Divergent Tendencies Research Articles

Interannual Variability of the Heat Budget in the Tropical Pacific Ocean and Its Link to the Overturning Circulation

AbstractUsing a suite of coupled climate models and an extensive set of ocean heat budget diagnostics, we address the relative roles of heat convergence and surface heat flux in driving the annual rate of ocean heat content (OHC) change in the tropical Pacific and its interannual variability. The net heat convergence is further separated into convergences associated with the large‐scale ocean circulation, (parameterized) mesoscale effects and small‐scale mixing. It is found that the heat convergence due to the large‐scale ocean circulation provides the dominant contribution to the annual OHC tendency. Interannual variations of heat convergence are larger in the tropical Pacific than in the tropical Atlantic. These heat convergence variations are linked to interannual variations of the Pacific meridional overturning circulation (PMOC), driven by the associated variations in the northward Ekman transport (EkT). Northward variations of the tropical PMOC and EkT are typically associated with heat divergence and negative annual OHC tendency in the central and eastern near‐equatorial Pacific along with heat convergence and positive annual OHC tendency in the western and northwestern tropical Pacific. In the Niño3.4 region, interannual variations of the near‐surface OHC tendency negatively (positively) correlate with interannual PMOC variations at zero lag (1 year lag, when PMOC leads OHC).

Alternative splicing in parallel evolution and the evolutionary potential in sticklebacks.

Repeatability of adaptation to similar environments provides opportunity to evaluate the predictability of natural selection. While many studies have investigated gene expression differences between populations adapted to contrasting environments, the role of post-transcriptional processes such as alternative splicing has rarely been evaluated in the context of parallel adaptation. To address the aforementioned knowledge gap, we reanalysed transcriptomic data from three pairs of threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) ecotypes adapted to marine or freshwater environment. First, we identified genes with repeated expression or splicing divergence across ecotype pairs, and compared the genetic architecture and biological processes between parallelly expressed and parallelly spliced loci. Second, we analysed the extent to which parallel adaptation was reflected at gene expression and alternative splicing levels. Finally, we tested how the two axes of transcriptional variation differed in their potential for evolutionary change. Although both repeated differential splicing and differential expression across ecotype pairs showed tendency for parallel divergence, the degree of parallelism was lower for splicing than expression. Furthermore, parallel divergences in splicing and expression were likely to be associated with distinct cis-regulatory genetic variants and functionally unique set of genes. Finally, we found that parallelly spliced genes showed higher nucleotide diversity than parallelly expressed genes, indicating splicing is less susceptible to genetic variation erosion during parallel adaptation. Our results provide novel insight into the role of splicing in parallel adaptation, and underscore the contribution of splicing to the evolutionary potential of wild populations under environmental change.

Phenotypical divergence between self-reported and clinically ascertained autism.

While allowing for rapid recruitment of large samples, online psychiatric and neurodevelopmental research relies heavily on participants' self-report of neuropsychiatric symptoms, foregoing the rigorous clinical characterization of laboratory settings. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) research is one example where the clinical validity of such an approach remains elusive. Here, we compared participants characterized online via self-reports against in-person participants evaluated by clinicians. Despite having comparable self-reported autism symptoms, the online high-trait group reported significantly more social anxiety and avoidant behavior than in-person ASD subjects. Within the in-person sample, there was no relationship between self-rated and clinician-rated autism symptoms, suggesting these approaches may capture different aspects of ASD. The online high-trait and in-person ASD participants also differed in their behavior in well-validated social decision-making tasks: the in-person group perceived having less social control and acted less affiliative towards virtual characters. Our study aimed to draw comparisons at three levels: methodological platform (online versus in-person), symptom measurement (self- versus clinician-report), and social behavior. We identified a lack of agreement between self- and clinician-rated measures of symptoms and divergent social tendencies in groups ascertained by each method, highlighting the need for differentiation between in-person versus online samples in autism research.

Consensus of networked nonlinear systems based on the distributed stochastic approximation algorithm

Consensus of networked nonlinear nonparametric time-varying systems is studied, and the nonlinearity at input may possess arbitrary growth rate. In addition, the communication noise is also under consideration. The purely distributed control algorithm is designed on the basis of distributed stochastic approximation algorithm with expanding truncations (DSAAWET). The truncation mechanism neutralizes the divergent tendency caused by unknown nonlinearities and noises, which makes the algorithm well tackle more general nonlinearities with high growth rate and more complicated structure noises. We first prove the average consensus over fixed digraph, and then extend the results to averagely connected time-varying digraphs. Finally, the validity of the algorithm is justified by numerical simulations.

