scholarly journals The relationship between social behaviour and habitat familiarity in African elephants ( Loxodonta africana )

2008 ◽  
Vol 276 (1659) ◽  
pp. 1009-1014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noa Pinter-Wollman ◽  
Lynne A Isbell ◽  
Lynette A Hart
Keyword(s):  
Social Behaviour ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Loxodonta Africana ◽  
African Elephants ◽  
Conservation Practice ◽  
Direct Benefits ◽  
The Social ◽  
Novel Environments ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Over Time

Social associations with conspecifics can expedite animals' acclimation to novel environments. However, the benefits gained from sociality may change as the habitat becomes familiar. Furthermore, the particular individuals with whom animals associate upon arrival at a new place, familiar conspecifics or knowledgeable unfamiliar residents, may influence the type of information they acquire about their new home. To examine animals' social dynamics in novel habitats, we studied the social behaviour of African elephants ( Loxodonta africana ) translocated into a novel environment. We found that the translocated elephants' association with conspecifics decreased over time supporting our hypothesis that sociality provides added benefits in novel environments. In addition, we found a positive correlation between body condition and social association, suggesting that elephants gain direct benefits from sociality. Furthermore, the translocated elephants associated significantly less than expected with the local residents and more than expected with familiar, but not necessarily genetically related, translocated elephants. The social segregation between the translocated and resident elephants declined over time, suggesting that elephants can integrate into an existing social setting. Knowledge of the relationship between sociality and habitat familiarity is highly important in our constantly changing world to both conservation practice and our understanding of animals' behaviour in novel environments.

scholarly journals Self-organizing dominance hierarchies in a wild primate population

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1814) ◽  
pp. 20151512 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathias Franz ◽  
Emily McLean ◽  
Jenny Tung ◽  
Jeanne Altmann ◽  
Susan C. Alberts
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Self Organization ◽  
Social Self ◽  
Dominance Hierarchies ◽  
Change Over Time ◽  
Winner And Loser Effects ◽  
The Social ◽  
Over Time

Linear dominance hierarchies, which are common in social animals, can profoundly influence access to limited resources, reproductive opportunities and health. In spite of their importance, the mechanisms that govern the dynamics of such hierarchies remain unclear. Two hypotheses explain how linear hierarchies might emerge and change over time. The ‘prior attributes hypothesis’ posits that individual differences in fighting ability directly determine dominance ranks. By contrast, the ‘social dynamics hypothesis’ posits that dominance ranks emerge from social self-organization dynamics such as winner and loser effects. While the prior attributes hypothesis is well supported in the literature, current support for the social dynamics hypothesis is limited to experimental studies that artificially eliminate or minimize individual differences in fighting abilities. Here, we present the first evidence supporting the social dynamics hypothesis in a wild population. Specifically, we test for winner and loser effects on male hierarchy dynamics in wild baboons, using a novel statistical approach based on the Elo rating method for cardinal rank assignment, which enables the detection of winner and loser effects in uncontrolled group settings. Our results demonstrate (i) the presence of winner and loser effects, and (ii) that individual susceptibility to such effects may have a genetic basis. Taken together, our results show that both social self-organization dynamics and prior attributes can combine to influence hierarchy dynamics even when agonistic interactions are strongly influenced by differences in individual attributes. We hypothesize that, despite variation in individual attributes, winner and loser effects exist (i) because these effects could be particularly beneficial when fighting abilities in other group members change over time, and (ii) because the coevolution of prior attributes and winner and loser effects maintains a balance of both effects.

scholarly journals Social capital, economic growth and well-being

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Sarracino
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Social Capital ◽  
Social Comparisons ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Long Run ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Over Time

In the long run economic growth does not improve people's well-being. Traditional theories – adaptation and social comparisons – explain this evidence, but they don't explain what shapes the trend of subjective well-being and its differences across countries. Recent research identified in social capital a plausible candidate to explain the trends of well-being. This dissertation adopts various econometric techniques to explore the relationship over time among social capital, economic growth and subjective well-being. The main conclusion is that social capital is a good predictor of the trend of subjective well-being, both within and across countries. Hence, policies for well-being should aim at preserving and enhancing social capital for the quality of the social environment matters.

scholarly journals Contextual polarity and influence mining in online social networks

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hassan Alzahrani ◽  
Subrata Acharya ◽  
Philippe Duverger ◽  
Nam P. Nguyen
Keyword(s):  
Community Structure ◽  
Online Social Networks ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Innovation Strategy ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Social ◽  
New Ideas ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Over Time

