Peasantry and City: Cultural Persistence and Change in Historical Perspective, a European Case

It is generally believed that peasant culture is incompatible with industrial civilization. Furthermore, peasant-city relationships are often dichotomized, suggesting maximal cultural distance. In view of data gathered in a peasant village of the Lower Rhineland it is argued here that over a period of seventy years at least the villagers were able not only to survive within an industrial civilization without losing their cultural identity but also to we industrial wage-earning as a means of preserving the essentials of their peasant way of life. Their ability to adapt to technological change is related here to a long history of previous adaptations beginning in the Middle Ages and leading to the Second Agricultural Revolution. Historical comparison between the city and the village suggests cultural continuity of urban lower class and peasantry rather than cultural polarity between the two segments. [Europe, culture and society; culture change; peasant culture]     

A Single-Amino-Acid Change in Murine Norovirus NS1/2 Is Sufficient for Colonic Tropism and Persistence

Human norovirus (HuNoV) is the major cause of acute nonbacterial gastroenteritis worldwide but has no clear animal reservoir. HuNoV can persist after the resolution of symptoms, and this persistence may be essential for viral maintenance within the population. Many strains of the related murine norovirus (MNV) also persist, providing a tractable animal model for studying norovirus (NoV) persistence. We have used recombinant cDNA clones of representative persistent (CR6) and nonpersistent (CW3) strains to identify a domain within the nonstructural gene NS1/2 that is necessary and sufficient for persistence. Furthermore, we found that a single change of aspartic acid to glutamic acid in CW3 NS1/2 was sufficient for persistence. This same conservative change also caused increased growth of CW3 in the proximal colon, which we found to be a major tissue reservoir of MNV persistence, suggesting that NS1/2 determines viral tropism that is necessary for persistence. These findings represent the first identified function for NoV NS1/2 during infection and establish a novel model system for the study of enteric viral persistence.     

Across-Time Change and Variation in Cultural Tightness-Looseness

Cultural tightness-looseness, a dimension which describes the strength, multitude, and clarity of social norms in a culture, has proved significant in explaining differences between cultures. Although several studies have compared different cultures on this domain, this study is the first that targets both within-country differences and across-time variation in tightness-looseness. Using data from two nationally representative samples of Estonians, we found that the general tightness level had changed over a period of 10 years but the effect size of the change was small. A significant within country variance in 2002 had disappeared by 2012. Our results suggest that tightness-looseness, similarly to cultural value orientations, is a relatively stable and robust characteristic of culture–that is, change indeed takes place, but slowly. Future studies about across-time change and within-country variance in tightness-looseness should target more culturally diverse and socially divided societies.     

The Western Aleutians: Cultural Isolation and Environmental Change

Recent research in the western Aleutians addresses two primary issues: the nature and extent of cultural exchange along the Aleutian chain, and Holocene environmental change and its effects on the development of Aleut culture. Cultural isolation is a major paradigm of researchers working in the Aleutians. Review of the distribution of several cultural traits suggests the Aleuts adopted many cultural elements originating outside the chain, but the distribution of these to the western islands was uneven.     

From Mukogodo to Maasai: Ethnicity and Cultural Change in Kenya

From Mukogodo to Maasai: Ethnicity and Cultural Change in Kenya . Lee Cronk. Cambridge, MA: Westview Press, 2004. 172 pp.     

Persistence and Change in Community Composition of Reef Corals through Present,Past, and Future Climates

