Bandwagon of Development: Exploring the Impact of Celebrity Aid Initiative in Development Context in Somaliland.

Over the past decades, there has been a frontier open up in international development with the entrance of pop-up actors or new actors such as celebrity aid initiatives. Celebrities have been constantly involved in humanitarian and development work giving attention to humanitarian crises, poverty, human rights, diseases, and other emerging disasters in the world. Conflict-prone areas, particularly in Africa, caught celebrities' attention, bringing in divergent development strategies and complimenting or replacing traditional developmental actors. Against this background, my dissertation critically explores the role of a celebrity aid initiative in Somaliland by embarking on empirical research of the work of Jerome Jarre on the Love Army for Somalia to understand how this activity was conducted and how their beneficiaries view it. My research questions are: What is the impact of CAI on development in Somaliland? To what extent can celebrity aid projects enhance development in Somaliland? What is the level of local participation in celebrity aid projects in Somaliland? To what extent can CAI be considered a resource mobilization community development tool in Somaliland? And how can social media and ICTs be used in CAI resource mobilization? The literature on celebrity aid initiatives has focused on the debate on celebrities as ambassadors, celebrity humanitarianism, and some on how they are the legitimizing function of elite engagement between the North and South. Nevertheless, few are based on empirical research on how celebrity aid initiatives operate, how their beneficiaries view them, how celebrities have revolutionized ICTs, social media, and crowdfunding in resource mobilization, and the critical motivations of celebrities to start such initiatives. Hence my research addresses this gap. The findings show that the sustainability of celebrity aid relay on continuous donor engagement through social media and constant content creation. There is evidence that crowdfunding platforms are critical in resource mobilization for celebrity aid initiatives. The finding also shows that the success of celebrity aid initiatives relies on local participation in implementation and decision-making. Employing literature on celebrity humanitarianism as a theoretical lens, l believe that what motivates celebrities to start their initiatives to help people in humanitarian crises are the acts of global solidarity and the ability to show competence and relatedness

Public mirror: legitimizing 'social' photography as a contemporary discipline

With all the public information about any famous person, topic or event 'googleable’ on the Internet, there seems to be nothing new for 'digital natives’ to discover other than the elusive Self. The Self is the 'new frontier’ and the smartphone camera is at the forefront of this quest, unearthing and exhibiting different kinds of content everyday. With over 95 million photographs and videos shared on Instagram daily; Photography has merged with social networking sites and applications (SNS/A) to become a recognisable phenomenon called – 'Social’ Photography. Despite its rich association with legitimate visual art-forms and numerous scholarly articles examining it’s various forms – the term 'Social’ Photography is unfamiliar to most. This inquiry discusses 'Social’ Photography in relation to existing literature to argue for its establishment as a legitimate discipline within the Creative Arts. By acknowledging its subjectivity and utilization of digital technologies, this study employed an interpretive group of methods and identified six characteristics of 'Social’ Photography – namely, (i) Activity, (ii) Participation, (iii) Identity, (iv) Glamour, (v) Protest, and (vi) Spectacle – that exemplify its capacity to curate a meaningful democratic public image. These six aspects can be used to categorize and formalize individual behaviour that can be analysed and interpreted to foster a better understanding of 'Social’ Photography as a discipline

The developmental impacts of FIFA World Cups on BRICS nations

Thesis (M.A. (International Relations))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities, 2016.With sport becoming a worldwide phenomenon through the international nature of matches and events, International Relations (IR) academic writers have had to take note. States and cities are increasingly using major sporting events and activities to re-image themselves, promote development and regeneration. Therefore, this research report will highlight numerous connections sport and IR possess through examining the widely proclaimed developmental impacts of hosting a mega sporting event (MSE) such as the FIFA World Cup. The professionalization and resultant commodification of sporting events seen through the transnational actor FIFA and World Cups in South Africa 2010 and Brazil 2014 will be used as case studies. These chosen cases will illustrate that in reality the FIFA World Cup is not as beneficial for host nations from the emerging or developing world as claimed. The research will be theoretically based on the perspective of neoliberalism in relation to the IR concept of Globalization. Key Words Sport, International Relations, Globalization, Neoliberalism, Mega Sporting Events, FIFA, World Cup, DevelopmentGR 201

