Evaluation of environmental impact upon human health with decimas framework

The article is dedicated to the problem of decision making in complex systems. Application of a novel interdisciplinary approach, which widely use intelligent agents is offered. The principal ideas of the novel approach are embodied into the DeciMaS framework, that offers a logical set of stages oriented to creation of decision support systems for complex problem management. The components of the DeciMaS framework and the way in which they are organized are introduced. Design and implementation of the system are discussed. The article demonstrates how the initial information is transformed into knowledge. Impact assessment upon human health evaluation is the case study, which is resolved by DeciMas framework. It includes creation of the meta-ontology. In addition, a multi-agent architecture for a decision support system is introduced. The sequence of the steps for the DeciMaS framework design with Prometheus Development Kit and its implementation with JACK Development Environment are presented as well. Finally, data and experiment results of data modeling, simulation, impact assessment, and decision generation are discussed

Black Communities on the Colombian Pacific Coast and the 'Aquatic Space': A Spatial Approach to Social Movement Theory

Spatial insights into the workings of social movements have received little attention in established social movement theory so far. Emphasis is usually placed on the temporal dimensions of social change, and most accounts of social movements examine only briefly the particular worldly place out of which a given movement emerges, before the more 'serious' analysis focuses on the movement structures and how it is inscribed in the wider global changes of history. This thesis argues that an approach to social movements via their specific geographies or, more analytically, their spatialities provides a deeper understanding of both a movement's particularity 'on the ground', and the ways in which social movement agency is articulated across different scales from the local to the global. Through a genealogy of spatial theorising it is shown how 'space' and 'place' matter in social movement theory and research. A place perspective is then offered on the social movement of black communities on Colombia's Pacific coast that has mobilised in the wake of the new Constitution of 1991 in the form of ethnic-territorial organisations that defend their rights to cultural difference as intrinsically linked to territorial control. Focusing less on the social movement structures per se than on the 'pre-geographies' or 'soils' out of which social movement agency emerges, this thesis advocates an ethnographic cultural geography and applies thick description and the voices of local people on the Colombian Pacific coast to unlock the 'aquatic sense of place' among rural black populations in this region. The 'aquatic space' as a particular set of spatialised social relationships in the Pacific lowlands is then examined and the ways in which it has been instrumental in the organising structures of rural black communities into community councils along river basins. These processes are further examined in the light of capitalist and state interventions that frequently mediate them, thus creating complex interactions between ethnic social movements, the state and capital. The thesis concludes by arguing that such a place perspective on social movements, drawing on both resource-mobilisation theories and identity-oriented perspectives and grounding them in space, provides deeper insights into the workings of social movements than established social movement theory

Assessing the impact of climate change upon migration in Burkina Faso: an agent-based modelling approach

The notion of environmental migration, and the associated desire to predict the likely scale of the phenomenon in the future, has frequented academic debate since the 1980s. Despite this, current estimates of the numbers of people likely to be displaced by environmental change by 2050 range from 150 million to 1 billion. By developing an agent-based model this research attempts to provide a rigorous means of quantifying the influence of future changes in climate (using rainfall as a proxy) upon migration trends within the context of Burkina Faso. Located in dryland West Africa, the population and economy of Burkina Faso are highly dependent upon rain-fed agriculture, placing them in a position of considerable vulnerability to future changes in rainfall. The conceptual basis behind the Agent Migration Adaptation to Rainfall Change (AMARC) model presented by this thesis is developed using contributions from the fields of climate adaptation and social psychology to focus upon three Theory of Planned Behaviour components of the migration decision: behavioural attitude; subjective norm; and perceived behavioural control. Rules of behaviour defined within the model are developed and parameterised using information gained from both retrospective migration data analysis and the responses of interviewees in focus groups conducted across Burkina Faso. Following a process of stringent model validation and testing the AMARC model is used to investigate the role of changes in rainfall variability upon past and future modelled migration. Although a relatively clear hierarchical impact of (from highest to lowest modelled migration) average, dry and wet rainfall conditions upon total modelled migration is identified, the individual flows of migrants that make up the total show unique and varied relationships with changes in rainfall. Furthermore, modelled internal and international migration flows show both similarities and differences when compared with relationships identified between rainfall and migration within existing literature

