Dollars are a girl's best friend? Female tourists' sexual behaviour in the Caribbean

Though increasingly a focus of both political concern and academic research, ‘sex tourism’ is a difficult term to define. This article presents both quantitative and qualitative data on the sexual behaviour and attitudes of single and/or unaccompanied heterosexual female tourists in the Dominican Republic and Jamaica. In so doing it aims to contribute to the body of research evidence on the phenomenon, as well as to highlight some of the conceptual problems associated with existing analyses of both ‘sex tourism’ and ‘romance tourism’. It calls for the development of a theoretical model of sex tourism which can accommodate both the diversity of tourist-related sexual-economic exchanges which take place in economically underdeveloped countries and the complexity of the power relations that underpin them

Research-practice-pedagogy: establishing new topologies of doctoral research in the arts’

There are an increasing number of artists and practitioners undertaking doctoral research that incorporates practice. As a result, the parameters and forms of research itself have been expanded as doctoral students in the arts work towards building new research paradigms that articulate its complexities, particularities and peculiarities. This coincides with an increasingly explicit agenda in UK Higher Education in which Universities are required to embed research training to support the development of their doctoral researchers. Despite their perceived tension with one another, this chapter purposefully and critically brings together the two discourses of art-based research and Researcher Development. Drawing on two interrelated bodies of research, it proposes a new conceptual framework at the intersection of research–practice–pedagogy to open up spaces of possibility and establish new topologies of doctoral research in the arts in order to support doctoral researchers negotiating art-based research

Thinking Difference Differently: An Exploration of l'écriture féminine, Women's Art Practice, and Postfeminism

L'écriture féminine sought to challenge phallocentrism and open up alternative textual spaces to articulate sexual difference. Whilst it emerged very specifically in a French context, it was perhaps most notably appropriated by Anglo-American theorists and practitioners. This article provides a critique of how women and second-wave feminist artists in particular have drawn on the strategies and thinking of l'écriture féminine beyond its French milieu. In doing so, it reconceptualizes l'écriture féminine as an intertextual entity and multi-layered discourse, and explores how it may be conceived in relation to postfeminism to provide ways to think about difference differently

From ‘or’ to ‘and’: L’écriture féminine as a methodological approach in Fine Art research

This article asserts that the terms ‘practice-led’ and ‘practice-based’ in the context of Art and Design doctoral research are overly simplistic and maintain oppositional thinking by privileging ‘practice’ in generating knowledge. It argues instead for theory and practice as interrelated discourses and art practice research as complex, dialogical and comprising a heterogeneous spatiality. Building on my own ‘writing//painting’ methodological approach which utilises l’écriture féminine, this article highlights the importance of the specificity of individual methodological approaches and the need for a more common framework of articulation so that these approaches are accessible throughout the wider sphere of Art and Design

Illegal Drug Use, Suicidal Ideation, and Attempted Suicide Among New York Adolescents

Suicide, ranked as one of the top five causes of death among adolescents, aged 15 to 19, claims numerous lives within the state of New York. Driven by the social cognitive theory, the objective of this quantitative cross-sectional study was to investigate the association among being offered, sold, or given illegal drugs, illegal drug use, being bullied, age, gender, ethnicity, suicidal ideation, and attempted suicide among adolescents in New York. The Centers for Disease Control 2015 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance data for 89,068 New York adolescents, Grades 9-12, were utilized in this study. There was increased risk of suicide ideation among those who were offered/sold/given drugs on school property (OR = 1.665), used heroin (OR = 2.735 - 4.186), Hispanic/Latino (OR = 1.466) or American Indian/Alaskan Native (OR = 1.802), aged 12 or younger (OR = 6.762), were bullied (OR = 2.728), and female (OR = 2.248). There was an increased risk of attempted suicide among those who were offered/sold/given drugs (OR = 1.578), currently used marijuana on a monthly basis or more (OR = 1.366-1.634), used heroin (OR = 5.023-20.267), aged 12 or younger (OR = 3.209), Black (OR = 1.443), Hispanics/Latino (OR = 1.976), American Indian/Alaskan Native (OR = 2.497), or of multiple races (OR = 2.121), were bullied (OR = 2.032) and female (OR = 1.822). These results served to support all the study\u27s alternative hypotheses and the theoretical foundation of this study, and were consistent with findings of previous research. This study has implications for positive social change: the results could be used by Public Health practitioners to affect adolescent suicidal ideation and potentially suicide with the possibility of reducing adolescent morbidity and mortality

Breaking Invisibility: Transforming Working Conditions of Adjunct Faculty in Technical Colleges through Critical Advocacy Inquiry

