Social Ranking Research Articles

Cooperatives, Economic Democratization and Rural Development, edited by JosBijman, RoldanMuradian and JurSchuurman (Eds). Published by Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, UK, 2016, 320 pp, ISBN: 9781784719371, AU$ 159 (hardcover).

Cooperatives (including agricultural cooperatives) are complex organisations that have contributed significantly to the economic and social development of farmers and governments in many developing countries in Africa, South America and the Asia–Pacific regions. This book addresses a fascinating topic on the transformation process of cooperatives in developing and transition countries towards more business and market-driven organisations. The editors reflect this transformation process by using the term ‘producer organisations’ (POs) to describe the wider range of farmers’ collective actions, instead of the conventional term of cooperatives (although some chapters still use the term cooperatives). It is notable that flagship international organisations such as the World Bank and FAO also use the concept of POs, which incorporate the institutional innovation of the farmers’ collective actions. The book's 12 chapters are organised into four sections. The chapters are written by (teams of) authors (mainly economists and sociologists) from a range of countries with developing, emerging, or developed economies. Many chapters find an excellent balance between theoretical details and practical application. Most of the chapters cover the impact of the POs on members, communities, societies, and poverty alleviation. Editor Jos Bijman provides a concise and informative introduction to the challenging nature of farmers’ collective action, and the nature of the transformation process of POs in developing countries. This is followed by an interesting discussion of different PO structures as well as the challenges (e.g. dynamic institutional, policy and market environment) they face – with particular emphasis on West Africa, India and Sri Lanka. In response to the challenges, are these organisations moving closer to the cooperatives/farmers’ organisations in the developed world? An analysis of the relationship between formal and informal collective actions is also provided. Other themes of the book explore the role of the POs in enhancing market access and coordination, addressing market failure in rural areas, and participation and inclusiveness of POs with some interesting cases from Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and India. These organisations are more vertically coordinated and in many instances represent an integral link between small-scale farmers and the high-value markets that have strict quality, safety and volume requirements. It is fairly uncertain whether or not collective actions are too costly for the poor small-scale farmers in the developing world. While cooperatives in many developing and emerging countries are historically strongly influenced by the external environment and political approaches to cooperative promotion, the book infers that the new and transformed POs have a more ‘bottom-up’ perspective; they are often initiated by farmers and actively promote members’ benefits (increased bargaining power and lower transaction costs). An interesting perspective on cooperative sustainability in East Africa leads the reader to consider the incentives these small-scale farmers have to become members of farmer organisations and the capability of cooperative leadership of these modern POs. Transparent decision-making processes and effective internal governance are key elements for cooperative sustainability. While POs aim to provide benefits for their members, another theme of the book emphasises benefits to the wider communities, economies, and the democratic development of countries. Furthermore, the authors suggest an interesting link between the development of cooperative economies and the Social Economy Index ranking. For example, countries with more cooperative economies such as New Zealand, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Finland also rank higher on the Social Economy Index. The final chapter provides succinct conclusions regarding the transformation of POs in developing countries: inclusion and exclusion of particular groups of farmers and how this will affect members’ commitment; the structural tension of POs (e.g. between equity and efficiency); and the dynamic institutional environment of POs. Although this book focuses on POs in developing and emerging countries, it is not clear whether or not the transformation process will bring these farmer organisations closer to cooperative business models in the developed world; are resemblances positive or negative. Can we apply the same theoretical frameworks, approaches and methodologies used to analyse cooperatives in developed countries when analysing the innovative POs in developing and emerging countries? This book is unique because of its multidisciplinary nature. It uses various methodological approaches and covers a wide range of regions. The editors effectively combine different economic, social and cultural perspectives. It is commendable that the economists’ perspective on POs is well complemented with perspectives from other disciplines (e.g. sociology). This book is a valuable reference for any practitioner, policy maker, researcher or student interested in the links between farmers’ organisations and rural development. The book is well written and contributes to a better understanding of farmers’ collective actions in developing and emerging economies. It also provides a strong foundation for further studies to bridge the knowledge gap between farmers’ organisations in developed and developing countries.

