Digital Commons Network^™

The Experiences Of Children On Sri Lanka's Tea Plantations: Labor And Sexual Exploitation, Violence, And Inadequate Education, Rathnayake Mudiyanselage Bandaranayake, Glenn M. Miles, Jarrett D. Davis, Madeline Stenersen, Anjum Umrani

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

This article explores the difficulties faced by children living in Sri Lanka’s tea plantation areas. Data from 150 children reveal high rates of poverty, violence, and school dropout. Children in tea plantation schools report bullying and stigma from teachers and students. Many children do not envision completing school due to inadequate resources, family income pressures, and the need to work. Children who drop out of school face abusive labor conditions and poor pay. Over 30% of all children report experiencing sexual abuse, often in their own homes. Those working face discrimination, physical abuse, and wage theft. Initiatives are needed to …

Fall Sustainability Festival, Julia Canuel

Senior Honors Projects

There has been an increased interest in sustainability and “green” products in recent years. In my sophomore year, I started working with the URI Free Farmers’ Market, a group that sustainably grows, harvests and provides students with free produce. My work with the URI FFM inspired me to look into sustainable agriculture and explore what other aspects of a college students’ life could be adapted to be more sustainable. To do this, I created a Fall Sustainability Festival focusing on sustainable initiatives at URI and in the Rhode Island community. The RI Food Policy Council, Rhode Island Office of Energy …

Public Services Annual Report 2022-2023, Peter Larsen, Amanda K. Izenstark, Mary C. Macdonald

Public Services Reports

No abstract provided.

Acquisitions Unit Annual Report 2022-2023, Andrée J. Rathemacher

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Annual Report of the Acquisitions Unit, University Libraries, University of Rhode Island for FY2023. Covers personnel, work flow, special projects, and serial, monograph, and e-resource acquisitions. Supplemental files include data on library materials expenditures by a number of variables as well as important working documents from the year.

Alma Link Resolver Title & Issn Report (Top 500) 2022-2023, Andrée J. Rathemacher

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Statistics for 2022-2023 on the total number of OpenURL requests by journal title and ISSN made to the Ex Libris Alma link resolver for items held by the University of Rhode Island Libraries. Includes only the top 500 journals.

Information provided includes journal Title, ISSN, EISSN, Number of Requests, Number of Clicked Requests, % Clicks from Requests.

Amino Acid Carbon Isotope Fingerprints Are Unique Among Eukaryotic Microalgal Taxonomic Groups, Angela R. Stahl, Tatiana A. Rynearson, Kelton W. Mcmahon

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

Eukaryotic microalgae play critical roles in the structure and function of marine food webs. The contribution of microalgae to food webs can be tracked using compound-specific isotope analysis of amino acids (CSIA-AA). Previous CSIA-AA studies have defined eukaryotic microalgae as a single functional group in food web mixing models, despite their vast taxonomic and ecological diversity. Using controlled cultures, this work characterizes the amino acid δ13C (δ13CAA) fingerprints—a multivariate metric of amino acid carbon isotope values—of four major groups of eukaryotic microalgae: diatoms, dinoflagellates, raphidophytes, and prasinophytes. We found excellent separation of essential amino acid δ13C (δ13CEAA) fingerprints among four …

Interactive Effects Of Nutrients And Temperature On Herbivorous Predation In A Coastal Plankton Community, Gayantonia Franzè, Stephanie I. Anderson, Joshua D. Kling, Paul Wilburn, David A. Hutchins, Elena Litchman, Tatiana A. Rynearson, Susanne Menden-Deuer

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

Marine microbial communities in coastal environments are subject to both seasonal fluctuations and anthropogenic alterations of environmental conditions. The separate influences of temperature and resource-dependency on phytoplankton growth, community, and ecosystem metabolism are relatively well understood. However, winners and losers in the ocean are determined based on the interplay among often rapidly changing biological, chemical and physical drivers. The direct, indirect, and interactive effects of these conditions on planktonic food web structure and function are poorly constrained. Here, we investigated how simultaneous manipulation of temperature and nutrient availability affects trophic transfer from phytoplankton to herbivorous protists, and their resulting implications …

Attitudes Towards Gluten Free Foods And Celiac Disease In Italy, Joellyn Speredelozzi

Senior Honors Projects

This project addresses the perception and realities of living with Celiac’s Disease in Italy. I combine a literature review with my own anecdotal experiences as an individual with Celiac’s Disease who has lived and studied in Italy. In my paper, I first describe the high awareness of gluten-free living that I noted the first time I studied abroad, being the impetus of this project. I follow this with the history and science of Celiac’s Disease for those who may be unaware of this serious chronic medical condition. I then continue to describe personal experiences I had while living in Naples, …

