Hierarchy Of Groups Research Articles

Yeşil Tedarikçi Seçim Problemi İçin Hedef Programlama ve Gri İlişkisel Analiz Yöntemi (Goal Programming and Gray Relation Analysis Methods for Green Supplier Selection)

Purpose – The green supplier selection problem is considered as a multi-criteria decision making problem that has strategic importance in green supply chain management and includes multiple and conflicting criteria. Due to the strategic importance of the problem, working with the most suitable suppliers to support the business objectives is vital for the competitive status of the enterprises. In this case, the decision makers aim to use the most appropriate solution methods for their problems. In this study, it is aimed to weight the decision group and determined supplier evaluation criteri and to determine the most suitable supplier with multi criteria decision making methods for the solution method of green supplier selection problem. Design/methodology/approach – In this study, group hierarchy and criterion weights were determined using SWARA method in the model proposed for green supplier selection in order to adapt the production enterprise to environmental awareness processes. Gray relational analysis (GIA) and goal programming methods were used to determine the most suitable alternative supplier. Findings – The most suitable supplier from the two methods was found to be the same. When the methods were applied assuming equal weights of green supplier selection criteria, the result did not change in the GIA method, but the result changed in goal programming method. Discussion – For the green supplier selection problem presented in the study, which has more than one and conflicting goals, the approach using goal programming method is more appropriate for determining the most appropriate supplier by determining the group hierarchy and criterion weight by SWARA method. The approach can provide results that are appropriate to the new situation and circumstances when changes in the current situation.

Social inequality in the modern world

This article presents the results of a study of new forms of social inequality, as well as the features of their manifestation in modern Russia, carried out by employees of the Department of Modern Sociology of the Sociology Faculty of Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov. Social inequality as a whole is defined as a specific form of social stratification in which individual individuals, social groups, layers or classes are at different levels of the vertical social hierarchy and have unequal opportunities to satisfy their material, social or spiritual needs. Much attention is paid to the analysis of the ideological foundations of global social inequality, which also includes national states in the vertical hierarchy of individuals, social groups, classes, and layers, which are accordingly ranked within the framework of the world community. It is proved that global social inequality is based on “market fundamentalism” — a special type of political thinking that elevates the principles of the “invisible hand of the market” and “non-interference of the state in the economic activities of economic entities” to the level of a totalitarian type of dogma. The practical embodiment of this dogma entails the reproduction of social inequality and extremely unfair social relations on a global scale.Among the forms of global social inequality, the leading role is played by resource inequality, however, along with the resource inequality, relatively new forms of social inequality are quite clearly manifested, which the Swedish sociologist G. Terborn singled out — vital inequality and existential inequality.Vital or biological inequality captures the basic characteristic of human existence, since it refers to categories such as, for example, environment and health. Existential inequality outlines a system of hierarchies based on inclusion / exclusion categories (social inclusion / exclusion). The article discusses in detail the features of the manifestation of all these forms of social inequality both within the world community and in Russia. In addition, a new methodological approach to the analysis of inequality from the standpoint of social constructivism was substantiated, when the question of what constitutes the basis of social inequality was supplemented by the question of how people themselves produce and reproduce social inequality in the usual practices of everyday social life.

PeckVis: A Visual Analytics Tool to Analyze Dominance Hierarchies in Small Groups.

The formation of social groups is defined by the interactions among the group members. Studying this group formation process can be useful in understanding the status of members, decision-making behaviors, spread of knowledge and diseases, and much more. A defining characteristic of these groups is the pecking order or hierarchy the members form which help groups work towards their goals. One area of social science deals with understanding the formation and maintenance of these hierarchies, and in our work we provide social scientists with a visual analytics tool - PeckVis - to aid this process. While online social groups or social networks have been studied deeply and lead to a variety of analyses and visualization tools, the study of smaller groups in the field of social science lacks the support of suitable tools. Domain experts believe that visualizing their data can save them time as well as reveal findings they may have failed to observe. We worked alongside domain experts to build an interactive visual analytics system to investigate social hierarchies. Our system can discover patterns and relationships between the members of a group as well as compare different groups. The results are presented to the user in the form of an interactive visual analytics dashboard. We demonstrate that domain experts were able to effectively use our tool to analyze animal behavior data.

