Suchergebnisse

Ethical guidance in research is underpinned by the need to show respect for study participants by upholding autonomy in participant decision-making, and confidentiality and protection of individual rights, privacy and interests, yet decision-making could also be influenced by the participant's sociocultural and belief systems. This calls for a more Africanised approach to research ethics where these values and beliefs are upheld. While national and international ethics guidelines do exist, there is little evidence that such a paradigm shift in research ethics is adequately interrogated in the teaching and learning curricula in higher education, where research skills are developed and nurtured. Critical reflection is used to highlight opportunities to stimulate learning and debates underpinned by humanised pedagogy in higher education.

In the forested countryside of Gwalior lie the vestiges of a little-known amphitheatre (akhārā) attributed to Raja Mansingh Tomar (r. 1488–1518). A bastioned rampart encloses the once-vibrant dance arena: a circular stage in the centre, surrounded by orchestral platforms and an elevated viewing gallery. This purpose-built performance space is a unique monumentalized instance of widely-prevalent courtly gatherings, featuring interpretive dance accompanied by music. What makes it most intriguing is the architectural play between inside|outside, between the performance stage and the wilderness landscape. Why then did it make sense to situate a 'fortified' amphitheatre amidst forested hills, away from the city? And where does this cultural arena stand in relation to the pressing political concerns of the day, anchored in the very same landscape? This paper examines the performative structure of Mansingh's akhārā and argues that performance – as evening entertainment, hunting sport and military campaign – occupied a crucial place in Gwalior's resilience throughout the fifteenth century and its changing perceptions from an infidel's jungle refuge (mawās) to the axis of a culturally-refined region (sudeśa).

In the United States and Australia, men and women use the internet in nearly equal measure, whereas in Japan, India and China, men continue to dominate internet use. This article focuses on gender differences in the use of the internet at home as seen from women's perspectives and draws particularly on open-ended interviews in 1999 with 30 middle-income Anglo-Celtic women with internet access in urban and rural areas of Australia. The study found that women generally use the internet as a tool for activities, rather than as play or a technology to be mastered. This partially explains why women farmers use the internet more extensively than their farmer husbands. When women become comfortable with technology - as with the telephone or the PC on a farm - women see it as a tool rather than a technology. Women's continued discomfort with technology thus remains at the centre of the social construct of gender and technology.

Climate change is directly linked to the human activities, according to the Fourth Assessment Report of IPCC (2007). In last two decades of 20th Century, accelerated anthropogenic activities pushed up the atmospheric abundance of greenhouse gases, mainly CO₂, CH₄, and N₂O, alarmingly which enhanced the radiative forcing of the Earth's surface and thus perturbed its heat radiation balance. As a consequence, atmospheric characteristics, such as temperature, rainfall pattern, levels of CO₂ and O₃ have changed significantly, affecting the farm productivity. Although rising level of CO₂ may have fertilizing effect on C₃ crops, but concomitant rise in atmospheric temperature, O₃ level and extreme weather conditions can not only nullify the fertilizing effect of CO₂, but also drastically reduce the crop production, threatening food security to burgeoning world population. Agricultural crops are not only victim of climate variability and extreme whether conditions, but also serve as a potential source of CH₄ and N₂O. Therefore, in changed scenario, Kyoto Protocol (1997) has sought all signatory developed nations to cut down their emission levels as per their differential commitments to UNFCCC and developing nations to invest in less carbon emission projects to avert the process of global warming process. In this context, the present edition, which compiles latest findings of studies carried out by the scientists on climate change and crops around the world, serves as a ready reckoner to crop scientists, atmospheric scientists, ecologists, environmentalists, research scholars and post- graduate students to update their knowledge and understanding on this issue. -- Book jacket