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Quiscalus mexicanus vocalization pitch and traffic noise in breeding populations along the Cinta Costera highway and in downtown Gamboa, Panamá
Get PDFUrbanization is one of the fastest-growing threats to the biodiversity of the planet, but not all animals are extirpated by the drastic environmental changes of urbanization, and many are even able to thrive in urban landscapes. Behavioral flexibility is often cited as one reason that successful urban animals can so rapidly adapt to a foreign environment with novel stressors. A well-studied example of urban behavioral flexibility is urban-living birds singing with higher-frequency songs in areas with high levels of traffic noise. The present study investigated this trend in Quiscalus mexicanus, an icterid bird with a huge vocal range, highly sexually selective mating system, and behavioral flexibility, that has become abundant in the rapidly-expanding urban areas of Central America. The peak frequency and syllable count of two different call types were compared between a high-traffic area along the Cinta Costera highway in Panama City, and a low traffic area in the parks of the small, canal-zone town of Gamboa, Panama. One call type showed a significantly higher peak frequency in Panama City, while the other did not, likely be-cause it had a much higher default pitch to begin with. Syllable counts also differed significantly between the sites for both call types but were not consistent in direction of change. These results add a new species and geographical region to the growing literature of pitch up-shifting in urban living birds and provide one explanation for the urban success of Quiscalus mexicanus
La Radio es Más Fuerte que la Espada : La percepción de la eficacia de la radio comunitaria de Familiares y Amigos de Luciano Arruga en la visibilización del problema de la violencia institucional. / The Radio is Mightier than the Sword: The perception of efficiency of the community radio of Familiares y Amigos de Luciano Arruga in making visible the problem of institutional violence.
No full textEste trabajo investiga la percepción de la eficacia de las radios comunitarias en la visibilización de su lucha contra la violencia institucional. En particular, examina las percepciones de la eficacia que los miembros de la organización Familiares y Amigos de Luciano Arruga tienen sobre la radio comunitaria de su organización, Radio Zona Libre. A través de entrevistas semi-estructuradas y la investigación archivística, indagué como los objetivos de la organización y la radio han cambiado con el tiempo, y con esos cambios surgió un cambio posterior en los tipos de visibilidad que querían lograr y sus percepciones sobre el éxito que habían logrado al obtener esa visibilidad. En última instancia, aunque los miembros de la organización creen que han logrado éxito en la divulgación del caso de Luciano y en recuperar el exdestacamento donde Luciano fue torturado, reconocen que los problemas financiaros han obstaculizado su éxito en visibilizar su radio en su comunidad propia para que pueda empoderar los jóvenes y las familias de las víctimas de la violencia institucional.
This paper investigates the perception of efficiency of community radios in visibilizing the fight against institutional violence. In particular, it examines the perceptions that members of the organization Familiares y Amigos de Luciano Arruga have about their organization’s community radio, Radio Zona Libre. Through semi-structured interviews and archival research, I discovered how the goals of the organization and the radio have changed over time, and with those changes came a subsequent change in the types of visibility they wanted to achieve and their perceptions on how successful they had been in obtaining that visibility. Ultimately, although the members of the organization believe they have had success in publicizing Luciano’s case and taking back the police department where he was tortured, they recognize that financial problems have hampered their success in making their radio visible in their community so that it can empower young people and families of victims of institutional violence
Strategic Implications for the United States of the Belt and Road Initiative in Africa
Get PDFThe belt and road initiative is one of the most significant developments of the twenty-first century, which the United States will need to learn to adapt to. Much of the academic literature regarding the belt and road initiative mentions that Africa is a significant participant in this policy development, but fail to elaborate as to why that is, or what the implications for this are for the United States. This article expands upon the strategic significance of the African continent, and explains the implications thereof for the United States and China. This article argues that the belt and road initiative is not simply a financial endeavor, as Chinese leaders claim, nor is it simply an attempt to counter the geopolitical prowess of the United States, as critics argue. The reality is somewhere in-between. China stands to improve its internal stability through economic means from the initiative, and at the same time, seeks to secure access to trade routes, ports, and industries of strategic importance. This article argues that the United States should not reject the belt and road initiative outright, as it stands to benefit from many of the endeavors. Rather than aggressively countering and dismissing the belt and road initiative, the United States should provide a viable alternative to countries participating in the initiative so as not to lose access to points of strategic importance
