War, Factionalism, and the State in Afghanistan

Since September 11, 2001, the explanations offered to account for the rise of a foreign-led terrorist network on Afghan soil have variously focused on the political vacuum opened up by the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in February 1989, interference by foreign powers in Afghanistan's internal affairs, the failure of Afghanistan to produce a "strong state" because of ethnic factionalism, and an internal moral incoherence inherent to Afghan culture. I argue that none of these explanations is entirely satisfactory in itself. To understand the situation in Afghanistan, we must recognize that its political and military chaos is not an isolated or unique phenomenon, and at the same time acknowledge the particular social and political dynamics of Afghanistan's history that have set the parameters for current events. I show that communal conflicts in Afghanistan are part of a much wider affliction common to many postcolonial states and multinational societies, and that Afghanistan's current situation can only be understood by focusing on its failed attempts at nation-state building within the broader geopolitical circumstance of foreign manipulation and proxy wars that have given rise to particular forms of ethnic division. [Keywords: Afghanistan, nation-building, ethnic factionalism, warfare, the State]     

Money and Modernity: State and Local Currencies in Melanesia

Money and Modernity: State and Local Currencies in Melanesia. David Akin and Joel Robbins. eds. ASAO Monograph Series, 17. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1999. 284 pp.     

Relationship between Coping with Interpersonal Stressors and Depressive Symptoms in the United States,Australia, and China: A Focus on Reassessing Coping

Objective

Reassessing coping involves efforts to wait patiently for an appropriate opportunity to act or for a change or improvement in the situation, and can be observed in individuals encountering a stressful relationship event. It was hypothesized that reassessing coping would be negatively associated with depressive symptoms.

Methods

A cross-sectional Web-based survey was conducted in order to test this hypothesis by examining relationships between coping strategies including reassessing coping, distancing coping and constructive coping for stressful relationship events and depressive symptoms. Participants were 1,500 individuals recruited from the general populations of the United States, Australia, and China.

Results

Structural equation modeling analysis revealed that scores on coping strategies predicted depressive symptom scores in the samples from all three countries with medium or large effect sizes. Further, the beta values for reassessing coping scores were negative and significant in all samples, indicating that the hypothesis was supported for each of the population samples surveyed. In addition, distancing coping, which reflects strategies that attempt to actively damage, disrupt, and dissolve a stressful relationship, was associated with high levels of depressive symptoms.

Conclusions

Reassessing coping for interpersonal stressors was be negatively associated with depressive symptoms in sample from general populations of the United States, Australia, and China.     

Money,power, and mitochondria

Can we devise ways for the ultra‐rich to put their wealth to good use?

The world’s richest individuals and their wealth have recently come under the spotlight, with all those luxury yachts apparently owned by Russian oligarchs and their political friends veering to safe havens beyond the reach of sanctions; most of them vastly surpassing in value the cost of an advanced warship or the on‐off‐on saga of Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter for a sum that exceeds the annual GDP of a mid‐sized country.Even if their riches have been acquired through legal means and provide joy and sustenance to many, how can it be justified that a small number of individuals own such vast assets, when a substantial fraction of the world’s population still lives in abject misery without even the benefit of adequate food and clean water?At this time, molecular biologists have yet to join the ranks of the ultra‐rich. But there is no reason to suppose that being a molecular biologist somehow insulates us from the greed and megalomania that seems to infect those who become billionaires on the back of their inventions and investments. The most likely playgrounds in which a hypothetical molecular biologist might acquire such riches are in biotech and via the pharmaceutical industry. Big Pharma already enjoys low public esteem—in my view somewhat unfairly because its critics rarely take into account the real cost of R&D required to develop new drugs. But it is an easy target nonetheless, not least because of its scale, which inflates the bottom line of balance sheets in ways not easily justified in the eyes of “Joe Public”. Not to mention the many drugs that allegedly do not really work. In the public mind, we are already allied with corporate greed. It is not hard to see how this could become a reality.Those who have accumulated extreme wealth in other sectors, and accrued power and influence to go with it, are viewed unfavorably by most people, even if some super‐rich individuals are admired for their creativity (Walker et al, 2021). Obscene wealth is still considered obscene, even if some of it is invested in scientific research, in the alleviation of human suffering, or in sponsorship of the arts. The fact that the ultra‐rich are able to do so seems to many like a usurpation of what is rightfully the responsibility of government, especially in democratic countries, and what do the wealthiest actually spend their money on anyway? Even if some of it is given away to charity, it is at the arbitrary whim of one or a few individuals, and not a transparent process with public accountability. Surely, it would be far better if they were all subject to a global wealth tax, the proceeds of which might support the UN, whose current annual budget (about US$ 3 billion) is mere pocket money for the world’s wealthiest persons.But how could such a scheme actually work? Although the widespread sanctioning of those who supposedly bankroll the Kremlin seems to have had some effect, the ultra‐rich invariably devise ways of circumventing legal obstacles thrown in their path. There is a widespread suspicion that economic sanctions ultimately punish ordinary people rather than wayward decision‐makers or their wealthy friends. High taxes promote tax avoidance and tax havens. Strict regulations to prevent money laundering just fuel the rise of cryptocurrencies. Laws beget loopholes.Global legislation with global implementation may look like an attractive tool, but its track record is not impressive. Consider the Kyoto/Paris process on climate change, for example, or the proposal for a 15% minimum corporate tax rate worldwide. Its effects are likely to be blunted by the floor effectively becoming the ceiling, so that most or all corporations could end up paying less and not more in taxes.What about self‐regulation? Suppose EMBO made a rule that required any individual member to donate wealth accrued from molecular biology inventions above some threshold to charitable causes or be kicked out of the organization? Would such a person care? And if EMBO had any real power to frustrate their activities, would they not just be tempted to set up a rival organization where they would be free to continue their work without such restrictions?To limit the wealth and power of individuals made rich by the capitalist market economy in which we all live, I think there is only one viable tool at our disposal, namely, the capitalist market economy itself. If we collectively boycott the products and services of companies owned by the very rich, unless they donate the bulk of their wealth to good causes of which we approve, we could eventually shift the balance in favour of better practices.It may seem a pathetically inadequate tool and would certainly require a lot of time and effort. But in the long run, it could work. There is, for example, a growing movement to use market mechanisms to support ethical and environmentally sustainable businesses. Successful companies have adopted such advocacy in their own marketing, even if it sometimes seems a cynical ploy. They would not do so unless there is public demand. All we need is to add the accumulation of obscene wealth by company owners or majority shareholders as another abuse of the system that can potentially be reined in by consumer pressure. All it would take is for concerned individuals to devise a code of practice that could be used to judge compliance.Oh well, maybe in the end, I should just take comfort in the fact that all the power of the ultra‐rich stems ultimately from mitochondria.     

