Statistical Study of Protective and Risk Factors Assessed on Adolescents from South Eastern Europe and Italy, Attending High Schools in Apulia (Italy)*

This research is part of a European project in which particular attention was dedicated to “refugee” adolescents (whose migration occurred after traumatic socio-political and economic events in their country of origin). The purpose of this research was to provide a better understanding of the psychological risks and protective factors linked to the socio-cultural integration of refugee adolescents from countries with serious socio-economic difficulties. Another goal of the research was to contribute to the programmes which favour the psychophysical recovery of these adolescents from South-East Europe, with the target of attaining a normal and, as far as possible, healthy integration. The overall results obtained from the investigation form the basis for attempts to provide new models for the future creation of better policies of integration.*A collaborative project (conducted by University of Bari, Johannes Kepler Univesity in Linz, University of Tuzla, University of Prishtina, University of Tirana, Institute for Anthropological Research in Zagreb), supported by the European Commission 5th Framework specific research and technological development programme “Confirming the International Role of Community Research” – INCO – Copernicus (ICA2-CT-2002-10006).     

A reexamination of Gilligan’s analysis of the female moral system

Gilligan’s (1982) refinement of Kohlberg’s theory on moral development operates on two theses: (1) females, more so than males, reach moral decisions based on the personalities of the relevant individuals; and (2) female behaviors stemming from moral decisions are based upon “care” and “responsibility for others.” This article accepts the first thesis but argues that the second is incorrect. That is, self-interest—i.e., aiding “blood” kin and/or carefully monitoring reciprocity—rather than “altruism” is argued to be the operant dynamic in forging distaff morality and resultant behavior. Six empirical examples are presented as contraindicative of Gilligan’s second thesis. Finally, it is suggested that selection for the psychological traits of independence and the mastery of subtle social chess yielded ancestral females who had more descendants—us—than did females with alternative profiles. Nancy S. Coney is a professor at Western Illinois University and is interested in both clinical and nonclinical aspects of women’s psychology. Wade C. Mackey is interested in biocultural anthropology and has authored two books on fathering:Fathering Behaviors (Plenum, 1995) andThe American Father (Plenum, 1996).     

I/We Narratives Among African American Families Raising Children with Special Needs

This paper examines a statistics debate among African American caregivers raising children with disabilities for insights into the work of “African American mothering.” Using ethnographic, narrative and discourse analyses, we delineate the work that African American mothers do—in and beyond this conversation—to cross ideological and epistemological boundaries around race and disability. Their work entails choosing to be an “I” and, in some cases, actively resisting being seen as a “they” and/or part of a collective “we” in order to chart alternative futures for themselves and their children.     

Depicting the Tree of Life: the Philosophical and Historical Roots of Evolutionary Tree Diagrams

It is a popularly held view that Darwin was the first author to draw a phylogenetic tree diagram. However, as is the case with most popular beliefs, this one also does not hold true. Firstly, Darwin never called his diagram of common descent a tree. Secondly, even before Darwin, tree diagrams were used by a variety of philosophical, religious, and secular scholars to depict phenomena such as “logical relationships,” “affiliations,” “genealogical descent,” “affinity,” and “historical relatedness” between the elements portrayed on the tree. Moreover, historically, tree diagrams themselves can be grouped into a larger class of diagrams that were drawn to depict natural and/or divine order in the world. In this paper, we trace the historical roots and cultural meanings of these tree diagrams. It will be demonstrated that tree diagrams as we know them are the outgrowth of ancient philosophical attempts to find the “true order” of the world, and to map the world “as it is” (ontologically), according to its true essence. This philosophical idea would begin a fascinating journey throughout Western European history. It lies at the foundation of the famous “scala naturae,” as well as religious and secular genealogical thinking, especially in regard to divine, familial (kinship), and linguistic pedigrees that were often depicted by tree images. These scala naturae would fuse with genealogical, pedigree thinking, and the trees that were the result of this blend would, from the nineteenth century onward, also include the element of time. The recognition of time would eventually lead to the recognition of evolution as a fact of nature, and subsequently, tree iconographies would come to represent exclusively the evolutionary descent of species.     

Chimera,spandrel, or adaptation

In every known human society, some kind—usually many kinds—of art is practiced, frequently with much vigor and pleasure, so that one could at least hypothesize that “artifying” or “artification” is a characteristic behavior of our species. Yet human ethologists and sociobiologists have been conspicuously unforthcoming about this observably widespread and valued practice, for a number of stated and unstated reasons. The present essay is a position paper that offers an overview and analysis of conceptual issues and problems inherent in viewing art and/or aesthetics as adaptive, and it presents a speculative account of a human behavior of art. Ellen Dissanayake is an independent scholar who has straddled the abyss between biology and art for more than twenty years. She is currently a Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, University of Edinburgh.     

