From farmer to market : the rhetorical construction of farmers in the local food movement.

This Master’s Thesis explores the rhetoric of the local food movement, a so-called “lifestyle movement.” Though the movement for environmentally sustainable agriculture in America has its twentieth century roots in the late-1960s and 1970s Cultural Revolution, the interest in alternative food and farming practices has become widespread in the last decade. Within food movement scholarship, few studies consider the rhetorical construction of the farmer in contemporary American culture. My thesis examines the ways in which rhetorical constructions of farmers in contemporary food literature contribute to participation in the local food movement. More specifically, my thesis questions how rhetoric regarding small-scale sustainable and local farmers persuades consumers to buy locally-produced meat and vegetables. In addition to textual analysis, I examine three local sites situated in Louisville, Kentucky: Douglass Loop Farmers’ Market, Harvest restaurant, and Hillbilly Tea restaurant. I consider the ways these sites—and a recent Dodge Ram television commercial—draw from the trope of the farmer established in American literature and constitute what Jenny Edbauer terms “rhetorical ecologies” that contribute to social movement participation

The Movements and Reproductive Success of Re-introduced Darters in the Pigeon River, TN

The Pigeon River has a history of degraded water quality that lasted nearly seven decades, from 1908 until the 1970s, thereby resulting in the loss of many native species. In recent years, recovery efforts have been initiated by numerous agencies to re-introduce selected fish and other aquatic species. Three species of darters (gilt darter Percina evides, bluebreast darter Etheostoma camurum, and blueside darter E. jessiae) were re-introduced into the river in 2001-03; re-introduction of a fourth species, the stripetail darter (E. kennicotti) began in 2003. Since 2002, these species have been monitored by snorkel surveys for movements and reproductive success. In addition to the two release sites, 23 sites deemed suitable as potential darter habitat were identified between Newport and Denton, Tennessee. Eighteen sites were upstream of the release site for gilt darters and five sites were downstream. Snorkel surveys of 21 of these sites were conducted in the summer and fall of 2003; two sites were inaccessible due to high, fast water resulting from unusually high summer precipitation. Habitat characteristics were recorded at these sites to define preferred habitat of the darter species. The gilt darter was the only species observed during snorkel surveys in 2003 and they were found to have moved 0.3 km upstream and 3.7 km downstream from the release site. The movements of gilt darters could have been influenced by abundant precipitation. The presence of untagged adults, juveniles, and young-of-the-year (YOY) indicated successful reproduction. Long-term monitoring efforts will determine if reproductive success will be perpetuated

Back to the garden : place, nostalgia, and neoagrarian environmental rhetorics of community gardening

This dissertation presents rhetorical scholarship at the intersections of social movement participation and epistemologies of place. The study explores the relationship of rhetoric and group identification by examining the rhetorical dimensions of a site that has rarely been researched in rhetoric as a field: an urban community garden project. Using qualitative data from participant observations and semi-structured interviews, the analysis describes how people in one community conceive of their engagement across a spectrum of civic participation. In doing so, this research questions the complicated and sometimes problematic assumptions that structure people’s perceptions of what constitutes political action. It considers, for example, when and how people make connections between their everyday behaviors, such as gardening, and their politics. Community gardening and other iterations of contemporary local food movements are often criticized for their romantic, nostalgic, and overstated promises to mitigate environmental degradation and perceived deterioration of local communities. These movements’ rhetorics are commonly associated with the iconic and malleable trope of the yeoman farmer, an ideograph that has long been used by stakeholders from across the political spectrum. Do participants in contemporary food sovereignty movements feel persuaded to garden because of agrarian nostalgia? Do they see their participation as part of a broader, collective, potentially political movement, such as environmentalism? The data presented in this dissertation reveals that some participants in contemporary community garden projects are not motivated by identification with the visual rhetoric of the yeoman farmer or its political associations. Among other motivators, interviewees said that they began gardening during childhood and have continued to garden as adults. In short, for gardeners in this community, agrarian ideologies and political associations are not the primary motivators of their community membership. As a result, a politically ambivalent community coalesces at this community garden site.Englis

Growth and Immunocomptence in Parasitized Domestic Turkeys( Meleagris gallapavo): Is There a Trade-off?

