Suchergebnisse

In pursuing significant infrastructural upgrades to solid waste management systems, how do decision-makers balance social safeguarding with wider system improvements? What are the implications for justice, if the people most affected by the development have been providing unrecognised labour within the waste management system? Adopting an intentionally political lens, this thesis presents an analysis of power and justice within the case study of Tibar's dumpsite-to-landfill upgrade, in Timor-Leste. This research was conducted at a critical time while the upgrade was developing. Through a political ecology framework, supported by environmental justice, it emerges that there is a disconnect between stakeholders' and decision-makers' intentions versus their ability to act on these intentions. Several systemic barriers exist in waste-pickers' justice being met. In some instances, these barriers constitute such injustices. This thesis further evidences the claim that the impacts of the growing global waste problem are not evenly distributed throughout society. Tibar dumpsite is established as a political space where the intersection of waste and labour is dynamic and changing, brought to light by the proposed dumpsite-to-landfill upgrade.

The Irish potato famine of the 1840s, perhaps the most appalling event of the Victorian era, killed over a million people and drove as many more to emigrate to America. It may not have been the result of deliberate government policy, yet British 'obtuseness, short-sightedness and ignorance' – and stubborn commitment to laissez-faire 'solutions' – largely caused the disaster and prevented any serious efforts to relieve suffering. The continuing impact on Anglo-Irish relations was incalculable, the immediate human cost almost inconceivable. In this vivid and disturbing book Cecil Woodham-Smith provides the definitive account. 'A moving and terrible book. It combines great literary power with great learning. It explains much in modern Ireland – and in modern America' D.W. Brogan.

Objective: We explored the dual-task costs of climbers performing a visual communication task using a head-mounted display (HMD) while simultaneously climbing along a vertical surface. Background: Climbing is affected by secondary auditory cognitive tasks, and climbing impairs later recall of secondary task information; the effects of visually presented tasks are less clear. Given that HMDs are projected to be adopted into emergency response work, questions are raised about the effects of HMD use during climbing or other physical tasks. Method: Climbers performed five conditions—a climbing-only condition, two dual-task climbing conditions (words presented on the HMD with and without auditory warnings while climbing), and two seated control conditions (words presented on the HMD with and without auditory warnings)—in a repeated-measures design. Motion data were also collected to examine participant motion around word presentation. Results: We found a decrease in both climbing performance and word recall under dual-task conditions, paralleling results found in previous research using auditory tasks. Participants slowed around word presentations on the HMD. Additional comparisons to previous research indicate that physical tasks may be more detrimental to word recall than are seated tasks and that visual stimuli might hinder climbing performance more than do audible stimuli. Conclusion: Complex physical activity, like climbing, is disruptive to memory rehearsal and later recall, and cognitive tasks disrupt physical performance. Application: Avoiding cognitive HMD tasks requiring later recall during complex physical activity is advisable. However, these systems may be developed to provide intelligent assistance, or memory augmentation, in these settings.