Linking limitation to species composition: importance of inter- and intra-specific variation in grazing resistance

Short-term responses of producers highlight that key nutrients (e.g., N, P)—or combinations of these nutrients—limit primary production in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. These discoveries continue to provide highly valuable insights, but it remains important to ask whether nutrients always predominantly limit producers despite wide variation in nutrient supply and herbivory among systems. After all, predictions from simple food chain models (derived here) readily predict that limitation by grazers can exceed that by nutrients, given sufficient enrichment. However, shifts in composition of producers and/or increasing dominance of invulnerable stages of a producer can, in theory, reduce grazer limitation and retain primacy of nutrient limitation along nutrient supply gradients. We observed both mechanisms (inter- and intra-species variation in vulnerability to herbivory) working in a two-part mesocosm experiment. We incubated diverse benthic algal assemblages for several months either in the presence or absence of benthic macro-grazers in mesocosms that spread a broad range of nutrient supply. We then conducted short-term assays of nutrient and grazer limitation on these communities. In the “historically grazed” assemblages, we found shifts from more edible, better competitors to more resistant producers over enrichment gradients (as anticipated by the food web model built with a tradeoff in resistance vs. competitive abilities). However, contrary to our expectations, “historically ungrazed” assemblages became dominated by producers with vulnerable juvenile forms but inedible adult forms (long filaments). Consequently, we observed higher resource limitation rather than grazer limitation over this nutrient supply gradient in both “historically grazed” (expected) and “historically ungrazed” (not initially expected). Thus, via multiple, general mechanisms involving resistance to grazing (changes in species composition or variation in stage-structured vulnerability), producer assemblages should remain more strongly or as strongly limited by nutrients than grazers, even over large enrichment gradients. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

“Green water” microalgae: the leading sector in world aquaculture

Freshwater fish culture is generally considered the largest sector in world aquaculture. Several of the leading species consume “green water” plankton. This plankton—mostly microalgae (phytoplankton) and also bacteria, protozoa and zooplankton—grows in man-made fertilized water impoundments. The quantity of “green water” microalgae consumed by fish and shrimp is estimated here at a quarter billion ton fresh weight a year, about three and a half times as much as the entire recognized aquaculture. This estimate is based on the quantities of the microalgae consumed and the efficiencies of their use for growth by the main species in aquaculture. The cost of producing “green water” microalgae by the aquaculturists—mostly in SE Asia—is low. The populations in “green water” are biologically managed by the cultured fish themselves. The fish with their different feeding habits help “manage” the composition of the plankton and the overall water quality as they grow. The aquaculturists further manage “green water” through simple means, including water exchange and fertilization. Cost is remunerated partially by the income from sales of the fish and partially by bio mitigation services that “green water” polyculture ponds provide the aquaculturists in treating farm and household waste. A comprehension of the scale and importance of the microalgae sector to world aquaculture should lead to more research to improve understanding of algal population dynamics, growth factors, and efficiency of food chains. The consequent improved control of the plankton’s interaction with fish and shrimp production in “green water” will undoubtedly contribute much to the expansion in production of seafood.     

Art in global context: An evolutionary/functionalist perspective for the 21<Superscript>st</Superscript> century

Regarding the arts as something peopledo — as behaviors, rather than the residue or artifacts of behavior — makes possible a theoretical grounding about their nature and importance, an endeavor that current anthropology of art has largely abandoned. A reconsideration of the suspect and largely discarded terms “functionalism” and “evolutionism” is presented in light of current evolutionary thinking. It is suggested that a contemporary reformulation of these concepts, illustrated by the author's Darwinian or “adaptationist” perspective on art, supports aims and claims of current anthropology of art, and contributes new focus and direction to its endeavors.     

