The diversity of plant resources in the Brazilian semi-arid region is being compromised by practices related to agriculture, pastures, and forest harvesting, especially in areas containing Caatinga vegetation (xeric shrublands and thorn forests). The impact of these practices constitutes a series of complex factors involving local issues, creating a need for further scientific studies on the social-environmental dynamics of natural resource use. Through participatory methods, the present study analyzed people’s representations about local environmental change processes in the (...) Brazilian semi-arid region, taking into consideration local production systems, natural resources, and their importance. Environmental historical graphs were developed with nine local families to analyze landscape changes with regard to cultivated areas and pastures, and their relationship with the availability of native vegetation. Punctuation exercises were performed to observe the importance of each unit that supplied native and cultivated resources. The availability of native resources in the environment is subject to stability, as observed by a majority of the local families. The role of the production units (crops and pastures) was emphasized by most families in the study, especially because of the need for products for subsistence needs and income generation. The current decline of such practices is a consequence of an exodus of field workers and also relates to the conservation of native species that otherwise would have been deforested in favor of agricultural practices. (shrink)

This paper examines how the riparian vegetation of perennial and ephemeral rivers systems in the semi-arid, winter rainfall region of South Africa has changed over time. Using an environmental history approach we assess the extent of change in plant cover at 32 sites using repeat photographs that cover a time span of 36-113 years. The results indicate that in the majority of sites there has been a significant increase in cover of riparian vegetation in both the channel beds (...) and adjacent floodplain environments. The most important species to have increased in cover across the region is Acacia karroo. We interpret the findings in the context of historical changes in climate and land use practices. Damage to riparian vegetation caused by mega-herbivores probably ceased sometime during the early 19th century as did scouring events related to large floods that occurred at regular intervals from the 15th to early 20th centuries. Extensive cutting of riparian vegetation for charcoal and firewood has also declined over the last 150 years. Changes in the grazing history as well as increased abstraction and dam building along perennial rivers in the region also account for some of the changes observed in riparian vegetation during the second half of the 20th century. Predictions of climate change related to global warming anticipate increased drought events with the subsequent loss of species and habitats in the study area. The evidence presented here suggests that an awareness of the region's historical ecology should be considered more carefully in the modelling and formulation of future climate change predictions as well as in the understanding of climate change impacts over time frames of decades and centuries. (shrink)

Technologies and services provided to resource-poor farmers need to be relevant and compatible with the context in which they operate. This paper examines the contribution of extension services to the food security of resource-poor farmers in a rural village in South Africa. It considers these in terms of the local context and the production of African vegetables in household food plots. A mixture of participatory, qualitative and quantitative research tools, including a household survey, is used to argue that local production (...) practices contribute more to food security requirements than the extension services. This is because of the ability of African vegetables to grow relatively well in semi-arid areas where other exotic plants do not, their ability to provide at least two foodstuffs during their life cycle, and the ability of either the fruit or the leaves, or both, to be dried and stored for consumption in the winter months. These crops can make a significant contribution in terms of household food security, but a number of social and agroecological factors are constraining their production and placing their availability under threat. Despite this, the extension services remain focused on certain activities within vegetable garden projects, even when these are not meeting their proposed purpose—food security by means of cash-crop production. The paper concludes that social and agroecological constraints could be improved if the extension services were changed. This could include the use of context specific and low-cost technologies to ensure that these crops are able to increase their contribution to household food security for resource-poor farmers in semi-arid areas. (shrink)

Precipitation deficit causes meteorological drought, and its continuation appears as other different types of droughts including hydrological, agricultural, economic, and social droughts. Multivariate Standardized Precipitation Index can show the drought status from the perspective of different drought types simultaneously. Forecasting multivariate droughts can provide good information about the future status of a region and will be applicable for the planners of different water divisions. In this study, the MLP model and its hybrid form with the Imperialistic Competitive Algorithm have been (...) investigated for the first time in multivariate drought studies. For this purpose, two semi-arid stations of western Iran were selected, and their precipitation data were provided from the Iranian Meteorological Organization, during the period of 1988–2017. MSPI was calculated in 5-time windows of the multivariate drought, including MSPI3–6, MSPI6–12, MSPI3–12, MSPI12–24, and MSPI24–48. The results showed acceptable performances in forecasting multivariate droughts. In both stations, the larger time windows had better predictions than the smaller ones. Generally, it can be reported that, by decreasing the size of the time window, the gradual changes of the index give way to sudden jumps. This causes weaker autocorrelation and consequently weaker predictions, e.g., forecasting droughts from the perspective of soil moisture and surface hydrology simultaneously. The hybrid MLP-ICA shows stronger prediction results than the simple MLP model in all comparisons. The ICA optimizer could averagely improve MLP’s accuracy by 28.5%, which is a significant improvement. According to the evaluations, the results are hopeful for simultaneous forecasting of different drought types and can be tested for other similar areas. (shrink)

Wild horses are becoming dependent on transitional environments between domesticity and wildness. In Dutch new nature areas they are learning to perform roles as ecological surrogates for their extinct ancestors. In the U.S. wild horses are 'feral' and exist in numbers deemed to be in excess of the carrying capacity of semi-arid public range lands. The federal government is removing and relocating thousands to long-term holding pastures. The capabilities approach of Nussbaum (2006) allows us to evaluate this (...) transitional environment against a threshold of opportunities to exercise capabilities judged to be central to their flourishing as wild horses. (shrink)

Western Kansas is one of the most important agricultural regions in the world. Most agricultural production in this semi-arid region depends on the consumption of nonrenewable groundwater from the High Plains Aquifer, which will be 70 % depleted by 2070. The problem of depletion has drawn significant attention from local citizens and policymakers at the federal, state, and local levels for at least 40 years, resulting in a variety of policies and institutions to manage groundwater from the aquifer (...) as a common pool resource. Yet depletion has persisted. We explain this conundrum as an outcome of a mismatch between the scale of resource management, which has become more intensively local, and the scale of resource exchange, which has rendered the High Plains Aquifer a global common pool resource. We then explain the deeper, structural origins of the management–exchange scale mismatch. Drawing on concepts from structural human ecology theory and empirical evidence from Southwest Kansas, we show that agriculture is predicated on local metabolic rift in the hydrological cycle that is exacerbated through ecological unequal exchange with higher-income, core areas beyond the region. We conclude by highlighting two key policies that, if implemented together, may lessen the deleterious effects of these structural dynamics and thus promote a more sustainable relationship between society and environment in this region and other water-scarce regions that are net-exporters of groundwater. (shrink)

