824 research outputs found
GSU Announces 2009 Pringle Scholar
No full textGovernors State University recently named Theresa M. Tofiga of Oak Lawn as the 2009 recipient of the Robert A. Pringle Memorial Scholarship
Playing with ethics?: A Foucauldian examination of the construction ethical subjectivities in Ultimate Frisbee
No full textLinks between instrumental rationality and problematic sporting subjectivities are well established (e.g., Beamish & Ritchie, 2006; Donnelly, 1996; Hughes & Coakley, 1991). In recent years, however, critical scholars have taken an increasing interest in how athletes and coaches might find ways of problematizing their involvement in sport and thus discover new ways of understanding their participation (e.g., Denison, 2010; Douglas & Carless, 2006, 2009; Markula & Pringle, 2006; Pringle & Hickey, 2010; Shogan, 2007). Markula and Pringle (2006), Pringle and Hickey (2010), and Shogan (2007) have adopted a Foucauldian perspective to examine how those involved in sport and exercise might undertake a process of ethical self-creation.
This interest in the formation of ethical sporting subjectivities resonated closely with my own experiences as an athlete and coach, and, in particular, my experiences within the sport, Ultimate Frisbee (Ultimate). Subsequently, I was drawn to ask the Foucauldian question: “what forms of problematization and practices of self underpin Ultimate players’ creation of an ethical self through an aesthetics of existence?” To examine this question I undertook an ethnographic study of Ultimate, comprising two years of fieldwork as a participant-observer, interviews with fourteen Ultimate players and textual analysis of Ultimate media. I specifically sought to analyse my work using Foucauldian theory and the ethical turn within French postmodernism.
I found a heterogeneous process of ethical self-creation to be evident amongst Ultimate players. Of particular importance in this process were players’ multiple understandings of Spirit of the Game, which I interpreted as a postmodern telos, and their ongoing engagement in practices of self, which were “not something invented by the individual himself [sic]. [Rather] they are models he finds in his culture” (Foucault, 2000a, p. 291). However, I found that differences in players’ interpretations of these practices of self, in combination with a few players who appeared to reject these practices, meant Ultimate was not free from conflict, disagreement, or controversy. Ultimate, then, was not an ethical utopia; rather, it offered players possibilities to create their selves as ethical subjects. I added complexity to this understanding of ethics by reconsidering Ultimate through the ethics of the Other. Drawing on Derrida’s tactics of clôtural reading, aporia and justice, I theorized ethically problematic aspects of Ultimate which had not been revealed within my Foucauldian analysis.
In this thesis I support moves to integrate postmodern ethical perspectives and subjectivities within sociological studies of sport. Such analyses take seriously the ethical perspectives that individuals and groups have and seek to examine how these understandings influence their sense of self. At the same time, however, ethics is revealed to always be partial and incomplete. In this sense, ethics is a performative project without end. The sociology of ethics which I undertake in this thesis offers possibilities not only for understanding questions of how sporting subjectivities are currently created, but also for considering possibilities of how these subjectivities might be formed differently in the future.
