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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Life of communities'
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Dawson, Kari. "Living learning communities : faculty and residence life perspectives." Online access for everyone, 2007. http://www.dissertations.wsu.edu/Thesis/Spring2007/k_dawson_050107.pdf.
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Carter, Denise Maia. "Living in virtual communities : an ethnography of life online." Thesis, University of Hull, 2005. http://hydra.hull.ac.uk/resources/hull:5649.
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This thesis examines some of the issues involved in the development of human relationships in cyberspace. Set within the wider context of the Internet and society it investigates how geographically distant individuals are coming together on the Internet to inhabit new kinds of social spaces or virtual communities. People 'live in' and 'construct' these new spaces in such a way as to suggest that the Internet is not a placeless cyberspace that is distinct and separate from the real world. Building on the work of other cyberethnographers, I combine original ethnographic research in Cybertown (http: /www. cybertown. com), a Virtual Community, with face-to-face meetings to illustrate how, for many people, cyberspace is just another place to meet. Secondly I suggest that people in Cybertown are investing as much effort in maintaining relationships in cyberspace as in other social spaces. By extending traditional human relationships into Cybertown, they are widening their webs of relationships, not weakening them. Human relationships in cyberspace are formed and maintained in similar ways to those in wider society. Rather than being exotic and removed from real life, they are actually being assimilated into everyday life. Furthermore they are often moved into other social settings, just as they are in offline life.
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Weisser, W. W. "Foraging and life history strategies in multi-trophic communities." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1994. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.240464.
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Harper, Gillian Jane. "Stress and adaptation among elders in life-care communities /." The Ohio State University, 1998. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1487949150070604.
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Bjarnason, Stefan Jay. "Lawn and order : gated communities and social interaction in Dana Point, California /." view abstract or download file of text, 2000. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/uoregon/fullcit?p9963441.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2000.Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 328-349). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users. Address: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/uoregon/fullcit?p9963441.
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Aldrich, Celia I. "Life cycles of behavior settings : three rural communities in Kansas." Kansas State University, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/2097/36072.
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Bistis, Nathan Allen. "A shared life exploring a new monasticism /." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 2007. http://www.tren.com/search.cfm?p062-0311.
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Garriott, Craig Wesley. "Growing reconciled communities reconciled communities mobilized for wholistic growth /." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 1996. http://www.tren.com.
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Brown, Philip. "Life in dispersal : narratives of asylum, identity and community." Thesis, University of Huddersfield, 2005. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/5934/.
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This study explores how the immigration status of the 'asylum seeker' impacts upon notions of 'identity', 'community' and 'belonging' whilst claiming asylum in the UK. By taking a narrativedialogical approach this research explores the stories that have been constructed around 'asylum' by policy, those working with 'asylum seekers' and 'asylum seekers' themselves. This research looks at how the 'official' narratives of asylum are operationalised and delivered by workers contracted to implement government policy. The study also explores how those making a claim for asylum narrate their lives whilst living in dispersal sites in one region of the UK with particular focus paid to exploring how asylum and dispersal impacts upon 'identity' and 'belonging'. The data for this project was generated in three phases. In the first phase of data generation ten asylum support managers participated in semi-structured interviews. These managers worked for local authorities in the Region planning the strategy and delivery of the National Asylum Support Service (NASS) policies to 'asylum seekers' accommodated locally. The second phase of the research also included workers involved in delivering NASS support but in a service delivery role. Twenty-two people from across the Region were invited to attend three separate focus groups. The third and final phase of the research involved the participation of ten 'asylum seekers', living in dispersal sites across the Region, in lengthy narrative interviews. The data was analysed using narrative analytical techniques informed by the work of Clandinin and Connelly (2000) and Riessman (2004) around thematic narrative analysis and guided by the theory of 'dialogism' (Bakhtin, 1981). The research revealed that integrating a narrative-dialogical approach to understanding the casylum' experience has allowed space for a piece of research that appears to 'fit' into the fife worlds of the 'asylum seeker'. Moving toward a theoretical stance of dialogism has made it possible to explore an alternative way in which the production of narratives relate to both the personal and the social world of the individual. Rather than discounting the possibility that conflict and contradiction can exist in personal narratives simultaneously this research has shown that by taking a narrative-dialogical approach embraces the schizophrenic quality that appears to punctuate the narratives of exiles and 'asylum seekers'. The research has also shown that those contracted to operationalise and deliver NASS support to asylum seekers are not reduced to simple ventriloquists in the support process. Instead what has emerged are support service workers that take a creative and active role in interpreting their 'roles' to be conducive with the perceived needs of their organisation, the 'community' and the 'asylum seeker'. Narrating their work as a 'quest' support service workers can be seen as active and often 'heroic' in the way in which they act as a 'buffer' between the policies designed by NASS and the asylum seekers they support. By using Bakhtin's notion of authoritative and internally persuasive discourse (Bakhtin, 1981), support service workers can be seen to be adhering to components of the 'official' or authoritative discourse whilst at the same time transforming other components that are not seen as internally persuasive. From the narrative accounts generated with 'asylum seekers' it emerged that conflict and contradiction appeared to confound their attempts to produce narrative coherence. This conflict and contradiction appeared to suggest a good deal of psychological tension as 'asylum seekers' attempted to narrate; feelings of belonging, the balance between security and uncertainty and their feelings of 'home' and identity. What appeared was a dialogical quality to their narrative accounts which emphasised simultaneity but due to their restricted inunigration status did not have the 'privilege' of being both/and. Rather what emerged was a dialogical structure that can be seent o be characterisedb y the tension of being 'in between' but being 'neither/nor'. Such a position restricts the ability to 'move and mix' (Hermans and Kempen, 1998) in their new milieu as they are held in stasis and limbo by the multiple voices spoken by the 'asylum system'.
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Simpson, Roderick F. "EcoSystem-Sim a virtual ecosystem simulator /." [Gainesville, Fla.] : University of Florida, 2001. http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/UFE0000352.
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Thesis (M.S.)--University of Florida, 2001.Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains x, 60 p.; also contains graphics. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references.
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Giri, Birendra Raj. "Bonded Labour in Napal : Life and Work of Children in Communities." Thesis, Open University, 2009. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.518206.
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Flannery, Mary Kathleen. "Embracing diversity in campus life the formation of multicultural faith communities /." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 1999. http://www.tren.com.
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Thesis (D. Min.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 1999.Abstract and vita. "The goal of this thesis-project is to assist campus ministers in the initial stages of the formation of multicultural faith communities ..."--Introd. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 177-187).
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Maddens, Toscano Pedro Manuel. "Impacts of airports on the quality of life of surrounding communities." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2020. https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/127173.
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Thesis: S.M. in Technology and Policy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Engineering, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, May, 2020Cataloged from the official PDF of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 67-71).