Studies in Brownsville & Matamoros history

Jose de Escandon and the settlement of South Texas in the late Colonial Era, 1746-1821 / Harriet Denise Joseph -- La poesia de arte menor en la Cronica de Sanchez Garcia / Jorge Green Huie -- The Battle of Palo Alto: a preliminary gathering of primary sources arranged by selected holdings / Thomas B. and Marie J. Carroll -- Francisco Yturria / Lilia Garcia -- The start of Brownsville-Matamoros telephone link / Bruce Aiken -- La presidencia de Don Salvador Cardenas: Enero-Junio de 1920 / Andres F. Cuellar -- Doctor, maestro, periodista, literato Manuel Feliciano Rodriguez Brayda / Elia Garcia Cruz and Jose Luis Lopez -- Algunas mujeres destacadas de Matamoros / Rosaura Davila de Cuellar -- Margaret M. Clark, pioneer in Brownsville physical education: an oral history / Judith D. Walton -- Mexican American empowerment and local organization: the case of Valley interfaith / Jose R. Hinojosa, Norman E. Binder, J. L. Polinard and Robert D. Wrinkle -- The economic impact of the Port of Brownsville / Randall Florey -- Historic architecture in Brownsville and Matamoros / Mark Lund -- Architecture in Brownsville: the 19th Century / Stephen Fox -- A history of literature in Brownsville / Charles F. Dameron, Jr. -- Instituto Regional de Bellas Artes / Norma Garcia Lerma -- Sociedad Tamaulipeca de historia, geografia y estadistica de Matamoros / Amparo Olivares de Huerta and Javier Huerta Castaneda -- The reaper / Peter Gawenda -- The chaperon / Peter Gawenda -- Historia del Instituto Tecnologico de Matamoros / Raul Salinas Gonzalez and Carmen Mijares Fong -- A historical sketch of the Baptist church in Brownsville and Matamoros / Milo Kearney and John Kearney -- The libraries of Brownsville: a historical survey / Daniel L. Nutter -- Estudio en geneologia de Familia Salinas / Yolanda Gonzalez Zuniga -- Familia Pacheco / Maria Luisa Rojas de Pacheco -- Filomeno Garcia vs. Josiah Turner: the case of Soliseñito Banco and the elimination of bancos on the Rio Grande River / Antonio N. Zavaleta -- Teatro de la Reforma / Alfonso Gomez Arguelles.https://scholarworks.utrgv.edu/regionalhist/1003/thumbnail.jp

The use of local knowledge for the defence and sustainable management of mangrove ecosystems : the case of Ecuador

Shrimp aquaculture is one of the fastest growing economic activities in the tropical coastal zone. In Ecuador, the shrimp farming industry has grown exponentially since its introduction in 1969 and is now the main producing country of cultured shrimp in Latin America. But its rapid and uncontrolled expansion has led to a 57% reduction of mangrove forest in the country, and has had considerable impacts on the poor afro- Ecuadorian coastal communities decreasing the area available to them for obtaining their livelihoods. In turn this has generated a breakdown in the traditional resource allocation and management strategies, further adding to the social exclusion of already marginalised groups who are mainly Afro-Ecuadorians. This thesis explores the complexities of social, political and economic changes that have arisen in mangrove communities since the introduction of shrimp farming in the Mangrove Ecological Reserve (REMACAM). Located in the north of the Esmeraldas Province this is the last pristine mangrove ecosystem in Ecuador, harbouring some 6,000 traditional inhabitants. The research focuses on how the affected populations have responded to these changes, and how they have engaged with national neo-liberal reforms in order to be able to defend and manage the ecosystem. Research focuses on the dichotomous way in which mangroves are perceived in Ecuador today. Outsider perceptions see mangroves as mosquito ridden wastelands. This representation has made possible the development and expansion of the shrimp farming industry at the expense of the mangrove ecosystem. On the other hand, insider perspectives see mangroves as a multiple use ecosystem and a livelihoods provider. These understandings have been successfully used by the mangrove defence movement (CCONDEM) to create a strong movement against the shrimp farming industry. Using an insider perspective the mangrove defence movement has engaged with the country's neoliberal reforms, created national and international alliances and has also created a new political space of resistance. This space includes challenging, and changing national legislation, and proposing new legislation and management strategies to defend the mangroves and the traditional communities whose livelihoods depend on the ecosystemEThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceSchool of Geography, Politics and Sociology, Newcastle University : ESRCGBUnited Kingdo