How much evidence is in evidence-based policymaking: a case study of an expert group of the European Commission

Knowledge co-production is a solution-oriented approach to analysing real-life problems such as making the right decision in a given scenario. The most popular examples come from evidence-based policymaking contexts. Political decisions made in this way rely on specialist expertise co-produced in organisations that can be characterised as Hybrid Fora. However, despite the rise in popularity of Hybrid Fora and evidence-based policymaking processes, there are only a few studies that analyse the influencing factors of knowledge co-production in these contexts. The case study presented here addresses this new area of research through a documentary analysis and 11 expert interviews, both analysed via qualitative content analysis. First, the study reconstructs how knowledge is produced within an Expert Group of the European Commission. Second, it reflects how the produced knowledge is de facto included as “evidence” into the decision-making processes of the relevant policy area. The results of this study show that in this expert group, pragmatic and extra-scientific criteria such as specific stakes and interests as well as the group hierarchy controlled the process of knowledge co-production. Moreover, it also seems that knowledge produced by the interaction of experts within the examined Expert Group has a more symbolic, policy-orientated function, rather than being specifically used as decision-making evidence.

Berea College v. Kentucky: Scientific Racism in the Supreme Court

Berea College v. Kentucky: Scientific Racism in the Supreme Court RONALD S. RAUCHBERG Introduction Shortly after the end of the Civil War, at a moment when it seemed that one outcome of the war and its devastation might be civil equality for the emancipated slaves, Berea College, in Berea, Kentucky, opened itself to black students. Berea College thus became the only racially integrated college anywhere in the South. It remained racially integrated, as well as coeducational, for nearly forty years, through Reconstruction and the onset of Jim Crow, until, in 1904, Kentucky’s legislature enacted the Day Law. That law made it a crime for a college to educate black and white students together. The law also made it a crime to teach at such a college or to attend such a college as a student. Berea College was indicted under the Day Law, convicted in the Kentucky courts, and sentenced to a fine. The college con­ tended that the Day Law was unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment and ap­ pealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, where its conviction was upheld.1 The Day Law plainly limited the liberties of the trustees, teachers, and students who were willing participants in the college’s venture of racially integrated higher education. Were there constitutional justifications for the law’s limits on these liberties? Was the law a reasonable exercise of Kentucky’s police power? The opinion for the Court in Berea College did not contend with these questions. Rather, the Court decided the case on the basis of a theory ofthe nature ofcorporations known as “the grant theory”: corporations are artificial beings, created by the state, existing only as a consequence ofa positive legislative act. The state has the power to charter any activities it chooses, in its sole discretion, and can deny, revoke, or condition a charter for any reason at any time. The Supreme Court characterized the Day Law as an amendment to the college’s corporate charter and upheld the law as an exercise of the state’s inherent right to control the activities of its creations. So ended racially integrated higher education in Kentucky until 1950, when the Day Law was repealed. SCIENTIFIC RACISM IN THE SUPREME COURT 263 In the Supreme Court, Kentucky had not advanced any argument based on the grant theory as a reason for affirming the judgment of conviction below. Kentucky argued, rather, that the Day Law was a reasonable exercise of the state’s police power—the power to legislate to protect the health, welfare, safety, and morals of the populace. Requiring the separation of the races, as Kentucky saw it, served public welfare by helping to avoid miscegenation. Miscegenation was an evil because it would undermine racial purity. Kentucky went so far as to argue that, as only the superior white race in its pure state could insure the future progress of civilization, miscegenation was a threat to that progress. Scholarly efforts to explain Berea's use of a corporate law principle to resolve the parties’ constitutional law dispute have been, as discussed below, unsatisfactory.2 It will be argued here that the Supreme Court’s reliance on a theory of the nature of corporations to uphold the Day Law was pretextual. The Court, rather, was persuaded by, or at least respected and was prepared to defer to, the anti-miscegenationist argument advanced by Kentucky. The Court decided the case at a time when racist views had been blessed by prevailing scientific opinion—“scientific racism”—and the nation’s elites generally shared those views. Berea College’s claims on behalf of itself and its trustees, teachers, and students to Fourteenth Amendment pro­ tections were strong but could not survive the Court’s sympathy for racist views and their implementation in Jim Crow legislation. Scientific Racism3 At the core of racist thinking is the belief that there is a hierarchy of ethnic groups based on traits that are essentially immutable. Members of an inferior race cannot become the equals of a superior race through education or improvements in their environment; their inferiority is innate, inheritable, and fixed.4 Such thinking was well established in the United States both before and after the...

