775 research outputs found
Transboundary threats in the Mekong basin: protecting a crucial fishery
Get PDFThis repository item contains a single issue of Issues in Brief, a series of policy briefs that began publishing in 2008 by the Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future.In this Issues in Brief, Pardee Center Visiting Research Fellow Irit Altman looks at the impacts that dams in the upper Mekong River basin have on the critically important fishery in Cambodia’s Tonle Sap, the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia. Altman explores how development of dams, in combination with a failure of regional governance, has threatened the ecological sustainability of the lake and its watershed, and the livelihoods of people in the region. She identifies strategies to enhance the resilience of the Tonle Sap fishery and improve the lives of people who are connected to this unique ecosystem.
Irit Altman is a Pardee Center Visiting Research Fellow and Research Assistant Professor of Biology at Boston University. A marine and freshwater ecologist, she works with an interdisciplinary research team to develop ecosystem models that integrate scientific knowledge and inform decision-making. She has extensive experience working with field experts and decision makers in Cambodia to understand system change and explore sustainability options in the Tonle Sap ecosystem
Mapping Ecosystem Service Flows in Cambodia\u27s Great Lake Tonle Sap: Data and Knowledge Integration to Understand Fish Production and Biodiversity in Southeast Asia\u27s Most Important Freshwater Ecosystem
No full textMarine and freshwater ecosystem-based management is an integrated approach that requires understanding how key spatial and temporal linkages support flows of ecosystem services (i.e., the benefits that human\u27s derive from the natural world) across a relevant geography. While there currently exists much research on mapping single system features or processes in aquatic environments (e.g. bathymetry, sediments, biogenic habitat), identifying connections across data layers to explore the origins and flow of ecosystem services (e.g., maintenance of natural species\u27 communities, delivery of economic opportunities, access to food and nutrition resources) is less often pursued due to challenges of uncertainty, multiple scales, and the need for cross-disciplinary thinking. At the same time, it is just this type of integrated thinking and analysis that is needed to support sustainable decision making in aquatic systems where the goal is to protect, maintain, and restore ecosystem integrity over the longterm.
In this talk, I present a conceptual and analytical approach for linking various types of spatial and temporal data within an ecosystem service modeling framework. The approach has been applied to marine and freshwater case studies in Belize, Massachusetts, and Cambodia and in each system our team has integrated across informational sources including remotely sensed imagery, seafloor mapping, regional- and local-scale monitoring data, and expert knowledge. I will focus most closely on the ongoing integrated modeling work for Cambodia\u27s Great Lake Tonle Sap. Often called the, \u27beating heart of Cambodia,\u27 Lake Tonle Sap is fed by the seasonal monsoons of the Mekong Basin and exhibits an annual flood cycle that increases the inundated lake by six-fold (from 2,500-15,000 km2). This \u27flood pulse\u27 is a predictable feature of the ecosystem and contributes to high levels of biological productivity and diversity. Specifically, the Lake in the primary contributor to Cambodia\u27s inland fish catch which has been estimated at 230-360 thousand tons in recent years. Furthermore, the lake and surrounding watershed are known to support diversity of fish (\u3e400 species) and tetrapods, of which ~20% experience some level of threat. Our work is integrating a variety of data on this system including digital elevation maps, hydrological time series, remotely sensed landuse/landcover (LULC), and expert knowledge on suitable habitat for different species. Using rules about flooding and LULC, we predict the availability of important fish and tetrapod habitat under different management scenarios and explore changes in relative production of these groups. Changes in ecosystem services are considered in the context of the health and wellbeing of human populations that live on and around the Great Lake.
