Evolution and Devolution of Knowledge: A Tale of Two Biologies

Anthropological inquiry suggests that all societies classify animals and plants in similar ways. Paradoxically, in the same cultures that have seen large advances in biological science, citizenry's practical knowledge of nature has dramatically diminished. Here we describe historical, cross-cultural and developmental research on how people ordinarily conceptualize organic nature (folkbiology), concentrating on cognitive consequences associated with knowledge devolution. We show that results on psychological studies of categorization and reasoning from “standard populations” fail to generalize to humanity at large. Usual populations (Euro-American college students) have impoverished experience with nature, which yields misleading results about knowledge acquisition and the ontogenetic relationship between folkbiology and folkpsychology. We also show that groups living in the same habitat can manifest strikingly distinct behaviors, cognitions and social relations relative to it. This has novel implications for environmental decision making and management, including commons problems.

Evolution and Devolution of Knowledge: A Tale of Two Biologies

Anthropological inquiry indicates that all human cultures classify animals and plants in similar ways. This pre-theoretical knowledge also provided common ground for competing scientific investigations. Paradoxically, despite rapid advances in biological science, our citizenry's practical knowledge of nature is diminishing. Convenient choice of American and European students as psychology's preferred study populations obscures this fact. Here we describe historical, cross-cultural and developmental research on how people ordinarily conceptualize nature (naïve or folk biology), concentrating on cognitive consequences associated with knowledge devolution. Our approach integrates three disciplinary perspectives. For cognitive science, we show that results on categorization and reasoning from “standard populations” fail to generalize to humanity at large. For developmental research, we find that the usual populations studied represent impoverished experience with nature, yielding misleading results concerning the ontogenetic relationship between folkbiology and folkpsychology. For cultural and environmental studies, we show that groups living in the same habitat can manifest strikingly distinct behaviors, cognitions and social relations relative to it. This has novel implications for environmental decision making and management, including resource dilemmas such as the commons problem

Evolution and Devolution of Knowledge: A Tale of Two Biologies

Anthropological inquiry suggests that all societies classify animals and plants in similar ways. Paradoxically, in the same cultures that have seen large advances in biological science, citizenry's practical knowledge of nature has dramatically diminished. Here we describe historical, cross-cultural and developmental research on how people ordinarily conceptualize organic nature (folkbiology), concentrating on cognitive consequences associated with knowledge devolution. We show that results on psychological studies of categorization and reasoning from “standard populations” fail to generalize to humanity at large. Usual populations (Euro-American college students) have impoverished experience with nature, which yields misleading results about knowledge acquisition and the ontogenetic relationship between folkbiology and folkpsychology. We also show that groups living in the same habitat can manifest strikingly distinct behaviors, cognitions and social relations relative to it. This has novel implications for environmental decision making and management, including commons problems

The Rise and Fall of Political Movements in the Late 19th Century and First Half of 20th Century Kurdistan (an Organisational Analysis)

Kurdological literature has been mainly limited to mere historical descriptive discussions characterized by descriptive story telling about personal/private aspects of Kurdish political chiefs. This study tries to provide a new sociological analysis based on synthetic organizational model to examine the process and structure of political movement-making and the causes of their failure in all around Kurdistan in the late 19th century and first half of 20th century. Four organizational theories are employed in this paper: contingency, institutional, population ecology and resource dependency theories. In order to analyse the rise and demise of political movement-making in the late 19th century and first half of 20th century Kurdistan Macro level factors including exogenous factors i.e. the super-powers and central governments, Meso level factors containing socio-economic factors such as tribal-feudalism, regionalism and religion, and Micro Level factors composed of illiteracy and cultural poverty were analysed through aforementioned organizational theories. Our fundamental finding is that the endogenous and exogenous factors have mutually caused the rise and demise of political movement-making. But exogenous factors were the final determinant in shaping, reshaping, directing and finally collapsing on Kurdish movements. Finally it should be asserted that neither exogenous factors nor Endogenous factors were able to meet Kurdish political requirements; exogenous forces were temporal determinants that played their role according to their own economic and political logic and endogenous forces such as tribal-feudalism, regionalism and religion wasted political potential in challenging with the central governments

Folkecology and commons management in the Maya Lowlands

Three groups living off the same rainforest habitat manifest strikingly distinct behaviors, cognitions, and social relationships relative to the forest. Only the area's last native Maya reveal systematic awareness of ecological complexity involving animals, plants, and people and practices clearly favoring forest regeneration. Spanish-speaking immigrants prove closer to native Maya in thought, action, and social networking than do immigrant Maya. There is no overriding "local," "Indian," or "immigrant" relationship to the environment. Results indicate that exclusive concern with rational self-interest and institutional constraints do not sufficiently account for commons behavior and that cultural patterning of cognition and access to relevant information are significant predictors. Unlike traditional accounts of relations between culture, cognition, and behavior, the models offered are not synthetic interpretations of people's thoughts and behaviors but are emergent cultural patterns derived statistically from measurements of individual cognitions and behaviors.cognitive models / commons tragedy / culture consensus / social networks / sustainable agroforestry

