9,928 research outputs found
Kin Hubbard Cartoon
No full textIn those early years the Hoosier Salon was open to artists who had lived in Indiana for at least one year, and it quickly became a showplace for Indiana artists. On display were paintings in watercolor and oil, etchings, drawings, pastels, and cartoons. Throngs of people jammed the galleries to see the work of some of the best Hoosier cartoonists such as Harold Gray, Kin Hubbard, John T. McCutcheon, Gaar Williams and Fontaine Fox. Cartoon art was even used in magazines to publicize the event.Use of this image is restricted to projects related to Destination Indiana. IHS may not reproduce.Destination Indiana - Hoosier Salon Journe
Does the kin orientation of a British woman’s social network influence her entry into motherhood?
No full textBACKGROUND The influence of family and friends on an individual's fertility has long been an important topic within demography. Researchers who focus on social network effects and evolutionary demography have shown a renewed interest in this issue in recent years. However, only a few studies have been conducted in contemporary low-fertility, resource-rich settings. OBJECTIVE This study investigates whether a British woman's entry into motherhood (i.e., her first birth) is influenced by the kin orientation of her close social network. Specifically, we test the prediction derived from evolutionary theory that individuals with a kin-oriented network will have higher fertility than those with fewer relatives in their close social networks. We consider two potential proximate mechanisms by which kin may influence fertility. First, relatives could provide practical resources, such as childcare, which reduce the costs of reproduction, thereby increasing fertility. Second, family members might communicate relatively pro-natal messages that could help to "persuade" childless women to become mothers. METHODS We use data from the British Household Panel Study (1992 to 2003), and base the degree of kin orientation on the number of relatives a woman includes when identifying her three closest non-household associates. We conduct a discrete-time event history analysis to measure the risk of firstbirth, controlling for household composition and socio-economic background.RESULTS We find that when a woman has more kin in her close social network, her risk of havinga first birth increases at all ages. This suggests that relatives may influence fertility behaviour in this contemporary resource-rich population. Both of our proposed proximate mechanismsmay be important in driving this effect. © 2013 Paul Mathews & Rebecca Sear
KIN-29 acts in sensory nuclei to regulate sleep.
No full text(A and B) KIN-29 expression in the nucleus of odr-4-expressed sensory neurons leads to anachronistic movement (A) and feeding (B) quiescence in adult animals. (A) Minutes of body movement quiescence of Podr-4::kin-29(NLS) transgenic adult animals and WT control animals during a 4-hr period. Data are represented as the mean ± SEM with n = 15 animals for each. ***p t test. (B) Feeding rate of Podr-4::kin-29(NLS) transgenic animals and WT control during a quiescent bout. Feeding rate was measured as pumps per 10 s. Data are represented as the mean ± SEM with n = 18 animals for each. ***p t test (S1 Data, Sheet 9A and 9B). (C) Nuclear KIN-29 expression under the control of an inducible heat-activated promoter hsp-16.2 leads to an increased movement quiescence after hsh compared with WT and Phsp-16.2::kin-29 controls. Minutes of body movement quiescence Phsp-16.2::kin-29(NLS) transgenic adult animals and WT during the first hour post hsh as determined from time-course data in S14D Fig. Adult animals were heat-shocked at 35°C for 20 min. Data are represented as the mean ± SEM with n = 10–22 animals for each genotype. ** and * indicate values that are different from WT and Phsp-16.2::kin-29 transgenic animals at p p S1 Data, Sheet 9C). (D) Mutations in aptf-1 suppress the increased quiescence of Phsp-16.2::kin-29(NLS) transgenic animals after hsh. Minutes of body movement quiescence in aptf-1 mutant adults expressing the Phsp-16.2::kin-29(NLS) transgene and WT during the first hour post hsh as determined from time-course data in S14E Fig. Adult animals were heat-shocked at 35°C for 20 min. Data are represented as the mean ± SEM with n = 16 animals for each genotype. ***p t test (S1 Data, Sheet 9D). (E and F) Proposed mechanism of metabolic sleep regulation. (E) KIN-29 SIK acts in response to a drop in the cellular energy charge by signaling to nonneural cells to liberate fat, which in turn promote sleep behavior. (F) Nuclear localization of KIN-29/SIK promotes sleep. Left image: When energy levels drop, KIN-29 is phosphorylated at the conserved serine position 517 and moves to the nuclei of sensory neurons that respond to cellular energy charge and phosphorylates the class II histone deacetylase HDA-4 on residue S198, thereby alleviating HDA-4-mediated repression of genes that promote sleep via RIS and ALA neurons. Right image: When KIN-29 is no longer phosphorylated at S517, it remains in the cytosol, and HDA-4 is no longer under negative regulation by KIN-29 and thus represses gene expression, thereby leading to reduced sleep. PKA may directly phosphorylate KIN-29 at the S517 residue. HDA-4, histone deacetylase 4; hsh, heat shock; NLS, nuclear localization signal; ns, not significant; PKA, Protein Kinase A; SIK, salt-inducible kinase; WT, wild type.</p
Sex-biased dispersal, kin selection and the evolution of sexual conflict.