Tu1076 - Trends in Social Media Presence and GI Institutional Ranking

Tu1076 - Trends in Social Media Presence and GI Institutional Ranking

CONQUERING THE CHALLENGES AND ISSUES FOR THE CSR IMPLEMENTATION UNDER THE COMPANIES ACT, 2013 - ONE OF THE TOOLS FOR ACHIEVING THE BALANCED GROWTH OF INDIA

Looking to the present social stratum of the Country and a dire need for the balanced growth of the country, there needs a broader vision by moving ahead from the triple bottom line (“People, Planet and Profit”) to “Partnership, Progress and Prosperity”. CSR is need of an hour so as to contribute to the social innovation and development in India. India is the first and only country across the globe having mandatory enforcement of provisions relating to CSR for certain corporate entities vide Companies Act, 2013. India is ranked 3rd (third) in the list, according to social enterprise CSR Asia's Asian Sustainability Ranking (ASR). Origin of CSR [Corporate Social Responsibility] can be traced from the ancient scriptures and it is not a concept borrowed from the foreign country. Now, it’s a right time to ensure that while dealing with CSR, approach should be that of participatory and not a contributory. Let, CSR be part of company strategy and budget and be treated like an actionable business agenda. CSR agenda should carry the stake holder approach by a corporate and not a charity oriented approach. Many expectations are carved out from the corporate sector ensuring best corporate governance practices. So, such ideal and effective corporate governance practices will ensure a means to an end of balanced growth of the country. Sustainable functioning with a philosophy of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” [entire universe belongs to the same family] is need of an hour. It’s a time to revert to our ancient scriptures, Upnishadas, Puranas and Vedic literatures for the holistic living and the same can only be the means to an end of balanced growth.

Absolute qualified majoritarianism: How does the threshold matter?

We study absolute qualified majority rules in a setting with more than two alternatives. We show that given two qualified majority rules, if transitivity is desired for the societal outcome and if the thresholds of one of these rules are at least as high as the other’s for any pair of alternatives, then at each preference profile the rule with higher thresholds results in a coarser social ranking. Hence all absolute qualified majority rules can be expressed as specific coarsenings of the simple majority rule.

Trait aggressiveness does not predict social dominance of rats in the Visible Burrow System

Hierarchical social status greatly influences health and well-being in mammals, including humans. The social rank of an individual is established during competitive encounters with conspecifics. Intuitively, therefore, social dominance and aggressiveness may seem intimately linked. Yet, whether an aggressive personality trait may predispose individuals to a particular rank in a social colony setting remains largely unclear. Here we tested the hypothesis that high trait aggressiveness in Wildtype Groningen (WTG) rats, as assessed in a classic resident-intruder offensive aggression paradigm predicts social dominance in a mixed-sex colony housing using the Visible Burrow System (VBS). We also hypothesized that hierarchical steepness, as reflected in the number and intensity of the social conflicts, positively correlates with the average level of trait aggressiveness of the male subjects in the VBS.Clear and stable hierarchical ranking was formed within a few days in VBS colonies as indicated and reflected by a rapid loss of body weight in subordinates which stabilized after 2–3days. Social conflicts, that occurred mainly during these first few days, also resulted in bite wounds in predominantly subordinate males. Data clearly showed that trait aggressiveness does not predict dominance status. The most aggressive male in a mixed sex group of conspecifics living in a closed VBS environment does not always become the dominant male. In addition, data did not convincingly indicate that in colonies with only highly aggressive males, agonistic interactions were more intense. Number of bite wounds and body weight loss did not positively correlate with trait-aggressiveness of subordinates. In this study, rats from this wild-derived rat strain behave differently from Long-Evans laboratory rats that have been studied up till now in many experiments using the VBS. Strain dependent differences in the capacity to display appropriate social behavior fitting an adaptive strategy to a high or low social ranking position probably play an important role in the level of perceived stress in mixed sex social colonies like the VBS.

Deliberative Democracy: A Binding Methodology?

In a democracy, decisions may be taken in a number of non-violent ways. Some are taken by everybody in referendums or, after an election, by the members of parliament; almost all of these ballots and elections of the general population, as well as decisions by elected representatives, are binding. Other, usually non-binding decisions, may be made by independent commissions or public enquiries, albeit sometimes subject to a government veto; while yet further decisions of government may be influenced by consultations, public opinion surveys, deliberative polls and focus groups. Given the ever-increasing sophistication with which some forms of deliberative democracy operate, it is time to ask whether they too should be legally binding if, that is, (a) the representative sample meets certain minimum criteria, and (b) the outcome, the social choice or ranking, has passed a pre-determined threshold of support. Accordingly, this article first examines the way a social choice or ranking can be identified; next, with frequent reference to instances from across the globe, it takes an overview of the more common means of public participation; and then, in regard to item (b) above, it advocates criteria by which the outcomes of some of these democratic instruments may be deemed to be binding.

