How green was my valley? Urban history in Latin America

The history of Latin America has been dominated by ideas of order and progress. Unfortunately those ideas have not always been of regional origin. In the colonial era the conquest and conversion of the native peoples was seen as progress by the Europeans. The imposition of order was aided greatly by urbanization sometimes symbolically on the ruins of Indian cities such as at Cuzco and Mexico City. Cities became the point of cultural and economic articulation between the barbaric hinterland and the civilization of Europe. Freedom from the Spanish yoke gained in the Independence wars was similarly seen as progress, at least by the ultimately victorious creole ‘patriots’. It was here, however, that notions of national identity, modernization and economic success became intertwined to produce the conflicts which still inflame the region today. The paramount question has remained: whose order and concept of progress should be imposed

The art of the brick

To celebrate Australia’s strong tradition of brick architecture, as well as the largely unsung art of bricklaying, Australian architect and curator, Derham Groves, organized two complementary public exhibitions of full-scale brick structures designed by various architects and artists. The results were an intriguing mixture of art and the everyday, as Groves describes in the following article

Wire Netting Reduces African Elephant (\u3ci\u3eLOXODONTA AFRICANA\u3c/i\u3e) Impact to Selected Large Trees in South Africa

African elephants (Loxodonta africana) are ecosystem engineers in that they substantially alter the environment through their unique foraging and feeding habits. At high densities, elephants potentially have negative impacts on the environment, specifically to large trees. Because of this, recent increases of elephants in the Associated Private Nature Reserves (APNR) on the Western Boundary of Kruger National Park, South Africa have caused concern regarding the health of several species of tree. My objective was to assess the effectiveness of wrapping protective wire netting around the trunk of the tree in preventing and reducing bark stripping by elephants. 2,668 trees, 1352 marula (Sclerocarya birrea), 857 knobthorn (Acacia Nigrescens), and 459 false marula (Lannea schweinfurti), were assessed for elephant impact in the APNR, 1387 (52%) of which had previously been wrapped in protective wire netting (789, 548, and 50 respectively). For knobthorn and marula, wire netting significantly decreased the number of the trees that were bark stripped. For all trees, wire netting decreased the level of bark stripping especially for the highest impact levels. No trees wrapped with wire were ringbarked, compared to 23 unwired trees. In addition, wire netting had an effect on the distribution of damage for the highest impact class incurred regardless of type. A higher relative frequency of wired trees were found in lower impact categories compared to unwired trees. Wire netting is a low maintenance and ecologically valuable technique that alleviates bark stripping for some species. The judicial use of wire netting on trees could serve to maintain elephant and trees populations in areas of heavy confinement with locally high densities of elephants

The power of positivity: Do emotions influence attentional breadth?

Fredrickson's (2001) broaden and build theory describes how experiencing positive emotions, such as happiness, broadens our 'thought-action repertoire' leading us to be more likely to go out and act on our positive emotions. This results in the building of new relationships, resources and skills, which we can draw on in times of need throughout life. In contrast, the experience of negative emotion is thought to narrow our 'thought-action repertoire', leading to specific actions to aid in survival (Fredrickson, 2001). The current experiments aimed to explore the effect of briefly presented schematic faces (happy, sad, and neutral) on attentional scope using the flanker task. Based on the broaden and build theory it was hypothesised that there would be an increase in reaction time in trials primed with a happy face due to a broadening of attention, leading to increased flanker interference. A decrease in reaction time was predicted for trials primed with a sad face, due to a narrowing of attention leading to less flanker interference. Results lend partial support to the broaden and build hypothesis, with reaction times being slower following happy primes in incongruent flanker trials in Experiment 1. Recent research is discussed in regards to potential mediators of the relationship between emotion and attention

The Impact of Intralesional 5-Fluorouracil in the Treatment of Keloid Scars

Background - The American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) defines a keloid scar as a type of raised scar extending past the initial area of injury1 - Approximately 10% of the general population affected - significant risk factors include +family history, darker skin tones, mechanism of injury (burn, surgical)3 - Symptom presentation: pain, pruritus, burning, increased sensitivity3 - Varying existing treatment methods with high resistance and recurrence rates leading to no agreed upon standard approach5 Most widely adopted method currently : intralesional (ILS) steroid injection5https://jdc.jefferson.edu/mspas_capstones/1003/thumbnail.jp

Leibnizs rule and Fubinis theorem associated with Hahn difference operators

In $1945$, Wolfgang Hahn introduced his difference operator $D_{q,\omega}$, which is defined by where $\displaystyle{\omega_0=\frac {\omega}{1-q}}$ with 0<q<1, \omega>0. In this paper, we establish Leibniz's rule and Fubini's theorem associated with this Hahn difference operator

Integrating geochemical survey, ethnography and organic residue analysis to identify and understand areas of foodstuff processing