Language, Culture and Spatial Cognition: Bringing anthropology to the table

Languages vary in their semantic partitioning of the world. This has led to speculation that language might shape basic cognitive processes. Spatial cognition has been an area of research in which linguistic relativity – the effect of language on thought – has both been proposed and rejected. Prior studies have been inconclusive, lacking experimental rigor or appropriate research design. Lacking detailed ethnographic knowledge as well as failing to pay attention to intralanguage variations, these studies often fall short of defining an appropriate concept of language, culture, and cognition. Our study constitutes the first research exploring (1) individuals speaking different languages yet living (for generations) in the same immediate environment and (2) systematic intralanguage variation. Results show that language does not shape spatial cognition and plays at best the secondary role of foregrounding alternative possibilities for encoding spatial arrangements

Understanding the Double Doping of Organic Semiconductors Via State Energy Renormalization upon Charging

The double ionization of molecular dopants enables the doping efficiency (free charges per dopant molecule) to rise above 100%. However, the current models of doped organic semiconductors based on Fermi–Dirac statistics fail to explain the double ionization of dopants and also the analogous situation of bipolaron formation on a host polymer. Here, we address this shortcoming by considering the renormalization of the state energies upon electron transfer between host and p-dopant. We vary the model parameters─the reorganization energy and evolutions of ionization energies and electron affinities upon charging─and plot the fractions of doubly ionized, singly ionized, and neutral species. The model shows good agreement with experimental measurements of doubly ionized p-dopants and bipolarons on a p-doped polymer. With these insights, we suggest that the state energy renormalization upon charging is the key parameter to be minimized for double ionization of dopants or maximized to avoid formation of bipolarons on the host.Peer Reviewe

The Ionized Stellar Wind in Vela X-1 During Eclipse

We present a first analysis of a high resolution X-ray spectrum of the ionized stellar wind of Vela X-1 during eclipse. The data were obtained with the High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer onboard the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The spectrum is resolved into emission lines with fluxes between 0.02 and 1.04x10^4 ph/cm^2/s. We identify lines from a variety of charge states, including fluorescence lines from cold material, a warm photoionized wind. We can exclude signatures from collisionally ionized plasmas. For the first time we identify fluorescence lines from L-shell ions from lower Z elements. We also detect radiative recombination continua from a kT = 10 eV (1.2 x 10^5 K) photoionized optically thin gas. The fluorescence line fluxes infer the existence of optically thick and clumped matter within or outside the warm photoionized plasma.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, accepted by ApJ letter

Folkecology and commons management in the Maya Lowlands

Three groups living off the same rainforest habitat manifest strikingly distinct behaviors, cognitions, and social relationships relative to the forest. Only the area's last native Maya reveal systematic awareness of ecological complexity involving animals, plants, and people and practices clearly favoring forest regeneration. Spanish-speaking immigrants prove closer to native Maya in thought, action, and social networking than do immigrant Maya. There is no overriding "local," "Indian," or "immigrant" relationship to the environment. Results indicate that exclusive concern with rational self-interest and institutional constraints do not sufficiently account for commons behavior and that cultural patterning of cognition and access to relevant information are significant predictors. Unlike traditional accounts of relations between culture, cognition, and behavior, the models offered are not synthetic interpretations of people's thoughts and behaviors but are emergent cultural patterns derived statistically from measurements of individual cognitions and behaviors

The Impact of IMRT and Proton Radiotherapy on Secondary Cancer Incidence

Background and Purpose:: There is concern about the increase of radiation-induced malignancies with the application of modern radiation treatment techniques such as intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and proton radiotherapy. Therefore, X-ray scatter and neutron radiation as well as the impact of the primary dose distribution on secondary cancer incidence are analyzed. Material and Methods:: The organ equivalent dose (OED) concept with a linear-exponential and a plateau dose-response curve was applied to dose distributions of 30 patients who received radiation therapy of prostate cancer. Three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy was used in eleven patients, another eleven patients received IMRT with 6-MV photons, and eight patients were treated with spot-scanned protons. The treatment plans were recalculated with 15-MV and 18-MV photons. Secondary cancer risk was estimated based on the OED for the different treatment techniques. Results:: A modest increase of 15% radiation-induced cancer results from IMRT using low energies (6 MV), compared to conventional four-field planning with 15-MV photons (plateau dose-response: 1%). The probability to develop a secondary cancer increases with IMRT of higher energies by 20% and 60% for 15 MV and 18 MV, respectively (plateau dose-response: 2% and 30%). The use of spot-scanned protons can reduce secondary cancer incidence as much as 50% (independent of dose-response). Conclusion:: By including the primary dose distribution into the analysis of radiation-induced cancer incidence, the resulting increase in risk for secondary cancer using modern treatment techniques such as IMRT is not as dramatic as expected from earlier studies. By using 6-MV photons, only a moderate risk increase is expected. Spot-scanned protons are the treatment of choice in regard to secondary cancer incidenc