There is, at present, little precise understanding of the relative contributions of the various income streams used by impoverished rural households in southern Africa. The impact of household profiles on overall income also is not well understood. There is, therefore, little consideration of these factors in national economic accounting. This paper is an attempt to reduce this gap in knowledge by reflecting on the relative contribution of agro-pastoralism, secondary woodland resources, and formal and informal cash income streams to households in (...) the semi-arid rural village of Thorndale, Limpopo Province, South Africa. In the absence of jobs and confronted with high migrant labor, households with open access to natural resources derived more benefits from land-based livelihoods than cash income streams (i.e., 57.5 % vs. 42.5 %). Total livelihood income was valued at US$2887 per household per annum. A significant correlation between monetary values derived from crops and formal wages was established, and it was found that households with high cash incomes tended to invest more in crop production. Over 80 of households were male-headed. Of these heads of household, more than 60 were long-term migrants to urban areas, leaving household decision-making to the women. The low literacy rates of women have deprived them of paid jobs outside the area and, therefore, have increased their dependence on crops (62%) and secondary woodlands resources (60%). This was further reflected in the proportion of households in which females were the main contributors of cash income (9.7%), or joint contributors with men (24.4%). Various positive correlations were established between the number of women per household and the three land-based livelihoods. This implied that women’s total control over such activities was mostly a result of the absence of men and not a typical phenomenon. In spite of this control, it was not positively reflected in the lives of majority of the women. Households differed in their participation in livelihood activities. Household size influenced the level of production and was positively correlated with the value of secondary woodland resources and crops. The study shows the interdependence of land-based livelihood sources and the impact of household features on production and consumption. Policies that focus on livelihood options need to recognize and accommodate associated household dynamics. (shrink)

The improvement of the welfare of inhabitants of arid and semi-arid lands, either through the enhancement of existing livelihoods or the promotion of alternative ones, and their potential constraints are discussed. Alternative livelihoods are discussed under regenerative and extractive themes with respect to environmental stability. Regenerative (i.e., non-extractive) livelihoods include activities like apiculture, poultry keeping, pisciculture, silkworm production, drought tolerant cash cropping, horticulture, community wildlife tourism, processing of livestock and crop products, agro-forestry for tree products, and micro-enterprises (...) in the informal sector. Examples of livelihoods that are extractive or potentially so include timber production, woodcarving, basketry, brick making, sand scooping, and charcoal making. Suggestions to improve these livelihoods in a sustainable manner are offered. (shrink)

Promoting Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) aims to increase the productive capacities of farmer households. Under FMNR, farmers select and manage natural regeneration on farmlands and keep them under production. While FMNR contributes to the wealth of farming communities, its contribution to household food security has rarely been researched. We, therefore, used a mixed-methods approach to address the research gap by measuring FMNR’s contribution to food security among farmer households in the Talensi district of Ghana. We adopted the Household Dietary (...) Diversity Score (HDDS) and Food Consumption Score (FCS) to estimate food security status among 243 FMNR farmer households and 243 non-FMNR farmer households. Also, we performed a Chi-square test of independence to compare the frequency of each food group (present vs not present) between FMNR adopters and non-FMNR adopters to establish the relationship between adopting FMNR and consuming the FCS and HDDS food groups. Our results reveal that FMNR farmer households are more food secure than non-FMNR farmer households. The HHDS of the FMNR farmer households was 9.6, which is higher than the target value of 9.1. Conversely, the HHDS of the non-FMNR farmer households was 4.3, which is lower than the target value of 9.1. Up to 86% and 37% of the FMNR farmer households and non-FMNR farmer households fell within acceptable FCS; 15% and 17% of FMNR farmer households and non-FMNR farmer households fell within borderline FCS. While none of the FMNR farmer households fell within poor FCS, 46% of non-FMNR farmer households fell within poor FCS. Adopting FMNR is significantly related to consuming all food groups promoted and benefiting from FMNR practices. The paper recommends enabling farmers in semi-arid environments to practice and invest in FMNR for long-term returns to food security. (shrink)

The scientific community has debated the importance of “return” activities after ethnobiological studies. This issue has provoked debate because it touches on the ethics of research and the relationships with the people involved in these studies. This case study aimed to investigate community perception of an ethnobotany research project that was carried out in the semi-arid region of northeastern Brazil. Furthermore, we reported how the residents of this rural community felt about participating in the activities of “return” that (...) arose from the projects. Our findings demonstrate that “return” activities should be planned from the design phase of the research until its closure as a lifelong process that allows the communities involved to gradually take ownership of the information and actions that are being generated. Similarly, we argue that such activities must be negotiated with the people of the community so that they have decision-making power and autonomy to decide what is most relevant to their lives. (shrink)

To illuminate the problems and perspectives of water management in Iran and comparable (semi-) arid Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries, three paradigms can be distinguished: the traditional, the industrial and the reflexive paradigm. Each paradigm is characterised by its key technical system, its main social institution and its ethico-religious framework. Iran seems to be in a state of transition from the ‘hydraulic mission’ of industrial modernity to a more reflexive approach to water management. This article sketches (...) the contours of the emerging paradigm: a complementary system of traditional and modern methods of water provision, a participatory water resources management and a ‘post-mechanistic’ ethico-religious framework. (shrink)

This paper contributes to recent debates pertaining to neoliberal technologies of performativity including fabrication, panopticism and post-panopticism. These terms are discussed here in relation to constant visibility from recent school inspection arrangements in England and the impact of this on school leadership. Case study research within one seaside town was drawn from two schools, one, a state primary school and the other, a state secondary school, located within an area of deprivation. Both schools had been judged as requires improvement by (...) Ofsted, but immediately before the fieldwork commenced, the secondary school received a judgment of good. Fourteen semi-structured interviews with thirteen leaders in a range of roles were undertaken to examine the conditions created by school inspection. Data is considered in relation to the features of panopticism and post-panopticism and shows leaders experience constant visibility, the pressures of performing to shifting expectations, and resultant staffing instability. This is not conducive to leaders working to improve schools, particularly those serving areas of deprivation. (shrink)

