The European Union Foreign Policy in the Caucasus and Central Asia: The Limitations of the Opening towards the East

This article intends to study the evolution of the European Union foreign policy in the Southern Caucasus and Central Area throughout the Post-Cold War era. The aim is to analyze Brussels’ fundamental interests and limitations in the area, the strategies it has implemented in the last few years, and the extent to which the EU has been able to undermine the regional hegemons’ traditional supremacy. As will be highlighted, the Community’s chronic weaknesses, the local determination to preserve sovereignty and an increasing international geopolitical competition undermine any European aspiration to become a pre-eminent actor at the heart of the Eurasian continent in the near future.

Daughter of Eve, "Femme Fatale", and Persecuted Artist: The Mythic Transgressive Woman in Oscar Wilde's and Richard Strauss's "Salome"

Historically, Salome was an unexceptional figure who never catalyzed John the Baptist's death. However, in Christian Scripture, she becomes the dancing seductress as fallen daughter of Eve.  Her stepfather Herod promises Salome his kingdom if she dances for him, but she follows her mother’s wish to have John beheaded. In Strauss’s opera, after Wilde's Symbolist-Decadent play, Salome becomes independent of Herodias’ will, and the mythic avatar of the femme fatale and persecuted artist who Herod has killed after she kisses John's severed head.  Her signature key of C# major, resolving to the C major sung by Herod and Jokanaan at her death, represent her tragic fate musically.

Of Marx and Makers: an Historical Perspective on Generative Justice

In Marxist frameworks “distributive justice” depends on extracting value through a centralized state. Many new social movements—peer to peer economy, maker activism, community agriculture, queer ecology, etc.—take the opposite approach, keeping value in its unalienated form and allowing it to freely circulate from the bottom up. Unlike Marxism, there is no general theory for bottom-up, unalienated value circulation. This paper examines the concept of “generative justice” through an historical contrast between Marx’s writings and the indigenous cultures that he drew upon. Marx erroneously concluded that while indigenous cultures had unalienated forms of production, only centralized value extraction could allow the productivity needed for a high quality of life. To the contrary, indigenous cultures now provide a robust model for the “gift economy” that underpins open source technological production, agroecology, and restorative approaches to civil rights. Expanding Marx’s concept of unalienated labor value to include unalienated ecological (nonhuman) value, as well as the domain of freedom in speech, sexual orientation, spirituality and other forms of “expressive” value, we arrive at an historically informed perspective for generative justice. 

No second chance: junior neonatal nurses' experiences of caring for babies at the end-of-life and their families

Death of an infant is acutely stressful for parents and professionals. Little is known about junior nurses' experiences providing end-of-life care in Neonatal units (NNU). This study aimed to better understand junior nurses' experiences providing end-of-life care in NNU. Neonatal nurses (n = 12) with less than 3 years experience participated in a focus group. Nominal Group Technique (NGT) was used to build consensus around the challenges faced, alongside suggested developments in improving future care provision. Primary analysis involved successive rounds of ranking and decision-making whilst secondary analysis involved thematic analysis. All issues, whether environmental, professional or social appeared driven by an awareness on the part of nurses, that there was no ‘second chance’ which created a huge pressure to ‘get if right’ for the infants and families. Regarding future care 2 areas of improvement identified were ‘Education and Training’ and Support. This paper unpacks these findings making recommendations for practice.

No second chance: the experiences of junior neonatal nurses in providing end-of-life care for babies and families in the NNU

Background

An infant’s death is acutely stressful for parents and professionals. Little is known about junior nurses’ experiences providing end-of-life care in Neonatal Units (NNU).

Objectives

To better understand junior nurses’ experiences providing end-of-life care in NNU, the study explored the challenges and opportunities inherent in their practice relating to providing such care to babies and their families.

Methods

Neonatal nurses (n=12) with less than 3 years’ experience who were undergoing a neonatal education programme participated. Two focus groups were convened each with 6 nurses. The Ethics Committee at the relevant University approved the study. Nominal Group Technique (NGT) was used in the focus groups to build consensus around the challenges faced by junior nurses, alongside suggested developments in improving future care provision. Primary analysis involved successive rounds of ranking and decision making whilst secondary analysis involved thematic analysis.

Results

The study identified the pressures these nurses felt in having only one chance to ‘get it right’ for the infants and their families. They perceived the need for further ‘education and training’ highlighting that improved education provision would include both additional courses and internal training sessions. Greater ‘support’ from mentors themselves more experienced in this aspect of care within the NNU was identified as important in addressing issues around confidence building and skill development.