Methodological approach to risk-assignment for joint ventures in energy industry

The article provides guidance about risk allotment regarding to joint ventures operating in energy industry. Energy industry has been overwhelmed by risk, in compare to other branches. To diminish the chance of failure on international partnership, risk management techniques should be based on methodological principals. The paper presents outlook to risk in response to the stage of a joint project. The methodological approach is structured in accordance with risk group hierarchy received with Delphi evaluation method. Thus, joint ventures parties are allowed to complete an effective review in order to implement risk reduction actions.

Folk theories of gender and anti-transgender attitudes: Gender differences and policy preferences.

Transgender rights and discrimination against transgender people are growing public policy issues. Theorizing from social, cognitive, and evolutionary psychology suggests that beyond attitudes, discrimination against transgender people may derive from folk theories about what gender is and where it comes from. Transgender identity is met with hostility, in part, because it poses a challenge to the lay view that gender is determined at birth, and based on observable physical and behavioral characteristics. Here, in two pre-registered studies (N = 1323), we asked American adults to indicate the gender of a transgender target who either altered their biology through surgical interventions or altered their outward appearance: to what extent is it their birth-assigned gender or their self-identified gender? Responses correlate strongly with affect toward transgender people, measured by feeling thermometers, yet predict views on transgender people’s right to use their preferred bathrooms above and beyond feelings. Compared to male participants, female participants judge the person’s gender more in line with the self-identified gender than the birth-assigned gender. This is consistent with social and psychological theories that posit high status (e.g., men) and low status (e.g., women) members of social classification systems view group hierarchies in more and less essentialist ways respectively. Gender differences in gender category beliefs decrease with religiosity and conservatism, and are smaller in higher age groups. These results suggest that folk theories of gender, or beliefs about what gender is and how it is determined have a unique role in how transgender people are viewed and treated. Moreover, as evident by the demographic variability of gender category beliefs, folk theories are shaped by social and cultural forces and are amenable to interventions. They offer an alternative pathway to measure policy support and possibly change attitude toward transgender people.

LEXICOGRAPHIC MODEL OF THE SEMANTIC FIELD BAKERY ITEMS (in the English language)

Introduction. A semantic field modeled on the basis of lexicographic data can serve as a way to describe the lexical systematicity that objectively exists in a language and reflects in its turn the systematicity of information in our memory. Despite of numerous researches within the framework of field theory, the question of the specifics of the semantic field as a resultof lexicographic modeling of a language system, reflecting the systemic nature of a complex mental reality hidden from us, remains unanswered.Purpose. The article is devoted to the establishment of the specific structure and content of the lexicographic model of the semantic domain of the names of bakery items and the disclosure of the dynamics of field models of different time periods.Methods. The research is based on such methods and techniques of linguistic analysis as descriptive analysis, component analysis, field modeling and quantitative analysis.Results. The paper establishes and analyzes the specific structure and content of the lexicographic model of the semantic field bakery items in English. The semantic parameters of the verbalized fragment of reality uniting the items into semantic groups are distinguished.The hierarchy of semantic groups as well as of individual units within the field is established and described. The types of semantic relations connecting its units are revealed. The dynamics of field models that are different in time of presentation in lexicographic sources is analyzed.Conclusions. The result of lexicographic modeling of the semantic field bakery items in the English language is a semantic field structured by explicating the components of the meaning of the names of bakery items and selecting the corresponding lexical units from the dictionary. The structure of the semantic field includes 540 lexical units distributed over12 semantic groups. The structure of the field is formed by paradigmatic relations (43.1%), syntagmatic relations (51.2%) and thematic relations (5.7%).

Professional competencies of journalism students in armenia: structure and content

Aim of the research: to study the structure of competencies of journalism students in the Republic of Armenia. Research methods and organization. We used the following methods in our research: study and analysis of scientific literature, sociological survey, and mathematical statistics. Four groups of respondents took part in the sociological survey: over 100 undergraduate and graduate journalism students, 20 journalism lecturers in 6 leading universities of Armenia, including the Armenian State Institute of Physical Culture and Sport. The survey involved 20 journalists from various including major TV channels «Armenian Public Television», «Armenia TV», «Kentron» and «Erkir media». The overwhelming majority of respondents were women – 120 people. Based on the analysis of scientific literature, we identified the following groups of competencies in the model of journalism education: theoretical, practical, personal, and interpersonal groups including specific components. Research results. The research revealed that practical competencies (46%) play a crucial role in the structure of practical competencies essential for journalism students. Theoretical (30%) and personal competencies (14%) take second place. According to the respondents, interpersonal competencies are the least significant for the professional activity of a journalist (10%). We studied the opinion of respondents on the significance of spe- cific skills and abilities for journalism students. Journalism educators and current journalists shared certain insights into the issue of theoretical competencies. It is particularly interesting that all three groups of respond- ents had the same opinion on interpersonal competencies. Conclusion. The analysis of survey results revealed the hierarchy of competency groups of journalism stu- dents, and the range of specific skills abilities contributing to effective professional activities. However, it is important to take into account the peculiarities of the future professional activity of journalism students in sport universities when building specific capacities and skills.