Intrinsic Action Tendency Consistency for Cooperative Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning

Efficient collaboration in the centralized training with decentralized execution (CTDE) paradigm remains a challenge in cooperative multi-agent systems. We identify divergent action tendencies among agents as a significant obstacle to CTDE's training efficiency, requiring a large number of training samples to achieve a unified consensus on agents' policies. This divergence stems from the lack of adequate team consensus-related guidance signals during credit assignment in CTDE. To address this, we propose Intrinsic Action Tendency Consistency, a novel approach for cooperative multi-agent reinforcement learning. It integrates intrinsic rewards, obtained through an action model, into a reward-additive CTDE (RA-CTDE) framework. We formulate an action model that enables surrounding agents to predict the central agent's action tendency. Leveraging these predictions, we compute a cooperative intrinsic reward that encourages agents to align their actions with their neighbors' predictions. We establish the equivalence between RA-CTDE and CTDE through theoretical analyses, demonstrating that CTDE's training process can be achieved using N individual targets. Building on this insight, we introduce a novel method to combine intrinsic rewards and RA-CTDE. Extensive experiments on challenging tasks in SMAC, MPE, and GRF benchmarks showcase the improved performance of our method.

What primarily regulates the evolution of convection in Hainan Island?

The evolution characteristics of convection in Hainan Island and their key regulators are still not fully recognized. Using years of high-resolution radar and reanalysis data, this study investigated the statistical characteristics of the evolution of convection in Hainan Island and discussed the key regulators leading to these characteristics. Results show that environmental winds significantly promote near-surface high potential temperature center and its induced convergence center to shift to the leeward side. The leeward-side convergence center is further enhanced due to the dynamical effects caused by the environmental winds bypassing or crossing the mountains, favoring convection to mostly occur on the leeward side in the late morning or at noon. After convection is triggered, it tends to develop northward in the afternoon due to northward migrations of the high potential temperature center and convergence center on the leeward side, and concentrate northward under southwesterly winds or contract southward under other environmental winds in the evening due to the decay of solar radiation heating and resultant divergence tendency. The findings can help to provide a basic prediction of the evolution of convection in Hainan Island.

Deadly triad matters for offline reinforcement learning

It is well known that the deadly triad of function approximation, bootstrapping, and off-policy learning can make reinforcement learning (RL) unstable or even cause it to diverge. Compared to online RL, the deadly triad is more likely to cause divergence in offline RL due to the potentially large off-policyness. Overly strict constraints can be imposed to implicitly combat the deadly triad by limiting the degree of off-policyness. We find that by directly addressing the deadly triad, rather than limiting the off-policyness, offline RL algorithms can be less constrained and the performance can be improved. Specifically, we employ two methods to address the divergence tendency of Q values, namely bounded activations and multi-step returns. Experimental results show that by relaxing the degree of policy constraint and stabilizing the learning process, we can significantly improve the performance of policy constraint-based offline RL algorithms on the D4RL benchmark. We argue that the deadly triad matters for offline RL and that more attention should be paid when designing offline RL algorithms.

Exploring the spatial structure and impact factors of water use efficiency in China

Improving water use efficiency is an essential strategy in the response to the global water crisis. The assessment of water use efficiency serves as the foundation for improving water use efficiency and water governance. Based on the mixed methods including Super-SBM model, GML index, spatial analysis, and Tobit model, this study assesses the water use efficiency from the scales of regional and provinces in China from 2011 to 2020, explores the evolution characteristics and spatial pattern of water use efficiency, and identifies the impact factors of water use efficiency. The results indicate that regional water use efficiency in China varies significantly by space, the highest in the eastern region with an average value of 0.8052, and the lowest in the central region with an average value of 0.5709. From 2011 to 2020, the average water use efficiency in China is 0.7042, which is in a low efficiency state, and roughly two thirds of the country's provinces use water inefficiently or ineffectively. In addition, regional differences of water use efficiency in China have a tendency of divergence and polarization. The technological progress change is the major factor for promoting water use efficiency. Economic development, water endowment, water use structure, scientific and technological development, and urban development have significant effects on water use efficiency in different regions respectively, while industrial structure and water governance have insignificant effects. This study supports researchers and practitioners in comprehending the characteristics and spatial patterns of water use in China, and also enriches the research system of water governance and integrated water resources management.

