“Who doesn't like dolphins?!” Neoliberalization, variegated environmentalities, and value alterations in a cross-national comparison of Irrawaddy dolphin conservation

Critical assessments of the conservation-capitalism relationship based on Foucault's concept of governmentality have generated notions of environmental governance as forms of ‘green’ governmentality or ‘environmentality.’ This paper contributes to the environmentalities literature by demonstrating the utility of a variegated environmentalities approach in understanding how the process of neoliberalization unfolds in different conservation contexts to influence different subjectivities. In this cross-national comparison, I examine the value shifts associated with conservation projects from the perspectives and experiences of the people most affected by these projects. Using Fletcher's (2010) environmentalities typology, I compare two approaches to Irrawaddy dolphin conservation: one in Myanmar focused on community enrichment and preservation of traditional human-dolphin relationships; the other in Cambodia focused on individual monetary wealth and neoliberal economic development. I argue that the dominant governing rationalities in each country influenced the execution of neoliberal environmentality and the ways in which it articulated with other types of environmentality. I then show how these unique articulations led to starkly different subjectivities by reinforcing socioecological values in Myanmar while restructuring them in Cambodia to align with neoliberal rationalities. I do this by contrasting findings in the two projects to trace the alteration of values in Cambodia from dolphins to other socioecological relations. I conclude by suggesting that dominant governing rationalities that foreground community and reciprocity in socioecological relations may serve to temper neoliberalism and thus provide a path toward alternative socioecologies and sustainabilities.</p

Behavioral development of dusky dolphins

This thesis examines the characteristics of dusky dolphin (Lagenorhynchus obscurus) nursery groups and ontogeny of dusky dolphin calves. Data were collected via boat-based group focal follows of nurseries from October 2006-May 2007. A total of 87 nursery groups were encountered. Data were analyzed according to age category (infant or yearling) and season (early or late). Nursery group membership was lowest in the early season and when yearlings were present. The average number of yearlings in a nursery group was less than that of infants. The predominant activity of calves was rest. Early infants rested the most, while travel seemed most important for late infants, and early yearlings were most likely to forage. With the exception of early infants, all calves were more likely than adults to interact with boats. When taking month into account, yearlings were more social in general than infants. Infants showed a positive trend in sociality, while yearling sociality remained relatively stable. Nursery groups are markedly segregated by calf age, and 80% of nursery groups contained calves of only one age group. Dusky dolphin calves show a similar trend in preference for position in relation to the mother as that in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.), with echelon swim decreasing with age. However, all calves appear to prefer echelon swim when nursery groups are traveling. Calves were more likely to swim independently in the late part of the season and while foraging or socializing, and were more likely to be in close proximity to their mothers while resting or traveling. Calves learned noisy leaps, followed by clean, coordinated, and acrobatic leaps, in that order. There was no clear relationship between behavioral state and types of leaps performed by calves. Early infants leapt less often than older calves, but leap frequency did not differ among the older calves. The overall pattern in the ontogeny of dusky dolphin leaps indicates that the physical development of leaps is learned individually, while the context in which the leaps are performed is learned from conspecifics. These results indicate that nursery groups represent an important environment for healthy physical and social development of calves

Transdisciplinary transformative change: an analysis of some best practices and barriers, and the potential of critical social science in getting us there

Biodiversity experts now widely acknowledge that transformative change is best supported through transdisciplinary collaborations. Yet, such collaborations rarely successfully occur in major biodiversity research institutions and those that do rarely achieve the paradigmatic effects they aim to deliver. To gain some insight into this global phenomenon, we surveyed Swiss-based researchers and non-academic stakeholders addressing global change and biodiversity. In this article, we connect our findings to global patterns in transdisciplinary transformative change initiatives (TTCIs) and heuristically divide collaboration barriers into two categories: lack of resources and lack of vital functional elements. Two of the major themes that emerged from this research were the continued difficulties with (1) establishing a common ‘language’, understanding, and goals, and (2) meaningful pluralization of knowledge in transdisciplinary collaborations aimed at addressing global change and biodiversity loss. The former is widely cited in the literature as contributing to the failure of TTCIs in the form of incoherent problem-framing, while the latter is often identified as contributing to the lack of structural transformative change (e.g., paradigmatic shifts) in completed initiatives. Another major theme reflected in TTCI literature was limited time. Moreover, based on our own extensive inter- and transdisciplinary experience, we agree with other experts that there is a persistent lack of understanding of the potential contributions of critical social science (CSS) to TTCIs. We thus argue that enhancing resource availability for TTCIs, especially tools for improving CSS literacy, could save time and support both problem-framing alignment and delivery of the structural/paradigmatic changes we aspire to

Bridge to the stars: A mission concept to an interstellar object

Exoplanet discoveries since the mid-1990’s have revealed an astounding diversity of planetary systems. Studying these systems is essential to understanding planetary formation processes, as well as the development of life in the universe. Unfortunately, humanity can only observe limited aspects of exoplanetary systems by telescope, and the significant distances between stars presents a barrier to in situ exploration. In this study, we propose an alternative path to gain insight into exoplanetary systems: Bridge, a mission concept design to fly by an interstellar object as it passes through our solar system. Designed as a New Frontiers-class mission during the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Planetary Science Summer School, Bridge would provide a unique opportunity to gain insight into potential physical, chemical, and biological differences between solar systems as well as the possible exchange of planetary materials between them. Bridge employs ultraviolet/visible, near-infrared, and mid-infrared point spectrometers, a visible camera, and a guided impactor. We also provide a quantitative Monte Carlo analysis that estimates wait times for a suitable target, and examines key trades between ground storage and a parking orbit, power sources, inner versus outer solar system encounters, and launch criteria. Due to the fleeting nature of interstellar objects, reaching an interstellar object may require an extended ground storage phase for the spacecraft until a suitable ISO is discovered, followed by a rapid response launch strategy. To enable rapid response missions designed to intercept such unique targets, language would need to be added to future NASA announcements of opportunity such that ground storage and rapid response would be allowable components of a proposed mission