Conclusions

The results highlight junior nurses’ need for specific education and mentorship around end-of-life care for babies. This presentation will outline the implications for practice, education and further research.

Complex contests and the influence of aggressiveness in pigs

Animal contests vary greatly in behavioural tactics used and intensity reached, with some encounters resolved without physical contact while others escalate to damaging fighting. However, the reasons for such variation remains to be fully explained. Aggressiveness, in terms of a personality trait, offers a potentially important source of variation that has typically been overlooked. Therefore, we studied how aggressiveness as a personality trait influenced escalation between contestants matched for resource holding potential (RHP), using detailed observations of the contest behaviour, contest dynamics, and escalation levels. We predicted that winner and loser behaviour would differ depending on personality. This was tested by examining 52 dyadic contests between pigs (Sus scrofa). Aggressiveness was assayed in resident-intruder tests prior to the contest. Contests were then staged between pigs matched for RHP in terms of body weight but differing in their aggressiveness. In 27% of the contests a winner emerged without escalated physical fighting, demonstrating that a fight is not a prerequisite between RHP-matched contestants. However, the duration of contests with or without fighting was the same. In contests without a fight, opponents spent more time on mutual investigation and non-contact displays such as parallel walking, which suggests that ritualized display may facilitate assessment and decision making. Winners low in aggressiveness invested more time in opponent investigation and display and showed substantially less aggression towards the loser after its retreat compared to aggressive winners. Aggressiveness influenced contest dynamics but did not predict the level of escalation. Prominent behavioural differences were found for the interaction between personality and outcome and we therefore recommend including this interaction in models where personality is considered. Analyses based on contest duration only would miss many of the subtleties which are shown here and we therefore encourage more detailed analyses of animal contests, irrespective of the level of contest escalation.

Quantitative comparison of SensibleThings and Microsoft Azure IoT Hub

With the development of the Internet-of-Things, more and more IoT platforms come up with different structures and characteristics. Making balance of their advantages and disadvantages, we should choose the suitable platform in differ- ent scenarios. For this project, I make comparison of a cloud-based centralized platform, Microsoft Azure IoT hub and a fully distributed platform, Sensi- bleThings. Quantitative comparison is made for performance by 2 scenarios, messages sending speed adds up, devices lie in different location. General com- parison is made for security, utilization and the storage. Finally I draw the con- clusion that SensibleThings performs more stable when a lot of messages push- es to the platform. Microsoft Azure has better geographic expansion. For gener- al comparison, Microsoft Azure IoT hub has better security. The requirement of local device for Microsoft Azure IoT hub is lower than SensibleThings. The SensibleThings are open source and free while Microsoft Azure follow the con- cept “pay as you go” with many throttling limitations for different editions. Microsoft is more user-friendly.

Preliminary Results of an International Study Exploring and Comparing Positive Aspects and Concerns of Growing Older in Different Societies

This paper aims to gain an understanding and insight into the older person’s experiences and perceptions of growing older within their own societies in relation to their independence, choice and decision making. In an attempt to identify what is happening in different countries and cultures and to share these experiences, attitudes and perceptions from older people, this study asked people from three developing countries (Tanzania, Indonesia and Peru), from three different continents, to take part in this study.

Chinese Men and "Leftover Women" : How do Chinese Men Position Themselves in Relation to the Concept of Labelling Women as "Leftover"?

In recent years there has been a resurgence of gender inequality in China. Today, women are pressured to get married by the state and their social surroundings, as they told if they remain unmarried and have the "three highs"; high age, education and salary, they will become leftovers on the marriage market. Previous research on the concept of labelling women as "leftover" has 4 shown that labelling women as "leftover" can have several different negative impacts. In this thesis, both the theory of masculine hegemony and the theory of symbolic interaction have been used. The concept creates a hegemonic masculinity as it is a normative practice that promotes the subordination of women. However, as the concept is based on the notion that all Chinese men, or at least those of relevant social standing, would find the "three highs" undesirable, it is relevant to see how Chinese men in fact do position themselves in relation to the hegemonic masculinity on an individual level. In symbolic interaction, the concept of gender is created through social construction when people attach special meanings to the sex of a person, a process which is called "doing gender". Therefore symbolic interaction is used to see what special meaning Chinese men attach to women having the "three highs" and masculine hegemony to put their answers into a larger context. If it could be shown that Chinese men do not comply with the hegemonic masculinity, Chinese women would not have to feel obliged to adjust to the hegemonic masculinity and thereby making it easier for them to pursue higher education, high paying jobs and marrying at a later age. However, as this thesis is a qualitative study, and therefore a limited number of data subjects, the generalizability of the result should not be exaggerated. The interviews that were conducted for this thesis showed that the data subjects were familiar with the concept and that they considered it to be natural for there to be women China labelled as "leftover". Nevertheless, in relation to their own marital choices, the data subjects did not attach the negative meaning as set out by the hegemonic masculinity, a result which to some extent was confirmed by the data subjects’ experiences and other control questions. The result is interesting, and enforces Connell and MesserSchmidt’s theory, that even though a hegemonic masculinity is normative, not everyone has to comply with it. As the cornerstone of the concept is that Chinese men find women with the "three highs" undesirable, the result of the study shows that there is a need for the concept to be further examined and questioned.

