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Castor fiber birulai is a subspecies of the Eurasian beaver that has a relatively small population size compared to other Castor subspecies. There is limited genetic research on this subspecies. In this study, mitochondrial cytochrome b (Cytb) and D-loop sequences were analysed in genetic samples obtained from 19 individuals residing in the Buergen River Basin, Xinjiang, China. The Cytb region presented a single haplotype, whereas three haplotypes were identified in the D-loop region. The genetic diversity within the Chinese population was low (D-loop Hd = 0.444; Pi = 0.0043), markedly lower than that observed in other geographical populations of C. fiber. Phylogenetic reconstructions and haplotype network analyses revealed substantial genetic differentiation between C. f. birulai and other Eurasian lineages (Fst > 0.95), supporting the status of C. f. birulai as a distinct evolutionary lineage. Although the genetic distance between the Chinese and Mongolian populations was relatively small (distance = 0.00269), significant genetic differentiation was detected (Fst = 0.67055), indicating that anthropogenic disturbances—such as hydraulic infrastructure and fencing along the cross-border Bulgan River—may have impeded gene flow and dispersal. Demographic analyses provided no evidence of recent population expansion (Fu’s Fs = 0.19152), suggesting a demographically stable population. In subsequent studies, we recommend increasing nuclear gene data to verify whether the C. f. birulai population meets the criteria for Evolutionarily Significant Unit classification, and strengthening cross-border protection and cooperation between China and Mongolia.

Tribal societies are often considered egalitarian, especially in contrast to the hierarchical caste society. However, tribal societies are not homogeneous, as both matrilineal and patrilineal tribes exist in India. This study examines whether matrilineal tribal women from Meghalaya are more empowered than patrilineal tribal women from Assam. Using NFHS 2015-16 and 2019-21, a revised survey-based women's empowerment index (SWPER) is created to measure empowerment in four domains: attitude to violence, freedom of movement, decision-making and social independence. Multivariate regression was used for further analysis. The analysis reveals that while both groups of women had positive scores in the attitude to violence domain, patrilineal tribal women were more empowered in this domain. In contrast, matrilineal tribal women were more empowered in freedom of movement and decision-making power. However, in social independence, women from both societies were poorly empowered and the situation was worse for women from patrilineal society. After adjusting for other demographic and socioeconomic variables, societal lineage structure became insignificant in freedom of movement. This study highlights that while matrilineal societal lineage provides a means of descent rights from mother to daughter, this does not necessarily translate to an improvement in overall empowerment across all aspects of life. Empowerment for the tribal women is an interplay of lineage structure, tradition, geography and socioeconomic conditions. Policymakers can address socioeconomic disparities for women from both societies by implementing skill-building and social support networks for women.

After the Civil War of 1945-1949, Taiwan and mainland China were separated and developed two different systems: a British-American liberal-democratic capitalist system, and a socialist system with one-party dictatorship. Although differences between the two sides developed, there was still a consensus on ＂Chinese identity＂ during the rule of Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-kuo in Taiwan. This ＂Chinese identity＂ began to waver and the idea of ＂Taiwan identity＂ gradually emerged around the 1980s. As a result, the struggle between unification and independence in Taiwan sharpened. ＂The Taiwan nativists＂ (dupai) want to achieve the ideal of ＂independent nationhood.＂ ＂The Chinese culturalists＂ (tongpai) hope to maintain exchanges and interactions with the Mainland to create a win-win situation, and finally lead to a unified China. The current ratio of independence to unification (eventual not immediate), in terms of votes in the 2020 presidential election, is 57 percent for the Taiwan nativists and 43 percent for the Chinese culturalists. The Chinese culturalists firmly believe that cross-straits competition is grounded in institutional (rather than existential) competition, and experiments in Taiwan will contribute to the future of ＂China.＂ But they are facing three dilemmas. The first is pressure from mainland China with the possibility of military invasion. The second is pressure from the Democratic Progressive Party upholding Taiwan independence. And third, generational change: because of their lineage, educational, and cultural background, the Chinese culturalists are of an older age group, and as time goes on, the number of supporters will gradually decrease.

After decades of debates about species concepts, there is broad agreement that species are evolving lineages. However, species classification is still in a state of disorder: different methods of delimitation lead to competing outcomes for the same organisms, and the groups recognised as species are of widely different kinds. This paper considers whether this problem can be resolved by developing a unitary scale for evolutionary independence. Such a scale would show clearly when groups are comparable and allow taxonomists to choose a conventional threshold of independence for species status. Existing measurement approaches to species delimitation are typically shot down by what I call the heterogeneity objection, according to which independently evolving groups are too heterogeneous to be captured by a single scale. I draw a parallel with the measurement of temperature to argue that this objection does not provide sufficient reasons to abandon the measurement approach, and that such an approach may even help to make the vague notion of evolutionary independence more precise.

