Unlocking the “Virtual Cage” of Wildlife Surveillance

The electronic surveillance of wildlife has grown more extensive than ever. For instance, thousands of wolves wear collars transmitting signals to wildlife biologists. Some collars inject wolves with tranquilizers that allow for their immediate capture if they stray outside of the boundaries set by anthropocentric management policies. Hunters have intercepted the signals from surveillance collars and have used this information to track and slaughter the animals. While the ostensible reason for the surveillance programs is to facilitate the peaceful coexistence of humanity and wildlife, the reality is less benign—an outdoor version of Bentham’s Panopticon. This Article reconceptualizes the enterprise of wildlife surveillance. Without suggesting that animals have standing to assert constitutional rights, the Article posits a public interest in protecting the privacy of wildlife. The very notion of wildness implies privacy. The law already protects the bodily integrity of animals to some degree, and a protected zone of privacy is penumbral to this core protection, much the same way that human privacy emanates from narrower guarantees against government intrusion. Policy implications follow that are akin to the rules under the Fourth Amendment limiting the government’s encroachment on human privacy. Just as the police cannot install a wiretap without demonstrating a particularized investigative need for which all less intrusive methods would be insufficient, so too should surveillance of wildlife necessitate a specific showing of urgency. A detached, neutral authority should review all applications for electronic monitoring of wildlife. Violati ons of the rules should result in substantial sanctions. The Article concludes by considering—and refuting—foreseeable objections to heightened requirements for the surveillance of wildlife

Teacher agency in the reform of curriculum under universal primary education in Uganda and its implications for emerging practices

This thesis deals with the role of teacher agency in the reform of curriculum under Universal Primary Education (UPE) in Uganda. It draws on empirical research conducted in two UPE case study schools in Uganda. The study was conducted in order to highlight the role of teacher agency in teachers’ professional practice and to analyse the ecological factors that contribute in shaping it, as well as its effects. The thesis begins with a description of the UPE curriculum in its global dimensions. It subsequently reviews the theoretical and empirical literature dealing with the role of teacher agency in the reform of curriculum under UPE, under the themes of ‘globalisation’, ‘teacher/biographical barriers to UPE reforms’, ‘contextual challenges of the reforms on teachers’, ‘teachers’ mediation of the reform challenges’ and ‘effects of the teachers’ mediation of reforms’. The study’s theoretical position draws on the critical realist philosophy of Roy Bhaskar and Margaret Archer, which guided the development a two-phased study design comprising of secondary document analysis using retroduction (Elder-Vass 2010; Edwards et al. 2014) in phase one and field work within the framework of Priestley et al.’s (2015b) ecological approach to teacher agency in phase two. The field work involved semi-structured interviews, observation and primary document analysis. The study established that the globalisation of UPE was driven by Education for All (EFA) under a neo-liberal agenda, which involved both structural and cultural reform. The structural reform has impacted UPE’s ecology through the evolution of a new ‘governance’ structure underpinned by partnership, decentralisation and performativity. Furthermore, it has involved access and inputs reform, which has been characterised by universalisation and the adoption of a partnership funding approach. Cultural reform has focused on curriculum and pedagogy. However, at the micro level of school/classroom practice, most of the reforms have resulted in ‘first order’ changes (Cuban 1998; Priestley 2011a), which are currently manifested by only partial success in absorbing the curriculum and pedagogy reforms, coupled with the continued lack of inputs. This is attributed, among others, to the responses of the teachers, or teacher agency. The study analysed the role of teacher agency in the case studies and concluded that it is widely manifested and is primarily driven by the practical-evaluative dimension, followed by the projective and iterational dimensions respectively. Furthermore, it has significant effects, which are both positive and negative. It therefore plays a significant role in the teachers’ professional practice, which needs to be acknowledged in educational planning. Finally, the study offered some recommendations and suggestions for further research

Faculty Recital: Tom Gibson, trombone and Robert Henry, piano

KSU School of Music presents Tom Gibson, trombone and Robert Henry, piano.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/1143/thumbnail.jp

Sweetness

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/6198/thumbnail.jp

An Excel Application for Valuing European Options with Monte Carlo Analysis

By developing the basic intuition of how Monte Carlo simulation works within an Excel spreadsheet framework, this paper allows the undergraduate student to use Monte Carlo simulation techniques to price European style options without additional sophisticated software. Further, the skills and intuition developed provide the basis for much more complex simulation techniques

Dear Old Moonlight

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/4178/thumbnail.jp

Visualizing the Stochastic Calculus of Option Pricing with Excel and VBA

Stochastic calculus, part calculus and part statistics, is an integral part of option pricing that can be intimidating. By developing the statistical nature of stochastic processes and introducing Monte Carlo simulation using Microsoft Excel, this paper develops a visualization of how stochastic processes are evaluated using Ito\u27s lemma and integral calculus. Ultimately, the Black-Scholes (1973) option pricing equation is the natural result