How dominance hierarchies emerge from conflict: A game theoretic model and experimental evidence

We develop a game theoretic model of conflict and empirically test its predictions to study the emergence of social hierarchies in small groups. Previous research shows uncertainty about actors' ability may lead to more conflict; conflict demonstrates actors' ability and establishes relationships of dominance and submissiveness. Since we assume uncertainty regarding ability to be a crucial cause of conflict, we focus on the effects of different information conditions. We posit that actors know the distribution of abilities in their group and vary whether or not they know (1) their own ability and (2) their interaction partners' interaction histories. Our results from a laboratory experiment closely match qualitative model predictions. Most importantly, conflict produces information about actors’ ability, which reduces subsequent conflict. In an exploratory analysis we investigate to what extent gender, social value orientation, risk preferences and a competitive personality account for the quantitative discrepancies between model predictions and subject behavior.

Viva la evolution: Using dual-strategies theory to explain leadership in modern organizations

Research from multiple fields suggests that throughout human history, leaders ascended the hierarchy through one of two strategies—dominance (using force or coercion to gain control) or prestige (demonstrating competence and generosity so others follow of their own volition). The dual-strategies theory of social rank suggests that these two strategies are still inherent in human psychology, and that consideration of dominance and prestige can help explain hierarchy and leadership in modern social groups. Thus far, research on dual-strategies theory has developed without significant cross-fertilization from the literature on leadership within organizational settings. In this review, I provide the first examination of dual-strategies theory within the context of broader leadership research, highlighting a) the unique contributions of dual-strategies theory, b) current workforce trends that make dual-strategies theory particularly applicable to modern organizations, and c) key limitations of dual-strategies theory that could be addressed by integrating leadership theory.

Social dominance hierarchy type and rank contribute to phenotypic variation within cages of laboratory mice

A tacit assumption in laboratory animal research is that animals housed within the same cage or pen are phenotypically more similar than animals from different cages or pens, due to their shared housing environment. This assumption drives experimental design, randomization schemes, and statistical analysis plans, while neglecting social context. Here, we examined whether a domain of social context—social dominance—accounted for more phenotypic variation in mice than cage-identity. First, we determined that cages of mice could be categorized into one of three dominance hierarchies with varying degrees of dominance behavior between cage-mates, and low levels of agonistic behavior in the home-cage. Most groups formed dynamic hierarchies with unclear ranks, contrasting with recent accounts of stable transitive hierarchies in groups of mice. Next, we measured some phenotypic traits, and found that social dominance (i.e. dominance hierarchy type and degree of dominance behavior) consistently accounted for some phenotypic variation in all outcome measures, while cage-identity accounted for phenotypic variation in some measures but virtually no variation in others. These findings highlight the importance of considering biologically relevant factors, such as social dominance, in experimental designs and statistical plans.

¡CON NOSOTRAS NO! La organización autónoma de mujeres indígenas de Tierras Bajas un prisma para entender el presente en Bolivia

Talking and feeling from us - as in “us women” - visibilize the re-composition of domination in Bolivia and the launching of accumulation by dispossession in the lowlands. Furthermore it implies making evident the establishment of patriarchal pact (s) among diverse forms and actors, in order to reinforce the functional hierarchies of the dominant groups. The reinforcement of this hierarchy has generated the need and desire to set up autonomous organizational processes among women, driven mainly by indigenous women from the lowlands, in this sense, when women decide to organize, there is a number of functional mediations to which the capitalist, colonial and patriarchal amalgam is reinforced in territories that resist living under the rules of capital, likewise, the women's organizations that are beginning to unfold - never free of tensions - are capable of making visible an other politics, an alive politics, that is sustained in different plots, it’s build in multiple ways, and today, is able to recognize the historical accumulated and reactivate the memory of the experience of feminine struggles. The present article intends to analyze how the capitalist, colonial and patriarchal amalgam is re-edified through patriarchal alliances in Bolivia and before that, how an important capacity is generated from women to challenge, and recognize an accumulated force that activates the decision to fight together.