Aztec State Making: Ecology, Structure, and the Origin of the State

It has become increasingly difficult to account for state formation solely in terms of ecological variables. It is suggested that consideration of prestate political structure and the interplay of ecological variables and political dynamics (political ecology) would enhance our understanding of why and how states emerge. The Aztecs provide a case for examination. [Aztecs, ecology, political competition, state origins]     

Drugs,Money, and Power: The Canadian Drug Shortage

This article describes the shortage of generic injectable medications in Canada that affected hospitals in 2012. It traces the events leading up to the drug shortage, the causes of the shortage, and the responses by health administrators, pharmacists, and ethicists. The article argues that generic drug shortages are an ethical problem because health care organizations and governments have an obligation to avoid exposing patients to resource scarcity. The article also discusses some options governments could pursue in order to secure the drug supply and thereby fulfill their ethical obligations.     

Coping with flow: behavior, neurophysiology and modeling of the fish lateral line system

With the mechanosensory lateral line fish perceive water motions relative to their body surface and local pressure gradients. The lateral line plays an important role in many fish behaviors including the detection and localization of dipole sources and the tracking of prey fish. The sensory units of the lateral line are the neuromasts which are distributed across the surface of the animal. Water motions are received and transduced into neuronal signals by the neuromasts. These signals are conveyed by afferent nerve fibers to the fish brain and processed by lateral line neurons in parts of the brainstem, cerebellum, midbrain, and forebrain. In the cerebellum, midbrain, and forebrain, lateral line information is integrated with sensory information from other modalities. The present review introduces the peripheral morphology of the lateral line, and describes our understanding of lateral line physiology and behavior. It focuses on recent studies that have investigated: how fish behave in unsteady flow; what kind of sensory information is provided by flow; and how fish use and process this information. Finally, it reports new theoretical and biomimetic approaches to understand lateral line function.     

Coping with ethnicity in South Asia: Bangladesh,Punjab and Kashmir compared

In the anthropological and sociological studies of India the terms ‘tribe’ and ‘caste’, have been in use for almost two hundred years. The related notions of ‘tribalism’ and ‘casteism’ were brought in to replace a static (structural) by a dynamic (organizational, processual) approach. Since the 1970s, ‘ethnic group’ and ‘ethnicity’ have gained currency. After defining the terms, three cases of ethnicity are examined, namely East Bengali Muslim, Punjabi Sikh and Kashmiri Muslim. It is argued that, while the first is a success story, the second seems more like a retreat at present, and the third is at best nascent. The reasons for this difference are explored. Ethnicity, it is argued, is not only characterization of identity, but also a set of strategies to establish a new state. This objective is opposed by competing ethnic groups and the existing state. Ethnic movements therefore involve violence and their outcome is dependent upon a variety of factors and therefore contingent.     

