobotanical databases from different countries are analyzed in this article.There are used some special methods for comparing the differences among these databases as data mining and text mining. As a first step the suitable databases are gathered for our investigation, then are defined the best information systems that are used in many countries\u27 biologists and scientists and the end is observed advantages and disadvantages of all existing ethnobotanical databases which we researched. The features of information systems are evaluated. The results demonstrated each of databases has its very own quality, but none has turned a standard form for universal research. The reason is very basic: none of these databases enable specialists to include their own information. There is also illustrated sample structure, main tables and key components of the ethnobotanical database.The obtained results, while a few ethnobotanical databases existing, none are satisfactory answers for worldwide work, and none enable analysts to include their very own information. There is a need brought together all essential properties of existing databases, and creating a free database that encourages ethnobotanical research. Due to the rise and quick improvement in the field of data advances, it has now turned out to be conceivable to digitize, oversee and make ethnobotanical information accessible to a more extensive gathering of people

    Investigating Organizational and Human Resource Capacity of Village Government: A Case Study in Kutai Kartanegara Regency

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    Indonesian Village Law No. 6/2014 mandates village to be a self-governing community and local self-government. Based on the law, village government conducts governmental administrative business, local development, fostering village societal, and empowering local people. To support the tasks, it is allowed to raise funds from various sources. This paper aims to investigate any problem and possible solutions to strengthen village capacity in order to achieve the village law vision. This research was conducted in Kutai Kartanegara (Kukar) Regency, Indonesia. It used a qualitative approach and the data were collected in several ways, i.e. focus group discussion, interview, secondary data, and observation. The study showed that village governments have no authority to design their own organizations, because the designs are prepared by central and local governments in detail. Moreover, lack of competence among village government staffs and financial dependency also make village governments rely on supports from central and local governments. It concludes that high intervene from upper governments make the village governments have limited room to manage their organizations. Secondly, policy disharmony among ministers also makes them in a dilemma about which one should be followed. Thirdly, various limited upon villages consequently makes them highly depend on supports, especially financial supports, from higher levels of government. Therefore, some actions need to be taken, such as reducing intervention, synchronizing policies among ministries, strengthening village organization and staffs, and optimizing the role of local government agency and stakeholders to take part in the village development process
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