Self-mutilation, pathology, and performance : implications for art therapy

This research addresses the phenomenon of self-mutilation, as practiced by adolescents and adults living in contemporary Western society, as found in the imagery of clients in art therapy, and as performed by artists as part of their body of work. Literature on self-mutilation in the fields of psychiatry, psychology, and art therapy is compared to and contrasted with art historical literature on a selection of contemporary performance artists using self-mutilation in their work. The principle aim of this research is to examine the motivations and functions of self-mutilation performed in the contexts of pathology and of performance art. The subsidiary aim of this research is to investigate the relationship between the actor and the viewer, be it the performance artist and the audience, or the client and the therapist. This study uses a theoretical methodology in order to review divergent discourses on acts of self-mutilation performed within different contexts, in the hopes of finding interrelationships between them, thereby contributing to a new perspective on the subject relevant to the field of art therapy. Treatment implications for art therapists explored in this study include the way in which the art making process may aid in overcoming the obstacle of therapist counter-transference towards self-mutilating clients, and facilitate the resolution of unconsciously driven acting out behavior. The relationship between self-mutilation and ritual informs a discussion on the parallels between ritual space, contained within established cultural boundaries, and transitional space, contained within the art therapeutic frame, and how both offer conditions favorable for transformation

Factors driving Arabian gazelles (Gazella arabica) in Israel to extinction: time series analysis of population size and juvenile survival in an unexploited population

Wild populations of Arabian gazelles (Gazella arabica) were once common on the Arabian Peninsula, but today disappeared from large parts of their former range. In Israel only a small population of currently 30 individuals survived, although it was—and still is—well protected from illegal hunting and habitat destruction. In our study we aimed to identify the factors influencing the population growth of G. arabica in Israel over the last two decades (1995–2017). We tested the impact of five environmental variables including annual mean maximum temperature, rainfall, the availability of two major food plants, competition with sympatric dorcas gazelle (G. dorcas) and predation (mainly by wolves) on two dependent variables relating to population viability (population size, percentage fawn survival) using a retrospective time series analysis. After testing for autocorrelations, two generalized least squares (GLS) models with autocorrelations at 3 and 6 years [GLS-AR(3, 6)] were identified as the best models to explain environmental effects on populations size. Wolf encounter rate had a significant negative effect on G. arabica population size, while G. dorcas population size had a significant positive effect, suggesting that wolf predation shapes the population size of both gazelle species. For percentage fawn survival, model residuals did not reveal any significant autocorrelation and the best fit GLS-AR(0) model retained only wolf encounter rate and mean annual maximal temperature as significant predictors. This result suggests a strong impact of wolf predation and increasing temperatures on the fawn survival of Arabian gazelles. Changed rainfall patterns, food availability and competition between gazelle species had no impact on fawn survival

The conservation history of Arabian gazelles (Gazella arabica) in Israel — do fifty-five years monitoring help todefine future incentives

We aimed to review the population development and conservation history of Arabian gazelles (Gazella arabica acaciae) in Israel, to summarise conservation-related research and to provide future recommendations. 1. We researched published online material as well as files and archives of the Israel Nature and Park Authority, compiling old documents, field notes, numerous unpublished reports and photographs. 2. The population development-since monitoring started in 1964 is viewed in a historical context. The conservation history was critically revised and screened for the most eminent threats, including low fawn survival, high predation pressure, low genetic diversity (inbreeding), competition with dorcas gazelles (Gazella dorcas) and climate change. 3. We describe what conservation actions were implemented over a period of 30 years, the success and drawbacks of these measures, and what research projects were carried out to facilitate conservation. 4. Based on those results, we aimed to give future recommendations, delineating scenarios that might be useful to reverse the population decline, such as captive breeding and translocations, out-breeding, irrigation, water and food supply, predator control through fencing or culling and parasite surveillance. 5. Finally, we discussed the proposed capitulation, allowing the population to go extinct in the face of further emerging threats like climate change or disease outbreaks. We emphasise the importance of this population for the survival of the species in general, but also for the functional diversity of the hyper-arid desert ecosystem in the southern Negev

Early and late fawn mortality in a remnant population of Arabian gazelles (Gazella arabica)

The Arabian gazelle (Gazella arabica) population in Israel has experienced a turbulent conservation history and repeatedly faced local extinction. Low fawn survival was considered the main cause for the constant decline. In our study, we analyzed instantaneous fawn mortality rates, using a binomial coding at three different developmental stages, i.e., mortality rates to 3 months after parturition (weaning age), to 5 months after parturition (male fawns leave their mothers), and to the age of reproductive maturity, i.e., recruitment (12 months). We used a dataset obtained from 20 individually discernible mothers and their fawns (49 females and 48 males) born between June 2006 and September 2019. To explore causes for the fawn mortality rates, parental- (age of the mother at parturition) and offspring-related attributes (offspring sex), year of birth, together with one weather variable (mean monthly maximum temperature) were included as independent variables into three independent mixed effects cox regression models. Out of 97 fawns, 92 survived to weaning age, 73 to the age of 5 months and only 7 to the age of reproductive maturity. Temperature had significant effects on instantaneous fawn mortality rates, suggesting that low temperatures were detrimental to the survival of fawns after weaning (4–5 months) and male dispersal age (6–12 months). Male offspring encountered a higher instantaneous mortality rate than female offspring at the age of 6–12 months. Moreover, fawns from less experienced mother (young age at parturition) experienced higher mortality. Our results were in line with previous studies on fawn mortality observed in other desert dwelling ungulates

Linking event archives to news: a computational method for analyzing the gatekeeping process

Digital archives that document real-world events provide new opportunities for large-scale analyses of how news coverage represents reality. We present a method and open-source tool for linking event data to news articles, and demonstrate its application with an analysis of event and country level predictors of terrorism coverage in The Guardian from 2006 to 2018, using event data from the Global Terrorism Database (GTD). Our method builds on established techniques for calculating document similarity, and we propose a novel strategy for fine-tuning parameters of the event matching algorithm that requires no manual coding. An online appendix is provided that documents all code to replicate our analysis and reuse our tools

Deposition Of Some Radionuclides On Tropospheric Aerosols.

Ph.D.Public healthUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/183792/2/6412682.pd