Kinship, lineage identity, and an evolutionary perspective on the structure of cooperative big game hunting groups in Indonesia.

Work was conducted among traditional, subsistence whale hunters in Lamalera, Indonesia in order to test if kinship or lineage membership is more important for explaining the organization of cooperative hunting parties ranging in size from 8-14 men. Crew identifications were collected for all 853 hunts that occurred between May 3 and August 5, 1999. Lineage identity and genetic relatedness were determined for a sample of 189 hunters. Results of matrix regression show that kinship explains little of the hunters' affiliations independent of lineage identity. Crews are much more related amongst themselves than expected by chance. This is due, however, to the correlation between lineage membership and kinship. Lineage members are much more likely to affiliate in crews, but beyond r = 0.5 kin are just as likely not to affiliate. The results are discussed vis-à-vis the evolution of cooperation and group identity

Culture in vitro par immersion temporaire : un nouveau récipient

Un petit appareil, bon marché de fonctionnement simple a été conçu au laboratoire de culture in vitro de BIOTROP afin de permettre d'immerger des explants de façon transitoire. Quelques exemples d'application sont présentés. Ils concernent le caféier, l'hévéa, le bananier. De façon générale, le comportement des plantes paraît plus proche du comportement ex vitro que de celui perturbé, rencontré en culture in vitro en milieu solid

Micropropagation in vitro du bananier

Les recherches (IRFA) sur la micropropagation du bananier ont exploré trois thèmes. La micropropagation in vitro en milieu liquide (12 immersions de 20 minutes en 24 heures) a des avantages de rendement accru et des facilités de modifier le milieu au cours des phases successives. Un autre objectif était l'amélioration du taux de multiplication du bananier plantain : l'explant est préparé avec une incision en "X" de l'apex pour réduire la dominance apicale. Un autre thème est la bioclimatologie des bananiers cultivés in vitro; une augmentation de l'intensité lumineuse habituelle provoque presque un doublement de la formation de matière sèche en un mois. Les effets de l'aération simple ou avec des apports de CO2, ont également été expérimentés. Le domaine à étudier est vaste, nécessitant des recherches sur le métabolisme énergétique, la photosynthèse à divers niveaux d'organisation du bananier in vitro. Dans la technologie actuelle, certains facteurs étant limitants, ces recherches pourraient contribuer à une amélioratio

Cultural Inheritance and Fertility Outcomes: An Analysis from Evolutionary and Interdisciplinary Perspectives

Taking evolutionary and interdisciplinary perspectives, this study views the reproductive result as an evolutionary outcome that may be affected by parental characteristics through cultural inheritance. We hypothesize that inheriting more cultural traits from parents leads to a greater resemblance between fertility outcomes of the offspring and their parents. In societies that experience a demographic transition, a greater resemblance can be indicated by a higher level of fertility of the offspring and a sooner transition from union formation to childbearing. We operationalize inheriting cultural traits from parents as reporting a religious affiliation the same as those of their parents. Through analyzing data from the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) Cycle 6, our results show that inheriting the same religious traits from parents does have an effect on one’s fertility. In particular, women who reported the same religious affiliations as those of their parents reported a greater number of children. They tend to have births inside, rather than outside, of marriage. Inside marriage, they are also more likely to give births sooner, rather than later. These findings support our hypotheses and help to build a theoretical framework that explains the changes in fertility outcomes from an interdisciplinary perspective

“Economic man” in cross-cultural perspective: Behavioral experiments in 15 small-scale societies

Researchers from across the social sciences have found consistent deviations from the predictions of the canonical model of self-interest in hundreds of experiments from around the world. This research, however, cannot determine whether the uniformity results from universal patterns of human behavior or from the limited cultural variation available among the university students used in virtually all prior experimental work. To address this, we undertook a cross-cultural study of behavior in ultimatum, public goods, and dictator games in a range of small-scale societies exhibiting a wide variety of economic and cultural conditions. We found, first, that the canonical model – based on self-interest – fails in all of the societies studied. Second, our data reveal substantially more behavioral variability across social groups than has been found in previous research. Third, group-level differences in economic organization and the structure of social interactions explain a substantial portion of the behavioral variation across societies: the higher the degree of market integration and the higher the payoffs to cooperation in everyday life, the greater the level of prosociality expressed in experimental games. Fourth, the available individual-level economic and demographic variables do not consistently explain game behavior, either within or across groups. Fifth, in many cases experimental play appears to reflect the common interactional patterns of everyday life

Reply to van Hoorn: Converging lines of evidence

We agree with the comments by van Hoorn (1) on our critique (2): testing causal hypotheses about human behavior is a challenge (1, 3). Making progress requires specifying alternative hypotheses and then testing these hypotheses using diverse and converging lines of evidence. We have defended the hypothesis that social norms, which culturally coevolved with the institutions of large-scale societies including markets, influence economic decision-making. This hypothesis emerged from a larger set that we developed both at the outset of our project and as we went along. Our interdisciplinary team’s initial list of hypotheses included the idea that experimental games might spark an innate reciprocity module that would yield little variation across populations