This study is based on the question of which factors some rural spaces build and eliminate existing social relations. Specifically, the social functions of places such as bridges, caravan roads, police offices, madrasah, watermills, and dams are focused subjects. It is examined how these spaces bring social groups together, how they are separated, and how they affect the displacement of these groups. On the other hand, the differences between the rural space stand out with its cultural aspects, and the urban (...) space stands out with its economic aspects are emphasized. A qualitative research design is used in this ethnographic study, which lasted more than a year. The study is limited to a certain number of places in the villages of Siirt and Batman. In this context, 35 villages in Batman and 37 villages in Siirt are visited. In these villages, a total of 72 people of different ages, genders, and occupations are interviewed. The participants are determined using the purposive sampling technique. Interviews are conducted with the participants using semi-structured interview forms. The obtained data are analyzed using the content analysis technique. As a result of the findings, it is concluded that the spaces in rural areas are consumed in a cultural sense, just like the urban spaces. Moreover, it is observed that some rural spaces, unlike urban spaces, provide individuals with new behavioral patterns. (shrink)

Specialist Sport Programs are an underexamined activity that combines the best features of two different contexts for adolescent development: a sporting program and a secondary school. A mixed-methods study was conducted to determine the influence of participation in SSPs on the educational outcomes of lower secondary students in Western Australia. The results demonstrated a significant improvement in specialist students' mean grade for Mathematics over the course of a year, while their mean grade for all other subjects, and their level of (...) engagement with school, remained stable over the same period of time. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with key stakeholders. Overall, the participants felt that SSPs had a positive influence on students' engagement with school, and that this engagement had a positive impact on their academic achievement. Taken together, the results of this research suggest that there is a role for SSPs in promoting positive educational outcomes for lower secondary students attending public schools located in low SES areas. (shrink)

The best known algebraizable logics with a conjunction and an implication have the property that the conjunction defines a meet semi-lattice in the algebras of their algebraic counterpart. This property makes it possible to associate with them a semi-lattice based deductive system as a companion. Moreover, the order of the semi-lattice is also definable using the implication. This makes that the connection between the properties of the logic and the properties of its semi-lattice based companion is (...) strong. We introduce a class of algebraizable deductive systems that includes those systems, and study some of their properties and of their semi-lattice based companions. We also study conditions which, when satisfied by a deductive system in the class, imply that it is strongly algebraizable. This brings some information on the open area of research of Abstract Algebraic Logic which consists in finding interesting characterizations of classes of algebraizable logics that are strongly algebraizable. (shrink)

Usually within the context of computer simulations in quantum chemistry practices, there is a distinction between ab initio and semi-empirical methods. Related to this, a controversy within the scientific and philosophical communities came about regarding the superiority of the ab initio methods due to their theoretical rigor. In this article we re-evaluate the condition of the semi-empirical simulations in this area of research. We examine some of the aspects of this debate that have been considered in philosophy and (...) provide additional elements to the analysis. (shrink)

Resumen En este trabajo se presentan algunos resultados acerca del uso del usted de una investigación sobre la selección pronominal llevada a cabo en tres municipios del departamento colombiano de Antioquia: 1) La ciudad de Medellín, que se considera zona urbana; 2) Carmen de Viboral, que se comprende como una zona semi rural y 3) Andes, que se entiende como una zona rural. Más concretamente, se muestra, por un lado, en cuál de las tres zonas se emplearía con más (...) frecuencia el usted y, por el otro, en qué zona se observa más notablemente la dependencia entre la selección del usted y la edad del interlocutor. La población estudiada está constituida por informantes de edades entre los 13 y los 34 años. La variable social para este artículo es el lugar de la vivienda de los informantes, es decir, zona urbana, semi rural o rural lo cual se ha correlacionado con la edad de los informantes. Para llevar a cabo esta investigación se aplicó un cuestionario, donde aparecen distintos tipos interaccionales, a los informantes de las zonas mencionadas, obteniéndose un total de 1.490 informantes. Tres técnicas estadísticas fueron aplicadas a estos datos: 1) tamaño de muestra óptimo para distribuciones multinomiales; 2) análisis de varianza con un solo factor ; 3) prueba de hipótesis para proporciones. La estadística muestra que, por un lado, en la gran mayoría de relaciones interpersonales, en Andes se usa más el usted que en Carmen de Viboral y, asimismo, en este último municipio se emplea más el usted que en Medellín; por otro lado, en Medellín, en comparación con Carmen de Viboral o Andes, se usa más el usted con interlocutores de mayor edad que con los de la misma o menor edad. En otras palabras, en las zonas rurales se usa mucho más el usted que en la zona urbana, independientemente de la edad de los interlocutores, como marca de costumbres más conservadoras. (shrink)