London Heathrow Airport has both beneficial and detrimental impacts on surrounding communities such as, for example, job creation and noise. The population living in the airport's proximity notices, cares about, and perceives its impacts which have often been studied only partially in literature. This thesis used the concept of Quality of Life to look at impacts multi-dimensionally. A framework was developed and used to systematically analyze Quality of Life impacts of Heathrow Airport using both spatial and regression analysis methods at different spatial resolutions with data collected from statistical authorities and social media. Low spatial resolution analysis found a beneficial impact of proximity to Heathrow Airport for economic conditions, accessibility & connectivity, health, and well-being metrics. Opportunities to verify this analysis with higher-resolution data were sought, but limited data was available. Housing transaction data was available at both low and middle spatial resolutions, and a beneficial impact of proximity to Heathrow Airport was observed at both levels. Counterfactual analysis found that the Heathrow Region performed better than many other regions for housing values and health metrics, and worse for certain well-being/happiness metrics. Additionally, high spatial resolution social media data was collected to analyze perceptions, sentiments, and opinions posted in proximity to Heathrow Airport. This analysis found that aviation and aviation-noise tweets skew negatively as compared to all tweets and that sentiment closer to the airport skews more positively than in the Greater London Region.
by Pedro Manuel Maddens Toscano.
S.M. in Technology and Policy
S.M.inTechnologyandPolicy Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Engineering, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society
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Pow, Choon Piew. "Gated communities, territoriality and the politics of the good life in (post-)socialist Shanghai." online access from Digital Dissertation Consortium access full-text, 2006. http://libweb.cityu.edu.hk/cgi-bin/er/db/ddcdiss.pl?3234363.
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Bauer, Nancy. "A special family in Christ the canonical requirement of common life for members of religious institutes and societies of apostolic life /." Online full text .pdf document, available to Fuller patrons only, 2001. http://www.tren.com.
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Liddle, Jennifer. "Everyday life in a UK retirement village : a mixed-methods study." Thesis, Keele University, 2016. http://eprints.keele.ac.uk/2375/.
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This study focuses on the experiences of older people living in a UK purpose-built retirement community – Denham Garden Village (DGV). The aim was to understand more about everyday life in this particular environmental context including how the environment and organisation of the village related to residents’ everyday experiences. Using a mixed methods approach, the study draws on quantitative survey data from the Longitudinal study of Ageing in a Retirement Community (LARC) and combines this with 20 in-depth qualitative interviews with residents living in DGV. Data analysis combined descriptive statistics for the quantitative data with qualitative themes. The dimensions of work-leisure, solitary-social, and community integration were used as a framework to explore how aspects of the environment and individual circumstances, attitudes and beliefs shape patterns of everyday life. The study found that decisions to move were frequently preceded by changes in personal situations. The social and spatial separation of DGV from the wider community maintained the village as an almost exclusively age-segregated environment. Opportunities for social contact were widespread, but levels of loneliness were no lower than in the general population. The diversity in residents’ situations, resources and experiences contrasted with shared community stories of the village as a community of ‘choice’. In addition, norms and expectations about levels of activity and engagement served, in some cases, to prompt feelings of obligation and guilt among residents. Findings suggest a need for more emphasis on the individuality of residents’ experiences of everyday life – both in terms of representing such diversity in publicity and marketing materials, and in working towards an ethos of respect, tolerance and acceptance within communities like DGV. It is suggested that future research could focus on ways to reduce the age-segregated nature of existing developments like DGV, enabling them to function as integrated parts of the wider community.
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Li, Yuhui. "Economic development and quality of life in urban communities of China (PRC) /." The Ohio State University, 1990. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu148768304937763.
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Collins, Tracy. "Managing transition : a longitudinal study of personal communities in later life widowhood." Thesis, Keele University, 2011. http://usir.salford.ac.uk/15823/.
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Many older women experience the loss of a spouse or partner in later life. Social networks and social support are widely thought to help buffer such traumatic events and ease subsequent transitions. This longitudinal study considers the significance of personal communities in managing the transition of later life widowhood. A series of qualitative interviews were conducted with twenty-six older widows over a period of eighteen months. Personal community diagrams were used to identify the structure of the women’s personal communities, allowing for the development of a typology. The content or expressive characteristics of these relationships were explored further through the women’s experiences of Christmas and the exchange of Christmas cards. Content and thematic analysis revealed four core types of personal community among the older widows in this study, comprising different combinations of family, friends and others. The continuity and discontinuity of these social relationships, as well as the re-arrangement of family and friendship practices, demonstrate the multifaceted and ever-shifting characteristics of personal communities during the transition of widowhood. The findings also illustrate the diverse, complex, and often paradoxical nature of personal relationships within structurally similar personal community types, which is often compounded by multiple transitions in addition to widowhood itself. Using the lens of personal communities over a period of time reveals that the management of transition incorporates not only social relations, but also personal agency, and flexibility. These combined factors appear to be more important to adaptation during later life widowhood than personal community type. The findings help to re-frame the existing dialogue on later life widowhood and social support.
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Connelly, Megan Marie. "Living Learning Communities: Relationship Builders?" Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2014. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/260249.
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Educational AdministrationEd.D.
This qualitative case study describes how first year students perceived the impact of living within a living learning community by giving voice to students who wished to not only describe their living experience, but also have this description heard. While living learning communities are not new to Residential Life departments on college campuses, the studies of such programs have predominantly been large scale quantitative studies conducted to assess the overall satisfaction that students feel with living in such a program or to ask one very specific question, typically related to drinking patterns or academic successes. Through the studying of one particular academic living learning community at a specific mid-Atlantic, urban university, I was able to delve deeper into the lives of students and develop a detailed holistic picture of the student experience specifically through the use of student interviews. My small sample, and immersion in the field, permitted an in depth understanding of all aspects of their residential and academic life related to their living learning community experience. The residents took advantage of the research as an opportunity to speak freely about issues that more macro researchers had not considered as potential impacts of student life within a living learning community. The research took place in one residential hall over an entire year. The data was gathered from a series of in-depth interviews and almost daily observations. Studying a select number of students within the community for a full academic year provided the opportunity to ask the same questions on numerous occasions and study how the students' responses changed or remained the same over time. This year long endeavor also permitted my immersion into the community and attendance at programs and events held within the living learning community allowing me to discover five themes relating to the student perspective of living learning communities: The Importance of Family, Social Activities as Opportunities to Bond, Accountability with Regards to Academics, Sense of Exclusivity, and the Importance of Personality on Perception of LLC Success. Through these themes, this study provides one of the few rigorous insights into life in a living learning community from the student perspective directly through the use of student voice, allowing for higher educational leaders and planners to take this individualized perspective into account in the organization, implementation, funding, and assessment of future living learning community endeavors.
Temple University--Theses
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Wakewich, Pamela. "Contours of everyday life : reflections on embodiment and health over the life course." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2000. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/56209/.