The Impacts of Habitat Fragmentation on the Golden-Brown Mouse Lemur (Microcebus ravelobensis) in the Mahamavo Forest Region, Madagascar
No full textMadagascar, home to some of the world’s most unique organisms, is suffering from heavy deforestation and habitat destruction. What little remains of the forest is highly fragmented, placing many species at risk. The endangered golden-brown mouse lemur (Microcebus ravelobensis) is among those in peril. Found only in the Mahamavo watershed, an area of 3,000 square kilometers, much of its remaining habitat falls on community lands and is experiencing rapid habitat fragmentation as land is cleared for grazing and agriculture. This study aims to determine what effects habitat fragmentation is having on M. ravelobensis and whether or not populations are able to persist in fragmented areas. Our study compared populations of M. ravelobensis in fragmented sites to those in continuous forests via capture-mark-recapture surveys. There were significantly fewer juveniles in forest fragments, indicative of a low reproductive rate. Additionally, males in fragments underwent unseasonal testes swelling, a response to environmental stress. Further, there was a difference in the capture locations of males and females, with females occurring farther away from the forest edges. M. ravelobensis densities also differed by site, with the lowest densities occurring in areas of high anthropogenic disturbance. Taken together, these results indicate that fragmentation in the Mahamavo region has led to changes in the population dynamics, reproduction, and spatial distribution of M. ravelobensis. Our research helps explain how habitat fragmentation is detrimental to golden-brown mouse lemurs and makes a case for the preservation of continuous forest in community lands
Trader sailor spy
No full textSet at the Cape of Good Hope in the late eighteenth early nineteenth century, this study makes use of archival material from the Oriental and Indian Office Collection and the printed records of the Cape Colony to review the employment of John Pringle, an employee of the East India Company from his education through to his death. In addition to providing and intimate understanding of the diverse employee related activities of a single individual during this period, this study provides evidence of the profession of accountant in early trade directories. The paper also provides evidence that as an employer, the East Indian Company exercised a consumer control model of occupational control. By reviewing John Pringle’s early education and his activities, number of very early signals of movements can be identified that provide tentative evidence of progress towards occupational ascendancy occurring as early as the late eighteenth century
Seed Removal by Rodents and Harvester Ants in the Laikipia District of Central Kenya: a Study of the Evolution of Competition Within Plots of Varying Ungulate Exclusion
No full textThis thesis explores seed foraging competition between small mammals
(Gerbilliscus robustus, Saccostomus meanrsi) and harvester ants (Messor
angularis) in the Laikipia district of central Kenya. Due to harvester ants’ natural
aversion to high vegetation cover and rain, and small mammals’ preference of
such a habitat, I hypothesize that small mammals will be more active in areas of
dense vegetation, far from M. angularis nests, which are located in cleared, bareground
areas. Furthermore, because I am testing out my hypothesis in Large
Mammalian Herbivore exclusion plots of the UHURU experiment, I also
hypothesize that rodents will dominate seed foraging in total exclusion (LMH)
plots, due to increased understory density. I test out these hypotheses using a
seed removal experiment, in which I exclude rodents and/or ants (depending on
the experiment) from accessing the seeds in petri dishes, and perform multiple
experiments with varying distances from the nearest harvester ant nest. My
results provide evidence that there is indeed competition between M. angularis
and small rodents, and that harvester ants will dominate foraging in areas within
5-10 m of their nest while rodents will dominate in areas of dense vegetation. My
hypothesis that rodents dominate seed foraging in LMH plots over harvester ants
is also revealed to be significantly sound
Dear Aunt Nell: Letters (1912-1960)
No full textBook - Correspondence published by Ella McClelland's daughter, Rose M. MacLeod. Letters written to McClelland in Chatsworth, Ontario, from her niece Anne Pringle Hemstock, who moved from Chatsworth to Hanna, AB, and then to Calgary, AB (207 pages)Boo
Ecological effects of the invasive ant Pheidole megacephala in Laikipia, Kenya, on ground ant biodiversity and host plant health
No full textPheidole megacephala is one of the worst invasive species in the world due to its serious
impact on biodiversity and human activities. It has a wide presence across the world and
continues to expand out of anthropogenic centers, causing economic damage and drastically
reshaping ecosystems. The invasion spreads very quickly (175- 240 m/year) through the red
sandy soil of the savanna of East Africa, and results in a significant reduction of ground ant
biodiversity. Among acacia ants in a mutualism with Acacia drepanolobium trees, only
Tetraponera penzigi can coexist with P. megacephala; T. penzigi does not expand in the presence
of P. megacephala, but does successfully retain its existing territory from attacks by P.