No full textThis work was supported by Portuguese funds from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia through cE3c Unit FCT funding UID/BIA/00329/2013 and through SAMV Post-Doctoral Research Grant (SFRH/BPD/66042/2009), and by a Natural Environment Research Council Independent Research Fellowship (AG, Grant Number NE/K009524/1).There is growing interest in resolving the curious disconnect between the fields of kin selection and sexual selection. Rankin’s (2011, J Evol Biol 24, 71-81) theoretical study of the impact of kin selection on the evolution of sexual conflict in viscous populations has been particularly valuable in stimulating empirical research in this area. An important goal of that study was to understand the impact of sex-specific rates of dispersal upon the coevolution of male-harm and female-resistance behaviours. But the fitness functions derived in Rankin’s study do not flow from his model’s assumptions and, in particular, are not consistent with sex-biased dispersal. Here, we develop new fitness functions that do logically flow from the model’s assumptions, to determine the impact of sex-specific patterns of dispersal on the evolution of sexual conflict. Whilst Rankin’s study suggested that increasing male dispersal always promotes the evolution of male harm and that increasing female dispersal always inhibits the evolution of male harm, we find that the opposite can also be true, depending upon parameter values.Peer reviewe
Joint evolution of multiple social traits: a kin selection analysis
No full textGeneral models of the evolution of cooperation, altruism and other social behaviours have focused almost entirely on single traits, whereas it is clear that social traits commonly interact. We develop a general kin-selection framework for the evolution of social behaviours in multiple dimensions. We show that whenever there are interactions among social traits new behaviours can emerge that are not predicted by one-dimensional analyses. For example, a prohibitively costly cooperative trait can ultimately be favoured owing to initial evolution in other (cheaper) social traits that in turn change the cost-benefit ratio of the original trait. To understand these behaviours, we use a two-dimensional stability criterion that can be viewed as an extension of Hamilton's rule. Our principal example is the social dilemma posed by, first, the construction and, second, the exploitation of a shared public good. We find that, contrary to the separate one-dimensional analyses, evolutionary feedback between the two traits can cause an increase in the equilibrium level of selfish exploitation with increasing relatedness, while both social (production plus exploitation) and asocial (neither) strategies can be locally stable. Our results demonstrate the importance of emergent stability properties of multidimensional social dilemmas, as one-dimensional stability in all component dimensions can conceal multidimensional instability.</p
Kin influences on fertility in Thailand: Effects and mechanisms
No full textIt has been suggested that human mothers are cooperative breeders, as they need help from others to successfully raise offspring. Studies working under this framework have found correlations between the presence of kin and both child survival and female fertility rates. This study seeks to understand the proximate mechanisms by which kin influence fertility using data from the 1987 Thailand Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), a nationally representative sample of 6775 women. Kin influence is measured by the length of time couples live with the husband's or wife's parents after marriage. Event history analysis, multilevel modeling and structural equation modeling are used to investigate both fertility outcomes and potential pathways through which postnuptial residence may influence fertility outcomes, including employment status, maternal and child outcomes, contraceptive use, breastfeeding duration, and age at marriage. We show that living virilocally (with husband's kin after marriage) increases total fertility by shortening time from marriage to first birth, and increasing the likelihood of progression to each subsequent birth. These effects are mediated through correlations between virilocal residence and earlier age at marriage as well as delayed initiation of contraceptive use. We find no influence of husband's kin on maternal or child outcomes. Living uxorilocally (with wife's kin after marriage) also reduces age at marriage, shortens time from marriage to first birth and (marginally) improves child survivorship, but has no effect on other child and maternal outcomes or progression to subsequent births and results in a similar number of living children as women living neolocally. © 2013 Elsevier Inc
An empirical study of the evolutionary significance of cannibalism in tree-hole mosquitoes (Diptera : Culicidae) from ecological and biological perspectives
No full textTo be adaptive, optimality theory suggests that behavioural traits should maximise the fitness of the carrier by spread of genotypes through a population. Expression of these traits are expected to vary with biological and ecological factors modifying fitness consequences. This study investigates the consequences of such factors to the dynamics of cannibalism in aquatic larvae of three tropical tree-hole mosquitoes, Aedes aegypti, Trichoprosopon digitatum and Toxorhynchites moctezuma and examines the adaptive nature of cannibalism in the context of these findings.1. Expression and rate of cannibalism varied with food and density levels in A. aegypti. When food limits development, a greater percentage cannibalise and at a higher rate. At high larval density, a higher proportion cannibalise, but at a comparatively lower rate, probably due to physical interference of feeding. No nutritional benefits of cannibalism were reflected in adult fitness parameters of size and development time. 2. No fitness consequences, in terms of adult size and development time, were detected at intermediate food levels, between T. digitatum larvae allowed and larvae prevented from cannibalising, despite recurrent cannibalism. 