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This study explores lay perceptions of embodiment and health through the narratives ofa group of 'everyday' women and men in a Canadian community. Gender, class and cultural influences on individual and collective experiences of embodiment are examined along with the ways in which these concepts evolve over the life course. The research is based on in depth interviews with a sample of forty working- and middle-class white women and men between the ages of30 and 65. I argue that notions of embodiment and health are multiple, fluid and contextual. They are shaped and reshaped over time in relation to individual biographies and social and cultural influences, and negotiated in relation to the prescribed values of the larger body politic. I suggest that research must attend to the spatial and temporal dimension of ideas about embodiment and health. In the context of this case study, I argue that everyday ideas about regional identity are enmeshed with the cultural codes which signify racial, class and gender identity. These frame peoples' understandings and representations of 'healthy selves' and 'unhealthy others' and are central to their notions of embodiment. Based on these findings, I propose a more nuanced approach to theorizing 'the body' and health in feminist and sociological theory. I argue for a closer engagement between theoretical frameworks and empirical studies with the aim of developing a more fully embodied social theory.
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Dennett, Adam. "An investigation of work, life and community on-board cruise ships : a hospitality perspective." Thesis, University of Huddersfield, 2013. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/18093/.
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This research provides a sociological understanding of front line hospitality staff, focusing particularly on waiters and pursers that are employed on cruise ships. Its purpose is to evaluate the complexities and richness of their work and social experiences as they negotiate, create and justify their identities and community formations in the unique and under-researched environment of a cruise ship. Conceptually, the research investigates the inevitable and inextricable links between identity, work and community to explore their perceptions of themselves, others and their world. To comprehend some of the complexity of work and life, the study uses a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods through online questionnaires and interviews. The methods used are both guided and to some extent restricted because of the lack of co-operation from the firms involved towards carrying out research on cruise ship workers. An online questionnaire, able to reach a mobile and transient population, is exploratory and descriptive in focus offering a preliminary opportunity to highlight key indicators of relationships and patterns in a field where there has been little research. To further develop understanding, data was gathered from twenty semi structured interviews and was analysed thematically and metaphorically. The broader thematic analysis identified how space, time and the system of the ship had an impact upon one‟s occupation and relationships, while the deeper metaphor analysis was able to creatively gather an “insider‟s” view of the participant‟s work, community and cruise ship environment. What is clear, from this study, is that all participants created a ship-based identity, which was different from how they perceived themselves on land. Being an environment that is unique, workers have to adapt, adopt and sacrifice - their previous identity has to be reshaped to meet the criteria of the place and system of the ship. Waiters were significantly more likely to define themselves and their world based upon their occupational perceptions and relationship with management, while pursers reflected upon their social and personal opportunities as a tool for self definition. The outcomes of the research present an exploratory, in-depth account of the working lives of hospitality workers on cruise ships. The findings will be of value and relevance to cruise ship operators when tackling social issues relating to the employment of cruise ship workers.
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Forrester, Margaret Vivienne. "Communities of practice for end of life care workplace settings : a case study." Thesis, University of Wolverhampton, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/2436/620644.
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Communities of practice have been used as a way of sharing practice and developing knowledge. The End of Life Care Education Consortium was formed by three hospice education departments in the West Midlands, United Kingdom, with the support of the Strategic Health Authority, to provide education programmes for healthcare professionals in palliative care. As the Consortium worked collaboratively, I wanted to explore whether there was potential for it to evolve into a community of practice and whether there was scope for communities of practice being utilised in end of life care settings to share and develop practice. The literature review revealed there were no articles written on communities of practice in palliative care settings and demonstrated that the workplace is an important area for learning as new staff learn from more experienced members of the workforce. Communities of practice can be used for experienced staff to learn from each other and share practice with others from outside the community. Case study research was used to explore whether the Consortium had the potential to evolve into a community of practice and if its members learnt from each other. Members of the Consortium were interviewed using semi-structured interviews, documents including my research diary, reports and notes from meetings were also used as data. Although the findings showed that the Consortium was not functioning as a community of practice it did have the key characteristics of one and there is potential for hospices to form communities of practice to enable staff to share practice and support each other. The findings demonstrated that for a community of practice to be successful it requires the support of management to allow staff to take part in community activities, seen as an important part of the organisation’s culture and there needs to be leadership to enable the community to develop. Journal clubs, clinical supervision and multidisciplinary meetings are already in place and these could be ways of healthcare professionals sharing knowledge and learning together. The Nursing and Midwifery Council (2015) state that all nurses and midwives are required to revalidate every three years to enable them to practise as registered nurses; one of my recommendations is that communities of practice could be used to keep staff updated. Inviting healthcare professionals from outside the hospice to take part in community activities would enable knowledge to flow in and out therefore enhancing patient care.
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Mahony, Sorcha M. "Searching for a better life : young people living in slum communities in Bangkok." Thesis, University of Bath, 2010. https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.516015.
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This thesis explores the everyday lives and dreams of young people living in urban poverty in Thailand, focusing on their practices and aspirations within three key spheres of action. In recent years, a number of emerging bodies of literature have taken youth in the developing world as the objects of their analysis; the literature on youth in Thailand, studies of youth and development within the Thai and international spheres, and the new anthropology of youth each focus on the lives of young people – social, cultural and economic – and see youth as active agents in the creation of society, culture and the economy. This thesis, drawing on the analysis of ethnographic data, contends that each of these bodies of literature constructs young people in partial or misleading ways, and in particular that insufficient emphasis is placed on the unintended consequences that can ensue from everyday practice and the pursuit of dreams. It argues that if these emerging literatures on youth in the developing world are to adequately conceptualise and represent young people, then they must attend to these unintended consequences. As the thesis will demonstrate, doing so facilitates analysis of the ways in which different spheres of action affect each other, of the structures that constrain and enable young people, and of the way in which attempting to participate in dominant cultures can have profoundly counter-productive outcomes. The thesis also explores some of the methodological processes involved in immersion in, and withdrawal from, „the field‟. It argues that one of the tasks of social research is to bring out the multiple and shifting nature of interpretation, and to be explicit about the contexts in which such interpretations are produced.
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Lopes, Lucas Dantas. "From communities to genomes: a multifaceted approach to depict bacterial life in soils." Universidade de São Paulo, 2017. http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/11/11140/tde-02012018-141554/.
