Biodversity conservation and non-governmental organisations in Oaxaca, Mexico

The lack of local scale biodiversity assessment in Oaxacan conservation is examined. Biodiversity assessment is a prerequisite of systematic, scientifically directed conservation and in Oaxaca, as in many other parts of the world, conservation is not planned according to scientific prescriptions. This thesis investigates the reasons for this in two ways. First, it considers the technical demands of biodiversity assessment from the point of view of local conservation NGOs. Second, it considers the institutional context in which the concept of biodiversity is translated from scientific discourses to Oaxacan NGOs. It is argued that tree diversity assessment techniques as currently promoted in scientific discourses are not necessarily appropriate to the needs of local NGOs and that biodiversity is itself a contested concept in Oaxaca. This results in the lack of priority given by Oaxaca's local conservation NGOs to biodiversity assessment. It is further shown that non-systematic conservation has made an important contribution to biodiversity conservation in Oaxaca, and it is argued that it is unrealistic to expect scientific prescriptions for biodiversity planning to be translated, without modification, to rural Oaxaca

Social change and fertility transition in Sri Lanka

The study investigates and interprets the factors that contributed to the recent decline in fertility in Sri Lanka, despite its low economic standing. It seeks to elucidate the social transformation that has taken place and looks at the socio-cultural determinants that have brought about the process of fertility transition. In this regard, the significant effects of the welfare measures in force in the country in respect of health, education, nutrition and housing have been brought to light. Hence the study tends to fall outside the scope of the conventional wisdom laid down in the demographic transition theory outlined by Notestein, which emphasised the contribution that economic development plays in lowering fertility. The approach to the study hinges on selected variables like education, age at marriage, gender roles per se and female employment. The cardinal role played by free education in contributing to the transition is given particular coverage. Education is treated more as a cultural asset which determines and shapes values, preferences and aspirations in respect of marriage, fertility, family formation and other aspects such as career development which enables women to play roles away from home. Unfortunately, inferences about women's position do not always gain statistical support, as they are intricately woven into the fabric of societal gender settings and traditions. In respect of age at marriage, the socio-cultural factors of society like the caste system, a dowry and horoscope matching with details of Karmic determinants have been examined in some detail. The study also uncovers the social deprivation aspects which for long led women in the plantation sector to experience fertility performance lower than the national level. Going by normal demographic rationale, their high degree of labour force participation should account for it. But it was social deprivation and the resultant low nutritional levels that reduced their reproductive ability to low levels. With a better life ushered in by a programme of social uplift during the early 'eighties, this ethnic group showed signs of first a rise in fertility, and on having reached the threshold it has now begun showing signs of a decline attributable to healthier lives. Similarly, a relatively invisible agent, the prevalent “urban outlook," is shown to contribute to the transition process, and has recently become even more significant due to the intensive rural amelioration efforts of the government. This outlook is all pervasive and permeates the society in general in effecting the transition under review

Possible hydraulics futures for South Africa towards 2055

This research makes a contribution to the body of knowledge on unconventional oil and gas extraction (UOG) in the Karoo, South Africa. It provides a detailed analysis grounded in future studies theory and practice, which supports the argument that UOG extraction in the Karoo may potentially be conducted under the careful guidance of sustainable development and climate change principles. It is informed by the researcher’s perceptive and experience as a manufacturer of oil and gas products and his understanding of the fossil fuel sector and the role it currently plays in the South African economy. It is further informed by the researcher s understanding of the sector’s damaging climatic and environmental impacts. The practice of offering new insights through the application of futures studies is central to the process, and specific methodologies and tools have been used to develop four scenarios for the UOG extraction in South Africa. This framework allows for easy assessment for policy-making. Never has scenario art, which has been expertly created during the workshops, been used in South Africa to generate memorable and lasting scenarios memorable and lasting scenarios. This research seeks to provide insight regarding for South Africa’s quest for energy security in ways that support the climate change agenda. Given the shale controversies, most environmentalists prefer lower-carbon and reduced fossil fuel usage. However, South Africa can ill-afford this luxury at this stage and while the research considers the option of no-shale exploration and a direct path to renewable energy solutions (the ‘No-Shale, what now?’ scenario) it also. proposes other options for consideration. An integrated vision is put forth as the preferred scenario in which shale is the conduit to a sustainable energy future and which implements wide-scale climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies

Possible hydraulics futures for South Africa towards 2055

This research makes a contribution to the body of knowledge on unconventional oil and gas extraction (UOG) in the Karoo, South Africa. It provides a detailed analysis grounded in future studies theory and practice, which supports the argument that UOG extraction in the Karoo may potentially be conducted under the careful guidance of sustainable development and climate change principles. It is informed by the researcher’s perceptive and experience as a manufacturer of oil and gas products and his understanding of the fossil fuel sector and the role it currently plays in the South African economy. It is further informed by the researcher s understanding of the sector’s damaging climatic and environmental impacts. The practice of offering new insights through the application of futures studies is central to the process, and specific methodologies and tools have been used to develop four scenarios for the UOG extraction in South Africa. This framework allows for easy assessment for policy-making. Never has scenario art, which has been expertly created during the workshops, been used in South Africa to generate memorable and lasting scenarios memorable and lasting scenarios. This research seeks to provide insight regarding for South Africa’s quest for energy security in ways that support the climate change agenda. Given the shale controversies, most environmentalists prefer lower-carbon and reduced fossil fuel usage. However, South Africa can ill-afford this luxury at this stage and while the research considers the option of no-shale exploration and a direct path to renewable energy solutions (the ‘No-Shale, what now?’ scenario) it also. proposes other options for consideration. An integrated vision is put forth as the preferred scenario in which shale is the conduit to a sustainable energy future and which implements wide-scale climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies

Enacting “Technology” and Everything Else: Gendered Practices and the System of Crop Intensification

This dissertation is a qualitative examination of the functioning of a rural development project in a Himalayan region of India, with a special focus on a particular project activity centred around an agro-ecological method of crop production, the System of Crop Intensification (SCI). Environmental changes and disasters along with rapid transformations in the rural economy in Uttarakhand has engendered a renewed interest in non-mainstream farming practices. However, the success and/or failure rates of adoption of new agricultural methods and technologies remains a poorly understood phenomenon. Studies of adoption rates tend to focus on the aspects of the technology itself, rather than its social life. Drawing from science, technology and society studies, agrarian studies, scholarship on rural livelihoods, political ecology, gender studies and practice theory, this research study examines how the discourse of SCI is articulated differently in different spaces, and the implications of these variations for extension and adoption practices. Beginning with the construction of knowledge at the institutional level, the research study first traces who articulates what, and how and why this process takes place, in both the national and regional contexts. Second, it examines how contestations in discourse translate into mediated practices and outcomes. Finally, the study focuses on the embodied identities of field development workers and the inhibitory as well as emancipatory effects of the structuring elements of the organisation. The study finds that SCI, and rural development projects more broadly, are co-produced both discursively and in practice, by project planners, development workers, and beneficiaries

