Research in the Caribbean often links global phenomena (e.g. increased tourism) to changes in lifestyles and mindsets taking place in this part of the world (Curtis, 2009). I examine the direction, intensity, and motivations of language changes among adolescents in three communities in Bequia (St. Vincent and the Grenadines) considering the socio-economic transformations affecting the island. Data for this study was obtained using a combination of sociolinguistic interviews and conversations between Bequia adolescents and their grandparents recorded in the course of several fieldwork trips. Three villages in Bequia were considered, Hamilton, Paget Farm and Mount Pleasant, characterised by different patterns of settlement and socioeconomic development. I investigate variation between: (i) creole verb stems vs. Standard English verb inflections (e.g. I go yesterday vs. I went yesterday), and (ii) verb stems and verb inflections vs. creole preverbal markers (e.g. I bin play yesterday). A variety of grammatical, discoursespecific, functional, and cognitive constraints are tested to determine which factors condition the variable patterns across different communities and age groups, and how linguistically similar/different these communities are. Results of the quantitative multivariate analysis of variation between bare verbs and inflected verbs show dialect levelling (Kerswill, 2003) among adolescents in Hamilton and Paget Farm and a transmission of the system (Labov, 2007) from the older generation to the younger in Mount Pleasant. In addition, adolescents in Paget Farm have recycled (Dubois and Horvath, 1999) a stigmatised creole form, preverbal bin, and are using it significantly more than any other group on the island. The study points to several important conclusions. Firstly, it emphasises the necessity for a multidisciplinary perspective in accounting for the factors which condition language change, especially in such a diverse and fast developing setting as the present-day Caribbean. Secondly, it supports the research on language and globalisation emphasising the relationship between the local and the global (e.g. Meyerhoff and Niedzielski, 2003). Finally, the study attempts to determine the nature of variation in creole languages as e.g. a creole continuum or co-existing systems, and establish replicable methods for measuring linguistic similarities/differences between communities.

This thesis presents experiments and interviews which investigate pronunciation variation in the Liverpool accents of young speakers. Experiment One investigates inter-speaker variation, Experiment Two investigates intra-speaker variation, and Experiment Three investigates both inter- and intra-speaker variation. These three experiments are conducted from a sociophonetic perspective, with controlled elicitation of natural speech and acoustic analysis of speech data. The experimental investigations are complemented by interviews, which incorporate the perceptions and opinions of speakers of Liverpool English into the study. The study makes several contributions to the field of sociolinguistic research. It provides a new examination of Liverpool English. Experiment One is specifically designed to explore one of its most complex and ill-defined phonetic features, the realisation of plosives as affricates or fricatives. In addition to this phonetic investigation, Experiment One also examines sociolinguistic variation in this feature, and shows that speakers' individual attributes (such as their social networks and their plans for the future) are as relevant to variation as their socio-economic status. The study also makes important methodological contributions. Instrumental phonetic techniques and standards are successfully applied to sociolinguistic investigation conducted in the field. An interdisciplinary approach, bringing together qualitative interviews and sociophonetic experiments, is adopted. A new quiz-questionnaire technique for data collection, which should prove useful for many kinds of future sociolinguistic research, is developed for Experiment Three. Finally, Experiment Three tests many accounts and models of intra-speaker variation. Speakers are shown to vary their pronunciation as the speech situation varies, but not all the seven phonetic variables investigated show the same patterns of variation. Speakers vary their pronunciation according to audience, and also according to topic. Speakers with a high level of ambition vary their pronunciation of certain phonetic variables more than those with a lower level of ambition, and female speakers vary their pronunciation more than male speakers.

This thesis explores the use of sound recordings in the revitalisation of two minority languages – the Ainu (Japan) and the West Frisian (the Netherlands). Over the last few decades, a growing concern about linguistic diversity in the world has led to an increasing awareness of minority languages, which are endangered by loss. The concept of language revitalisation calls for work which will affect the vitality of these languages. The nature of these revitalisation efforts is inscribed into place-related processes and the interpretations of the relationships between language speakers and the place they live in. Sound recordings can afford language revitalisation with the restoration of sounds of languages. This thesis argues that the heart of language revitalisation lies in the re-sounding of place attachment and sense of place. The selection of the two language cases studies, which allow for the multi-faceted use of sound recordings to be revealed and understood, constitutes an important part in the search for an understanding of these interconnections. Based on these two language case studies, which contrast in degrees of language endangerment, this research analyses how and why sound recordings engage in the processes of language revitalisation. Qualitative methods of research, encompassing forty one semi-structured and episodic interviews conducted in Japan and the Netherlands along with observations and secondary data analysis, were used in this study. The comparative approach revealed similarities and differences in the revitalisation of the Ainu and West Frisian languages and the practices of using sound recordings. Importantly, this thesis demonstrates that the significance of sound recordings arise from their capability of creating aural experience of the language, which empowers both processes of language revitalisation with the restoration of place attachment and sense of place. This finding represents a key contribution to the research of linguistic and geographical knowledge about the revitalisation of endangered languages, the role of technology in language revitalisation and to the debate on saving linguistic and cultural diversity in the world.