Disarticulating Indianité: Re-imagining the Motherland in Ernest Moutoussamy's Chacha et Sosso

WRITING INDIANITE INDIANITE or Indianness, a term first introduced during the early 1970s by the Martinican researcher, Gilbert Francis Ponaman, is a cultural project that seeks to valorize the East Indian diaspora who came as indentured laborers to the French West Indies during the post-slavery era. The inception of this concept stems principally from the lack of attention accorded to the Francophone Indo-Caribbeans in critical discourses, despite the fact that they comprise approximately 15% and 3% of the Guadeloupean and Martinican populations, respectively, and have contributed to the mosaic of material and immaterial cultures of these islands. This theoretical disengagement seemingly harks back to the initial arrival of the East Indian indentured laborers, who came as a cheap source of labor to work on the sugarcane plantations. These laborers arrived into a society where a hierarchized social fabric had already been established: the white planter class occupied the upper echelon, below which were the middle classes, and the former African slaves positioned at the bottom. The East Indians were then placed, by default, at the bottom of these social class rankings, and were further marginalized because of their religious and cultural practices, which were quite different from those practiced and cultivated on the islands at the time. This culture of marginalization was further perpetuated since the East Indians represented an obstacle to the former African slaves' effort to bargain with French plantation owners because the indentured laborers were willing to accept lower wages. Their social isolation bled into their non-recognition in literary and critical discourses, which the concept of Indianite seeks to amend. Preliminary thoughts on what would eventually be conceptualized as Indianite made their debut in the journal, Soleil indien, launched in March 1974 by Ponaman, which aimed to give a voice to the often-sidelined East Indian presence in Martinique, in particular, and in the French Caribbean, in general. One of the earliest definitions of Indianite comes from Laurent Farrugia in his Les Indiens de Guadeloupe et de Martinique (1975). Farrugia considers Indianite as an inaugural concept essential to the creation of East Indian subjectivity in the French West indies: L'Indianite n'est pas une fin en soi. Pas plus que negritude n'etait une fin en soi. Mais il est necessaire que s'ouvre une ere d'Indianite, comme il etait necessaire que s'accomplissent des temps de negritude. Pour n'etre qu'une etape historique, l'Indianite n'en est pas moins une etape absolument indispensable. Au-dela? au-dela, il y a l'antillanite, concept ouvert, englobant a fois negritude, l'Indianite et l'europeanite ... (160) Similar to Farrugia's insights, Jack corzani's definition locates Indianite in relation to Negritude. Corzani defines it as a movement that tends to valorize la culture indienne (originaire de l'Inde) aux Antilles sur le modele de negritude et parfois en reaction contre cette derniere (1436). Analogous to the concept of Negritude advanced from the 1930s by Aime Cesaire, Leopald Sedar Senghor, and Leon Gontran Damas to promote the affirmation of a collective black identity that resisted French colonial systems of thought based on racial prejudices, Indianite is a necessary step forward to recognize the contributions of the East Indian diasporic community in the French Antilles, and to spark cross-cultural dialogues amongst the plural ethnicities in the French Caribbean. But it is Ernest Moutoussamy, an Indo-Guadeloupean writer and politician, aspiring, like Ponaman, to put the Francophone Indo-Caribbeans on the map, who became the main defender and proponent of this concept. He develops his thoughts on Indianite in his critical work La Guadeloupe et son Indianite, published in 1987, and explains that Indianite is an articulation of East Indian cultural patrimony that must be acknowledged as an integral part of the racial and cultural diversity at work in the French Antilles. …

