"Aslan's Own Land": Pastoral, Imperialism, and Environmental Stewardship in C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia

Recent scholarship on C.S. Lewis's life, work, and personal views of nature has suggested that we should use his enduring children's series The Chronicles of Narnia to teach youth environmental appreciation and stewardship. Lewis's fiction is rich with detailed descriptions of environments that function as more than mere background for human drama; his characters, both human and non-human, often express a deep reverence for the world around them. This is particularly clear in Narnia, in which the kingdom simultaneously mirrors and transcends our own Earth. However, Lewis presents a very specific environmental vision based on his own interpretation of Christian theology that, at the same time, remains bound to the imperial ideologies that dominated Lewis's time. Together these factors limit Lewis's environmental vision so that it becomes parochial and culturally exclusive. In fact, the series depicts a type of environmental stewardship that consciously and unconsciously works to legitimize Christian dominion and imperial projects. This thesis examines the presence of imperial ideology and colonial attitudes toward nature in the series, which is obscured through pastoral ideals and images of Edenic environments. I argue that using these books to teach environmental appreciation perpetuates parochial, imperially influenced conceptions of nature and environmentalism. The legacies of colonialism demand that we critically examine dominant environmentalisms, moving beyond imperial behaviors to address the environmental problems we face. Merely cultivating an appreciation for pastoral environments is not sufficient, as it will not help our younger generations understand the connections between lingering forms of imperialisms and environmental degradation

Proliferation, Action: Marine Plastic Pollution, Material Agency, and Affective Representation

Seeing plastic as an actant rather than inert matter can help us better comprehend the effects of marine plastic pollution. In this essay, I read various texts that depict plastic as an actant, highlighting the ways they give narrative urgency to a crisis that we normally cannot see

A Comparison of Classical Counterconditioning and Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior on Aggressive Behavior in Dogs

Dogs that display aggressive behavior are a threat to society, their owners, and themselves. Classical counterconditioning and differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) are commonly used in practice to reduce such behavior. While both seem to be effective treatments for aggressive behavior there has not been a direct comparison between the two in the current context. The current study compared counterconditioning and DRA with two dogs. A reversal design was used to determine the effectiveness of both procedures. Both procedures demonstrated functional control over aggressive behavior. Aggressive behavior was quickly reduced to near zero levels with either program in place. Implications for use are discussed. Despite owners being trained to criteria, follow-up data suggest that aggressive behavior returned. Future research may compare owner acquisition and preference for counterconditioning and DRA

The Effects of a Multicomponent Intervention on Treatment Integrity of Counterconditioning for Aggression in Dogs

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of consumer management procedures on dog owner treatment integrity. A within subjects comparison was made. The primary dependent variable was treatment integrity. Errors were analyzed as either omission or commission. Secondarily, dog aggression and precursors to aggression were measured. Lastly, owners and experts rated goals, procedures, and effects to assess acceptability. Owners were trained with consumer management procedures to use classical counterconditioning (CC) which reduces aggression in dogs. Consumer management procedures included verbal instruction, modeling, and performance feedback. Performance feedback was delivered in the form of praise for correct implementation, corrective feedback, and sharing process and outcome data. The intervention was divided into two main phases: instruction and generalization programming. Instruction targeted a relatively simple context for owners. During instruction treatment integrity was targeted with verbal instruction, modeling, and performance feedback. During generalization programming the integrity with which owners implement CC in more complex contexts was targeted with performance feedback. The intervention was effective during both phases with the result of increased treatment integrity. Secondarily, there was a dramatic decrease in aggression and a minor decrease in precursor behavior. Lastly, goals, procedures and effects were rated as highly acceptable by owners and experts. Implications for use are discussed

Degeneration and the Environment in Victorian and Edwardian Fiction

This dissertation reveals that Victorian degeneration theory—a multivalent concept of individual and evolutionary decay best remembered as the motivation for eugenics—was based partly in fears about the influence of urban and tropical places on the British race and nation. Environmental formulations of degeneration theory asserted that cities and the tropics caused physical and mental degeneracy, while the British countryside promoted healthy racial development. This concept of environmentally-driven degeneration shaped the Victorian and Edwardians’ environmental practices. Environmental degeneration theory furthermore inspired a new kind of fiction wherein the physical environmental drives the degeneration or development of an individual or an entire community. By focusing on a selection of children’s and science fiction novels featuring this plot alongside childrearing manuals, medical texts, and other primary documents, this dissertation shows how such fiction disseminated environmental degeneration theory and helps us understand the racial and evolutionary anxieties that motivated British environmental praxis at home and in the empire

Pathways to Resilience Workshop Promotes Leadership and Peer Support

Pathways to Resilience (P2R) created a unique leadership program to help landmine survivors promote resilience and create secure collegial relationships. This article provides background regarding the curriculum and training activities and recounts how P2R helped survivors experience posttraumatic growth after tragedy

Stock picking with machine learning

We analyze machine learning algorithms for stock selection. Our study builds on weekly data for the historical constituents of the S&P500 over the period from January 1999 to March 2021 and builds on typical equity factors, additional firm fundamentals, and technical indicators. A variety of machine learning models are trained on the binary classification task to predict whether a specific stock outperforms or underperforms the cross‐sectional median return over the subsequent week. We analyze weekly trading strategies that invest in stocks with the highest predicted outperformance probability. Our empirical results show substantial and significant outperformance of machine learning‐based stock selection models compared to an equally weighted benchmark. Interestingly, we find more simplistic regularized logistic regression models to perform similarly well compared to more complex machine learning models. The results are robust when applied to the STOXX Europe 600 as alternative asset universe

Suggestion, hypnosis and hypnotherapy: a survey of use, knowledge and attitudes of anaesthetists

Publisher's copy made available with the permission of the publisher © Australian Society of AnaesthetistsClinical hypnosis is a skill of using words and gestures (frequently called suggestions) in particular ways to achieve specific outcomes. It is being increasingly recognised as a useful intervention for managing a range of symptoms, especially pain and anxiety. We surveyed all 317 South Australian Fellows and trainees registered with ANZCA to determine their use, knowledge of, and attitudes towards positive suggestion, hypnosis and hypnotherapy in their anaesthesia practice. The response rate was 218 anaesthetists (69%). The majority of respondents (63%) rated their level of knowledge on this topic as below average. Forty-eight per cent of respondents indicated that there was a role for hypnotherapy in clinical anaesthesia, particularly in areas seen as traditional targets for the modality, i.e. pain and anxiety states. Nearly half of the anaesthetists supported the use of hypnotherapy and positive suggestions within clinical anaesthesia. Those respondents who had experience of clinical hypnotherapy were more likely to support hypnosis teaching at undergraduate or postgraduate level when compared with those with no experience.http://www.aaic.net.au/Article.asp?D=200408

Innovative development of the economy as the most important factor in ensuring the financial security of the mining region

The financial security of the region, being one of the main elements, has a significant impact on the economic security of the Kemerovo region, the largest mining region in the country. The task of the study is to assess the real situation in the financial security of the region and justify the need to develop measures to strengthen it. The article assesses the financial security of the Kemerovo region according to its main criteria: revenues and expenditures of the consolidated budgets of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation per capita; the number of operating credit organizations and their branches per 1000 people of the population; the amount of deposits of legal entities and individuals in credit institutions and bank branches; average amount of individuals’ deposits on ruble accounts with the Savings Bank of the Russian Federation; the balanced financial result of organizations’ activities, etc. In the course of the work, threats to the financial security of the region were identified, which can be solved by conducting innovations. The results of the study can be used to develop a strategy for the development of the region