Kinship Patterns Research Articles

Are Mothers and Daughters Most Important? How Gender, Childhood Family Dissolution and Parents’ Current Living Arrangements Affect the Personal Care of Parents

The study examines adult children’s propensity to provide personal care to older parents in Sweden by gender of adult child, parental breakup in childhood and parent’s living arrangements. Data are from the Swedish Generations and Gender Survey from 2012/2013. OLS regression analyses examined personal care separately for mother and fathers. Adult daughters are more likely than sons to provide personal care to older mothers and fathers. Parental breakup in childhood does not lead to differences in personal care. The only exception being that daughters who experience breakup provide more care for their mothers. Children, especially daughters, help lone parents more often than other parents, but children’s care provision does not differ for parents living with the other parent and re-partnered parents. Gender of adult child and parent’s living arrangements operate in slightly different ways regarding care provided for mothers and fathers, and living arrangements represent a central predictor for whether children provide filial care. Particularly, the dominant kinship pattern is care provided from daughters to mother and through the mother’s line and to parents in vulnerable situations. The study discusses the results in relation to intergenerational solidarity theory, matrilineal care system and policy outlooks.

Kinship and association do not explain vocal repertoire variation among individual sperm whales or social units

Vocal learning often results in distinct dialects among individuals or groups, but the forces selecting for these phenomena remain unclear. Female sperm whales, Physeter macrocephalus, and their dependent offspring live in matrilineally based social units, and the units associate within sympatric clans. The clans have distinctive dialects of codas (patterns of clicks), as do, to a lesser extent, the units within clans. We examined the similarity of coda repertoires of individuals and units from the eastern Caribbean and related these to patterns of kinship and social association. Similarity in coda repertoires was not discernibly correlated with close kinship or association rates for either individuals or units (matrix correlation coefficients

Modeling and synthesis of kinship patterns of facial expressions

Analysis of kinship from facial images or videos is an important problem. Prior machine learning and computer vision studies approach kinship analysis as a verification or recognition task. In this paper, for the first time in the literature, we propose a kinship synthesis framework, which generates smile and disgust videos of (probable) children from the expression videos (smile and disgust) of parents. While the appearance of a child's expression is learned using a convolutional encoder–decoder network, another neural network models the dynamics of the corresponding expression. The expression video of the estimated child is synthesized by the combined use of appearance and dynamics models. In order to validate our results, we perform kinship verification experiments using videos of real parents and estimated children generated by our framework. The results show that generated videos of children achieve higher correct verification rates than those of real children. Our results also indicate that the use of generated videos together with the real ones in the training of kinship verification models, increases the accuracy, suggesting that such videos can be used as a synthetic dataset. Furthermore, we evaluate the expression similarity between input and output frames, and show that the proposed method can fairly retain the expression of input faces while transforming the facial identity.

Multi-Person Pose Estimation via Multi-Layer Fractal Network and Joints Kinship Pattern.

We propose an effective method to boost the accuracy of multi-person pose estimation in images. Initially, the three-layer fractal network was constructed to regress multi-person joints location heatmap that can help to enhance an image region with receptive field and capture more joints local-contextual feature information, thereby producing keypoints heatmap intermediate prediction to optimize human body joints regression results. Subsequently, the hierarchical bi-directional inference algorithm was proposed to calculate the degree of relatedness (call it Kinship) for adjacent joints, and it combines the Kinship between adjacent joints with the spatial constraints, which we refer to as joints kinship pattern matching mechanism, to determine the best matched joints pair. We iterate the above-mentioned joints matching process layer by layer until all joints are assigned to a corresponding individual. Comprehensive experiments demonstrate that the proposed approach outperforms the state-of-the-art schemes and achieves about 1% and 0.6% increase in mAP on MPII multi-person subset and MSCOCO 2016 keypoints challenge.

Kinship influences sperm whale social organization within, but generally not among, social units.

Sperm whales have a multi-level social structure based upon long-term, cooperative social units. What role kinship plays in structuring this society is poorly understood. We combined extensive association data (518 days, during 2005–2016) and genetic data (18 microsatellites and 346 bp mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region sequences) for 65 individuals from 12 social units from the Eastern Caribbean to examine patterns of kinship and social behaviour. Social units were clearly matrilineally based, evidenced by greater relatedness within social units (mean r = 0.14) than between them (mean r = 0.00) and uniform mtDNA haplotypes within social units. Additionally, most individuals (82.5%) had a first-degree relative in their social unit, while we found no first-degree relatives between social units. Generally and within social units, individuals associated more with their closer relatives (matrix correlations: 0.18–0.25). However, excepting a highly related pair of social units that merged over the study period, associations between social units were not correlated with kinship (p > 0.1). These results are the first to robustly demonstrate kinship's contribution to social unit composition and association preferences, though they also reveal variability in association preferences that is unexplained by kinship. Comparisons with other matrilineal species highlight the range of possible matrilineal societies and how they can vary between and even within species.