Although cross-strait relations have been the most stable in the last eight years under the pro-mainland KMT government, the pro-independence DPP scored a major victory in the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections. This paper examines ways identity changes in Taiwan have influenced how Taiwanese view and deal with cross-strait relations and reactions from the mainland after the January elections. Using constructivism as the theoretical framework and survey data, we argue that Taiwan’s continued democratization has created a different social and political experience. This experience has solidified over time and created a unique Taiwanese identity. As time passes, the KMT, which has a stronger historical and social lineage with the mainland, is being weakened by Taiwan’s changing experience and identity. Nevertheless, peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait are not only essential for people on both sides of the strait, they are essential for the region and the world. Both the new DPP government and the mainland government must rethink their strategies and policies in order to construct a new framework to ensure continued peace and stability in the region.

The assimilation between Arabic in-migrants from Hadramaut with Javanese noble women has been taking place since the 13th century. Some of their offspring has identified themselves as Arabic Indonesians, especially after Independence, while a proportion of them have chosen to associate themselves with their local Javanese relatives. The latter even has lost their Arabic cultural identity, and as a result, has become Javanese. This article tries to explain why such a phenomenon has materialized using a family case of a Javanese trah-Javanese version of a clan-who has been living outside the Yogyakarta court. By tracing the family lineage; attitude -both culturally and politically- and life-style of certain trah's figures as Javanese in the context of larger meso-institutional and macro-structural systems, this article argues that the fading away of Arabic identity among the offspring of this particular trah could be attributed to two contextual political economic relations between the Dutch and the Javanese rulers in two different eras. The first one was before the Dipanegara war when the relation was mainly economic, namely the Dutch as the trade-corporate (VOC); and the second was afterwards during which time the Dutch managed to consolidate their full total-grip as a colonial power. Furthermore, this article argues that the attitude of the Dutch and the way they treated the offspring this particular Arabic-Javanese court families, and their generational impact, could only be understood within the larger contexts of the day.

National self-determination was one of the most important and controversial concepts in twentieth century international relations and law. The principle has had a remarkable history, from Woodrow Wilson's assertion that the peoples of Eastern Europe ought to form their own national states in place of ruined multiethnic and multilinguistic empires after the First World War; to decolonization after the Second World War, when populations worldwide invoked a right to throw off the yoke of imperialism; to the breakup of and war in the former Yugoslavia at century's end in precisely the same area in which a nation's self-determination was first intended to be a panacea for the region's diverse peoples. And yet, national self-determination, if not always called that, has a much longer lineage. Some note its earliest appearance in 1581, when the Dutch claimed independence from Hapsburg Spain. However, it was not until the French Revolution when, as Alfred Cobban remarks, “the nation state ceased to be a simple historical fact and became the subject of a theory,” that a people's right to determine its destiny in international as in domestic affairs was first articulated and applied. The clearest instance of this articulation and application during the Revolution was the union of Avignon and France.

Duol is a term used in reference to traditional Luo life to signify unity and solidarity within a lineage under the authority of the elders. This authority was most prominent in the pre-colonial period, and continued up to independence. It declined steadily under the impact of modernity during the post-independence period. Consequently, the institution oí duol fell into disuse. The emergence of the HIV/AIDS pandemic has renewed the need for unity and solidarity in finding community-based solutions. The original principles of duol are now manifested in a transformed version of duol and similar collaborative community initiatives. This article suggests that efforts to assist communities adversely affected by HIV/AIDS pandemic should base their interventions in the various community-based collaborative initiatives. Traditional institutions, it is argued, may be re-invented in times of turmoil as new forms of relatedness through which human agency is focused to counter serious challenges to rural communities. Duol est un terme utilisé à propos de la vie traditionnelle luo pour signifier unité et solidarité au sein d'un lignage sous l'autorité des anciens. Cette autorité avait plus de proéminence au cours de la période précoloniale et de la socialite luo post-coloniale immédiate. Elle s'est progressivement affaiblie sous l'impact de la modernité au cours de la période post-indépendance. L'institution du duol est alors tombée en désuétude. L'émergence de la pandémie du VIH/SIDA a ravivé le besoin d'unité et de solidarité pour trouver des solutions communautaires. Les principes d'origine du duol se manifestent aujourd'hui dans une version transformée du duol et des initiatives communautaires collaboratives similaires. Cet article suggère que les actions d'aide aux communautés affectées par la pandémie de VIH/SIDA devraient s'inspirer des diverses initiatives collaboratives communautaires. Il soutient que les institutions traditionnelles pourraient être réinventées, en période tourmentée, sous de nouvelles formes de liens à travers lesquels l'action humaine est canalisée pour contrer les difficultés graves auxquelles sont confrontées les communautés rurales.

Siam and the Semi-colonial Issue The issue of Siam as a semi-feudal, semi-colonial social formation, mooted by Thai Marxists in the 1950s, and again in the 1970s, has by the 1990s by and large been set aside by critically-minded academics for its inability to provide a lineage for the strain of capitalist mode of production that has emerged by the second half of the twentieth century. Nevertheless, the ‘semi-colonial’ as an analytical framework retains its force in confronting the assumed independence and an unreflexive racially based elite nationalism that has so defined Thai self-representations and public culture, but also in how Thailand is understood by others.