Volunteer tourism : the new ecotourism?

One of the more recent forms of tourism to emerge is what has become known as Volunteer Tourism, the practice of individuals going on a working holiday, volunteering their labour for worthy causes. While volunteering is a well-established activity, the combination with tourism is relatively new and has already changed considerably over a very short period. This paper reviews the process by which volunteer tourism has developed, focusing on its transformation from an individual altruistic endeavour to a more commercial form of conventional tourism. The paper reviews the growth in number of websites devoted to volunteer tourism, and discusses the changes that have taken place in the content and focus of these websites, the locations used as destinations and the organisations they represent over the last two decades. It is apparent that over the last two decades the organisations offering volunteer tourist vacations have increasingly focused their attention on conventional commercial tourism markets which is a similar pattern of evolution to that of ecotourism. The paper concludes that volunteer tourism is likely to become increasingly diverse in scale, distribution and focus in the future, in the same way as ecotourism has broadened its market and appeal, but in so doing, will lose more of the distinctive features that characterized its initial form

Individual and Corporate Social Responsibility

Society's demands for individual and corporate social responsibility as an alternative response to market and distributive failures are becoming increasingly prominent. We first draw on recent developments in the "psychology and economics" of prosocial behavior to shed light on this trend, which reflects a complex interplay of genuine altruism, social or self image concerns, and material incentives. We then link individual concerns to corporate social responsibility, contrasting three possible understandings of the term: the adoption of a more long-term perspective by firms, the delegated exercise of prosocial behavior on behalf of stakeholders, and insider-initiated corporate philanthropy. For both individuals and firms we discuss the benefits, costs and limits of socially responsible behavior as a means to further societal goals.corporate social responsibility, socially responsible investment, image concerns, shareholder value

Individual and Corporate Social Responsibility

Society’s demands for individual and corporate social responsibility as an alternative response to market and distributive failures are becoming increasingly prominent. We first draw on recent developments in the “psychology and economics” of prosocial behavior to shed light on this trend, which reflects a complex interplay of genuine altruism, social or self image concerns, and material incentives. We then link individual concerns to corporate social responsibility, contrasting three possible understandings of the term: the adoption of a more long-term perspective by firms, the delegated exercise of prosocial behavior on behalf of stakeholders, and insider-initiated corporate philanthropy. For both individuals and firms we discuss the benefits, costs and limits of socially responsible behavior as a means to further societal goals.Corporate Social Responsibility, Socially Responsible Investment, Image Concerns, Shareholder Value

The Assam Fever

'Wellcome History' is an easy and regular channel of communication between all Wellcome historians. It aims to be an informal, user-friendly centre of debate

Book Review: The Archaeological Northeast by Mary Ann Levine, Kenneth A. Sassaman, and Michael S. Nassaney

Book review of The Archaeological Northeast by Mary Ann Levine, Kenneth A. Sassaman, and Michael S. Nassaney, 1999, Bergin & Garvey, Westport, CT, Foreword by Alice B. Kehoe, 336 pages, $75.00 (cloth),$29.95 (paper)

The Tourism Development of a Secondary City on the East Coast by e-Delphi Technique in Dimensions of Service Quality, Tourism Image and Demand of Tourism

The objective of this research is to study the opinions of experts on the tourism development of a Secondary City on the East Coast in dimensions of Service Quality, Tourism Image, and Demand of Tourism including present guidelines for the Tourism Development of a Secondary City on the East Coast by e-Delphi technique. This research is future research by electronic Delphi process and using five experts, consisting of experts in economics, tourism marketing, hospitality Industry, and business strategy. The statistics used to analyze the consensus are as follows: Median, Mode, Absolute value of difference between Median and Mode, and the Inter Quartile Range (IQR). The results of the research revealed that 23 guidelines for tourism development of a Secondary City on the East Coast in Dimensions of Service Quality, Tourism Image, and Demand of tourism passed through the consensus of experts accounted for 60 percent of the total approach. The results of the research show that the eastern coastline should follow a plan, for example: establish a location publicity project that tourists will be keen to visit, must have a project to preserve the tourist attractions that are rich in nature, The community must have a project to preserve the original way of life, must support the tourist attractions in order to present rich and unique nature. The relevant agencies must develop a place to be safe in all respects, must have screening for Covid-19, and provide people with knowledge and understanding of the attractions through storytelling

