Les conséquences de la reconnaissance des contraintes phylogénétiques lors de l'étude évolutive de l'origine des traits

1985 ◽  
Vol 63 (10) ◽  
pp. 2233-2239 ◽  
Author(s):  
François Chapleau
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Theoretical Basis ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Evolutionary Process ◽  
The Other ◽  
Theoretical Concepts ◽  
Size Dimorphism ◽  
Selective Pressures ◽  
Phylogenetic Studies ◽  
Reversed Size Dimorphism

This study examines the origin and consequences of the disregard of evolutionary biologists towards the historical constraints emerging from phylogenetic studies. An attempt is made to establish the theoretical basis that would allow the integration of these constraints in studies related to the understanding of evolutionary processes responsible for the origin of traits. First, the historical context is defined following the concepts of cladistic methodology. Then the empirical limits intrinsic to the structure of the theory of natural selection are outlined. Extrapolations of this evolutionary process at a historical level are not justifiable because of the impossibility of empirical verification. As a prerequisite for the study of species, it becomes essential to distinguish the autapomorphies (evolutionary novelties) from the plesiomorphies (primitive characters). Only the autapomorphies are potentially open to studies concerned with the ultimate causes related to their origin, since it is possible to gather the relevant data. On the other hand, since the selective pressures now affecting the plesiomorphies are not necessarily the same as those responsible for their origin, and since it is impossible to recreate the historical context in which they have originated, it is preferable that evolutionary biologists refrain from elaborating scenarios pertaining to the origin of those traits. A parallel is made between these two types of features and previous concepts of adaptation and exaptation. An example related to the origin of the "reversed" size dimorphism of the Falconiformes is used to illustrate these theoretical concepts.

Individuation of Developmental Systems

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Griesemer
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Empirical Processes ◽  
The Other ◽  
Scientific Practices ◽  
Biological Individuality ◽  
Developmental Systems ◽  
Theoretical Concepts ◽  
The World ◽  
Biological Reproduction ◽  
Natural Selection Theory

The author views concepts of individuality and associated individuation criteria, as used in the sciences, as scientific-theoretical concepts that can have different, even conflicting meanings in different theoretical contexts. Focusing on biological individuality in evolutionary contexts, he argues that despite the variety of usage, evolutionary contexts typically involve two senses of process-relativity depending on (1) empirical processes taken to be operating in the world that humans talk about, try to understand, predict, explain, or control; and (2) tracking processes that humans perform while investigating empirical phenomena. He illustrates the process-relativity of biological individuality concepts by contrasting two different kinds of attempt to articulate concepts of evolutionary individuality, one based in natural selection theory, the other in a theory of biological reproduction. Also characterized is how the tracking activities of scientific practices are entwined with the empirical processes on which both individuation and individuality depend.

scholarly journals Drosophilid species (Insecta, Diptera) in the Brazilian savanna are more symmetric in the dry season

Heringeriana ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 17-26
Author(s):  
Luciana Costa Nascimento ◽  
Francisco Das Chagas Roque Machado ◽  
Rosana Tidon
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Environmental Stress ◽  
Rainy Season ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
The Other ◽  
Brazilian Savanna ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Wet Season ◽  
Selective Pressures ◽  
Methodological Problems

The development of an organism is a controlled process, which can be disrupted by genetic or environmental stress. Although fluctuating asymmetry is widely used as an indicator of developmental instability, its effectiveness has been questioned due to the contradictory results produced by this technique which, at least in part, probably reflects methodological inappropriateness. Here, we investigated if wing asymmetry of drosophilids increases when they develop during the dry season in the Brazilian savanna, considered a stressful season for these insects. Using protocols designed to avoid methodological problems, we analysed the wings of Zaprionus indianus and three species of the genus Drosophila (D. mercatorum, D. simulans, and D. sturtevanti). Surprisingly, the flies were more asymmetrical in the rainy season than in the dry season, although this difference was not always significant. It is suggested that the wings of these insects are submitted to strong natural selection throughout the dry season, when the asymmetric individuals would have less chance of surviving. During the wet season, on the other hand, selective pressures would be more relaxed. Therefore, the results of this study suggest that asymmetry of the wings is not a good indicator of natural environmental stress in drosophilids. Future research should focus on selectively neutral characters.