Comprehensive evaluation of multiple cropping systems on upland red soil

According to the principles and methods of ecology and system engineering, we set up an evaluation indicator system for multi-component and multiple cropping systems, evaluated the comprehensive benefits of multi-component and multiple cropping systems using grey relation clustering analysis and screened out the optimized model based on research done in the upland red soil in Jiangxi Agricultural University from 1984 to 2004. The results show that the grey relation degree of “cabbage/potato/maize — sesame” was the highest among 23 multi-component and multiple cropping systems and was clustered into the optimized system. This indicates that “cabbage/potato/maize — sesame” can bring the best social, economic and ecological benefits, increase product yield and farmers’ income and promote sustainable development of agricultural production. Therefore, it is suitable for promotion on upland red soil. The grey relation degree of “canola/Chinese milk vetch/maize/mung bean/maize” was second, which is suitable for implementation at the city outskirts. In conclusion, these two planting patterns are expected to play important roles in the reconstruction of the planting structure and optimization of the planting patterns on upland red soil. __________ Translated from Acta Ecologica Sinica, 2006, 26(8): 2532–2539 [译自: 生态学报]     

Subtropical coral-reef associated sedimentary facies characterized by molluscs (Northern Bay of Safaga, Red Sea, Egypt)

Summary The shallow marine subtropical Northern Bay of Safaga is composed of a complex pattern of sedimentary facies that are generally rich in molluscs. Thirteen divertaken bulk-samples from various sites (reef slopes, sand between coral patches, muddy sand, mud, sandy seagrass, muddy seagrass, mangrove channel) at water depths ranging from shallow subtidal to 40m were investigated with regard to their mollusc fauna >1mm, which was separated into fragments and whole individuals. Fragments make up more than 88% of the total mollusc remains of the samples, and their proportions correspond to characteristics of the sedimentary facies. The whole individuals were differentiated into 622 taxa. The most common taxon,Rissoina cerithiiformis, represented more than 5% of the total mollusc content in the samples. The main part of the fauna consists of micromolluscs, including both small adults and juveniles. Based on the results of cluster-, correspondence-, and factor analyses the fauna was grouped into several associations, each characterizing a sedimentary facies: (1) “Rhinoclavis sordidula—Corbula erythraeensis-Pseudominolia nedyma association” characterizes mud. (2) “Microcirce sp.—Leptomyaria sp. association” characterizes muddy sand. (3)”Smaragdia spp.-Perrinia stellata—Anachis exilis—assemblage” characterizes sandy seagrass. (4) “Crenella striatissima—Rastafaria calypso—Cardiates-assemblage” characterizes muddy seagrass. (5) “Glycymeris spp.-Parvicardium sueziensis-Diala spp.-assemblage” characterizes sand between coral patches. (6) “Rissoina spp.-Triphoridae —Ostreoidea-assemblage” characterizes reef slopes. (7) “Potamides conicus—Siphonaria sp. 2—assemblage” characterizes the mangrove. The seagrass fauna is related to those of sand between coral patches and reef slopes with respect to gastropod assemblages, numbers of taxa and diversity indices, and to the muddy sand fauna on the basis of bivalve assemblages and feeding strategies of bivalves. The mangrove assemblage is related to those of sand between coral patches and the reef slope with respect to taxonomic composition and feeding strategies of bivalves, but has a strong relationship to those of the fine-grained sediments when considering diversity indices. Reef slope assemblages are closely related to that of sand between coral patches in all respects, except life habits of bivalves, which distincly separates the reef slope facies from all others.     

Diversity drop and identity maintenance in the male gene-pool of corsican immigrants with Maghreb origin

The dynamics of human trans-continental migrations have major consequences on the gene-pools of immigrant communities. Within European groups with Northern-African ancestry, the family-based structure, and poliginy could quickly accelerate the process of genetic “erosion”, with unpleasant epidemiological (higher disease risks), forensic (higher matching probabilities) and bio-cultural (lost of the ethnic-specific genetic heritage) effects. The erosion is particularly high in the non-recombining portion of the Y chromosome (NRY) because of its reduced effective size. The Western Mediterranean island of Corsica (France) hosts first-to-third generation immigrants with Maghreb origin established in scattered and almost reproductively isolated communities. They are the 6.3% of the residing population and the 64.2% of the foreigners (INSEE, 1999). We reported here on the typing of 9 NRY microsatellites in 46 donors of Maghreb (mostly Moroccan) origin residing in Corsica. The observed haplotypic diversity was 19–24% lower than in the source ethnic group (Moroccan Arabs) with concentration or loss of some population diagnostic lineages. However, the overall genetic identity has been preserved as our sample plotted tightly close to Moroccan populations on multidimensional genetic spaces.     

Energy efficiency of electron plasma emitters

Electron emission influence from gas-discharge plasma on plasma emitter energy parameters is considered. It is shown, that electron emission from plasma is accompanied by energy contribution redistribution in the gas-discharge from plasma emitter supplies sources—the gas-discharge power supply and the accelerating voltage power supply. Some modes of electron emission as a result can be realized: “a probe measurements mode,” “a transitive mode,” and “a full switching mode.”     