In our country, mildly mentally disabled students are being educated in general education classes by means of integration. An individualized education program (IEP) is being prepared for these students when needed. However, the impact of BEP on students with intellectual disabilities in religious education has not yet been sufficiently discussed. The purpose of this research is to examine the impact of the IEP on the achievement of religious education of mentally disabled students and the level of religious learning of these (...) students. For this purpose, in addition to the education given in the general education class for the 6 mildly mentally disabled integration students studying in the 4th grade of primary school, 2 hours of education were carried out in the support education room per week during the education and training year. Semi-experimental study was designed according to the single-tasked multiple-start model. Education process was evaluated by Achievement Test, the Teacher Observation Form, the pre-test based on the Self-Assessment Form, post-test and retention tests. As a result, it has been seen that BEP has a positive effect on the achievement of religious education of mentally disabled students (ZEKÖ). In this framework, it has been found that students are influenced by the society, especially by their peers, when they are given time they constitute religious knowledge, they understand normal individuals religious behaviours, they are more emotional, they forget religious information that is not used in everyday life and when they accomplish they increase self-confidence and self-esteem and internalize values.SummaryPeople differ in their creation. This difference is greater in people disabled. In terms of individual traits and educational qualifications, individuals with disabilities who are severely different from their peers and who have difficulty in playing the roles they should play are evaluated in several groups. One of these groups is mentally disabled. Mentally handicapped people have various rights as normal individuals. One of these rights is the right to education. National and international laws guarantee the educational rights of individuals with intellectual disabilities. Similarly, Islam and his best practitioner, the prophet Muhammad, did not consent to the transformation of the mentally disabled into begging masses or to their isolation, but rather to integrate them into society. According to Islam, individuals with intellectual disabilities have the “capacity to acquire rights“, even if they do not have "capacity to act". This right requires them to receive an education that takes into account their differences, just like normal individuals. Because of their learning characteristics, mentally retarded students differ from their peers, therefore they cannot benefit from the educational activities organized for normal students. So, these students need a special education to ensure that the mentally disabled are successful and live in society without being dependent.Inrecent years, in our country as well as in the world, the principle of "least restricted education environment" is taken into consideration for mentally handicapped people who need special education, which approaches to co-education with their peers. This approach is tried to-be applied at all educational levels. Due to the diagnosis and evaluation in the Guidance and Research Center, a large number of mentally retarded students are placed in normal schools. These students, like other courses, take the Religious Culture and Moral Knowledge Course together with the normal students. However, depending on their learning, they have the right to receive separate training as 1-3 people at-the support training room. The instructional adaptations necessary for the education of these students made by the Guidance and Research Centers are carried out by the teacher who plays the basic role in the education of the students. One of the important elements in the education of these mentally retarded students who need special education is the individualized education program. This program is prepared by the cooperation and joint decision of all stakeholders who may contribute to student’s education. The status of the student to participate in the learning and teaching activities, the amount and the quality of the education to be received in the support education room are made within the framework of this program.One of the most important courses in the education of mentally retarded students who are educated by inclusion is the Religion Culture and Moral Knowledge course. Because this course has the potential to make serious contributions to the socialization of students and to maintain their lives independently. However, there are a limited number of studies investigating the quality of religious education at-the scientific level. Furthermore, it has not been observed that these studies have been quasi-experimental. This study aims to reveal the quality of education for the mentally handicapped students. For this purpose, it aims to determine the contribution of religious education in the support education room to the success of the student depending on the individualized education program. It also makes it possible to make conclusions about how mentally handicapped people use their mental skills to learn religion. Depending on the aim of the study, during the 2015-2016 academic year, primary school 4th grade students and 6 mentally disabled inclusion students were educated. The quasi-experimental study was designed according to the single-subject multiple-start model. The process of the education, in other words, the development of mentally retarded students towards religious learning; were evaluated by Success Test, Teacher Observation Form and Self-Assessment Form based on pre-test, post-test and retention tests.Findings of the study; Faith, worship, the prophet Muhammad, Qur’an and its commentary, are classified according to the fields of morality, religion, and culture. The post-test achievement scores of the students in all learning areas were higher than the pre-test achievement scores. This shows that religious education in the support training room based on individualized education plan contributes positively to the success of the student. The results of the retention test are close to the results of the final test. In addition, it was determined that the students were affected by the society, especially by their peers, structured the religious knowledge when given time, they understood the religious behaviors of the normal individuals, became more emotional, forgot the religious information that is not used in daily life, increased their self-confidence and self-esteem as they succeeded and internalized the values. Based on these results, the following recommendations have been developed.Support Education Rooms should be functionalized and special attention should be given to individual or group-based religious education based on the nature and objectives of the subject in these rooms.In religious education, by taking into account the performances of mentally retarded inclusion students (MHIS), the relevant dimension of religion should be given importance according to their contribution to their normal lives and they should be consistent and patient in this process.Since MHIS has different levels of learning and perception and different developmental characteristics at every stage of life, it should prioritize their proper use of their existing capacities based on their religious education, interests and curiosities.Since MHIS is influenced by the emotion dimension rather than the information dimension of religion, religious education for them should be oriented towards life, which is not academic, literal or doctrinal, but rather their life and feelings.Similar studies with different study group students must be done and the results of the study should be interpreted comparatively. (shrink)

Computational drug repositioning has been proven as a promising and efficient strategy for discovering new uses from existing drugs. To achieve this goal, a number of computational methods have been proposed, which are based on different data sources of drugs and diseases. These methods approach the problem using either machine learning- or network-based models with an assumption that similar drugs can be used for similar diseases to identify new indications of drugs. Therefore, similarities between drugs and between diseases are usually (...) used as inputs. In addition, known drug-disease associations are also needed for the methods as prior information. It should be noted that those associations are still not well established due to the fact that many of marketed drugs have been withdrawn and this could affect the outcome of the methods. In this study, we propose a novel method named RLSDR to find new uses of drugs. More specifically, it relies on a semi-supervised learning model, Regularized Least Square, thus it does not require definition of non-drug-disease associations as previously proposed machine learning-based methods. In addition, the similarity between drugs measured by chemical structures of drug compounds and the similarity between diseases which share phenotypes can be represented in a form of either similarity network or similarity matrix as inputs of the method. Moreover, instead of using a gold-standard set of known drug-disease associations, we construct an artificial set of the associations based on known disease-gene and drug-target associations. Experiment results demonstrate that RLSDR achieves better prediction performance on the artificial set of drug-disease associations than that on the gold-standard ones in terms of area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic curve. In addition, it outperforms two representative network-based methods irrespective of the prior information of drug-disease associations. Novel indications for a number of drugs are also identified and validated by evidences from a different data resource. (shrink)

Individuals’ spatial position is affected by social factors. The majority of studies correlating spatial position and social factors have used methods with drawbacks. A more complete method was developed by Dolado & Beltran (2011) in captive animals. The present study aimed to apply a modified version of this method in two semi-free-ranging macaque groups. The proposed method divides group’s surroundings into different subareas, selecting different points in each subarea and calculating the coordinates of these points. We filmed each group (...) and analyzed the videos using an activated time transition recording to determine the individuals’ coordinates. With these data, we calculated spatial variables, allowing us to obtain groups’ spatial patterns. The current method improves on previous procedures and could be applied to larger study areas and groups than the method of Dolado & Beltran (2011), thus representing a viable option for studying spatial distribution patterns in semi-free-ranging macaque groups. (shrink)

Although there exist advantages to group-living in comparison to a solitary lifestyle, costs and gains of group-living may be unequally distributed among group members. Predation risk, vigilance levels and food intake may be unevenly distributed across group spatial geometry and certain within-group spatial positions may be more or less advantageous depending on the spatial distribution of these factors. In species characterized with dominance hierarchy, high-ranking individuals are commonly observed in advantageous spatial position. However, in complex social systems, individuals can develop (...) affiliative relationships that may balance the effect of dominance relationships in individual's spatial distribution. The objective of the present study is to investigate how the group spatial distribution of a semi-free ranging colony of Mandrills relates to its social organization. Using spatial observations in an area surrounding the feeding zone, we tested the three following hypothesis: (1) does dominance hierarchy explain being observed in proximity or far from a food patch? (2) Do affiliative associations also explain being observed in proximity or far from a food patch? (3) Do the differences in rank in the group hierarchy explain being co-observed in proximity of a food patch? Our results showed that high-ranking individuals were more observed in proximity of the feeding zone while low-ranking individuals were more observed at the boundaries of the observation area. Furthermore, we observed that affiliative relationships were also associated with individual spatial distributions and explain more of the total variance of the spatial distribution in comparison with dominance hierarchy. Finally, we found that individuals observed at a same moment in proximity of the feeding zone were more likely to be distant in the hierarchy while controlling for maternal kinship, age and sex similarity. This study brings some elements about how affiliative networks and dominance hierarchy are related to spatial positions in primates. (shrink)

