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A Voice but No Power: Organizing for Social Justice in Minneapolis
No full text"Since the Great Recession, even as protest and rebellion have occurred with growing frequency, many social justice organizers continue to displace as much as empower popular struggles for egalitarian and emancipatory change. David Forrest explains why this happens and explores how these organizers might better reach their potential as advocates for the abolition of exploitation, discrimination, and other unjust conditions"-
Mountain bike activity in natural areas: impacts, assessment and implications for management: a case study from John Forrest National Park, Western Australia
No full textAn exploratory literature review was conducted into the biophysical and social impacts of mountain biking in Australia and around the world. This review provided the basis for an impact assessment method that could be applied to mountain biking in natural areas. Mountain biking is increasing in popularity in Australia and this is adding to the demand for more space in natural areas for recreational activities (Goeft & Alder, 2001, Faulks, Richtie & Fluker 2007, Standing Committee on Recreation and Sport 2006, CALM 2007). Mountain biking can have negative impacts on the natural environment but the extent and significance of impacts is not fully understood (Goeft & Alder 2001, Chiu & Kriwoken 2003, Hasenhauer 2003, Sprung 2004, White, Waskey, Brodehl & Foti 2006). This situation constitutes a problem for managers as they need impact information to ensure mountain biking in natural areas is sustainable.
This report addresses mountain biking as a recreational activity by examining styles of riding and the corresponding demands of riders. It also identifies the major impacts of mountain biking and explores potential management techniques for developing sustainable mountain biking activities in natural areas. A method of assessing mountain biking impacts has been field-tested. The study was conducted in John Forrest National Park (JFNP), a popular recreation area in the Perth metropolitan area, Western Australia. Park rangers have previously identified areas in the Park where mountain bikers have created informal trail networks and technical trail features. Such findings are recognised to be having a negative impact on the Park. A GPS and GIS assessment method was field tested in JFNP to quantify this impact and proved to be useful in quantifying areas impacted by mountain bike activities
Hardy's rhetoric and reader response in Far from the madding crowd and Tess of the d'Urbervilles
No full textIncludes bibliographical references (leaves 203-207)This is a study of how insights into the process of reading can enhance our understanding of two novels by Thomas Hardy--Far from the Madding Crowd and Tess of the d'Urbervilles. The process of reading may be seen as a communications transaction which involves the reader, the text, and the author. From reader response criticism, we learn that both the reader and the text have dynamic roles in the process of reading a literary text. However, in attributing to the text an active role, reader response critics allow the writer to drop out of the literary transaction. A more likely explanation is that the ultimate director of response is the author, not the text. The author's control of reader response suggests that there is a rhetorical dimension to literature. Rhetoric involves conscious manipulation of language to achieve desired effects. Reader response criticism studies those effects from the reader's point of view, and rhetorical criticism enables us to study them from the author's point of view. Our response to a novel--Hardy's novels, for example--includes response to narrative and artistic devices and recognition of the author's rhetorical use of language and of fictional techniques. Thus, in Far from the Madding Crowd, humor--a standard narrative and fictional technique--also functions as a means of shaping our response to the narrator and to Gabriel Oak. In Tess, the narrator is much more than a fictional device for telling a story. He is a complex personality whose characteristics function rhetorically to control our response to Tess and to the other characters and to shape our understanding of the novel. ..
Cult: A Composite Novel
No full textCult (redacted)
The first component of the thesis is a composite novel called Cult which falls into two parts with seven narratives in each. Part 1 tracks the protagonist, Ellen, from her first involvement with the cult through to her eventually leaving it. Although fiction, the first half of the book answers the kinds of questions the author is asked when people discover that she was once a sannyasin (a follower of the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh). While the experiences of meditation, group therapy and communal living are all faithfully rendered within the stories, the need for strong characters, narrative drive and a lightness of touch takes precedence.
Part 2 picks up Ellen’s story some twenty or so years later and explores what becomes of her in middle age. It also looks at other groups in society, such as academia, the law and the internet dating community which each have their own jargon, hierarchies, rituals and rules but are not considered to be cults.
