7,661 research outputs found

    Wildlife trade in Latin America: people, economy and conservation

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    Wildlife trade is among the main threats to biodiversity conservation and may pose a risk to human health because of the spread of zoonotic diseases. To avoid social, economic and environmental consequences of illegal trade, it is crucial to understand the factors influencing the wildlife market and the effectiveness of policies already in place. I aim to unveil the biological and socioeconomic factors driving wildlife trade, the health risks imposed by the activity, and the effectiveness of certified captive-breeding as a strategy to curb the illegal market in Latin America through a multidisciplinary approach. I assess socioeconomic correlates of the emerging international trade in wild cat species from Latin America using a dataset of >1,000 seized cats, showing that high levels of corruption and Chinese private investment and low income per capita were related to higher numbers of jaguar seizures. I assess the effectiveness of primate captive-breeding programmes as an intervention to curb wildlife trafficking. Illegal sources held >70% of the primate market share. Legal primates are more expensive, and the production is not sufficiently high to fulfil the demand. I assess the scale of the illegal trade and ownership of venomous snakes in Brazil. Venomous snake taxa responsible for higher numbers of snakebites were those most often kept as pets. I uncover how online wildlife pet traders and consumers responded to campaigns associating the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic. Of 20,000 posts on Facebook groups, only 0.44% mentioned COVID-19 and several stimulated the trade in wild species during lockdown. Despite the existence of international and national wildlife trade regulations, I conclude that illegal wildlife trade is still an issue that needs further addressing in Latin America. I identify knowledge gaps and candidate interventions to amend the current loopholes to reduce wildlife trafficking. My aspiration with this thesis is to provide useful information that can inform better strategies to tackle illegal wildlife trade in Latin America

    Building body identities - exploring the world of female bodybuilders

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    This thesis explores how female bodybuilders seek to develop and maintain a viable sense of self despite being stigmatized by the gendered foundations of what Erving Goffman (1983) refers to as the 'interaction order'; the unavoidable presentational context in which identities are forged during the course of social life. Placed in the context of an overview of the historical treatment of women's bodies, and a concern with the development of bodybuilding as a specific form of body modification, the research draws upon a unique two year ethnographic study based in the South of England, complemented by interviews with twenty-six female bodybuilders, all of whom live in the U.K. By mapping these extraordinary women's lives, the research illuminates the pivotal spaces and essential lived experiences that make up the female bodybuilder. Whilst the women appear to be embarking on an 'empowering' radical body project for themselves, the consequences of their activity remains culturally ambivalent. This research exposes the 'Janus-faced' nature of female bodybuilding, exploring the ways in which the women negotiate, accommodate and resist pressures to engage in more orthodox and feminine activities and appearances

    The Adirondack Chronology

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    The Adirondack Chronology is intended to be a useful resource for researchers and others interested in the Adirondacks and Adirondack history.https://digitalworks.union.edu/arlpublications/1000/thumbnail.jp

    Political Islam and grassroots activism in Turkey : a study of the pro-Islamist Virtue Party's grassroots activists and their affects on the electoral outcomes

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    This thesis presents an analysis of the spectacular rise of political Islam in Turkey. It has two aims: first to understand the underlying causes of the rise of the Welfare Party which -later became the Virtue Party- throughout the 1990s, and second to analyse how grassroots activism influenced this process. The thesis reviews the previous literature on the Islamic fundamentalist movements, political parties, political party systems and concentrates on the local party organisations and their effects on the party's electoral performance. It questions the categorisation of Islamic fundamentalism as an appropriate label for this movement. An exploration of such movements is particularly important in light of the event of 11`x' September. After exploring existing theoretical and case studies into political Islam and party activism, I present my qualitative case study. I have used ethnographic methodology and done participatory observations among grassroots activists in Ankara's two sub-districts covering 105 neighbourhoods. I examined the Turkish party system and the reasons for its collapse. It was observed that as a result of party fragmentation, electoral volatility and organisational decline and decline in the party identification among the citizens the Turkish party system has declined. However, the WP/VP profited from this trend enormously and emerged as the main beneficiary of this process. Empirical data is analysed in four chapters, dealing with the different aspects of the Virtue Party's local organisations and grassroots activists. They deal with change and continuity in the party, the patterns of participation, the routes and motives for becoming a party activist, the profile of party activists and the local party organisations. I explore what they do and how they do it. The analysis reveals that the categorisation of Islamic fundamentalism is misplaced and the rise of political Islam in Turkey cannot be explained as religious revivalism or the rise of Islamic fundamentalism. It is a political force that drives its strength from the urban poor which has been harshly affected by the IMF directed neoliberal economy policies. In conclusion, it is shown that the WP/VP's electoral chances were significantly improved by its very efficient and effective party organisations and highly committed grassroots activists

    How to Be a God

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    When it comes to questions concerning the nature of Reality, Philosophers and Theologians have the answers. Philosophers have the answers that can’t be proven right. Theologians have the answers that can’t be proven wrong. Today’s designers of Massively-Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games create realities for a living. They can’t spend centuries mulling over the issues: they have to face them head-on. Their practical experiences can indicate which theoretical proposals actually work in practice. That’s today’s designers. Tomorrow’s will have a whole new set of questions to answer. The designers of virtual worlds are the literal gods of those realities. Suppose Artificial Intelligence comes through and allows us to create non-player characters as smart as us. What are our responsibilities as gods? How should we, as gods, conduct ourselves? How should we be gods