Inter-subunit coupling enables fast CO2-fixation by reductive carboxylases

Enoyl-CoA carboxylases/reductases (ECRs) are some of the most efficient CO2-fixing enzymes described to date. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the extraordinary catalytic activity of ECRs on the level of the protein assembly remain elusive. Here we used a combination of ambient-temperature X-ray free electron laser (XFEL) and cryogenic synchrotron experiments to study the structural organization of the ECR from Kitasatospora setae. The K. setae ECR is a homotetramer that differentiates into a pair of dimers of open- and closed-form subunits in the catalytically active state. Using molecular dynamics simulations and structure-based mutagenesis, we show that catalysis is synchronized in the K. setae ECR across the pair of dimers. This conformational coupling of catalytic domains is conferred by individual amino acids to achieve high CO2-fixation rates. Our results provide unprecedented insights into the dynamic organization and synchronized inter- and intrasubunit communications of this remarkably efficient CO2-fixing enzyme during catalysis.

Conversion of biomass platform molecules into fuel additives and liquid hydrocarbon fuels

[EN] In this work some relevant processes for the preparation of liquid hydrocarbon fuels and fuel additives from cellulose, hemicellulose and triglycerides derived platform molecules are discussed. Thus, it is shown that a series of platform molecules such as levulinic acid, furans, fatty acids and polyols can be converted into a variety of fuel additives through catalytic transformations that include reduction, esterification, etherification, and acetalization reactions. Moreover, we will show that liquid hydrocarbon fuels can be obtained by combining oxygen removal processes (e.g. dehydration, hydrogenolysis, hydrogenation, decarbonylation/descarboxylation etc.) with the adjustment of the molecular weight via C C coupling reactions (e.g. aldol condensation, hydroxyalkylation, oligomerization, ketonization) of the reactive platform molecules.This work has been supported by the Spanish Government-MINECO through Consolider Ingenio 2010-Multicat and CTQ.-2011-27550, ITQ thanks the "Program Severo Ochoa" for financial support.Climent Olmedo, MJ.; Corma Canós, A.; Iborra Chornet, S. (2014). Conversion of biomass platform molecules into fuel additives and liquid hydrocarbon fuels. Green Chemistry. 16(2):516-547. https://doi.org/10.1039/c3gc41492bS51654716

Post-Franco Theatre

In the multiple realms and layers that comprise the contemporary Spanish theatrical landscape, “crisis” would seem to be the word that most often lingers in the air, as though it were a common mantra, ready to roll off the tongue of so many theatre professionals with such enormous ease, and even enthusiasm, that one is prompted to wonder whether it might indeed be a miracle that the contemporary technological revolution – coupled with perpetual quandaries concerning public and private funding for the arts – had not by now brought an end to the evolution of the oldest of live arts, or, at the very least, an end to drama as we know it

Revisiting ‘place’ in a realist novel: ‘Thinking space’ in Galdós’s Torquemada en la hoguera (1889)

Departing from the premise that Galdós’s close engagement with space and place deserves to be at the forefront of scholarly attention, this article provides an in-depth study of their significance in Torquemada en la hoguera. It begins by analysing the relationship between the novel’s locations and the real world, demonstrating that the author codes the city of Madrid to express social concerns and promote reader engagement. It then proceeds to examine the public and private spheres, before highlighting the “place of the imagination” in the novel. It reveals that, as in Galdós’s press articles, reality is used as a springboard in Torquemada en la hoguera and, drawing upon recent theories, it posits that places serve as a framework for engaging readers with contemporary concerns and as an imaginative springboard for Galdós. They trigger what is effectively a “thinking space” for the author and it is through unravelling their significance that we can fully appreciate Galdós’s psychological sensitivity, the novel’s modernity, its symbolic value, and imaginative depth. The article concludes by proposing that Galdós’s works deserve to be re-examined as “Novels of the Geographical Imagination” and urges readers to revisit the significance of space and place therein

The struggle of a marginalized community for ethnic renewal: the whale hunters of Neah Bay

The Makah Indian Tribe is a federally recognized tribe located in the US state of Washington. The whale is deeply embedded in Makah culture, and many believe that resuming the whale hunt could have extensive implications for Makah cultural survival. Makahs were compelled to take a hiatus from the whale hunt in the 1920s to protect future access to this invaluable provider of culture, spirituality, and health. During this hiatus, the mainstream Eurocentric value of the whale evolved from that of a commodity to a sentient being worthy of protection from any harm. I used one-on-one in-depth interviews, a focus group interview, and participant observation to examine the Makahs’ struggle to resume the hunt. I argue that the whale hunt represents the Makahs’ continued fight for ethnic renewal through exercising political and cultural sovereignty and through cultural reconstruction. In addition, I argue that the normalization of the whale as an animal with an intrinsic right to life and the way many Makahs have experienced the discursive framing of the whale hunt as barbaric and primitive have served to sustain ongoing colonialism and racism