382 research outputs found

    Hydroecological connectivity as a normative framework for aquatic ecosystem regulation: lessons from the USA

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    Very little has been achieved during the first five decades of development and application of what is now known as environmental law, in terms of slowing the global rate of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation. A major factor in this lack of effectiveness has been, perhaps, too narrow a focus on individual elements that exist within ecosystems, rather than on the health of the ecosystems themselves. Additionally, very little attention has been paid to maintenance of the integrity of the many types of connections that exist between the different components of ecosystems, notably aquatic ecosystems. These components are connected not only by water, but also by a variety of ecological connections and pathways ¾ here termed 'hydroecological connectivity' (HEC). These connections are not only important in terms of providing abiotic and biota corridors between components, but they also act as conduits which can translocate pollutants from one location, over vast distances, throughout a fluvial ecosystem, consequently impacting virtually all areas of human life and nature. This thesis outlines the science underpinning the first connectivity-based water law regulation, the American Clean Water Rule (CWR) and analyzes a set of legal challenges to this Rule. Barring one instance, no substantive merit was found for any of the disputed claims. Furthermore, this thesis identifies the transferability of the Rule to South Africa. It was possible to empirically substantiate the merit of the single instance that lacked appropriate qualification in the CWR. The importance of HEC is elucidated in this work using the example of headwater streams which, in aggregate, comprise 79 per cent of the aggregate length of the mapped rivers in South Africa. Also provisionally evaluated is a brightline distance, lateral to fluvial watercourses, within which water resource components that are likely to be connected to the mainstem will be found. This provides a guideline for HEC-directed administrative decision making. A connectivity-based approach to water resource governance will require limitations on some land uses on portions of land that is likely to be perceived as terrestrial but which, in fact, forms part of an aquatic ecosystem. This requirement raises obvious implications for property ownership and expropriation. Here the principles of the public trust, already legislatively expressed in South African water law, provide an institutional legal framework that renders 'public' any lands which form part and parcel of the integrity an aquatic ecosystem. The public trust doctrine anchored the reform of the post-apartheid water law of South Africa. It was introduced in a transformative and emancipatory approach to the democratisation of the nation's water resources and the restoration of water equity. This work provides the first historico-legal and comprehensive perspective of the genealogy and intentions for, the public trust in South Africa, and distils out the principles which the trust embodies. An example protocol is developed which shows how the trust principles underpin the formulation of guidance for determinations of beneficial water uses. Recommendations are made regarding the operationalization of the currently moribund South African public trust in water and highlights the role of the public trust as an effective and reformatory tool of water law. In summary this work is a translational and transdisciplinary example of aquatic science into environmental law. The complex and challenging concept of HEC is communicated in plain language and then its perceived weak point ¾ the need to isolate areas of land which form part of the aquatic resource and incorporate these within the trust res ¾ is construed using the principles of the public trust doctrine. Simultaneously the potential of the public trust to offset obstacles to environmental protection, such as the need for reformed guidance for administrative decision making, has been highlighted. On this model the public trust enfolds an ecosystem-directed HEC approach into a transformative and normative governance package which is integrative, adaptive, multi-disciplinary and proactive

    Modern meat: the next generation of meat from cells

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    Modern Meat is the first textbook on cultivated meat, with contributions from over 100 experts within the cultivated meat community. The Sections of Modern Meat comprise 5 broad categories of cultivated meat: Context, Impact, Science, Society, and World. The 19 chapters of Modern Meat, spread across these 5 sections, provide detailed entries on cultivated meat. They extensively tour a range of topics including the impact of cultivated meat on humans and animals, the bioprocess of cultivated meat production, how cultivated meat may become a food option in Space and on Mars, and how cultivated meat may impact the economy, culture, and tradition of Asia

    The European Experience: A Multi-Perspective History of Modern Europe, 1500–2000

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    The European Experience brings together the expertise of nearly a hundred historians from eight European universities to internationalise and diversify the study of modern European history, exploring a grand sweep of time from 1500 to 2000. Offering a valuable corrective to the Anglocentric narratives of previous English-language textbooks, scholars from all over Europe have pooled their knowledge on comparative themes such as identities, cultural encounters, power and citizenship, and economic development to reflect the complexity and heterogeneous nature of the European experience. Rather than another grand narrative, the international author teams offer a multifaceted and rich perspective on the history of the continent of the past 500 years. Each major theme is dissected through three chronological sub-chapters, revealing how major social, political and historical trends manifested themselves in different European settings during the early modern (1500–1800), modern (1800–1900) and contemporary period (1900–2000). This resource is of utmost relevance to today’s history students in the light of ongoing internationalisation strategies for higher education curricula, as it delivers one of the first multi-perspective and truly ‘European’ analyses of the continent’s past. Beyond the provision of historical content, this textbook equips students with the intellectual tools to interrogate prevailing accounts of European history, and enables them to seek out additional perspectives in a bid to further enrich the discipline

