Evaluating odour and urinary sex preferences in the big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus)

Olfactory cues provide detailed information to mammals regarding conspecifics. Bats may identify species, colony membership, and individual’s using olfaction. Big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus (Palisot de Beauvois, 1976)) live in mixed-sex colonies and must differentiate between sexes to locate mates. We hypothesized that odour cues convey information about sex. In Experiment 1, adult E. fuscus were recorded exploring a Y-maze that contained general body odours sampled from male or female conspecifics. One group of subjects was habituated to the Y-maze prior to experimental trials, whereas a second group was not. Bat exploration and the proportion of time spent near each scent were used as preference indicators for the body odour of a particular sex. Experiment 2 followed similar procedures except the odour cue tested was urine from either male or female conspecifics and without Y-maze habituation. Results found no evidence that E. fuscus prefer the body odours of a given sex, but females did prefer the odour of male urine. Non-habituated animals in Experiment 1 were more likely to explore the Y-maze and approach a stimulus scent compared to habituated bats. These findings have important implications for courtship and mating behaviour in bats, as well for designing future behavioural studies.

Population Studies at 75 Years: A scientometric review

For 75 years, the journal Population Studies has advanced research on key substantive demographic topics of fertility, mortality, family, migration, and beyond to contributions in methods, and policy. Yet we lack a systematic and rigorous scientometric review that evaluates how research topics have evolved and by whom has authored them. We review all papers (N=1,901) and authorship contributions (N=3,267) published in the journal between 1947 and 2020. Our techniques employ natural language processing, social network analysis, and a novel mixed-method approach to incorporate un-supervised machine learning models conjoint with qualitative coders. After a brief history of the journal we show that authorship and articles have evolved over time, with a shift to shorter and multi-authored articles, with 34\% female authorships and skewed gender ratios in certain topics. The majority of articles have covered fertility, mortality and family research, studying groups, time and change, with topics expanding and waning in prevalence over time. Children are rarely studied and if examined, in relation to infant mortality or sex-preferences of parents. Research on women focuses on family planning and contraception, fertility decline, unions and divorce, whereas men’s domains are migration, historical demography (war, famine) and employment. Geographical bias is also present with family planning examined in Africa and Asia and fertility decline in North American and Europe. Our results inform policy for hiring and tenure committees and identify research gaps relevant for editors, funders and researchers.

SEX PREFERENCE ON CHILD AND MODERN CONTRACEPTION USE IN FERTILE AGE WOMEN IN INDONESIA (ANALYSIS OF IDHS 2017)

Generally, this study aims to describe the characacteristics of modern contraception users in fertile age women in Indonesia. Specifically, this study will examine the effect of the children's sex preferences on the use of modern contraception. Furthermore, the control variables used are age, education taken by the mothers, mothers' working status, marital status, Family Planning Field Officer (Petugas Lapangan Keluarga Berencana/PLKB) visits, and internet usage. The data used in this study was taken from the results of the Indonesian Demographic and Health Survey (IDHS) 2017. Data analysis was using descriptive and inferential analysis. Descriptive analysis used is in the form of a single table and a cross-tabulation, while the inferential analysis used is binary logistic regression. Based on the descriptive analysis results, it can be concluded that 79.35% of fertile age women (15-49 years old) in Indonesia do not have particular sex preference on their children. Moreover, the inferential analysis results with a significance level by 1%, it appears that child's sex preference will reduce the chance of modern contraception use. Women's age, the number of children that safely delivered, marital status, and FPFO visits are having the positive effect on the modern contraception use, while the residential area, education taken, and internet usage are negatively affect the modern contraception use.

Cyberphysical Human Sexual Behavior Acquisition System (SeBA): Development and Implementation Study in China

Background Sexual health is one of the principal components of human well-being. Traditional methods for observing human sexual behavior typically adopt manual intervention approaches (eg, interviews). However, the data obtained by such traditional approaches suffer from intrinsic bias and limited sample sizes. Objective To address the limitations of traditional human sexual behavior data observation methods, a novel cyberphysical system is proposed to capture natural human sexual behavior data in China at the nationwide level. Methods A cyberphysical human sexual behavior acquisition system (SeBA) was designed and implemented. SeBA jointly utilizes state of the art information and communication technologies such as smart sex toys, smartphones, and mobile social networks. Smart sex toys enable objective collection of data on human sexual behavior, while the mobile social network provides the possibility of partnered sex in a cyberphysical manner. The objectives and function settings are discussed, and the overall framework of the system architecture is presented. Results Operation and privacy policies are proposed and the technical solution of SeBA is described. The effectiveness of SeBA was verified based on analysis of users’ human sexual behavior data collected from January 2016 to June 2017. A total of 103,424 solo sexual behaviors were recorded involving 13,047 users, and 61,007 partnered sexual behaviors from 7,140 users were observed. The proportions of males and females in the solo and partnered sex groups were fairly consistent with recent statistics on unmarried individuals in China. We also found that only a small portion of individuals provided information on at least one other attribute besides the required input of gender, such as age, height, location, job, sex preferences, purposes, and interests. Conclusions To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to analyze objective human sexual behavior data at the nationwide level. Although the data are restricted to China, this study can provide insight for further research on human sexual behavior based on the huge amount of data available from wireless smart sex toys worldwide. It is anticipated that findings from such objective big data analyses can help deepen our understanding of sexual behavior, as well as improve sexual health and sexual wellness.

