Disentangling the Evolutionary Drivers of Social Complexity in Human History: a Comprehensive Test of Hypotheses

During the Holocene the scale and complexity of human societies increased dramatically. Generations of scholars have proposed different theories explaining this expansion, which range from functionalist explanations, focusing on the provision of public goods, to conflict theories, emphasizing the role of class struggle or warfare. To quantitatively test these theories, we develop a general dynamical model, based on the theoretical framework of cultural macroevolution. Using this model and Seshat: Global History Databank we test 17 potential predictor variables proxying mechanisms suggested by major theories of sociopolitical complexity (and >100,000 combinations of these predictors). The best-fitting model indicates a strong causal role played by a combination of increasing agricultural productivity and invention/adoption of military technologies (most notably, iron weapons and cavalry in the first millennium BCE).

Download Full-text

Role of consumer personality and involvement in understanding customer experience

Innovative Marketing ◽

10.21511/im.12(3).2016.02 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 12 (3) ◽

pp. 19-33

Author(s):

Jyoti Rawat ◽

Bikram Jit Singh Mann

Keyword(s):

Purchase Intention ◽

Structural Model ◽

Product Evaluation ◽

Customer Experience ◽

Jel Classification ◽

Consumer Involvement ◽

Product Service ◽

Best Fitting ◽

Fitting Model

The objective of this study is to understand customer experience which is a construct made up of experiential elements created by the organization such as product, service scape, and brand and that of consumer’s personal values and preferences. When the experiential element interacts with the consumer construct, it starts an involvement process that makes the consumer evaluate the product (as a measure) on hedonic and utilitarian dimensions. The product/brand, when used, elicits emotions that lead to purchase intention behavior which is presented in the structural model. The authors have followed Tan, Foo and Kwek (2004) nested model approach in order to achieve the best fitting model for testing our hypothesis. Keywords: customer experience, personality traits, consumer involvement, product evaluation, emotions and satisfaction. JEL Classification: M3, D11, D12

Download Full-text

Levantine Art in the “Orientalizing” Period

The Oxford Handbook of the Phoenician and Punic Mediterranean ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190499341.013.24 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 369-383

Author(s):

Marian H. Feldman

Keyword(s):

Twentieth Century ◽

Cultural Relations ◽

Ancient Greek ◽

The West ◽

False Dichotomy ◽

First Millennium

The “Orientalizing period” represents a scholarly designation used to describe the eighth and seventh centuries bce when regions in Greece, Italy, and farther west witnessed a flourishing of arts and cultures attributed to contact with cultural areas to the east—in particular that of the Phoenicians. This chapter surveys Orientalizing as an intellectual and historiographic concept and reconsiders the role of purportedly Phoenician arts within the existing scholarly narratives. The Orientalizing period should be understood as a construct of nineteenth- and twentieth-century scholarship that was structured around a false dichotomy between the Orient (the East) and the West. The designation “Phoenician” has a similarly complex historiographic past rooted in ancient Greek stereotyping that has profoundly shaped modern scholarly interpretations. This chapter argues that the luxury arts most often credited as agents of Orientalization—most prominent among them being carved ivories, decorated metal bowls, and engraved tridacna shells—cannot be exclusively associated with a Phoenician cultural origin, thus calling into question the primacy of the Phoenicians in Orientalizing processes. Each of these types of objects appears to have a much broader production sphere than is indicated by the attribute as Phoenician. In addition, the notion of unidirectional influences flowing from east to west is challenged, and instead concepts of connectivity and networking are proposed as more useful frameworks for approaching the problem of cultural relations during the early part of the first millennium bce.

