REDD+ on the rocks? Conflict over forest and politics of justice in Vietnam

In Vietnam, villagers involved in a REDD+ (reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation) pilot protect areas with rocks which have barely a tree on them. The apparent paradox indicates how actual practices differ from general ideas about REDD+ due to ongoing conflict over forest, and how contestations over the meaning of justice are a core element in negotiations over REDD+. We explore these politics of justice by examining how the actors involved in the REDD+ pilot negotiate the particular subjects, dimensions, and authority of justice considered relevant, and show how politics of justice are implicit to practical decisions in project implementation. Contestations over the meaning of justice are an important element in the practices and processes constituting REDD+ at global, national and local levels, challenging uniform definitions of forest justice and how forests ought to be managed

Campañas medioambientales contra empresas forestales: ¿Cuál es el objetivo de estas campañas?

Campaigns by environmental non-governmental organisations (ENGOs) can have far reaching consequences in determining the policies of governments and corporations. This paper examines campaigns targeting forestry companies to determine what makes a successful campaign. Over forty ENGOs completed a questionnaire defining what they perceive to constitute a successful campaign. The responses were analysed using Analytical Hierarchy Process. The results showed that campaigns by ENGOs have two main targets: changes in laws and the target group implementing the campaign’s recommendation(s). Achieving these targets, for most, constitute a successful campaign. Subsequently, representatives of seven ENGOs were questioned to attain their perspectives of the results in comparison to campaigns they are conducting against forest enterprises. They supported the results of the questionnaire, but also felt that there are various other factors that need to be considered (e.g. the campaign’s timeframe and the possibility of having hidden targets) that increase the issue’s complexity.Campañas llevadas a cabo por organizaciones no gubernamentales ambientalistas (ONGsA) pueden tener importantes consecuencias a la hora de influenciar las políticas tanto de gobiernos como de corporaciones industriales. Este artículo se centra en el estudio de campañas cuyo blanco son las empresas madereras, analizando que condiciones deben cumplir dichas campañas para poder ser consideradas como exitosas. Para ello, más de cuarenta ONGsA rellenaron un cuestionario en el que se les pedía que indicaran su opinión sobre que define una campaña exitosa. Las respuestas fueron analizadas utilizando un Proceso Analítico Jerárquico (AHP). Los resultados mostraron que las campañas de las ONGsA tienen dos objetivos principales, obtener cambios en las leyes y que la compañía o gobierno objetivo de la campaña cumpla las recomendaciones propuestas. A posteriori, los representantes de siete ONGsA, con campañas ambientales en curso contra empresas madereras, fueron preguntados sobre si los resultados obtenidos a través del análisis AHP estaban en concordancia con las perspectivas para sus campañas ambientales. Como resultado, se obtuvo que si bien sus perspectivas coincidían con los resultados del análisis, existen otros factores a tener en cuenta (por ejemplo el marco temporal de la campaña y la posibilidad de afectar objetivos no explícitamente señalados) que aumentan la complejidad del problema

Consumer trust and confidence in the compliance of Islamic banks

Islamic banks compete with traditional (non-Islamic) banks for customers. This article aims to provide insight into why some Muslims choose to bank with Islamic banks in Pakistan, while others do not. Specifically, it addresses the questions: to what extent are trust and confidence active influencers in the decision-making process, are they differentiated or are they one of the same? Also how does the Pakistani collective cultural context further complicate the application of these concepts? For the purposes of this article trust refers to people and their interpersonal or social relations whereas confidence concerns institutions such as banks. Drawing on interviews with Muslim consumers in Pakistan, this study provides further insight into consumer behaviour within financial services and specifically Islamic banking and contributes to our theoretical understanding of the concepts of trust and confidence

Characterising musical gestures

Despite the widespread use of the term gesture in writings about music, the term is not defined in most musical dictionaries. Moreover, as this paper shows, the term is employed by different writers in a wide variety of ways. One common use of the term refers to sonic instances that are close analogies of physical gestures. These could be termed expressive unit gestures which, like physical gestures, are perceived as a short, unified, expressive events. To enable a more detailed study of these, this paper outlines a systematic approach to their description in the hope that these will open possibilities for a more detailed study of this aspect of musical gestures. The HamNoSys notation was developed for the systematic description of sign language. Gestures of sign language are notated through a systematic profiling of the actions involved (hand shapes, movement types, etc.). By analogy a musical gesture can be described through its auditory properties such as accent patterns, pitch contour, register, and so forth. This paper suggests that studying these expressive unit gestures offers a way of linking the dynamics of the music with expressive potential and can, therefore, contribute to an experiential account of music; could lead to new methods of investigating listeners engagement with music; and could potentially offer new ideas in the field of music information retrieval

Copying Human Consciousness to Machines on a Worldwide Scale is Needed: Benefits Outweigh the Risks

To copy human consciousness means to replicate someone’s senses, memories, their ability to reason, make decisions, to imagine new possibilities, their emotions, and process new information. Human consciousness may be stored in a hard drive device or on a glass disc that is accessed through a cloud service or internal-based storage machine. Striving to understand the mechanisms of human consciousness so that it can be preserved...is one of the most important scientific advances needed for humanity as a whole. To preserve human consciousness for future generations is, in itself, a form of immortality, and could allow brilliant minds to continue creating positive change long after they are dead. Since technology makes exponential positive advancement every year, we need to consider the future of human progress as a starting point. This paper explores the ethical concerns of copying consciousness with hypothetical situations. Additionally, this paper points out the potential negative consequences of allowing global access to consciousness replication. In conclusion, this paper shows how the potential benefits outweigh the concerns for copying consciousness