Effectiveness of innovative interventions on curbing transmission of Mycobacterium leprae

Leprosy or Hansen’s disease is a complex ancient infectious disease, caused by M.leprae and M.lepromatosis. The most believed frequent mode of transmission is airborne and therefore those in close contact with a new leprosy case are at the most risk of developing the disease although this depends on immunity heterogeneity. Despite leprosy has been the first infectious disease where the pathogen agent was identified, research and development have failed in the creation of reliable diagnostic tests for infection and disease. Therefore, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends clinical cardinal signs and the ancient slit skin smear (SSS) for the diagnosis of the disease, and no diagnostic test for diagnosis of infection is currently recommended. Both clinical and laboratory skills and expertise are key for ensuring the reliability of diagnosis, which is dwindling due to the sustained decrease of leprosy prevalence worldwide. Nevertheless, the incidence has plateaued in the last decade around 200,000 new cases at the global scale and the highly effective treatment with multidrug therapy (MDT) has been insufficient to stop transmission. In 2018, the WHO has recommend single-dose rifampicin (SDR) as post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) for the contacts of new leprosy patients without signs of leprosy disease. The protection of PEP is around 60% and is based on the pivotal COLEP trial in Bangladesh. The Leprosy post-exposure prophylaxis with single-dose rifampicin (LPEP) study has documented the feasibility of PEP under programmatic conditions, and there is also evidence that PEP is cost-effective. Nevertheless, operational challenges for the most cost-effective approach to the provision of PEP for the high-risk population without causing harm to the persons eligible for SDR, and avoiding the increase of prevalence of rifampicin resistance, remain. In this Ph.D., we developed and estimated the effectiveness of innovative active case detection strategies based on Geographic Information Systems-based (GIS-based) technologies for stopping transmission of M. leprae in high-priority countries i.e. Comoros, India, and Madagascar. We discussed the latest evidence of the natural history of leprosy and the most recent control strategies in Chapter 1. In chapter 2, we analyzed door-to-door screening for leprosy in four endemic villages of Comoros that received SDR-PEP and we calculated the spatial risk of contracting leprosy for contacts including the protective effect of SDR-PEP for those who received it. We found 114 new cases among 5760 contacts screened (2.0% prevalence), in addition to the 39 cases detected in the two preceding years. There were statistically significant associations of incident leprosy with physical distance to index cases ranging from 2.4 (95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.5–3.6) for household contacts to 1.8 (95% CI 1.3–2.5) for those living at 1–25 m, compared to individuals living at ≥75 m. The effect of SDR-PEP appeared protective but did not reach statistical significance due to the low numbers.Chapter 3, describes the protocol of Post ExpOsure Prophylaxis for Leprosy in the Comoros and Madagascar (PEOPLE), a cluster-randomized trial to assess the effectiveness of three modalities of implementing PEP. In the PEOPLE trial, four annual door-to-door surveys will be performed in four arms. All consenting permanent residents will be screened for leprosy. Leprosy patients will be treated according to international guidelines and eligible contacts will be provided with SDR-PEP. Arm-1 is the comparator where no PEP will be provided. In arms 2, 3, and 4, SDR-PEP will be administered at a double dose (20 mg/kg) to eligible contacts aged two years and above. In arm 2, all household members of incident leprosy patients are eligible. In arm 3, not only household members but also neighborhood contacts living within 100-m of an incident case are eligible. In arm 4, such neighborhood contacts are only eligible if they test positive for anti-PGL-I, a serological marker. Incidence rate ratios calculated between the comparator arm 1 and each of the intervention arms will constitute the primary outcome. In chapter 4, we describe the findings of the baseline survey of the first year of the PEOPLE trial in Comoros and Madagascar. We also assessed clustering at the village level fitting a purely spatial Poisson model by Kulldorff’s spatial statistic and measured the distance risk of contact to the nearest leprosy patient. There were 455 leprosy patients; 200 (44.0%) belonged to 2735 households included in a cluster. Thirty-eight percent of leprosy patients versus 10% of the total population live 25 m from another leprosy patient. Risk ratios for being diagnosed with leprosy were 7.3, 2.4, 1.8, 1.4, and 1.7, for those in the same household, at 1–&lt;25 m, 25–&lt;50 m, 50–&lt;75 m, and 75–&lt;100 m as/from a leprosy patient, respectively, compared to those living at ≥100 m. Chapter 5, describes active case finding of household members of new cases detected in the preceding four years (2017-2020) in 32 villages not included in the PEOPLE trial in Anjouan, Comoros. Some neighbors requested to be screened for leprosy. We screened 131 out of 226 index case households aimed (58.8%), and 32 other nearby households. There were 945 persons recorded, 671 household contacts, and 274 neighborhood contacts. We examined 896 persons detecting 48(5.4%) leprosy cases. Among cases detected, 13(27.1%) had multibacillary (MB) leprosy, the median age was 18 years (IQR 8-34), 43% were below 15 years and two (4.2%) had visible deformities. The risk of contacts of developing leprosy was higher among 11 households linked to MB compared to one linked to a paucibacillary (PB) index case (OR 12.6, 95% CI 1.6-99.6). There were 12 new cases among 668 household contacts with a leprosy prevalence of 18.0 per 1,000 (95% CI 9.3-31.1). We found 30 new cases in neighbors and six additional cases were diagnosed between their households with a residual prevalence of 26.3 per 1,000 (95% CI 9.7-56.4). We found a high prevalence above 26‰ among household contacts. In chapter 6, we document the mobility of new leprosy cases in two endemic blocks of the State of Bihar, India. We also screened household contacts for leprosy. Finally, we developed a GIS-based system to outline the lowest administrative level (hamlets known as Tola) including its population for assessing clustering. We visited 169 patients and screened 1,044 household contacts in Bisfi and Benipatti blocks in the state of Bihar. Median number of years of residing in the village was 17, interquartile range (IQR)12-30. We found 11 new leprosy cases among 658 household contacts examined (167 per 10,000), of which seven had paucibacillary leprosy, one was a child under 14 years, and none had visible disabilities. We identified 739 hamlets with a total population of 802,788(median 163, IQR 65–774). There were five high-incidence clusters at the hamlet level including 12% of the population and 46%(78/169) of the leprosy cases. One highly significant cluster with a relative risk (RR) of 4.7(p&lt;0.0001) included 32 hamlets and 27 cases in 33,609 population. A second highly significant cluster included 32 hamlets and 24 cases in 33,809 population with a RR of 4.1(p&lt;0.001). The third highly significant cluster included 16 hamlets and 17 cases in 19,659 population with a RR of 4.8(p&lt;0.001). There was a high yield of active household contact screening. Conclusion Our findings highlighted the crucial role of geographical information systems in the control of leprosy while ensuring rational and efficient use of resources. As clustering is beyond the household level, regardless of the provision of PEP, there is a need 1) to explore the efficacy of adapted active case detection and PEP, 2) to monitor the success of control activities, and 3) to ensure surveillance in a post-elimination phase. All the tools we used are open-source and user-friendly, and the expertise we developed includes multidisciplinary partners i.e. the national leprosy programs, non-governmental organizations, and research institutions making them ready for scaling up in different leprosy prevalence settings while maximizing their cost-effectiveness.<br/