AbstractCrowdsourcing is an emerging tool for collaboration and innovation platforms. Recently, crowdsourcing platforms have become a vital tool for firms to generate new ideas, especially large firms such as Dell, Microsoft, and Starbucks, Crowdsourcing provides firms with multiple advantages, notably, rapid solutions, cost savings, and a variety of novel ideas that represent the diversity inherent within a crowd. The literature on crowdsourcing is limited to empirical evidence of the advantage of crowdsourcing for businesses as an innovation strategy. In this study, Starbucks’ crowdsourcing platform, Ideas Starbucks, is examined, with three objectives: first, to determine crowdsourcing participants’ perception of the company by crowdsourcing participants when generating ideas on the platform. The second objective is to map users into a community structure to identify those more likely to produce ideas; the most promising users are grouped into the communities more likely to generate the best ideas. The third is to study the relationship between the users’ ideas’ sentiment scores and the frequency of discussions among crowdsourcing users. The results indicate that sentiment and emotion scores can be used to visualize the social interaction narrative over time. They also suggest that the fast greedy algorithm is the one best suited for community structure with a modularity on agreeable ideas of 0.53 and 8 significant communities using sentiment scores as edge weights. For disagreeable ideas, the modularity is 0.47 with 8 significant communities without edge weights. There is also a statistically significant quadratic relationship between the sentiments scores and the number of conversations between users.

scholarly journals Genetic structure and sex-biased gene flow in the history of southern African populations

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir Bajić ◽  
Chiara Barbieri ◽  
Alexander Hübner ◽  
Tom Güldemann ◽  
Christfried Naumann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Flow ◽  
Y Chromosome ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Population History ◽  
Eastern Africa ◽  
The Social ◽  
African Populations ◽  
History Of ◽  
Over Time

ABSTRACTObjectivesWe investigated the genetic history of southern African populations with a special focus on their paternal history. We reexamined previous claims that the Y-chromosome haplogroup E1b1b was brought to southern Africa by pastoralists from eastern Africa, and investigated patterns of sex-biased gene flow in southern Africa.Material and MethodsWe analyzed previously published complete mtDNA genome sequences and ~900 kb of NRY sequences from 23 populations from Namibia, Botswana and Zambia, as well as haplogroup frequencies from a large sample of southern African populations and 23 newly genotyped Y-linked STR loci for samples assigned to haplogroup E1b1b.ResultsOur results support an eastern African origin for Y-chromosome haplogroup E1b1b; however, its current distribution in southern Africa is not strongly associated with pastoralism, suggesting a more complex origin for pastoralism in this region. We confirm that the Bantu expansion had a notable genetic impact in southern Africa, and that in this region it was probably a rapid, male-dominated expansion. Furthermore, we find a significant increase in the intensity of sex-biased gene flow from north to south, which may reflect changes in the social dynamics between Khoisan and Bantu groups over time.ConclusionsOur study shows that the population history of southern Africa has been very complex, with different immigrating groups mixing to different degrees with the autochthonous populations. The Bantu expansion led to heavily sex-biased admixture as a result of interactions between Khoisan females and Bantu males, with a geographic gradient which may reflect changes in the social dynamics between Khoisan and Bantu groups over time.

scholarly journals Embedding science in society: a European perspective

2009 ◽  
Vol 08 (04) ◽  
pp. C02
Author(s):  
Luisa Prista
Keyword(s):  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Framework Programme ◽  
Technological Research ◽  
Research Framework ◽  
Societal Issues ◽  
The Social ◽  
The One ◽  
Science In Society ◽  
Over Time

Within the research framework programmes, the European Commission's interest in societal issues pertaining to science and technology has been increasing over time. An important step in this direction has been taken with the establishment during the Seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7) of the theme "Science in Society" (SiS) in the Specific Programme "Capacities". From this perspective, the theoretical and practical horizon of science and technology (S&T) socialisation discussed in this issue of JCOM fits well with the SiS strategy. In fact, S&T socialisation refers, on the one hand, to the process of the adaptation of science to a changing society and, on the other hand, to the capacity of identifying and managing the social dynamics increasingly involved with scientific and technological research.

scholarly journals Em busca de movimentos ausentes para motricidades emergentes: a relação entre Epistemologias do Sul e Motricidade Humana

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 199
Author(s):  
Carlos Nolasco
Keyword(s):  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Human Dimensions ◽  
The South ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Relationship