溃疡性结肠炎患者生存质量与应对方式、心理状态的关系及其影响因素分析

摘要 目的：探讨溃疡性结肠炎（UC）患者生存质量与应对方式、心理状态的关系,并分析生存质量的影响因素。方法：选取2018年4月~2020年8月期间我院收治的183例UC患者。采用中文版医学应对问卷（MCMQ）评估患者对疾病的应对方式。采用炎症性肠病生存质量问卷（IBDQ）对患者生存质量进行评价。采用焦虑自评症状表（SAS）、抑郁自评症状表（SDS）评估患者心理状态。Pearson相关性分析UC患者生存质量与应对方式、心理状态的关系,应用单因素及多因素Logistic回归分析生存质量的影响因素。结果：UC患者全身症状、肠道症状、社会能力、情感能力、IBDQ总分均低于国内常模（P<0.05）。UC患者SAS、SDS评分均高于国内常模（P<0.05）。UC患者回避、屈服评分均高于国内常模,面对评分低于国内常模（P<0.05）。Pearson相关性分析结果显示：IBDQ总分与SAS、SDS以及回避、屈服评分均呈负相关,与面对评分呈正相关（P<0.05）。单因素分析结果显示：UC患者的生存质量与病情严重程度、婚姻状况、饮酒史、文化程度、性别、家族史、吸烟史、饮食习惯、家庭月均收入、肠道手术史有关（P<0.05）。多因素Logistic 回归分析结果显示：病情严重程度为重度、性别女、有家族史、有吸烟史、不良饮食习惯、家庭月均收入≤5000元均是影响UC患者生存质量的危险因素（P＜0.05）。结论：UC患者生存质量下降,其生存质量与应对方式、心理状态有关,且受到性别、家族史、病情严重程度等多种因素影响,临床可考虑针对上述影响因素进行相关防治,以改善UC患者生存质量。     

Coping with complexity: lessons from the mathematical sciences

I suggest five research paradigms fundamental in the mathematical sciences that seem relevant to the hunt for explanations of genetic susceptibility to complex diseases. I discuss a few ways in which these paradigms are, or are not, currently being followed in complex disease genetics. This essay is intended to provoke discussion and not to resolve any problems. It represents a written version of remarks that I made as “Discussant’’ at a session at the 1997 National Institutes of Health Research Festival.     

Coping with divided attention: the advantage of familiarity

The ability of an animal to perform a task successfully is limited by the amount of attention being simultaneously focused on other activities. One way in which individuals might reduce the cost of divided attention is by preferentially focusing on the most beneficial tasks. In territorial animals where aggression is lower among familiar individuals, the decision to associate preferentially with familiar conspecifics may therefore confer advantages by allowing attention to be switched from aggression to predator vigilance and feeding. Wild juvenile brown trout were used to test the prediction that familiar fishes respond more quickly than unfamiliar fishes to a simulated predator attack. Our results confirm this prediction by demonstrating that familiar trout respond 14% faster than unfamiliar individuals to a predator attack. The results also show that familiar fishes consume a greater number of food items, foraging at more than twice the rate of unfamiliar conspecifics. To the best of our knowledge, these results provide the first evidence that familiarity-biased association confers advantages through the immediate fitness benefits afforded by faster predator-evasion responses and the long-term benefits provided by increased feeding opportunities.     

Exit,Punishment and Rewards in Commons Dilemmas: An Experimental Study

Commons dilemmas are interaction situations where a common good is provided or exploited by a group of individuals so that optimal collective outcomes clash with private interests. Although in these situations, social norms and institutions exist that might help individuals to cooperate, little is known about the interaction effects between positive and negative incentives and exit options by individuals. We performed a modified public good game experiment to examine the effect of exit, rewards and punishment, as well as the interplay between exit and rewards and punishment. We found that punishment had a stronger effect than rewards on cooperation if considered by itself, whereas rewards had a stronger effect when combined with voluntary participation. This can be explained in terms of the ‘framing effect’, i.e., as the combination of exit and rewards might induce people to attach higher expected payoffs to cooperative strategies and expect better behaviour from others.     

Food,Money, and Morals: Compliance Among Natural Resource Harvesters

A comparative qualitative study of Norwegian and Newfoundland inshore fisheries revealed that compliance with the states fisheries regulations was governed by a set of moral distinctions which were strikingly similar in the two cases. Violations of government regulations were followed by informal sanctions only in commercial fisheries. Illegal food fishery was generally accepted. A fisherman could also break the law in commercial fisheries without being met with significant sanctions provided that it was generally perceived to be the only way to ensure a necessary outcome. The empirical findings are connected to the moral meanings of money and food, and it is suggested that the economies of natural resource harvesters include two different moral spheres. One of these spheres is linked to subsistence, small-scale operations and local exchange, and is perceived as morally safe. The other sphere is connected with money, large-scale operations, and exchange with strangers, and is seen as morally perilous.