The naked mole rat--a new record for the oldest living rodent

We report a new record for the world's longest-lived rodent, a male naked mole rat (Heterocephalus glaber). On the basis of his weight at capture, this animal was approximately 1 year old when collected near Mtito Andei, Kenya in July/August 1974. He died in April 2002, indicating that he lived for more than 28 years. As such, his life-span surpassed the previous longevity record for a rodent, which was held by a porcupine (Hystrix brachyura) that lived for 27 years and 4 months.     

No time to worship the serpent deities: women,economic change,and religion in north-western Nepal

This paper explores the changing relationships between lay women, and the spiritual realm, in two ethnic Tibetan communities, Kag and Dzong, in northwestern Nepal. The study tackles how economic and social change has affected women's spiritual roles within the household and the community, and how these roles, in turn, have influenced the course of such change. In Kag, the introduction of tourism changed women's way of life. They became income-generating members of the community as lodge-owners. With new responsibilities to manage, Kag women eventually neglected their traditional social and spiritual obligations, much to the dismay of the older generation. On the other hand, women in Dzong still consider full social and physical participation in village life important despite the added obligations. They maintain spiritual harmony within the village. Dzongba women do not seem to feel the same conflicts as Kagpa women. The negative impact of Kag women's neglect of traditional social and spiritual responsibilities should be weighed against the possible benefits to women, household, and economy.     

The ecological effect of unemployment on the incidence of very low birthweight in Norway and Sweden

Little attention has been paid to the ecological effects of unemployment, despite strong theory suggesting that being socially or economically connected to unemployed persons can induce illness. Theory suggests, for example, that the labor market experience of adult males should affect maternal and infant health. We advance this line of inquiry by testing the hypothesis that quarterly increases in unemployment among Norwegian and Swedish males were associated with increased incidence of very low weight births from 1973 through 1995. Results support the hypothesis. We estimate that approximately 188 very low weight births could have been averted in Norway, and about 329 in Sweden, if quarterly increases in male unemployment had been constrained to the median over the 23-year period. Our findings imply that the social cost of unemployment may be underestimated by focusing on unemployment as an individual risk factor.     

Reporting unethical research behavior

Scientists, as professionals, have a responsibility to self-regulate. However, whistleblowing is rare. We investigated scientists' infrequent disclosure of unethical behavior by studying their responses to scenarios describing unethical research acts and compared their responses to those of research administrators. A cross-sectional survey was administered to National Science Foundation-funded principal investigators and their institutions' representatives (IRs) to the Office of Research Integrity. Both scientists and IRs proposed to respond to nearly all research behaviors that they rated as unethical. Scientists more often proposed responses limited to the research team (58% vs. 25% of cases, p < .001) whereas IRs more often proposed to inform an administrator or dean, journal editor, funding agency, professional society, or reporter. The prior behavior and academic rank of the scenario protagonist were associated with responses, but consequences of the unethical behavior were not. Scientists appear to perceive that they uphold their responsibility to respond to unethical behavior by disclosures within the research team, whereas administrators propose to report to externally accountable individuals, raising the question of whether scientists' behavior constitutes professional self-regulation or cover up.     

Immigration,labor force integration and the pursuit of self-employment

A correspondence analysis was used to examine the entire working life cycle of Canadian-born male age-education cohorts and immigrant male age-education cohorts who arrived during 1945-61. Data were drawn from the 1961 and 1971 census databases as well as the 1981 and 1991 public individual files. Findings support the existence of a split labor market based on immigrant status, particularly at the low end of the schooling spectrum. In 1961, immigrants with low levels of schooling were closely associated with the wage construction sector, whereas Canadian-born males below the high school level would most likely gravitate towards consumer services. Meanwhile, immigrants with a high school education were likely to be in consumer services; whereas, Canadian-born males with a high school education were closely aligned with public administration and distributive services. Moreover, immigrants with higher levels of schooling were less likely to work in ethnically dominated markets, while immigrants with low schooling moved into the self-employed construction sector. The existence of a split in the labor market was evident among workers with lower levels of schooling compared with university-educated workers.