Digital Commons Network^™

Front Matter, Ontario Field Ornithologists

Ontario Birds

No abstract provided.

Full Issue, Ontario Field Ornithologists

Ontario Birds

No abstract provided.

Cover, Ontario Field Ornithologists

Ontario Birds

No abstract provided.

Front Matter, Ontario Field Ornithologists

Ontario Birds

No abstract provided.

Cover, Ontario Field Ornithologists

Ontario Birds

No abstract provided.

Full Issue, Ontario Field Ornithologists

Ontario Birds

No abstract provided.

In Memoriam: George K. Peck, Jim Richards, Bob Montgomerie

Ontario Birds

No abstract provided.

Feeding Niche Overlap And Segregation Among Three Grouse Species Wintering In Hudson Bay Lowlands Of Northern Ontario, Vernon G. Thomas

Ontario Birds

The Hudson Bay Lowlands of northern Ontario (comprising tundra and taiga) provide winter habitats for Willow Ptarmigan and Sharp-tailed Grouse as well as Rock Ptarmigan that occasionally fly in from arctic and subarctic regions. Winter food niche segregation/overlap was measured among these three species to investigate potential feeding competition; tamarack and berries were quantified by number and mass in the crops of grouse collected from the vicinity of the former community of Winisk, Ontario (now Peawanuck). All grouse species fed on birch and it was the principal food for Sharp-tailed Grouse. Willow was eaten primarily by Willow and Rock Ptarmigan. …

Front Matter, Ontario Field Ornithologists

Ontario Birds

No abstract provided.

Cover, Ontario Field Ornithologists

Ontario Birds

No abstract provided.

Full Issue, Ontario Field Ornithologists

Ontario Birds

No abstract provided.

Molecular Imaging Of The Cochlea, Parveen Bazard, Mikalai Budzevich, Xiaoxia Zhu, Bo Ding, Robert Dana Frisina

USF Patents

A novel method of measuring endocochlear potential and cochlear function in a patient is presented. The method uses nuclear imaging, such as PET or SPECT, with a radiotracer such as 201Tl to visualize any potassium ion loss in the cochlea of the patient which can contribute to auditory disorders such as hearing loss. This non-invasive technique represents a new method for auditory diagnoses by measurement of cochlear properties which can aid in the development of new therapeutics for auditory disorders.

Investigating Factors Influencing Organic Chemistry Learners' Explanation Sophistication And Representational Competence, Caroline J. Crowder

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The research presented in this dissertation has two themes: organic chemistry learners’ written explanations and representational competence. Chapters 3 and 4 explore how organic chemistry learners construct explanations of reaction mechanisms, specifically focusing on electrophile and nucleophile components. Chapter 5 investigates organic chemistry learners’ representational competence skills and the relationship between these skills and their performance in the course.

Understanding reaction mechanisms is critical for success in organic chemistry, yet learners often struggle to reason beyond explicit, surface-level features. Constructed-response prompts that ask learners to explain what is happening in a reaction mechanism and why it occurs can provide insight …

The Taxonomy And Origins Of Folia: A Brief Review, Donald G. Davis, Louise D. Hose, Harvey R. Duchene

International Journal of Speleology

All folia demonstrate a few common elements: folia (singular, folium) are planar or sub-planar speleothems, slanting downward and away from cave walls and ceilings, and genetically associated with fluctuating environmental interfaces. They were first identified and named from examples in western USA hypogenic caves but have since been identified elsewhere in the world. Folia shelves are typically composed of calcite and interweave smoothly along sub-horizontal contours. Calcite accretion, both chemical and mechanical from suspended particles, follows water-surface fluctuations to form protrusions in arrays along walls and ceilings where new accretion tends to follow the water-surface downward during descending phases, gradually …

What’S Wrong With These Pictures? A Critique Of Waltz, Walt And Mcfaul, Jan Niklas Rolf

Journal of Strategic Security

Reflecting on the ideas that have been offered to explain interstate conflict, Kenneth Waltz famously identified three images of war. Waltz’s method to rule out certain causes as the underlying causes of war was to identify constant and variable variables. The fact that the variety in one variable is not matched by the variety in another variable then allowed him to question the assumed causal relationship between the two variables. But whereas in Man, the State, and War he argued that agency, because of its constancy, cannot explain variations in war and peace, in his later book Theory of International …

Can Bilateralism Endure? The 2023-25 Gaza War And The Abraham Accords Framework, Eli Sperling, Elizabeth Trumpfheller