    Tourism and beyond: Commodification of communist memoryscapes in Central and East Europe

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    The aim of this dissertation is to shed light on the phenomenon of commodification of communist memoryscapes in Europe, exploring the main strategies and forms of urban and mnemonic re-branding of post-socialist capitals. Illuminating the variety of commercial solutions for dealing with “difficult” legacies of communism in Europe, the thesis aims to enhance our understanding of actors, processes and dynamics framing the contemporary engagement with communist urban heritage. Relying on grounded theory method, triangulated through multiple case study, participatory observation and netnography, the study examines patterns of convergence in spatial, mnemonic and narrative organisations of communist urban experiences. Elaborating commodification of (1) communist landmarks (iconic buildings), (2) suburban heritage (statues, parks), (3) underground spaces (communist bunkers) (4) cultural objects (museums of communism), (5) urban discourses (guided city tours) and (6) urban hospitality (communist restaurants), the analysis thus reveals different urban and narrative “commercial interventions” in post-communist urban landscape. Through the in-depth analysis of major communist museums, tours, landmarks, bunkers, peripheries and hospitality spaces across Central and East Europe, the dissertation accentuates similarities and divergences in contemporary discursive, spatial and commercial treatment of communism. It reveals particular mechanisms and outcomes of commodification, which emerges both as a strategy to “contain” communism and “re-pack” it for tourist consumption. Ultimately, the thesis argues that commodification of communism is the essential aspect of contemporary tourist narratives, curatorial practices and urban organisation of communist memoryscapes. It identifies and interprets urban, mnemonic, discursive and experiential manifestations of commodification, arguing that commercial engagement with communism fundamentally challenges the prevailing mechanisms for “coming to terms with the past.” It demonstrates that both suppliers and consumers of communist memoryscapes (co)produce and (co)participate in commodification process, most often through the interplay of tourism and entertainment industry. Finally, the study claims that commodification is reinforced through glocalisation, disneyfication and orientalisation of difficult heritage of communism, which further contribute to (re)locating specific urban context, (re)imagining particular urban history and generally changing the ways in which contemporary society values, exhibits and sources communism in urban space.El objetivo de esta disertación es arrojar luz sobre el fenómeno de la mercantilización de los paisajes de memoria comunistas en Europa, explorando las principales estrategias y formas de cambio de marca urbana y mnemotécnica de las capitales postsocialistas. Iluminando la variedad de soluciones comerciales para lidiar con los legados “difíciles” del comunismo en Europa, la tesis tiene como objetivo mejorar nuestra comprensión de los actores, procesos y dinámicas que enmarcan el compromiso contemporáneo con el patrimonio urbano comunista. Basándose en el método de la teoría fundamentada, triangulado a través del estudio de casos múltiples, la observación participativa y la netnografía, el estudio examina los patrones de convergencia en las organizaciones espaciales, mnemotécnicas y narrativas de las experiencias urbanas comunistas. Elaborando la mercantilización de (1) hitos comunistas (edificios icónicos), (2) patrimonio suburbano (estatuas, parques), (3) espacios subterráneos (bunkers comunistas) (4) objetos culturales (museos del comunismo), (5) discursos urbanos ( visitas guiadas por la ciudad) y (6) hospitalidad urbana (restaurantes comunistas), el análisis revela así diferentes “intervenciones comerciales” urbanas y narrativas en el paisaje urbano poscomunista. A través del análisis en profundidad de los principales museos, recorridos, puntos de referencia, búnkeres, periferias y espacios de hospitalidad comunistas en Europa Central y Oriental, la disertación acentúa las similitudes y divergencias en el tratamiento discursivo, espacial y comercial contemporáneo del comunismo. Revela mecanismos y resultados particulares de la mercantilización, que surge tanto como una estrategia para “contener” el comunismo como para “reempaquetarlo” para el consumo turístico. En última instancia, la tesis argumenta que la mercantilización del comunismo es el aspecto esencial de las narrativas turísticas contemporáneas, las practicas curatoriales y la organización urbana de los paisajes de memoria comunistas. Identifica e interpreta las manifestaciones urbanas, mnemotécnicas, discursivas y experienciales de la mercantilización, argumentando que el compromiso comercial con el comunismo desafía fundamentalmente los mecanismos predominantes para “llegar a un acuerdo con el pasado”. Demuestra que tanto los proveedores como los consumidores de paisajes de memoria comunistas (co)producen y (co)participan en el proceso de mercantilización, con mayor frecuencia a través de la interacción de la industria del turismo y elentretenimiento. Finalmente, argumento que la mercantilización se refuerza a través de la glocalización, disneyficación y orientalización de la difícil herencia del comunismo, lo que contribuye aún más a (re)ubicar un contexto urbano específico, (re)imaginar una historia urbana particular y, en general, cambiar las formas en las que la Sociedad contemporánea valora, exhibe y origina comunismo en el espacio urbano.Escuela de DoctoradoDoctorado en Arquitectur

