ScienceDaily (Oct. 16, 2012) ? To whom a man's possessions go when he dies is both a matter of cultural norm and evolutionary advantage.
In most human societies, men pass on their worldly goods to their wife's children. But in about 10 percent of societies, men inexplicably transfer their wealth to their sister's sons -- what's called "mother's brother-sister's son" inheritance. A new study on this unusual form of matrilineal inheritance by Santa Fe Institute reseacher Laura Fortunato has produced insights into this practice.
Her findings appear October 17 in the online edition of Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
"Matrilineal inheritance is puzzling for anthropologists because it causes tension for a man caught between his sisters and wife," explains Fortunato, who has used game theory to study mother's brother-sister's son inheritance. "From an evolutionary perspective it's also puzzling because you expect an individual to invest in his closest relatives -- usually the individual's own children."
For decades research on the practice of matrilineal inheritance focused on the probabilities of a man being the biological father of his wife's children -- probabilities that lie on a sliding scale depending on the rate of promiscuity or whether polyandrous marriage (when a woman takes two or more husbands) is practiced.
Of special interest has been the probability value below which man is more closely related to his sister's children than to his wife's children. Below this "paternity threshold" a man is better off investing in his sister's offspring, who are sure to be blood relatives, than his own wife's children.
In her work modeling the evolutionary payoffs of marriage and inheritance strategies, Fortunato looked beyond the paternity threshold to see, among other things, what payoffs there were for men and women in different marital situations -- including polygamy.
"What emerges is quite interesting," says Fortunato. "Where inheritance is matrilineal, a man with multiple wives 'wins' over a man with a single wife." That's because wives have brothers, and those brothers will pass on their wealth to the husband's sons. So more wives means more brothers-in-laws to invest in your sons.
The model also shows an effect for women with multiple husbands. The husband of a woman with multiple husbands is unsure of his paternity, so he may be better off investing in his sister's offspring.
"A woman does not benefit from multiple husbands where inheritance is matrilineal, however," Fortunato explains, "because her husbands will invest in their sisters' kids." Family structure determines how societies handle relatedness and reproduction issues, Fortunato says. Understanding these practices and their evolutionary implications is a prerequisite for a theory of human behavior.
Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:
Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Santa Fe Institute.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Dr Laura Fortunato. The evolution of matrilineal kinship organization. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, October 17, 2012 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2012.1926
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
NYU researcher awarded $3.7 million NIH grant to study how older adults access oral health carePublic release date: 16-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: christopher james christopher.james@nyu.edu 212-998-6876 New York University
Research looks at racial and ethnic older adults living in underserved urban communities in NYC
Dr. Mary E. Northridge, assistant professor of epidemiology and health promotion at the New York University College of Dentistry, has been awarded a five-year, $3.7 million grant from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) and the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR), of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to analyze how racial and ethnic older adults living in underserved urban communities in NYC overcome barriers to accessing oral health care services.
The research will involve recent systems science methodological developments enabled by computational advances, which have spurred a body of research on the effects of multiple scales and dimensions on health behaviors and outcomes using sophisticated computer modeling to assist in analyzing the data.
"Systems science is an approach which includes data from the micro-scale of the mouth, to the interpersonal scale of social networking in the community, to the societal scale, involving issues such as the lack of Medicare coverage for routine dental exams. The systems science approach to framing the problem of dental health among disadvantaged urban older adults is a way of visualizing the problem," said Dr. Northridge. "This visualization makes it easier to convey the breadth of issues involved in oral healthcare access for older adults and to draw up recommendations for overcoming access-to-care barriers," she said.
To this end, Dr. Northridge, who has developed the study protocol along with her co-principal investigators Dr. Carol Kunzel and Dr. Sara S. Metcalf, assembled a group of social and systems scientists to tackle the research as a team.
Dr. Kunzel, associate professor of clinical dental community health and clinical sociomedical sciences at the Columbia University College of Dental Medicine, will oversee the participant interviews. Dr. Metcalf, assistant professor of geography at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo, will develop a portfolio of systems science models depicting the dynamic relationships among factors at the individual, interpersonal, and community scales that are involved in shaping participants' utilization of oral healthcare services.
Using system dynamics modeling, the investigators seek to advance research that began in 2010 when the NIDCR and the OBSSR awarded Dr. Northridge a two-year, $431,914 grant to examine the oral health of medically- and dentally-underserved Hispanic and African-American older adult participants in a New York City oral health outreach initiative sponsored by the Eldersmile Program of the Columbia University College of Dental Medicine.