    Platform protocol place: a practice-based study of critical media art practice (2007-2020)

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    This practice-based research project focuses on critical media art practices in contemporary digital culture. The theoretical framework employed in this inquiry draws from the work of the Frankfurt School, in particular Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer’s The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception. Using Adorno & Horkheimer’s thesis as a theoretical guide, this research project formulates the concept of the digital culture industry - a concept that refers to the contemporary era of networked capitalism, an era defined by the unprecedented extraction, accumulation and manipulation of data and the material and digital infrastructures that facilitate it. This concept is used as a framing mechanism that articulates certain techno-political concerns within networked capitalism and responds to them through practice. The second concept formulated within this research project is Platform Protocol Place. The function of this second concept is to frame and outline the body of practice-based work developed in this study. It is also used to make complex technological issues accessible and to communicate these issues through public exhibition and within this written thesis. The final concept developed in this research project is tactical media archaeology. This concept describes the techniques and approaches employed in the development of the body of practice-based work that are the central focus of this research project. This approach is a synthesis of two subfields of media art practice and theory, tactical media and media archaeology. Through practice, tactical media archaeology critiques the geopolitical machinations and systems beneath the networked devices and interfaces of the digital culture industry

    Image-Based Rendering Of Real Environments For Virtual Reality

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    Love Between Worlds: Edward Burne-Jones and the Theology of Art

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    This dissertation explores the theological formation of Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1898) and argues that his artistic vision was shaped by and became a practice of theology. Burne-Jones was drawn to the controversial Oxford ‘Tractarian’ Movement and pursued education at the University of Oxford to become an Anglican priest. He was inspired by John Henry Newman, who lived and preached in Birmingham during Burne-Jones’s adolescence. Contrary to most scholarship, I argue for the continuing prevalence of the Tractarian theological perspective in his art, even after he decided not to preach or practise conventional religion. His art is deeply informed by the complex theological principles he studied. This becomes what I identify as a theology of art that considers and presents theological ideas not in words but in art. I have conducted archival research into Burne-Jones’s personal history and education, and the theological figures, debates, and controversies that shaped him. This included letters and diaries of mentors and friends of Burne-Jones which have been scarcely accessed. Furthermore, Burne-Jones’s own university notebooks and letters have shown direct evidence of Burne-Jones’s theological knowledge. I have also pursued extensive research into theology and church history, particularly of Anglicanism before and in the nineteenth century. To understand how this translates into his artistic practice, I have researched and interpreted various works and projects of Burne-Jones, emphasising his methods of design. This has led to a wide-ranging assessment of his drawings in print rooms across Britain. Ultimately, I argue for the recurrence of the theological and artistic theme I call love between worlds, a concept connecting Burne-Jones’s study of the Tractarian notions of incarnation, sacramentality, and God’s love expressed through the economy of salvation in Christ, and the subject of the pursuit of romantic love that pervades Burne-Jones’s artistic projects

    Earth dance and fire song: A journey towards transformative reconciliation in nursing education

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    G̱ilakas\u27la, Nugwa’a̱m Joanna Elizabeth Fraser. I was born in East Africa to parents of European ancestry. I have been an inhabitant of the West Coast of Canada since I was two years old. This inquiry offers a vision for co-creating healing learning spaces for transformative reconciliation in nursing education. Oriented by Indigenous research methodologies, I draw from mĂ©tissage and, portraiture to share the story of finding ya\u27xa̱n yiyaḵ̓wima (my gifts from the Creator). Starting with finding ya\u27xa̱n dƂig̱a̱m (my name), I ask who I am in relation to the places and people who I have learned from. In finding ya\u27xa̱n ḵ̓a̱ngex̱tola (my blanket), I ask where I am from as I weave, unweave and reweave understandings of what I have learned as a nurse and as an educator. In finding ya\u27xa̱n ya̱xw\u27a̱nye\u27 (my dance), I ask where I am going and share my experiences from over 13 years of co-facilitating immersion learning field schools in remote First Nations communities. Finally, I share the learnings of my inquiry for educators more generally as I find ya\u27xa̱n ប̓a̱mda̱m (my song) and ask myself why I am here. My learnings from the field schools are about following the lead of Indigenous people, orienting myself to relationships and always seeking out wellness. These learnings are applied to nursing education more generally as my inquiry leads me through three landscapes: bearing witness, being an inhabitant and becoming Indigenist. Transformative reconciliation happens when we naáž”i\u27stamas (make things right) and tlaxwalapa (lift each other up with love). We can do this through living in relationally accountable and ecologically reciprocal ways. My lessons are of the Sisiutl, seeing everything in complexity, and of the he’istalis (world around us) experiencing everything as relationship. Ultimately, my vision is to reimagine nursing and nursing education so that we can heal ourselves, each other, and the land to become synala (whole)
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