India’s Buddhist circuit(s): A growing investment market for a “rising” Asia

With the growing economic rise of Asia most of the international spotlight has focused on the rapid growth and industrialisation spearheaded by China and India, with little attention on the role of India’s robust religious tourism market that remains a vital part of its economic growth. In recent years, the development and promotion of religious circuits has become a cornerstone of India’s tourism marketing campaign that aims to capture both domestic and foreign exchange earnings. To explore the relationship between tourism and India’s religious circuits further, this article examines the role of India’s Buddhist circuit and how a series of sacred places have become part of a larger commoditised itinerary and networked geography. The article also looks at some of the tensions surrounding the ritual activities associated with Buddhist pilgrimage, how the government looks to regulate and reproduce a sacred geography, and the role of cross-border cultural and economic processes in shaping Buddhist heritage in the early twenty-first century

Desarrollo académico infantil: donde la evolución se encuentra con la cultura

Schools are the interface between evolution and culture. They are the contexts in which children’s evolved learning and motivational biases intersect with the need to learn the vast array of evolutionarily-novel skills (e.g., reading) and knowledge (e.g., geometric concepts) needed to function as adults in modern societies. The rapid cross-generational accumulation of knowledge during the past several millennia has created a gap between children’s evolved learning and motivational biases and the types of learning needed to master evolutionarily-novel skills and knowledge. I provide a brief overview of these evolved learning and motivational biases, and place them in the context of children’s learning and motivation to learn in modern-day schools. Key words: evolution, development, cognitive development, academic learning.Las escuelas constituyen el punto de encuentro entre la evolución y la cultura. Son los contextos donde los aprendizajes y motivaciones infantiles predispuestos durante la evolución se entrecruzan con la necesidad de aprender una gran cantidad de habilidades (e.g., leer) y conocimientos (e.g., conceptos geométricos) evolutivamente nuevos, precisos para el funcionamiento adulto en las sociedades modernas. La rápida acumulación de conocimientos durante los pasados milenios ha producido un vacío entre estas predisposiciones de aprendizaje y motivación infantiles generadas durante la evolución, y los tipos de aprendizaje requeridos para dominar las habilidades y conocimientos evolutivamente nuevos. Aquí se realiza una breve descripción de estas predisposiciones de aprendizaje y motivación evolutivas, y se las sitúa en el contexto de los aprendizajes y la motivación para aprender de los niños en las escuelas modernas. Palabras clave: evolución, desarrollo, desarrollo cognitivo, aprendizaje académico

Gender differences in the pathways to higher education

It is well known that far fewer men than women enroll in tertiary education in the United States and other Western nations. Developed nations vary in the degree to which men are underrepresented, but the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average lies around 45% male students. We use data from the OECD Education at a Glance statistical reports, the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), and the World Values Survey to explain the degree to which men are underrepresented. Using a multiple regression model, we show that the combination of both the national reading proficiency levels of 15-y-old boys and girls and the social attitudes toward girls attending university can predict the enrollment in tertiary education 5 y later. The model also shows that parity in some countries is a result of boys’ poor reading proficiency and negative social attitudes toward girls’ education, which suppresses college enrollment in both sexes, but for different reasons. True equity will at the very least require improvement in boys’ reading competencies and the liberalization of attitudes regarding women’s pursuit of higher education. At this time, there is little reason to expect that the enrollment gap will decrease, given the stagnating reading competencies in most countries

Quantitative Deficits of Preschool Children at Risk for Mathematical Learning Disability

The study tested the hypothesis that acuity of the potentially inherent approximate number system (ANS) contributes to risk of mathematical learning disability (MLD). Sixty-eight (35 boys) preschoolers at risk for school failure were assessed on a battery of quantitative tasks, and on intelligence, executive control, preliteracy skills, and parental education. Mathematics achievement scores at the end of 1 year of preschool indicated that 34 of these children were at high risk for MLD. Relative to the 34 typically achieving children, the at risk children were less accurate on the ANS task, and a one standard deviation deficit on this task resulted in a 2.4-fold increase in the odds of MLD status. The at risk children also had a poor understanding of ordinal relations, and had slower learning of Arabic numerals, number words, and their cardinal values. Poor performance on these tasks resulted in 3.6- to 4.5-fold increases in the odds of MLD status. The results provide some support for the ANS hypothesis but also suggest these deficits are not the primary source of poor mathematics learning

The effectiveness of youth centers in increasing use of sexual and reproductive health services: a systematic review.

This study presents findings from a systematic review of the evidence regarding the effectiveness of youth centers in increasing use of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services in lower- and middle-income countries. Evidence from peer-reviewed and gray literature between 1990 and 2010 was reviewed. After the screening of 3,769 citations, 21 studies reporting on 17 youth center programs were included, and were ranked by strength of evidence. Considerable consistency in findings across studies was observed. Youth centers generally served a relatively small proportion of young people living nearby. The main users were young men attending school or college, with a significant proportion older than the target age. Users of the on-site SRH services were predominantly young women, with a significant proportion older than the target age group. Uptake of services was generally low. Despite widespread emphasis on youth centers as a strategy for encouraging young people to access SRH services, results from these studies have not been encouraging, and cost-effectiveness for these purposes is likely to be low

Sexual Selection and the Evolution of Human Sex Differences

Darwin’s (1871) theory of sexual selection and the associated mechanisms of intrasexual competition (e.g., male-male competition) and intersexual choice (e.g., female choice of mates) have guided the scientific study of sex differences in hundreds of non-human species. These mechanisms and several recent advances in our understanding of the evolution and expression of sex differences in non-human species are described. The usefulness of this theory for approaching the study human sex differences is illustrated with discussion of patterns of women’s mate preferences and choices and with discussion of men’s one-on-one and coalitional competition. A comparison of these aspects of intersexual choice and intrasexual competition in humans and non-human species is provided, as is discussion of cultural variation in the expression of these behaviors. cultural influences (Maccoby & Jacklin, 1974)