The relationship of family history and risk of type 2 diabetes differs by ancestry

AimType 2 diabetes (T2DM) in a first-degree relative is a risk factor for incident diabetes. Americans of African ancestry (AA) have higher rates of T2DM than Americans of European ancestry (EA). Thus, we aimed to determine whether the presence, number and kinship of affected relatives are associated with race-specific T2DM incidence in a prospective study of participants from the Genetic Study of Atherosclerosis Risk (GeneSTAR), who underwent baseline screening including a detailed family history. MethodsNondiabetic healthy siblings (n=1405) of patients with early-onset coronary artery disease (18–59 years) were enrolled (861 EA and 544 AA) and followed for incident T2DM (mean 14±6 years). ResultsBaseline age was 46.2±7.3 years and 56% were female. T2DM occurred in 12.3% of EA and 19.1% of AA. Among EA, 32.6% had ≥1 affected first-degree relatives versus 53.1% in AA, P<0.0001. In fully adjusted Cox proportional hazard analyses, any family history was related to incident T2DM in EA (HR=2.53, 95% CI: 1.58–4.06) but not in AA (HR=1.01, 0.67–1.53). The number of affected relatives conferred incremental risk of T2DM in EA with HR=1.82 (1.08–3.06), 4.83 (2.15–10.85) and 8.46 (3.09–23.91) for 1, 2, and ≥3 affected, respectively. In AA only ≥3 affected increased risk (HR=2.45, 1.44–4.19). Specific kinship patterns were associated with incident T2DM in EA but not in AA. ConclusionsThe presence of any first-degree relative with T2DM does not discriminate risk in AA given the high race-specific prevalence of diabetes. Accounting for the number of affected relatives may more appropriately estimate risk for incident diabetes in both races.

Ancestral kinship patterns substantially reduce the negative effect of increasing group size on incentives for public goods provision

Numerous theories on the evolution of altruistic in-group beneficial behavior in humans exist. Many of these abstract away from the effects of kinship on incentives for public goods provision, though. Here, a simple model is devised that illustrates how genetic relatedness changes the incentive structure of that paradigmatic game which is conventionally used to model and experimentally investigate collective action problems: the linear public goods game. Using recent anthropological data sets on relatedness in contemporary hunter-gatherer and horticulturalist societies the parameters of the model are estimated. It turns out that the kinship patterns observed in these societies substantially reduce the negative effect of increasing group size on incentives for public goods provision. It is suggested, therefore, that renewed attention should be given to inclusive fitness theory in the context of public goods provision also in sizable groups.

KONTRIBUSI POSDAYA MASJID “MIFTAHUL HIDAYAH” DI DESA BULAY KECAMATAN GALIS KABUPATEN PAMEKASAN

The concept of poverty alleviation is not solely a matter for government but has become the responsibility of the congregation. Action against poverty is jihad in the path of Allah Swt. It seems Empowerment Center has changed the pattern of relations between officials at the village level or the district, employers, the profession with the congregation in the mosque which was originally a pattern of relationships out sider in-sider, different interests,' patterns of kinship, common interest to transform the society into a prosperous self-sufficient. Through Empowerment Center of the mosque, it is expected that a number of poor families successfully assisted to the strengthening of entrepreneurship and access to capital through the funds of the mosque, funds Lakzis, BMT, and the bank of SMES with a system of joint responsibility. Another positive thing happens with the optimal the Mosque based Empowerment Center is increasing the confidence of isoleted society. They have friends from diverse elements of the good academics, the professions, local officials and local leaders are easily accessible and are invited to the discussion. Based on that, then there are three problems that become the basic study in this study, namely: first, how is the strategy of Empowerment Center in conducting empowerment in the community?, second what are the contributions of Empowerment Center of the mosque and the third, what became the Empowerment Center of the mosque “Miftahul Hidayah” selected to be Posdaya National referral 2016 ? The theory of Empowerment that is worn according to the meaning in language is a process, a way, the deeds make the helpless, namely the ability to do something or ability to act in the form of common sense, endeavor or effort, community is the unity of human life that interact according to a system of certain mores that are continuous, and which is bound by a sense of shared identity, in some of the studies regarding the construction of community, community empowerment is often interpreted as an attempt to give power so their voices heard in order to contribute to the planning and decisions that affect their community, community empowerment can be interpreted as an attempt to restore or improve the ability of a community to be able to do in accordance with the dignity in implementing their rights and responsibilities as members of the community.