Envisioned Environments and the Social Imaginary in Medieval English Literature: Interactions of Mind, Culture, and Narrative, 700–1400 AD

This diachronic analysis of narrative in Old and Middle English texts from the eighth to fifteenth centuries builds upon recent cognitive explorations in both medieval literature and narratology to identify and contrast certain enduring themes in OE and ME visionary texts. In attending to the evolution of conceptions of the self, and each conception’s embeddedness in the social imaginary of a place and time, multi-layered new readings emerge of the Old English poems The Dream of the Rood, and Guðlac A and Guðlac B (in addition to the prose Life of St Guðlac); and the Middle English poems St Erkenwald; Pearl; and Piers Plowman. While previous studies have noted the importance of society to the role of the fourteenth-century ‘public poet’, this analysis proposes a much earlier, enduring link between medieval narratives of dream, visions, and marvels; the thinking, speaking self; and the larger social imaginary. The application of extended cognition to envisioned people, objects, and environments in poetic English narrative moves critical discussion beyond the formation of the dream-vision genre, toward an awareness that medieval authors could treat any environment as more or less imagined and sense-bearing. As the worked examples demonstrate, destabilisation of social structures is reflected in the disorganisation of these envisioned environments. Individual focalisation both ‘personalises’ these stresses and attempts to articulate a new, stable environment through reorganisation of elements of the social imaginary

Profile of a Plant: The Olive in Early Medieval Italy, 400-900 CE.

For more than half a millennium the Roman Empire gave a schematic and legible form to the Mediterranean landscape, everywhere engineered to feed its massive army and urban centers. To those ends, the polity coopted the olive tree and drove the creation of intensive, large-scale oleicultural projects around the sea’s basin, which were connected to the capital by the Mediterranean’s buoyant shipping. With the collapse of the Roman Empire, the structures underpinning ancient forms of olive production and consumption decayed and disappeared. This dissertation examines the olive’s ecological and cultural transformations in the wake of Rome’s fall. Specifically, it focuses on early medieval Italy, a contested territory in this period, where Lombard kings, dukes, popes, abbots of powerful monasteries, Byzantine emperors, and Frankish lords competed for hegemony. As such, the olive-human relationship was expressed not in a single, uniform manner, but rather in a mosaic of local expressions, highly dependent upon immediate environmental and cultural forces. The essay illuminates some of the ways that early medieval Italian communities engaged their environmental inheritance, how they recast the stolid olive to fit local contingencies. The first chapter looks at northwest Tuscany, at the city of Lucca, where documentary and archaeological evidence enable a clear portrait of urban olive consumption. Central Italy and the Sabine hills frame the second chapter, which explores how the city of Rome’s contraction influenced olive growth in its hinterland. In chapter three, I explore the cultural afterlife of the olive, by focusing upon how the bishop’s of Rome reimagined the primary use of olive oil, as a lighting fuel rather than food. Finally, changes in the use of imaginary olives in Christian miracle stories and at cult sites constitutes the subject of the last chapter. By partnering with the olive, this dissertation shifts the focus away from the traditional, institutionally-centered story of “decline” in Dark Age Italy, onto the dynamic, lived interactions that gave form to the Middle Ages.PhDHistoryUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/108992/1/grahambj_1.pd

