A Mountain Feeling: the Narrative Construction of Meaning and Self Through a Commitment to Mountaineering in Aotearoa/New Zealand

<p>Mountaineering is commonly associated with feats of daring in a landscape of extreme danger. Past theories of mountain climbing, and other adventurous leisure activities, have predominantly focused on uncovering the motives for participation; and risk has been posited as a primary attraction. A number of studies have concluded that identity and meaning are factors related to participation. However, none to date have examined the dynamics by which these factors are constructed and maintained in the lives of participants. This thesis places meaning and self or identity at the centre of its enquiry into how New Zealand mountaineers sustain their commitment to an adventurous leisure activity. Thus, it seeks to address the current lack of knowledge regarding the way in which activities such as mountain climbing can contribute to participants' sense of who they are and what their lives are about. A biographical narrative approach was adopted to achieve this central aim as, it is argued, self and meaning are constructed through the stories told about life experiences. Narrative interviews were conducted with twenty-two committed New Zealand mountaineers; and supporting materials were collected from publications and other relevant sources. The interpretation of the research material was facilitated by theories of the interrelationship between narrative, meaning and self, and the implications of current social conditions for their construction. By applying a narrative approach to the study of mountaineers for the first time, this thesis sheds new light on our understanding of mountaineering. It demonstrates the way in which mountaineers weave together the biographical particulars of their lives with a 'folk psychology' of mountaineering to produce a strong sense of self. In addition, it shows how these 'mountaineering selves' are influenced by a communal narrative, or shared discourse, about what it means to be a mountaineer in New Zealand. The research also reveals the complexities in approaches to the dangers of mountain climbing, and offers an alternative conceptualisation of this issue which does not characterise mountaineers as principally risk seeking individuals. These findings provide an empirical basis by which to consider theories relating to the impact of socio-historical conditions upon individual experience, and the efficacy of certain strategies for addressing dilemmas of meaning and self. Finally, although the study is situated within a specific social and historical context, it contributes - in the spirit of interpretive hermeneutics - to an on-going exchange of meanings about mountaineering and leisure in contemporary society.</p>

A Mountain Feeling: the Narrative Construction of Meaning and Self Through a Commitment to Mountaineering in Aotearoa/New Zealand

<p>Mountaineering is commonly associated with feats of daring in a landscape of extreme danger. Past theories of mountain climbing, and other adventurous leisure activities, have predominantly focused on uncovering the motives for participation; and risk has been posited as a primary attraction. A number of studies have concluded that identity and meaning are factors related to participation. However, none to date have examined the dynamics by which these factors are constructed and maintained in the lives of participants. This thesis places meaning and self or identity at the centre of its enquiry into how New Zealand mountaineers sustain their commitment to an adventurous leisure activity. Thus, it seeks to address the current lack of knowledge regarding the way in which activities such as mountain climbing can contribute to participants' sense of who they are and what their lives are about. A biographical narrative approach was adopted to achieve this central aim as, it is argued, self and meaning are constructed through the stories told about life experiences. Narrative interviews were conducted with twenty-two committed New Zealand mountaineers; and supporting materials were collected from publications and other relevant sources. The interpretation of the research material was facilitated by theories of the interrelationship between narrative, meaning and self, and the implications of current social conditions for their construction. By applying a narrative approach to the study of mountaineers for the first time, this thesis sheds new light on our understanding of mountaineering. It demonstrates the way in which mountaineers weave together the biographical particulars of their lives with a 'folk psychology' of mountaineering to produce a strong sense of self. In addition, it shows how these 'mountaineering selves' are influenced by a communal narrative, or shared discourse, about what it means to be a mountaineer in New Zealand. The research also reveals the complexities in approaches to the dangers of mountain climbing, and offers an alternative conceptualisation of this issue which does not characterise mountaineers as principally risk seeking individuals. These findings provide an empirical basis by which to consider theories relating to the impact of socio-historical conditions upon individual experience, and the efficacy of certain strategies for addressing dilemmas of meaning and self. Finally, although the study is situated within a specific social and historical context, it contributes - in the spirit of interpretive hermeneutics - to an on-going exchange of meanings about mountaineering and leisure in contemporary society.</p>

Blind Brains and Moral Machines: Neuroscience and Autonomous Weapon Systems

While the majority of neuroscience research promises novel therapies for treating dementia and post-traumatic stress disorder, among others, a lesser-known branch of neuroscientific research informs the construction of artificial intelligence inspired by human neurophysiology. For those concerned with the normative implications of autonomous weapons systems (AWS), however, a tension arises between the primary attraction of AWS, their theoretic capacity to make better decisions in armed conflict, and the relatively low-hanging fruit of modeling machine intelligence on the very thing that causes humans to make (relatively) bad decisions—the human brain. This chapter examines human cognition as a model for machine intelligence, and some of its implications for AWS development. It first outlines recent neuroscience developments as drivers for advances in artificial intelligence. This chapter then expands on a key distinction for the ethics of AWS: poor normative decisions that are a function of poor judgments given a certain set of inputs, and poor normative decisions that are a function of poor sets of inputs. It argues that given that there are cases in the second category of decisions in which we judge humans to have acted wrongly, we should likewise judge AWS platforms. Further, while an AWS may in principle outperform humans in the former, it is an open question of design whether they can outperform humans in the latter. Finally, this chapter then discusses what this means for the design and control of, and ultimately liability for AWS behavior, and sources of inspiration for the alternate design of AWS platforms.