Dr. Northridge found that edentulism (the condition of lacking teeth) a key measure of oral health was 27.3 percent among adults 65 and over nationally, compared with 19.5 percent for adults 65 and over participating in the Eldersmile program, which provides oral health education, screening, and treatment referrals, as well as hypertension and diabetes screenings and referrals at more than 50 senior centers in the Harlem and Washington Heights/Inwood neighborhoods.
"How the underserved group overcame barriers like lower education levels and higher poverty rates to successfully take advantage of dental services and achieve better oral health than the US national average is an intriguing question," Dr. Northridge remarked. "Our new study aims to answer the question and draw lessons that can be applied to improve access to care for older adults nationwide."
In the newly-funded study, investigators will visit senior centers in Harlem and Washington Heights/Inwood to interview 16 directors and staff members and 256 Hispanic and African-American adults ages 50 and over who both are and are not participating in the Eldersmile program.
The researchers have two aims: 1) to examine a broad array of issues related to access to care, including how people in the community tap into social networks to find information on social services in general and dental care in particular; how friends and family support one another to overcome obstacles to accessing care; attitudes towards dentists and oral health care; past experiences with clinic-based dental programs; and awareness of the Eldersmile program; and 2) to ask participants about attitudes towards being screened for hypertension and diabetes at a dental visit.
"With more people in general and our aging and more racially and ethnically-diverse population in particular seeking primary health care as a result of the Affordable Care Act, it makes sense for dentists to become actively involved in screening for chronic systemic conditions that have been linked to poor oral health in older adults," explained Dr. Northridge. "Understanding older adults' views on this issue is part of the process of building the case for systemic health screenings in the dental setting."
Based on the study's findings, Dr. Northridge plans to develop a protocol for incorporating diabetes and hypertension screenings into routine dental examinations, and to test the protocol in local private practice settings, and, ultimately, on a national level.
Prior to joining the NYU College of Dentistry in 2010, Dr. Northridge had been a professor of clinical sociomedical sciences (in dental medicine) at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. She currently serves as editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Public Health.
###
***Additional coinvestigators on the grant include Dr. Ralph Katz, professor and chairman of the Department of Epidemiology and Health Promotion, and Ms. Emilie Godfrey, research administrator and adjunct associate professor of epidemiology and health promotion, both at the NYU College of Dentistry; Dr. Michele G. Shedlin, professor of nursing at the NYU College of Nursing; Dr. Hua Wang, assistant professor of communication and research assistant professor of community health and health behavior at SUNY-Buffalo; and Dr. Stephen Marshall, senior associate dean for extramural programs and associate professor of clinical dentistry at the Columbia University College of Dental Medicine. Both Columbia University College of Dental Medicine and SUNY-Buffalo are subcontractors on the grant.
NIH Grant # R01DE023072
About New York University College of Dentistry--New York University College of Dentistry (NYUCD) is the third oldest and the largest dental school in the US, educating more than 8 percent of all dentists. NYUCD has a significant global reach and provides a level of national and international diversity among its students that is unmatched by any other dental school.
About Columbia University College of Dental Medicine (CDM): CDM has been known for most of its history as the School of Dental and Oral Surgery. Located on the University's Medical Center Campus, the College links its research and teaching programs to the vast resources of the University in general and the Medical Center in particular.
About SUNY-Buffalo: The University at Buffalo is a flagship institution in the State University of New York system and its largest and most comprehensive campus. UB's more than 28,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
NYU researcher awarded $3.7 million NIH grant to study how older adults access oral health carePublic release date: 16-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: christopher james christopher.james@nyu.edu 212-998-6876 New York University
Research looks at racial and ethnic older adults living in underserved urban communities in NYC
Dr. Mary E. Northridge, assistant professor of epidemiology and health promotion at the New York University College of Dentistry, has been awarded a five-year, $3.7 million grant from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) and the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR), of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to analyze how racial and ethnic older adults living in underserved urban communities in NYC overcome barriers to accessing oral health care services.
The research will involve recent systems science methodological developments enabled by computational advances, which have spurred a body of research on the effects of multiple scales and dimensions on health behaviors and outcomes using sophisticated computer modeling to assist in analyzing the data.
"Systems science is an approach which includes data from the micro-scale of the mouth, to the interpersonal scale of social networking in the community, to the societal scale, involving issues such as the lack of Medicare coverage for routine dental exams. The systems science approach to framing the problem of dental health among disadvantaged urban older adults is a way of visualizing the problem," said Dr. Northridge. "This visualization makes it easier to convey the breadth of issues involved in oral healthcare access for older adults and to draw up recommendations for overcoming access-to-care barriers," she said.
To this end, Dr. Northridge, who has developed the study protocol along with her co-principal investigators Dr. Carol Kunzel and Dr. Sara S. Metcalf, assembled a group of social and systems scientists to tackle the research as a team.