Interbrains cooperation: Hyperscanning and self-perception in joint actions

ABSTRACTThe aim of the present study was to investigate the neural bases of cooperative behaviors and social self-perception underlying the execution of joint actions by using a hyperscanning brain paradigm with functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). We firstly found that an artificial positive feedback on the cognitive performance was able to affect the self-perception of social position and hierarchy (higher social ranking) for the dyad, as well as the cognitive performance (decreased error rate, ER, and response times, RTs). In addition, the shared cognitive strategy was concurrently improved within the dyad after this social reinforcing. Secondly, fNIRS measures revealed an increased brain activity in the postfeedback condition for the dyad. Moreover, an interbrain similarity was found for the dyads during the task, with higher coherent prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity for the interagents in the postfeedback condition. Finally, a significant prefrontal brain lateralization effect was revealed, with the left hemisphere being more engaged during the postfeedback condition. To summarize, the self-perception, the cognitive performance, and the shared brain activity were all reinforced by the social feedback within the dyad.

Competition in the Brain. The Contribution of EEG and fNIRS Modulation and Personality Effects in Social Ranking.

In the present study, the social ranking perception in competition was explored. Brain response (alpha band oscillations, EEG; hemodynamic activity, O2Hb), as well as self-perception of social ranking, cognitive performance, and personality trait (Behavioral Activation System, BAS) were considered during a competitive joint-action. Subjects were required to develop a strategy to obtain a better outcome than a competitor (C) (in term of error rate, and response time, RT). A pre-feedback (without a specific feedback on the performance) and a post-feedback condition (which reinforced the improved performance) were provided. It was found that higher-BAS participants responded in greater measure to perceived higher cognitive performance (post-feedback condition), with increased left prefrontal activity, higher ranking perception, and a better real performance (reduced RTs). These results were explained in term of increased sense of self-efficacy and social position, probably based on higher-BAS sensitivity to reinforcing conditions. In addition, the hemispheric effect in favor of the left side characterized the competitive behavior, showing an imbalance for high-BAS in comparison to low-BAS in the case of a rewarding (post-feedback) context. Therefore, the present results confirmed the significance of BAS in modulating brain responsiveness, self-perceived social position, and real performance during an interpersonal competitive action which is considered highly relevant for social status.

Local Action Groups and Rural Sustainable Development. A spatial multiple criteria approach for efficient territorial planning

Rural Sustainable Development is a very important topic under the European Union policy, and it is currently promoted through the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development 2014–2020. This fund is managed at sub-regional level by the Community-Led Local Development approach that involves Local Action Groups in order to promote the objectives of Rural Sustainable Development within rural municipalities. Each Local Action Group applies the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats analysis in order to identify for its own rural municipalities the strategic elements to which it will allocate the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development budget. Nevertheless, this analysis has some general shortcomings, including difficulties in managing a large number of Strength and Weakness factors. In addition, the importance of each factor cannot be measured quantitatively, and the same factor may be characterized both as a Strength and a Weakness. Further difficulties may occur in the case of partnerships between different Local Action Groups, such as disagreement about whether a given factor is a Strength or a Weakness, lack of information about the relationships between Strength and a Weakness factors and decision alternatives, as well as impossibility of ranking the decision alternatives.Thus, this research aims to overcome the drawbacks of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats analysis and to support Local Action Group partnerships in the sustainability evaluation of their rural municipalities, and therefore to aid the identification of a common Rural Sustainable Development strategy to allocate the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development budget. This decision problem was tackled by applying a Multiple Criteria Spatial Decision Support System that integrates a Geographic Information System with the Multiple Criteria Decision Aiding methods “Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution” and “Dominance-based Rough Set Approach”.In order to demonstrate the validity of this methodological approach, this Multiple Criteria Spatial Decision Support System was applied to a study area of thirteen rural municipalities located in Apulia Region (Southern Italy); these municipalities belong to the same landscape unit, but they are managed by five different policy makers that represent the Local Action Groups. The results provided the maps of environmental, economic and social sustainability rankings of rural municipalities as well as their overall sustainability value. Based on these rankings, a specific Rural Sustainable Development strategy was identified for the allocation of the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development. This methodology provided a common decision making framework that can also be applied to Local Action Group partnerships within the European Union.