The book (in German) on “Solar Energy – challenge for research, development and international co-operation” is the report of a study group of the Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin. It reviews solar thermal, photovoltaic, and bio mimetic solar energy techniques; prospects of de-central techniques in developing countries; transport and storage of solar energy; and chances for cooperation with Arabic countries and countries of the South of the former Soviet Union. The prospect of large scale energy production in arid (...) class='Hi'>areas, and the modern potentials of conducting electricity over long distances by high-voltage DC transmission (V, 2.1) are particularly relevant for the concluding section. Political chances as well as risks were considered for reliable long term cooperation with various Arab countries on these issues. The recommendations appear to be still appropriate 25 years after the book was published, particularly the political advice in favour of cooperation between Europe and suitable countries of the Maghreb. The global time scale of implementation (discussed in chapter I, 7.2) is of the same (high) magnitude as that of other major changes in the history of technology, such as the substitution of sailing ships by steamboats which took almost a century. (shrink)

One way to seek to reduce the risk of potential offenders engaging in certain types of crime in a public or semi-public area is to make it much more difficult, or even impossible, for them to gain access to the area in question and subject them to a sanction if they do enter the area. This paper considers whether preventive exclusion of this kind should be considered a pro tanto morally impermissible means of crime prevention because it violates the (...) agency of those excluded. Several variants of this agency objection to preventive exclusion are identified and critically assessed. It is argued that none persuasively show preventive exclusion to be pro tanto morally wrong. (shrink)

A botanical study of crop processing was undertaken on the semi-arid, southern Aegean islands of Karpathos and Amorgos. The present article provides details of the crop processing activities, and some contextual information concerning the wider agricultural economy. Attention is drawn to three aspects of this wider economy which are of particular significance for understanding both recent ‘traditional’ and ancient farming practice in the region. Amorgos is discussed in greater detail as the period of fieldwork was longer.

Examining the costs and motivations of warfare is key to conundrums concerning the relevance of this troubling phenomenon to the evolution of social attachment and cooperation, particularly during adolescence and young adulthood—the developmental time period during which many participants are first recruited for warfare. The study focuses on Samburu, a pastoralist society of approximately 200,000 people occupying northern Kenya’s semi-arid and arid lands, asking what role the emotionally sensitized, peer-driven adolescent life stage may have played in the (...) cultural and genetic coevolution of coalitional lethal aggression. Research in small-scale societies provides unparalleled opportunities for sharply defined variables, particularly in age generation societies in which all young men are initiated into “warriorhood.” Proposing an epigenetic and component behavior approach, we examine whether raiding activities such as number of raids, killing, and sparing enemy lives associate with DNA methylation in two candidate genes: MAOA, linked to mood and arousal, and NR3C1, linked to stress and immune response. We report statistically significant associations between the epigenetic variables and the combat variables of overall raiding activity and reportedly showing mercy to enemies. In contrast, epigenetic variables did not associate with post-traumatic stress disorder symptom scores, and the only combat variable associated with PTSD was losing one’s own livestock in a raid. These findings raise important questions concerning the mechanisms driving warfare’s paradoxical mix of violent and altruistic behaviors. (shrink)

Throughout the longstanding debate on privacy, the concept has been framed in various ways. Most often it has been discussed as an area within which individuals rightfully may expect to be left alone and in terms of certain data that they should be entitled to control. The sphere in which individuals should be granted freedom from intrusion has typically been equated with the indisputably private domestic sphere. Privacy claims in the semi-public area of work have not been sufficiently investigated. (...) In this article, the case is made that employees have reasonable expectations on privacy at work. Firstly, in a descriptive analysis, employees’ need for workspace privacy is spelt out. Secondly, a normative analysis explicates the reasons why privacy should be protected. The main thrust is to provide a more inclusive privacy concept and hence, a more adequate basis for privacy protection legislation and codes in the area of work. Contrary to prevailing workplace privacy protection, employees’ need for local privacy should be accommodated as well as informational privacy. (shrink)

Domestic livestock animals and soils must be considered together as part of an agroecosystem which includes plants. Soil sustainability may be simply defined as the maintenance of soil productivity for future generations. There are both positive and negative aspects concerning the role of animals in soil sustainability. In a positive sense, agroecosystems which include ruminant animals often also include hay forage-or pasture-based crops in the humid regions. Such crops stabilize the soil by decreasing erosion, improving soil structure and usually require (...) fewer chemical inputs. Monogastric animal culture is based on an agroecosystem consisting of mainly grain crops. These crops can result in the soil being exposed to water and wind erosion although soil conservation practices that significantly reduce soil losses may be followed. The management of animal manures is not always compatible with soil conservation practices. Careful management of the nutrients in manure is absolutely necessary to avoid nitrate contamination of ground water or phosphorus loading of streams and lakes. In a negative sense, increases in animal livestock populations in association with human population growth are promoting desertification in the arid and semi-arid regions of the world. The key component for a fully compatible and acceptable association between domestic animals and soil productivity is proper management. Careful management of the components of an animal-based agroecosystem is required if soil productivity and environmental quality are to be maintained. Although we have much to learn, technologies are available to move a considerable way towards this ideal state. (shrink)