Documenting Ourselves: Film, Video, and Culture

Since Robert Flaherty\u27s landmark film Nanook of the North (1922) arguments have raged over whether or not film records of people and traditions can ever be authentic. And yet never before has a single volume combined documentary, ethnographic, and folkloristic filmmaking to explore this controversy. What happens when we turn the camera on ourselves? This question has long plagued documentary filmmakers concerned with issues of reflexivity, subject participation, and self-consciousness. Documenting Ourselves includes interviews with filmmakers Les Blank, Pat Ferrero, Jorge Preloran, Bill Ferris, and others, who discuss the ways their own productions and subjects have influenced them. Sharon Sherman examines the history of documentary films and discusses current theiroeis and techniques of folklore and fieldwork. But Sharon Sherman does not limit herself to the problems faced by filmmakers today. She examines the history of documentary films, tracing them from their origins as a means of capturing human motion through the emergence of various film styles. She also discusses current theories and techniques of folklore and fieldwork, concluding that advances in video technology have made the camcorder an essential tool that has the potential to redefine the nature of the documentary itself. Sharon R. Sherman, director of the folklore program and professor of English at the University of Oregon, is an accomplished filmmaker with more than twenty years of experience in the field and in teaching film and folklore. Sherman\u27s fine book traces the documentary tradition and is a major contribution to our appreciation of how film and video deepens our understanding of the human experience. —Bill Ferris, Director, Center for the Study of Southern Culture A brilliant study of a new documentary genre. . . . This book has three effects on the reader: one craves seeing the films she discusses; one finds it impossible to teach a documentary film course again without a representation of folkloric film; and one feels more optimistic about technology. —Choice A vision of modern folklore studies on film which is collaborative, engaged and which celebrates the local, even as it documents and participates. —Times Literary Supplement Throughout the book there are thoughtful, insightful observations about the epistemological, social, and moral dimensions of making films about culture, and it is worth reading for those and for the interviews. —Western Folklorehttps://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_film_and_media_studies/1011/thumbnail.jp

The Sick Republic: Tuberculosis, Public Health, and Politics in Cuba, 1925-1965

This dissertation explores the politics of disease control in Cuba during the mid-twentieth century, and uses tuberculosis as a lens to understand citizenship, state-building, and populism. By analyzing the popular press, health reports, medical journals, and official correspondence in U.S. and Cuban archives, it argues that ordinary citizens, public intellectuals, and civic actors in the interwar era—not the revolutionary government of 1959—introduced the concept of a “right to health” and invoked it to demand an efficient state healthcare sector. In response to these claims and in his quest to strengthen the state, Fulgencio Batista created the Consejo Nacional de Tuberculosis in 1936. The heightened visibility of tuberculosis, achieved in part by the claims-making of citizens, channeled state attention towards a disease of the poor, but it also distorted the design of health projects, making them inefficient and openly political. Thus, although increased state attention to tuberculosis improved mortality rates and access to health services by the 1950s, the state proved unable to depoliticize the tuberculosis campaign and to uniformly implement the right to health care on the ground. The gap between the expectations of citizens and the performance of republican administrations influenced the growing de-legitimation of the state, the overthrow of Batista’s government, and the new regime’s priorities in health policy. Nonetheless, despite the revolutionary rhetoric of radical change, there were clear continuities in tuberculosis control policy before and after 1959, such as the new government’s reliance upon the resources and institutions developed by republican administrations. By complementing health outcomes and statistics with a social and political history of tuberculosis, and by balancing attention between state health efforts and grassroots definitions of medical success, this dissertation shifts the frame of a decades-long debate in Cuban historiography that has sought to establish the objective quality of state health care before and after the 1959 revolution. Furthermore, it challenges the assumption of a weak Cuban state and insists that health projects constituted a fundamental arm of state formation. Finally, “The Sick Republic” points to the agency of citizens as they became health activists, shaped state-building efforts, and defined citizenship rights