175 research outputs found
Personal development planning in practice : a series of case studies
No full textReflective journals are used increasingly in Higher Education. Examples from an unstructured journal kept by the author in her role as a new Mechanical Engineering student raise issues of what ìoughtî to be in journals, how emotional effects should be dealt with and how the subjective nature of reflection may cause problems for assessment
Bonuses, Credit Rating Agencies and the Credit Crunch
Full text linkThe payment of bonuses can bring big benefits. But harm, too, can result. In the financial sector, this is especially true, above all when they are related to noisy indicators of performance over brief periods. This paper starts by exploring these ideas, then proceeds to examine credit rating agencies and their role in the 2007 credit crunch. It emphasizes the paucity of long term high frequency financial data to quantify tail event risks, the failure to apply analysis of fundamentals in financial and housing markets, and rewards structures to individual players that reinforced myopia as three key components of the crisis.bonuses; credit crunch; credit rating agencies.
Analysis of distance and time perceptions for walking trips: New Jersey statewide pedestrian survey
No full textIn 2017, the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center (VTC) undertook a study to understand the factors that influence a person’s decision to walk, bicycle, drive, or take public transportation for a given trip. The study was particularly interested in understanding how often residents are driving for seemingly walkable trips and what factors can be attributed to this decision. The study relies primarily on data gathered through intercept surveys conducted throughout the summer of 2017. Survey data was supplemented with environmental data collected from each location. The report aims to provide an understanding of influences on mode choice and seeks to identify opportunities to promote more walking for shorter trips.
The last pedestrian behavior study conducted by VTC was undertaken in 2009. While the survey methodology has evolved, several survey questions were repeated in order to identify changes in walking behavior over the last eight years.
The report is broken down into three sections. First, a summary of findings across all survey locations provides a general overview of the attitudes and behaviors witnessed across the state. The second section analyzes the data collected for each location and includes maps of the locations utilized on each survey. Lastly, conclusions are drawn from the data to inform policies related to changing transportation habits and encouraging walking for short trips in communities around the state
Four-year monitoring of the malaria vector Anopheles funestus in central-west Cameroon reveals an escalation of pyrethroid resistance combined with high malaria transmission
Full text linkBackground: Insecticide resistance presents a critical obstacle to malaria vector control, necessitating ongoing surveillance to guide control strategy. Despite widespread resistance in central Africa, the temporal adaptive changes driving resistance at both phenotypic and genetic levels remain uncharacterised. This study provides a comprehensive, four-year (2020–2023) assessment of Anopheles funestus s.s. in Mibellon, Cameroon, examining sporozoite infection rates and changes in insecticide resistance relative to 2015–2018 data. Methods: Susceptibility profile, resistance intensity and cone assays were conducted following the WHO protocols. Sporozoite infection was detected in the mosquito head/thorax by TaqMan assay, confirmed by nested-PCR. Gene expression was assessed using RT-qPCR while insecticide resistance markers were genotyped using allele-specific PCR and LNA. Results: Plasmodium sporozoite infection rates ranged from 4 to 21% with the predominance of P. falciparum while P. malariae and P. ovale contributed often as mixed infections. Pyrethroid resistance significantly increased over time, with mortalities decreasing from 77.7% in 2015 to 23.2% in 2023 for permethrin and 46.6% in 2016 to just 8.5% in 2023 for deltamethrin, while full susceptibility was noted for organophosphates. Worryingly, high intensity of resistance was recorded for all pyrethroids. Partial recovery of susceptibility with PBO suggests other resistance mechanisms beside P450-based metabolic resistance. PBO-based nets yielded high efficacy which decreases slightly over time contrasting with complete loss in efficacy of pyrethroid-only nets. Monitoring the genetic markers revealed a rapid selection of G454A-CYP9K1 and 4.3 kb SV alleles, which increased considerably and reaching high frequency during the same period in which phenotypic resistance intensified. Other resistance markers (A296S-rdl and L119F-GSTe2) varied slightly in frequency while the N485I-Ace1, 6.5 kb SV, and CYP6P9a/b_R alleles were absent throughout the years. Consistent overexpression of CYP9K1 and CYP6P9a/b genes in pyrethroid-resistant mosquitoes highlights their potential role in resistance intensification. Conclusion: The high infection rate and co-circulation of three Plasmodium species coupled with intense pyrethroid resistance pose a serious menace to malaria control in this region. To address these complex challenges, current vector control strategies should prioritize the deployment of PBO-based nets and organophosphates for IRS.</p