Search Ranking Utilizing User's Opinion

The Internet is one of the most widely available services in the world today. With the Internet, people are now looking for reviews on the Internet; more specifically, the social networking services. Within the social network medium, we can identify a suitable service that describes more about a person’s personality as the subject. The growth of social networking popularity has contributed to the in-crease in information available on social networking services. The flexibility of these services allows writing individual thoughts without restrictions. With the vast information available on social networking sites today, how is it possible to look all of these opinions? How do we know which opinion holds truth? How do we know if someone is not bias based on his writing? Hence, it is seen necessary to filter opinions. In this paper we look at the possibility of using search ranking as a medium of filter opinions by exploring opinion mining methods, social networking candidates and search ranking methods. With existing sentiment analysis techniques, we can obtain opinions that are then ranked against a set of key-words.

Social comparison and risk taking behavior

This paper studies the effects of social comparison on risk taking behavior. In our theoretical framework, decision makers evaluate the consequences of their choices relative to both their own and their peers’ conditions. We test experimentally whether the position in the social ranking affects risk attitudes. Subjects interact in a simulated workplace environment where they perform a work task, receive possibly different wages, and then undertake a risky decision that may produce an extra gain. We find that social comparison matters for risk attitudes. Subjects are more risk averse in the presence of small social gain than social loss. In addition, risk aversion is decreasing in the size of the social gain.

Social Network Analysis using Interest Mining: A Critical Review

Background/Objectives: Social Networking has been entertaining people for sharing their common ideas and proposals which are analyzed through social relations among them. The problem in the field of social network analysis is the absence of adequate computing resources to handle huge amount of data on World Wide Web. Therefore, users are unable to gather needed information correctly and thereby, the aim is to locate right information at the right time and delivering it to distinct group of people. Methods: Present paper gives the insight into the existing deployment of social network analysis and various ranking techniques which have been devised by various researchers for the social networking capabilities over the network. In order to accomplish the aim, virtual environment can be created for social network analysis. This analysis can be performed by various mining methods such as opinion mining, expert mining, etc. and ranking techniques like object average rating, neighbour variance rating, random rating and many more. Although these techniques optimize the information overload problem accordingly, still there is a need for expert identification. Findings: The future enhancement for social network analysis includes collaborative thinking. Social Network Analysis gathers people having similar interest by creating collaboration among users. This collaboration leads to resource sharing in an efficient manner after the creation of virtual environment. Furthermore, the field of social network analysis may take a turn to link analysis and its various algorithms like Page Rank, Weighted Page Rank and Weighted Page Content Rank which will further help in finding the expert and enhances the information effectively. Application/Improvements: The application to social network analysis is to discover the network of innovators in a regional economy, enhancing dark web analysis and spam behaviour detection. The arduous task of expert identification is an upcoming trend that can be implemented through virtual environment.

Optimal Aggregation of Uncertain Preferences

A paradigmatic problem in social choice theory deals with the aggregation of subjective preferences of individuals --- represented as rankings of alternatives --- into a social ranking. We are interested in settings where individuals are uncertain about their own preferences, and represent their uncertainty as distributions over rankings. Under the classic objective of minimizing the (expected) sum of Kendall tau distances between the input rankings and the output ranking, we establish that preference elicitation is surprisingly straightforward and near-optimal solutions can be obtained in polynomial time. We show, both in theory and using real data, that ignoring uncertainty altogether can lead to suboptimal outcomes.

A Fairness Justification of Utilitarianism

Differences in preferences are important to explain variation in individuals’ behavior. There is however no consensus on how to take these differences into account when evaluating policies. While prominent in the economic literature, the standard utilitarian criterion faces two major difficulties. First, it requires cardinal measurability and unit comparability of individuals’ utilities, which cannot be inferred from individuals’ observed behavior. Second, it is normatively controversial as it might support unfair policies. In this paper, we propose an alternative criterion, named opportunity-equivalent utilitarian, that overcomes these difficulties. First, our criterion ranks social alternatives on the basis of individuals’ ordinal preferences, which can be estimated from individuals’ observed behavior. Second, our criterion avoids the conventional critiques to utilitarianism by satisfying the following three fairness axioms: possibility of trade-offs sets a limit to the influence any individual can exert on the social ranking; non discrimination means that no individual is considered to be more deserving than any other; equal-preference transfer requires society to value positively a multicommodity progressive transfer among individuals with the same preferences. We show that, together with efficiency, continuity, and separability, these axioms force the welfare criterion to be the sum of specific indices of well-being that are cardinally measurable, interpersonally comparable, and represent each individual’s preferences.