Download Full-text

165 Effects of Digestible Lysine Level on Growth Performance and Economics of Grow-finish Pigs

Journal of Animal Science ◽

10.1093/jas/skab054.098 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 99 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. 58-59

Author(s):

Larissa L Becker ◽

Emily E Scholtz ◽

Joel M DeRouchey ◽

Mike D Tokach ◽

Jason C Woodworth ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Phase 1 ◽

Information Criterion ◽

Response Curves ◽

Phase 3 ◽

Ileal Digestibility ◽

Distillers Dried Grains ◽

Feed Cost ◽

Best Fitting ◽

Dietary Treatments ◽

Fitting Model

Abstract A total of 2,124 barrows and gilts (PIC 1050′DNA 600, initially 48.9 kg) were used in a 32-d study to determine the optimal dietary standardized ileal digestibility (SID) Lys level in a commercial setting. Pigs were randomly allotted to 1 of 5 dietary treatments with 24 to 27 pigs/pen and 16 replications/treatment. Similar number of barrows and gilts were placed in each pen. Diets were fed over 3 phases (48.9 to 58.6, 58.6 to 70.9, and 70.9 to 80.8 kg respectively). Dietary treatments were corn-soybean meal-based and contained 10 (phase 1 and 2) or 5% (phase 3) distillers dried grains with solubles. Diets were formulated to 85, 95, 103, 110, or 120% of the current Pig Improvement Company (PIC, Hendersonville, TN) SID Lys gilt recommendations with phase 1 SID Lys levels of 0.90, 1.01, 1.09, 1.17 and 1.27%, phase 2 levels of 0.79, 0.87, 0.94, 1.03, and 1.10%, and phase 3 levels of 0.71, 0.78, 0.85, 0.92, and 0.99%, respectively. Dose response curves were evaluated using linear (LM), quadratic polynomial (QP), broken-line linear (BLL), and broken-line quadratic (BLQ) models. For each response variable, the best-fitting model was selected using the Bayesian information criterion. Overall (d 0 to 32), increasing SID Lys increased (linear, P< 0.001) BW, ADG, G:F, Lys intake/d, and Lys intake/kg of gain. Modeling margin over feed cost (MOFC), BLL and QP estimated the requirement at 105.8% and 113.7% respectively. In summary, while growth increased linearly up to 120% of the PIC current feeding level, the optimal MOFC was 106% to 114% depending on the model used.

Download Full-text

Genetic and Environmental Influences of Dietary Indices in a UK Female Twin Cohort

Twin Research and Human Genetics ◽

10.1017/thg.2020.84 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 23 (6) ◽

pp. 330-337

Author(s):

Olatz Mompeo ◽

Rachel Gibson ◽

Paraskevi Christofidou ◽

Tim D. Spector ◽

Cristina Menni ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Healthy Eating ◽

Menopausal Status ◽

Healthy Eating Index ◽

Healthy Diet ◽

Nutritional Epidemiology ◽

Best Fitting ◽

Heritability Estimates ◽

Fitting Model ◽

Dietary Indices ◽

Health Parameters

AbstractA healthy diet is associated with the improvement or maintenance of health parameters, and several indices have been proposed to assess diet quality comprehensively. Twin studies have found that some specific foods, nutrients and food patterns have a heritable component; however, the heritability of overall dietary intake has not yet been estimated. Here, we compute heritability estimates of the nine most common dietary indices utilized in nutritional epidemiology. We analyzed 2590 female twins from TwinsUK (653 monozygotic [MZ] and 642 dizygotic [DZ] pairs) who completed a 131-item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Heritability estimates were computed using structural equation models (SEM) adjusting for body mass index (BMI), smoking status, Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD), physical activity, menopausal status, energy and alcohol intake. The AE model was the best-fitting model for most of the analyzed dietary scores (seven out of nine), with heritability estimates ranging from 10.1% (95% CI [.02, .18]) for the Dietary Reference Values (DRV) to 42.7% (95% CI [.36, .49]) for the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (A-HEI). The ACE model was the best-fitting model for the Healthy Diet Indicator (HDI) and Healthy Eating Index 2010 (HEI-2010) with heritability estimates of 5.4% (95% CI [−.17, .28]) and 25.4% (95% CI [.05, .46]), respectively. Here, we find that all analyzed dietary indices have a heritable component, suggesting that there is a genetic predisposition regulating what you eat. Future studies should explore genes underlying dietary indices to further understand the genetic disposition toward diet-related health parameters.