Known as invisible faculty, (Gappa & Leslie, 1993), adjunct or part-time, contingent instructors play a vital role in meeting the needs of two-year colleges. Adjunct faculty members teach over half of the United States\u27 historically underserved college students (Center for Community College Student Engagement [CCCSE], 2014), and are therefore vital to student and college success. Moreover, 58% of all South Carolinian undergraduates attend one of the 16 technical colleges in the South Carolina Technical College System (South Carolina Technical College System [SCTCS], 2016). Additionally, 60% of the faculty members in the SCTCS are adjunct instructors (SCTCS, 2017). Researchers claim adjunct faculty members have a negative impact on student success, such as retention and graduation rates (Jacoby, 2006; Kezar & Maxey, 2012; Ehrenberg & Zhang, 2005). However, studies do not take into account the kind of working conditions colleges provide for adjuncts, nor do studies provide a localized picture of how technical colleges can support adjuncts. (Baldwin & Wawrynski, 2011; Benjamin, 2002; Eagan & Jaegar, 2008, 2009; Eagan, Jaegar, & Grantham, 2015; Ehrenberg & Zhang, 2005; Jacoby, 2006; Jaegar & Eagan, 2011a, 2011b; Maxey & Kezar, 2015; Umbach, 2007b). As such, the purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the working conditions of adjunct faculty. I explored these working conditions from a Human Relations perspective. Thus, I looked to Kanter\u27s Structural Empowerment theory (1977, 1993) as a guide to understand how technical colleges support adjunct faculty and their work. Using critical advocacy methodology (Pasque & Carducci, 2015), a critical approach to action research, I interviewed 10 adjunct instructors who teach English in South Carolina technical colleges. I specifically invited adjuncts teaching English because English is a required, gateway course for most majors in South Carolina technical colleges and is transferable to four-year colleges in the state. Additionally, the majority of adjuncts across the nation teach English courses; as such, adjuncts from this discipline area teach a large population of two-year college students (Charlier & Williams, 2011; Lydic, 2011). This study confirmed Kanter\u27s argument that access to opportunity, resources, information, and support empowers employees, or adjunct faculty. However, findings indicated the type and quality of empowerment components provided by colleges did not always meet needs of adjuncts. Adjuncts noted that not only did they feel invisible at their colleges, but also felt their oppressive treatment remained invisible. Findings also indicated colleges could support adjunct faculty through quality access to resources and support on campus, by integrating adjunct faculty into the campus culture, and treating adjuncts with dignity in the workplace. Finally, this work offered a revised version of Kanter\u27s workplace model in which technical colleges and adjunct faculty could improve policies and practices related to adjunct working conditions

Effects of 2-Chloroethyl-phosphonic Acid (Ethephon) As a Male Gametocide for Induction of Sterility in Wheat and Barley

Exploitation of induced male sterility has now become a potential tool in plant breeding. Ethephon (2-chloroethyl-phosphonic acid) has induced male sterility in winter cultivars of wheat and barley. The purpose of this research was to further elucidate the response of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L. em Thell), and winter barley (Hordeum vulgate L.) to foliar application of ethephon. Ethephon was foliarly sprayed on winter cultivars of wheat and barley which were Arthur and Blueboy, and Barsoy and Volbar respectively, at 0.05, 0.10, and 0.20 and 0.40 percent active ingredient, when plants were in mid-boot and late boot stages in the field study at Knoxville, Tennessee. In the growth room wheat winter cultivars Arthur and Blueboy, and barley winter cultivars Keowee and Harrison were sprayed at 0.02 and 0.05 percent active ingredient at the late boot stage of development. The most effective level was 0.40 percent ethephon in mid-boot and late boot stages for both cultivars of wheat and barley in the field study. Concentration, replication, date, cultivar, date X concentration, date X cultivar, concentration X cultivar, date X concentration X cultivar effects were significant for all variables except seed weight, date headed, and date mature. No overall replication, date X concentration, date X cultivar, and concentration X cultivar effects occurred for seed weight. No overall date X concentration X cultivar effect occurred for date mature. Concentration and cultivar effects per plant were strongly and positively associated with induction of male sterility. Clearly female fertility was not impaired to any great extent from ethephon treatments from data obtained from open-pollinated spikes. Certain beneficial effects, such as reduced height and lodging, were accompanied by reduced yields. The successful utilization of this technique using ethephon in enhancing production of hybrid plants, however, depends on the economics of hybrid seed production. The results of this research project indicate the induction of male sterility with ethephon in wheat and barley appears feasible

Using Sentinel Species to Understand the Distribution, Fate and Effects of Perfluoroalkyl Acids in Wildlife

This dissertation addresses perfluoroalkyl acid (PFAA) profiles in American alligators, Mozambique tilapia, and Striped mullet in relation to various parameters including sex, season, disease (i.e. pansteatitis), and fecundity. This dissertation hypothesizes that PFAA are affected by sex, season, and health (pansteatitis), but conversely that PFAAs also affect health (fecundity). To address sex and season, PFAA levels were assessed in alligator plasma across Florida and South Carolina (n = 125, years 2012 - 2015) including an in depth look at alligators at Merritt Island (n = 229, years 2008 – 2009). At these sites, PFAAs revealed sex-based differences for a number of the PFAAs investigated but did not reveal seasonality in PFAAs in alligator plasma. To address the effect of health on PFAAs, a population of Mozambique tilapia affected by an environmentally-derived inflammatory disease (pansteatitis) were investigated. Contrary to our hypothesis that diseased tilapia would have higher levels of PFAAs, healthy tilapia maintained higher PFAA levels in the liver, kidney, and plasma compared to diseased tilapia (p-value \u3c 0.05), but despite being contrary to the hypothesis, results still suggests health status affects PFAA profile in tilapia. To address PFAA effect on health, PFAA levels and fecundity measures were investigated in wild-caught, Striped mullet liver from Merritt Island to further assess if the measured levels of PFAA could affect fecundity. Results revealed higher PFAA were not correlated to reduced fecundity. However, changes in stages of oocyte development correlated with changes in liver PFAAs. Of the PFAAs with significant changes by sub-stage, the carboxylic acids (PFOA, PFNA, and PFTRiA) increased in the liver with increasing sub- stage of oocyte development while the sulfonic acid and its precursor (PFOS and PFOSA, respectively) decreased in the liver with increasing stage of oocyte development. This is a unique finding and suggests PFAAs change location of compartmentalization as mullet progress towards spawning. This results also show that in addition to PFAAs changing with sex, and disease, PFAA profile in a wildlife species (striped mullet) also change with oocyte development during spawning. Overall, this dissertation determines that sex, health status, and reproductive status (oocyte development prior to spawning) are all factors that have the potential to influence PFAA profiles in a number of wildlife species