Networkout : artistic exploration of interactions in physical and virtual space

Thesis (S.B. in Art and Design)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2008.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 48-49) and index.As technology continues to advance, the boundary between virtual and physical living becomes less clear. This thesis aims to explore this boundary by examining it through the lenses of online social networking culture and gym culture. These two trends, one virtual and one physical, have several correlations. Both are user focused and provide the opportunity to create a representation of oneself. Each also has elements of voyeurism and surveillance, isolation and connection, and a sense of the collective. Through a series of interventions that address both cultures, I question our interaction with each, and the mediation of the two. The art work I have produced over the course of the semester is comprised of a series of projects that blend elements of online and gym culture, and question the motivations, behaviors, effects, and structures within each. The development of this work occurs from two directions - some are based in the gym and bring in ideas of online culture, while others are web-based and incorporate elements of gym culture. The series of projects is based on an experimental production process based on specific research. This process is comprised of my participation and observations within each culture, research investigating the various discourses relating to each, study of related artists and work, and iterative design, testing and critique of my own work. This series of short experiments culminate in two large scale public installations, which take place May 12, 2008 and May 15, 2008.by Lauren McCarthy.S.B.in Art and Desig

Transaction Costs: Prosecuting child trafficking for illegal adoption in Russia

As primary implementers of laws on human trafficking, law enforcement helps construct how these laws are understood and applied. This article examines how this process has unfolded in Russia by looking at the phenomenon of and debates surrounding child trafficking for illegal adoption. It argues that pre-existing experience with trafficking laws and cultural narratives surrounding adoption have led law enforcement to focus on uncovering evidence of monetary transactions rather than exploitation when prosecuting trafficking cases. This construction of the meaning of trafficking comes with important trade-offs. While the emphasis on transactions helps law enforcement to be successful at prosecuting cases involving selling children for illegal adoption, a focus on transactions rather than exploitation results in a de facto prosecution policy that ignores the many forms of exploitation that occur in other trafficking cases

Segregation of Palaemonid Shrimp Along the Shark River Estuary: Implications for Trophic Function

This study examined the abundance, distribution, and spatiotemporal variation of palaemonid shrimp species in relation to season and salinity in the Shark River Estuary, Everglades National Park (ENP), Florida, USA. Five palaemonid species occurred in the samples: Palaemonetes paludosus, P. pugio, P. intermedius, Palaemon floridanus, and Leander paulensis; L. paulensis was collected only during the wet season. Overall, shrimp catches in traps doubled in the dry season. Catches in the upper estuary were dominated by P. paludosus, particularly in the wet season, while catch per unit effort (CPUE) at the most downstream, highest salinity sites were dominated by Palaemon floridanus. At mid-estuary, several species co-occurred. To investigate spatiotemporal shifts in trophic position of the shrimp, stable-isotope analysis was used. δ15N analyses revealed most species filled similar roles in the community, with the exception of P. paludosus, which shifted from enrichment in the dry season to depletion in the wet season. Palaemonid δ13C values varied between sites and seasons, with shrimp in upstream sites being more depleted than downstream sites. These data suggest that changes in salinity regimes resulting from restoration may result in species replacement, with potential implications for trophic dynamics

Increasing uptake of influenza vaccine by pregnant women post H1N1 pandemic: a longitudinal study in Melbourne, Australia, 2010 to 2014

Background: A Melbourne (Australia) university affiliated, tertiary obstetric hospital provides lay and professional education about influenza vaccine in pregnancy annually each March, early in the local influenza season. Responding to a 2011 survey of new mothers' opinions, the hospital made influenza vaccine freely available in antenatal clinics from 2012. We wished to determine influenza vaccination uptake during pregnancy with these strategies 5 years after 2009 H1N1. Methods: Face to face interviews based on US Center for Disease Control and Prevention Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System with new mothers in postnatal wards each July, 2010 to 2014. We calculated recalled influenza vaccine uptake each year and assessed trends with chi square tests, and logistic regression. Results: We recorded 1086 interviews. Influenza vaccination during pregnancy increased by 6% per year (95% confidence interval 4 to 8%): from 29.6% in 2010 to 51.3% in 2014 (p < 0.001). Lack of discussion from maternity caregivers was a persistent reason for non-vaccination, recalled by 1 in 2 non-vaccinated women. Survey respondents preferred face to face consultations with doctors and midwives, internet and text messaging as information sources about influenza vaccination. Survey responses indicate messages about vaccine safety in pregnancy and infant benefits are increasingly being heeded. However, there was progressively lower awareness of maternal benefits of influenza vaccination, especially for women with risk factors for severe disease. Conclusions: We observed improving influenza vaccination during pregnancy. There is potential to integrate technology such as text message or internet with antenatal consultations to increase vaccination coverage further

