Participatory Planning of Social and Spatial Organization in Agrarian Reform Policy in Brazil： An Assessment of the Implementation Challenges

The social endeavors for Agrarian Reform in Brazil have a history of at least sixty years. Throughout this time, distinct political regimes, increased land concentration, disordered urbanization and the development of a dynamic agribusiness sector inserted in global economy led to both the aggravation of social conflicts over land in Northern and Southern Brazil as well as new inquiries on the features necessary for an efficient Agrarian Reform Plan in the authors＇ country. Focused on the agrarian reform projects in the Brazilian Amazon, this work discusses on the political and methodological perspectives drawn in II PNRA （second National Plan of Agrarian Reform）. The authors frame their account mostly along the theoretical scaffolding provided by the Bloomington School of Institutional Analysis. The authors analyze the multiple challenges facing the organization and the maintenance of the institutional structure designed to facilitate participatory planning and governance of collective resources in periurban settlements. The authors portrait these settlements as highly complex socio-ecological systems wherein socioeconomic asymmetries, cultural diversity and poor social capital and education promote political and ideological disputes that jeopardize safeguarding global commons.

How Group Heuristics Promotes Cooperative Behavior in Social Dilemma SituationmExploration of Group Heuristics Effects on the Basis of Computer Simulation

As it is impossible to assume complete rationality in a social dilemma situation, the assumption of bounded rationality is appropriate. Under the bounded rationality, it would be reasonable to assume that one behaves according to the heuristics principle. The group identity effect in a social dilemma situation might be very important in order to attain cooperation. The aim of this study was to clarify how to promote a cooperative behavior by avoiding a social dilemma situation. The group heuristics was taken into account, and it was explored how the group heuristics promotes a cooperative behavior in a social dilemma situation. As a result of a two-person game theory experiment, the group heuristics was found to play an important role in a social dilemma situation, and enhance a cooperative behavior. For the following three cases, the higher cooperation rate was attained at the latter half of the experiment： （a） mutual in-group condition, （b） one-way in-group condition, and （f） one-way unknown condition （in-group）. In conclusion, the consciousness of in-group membership might help to promote actively mutual cooperation.

Enhancing Cooperation in N-Person Social Dilemma Game： Interactive Effects of Limitation and Cost for Job Change and Incentive on Cooperation

The non-cooperative action in the social dilemma situation might, at the worst case, lead to violation of social rules （or regulations）. A repetitive N-person social dilemma game that permit the participants to change jobs between organizations （groups） and mutually interact between groups was carried out to investigate how ＂limitation for job change＂, ＂cost for job change＂, and ＂incentive （enhancement of personal career）＂ affected the cooperation. The cost for job change effectively worked for the enhancement of cooperation. When the cost for job change was not necessary, the cooperative behavior was enhanced. When the cost for job change was necessary, it tended that a non-cooperative action was selected. When the limitation and the cost for job change were imposed, and the participants were provided with the incentive for cooperation, the cooperation rate was the highest. A significant interaction between the incentive condition （enhancement of personal career） and the limitation for job change was also clarified.

Life course changes provoked by chronic disease: A study on everyday life for patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

Objective:This study examined patients with systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE)as a means to explore the impacts of chronic disease on life courses.Methods:A semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with nine patients in China in 2017;participants were included based on their having or having had facial butterfly erythema.Results:The study focused on both the disease's impact on the patients'health and on their daily lives.Four core themes emerged:visible changes in the patient's bodies,social dilemmas,"the encouragement of disease",and a new perspective on the relationship between disease and health.One important finding was that the occurrence of a chronic disease did not have only negative repercussions;some patients felt that there were advantages to being sick.Chronic disease resulted in a reworking of daily life.The patients developed a self-referential model of healing.Conclusion:The distinct interpretations of the same disease offered by different patients served to yield a more complete understanding of the disease.People with SLE adjust their thinking about the disease based on personal feelings as well as experiences and pursue a dialogue on their illness based on the disease pattern unique to them.The meaning that disease had for the patients was not limited to negative connotations.

A Game-Theoretic Modeling Approach to Comprehend the Advantage of Dynamic Health Interventions in Limiting the Transmission of Multi-Strain Epidemics

In the situation of inadequate vaccines and rapid mutation of virulent strains, alternative health interventions play a crucial role in the containment of emerging epidemics. This study elucidates the critical aspects of health interventions to control epidemic resurgence. Besides, human behavioral response to epidemics plays an instrumental role in bringing the success of control efforts. The appearance of multi-strain epidemics has become a global health concern that requires special attention. Here, we introduce a novel mean-field epidemic game approach to predict the evolutionary dynamics of flu-like epidemics having multiple disease strains. Our model illustrates the importance of multiple provisions alongside their timely execution for better disease attenuation. In addition to vaccination, we introduce self-protection as a potential alternative that yields safeguard against either strain. Both these imperfect provisions render better efficacy against primary (resident) strain than secondary (mutant) to contain epidemic transmission. The simulation-backed model analysis further sheds some light on the crucial impacts of control interventions to limit the invasion of virulent strains from qualitative and quantitative viewpoints. It explicates how vaccination and self-protection complement each other as per situation demands. Our full-fledged theoretical approach further illustrates the dynamic trade-off between the cost and efficacy of a certain intervention. We confirm that the disease dies out when the basic reproduction number of individual strains is less than one and becomes endemic if it is greater than one. Finally, the model addresses the evolutionary consequences when mutation takes place from primary to secondary strain. Some impressive facts while employing dual provisions have been reinforced using a game-theoretic framework.

Influence of waning immunity on vaccination decision-making:A multi-strain epidemic model with an evolutionary approach analyzing cost and efficacy

In this research,we introduce a comprehensive epidemiological model that accounts for multiple strains of an infectious disease and two distinct vaccination options.Vaccination stands out as the most effective means to prevent and manage infectious diseases.However,when there are various vaccines available,each with its costs and effectiveness,the decision-making process for individuals becomes paramount.Furthermore,the factor of waning immunity following vaccination also plays a significant role in influencing these choices.To understand how individuals make decisions in the context of multiple strains and waning immunity,we employ a behavioral model,allowing an epidemiological model to be coupled with the dynamics of a decision-making process.Individuals base their choice of vaccination on factors such as the total number of infected individuals and the cost-effectiveness of the vaccine.Our findings indicate that as waning immunity increases,people tend to prioritize vaccines with higher costs and greater efficacy.Moreover,when more contagious strains are present,the equilibrium in vaccine adoption is reached more rapidly.Finally,we delve into the social dilemma inherent in our model by quantifying the social efficiency deficit(SED)under various parameter combinations.