12 research outputs found
Finding Hope on a Planet in Crisis: Combining Citizen Science and Tourism
No full textThis thesis is produced in conjunction with the documentary film Whale Chasers (a copy of this film is included in the back cover of this thesis). The film follows the progress of the annual Cook Strait Whale Project, a New Zealand-based citizen science project for conservation biology. The written thesis explores the origins, popularity and success of the contemporary citizen science movement, and its role in conservation biology and informal science education. It also explores the physical and mental health benefits of participation (a key component of the citizen science movement), and the potential for citizen science to inspire hope in times of ecological crisis. The new fields of hopeful tourism and positive psychology in tourism are then explored for their parallels with citizen science, with discussion of how the movements might be merged to create citizen science tourism experiences. A survey of local travellers and international tourists to New Zealand provides a complementary empirical investigation, assessing current interest and thus practical potential for citizen-science based tourism. This survey showed a strong desire among participants to be part of citizen science-ecotourism activities, and to increase their own wellbeing and that of the planet. With this in mind, and given the popularity of the Cook Strait Whale Project, the author recommends further exploration into how a thriving citizen-science industry might be built and maintained for long-term purpose of helping science, humans and the environment
Finding Hope on a Planet in Crisis: Combining Citizen Science and Tourism
No full textThis thesis is produced in conjunction with the documentary film Whale Chasers (a copy of this film is included in the back cover of this thesis). The film follows the progress of the annual Cook Strait Whale Project, a New Zealand-based citizen science project for conservation biology. The written thesis explores the origins, popularity and success of the contemporary citizen science movement, and its role in conservation biology and informal science education. It also explores the physical and mental health benefits of participation (a key component of the citizen science movement), and the potential for citizen science to inspire hope in times of ecological crisis. The new fields of hopeful tourism and positive psychology in tourism are then explored for their parallels with citizen science, with discussion of how the movements might be merged to create citizen science tourism experiences. A survey of local travellers and international tourists to New Zealand provides a complementary empirical investigation, assessing current interest and thus practical potential for citizen-science based tourism. This survey showed a strong desire among participants to be part of citizen science-ecotourism activities, and to increase their own wellbeing and that of the planet. With this in mind, and given the popularity of the Cook Strait Whale Project, the author recommends further exploration into how a thriving citizen-science industry might be built and maintained for long-term purpose of helping science, humans and the environment
Journaling memorable and meaningful tourism experiences: A strengths-based approach to technology-mediated reminiscence
No full textReminiscing on memorable travel experiences is a common practice amongst many travellers. This study introduces positive psychology interventions – cultivation of character strengths and savouring strategies - to examine memorable and meaningful tourism experiences (MMEs). Although both interventions aim to increase well-being, little research has been conducted on their roles in enriching MMEs. MMEs are fundamental to understand as part of the travel reminiscence process. MMEs could be heightened by connecting tourists’ past experiences with their character strengths (capacities for ways of behaving). Savouring, on the other hand, facilitates the connections to places. The reminiscence process helps tourists gain self-knowledge and make well-being oriented choices in their future journeys. In so doing, this research study created an interactive strengths-based journal that facilitated tourists to incorporate their character strengths in their