A comparative study on Mental Health Knowledge Based on Socioeconomic Status in Kisumu Kenya 2019
Get PDFStudies show that people who live in rural Kenya have more positive attitudes toward mental illnesses than people in urban areas. They also had more mental health knowledge. One of the differentiating factors between the two environments is the socioeconomic status of those who live in each area. People in rural areas tend to be of lower socioeconomic status, while those living in urban areas tend to be of a higher socioeconomic status. I wanted to see if the previous findings would be observed if we were looking at people in the same area (strictly urban or rural) with the only difference being the income level. I found that there was no significant difference in stigma, satisfaction and knowledge scores between low and high SES participants. Despite this, there were differences in how each group defined mental illness. Further research needs to be conducted with a better study design to find more concrete results
The Relationship Between Forest Management and Stream Discharge in Mazumbai and Baga II Forest Reserves, Tanga Region, Tanzania
Get PDFDeforestation is known to alter hydrology by reducing interception, transpiration and infiltration capacity, and increasing runoff which all leads to higher stream discharge. For rural Tanzanian communities, surface water resources are crucial for meeting basic needs, so the integrity of headwater catchments need to be maintained to ensure their reliability. The objectives of this study were to a) map the streams in the two forests because none currently exist and b) determine the effect of deforestation on discharge variability. Over fifteen days of data collection, this study analyzed variability of discharge and the degree of correlation between discharge and rainfall on ten streams in Mazumbai and Baga II Forest Reserves in the West Usambara Mountains in Lushoto district, Tanzania which have different management practices and levels of forest integrity. This study found no significant difference in variability of discharge between the streams of the two forests and no significant correlation between rainfall and discharge for any stream. This is attributed to the low levels of wood extraction in the more disturbed Baga II Forest Reserve compared to the amount of deforestation typically required to significantly impact streamflow. Additionally, the methods for discharge measurement were not precise enough to accurately quantify discharge on the small streams, and the short timespan of the study did not allow for measurements to be made in both wet and dry seasons to capture the true extent of how variable in discharge the streams can be. Because of these findings, further studies are needed before recommendations can be made to the forest reserves on changes to make to ensure streamflow reliability
Leopards Are Good to Think With: Spotting the Zanzibar Leopard in Jozani Forest
Get PDFIn this project, the modern narrative of the Zanzibar leopard was studied in Jozani-Chwaka Bay National Park. Game cameras were installed and various locations around the national park to try and gather primary evidence that supported the existence of a leopard population in the forest. In addition, local community members were interviewed about recent leopard related activities. No biological evidence was gathered that supported the existence of the Zanzibar leopard and information collected from interviews indicated a potential shift in which other organisms are considered leopards. Recommendations were made for future research to be able to better understand the complex meaningfulness of the narrative of the Zanzibar leopard and how the narrative shifts over time
Understanding Residential Segregation: Community Relations and Marginalization for Migrants from South of the Sahara in Rabat, Morocco
Get PDFMigrants from South of the Sahara living in Rabat face violence as they attempt to navigate public space. The majority of these migrants live in the neighborhoods of Takkadoum and Yacoub al Mansour. Even within these two neighborhoods, migrants must manage and avoid racially motivated violence. This paper explores these two neighborhoods and the lives of migrants within these neighborhoods, how they find or create safe space, community relations between migrants and Moroccans, and their experience of segregation/separation. Understandings of defended neighborhoods and immigrant integration founded a theoretical basis for this paper, thus better exploring how migrants settle in new countries and what these settlements look like. These neighborhoods are unwelcoming and unsafe for Sub-Saharan migrants; the violence they face mirrors theories of defended neighborhoods, wherein the local population perceives a threat from an influx of migrants. The neighborhoods all vary in degree, but in each, migrants suffer the constant fear of violence in public spaces
Barriers Between Effective Transnational Changemaking: Relationships between INGOs and Moroccan NGOs