Presenter Bio
Irit Altman is a Research Scientist at Boston University with expertise in community ecology, ecological parasitology, ecosystem service modeling, and ecosystem-based management. She received her Ph.D. in 2010 from the University of New Hampshire where her research focused on understanding patterns of marine trematode parasite communities at multiple spatial scales. With an extensive background in marine field studies, Irit has been working most recently with a team of researchers to develop models of ecosystem service flows that support sustainable decision making. Ecosystem service models provide a platform for data integration, hypothesis development, decision support, and stakeholder engagement and can support adaptive management over the longterm
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No Apparent Reason
No full textThis paper discusses five works the author created and the thought process that went into the creation of these works. Helen Altman discusses the fascination with temporary or process pieces and the use of commonplace materials to depict a message
The world of Robert Altman : Auteur, Innovator and Iconoclast
No full textFilmmaker Ron Mann’s recent documentary Altman (2014), features interviews with various notable filmmakers and actors who worked with Robert Altman over the years. Mann said that people who come to see his documentary “just to see Bob’s films” then he has done his job. Mann also more poignantly said that
“Altman was America’s greatest filmmaker and that his work matters more than ever now because it stands in contrast to all the sequels that Hollywood makes to sell lunch boxes”. (Gilbey, 2015)1
This quote encapsulates what Robert Altman stood for as a film director in that it illustrates his innovative approaches to filmmaking, his maverick tendencies and individuality. His vision, creativity and independence are a testament to his influential legacy which continues to inspire film makers today. Author keywords: Altman, film noir, satire, anti-western, ensemble, mystery, Hollywood and Studio Syste
Posthumous Queer: Hemingway Among Others
No full textChallenges the common assumption that posthumous texts introducing unconventional sexual themes like The Garden of Eden have more authority than previously published works by the same author. Altman concludes that it is a mistake to use the novel’s manuscript to debunk earlier Hemingway scholarship regarding gender and sexuality
Beyond closing the gap: valuing diversity in Indigenous Australia
Get PDFIn his Apology speech the Prime Minister attempted to balance the symbolic with the practical while emphasising that ‘business as usual’ is not working. Ultimately though, the \u27Closing the Gap\u27 approach is business as usual that fails to value Indigenous difference and fails to accommodate Indigenous aspirations in all their diversity. Unless we get beyond CTG, the next phase in Indigenous policy making and program investments is as ‘destined to fail’ as previous approaches. This paper advocates for the pendulum to swing back, to accommodate and value diversity and difference rather than just statistical equality. In doing so, the author provides some reflexive comment as an academic on these policy swings. In 2005, Tim Rowse and Jon Altman wrote a piece on Indigenous policy that contrasted the contending approaches of economics and anthropology to Indigenous affairs policy: the first emphasising equality of socioeconomic outcomes, the second the facilitation of choice and self-determination. The former implies integration, the latter adherence to different and diverse life worlds. Over time, the author has used economics and official statistics to highlight socioeconomic disadvantage and neglect, while at the same time using anthropology to critique any approach that uses mainstream social indicators that only reflect the dominant society’s social norms. This paper will continue in the same vein using a dual disciplinary approach. However, without being over-reflexive, as an anthropologist of development he is clearly uncomfortable with the current dominance of the \u27Closing the Gap\u27 framework. This paper was presented at the Centre for Public Policy\u27s \u27Values & Public Policy\u27 conference in February 2009. Jon Altman is Professor and the inaugural Director of the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research established in 1990. He is currently researching Indigenous development and economic hybridity as ARC Australian Professorial Fellow. 
Trematode parasites of the mudsnail Ilyanassa obsoleta: An analysis of parasite communities at different scales
Get PDFThis research examines the ecological factors that shape trematode parasite communities of mudsnail Ilyanassa obsoleta at three different spatial scales. Nine species of trematode which obligately infect I. obsoleta during larval stages but use numerous estuarine species as second intermediate and definitive hosts are considered. The work provides the most geographically extensive examination to date of this trematode parasite community.
At the broadest scale, I. obsoleta trematodes were examined across their distributional range (Chapter 2) which includes both native and introduced populations. The results demonstrate that introduced trematode communities are characterized by lower abundance and diversity compared to native communities and therefore conform to the pattern predicted by the enemy release hypothesis. The ecological factors that contribute to the establishment of specific L. obsoleta trematodes in the introduced range are considered.