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A study of John Clare in his historical and political context
No full textAs the title indicates, the basis of the thesis is to set John Clare’s life and work within the context of the social and political history of his time. It is a study that is long overdue. The manner in which topical and political matters were mediated to him and were reflected in his work are analysed. His introduction to the literary and social worlds of Stamford and London is evaluated, and the advantages and disadvantages of patronage assessed. The active and complex political culture of Stamford has been taken into account as this may have affected his later political statements and a growing awareness of his audience. His antagonism to enclosure and the social changes that it engendered are considered. Three major questions that arise from this are addressed. The two local newspapers that Clare is known to have read are used throughout. His correspondence with friends, colleagues and casual correspondents has provided valuable insights as have his poetry and prose writings. Research in the Northamptonshire Record Office has revealed important new information in the form of one book of Enclosure Commissioners’ Minutes dated 1809-14, the first five years of the enclosure of Helpstone, Clare’s native village
The Conception and Attributes of God: A Comparison of Charles Sanders Peirce and Alfred North Whitehead
No full textIt is not possible to provide a layman\u27s rendering of Peirce and Whitehead for all possible audiences within the short scope of this work. This work will take for granted some basic acquaintance with Peirce\u27s and Whitehead\u27s philosophy. Consequently, this is directed to the audience of Peircean and Whiteheadian students or, more generally, students of American philosophy. Second, chapters one through four in particular will take advantage of previous scholarship. l particularly note the work of Donna Orange in her PhD dissertation entitled The Development of Peirce\u27s Theism (1980) and John Cobb\u27s \u27\u27Whitehead\u27s Doctrine of God, chapter four of his A Christian Natural Theology (1965). However, in both cases, I have felt the necessity to adapt their work for the focus of this work. Third, in the spirit of objective enquiry I want to briefly express my beginning perspectives. l come to this study through my interest in process philosophy and theology which began in the early 1990\u27s after hearing a presentation by Robert Mesle (Professor at Graceland University and author of Process Theology: A Basic Introduction) on process thought and which led to the study of Whitehead at Claremont University in 1997 under the direction of David Griffin. It was evident in those Claremont classes that there were differences of opinion within the process camp between scholarship more closely aligned with either Whitehead or Hartshorne and their followers. Although my studies have kept me closer to Whitehead, this has not been any sort of devotion that ignores the conceptual flaws of his system. I worked for a religious institution for nineteen years. I am therefore, very interested in an understandable and plausible conception of God, which also keeps in balance a honest agnostic questioning. Whether this pursuit ultimately aligns me closer with Whitehead, Peirce, or someone else is of no matter
The role of the international patent system in the transfer of technology to West Africa : case studies : Ghana and Nigeria
Full text linkThe principal aim of this thesis is to undertake a critical
examination of the role of the international patent system in the
transfer of technology to West Africa, particularly Ghana and Nigeria.
It focuses mainly on the patent systans and technology regulatory
regimes of the two countries. The study is intended to identify and
evaluate the impact of the international patent system on the transfer
and development of technology in this area.
The first chapter provides a theoretical foundation to some of
the more practical issues to be discussed in the subsequent chapters.
The Paris Convention and the diplomatic revision exercise thereof, as
well as other efforts and policies regarding patents and technology
transfer at various levels are discussed in Chapter Two. Chapters
Three to Eight consider the two case-studies undertaken in this
thesis. Chapter Three begins with the historical development of the
patent system in both Ghana and Nigeria, and the remaining chapters
continue with a discussion of the present patent and technology
regulatory regimes of both countries. Based on facts and figures the
two case-studies examine critically the patent law and systems and
technology transfer laws of these two countries including other
related institutional measures highlighting their strengths and
weaknesses.