Parasitic infection can prove to be detrimental to the condition, reproductive fitness, and survival of the host organism. During infection, an organism experiences trade-offs between functions such as growth, reproduction, and immunological activity as a result of limited resources. When challenged by infection, wild turkeys, adapted for survival, should fight the infection rather than invest in growth. Because domestic turkeys have been artificially selected to grow rapidly, I hypothesized that they would invest in growth rather than immunocompetence. To test this hypothesis, I infected domestic turkeys with coccidia and measured components of growth and immunocompetence. Turkeys were infected with the protozoan parasite Eimeria. Blood samples were collected prior to inoculation and both one and two weeks following inoculation. The weight and tarsus length of each turkey were also measured at the time of blood collection. Levels of plasma immunoglobulins were measured using agarose gel electrophoresis and digital densitometry. Domestic turkeys infected with coccidia experienced a trade-off between growth and immunoglobulin production, although not all individuals invested in growth. Studies such as this provide insight into how natural selection has molded the trade-off between growth and immunocompetence during infection

Expertise and the own-age bias in face recognition

Previous research has shown that we recognise faces similar in age to ourselves better than older or younger faces (e.g. Anastasi & Rhodes, 2006). The primary aim of this thesis was to investigate this phenomenon in young adults and children to gain further insight into the underlying perceptual, cognitive and/or social mechanisms involved in this apparent “own-age bias” (OAB) in face recognition. Chapter one confirmed that an OAB was present in both young adults and children, and the remaining chapters sought to address why this pattern may exist by drawing on the plethora of research into why a similar, potentially analogous bias occurs: the own-race bias (ORB). The ORB is the phenomenon that we are more accurate at recognising faces of our own race than those belonging to a different, less familiar race (see Meissner & Brigham, 2001 for review). Perhaps the best known explanation of the ORB is the Contact Hypothesis. This suggests that the own-race memory advantage is due to the fact that people tend to have more experience with faces from their own race and, as a direct result, develop greater expertise at recognising them (e.g. Chiroro & Valentine, 1995). The second chapter sought to investigate whether a similar explanation could be applied to the OAB, and found supporting evidence for this claim. The remaining studies examined what it is about contact with an age group that results in the superior recognition for faces of that age. By investigating perceptual expertise, social-categorisation and motivational explanations of the OAB, this thesis concluded that both quantity and quality of contact play an important role in the development of this bias. The findings of this thesis seem to be most consistent with a perceptual expertise account of the own-age bias in face recognition. However, it also seems likely that motivation to attend to faces (particularly with the goal of individuation) is likely to be a driving factor of this bias

Can Social Categorisation Elicit Own-Group Biases in Face Recognition

Previous research has demonstrated a number of own-group biases in face recognition. For example, people are better at recognising own-race compared to other-race faces (Meissner & Brigham, 2001); and own-age compared to other-age faces (Anastasi & Rhodes, 2012). However, exactly why these own-group biases occur is unclear. Perceptual expertise and social-cognitive accounts have been put forward in an attempt to explain these effects. The first suggests the own-group advantage arises from the relatively increased experience (and therefore expertise) we have differentiating own-group faces; while the second suggests these effects are simply the result of categorising a face as belonging to our ‘in’ or ‘out’ group. Two studies explored whether own-group biases can be brought about by mere categorisation at encoding. Participants were shown 40 facial images grouped according to in-/out-group status. Study One used University membership as the grouping variable; while Study Two grouped faces (and participants) according to their position on Brexit (i.e. as Leave or Remain supporters). Differences in accuracy for in- and out-group faces were investigated, alongside the influence of in-group affiliation strength. Results are discussed in terms of the perceptual expertise and social-cognitive explanations of own-group biases

Exploring charity sector wellbeing support for police

UK policing is undergoing an unprecedented period of radical change which is affecting the wellbeing of personnel. Government funding cuts have resulted in fewer officers at a time of increasing complex demand, and subsequently many are experiencing poor mental health due to their occupation. Welfare support is provided via a combination of public and voluntary sector services, but some police personnel experience barriers to accessing services via occupational health due to stigma and fear their fitness to practice may be questioned. Policing charities are required to fill this service gap, yet no published evidence exists on their role or efficacy. This project is gaining a broad understanding of the role of charities in police wellbeing via semi-structured interviews and a research workshop. Results show the variance of intervention types/distribution, key cross-sector issues, the implications of current trends for the sector, and general insight into voluntary-public sector collaboration