    To the Last Drop: Affective Economies of Extraction and Sentimentality

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    The romance of extraction underlies and partly defines Western modernity and our cultural imaginaries. Combining affect studies and environmental humanities, this volume analyzes societies' devotion to extraction and fossil resources. This devotion is shaped by a nostalgic view on settler colonialism as well as by contemporary "affective economies" (Sara Ahmed). The contributors examine the links between forms of extractivism and gendered discourses of sentimentality and the ways in which cultural narratives and practices deploy the sentimental mode (in plots of attachment, sacrifice, and suffering) to promote or challenge extractivism

    2023- The Twenty-seventh Annual Symposium of Student Scholars

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    The full program book from the Twenty-seventh Annual Symposium of Student Scholars, held on April 18-21, 2023. Includes abstracts from the presentations and posters.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/sssprograms/1027/thumbnail.jp

    Toxic Timescapes: Examining Toxicity across Time and Space

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    An interdisciplinary environmental humanities volume that explores human-environment relationships on our permanently polluted planet. While toxicity and pollution are ever present in modern daily life, politicians, juridical systems, media outlets, scholars, and the public alike show great difficulty in detecting, defining, monitoring, or generally coming to terms with them. This volume’s contributors argue that the source of this difficulty lies in the struggle to make sense of the intersecting temporal and spatial scales working on the human and more-than-human body, while continuing to acknowledge race, class, and gender in terms of global environmental justice and social inequality. The term toxic timescapes refers to this intricate intersectionality of time, space, and bodies in relation to toxic exposure. As a tool of analysis, it unpacks linear understandings of time and explores how harmful substances permeate temporal and physical space as both event and process. It equips scholars with new ways of creating data and conceptualizing the past, present, and future presence and possible effects of harmful substances and provides a theoretical framework for new environmental narratives. To think in terms of toxic timescapes is to radically shift our understanding of toxicants in the complex web of life. Toxicity, pollution, and modes of exposure are never static; therefore, dose, timing, velocity, mixture, frequency, and chronology matter as much as the geographic location and societal position of those exposed. Together, these factors create a specific toxic timescape that lies at the heart of each contributor’s narrative. Contributors from the disciplines of history, human geography, science and technology studies, philosophy, and political ecology come together to demonstrate the complex reality of a toxic existence. Their case studies span the globe as they observe the intersection of multiple times and spaces at such diverse locations as former battlefields in Vietnam, aging nuclear-weapon storage facilities in Greenland, waste deposits in southern Italy, chemical facilities along the Gulf of Mexico, and coral-breeding laboratories across the world.https://ohioopen.library.ohio.edu/oupress/1014/thumbnail.jp

    Multivariate scaling methods and the reconstruction of social spaces: Papers in honor of Jörg Blasius

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    This edited volume assembles contributions of leading scholars in the fields of statistical methods and applications in the social sciences. Multivariate scaling methods for categorical data, in particular correspondence analysis, are used to extract the most important dimensions from complex data tables and to visualize relationships in the data. The volume treats recent statistical developments, methodological considerations, and empirical applications. A special emphasis is placed on multiple aspects of space and their sociological significance: the reconstruction of "social spaces" with statistical methods, illustrations of spatial relations involving proximity, distance and inequality, and concrete interactions in urban neighbourhoods
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