Nutrition Education In U.S. Medical Schools: An Analysis And Discussion Of Its Necessity, Marie G. Fam

Senior Honors Projects

MARIE FAM

(Dietetics)

Nutrition Education in U.S. Medical Schools: An Analysis and Discussion of its Necessity

Sponsor: Sarah Amin (Nutrition and Food Sciences)

Although approximately 80% of chronic diseases across all ages can be treated, prevented, or even cured with proper nutrition therapies, preliminary evidence suggests that medical schools in the United States deemphasize its importance by not allotting appropriate time and resources to nutrition education. The Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the accrediting organization for U.S. medical schools, recommends no less than 25 hours of nutrition education. The objective of this study was to evaluate how nutrition education content …

Uri Athletics Fueling Station, Caitlin O'Leary

Senior Honors Projects

No abstract provided.

Maureen Biology: Teaching Environmentalism Through Television, Maureen Kennedy

Senior Honors Projects

Children’s television is proven to be an effective instrument for educational material for young age groups and can be utilized to teach social awareness, traditional educational content, and about worldly issues. Highly successful shows for varying adolescent ages, such as Sesame Street, Reading Rainbow, and Bill Nye the Science Guy, exist for the sole purpose of increasing young viewers’ cognition and knowledge. Differing formats are used to convey educational content, such as narrative and expository structures, depending on the material and target age group. This project will develop the script for a children’s television show in the expository format that …

Exploring Critical Media Health Literacy (Cmhl) In The Online Classroom., Laura Squires, Adrienne Peters, Linda Rohr

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Critical media health literacy (CMHL) is concerned with identifying healthrelated messages in the media, acknowledging the potential effects on health behaviours, critically analyzing the content of the message, and the subsequent application of the message to one’s health behaviours (Levin-Zamir & Bertschi, 2018). This exploratory research examined the CMHL skills of students (n = 120) in an entry-level, online asynchronous health and wellness course, by examining their ability to think critically about health-related themes presented in news media articles online and apply course-based knowledge during a Twitter event. Employing a content analysis of tweets from the event, students were found …

Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes March 23, 2023, University Of Rhode Island Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes

No abstract provided.

Faculty Senate Meeting Agenda March 23, 2023, University Of Rhode Island Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Meeting Agendas

No abstract provided.

Price Analysis Of Aquafeed Containing Microalgae (Dunaliella Salina (Dunal) Teodoresco 1905 Meal For Color Enhancement In Shrimp, Wa Iba, Sumarno, Ruslaini, Agus Kurnia, Irdam Riani

Fisheries, Animal and Veterinary Sciences Faculty Publications

The price of aqua feed containing Dunaliella salina meal was calculated. Also, the formulated feed’s protein, lipid, and total carotenoid content were examined. The price of shrimp feed containing D. salina meal was higher than commercial feed with better protein and carotenoid content in the feed. This indicated that the inclusion of microalgae meal may increase coloration and growth in shrimp. We recommend using these formulated fish in shrimp aquaculture with necessary investment in microalgae meal and aqua feed production.

Planktonic Prey Size Selection Reveals An Emergent Keystone Predator Effect And Niche Partitioning, Darcy A.A. Taniguchi, Michael J. Follows, Susanne Menden-Deuer

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

Marine herbivorous protists are often the dominant grazers of primary production. We developed a size-based model with flexible size-based grazing to encapsulate taxonomic and behavioral diversity. We examined individual and combined grazing impacts by three consumer sizes that span the size range of protistan grazers– 5, 50, and 200 μm—on a size-structured phytoplankton community. Prey size choice and dietary niche width varied with consumer size and with co-existence of other consumers. When all consumer sizes were present, distinct dietary niches emerged, with a range of consumer-prey size ratios spanning from 25:1 to 0.4:1, encompassing the canonical 10:1 often assumed. Grazing …

Usage Statistics: Project Counter R5 Tr_J1 Report Fy2022 - Journal Requests (Excluding Oa_Gold) By Title, Andrée J. Rathemacher

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Project COUNTER R5 Report TR_J1 for the University of Rhode Island for the period from July 1, 2021 - June 30, 2022. The TR_J1 report is defined as "Journal Requests (Excluding OA_Gold)." This report presents an annual total only and only includes those platforms successfully configured for automated harvesting via SUSHI.

File for download is Excel spreadsheet generated by Alma Analytics.