past MMEs. The narratives were structured to connect explicit experiential components, such as tourism activities, with implicit psychological factors, such as emotions, character strengths, and values. Data collection involved ten tourists of diverse nationalities who created 51 MME narratives. Participants were then invited to savour their strengths used, reflect on their narratives, and express their behavioural intentions for their next trip. Data analysis, using grouped frequency distributions, found that MMEs were associated with the moderate strengths rather than the signature (prominent) strengths of the participants, such as curiosity and gratitude. Appreciation of beauty and excellence was the most dominant strength observed. The findings showed participants preferred their future journeys to be congruent with their character strengths. Theoretical and practical implications for tourist experience research are outlined.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Design Aesthetic
A családi vállalkozások pénzügyi sajátosságai (Specialities of Family Business Finances)
No full textA tanulmány a család és a vállalkozás pénzügyeinek kapcsolata, az utódlás finanszírozásának kérdései, a
pénzügyi menedzsment, a hitelfelvétel és eladósodottság, a tőke forrása, a családon kívüli tőkebevonás és
az eladás pénzügyi vonatkozásai mentén vizsgálja a családi vállalkozások pénzügyei sajátosságait. Ilyen
sajátosságok bőséggel vannak, a családi cégek a nem családiaktól számos vonásukban különböznek, még
pénzügyi tekintetben is egyedi jellemzőkkel bírnak. Ezek a pénzügyi ismérvek nem a szektorra jellemző
diszfunkcionalitások, hanem a családi cégek alapvető jellemzőiből fakadó üzleti viselkedésmódok. A szerző
jelen munkájában arra vállalkozik, hogy rávilágítson a családi vállalkozások pénzügyeinek ismérveire. ______ Family businesses play an important role in every economy
of the world’s countries and they differ from non-family
ones along several features. They have also unique
characteristics in their financial affairs. The author of this work undertakes to highlight that the characteristics of family business finances are not improper functionalities
of the sector but unique business behaviours of family
businesses stemming from their basic characteristics.
The study examines the peculiarities of family business
finances along the relationship of financial affairs
of the family and the business, the financial challenges
of succession, the financial management, the source of
the borrowing and the capital, the indebtedness and the
financial aspects of selling
Riots in West Papua: why Indonesia needs to answer for its broken promises
No full textLast weekend, the Indonesian police took 43 West Papuan students into custody for allegedly disrespecting the Indonesian flag during an independence day celebration (an allegation the students deny). Police stormed the students' dorm and used teargas to force them out, while bystanders and officers called them "monkeys", a derogatory term for ethnically Melanesian Papuans. West Papuans have long been cast by Indonesians as primitive people from the Stone Age, and this racist treatment continues to this day. West Papuan author Filep Karma described the extent of racism against West Papuans in his 2014 book, As If We Are Half-Animal: Indonesia's Racism in Papua Land, saying he often heard Indonesians call West Papuans monkeys. This latest episode of discrimination builds on more than five decades of racism, torture, summary executions, land dispossession and cultural denigration of West Papuans by Indonesian security forces
Protected area visitor data collection and management: Emerging issues and gaps in current Australian practices