On Mediated Translations of Fairy Tales

In the present article, we regard mediated translations of fairy tales as unique recreations, making the afterlife of the original text and contributing to its variability. Our attention has been focused not so much on the equivalence of the mediated translation to the original as on the nature and main characteristics of the mediated translation as a text. The goal of this study has been to rethink the very status of indirect translations involving intralingual and intersemiotic readings of the original in our research. The survey results have demonstrated the fascinating potential of the source text to modify and transform

Multilevel modeling analysis of dyadic network data with an application to Ye'kwana food sharing

Behavioral ecologists have recently begun using multilevel modeling for the analysis of social behavior. We present a multilevel modeling formulation of the Social Relations Model that is well suited for the analysis of dyadic network data. This model, which we adapt for count data and small datasets, can be fitted using standard multilevel modeling software packages. We illustrate this model with an analysis of meal sharing among Ye’kwana horticulturalists in Venezuela. In this setting, meal sharing among households is predicted by an association index, which reflects the amount of time that members of the households are interacting. This result replicates recent findings that interhousehold food sharing is especially prevalent among households that interact and cooperate in multiple ways. We discuss opportunities for human behavioral ecologists to expand their focus to the multiple currencies and cooperative behaviors that characterize interpersonal relationships in preindustrial societies. We discuss possible extensions to this statistical modeling approach and applications to research by human behavioral ecologists and primatologists

Using a Partial Sum Method and GPS Tracking Data to Identify Area Restricted Search by Artisanal Fishers at Moored Fish Aggregating Devices in the Commonwealth of Dominica

Foragers must often travel from a central place to exploit aggregations of prey. These patches can be identified behaviorally when a forager shifts from travel to area restricted search, identified by a decrease in speed and an increase in sinuosity of movement. Faster, more directed movement is associated with travel. Differentiating foraging behavior at patches from travel to patches is important for a variety of research questions and has now been made easier by the advent of small, GPS devices that can track forager movement with high resolution. In the summer and fall of 2012, movement data were collected from GPS devices placed on foraging trips originating in the artisanal fishing village of Desa Ikan (pseudonym), on the east coast of the Caribbean island nation of the Commonwealth Dominica. Moored FADs are human-made structures anchored to the ocean floor with fish attraction material on or near the surface designed to effectively create a resource patch. The ultimate goal of the research is to understand how property rights are emerging after the introduction of fish aggregating device (FAD) technology at the site in 1999. This paper reports on research to identify area-restricted search foraging behavior at FAD patches. For 22 foraging trips simultaneous behavioral observations were made to ground-truth the GPS movement data. Using a cumulative sum method, area restricted search was identified as negative deviations from the mean travel speed and the method was able to correctly identify FAD patches in every case.The open access fee for this work was funded through the Texas A&M University Open Access to Knowledge (OAK) Fund

O sistema de tecnologias profissional-educacionais no sistema de formação de especialistas no perfil social

The paper studies the problem of the use of modern educational technologies for training specialists in the social profile. The quality of university professional training is an integrity of several educational technologies, each of which separately has a fairly independent character, but only together can provide a new quality of breeding professionals in the field of social work. The results of the introduction of modern educational technologies in the teaching and education process of the university social system show: the increase of graduates competing in the labor market, in addition to the development and growth of their social, professional and research competence. Therefore, the quality of university professional training of experts in the social sphere is caused by the synergistic integrity of several educational technologies that together provide a new quality of education in the field of social work.El artículo estudia el problema del uso de tecnologías educativas modernas para los especialistas en capacitación en el perfil social. La calidad de la formación profesional universitaria es una integridad de varias tecnologías educativas, cada una de las cuales por separado tiene un carácter bastante independiente, pero solo juntas pueden proporcionar una nueva calidad de profesionales de la cría en el campo del trabajo social. Los resultados de la introducción de tecnologías educativas modernas en el proceso de enseñanza y educación del sistema social universitario muestran: el aumento de los graduados que compiten en el mercado laboral, ademas del desarrollo y crecimiento de su competencia social, profesional y de investigación. Por lo tanto, la calidad de la formación profesional universitaria de los expertos de la esfera social está causada por la integridad sinérgica de varias tecnologías educativas que juntas proporcionan una nueva calidad de educación en el campo del trabajo social.O artigo estuda o problema do uso de tecnologias educacionais modernas para formação de especialistas no perfil social. A qualidade da formação profissional universitária é uma integridade de várias tecnologias educacionais, cada uma das quais separadamente tem um caráter bastante independente, mas apenas em conjunto pode fornecer uma nova qualidade de profissionais de criação no campo do trabalho social. Os resultados da introdução de modernas tecnologias educacionais no processo de ensino e educação do sistema social universitário mostram: o aumento de graduados competindo no mercado de trabalho, além do desenvolvimento e crescimento de sua competência social, profissional e de pesquisa. Portanto, a qualidade da formação profissional universitária de especialistas na esfera social é causada pela integridade sinérgica de várias tecnologias educacionais que, juntas, proporcionam uma nova qualidade de educação no campo do trabalho social