This book is open access under a CC BY-NC 2.5 license. This book offers a devastating look at deeply flawed development processes driven by international finance, African governments and the global consulting industry. It examines major river basin development underway in the semi-arid borderlands of Ethiopia, Kenya and South Sudan and its disastrous human rights consequences for a half-million indigenous people. The volume traces the historical origins of Gibe III megadam construction along the Omo River in Ethiopia-in turn, (...) enabling irrigation for commercial-scale agricultural development and causing radical reduction of downstream Omo and (Kenya's) Lake Turkana waters. Presenting case studies of indigenous Dasanech and northernmost Turkana livelihood systems and Gibe III linked impacts on them, the author predicts agropastoral and fishing economic collapse, region-wide hunger with exposure to disease epidemics, irreversible natural resource destruction and cross-border interethnic armed conflict spilling into South Sudan. The book identifies fundamental failings of government and development bank impact assessments, including their distortion or omission of mandated transboundary assessment, cumulative effects of the Gibe III dam and its linked Ethiopia-Kenya energy transmission 'highway' project, key hydrologic and human ecological characteristics, major earthquake threat in the dam region and widespread expropriation and political repression. Violations of internationally recognized human rights, especially by the Ethiopian government but also the Kenyan government, are extensive and on the increase-with collaboration by the development banks, in breach of their own internal operational procedures. A policy crossroads has now emerged. The author presents the alternative to the present looming catastrophe-consideration of development suspension in order to undertake genuinely independent transboundary assessment and a plan for continued development action within a human rights framework-forging a sustainable future for the indigenous peoples now directly threatened and for their respective eastern Africa states. Claudia Carr's book is a treasure of detailed information gathered over many years concerning river basin development of the Omo River in Ethiopia and its impact on the peoples of the lower Omo Basin and the Lake Turkana region in Kenya. It contains numerous maps, charts, and photographs not previously available to the public. The book is highly critical of the environmental and human rights implications of the Omo River hydropower projects on both the local ethnic communities in Ethiopia and on the downstream Turkana in Kenya. David Shinn Former Ambassador to Ethiopia and to Burkina Faso Adjust Professor of International Affairs, The George Washington University, Washington D.C. (shrink)

Food insecurity and the loss of soil nutrients and productive capacity in Africa are serious problems in light of the rapidly growing African population. In semi-arid central Tanzania currently practiced traditional crop production systems are no longer adaptive. Organic crop production methods alone, while having the capacity to enable food security, are not feasible for these small-scale farmers because of the extra land, skill, resources, and 5–7 years needed to benefit from them—particularly for maize. Maize, grown by 94 (...) % of farmers, has substantial nitrogen needs. The most practical ways of satisfying maize nutrient needs is via integrated soil fertility management, a combination of organic and Green Revolution methods. Maize has been shown in research to outyield the indigenous crops millet and sorghum in nearly all situations including drought. Conservation Agriculture (CA) in Africa has two main categories—organic and herbicide-mediated. The organic version of CA, despite years of promotion, has had a low rate of adoption. Herbicide-mediated zero tillage CA via backpack sprayer can substantially increase conventional maize yields while at the same time nearly eliminating erosion and increasing rainwater capture up to fivefold. Glyphosate herbicide is a non-proprietary product produced in Africa and approved for small farm use. The systemic nature of glyphosate allows the killing of perennial grasses that would otherwise need deep plowing to kill. The rooted weed residues protect the soil from erosion. The risks of glyphosate use are substantially outweighed by the benefits of increased food security and crop system sustainability. (shrink)

This article explores the afterlives of the photographic production by Ruy Duarte de Carvalho (1941-2010), a Portuguese-born Angolan anthropologist who amidst the country's long-lasting civil war (1975-2002) engaged with the Ovakuvale trans-humant shepherds dwelling in the semi-arid region of southern Angola. Through the 1990s, Carvalho used analogue photographic cameras to document his field-work among the Ovakuvale, and afterwards engaged in various experiments with the medium for ethnographic purposes. Departing from the current assemblage of Carvalho's personal archive that remains (...) after he passed away, I explore distinct photographic relations connected to public usages of his Ovakuvale images during his lifetime, to discuss the ways in which he articulated them through diverse expressive modes and ventures - such as watercolours, illustrated publications, temporary exhibitions and a theatre play. Offering the opportunity to surrender to a broad experimental practice that makes his overall Ovakuvale ethnography particularly revealing, I project through the current archival assemblage a comparative approach to the rationales guiding the presentation of his Ovakuvale field images, to discuss salient temporal relationships between his method to produce and later reuse these images in postcolonial times. (shrink)

Direct to consumer offerings of unproven stem cell interventions is a pressing scientific and policy issue. According to media reports, providers of SCIs have emerged in Canada. This study provides the first systematic scan of Canadian providers and associated trends and claims. The study sample consisted of 15 websites retrieved from a Google™ keyword search. The websites were assessed by a rater using a peer-reviewed coding frame that queried treatment location, stem cell offerings, treatment claims, supporting evidence, and legal and (...) regulatory compliance. A second rater reviewed a subset of the websites for purposes of inter-rater reliability. Disagreements between raters were resolved by consensus. Data collected by the raters was analyzed in SPSS. Physicians are the dominant treatment providers in Canada. Providers operate in urban and semi-urban areas in the most populous provinces. SCIs provided are mainly autologous adult stem cells for multiple conditions including musculoskeletal disorders, spinal cord injury and diabetes. Efficacy and benefits of treatment are prominently and positively portrayed, while risks are not mentioned or portrayed as trivial. Regulatory concerns are not discussed. The involvement of physicians in promoting and providing unproven and unapproved SCIs raises significant ethical, legal and regulatory concerns. Treatment claims and trends appear to contravene applicable professional standards, statutory obligations, and consumer protection laws. While the number of providers observed is still marginal, urgent and proactive regulatory response is needed to prevent proliferation of a potentially exploitative and harmful market for unproven SCIs in Canada. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Buddhist-Christian Dialogue:Looking Back, Looking Ahead, and Listening Ever More DeeplySallie B. KingI was asked to give a brief overview of the subject of the Buddhist-Christian dialogue, looking back over its history and looking ahead to its future. I begin with two caveats. First, of necessity, this account will be very general and I will paint with a very broad brush. I cannot speak to the many variations and exceptions (...) to many, if not all, of the general statements that I make. Second, inevitably, this account will also be very subjective. It will especially be colored by my visits in recent years to Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Taiwan.the dialogue on religious thoughtLooking back over the history of the Buddhist-Christian dialogue, one notices a pattern that is regularly remarked upon: Christians show a lot more interest in dialogue with Buddhists than Buddhists show in dialogue with Christians. This is especially the case with respect to dialogue regarding each other’s religious thought.1 Sometimes Christians observe this fact with dismay, or with the implication that there is something wrong with the Buddhist side because of this lack of interest. There is a sense among some Christians that Buddhists should be more interested in learning from Christianity on the level of religious thought. I would like to address this idea that Buddhists should be more interested in learning from Christianity on the level of religious thought.First, several people have noted that the place and function of religious thought in Buddhism are rather different than their place and function in Christianity. For example, as Rita Gross has pointed out, some forms of Buddhist meditation have no reference to Buddhist thought at all—especially some Theravada practices such as mindfulness and choiceless awareness—whereas neither she (at least, at that time) nor I can think of any Christian meditation that doesn’t reference God or Jesus.2Again, Rita Gross has stated that for Christians to take at least some Buddhist thoughts and practices seriously, they needn’t give up necessarily any of their own fundamental doctrinal commitments, whereas the reverse is not the case.3 That is, a [End Page 7] Buddhist who wanted to take Christian thought seriously would almost immediately come face-to-face with Christianity’s theism. They likely would be unable to proceed, since accepting theism would require them to forego the whole edifice of Buddhist thought.Here I must demur. It is true that Christianity’s theism and Buddhism’s nontheism give fundamentally different foundations to their respective worldviews. But surely there are some elements of Christian thought and practice that Buddhists could absorb from Christianity without a fundamental reorientation. Some examples of ideas in Christianity that seem unthreatening to the foundations of Buddhism, yet potentially growth-inspiring for Buddhism in dialogue, come readily to mind. For example, as the relative place of laypeople shifts within modernizing Buddhism, a great deal might be learned from Christian thought on church and community. Again, Christian thought that contemplates realization of the Kingdom of God here and now might be of interest to those Taiwanese Buddhists who speak of a “Pure Land on Earth.” Even in the (semi-)ontological area, Christian thought on Spirit or pneuma might make for a potentially enriching dialogical partner for Buddhists, with their ideas on Buddha nature, Tathagatagarbha and Dharmakaya. The two sets of thinking on Natural Law could be a place of mutual learning. And many of the parables of Jesus have the power to cause people to see things in a new way, regardless of world-view. There is much that Buddhists could absorb from Christians while maintaining their basic worldview. Yet it remains true that it is hard to see much evidence of Buddhists absorbing anything substantial from Christian religious thought.I think that at this point in the Buddhist-Christian dialogue, we can say that the Buddhists have voted with their feet. Buddhist dialoguers are not ignorant of Christian religious thought. There have been some rather deep Buddhist studies, for example, of Jesus and of Christian mystics.4 However, it seems clear that they haven’t, as a rule, found anything there that has... (shrink)