Looking at the Full Spectrum of Hierarchy

Social hierarchy is a fundamental and pervasive part of organizational functioning. Given the profound importance of hierarchies in groups and organizations, a number of influential theoretical and empirical papers have been published in recent years. However, potentially rich topics at the cutting edge of theory are as of yet under-explored, leaving theoretical gaps in the hierarchy literature that our symposium begins to address. In this symposium, four papers will highlight the existing gap in the literature by exploring the psychological experience of holding high status (compared to holding high power or low status), the reduced group identification of individuals in the middle of the hierarchy, the paranoia experienced by powerless individuals, and the motivation and effort to maintain one’s current status. Together, the papers complement each other to explore the full spectrum of hierarchy – top, middle, low, and directionality. The Interdependence-Efficacy Theory of Status: Understanding the Psychological Experience of Status Presenter: Nicholas Hays; Michigan State U. Presenter: Alice J. Lee; Columbia Business School Presenter: Steven Blader; New York U. Presenter: Adam Galinsky; Columbia U. Middle Group Identity: A Curvilinear Relationship between Group Status and Member Identification Presenter: Sora Jun; U. of Texas at Dallas Presenter: Brian Lowery; Stanford U. Powerless and Paranoid: The Effects of Powerlessness on Paranoia and Hostile Behaviors Presenter: Michael Schaerer; Singapore Management U. Presenter: Trevor Foulk; U. of Maryland Presenter: Christilene Du Plessis; Singapore Management U. Presenter: Min-Hsuan Tu; U. of Florida Presenter: Satish Krishnan; Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode Striving for the Status Quo: Stasis-Striving, Inauthenticity, and Psychological Distress in High-Achievement Contexts Presenter: Jieun Pai; U. of California, Los Angeles Presenter: Eric Anicich; U. of Southern California Presenter: Jennifer Ann Whitson; U. of California, Los Angeles

Interlocking Directorates within Business Groups: Information Matters!

This study aims at disentangling the decision of interlocking directors along the hierarchy of business groups. We consider boards as information-processing groups and argue that, following agency theory and resource dependence theory, monitoring and advising functions are better achieved through interlocks. Analyzing an international sample of 847,085 boards’ positions, our model empirically checks that two contingent factors -geographic and institutional distance between headquarters and affiliates in business groups- and industrial diversification strategy, as barriers of information, hinder the decision of interlocking directors. Furthermore, we find that there are characteristics of business groups -such as ownership links and the position of affiliates- that influence this decision. Our contribution is threefold. First, our research contributes to the alignment of corporate governance and business groups’ literature, by studying the composition of their boards. Second, we contribute to the literature of information processing barriers through a cost-benefit analysis of the interlocking decisions inside business groups. Third, we offer a new methodology on the empirical identification of business groups.

Owner-Reported Clinical Signs and Management-Related Factors in Horses Radiographed for Intestinal Sand Accumulation

Clinical problems related to intestinal sand accumulation in horses are common in certain geographic areas, but the clinical signs appear nonspecific and the course of the accumulation remains somewhat obscure. This study examined the association between the presence and size of intestinal sand accumulations and owner-reported clinical signs, management, and feeding practices, as well as behavioral patterns in horses with radiographic diagnosis of sand accumulation. Owners of the horses filled in an online questionnaire. A total of 447 responses met the inclusion criteria. The size of the sand accumulation detected in the radiographs was not significantly associated with the age, body condition score, sex, or use of the horses. Horses reported to have expressed colic had significantly larger sand accumulations than those without this sign, and a similar association was detected in horses with poor performance. The highest odds ratio for sand accumulation was for the combination of colic and poor performance, followed by colic combined with diarrhea/loose feces or hyperesthesia to touch of the abdominal wall. Larger sand accumulations were detected in greedy horses that eat all their roughage, whereas dominant position in group hierarchy was associated with less sand. The possibility of abdominal sand accumulation should be considered as one of the differentials in horses with multiple owner-reported clinical signs such as colic, poor performance, diarrhea, and hyperesthesia to touch of the abdomen.