In this paper we explore the integration of science-based and ethnographic approaches that respond to the need to consider ancient economy and subsistence in the Greek world on a landscape level. It is particularly important to be in a position to understand changes and developments in the processes associated with the preparation of food as well as agro-industrial commodities such as wine and olive oil. While ancient economic and subsistence patterns are traditionally and most effectively investigated where animal and plant remains have been recovered from excavation, our strategy is less direct; operating by proxy, it is well suited in the first instance to archaeological field survey. Having first determined the soils’ chemical signatures and the identity of pottery residues, a comparison will then be made with data obtained from ethnographic surveys of abandoned 20th-century farmsteads and workplaces, where particular activities are known to have taken place. Integrating these approaches, our work is applying them to archaeological field survey, specifically the current project on the city of Sikyon and its vicinity in the North Peloponnese

The establishment of performance criteria for the evaluation of procurement of senior staff and private housing projects in the state of Qatar

A study by the Supreme Planning Council called the attention of problems during the procurement of Senior Staff Housing projects leading to less effective project outcomes. The SPC report put the blame on the current regulations of the scheme. This research evaluated SSH projects in comparison with Private Housing (PH) projects, which were not affected by SSH regulations. A model was developed as part of this research study. The model sets out to embrace the relationships between the variables in the building process. The model takes six main groups of independent variables, namely those that affect the client, the land acquisition, the design phase, the construction phase, disputes and SSH regulations. The effectiveness of the housing projects was measured against quantitative and qualitative performance indicators. The performance variables tested were unit cost; percentage of cost overrun; speed of construction; percentage of time overrun; client's satisfaction with cost and time; client's overall satisfaction; client's rating on quality; aesthetic quality and technical quality. As this study is the first of its kind, exploratory interviews with industry participants were conducted to gain a better understanding of construction practice in Qatar as well as to firm up the design of the client's questionnaire, aesthetic and technical quality evaluation techniques. The main field study resulted in 61 SSH projects and 34 PH projects. The research revealed that PH projects are more effective than SSH projects. It was found that SSH regulations are not the main reason for a less effective outcome. The main reasons were the unclear objectives and bad decisions made by the SSH clients. The research also revealed poor quality workmanship, old construction techniques and the use of inadequate construction materials. Also, a lack of, proper contract forms and means of dispute resolution. There are no institutions for consultants or contractors and a lack of training and development. Together, these factors contribute to the client's poor image of the industry. The research provides recommendations for reorganising the industry to improve its output. These include establishing Construction Industry Council, forming institutions for consultants and contractors, and establishing Housing Council

Air motion in a four-stroke direct-injection diesel engine

The investigation presented attempts to develop a suitable mathematical model which may be relied upon to predict the air motion within the cylinder of a motored, four-stroke direct-injection diesel engine. Using a method of hot wire anemometry, a three-wire anemometer was developed for measuring the magnitude and direction of the three-dimensional velocity vector within a variable density flow similar to that encountered inside a motored engine cylinder and an exhaustive experimental program undertaken to justify the technique. The results of the experimental program showed that the magnitude of, the. Three-dimensional velocity vector may be measured within an accuracy of ± 9% whilst the direction may be determined within ± 12%. Applying the method to an engine cylinder, measurements of the air motion were recorded over a range of engine speeds (500–1500 rpm) and the effect of a masked inlet valve and supercharging the engine at 10 psig were also investigated. [Continues.

A daydreaming consumer: Evaluating the impact of social media advertising content on ‘insta’ purchasing

As brands today are adapting to the growing popularity of social media sites, consumers are becoming more and more absorbed in the content they are exposed to. For brands, it is important to understand how the content they share influences consumer buying patterns and how they contribute to consumers’ daydreaming states. This study investigates daydreaming with new conceptualisation within a digital context. It explores the relationships between social media content and its ability to transmit consumers into a daydreaming state, whilst investigating the impact this has on impulsive purchasing. This as a result presents original findings which can help brands understand new relationships between social media content and consumer behaviour. Existing literature has been found to explore daydreaming on a conceptual level and there has been vast investigation into impulsive purchasing; however, there is no literature that directly measures daydreaming in a social media context, nor is there contribution that combines the two. Thus, this research aims to close this gap in research, where academic literature is lacking. This research adopted a deductive approach, using an online quasi-experimental survey. Analysis confirmed the conceptualisation of daydreaming to be valid and concluded that social media content type does not play a role in transmitting consumers into a daydreaming state. Daydreaming was found to be the mediator between social media content and impulsive purchasing, with the relationship between daydreaming and impulsive purchasing found to be significant. Noticeable differences were established in the daydreaming simulation of impulsive purchasing, with escapism being more significant for the male sample and imagination holding more weight for the female sample. The findings have been able to produce valuable insight into daydreaming within the social media context, which should be addressed by brands to engage a suitable social media strategy