The book examines the question raised in the Epigraph, ‘how do we be together when we feel so alone’ with a focus on relationships other than the familial and the romantic.
Collisions, Chasms and Connections: a Performative Exploration of the Composite Novel Form
The second part of the thesis is both a critical and creative response to three contemporary American books: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout; A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan; and Legend of a Suicide by David Vann. The critical element comprises a close reading of the three books; a chronological reconstruction of their overarching storylines; and a consideration of what their authors have said about writing the books. It concludes that, in the composite novel, the simultaneous presentation of multiple views and storylines operate much like a 3D image to give the impression of depth to the characters and situations rendered. The creative element of the essay is a playful and personal response to the texts
Velvet/fracture: David Lynch, Clayton Eshleman, and the construction of the American underworld
No full textDue to the character of the original source materials and the nature of batch digitization, quality control issues may be present in this document. Please report any quality issues you encounter to [email protected], referencing the URI of the item.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 30-31).The dominant American myth of selfhood is the "Protestant English pioneer," the conquering hero that pulled in the reigns on natives and wilderness. However, this heroic selfhood comes at an astonishing price. The maintenance of this identity structure requires the inscription of strict boundaries around the self. Completion of the hero narrative requires not only a mastery of self, but also the reification of that mastery though the domination of the external world. The emergence of a counter myth might allow the cultivation of a fluid selfhood, freed from the heroic narrative's egocentrism and domination of self and other. David Lynch and Clayton Eshleman are attempting a revision of selfhood. If experience must again be widened, then both Lynch and Eshleman must peel back the veneer of Billboard America and pry, apart the old consciousness. Lynch and Eshleman seek to forge this new version of self in the smithy of an American underworld
Effects of ruminally undegradable intake protein on growth and peripuberal reproductive and metabolic parameters in male and female Brahman cattle
No full textVita.The effects of rations (fed at 1% of BW) containing highly degradable intake protein (DIP) vs rations with fishmeal (FM), a more undegradable intake protein (UIP), were studied. Thirty-nine Brahman bulls (301.7d; 202.7kg) were allotted to one of two treatments. The sources of protein were soybean meal (SBM) in Control (C) and fish meal in the FIS treatment. Bulls assigned to the FIS treatment had higher (p0.05) between treatments. The FIS-fed bulls had heavier (p0.05) epididymal sperm reserves. Sire and diet had significant (p0.05) BW (317[plus or minus]6 vs 306[plus or minus]7kg, respectively), but were heavier (p0.05) ovarian follicular population or volume..
Self-Concept Portrayed In The Main Character Of Winston Groom’s Forrest Gump Novel: Humanistic Psychological Approach
No full textThis study entitled Self-concept Portrayed in The Main Character of Winston Groom’s Forrest Gump novel: Humanistic Psychological Approach. The aims of this study was to analyse and describe the self-concept characteristics of main character in the novel of Forrest Gump by Winston Groom as the author addressed the reasons of raising the issue of self-concept. The type of this study was literary study. The type of data to be conducted this study consisted of two data sources. The primary data was the text from Winston Groom’s Forrest Gump novel. The secondary data to be used was collected from Psychology books, E-books, articles, E-thesis and reviews from internet. The conclusion of this study: firstly, the portrayal of self-concept characteristics in Forrest Gump as the main character of the novel. Secondly, Forrest Gump as the main character overcoming his problem in life applied the self-concept. Thirdly, the reasons why Winston Groom as the author addressed the issue of self-concept in life to be applied that people to be intuitive, open to new experiences, believe in oneself choices and stay optimistic in life
Emerging micro-pollutants pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) contamination concerns in aquatic organisms - LC/MS and GC/MS analysis