megacephala. Although P. megacephala displaces both ground and arboreal ants, they do not
actively defend host plants from herbivorous insects. The only, highly-localized instance of
herbivory protection is in the presence of the aphid gardens that the P. megacephala are
tending
Dietary Resource Partitioning in Large Mammal Herbivores: The Intra- and Interspecific Diet Variation in Kafue National Park, Zambia
No full textKafue National Park is the fifth largest protected area within African and is host to a highly biodiverse ecosystem of both herbivores and carnivores. Despite Kafue National Park’s regional importance, relatively little research exists to describe the wildlife community assemblages found within the park especially for large mammal herbivores, and the factors that influence species coexistence and ecosystem stability. We used DNA metabarcoding to quantify the diet composition of 10 of the most abundant large mammal herbivore species within Kafue National Park and to compare the role of intraspecific and interspecific variation of the functional dietary niche partitioning. Puku and impala are the two most abundant species found within the park and occur syntopically. Therefore, both species diets were compared and overlap of their niche’s determined. Food resource use is one of the most important elements of the niche and multiple species characteristics constrain herbivore diets. Thus, the influence of species characteristics, such as body size, muzzle width and population density, was investigated in terms of its effect on the degree of among-individual variation. The large mammal herbivore community distinctly partitioned their niches, with minimal overlap amongst grazers and clear separation of the puku and impala dietary niches. Overall our results suggest that large mammal herbivores within a stable and diverse ecosystem manage coexistence through the partitioning of their niches so as to mitigate interspecific competition, while their diets are constrained by body size, muzzle width and population density. Increased intraspecific diet variation correlated with total niche width indicative of the Niche Variation Hypothesis. These results have substantial implications for conservation effort and management of protected areas
Effects of Predation Risk on the Group Size of an Asocial Ungulate in Gorongosa National Park
No full textThis study investigates the social interactions of bushbuck (Tragelaphus sylvaticus) in Gorongosa National Park following the near-extirpation of large mammal populations during the Mozambican civil war (1977-1992) and the subsequent recovery of wildlife up to 2019. The ecological restoration in Gorongosa has resulted in a large change in community composition, with only some ungulate species recovering rapidly and large carnivores remaining absent or at historically low densities. In 2018, a pack of African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) was reintroduced to the park, restoring a key component of the large carnivore guild. We collected observational data on bushbuck sociality, as measured by group size, from camera traps and road counts over the time period before and after wild dog reintroduction (2016 to 2019). We hypothesized that (i) in the absence of large carnivores, both mean and maximum bushbuck group size increased above the typical value of 1, and (ii) following the reintroduction of African wild dogs in 2018, both mean and maximum bushbuck group size decreased, owing to the increased predation pressure. As bushbuck are known for their affiliation with wooded areas and habitats that provide high cover, we focused on a gradient of woody cover as represented by two different habitat types—the savanna woodland and the floodplain grasslands. In the camera trap data, we found evidence in support of our hypothesis that bushbuck group sizes had increased in the absence of a dense large carnivore community (based on group sizes in 2016 and 2017), then decreased when wild dogs were reintroduced (based on group sizes in 2019). Both mean group size and maximum group size decreased from 2016 and 2017 to 2019. This pattern was largely driven by bushbuck in the woodland habitat, with no significant shifts in group size occurring on the floodplain. In the road count data, we observed a similar decline in group size over the years, but data limitations
prevented any robust conclusions from these results. Our findings demonstrate the importance of predators in influencing the social behaviour of antelope, even among typically asocial species
GECKO POSITION SYSTEM (GPS): AN ANALYSIS OF SPATIAL NAVIGATION ABILITY IN VELVET GECKO (OEDURA LESUEURII)
No full textSpatial navigation is the ability to use cues to effectively transverse one’s environment and is vital to the survival of many organisms. Despite the significant behavioral implications of navigation and the of depth studies on spatial navigation in mammals/birds, there are relatively few studies looking into spatial navigation in reptiles, especially in Squamata (lizards and snakes), despite their being the most diverse reptile order. Additionally, among the few studies conducted on Squamata, results of studies conflict, suggesting significantly differing degrees of spatial navigation ability in reptiles. Here, we used a gecko native to Southeastern Australia, Oedura lesueurii, to investigate the degree to which these geckos do or do not have the capacity for spatial navigation. Velvet geckos were able to quickly learn to navigate to a contextually relevant stimulus in an initially novel Y Maze improving in terms of the time taken in navigating and the number of mistakes made. Overall, our data suggests that Squamata not only have spatial navigation ability, but also that they can learn unexpectedly quickly, suggesting that in some cases reptiles may have similar cognitive ability to mammals/ birds and highlighting the need for additional studies on spatial navigation and cognitive function in reptiles moving forward
- …