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Unraveling soil microbial ecology is essential for improving sustainable agricultural productivity. Community-based studies revolutionized this field in the last decades, but much is yet to be disclosed. This thesis proposed an approach to increase the resolution of such studies by combining 16S rDNA high-throughput sequencing and population genomics, aiming to further explore the differences pointed by community analyses, as well as to overcome the limitations of using operational taxonomic units (OTUs) as ecological entities, and to introduce the evolutionary thinking in microbial ecology. Our main goal was to understand the features that make bacteria able to colonize sugarcane rhizosphere or live saprophytically in bulk soil. Rhizosphere and bulk soil are contrasting habitats for microbial life as they are highly distinct in its physical, chemical and consequently biological characteristics. Our results indicated that sugarcane shapes the rhizosphere microbiome and metabolism of D-galacturonic acid is a key function for colonizing this niche. Among the taxa prevailing in the rhizosphere, Pseudomonas genus was targeted for a more detailed study considering its known attributes for plant growth promotion. Seventy-six fluorescent Pseudomonas spp. were isolated and submitted to whole genome sequencing (WGS). A comparative genomic analysis was performed between populations from rhizosphere and bulk soil. Phylogenetic analyses classified the isolates in the P. fluorescens (57) or P. putida (19) groups. Twelve putative new species and two new proposed P. fluorescens subgroups were found in the prospected tropical soil. Comparative genomics revealed that phosphatases or xylose-utilization genes were significantly enriched in the rhizosphere and bulk soil populations of the P. fluorescens group, respectively. D-galactonate catabolism was higher in the rhizosphere population of the P. putida group based on both genotypic and phenotypic results. Growth in D-xylose was further explored using genetic modified strains and confirmed that this sugar is more used by members of the bulk soil than the rhizosphere population of the P. fluorescens group, a pattern also observed in the bulk soil microbiome. In summary, these findings constitute a step forward in understanding the ecology of rhizosphere and bulk soil bacteria, by overcoming some limitations of community-based analyses and showing genomic differences between bacterial populations of these habitats.Desvendar a ecologia microbiana do solo é essencial para aumentar a produtividade agrícola sustentável. Estudos baseados em comunidades revolucionaram esse campo nas últimas décadas, mas ainda há muito a ser revelado. Esta tese propôs uma abordagem para aumentar a resolução desses estudos, combinando sequenciamento em larga escala de rDNA 16S e genômica populacional, com o objetivo de explorar mais a fundo as diferenças apontadas por análises de comunidades, assim como superar as limitações do uso de unidades taxonômicas operacionais (UTOs) como entidades ecológicas e introduzir o pensamento evolutivo na ecologia microbiana. Nossa principal meta foi entender as características que tornam as bactérias hábeis em colonizar a rizosfera de cana-de-açúcar ou viver no solo saprofiticamente. Rizosfera e solo são hábitats contrastantes para a vida microbiana, já que são altamente distintos em suas características físicas, químicas e, consequentemente, biológicas. Nossos resultados indicaram que a cana-de-açúcar modifica o microbioma da rizosfera e o metabolismo do ácido D-galacturônico é uma função chave para colonizar este nicho. Dentre os táxons que prevalecem na rizosfera, o gênero Pseudomonas foi escolhido para um estudo mais detalhado, considerando os seus atributos de promoção de crescimento de plantas. Setenta e seis Pseudomonas spp. fluorescentes foram isoladas e submetidas ao sequenciamento do genoma. Uma análise de genômica comparativa foi realizada entre as populações obtidas do solo e rizosfera. As análises filogenéticas classificaram os isolados nos grupos P. fluorescens (57) ou P. putida (19). Doze prováveis novas espécies e dois novos subgrupos propostos de P. fluorescens foram encontrados no solo tropical prospectado. A genômica comparativa revelou que genes de fosfatases e de uso de xilose foram significativamente enriquecidos nas populações da rizosfera e solo do grupo P. fluorescens, respectivamente. O catabolismo do ácido D-galactônico foi maior na população da rizosfera do grupo P. putida, baseado tanto em resultados genotípicos quanto fenotípicos. O crescimento em D-xilose foi mais explorado usando linhagens geneticamente modificadas e confirmou que este açúcar é mais utilizado por membros da população do solo do que da rizosfera no grupo P. fluorescens, um padrão também observado no microbioma do solo. Em resumo, essas descobertas constituem um passo adiante no entendimento da ecologia bacteriana do solo e rizosfera, por superar algumas limitações de análises de comunidades e mostrar diferenças genômicas entre populações bacterianas destes hábitats.
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Chu, L. "Class influences on life chances in post-reform Vietnam." Thesis, City, University of London, 2016. http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/16166/.
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This study provides a critical analysis of the influence of social class on life chances in post-reform Vietnam. As the country underwent a profound structural transition from a centrally planned to a market-oriented economy in the mid-1980s, social class gradually replaced political class as a major source of inequality. Knowledge about this phenomenon is rudimentary – not least because of the continuing power of state ideology in contemporary Vietnam. Throughout the investigation, Bourdieu’s framework of class reproduction guides both a quantitative analysis of the Survey Assessment of Vietnamese Youth 2010 and a qualitative research of 39 respondents in the Red River Delta region, including young people of the first post-reform generation – now in their 20s and 30s – and their parents. The study discusses the ways in which class determines the ability of parents to transmit different resources to their children, focusing on those that are usable and valued in the fields of education and labour. It finds that, across several areas of social life in contemporary Vietnam, implicit class-based discrimination is disguised and legitimised by explicit and seemingly universal ‘meritocratic’ principles. The study makes a number of original contributions to sociology, three of which are particularly important. (1) Empirically, it breaks new ground for a sociological understanding of both the constitution and the development of class inequalities in contemporary Vietnam. (2) Methodologically, it offers numerous useful examples of mixed-methods integration. (3) Theoretically, it proposes to think with, against and beyond some of the most relevant Bourdieusian research on this topic. The empirical application of Bourdieu’s framework in toto, as opposed to a more customary partial appropriation, facilitates comprehensive insights into: class-specified practices as governed and conditioned by internalised powers and structural resources; the multidimensionality of class-based advantages and disadvantages; and the causative transmission and activation of capital across and within generations.
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Morrissey, Ember. "Environmental regulation of tidal wetland microbial communities and associated biogeochemistry." VCU Scholars Compass, 2013. http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/3300.
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Microbial communities play an essential role in carrying out the biogeochemical cycles that sustain life on Earth, yet we know very little about their ecology. One question of particular interest is how environmental conditions shape microbial community structure (i.e., the types of organisms found in the community and their relative abundance), and whether such changes in structure are related to biogeochemical function. It is the aim of this dissertation to address this question via the examination of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling in wetland ecosystems, which due to their diverse hydrology have a profound influence on biogeochemical cycles. With respect to N cycling, the community structure of denitrification- and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA)-capable organisms was evaluated in response to changes in resource availability, specifically organic matter (OM) and nitrate (NO3-), using an in situ field manipulation. Interactive regulation of microbial community composition was exhibited in both groups, likely due to variation in C substrate preferences and NO3- utilization efficiency. Subsequent experimentation considering only denitrification revealed that resource regulation of activity rates was mediated through changes in denitrifier community composition. The resource regulation of wetland C cycling also was evaluated using an in situ OM manipulation. OM characteristics (e.g., degree of decomposition) affected microbial extracellular enzyme activity (EEA) and changed the community structure of bacteria, archaea, and methanogens. These changes were linked with carbon dioxide and methane production via a conceptual model diagramming the importance of microbial community structure and EEA in greenhouse gas production. The investigation of C cycling in wetlands was extended to consider an important global change threat: saltwater intrusion into freshwater tidal wetlands. Bacterial community structure and EEA were examined along a natural salinity gradient. Salinity was strongly associated with bacterial community structure and positively correlated with EEA. These results suggested that salinity-induced increases in decomposition were responsible for reduced soil OM content in more saline wetlands. This work demonstrates that microbial communities in wetlands are structured by environmental conditions including resource availability and salinity. Further, the research provides evidence that environmental regulation of important biogeochemical processes in wetlands (e.g., methanogensis, denitrification, etc.) is mediated through changes in microbial community structure.
