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Live and dead coral cover on three reefs and public perceptions of degradation around Almirante Bay, Bocas del Toro
Get PDFAlmirante Bay is a lagoonal body of water off the western Caribbean coast of Panama. The islands within the bay are popular tourist destinations, drawing visitors from around the world to explore beaches and coral reefs. However, the reefs in Almirante Bay are continually exposed to both natural and anthropogenic stressors, such as temperature inversions, boat pollution, sedimentation from dredging, and chemical runoff from coastal banana plantations. Because the economy of the area is heavily dependent on tourism, this creates an interesting dynamic in that the main source of income (tourism) could be detrimental to a main attraction of the area (coral reefs). In order to grasp this dynamic as well as to determine the condition of coral reefs in Almirante Bay, three reefs (Hospital Point, Coral Cay, and Piña Cay) were studied and twenty people were interviewed. Using a 1x1 m quadrat with crosshairs, a total of 135 m2 was studied across the three sites, which varied in proximity to the heavily trafficked Colon Island as well as in level of use by tourists. Ten local people and ten tourists participated in unstructured interviews in order to gauge general perceptions and knowledge of coral reefs between the two groups. The study found that live hard coral cover was significantly higher at a slightly impacted site than it was at a moderately impacted, heavily trafficked site. While no statistical significance was found regarding the differences in dead coral cover between the sites, the location closest to Colon Island featured diseased massive starlet coral (Siderastrea siderea) as well as the largest percentage of dead coral cover among the three sites. Interviews with locals and tourists showed that 60% of respondents believed corals in Almirante Bay to be in poor condition for various reasons such as boat traffic and trash deposition, while just 50% of respondents were able to correctly identify live versus dead hard coral in photographs. In order to effectively plan for the future of the region—both environmental and touristic—further research should involve long-term monitoring of numerous coral reefs in the bay as well as an increased number of interviews to evaluate the ever-changing levels of public understanding
Demise From Within: Factionalism in Maoist Parliamentary Politics in Nepal
Get PDFOver the last decade, the Communist Party of NepalMaoists Center (CPNMaoist Center) has suffered from fragmentation. Currently led by Prime Minister and chairman Prachanda, tensions within the CPNMaoist Center have resulted in former CPNMaoist Center chairman Mohan Baidya splitting with the party in 2012, followed by former Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai in 2015. Prachanda, Baidya and Bhattarai, who are credited for igniting the Maoist People’s War (19962006), now lead three separate political factions within parliament. Standard explanations for the splits point to ideological differences as the basis of the splits, due to the CPNMaoist Center’s history of factionalism along ideological lines. This study investigates the conditions which led to the splits between Maoist War leaders Prachanda, Bhattarai and Baidya, examining the extent of which these splits are a product of ideological differences
Multi-Sector Analysis of the Progress and Challenges of Soil-Transmitted Helminth Eradication in Rural Udaipur
Get PDFIndia is home to 240 million children currently at risk of Soil-Transmitted Helminthiasis, which is spread via unclean water, soil, and food, and causes acute pain and malnutrition. While acknowledging the research debates over WASH and mass drug administration, this study seeks to identify the systemic multidisciplinary issues affecting STH elimination efforts in rural Udaipur. Twenty-three interviews were conducted in villages, government departments, NGOs, and medical sectors to identify the challenges within each approach to deworming, and their experiences with multi-sectoral collaboration. The most recurring issues across disciplines were need for invested local leadership, increase in health literacy of adults, and coordination between NGO and government. Specifically there is a need for consistent communication and reporting between government health and education departments. The results of this study and further research hope to make deworming treatment and prevention more comprehensive and efficient so that India might achieve the WHO goal of eliminating STH-related mortality by 2020
The Transgender Community in Bangalore: Health Issues and Factors Negatively Affecting Outcomes
Get PDFDespite their long history in India, transgenders continue being pushed aside depriving them of their basic needs, human rights, and their right to health. The present study aims to discuss the current health issues and factors affecting the health outcomes of the transgender community. This was accomplished through an investigation of social, economical, and political exclusions and behavioral patterns impacting and affecting health outcomes in the transgender (TG) community. The study was completed in Bangalore, Karnataka under the guidance of Swatantra, a rights-based organization seeking to empower the transgender working-class through the access to rights, education, employment, family acceptance, and leadership. In order to gain a further understanding on the transgenders conditions, interviews conducted sought to cover all stakeholders’ perspectives including transgenders, NGO representatives, and medical professionals. It was found that health outcomes in the community are strongly influenced by external internal factors. Patterns of social, economical, and political exclusion negative affected transgenders increasing their vulnerability and thus increasing health risks that consequently affected their health outcomes
A Racism Without Race: A Moroccan Case Study of Race Denial
Get PDFThis article aims to articulate the ways in which race and race relations are conceptualized in Morocco. Using the concept of racialized discourse as the preconceptual theoretical field for race and racist expressions, the author analyzes the different converging factors which influence the performance of “Moroccan-ness” and how subjectivity can be influenced by a State-driven communal linguistic episteme. Through its insistent hyper-nationalist campaigns, the Moroccan State has deployed racist expressions as a means of face-keeping and sociopolitical management, which have become naturalized through its reproduction in individual subjectivity and interpellation. However, from the independent research conducted by the author, the result of the State’s manifestation of racialized discourse in which Moroccans lack the linguistic tools to conceptualize race, unless devoid of its preconceptual elements of domination and exploitation, and thus they reduce racism to mere (racial) differentiation
Breast is Best: Determinants of Breastfeeding in Bali
Get PDFBreastfeeding greatly benefits the health of newborns, providing them with needed antibodies and protection from numerous diseases, including some of the leading causes of infant mortality. This paper explores breastfeeding practices in Bali, and the wide array of factors that have led to these practices. After discussing how breastfeeding fits into the larger context of maternal and newborn health, I explain factors in Bali that affect a woman’s decision to breastfeed and experience while breastfeeding. Determinants include those related to health, financial position, and social status. I explore the history of formula companies and formula as an alternative to breastmilk, as well as current laws in Indonesia related to breastfeeding. I conclude with the areas of greatest potential to improve breastfeeding rates in Bali, as well as the strengths of breastfeeding in Bali that can serve as an example for the rest of the world
En toma. Desesperanza aprendida: El rol de la memoria colectiva en los movimientos estudiantiles. / Occupation. Learned Despair: The role of collective memory in the students’ movements.
