The Roots of Global Inequality: The Role of Biogeography and Genetic Diversity

This paper adds further evidence supporting Jared Diamond’s hypothesis that global technological differences in the pre-modern era were fundamentally due to bio-geographic factors: the time elapsed since the onset of agriculture and husbandry, the size of the population relative to the territories, the shape of continents. An alternative hypothesis, that genetic diversity within populations is the ultimate cause of global inequalities, is also examined. Results show how there is no robust evidence supporting a possible effect of genetic diversity on international differences in population density and technology in the pre-modern era.     

Mediated territoriality: rural workers and the efforts to scale out agroecology in Nicaragua

The Spanish word formación can be translated as ‘training’ or ‘education’, but Latin American social movements use it as inspired by Che Guevara’s notion of ‘molding’ the values of the new woman and new man for egalitarian, cooperative social relations in the construction of a ‘new society’. This contribution presents findings on the dialectical linkages between the formación processes led by the Rural Workers’ Association (ATC) and the gradual transformation of the Nicaraguan countryside by peasant families choosing to grow food using agroecological practices. We use Vygotsky’s sociocultural historical theory to explore the developmental processes of formación subjects and the pedagogical mediators of their transformation into movement cadre. The motivations of active learners to develop new senses and collective understandings about their material reality become a counterhegemonic process of internalization and socialization of agroecological knowledges and senses. In this paper, we further explore the formación process by identifying territorial mediators: culturally significant elements within and outside of individuals that facilitate the rooting of agroecological social processes in a given territory where the social movement is active. By placing the territory, rather than the individual, at the center of popular education processes, new synergies are emerging in the construction of socially mobilizing methods for producing and spreading agroecological knowledge.     

Dynamic-opportunistic behaviour in local government contracting-out decisions during the electoral cycle

A major question for public managers is whether municipal services should be rendered in-house or contracted out. In view of the negative perceptions often aroused by contracting out, this political decision might be framed within a theoretical model that we term ‘dynamic-opportunistic behaviour’. According to this model, the probability of municipal services being contracted out is greater in the years immediately following elections; moreover, during this period the decision is taken more quickly. In this theoretical model, not all factors (budgetary, economic, political, service characteristics and socio-economic) have an equal impact on the contracting-out decision during each year of the electoral cycle. The model was applied to a sample of 2,274 Spanish municipalities, with respect to a broad time horizon (2002–2014), and the results obtained confirm our hypotheses regarding dynamic-opportunistic behaviour in the contracting out of local public services.     

The Stability of Perceived Pubertal Timing Across Adolescence

It is unknown whether perceived pubertal timing changes as puberty progresses or whether it is an important component of adolescent identity formation that is fixed early in pubertal development. The purpose of this study is to examine the stability of perceived pubertal timing among a school-based sample of rural adolescents aged 11-17 (N=6,425; 50% female; 53% White). Two measures of pubertal timing were used, stage-normative, based on the Pubertal Development Scale, a self-report scale of secondary sexual characteristics, and peer-normative, a one-item measure of perceived pubertal timing. Two longitudinal methods were used: one-way random effects ANOVA models and latent class analysis. When calculating intraclass correlation coefficients using the one-way random effects ANOVA models, which is based on the average reliability from one time point to the next, both measures had similar, but poor, stability. In contrast, latent class analysis, which looks at the longitudinal response pattern of each individual and treats deviation from that pattern as measurement error, showed three stable and distinct response patterns for both measures: always early, always on-time, and always late. Study results suggest instability in perceived pubertal timing from one age to the next, but this instability is likely due to measurement error. Thus, it may be necessary to take into account the longitudinal pattern of perceived pubertal timing across adolescence rather than measuring perceived pubertal timing at one point in time.     

Partisan Attachment and Democracy in Mexico: Some Cautionary Observations

Party identification is a central concept in studies of parties and elections. Drawing from an extensive literature linking the concept of party identification to the understanding of Mexico's electoral politics, this article explores how the Mexican experience informs the understanding of party identification in general, especially in emerging democracies. There, voters' attachments to political parties are usually seen both as essential to and a positive sign of democratic development. This study finds evidence consistent with these arguments in the Mexican case but also identifies aspects of Mexican party identification that are not so clearly supportive of democratic politics; that indeed may delay or even undermine democratization. These findings illustrate the relevance of the Mexican experience to the wider literature on parties and elections, particularly the well-documented relationship between party identifications and democratization.     

Bullying Perpetration,Moral Disengagement and Need for Popularity: Examining Reciprocal Associations in Adolescence

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Precursors and consequences of bullying have been widely explored, but much remains unclear about the association of moral and motivational factors. This study...     

A controlled study of the time-course of breath alcohol concentration after moderate ingestion of ethanol following a social drinking session

This paper evaluates the breath alcohol concentration (BrAC), nausea (feeling of being slightly intoxicated) and subjective driving performance after ingesting a moderate dose of alcohol in the presence of a light meal, which intends to approach a social drinking setting. 119 healthy individuals (69 males and 50 females, aged 21.7+/-3.0) ingested three glasses of wine (95mL each) and their BrAC was determined by an Alcotest 7410 at 15, 30, 45, 60, 90 and 120min post-drinking. 46% of females and no male subjects exceeded a BrAC of 0.25mg/L, the legal limit for driving fixed by some Western countries. 53% of the study population felt nausea during the experimental session and 20% self-reported impairment of their driving skills. In both cases these subjective effects were more pronounced in females. The major determinants of mean BrAC were time post-drinking, gender (male) and body mass index (BMI), all these variables being inversely associated. Females and individuals with a BMI lower than 22.5kg/m(2) were at an increased risk of exceeding the legal limit of BrAC. The feeling of nausea was significantly associated with gender (females), the ingestion of up to 2 drinks on weekdays, and having exceeded a BrAC of 0.25mg/L during the experimental study. The main predictor of self-perception of impaired driving skills was the feeling of nausea, followed by a BrAC in excess of 0.25mg/L. In conclusion, both females and subjects with lower BMI are at an increased risk of exceeding the legal limit of BrAC after moderate alcohol consumption resembling a social drinking setting.