ResumoEste ensaio tem como ponto de partida o reconhecimento de que o mundo contemporâneo se encontra numa situação de ambivalência, entre perigos e possibilidades, que não só desafiam o presente como equacionam o futuro. O desporto e o gesto desportivo, como fenômenos que resultam dos contextos em que são produzidos, encontram-se necessariamente nessa ambiguidade. Partindo das Epistemologias do Sul, enquanto proposta de resgate de dimensões epistêmicas e humanas ausentes do espaço hegemônico, e apresentadas como alternativas ao esgotamento da modernidade, propõe-se uma análise crítica das dinâmicas sociais do desporto, através da operacionalizando dos conceitos de sociologia das ausências e de sociologia das emergências, sugerindo a emergência de outro desporto que vá ao encontro da perspectiva da motricidade humana na assunção da complexidade e da transcendência do gesto desportivo.Palavras-chave: Epistemologias do Sul. Motricidade Humana. Interculturalidade. Desporto. Corpo.In search of absent movements for emerging motricities: the relationship between Epistemologies of the South and Human MotricityAbstractThis essay has as its starting point the recognition that the contemporary world is in a situation of ambivalence, between dangers and possibilities, which not only challenge the present but also equate the future. Sport and sporting gesture, as phenomena that result from the contexts in which they are produced, are necessarily in this ambiguity. Starting from the Epistemologies of the South, as a proposal to rescue epistemic and human dimensions absent from the hegemonic space, and presented as alternatives to the exhaustion of modernity, a critical analysis of the social dynamics of sport is proposed through the operationalization of the concepts of sociology of absences and sociology of emergencies, suggesting the emergence of another sport that meets the perspective of human motricity, assuming the complexity and transcendence of the sporting gesture.Keywords: Epistemologies of the South. Human Motricity. Interculturality. Sport. Body.En busca de movimientos ausentes de motricidades emergentes: la relación entre las epistemologías del sur y la motricidad humanaResumenEste ensayo tiene como punto de partida el reconocimiento de que el mundo contemporáneo se encuentra en una situación de ambivalencia, entre peligros y posibilidades, que no solo desafían el presente sino que también equiparan el futuro. El deporte y el gesto deportivo, como fenómenos que resultan de los contextos en los que se producen, se encuentran necesariamente en esta ambigüedad. Partiendo de las Epistemologías del Sur, como una propuesta para rescatar las dimensiones epistémicas y humanas ausentes del espacio hegemónico, y presentadas como alternativas al agotamiento de la modernidad, proponemos un análisis crítico de las dinámicas sociales del deporte, a través de la operacionalización de los conceptos de sociología de las ausencias y de sociología de las emergencias, sugiriendo la emergencia de otro deporte que cumpla con la perspectiva de la motricidad humana en el supuesto de la complejidad y trascendencia del gesto deportivo.Palabras clave: Epistemologías del Sur. Motricidad humana. Interculturalidad Deporte. Cuerpo.

A Star Is Born: The Relationship Between Performance and Achieving Status Through Certification Contests in the Context of Equity Analysts

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugene Taeha Paik ◽  
Timothy G. Pollock ◽  
Steven Boivie ◽  
Donald Lange ◽  
Peggy M. Lee
Keyword(s):  
High Status ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Equity Analysts ◽  
Subsequent Performance ◽  
The Social ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Status Position ◽  
Over Time

We investigate how the relationship between status and performance decouples over time by addressing two questions: (1) how performance affects the likelihood that an actor achieves high status and (2) how achieving high status affects the actor’s subsequent performance. In doing so, we focus on the role repeated certification contests play, where evaluators assess actors’ performance along particular dimensions and confer high status on the contest winners. Using the context of sell-side (brokerage) equity analysts and the “All-Star” list from Institutional Investor magazine, we first investigate whether analysts who make the All-Star list are more likely to produce accurate and/or independent forecasts. Then, we investigate analyst performance after recent and multiple wins. Our results demonstrate the decoupling of status and performance over time and the roles played by both the high-status actor and the social evaluators conferring their status. Whereas analyst performance increases the likelihood of being designated an All-Star, recent and multiple All-Star designations differentially affect both how subsequent performance is assessed, and how the All-Star analysts subsequently perform. In the short term, achieving high status can increase performance and solidify an analyst’s status position; however, in the long term, it can lead to lower performance and eventually result in status loss, which further erodes performance.

The Informal in the Formal of Organizations: The Organizational Structure in Sociological Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 260-264
Author(s):  
Beatriz Barbosa ◽  
Maria Goretti Borges ◽  
Sandro Serpa
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Structure ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Formal Structure ◽  
Organizational Dynamics ◽  
Sociological Analysis ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Formal Dimension

Based on a sociological stance, this paper seeks to reflect on the formal and informal dimensions in the analysis of organizations. It focuses specifically on the organizational structure and its relationship with the social processes that shape the organizational dynamics. To fulfill this aim, this reflection discusses the concept of organizational structure as a pivotal element of the formal dimension of organizations, as well as its relevance as a key element of organizations. These elements make it unavoidable in any sociological analysis of organizations, whatever their nature, even in studies whose object is more directed to social dynamics and interactions. The results of this article allow concluding that there is heuristicity and, even, an indispensability to establish and analyze the relationship between the formal structure as a framework for the practices that take place in the organization and the existing concrete practices, which is often not simple to operationalize.

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