ENSO‐Related Southern Hemisphere Blocking Dynamics

AbstractThis study establishes a new blocking climatology in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) by using the improved detection method with the reanalysis data from 1979 to 2016. Furthermore, it investigates the dynamical linkage between SH blocking and ENSO phases. It is found that the ENSO warm phase is more conducive to the blocking formation than the cold phase while the blocking intensity is not affected by the ENSO phases. In addition, blocking in ENSO warm phase is characterized with upper‐level divergence anomaly and the cold phase with convergence anomaly equatorward of blocking onset region. Through the diagnostic analysis of tropopause divergence for the composite blocking events via an improved divergence tendency equation, the study shows that the ageostrophic effect exhibits dual effects, namely, it induces anticyclonic ageostrophic vorticity favoring the formation of blocking whereas it results in convergence anomaly close to the blocking onset region thus inhibiting blocking locally. In addition, the nonlinear term in the divergence tendency equation is found to be a dominant forcing for favoring blocking onset. Nevertheless, despite the primary contributions from the ageostrophic effect and nonlinear term to blocking formation, they could barely explain the SH blocking onset preference in ENSO warm phase. Finally, through the localized Eliassen‐Palm flux this study reveals that in ENSO warm phase the composite blocking onset region and the immediate upstream region are characterized by more localized EP flux convergence, thereby leading to more effective westerly wind weakening and favoring the blocking formation.

‘Cheek by jowl’: education as a bridge between Muslims and the British in colonial India

AbstractMuslims’ education in British India is treated in the literature as something encompassing resistance, reaction, and hence emancipation from putatively exploitative British policies. This article focuses on the patterns of Muslims’ emergent knowledge traditions in British India in response to the British government's involvement in the educational matters of the Indian subcontinent. Data findings reveal that Indian Muslims’ responses to the growing trend towards ‘modern’ education in the Indian subcontinent evolved gradually through discursive interactions leading to divergent reformist tendencies in favour of or against adopting Western education. The British government's decision to make ‘special’ arrangements for Muslims’ educational uplift had left legacies of mutual admiration, fear, and sometimes resentment between Muslims and the British government in the subcontinent. Amid ambivalent relations between the British and Muslims, it was not difficult to find apt illustrations of what Francis Robinson calls a ‘cheek by jowl’ relationship.

КОНВЕРГЕНТНІ ТА ДИВЕРГЕНТНІ ТЕНДЕНЦІЇ ІНКЛЮЗИВНОГО РОЗВИТКУ СІЛЬСЬКО-МІСЬКИХ АГЛОМЕРАЦІЙ УКРАЇНИ: МІЖНАРОДНИЙ ТА УКРАЇНСЬКИЙ КОНТЕКСТ

The article deals with the theoretically and practically relevant problem of the manifestation of convergent and divergent trends in the inclusive development of UTC and regions of Ukraine, which are identified as rural-urban agglomerations. For our country, the specified issue is of crucial importance both from the point of view of the successful completion of the reform of decentralization of public power and management, which began in the pre-war period, and the prospects of her accession to the EU. In view of this, the purpose of the study is to justify the scientific approach to the definition of essential features, which are used to monitor the manifestation of convergent and divergent trends in the inclusive development of ruralurban agglomeration formations. For her implementation, the following tasks were formulated: to reveal the differences between the Ukrainian and international context of convergence; to propose classification signs by which manifestations of convergent and divergent tendencies should be monitored; to characterize the scientific approach to defining the club convergence version of the inclusivity of rural-urban agglomerations. The achievement of the research goal was facilitated by the use of scientific works of Ukrainian and foreign scientists on the specified problem, systemic, institutional and synergistic approaches, of the principle of interdisciplinarity, comparative method, methods of SWOT-analysis, analysis and synthesis. The kinship of the processes of convergence and inclusivity, which take place in a common space, is argued: as a result of inclusive development, contradictions within such paired dichotomies as “alienation (detachment) ‒ involvement” are overcome; “exclusivity (exclusion) ‒ inclusiveness (inclusion)”; “segregation – integration”; thereby manifesting its essential and morphological similarity with convergence and divergen, which in this sense appear as a form of inclusion and exclusion, integration and disintegration. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the defined essence of the club convergence versionof the inclusive development of rural-urban agglomerations according to administrative-territorial, demographic-settlement, resource, industry and socio-spatial feature. Based on the results of the research, certain generalizations were made, practical recommendations were given, and it was noted that the proposed scientific approach opens up new opportunities for identifying convergent-divergent trends of inclusive development at the level of individual UTC and districts.

