Universal temporal features of rankings in competitive sports and games

Many complex phenomena, from the selection of traits in biological systems to hierarchy formation in social and economic entities, show signs of competition and heterogeneous performance in the temporal evolution of their components, which may eventually lead to stratified structures such as the wealth distribution worldwide. However, it is still unclear whether the road to hierarchical complexity is determined by the particularities of each phenomena, or if there are universal mechanisms of stratification common to many systems. Human sports and games, with their (varied but simplified) rules of competition and measures of performance, serve as an ideal test bed to look for universal features of hierarchy formation. With this goal in mind, we analyse here the behaviour of players and team rankings over time for several sports and games. Even though, for a given time, the distribution of performance ranks varies across activities, we find statistical regularities in the dynamics of ranks. Specifically the rank diversity, a measure of the number of elements occupying a given rank over a length of time, has the same functional form in sports and games as in languages, another system where competition is determined by the use or disuse of grammatical structures. Our results support the notion that hierarchical phenomena may be driven by the same underlying mechanisms of rank formation, regardless of the nature of their components. Moreover, such regularities can in principle be used to predict lifetimes of rank occupancy, thus increasing our ability to forecast stratification in the presence of competition

Impact of Human Management on the Genetic Variation of Wild Pepper, Capsicum annuum var. glabriusculum

Management of wild peppers in Mexico has occurred for a long time without clear phenotypic signs of domestication. However, pre-domestication management could have implications for the population's genetic richness. To test this hypothesis we analysed 27 wild (W), let standing (LS) and cultivated (C) populations, plus 7 samples from local markets (LM), with nine polymorphic microsatellite markers. Two hundred and fifty two alleles were identified, averaging 28 per locus. Allele number was higher in W, and 15 and 40% less in LS and C populations, respectively. Genetic variation had a significant population structure. In W populations, structure was associated with ecological and geographic areas according to isolation by distance. When LM and C populations where included in the analysis, differentiation was no longer apparent. Most LM were related to distant populations from Sierra Madre Oriental, which represents their probable origin. Historical demography shows a recent decline in all W populations. Thus, pre-domestication human management is associated with a significant reduction of genetic diversity and with a loss of differentiation suggesting movement among regions by man. Measures to conserve wild and managed populations should be implemented to maintain the source and the architecture of genetic variation in this important crop relative

Inequality and the Emergence of Vigilante Organizations: The Case of Mexican Autodefensas

What explains the emergence of vigilante organizations? Throughout the world, vigilantes emerge to illegally punish perceived criminals, often leading to serious consequences. However, the literature presents partial and conflicting explanations for this phenomenon. This article argues that local economic inequality creates a situation ripe for vigilante organizations. Inequality creates demand for vigilantism because poorer citizens feel relatively deprived of security compared with wealthier neighbors who have advantages regarding private and public security. In addition, inequality suggests a patron-and-worker distribution of labor, and this is ideal for organizing a particular type of group, the patron-funded vigilante group. Empirical tests use original data on the 2013 wave of Mexican vigilante organizations, present in 13 of Mexico’s 32 federal entities. Municipal-level income inequality is robustly associated with organized vigilantism. Less support is found for competing explanations

Independent Origins of Cultivated Coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) in the Old World Tropics

As a portable source of food, water, fuel, and construction materials, the coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) played a fundamental role in human migrations and the development of civilization across the humid tropics. Here we investigated the coconut's domestication history and its population genetic structure as it relates to human dispersal patterns. A sample of 1,322 coconut accessions, representing the geographical and phenotypic diversity of the species, was examined using ten microsatellite loci. Bayesian analyses reveal two highly genetically differentiated subpopulations that correspond to the Pacific and Indo-Atlantic oceanic basins. This pattern suggests independent origins of coconut cultivation in these two world regions, with persistent population structure on a global scale despite long-term human cultivation and dispersal. Pacific coconuts show additional genetic substructure corresponding to phenotypic and geographical subgroups; moreover, the traits that are most clearly associated with selection under human cultivation (dwarf habit, self-pollination, and “niu vai” fruit morphology) arose only in the Pacific. Coconuts that show evidence of genetic admixture between the Pacific and Indo-Atlantic groups occur primarily in the southwestern Indian Ocean. This pattern is consistent with human introductions of Pacific coconuts along the ancient Austronesian trade route connecting Madagascar to Southeast Asia. Admixture in coastal east Africa may also reflect later historic Arab trading along the Indian Ocean coastline. We propose two geographical origins of coconut cultivation: island Southeast Asia and southern margins of the Indian subcontinent

Safeguarding pollinators and their values to human well-being

Wild and managed pollinators provide a wide range of benefits to society in terms of contributions to food security, farmer and beekeeper livelihoods, social and cultural values, as well as the maintenance of wider biodiversity and ecosystem stability. Pollinators face numerous threats, including changes in land-use and management intensity, climate change, pesticides and genetically modified crops, pollinator management and pathogens, and invasive alien species. There are well-documented declines in some wild and managed pollinators in several regions of the world. However, many effective policy and management responses can be implemented to safeguard pollinators and sustain pollination services