Results:

Total Item Requests - 771,947

Unique Item Requests - 578,437

Usage Statistics: Project Counter R5 Tr_B1 Report Fy2022 - Book Requests (Excluding Oa_Gold) By Title, Andrée J. Rathemacher

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Project COUNTER R5 Report TR_B1 for the University of Rhode Island for the period from July 1, 2021 - June 30, 2022. The TR_B1 report is defined as "Book Requests (Excluding OA_Gold)." This report presents an annual total only and only includes those platforms successfully configured for automated harvesting via SUSHI.

File for download is Excel spreadsheet generated by Alma Analytics.

Results:

Total Item Requests - 92,619

Unique Title Requests - 43,012

Insights From Fossil-Bound Nitrogen Isotopes In Diatoms, Foraminifera, And Corals, Rebecca S. Robinson, Sandi M. Smart, Jonathan D. Cybulski, Kelton W. Mcmahon, Basia Marcks, Catherine Nowakowski

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

Nitrogen is a major limiting element for biological productivity, and thus understanding past variations in nitrogen cycling is central to understanding past and future ocean biogeochemical cycling, global climate cycles, and biodiversity. Organic nitrogen encapsulated in fossil biominerals is generally protected from alteration, making it an important archive of the marine nitrogen cycle on seasonal to million-year timescales. The isotopic composition of fossil-bound nitrogen reflects variations in the large-scale nitrogen inventory, local sources and processing, and ecological and physiological traits of organisms. The ability to measure trace amounts of fossil-bound nitrogen has expanded with recent method developments. In this article, …

Markets, Businesses, And Consumption In Refugees Settlements: A Review And Future Research Trajectory, Stefanie Beninger

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

The global refugee crisis is increasing, and many refugees will end up living in refugee settlements, also known as refugee camps. These settlements have dynamic economic activities, and such activities deserve attention. This paper draws upon academic and practitioner work to describe pertinent aspects of consumption, businesses, and markets in these settlements, including in relation to multiple stakeholders. These stakeholders can include, for example, governments, aid agencies, private sector, and local community groups. Based on these insights, the paper identifies key theoretical areas in need of attention related to these economic activities in refugee settlements, including market change, resilience, and …

Proteomic Quantification Of Receptor Tyrosine Kinases Involved In The Development And Progression Of Colorectal Cancer Liver Metastasis, Areti-Maria Vasilogianni, Zubida M. Al-Majdoub, Brahim Achour, Sheila Annie Peters, Amin Rostami-Hodjegan, Jill Barber

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

Introduction: Alterations in expression and activity of human receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) are associated with cancer progression and in response to therapeutic intervention.

Methods: Thus, protein abundance of 21 RTKs was assessed in 15 healthy and 18 cancerous liver samples [2 primary and 16 colorectal cancer liver metastasis (CRLM)] matched with non-tumorous (histologically normal) tissue, by a validated QconCAT-based targeted proteomic approach.

Results: It was demonstrated, for the first time, that the abundance of EGFR, INSR, VGFR3 and AXL, is lower in tumours relative to livers from healthy individuals whilst the opposite is true for IGF1R. EPHA2 was upregulated in …

Does Healthcare Provider Counseling For Weight Management Behaviors Among Hispanic Adults Who Are Overweight/Obese Vary By Acculturation Level?, Mary L. Greaney, Furong Xu, Christie L. Ward-Ritacco, Steven A. Cohen, Kerri A. Ellis, Deborah Riebe

Public Health Faculty Publications

This cross-sectional study explored differences in the receipt of health care provider (HCP) counseling to control/lose weight and adopt weight-related lifestyle behavior changes among Hispanic respondents according to acculturation level. Differences in reported action regarding HCP counseling were also examined. Data from four National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) cycles (2011–2018) were analyzed, with the analytic sample limited to Hispanic respondents who were overweight/obese. Respondents’ acculturation levels were derived from their reported country of origin and the primary language spoken at home. Respondents who reported speaking only Spanish or more Spanish than English at home were classified as primarily …

Urinformed Fall 2023, Urinformed

URInformed: The URI Employees' Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Urinformed Summer 2023, Urinformed

URInformed: The URI Employees' Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Dietary Plasticity Linked To Divergent Growth Trajectories In A Critically Endangered Sea Turtle, Matthew D. Ramirez, Larisa Avens, Anne B. Meylan, Donna J. Shaver, Angela R. Stahl, Peter A. Meylan, Jamie M. Clark, Lyndsey N. Howell, Brian A. Stacy, Wendy G. Teas, Kelton W. Mcmahon