Konwergencja struktur gospodarczych krajów Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej w ramach Unii Europejskiej

Objective: To assess the similarity of the economic structures of Central and Eastern Europe countries within the European Union.Research Design & Methods: The study was conducted with the use of an hierarchical cluster analysis for the years 2004 and 2019.Findings: The research uncovered signs of both divergence and convergence. On the one hand, attention should be paid to the increased diversification of economic sub-sectors, a fairly clear division of all EU members into two blocks of countries (old countries and CEE countries) or small but positive changes in the average gross value added in economic sub-sectors in the countries. At the same time, the Euclidean distances between the CEE countries and the “model” structure consisting of 12 euro area countries have decreased, which indicates convergence. However, comparing the situation of all CEE countries, it cannot be unequivocally stated that the adoption of the euro had a noticeable impact on the convergence of the economic structure of a given country with the structure of the old EU countries that formed this group. However, this remains a partial assessment of real convergence and it is not definitive.Implications / Recommendations: Based on the conducted research, it is difficult to formulate definitive conclusions. The similarity of gross value added structures within the EU reflects various processes and phenomena taking place in economies that are characterised by both convergence and divergence tendencies (labour productivity, wage level, consumption, savings, situation on the labour market, investment inflow, foreign trade, synchronisation of business cycles). This is why participation in the common market and monetary union must be supported by institutional and regulatory reforms. All the observed divergence aspects are a premise for reconsidering economic policies that should foster the convergence of the GDP structures of the CEE countries. The impulse associated with the process of European integration could shape different development trajectories for individual countries.Contribution: The research presented makes it possible to assess the convergence of the CEE countries. This is a very important issue in the context of new challenges for EU economies, such as the effects of the pandemic and war in Ukraine, and in view of the inadequacy of the official convergence criteria to the macroeconomic reality.

МІСЦЕ ВІЙНИ У ЦИКЛІЧНІЙ ДИНАМІЦІ ГЛОБАЛЬНОЇ ЕКОНОМІКИ: ВИКЛИКИ ДЛЯ УКРАЇНИ ТА ЄС

The article examines the place of war in the cyclical dynamics of the global economy on the basis of scientific works By M. Kondratieva, J. Holdstein. The phases of development of the world economy, depending on the time period of deployment (expansion, war, stagnation, revival), and chronology of military peak in deployment of long military cycles in deployment of long military cycles and chronology of high waves of kondratyevsky cycles are presented. In the midst of the financial expansion phase of each system cycle of accumulation, a conflict between the big states is taking place. It has been found that the tendency of localization in the world is spreading in recent years. According to experts from the Center for New Economy and Society, 4 scenarios of comprehensive economic globalization were outlined: 1) «Globalization 5.0: Renewal of communication» (combination of processes of real (physical material) and virtual integration in the world economy); 2) «Analogueue networks: Virtual nationalism» (fragmentation of the Internet); 3) «Digital domination: Flexible platforms» (virtual integration); 4) «World of autarky: System fragmentation» (double fragmented world). Despite their number, a realistic future world economy will combine global cooperation and the economy of nationalism in real and digital dimensions. New strategic orientations of states will be formed mainly on their economic and digital compatibility and on the convergence of their values. The article presents some manifestations of convergence-divergence processes in the global economy of Ukraine and the EU. Over the next ten years, Ukraine will receive about $750 billion in financial assistance from its partners. The total amount of US $ 15 million, which will be directed at the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the country in the range of national programs in different sectors of economy and social life. The article lists the procedures of Ukraine’s interaction with EU countries on intensification of factors of counteracting divergent tendencies in European integration processes: Balancing the provisions of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU in terms of protection of national interests of signatories; post-war reconstructive revival of the national economy; development and implementation of pro-convergence state policy of Ukraine; the principal evil of destructive institutions (corruption and shadow economy); reduction of risks of macro-financial destabilization and weakening.