Interpreting co-variation in species richness and productivity in terrestrial vegetation: Making sense of causations and correlations at multiple scales

This commentary examines conventional and recent ideas regarding the interpretation of species richness-productivity relationships (SRPR) in terrestrial vegetation. A new conceptual modelling approach — cascading graph diagrams — is used to search for maximum parsimony by distilling and clarifying synthetic linkages between several potential causes of variation and co-variation in these two vegetation attributes at three distinctly different spatial scales: global/continental scale (variation between climatic/geographic regions within a continent, or across latitudes); regional scale (variation between local communities representing different habitat (soil) fertility types or different habitat disturbance levels within a climatic/geographic region); and local community scale (variation between neighbourhood plots within a particular plant community/habitat). In contrast with a number of interpretations in recent literature, the approach developed here emphases that SRPR at each scale in terrestrial vegetation involve a “cascade” of several intermediary causational variables that have not been generally accounted for in previous studies of SRPR. Accordingly, SRPR are expected usually to be correlational, sometimes indirectly causational, but never directly causational, at any scale. Rather than suggesting that causational mechanisms “scale up”, the analysis here illustrates that several mechanistic features may be shared across scales and that in some cases, mechanisms may “scale down”. This has crucial implications for identifying testable and un-confounded hypotheses for future research and for selecting effective experimental designs and appropriate methods of data analyses for the interpretation of SRPR in natural vegetation.     

The species-pool hypothesis from a bryological perspective

Bryophytes form one-layered communities, which provide good opportunities to test predictions of the species pool hypothesis. The prediction that competitive exclusion occurs rarely, if at all, in established communities seems to hold for many types of bryophyte vegetation, but the drastic effects on local diversity of some invading exotic species suggests, that this may be partly due to the “ghost of competition past”. In a survey of bryophyte communities on earth banks, variation in species number per stand was rather larger than predicted by the species-pool hypothesis. Large differences in accessibility of the stands may have played an important role in this respect. Small-scale repeated chartings and permanent grid studies suggest, that competitive exclusion hardly ever occurs in a range of terrestrial bryophyte communities. Evidence for interspecific competition (as derived from small-scale association between behaviour — increase or decrease in grid cells — of species pairs) was equally rare, but this may have been due to interaction with positively density-dependent facilitation effects. However, a rigorous proof of the hypothesis that facilitation may prevent competitive exclusion is still lacking.     

Birds from the Far East in Central Europe: some side-notes to Pfeifer et al. (2007)

The “reverse migration hypothesis” as the explanation for the vagrancy of Far Eastern birds in Europe is commented on. It is concluded that, as the postulated switch of 180° along a great circle line would lead the eastern or even central Siberian birds to North America rather than to Europe, the application of the “reverse migration hypothesis” to them seems untenable (which, however, does not preclude its plausibility in case of transatlantic, southern European, or even southwestern Siberian vagrants). On the other hand, patterns of appearance of the Turdus [naumanni] superspecies (Machalska et al. 1967) suggest the relationship of the phenomenon of vagrancy to post-breeding nomadic movements and/or periodical invasions of non-migrating species.     

Don’t Call it “Darwinism”

Evolutionary biology owes much to Charles Darwin, whose discussions of common descent and natural selection provide the foundations of the discipline. But evolutionary biology has expanded well beyond its foundations to encompass many theories and concepts unknown in the 19th century. The term “Darwinism” is, therefore, ambiguous and misleading. Compounding the problem of “Darwinism” is the hijacking of the term by creationists to portray evolution as a dangerous ideology—an “ism”—that has no place in the science classroom. When scientists and teachers use “Darwinism” as synonymous with evolutionary biology, it reinforces such a misleading portrayal and hinders efforts to present the scientific standing of evolution accurately. Accordingly, the term “Darwinism” should be abandoned as a synonym for evolutionary biology.     

J D Bernal (1901–1971) in perspective

Conclusion We must conclude that the sub-title of Bernal’s “The Social Function of Science” — “What science does: what science could do” is still the relevant challenge and indicates Bernal’s chief contribution, besides the foundation of molecular biology to our civilization. It is manifest that resources spent on armaments are a monstrous pathological symptom of our social structure. The ancient problem of “what is property” and what may be “owned” and by whom or by what organs of society is awakening.     

