The Gaze of the Voice

The present project begins in the middle of an always already becoming phenomenon: voice. In brief, I endeavour to explicate, expound, and articulate the phenomenon of “voice” without reducing the voice to any aspect of its embodied or theoretical forms, i.e., without a reduction to a simplistic account of the “material” phenomenon nor a divorce of the voice from its aesthetic-cum-theoretical registers. This means the project is situated across theorizations, not to reconcile them, but to uncover the voice in the constitution of subjectivity without reifying its uniqueness or, in other words, without devocalizing the voice we are attempting to index in a register of its constitution of subjectivity, as well as the theorization of that constitution and subsequent tracing of the refrain it articulates even as it departs from it. This project is informed by a comparative methodology where a recorded vocal piece in my own voice, which I accompany with written attempts to describe and think that very phenomenon of my own vocality; set in (unreconciled) dialogue with my own ancient texts of myth, modern story-telling, primary theoretical texts and my interpretation of them. The multivocality of comparative sources situates the present form as performative of its content; there are multiple voices without anyone voice reconciled as a master narrative

Relationships and fire feedbacks in the Earth system over medium and long timescales in the deep past

Fire is a natural process that has existed on our planet for more than ~350 million years, and is a process that continues to influence our everyday lives. On Earth, a relationship exists between the process of combustion and the natural functioning of the Earth system. Here, the process of combustion has been implicated in playing an essential role for life on Earth, where natural Earth system processes have been shown to influence ignition probability, fire spread and fire behaviour, and where fire can provide a variety of feedbacks, to the Earth system over different timescales. Over medium timescales of decades to hundreds of thousands of years, the likelihood and behaviour of fires are controlled by regional climate changes and vegetation type, whilst the occurrence of fire can play a crucial role in influencing biome persistence and development. Over long timescales (hundreds of thousands to multi-million year), the components influencing the probability of fire and fire behaviour not only involve processes occurring over local and regional spatial scales, and over short and medium timescales, but also long term processes occurring globally, such as changes in atmospheric oxygen concentration and the evolution of vegetation. Across these timescales in Earth’s past, combustion has been shown to impact global ecosystems, climate and the carbon cycle by generating feedbacks that influence Earth’s biogeochemical cycles. However, it is clear that our understanding of the role that fire plays in the Earth system, although improving is still developing. This thesis provides an analysis of these Earth system - fire relationships and feedbacks across medium and long timescales in deep time, in order to understand the role that fire may have played and what the record of fire can tell us about the functioning and re-equilibrating of the Earth system during and after significant carbon-cycle perturbation events occurring in Earth’s deep past. The results presented in this thesis contribute what is believed to be the first fossil evidence that rising atmospheric oxygen and fire feedbacks may have aided in the termination of a significant carbon-cycle perturbation event, termed the ‘Toarcian oceanic anoxic event’ that occurred ~183 million years ago during the Jurassic period, and the return of the Earth system towards ‘background functioning’. This thesis also provides an analysis of the record of wildfire in the form of fossil charcoal across the initiation of an anoxic event that occurred ~93 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period. The results illustrate that CO2 - climate driven changes in wildfire activity can be observed across medium timescales even during times of significant carbon-cycle perturbations, and modelled high atmospheric oxygen concentrations. These results illustrate how hypothesized changes in the hydrological cycle, and likely moisture content of fuel, appear to be the dominant control on wildfire activity during this period. Finally, this thesis provides an analysis of charcoal abundance variations occurring across natural, orbitally forced cycles, termed the Milankovitch cycles. The results presented illustrate that natural variations in charcoal abundance are possible over intermediate timescales within the geological record. This thesis therefore illustrates a need to take into consideration and incorporate ‘natural background’ fluctuations in fire activity occurring over medium timescales, when analysing and predicting past and future climate change patterns.Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) for funding this work through a studenship gran

An Exploration of Utilization of College Graduates in Social Work: An Innovative Approach to the Manpower Crisis in the Profession of Social Work

The researcher’s interest in the professional manpower shortage in Social Work (i.e. the MSW) has been generated by the belief that Provincial and Canadian Associations of Social Workers have not been sufficiently concerned with the agency employed by B.A. level of social workers who are eager to attain professional status, if they are given the appropriate opportunity. This researcher believes that many such social workers do not make application to Graduate Schools and conversely, are not recruited by the Graduate Schools as some members of both groups have a suspicion that the present curriculum is not in keeping with the total learning needs of the experienced, agency employed B.A., social worker

Internationalisation in higher education : implications and challenges for the University of Cape Town

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 136-143)

Polymer-stabilized sialylated nanoparticles : synthesis, optimization, and differential binding to influenza hemagglutinins

During influenza infection, hemagglutinins (HAs) on the viral surface bind to sialic acids on the host cell's surface. While all HAs bind sialic acids, human influenza targets terminal α2,6 sialic acids and avian influenza targets α2,3 sialic acids. For interspecies transmission (zoonosis), HA must mutate to adapt to these differences. Here, multivalent gold nanoparticles bearing either α2,6- or α2,3-sialyllactosamine have been developed to interrogate a panel of HAs from pathogenic human, low pathogenic avian, and other species' influenza. This method exploits the benefits of multivalent glycan presentation compared to monovalent presentation to increase affinity and investigate how multivalency affects selectivity. Using a library-orientated approach, parameters including polymer coating and core diameter were optimized for maximal binding and specificity were probed using galactosylated particles and a panel of biophysical techniques [ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering, and biolayer interferometry]. The optimized particles were then functionalized with sialyllactosamine and their binding analyzed against a panel of HAs derived from pathogenic influenza strains including low pathogenic avian strains. This showed significant specificity crossover, which is not observed in monovalent formats, with binding of avian HAs to human sialic acids and in agreement with alternate assay formats. These results demonstrate that precise multivalent presentation is essential to dissect the interactions of HAs and may aid the discovery of tools for disease and zoonosis transmission

Indigenous creativities, the Australian Curriculum, and pre-service teachers

This research reports the impact of changes made to an Arts education module in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures within a Bachelor of Education degree, and the learning and experience of pre-service teachers in response to these changes. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music and visual arts making was presented in the module as rich and abundant material to be reflected on and introduced in the classroom. The authors showcased the transformative possibilities for pre-service teachers of studying, reflecting on, and learning about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts practises. The authors who crafted the module regarded it as a way to encourage two-way (or both ways) learning in which the celebration of Aboriginal creative knowledges in teaching was encouraged. Pre-service teachers were surveyed, interviewed, and asked to reflect on their exposure to Aboriginal music and visual arts in their learning. The research mapped the growth in respect and understandings that studying Aboriginal arts and Torres Strait Islander creativities developed in pre-service teachers. The research showcased visual arts making from non-Aboriginal students that was produced in response to Aboriginal music and that demonstrated high levels of empathy and understanding

Who Shops at the Market? Using Consumer Surveys to Grow Farmers\u27 Markets: Findings from a Regional Market in Northwestern Vermont

This article presents findings from a consumer survey conducted in 2006 and 2007 at two locations of a regional farmers\u27 market in northwestern Vermont. Consumer survey data is used to learn more about consumer preferences and solicit feedback for vendors. Data collected profiled consumers who attended the market, effective advertising techniques, planned spending, and interaction between markets. This information is valuable to markets seeking to understand their consumers and maximize efforts invested in advertising and community outreach. It provides guidance to Extension agencies seeking to develop networks of regional farmers\u27 markets, particularly with respect to managing competition among markets