A regional scale analysis of I. obsoleta trematode communities is presented in Chapter 3. Trematode abundance and diversity along with a wide variety of biological, chemical, and physical factors was examined at fifteen salt marsh sites located throughout northern New England, USA. Although the abundance of numerous hosts were measured as part of this work, variables found to be most strongly correlated with trematode abundance and diversity at sites (revealed through multiple regression analysis) were of physical and chemical origin including sediment nitrogen, roads, trace metals and the distance of sites from the ocean. The results are explored in the context of a variety of candidate mechanisms.
Chapter 4 focuses on I. obsoleta trematodes at a local scale within a single salt marsh site. The work examines intra- and inter-annual patterns of trematode infection in snails associated with four distinct salt marsh habitat types. Experiments were conducted to assess the importance of key processes in determining infection patterns including acquisition of infection by I. obsoleta, mortality, movement, and demographics of the snail hosts. Results indicate that patterns of infection among the salt marsh habitats are subject to strong shifts over time. Changing demographics and snail movement (but not infection input) are likely to be the strongest factors contributing to changing infection patterns across habitats in this system
Time to organize the bioinformatics resourceome
Get PDFThe initial steps toward a bioinformatics resourceome are
clear. First, an overall ontology with the high-level concepts
(algorithms, databases, organizations, papers, people, etc.)
must be created, with a set of standard attributes and a
standard set of relations between these concepts (e.g., people
publish papers, papers describe algorithms or databases,
organizations house people, etc.). The initial ontology should
be compact and built for distributed collaborative extension.
Second, a mechanism for people to extend this ontology with
subconcepts in order to describe their own resources should
be designed. The precise location of a tool within a taxonomy
is not critical—the author will place it somewhere based on
the location of similar/competing resources or based on a
best-informed guess. Others may create links to the resource
from other appropriate locations in the taxonomy in order to
ensure that competing interpretations of the appropriate
conceptual location for the resource are accommodated.
Third, the formats for the ontologies and the resource
descriptions should be published so enterprising software
engineers can create interfaces for surfing, searching, and
viewing the resources. The resulting distributed system of
resource descriptions would be extensible, robust, and useful
to the entire biomedical research community
Encyclopedia of African American heritage
No full textOffers a wealth of information on both African and African American history, politics, culture, people, and places. Entries describe the rich tapestry woven by Africans, from those who remained on their ancestral continent, to those who were forced to leave their homes, and to the great strides being made by African Americans today. New to this edition are entries on affirmative action, criminal justice, labor, and property rights. This edition also contains an expanded art programs with 52 new b&w photos and 6 new maps. Altman is author of two books for young readers on the Black American experience
O quarto personagem ausente no Timeu de Platão
Get PDFAs palavras inicias de Sócrates, no Timeu de Platão, indicam que alguém está faltando: enquanto apresenta a Timeu a tarefa do dia, Sócrates revela o seu desejo de ver em plena guerra a cidade descrita ontem na República. O autor argumenta que o pedido de Sócrates de ver os guardiões em ação revela a identidade do quarto personagem ausente: um leitor que assimilou os livros centrais da República de Platão e que, portanto, é capaz de combater a deformação do platonismo incorporada no Timeu. Palavras-chave: William Altman, Platão, Timeu. Abstract: Socrates\u27 opening words of Plato\u27s Timaeus indicate that someone is missing; while presenting Timaeus with the task of the day, he reveals his desire to see the city described yesterday in Republic at war. The author argues that Socrates\u27 request to see the guardians in action reveals the identity of the missing fourth a reader who has assimilated the central books of Plato\u27s Republic and who is therefore able to combat the deformation of Platonism embodied in Timaeus. Keywords: William Altman, Plato, Timaeu
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