Understanding The Lived Experiences of Local Residents in Muskoka, Ontario: A Case Study on Cottaging

Muskoka, Ontario, Canada has been recognized as an environment that is appealing for tourism visitation, but more specially cottaging, due to its attractive natural landscape and amenities that are “normally associated with larger cities, while maintaining the lifestyle of a small community” (The District Municipality of Muskoka, 2014). Specifically, for four months of the year, 83, 203 seasonal residents outnumber their 59, 220 permanent counterparts, cultivating a variety of opportunities and challenges in the destination. This particular study, aims to look at tourism in Muskoka in regard to its enhancement of social, economic, and political assets in the destination, and how cottaging impacts the local community from the viewpoint of the permanent resident. Current issues and tensions that exist in Muskoka are drawn upon through secondary data analysis of media articles, government documents, opinion pieces, and 16 semi-structured interviews with local residents during the peak summer season, being July and August, of 2016. Through the methodological lens of critical theory, identifying binaries (Jaakson ,1986), the representation of place and place attachment (MacCannell, 1973; Buckley, 2005; Harrison, 2014), rural tourism advantages and disadvantages (Smith, 1989; Frederick, 1993; Marcouillier, 1997; Mitchell, 2013) and the environmental protection of amenity rich destinations (Jaakson, 1986; Buckley, 2005; Lagerqvist, 2014) are examined and discussed. Results from this study express that varying tensions exist in the destination around land use values, poverty, and class conflicts. However, a contrasting view also exists that acknowledges the economic importance of hosting such tourism in Muskoka, as well as the social benefits and positive influence of cottaging for the wellness for both local and visiting populations

The Russell Chantry Lothar Goetz / Duncan Grant

Catalogue published in connection with exhibition with the same title at the Collection Lincol

Analysis of process

Analysis of Process explores cross-disciplinary approaches to creative practice seen through theatre & film design, writing, curation, and fine art practices. Waddington Cultural Collective (WCC) members from different disciplines and areas of practice have worked together to explore their approaches to overlapping areas, or edges, of interest and enquiry. They have discussed the processes they use to develop creative ideas and produce work. A painter has worked with a writer; a theatrical model maker has worked with a sculptor and curator; and an installation artist has worked with a set designer. Each of these three groupings has documented a previous one-day exploratory meeting and these documents form the basis, the starting point, of their presentations on January 13th and the start of an Analysis of Creative Process Some key questions: Where is common ground found and where is difference? How is the process of developing ideas and making artefacts different in our disciplines and how does it pull us together? What, and how do we share? When we find overlaps between us how does this redefine our own work? How can we work together jointly in the development of creative outcomes and why would we want to do that? Why are there seemingly artificial boundaries constructed around different creative disciplines? The participating audience is central to the afternoon’s open discussion that will be led by invited critical friends Emma Cocker (Reader in Fine Art) and Michael Eaton (award winning dramatist). We hope the audience will delve, dig and unpick the morning’s presentations. The purpose of this session is not primarily to find answers but to explore all reaches and tributaries of the creative process and practice to see beyond disciplines often spuriously located in watertight compartments

Multi-messenger observations of a binary neutron star merger

On 2017 August 17 a binary neutron star coalescence candidate (later designated GW170817) with merger time 12:41:04 UTC was observed through gravitational waves by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. The Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor independently detected a gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) with a time delay of ~1.7 s with respect to the merger time. From the gravitational-wave signal, the source was initially localized to a sky region of 31 deg2 at a luminosity distance of 40+8-8 Mpc and with component masses consistent with neutron stars. The component masses were later measured to be in the range 0.86 to 2.26 Mo. An extensive observing campaign was launched across the electromagnetic spectrum leading to the discovery of a bright optical transient (SSS17a, now with the IAU identification of AT 2017gfo) in NGC 4993 (at ~40 Mpc) less than 11 hours after the merger by the One- Meter, Two Hemisphere (1M2H) team using the 1 m Swope Telescope. The optical transient was independently detected by multiple teams within an hour. Subsequent observations targeted the object and its environment. Early ultraviolet observations revealed a blue transient that faded within 48 hours. Optical and infrared observations showed a redward evolution over ~10 days. Following early non-detections, X-ray and radio emission were discovered at the transient’s position ~9 and ~16 days, respectively, after the merger. Both the X-ray and radio emission likely arise from a physical process that is distinct from the one that generates the UV/optical/near-infrared emission. No ultra-high-energy gamma-rays and no neutrino candidates consistent with the source were found in follow-up searches. These observations support the hypothesis that GW170817 was produced by the merger of two neutron stars in NGC4993 followed by a short gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) and a kilonova/macronova powered by the radioactive decay of r-process nuclei synthesized in the ejecta

Southern African Large Telescope Spectroscopy of BL Lacs for the CTA project

In the last two decades, very-high-energy gamma-ray astronomy has reached maturity: over 200 sources have been detected, both Galactic and extragalactic, by ground-based experiments. At present, Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) make up about 40% of the more than 200 sources detected at very high energies with ground-based telescopes, the majority of which are blazars, i.e. their jets are closely aligned with the line of sight to Earth and three quarters of which are classified as high-frequency peaked BL Lac objects. One challenge to studies of the cosmological evolution of BL Lacs is the difficulty of obtaining redshifts from their nearly featureless, continuum-dominated spectra. It is expected that a significant fraction of the AGN to be detected with the future Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) observatory will have no spectroscopic redshifts, compromising the reliability of BL Lac population studies, particularly of their cosmic evolution. We started an effort in 2019 to measure the redshifts of a large fraction of the AGN that are likely to be detected with CTA, using the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT). In this contribution, we present two results from an on-going SALT program focused on the determination of BL Lac object redshifts that will be relevant for the CTA observatory

San Luis housing : Prototypical cabin

Back, left side, and right side elevations; 2 floors Elevaciones del lado de atrás, lado izquierdo, y lado derecho; 2 pisoshttps://digitalcommons.usf.edu/sustainable_futures/1295/thumbnail.jp

San Luis housing : Site selection

Poster illustrating the issues involved in creating housing communities that also allow for biological corridors and sustainable community living. Cartel illustrando los temas involucrados en crear comunidades de viviendas que también permitan corredores biológicos y vida comunal sostenible.https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/sustainable_futures/1286/thumbnail.jp

San Luis housing : Prototypical housing I

A technical drawing depicting a prototypical house, including a cross section, longitudinal section, floor plan, the front elevation, left side elevation and right side elevation. Un dibujo técnico representando una casa prototípica, incluyendo una sección transversal, la sección longitudinal, plano del piso, la elevación delantera, elevación del lado izquierdo y elevación del lado derecho.https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/sustainable_futures/1293/thumbnail.jp

San Luis housing : Individual housing development

A hand rendering of an individual housing development for San Luis. Six images of the area are included. Una representació a mano del desarrollo de una vivienda individual para San Luis. Estan incluidos 6 imágenes del area.https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/sustainable_futures/1290/thumbnail.jp