Family building using embryo adoption: relationships and contact arrangements between provider and recipient families-a mixed-methods study.

What contact arrangements are established between providers and recipients of embryos using Snowflakes® Embryo Adoption Program? Contact arrangements varied considerably and were generally positively described, although some challenges were acknowledged. Reproductive technologies create new and diverse family forms, and the ways in which families created by embryo adoption are negotiated in practice have not been extensively investigated. This exploratory, mixed-methods study had two phases: (i) an online survey (open May-September 2013) and (ii) qualitative semi-structured interviews by email (conducted between 2014 and 2015), exploring participants' experiences of contact with their embryo provider or recipient. Phase I included 17 providers (14 women and 3 men) and 28 recipients (27 women and 1 man). Phase II included 8 providers (5 women and 3 men) and 12 recipients (10 women and 2 men). All participants, except one, were located in the US. This study illustrates how embryo adoption in the US, as a form of conditional donation, can operate and how the participants define and negotiate these emerging relationships. All families were open with their children about how they were conceived and early contact between recipients and providers (frequently before birth) was valued. On the whole, participants were happy with the amount and type of contact they had, and where the current contact did not involve the children, it was seen as a way of keeping the channels open for future contact when the children were older. Participants often portrayed the opportunities for contact as being in the best interests of the child. The study participants are a particular group who had chosen to either receive or give their embryos via a conditional embryo adoption agency in the US and had established contact. Therefore, this is not a representative sample of those who provide or receive embryos for family building. This embryo adoption model clearly fulfils a need; some people want to use a conditional embryo donation programme such as Snowflakes®. Some form of 'ongoing support mechanism' such as counselling could be useful for those negotiating the complex sets of new kinship patterns and balancing these relationships with their children's welfare. The authors have no conflict of interest to declare. Snowflakes is a commercial adoption agency and the authors have no relation to the organization, other than requesting that they participate in this research project. N/A.

The making of tribes

Highlighting ‘pre’, ‘trans’ and ‘new’ tribal formations amongst upland Nagas in India’s Northeast, this article formulates both a historical critique against dominant categorisations of the region’s social landscape and posits alternative ways of ‘seeing’ local patterns of kinship, identity and belonging. Drawing on ethno-historical perspectives from the Chang and Chakhesang Nagas, I illustrate the problematic cultural transitivity of the idea and idiom of ‘tribe’ which conceals the social formations that existed—and occasionally persist—before, beneath, betwixt and between categories of ‘tribe’. This realisation brings us to a dilemma which, I think, ought to be at the heart of the anthropology of Nagas and of India’s Northeast more widely—namely, how to account for the ethnographic observation that social organisation—both past and present—is based on interpersonal, village and clan networks which cut across tribal and ethnic groups with clearly permeable boundaries and yet most people maintain a view of the whole society as made up of partitioned, culturally coherent and historically immutable entities.

Panethnicity and Social Solidarity in Bosnia-Herzegovina

This article examines the social cohesion of Bosnia-Herzegovina’s inhabitants through the concept of panethnicity. Panethnicity is exemplified through an array of shared marriage practices and kinship patterns. The marriage customs analyzed are prenuptial parties, elopements, affinal visitations, fictive kinships, and homogamy. A statistical analysis with a loglinear model using data collected in 2014 on marriage customs from a clustered, stratified, random survey of the population is conducted (n = 2,900). Despite the political structures of the Dayton Peace Accords that reify ethnic identities, there remains a shared cultural identity in Bosnia-Herzegovina reflected in the marriage customs and kinship relations of its inhabitants. Panethnicity structures a social cohesion that blends the contrasting Durkheimian concepts of organic solidarity and mechanical solidarity.