Download Full-text

Molecular Signatures of Reticulate Evolution within the Complex of European Pine Taxa

Forests ◽

10.3390/f12040489 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (4) ◽

pp. 489

Author(s):

Bartosz Łabiszak ◽

Witold Wachowiak

Keyword(s):

Gene Flow ◽

Reticulate Evolution ◽

Modeling Framework ◽

Closely Related Species ◽

Interspecific Gene Flow ◽

Nucleotide Sequence Variation ◽

History Of ◽

Best Fitting ◽

Species Integrity

Speciation mechanisms, including the role of interspecific gene flow and introgression in the emergence of new species, are the major focus of evolutionary studies. Inference of taxonomic relationship between closely related species may be challenged by past hybridization events, but at the same time, it may provide new knowledge about mechanisms responsible for the maintenance of species integrity despite interspecific gene flow. Here, using nucleotide sequence variation and utilizing a coalescent modeling framework, we tested the role of hybridization and introgression in the evolutionary history of closely related pine taxa from the Pinus mugo complex and P. sylvestris. We compared the patterns of polymorphism and divergence between taxa and found a great overlap of neutral variation within the P. mugo complex. Our phylogeny reconstruction indicated multiple instances of reticulation events in the past, suggesting an important role of interspecific gene flow in the species divergence. The best-fitting model revealed P. mugo and P. uncinata as sister species with basal P. uliginosa and asymmetric migration between all investigated species after their divergence. The magnitude of interspecies gene flow differed greatly, and it was consistently stronger from representatives of P. mugo complex to P. sylvestris than in the opposite direction. The results indicate the prominent role of reticulation evolution in those forest trees and provide a genetic framework to study species integrity maintained by selection and local adaptation.

Download Full-text

The Local versus the Global in the history of relativity: The case of Belgium

Science in Context ◽

10.1017/s0269889721000028 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 33 (3) ◽

pp. 227-250

Author(s):

Sjang L. ten Hagen

Keyword(s):

Twentieth Century ◽

Cultural Diversity ◽

First World War ◽

Global History ◽

World War ◽

Global Pattern ◽

The First World War ◽

History Of ◽

First World

ArgumentThis article contributes to a global history of relativity, by exploring how Einstein’s theory was appropriated in Belgium. This may sound like a contradiction in terms, yet the early-twentieth-century Belgian context, because of its cultural diversity and reflectiveness of global conditions (the principal example being the First World War), proves well-suited to expose transnational flows and patterns in the global history of relativity. The attempts of Belgian physicist Théophile de Donder to contribute to relativity physics during the 1910s and 1920s illustrate the role of the war in shaping the transnational networks through which relativity circulated. The local attitudes of conservative Belgian Catholic scientists and philosophers, who denied that relativity was philosophically significant, exemplify a global pattern: while critics of relativity feared to become marginalized by the scientific, political, and cultural revolutions that Einstein and his theory were taken to represent, supporters sympathized with these revolutions.

Download Full-text

The role of internalizing and externalizing liability factors in accounting for gender differences in the prevalence of common psychopathological syndromes

Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1017/s0033291707001572 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 38 (1) ◽

pp. 51-61 ◽

Cited By ~ 78

Author(s):

Mark D. Kramer ◽

Robert F. Krueger ◽

Brian M. Hicks

Keyword(s):

Gender Differences ◽

Common Mental Disorders ◽

Future Research ◽

Latent Factor ◽

Gender Invariance ◽

Co Morbidity ◽

Best Fitting ◽

Invariance Model ◽

Internalizing And Externalizing

BackgroundWe hypothesized that gender differences in average levels on the internalizing and externalizing factors that account for co-morbidity among common psychopathological syndromes in both men and women account for gender differences in the prevalence of specific syndromes.MethodThe latent structure of 11 syndromes was examined in a middle-aged (mean age=52.66 years, s.d.=5.82) sample of 2992 (37% men) members of the community-based Minnesota Twin Registry (MTR) assessed using 10 scales of the Psychiatric Diagnostic Screening Questionnaire (PDSQ) and an adult antisocial behavior scale. Confirmatory factorial invariance models were applied to a best-fitting, internalizing–externalizing model.ResultsA ‘strong gender invariance model’ fit best, indicating that gender differences in the means of individual syndromes were well accounted for by gender differences in mean levels of internalizing and externalizing. Women exhibited higher mean levels of internalizing (d=0.23) and lower mean levels of externalizing (d=−0.52) than men.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that risk factors for common mental disorders exhibiting gender differences may influence prevalence at the latent factor level. Future research may benefit from focusing on both the latent factor and individual syndrome levels in explaining gender differences in psychopathology.