Reported Behavioural Differences between Geldings and Mares Challenge Sex-Driven Stereotypes in Ridden Equine Behaviour

Horse trainers and riders may have preconceived ideas of horse temperament based solely on the sex of the horse. A study (n = 1233) of horse enthusiasts (75% of whom had more than 8 years of riding experience) revealed that riders prefer geldings over mares and stallions. While these data may reflect different sex preferences in horses used for sport, they may also reduce the chances of some horses reaching their performance potential. Further, an unfounded sex prejudice is likely to contribute to unconscious bias when perceiving unwanted behaviours, simplistically attributing them to demographic characteristics rather than more complex legacies of training and prior learning. The current study analysed reported sex-related behavioural differences in ridden and non-ridden horses using data from responses to the pilot study of the Equine Behaviour Assessment and Research Questionnaire (E-BARQ) survey. Respondents (n = 1233) reported on the behaviour of their horse using a 151-item questionnaire. Data were searched for responses relating to mares and geldings, and 110 traits with the greatest percentage difference scores between mares and geldings were selected were tested for univariate significance at p < 0.2. Multivariable modelling of the effect of sex (mare or gelding) on remaining traits was assessed by ordinal logistic regression, using a cumulative proportional log odds model. Results revealed mares were significantly more likely to move away when being caught compared to geldings (p = 0.003). Geldings were significantly more likely to chew on lead ropes when tied (p = 0.003) and to chew on rugs (p = 0.024). However, despite sex-related differences in these non-ridden behaviours, there was no evidence of any significant sex-related differences in the behaviours of the horses when ridden. This finding suggests that ridden horse behaviour is not sexually dimorphic or that particular horse sports variously favour one sex over another.

FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH HIGH FERTILITY IN”BHAKKAR GABOOL GOTH”: CASE STUDY

Pakistan is holding only 0.67 percent of the whole world’s area but has 2 percent of world population. In 1951 it ranked at 14th position in the world’s populous countries. In 2015-16 its population jumped to 195.4 million approximately five times higher. With this high population it has become the 6th most high populated country in the world. Human fertility is not a personal decision but it is a mixture of factors, and the factors differ among places, according to specific conditions of particular areas & cultures. The aim of current research is to determine major factors that encourage high child ever born in urban slum area of Karachi” Bhakkar Gabool Goth” questionnaire was filled up from 100 ever married house hold women through simple sampling method based on formation on socio economic determinants like respondent’s age and their husband’s income/education level/place of childhood residence, etc etc. The analysis were based on descriptive analysis through percentages and number distribution of respondents .The median or average number of kids were greater than 5 and out of 23 variables discussed in questionnaire , only 14 variables show significant relation with fertility level which were respondent current age, education status of respondent/ her husband, work status of respondent and her husband, types of work, age at first marriage/first birth, infant/child mortality, contraception, sex preferences and willingness of respondent/ her husband to have more kids. more and more family health clinics should be established particularly in slum areas, female education should be increased to encourage delayed marriages and contraception use should also be enhanced through media or health visitors.

Sex of children and family structure in Brazil: father & grandmother bias?

Brazil has a high rate of mothers living without a partner as well as a high intergenerational co-residence rate, including parents and grandparents. These family types may influence a child’s well-being. Even though there is no evidence of sex-selective abortion in Brazil, sex preference could still be subtly present. This paper tests the composition of family structure (father co-residence, grandmother co-residence, and birth of siblings) in Brazil associated with the sex of the child by using a nationally representative household survey, treating sex of the first and second child as exogenous variables in OLS regressions. I found women with lower birth-order daughters are less likely to live with a partner. I also found suggestive evidence that maternal grandmothers are more likely to live with granddaughters than with grandsons. Women with lower birth-order daughters are more likely to have additional children. Evidence suggests that in Brazil, fathers show a preference for sons over daughters, while grandmothers show a preference for granddaughters over grandsons. Additionally, mothers of girls, without co-residing partners may compensate for the economic loss caused by their lack of partner by living with their own mother. This contributes to the literature on child sex preferences, which has mostly focused on males (fathers); I have analyzed data on grandmothers to include females.

ARE THERE SEX PREFERENCES IN BRAZIL?

Society ascribes roles and expectations for people based on their sex. When the costs and benefits of each sex are different, people may have different motivations for having sons or daughters because children of different sexes are not substitutable. Sex preferences may then increase fertility, as women and couples who pursue a certain sex composition may progress to additional births. To understand how the social structure has been shaping sex preferences and fertility ideals, it is important to identify the characteristics of women with different preferences. Using responses to questions about an ideal number of children and their sex composition available in the Brazilian Demographic Health Survey of 1996 and 2006, this paper provides evidence that a balanced sex preference exists among most Brazilians; some evidence of a secondary daughter preference is also found. Evidence also shows that “gender indifference” has become more pronounced as fertility declines.