The study argues that if the patent systems of both countries
are to play a meaningful role in the transfer and developnent of
technology they nust be utilized as a tool of economic policy and also
be related to the technology transfer regimes which nust necessarily
be integrated into the national technology policy which should, in
turn, be made an integral part of the entire national developnent
plan. It is concluded that it is only in this way that the patent
system can effectively contribute to the transfer of technology and
the development of indigenous technological capabilities in the two countries
書寫都市空間 : 伊恩.辛克萊三部作品中的東倫敦
No full text博士本論文研究當代英國作家伊恩･辛克萊(Iain Sinclair)的倫敦書寫，旨在探討都市現代性的空間化，以及辛克萊筆下所呈現的另類都會空間。藉由分析辛克萊三部作品中的語言文字、社會文化脈絡與文學生產方法，本研究不僅處理倫敦都市現代性的問題，亦討論書寫另類都會空間的可能性和侷限。援引法國哲學家昂希･勒斐博(Henri Lefebvre)的空間三元辯證概念(spatial trialectics)為理論架構，本論文主要從三個面向探討辛克萊筆下倫敦的都會空間：物質與社會建構、語言與思想以及富含想像的書寫行動。藉此，本研究除了關照歷史書寫、社會論述與人倫關係之外，並強調空間辯證的政治性，進而指出文本空間生產與這三者之間交互作用的關係。以勒斐博的空間生產理論(the production of space)探討倫敦的文本空間生產，本論文指出辛克萊如何透過書寫和行走倫敦的都市空間，解構並回應倫敦的都市現代性。
本論文主要有四個章節。第一章開啟勒斐博與辛克萊的對話，以勒斐博的空間生產三元辯證概念作為閱讀策略，彰顯辛克萊如何以空間、歷史和文學想像做為書寫/行走倫敦的主軸。第二章探討辛克萊如何運用反禁制（anti-closure）的書寫手法，檢視社會論述中的空間邊緣意象。本章分析辛克萊的語言符號如何牽連歷史、社會和空間三邊的權力互動，並說明辛克萊如何以反禁制的空間修辭，將倫敦都市空間轉化為一種抗拒封閉、開放複寫的想像空間。第三章分析辛克萊極富想像力與創造力的書寫行動，解釋城市漫遊者如何以潛伏盯梢（stalking）的行走模式，進行一場認識論的拆解。本章指出辛克萊的城市探索者如何以書寫和實際的空間參與，顛覆主流論述的空間想像，並重新結構主體與社會關係，試圖再現/造倫敦的另類都會空間。第四章審視辛克萊的書寫策略和行走模式，探討書寫另類都會空間的可能性，並指出以書寫/行走作為抗拒或重新詮釋社會文化論述的侷限性。本研究的主旨在於例示辛克萊筆下倫敦所呈現之另類都會空間，尋找寫實/歷史和虛構/文本之間的倫敦的空間性。This study focuses on three of Iain Sinclair’s major publications: Downriver, Lights Out for the Territory, and Dining on Stones. By relating discussions of the three texts to the problematics of modernity in London, it tries to bring together critical reflections on Sinclair’s language, socio-cultural contexts of his writing, and his method of literary production. The dissertation not only deals with the problematics of London’s urban space represented in Sinclair’s work, but also probes into the problematics of writing urban space per se. In keeping with these objectives, it uses Henri Lefebvre’s conception of spatial trialectics, approaching Sinclair’s London from three main dimensions: material social reality, language and thought, and his creative, poetic act of writing. Despite looking at them separately, this thesis highlights the interplay of the three dimensions in the work of Sinclair. The focus is on how the codification of London’s urban space has been read, analyzed, and responded to by Sinclair in his practice of writing as well as walking the space of London.