The reduction in coral cover on many contemporary tropical reefs suggests a different set of coral community assemblages will dominate future reefs. To evaluate the capacity of reef corals to persist over various time scales, we examined coral community dynamics in contemporary, fossil, and simulated future coral reef ecosystems. Based on studies between 1987 and 2012 at two locations in the Caribbean, and between 1981 and 2013 at five locations in the Indo-Pacific, we show that many coral genera declined in abundance, some showed no change in abundance, and a few coral genera increased in abundance. Whether the abundance of a genus declined, increased, or was conserved, was independent of coral family. An analysis of fossil-reef communities in the Caribbean revealed changes in numerical dominance and relative abundances of coral genera, and demonstrated that neither dominance nor taxon was associated with persistence. As coral family was a poor predictor of performance on contemporary reefs, a trait-based, dynamic, multi-patch model was developed to explore the phenotypic basis of ecological performance in a warmer future. Sensitivity analyses revealed that upon exposure to thermal stress, thermal tolerance, growth rate, and longevity were the most important predictors of coral persistence. Together, our results underscore the high variation in the rates and direction of change in coral abundances on contemporary and fossil reefs. Given this variation, it remains possible that coral reefs will be populated by a subset of the present coral fauna in a future that is warmer than the recent past.     

Persistence of P1 transducing DNA in recipient cells

Studies have been pursued to determine the fate of Pl transducing DNA after it is injected into the recipient cells. Cesium chloride density gradient analysis reveals that the major part of the transducing DNA persist in the recipient cells as double stranded DNA for at least 40 minutes of incubation without degradation.     

Old Crop,New Society: Persistence and Change of Tartary Buckwheat Farming in Yunnan,China

Traditional agricultural systems are important for crop genetic resources conservation. Many scholars have addressed the problem of traditional cultivar replacement by modern varieties, but few have investigated the entire loss of traditional crops from farming systems. Our prior research suggested that tartary buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum (L.) Gaertn.) agriculture is rapidly decreasing in Yunnan China, the center of the crop’s origin and an important repository of on-farm genetic diversity. Using interdisciplinary methodology to determine whether the crop is indeed in decline and evaluate reasons behind planting trends, we found a combination of interacting agroecological, socio-cultural, and institutional factors influence tartary buckwheat planting in Yunnan. Farmer ethnicity, presence of a commercial market for the crop, and government agricultural policy were particularly important. Low commercial value of the crop compared to other alternatives, reduction of available farmland, and labor shortages were major reasons cited for crop abandonment. Despite an overall reduction in tartary buckwheat planting across a wide spectrum of farms, we also found the crop retains subsistence, rotational and cultural value for many Yunnan farmers. We conclude that although Yunnan farms are increasingly managed commercially rather than for subsistence, tartary buckwheat will continue to occupy a niche in the agricultural landscape.     

Antimicrobial Agents with Improved Clinical Efficacy versus Their Persistence in the Environment: Synthetic 4-Quinolone As an Example

There is increasing concern about the effects of pharmaceutical agents in the environment. The use of synthetic 4-quinolone compounds is rapidly increasing: newer and more complex analogues are being developed by the pharmaceutical industry to meet clinical and veterinary needs. This review aims at stimulating the need to consider the fate of pharmaceuticals in the environment as part of overall drug design and development. Currently, regulatory action is triggered if the predicted environmental concentration exceeds an arbitrarily set value, whereas in some countries, there are no regulations at all. By extension, from a clinical perspective, enviropharmacokinetics and enviropharmacodynamics are proposed to quantify the risk to organisms in the environment in a more realistic fashion that is reflective of concentrations at which hazardous effects are observable on such organisms. Such a new approach integrates our knowledge to address ecosystems and related health problems in a more holistic fashion, thus linking public health, environmental degradation, and ecology. Its success requires more collaboration in research and development of newer antibiotics, with their ultimate fate in the environment being central, to bolster the already existing aspirations of controlling the rapid emergence of resistance.     

Cultural Pattern and Process: A Study of Stylistic Change in Women's Dress

Using time series analysis and systems theory it is possible to translate Kroeber's idea of a cultural configuration and its processual consequences into a less ambiguous model. By employing a mathematical formulation certain features of stylistic change in women's dress become evident: it is stochastic/probabilistic in nature and it is in stable equilibrium. The sequence of women's fashions through time would appear to arise from simultaneous operation of inertia, cultural continuity, a rule system of esthetic proportions, and an inherently unpredictable element.