Recognition and the Forgotten Senses in the Odyssey

Introduction Recognition in the Odyssey typically hinges on a visual or visualizable sign of some sort. There are, however, three recognition scenes--between Odysseus and his dog, his Nurse, and his bow--which turn instead on nonvisual triggers. Touch occasions Eurycleia's recognition of her master, as it does Odysseus's reunion with his bow, while there are strong hints that his sharp sense of smell is what enables Argus to detect his master behind the ragged appearance of a beggar. These three scenes, based as they are on senses other than sight, expose the fissures in Odysseus's otherwise flawless disguise, and reveal his surprising vulnerability. As David Howes (2005, 10) observes in Empire of the Senses, how the senses are valued in any given society is not only culturally determined but also hierarchical: The senses are typically ordered in hierarchies. In one society or social context sight will head the list of the senses, in another it may be hearing or touch. Such sensory rankings are always allied with social rankings and employed to order society. The dominant group in society will be linked to esteemed senses and sensations while subordinate groups will be associated with less-valued or denigrated senses. In the West, the dominant group--whether it be conceptualized in terms of gender, class, or race--has conventionally been associated with the supposedly 'higher' senses of sight and hearing, while subordinate groups (women, workers, non-Westerners) have been associated with the so-called lower senses of smell, taste, and touch. The gendered social valuation of the senses in the Odyssey is in line with what Howes describes as typical for Western societies: sight and sound are allied with social prestige, while touch and smell are more prevalent among subordinate groups, particularly women and animals. Argus and Eurycleia mobilize these 'lower' senses during their interactions with Odysseus. Women, moreover, are often the first to notice bodily semata, perhaps because of their involvement in rituals of hospitality which brings them into close contact with the physical self. (1) And as weavers, women are practitioners of a supremely tactile art. (2) This may mark them as closer to 'nature' and supposedly less suited for positions of political power, but their tactile expertise is also what allows female characters in Homer to 'see through' the superficially altered appearances that confound their male counterparts. (3) Even Odysseus, a hero of metis (cunning) rather than bia (force), resorts to uncharacteristic aggression when he is confronted with Eurycleia's discerning touch. The forgotten senses of touch and smell thus reinforce, at the same time that they call into question, the Odyssey's gendered and political status quo. By pointing up the dangers of discovery that Odysseus barely escapes, such seemingly loose ends in the 'disguise' strand of the epic hint at alternative outcomes to the hero's nostos. Odysseus's is a homecoming whose precarious reliance on the dynamics of vision-centered reintegration could easily have been overwritten by a single sleight of hand or nose. Recognition and the Senses There are two main types of recognition in the Odyssey, each of which performs a distinctive narrative function. I refer to these as anagnorisis and noesis, even though those particular nouns do not occur in Homer. (4) Recognition scenes involving anagnorisis tend to be framed by a social relationship that requires reactivation. Through the agency of a visualizable sign (e.g., a particular bodily form [demas]-, the shape of the head, hands, or feet; a scar; a special token; or the smooth surface of a weapon), a connection is re-established between Odysseus and some member of his domestic inner circle. (5) The scar on his thigh is the sign (sema) that is most often summoned to confirm recognition (anagnorisis) of Odysseus; as such, it is an externalization of a durative social identity. …

Behavioral and hormonal studies on Egyptian Baladi goat

Objective : The study was conducted to determine the effect of parity of female goat, social ranking and ovulatory responses of does during seasonal anestrus period by exposure to male effect. Materials and methods : The study was conducted on a flock of Baladi goats at the animal farm of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Zagazig University during November 2014 to January 2015. A total of 54 healthy Baladi goats comprising of 4 males and 50 females aging 12-18 months were used for this study. The goats were raised under indoor raising system, and were released to graze during daylight hours and returned to closed shed. The animals were fed dehydrated alfalfa granules and mixed fodder. The goats were given water ad libitum. Sexual behavioral patterns of both male and female goats were observed. During estrus behavioral resposes shown by the does, blood samples were collected from the goats for the examination of luteinizing hormone (LH). Results: The mounting activity were higher in males in contact with multiparouse females than those of nulliparouse ones. The sexually experienced does induce the activation of L.H hormones leading to stimulation of estrus responses of does. That's why social ranking of does had a significant effect on sexual behavior of bucks when exposed to does during anestrus period. LH hormones secretion in 2 nd week in female exposure to males was higher than those of 1 st week of exposure at both multiparous and nulliparous females. Conclusion: It concluded that visual, alfactactory, auditory contact with the male stimulate estrus response of anestrus females to be sexually responsive resulting in an increase in the economic gain of goat farm. http://doi.org/10.5455/javar.2016.c146