No description available.

Human languages are not static entities. Linguistic conventions, whose social and communicative meaning are understood by all members of a speech community, are gradually altered or replaced, whether by changing their forms, meanings, or by the loss of or introduction of altogether new distinctions. How do large speech communities go about re-negotiating arbitrary associations in the absence of centralised coordination? This thesis first provides an overview of the plethora of explanations that have been given for language change. Approaching language change in a quantitative and evolutionary framework, mathematical and computational modelling is put forward as a tool to investigate and compare these different accounts and their purported underlying mechanisms in a rigorous fashion. The central part of the thesis investigates a relatively recent addition to the pool of mechanisms that have been proposed to influence language change: I will compare previous accounts with a momentum-based selection account of language change, a replicator-neutral model where the popularity of a variant is modulated by its momentum, i.e. its change in frequency of use in the recent past. I will discuss results from a multi-agent model which show that the dynamics of a trend-amplifying mechanism like this are characteristic of language change, in particular by exhibiting spontaneously generated s-shaped transitions. I will also discuss several empirical predictions made by a momentum-based selection account which contrast with those that can be derived from other accounts of language change. Going beyond theoretical arguments for the role of trends in language change, I will go on to present fieldwork data of speakers’ awareness of ongoing syntactic changes in the Shetland dialect of Scots. Data collected using a novel questionnaire methodology show that individuals possess explicit knowledge about the direction as well as current progression of ongoing changes, even for grammatical structures which are very low in frequency. These results complement previous experimental evidence which showed that individuals both possess and make use of implicit knowledge about age-dependent usage differences during ongoing sound changes. Echoing the literature on evolutionary approaches to language change, the final part of the thesis stresses the importance of explicitly situating different pressures either in the domain of the innovation of new or else the selection of existing variants. Based on a modification of the Wright-Fisher model from population genetics, I will argue that trend-amplification selection mechanisms provide predictions that neatly match empirical facts, both in terms of the diachronic dynamics of language change, as well as in terms of the synchronic distribution of linguistic traits that we find in the world.

Hydroponics basically is the method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, in water, without soil. Vertical nutrient film technique (NFT) is one of the most used hydroponic technique that has constant flow of nutrient solution. In this study the effects of different support medium on strawberry quality and yield using vertical NFT in glass greenhouse was investigated. NFT-only system was compared to rockwool, coco fiber, perlite and expanded clay as supporting medium for strawberry production. Parameters such as weight of product, amount of product, rate of marketable product, and including physico-chemical properties such as pH, rigidity, color, dry matter amount, EC, vitamin C, sugar content, resistance to certain pathogens were observed among all supporting medium trials. NFT-only system significantly differed from other supporting medium trails by most of the parameters including fruit number per plant, average fruit weight, toughness of the fruit, vitamin C amount, sugar amount and finally soluble solid material amount in water . Revealing the effects of supporting medium on strawberry production shed light on how should NFT must be applied to fruit growing.