Dr. Kunzel, associate professor of clinical dental community health and clinical sociomedical sciences at the Columbia University College of Dental Medicine, will oversee the participant interviews. Dr. Metcalf, assistant professor of geography at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo, will develop a portfolio of systems science models depicting the dynamic relationships among factors at the individual, interpersonal, and community scales that are involved in shaping participants' utilization of oral healthcare services.
Using system dynamics modeling, the investigators seek to advance research that began in 2010 when the NIDCR and the OBSSR awarded Dr. Northridge a two-year, $431,914 grant to examine the oral health of medically- and dentally-underserved Hispanic and African-American older adult participants in a New York City oral health outreach initiative sponsored by the Eldersmile Program of the Columbia University College of Dental Medicine.
Dr. Northridge found that edentulism (the condition of lacking teeth) a key measure of oral health was 27.3 percent among adults 65 and over nationally, compared with 19.5 percent for adults 65 and over participating in the Eldersmile program, which provides oral health education, screening, and treatment referrals, as well as hypertension and diabetes screenings and referrals at more than 50 senior centers in the Harlem and Washington Heights/Inwood neighborhoods.
"How the underserved group overcame barriers like lower education levels and higher poverty rates to successfully take advantage of dental services and achieve better oral health than the US national average is an intriguing question," Dr. Northridge remarked. "Our new study aims to answer the question and draw lessons that can be applied to improve access to care for older adults nationwide."
In the newly-funded study, investigators will visit senior centers in Harlem and Washington Heights/Inwood to interview 16 directors and staff members and 256 Hispanic and African-American adults ages 50 and over who both are and are not participating in the Eldersmile program.
The researchers have two aims: 1) to examine a broad array of issues related to access to care, including how people in the community tap into social networks to find information on social services in general and dental care in particular; how friends and family support one another to overcome obstacles to accessing care; attitudes towards dentists and oral health care; past experiences with clinic-based dental programs; and awareness of the Eldersmile program; and 2) to ask participants about attitudes towards being screened for hypertension and diabetes at a dental visit.
"With more people in general and our aging and more racially and ethnically-diverse population in particular seeking primary health care as a result of the Affordable Care Act, it makes sense for dentists to become actively involved in screening for chronic systemic conditions that have been linked to poor oral health in older adults," explained Dr. Northridge. "Understanding older adults' views on this issue is part of the process of building the case for systemic health screenings in the dental setting."
Based on the study's findings, Dr. Northridge plans to develop a protocol for incorporating diabetes and hypertension screenings into routine dental examinations, and to test the protocol in local private practice settings, and, ultimately, on a national level.
Prior to joining the NYU College of Dentistry in 2010, Dr. Northridge had been a professor of clinical sociomedical sciences (in dental medicine) at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. She currently serves as editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Public Health.
###
***Additional coinvestigators on the grant include Dr. Ralph Katz, professor and chairman of the Department of Epidemiology and Health Promotion, and Ms. Emilie Godfrey, research administrator and adjunct associate professor of epidemiology and health promotion, both at the NYU College of Dentistry; Dr. Michele G. Shedlin, professor of nursing at the NYU College of Nursing; Dr. Hua Wang, assistant professor of communication and research assistant professor of community health and health behavior at SUNY-Buffalo; and Dr. Stephen Marshall, senior associate dean for extramural programs and associate professor of clinical dentistry at the Columbia University College of Dental Medicine. Both Columbia University College of Dental Medicine and SUNY-Buffalo are subcontractors on the grant.
NIH Grant # R01DE023072
About New York University College of Dentistry--New York University College of Dentistry (NYUCD) is the third oldest and the largest dental school in the US, educating more than 8 percent of all dentists. NYUCD has a significant global reach and provides a level of national and international diversity among its students that is unmatched by any other dental school.
About Columbia University College of Dental Medicine (CDM): CDM has been known for most of its history as the School of Dental and Oral Surgery. Located on the University's Medical Center Campus, the College links its research and teaching programs to the vast resources of the University in general and the Medical Center in particular.
About SUNY-Buffalo: The University at Buffalo is a flagship institution in the State University of New York system and its largest and most comprehensive campus. UB's more than 28,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Rdio Will Pay Musicians Directly 16th October 2012
Rdio, the music-streaming service representing a good challenger to Spotify, decided to adopt an innovative business model. The portal has announced that it would offer payments to artists based on each fan on the site.
Rdio called this project the ?Artist Program? and offered the musicians $10 for every new fan who subscribes to streaming music service through a social media channel. This innovative approach will definitely appeal to musicians and may put the portal ahead of its largest competitors, because the others are currently using one single way of offering music ? trying to make a deal with record labels over the royalties to musicians. In the meantime, everyone knows that artists get only a tiny share of the label?s profits.