Climatology of Clear‐Air Turbulence in Upper Troposphere and Lower Stratosphere in the Northern Hemisphere Using ERA5 Reanalysis Data

AbstractSpatial and temporal distributions of Clear‐Air Turbulence (CAT) in the Northern Hemisphere were investigated using 41 years (1979–2019) of the European Centre for Medium‐range Weather Forecast Reanalysis version 5 (ERA5) data. We used two groups of CAT diagnostics to determine occurrence frequencies: (a) commonly used empirical turbulence indices (TI1, TI2, and TI3) and their components [vertical wind shear (VWS), deformation, ‐divergence, and divergence tendency], and (b) theoretical instability indicators [Richardson number (Ri), potential vorticity (PV), and Brunt‐Vӓisӓlӓ frequency]. The empirical indices showed high frequencies of moderate‐or‐greater (MOG)‐level CAT potential over the East Asian, Eastern Pacific, and Northwestern Atlantic regions in winter. Over East Asia, the entrance region of strong upper‐level jets showed the highest frequencies in TI1, TI2, and TI3 due mainly to strong VWS. The Eastern Pacific and Northwestern Atlantic areas near the exit region of jets had relatively high frequencies of these indices and also Ri. PV frequency was high on the southern side of jet primarily due to negative relative vorticity. Long‐term increasing trends of MOG‐level CAT potential also appeared in those three regions mainly due to warming in lower latitudes. The most significant increasing trend was found over East Asia, due to the strengthening of the East Asian jet and increased VWS due to the strong meridional temperature gradients in the mid‐troposphere induced by warming in the tropics and cooling in eastern Eurasia. These trends over East Asia, if continued, are expected to be of importance to efficient aviation operations across the northwestern Pacific Ocean.

Smoothed Functional Algorithm with Norm-limited Update Vector for Identification of Continuous-time Fractional-order Hammerstein Models

This article proposes an identification method of continuous-time fractional-order Hammerstein model using smoothed functional algorithm with a norm-limited update vector (NL-SFA). In particular, the standard smoothed functional algorithm (SFA) based method is modified by implementing a limit function in the update vector of the standard SFA based method to solve the issue of high tendency of divergence during the identification process. As a result of this, the proposed NL-SFA based method is applied to identify the variables of the linear and non-linear subsystems in the Hammerstein model. While most of the actual linear subsystems can be naturally expressed in a continuous-time domain, the implementation of the fractional-order could also reduce the computational complexity in finding a more accurate reduced-order model. Moreover, three experiments of the Hammerstein model identification based on a numerical example, an actual twin-rotor system, and an actual flexible manipulator system were carried out in this study to verify the effectiveness of the proposed NL-SFA-based method. The numerical and experimental results were analyzed to correspond to the measurement of the objective function and variable identification error and time-domain and frequency-domain responses. Conclusively, the proposed NL-SFA-based method can provide stable convergence and significantly better accuracy of the Hammerstein model in the numerical example, the actual twin-rotor system, and the flexible manipulator system compared to the standard SFA. Moreover, the proposed NL-SFA also provides slightly competitive identification accuracy with the existing norm-limited simultaneous perturbation stochastic approximation (NL-SPSA) and the average multi-verse optimizer sine cosine algorithm (AMVO-SCA) based methods.

Is Open Science Neoliberal?

The scientific-reform movement, frequently referred to as open science, has the potential to substantially reshape the nature of the scientific activity. For this reason, its sociopolitical antecedents and consequences deserve serious scholarly attention. In a recently formed literature that professes to meet this need, it has been widely argued that the movement is neoliberal. However, for two reasons it is hard to justify this widescale attribution: First, the critics mistakenly represent the movement as a monolithic structure, and second, the critics’ arguments associating the movement with neoliberalism because of the movement’s (a) preferential focus on methodological issues, (b) underlying philosophy of science, and (c) allegedly promarket ideological proclivities reflected in the methodology and science-policy proposals do not hold under closer scrutiny. These shortcomings show a lack of sufficient engagement with the reform literature. What is needed is more nuanced accounts of the sociopolitical underpinnings of scientific reform. To address this need, we propose a model for the analysis of reform proposals, which represents scientific methodology, axiology, science policy, and ideology as interconnected but relatively distinct domains, and thus allows for recognizing the divergent tendencies in the movement and the uniqueness of particular proposals.

The Correlation of Peripapillary and Juxtapapillary Choroidal Thickness in Healthy Subjects.