The effect of depressive-like behavior and antidepressant therapy on social behavior and hierarchy in rats

BackgroundDepression is common and results in a significant morbidity and economic burden. Depression is associated with pervasive impairments in social functioning, and antidepressant treatments are highly variable in improving these impairments. The objectives of this study were to test the effects of depression on social organization and behavior in a rodent model of depression, and to study the effectiveness of antidepressant medication in improving both symptoms of depression and the social function of depressed animals. MethodsOne hundred-twenty male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly and equally divided between the control group and depression group. After induction of depression by 5 weeks of chronic unpredictable stress, rats received either antidepressant treatment or placebo. In parallel with the initiation of drug therapy, 20 social groups of six rats were subjected to the complex diving-for-food situation to evaluate their social functioning. Four behavioral tests evaluated symptoms of depression and anxiety at 3 different time points. ResultsWe found that 1) depressed rats were significantly more active and aggressive in all parameters of social organization test compared with the control and antidepressant treatment groups, 2) depressed rats that received antidepressant treatment exhibited social behaviors like the control group, and 3) depression in the experimental groups was not accompanied by symptoms of anxiety. ConclusionsThese results suggest that depression can significantly alter the social behavior and hierarchy in the social group in rats. Investigations of complex social group dynamics offer novel opportunities for translational studies of mood and psychiatric disorders.

Is There a Backlash Against Immigration From Richer Countries? International Hierarchy and the Limits of Group Threat

Why do immigrants from particular countries systematically face more opposition? To resolve inconsistencies of prevailing group‐threat theories, I reintroduce a long‐standing hypothesis stipulating that people have a disposition for maintaining status hierarchy between ethnic groups. Accordingly, independent of perceived economic or cultural threat, natives are more likely to prefer immigrant groups of higher status based on the development level of the group's national origin. To test this argument, I exploit a substantial provincial variation of immigration flows and attitudes in Spain—one of the only countries that has received immigrants from both less and more developed countries. Consistent with my hypothesis, I demonstrate that anti‐immigration attitudes are more widespread in areas with immigrants from less developed countries regardless of their economic and cultural characteristics. I further document that many voters perceive stable group hierarchies and that these preferences are more predictive of anti‐immigration attitudes in lower‐status immigration contexts. Overall, these results suggest that even culturally similar and economically beneficial immigrant groups from poorer countries can face public opposition due to their lower‐status national origin, highlighting the independent role of group‐status perceptions in politics.

Tree reconciliation combined with subsampling improves large scale inference of orthologous group hierarchies

BackgroundAn orthologous group (OG) comprises a set of orthologous and paralogous genes that share a last common ancestor (LCA). OGs are defined with respect to a chosen taxonomic level, which delimits the position of the LCA in time to a specified speciation event. A hierarchy of OGs expands on this notion, connecting more general OGs, distant in time, to more recent, fine-grained OGs, thereby spanning multiple levels of the tree of life. Large scale inference of OG hierarchies with independently computed taxonomic levels can suffer from inconsistencies between successive levels, such as the position in time of a duplication event. This can be due to confounding genetic signal or algorithmic limitations. Importantly, inconsistencies limit the potential use of OGs for functional annotation and third-party applications.ResultsHere we present a new methodology to ensure hierarchical consistency of OGs across taxonomic levels. To resolve an inconsistency, we subsample the protein space of the OG members and perform gene tree-species tree reconciliation for each sampling. Differently from previous approaches, by subsampling the protein space, we avoid the notoriously difficult task of accurately building and reconciling very large phylogenies. We implement the method into a high-throughput pipeline and apply it to the eggNOG database. We use independent protein domain definitions to validate its performance.ConclusionThe presented consistency pipeline shows that, contrary to previous limitations, tree reconciliation can be a useful instrument for the construction of OG hierarchies. The key lies in the combination of sampling smaller trees and aggregating their reconciliations for robustness. Results show comparable or greater performance to previous pipelines. The code is available on Github at: https://github.com/meringlab/og_consistency_pipeline.

Influence of social stability on the sex determination process in false clown anemonefish (Amphiprion ocellaris)

ABSTRACTTo evaluate the involvement of plasma cortisol in sex determination in hermaphrodite protandrous sex-changing fish, sexually immature false clown anemonefish (Amphiprion ocellaris) were kept in groups of 3 individuals for 360 days. Observations of time-course changes of diurnal behaviour and plasma concentrations of cortisol, oestradiol, and 11-ketotestosterone were evaluated. The social hierarchy of the experimental groups was assumed to become stable during the middle period of the experiment, but unstable at the beginning and at the end according to the increase or decrease in the frequencies of agonistic behaviours. The plasma concentration of cortisol increased as the social hierarchy became unstable and oestradiol showed the opposite trend to cortisol. These results suggest that in protandrous anemonefish sex determination induced by social interaction is mediated by cortisol. The stability of the social hierarchy is considered to be very important for the sex determination process.