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

Foraging habitat selection and diet quality are key factors that influence individual fitness and meta-population dynamics through effects on demographic rates. There is growing evidence that sea turtles exhibit regional differences in somatic growth linked to alternative dispersal patterns during the oceanic life stage. Yet, the role of habitat quality and diet in shaping somatic growth rates is poorly understood. Here, we evaluate whether diet variation is linked to regional growth variation in hawksbill sea turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata), which grow significantly slower in Texas, United States versus Florida, United States, through novel integrations of skeletal growth, gastrointestinal content (GI), and …

Conflicts Of Interest In The Assessment Of Chemicals, Waste, And Pollution, Andreas Schäffer, Ksenia J. Groh, Gabriel Sigmund, David Azoulay, Thomas Backhaus, Michael G. Bertram, Bethanie Carney Almroth, Ian T. Cousins, Alex T. Ford, Joan O. Grimalt, Yago Guida, Maria C. Hansson, Yunsun Jeong, Rainer Lohmann, David Michaels, Leonie Mueller, Jane Muncke, Gunilla Öberg, Marcos A. Orellana, Edmond Sanganyado, Ralf Bernhard Schäfer, Ishmail Sheriff, Ryan C. Sullivan, Noriyuki Suzuki, Laura N. Vandenberg, Marta Venier, Penny Vlahos, Martin Wagner, Fang Wang, Mengjiao Wang, Anna Soehl, Marlene Agerstrand, Miriam L. Diamond, Martin Scheringer

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

Pollution by chemicals and waste impacts human and ecosystem health on regional, national, and global scales, resulting, together with climate change and biodiversity loss, in a triple planetary crisis. Consequently, in 2022, countries agreed to establish an intergovernmental science–policy panel (SPP) on chemicals, waste, and pollution prevention, complementary to the existing intergovernmental science–policy bodies on climate change and biodiversity. To ensure the SPP’s success, it is imperative to protect it from conflicts of interest (COI). Here, we (i) define and review the implications of COI, and its relevance for the management of chemicals, waste, and pollution; (ii) summarize established tactics …

Perspective: Dimensions Of Environment And Health In Arctic Communities, Rainer Lohmann, Bonita Beatty, Jessica Graybill, Elena Grigorieva, Ketil Lenert Hansen, Anu Soikkeli

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

In the Arctic, environment and health are linked in myriad ways. A key emphasis has been on numerous long-lived contaminants in traditional foods, particularly marine mammals, and their well-documented impacts on human, animal and environmental health (“One health approach”). More recent concerns for Indigenous communities focus on the (side) effects of the switch to a modern, processed diet, which is accompanied by a loss of tradition and emerging health impacts. Furthermore, the availability of traditional foods is increasingly threatened by the impacts of climate change, which also causes the emergence and spread of new and old diseases, such as anthrax. …

Uri Undergraduate And Graduate Course Catalog 2023-2024, University Of Rhode Island

URI Course Catalogs Archive

This is a downloadable PDF version of the University of Rhode Island course catalog.

Determining The Effects Of Pelleted Cranberry Vine Grains On The Ewe And Offspring During Pregnancy And Lactation, Delaney Smith, Katherine Petersson, Maria L. Peterson

Fisheries, Animal and Veterinary Sciences Faculty Publications

When creating any new anti-parasitic interventions, it is important to evaluate their effects across all life stages. This study had three objectives, which were to evaluate the effect of feeding cranberry vine pellet (CVP) on (1) ewes’ body weights and BCS during late gestation and lactation; (2) ewes’ milk quality during lactation; and (3) lambs’ body weight and growth parameters from birth to 65 days of age. Across two years, 41 Dorset ewes were fed either a 50% CVP or a matching control pellet (CON) from 104 ± 1.60 days of gestation for 62.8 ± 0.68 days of lactation. Measurements …

Evaluation Of The Toxicokinetic Mechanisms Of Perfluoroalkyl Substances: Accumulation, Distribution, And Elimination, Sangwoo Ryu

Open Access Dissertations

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a diverse class of anthropogenic chemicals associated with several adverse health outcomes in humans. The accumulation of these PFAS have been examined over several decades, however, the elucidation of the toxicokinetics of these chemicals are still in its infancy. The distribution and elimination mechanisms of specific PFAS, notably perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), have undergone comprehensive investigation, however, there are more than 10,000 currently detected PFAS in the environment that have not been examined. It is, therefore, imperative to not only address individual PFAS but also to encompass overarching trends and correlations …