Suchergebnisse

There is growing scientific evidence showing that many important pollinator species are in decline around the world. Bees are the most important pollinators in many parts of the world, and the combination of population declines in wild bees and widespread health problems among domesticated honey bees have potentially devastating impacts on both ecosystem health and agricultural prospects. Some scientists, native bee advocates, and beekeepers argue that cities can provide a refuge for bees from pesticide-laden rural landscapes, which has contributed to an increase in urban, hobbyist beekeeping and pollinator gardening. This dissertation employs a multispecies ethnography in two cities in Ontario, London and Toronto, to explore how the knowledges and experiences of urban bee advocates – who I call 'pollinator people' – shape the ways in which urban spaces are created, used, and managed. My approach is informed by a range of literatures, most notably urban political ecology and heterodox Marxism. A central argument of this dissertation is that urban, hobbyist beekeeping and pollinator gardening allow people to engage in 'playful work', a form of concrete, sensuous human activity that evokes feelings of curiosity and wonder. I also stress the importance of considering interspecies relations, highlighting how many of these pollinator people form strong emotional and embodied relationships with bees. Some native bee advocates argue that urban honey bees may cause some harm to native, wild bees through floral competition and pathogen transfer. This research suggests that bee-centred beekeeping utilizing organic management practices may help to sustain healthier, more resilient honey bees. Rather than banishing honey bees to rural landscapes of monocultures and pesticides where they are numerous but sickly, an emphasis should be placed on the creation of landscapes of abundance in which healthier honey bees can flourish together with native wild bees. Urban farms and community gardens are some of the most potent sites for landscapes of abundance in which people flourish alongside bees. Additionally, the experiences of beekeepers who collectively keep honey bees in shared apiaries can provide valuable insight into how humans can negotiate agency and autonomy with the animals whose lives they are managing to some degree. These experiences and knowledges can help create multispecies urban commons in which non-human animals, even insects, are integrated and considered within processes of radical democracy.

Approaches to visual skilling from anthropology and STS have tended to highlight the forces of discipline and control in understanding how shared visual accounts of the world are created in the face of potential differences brought about by multi-sensorial perception. Drawing upon a range of observational and interview material from an immersion in naturalist training and biological recording activities between 2003 and 2009, I focus upon jizz, a distinct form of gestalt perception much coveted by naturalist communities in the UK. Jizz is described as a tacit and embodied way of seeing that instantaneously reveals the identity of a species, relying upon but simultaneously suspending the arduous and meticulous study of an organism's diagnostic characteristics. I explore the potential and limitations of jizz to allow for both visual precision and an enchanted and varied form of encounter with nature. In so doing, I explore how the specific characteristics of wild, intangible and irreverent virtuoso performance work closely together with disciplining taxonomic standards. As such, discipline and irreverence work together, are mutually enabling, and allow for an accommodation rather than a segregation of potential difference brought about by perceptual variety.

Purpose. Examine the construct validity of a modified stages-of-change (SOC) scale among adults with physical disabilities by investigating the relations among the transtheoretical model (TTM) constructs, physical activity (PA), and SOC. Additionally, the SOC algorithm was compared with previously recommended SOC scales. Design/Setting. Cross-sectional online survey. Subjects. 271 adults with physical disabilities ( x̄age = 49.25; 73.4% females). Measures. Standardized questionnaires for the TTM constructs and PA. Analyses/Results. Based on the multivariate analysis of variance, the hypothesized relations between the SOC and the TTM constructs were supported. According to the analysis of variance, PA levels increased almost linearly across the SOC. Precontemplators ( x̄ = 8.53 metabolic equivalent [MET]-h/d) had lower PA scores than contemplators ( x̄ = 14.27 MET-h/d) and preparators ( x̄ = 17.64 MET-h/d), who in turn had lower scores than those in action ( x̄ = 23.03 MET-h/d). Based on the direct discriminant function analysis, all TTM constructs were important predictors of the SOC (e.g., r = .85 for behavioral processes; r = .69 for self-efficacy; and r = .58 for cognitive processes). The most accurately predicted SOC were action (76.9%), precontemplation (70.6%), contemplation (44.6%), and preparation (14.9%), with an overall classification accuracy of 56.8%. The study participants were more evenly distributed across the SOC algorithm compared with previous studies. Conclusion. The construct validity of the SOC scale was supported. The scale differentiated almost linearly the levels of PA and most TTM constructs, and participants were well-represented across SOC. Health promoters should feel confident in using the proposed SOC scale and the TTM to implement stage-matched PA motivational programs.

