Respect for Grizzly Bears: An Aboriginal Approach for Co-existence and Resilience

Aboriginal peoples’ respect for grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) is widely acknowledged, but rarely explored, in wildlife management discourse in northern Canada. Practices of respect expressed toward bears were observed and grouped into four categories: terminology, stories, reciprocity, and ritual. In the southwest Yukon, practices in all four categories form a coherent qualitative resource management system that may enhance the resilience of the bear-human system as a whole. This system also demonstrates the possibility of a previously unrecognized human role in maintaining productive riparian ecosystems and salmon runs, potentially providing a range of valued social-ecological outcomes. Practices of respect hold promise for new strategies to manage bear-human interactions, but such successful systems may be irreducibly small scale and place based

Science for Place-based Socioecological Management: Lessons from the Maya Forest (Chiapas and Petén)

The role humans should play in conservation is a pervasive issue of debate in environmental thinking. Two long-established poles of this debate can be identified on a preservation-sustainable use continuum. At one extreme are use bans and natural science-based, top-down management for preservation. At the other extreme is community-based, multidisciplinary management for sustainable resource use and livelihoods. In this paper, we discuss and illustrate how these two strategies have competed and conflicted in conservation initiatives in the Maya forest (MF) of the Middle Usumacinta River watershed (Guatemala and Mexico). We further argue that both extremes have produced unconvincing results in terms of the region’s sustainability. An alternative consists of sustainability initiatives based on place-based and integrated-knowledge approaches. These approaches imply a flexible combination of disciplines and types of knowledge in the context of nature-human interactions occurring in a place. They can be operationalized within the framework of sustainability science in three steps: 1) characterize the contextual circumstances that are most relevant for sustainability in a place; 2) identify the disciplines and knowledge(s) that need to be combined to appropriately address these contextual circumstances; and 3) decide how these disciplines and knowledge can be effectively combined and integrated. Epistemological flexibility in the design of analytic and implementation frameworks is key. Place-based and integrative-knowledge approaches strive to deal with local context and complexity, including that of human individuals and cultures. The success of any sustainability initiative will ultimately depend on its structural coupling with the context in which it is applied

How can a multimodal approach to primate communication help us understand the evolution of communication?

Scientists studying the communication of non-human animals are often aiming to better understand the evolution of human communication, including human language. Some scientists take a phylogenetic perspective, where the goal is to trace the evolutionary history of communicative traits, while others take a functional perspective, where the goal is to understand the selection pressures underpinning specific traits. Both perspectives are necessary to fully understand the evolution of communication, but it is important to understand how the two perspectives differ and what they can and cannot tell us. Here, we suggest that integrating phylogenetic and functional questions can be fruitful in better understanding the evolution of communication. We also suggest that adopting a multimodal approach to communication might help to integrate phylogenetic and functional questions, and provide an interesting avenue for research into language evolution

Future Security for Iraq

Streaming audio requires RealPlayer.The University Archives has determined that this item is of continuing value to OSU's history.Walter B. Slocombe was, from May to November 2003, Senior Advisor and Director for Security Affairs (National Security and Defense) in the Coalition Provisional Authority for Iraq. Following his return from Iraq, he returned to his position as a partner at the Washington, DC, law firm of Caplin & Drysdale, Chartered, from which he was on leave during his service. At CPA, he supervised the program for creating a new Iraqi Army and for planning the new armed forces of the country, assisted in the coordination of other programs to establish new or reformed security services for Iraq, oversaw the program for paying interim stipends to former Iraqi military personnel, and advised the Iraqi interim authorities on setting up national security institutions and procedures suitable for the new Iraq.Ohio State University. Mershon Center for International Security Studiesweb page announcement, streaming audio, photo

Playing Games with Technology: Fictions of Science in the Civilization Series

This article investigates the ways in which the history of technology has been modeled in “4X strategy” games, especially in a series called Civilization (which comprises six games and expansions introduced from 1991 to 2016). Although there have been various studies interrogating the ideological biases in strategy games’ modeling of civilization and society, to date there has only been partial exploration of the ideological biases within their models of technological and scientific development involving “technology trees.” Moving from discrete analysis of individual instances of technology trees within strategy games, the aim of this article is to demonstrate not only the fundamental issues behind the notion of these trees in all of the Civilization games, but also to demonstrate ways in which they can reveal particular historicized perceptions of technologies over the period they were developed. This investigation furthermore reveals that many players of the games may bring assumptions embedded in their sense of the history of technology, and that these present a particular problem for those who might uncritically accept the games’ underlying axioms