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Bailey, Marcia Barnes. "Partnership a transformative vision for pastoral leadership in the web of congregational life /." Online full text .pdf document, available to Fuller patrons only, 2003. http://www.tren.com.
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McDonald, Heather Noel. "The impact of logging on aquatic salamander communities." [Johnson City, Tenn. : East Tennessee State University], 2001. http://etd-submit.etsu.edu/etd/theses/available/etd-0711101-121822/unrestricted/mcdonaldh0730.pdf.
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Thesis (M.S.)--East Tennessee State University, 2001.Title from electronic submission form. ETSU ETD database URN: etd-0711101-121822 Includes bibliographical references. Also available via Internet at the UMI web site.
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Reiss, Ralph. "Early Successional Plant Communities on an Abandoned Strip Mine in Butler County, Kentucky." TopSCHOLAR®, 1986. https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/2764.
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Plant growth and development during the growing season of 1985 were examined on a strip mine located in Butler County, Kentucky, abandoned in 1963. Analysis included field plot measures of the frequency, density, and percent cover of the established plant species and determination of biomass accumulation during the 1985 year. Experimental subplots were established in both field and laboratory settings and the growth of the herbaceous colonizers compared under natural and programmed growth chamber conditions. Microclimatic measures of temperature and solar insolation were conducted in the field along with soil texture and pH measures. Results indicate that in the early successional communities sampled in Butler County, Pinus virginiana Mill., Elaeagnus angustifolia L. and Nyssa sylvatica Marsh. are the most important tree species. Important forbs include Lechea tenuifolia Michx., Bidens polylepis Blake, Lespedeza striata (Thunb.) H. & A. and Polygonum pensylvanicum L. Danthoniasp. and Festuca sp. are the two most important grasses. Biomass production during the first quarter of the growing season accounted for approximately two-thirds of the annual biomass accumulation. The data indicate that biomass production may be limited more by the harsh climatic conditions than by the sterile edaphic conditions present on the abandoned strip mine.
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Yabaki, Tamarisi, and n/a. "WOMEN�S LIFE IN A FIJIAN VILLAGE." University of Canberra. School of Education and Community Studies, 2006. http://erl.canberra.edu.au./public/adt-AUC20070525.122849.
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The impact of the market economy is a significant challenge facing Fijian rural
communities. It is especially challenging for indigenous rural women who are managing
the shift from a subsistence way of living to engagement in money generating activities.
The challenge is more acute amongst disadvantaged populations such as women in rural
communities who lack the resources and the political power to manage these challenges.
The thesis provides a critical ethnographic, action-research study of the daily socioeconomic
experiences of a group of Fijian village women, at this time of significant
change. It provides and in-depth case study of a rural Fijian village located in the upper
reaches of the Sigatoka Valley. The case study focuses on the women�s perspectives
about their daily lived experiences and actions that followed from reflection on these,
drawing out from these implications for indigenous Fijian women�s social progress and
development. Herself, a member of the community, the researcher gathered data by a
combination of participant observation, survey, diaries, focus groups and interviews. The
researcher�s observations and understandings were fed back to the participants in the
form of a workshop with the intention of confirmation and to provide and opportunity for
action based on this reflection. It is argued that the success of managing the influence of
the market economy on the villagers is to create social and political spaces and
opportunities to hear and understand local epistemologies and daily lived experiences,
reflexively.
As an indigenous scholar, the researcher interrogates and deconstructs her own academic
epistemologies and positions as a knowledge broker in order to co-construct new
practices with her people. The research promises to make public Fijian village women�s
knowledge, values, practices and experiences so that they can be understood by local
scholars and local government development officers. Privileging the village women�s
knowledge and bringing it to the core is a significant political act that might form the
basis of proceeding political encounters that women will face in the development process.
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Armstrong, Lisa K. "Family Life in Carver City- Lincoln Gardens." Scholar Commons, 2016. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/6169.
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This study will investigate family life and explore the realities and the resilience of traditional, Black middle class families in Carver City-Lincoln Gardens through changing times. This research will contribute to the literature on local history in Tampa, with a particular focus on Black family. The goal of this study is to demonstrate how Black families support and sustain themselves through the collective efforts of the community and extend kinships.
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Montgomery, Corneil. "Adopting the Lifelong Communities Initiative in the Atlanta Metropolitan Area." ScholarWorks, 2016. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/2073.
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The older adult population has been growing since 1950. The quality of life of older Atlanta citizens may be reduced if adopted Lifelong Communities (LLC) initiative principles are executed poorly or not at all. The purpose of this case study was to describe and explore the experiences of local government officials in Atlanta, Georgia who have adopted LLC initiatives. Research questions focused on local government officials' experiences adopting the LLC initiative, their use of the LLC principles, as well as the benefits and challenges encountered when integrating principles within organizations and communities to ensure quality of life for persons served. The theoretical framework for this study was based on Lawton and Nahemow's ecology of aging and ecological change model. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews using semi-structured interview questions from 6 government officials in the Atlanta region. Additional data included relevant publicly available documents related to LLC initiatives. All data were inductively coded and then analyzed using content analysis. The findings of this study indicated that strategic planning and forming collaborative relationships with existing organizations and influential persons were key components of the LLC initiative process. According to LLC leaders, the initiative was beneficial for promoting housing and transportation options and enhancing quality of life. Furthermore, the findings of this study were consistent with the principles of the ecological change model. This study has implications for positive social change by providing information to local government officials and other stakeholders about capacity building, strategic planning, and the needs of the elderly that may lead to improving the implementation of LLCs.
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Rosa, S. Robert. "Enhancing community life at Ashland Theological Seminary moving from pseudo community to authentic community /." Online full text .pdf document, available to Fuller patrons only, 2004. http://www.tren.com.
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Scott, Jacqueline L. "Role strain and employed mothers in rural communities /." free to MU campus, to others for purchase, 1998. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/mo/fullcit?p9924954.
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Loibl, Medea. "Predominant Patterns of Parental Authority among Amish Communities." Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1339635029.
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Payler, Samuel Joseph. "Microbiology and the limits to life in deep salts." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/33076.
