We study household fuel choice in rural China through the lens of social interactions, deploying a structural discrete choice interaction model to explain peer-dependence in household fuel choice. The data comes from the China Family Panel Studies 2010–2020, and we use multiple strategies to examine the robustness of the social interaction effects. We find a significant endogenous social effect, meaning that whether a household chooses non-solid clean fuel for cooking is directly affected by the choice in cooking fuel made by its neighbors in the village. Households with lower non-farm income are more sensitive to the choices of others, and the fuel choices of households with a higher education and/or a higher income attracts more attention from others. Modern communication technologies facilitate information exchange among rural residents, thereby strengthening the endogenous social effect. We suggest that public policies can accelerate rural energy transition by stimulating positive social spillovers.

Childhood maltreatment (CM) has been related to social functioning and social cognition impairment in people with psychotic disorders (PD); however, evidence across different CM subtypes and social domains remains less clear. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to quantify associations between CM, overall and its different subtypes (physical/emotional/sexual abuse, physical/emotional neglect), and domains of social functioning and social cognition in adults with PD. We also examined moderators and mediators of these associations. A PRISMA-compliant systematic search was performed on 24 November 2022 (PROSPERO CRD42020175244). Fifty-three studies (N = 13 635 individuals with PD) were included in qualitative synthesis, of which 51 studies (N = 13 260) with 125 effects sizes were pooled in meta-analyses. We found that CM was negatively associated with global social functioning and interpersonal relations, and positively associated with aggressive behaviour, but unrelated to independent living or occupational functioning. There was no meta-analytic evidence of associations between CM and social cognition. Meta-regression analyses did not identify any consistent moderation pattern. Narrative synthesis identified sex and timing of CM as potential moderators, and depressive symptoms and maladaptive personality traits as possible mediators between CM and social outcomes. Associations were of small magnitude and limited number of studies assessing CM subtypes and social cognition are available. Nevertheless, adults with PD are at risk of social functioning problems after CM exposure, an effect observed across multiple CM subtypes, social domains, diagnoses and illness stages. Maltreated adults with PD may thus benefit from trauma-related and psychosocial interventions targeting social relationships and functioning.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether moderate physical activity and group size influence physical fitness, the level of social interactions in the home cage and rats’ performance in the Elevated Plus Maze and a handling test. Forty-eight male Sprague Dawley rats were kept in groups of two, four or eight for seven weeks in cages adjusted to the group size. Home cage social interactions were studied during direct observations. Half of the number of rats from each cage were subjected to moderate exercise on a treadmill for five weeks. An exercise test was performed at the beginning and end of the experimental period, during which time lactate levels were analysed via blood sampling. Rats living in groups of four or eight performed better in the second exercise test, had more social interactions and showed more activity, open-arm entries and risk assessment in the Elevated Plus Maze test, compared to rats living in pairs. The trained rats had lower blood lactate levels in the second exercise test, lower bodyweight and plasma insulin levels and had a greater relative heart weight at the end of the study compared to control rats. In conclusion, rats kept in larger groups had more social interactions, a lower lactate response during exercise and showed less emotional reactivity. Moderate treadmill exercise resulted in the expected increase in the rats’ physical fitness. The results show that both group size and physical activity are important factors for animal welfare.

Abordamos la interacción social entre puna y valles del noroeste argentino, a través de análisis estilísticos y petrográficos de conjuntos cerámicos. Estos proceden de tres sitios asociados a una vía de circulación correspondiente al área internodal del Volcán Galán, ubicada entre los nodos Antofagasta de la Sierra (Catamarca) y Valle Calchaquí medio (Salta). La comparación de estos estudios con información relativa a ambos nodos nos permitió constatar la utilización de esta ruta de interacción durante los períodos Tardío (ca. 900-1400 dC) e Inca (ca. 1400-1550 dC). Determinamos la circulación de recipientes de importancia estatal hacia la puna, mayoritariamente elaborados en el Valle Calchaquí. Proponemos, también, una interacción con la región de Atacama (Chile). En suma, la cerámica recuperada materializa la articulación de ambos lados de la cordillera de los Andes como parte de estrategias incaicas de integración implementadas en el Collasuyo.

