			Home About us Contact

Appropriate Explanation (appropriate + explanation)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Life Sciences	50%

Selected Abstracts

Immigration and femininity in Southern Europe: A gender-based psychosocial analysis

JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY & APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 5 2008
J. M. González-González
Abstract Despite the growing presence of female immigrants in Western countries, research on the subject highlights two important biases that hinder appropriate explanation of the migratory phenomenon and hence prevent adequate intervention. First, most of the research studies conducted so far focus on male migration; second, the macro-social perspective has prevailed in these areas of study since socio-economic and political aspects have taken centre stage in analyses on migratory phenomena, From a gender-based psychosocial perspective, this study addresses the migration project of 53 women from different South American countries, the Maghreb region and Eastern Europe now living in Southern Spain. For this purpose we conducted 23 in-depth interviews, and staged six discussion groups with the aim of elucidating to what extent gender-based psychosocial beliefs,stereotypes, ideology and identity,determine women's migration process. Our results suggest that the main stages in the process,deciding to emigrate, itinerary for social and labour integration in the host country, and general assessment of the migration experience,are strongly influenced by psychosociological constructs which arise as a result of female gender-typing or female profile. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

The Facial Integument of Centrosaurine Ceratopsids: Morphological and Histological Correlates of Novel Skin Structures

THE ANATOMICAL RECORD : ADVANCES IN INTEGRATIVE ANATOMY AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, Issue 9 2009
Tobin L. Hieronymus
Abstract The horned dinosaur Pachyhinosaurus possesses rugose bony bosses across the skull roof in lieu of the projecting bony horn cores seen in most ceratopsians. This elaboration of typical ceratopsian ornaments provides an opportunity to test hypotheses of ceratopsian facial skin morphology and function. We analyze bone morphology and histology associated with several classes of skin features in extant amniotes using a classification tree analysis. We isolate key osteological and histological correlates for unpreserved skin structures, including both a pattern of pitting and resorption characteristic of muskox (Ovibos) frontal horn boss, and a pattern of metaplastic ossification characteristic of rhinoceros nasal horn boss. We also describe correlates for other skin features, such as epidermal scales and horn sheaths. Dermatocranial elements from centrosaurine ceratopsians are then examined for the same osteological and histological correlates. From this comparison we propose that the rugose bosses that replace horn cores in many centrosaurine dinosaurs, most notably Achelousaurus and Pachyrhinosaurus, were covered by a thick pad of cornified skin derived from the caudodorsal side of the primitive horn sheath comparable to the horny boss of extant muskoxen (Ovibos). We examine extant taxa with skin morphologies similar to Pachyrhinosaurus for consistent adaptive relationships between structure and behavior. We determine that high-energy headbutting is consistently associated with the acquisition of thick cornified pads, seen in muskoxen as well as helmeted hornbills [Buceros (=Rhinoplax) vigil] and African buffalo (Syncerus). The association of the bony ornaments of Pachyrhinosaurus with risky agonistic behaviors casts doubt on the role of species recognition as a primary selection pressure driving the diversity of all ceratopsian horns. We conclude that social selection (a broad form of intraspecific competition) is a more appropriate explanation for the diversity of centrosaurine ceratopsian ornaments in the Late Cretaceous. Anat Rec, 292:1370,1396, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]

Distance Decay of Tree Species Similarity in Protected Areas on Terra Firme Forests in Colombian Amazonia

BIOTROPICA, Issue 5 2009
Álvaro Duque
ABSTRACT In this study, we investigated the pattern of floristic similarity as a function of geographical distances and environmental variability in well-drained uplands (terra firme) in Colombian Amazonia. The study site comprised three National Natural Parks, Tinigua, Chiribiquete, and Amacayacu, located in different geological units that represent a soil fertility gradient linked to parental materials. Differences in species richness between sites were compared using rarefaction analysis. A clear floristic transition appeared in the east,west direction following a soil fertility gradient along the first PCoA axis. In multiple regression analyses based on distance matrices, both geographical distances and geology explained 64 percent of the total floristic variation. Geographical distances alone accounted for 12 percent of variation in floristic similarities among plots, while geology alone accounted for 1 percent, and the joint effect of both explained 51 percent of the floristic variation. The species richness trend supports the existence of a latitudinal corridor southward of the geographical Equator in the Amazon basin, where tree diversity reaches the maximum expected values. A coupled effect of stochastic dispersal limitation and habitat specialization would certainly appear to be an appropriate explanation for tree species turnover in terra firme forests in Colombian Amazonia, strongly emphasizing that competition and neutrality must be supplementary rather than mutually exclusive processes. This result pinpoints the effect of dispersal on floral mixing as an ongoing active process for structuring tree communities in NW Amazonia, and the size of the reserves as a relevant issue to protect rare species from extinction by chance. [source]

Similarity, Isomorphism or Duality?

BRITISH JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2008
Recent Survey Evidence on the Human Resource Management Policies of Multinational Corporations
There is considerable debate as to the determinants of the human resource policies of human resource management: do they reflect national institutional or cultural realities, emerging common global practices, parent country effects or the dual effects of transnational and national realities? We use an extensive international database to explore these differences, assessing variations in a range of human resource practices. We find new evidence of national differences in the manner in which indigenous firms manage their people, but also evidence of a similarity in practice amongst multinational corporations. In other words, multinational corporations tend to manage their human resources in ways that are distinct from those of their host country; at the same time, country of origin effects seem relatively weak. Whilst there is some evidence of common global practices, sufficient diversity in practice persists to suggest that duality theories may provide the most appropriate explanation. [source]