The thesis comprises four chapters: (1) Engaging Henri Lefebvre and Iain Sinclair in Dialogue, (2) Iain Sinclair’s Anti-Closural Narratology in Downriver, (3) The Poetics of Walking in Lights Out for the Territory, and (4) Mind the Gap! Artistic Integrity vis-a-vis Cultural Hegemony in Dining on Stones. With the aim to develop a methodology to approach Sinclair’s London—his texts and the city, Chapter One provides a link of Sinclair’s work to Lefebvre’s theory of the production of space. Chapter Two intends to study Sinclair’s language in both form and context in the hope of shedding light on Sinclair’s anti-closural narratology, as manifested in the novel Downriver. In addition to the study of his language, Chapter Three delves into Sinclair’s method of literary production with the focus on the practice of psychogeography, his act of identifying writing and walking as one and the same thing. Following up on the foregoing argument, Chapter Four studies the problematics of writing urban space per se in terms of investigating Sinclair’s authorial as well as artistic integrity in the face of dominant cultural hegemony. The dissertation not only develops an alternative methodology to approach Sinclair’s London—his texts and the city, but also opens a dialogue that engages Lefebvre in the intellectual terrain of literary criticism and cultural studies.Table of Contents
Introduction:
Approaching Iain Sinclair’s London 1
Iain Sinclair and Contemporary London Writing 5
Studies on Iain Sinclair 10
Space that Matters: Iain Sinclair and Henri Lefebvre 13
Discovering Iain Sinclair’s London: Texts and the City 17
Chapter One:
Engaging Henri Lefebvre and Iain Sinclair in Dialogue 24
Shaping the Image of East London 25
Spatial Trialectics in the Production of Space 29
Everyday Life and Rhythmanalysis 37
Writing, Walking, and the (Re)Production of Space 41
Mirage Effect:
Problematics of Repetitions and Differences 49
The Quest for a Third Space 53
Chapter Two:
Iain Sinclair’s Anti-Closural Narratology in Downriver 62
Narrative of Recollections on the Move 63
East London in the Making:
Imagery, Space, and Everyday Life 70
Struggle for Representational Spaces:
Imagination and Dream Narratives 83
The Logic of Anti-Closural Narratology 95
Chapter Three:
The Poetics of Walking in Lights Out for the Territory 97
Lights out for East London 98
Walking as Textual Production 101
Alternative Cartographies:
Mapping the Unread Territory 109
Urban Shaman as the Activator of Place/Space 120
Stalking with a Thesis:
Restructuring Urban Everyday Life? 124
The Rhythms of Peds 130
Chapter Four:
Mind the Gap! Artistic Integrity vis-a-vis Cultural Hegemony
in Dining on Stones 132
On the Road of A13:
Deconstructing the Autobiographical Journey 133
Authorial Effacement in the “Mirror World” 137
Textual Duplication and the Loss of Artistic Integrity 147
Searching for Fissures in London Stones and Bricks 155
The Crisis of Being Iain Sinclair 161
Conclusion 163
Appendix 168
Works Cited 171
Online References 181學號: 898110027, 學年度: 10
Rapid evolution of insecticide resistance and patterns of pesticides usage in agriculture in the city of Yaoundé, Cameroon
Full text linkBACKGROUND: The practice of agriculture in urban settings contributes to the rapid expansion of insecticide resistance in malaria vectors. However, there is still not enough information on pesticide usage in most urban settings. The present study aims to assess the evolution of Anopheles gambiae (s.l.) population susceptibility to insecticides and patterns of pesticide usage in agriculture in the city of Yaoundé, Cameroon. METHODS: WHO susceptibility tests and synergist PBO bioassays were conducted on adult An. gambiae (s.l.) mosquitoes aged 3 to 5 days emerging from larvae collected from the field. Seven insecticides (deltamethrin, permethrin, DDT, bendiocarb, propoxur, fenitrothion and malathion) were evaluated. The presence of target site mutation conferring knockdown (kdr) resistance was investigated using TaqMan assay, and mosquito species were identified using SINE-PCR. Surveys on 81 retailers and 232 farmers were conducted to assess general knowledge and practices regarding agricultural pesticide usage. RESULTS: High resistance intensity to pyrethroids was observed with a high frequency of the kdr allele 1014F and low frequency of the kdr 1014S allele. The level of susceptibility of An. gambiae (s.l.) to pyrethroids and carbamates was found to decrease with time (from > 34% in 2017 to < 23% in 2019 for deltamethrin and permethrin and from 97% in 2017 to < 86% in 2019 for bendiocarb). Both An. gambiae (s.s.) and An. coluzzii were recorded. Over 150 pesticides and fertilizers were sold by retailers for agricultural purposes in the city of Yaoundé. Most farmers do not respect safety practices. Poor practices including extensive and inappropriate application of pesticides as well as poor management of perished pesticides and empty pesticide containers were also documented. CONCLUSIONS: The study indicated rapid evolution of insecticide resistance and uncontrolled usage of pesticides by farmers in agriculture. There is an urgent need to address these gaps to improve the management of insecticide resistance. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT: [Image: see text] SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13071-022-05321-8
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