Download Full-text

Comparing productive vocabulary measures from the CDI and a systematic diary study

Journal of Child Language ◽

10.1017/s0305000998003663 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 26 (1) ◽

pp. 177-185 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

BYRON F. ROBINSON ◽

CAROLYN B. MERVIS

Keyword(s):

Growth Curves ◽

Diary Study ◽

Expressive Vocabulary ◽

Early Language ◽

Vocabulary Size ◽

Early Language Development ◽

Closed Class ◽

Communicative Development ◽

Best Fitting ◽

Fitting Model

Expressive vocabulary data gathered during a systematic diary study of one male child's early language development are compared to data that would have resulted from longitudinal administration of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories spoken vocabulary checklist (CDI). Comparisons are made for (1) the number of words at monthly intervals (9;10.15 to 2;0.15), (2) proportion of words by lexical class (i.e. noun, predicate, closed class, ‘other’), (3) growth curves. The CDI underestimates the number of words in the diary study, with the underestimation increasing as vocabulary size increases. The proportion of diary study words appearing on the CDI differed as a function of lexical class. Finally, despite the differences in vocabulary size, logistic curves proved to be the best fitting model to characterize vocabulary development as measured by both the diary study and the CDI. Implications for the longitudinal use of the CDI are discussed.

Download Full-text

Inquality and the Future of Global History: A Round Table Discussion

The Journal of Indian Ocean World Studies ◽

10.26443/jiows.v3i1.58 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 53-81

Author(s):

Julia McClure ◽

Amitava Chowdhury ◽

Sarah Easterby-Smith ◽

Norberto Ferreras ◽

Omar Gueye ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Round Table ◽

Round Table Discussion ◽

Global History ◽

New Directions ◽

The University ◽

Global And Local ◽

North And South America ◽

North And South ◽

Local Levels

The following is an edited transcript of a roundtable that took place at the University of Glasgow in September 2018. The roundtable was organized by Dr. Julia McClure in conjunction with the Poverty Research Network’s conference - Beyond Development: The Local Visions of Global Poverty. That conference brought into focus the ways in which the global and local levels meet at the site of poverty and highlighted the different conceptions on the global are generated from the perspective of poverty. The roundtable brought together leading scholars from Europe, Africa, Asia and North and South America to take stock of global history as a field, to consider the role of existing centres of knowledge production, and to assess new directions for the field.

Download Full-text

Identification-Robust Estimates of the Canadian Natural Rate of Interest

L Actualité économique ◽

10.7202/1036918ar ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 91 (1-2) ◽

pp. 161-176

Author(s):

Maral Kichian

Keyword(s):

Interest Rate ◽

Robust Methods ◽

Errors In Variables ◽

Natural Rate ◽

Real Rate ◽

Point Estimates ◽

Natural Rate Of Interest ◽

Best Fitting ◽

Estimate Precision ◽

Fitting Model

The natural rate of interest is an unobservable entity and its measurement presents some important empirical challenges. In this paper, we use identification-robust methods and central bank real-time staff projections to obtain estimates for the equilibrium real rate from contemporaneous and forward-looking Taylor-type interest rate rules. The methods notably account for the potential presence of endogeneity, under-identification, and errors-in-variables concerns. Our applications are conducted on Canadian data. The results reveal some important identification difficulties associated with some of our models, reinforcing the need to use identification-robust methods to estimate such policy functions. Despite these challenges, we are able to obtain fairly comparable point estimates for the real equilibrium interest rate across our different models, and in the case of the best fitting model, also remarkable estimate precision.

Download Full-text