Full textAbstract:
Deep subsurface evaporites are common terrestrial deep subsurface environments found globally. These deposits are known to host communities of halophilic organisms, some of which have been suggested to be millions of years old. The discovery of evaporite minerals on Mars has led to these environments becoming of interest to astrobiology, particularly because the subsurface of Mars represents the best chance of finding more clement conditions conducive to life. Despite this interest, deep subsurface evaporites remain poorly understood and we have little insight into how different salts shape the Earth's biosphere, much of which is underground. This thesis addresses several knowledge gaps present in the literature by sampling a selection of brine seeps and rock salt samples taken from Boulby Potash Mine, UK. The origin and evolution of the brines is determined with geochemical techniques, showing the majority to have been sourced from an aquifer above where they were intersected in the mine. These brines appear to have taken a variety of pathways through the subsurface leading to the presence of a range of different ions dissolved within them. The majority are Na/Cl dominated, whilst one is K/Cl dominated. One brine appears to have a different origin and probably interacted with dolomite becoming very concentrated in Mg. This variety in brine origins and migration pathways has impacted the habitability of the brines. Physicochemical measurements for chaotropicity, water activity and ionic strength, combined with culturing experiments suggest brines from the Sherwood Sandstone were habitable, but the brine from a distinct unknown source was uninhabitable. DNA was successfully extracted from three of the habitable brines and their metagenomes sequenced. These revealed communities largely functionally and phylogenetically similar to surface near saturation brines, indicating that the structure of the communities present in saturated Na/Cl brines are controlled almost exclusively by these ions rather than any other environmental difference between the surface and subsurface. Organisms were also taken from these brines and culturing experiments carried out to determine if any carbon sources were present in ancient salt that might promote growth in the absence of other carbon sources. Controls showed that the geochemical changes to the growth media induced by solving the salts, particularly sylvinite, were responsible for the increases in growth observed, indicating certain salt minerals effectively fertilise the growth of halophiles. Culturing on hydrocarbon seeps collected in the mine suggested they may provide a carbon source periodically to some organisms within the deposit. Work was done to show the presence of dissimilatory sulphate and iron reducing halophiles. Overall this significantly advances our understanding of how salts shape the Earth's biosphere, particularly its deep subsurface component, and what functional capabilities life has to persist in these environments. This work provides a new window on the potential habitability of deep subsurface extraterrestrial environments and how we might go about investigating these environments for habitable conditions.
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Coetzee, Gerrit. "Formal retail as a strategy to enhance the quality of life in marginalized communities." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/52851.
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Thesis (MS en S)--Stellenbosch University, 2002.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Of all the strategies available to help eradicate poverty and enhance the quality of life of people living in marginalized communities, the provision of a formal retail centre would not stand out as a number one strategy. Nevertheless, the Nomzamo Business Centre was built as part of a local economic development initiative to help local businesses to develop. The primary goal of this study was to establish whether the residents of Nomzamo perceived the development of the centre as a contributing factor towards improving the quality of their lives. Although the retail sector is well represented in these marginalized communities, in the form of spazas and other informal businesses, these businesses desperately lack the bearings of formality. The Nomzamo Business Centre provides a formal business premises at affordable rates, for local business people and gives them the opportunity to develop skills through business training courses and the provision of information. As the study concludes, the residents of Nomzamo perceived the centre as an enhancement towards their quality of live, even though many of them still do not make use of the centre. Established shopping habits are hard to brake especially if the centre does not provide any real magnetism. The centre failed to attract an anchor tenant and although Eskom's presence at the centre does provide some form of attraction, the benefits have not yet spilled over to the other shops. At this stage the Nomzamo Business Centre cannot be deemed a success. The centre fails to compete with local informal businesses. What is needed in most of these communities however is a change in the local economic structure. Local economies in most cases are retail based, with no or little representation in sectors like manufacturing. Although the Nomzamo Business Centre will not contribute much towards a more balanced local economy, it does provide the foundation for future changes to take place.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Van al die strategieë beskikbaar om te help met die uitwissing van armoede en die verbetering in die kwaliteit van lewe van mense wat in marginale gemeenskappe bly, sal die voorsiening van 'n formele kleinhandelsentrum beslis nie as 'n nommer een strategie bekend staan nie. Nogtans is die Nomzamo Besigheidsentrum, geleë tussen die Strand en Gordonsbaai, gebou as deel van 'n plaaslike ekonomiese ontwikkelingsinisiatief om plaaslike besighede te help ontwikkel. Die primêre doel van die studie was om vas te stel of die inwoners van Nomzamo, die ontwikkeling van die sentrum as 'n bydraende faktor in die verbetering van hul lewenskwaliteit waarneem. Alhoewel die kleinhandelsektor goed verteenwoordig is in die marginale gemeenskappe, in die vorm van spaza-winkels en ander informele besighede, ontbreek die besighede aan die nodige formaliteit. Die Nomzamo Besigheidsentrum bied 'n formele besigheidperseel teen bekostigbare tariewe vir plaaslike besighede en gee hulle die geleentheid om vaardighede te ontwikkel, deur kursusse in besigheidsopleiding en die voorsiening van informasie. Die studie kom tot die gevolgtrekking dat die inwoners van Nomzamo wel die sentrum as 'n verbetering in hul lewenskwaliteit waarneem, selfs al maak meeste van hulle steeds nie gebruik van die sentrum nie. Gevestigde inkopie gewoontes is moeilik om te verander, veral as die sentrum geen werklike aantrekking bied nie. Die sentrum het misluk in die poging om 'n anker huurder te lok en alhoewel Eskom se teenwoordigheid by die sentrum, 'n vorm van aantrekking bied, het die voordele van Eskom se teenwoordigheid nog nie na ander winkels oorgespoel nie. Op hierdie stadium kan die Nomzamo Besigheidsentrum nie as 'n sukses verklaar word nie. Die sentrum misluk om met plaaslike informele besighede mee te ding. Wat egter benodig word in die gemeenskappe is 'n verandering in die plaaslike ekonomiese struktuur. Plaaslike ekonomieë is in meeste gevalle op kleinhandel gebaseer, met min of geen verteenwoordiging in sektore soos vervaardiging nie. Alhoewel die Nomzamo Besigheidsentrum nie sal bydra tot 'n meer gebalanseerde plaaslike ekonomie nie, bied die sentrum 'n platform vir toekomstige veranderinge om op plaas te vind.
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Gosling, Vashti. "Autonomy in everyday life : involving people with learning difficulties in their services and communities." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 1999. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.310810.
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Kozler, Steven J. "The renewal of community in parish life towards an ecclesiology of communion /." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 1998. http://www.tren.com.
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Schnelle, Heath McKay. "Dietrich Bonhoeffer's view of Christian community yesterday and today /." Online full text .pdf document, available to Fuller patrons only, 1999. http://www.tren.com.
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Rawls, Morgan. "An evaluation of bacterial and fungal contributions to organic matter decomposition along a soil moisture gradient." VCU Scholars Compass, 2009. http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/1894.