PurposeTo evaluate the correlation between the two methods of measuring the choroidal thickness around the optic nerve head (ONH).MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study. Sixty-two eyes of 62 healthy subjects were included. Using spectral domain optical coherence tomography, a peripapillary circle scan (diameter of 3.5 mm) and 24 radial B-scan images centered on the Bruch’s membrane opening (BMO) were obtained. Peripapillary choroidal thickness (PPCT) and juxtapapillary choroidal thickness (JPCT) were measured using circle and radial B-scan images, respectively. Correlation and agreements between values measured by two methods were analyzed. Factors associated with PPCT and JPCT, and the difference between the values measured by the two methods were evaluated.ResultsA total of 62 eyes of 62 healthy subjects were enrolled. Average PPCT and JPCT were 165.2 ± 50.1 and 139.7 ± 39.2 μm, respectively. The linear regression analysis showed a strong correlation between both measurements (PPCT vs. JPCT, r2 = 0.900, p < 0.001). PPCT and JPCT measurements showed good agreement in global and all six sectors (intraclass correlation coefficients >0.900). Bland-Altman plot showed good agreement between the two methods with a systematic deviation of 17.9 μm and a 95% limits of agreement (±1.96 standard deviation) of −9.6 to 60.5. In multivariate regression analysis, BMO area (β = −11.87, p = 0.002) was the only factor significantly correlated with the difference between PPCT and JPCT, which showed a negative correlation. The difference between PPCT and JPCT measurements (PPCT - JPCT) showed a divergent tendency with decreasing BMO area size.ConclusionsThe two measures of choroidal thickness around the ONH were well correlated. However, the peripapillary choroid was generally thicker than the juxtapapillary choroid, especially in eyes with small BMO area.

NECESSITY AND POSSIBILITY OF OVERCOMING DIVERGENT TENDENCIES BETWEEN ECONOMIES OF UKRAINE AND THE EUROPEAN UNION

On the eve of the historic moment of Ukraine’s candidate-country status and the start of the negotiation process on accession to the European Union, the SI «Institute for Economics and Forecasting of the NAS of Ukraine» has published the results of the collective work on problems and prospects of overcoming divergent tendencies in socio-economic development of Ukraine and EU countries1 ...

TRENDS OF FORMATION AND TRANSFORMATION OF THE ONOMASTIC SYSTEM OF THE LANGUAGE (ON THE EXAMPLE OF OIKONYMS)

The purpose of the article is to study proper names and their functioning, analysis of extra-, intralinguistic factors caused by the specifics of the functioning of onyms in language and speech, ways to overcome the emerging omonyms, oikonyms. The object of the research is the toponyms of the language. The subject of the research is the oikonyms of the region as a specific toponymic system.To achieve the goal the authors used the following methods: analysis and synthesis, descriptive method, observation method, linguo-stylistic method. The research aspect of the article is realized like transformation processes in groups of proper names: a) change in the phonetic appearance and word-formation structure of onyms; b) de-etymologization (loss of internal form); c) resemantization (rethinking of the word). The authors analyzed the reasons for linguistic changes determined by both the internal laws of language development and extralinguistic tendencies, which made it possible to conclude the unity of divergent toponymic tendencies and convergent processes of the toponymic system itself, the purpose of which is to systematize different-structured and multilingual toponyms.

The Politics of the Humanitarian Gift Economy: Tamil Fishers and the 2004 Tsunami

AbstractWhen recipients of humanitarian aid deployed their own calculus in determining the uses of the aid, nongovernmental (NGOs) and state officials read these actions as evidence of moral deficiency. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in the aftermath of the tsunami of 2004 in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu's Nagapattinam District, this article examines such actions in terms of the contradictions they illuminated and argues for an analytical strategy that foregrounds the politics of receiving and demanding aid. Reading fisher actions criticized by NGO or state officials as implicit critiques of the aims or claims of either, this article foregrounds a reading of humanitarian “gifts” as strategic and political maneuvering. Recipients rejected both the depoliticizing allure of NGO developmentalism and the state's unwillingness to link legality with rights. In one case study, fishers instead put a gift to use in ways that suited their most pressing concerns: sustaining their coastal life and the artisanal economy. The article also problematizes the divergent tendencies of a politics of rights and a hierarchically organized politics of caste identity. For the second case study, this article critically examines how fishers struggling with shoddy NGO housing turned their political ire against a far weaker community of Dalits. [NGO, humanitarianism, neoliberalization, India, gift]