The psychometric properties and factor structure of a 15-item self-reporting instrument measuring perceptions of stress precipitators was investigated in a sample of 146 female Senior Executive Service employees of the U.S. federal government. A four factor solution was found to best represent the sample. Additionally, cluster analysis revealed the presence of three relatively homogeneous subgroups of sample respondents, based on the source and level of their perceived stress. It was found that "concerns about one's performance" was the highest ranked stressor, followed by concerns about work load, responsibility and authority ambiguities, and the fear of making the wrong decision. The cluster analysis resulted in three groups of stress patterns. The highest stress group included women who put the job above all else, the second highest group had a high propensity for job achievement, and the lowest stress group represented women who placed a high emphasis on self-actualization and "out-side" job considerations.

Purpose: To evaluate the impact of Desire2Move (D2M) implementation fidelity by Wellness Champions on program effectiveness. Design: Cross-sectional. Setting: Years 1, 3, and 5 of D2M; an annual peer support health and well-being initiative for university employees. Participants: D2M participants included 422 employees from 28 teams; however, only 144 provided survey data (34.1% response rate). Intervention: During the 8-week program, departments competed as teams to accumulate the greatest average physical activity (PA) minutes. Each team selected a Wellness Champion who delivered program information. Each team member recorded PA minutes with MapMyFitnes s. Measures: An electronic survey assessed program implementation fidelity and program satisfaction. Analysis: Median split (median [Mdn] = 21.2) categorized teams into "high" (n = 14; Mdn = 24.0, range = 21.4-25.0) and "low" (n = 14; Mdn = 19.4, range = 14.3-21.0) implementation groups. Independent samples t tests evaluated differences between groups on program satisfaction and team program average PA minutes. Results: Groups were significantly different for program satisfaction, t(26) = −2.76, P = .011, and team program average PA minutes, t(26) = −2.40, P = .024. The "high" implementation group reported greater program satisfaction (mean [M] = 12.6, standard deviation [SD] = 1.8) and team program average PA minutes (M = 2104.4, SD = 807.4) than the "low" implementation group (program satisfaction M = 11.1, SD = 1.1; team program average minutes M = 1340.8, SD = 875.8). Conclusion: Wellness Champions positively impacted employee PA participation and program satisfaction.

The relatively recent development of comprehensive human resource information systems (HRIS) software has led to a large demand for technologically literate human resource (HR) professionals. For the college student who is about to begin the search for that first postcollege job, the need to develop technology literacy is even more necessary. To meet this technology need, many business schools have started to think about or have begun to incorporate more advanced technology such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems into their curriculum. This article describes the efforts of faculty from two university business schools that incorporated the HRIS module of an ERP system into their HR management courses. In both cases, HRIS was used to illustrate examples of HR processes, measurement, best practices, and planning. Outcomes and lessons learned from the past 2.5 years are also described.

Recent accounts of "the biological" emphasize its thoroughgoing transformation. Accounts of biomedicalization, biotechnology, biopower, biocapital, and bioeconomy tend to agree that twentieth- and twenty-first-century life sciences transform the object of biology, the biological. Amidst so much transformation, we explore attempts to stabilize the biological through standards. We ask: how do standards handle the biological in transformation? Based on ethnographic research, the article discusses three contemporary postgenomic standards that classify, construct, or identify biological forms: the Barcoding of Life Initiative, the BioBricks Assembly Standard, and the Proteomics Standards Initiative. We rely on recent critical analyses of standardization to suggest that any attempt to attribute a fixed property to the biological actually multiplies dependencies between values, materials, and human and nonhuman agents. We highlight ways in which these biological standards cross-validate life forms with forms of life such as publics, infrastructures, and forms of disciplinary compromise. Attempts to standardize the biological, we suggest, offer a good way to see how a life form is always also a form of life.