Травелоги югославских писательниц первой половины ХХ века: в поисках идентичности

2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-36
Author(s):  
А. Г. БОДРОВА
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
The Other ◽  
Literary Field ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Egyptian Women ◽  
Dialogical Philosophy ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Women's Travel ◽  
Gender Boundaries

The paper considers travelogues of Yugoslav female writers Alma Karlin, Jelena Dimitrijević, Isidora Sekulić, Marica Gregorič Stepančič, Marica Strnad, Luiza Pesjak. These texts created in the first half of the 20th century in Serbian, Slovenian and German are on the periphery of the literary field and, with rare exceptions, do not belong to the canon. The most famous of these authors are Sekulić from Serbia and the German-speaking writer Karlin from Slovenia. Recently, the work of Dimitrijević has also become an object of attention of researchers. Other travelogues writers are almost forgotten. Identity problems, especially national ones, are a constant component of the travelogue genre. During a journey, the author directs his attention to “other / alien” peoples and cultures that can be called foreign to the perceiving consciousness. However, when one perceives the “other”, one inevitably turns to one's “own”, one's own identity. The concept of “own - other / alien”, on which the dialogical philosophy is based (M. Buber, G. Marcel, M. Bakhtin, E. Levinas), implies an understanding of the cultural “own” against the background of the “alien” and at the same time culturally “alien” on the background of “own”. Women's travel has a special status in culture. Even in the first half of the 20th century the woman was given space at home. Going on a journey, especially unaccompanied, was at least unusual for a woman. According to Simone de Beauvoir, a woman in society is “different / other”. Therefore, women's travelogues can be defined as the look of the “other” on the “other / alien”. In this paper, particular attention is paid to the interrelationship of gender, national identities and their conditioning with a cultural and historical context. At the beginning of the 20th century in the Balkans, national identity continues actively to develop and the process of women's emancipation is intensifying. Therefore, the combination of gender and national issues for Yugoslavian female travelogues of this period is especially relevant. Dimitrijević's travelogue Seven Seas and Three Oceans demonstrates this relationship most vividly: “We Serbian women are no less patriotic than Egyptian women... Haven't Serbian women most of the merit that the big Yugoslavia originated from small Serbia?” As a result of this study, the specificity of the national and gender identity constructs in the first half of the 20th century in the analyzed texts is revealed. For this period one can note, on the one hand, the preservation of national and gender boundaries, often supported by stereotypes, on the other hand, there are obvious tendencies towards the erosion of the established gender and national constructs, the mobility of models of gender and national identification as well, largely due to the sociohistorical processes of the time.

The Problem of the Typology of Rationality in Muslim Culture

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (6) ◽  
pp. 88-99
Author(s):  
Andrey A. Lukashev
Keyword(s):  
Modern Philosophy ◽  
Theoretical Basis ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
The Other ◽  
Common Denominator ◽  
Islamic Culture ◽  
The Common ◽  
Per Se ◽  
The One ◽  
Muslim Culture

The typology of rationality is one of major issues of modern philosophy. In an attempt to provide a typology to Oriental materials, a researcher faces additional problems. The diversity of the Orient as such poses a major challenge. When we say “Oriental,” we mean several cultures for which we cannot find a common denominator. The concept of “Orient” involves Arabic, Indian, Chinese, Turkish and other cultures, and the only thing they share is that they are “non-Western.” Moreover, even if we focus just on Islamic culture and look into rationality in this context, we have to deal with a conglomerate of various trends, which does not let us define, with full confidence, a common theoretical basis and treat them as a unity. Nevertheless, we have to go on trying to find common directions in thought development, so as to draw conclusions about types of rationality possible in Islamic culture. A basis for such a typology of rationality in the context of the Islamic world was recently suggested in A.V. Smirnov’s logic of sense theory. However, actual empiric material cannot always fit theoretical models, and the cases that do not fit the common scheme are interesting per se. On the one hand, examination of such cases gives an opportunity to specify certain provisions of the theory and, on the other hand, to define the limits of its applicability.

Heralds and witnesses poets of Serbian romanticism - between religion of the nation and loss of faith

2017 ◽  
pp. 635-649
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Pavicevic
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
The Other ◽  
Modern State ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Poor Condition ◽  
Institutional Infrastructure ◽  
National Romanticism

Ideas of Enlightement, national romanticism and transformation of geopolitical situation on the Balkans, were cultural and historical context in which bases of modern Serbian state was established. That was the time of intensive social change directed towards building institutional infrastructure as well as towards transforming traditional, ?obsolete? folk customs and habits. Poor condition of Serbian Orthodox Church and domination of religious world views among people were considered to be the most serious obstacles in creating modern state. Thus, great number of intelectuals were anticlerical and promoted liberal and secularized social organization. On the other hand, the whole epoch was characterized by strong antiscientistic orientation which was expresed through developing of different mistical, alternative, neopagan cults. Specific for our region was so called ?religion of the nation? which appeared as substitution for loss of eshatological perspective in life of Christian civilization. Poets of Serbian romanticism were heralds and witnesses of this civilization ?turn?. Their poetry can be observed as reflex and announcement of secularization in Serbian society. In this paper, we analyzed their writings about death, love, hope, nature and nation.