Full textAbstract:
The decomposition of plant litter is a critical biological function that aids in nutrient cycling and energy transfers within and between ecosystems. The primary decomposers of dead leaf material are bacteria and fungi, though there is no consensus as to which of these groups is dominant, nor is it known how the abundance and composition of these communities changes over time. The objectives of this study were to examine the relative contributions of bacterial and fungal populations to leaf organic matter (OM) decomposition and to consider the effect of moisture availability on the microbial community. The study was conducted across three habitats of differing moisture regimes: an upland terrestrial site, an emerging freshwater marsh, and an established freshwater swamp. Litterbags were constructed using two types of vegetation: a standardized substrate, maple leaves, and the site-specific vegetation, deployed in November 2007 following plant senescence, and retrieved after 0, 3, 6, 10, and 16 months of field incubation. The samples were then analyzed for decomposition as % OM remaining, total carbon and nitrogen content (C:N), dissolved organic carbon (DOC) release, microbial respiration via 14C heterotrophic uptake of acetate, and microbial community composition via terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis. The results demonstrated that moisture regime is a significant factor in decomposition, with high decomposition at wetter sites. Vegetation type also impacted decomposition, as maple leaves were found to decay more similarly across sites, while the breakdown of site-specific vegetation varied more. These findings lack evidence to suggest one variable, moisture or vegetation time, as the driving factor of decomposition. Respiration rates varied greatly between sites and over time. Surprisingly, fungi were found to be a significant contributor to respiration at sites of high moisture, which suggests a need to better incorporated their activity in carbon budgets. Microbial communities were unique at each site and shifts were observed over time for both the bacterial and fungal populations. Changes in community structure were well correlated with changes in OM quality and quantity, though specific relationships varied by site. Future work determining functional groups and taxa of these microbial assemblages would provide a deeper knowledge of the role of these communities on decomposition processes. A better understanding of how differences in soil moisture impact decomposition rates will provide greater insight on the carbon sequestered or released from a habitat, which may be particularly important with global climate change. Although sites of high moisture exhibited accelerated decomposition, moisture alone may not be the driving factor. In turn, variables associated with high moisture, such as increased nutrients, should be further researched as they may actually be behind the increase in decomposition.
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Noble, Allyson F. "Quotidian bus journeys : city life reflections on Lothian buses." Thesis, Edinburgh Napier University, 2008. http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/2396.
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The main objectives of this research are to investigate the interaction between the city of Edinburgh, Lothian Buses (Edinburgh's principal public transport provider) and people using specific bus routes within the city boundaries. A single overarching question dominated the nature of this research: ‘What can we know about the local character of the city from the vantage point of the bus?' The primary means of data collection were systematic participant observations along specific bus routes from 2004 to 2005. Consideration moves beyond solely examining the interaction between passengers, and treats the bus and the city as complex phenomena with which people have an interactive relationship. Through these observations, it explores the ways in which the bus is more than a mode of transport that links places, and instead maintains that the bus network forms its own multi-stranded signature within the city. Unravelling these strands reveals a mobile place where heterogeneous types of bus users engage in sense making procedures. In addition, the quotidian conversations that take place within the bus add their own unique rhythms and provide an added dimension to city life. Analysis draws on these systematic observations, delving beneath the surface of the familiar practice of bus travel, seeing the new in the familiar and subjecting these observations to philosophical enquiry. This research also considers the multifarious dimensions of the embedded experience of travel within its in-situ spatial and temporal imagination. The changing temporal and spatial nature of the bus creates a highly complex place within which contested identities produce knowable and recognisable corporal inscriptions upon the bus. Through the everyday practices and accomplishments within the lifeworld, we treat the city as a work in progress, in which there is an enduring tension between a community's need for inclusiveness and the concomitant practices that contribute to the process of exclusion. The embodied time spent travelling is the substantive life-blood of this thesis and the rich veins of the bus network present themselves as an essential part of the city's anatomy. In chorus, the theoretical foundation reflects upon itself as principled speech.
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Herz, Lorrie A. "Immigration to Norwich, Connecticut : a comparison of three Catholic ethnic communities /." View abstract, 2001. http://library.ccsu.edu/ccsu%5Ftheses/showit.php3?id=1629.
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Thesis (M.A.)--Central Connecticut State University, 2001.Thesis advisor: Heather Munroe Prescott. " ... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 87-91).
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Bonjour, Sophia. "Influence of Fishes on Macroinvertebrate Communities in Prairie Stream Permanent Water Refugia." OpenSIUC, 2018. https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/theses/2348.
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Physical factors, such as hydrologic variability, are major structuring forces of prairie stream communities. Macroinvertebrate and algae densities can both decrease sharply in response to floods and drying. Less is known about the influences of biological factors, such as fishes. The influence of fishes on macroinvertebrate communities varies with environmental factors and other biologic interactions, ranging from neutral to strong negative effects on some populations, and the strength of these interactions sometimes appear linked to hydrology. Drying intermittent streams leave permanent water refugia that may be hotspots for interactions between fishes and invertebrates. Effects of fishes on macroinvertebrate communities may vary with invertebrate life cycle stages (e.g., larvae, emerging adults, colonizing adults). I examined macroinvertebrate communities (benthic and emerging) and algal biomass across a range of permanent stream pool sites at Konza Prairie Biological Station with naturally varying densities of fishes. I also manipulated fish densities in a mesocosm experiment to address how fishes may also be effecting colonization during recovery from hydrologic disturbance. Fish biomass had a negative impact on invertebrate abundance, but not biomass or taxa richness, in natural pools. Total fish biomass was not correlated with total insect emergence in natural pools, but orangethroat darter (Etheostoma spectabile) biomass was inversely correlated with emerging Chironomidae biomass (r2 = 0.43, p = 0.047) and individual midge body size (r2 = 0.61, p = 0.014). Predatory fish biomass and a date interaction appeared in top linear models, indicating fish may also delay insect emergence from natural pools. Fish presence reduced abundance of colonizing insects (p < 0.001) and total invertebrate biomass (p = 0.001) in mesocosms. Mesocosm insect communities in pools without fishes were characterized by more Chironomidae, Culicidae, and Corduliidae (p < 0.001 for all). Chlorophyll-a increased between sampling dates in mesocosms, but did not differ between treatments. Not all life stages showed the same response to fishes, illustrating the need for understanding life histories in order to interpret the influence of fishes. Understanding how fishes in prairie streams affect ecosystem structure and function is critical for conservation and management of remaining grassland streams. Results suggest fishes can influence colonization and community structure in prairie stream pools, which serve as important refugia during hydrologic disturbance and source areas for colonists during recovery.
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Novotny, Kevin A. "The interaction of financial problems and psychological health in rural communities." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN) Access this title online, 2004. http://www.tren.com.
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Singh, Yasna. "Satnami self-assertion and Dalit activism : everyday life and caste in rural Chhattisgarh (central India)." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2013. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/689/.