Adsorption Calorimetry for Energy Conversion Technologies: Applications in Organic Photovoltaics, Catalysis, and Atomic Layer Deposition

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-07

“It’s the People That Drive It”: Motivating and Supporting Collaborative Data Use Practices in Three Teacher Education Programs

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-08

Trust, confidence, and equity affect the legitimacy of natural resource governance

Social-ecological systems are often highly complex, making effective governance a considerable challenge. In large, heterogeneous systems, hierarchical institutional regimes may be efficient, but effective management outcomes are dependent on stakeholder support. This support is shaped by perceptions of legitimacy, which risks being undermined where resource users are not engaged in decision-making. Although legitimacy is demonstrably critical for effective governance, less is known about the factors contributing to stakeholders’ perceptions of legitimacy or how these perceptions are socially differentiated. We quantitatively assessed stakeholder perceptions of legitimacy (indicated by support for rules) and their contributory factors among 307 commercial fishers and tourism operators in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Legitimacy was most strongly associated with trust in information from governing bodies, followed by confidence in institutional performance and the equity of management outcomes. Legitimacy differed both within and among resource user groups, which emphasizes the heterogeneous nature of commonly defined stakeholder groups. Overall, tourism operators perceived higher legitimacy than did commercial fishers, which was associated with higher trust in information from management agencies. For fishers, higher levels of trust were associated with: (1) engagement in fisheries that had high subsector cohesion and positive previous experiences of interactions with governing bodies; (2) location in areas with greater proximity to sources of knowledge, resources, and decision-making; and (3) engagement in a Reef Guardian program. These findings highlight the necessity of strategies and processes to build trust among all user groups in large social-ecological systems such as the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Furthermore, the social differentiation of perceptions that were observed within user groups underscores the importance of targeted strategies to engage groups that may not be heard through traditional governance channels.

A social-ecological impact assessment for public lands management: application of a conceptual and methodological framework

According to the U.S. National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), federal action to manipulate habitat for species conservation requires an environmental impact statement, which should integrate natural, physical, economic, and social sciences in planning and decision making. Nonetheless, most impact assessments focus disproportionately on physical or ecological impacts rather than integrating ecological and socioeconomic components. We developed a participatory social-ecological impact assessment (SEIA) that addresses the requirements of NEPA and integrates social and ecological concepts for impact assessments. We cooperated with the Bureau of Land Management in Idaho, USA on a project designed to restore habitat for the Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus). We employed questionnaires, workshop dialogue, and participatory mapping exercises with stakeholders to identify potential environmental changes and subsequent impacts expected to result from the removal of western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis). Via questionnaires and workshop dialogue, stakeholders identified 46 environmental changes and associated positive or negative impacts to people and communities in Owyhee County, Idaho. Results of the participatory mapping exercises showed that the spatial distribution of social, economic, and ecological values throughout Owyhee County are highly associated with the two main watersheds, wilderness areas, and the historic town of Silver City. Altogether, the SEIA process revealed that perceptions of project scale varied among participants, highlighting the need for specificity about spatial and temporal scales. Overall, the SEIA generated substantial information concerning potential impacts associated with habitat treatments for Greater Sage-Grouse. The SEIA is transferable to other land management and conservation contexts because it supports holistic understanding and framing of connections between humans and ecosystems. By applying this SEIA framework, land managers and affected people have an opportunity to fulfill NEPA requirements and develop more comprehensive management plans that better reflect the linkages of social-ecological systems.

