The analysis and visualization of weighted networks pose many challenges, which have led to the development of techniques for extracting the network’s backbone, a subgraph composed of only the most significant edges. Weighted edges are particularly common in bipartite projections (e.g. networks of coauthorship, co-attendance, co-sponsorship), which are often used as proxies for one-mode network...

At the time Marx was writing, metaphysics was in the grip of a dualism that separated mind from matter and, under the influence of Christian theology, often exaggerated a distinction into an antagonism; in such a world-view, body and soul were seen as warring parties with the body cast as the villain of the piece. Marx rejected the dualist philosophy and stressed that not only was there an inti...

politics; often politics exercises its power not on but through dominant institutional structures, priorities, and practices. Almost invisibly, this latter type of influence implicitly and systematically legitimizes hegemonic institutions and practices, making it difficult for the status quo to be questioned or changed (Harding 1992). Yet it seems difficult for park managers and scientists to a...

Ethnographic studies of religion, stuck somewhere between ethnocentrism and literalism (especially in the case of Islam), have brought little distinctive anthropological analysis to bear successfully on the practical realities and political ideologies of religions. On the other hand, the popular assertion that certain ethnic groups, having had conflicts over centuries, will continue to fight wi...

Nepal's efforts to decentralize its governance date back to over half a century. These efforts remained incomplete due to different reasons including administrative responses and political development affecting its implementation. The Local Self Governance Act (LSGA), 1999 envisaged, for the first time, to decentralize governance in the health sector through devolution of responsibilities, auth...

This paper explores the features of political economy in the dynamics of representative politics in India. Politics is seen as enhancing economic benefits through acquiring and maintenance of power in the realm of democratic set up. The system of representation is riddled with competitive populism. Emerging leaders and parties are forced to accommodate their ideologies in coping with competitiv...

As definitions of heritage become increasingly fluid and wide reaching (Harvey, 2001), this chapter, informed by the literature on memory and identity, makes a return to the more traditional interpretations of heritage as a cultural product/ resource (with social and political functions) (Lowenthal, 1985; 1996). Widely accepted as the selective use of the past for contemporary purposes (Ashwort...

Political ideologies, policies and economy affect land use which in turn may affect biodiversity patterns and future conservation targets. However, few studies have investigated biodiversity in landscapes with similar physical properties but governed by different political systems. Here we investigate land use and biodiversity patterns, and number and composition of birds and plants, in the bor...

The ‘new genetics’ (or genomics) has penetrated overwhelmingly into a broad range of domains in the contemporary world, spawning a technocultural revolution in relation to genes that has transformed technologies, institutions, practices and ideologies. The ‘new genetics’ has not only reshaped the biological, cultural and social loci in the immediate surroundings of individuals, but also reconfi...