Насколько различны существующие рейтинги российских научных журналов по экономике и менеджменту и как их объединить

Recently, three ratings of Russian economic journals have been independently proposed by Muravyev (2012), Balatsky (2015) and researchers from the Higher School of Economics (2014). In this paper, quantitative estimates of their (in)consistency are obtained. Additionally, these three orderings are compared to journal rankings based on values of Science Index and 2- and 5-year impact factors published by eLIBRARY.ru. It is demonstrated that all journal orderings weakly, though positively, correlate with each other. A new approach to aggregation of journal rankings is proposed. Aggregation is considered as a multicriteria decision problem, and ordinal ranking methods from social choice theory are employed to solve it. One may apply either a social ranking rule or a multistage procedure of selection and exclusion of the best journals, as determined by a social choice solution concept. In this paper, Pareto principle and majority rule based solution concepts, such as the Copeland rule, the Pareto set, the core, the uncovered set and the minimal externally stable set, are used to produce aggregate rankings of 74 top Russian economic journals. Correlation analysis demonstrates that aggregate rankings reduce the number of contradictions and represent the set of initial three rankings better than any of the latter.

Social ranking effects on tooth-brushing behaviour.

A tooth-brushing social rank hypothesis is tested suggesting tooth-brushing duration is influenced when individuals position their behaviour in a rank when comparing their behaviour with other individuals. Study 1 used a correlation design, Study 2 used a semi-experimental design, and Study 3 used a randomized intervention design to examine the tooth-brushing social rank hypothesis in terms of self-reported attitudes, cognitions, and behaviour towards tooth-brushing duration. Study 1 surveyed participants to examine whether the perceived health benefits of tooth-brushing duration could be predicted from the ranking of each person's tooth-brushing duration. Study 2 tested whether manipulating the rank position of the tooth-brushing duration influenced participant-perceived health benefits of tooth-brushing duration. Study 3 used a longitudinal intervention method to examine whether messages relating to the rank positions of tooth-brushing durations causally influenced the self-report tooth-brushing duration. Study 1 demonstrates that perceptions of the health benefits from tooth-brushing duration are predicted by the perceptions of how that behaviour ranks in comparison to other people's behaviour. Study 2 demonstrates that the perceptions of the health benefits of tooth-brushing duration can be manipulated experimentally by changing the ranked position of a person's tooth-brushing duration. Study 3 experimentally demonstrates the possibility of increasing the length of time for which individuals clean their teeth by focusing on how they rank among their peers in terms of tooth-brushing duration. The effectiveness of interventions using social-ranking methods relative to those that emphasize comparisons made against group averages or normative guidelines are discussed. What is already known on this subject? Individual make judgements based on social rank information. Social rank information has been shown to influence positive health behaviours such as exercise. What does this study add? The health benefits of tooth-brushing are predicted by how tooth-brushing duration ranks within a distribution. Focussing on how teeth-cleaning duration ranks among others produces longer teeth-cleaning durations.

Using Behavioral Economics to Design Physician Incentives That Deliver High-Value Care

Behavioral economics provides insights about the development of effective incentives for physicians to deliver high-value care. It suggests that the structure and delivery of incentives can shape behavior, as can thoughtful design of the decision-making environment. This article discusses several principles of behavioral economics, including inertia, loss aversion, choice overload, and relative social ranking. Whereas these principles have been applied to motivate personal health decisions, retirement planning, and savings behavior, they have been largely ignored in the design of physician incentive programs. Applying these principles to physician incentives can improve their effectiveness through better alignment with performance goals. Anecdotal examples of successful incentive programs that apply behavioral economics principles are provided, even as the authors recognize that its application to the design of physician incentives is largely untested, and many outstanding questions exist. Application and rigorous evaluation of infrastructure changes and incentives are needed to design payment systems that incentivize high-quality, cost-conscious care.