After completing or dropping out of school, many young people leave their family households and in some cases they move from rural or semi-rural areas to urban centres. Faith-based organisations in major cities in South Africa sometimes act as a safety net for marginalised youth, especially as government departments are overburdened and not addressing all the needs of youth at the margins. This qualitative research is based on an analysis of individual and focus group interviews undertaken with young (...) people living in the central areas of Pretoria. It is shown how families and FBOs engage as separate, although at times not unrelated, entities in the lives of youth at the margins. In certain cases, the FBO became an institution of last resort and only in rare cases is a certain synergy achieved between FBOs and families. (shrink)

In many countries around the world, the mechanisms of civil society have become very commonplace. Large companies are under constant pressure from civil society organizations to change their policies, strategies and approaches. The tobacco industry in particular is under heavy pressure in many parts of the world. Smoking has been prohibited in many public as well as private or semi-private areas in a large number of countries. However, while smoking as an addiction seems to be declining in some (...) countries, in others it is not. This paper presents an example of a country (Indonesia) in which smoking is still on the rise. We discuss how mechanisms of civil society are a chance to at least improve the situation and effectively combat a grave social problem. (shrink)

With growing global concerns about water scarcity and environmental sustainability, understanding the factors influencing individual water conservation behaviors is crucial. This study utilizes the Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF) analytics to investigate the relationship between concerns of local issues and water conservation behaviors in a sample of 1831 residents in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. New Mexico is an arid region of which 90% faced severe drought driven by the most significant wildfire in state history and some of the driest months (...) ever recorded in 2022. The results show a positive association between the drought or water scarcity concern and the number of water conservation behaviors adopted. Likewise, the positive association between the concern about population growth and development and water conservation behaviors is also observed. However, further examination is needed due to the weak reliability of this relationship. In contrast, negative associations between concerns about water quality and water bills with water conservation behaviors are also identified. Based on these findings, the study discusses the potential of building the eco-surplus culture by improving information dissemination of water-saving methods and existing water-related issues in the local areas. (shrink)

The purpose of this study is to map the medicalisation of learning difficulties in the remote and mountainous areas in Chania Prefecture, Crete, when pupils are referred to Diagnostic Institutes to be assessed and possibly receive a learning difficulty diagnosis. It provides evidence on the fact that the learning difficulties identification procedure tends to be individually oriented and to neglect contextual dimensions, as well as the interactions between them, particularly in light of the consequences of the socioeconomic crisis in (...) Greece. The remote and mountainous areas in Chania Prefecture, Crete, serve as a case study. Educational documents, archives, newspapers, and laws are examined, and six semi-structured interviews are conducted and analysed. The analysis yields two core themes: a. Exaggerated diagnoses: a compensatory tool and b. The emergence of the environment of the contexts: the impacts of the socioeconomic crisis. As an outcome of the analysis, it occurs that the medicalisation of learning difficulties appears to impose an obstacle to the detection of the deeper systemic, social, and political causes of these difficulties. It may also fail to sufficiently address the needs of the involved parts, namely pupils, parents, and schools. Given the implications arising from the study that indicate the systemic nature and influences of learning difficulties, the necessity for a transition towards a bioecological approach is discussed. (shrink)

Area number x is called k-monotonically computable , for constant k > 0, if there is a computable sequence n ∈ ℕ of rational numbers which converges to x such that the convergence is k-monotonic in the sense that k · |x — xn| ≥ |x — xm| for any m > n and x is monotonically computable if it is k-mc for some k > 0. x is weakly computable if there is a computable sequence s ∈ ℕ of (...) rational numbers converging to x such that the sum equation image|xs — xs + 1| is finite. In this paper we show that a mc real numbers are weakly computable but the converse fails. Furthermore, we show also an infinite hierarchy of mc real numbers. (shrink)

This article brings together two different topics: reflective equilibrium (RE) and belief revision theory (BRT). RE is a popular method of justification in many areas of philosophy, it involves a process of mutual adjustments striving for a state of coherence, but it lacks formally rigorous elaborations and faces severe criticism. To elucidate core elements of RE and provide a solid basis to address objections, a formal model of RE within BRT is presented. A fruitful starting point to the formalization (...) of RE is Olsson’s coherentist interpretation of semi-revision, but it does not come with a comparative notion of stability. This paper develops an account of comparative stability in an RE setting for belief changing operations. The operations are useful to characterize RE states as well as processes, and they are shown to satisfy postulates of rational belief change. (shrink)

