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Challenges and Opportunities of RMG Exports to Brazil
No full textThis presentation compiles information about the ready-made garment Industry in Brazil. In addition, it showcases an interpretation of an International Business point of view on challenges and opportunities faced by one of the biggest economies of South America and the world. The relationship between Brazil and Bangladesh, weaknesses on the economy of scale system, the taxation barriers, and recommendations on how to overcome challenges and build profitable businesses in this market are foremost topics. Within analytical details from official government sources, data on the chain of garments production (factor endowments) had a decrease in the initial textile industry but ultimately an increase in the garment industry. The research and its uniqueness helps potential investors and companies to understand the prospects of Brazil, as very little data on this subject is found online, especially in English, which often impedes the acknowledgement of the Brazilian economy’s capability
The Countdown: Racing Against Cancer
No full textThe ultimate constraint that we face in life is time. We are constantly trying to beat the clock and finish everything before the alarm goes off. In this creative non-fiction essay, I tell the story of Michael Fraser during his final months of life. A family man, Michael wanted nothing more than to watch his family grow; however, once he was diagnosed with sinonasal undifferentiated carcinoma, a rare form of cancer, his entire perspective was shifted. Yet, instead of choosing to feel sorry for himself, he chose to use any small victories that he could and keep on living until the very end. The purpose of this essay is to not only celebrate Michaels courageous journey, but to delve into the complex nature of cancer. By exploring the biology behind cancer, this essay grapples with cancer’s complexity and devastating beauty. This is not a story I ever thought I would be telling, but I am grateful to be given the ability to share it with others
Student Homelessness and Housing Insecurity at Thompson Rivers University: A Quantitative Study Focused on Housing Issues Among the TRU Student Body
No full textHomelessness and housing insecurity are issues that have been researched extensively regarding the general population and the K-12 student; however, these issues are under-researched regarding post-secondary students. The existing research includes studies mostly conducted in the United States with limited research being conducted in Europe; furthermore, the existing research has determined that student homelessness and housing insecurity negatively affect the outcomes of a student\u27s academic experience. These studies have concluded that student homelessness and housing insecurity are significant issues that require further research to develop new plans of action. In April of 2019, I began a quantitative research study focused on determining the prevalence of student homelessness and housing insecurity at TRU. As little was known related to the extent of these issues on the TRU campus, we decided that a straight-forward questionnaire with closed and open-ended questions was the appropriate method to obtain the information that we required. This presentation will briefly discuss some of the background on these issues and the existing research, will discuss the findings of the current research study, and will offer some analysis on the importance of the issue and the results of study
Examining Social Media Panel: The Role of Influencers in the Digital Era
No full textStudents from Dr. Blair McDonald\u27s CMNS 3210: Digital Communities, provide an in-depth examination of today\u27s leading social media influencers. As part of these presentations, students will discuss their impact, popularity and persuasive impact on a variety of audiences and demographics. Furthermore, students consider the ways in which these influencers play a role in re-shaping how contemporary audiences engage, follow and participate with media online outside of traditional, broadcast platforms
Overview of Technology Use Against Illegal Fishing Using AIS Data
No full textThis presentation explores the issue of illegal fishing under the scope of Social Network Analysis. Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing is a criminal industry estimated to account for over 10 billion dollars annually, and plays a large part in the excessive exploitation of fish stocks around the world. Research has been conducted on this matter, and researchers are now able to assess suspicious activity at sea by analyzing data from the Automatic Identification System (AIS) and cross-referencing that information with other sources, such as Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imaging. However, even with the success of these technologies culminating in vessel apprehensions by law enforcement agencies, the infrastructural impact this entails is dwarfed by the profits obtained from these activities. One of the factors contributing to the difficulty in end-point monitoring for marine products of illegal origins is the use of transshipment vessels. These collect products from both legal and illegal fishing vessels and transport it to ports with more lax regulations, where they can offload their untraceable cargo into mainstream markets and generate profits for the illegal organizations that coordinate these operations. This presentation proposes that we analyze the network of transshipment vessels in the ocean by visualizing it under the scope of Social Network Analysis. We create a social network graph from the vessels at sea, and define the connections between them according to encounters between these vessels. By visualizing the vessels in this manner, we can infer which are likely to be used for transshipment purposes. Determining these interactions between vessels could provide useful information to aid law enforcement efforts around the world in understanding the structure of the illegal organizations profiting off of these activities, and contribute to a data-driven approach in combating these operations worldwide
Boosters or Watchdogs? American Sports Journalists’ Perception of their Professional Roles