Families in War And Peace: Chile from colony to nation by Sarah C. Chambers

Reviewed by: Families in War And Peace: Chile from colony to nation by Sarah C. Chambers Sandra Collins Families in War And Peace: Chile from colony to nation. By Sarah C. Chambers. Durham: Duke University Press, 2015. Since the 1980s familial networks and gender have been growing as a way of interpreting history in Latin America. Numerous studies have demonstrated how family bonds among elite Creole were later exploited in the struggle to separate from Spain. This was particularly visible in Chile, where the colonial economy had been held up by a kinship pattern of marriages between Chilean-born daughters and Spanish immigrants. Mary Lowenthal Felstiner's work on kinship politics and family metaphors was the first to show how family and politics were entwined during the shift to Independence in Chile, and how language connected to family and politics became a tool to unify elite families in their desire to break away from the crown. In Families in War and Peace: Chile from colony to nation, Sarah Chambers extends this analysis to the use of familial rhetoric in nation formation, arguing that it was equally instrumental in re-forging links devastated by the ongoing wars of the early nineteenth century. While studies on Chilean nation building have tended to date issues of family regeneration to the Conservative era beginning in 1830, Chambers demonstrates that it was a central consideration in the establishment of a stable government and society even during the tumultuous years directly following the wars of Independence. The objective of a "greater Chilean family" underpinned the formation of policies consciously designed to gain support and legitimacy for the fledgling nation. Paternal governance, so often cited as key to the endurance of Spanish hegemony in the Americas, was carried over to the ad hoc judicial systems of the Patria Vieja, and was later consolidated through courts that resolved property disputes, provided military pensions and dealt with legal disputes over family maintenance and custody. Chambers shows how Republican rhetoric was related to the family, and that this was increasingly utilised by non-elite members of society. Interesting examples of this are given in Chapter Six, when appeals from lower class women looking for child support for children out of wedlock or military pensions are shown to allude to paternal responsibility and even the legacy of slavery. With the onset of Liberalism in the second half of the nineteenth century, appeals to the mercy of a father figure began to fall on deaf ears. Legal reforms initiated by the Civil Code of 1855 saw a shift to the perception of poor women and children without access to family networks as "a potential labour force who should better earn their keep by working, often in the households of their social betters" (212). Such insights are profound when attempting to understand the patriarchal authority that continues to be the subject of speculation today. One of the book's greatest strengths is the way in which the structure allows for the multi-levelled discourses, negotiations and disputes to weave in and out of the discussion. The chronology that dictates events in Chile is the life of Javiera Carrera, sister of the Liberators Juan José, José Miguel and Luis. While her brothers had all died by 1821, Javiera lived until 1862 and bore witness to the multiple governments, wars and constitutions that shaped the lives of so many families. An analysis of her letters and correspondence offers a window to contemporary readers on the intricacies of relationships, the way events and decision-making could manipulate and be manipulated, and the way power was maintained through kinship relations though generations. Returning to Javiera's story throughout the book demonstrates the complex routes that negotiations of gender and one's role in the family could take, and demonstrates the complex engagements between individuals and government. The overarching structure is divided into two parts. The first part, "Families and War," shows how families mobilised politically and activism was carried out based on gender roles and place in the family during the years of Independence; while "Reconciling the National Family" traces state formation from 1823 to the 1850s. The traditional linear presentation of time helps the reader contextualise...

Becoming Gay Fathers Through Transnational Commercial Surrogacy

Based on eight interviews with Danish gay male couples and one gay man, who had or were planning to become fathers through transnational commercial surrogacy, I examine the ways the men form family subjectivities between traditional kinship patterns and fundamentally new forms of kinship and family. Arguing that class, mobility, and privilege should also be understood as relational and negotiated positions, I show that gay men engaged in surrogacy must be understood as more flexible and differentiated. Second, I show how kinship as synonymous with biogenetic relatedness is supplemented by notions of kinship as devotion, individual will and determination, and reproductive desire in order to strengthen the men’s affinity to their children. Last, I examine how the men negotiate and work within the given structures of heteronormativity and Whiteness and rework notions of parenthood while at the same time reaffirming old hierarchizations of racialized and sexualized forms of procreation and families.