Government decentralization and disaster impact, an exploratory study

The purpose of this study is to explore the link between decentralization and the impact of natural disasters through empirical analysis. It addresses the issue of the importance of the role of local government in disaster response through different means of decentralization. By studying data available for 50 countries, it allows to develop the knowledge on the role of national government in setting policy that allows flexibility and decision making at a local level and how this devolution of power influences the outcome of disasters. The study uses Aaron Schneider’s definition and rankings of decentralization, the EM-DAT database to identify the amount of people affected by disasters on average per year as well as World Bank Indicators and the Human Development Index (HDI) to model the role of local decentralization in mitigating disasters. With a multivariate regression it looks at the amount of affected people as explained by fiscal, administrative and political decentralization, government expenses, percentage of urbanization, total population, population density, the HDI and the overall Logistics Performance Indicator (LPI). The main results are that total population, the overall LPI and fiscal decentralization are all significant in relation to the amount of people affected by disasters for the countries and period studied. These findings have implication for government’s policies by indicating that fiscal decentralization by allowing local governments to control a bigger proportion of the countries revenues and expenditures plays a role in reducing the amount of affected people in disasters. This can be explained by the fact that local government understand their own needs better in both disaster prevention and response which helps in taking the proper decisions to mitigate the amount of people affected in a disaster. The reduction in the implication of national government might also play a role in reducing the time of reaction to face a disaster. The main conclusion of this study is that fiscal control by local governments can help reduce the amount of people affected by disasters.

Towards guidelines for curriculum design and development in English language teacher education in Cambodian higher education institutions

In the current Cambodian higher education sector, there is little regulation of standards in curriculum design of undergraduate degrees in English language teacher education. The researcher, in the course of his professional work in the Curriculum and Policy Office at the Department of Higher Education, has seen evidence that most universities tend to copy their curriculum from one source, the curriculum of the Institute of Foreign Languages, the Royal University of Phnom Penh. Their programs fail to impose any entry standards, accepting students who pass the high school exam without any entrance examination. It is possible for a student to enter university with satisfactory scores in all subjects but English. Therefore, not many graduates are able to fulfil the professional requirements of the roles they are supposed to take. Neau (2010) claims that many Cambodian EFL teachers do not reach a high performance standard due to their low English language proficiency and poor background in teacher education. The main purpose of this study is to establish key guidelines for developing curricula for English language teacher education for all the universities across the country. It examines the content of the Bachelor‘s degree of Education in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (B Ed in TEFL) and Bachelor‘s degree of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (BA in TESOL) curricula adopted in Cambodian universities on the basis of criteria proposed in current curriculum research. It also investigates the perspectives of Cambodian EFL teachers on the areas of knowledge and skill they need in order to perform their English teaching duties in Cambodia today. The areas of knowledge and skill offered in the current curricula at Cambodian higher education institutions (HEIs), the framework of the knowledge base for EFL teacher education and general higher education, and the areas of knowledge and skill Cambodian EFL teachers perceive to be important, are compared so as to identify any gaps in the current English language teacher education curricula in the Cambodian HEIs. The existence of gaps show what domains of knowledge and skill need to be included in the English language teacher education curricula at Cambodian HEIs. These domains are those identified by previous curriculum researchers in both general and English language teacher education at tertiary level. Therefore, the present study provides useful insights into the importance of including appropriate content in English language teacher education curricula. Mixed methods are employed in this study. The course syllabi and the descriptions within the curricula in five Cambodian HEIs are analysed qualitatively based on the framework of knowledge and skills for EFL teachers, which is formed by looking at the knowledge base for second language teachers suggested by the methodologists and curriculum specialists whose work is elaborated on the review of literature. A quantitative method is applied to analyse the perspectives of 120 Cambodian EFL teachers on areas of knowledge and skills they should possess. The fieldwork was conducted between June and August, 2014. The analysis reveals that the following areas are included in the curricula at the five universities: communication skills, general knowledge, knowledge of teaching theories, teaching skills, pedagogical reasoning and decision making skills, subject matter knowledge, contextual knowledge, cognitive abilities, and knowledge of social issues. Additionally, research skills are included in three curricula while society and community involvement is in only one. Further, information and communication technology, which is outlined in the Education Strategies Plan (2006-2010), forms part of four curricula while leadership skills form part of two. This study demonstrates ultimately that most domains that are directly and indirectly related to language teaching competence are not sufficiently represented in the current curricula. On the basis of its findings, the study concludes with a set of guidelines that should inform the design and development of TESOL and TEFL curricula in Cambodia.