Many male traits are well explained by sexual selection theory as adaptations to mating competition and mate choice, whereas no unifying theory explains traits expressed more in females. Anne Campbell's “staying alive” theory proposed that human females produce stronger self-protective reactions than males to aggressive threats because self-protection tends to have higher fitness value for females than males. We examined whether Campbell's theory has more general applicability by considering whether human females respond with greater self-protectiveness than males to other threats beyond aggression. We searched the literature for physiological, behavioral, and emotional responses to major physical and social threats, and found consistent support for females' responding with greater self-protectiveness than males. Females mount stronger immune responses to many pathogens; experience a lower threshold to detect, and lesser tolerance of, pain; awaken more frequently at night; express greater concern about physically dangerous stimuli; exert more effort to avoid social conflicts; exhibit a personality style more focused on life's dangers; react to threats with greater fear, disgust, and sadness; and develop more threat-based clinical conditions than males. Our findings suggest that in relation to threat, human females have relatively heightened protective reactions compared to males. The pervasiveness of this result across multiple domains suggests that general mechanisms might exist underlying females' unique adaptations. An understanding of such processes would enhance knowledge of female health and well-being.

Face-to-face interactions in social groups are a central aspect of human social lives. Although the composition of such groups has received ample attention in various fields—e.g., sociology, social psychology, management, and educational science—their micro-level dynamics are rarely analyzed empirically. In this article, we present a new statistical network model (DyNAM-i) that can represent the dynamics of conversation groups and interpersonal interaction in different social contexts. Taking an actor-oriented perspective, this model can be applied to test how individuals’ interaction patterns differ and how they choose and change their interaction groups. It moves beyond dyadic interaction mechanisms and translates central social network mechanisms—such as homophily, transitivity, and popularity—to the context of interactions in group settings. The utility and practical applicability of the new model are illustrated in two social network studies that investigate face-to-face interactions in a small party and an office setting.

An alternative implementation of the animal model including indirect genetic effect (IGE) is presented considering pair-mate-specific interaction degrees to improve the performance of the model. Data consisted of average daily gain (ADG) records from 663 pigs kept in groups of 10 to 14 mates during the fattening period. Three types of models were used to fit ADG data: (i) animal model (AM); (ii) AM with classical IGE (AM-IGE); and (iii) AM fitting IGE with a specific degree of interaction between each pair of mates (AM-IGEi). Several feeding behavior phenotypes were used to define the pair-mate-specific degree of interaction in AM-IGEi: feeding rate (g/min), feeding frequency (min/day), the time between consecutive visits to the feeder (min/day), occupation time (min/day) and an index considering all these variables. All models included systematic effects batch, initial age (covariate), final age (covariate), number of pigs per pen (covariate), plus the random effect of the pen. Estimated posterior mean (posterior SD) of heritability was 0.47 (0.15) using AM. Including social genetic effects in the model, total heritable variance expressed as a proportion of total phenotypic variance (T2) was 0.54 (0.29) using AM-IGE, whereas it ranged from 0.51 to 0.55 (0.12 to 0.14) with AM-IGEi, depending on the behavior trait used to define social interactions. These results confirm the contribution of IGEs to the total heritable variation of ADG. Moreover, important differences between models were observed in EBV rankings. The percentage of coincidence of top 10% animals between AM and AM-IGEi ranged from 0.44 to 0.89 and from 0.41to 0.68 between AM-IGE and AM-IGEi. Based on the goodness of fit and predictive ability, social models are preferred for the genetic evaluation of ADG. Among models including IGEs, when the pair-specific degree of interaction was defined using feeding behavior phenotypes we obtained an increase in the accuracy of genetic parameters estimates, the better goodness of fit and higher predictive ability. We conclude that feeding behavior variables can be used to measure the interaction between pen mates and to improve the performance of models including IGEs.