Hungry Bengal: War, Famine, Riots, and the End of Empire, 1939-1946

Representing both a major front in the Indian struggle against colonial rule, as well as a crucial front in the British/American conflict with Japan during World War II, Bengal stood at the crossroads of complex and contentious forces that served to define an era of political uncertainty, social turmoil, and collective violence. The period between 1939 and 1946 in Bengal, can be defined, above all, by three interrelated events: World War II, the Bengal famine of 1943, and the Calcutta riots of 1946. Mobilization for war began in 1939, but Britain's sense of urgency was difficult to impress upon a skeptical Indian population already chaffing under the injustices of colonial rule and grave economic hardship. When Japan bombed Calcutta in 1942, the injustices and hardships only multiplied. This attack on Britain's most easterly industrial port brought the Second World War home to India, causing a mass exodus from the former colonial capital and driving residents of the city into the rural districts of Bengal. As conflict between Allied forces and Japan in Southeast Asia intensified, Calcutta emerged as a primary supply-front in the war-effort. This prioritization of Calcutta, in turn, led to the economic destabilization of the entire region, resulting in an abrupt rise in prices, which precipitated catastrophic famine throughout the province. With starvation decimating the countryside by early 1943, residents of Bengal poured into Calcutta seeking relief. Subsequently Calcutta's already fragile infrastructure buckled under the immense pressure of famine refugees, becoming a grim landscape of starvation and disease. While colonial officials sidelined the elected provincial government and communitarian-defined parties jockeyed for popular support in anticipation of the end of colonial rule, at least three million residents of Bengal died. As famine became increasingly entangled in rancorous political debate, social stratification intensified, and communal identities congealed. As such, Calcutta was still deeply enmeshed in famine when it was plunged into still deeper turmoil by the communal riots that rocked the city in August of 1946. This dissertation examines these cumulatively devastating events, and traces the human impact of this period of acute scarcity, violent dislocation, and enduring calamity.Ph.D.Anthropology and HistoryUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/86383/1/jsmuk_1.pd

Development of immersive virtual reality intervention for patients with chronic low back pain: mixed-methods study

Background: Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is a leading cause of disability worldwide. Immersive virtual reality (IVR) enables interaction with a virtual environments (VE) via a head mounted display (HMD) and is widely used for chronic pain (CP) management, however with little pre-development investigation, and its effectiveness for CP/CLBP management is inconclusive. Therefore, this thesis aims to adopt the Medical Research Council Framework to inform IVR development and implementation for CLBP management. Methods: Three parts were conducted, using mixed-methods design: Part 1: scoping review to map underpinning theories of IVR mechanisms of action in CP management and key features including software and dose. Part 2 engaged global stakeholders (healthcare practitioners and technology developers) to understand the use of IVR in CP management, adopting a sequential-explanatory study of two phases, Phase 1 an online survey, which informed Phase 2, online interviews with subset of surveyed stakeholders. Part 3: online focus groups explored physiotherapists’ opinions regarding IVR for CLBP management. Results: Part 1: several IVR mechanisms were noted, with little theoretical basis. Customised software was frequently used, with diverse HMDs, and no optimal dose consensus. Implementation in a clinical setting was common, with adverse effects of motion sickness and HMD discomfort being noted. Part 2: the perceived IVR benefits for CP included combatting fear of movement, with VE personalisation to patient needs and culture being critical. To avoid risks, pre-screening, the initial session being a supervised clinic session and gradual dose build up were recommended. Part3: IVR was viewed as suitable for CLBP patients with low motivation to exercise, however, skills’ transferability to the real world and falls risk were concerns. Part 2 and 3 found cost, practitioner acceptance and training critical to IVR adoption. Conclusion and future implications: IVR might be valuable alternative treatment for CLBP patients. Future work is needed to establish the effective working mechanism reflecting on CLBP heterogeneity. Personalisation, safety, workforce training, financial resources and collaboration between practitioners, technology developers and patients are key considerations

Colonial mutations of caste in Tamil Nadu : an essay on space and untouchability, with special reference to Madurai district, c.1500-1990

After the lengthy war of conquest, the British installed the Permanent Settlement on much of the dry zone of south India. This was part of an original pacification plan designed to be temporary; however, colonial interests later decided that it was politically convenient to maintain some of the "native rank" in the country. These zamindari estates became precisely the area where caste-inducing pseudo-jajmani systems enjoyed a colonized efflorescence. These changes occurred in the nineteenth century; not all of the peculiar traditions of the south Indian social world pre-date the colonial kali yuga