Transitions in the Elder: Changes when Entering a Long-Term Care Setting

The transition to a long-term care facility may be traumatic for elders and result in decreased quality of life as well as a multitude of other changes including role and routine changes. Occupational therapy for residents in long-term care (LTC) facilities is typically focused on rehabilitation, because insurance companies will not reimburse occupational therapy for assistance with adjustments. The objective of this study was to deter-mine the relationships between quality of life and roles and routines during the transition to LTC. The researcher qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed the results of a Hyland rating scale of Global Quality of Life as well as the Occupational Circumstances Assessment Interview and Rating Scale (OCAIRS). The study was inclusive of 12 elders aged 60 or over who had entered one of two skilled nursing facilities within the past year and who were judged by the referring staff member to have the cognitive ability to remember life prior to their transition to LTC. Participants reported a statistically significant change in mean quality of life based on two administrations of the Global Quality of Life scale, one for prior to entering the facility and one for current quality of life. The researcher analyzed this using a Wilcoxon signed rank test with a Z score of -2.034. A Spearman\u27s rho correlation revealed significant correlations between current quality of life and the OCAIRS sections of habits (r = 0.608) and skills (r = 0.661). Other variables had relationships with current quality of life that were not statistically significant given the small sample size. Other areas considered in more detail include social environment, roles, goals, and interpretation of past experiences. Participants lost an average of 1.2 roles through the transition. Considerable additional research is needed to further address the relationship between quality of life and roles and routines and to assist occupational therapists in understanding how to best advocate for and serve clients during the transition into LTC

Investigations into the links between the generation of X-rays in X-ray Computed Tomography and shifts in extracted areal surface texture parameters

The discovery of X-rays revolutionised medical imaging, never before had a technique offered a method of non-invasively imaging the human body. X-ray computed tomography (XCT) built on this, allowing not only the imaging but the reconstruction of a scanned object into a 3D volume to be realised. For both fields the primary use in the formative years was medical imaging, for which the technologies were uniquely suited. Both however were also adopted as means of non-destructive evaluation (NDE) for engineering applications. This largely occurred for the same reasons the technologies thrived in the medical field. X-rays can be used to image the internal structure of objects without line of sight, due to their penetrative capabilities. Both X-ray imaging and XCT are however not without drawback. Most obviously X-rays are a form of ionising radiation, this was unknown in the early years of using X-rays as a medical imaging tool and led to significant numbers of illness and fatality amongst the early pioneers. Another issue highlighted by early research into X-rays and XCT was the low resolution and long processing times. Whilst between the first X-ray to the first use of XCT these had both improved, the issues remain prevelant. Today XCT has been adopted into a wide range of industrial engineering disciplines, including porosity analysis and metrology. Current research in these fields works to develop specialist methods and parameters to further advance XCT’s usefulness as a tool for the non-destructive analysis. The use of XCT in fields such as metrology, has led to the need to establish traceability and an understanding of error sources in XCT. Traceability is the ability to trace measurements taken back to a pre-existing standard. For most metrology applications this standard is the meter. Current research has highlighted that extracted areal surface texture parameters show a level of variation not seen in other measurement methods.This thesis investigates how instability in several key processes of the generation of X-rays may propagate through to extracted areal surface texture parameters taken using XCT. The filament is a key component in the generation of X-rays and a consumable that requires changing on a semi-regular basis to ensure continued function of the XCT. Responsible for the emission of electrons that are used to generate X-rays it is superheated to allow for thermionic emission to occur, this causes its degradation over time. Theoretically as the cross-sectional area of a part emitting electrons is altered so with the electron beam emitted. This is investigated with several studies assessing if a pattern could be established between the filament’s age and extracted parameter results. It is shown that no pattern could be established though variation in extracted surface parameters is seen throughout the filament’s life, with larger jumps present if the filament is changed.The changing of a filament is a procedure after which the machine requires refocusing, this process is investigated, and it is shown that by refocusing the machine without changing the filament a similar variation to that noted after a filament change is achieved. To quantify this a method of measuring the focal spot of a XCT is required, several methods were considered and one selected as a base from which a novel method was developed. The novel method was developed to allow for the measurement of the focal spot alongside a surface artefact. The method proved viable returning data in line with literature and existing methods. The thesis presents work showing the development of this method and its application in measuring both the machine’s focal spot and a surface artefact simultaneously. Measured focal spot diameter is shown to shift and links to the variation noted in areal surface texture parameters are presented.The work shown in this thesis was carried out to investigate how variables inherent to XCT propagate into extracted areal surface texture parameters, the methods developed are applicable to any cone beam XCT with little alteration. Results presented show that users of cone beam XCT should take into consideration the effects of variation in the XCT process when performing non-destructive evaluation. The work also highlights the need for further work in developing XCT for surface metrology

The Perceptions of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Full-Time Seminary Teachers Regarding the Inclusion of Students with Disabilities

Efforts to formally educate students with special needs have been ongoing for over 50 years in the United States. Teachers are on the front line of the work to include students with disabilities. Previous research indicates a correlation between the attitudes of teachers and successful inclusion of students with disabilities. Two-hundred and fifty-one full-time released-time seminary teachers for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Seminaries and Institutes of Religion (S&I, formerly the Church Education System or CES) in Utah responded to a questionnaire regarding their attitudes toward including students with disabilities in their classrooms. Selected personal and professional characteristics were correlated with these attitudes and perceptions. Results indicate that most teachers feel they understand the concept of inclusion, have had positive experiences teaching students with disabilities, and are willing to include students with all types of disabilities, even multiple disabilities, yet teachers also feel that they lack confidence in the skills to include students with disabilities successfully. Results also show that teachers are in need of and are willing to participate in professional development regarding best inclusionary practices. Many teachers reported that they were unaware of policies that deal with adapted programs for seminaries, and that they were not secure in their abilities to adapt curriculum for students with disabilities that are mainstreamed into their traditional classrooms