Οι περιοχές των παράκτιων – παραποτάμιων υγροτόπων εμφανίζουν μία σειρά από ιδιαίτερα κοινά χαρακτηριστικά, τόσο σε οικολογικό, όσο και σε κοινωνικοοικονομικό επίπεδο. Οι Εκβολές είναι οικοσυστήματα υψηλής παραγωγικότητας και ως εκ τούτου, περιοχές που συγκεντρώνουν πλούσια βιοποικιλότητα, αλλά και ταυτόχρονα, ανθρωπογενείς δραστηριότητες (γεωργία, αλιεία, κτηνοτροφία κ.λπ.). Το ζητούμενο της αειφορικής διαχείρισης, σε αυτές τις περιοχές, είναι η αρμονική συνύπαρξη «ανθρώπου» και «φύσης» στα πλαίσια μιας βιώσιμης οικονομικής ανάπτυξης. Η εφαρμογή οικοτουριστικών προγραμμάτων μπορεί να συνεισφέρει σημαντικά στην ανάπτυξη τους, ενισχύοντας την τοπική οικονομία, ενώ πέρα των οικονομικών, επιτυγχάνουν και κοινωνικούς σκοπούς, όπως τη παραμονή του πληθυσμού στο τόπο του, αλλά και περιβαλλοντικούς προστατεύοντας το φυσικό περιβάλλον. Ο ποταμός Καλαμάς (Θύαμις) αποτελεί σημαντικό τμήμα της αλυσίδας των υγροτόπων της Δυτικής Ελλάδας. Πηγάζει από το Όρος Δούσκος του Ν. Ιωαννίνων, κοντά στα ελληνοαλβανικά σύνορα, διασχίζει ολόκληρη την βορειοδυτική Ήπειρο (Ν. Ιωαννίνων και Θεσπρωτίας) και εκβάλει στην περιοχή της Σαγιάδας, βόρεια της πόλης της Ηγουμενίτσας, ενός συνεχώς αναπτυσσόμενου αστικού κέντρου και σημαντικού λιμανιού – πύλης εισόδου από τη δυτική Ευρώπη. Η περιοχή μελέτης της παρούσας εργασίας αναφέρεται στο Δέλτα και το κάτω ρου του ποταμού Καλαμά. Η περιοχή του Δέλτα έχει ενταχθεί στο δίκτυο Natura 2000 (GR2120001) ως Τόπος Κοινοτικής Σημασίας (pSCI). Από διαχειριστική άποψη εντάσσεται στο Φορέα Διαχείρισης Στενών και Εκβολών Ποταμών Αχέροντα και Καλαμά. Στόχοι της παρούσας εργασίας είναι: η ανάδειξη της πολιτιστικής και φυσικής κληρονομιάς της περιοχής, μέσω του σχεδιασμού οικοτουριστικών διαδρομών και η διερεύνηση δράσεων τόσο στο πρωτογενή τομέα όσο και στο τριτογενή (τουρισμός), οι οποίες θα μπορούν να εξασφαλίζουν μία οικονομική βιωσιμότητα και ποιότητα ζωής του τοπικού πληθυσμού. Στην παρούσα εργασία προτείνονται και περιγράφονται δέκα οικοτουριστικές διαδρομές (εννέα χερσαίες – μία υδάτινη), μέσα από τις οποίες ο επισκέπτης θα ενημερώνεται και θα ευαισθητοποιείται για τα ιδιαίτερα χαρακτηριστικά της περιοχής καθ’ όλη τη διάρκεια του έτους. Επίσης, προτείνονται θέματα για την Περιβαλλοντική Εκπαίδευση των μαθητών που επισκέπτονται την περιοχή, εστιάζοντας σε διάφορες θεματικές ενότητες (παραδοσιακή αλιεία, κ.ά.) Σε γενικές γραμμές η περιοχή διαθέτει ιδιαίτερα χαρακτηριστικά που τη καθιστούν ελκυστική για ανάπτυξη οικοτουριστικών δραστηριοτήτων, αλλά και περιβαλλοντικών δράσεων στα πλαίσια της περιβαλλοντικής εκπαίδευσης και ευαισθητοποίησης. Τα στοιχεία αυτά είναι η πλούσια βιοποικιλότητα σε όλα τα επίπεδα (τοπίων, τύπων οικοτόπων, πανίδας, ορνιθοπανίδας, χλωρίδας κ.λπ.), η μακρόχρονη ιστορία, η πλούσια πολιτιστική κληρονομιά, τα τοπικά προϊόντα, τα μεγάλα έργα υποδομής (Εγνατία οδός, Νέος Λιμένας κ.λπ.) και οι παραδοσιακές μέθοδοι και πρακτικές του παρελθόντος αναφορικά με την ορθολογική διαχείριση των φυσικών πόρων. Φυσικά διαπιστώθηκαν και πολλές αδυναμίες όπως: η ελλιπής αξιοποίηση ορισμένων μνημείων πολιτιστικής της κληρονομιάς, παράνομες δραστηριότητες (λαθροθηρία / λαθρομετανάστες), η λανθασμένη διαχείριση των φυσικών πόρων κ.ά. Η αξιοποίηση από τους τοπικούς φορείς, των αποτελεσμάτων που προέκυψαν μέσω της ανάλυσης SWOT, η παρακολούθηση και η διαχείριση των επισκεπτών από το κέντρο πληροφόρησης του Φ.Δ., καθώς και η διασύνδεση της αγροτικής και αλιευτικής δραστηριότητας με τον τουρισμό, μπορούν να συμβάλουν στη βιώσιμη ανάπτυξη της περιοχής. Παρόμοιες δράσεις οικοτουριστικής ανάπτυξης κρίνεται αναγκαίο να εφαρμοστούν τόσο και στις υπόλοιπες περιοχές του δικτύου Natura 2000 στο Νομό που δεν εντάσσονται σε κάποιον Φορέα διαχείρισης όσο και σε περιοχές εκτός Natura βοηθώντας έτσι στην προστασία και οικονομική ανάπτυξη τους. / The areas around coastal or riverside wetlands present a series of common features both ecologically and on a socio-economic level. Estuaries are ecosystems of high productivity but they also entail rich biodiversity and human activity (agriculture, fishery, animal husbandry etc). The 'challenge' of sustainable management in these areas is the harmonious coexistence of man with nature under a viable economic development. The implementation of eco-tourist programmes can contribute significantly to their development by boosting the local economy, while, apart from economic issues, they achieve social goals, for example the fact that local residents remain in their area, but also environmental ones such as the protection of the natural environment. The river Kalamas (Thyamis) is an important part of the chain of wetlands in West Greece. The river emanates from the mountain Douskos in the Peripheral unit Ioannina near the Greek - Albanian borders, crosses the whole northwest Epirus (the Peripheral units Ioannina and Thesprotia) and it discharges itself in the area of Sagiada to the north of Igoumenitsa, which is a constantly developing urban centre and a major port - a gateway from west Europe. The study area of the present paper concerns the estuaries and the lower watercourse of the river Kalamas. The region around the estuaries has been included in the Natura 2000 network (GR2120001) as a site of community importance (pSCI). Regarding management, it is a part of the straits and Estuaries of the Kalamas and Acheron agency. The present study is aimed at highlighting the cultural and natural heritage of the area, through the planning of eco-tourism corridors, and at searching for actions , in the primary sector but also in the tertiary one (tourism), which will be able to ensure an economic viability and high living standards for the local population. In the present paper, ten eco-tourist routes (nine on land- one watery), through which the visitor will get informed and be sensitized to the distinctive features of the region throughout the year, are put forward and described. Furthermore, topics on the Environmental Education of students who visit the region, focusing on various thematic units such as the traditional fishery etc., are suggested. In general, the region presents distinctive features which render it appropriate for engaging in eco-tourist as well as environmental activities within the framework of Environmental Education and sensitization. These characteristics include the rich biodiversity at every level (landscapes, habitat types, fauna, avifauna, flora etc.), the long history, the rich cultural heritage, the local products, the infrastructure (Egnatia highway, New Port etc.) and the traditional methods and practices of the past in relation to the rational management of the natural resources. Naturally enough, many shortcomings were detected such as the insufficient exploitation of some cultural heritage monuments, illegal activities (poaching/ illegal immigrants) or the poor management of the natural resources etc. The exploitation, by the local authorities, of the findings that came to light through the SWOT analysis, the monitoring and the management of the visitors by information centre of Kalamas river as well as the connection between agricultural / fishing activity and tourism can contribute to the sustainable development of the area. It is necessary that similar actions of eco-tourist development take place in the rest regions belonging to the Natura 2000 network in the Peripheral unit, which are however not included in any management agency board, as well as in regions out of Natura which will, in this way, be assisted in protecting themselves and developing their economy.