Investigating kinship of Neolithic post-LBK human remains from Krusza Zamkowa, Poland using ancient DNA

We applied an interdisciplinary approach to investigate kinship patterns and funerary practices during the middle Neolithic. Genetic studies, radiocarbon dating, and taphonomic analyses were used to examine two grave clusters from Krusza Zamkowa, Poland. To reconstruct kinship and determine biological sex, we extracted DNA from bones and teeth, analyzed mitochondrial genomes and nuclear SNPs using the HID-Ion AmpliSeq™ Identity panel generated on Illumina and Ion Torrent platforms, respectively. We further dated the material (AMS 14C) and to exclude aquatic radiocarbon reservoir effects, measures of carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes for diet reconstruction were used. We found distinct mitochondrial genomes belonging to haplogroups U5b2a1a, K1c and H3d in the first grave cluster, and excluded maternal kin patterns among the three analyzed individuals. In the second grave cluster one individual belonged to K1a4. However, we could not affiliate the second individual to a certain haplogroup due to the fragmented state of the mitochondrial genome. Although the individuals from the second grave cluster differ at position 6643, we believe that more data is needed to fully resolve this issue. We retrieved between 26 and 77 autosomal SNPs from three of the individuals. Based on kinship estimations, taking into account the allelic dropout distribution, we could not exclude first degree kin relation between the two individuals from the second grave cluster. We could, however, exclude a first degree kinship between these two individuals and an individual from the first grave cluster. Presumably, not only biological kinship, but also social relations played an important role in the funerary practice during this time period. We further conclude that the HID-Ion AmpliSeq™ Identity Panel may prove useful for first degree kin relation studies for samples with good DNA preservation, and that mitochondrial genome capture enrichment is a powerful tool for excluding direct maternal relationship in ancient individuals.

Multi-Generational Kinship, Multiple Mating, and Flexible Modes of Parental Care in a Breeding Population of the Veery (Catharus fuscescens), a Trans-Hemispheric Migratory Songbird.

We discovered variable modes of parental care in a breeding population of color-banded Veeries (Catharus fuscescens), a Nearctic-Neotropical migratory songbird, long thought to be socially monogamous, and performed a multi-locus DNA microsatellite analysis to estimate parentage and kinship in a sample of 37 adults and 21 offspring. We detected multiple mating in both sexes, and four modes of parental care that varied in frequency within and between years including multiple male feeders at some nests, and males attending multiple nests in the same season, each with a different female. Unlike other polygynandrous systems, genetic evidence indicates that multi-generational patterns of kinship occur among adult Veeries at our study site, and this was corroborated by the capture of an adult male in 2013 that had been banded as a nestling in 2011 at a nest attended by multiple male feeders. All genotyped adults (n = 37) were related to at least one other bird in the sample at the cousin level or greater (r ≥ 0.125), and 81% were related to at least one other bird at the half-sibling level or greater (r ≥ 0.25, range 0.25–0.60). Although our sample size is small, it appears that the kin structure is maintained by natal philopatry in both sexes, and that Veeries avoid mating with close genetic kin. At nests where all adult feeders were genotyped (n = 9), the male(s) were unrelated to the female (mean r = -0.11 ± 0.15), whereas genetic data suggest close kinship (r = 0.254) between two male co-feeders at the nests of two females in 2011, and among three of four females that were mated to the same polygynous male in 2012. To our knowledge, this is the first evidence of polygynandry occurring among multiple generations of close genetic kin on the breeding ground of a Nearctic-Neotropical migratory songbird.

Changing Patterns of Kinship: Cohabitation, Patriarchy and Social Policy in Chile

AbstractCohabitation is a distinctive feature of low-income groups in Latin America. In the past, it has been linked to colonial legacies including notions of familial honour, poverty, and a kinship system focused on blood ties. By contrast, some scholars consider rising levels of cohabitation in the present day to be an effect of modernisation, through increased gender equality. The present research, based on life histories of young, poor, urban co-habitees in Chile, aims to show that rising cohabitation is linked to targeted social policies and also to declining patriarchy, which is distinct from gender equality.

The key role of the largest extant Neotropical frugivore (Tapirus terrestris) in promoting admixture of plant genotypes across the landscape

AbstractThe historical and contemporary loss of large‐bodied frugivores has disrupted many plant‐disperser mutualisms, with potentially profound consequences for plants. Although several aspects of seed dispersal by megafrugivores have already been examined, the role of these species in promoting seed‐mediated gene flow has remained unexplored. We evaluated the role of the Amazonian tapir (Tapirus terrestris), the largest Neotropical frugivore, in shaping plant genetic structure through seed‐mediated gene flow. We used microsatellites to analyze the genetic patterns of Syagrus romanzoffiana seedlings recruited in tapir latrines and around conspecific adult palms, the two sites where seeds and seedlings are most frequently found in this species. While the genetic diversity of seedlings was rather similar in both sites, the kinship structure was substantially weaker in latrines. Most seedlings recruited around adult palms were half‐ or full‐sibs originating from those adults. In contrast, seedlings recruited in latrines came from several (&gt;5, on average) contributing mothers other than the nearest adult (95%) and were mostly non‐sibs (72%). Kinship patterns indicated that tapir‐mediated dispersal promotes the admixture of genotypes across space. Also, our results suggested that genetic diversity and the number of contributing mothers in latrines increase with the number of fruiting adults visited by tapirs before defecating and with the accumulation of feces over time. We provide evidence of the relevance of tapirs in mobilizing maternal progenies (and genotypes) across the landscape and recruiting clusters of unrelated seedlings. This study suggests a key role for plant–megafrugivore interactions in seed‐mediated gene flow and emphasizes the importance of preserving such mutualisms.

