Search results for "Comparative method"

2015

Songs in passerine birds are important for territory defense and mating. Speciation rates in oscine passerines are so high, due to cultural evolution, that this bird lineage makes up half of the extant bird species. Leaf warblers are a speciose Old-World passerine family of limited morphological differentiation, so that songs are even more important for species delimitation. We took 16 sonographic traits from song recordings of 80 leaf warbler taxa and correlated them with 15 potentially explanatory variables, pairwise, and in linear models. Based on a well-resolved molecular phylogeny of the same taxa, all pairwise correlations were corrected for relatedness with phylogenetically independe…

Research trends in retailing: a comparative approach Spain-Europe-USA

2002

This paper describes the evolution of research in retailing comparing three different geographic regions: Spain, Europe and the United States. Working on the basis of a bibliographic review of the academic research published between 1996 and 2000 together with a content analysis, the results of this study reveal a heterogeneous evolution in nine thematic areas related to the field of retailing. The differences are particularly noticeable when comparing those of Europe with those of the USA, and reveal different areas of interest over the last five years.

Before and after Science. Radcliffe-Brown e la questione dei rapporti tra metodi di ricerca sul campo, etnografia e teoria

2020

Nella prima parte del capitolo, mi occupo del periodo iniziale della carriera di Radcliffe-Brown che precede la pubblicazione, nel 1922, del suo celebre scritto, di carattere programmatico, su I metodi dell’etnologia e dell’antropologia sociale. Questo periodo di formazione è segnato dal rapporto con Haddon e Rivers, dalle due esperienze di ricerca sul campo nelle isole Andamane e tra gli aborigeni australiani, e dalla riflessione critica sul modello di scienza sociale proposto da Durkheim, riguardante in particolare le teorie formulate da quest’ultimo a proposito dei tipi di morfologia sociale e del ruolo di integrazione sociale svolto dalle credenze e dai rituali religiosi nelle “società …

Behavior adaptation and selection.

2010

6 pages; The evolutionary approach to behavior is concerned with the evolutionary origin and adaptive function of behavioral traits. Like any other part of the phenotype, behavior can be shaped by natural selection to produce adaptations. However, behavior often shows large phenotypic variation and flexibility, and can be both – subject to selection and a major agent of selection. Therefore, the study of adaptation and evolution of behavior is a particularly complex one, involving a wide range of methodologies and techniques, including mathematical modeling, comparative methods, phenotypic engineering, quantitative genetics, genetic dissection, and artificial selection.

A comparative analysis of patch-leaving decision rules in a parasitoid family

2003

The proximate behavioural rules adopted by parasitoid females to manage their foraging time on patches of hosts were studied, under standardized laboratory conditions, in different species (and populations) of the Trichogrammatidae (Hymenoptera) family. Seventeen species/populations were compared and the behavioural mechanisms adopted by the females were identified by means of a Cox's proportional hazards model. On average, females increased their patch-leaving tendency each time a healthy host was attacked and each time a parasitized host was rejected. Strong variation was observed in these patch-leaving mechanisms among the different species. Moreover, the interspecific variation in these…

Analysis of Spanish policies for the integration of immigrant schoolchildren

2016

The Organic Law on the Improvement of the National Education Quality (Ley Organica de Reforma de la Calidad Educativa) readdressed one of the most significant educational issues: educational policies related to immigrant students. Therefore, this is an appropriate moment to evaluate these types of policies in three singular Spanish regions: Madrid, Catalonia and Andalusia. This article presents an analysis of the measures taken in three Spanish regions: Madrid, Catalonia and Andalusia in response to students’ reception, acceptance and enrolment of immigrant students. A qualitative methodology based on the comparative method is used. Diverse similarities, but also specific characteristics an…

TESTING SIMILARITY COEFFICIENTS FOR ANALYSIS OF THE FOSSIL RECORD USING CLUSTERING METHODS: THE PALAEOZOIC FLORA AS A STUDY CASE

2020

This paper reports a global methodological approach based on the similarity and clustering methods of the Palaeozoic plant fossil record using a comparative approach between two similarity measures: the Jacard and Raup-Crick Coefficients. The results show that although the Raup-Crick Coefficients clearly have the potential for providing more robust results, the consequences of the extinction processes are better reflected in the similarity analysis based on the Jaccard Coefficients. On the other hand, the cluster analysis based on UPGMA algorithm shows four robust clusters and reveals new evidence for the singularity of Mississippian flora. Finally, the results obtained reveal that similari…

"Memorie dal sottosuolo". Una prospettiva di indagine sul simbolismo rituale delle feste religiose "tradizionali"

2017

In 1945, writing about the procession of Our Lady of Viggiano, Carlo Levi presents us a peasant world characterized by archaic beliefs and ritual practices, another world « where seasons run on peasant fatigue, [...] like three thousand years before Christ », a world « veiled with black veils, fiery and earthly [...] which you do not enter without a key of magic ». If that other world of the peasants seems to have come to an end today, the beliefs, practices and ritual symbols of reputed “pre-Christian” precedence or in any case alien to the official liturgy, as witnessed by Levi and many other narrators and demoanthropologists from the 19th and 20th century are not, however, definitively l…

Continuità, risorgenze, invenzioni? Sui simboli “preistorici” nel folklore contemporaneo

2015

I temi delle continuità culturali e delle “sopravvivenze” sono stati, nel recente passato, al centro del dibattito in ambito antropologico e storico religioso. Ritornano oggi d’attualità in relazione alla questione della patrimonializzazione dei beni immateriali, delle feste religiose “tradizionali” innanzitutto. Gli interrogativi che emergono sia circa l’utilità delle fonti storiche (archeologiche e documentali) ai fini della comprensione della realtà rituale contemporanea, sia rispetto al tema delle continuità cronologiche di pratiche e credenze, meritano infatti, dinanzi alla ormai avvenuta dissoluzione di quella che è stata definita “civiltà contadina” e ai rinnovati interessi verso il …

Tradizioni carnevalesche a Mezzojuso: dal Mastro di Campo al rogo del Nannu

2023

Il Mastro di Campo di Mezzojuso è una performance carnevalesca tradizionale che presenta un articolato simbolismo rituale riconducibile al pattern delle cerimonie di capodanno. In particolare si osservano il tema della ierogamia e della lotta rituale come elementi di promozione della fecondità. Ambedue i simboli rituali, la rappresentazione di una danza o di uno scontro armato, con l'eventuale coinvolgimento degli astanti e la celebrazione di un matrimonio, correlati o disgiunti, sono, come è noto, costitutivi ab antico delle cerimonie di capodanno, segnatamente di quelle primaverili. Altri rituali carnevaleschi europei hanno una simile articolazione. Il saggio presenta una serie di esempi …