No full textProtected area agencies are charged with the preservation, conservation and management of areas including wilderness, national parks and forests. These agencies are faced with increasing visitor numbers and decreasing budgets at a time where activities like tourism have to be managed alongside their traditional roles as natural resource managers. This paper reports on the outcomes of the first stage of a research project that seeks to guide a nationally consistent approach to visitor use data collection for protected area agencies. First, the paper provides a background literature review of approaches to visitor use data collection for protected area agencies. Second, the paper outlines the participatory action research approach used in the study where thirteen protected area agencies are collaborators in the research process. This approach ensures that the protected areas agencies data needs are central to the research outcomes and recognises the pragmatic organisational cultural issues associated with visitor data collection, management and use. The research process incorporates organisational networking at all levels from head office, regions, branches and individual parks involving management information systems, interviews, focus groups, presentations, briefings and follow-up contact. Third, the paper then presents the emergent themes that examine the issues and gaps in current visitor data collection, management and use systems. The paper concludes with discussion of the challenges to developing a national system of visitor data collection and use
Pilot Aquaponic Growing System of Carp (Cyprinus Carpio) and Basil (Ocimum Basilicum)
No full textAbstractThe aquaponic recirculating systems are integrated systems that combine fish and plant culture. These systems consist of two components: aquaculture and hydroponics components. In these systems the nutrients necessary for plant growth are resulted from the metabolism of food by the fish. This was obtained by recirculation of water, with a pump, from the fish tank to the hydroponic component and back to the fish tank. The experiment was conducted in the laboratory of Fisheries and Aquaculture of the Faculty of Animal Husbandry of University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest for 6 months. The system developed here, is a 1 m2 area of plant growth and 0.45 m3 of water in aquaculture component. In the hydroponic component river gravel was selected to support the plants and offer support for the growth and developing of nitrifying bacteria. The species cultivated were cultured carp (Cyprinus carpio) and basil (Ocimum basilicum). On average, there was obtained a quantity of about 1kg basil leaves in a period of 60 days of growth. It has been found that the species of plants grown in this system, namely basil (Ocimum basilicum) grown with carp (Cyprinus carpio), has a faster and better development compared to conventional growth. Use of basil as a purifying plant, resulted in the removal of nitrates, being not necessary to add additional water, as in classical recirculating systems, where is necessary to replace daily approx. 10% of the volume of the culture water being necessary to add into the system only water lost through evaporation. According to the results the basil is suitable for aquaponic system with carp culture. The basil was grown much better than the conventional cultivation
Transformative potential of events : the case of gay ski week in Queenstown, New Zealand
No full textPurpose – Previous research has explored a relatively narrow representation of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and queer (LGBTQ) community. Yet modern event attendees are part of a diverse niche group within the broader LGBTQ community. This group comprises a wide range of event attendees in search of more than sex, clubs and feather boas. This paper aims to report on empirical
research conducted in Queenstown, New Zealand, during the 2016 Gay Ski Week (GSW) and explores the transformative, inclusive potential of event places, social atmospheres and experiences. Design/methodology/approach – Ethnographic and autoethnographic research methods were used in this study for the exploration of transformative tourism experiences. Qualitative data were collected via in-depth interviews, observations and one of the author’s immersive experiences of the event. This author was able to bridge the divide between research and participant, contributing to a contextualised
understanding of various participants’ subjective realities. Findings – The paper reports on and discusses empirical findings, which are organised under the meta-themes of place and social atmosphere, attendee experiences, acceptance and inclusivity. Research limitations/implications – From these themes emerge a broader understanding of how LGBTQ tourism events can contribute to transformative, inclusive experiences. Originality/value – This paper explores the need for event managers to revisit and adapt to the demographic, motivational and behavioural characteristics of the modern gay event attendee. In particular, this paper discovers the motivations of Asian gay attendees as a marginalised community within a traditional LGBTQ event in a traditional heterosexual destination