Carry-over effects of day length during spring migration

The day lengths to which migratory birds are exposed depend on the timing and course of their journey. While winter day length is known to influence vernal events, it is not clear if birds also use day length during the spring migration as a temporal cue. We addressed this question by exposing captive stonechats (Saxicola torquata) to two different photoperiodic simulations of spring migration routes, following common winter conditions. One group experienced day lengths of the regular (“fast”) migration, and the other group, a “slow”, or more southerly originating, route. The resulting small, temporary differences in day length had lasting effects on the birds. The groups differed in migratory restlessness during and following exposure to different day lengths. “Slow” migrants continued nocturnal activity longer than “fast” migrants. Furthermore, all activities of the ensuing breeding season were delayed in the “slow” migrants, indicating a phase shift in their underlying annual rhythm. “Slow” migrants delayed terminating their reproductive stage by regressing testes and the cloacal protuberance later than the “fast” migrants. Molt started and ended later in “slow” migrants, but the duration of the molt was unaffected by spring day length. Finally, “fast” migrants resumed nightly restlessness earlier than “slow” migrants in late summer. These results demonstrate that Zugunruhe (migratory restlessness) and reproductive windows are not set exclusively during winter but can be modified by day length cues during the spring migration. Because migration modifies the day length exposure of birds, migration routes can have carry-over effects on the timing of breeding season events, including the completion of molt and initiation of autumnal nocturnal activity.

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Einfluss der Tagesl?nge w?hrend des Frühjahrszugs auf Brutzeitraum, Mauser, und Beginn der Herbstzugunruhe

Zusammenfassung Zugv?gel beeinflussen durch ihre Zugroute und Zugzeit die Tagesl?nge, in der sie sich befinden. W?hrend experimentell belegt ist, dass die Wintertagesl?nge das saisonale Verhalten im Frühling beeinflusst, ist bisher unbekannt, ob V?gel auch w?hrend der Frühjahrszugzeit photoperiodische Zeitinformationen nutzen. Um diese Frage zu beantworten, haben wir Schwarzkehlchen (Saxicola torquata) unter den Lichtbedingungen von zwei verschiedenen Zugrouten untersucht. Die V?gel hatten unter einheitlichen Bedingungen überwintert. Anschlie?end erlebte eine Gruppe die Lichtbedingungen ihres regul?ren (“schnellen“) Zugweges, die andere die eines “langsameren“, oder weiter südlich beginnenden Zugweges. Die damit verbundenen geringen Unterschiede in der Tagesl?nge zeigten nachhaltige Wirkung. V?gel der beiden Gruppen unterschieden sich in Zugunruhe w?hrend und nachdem sie unterschiedliche Tagesl?ngen erlebten. “Langsame” Zieher setzten ihre n?chtliche Aktivit?t l?nger fort als “schnelle" Zieher. Darüber hinaus verz?gerten sich bei den “langsamen" Ziehern alle Aktivit?ten der anschlie?enden Brutsaison. Dies deutet auf eine Phasenverschiebung der zugrunde liegenden Jahresrhythmen hin. “Langsame" Zieher verz?gerten den Abschluss ihrer Brutphase, indem sie Hoden und Kloakenprotuberanz sp?ter zurückentwickelten als “schnelle" Zieher. Die Mauser begann und endete sp?ter als bei “schnellen" Ziehern, dauerte aber gleich lang an. Schlie?lich nahmen “schnelle" Zieher die n?chtliche Unruhe früher wieder auf als “langsame" Zieher. Diese Ergebnisse zeigen, dass der Brutzeitraum von Zugv?geln nicht allein im Winter, sondern auch w?hrend des Frühjahrszugs von der Tagesl?nge beeinflusst wird. Somit k?nnen sich Zugzeit und Zugroute auf das anschlie?ende zeitliche Verhalten bis zu Mauserende und Beginn der Herbstzugunruhe auswirken.

     

The Suicide Tourist Trap: Compromise Across Boundaries

Amongst the latest, and ever-changing, pathways of death and dying, “suicide tourism” presents distinctive ethical, legal and practical challenges. The international media report that citizens from across the world are travelling or seeking to travel to Switzerland, where they hope to be helped to die. In this paper I aim to explore three issues associated with this phenomenon: how to define “suicide tourism” and “assisted suicide tourism”, in which the suicidal individual is helped to travel to take up the option of assisted dying; the (il)legality of assisted suicide tourism, particularly in the English legal system where there has been considerable recent activity; and the ethical dimensions of the practice. I will suggest that the suicide tourist—and specifically any accomplice thereof—risks springing a legal trap, but that there is good reason to prefer a more tolerant policy, premised on compromise and ethical pluralism.