A Community in Life and Death: The Late Neolithic Megalithic Tomb at Alto de Reinoso (Burgos, Spain).

The analysis of the human remains from the megalithic tomb at Alto de Reinoso represents the widest integrative study of a Neolithic collective burial in Spain. Combining archaeology, osteology, molecular genetics and stable isotope analysis (87Sr/86Sr, δ15N, δ13C) it provides a wealth of information on the minimum number of individuals, age, sex, body height, pathologies, mitochondrial DNA profiles, kinship relations, mobility, and diet. The grave was in use for approximately one hundred years around 3700 cal BC, thus dating from the Late Neolithic of the Iberian chronology. At the bottom of the collective tomb, six complete and six partial skeletons lay in anatomically correct positions. Above them, further bodies represented a subsequent and different use of the tomb, with almost all of the skeletons exhibiting signs of manipulation such as missing skeletal parts, especially skulls. The megalithic monument comprised at least 47 individuals, including males, females, and subadults, although children aged 0–6 years were underrepresented. The skeletal remains exhibited a moderate number of pathologies, such as degenerative joint diseases, healed fractures, cranial trauma, and a low intensity of caries. The mitochondrial DNA profiles revealed a pattern pointing to a closely related local community with matrilineal kinship patterns. In some cases adjacent individuals in the bottom layer showed familial relationships. According to their strontium isotope ratios, only a few individuals were likely to have spent their early childhood in a different geological environment, whilst the majority of individuals grew up locally. Carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis, which was undertaken to reconstruct the dietary habits, indicated that this was a homogeneous group with egalitarian access to food. Cereals and small ruminants were the principal sources of nutrition. These data fit in well with a lifestyle typical of sedentary farming populations in the Spanish Meseta during this period of the Neolithic.

GHRH, PRP-PACAP and GHRHR Target Sequencing via an Ion Torrent Personal Genome Machine Reveals an Association with Growth in Orange-Spotted Grouper (Epinephelus coioides).

Growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) and the receptor, GHRHR, constitute important components of the hypothalamus-pituitary growth axis and act on the downstream growth hormone (GH). PACAP-related peptide/pituitary adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide (PRP-PACAP) is a paralog of GHRH. These genes all play key roles in development and growth patterns. To improve the quality of cultured fish strains, natural genetic variation must be examined and understood. A mixed linear model has been widely used in association mapping, taking the population structures and pairwise kinship patterns into consideration. In this study, a mass cross population of orange-spotted grouper (Epinephelus coioides) was examined. These candidate genes were found to harbor low nucleotide diversity (θw from 0.00154 to 0.00388) and linkage disequilibrium levels (delay of 50% within 2 kbp). Association mapping was employed, and two single-nucleotide polymorphisms (KR269823.1:g.475A>C and KR269823.1:g.2143T>C) were found to be associated with growth (false discovery rate Q < 0.05), explaining 9.0%–17.0% of the phenotypic variance. The association of KR269823.1:g.2143T>C was also found via haplotype-based association (p < 0.05). The identified associations offer new insights into gene functions, and the associated single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) may be used for breeding purposes.

Violence against Palestinian Women

The current study explored violence against women in the Palestinian society as a multidimensional phenomenon. An index of a 60-item scale (developed by the researcher) used to measure violence against women was administrated to three hundred and sixty-three randomly selected married women at Jericho & Al-Aghwar governate. The research revealed that Palestinian women are still subject to many forms of violence mostly, physical, psychological and sexual. Of the Palestinian women surveyed, seven in ten women (74.4%) reported partner violence. The study concluded that it is difficult for a battered woman to seek redress or help with any guarantee of privacy. Furthermore, the under-reporting of violence is widespread in a society of patriarchal patterns of kinship, legalized inequality, social subordination and ingrained male dominance. The implications of the findings and probabilities for future empirical research are briefly discussed.