3. Comparison among clutches of T. digitatum revealed a significant variation in propensity to cannibalise. 4. Inter-species comparison of cannibalism in kin and non-kin situations revealed no evidence kin selection, despite disparity in expected benefits amongst species and seemingly obvious fitness advantage to T. moctezuma. 5. The adaptive significance of cannibalism is considered in the light of these discoveries. Anomalies can be explained by viewing cannibalism as a strategy, representing a trade-off between relative costs and benefits in particular ecological and biological conditions, and conflict with other behavioural strategies such as oviposition and predator avoidance, which maximises reproductive success. Focused empirical studies provide a powerful tool for identifying anomalies and generating refutable trade-off hypotheses. 6. Population and community level consequences of cannibalism are examined together with their probable epidemiological implications
The effects of relatedness, social contact, and sex on observational learning in rats (Rattus norvegicus)
No full textKin recognition is the ability to identify a conspecific as a relative and can occur even when animals are complete strangers. By being able to recognise relatives, animals are able to give preferential treatment to those with which they share genes. Recognition may occur by either direct familiarisation (learning a phenotypic cue that reliably correlates to kinship), or by indirect familiarisation (learning kinship relationships through previous encounters). Rats (Rattus norvegicus) can recognise kin, however to what degree kin recognition is mediated by genetics (direct familiarisation) or social relationships (indirect familiarisation) are unknown; the influences of kinship and familiarity on the ability to learn from a conspecific is also unknown. Furthermore, the sex of an animal can also influence its ability to learn but this effect has received little attention in the literature, particularly when considering observational learning tasks. I assessed if relatedness and/or familiarity influenced a rat's ability to learn through observation, and if gender relationships influence the learning process. Eighty rats ( observers ) were given the opportunity to observe a demonstrator rat press a joystick in a given direction to obtain a food reward. Observers watched a demonstrator that had one of the following relationships with them: related and familiar, related and unfamiliar, unrelated and familiar, or unrelated and unfamiliar. When observers were given the opportunity to manipulate the joystick, the number of sniffs of the joystick, the latency to first move the joystick and the total number of presses were recorded. Rats that were both familiar and related to the demonstrator consistently performed better than any other treatment group; furthermore, rats that were familiar with the demonstrator performed the task more efficiently than rats that were not familiar with the demonstrator. When the demonstrators and observers were related, the observers produced more presses and sniffs of the joystick while having a lower latency to the first push In addition, male observers learnt better than females regardless of the demonstrator sex, with males that were familiar to their demonstrator making nearly twice as many pushes than any other treatment group. The results from this study are discussed in relation to both the mechanisms of direct and indirect recognition and the potential adaptive value on kin discrimination in the learning process. The home range hypothesis may explain why gender differences in learning were found: male rats have larger home ranges than females. Male rat will regularly encounter more rats than females and would need to ascertain if unfamiliar individuals are relatives. Females remain closer to natal sites and as such are more likely to encounter kin and therefore may not need as well as developed kin recognition ability
Claimed Co-ethnics and Kin-State Citizenship in Southeastern Europe
No full textThe paper introduces the often neglected concept of ‘claimed co-ethnics’ in the analysis of citizenship policies. It argues that this is an interstitial category that further complicates the triadic nexus between national minorities, nationalising states and kin-states. The ‘claimed co-ethnics’ are defined as people who are recognised by the citizenship (or ethnizenship) conferring state as belonging to its main ethnic group, although they themselves do not embrace that definition. In addition to bringing the issue of claimed co-ethnics into focus, the paper elucidates how citizenship policies can affect groups that challenge the exact fit between ethnicity and nation, showing how national governments through particular citizenship policies and categorisation practices engage in the construction of these groups. The paper shows that the triadic nexus framework, which has had a strong influence on citizenship and minorities scholarship, needs to be revised to include unidirectional relations between the elements of the triadic nexus. The paper is based on the comparison between the cases of ethnic Vlachs (in the context of Albania and Greece) and Bunjevci (in the context of Serbia and Croatia)
Why Do We Need to Coordinate When Classifying Kin?
No full textWe suggest that there are two coordination games when it comes to understanding kin terminology. Jones’ article focuses on the linguistic coordination inherent in developing meaningful kin terminologies, alluding briefly to the benefits of these kin terminologies for coordination in other domains. We enhance Jones’ discussion by tracing the links between the structure of kin terminologies and their functions.Open peer commentary on: Jones, Doug. "Human Kinship, From Conceptual Structure to Grammar." Behavioral and Brain Sciences 33, no. 5 (2010): 367-416.Peer reviewe
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