Port-Gentil (autant que Libreville) se définit comme l’espoir d’une meilleure condition de vie et d’une appartenance à l’élite qui passe par une "certaine pratique'' de la langue française. L’absence d’une langue nationale, la prolifération des mariages mixtes, l’appartenance à un groupe identitaire, etc. vont propulser et consolider la langue française bien au-delà de ce qu'elle avait été au temps de la colonisation. Nous appuyant sur une analyse sociolinguistique et morphosyntaxique des interactions spontanées prélevées dans le milieu scolaire, les marchés et la cellule familiale, nous avons tenté de montrer l’existence d’une variété parlée haute et son impact en milieu scolaire. En perpétuelle cohabitation avec les langues locales et par son omniprésence, la langue française se voit attribuer une nouvelle dose d'hétérogénéité qui favorise des formes hybrides distinguées selon la variation diastratique. On distinguera différentes variétés dont la forme mésolectale qui est la variété hautement véhiculaire, celle que l’on retrouve en milieux formel et informel, celle à laquelle le locuteur gabonais s’identifie et qui véhicule une sorte de norme endogène. Elle se présente comme une variété haute de la langue française parce qu’elle unifie la population hétérogène caractérisée par une diversité de communautés linguistiques et culturelles. Cette forme, caractéristique d’un français parlé gabonais (FPG) se manifestant dans des zones urbaines du pays et portant une norme endogène marquée par une prédominance d’interférences sémantiques, a une influence en milieu scolaire où elle s'emploie aux côtés de la forme du français " bon usage " dans les productions écrites et orales. / Port-Gentil (as far as Libreville) is defined as the hope of better living conditions and one membership in the elite which passes by a “certain practice” of the French language. The absence of a national language, the proliferation of the mixed marriages, the membership identity, etc will propel and consolidate the French language well beyond what it had been at the time of colonization. Supporting Us on an analysis sociolinguistics and morphosyntaxic spontaneous interactions taken in the school, the markets and the family unit, we tried to show the existence of a high spoken variety and its impact in school. In perpetual cohabitation with the local languages and by its omnipresence, the French language is seen allotting a new amount of heterogeneity which supports hybrid forms distinguished according to the diastratic variation. One will distinguish various varieties of which the form mésolectale which is the highly vehicular variety, that which one finds in mediums formal and abstract, that to which the Gabonese speaker is identified and which conveys a kind of endogenous standard. It is presented as a high variety of the French language because it unifies the heterogeneous population characterized by a diversity of speech communities and cultural. This form, characteristic of Gabonese French spoken (FPG) appearing in urban areas about the country and carrying an endogenous standard marked by a prevalence about semantic interferences, affects in school where it gets busy at the sides of the form of French” the good use “in the written and oral productions.