No full textOccurrence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) and other organic wastewater contaminants are reported in various environmental matrices. Non-regulated emerging contaminants PPCPs enter into aquatic systems through sewage/wastewater treatment plants after consumption and use by humans and animals. High-end analytical tools such as liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) are invariably used to examine PPCPs at sub-ng/g levels from air, waters, sediments, effluents, aquatic organisms and humans. Studies have indicated that some PPCPs are persistent and have bioaccumulation potential leading to ecological effects and sexual abnormalities in fish. Investigations reveal that PPCPs can biologically transform to breakdown products forming adducts suited for monitoring biomarkers of exposure. Several researchers have identified that PPCPs can impair swimming behavior in fathead minnow (Pimephale promelas) and interfere with thyroid axis in the zebra fish (Danio rerio). Thus, the presence of PPCPs in the environment justifies attention of regulatory authorities and health agencies to address the emerging concern issues requiring further investigation on their eco-toxicological effects and balances
Literary Studies : The Author Cat - Clemens's Life in Fiction
No full textA review of The Author Cat: Clemens's Life in Fiction by Forrest G. Robinson (Fordham UP, 2007).\ud
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Even at its most basic, guilt forms a counterweight to the hesitancy and unpleasantness of authorship, forcing writers back to the desk when they have come to despise their work. Guilt as task-master is familiar to most, even those to whom more elevated feelings, such as inspiration, make occasional visits. It seems that guilt is effective because writing is so seldom an organic or natural activity - rather, good writing emerges out of unhappy pressures that eventually overwhelm the writer's evasive strategies, from visits to the fridge door to the most sophisticated forms they take, such as when the author creates a narrative persona that claims to have owned up..
Effects of conventional or low bull to female ratio and utilization of reproductive tract scores in extensively-managed, natural mating breeding groups
No full textThe current study involved two experiments which were conducted at the Texas
A&M Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Uvalde (semi-arid environment)
from 2002 to 2004. In experiment one, Bonsmara bulls (n = 19; 20-24 mo of age) were
joined with multiparous, crossbred females (n =586) for 90 d in 2003 and 2004. Bulls
were allotted by selected physical traits, seminal traits, social rank, and serving capacity
to one of two bull to female ratio (BFR) treatments: Conventional (1:21-1:29; n = 6
pastures) or Low (1:47-1:52; n = 2 pastures) BFR. Pregnancy rate (P = 0.33), calving
rate (P = 0.26), and calving date (P = 0.22) did not differ between Conventional and Low
BFR treatments. Post-breeding evaluation of bulls in 2002 (n = 16) indicated that social
rank, but not seminal traits, was significantly correlated with pre-breeding values (P <
0.05). The current study demonstrates that Low BFR can be utilized in single- and multisire,
90-d breeding pastures of up to 2,090 ha without adversely affecting reproductive
performance.
In experiment two, yearling, one-half or three-quarter Bonsmara heifers (n = 106;
11-14 mo of age) were palpated per rectum and assigned a reproductive tract score (RTS)
immediately prior to the beginning of the breeding season. Reproductive performance was measured in their two subsequent breeding years in order to estimate the value of the
RTS system in extensively-managed, natural mating, 90-d breeding season programs.
RTS was positively correlated (p < 0.01) with frame score (r = 0.25), age (r = 0.31),
weaning weight (r = 0.47), and the weight of the heifer on the day of RTS exam (r =
0.56). The RTS means by dam parity also differed (P < 0.03). A lower (P < 0.01)
percentage of females conceived during each of their first two breeding seasons for
heifers of RTS 1 and 2 (65.2%) than for heifers of RTS 3, 4, and 5 (91.2%). Females
with a RTS of 1 had a lower pregnancy rate over each of their first two breeding seasons,
conceived later during their first breeding season, weaned lighter first calves, and
remained lighter each year for fall body weight and body condition score than did heifers
with RTS of 2 to 5 (P < 0.05). Collectively, the results of the current study indicate that
heifers with a RTS of 1 immediately prior to a 90-d breeding season should be culled.
Consideration should also be given to eliminating RTS 2 heifers, but further studies will
be needed to confirm the potential economic advantage of this practice
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