Microsatellite diversity and genetic structure among common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) landraces in Brazil, a secondary center of diversity

Brazil is the largest producer and consumer of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), which is the most important source of human dietary protein in that country. This study assessed the genetic diversity and the structure of a sample of 279 geo-referenced common bean landraces from Brazil, using molecular markers. Sixty-seven microsatellite markers spread over the 11 linkage groups of the common bean genome, as well as Phaseolin, PvTFL1y, APA and four SCAR markers were used. As expected, the sample showed lower genetic diversity compared to the diversity in the primary center of diversification. Andean and Mesoamerican gene pools were both present but the latter gene pool was four times more frequent than the former. The two gene pools could be clearly distinguished; limited admixture was observed between these groups. The Mesoamerican group consisted of two sub-populations, with a high level of admixture between them leading to a large proportion of stabilized hybrids not observed in the centers of domestication. Thus, Brazil can be considered a secondary center of diversification of common bean. A high degree of genome-wide multilocus associations even among unlinked loci was observed, confirming the high level of structure in the sample and suggesting that association mapping should be conducted in separate Andean and Mesoamerican Brazilian samples

Relative deprivation and inequalities in social and political activism

In this paper we analyse whether relative deprivation has divergent effects on different types of social and political action. We expect that it will depress volunteering with parties as well as different types of conventional political participation more generally while stimulating volunteering with anti-cuts organisations and engagement in various kinds of protest activism. There is little research into how relative deprivation impacts on different types of social and political action from the wide range of activities available to citizens in contemporary democracies as well as into how this relationship might vary based on the wider economic context. While many studies construct scales, we examine participation in specific activities and associations, such as parties or anti-cuts organisations, voting, contacting, demonstrating and striking to show that deprivation has divergent effects that depart from what is traditionally argued. We apply random effects models with cross-level interactions utilizing an original cross-national European dataset collected in 2015 (N = 17,667) within a collaborative funded-project. We show that a negative economic context has a mobilizing effect by both increasing the stimulating effect of relative deprivation on protest activism as well as by closing or reversing the gap between resource-poor and resource-rich groups for volunteering with parties and voting

Poly(<i>N</i>-vinylcaprolactam)–Gold Nanorods–5 Fluorouracil Hydrogels: In the Quest of a Material for Topical Therapies against Melanoma Skin Cancer

Chemically crosslinked hydrogels based on poly(N-vinylcaprolactam) (PNVCL) were synthetized by a photoinitiated chemical method. A galactose-based monomer, 2-lactobionamidoethyl methacrylate (LAMA), and N-vinylpyrrolidone (NVP) were added with the aim to improve the physical and chemical properties of hydrogels. The effects of both comonomers on the swelling ratio (Q), volume phase transition temperature (VPTT), glass transition temperature (Tg), and Young’s moduli by mechanical compression below and above the VPTT were studied. Gold nanorods (GNRDs) and 5-fluorouracil (5FU) were embedded into the hydrogels, to study the drug release profiles with and without the excitation of GNRDs by irradiation in the near-infrared region (NIR). Results showed that the addition of LAMA and NVP increased the hydrogels’ hydrophilicity, elasticity, and VPTT. The loading of GNRDs in the hydrogels changed the release rate of 5FU when irradiated intermittently with an NIR laser. The present study reports on the preparation of a hydrogel-based platform of PNVCL-GNRDs−5FU as a potential hybrid anticancer hydrogel for chemo/photothermal therapy that could be applied against skin cancer for topical 5FU delivery

Nanogels of Poly(<i>N</i>-Vinylcaprolactam) Core and Polyethyleneglycol Shell by Surfactant Free Emulsion Polymerization

<div><p>Polymeric nanogels containing <i>N</i>-vinylcaprolactam (NVCL) and polyethyleneglycol methylether methacrylate (PEGMA) have been prepared by surfactant free emulsion polymerization. The influence of NVCL to PEGMA concentration ratio on the particle size and particle size distribution was studied. PNVCL:PEGMA nanogel particles exhibit thermal responsive properties in water and their transition temperature increases with higher content on PEGMA. It was found that the particle diameter decreased when higher amounts of PEGMA were used in the monomer mixture. The influence of the concentration and type of cross-linker: ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) or 3,9-divinyl-2,4,8,10-tetra-oxaspiro [5.5] undecane (DVA), on polymerization and colloidal characteristics of such temperature sensitive particles was studied. Nanogels, characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), dynamic and static light scattering (DLS and SLS) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H-NMR), showed higher incorporation of PEGMA than in the recipe, higher contraction by heating for bigger nanogels and spherical morphology. </p></div