Seascapes as a Cultural Construction from the Viewpoint of History, Literature, Local Art and Heritage

UIDB/04666/2020 UIDP/04666/2020Cultural constructions of landscapes, space and environments, and of people’s relationship with nature, have in the Cape Verde Islands a perspective of their own and might have been mediated by the whale. To address perceptions about these marine mammals, historical sources, literature, art, memory and heritage were considered. Whaling influenced history and diaspora and is reflected in literary productions. Remains of whales are found in museums and used as decorative pieces and local art. We found the Cape Verdean seascapes as being culturally and naturally constructed and the whale occupies a true ‘place’ of convergencepublishersversionpublishe

Policing mining: In outer-space greed and domination vs. peace and equity a governance for humanity!

Staking claim and ownership has remained an antagonistic issue for nations, resulting in many international conflicts. This is particularly so in disputed territories or areas which are deemed the heritage of mankind. In the next 50-years mining in space is set to become a reality and rather than being used to become an asset to man/society and create an equitable world, it is likely to be a battleground for greed and sovereign dominance – an overspill from Earth. This paper researches the conflict between greed and dominance vs. peace and equity in respect to space - mineral resources, providing historical contextualization, opinion, thoughts and interpretation. Hence, consideration is given to international approaches and who should ‘police,’ plus the governance of, space riches. The research largely considers the stance of the USA in this respect. The relevance of travel and travel modes (particularly air) and ownership of the sky is reviewed, so as to provide comparison and (historical) contextualization – identifying issues previously encountered when man looks to both travel and acquire assets by these means. The latest position of asteroid mining is also explored and ‘lessons from Earth’ are revisited as part of this research – which is largely considered and undertaken from a legal (discipline) perspective

Local perceptions of the relative contributions of enclave tourism and agritourism to community well-being: The case of Mauritius

To date, limited attention has been paid to the contribution of tourism to the well-being of island residents in general and to whether such well-being varies according to the nature of tourism development in particular. Specifically, island tourism is frequently manifested in resort-based enclave development, a form of tourism that is often criticised for its assumed limited benefits to the wider community. As a consequence, alternative approaches such as agritourism, are increasingly proposed as a means of enhancing community development and well-being yet the relative merits of enclave and agritourism have not been explored within an island tourism context. This paper addresses this notable gap in the literature. Drawing on a questionnaire-based survey in Mauritius, it considers and compares the perceptions of local people of the extent to which enclave tourism and agritourism contribute to their well-being. The results reveal that both types of tourism development contribute both positively and negatively to community well-being although enclave tourism is perceived to have fewer positive outcomes. On the one hand, enclave tourism provides valuable cultural opportunities but damages the environment, restricts entrepreneurship and favours local elites; on the other hand, agritourism, although not yet well-established in Mauritius, is perceived to positively enhance the cultural and social spheres of community life whilst supporting entrepreneurship

Women and power: a theoretical approach using the example of copreneurial businesses

Despite the gradual recognition of strategic issues related to the integration of women into the economy, female entrepreneurship continues to receive little attention. Family business research attributes this situation to a lack of recognition given to the (decisive) role of women in these organizations. However, there is one type of family governance that formally acknowledges the man/woman combination: the copreneurial company. Copreneurs are couples who run a business together. This theoretical article highlights the role of women in the copreneurial context by distinguishing between formal and informal power- the latter being primarily held by women, but which is no less influential. The distribution of power reduces opposition costs between partners and the social costs of non-compliance, and improves the clarity of the entrepreneurial structure. Moreover, it increases satisfaction and a feeling of equality between the partners. These results can be generalized and shed light on the role of women in other entrepreneurial and social contexts. This article is published as part as part of a collection on the role of women in management and business

The SAS Gamma-Ray Spectrometer

A new type of compact high resolution high sensitivity gamma ray spectrometer for short pulse intense 250 keV to 50 MeV gamma rays has been developed by combining the principles of scintillators and attenuation spectrometers. The first prototype of this scintillator attenuation spectrometer or SAS was tested successfully in Trident laser experiments at LANL. Later versions have been used extensively in the Texas Petawatt laser experiments in Austin TX, and more recently in OMEGAEP laser experiments at LLE, Rochester, NY. The SAS is particularly useful for high repetition rate laser applications. Here we give a concise description of the design principles, capabilities and sample preliminary results of the SAS.Comment: Revised version of paper for submission to the Review of Scientific Instruments. New version has 13 pages and 12 figure