The hegemony of men in global value chains:why it matters for labour governance

Substandard labour practices continue to be observed in global value chains (GVCs), even where there are strong legal frameworks and in those that engage with ethical accreditation schemes. We argue that this indicates a slow rate of progressive change in GVC labour governance, that is due in part to the lack of attention paid to the interplay of men, masculinities and GVC operation. We offer a reading of Jeff Hearn’s ‘hegemony of men’ framework as a means of showing and deconstructing men’s power within GVC labour standards and welfare programmes, to understand how particular forms of masculinity are reproduced to detrimental effect. Our critical review of the GVC literature emphasises the need to recognise how the social category of ‘men’ has both material and discursive effects on GVCs. We then present a research agenda that emphasises how an intersectional lens on the hegemony of men can surface how complexities of race, class, caste and other experiences of working in GVCs interact with dominant forms of masculinity. This would significantly enhance our understanding of how governance mechanisms might be better designed and operationalised in GVCs, for the betterment of all

Cities, The Sharing Economy and What's Next

This report seeks to provide an analysis of what is currently happening in American cities so that city leaders may better understand, encourage and regulate the growing sharing economy. Interviews were conducted with city officials on the impact of the sharing economy and related topics, and the report centers around five key themes: innovation, economic development, equity, safety and implementation.The sharing economy is also commonly referred to as collaborative consumption, the collaborative economy, or the peer-to-peer economy. This term refers to business models that enable providers and consumers to share resources and services, from housing to vehicles and more. These business models typically take the form of an online and/or application-based platform for business transactions

Organising CSR for gender equality: institutional work in the cocoa value chain

This thesis addresses the burgeoning practice of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes and policies that aim to promote gender equality in global value chains. It first presents a conceptual framework for studying gender change within CSR, conceptualising gender as an institution alongside the theory of institutional work. An embedded case study provides rich empirical data from 3 partnered organisations: a UK chocolate company, a UK NGO, and a Ghanaian cocoa supplier as well as 48 cocoa farmers. Drawing on data spanning 20 years, the study interrogates how gender is translated into ‘engendered’ CSR, and how understandings and experiences of gender may be altered by such practices. Actors across the three organisations engage in institutional work in an attempt to disrupt the institution of gender. Work includes ‘valorising’ the role of women in the value chain, and ‘legitimising’ this value through a business case. The case illustrates that whilst engendered CSR programmes are successful in securing some women positions of power, they do little to challenge pervasive inequality. Concurrently, actors engage in resistance to institutional work, effectively hindering change. Yet resistance is also productive through ‘questioning work’, leading into another cycle of change. These findings contribute to our knowledge on how organisational actors may disrupt or maintain institutions by describing the processes of institutional work, its unintended consequences and by highlighting the subjective nature of institutional success and failure. Furthermore, by drawing on Feminist Foucauldian notions of productive power, it is posited that the institutional work required for such ‘big-tent’ institutional change, such as gender, necessitates a closer look at the level of individuals’ sense of self, power and knowledge. Thus we are reminded that CSR, and the actors performing it, are bound up in much larger systems of power relations that are observable right down to individual thought

Constructing the Business Case for Gender and Development: Implications on NGO Identity and Legitimacy

Through a case study at Oxfam GB, a large NGO, this study explores the different strategies the organisation is adopting to promote women’s rights in the supply chain and considers the effects such strategies may have on NGOs' identity and legitimacy. Gender is the focus of this thesis since over 70% of the world’s poorest people are women and girls, a disproportionate figure caused largely by discrimination at all levels of society. Business has an enormous part to play in the livelihoods of poor women and girls across the globe. Despite this, corporate attention to the problem has been limited and inconsistent. As Oxfam GB embarks on a new strategy for engaging with corporations on the problem of gender inequality, using a business-case approach, the thesis explores the implications of such terms of reference on NGO identity and legitimacy. Using institutional and organisational theory the study demonstrates how CSR in the form of business/NGO engagement has the power to expand NGO identity and is a component of NGO legitimacy that must be carefully managed