Identifying animate stones and sacred landscapes: Twenty-five years of native pipestone-quarries research in the American midcontinent

This paper assesses our current understanding of the native use of the major midcontinental United States pipestone quarries based on over two decades of research. Our studies indicate that combining chemical and mineralogical techniques such as shortwave infrared spectroscopy (SWIS), thin-section petrography, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) have identified pipestones with similar chemical compositions containing distinctive mineralogical suites (often including berthierine, kaolinite, diaspore, muscovite, and pyrophyllite). This research has identified unique mineral compositions at known quarries such as catlinite, Ohio Feurt Hill, Baraboo, and Barron pipestones, as well as identifying previously unknown quarries of Sterling Illinois pipestone, Cahokia Missouri flint clay, and Portsmouth Ohio Claystone. These discoveries have led to a major shift in interpretations of Cahokian and Hopewell pipe exchange. Further examination of native ethnographic quarry use identified the primary attraction of pipestone quarries lay in the perceived ritual and spiritual power of the stone rather than in its economic utility.

PEMBERDAYAAN SOSIAL DALAM PENGEMBANGAN EKOWISATA DI PEKON KILUAN NEGRI, KABUPATEN TANGGAMUS, PROVINSI LAMPUNG

PEMBERDAYAAN SOSIAL DALAM PENGEMBANGAN EKOWISATA DI PEKON KILUAN NEGRI, KABUPATEN TANGGAMUS, PROVINSI LAMPUNG Abstrak Konsep ekowisata menekankan pada pengelolaan wisata berbasis masyarakat lokal dengan salah satu tujuan utamanya adalah pemberdayaan sosial masyarakat lokal. Pemberdayaan sosial mengacu pada pendekatan yang dilakukan oleh Scheyvens (1999) meliputi partisipasi masyarakat lokal dalam pengelolaan ekowisata, alokasi hasil pengembangan ekowisata untuk masyarakat lokal dan tidak adanya indikasi kegagalan pengembangan ekowisata. Berdasarkan kerangka ini, penelitian di Pekon Kiluan Negri dilakukan dengan metode kualitatif dan teknik pengumpulan data wawancara, pengamatan dan focuss group discussion. Penelitian dilakukan selama satu bulan pada masa sepi dan ramai kunjungan. Mayarakat pekon Kiluan Negri diambil sebagai batasan masyarakat lokal. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan secara umum telah ada partisipasi masyarakat, ada alokasi hasil pengembangan ekowisata untuk masyarakat dan penilaian negatif dari masyarakat untuk unsur kegagalan. Partisipasi belum melibatkan perempuan, anak dan unsur masyarakat yang tidak terlibat dalam LSM, bukan aparat desa dan tokoh desa serta bukan penyedia layanan wisata. Keterbukaan alokasi hasil pengembangan ekowisata juga masih ditanyakan peruntukannya oleh masyarakat pada kelompok ini. Ini menunjukkan masih diperlukannya pelibatan masyarakat secara menyeluruh dan keterbukaan pengelolaan dana hasil pengembangan ekowisata. Kata Kunci: Pemberdayaan sosial, ekowisata, Teluk Kiluan, Lampung SOCIAL EMPOWERMENT ON ECOTOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN KILUAN NEGRI VILLAGE, TENGGAMUS REGENCY, PROVINCE OF LAMPUNG Abstract The concept of ecotourism emphasizing on local community-based tourism management with one of its primary attraction is a social empowerment of local communities. Social empowerment refers to the approach taken by Scheyvens (1999) that includes the participation of local communities in the management of ecotourism, the allocation of profits gained in the ecotourism development for the local community and no indication of failure in the ecotourism development. Based on the framework, the research at the Negri Kiluan Village was conducted with qualitative methods and data collection techniques (interview), observation and focus group discussion. The study was conducted for one month during the low and high season of tourism. Residents of Kiluan Negri Village was selected to be analysed for the study. The results showed that in general, there were community participation, allocation of profits from ecotourism development for the community and the community's negative view or opinion of failing. Local community did not involve women, children, any NGOs, village officials and leaders, and travel service providers. The allocation of profit transparency of the ecotourism development was still questioned by the people in this group. It showed the need for the involvement of all the village residents and the transparency in the management of ecotourism development. Keywords: social empowerment, ecotourism, Teluk Kiluan, Lampung

Resource Demand Forecasting Model Based on Dynamic Cloud Workload

The primary attraction of IaaS is providing elastic resources on demand. It becomes imperative that IaaS-users have an effective methodology for learning what resources they require, how many resources and for how long they need. However, the heterogeneity of resources, the diversity resource demands of different cloud applications and the variation of application-user behaviors pose IaaS-users big challenge. In this paper, we purpose a unified resource demand forecasting model suiting for different applications, various resources and diverse time-varying workload patterns. With the model, taking input from parameterized applications, resources and workload scenarios, the corresponding resources demands during any time interval can be deduced as output. The experiments configure concrete functions and parameters to help understanding the above model.