En el distrito de Pomalca se encuentra ubicado el Matadero Municipal de categoría 1, en el cual se realizó esta investigación. El diagnóstico del establecimiento se realizó mediante hojas de verificación, permitió concluir que el establecimiento no cumple con el 66,67 % de los requisitos de ubicación y con el 84,38% de las áreas establecidas según el DS 015-2012 AG. Asimismo se detectó que la planta actual cuenta con demanda insatisfecha de sacrificio de ganado vacuno. Para definir la capacidad del nuevo establecimiento se determinó la demanda proyectada, la cual fue de 4 410 cabezas de ganado vacuno, 1 493 cabezas de ganado porcino y 465 caprinos. El nuevo cupo de faena del ganado vacuno será de 15 cabezas convirtiéndolo en un establecimiento de segunda categoría, según la clasificación de SENASA. Ante esto, el objetivo de la investigación fue diseñar un nuevo camal municipal de categoría II que cumpla con los requisitos del DS 015-2012 AG para satisfacer la demanda. En cuanto al diseño del camal, se determinó que la ubicación del nuevo matadero será fuera de la zona de crecimiento urbano determinada mediante el mapa de zonificación ecológica del distrito. El nuevo establecimiento requiere 1 950 m2, determinado mediante dos criterios: el método de Guerchet y el reglamento vigente. El costo de inversión para la implementación del matadero es de S/ 710 054,4 bajo la modalidad de un PIP, la nueva planta de faena será rentable con un VANS de S/ 124 644,43 y un TIRS de 10 %.

no / The pyrrolobenzodiazepine monomer DRH-417 is a member of the anthramycin group of anti-tumor antibiotics that bind covalently to the N2 of guanine within the minor groove of DNA. DRH-417 emerged from the EORTC-Drug Discovery Committee and NCI 60 cell line in vitro screening programs as a potent antiproliferative agent with differential sensitivity towards certain cancer types such as melanoma, breast and renal cell carcinoma (mean IC(50) = 3 nM). DRH-417 was therefore tested for in vivo activity. The maximum tolerated dose (MTD) was established as 0.5 mg/kg given i.p. Marked anti-tumor activity was seen in two human renal cell cancers, one breast cancer and a murine colon tumor model (p<0.01). A selective HPLC (LC/MS) analytical method was developed and plasma pharmacokinetics determined. At a dose of 0.5 mg kg(-1), the plasma AUC was 540 nM h (197.1 ng h ml(-1)) and the peak plasma concentration (171 nM [62.4 ng ml(-1)]) occurred at 30 min., reaching doses levels well above those needed for in vitro antiproliferative activity. Genomic profiling of in vivo sensitive tumors revealed that the latter have an activated insulin-like growth factor signaling pathway.