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Additional Hypotheses (additional + hypothesis)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Life Sciences	40%

Selected Abstracts

Organization Structure from a Loose Coupling Perspective: A Multidimensional Approach,

DECISION SCIENCES, Issue 2 2001
Rafik I. Beekun
Abstract Organizational theories frequently rely on notions of sharing and dependence among organizational participants, but researchers usually focus on characteristics of the actors themselves instead of the relational patterns among the actors. Loose coupling is one conceptual tool that emphasizes relational patterns. Loose coupling, however, is an abstract metaphor that is simultaneously fertile and ambiguous. This paper develops a rigorous and comprehensive framework that sharpens the theoretical contributions of loose coupling to our understanding of structural relationships. Characteristics of loose coupling capture some important and underexplored features of multidimensional fit and interdependence in organizations. The proposed framework clarifies these theoretical contributions of loose coupling with concepts and equations modified from network analysis. Testable hypotheses are proposed with respect to three key independent variables that may affect patterns of coupling: organization strategy, technology, and environmental turbulence. Additional hypotheses are advanced with respect to the use of the multidimensional approach to loose coupling in studying new organizational forms. Initial psychometric and empirical evidence are presented. [source]

Childbearing and Women's Survival: New Evidence from Rural Bangladesh

POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT REVIEW, Issue 3 2003
Jane Menken
Effects of childbearing on women's mortality and the implications of family planning programs in reducing these effects are examined in a 20-year prospective study of more than 2,000 women in Matlab, Bangladesh. Maternal mortality is defined as a death occurring in the six weeks after childbirth. But childbearing may affect women's survival beyond this brief period. Additional hypotheses considered relate to 1) cumulative exposure to childbearing, whether measured by parity or pace of childbearing, 2) age at first birth, and 3) effects beyond the reproductive ages. The results offer no support to cumulative exposure hypotheses, showing no link between parity or pace of childbearing and mortality risk. Instead, we identify an extended period of heightened mortality risk associated with each birth,the year of the birth and the two subsequent years. Family planning programs, by reducing the number of children and therefore a woman's exposure to extended maternal mortality risk, potentially increase survival. Research is needed to identify and address the specific causes of extended maternal mortality risk so that appropriate ameliorative programs may be developed. [source]

EVOLUTION OF COLORFUL DISPLAY

EVOLUTION, Issue 3 2007
Gerald Borgia
How the displays of bowerbirds have evolved has attracted widespread interest. Endler et al. (2005) analyzed color use in display in a subset of bowerbird species and generalized their results to all bowerbirds. Here we discuss problems with their analysis that calls into question their conclusions. For example, they state that bowerbirds do not use decorations that match their background, but this is not supported by their results. They reconstruct historical patterns of sexual dimorphism in plumage display using questionable methodology. The high lability of these display traits makes these reconstructions unreliable and, using accepted methods and acknowledging the lability problem, we were unable to support their conclusions. Their claim that plumage differences between sympatric species are due to character displacement is not supported by the available data. Their focus is on visual contrast as the cause for display color and we offer additional hypotheses that may contribute to explaining color use. We support studies of spectral analysis of display traits but urge greater care in using this information to reach conclusions about how colorful displays have evolved. [source]

Integration of proximate and evolutionary explanation of reproductive strategy: The case of callitrichid primates and implications for human biology

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN BIOLOGY, Issue 6 2009
Suzette D. Tardif
We offer examples of how proximate and evolutionary forms of argument may inform each other in better understanding reproductive strategy in callitrichid primates, the smallest of the anthropoid primates. In addition, we illustrate how comparative approaches, when applied judiciously, can aid in the formulation of hypotheses regarding even seemingly unique traits within a taxonomic group. In the first example, examination of the nature of genetics in cytokine systems that leads to altered ovulation number in sheep suggests some relatively simple changes could explain both the adaptation of increased ovulation number in marmosets and the subsequent decrease in ovulation number in the closely related species, callimico. In the second example, the role of body size and phylogeny in explaining the role of maternal energy constraints upon gestation and lactation is explored, leading to additional hypotheses regarding these relations in a species that is both small but also in a phylogenetic line selected for slow reproduction. Finally, the role of comparative data in the study of proximate and evolutionary explanations of "unique" human reproductive strategies is discussed. Am. J. Hum. Biol., 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]

THE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL TIES ON CRIME VARY BY CRIMINAL PROPENSITY: A LIFE-COURSE MODEL OF INTERDEPENDENCE,

CRIMINOLOGY, Issue 2 2001
BRADLEY R. ENTNER WRIGHT
Previous studies have explained the transition from criminal propensity in youth to criminal behavior in adulthood with hypotheses of enduring criminal propensity, unique social causation, and cumulative social disadvantage. In this article we develop an additional hypothesis derived from the life-course concept of interdependence: The effects of social ties on crime vary as a function of individuals' propsensity for crime. We tested these four hypotheses with data from the Dunedin Study. In support of life-course interdependence, prosocial ties, such as education, employment, family ties, and partnerships, deterred crime, and antisocial ties, such as delinquent peers, promoted crime, most strongly among low self-control individuals. Our findings bear implications for theories and policies of crime. [source]