A cox proportional hazard model for mid-point imputed interval censored data

There has been an increasing interest in survival analysis with interval-censored data, where the event of interest (such as infection with a disease) is not observed exactly but only known to happen between two examination times. However, because so much research has been focused on right-censored data, so many statistical tests and techniques are available for right-censoring methods, hence interval-censoring methods are not as abundant as those for right-censored data. In this study, right-censoring methods are used to fit a proportional hazards model to some interval-censored data. Transformation of the interval-censored observations was done using a method called mid-point imputation, a method which assumes that an event occurs at some midpoint of its recorded interval. Results obtained gave conservative regression estimates but a comparison with the conventional methods showed that the estimates were not significantly different. However, the censoring mechanism and interval lengths should be given serious consideration before deciding on using mid-point imputation on interval-censored data

Efficacy of Breeding for Brown Spot Disease Resistance in Longleaf Pine

The study objective was to determine whether selection for brown spot disease (caused by Scirrhia acicola (Dearn.) Siggers) resistance in longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) is beneficial for areas where brown spot is not present. Two groups of selections, comprising those that performed (survival and growth) well in the presence of brown spot disease and those that performed well in its absence, were selected. These selections were made in tests planted on the Harrison Experimental Forest (HEF) in southeast Mississippi. Within selection groups, the selections were mated in a partial diallel and their progeny were planted in replicated tests on two sites at the HEF. At one site, all trees were sprayed with a fungicide to protect the trees from brown spot disease, while at the other site no protection was provided. Brown spot infection was assessed one year after planting, and survival and height were assessed at years 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7. Overall, survival was significantly lower and disease incidence higher at the unsprayed site. At 7 years, survival at the unsprayed site was 73% for families selected in the presence of brown spot and 59% for the families selected in the absence of brown spot. Brown spot infection was significantly lower in the families selected in the presence of brown spot when planted at the unsprayed site, indicating that selection for brown spot resistance was effective. At 7 years, families selected in the presence of brown spot were significantly taller at the unsprayed site, but were significantly shorter at the sprayed site. Thus, selection for brown spot resistance is beneficial for those areas where brown spot disease is present, but not for areas where brown spot is controlled or absent.Papers and abstracts from the 27th Southern Forest Tree Improvement Conference held at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma on June 24-27, 2003

Evaluation of Height as an Early Selection Criterion for Volume and Predictor of Site Index Gain in the Western Gulf

Data from repeated periodic measures of height, diameter and volume from eleven loblolly pine progeny tests maintained as part of the Western Gulf Forest Tree Improvement Program (WGFTIP) were analyzed to 1) determine the potential of using early height, diameter, or volume as selection criteria for rotation-age volume, and 2) to develop a method of expressing height performance as predicted change in site index. Using family means, few differences in family mean correlations existed between 5-year traits with volume at 15 or 20 years, but they were slightly higher for volume than the other two traits. Gain efficiency estimates for all three traits at age 5 were similar, suggesting that the traits were equally efficient in predicting rotation volume. However, at age ten, per-acre volume was the better predictor of per-acre volume at later ages. Predicted gains in breeding value for height, expressed as percent change in site index (SIBV), were estimated following published WGFTIP methodology for volume. Age specific site index equations and coefficient of genetic prediction (CGP) estimates for height were developed using the 15-year data from the eleven progeny tests. Estimates of CGP for height at ages 5 and 10 with height at age 15 were 0.55 and 0.61, respectively. Correlation between parental breeding values for volume production and site index breeding values were high (r=0.80). Predicted genetic gain for site index provides additional information for decision-making. Uses and limitations of this gain information are demonstrated.Papers and abstracts from the 27th Southern Forest Tree Improvement Conference held at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma on June 24-27, 2003