Thesis (M.A.)--University of Alberta, 2010. / A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation. Title from pdf file main screen (viewed on February 17, 2010). Includes bibliographical references.

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Cooperation is pervasive in nature but paradoxically also provides opportunity to cheaters. My dissertation involves the study of both cooperation and conflict in two species of Megalopta bees. Megalopta is a Neotropical genus of halictid bees whose biology is characterized by complex life cycles that can range from solitary to eusocial. These bees nest in dead wood and forage under dim light conditions. Megalopta’s nests are inhabited by an extensive array of organisms and each nest therefore constitutes a miniature ecosystem providing opportunities for cooperation and conflict, both within and between species. I first delineate the social structure of M. genalis and M. ecuadoria nests in several Panamanian populations and integrate the factors that play a role in the behavioral decisions of females when joining a social group or not. Within a kin-selection framework, I discuss how genetic relatedness plays a role in the formation of social nests. Second, I investigate the conflict between host bees and a congener social parasite, and I elucidate reproductive structures that are relevant for understanding the evolution of parasitism. Finally, I describe a cleaning mutualism between Megalopta bees and their mite associates. Bee-mite associations encompass a broad spectrum of interspecific interactions. Some bee-mites are thought to perform cleaning services for their hosts in exchange for suitable environments for reproduction and dispersal. Field observations and experimental manipulation reveal a significant correlation between the presence of mites and the absence of fungi inside the brood cells, as well as between the absence of mites and increased bee mortality. This study therefore provides evidence of the sanitary effect of mites in nests of Megalopta bees. This bee-mite association constitutes one of the few examples of terrestrial cleaning mutualisms. / text

We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate how the human brain processes information about social groups in three domains. Study 1: Semantic knowledge. Participants were scanned while they answered questions about their knowledge of both social categories and non-social categories like object groups and species of nonhuman animals. Brain regions previously identified in processing semantic information are more robustly engaged by nonsocial semantics than stereotypes. In contrast, stereotypes elicit greater activity in brain regions implicated in social cognition. These results suggest that stereotypes should be considered distinct from other forms of semantic knowledge. Study 2: Theory of mind. Participants were scanned while they answered questions about the mental states and physical attributes of individual people and groups. Regions previously associated with mentalizing about individuals were also robustly responsive to judgments of groups. However, multivariate searchlight analysis revealed that several of these regions showed distinct multivoxel patterns of response to groups and individual people. These findings suggest that perceivers mentalize about groups in a manner qualitatively similar to mentalizing about individual people, but that the brain nevertheless maintains important distinctions between the representations of such entities. Study 3: Social categorization. Participants were scanned while they categorized the sex and race of unfamiliar Black men, Black women, White men, and White women. Multivariate pattern analysis revealed that multivoxel patterns in FFA--but not other face-selective brain regions, other category-selective brain regions, or early visual cortex--differentiated faces by sex and race. Specifically, patterns of voxel-based responses were more similar between individuals of the same sex than between men and women, and between individuals of the same race than between Black and White individuals. These results suggest that FFA represents the sex and race of faces. Together, these three studies contribute to a growing cognitive neuroscience of social groups. / Psychology

The results of an ethnohistorical study of Lethbridge, Alberta led to my questioning current presumptions in the Canadian social inequality literature that social class, income, educational attainment, gender and ethnicity are principal factors in shaping social inequality in Canada. The ethnographic evidence suggests that membership criteria associated with locally-defined, historically-evolved groups mark who has political influence (a specific form of social power), and where the ensuing social inequalities lie in Lethbridge. A theoretical framework describing how historical circumstances lead to the redefinition of which socially-defined characteristics become local status markers is presented as the underlying theoretical orientation of this thesis. The framework does not preclude the possibility that social groups other than those studied in this thesis use social class, occupation, income, education, gender and ethnicity as status characteristics or group membership criteria. The framework is my attempt to clarify the often-unclear relationship among social inequality concepts. A mail-out social survey (N=238) was used to empirically test the hypothesis that Lethbridge group membership is a better predictor than social class, income, educational attainment, gender and/or ethnicity of who has political influence in Lethbridge community decision-making. Data was analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA), bivariate correlation, and multiple regression. Mixed levels of support were found for the Lethbridge group hypotheses, with the "fits in" and "local trade/business people" receiving considerable support; North/South/West sider, and religious affiliation receiving some support; and Old-timers receiving no support. In contrast, the only social inequality hypothesis to receive more than minimal support was level of education. It is concluded that status characteristics are more fluid, local and historically negotiated than assumed in the social inequality literature. Suggested directions for future theoretical and empirical work include refinement of the relationships among social inequality variables and further empirical tests of the theoretical framework proposed here.

No description available.

This thesis analyzes the relationship between NGOs and the democratization process in post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan. The conditions shaping both the civil society and political development are analysed in the light of findings obtained through in-depth interviews with NGO leaders in Kyrgyzstan. Despite relative freedom for NGOs, civil society in Kyrgyzstan is still in its infancy. Soviet era conception of roles attributed to state and society still persist especially among the governmental officials and general population. Despite the problems of building a democratic regime in Kyrgyzstan, NGOs have achieved a certain level of development. Through building functioning state institutions together with a lively political society primarily including political parties, the potential of NGOs for democratic development can be more fully utilized.

This thesis explores the identity perceptions of the Armenian and Jewish communities in the context of Ankara. Purpose of the study is to understand the ways the members of these communities experienced the social, spatial, political and cultural changes in the capital-city after the establishment of Turkish nation-state / and in what ways they draw on these experiences in terms of their identifications, self-understanding, and feelings of belonging. For this purpose, life-story narratives of people who were born in the early Republican era and of the following generation were collected through oral history methodology. As a result of the analyses of these narratives, multiple, fluid, contextual, and contingent character of identity in terms of the Armenian and Jewish communities in Ankara is pointed, and it is concluded that community identity for the members of these communities was symbolically constructed.

The goal of this thesis is to argue that science is not value free on the grounds of a community based account of ethics. It is the peculiar feature of this model that ethics is a limitation on individual&#039 / s freedom of action, and moral norms of a community reflect the structure of the community. I endeavour to resolve the problem, on an assumption that science is an activity of scientific community, that science ethics can be derived from the internal structure of scientific community. Therefore, this thesis attempts to show the relationship between scientific community and science ethics.