At the moment, the premium members of the service can pay $10 monthly in exchange for the possibility to access Rdio?s music catalog. When the new approach is enforced, it will actually make a unique payment of $10 per new fan to musicians. This has a really promising future.
The ?Artist Program? was mostly inspired by the musicians themselves ? in particular, those artists who are extremely popular on the largest social networks like Facebook and Twitter. The streaming service recognized the potential of turning their followers into its own subscribers, while the musicians would also be benefiting from actually being paid by their fans. Everyone wins.
This business model was approved by many artists, including Snoop Dogg, The Scissor Sisters and The Raconteurs, who have already joined this movement. This trend may be a reason for worry for the record labels, as they can get for the first time a token of their mortality. Rdio?s representatives explained in the interview that in fact, there can?t be art without artists. The entertainment industry should realize that if a business fails to reward its most important contributors, then it definitely needs changes.
It will be interesting to see how this approach will work out for both the streaming portal and the musicians. It is also unclear how music fans will receive this suggestion, but the industry observers believe that they will readily embrace this business model. At least they will know that they are helping the artists they love, not record labels that they have no idea of.
Like this:
Be the first to like this.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 16th, 2012 at 4:56 pm and is filed under Streaming. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
October 15th was designated in 1988 by Ronald Reagan as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. For today?s post, we were invited to light our candles for the Wave Of Light ceremony and then photograph them. If someone in each time zone lights a candle and lets it burn for one hour, there will be a continuous Wave Of Light spanning 24 hours and encircling the globe.
As I prepared to light my candles (one for Skye and another for the tiny baby I miscarried in July, 2011) I thought about the items I wanted in my display. I chose the ones that are the very dearest to me. I would have put out Skye?s pictures in their frames, but those are still packed away in a box awaiting a house and furniture to set them on, a more permanent place. The items I did choose, however, are among my few earthly treasures.
The 3 largest sculptures were painted by my sisters and given to me in 2009 for what would have been Skye?s 1 year birthday. There is an angel sculpture that came in one of the plants from her funeral, a plant I no longer have because some very depraved person came onto my fenced in porch and stole it from me. They may never know how my heart broke that day and I cried over losing my 2 plants, the only remaining living things I had instead of a baby to care for. There is a Willow tree angel I got at her funeral also, a Beauty From A Broken Heart sculpture I made this summer that bears her name and birthday, and 2 sculptures from The Midnight Orange, one a birthday gift this year from my mom and a one of a kind collaboration piece featuring a hand painted pebble from Casey Doiron, the other a sculpture I had custom-made to memorialize what Skye Blue has blossomed into this year, with my baby girl as my inspiration.
The lights themselves are simple, Skye has her name on one, and the other is smaller and nameless, like the early miscarriage I experienced. The flood of emotion that came hurdling up my throat when I viewed the finished display, however, that was far from simple. As I write this I am about 20 minutes into my hour of remembering. My 3-year-old daughter can be heard playing happily and innocently in the next room and my son, due to be born in just 9 weeks, is moving gently in my belly and those are complicated emotions too.
Today, 4 years ago, I attended the first funeral for Skye in Central Kentucky, then we tenderly and broken heartedly loaded her tiny coffin into the back seat of our humble Kia and drove 3 hours west, ready to lay her body to rest for good the following morning. It was not at all how we had planned taking our baby to that part of the state to meet many family members for the first time. She was not wrapped in a blanket, secure in her car seat, rosy with life. We were not smiling very much. The day was just as beautiful then as it has been today, though, clear blue sky and colored leaves and balmy weather. But our baby was in a box, at least her body was, and after we handed her box over to the funeral home there in Salem, we would never hold her again.
It was October 15th, 2008.
8 PM CST Columbia Tennessee, USA October 15th 2012
Filed under: biography, short and sweet, Grief Tagged: | baby, blog challenge, Capture Your Grief, Carly Marie, child loss, death, Elizabeth Skye Champion, Fall, family, God, grief, grieving, honesty, hope, inspiration, Kentucky, life, loss, love, October, October 15th, photo challenge, prayer, support, Wave Of Light
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_u_5IIf1-t4jLH249J2i4T9DDIbrW6rThZCjo75N3Eu8L3AEvTqKYpTzUPrTSFMdFtuwi5XiQo9vXW4LlHyvoay7qQRzrQyejhj3M8nGgw=s0-d){kind=small}
Public release date: 16-Oct-2012
Share ] 
Rdio Will Pay Musicians Directly
