Search results for "socio"

Measuring acoustic complexity in continuously varying signals: how complex is a wolf howl?

2017

Communicative complexity is a key behavioural and ecological indicator in the study of animal cognition. Much attention has been given to measures such as repertoire size and syntactic structure in both bird and mammal vocalizations, as large repertoires and complex call combinations may give an indication of the cognitive abilities both of the sender and receiver. However, many animals communicate using a continuous vocal signal that does not easily lend itself to be described by concepts such as ‘repertoire’. For example, dolphin whistles and wolf howls both have complex patterns of frequency modulation, so that no two howls or whistles are quite the same. Is there a sense in which some o…

Climate Change: Negationism, Skepticism, and Misinformation

2021

Resumen: El objetivo de este artículo es examinar los principales lineamientos antagonistas sobre el cambio climático. Para ello, se ofrece una aproximación teórica a las narrativas y repertorios sustantivos que sostienen los fundamentos de la negación y se diferencia conceptualmente entre negacionistas, climatoescépticos y contrarios climáticos. Estos repertorios son la negación de las evidencias científicas, la negación económica y la negación política. Finalmente, se hace referencia a la difusión de información errónea y tóxica como estrategia organizada y deliberada. Como principal conclusión se abordan los emergentes programas de alfabetización climática para neutralizar la desinformac…

Historical Suitability and Sustainability of Sicani Mountains Landscape (Western Sicily): An Integrated Approach of Phytosociology and Archaeobotany

2020

Since 2015, the ongoing project &ldquo

Are sacred caves still safe havens for the endemic bats of Madagascar?

2018

AbstractDespite conservation discourses in Madagascar increasingly emphasizing the role of customary institutions for wildlife management, we know relatively little about their effectiveness. Here, we used semi-structured interviews with 54 adults in eight villages to investigate whether sacred caves and taboos offer conservation benefits for cave-dwelling bats in and around Tsimanampetsotsa National Park, south-west Madagascar. Although some caves were described as sites of spiritual significance for the local communities, most interviewees (c. 76%) did not recognize their present-day sacred status. Similarly, only 22% of the interviewees recognized taboos inhibiting bat hunting and consum…

Four steps to identify mechanisms of ICT4D: A critical realism-based methodology

2018

Empowering education professionals with twenty-first century skills through master's of education dissertation/thesis work

2021

This paper aims to explore the potential role of Master’s of Education dissertation/thesis work in developing twenty-first century skills. A total of 600 education professionals studying Master’s of Education programmes in five countries – Poland, Portugal, England, Latvia, and Romania – were surveyed. The findings have revealed that participants recognise the usefulness of twenty-first century skills for their (future) professional practice, and perceive dissertation/thesis work as a valuable foundation for developing these skills. This study offers practical implications for designers of Master’s of Education programmes and contributes to our understanding that this assignment is not only…

Robust link prediction in criminal networks: A case study of the Sicilian Mafia

2020

Abstract Link prediction exercises may prove particularly challenging with noisy and incomplete networks, such as criminal networks. Also, the link prediction effectiveness may vary across different relations within a social group. We address these issues by assessing the performance of different link prediction algorithms on a mafia organization. The analysis relies on an original dataset manually extracted from the judicial documents of operation “Montagna”, conducted by the Italian law enforcement agencies against individuals affiliated with the Sicilian Mafia. To run our analysis, we extracted two networks: one including meetings and one recording telephone calls among suspects, respect…

Emotional Design: Discovering Emotions Across Cars’ Morphologies

2020

The primary focus behind the overall design involves shifting from a designer-centric concept to a user-centric one. In essence, cars are utilitarian from an engineering point of view and symbolic-emotional from a social point of view. The modern car retains a strong social position and also generates vivid emotions. The tellability of a car is the priority when communicating with a customer. As a result, this paper proposes a computational approach towards studying the relationship between car morphology and the aforementioned produced emotions. Emotions are considered self-measurable and physiologically distinct. Each car is thus self-evaluated emotionally by a panel of potential users. T…

Do terrorism, organized crime (drug production), and state weakness affect contemporary armed conflicts? An empirical analysis

2015

ABSTRACTIn 2014, the UN Security Council emphasized the dangers of terrorism, criminal activity (especially drug production and trafficking), and state weakness in conflict areas. However, neither policy debates nor scholarly analyses have focussed on the potential impact of these elements on conflict dynamics and characteristics, and the investigated partial relationships have led to inconclusive results. This article explores the presence in armed conflicts of terrorist groups among fighting parties, major drug production (indicating the presence of activities typical of criminal organizations), and state failure in the period 1990–2011. Focussing on intrastate conflicts, this article hig…

English Language Policy in Relation to Teachers and Teacher Educators in Latvia: Insights from Activity Systems Analysis

2020

The ambitious objectives of European language policy and the strive for competitiveness have led to an increasing emphasis on foreign language competence at the level of national education systems. Using Spolsky’s onion model of language policy (2004) and Engeström’s Expansive Learning theory (1987, 2008), the study attempts to determine the formative influence of the existing multilayered language policy on the professional development of Latvian educators with the aim to compare the situation for teachers and teacher educators in respect of their English language proficiency.Given the prioritisation of English and strategic differences in foreign language management in relation to teacher…