Get PDFThis paper seeks to explore the relationships held between international non-governmental organizations, primarily based in the West, and Moroccan NGOs. The existing literature on the topic explores the ways in which international NGOs can both benefit and harm domestic NGOs, which seek to fix issues not thoroughly addressed and solved by the state or by the market, such as issues of gender-based violence, female education, and lack of rural healthcare. The data gathered was organized into two types of relationships; financial and non-financial. Financial relationships between INGOs and NGOs were often depicted as crucial in enabling critical projects, such as the first women’s shelter in Morocco and supplying transportation to decrease dropout rates of female students in rural areas; however the fine print restrictions imposed often took away from the end goal. Non-financial relationships between INGOs and NGOs took many forms, and included INGOs with both field offices in Morocco and those without. The consensus drawn from non-financial collaborations was that Moroccan NGOs perceived these to be effective only with true and thorough collaboration, often depicting accounts of a horizontal relationship rather than the traditional power dynamic present in the literature. When INGOs did not have offices or staff in Morocco and made little attempts at horizontal or thorough collaboration, Moroccan NGOs tended to hold negative perceptions
Kasbah 3, Kais Saied, and The Construction of a Post-Revolutionary Political Paradigm in Tunisia
Get PDFKasbah 1 and Kasbah 2 – sit-ins resulting in the expulsion of old-regime ministers, the installation of a technocratic government, and the promise of elections – are generally regarded as two of the most important popular actions in the Tunisian Revolution. Left as a footnote to this history is Kasbah 3, a third sit-in widely considered to be a failed, radical movement corrosive to the successes of the Revolution. Eight years later, with the election of Kais Saied and the failure of the pre-revolutionary establishment Bourguibist movement, the spirit of Kasbah 3 appears to have returned. This paper seeks to demonstrate the importance of Kasbah 3 by tracing the politics which emerged from the sit-in and connecting them with the emerging movements that created the conditions for the victory of Tunisian President Kais Saied. The study consists of mostly reviews of primary source materials, an interview, and quantitative data from post-Revolution Tunisian elections. In discussing election results, the execution and criticisms of Kasbah 3, and the organizations and personalities that emerged from it, this study finds direct and indirect connections between Kais Saied and Kasbah 3. More importantly, it paints a picture of the rise of a politics, unspecific to Saied, designed to disrupt the remaining influences of the pre-Revolutionary status quo
Primates of the Padangtegal Monkey Forest: Aggressive, Submissive and Affiliative: Interactions between the Balinese Long-Tailed Macaques and Tourists
Get PDFBali is one of Indonesia’s seventeen thousand islands and it has become a major tourist destination for visitors from all over the world. One of the most sought after attractions are the various monkey forests on the island, and one of the most renowned is the Padangtegal Monkey Forest in Ubud. As someone who studies Biological Anthropology, I am fascinated by primates both human and non-human. Within the Ubud Monkey Forest these two species come into contact on a daily basis.
Ethnoprimatology is a growing study, and it refers to the “interconnections between human and nonhuman primates” (McCarthy et al. 2009). Most of these studies center around the genus Macaca. Their home ranges overlap with humans from South East Asia to Northern Africa and they are a common tourist attraction. However, unmanaged and unsafe close contact between humans and macaques can have extreme consequences for the health of both species. Macaques can transmit simian foamy virus, herpes B virus, among others. In turn, humans can transmit measles, influenza, and respiratory pathogens to macaques. There are also studies that suggest that human-macaque interactions can also lead to “heightened intragroup aggression macaques, injury, and missed or negative educational experiences for humans” (McCarthy et al. 2009). Yet these places are still so sought after. This forest offers a unique environment to explore the ways in which the macaques interact with the visitors. I wanted to develop a better understanding of Balinese Hinduism and its connection with monkeys. I also was interested in how these animals are managed, as well as the role they play in the tourism industry.
Understanding the methodologies used to conduct a field study are extremely important as they allow the reader to consider the validity of an argument as well as the ethics involved. I used ethnographic interviews, published literature, and behavioral observations to better understand the human-monkey interactions from a religious point of view and also that of a tourist. The specific methods I utilized will be extrapolated upon further in those sections.
Furthermore, this paper seeks to understand the relationship between macaques and humans in the Padangtegal Monkey Forest located in Ubud, Bali. I examine whether: 1) the rate of interactions between humans and monkeys was related to number of tourists in proximity to the feeding location; 2) the rate of interactions between monkeys and humans was related to the presence of certain age sex classifications of monkeys; 4) interactions were most commonly affiliative, submissive, or aggressive