Efforts to preserve cultural heritage have continuedthroughout history, and currently use game technology. Seriousgames, with their audio-visual features make it possible for players toabsorb and retain the often rather arid data of heritage. Furthermore,such technology facilitates the transmission of heritage globallyamongst remote people, without the need to commute personally.Exploring the literature, we noted a lack of local game culture in Iran,and in the Middle East more broadly. This region is limited in terms ofthe existing global game industry, and the (...) introduction of its culture tothe world depends on the global market. This ascertains the paper'sresearch problem: the need for more local games in the field to promote local historical culture. Hence, the paper aims to preserve anddisseminate the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of its focus area, Iran’s Silk Roads and its caravanserais, by developing and testing a serious game named The Sericum Via. It has a non-linearnarrative, engaging the player in a long journey visiting the Safavidcaravanserais on the Silk Roads, using their detailed information. Thegame's text-based and strategic environment demands decision-making skills throughout the game and is challenging enough to makethe player revisit the game frequently. (shrink)

Steffen Ganghof’s book addresses pressing questions in democratic theory and institutional design regarding how to promote effective political inclusion and avoid personalizing power in democratic executives. His model of semi-parliamentarism manages to transform tradeoffs in these areas that were previously thought inescapable, unlocking novel potential for democratic reform.

Urquhart works in several areas of logic where he has proved important results. Our paper outlines his topological lattice representation and attempts to relate it to other lattice representations. We show that there are different ways to generalize Priestley’s representation of distributive lattices—Urquhart’s being one of them, which tries to keep prime filters in the representation. Along the way, we also mention how semi-lattices and lattices figured into Urquhart’s work.

A summary of recent experimental results shows that entanglement can be generated more easily than before, and that there are improved chances for its persistence. An eminent finding of Generalised Quantum Theory is the insight that the notion of entanglement can be extended, such that, e.g., psychological or psychophysical problem areas can be included, too. First, a general condition for entanglement to occur is given by the term ‘common prearranged context’. A formalised treatment requires a quantitative definition of the (...) similarity or dissimilarity between two complex structures which takes their internal structures into account. After some specific remarks on distance, metrics, and semi-metrics in mathematics, a procedure is described for setting up a similarity function with the required properties. This procedure is in analogy with the two-step character of measurement and with the well-known properties of perspective notions. A general methodology can be derived for handling perspective notions. Finally, these concepts supply heuristic clues towards a formalised treatment of the notions of ‘meaning’ and ‘interpretation’. (shrink)

Recent discussions in the area of corporate social responsibility suggest that organizational size has complex meanings and thus requires more scholarly attention. This article explores organizational size in the context of relative power in inter-organizational networks. To shed light on the ways relative power interacts with size we studied social responsibility practices among cleaning subcontractors in three firms of different sizes. Our focus on the network differentiates these firms on the basis of their size and sector. Semi-structured interviews were (...) used to trace cleaning subcontractors' CSR-related practices. We analyzed subjective reports and discursive practices involved in subcontractors' self-presentations. While the economic and philanthropic dimensions of social responsibility were presented by the cleaning subcontractors as independent of network constraints, the findings show that the legal and ethical dimensions were subject to large client-firm pressures. What we learn from our data is that the four dimensions of Carroll's model, the economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic, should all develop from and be evaluated against a fifth root dimension of inter-personal commitment. (shrink)

The gifted education research area is rapidly expanding in Sweden. In the context of very limited research nationally, demands are increasing for steering documents and addressing of student and teacher needs in practice. However, Swedish research on students that are ‘twice exceptional’—students classified as being both gifted and disabled (for instance, through a neurodevelopmental disorder such as ADHD)—is nearly non-existent. In this study, we present an exploratory single case study of a female student in school year seven based on (...) class='Hi'>semi-structured individual interviews with the student and her two guardians regarding her educational situation. The data were first inductively coded and triangulated in collaboration between three of the authors. A fourth author later independently and deductively coded one-third of the data based on the previously inductively determined thematic structure and conducted a consensus interrater reliability check, exceeding 85% percent agreement. The three main themes are as follows: (1) multiplex perspectives on academic outcomes and expectations, (2) the intersection between twice exceptionality and academic work, and (3) information and perceptions about twice exceptionality. The results indicate several educational challenges and opportunities for twice exceptional students. Further research is needed regarding twice exceptional students in Sweden. (shrink)

This research used a semi-structured interview method and Smith and Osborn's interpretive phenomenological analysis to investigate a female prostitute's experiences of stigma associated with her work. To structure the interview schedule, Seidman's in-depth phenomenologically based interviewing method, which comprises three areas of focus, “focused life history,” “details of the experience” under investigation, and “reflection of the meaning” of the experience, was used as a general guide. Ten broad psychological themes were identified: 1) awareness of engaging in what people (...) think is bad; negative labeling by people who discover she is a prostitute; 3) hiding and lying about her identity as a prostitute to avoid being labeled negatively; 4) hiding and lying about her prostitution identity result in stress, anxiety, and exhaustion; 5) wishing she did not have to hide and lie about being a prostitute; 6) questioning and objecting to the stigmatization of prostitution; 7) managing the sense of stigmatization by persons who know about her prostitution by shifting focus away from devaluing and toward valuable qualities of prostitution; 8) developing occupational esteem and self-esteem through reflection of values; 9) compassion towards other people who suffer from stigma; and 10) resiliency. (shrink)

Not all questions for explanation are answered by referring to a cause. Yet many answers to questions like: Why is something the case? Why does this occur? do mention a cause or are phrased as a causal explanation. Salmon seems to suggest that even functional explanations might sometimes be reformulated as a causal one. As an illustration of a functional explanation he mentions the fact that jackrabbits in the southwestern part of the United States have extremely large ears because they (...) constitute an effective mechanism for the temperature regulation these rabbits need in the hot, arid regions they inhabit. Following Salmon’s causal account of a functional explanation one could phrase the answer to the question: What is the cause of the long ears of the jackrabbits? as: The hot and arid nature of the habitat where they live. Understood in this way, it is the heat of the area that is the cause of the extremely long ears of the jackrabbits. Yet there are some problems with this kind of a cause. The causal connection between the heat and the long ears is of a different nature than the one between the heat and the rise of the body temperature. The functional explanation even rephrased as a causal one can hardly be understood just in terms of a physical cause and effect. The causal effect of heat in relation to the development of long ears depends on the goal or function they serve for the survival of the jackrabbit under the specific conditions of its habitat. (shrink)