Get PDFIn the mid-nineteenth century, media generated sales based on their sports coverage, and sport grew in popularity, due to the media attention it received. This historically symbiotic relationship distinguishes sports journalism routines and practices from its news counterpart. Though David Weaver and his colleagues have conducted a national study of journalists’ perceptions of their roles and responsibilities since the 1980s, these studies did not isolate sports journalists. It is not clear how sports journalists perceive their roles, let alone if they align differently in Weaver and his colleagues’ measures of journalist role perception. The following study addresses this gap by using Weaver, Beam, Brownlee, Voakes, and Wilhoit’s 2007 measure of journalists’ role perception to survey 116 American sports journalists working for daily, weekly, and biweekly newspapers throughout the United States and to determine how their perception of their journalism roles differs from their “news” colleagues. This study also examines the relationship between newspaper circulation size and perceived journalism roles, as well as determines if characteristics, such as sex, race, circulation size, and years at current news organization, can predict sports journalists’ perception of their professional roles
The Contribution of Expert Coaches’ Experiential Knowledge in Understanding Punching Performance in Boxers
Get PDFTraditionally, the field of sports science has been interested in conducting research that is predominately quantitative in nature. Although this approach has provided significant findings, this has led to expert coaches’ experiential knowledge being neglected in favour of empirical knowledge. By investigating punching in boxing, we are interested in developing an understanding of whether elite coaches, through their experiential knowledge, intuitively identify key characteristics of effective punching as identified in controlled experimental research. For this purpose, five interviews were conducted with professional and amateur boxing coaches. From this qualitative approach it was evident that coaches’ knowledge was consistent with that of the empirical research on effective punching performance with four principal components emerging from the interview data. These included: 1) whole body movement, 2) footwork, 3) hip and shoulder rotation, and 4) hand and arm position. The data illuminated how coaches’ knowledge can be used to strengthen empirical findings in sports performance, in this case punching in boxing. Additionally, characteristics of performance that were discussed by coaches that were not identified in the empirical literature highlight directions for further research regarding effective punching technique, an area that requires further investigation before conclusive structures of good practice can be applied
Grizzly Bear Behavioural Changes in Response to Sudden Fish Decline in an Interior Salmon System
No full textLandlocked kokanee salmon are an important food source for grizzly bears in the Lardeau River Valley. A local bear-viewing company has been collecting citizen-science data on grizzly bear sightings since 2012. Following a catastrophic decline in kokanee numbers, bear activity in the valley has changed in space and time. In this study I combine kokanee enumeration data collected by the provincial government and bear sighting data collected by citizen scientists in order to evaluate the impacts of a changing salmon population on bear activity and behaviour. I found that, while grizzly bears have the dietary plasticity to change their habits in the short-term, their predator-prey relationship with salmon is important for continued success in the Lardeau River Valley. The results of this study are relevant given ongoing climate change and salmonid crashes within grizzly bear range
Mineral Precipitation Potential of Cave Bacteria and their Contribution to the Formation of Cave Speleothems
No full textTypically, caves are characterized by low organic carbon nutrients due to the absence of light and a high degree of oxidation due to water erosion and subsequent exposure to air (Northup & Lavoie, 2001; Ortiz et al., 2013; Barton et al., 2004). Due to the low levels of organic carbon, bacterial diversity is determined by the ability of each organism to specifically utilise the environmental conditions in that particular ecosystem. Limestone caves represent one such oligotrophic environment, including a high degree of oxygen, mild temperatures, high humidity, circumneutral pH and little-to-no exposure to sunlight (Ortiz et al., 2013). Speleothem (a secondary cave structure) composition was determined using inductively coupled plasma mass-spectrometry (ICP-MS) and provided a basis from which to develop precipitation media. To understand the role bacteria play in the formation of speleothems, we focused on microbiologically-induced carbonate precipitation, which is a form of biologically-induced mineralization (BIM), in the lab setting, whereby bacteria precipitate carbonate which coordinates with free calcium ions in the environment, thus producing calcium carbonate. In this study, bacterial isolates collected from ICC speleothems were tested for the presence of an integral MICP enzyme, urease. Urease positive (U+) isolates were grown on modified precipitation agar to provide ample time for crystal formation. U+ isolates produced crystals of varying structures and were imaged using a petrographic microscope. The next step is to grow U+ isolates in broth culture to understand the bacterial mechanisms of speleogenesis
Are Island Birds Giants? Testing Foster’s Rule Across All Passerines
No full textSpecies on isolated island systems often experience different environmental conditions compared to their counterparts on the mainland. These conditions can provide unique challenges and opportunities and the isolation can even lead to insular dwarfism in large animal species, and insular gigantism in small species – a process known as Foster’s rule. The goal of this study was to perform a large-scale analysis to determine if members of the order Passeriformes (perching birds) follow Foster’s rule, with island species exhibiting comparatively larger body sizes. Being one of the most diverse groups amongst vertebrates, passerines often also have high rates of dispersal and can be found on many unique island habitats. I analyzed the masses of over 5,000 extant species endemic to either islands or continental regions around the world. I then conducted phylogenetically-controlled analyses to account for shared ancestry and demonstrate clear support for Foster’s rule in passerines