Get PDF¿Cuál es el rol de la memoria colectiva en la lucha para un sistema educativo de igualdad hoy en día? Este estudio investiga el Liceo de la Aplicación, una escuela en toma que podría servir como un microcosmo para los movimientos estudiantiles más grandes en el año 2016. La investigación trata conectar las razones para la toma a la historia de Chile, que tiene una historia profunda que incluye la dictadura y varios movimientos estudiantiles del 2006 y 2011. Al fin, esta investigación, junto con un video, demuestra el poder de la memoria colectiva no sólo en los movimientos estudiantiles actuales, sino también en la formación de una identidad crítica y poderosa de los estudiantes involucrados hoy en día
Producing Knowledge: The Social Made Visible in the Division of Environmental Biology of the National Science Foundation
Get PDFThis inquiry explores how knowledge is produced in the Division of Environmental Biology (DEB) of the National Science Foundation. Beginning from a poststructuralist understanding of science as firmly embedded in the unequal relations of society, this study sought to examine how the policies and procedures of funding research proposals in DEB influence and are influenced by those relations. Using an institutional ethnography approach to analysis, data were collected from analyzing publicly available texts from the division, NSF, Congress, the Office of Management and Budget, and the research community. The analysis demonstrates how the activities of DEB could maintain or exacerbate inequality in the absence of critical engagement with the ruling relations present in the Division\u27s processes. The inquiry suggests opportunities for federal funders of science to ensure their work is oriented toward confronting inequality and creating social justice
Tracking the Elephant (Lexodonta Africana) Corridor and the Human-‐Wildlife Conflict in Esilalei Village, A Continuation Study
Get PDFElephants are threatened and their habitat, wildlife corridors and overall space to roam is diminishing due to an increasing human population. As more and more space is being utilized for human development, it has begun to interfere with existing migratory corridors. This is a problem because elephants tend to destroy farmlands on their route, destroying villagers’ livelihoods, and also on occasion, may kill or hurt humans. As a result, there is a human elephant conflict. This study focused on human elephant conflict in Esilalei as well as GPS mapping evidence of elephant migration along the projected corridor between Lake Manyara National Park and Manyara Ranch, and from Tarangire National Park to Manyara Ranch, sometimes passing through Esilalei before traveling to the Losimangori Mountains. In the village of Esilalei, 40 interviews were conducted with Maasai warriors and babas. The findings of these interviews reflected an ongoing human elephant conflict, and the leading conflict that most villagers had with elephants was crop-‐ raiding. Opportunistic interviews were also conducted during tracking with farmers, pastoralists, rangers and one key informant interview at Manyara Ranch. With the help of an expert, evidence of elephant presence was found and marked using a GPS to attempt to construct a corridor. Findings can conclude that elephants do travel to Manyara Ranch, both from Lake Manyara and Tarangire National Parks. There was an abundance of evidence found leading from Manyara Ranch and Esilalei area to the Losimangori Mountains. Interviews confirmed that elephants travel outside of protected areas or National Parks during the rainy, or wet, season. The goal of our study is to complete mapping the corridor and find the direction of travel within the iv Tarangire-‐Manyara ecosystem. In the future, we hope our findings will be of assistance to help conserve this migratory route and species, but more importantly, we hope our study can serve as a little piece in the much bigger puzzle that is: human elephant conflict
Effect of Varied Disturbance Types on Dorylus (Anomma) molestus Defensive Behavior in the West Usumbara Mountains, Tanzania.
Get PDFThe purpose of this study was to observe novel nest characteristics of Dorylus molestus (Siafu), as well as their defensive behavior in response to varied disturbance methods. The number of defensive soldiers at a specific section of a column was counted before and after each agitation. Varied agitation methods were used on columns without larvae presence to test how soldiers responded to different disturbance types. Disturbances on columns with larvae presence were compared to those on columns without larvae. Nest distribution, behavior, composition, and size were observed objectively. Mechanical disturbance was found to incite the greatest increase in defensive soldier presence. Columns with larvae presence had a greater increase in soldier presence than columns without larvae present. Nests were largest in areas with the greatest protection and cover, and were found most commonly in areas of fragmentation. The ants possess complicated modes of communication through chemical reception, and are able to relay specific reactions to each other in response to varied types of agitation. Also, this species possesses a key role in the balance of the ecosystem, specifically with prey populations. The importance of Siafu behaviors in conjunction with the rapidly changing ecology of the region could have serious implications for agricultural practices and prey population dynamics