Effect of type-1 diabetes mellitus on the regulation of insulin and endothelin-1 receptors in rat hearts
No full textThis project assesses the treatment role with insulin and (or) angiotensin II receptor subtype-1 (AT1-R) blocker (ARB) on insulin receptor and endothelin-1 receptor subtype (ETA-R and ETB-R) regulation in rat hearts suffering from insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). Animals were divided into 6 groups: groups 1, 3, and 5 were controls consisting of normal, diabetic (streptozotocin-treated, once at 0 time), and diabetic supplemented daily with insulin, respectively, whereas groups 2, 4, and 6 were the controls treated daily with losartan. One month after enrollment, rats were sacrificed and samples of cardiac tissue were snapped frozen for immunostaining and Western blotting. Insulin receptor density was observed to be upregulated in the cardiomyocytes of diabetic animals, but downregulated with insulin supplementation alone. Cotreatment with insulin and an ARB resulted in drastic increase in insulin-receptor density in the diabetic rats. In addition, expression of ETA-R in cardiomyocytes was upregulated and was consistently maintained within the various treatment modalities. However, ETB-R expression was significantly reduced in the diabetic group treated with both insulin and an ARB. The changes in the expression of the insulin, the ET A-RS, and the ETB-RS at the various sites of the myocardium and the effect of both insulin treatment and blockade of the AT 1-R explain the new benefits related to the halting of myocardial remodeling in IDDM rats. © 2007 NRC.Al Jaroudi WA, 2005, J HYPERTENS, V23, P381, DOI 10.1097-00004872-200502000-00021; CHANDRAMOULI V, 1975, DIABETES, V24, P257, DOI 10.2337-diabetes.24.3.257; Chen S, 2000, J MOL CELL CARDIOL, V32, P1621, DOI 10.1006-jmcc.2000.1197; De Mello WC, 2000, HYPERTENSION, V35, P1183; Dhein S, 2000, J PHARMACOL EXP THER, V293, P351; d'Uscio LV, 1998, HYPERTENSION, V31, P1305; Elbaz N, 2000, MOL ENDOCRINOL, V14, P795, DOI 10.1210-me.14.6.795; EMORI T, 1990, FEBS LETT, V263, P261, DOI 10.1016-0014-5793(90)81388-5; FILEP JG, 1992, EUR J PHARMACOL, V219, P343, DOI 10.1016-0014-2999(92)90318-X; Fiordaliso F, 2000, LAB INVEST, V80, P513; Folli F, 1999, EXP CLIN ENDOCR DIAB, V107, P133; Folli F, 1997, J CLIN INVEST, V100, P2158, DOI 10.1172-JCI119752; Fukuda G, 2005, DIABETES-METAB RES, V21, P367, DOI 10.1002-dmrr.527; FURCHGOTT RF, 1980, NATURE, V288, P373, DOI 10.1038-288373a0; Heller LJ, 1998, AM J PHYSIOL-REG I, V274, pR849; HIRATA Y, 1993, J CLIN INVEST, V91, P1367, DOI 10.1172-JCI116338; Honore JC, 2002, CLIN SCI, V103, p280S; Hopfner RL, 1999, EUR J PHARMACOL, V374, P221, DOI 10.1016-S0014-2999(99)00316-7; ITO H, 1993, J CLIN INVEST, V92, P398, DOI 10.1172-JCI116579; JIANG Yong, 1999, GUANGZHOU CHEM, V3, P48; Kakoki M, 1999, CIRCULATION, V99, P1242; Karam CN, 2005, ENDOTHELIUM-J ENDOTH, V12, P225, DOI 10.1080-10623320500476450; LIN YW, 1996, DIABETES S2, V45, pA48; Masaki T, 1998, CARDIOVASC RES, V39, P530, DOI 10.1016-S0008-6363(98)00153-9; Mitchell D, 2002, MICROVASC RES, V64, P179, DOI 10.1006-mvre.2002.2427; ONO K, 1994, NATURE, V370, P301, DOI 10.1038-370301a0; Park JY, 2000, DIABETES, V49, P1239, DOI 10.2337-diabetes.49.7.1239; PASSIER RCJJ, 1995, AM J PHYSIOL-HEART C, V269, pH1268; Russell FD, 2000, TRENDS PHARMACOL SCI, V21, P353, DOI 10.1016-S0165-6147(00)01524-8; Saito M, 2000, EUR J PHARMACOL, V387, P253, DOI 10.1016-S0014-2999(99)00753-0; SAKURAI T, 1992, BIOCHEM BIOPH RES CO, V186, P342, DOI 10.1016-S0006-291X(05)80813-7; Teerlink JR, 2002, J CARD FAIL, V8, pS494, DOI 10.1054-jcaf.2002.129288; Thomas GP, 1997, J PHYSIOL-LONDON, V503, P55, DOI 10.1111-j.1469-7793.1997.055bi.x; Velloso LA, 1996, P NATL ACAD SCI USA, V93, P12490, DOI 10.1073-pnas.93.22.12490; Vesci L, 1995, PHARMACOL RES, V32, P363, DOI 10.1016-S1043-6618(05)80041-6; Wang PH, 1999, ENDOCRINOLOGY, V140, P1141, DOI 10.1210-en.140.3.1141; Wendel-Wellner M, 2002, HISTOCHEM CELL BIOL, V118, P361, DOI 10.1007-s00418-002-0457-4; Zeng GY, 1996, J CLIN INVEST, V98, P894, DOI 10.1172-JCI11887122