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This thesis is an ethnographic exploration of the way in which local actors who engage in Ambedkarite discourses in rural Chhattisgarh are disconnected from the larger pan-Indian social movement. It goes beyond the literature that looks at Dalits in the urban context by focusing on Dalits in rural India. The aspects under investigation are caste, social and sectarian movements, youth, rights, intergenerational difference and education. The Satnami community examined here is located in a village where they are in more or less the same economic position to other castes. These other castes, however, practice ‘distancing’ from them to avoid ‘pollution’, which is a cause for smouldering resentment. Satnamis have been historically militant. They acquired additional land and assert themselves through a sectarian movement. They have their own functionaries and pilgrimage site. Their sectarian ideology advances the claim that they are independent (swatantra) from other castes and have mitigated exchange (len-den) with them. Nevertheless, they remain at the bottom of the village caste hierarchy and face everyday forms of caste oppression. Educated Satnamis in the younger generation claim that they know more (jaankar) about their rights (adhikaar) and aspire to change by becoming “key social animators”. These young men are organised in an association (samiti/samuh) that draws on Ambedkar’s ideas about overcoming caste oppression. They also appropriate mainstream spaces in the village by organising Hindu festivals, and defy ‘clean’ caste ostracism at a ritual level. But they do not have any functional power in the village or in the panchayat. When urban Dalit activists, with their headquarters in Raipur, visit rural areas, they ignore this group of young men in the village. Their main activity is fact-finding and the dissemination of reports of caste-motivated atrocities on the Internet with the intention of forging links to NGOs nationally and internationally. They do not focus their attention on mundane forms of caste oppression in everyday village life, and the young men in the village remain hidden from view. The present study examines how the Dalit movement is functioning at the grass roots level, focusing on those actors in rural India who remain hidden from mainstream channels of activism in the Dalit movement.
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Liu, Qiaoming. "Social support for the frail elderly at two kinds of retirement communities." PDXScholar, 1990. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/4098.
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As few studies focus explicitly on social support for residents by residents in retirement communities which have staff, this thesis is designed to explore the nature of informal social support among residents at planned, non-subsidized retirement care facilities: the types, the amount, the impact, the limitation and the appropriateness of such support. Our focus is to explore whether different organization of a retirement community affects social support among residents, so we compare two retirement care facilities. One provides single-level care for its residents and the other provides multiple-level care. We chose our two sites from retirement care facilities in the City of Portland, Oregon. We generated our data by interviewing residents who live independently in the two retirement communities.
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Hammond, Sean LaRoy. "Mapping Fire Fuels Through Detection of Canopy Biomass Loading In Juniper, Sagebrush, and Gambel Oak Communities." DigitalCommons@USU, 2012. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/1194.
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Every year, millions of acres of forest and rangeland are burned in prescribed burns as well as wildfires. The costs associated with wildfires may be some of the largest we face as a society both in material goods and in life. The importance of managing fire fuels has increased with the development of the wildland-urban interface. With this increased emphasis has come the development of tools to assess, map, and simulate fuel maps at a landscape level. These fuel maps are then input into computer-aided wildfire simulation models that are used by land managers in the planning process. A current challenge for land managers is to find efficient ways to measure the amount and structure of fire fuels on a landscape level. Fuel models are one of the required inputs for software that mathematically computes wildfire rate of spread. Various methods have been used to develop fuel maps. It is the objective of this thesis to develop a method by which fuel models can be predicted and mapped on a landscape level through utilization of remotely sensed data. The proposed process for this method is: 1) develop landcover classification, 2) assess data analysis approaches for use in creation of predictive regression models, 3) correlation of data results to Natural Fuels Photo Series, and 4) translate Natural Fuels Photo Series classifications into fuel models described by Scott and Burgan.
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Costa, Silvana Dunham da. "Mineworkers' quality of life in remote communities : a multiple case study in the Brazilian Amazon." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/802.
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The mining industry has long played a significant role in regional development in remote regions throughout the world. For the last two decades, the industry has faced high expectations regarding sustainable development and corporate social responsibility, particularly in remote and environmentally sensitive areas. Mining community models and mineworkers’ accommodation strategies in remote locations have varied greatly, yet there has been little documented reflection on the various models’ performance or on their implications for the quality of life (QOL) of mineworkers and their families and for the pre-existing local communities. This multidisciplinary case study research used a subjective quality of life approach to investigate the levels of satisfaction with QOL and specific aspects of QOL domains in three communities: the company town, the gate development community and the integrated community. The triangulation of data from qualitative and quantitative methods was used to examine the major QOL factors that should be taken into account by mining companies, local governments and policy makers when planning for mine development in remote areas. Findings suggest that differences exist between the mineworkers’ levels of satisfaction with specific QOL aspects and how QOL predictors are defined in distinct mining community models. Even though the case studies represent clearly different models of mining communities, in general, mineworkers in the three communities seem to be only moderately satisfied with their quality of life. It is also suggested that employees living in two almost opposite models—the company town and the gate development community—seem to have similar levels of satisfaction with overall quality of life, suggesting that the investment in infrastructure and services limited to the boundaries of the company town is not reflected in a generally improved perception of overall quality of life in this community. Findings also support the argument for an environmental and social impact assessment process for new mines in remote areas. This process should include a full and integrated consideration of the economic, environmental and social impacts of the workforce migration to remote areas and the consequent intensification of the already rapid urbanization of environmentally sensitive areas such as the Brazilian Amazon.
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Speith, Nivien. "Skeletal evidence of the social persona : life, death and society in early medieval Alamannic communities." Thesis, University of Bradford, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10454/6287.
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Historic-archaeological research on the Alamanni, an early medieval population in the periphery of the Frankish Empire, primarily focuses on themes such as their military character or issues of ethnicity, while the actual functioning of Alamannic societies remains conjectural. Aiming at presenting an integrated approach to the concepts of social organisation and social identities in Alamannic populations, this study examines and defines Alamannic identity and society by creating a dialogue between the disciplines of archaeology, biological anthropology and socio-cultural sciences. A bioarchaeology of identity explores the Alamanni of Pleidelsheim and Neresheim via their funerary and skeletal evidence, allowing for the factor of different environments that influence the interactions of a community. A key theme is the investigation of indicators for biological and social 'status', by direct association of bioanthropological with funerary archaeological data, as well as by evaluation of present interpretations made from material culture in the light of bioanthropological analysis as a paramount focus. The results are interpreted in terms of social status and the perception of certain social parameters, exploring interrelations between factors such as sex and gender, age, status and activity for the entirety of a society. This research offers new perspectives on Alamannic societies and helps to comprehend Alamannic social organisation as a multi-layered phenomenon, emphasizing the importance of a biocultural approach. Beyond common perceptions, this study forms the basis for a new understanding of the Alamanni, as the results reveal a society that was complex and diverse, displaying its own characteristics in the Merovingian world.