SECRETS OF SOIL: A GEOCHEMICAL INVESTIGATION AND SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF THE EARLY LIVING FLOORS OF HOUSEPIT 54, BRIDGE RIVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA

This is an exploratory study to assess the ability of using geochemical sampling to give insight into the subsistence behavior of the inhabitants of Housepit 54 and a look at the spatial organization of activity areas on floors IId, IIe, and IIf. The geochemical make-up of soils can give great insights into former actives that have disturbed or occurred in or around the soil. Anthropogenic soils are formed through the complex interplay between humans and natural factors. This geochemical study will use chemical signatures to tease out the daily activities that were performed by the inhabitants of Housepit 54. A geochemical investigation of the early floors of Housepit 54 provides insight into the daily activities of household occupants. Excavations of Housepit 54 revealed 17 superimposed floors and roofs. The earliest dating floors were excavated in 2016 with sediment samples systematically collected across each floor level. 65 (n=65) samples associated with floors IId, IIe, and IIf were collected and analyzed for this study. This study utilized the use of an Environmental Analyzer/Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (EA IRMS) for carbon and nitrogen ratios and Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (EDXRF) for calcium and phosphorus ratios to provide reliable compositional data on the floor sediments. With the use of the gathered data and geospatial tools, we are able to reconstruct variation in the organization of activities across floors that may or may not be reflected in distributions of artifacts and subsistence remains. Implications for understanding household activity areas and recommendations for future research of this nature are offered