Monotheism in Isaiah

2020 ◽  
pp. 218-248
Author(s):  
Matthias Albani
Keyword(s):  
Historical Context ◽  
The Other ◽  
Divine Power ◽  
Crisis Situation ◽  
Catalytic Function ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Future ◽  
The One ◽  
Religious Crisis

The monotheistic confession in Isa 40–48 is best understood against the historical context of Israel’s political and religious crisis situation in the final years of Neo-Babylonian rule. According to Deutero-Isaiah, Yhwh is unique and incomparable because he alone truly predicts the “future” (Isa 41:22–29)—currently the triumph of Cyrus—which will lead to Israel’s liberation from Babylonian captivity (Isa 45). This prediction is directed against the Babylonian deities’ claim to possess the power of destiny and the future, predominantly against Bel-Marduk, to whom both Nabonidus and his opponents appeal in their various political assertions regarding Cyrus. According to the Babylonian conviction, Bel-Marduk has the universal divine power, who, on the one hand, directs the course of the stars and thus determines the astral omens and, on the other hand, directs the course of history (cf. Cyrus Cylinder). As an antithesis, however, Deutero-Isaiah proclaims Yhwh as the sovereign divine creator and leader of the courses of the stars in heaven as well as the course of history on earth (Isa 45:12–13). Moreover, the conflict between Nabonidus and the Marduk priesthood over the question of the highest divine power (Sîn versus Marduk) may have had a kind of “catalytic” function in Deutero-Isaiah’s formulation of the monotheistic confession.

Historiography of one city: colonialism, colonization, frontir. On the historiography of the history of functioning of the fortress city of the left wing of the Caucasian cordon line on the example of the history of Kizlyar in the first half of the 19th century

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (12-3) ◽  
pp. 250-258
Author(s):  
Mahomed Gasanov ◽  
Abidat Gazieva
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Theoretical Concepts ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
The City

The article is devoted to the analysis of the historiography of the history of the city of Kizlyar. This issue is considered in the historical context of the Eastern Caucasus. The author analyzes the three main theoretical concepts of the problem concerning Russia’s policy in the region, using the example of the city of Kizlyar in the context of historiography.

The ‘Zen’ in the western monochrome

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 55-78
Author(s):  
Simon Morley
Keyword(s):  
Zen Buddhism ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
The Other ◽  
Binary Opposition ◽  
Middle Way ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
The One ◽  
Contemporary Painting ◽  
The Impact

I look at the impact of Zen Buddhism on western painters during the 1950s and 1960s, focusing on the monochrome in particular, in order to create a historical context for the consideration of transcultural dialogue in relation to contemporary painting. I argue that a consideration of Zen can offer a ‘middle way’ between conceptions of the monochrome (and art in general) often hobbled by models of interpretation that function within a binary opposition between ‘literalist/sensory’ on the one hand, and ‘intellectual/non-sensory’ readings on the other.

Mating Patterns and Reversed Size Dimorphism in Southern Skuas (Stercorarius skua lonnbergi)

The Auk ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 119 (3) ◽  
pp. 858-863
Author(s):  
Richard A. Phillips ◽  
Deborah A. Dawson
Keyword(s):  
Size Dimorphism ◽  
Mating Patterns ◽  
Reversed Size Dimorphism

scholarly journals An Improved Method for Discerning Broken Rotor Bar Fault and Load Oscillation in Induction Motors

Energies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 3130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liling Sun ◽  
Boqiang Xu
Keyword(s):  
Spectral Analysis ◽  
Theoretical Basis ◽  
Induction Motors ◽  
The Other ◽  
Improved Method ◽  
Broken Rotor Bar ◽  
Signal Parameters ◽  
Analysis Technique ◽  
Novel Strategy ◽  
The One

A few methods for discerning broken rotor bar (BRB) fault and load oscillation in induction motors have been reported in the literature. However, they all perhaps inevitably fail in adverse cases in which these two phenomena are simultaneously present. To tackle this problem, an improved method for discerning BRB fault and load oscillation is proposed in this paper based on the following work. On the one hand, the theoretical basis is analytically extended to include such an adverse case, yielding some important findings on the spectra of the instantaneous reactive and active powers. A novel strategy is thus outlined to correctly discern BRB fault and load oscillation even when simultaneously present. On the other hand, Estimation of Signal Parameters via Rotational Invariance Technique (ESPRIT) is adopted as the spectral analysis technique to deal with the instantaneous reactive and active powers, yielding a certain improvement compared to the existing methods, adopting Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). Simulation and experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can correctly discern BRB fault and load oscillation even when simultaneously present.

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