Journal of Strategic Security

The Abraham Accords, signed in 2020, marked a significant shift in Middle Eastern geopolitics by normalizing relations between Israel and several Arab states: the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco. These agreements emphasized novel types of Arab-Israeli economic partnerships, security cooperation, and public diplomacy, representing a shift from earlier Israeli peace deals with Egypt (1979) and Jordan (1994), which did not see significant growth in the states’ bilateral cooperation and coordination, particularly in non-security areas. And despite the unprecedented October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and the ensuing Gaza and Lebanon wars, which intensified regional tensions and sparked widespread anti-Israel protests, the …

Intelligence As An Instrument Of National Power: Lessons Learned From The Tensions Between Serbia And Kosovo, Vadym Chernysh

Journal of Strategic Security

Intelligence activity is unique; it can be a valuable and powerful tool in the hands of state leaders. Leaders should rely not solely on their perception or intuition to leverage the intelligence instrument of national power but rather on understanding this phenomenon and its inherent qualities. Often, political leadership may confuse the functions of intelligence and law-enforcement agencies, leading to the ineffective or inefficient use of national power instruments to achieve strategic goals. Leveraging the intelligence instrument of national power in prolonged conflicts with a larger adversary is a crucial aspect of statecraft. The role of intelligence can be vital …

Vulnerable State’S Foreign Policy Navigation In A Multipolar World: Discerning Ethiopia’S Security Engagement With Turkey, Henok Getachew

Journal of Strategic Security

Throughout its modern history, the Ethiopian state has operated in space that constraints its strategic autonomy. Since the mid of the twenty-first century, the Ethiopian state has consistently struggled to survive in the face of formidable challenges that manifested in the forms of irredentism, aggression, civil war, and external pressure. To deal with such security conundrums, maintaining strategic partnership for instance is not a new phenomenon in the tradition of Ethiopia’s foreign policy. Over the years, it has employed inter alia alliance, loose partnership, and asymmetric relationships with other states as well as collective security to ameliorate security risks originating …

The I2u2: China’S Increasing Role In The Middle East And Geostrategic Implications On India, Pooja Devi, Jyoti Singh Ph.D.

Journal of Strategic Security

In the present era, the concept of minilateralism has emerged as an essential instrument of the attainment of a country’s strategic interests. Consequently, the global world is shifting from multilateral alliances to minilateral groupings. The article analyzes the emergence of a minilateral construct and the formation of minilateral platform I2U2. The newly established quadrilateral group I2U2, which includes India, Israel, the UAE and the United States, is called ‘the Middle East Quad.’ The economic partnership is aimed at utilizing the different sector capacities of member countries to counter shared challenges that have occurred in the past few years. Six key …

Assessing India-Philippines Defence Engagement: Strategic Alignments And Future Trajectories, Arushi Anthal, Anu Sharma

Journal of Strategic Security

India and the Philippines signed the deal worth USD 375 million dollars for the BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles in 2022, and the first batch of missiles was delivered in April of 2024. The growing defence cooperation between both nations marks a strategic shift in India’s Act East Policy which was launched in 2014. Within the broader Indo-Pacific framework, this engagement offers mutual advantages in maritime security, counter-terrorism, and capacity building. This research paper explores and examines the strategic relevance of this partnership in lines with the rising assertiveness of China, assesses challenges and identifies potential areas of cooperation. It also …

Threat Perception In Taiwan: Trend And Implications, Christina Chen

Journal of Strategic Security

The rising tensions in the Taiwan Strait, driven by China’s growing aggression, have prompted Taiwan to explore ways to bolster its defense and deterrence capabilities. Given that successful deterrence requires the involvement of both military and civilian sectors, the Taiwanese public’s threat perception—specifically, how they view China as a security threat—becomes crucial. This article examines changes in Taiwan’s public threat perception of China. It finds that while Taiwan’s public threat perception has increased since the late 2010s, this shift is more nuanced. External events likely contributed to an overall rise in threat perception, but Chinese coercive actions were associated with …

The Element Of Surprise: Highly Maneuverable Satellites And Ssa, Simone L. Montandon

Journal of Strategic Security

Military, commercial, and civil space missions rely on accurate space situational awareness (SSA) to avoid collisions and inform the analysis of the threat environment. Historically, man-made objects in space have been highly predictable because their trajectories were mostly constrained within the orbit they occupied. However, fast-paced progress in engine/thruster technology, energy efficiency, and on-orbit servicing and refueling have allowed satellites to maneuver often and quickly within their lifespan. This added an element of unpredictability that adds further uncertainty to an operational environment that is already highly uncertain. This paper argues that solving this issue will require pursuing continued custody of …

Identifying Signatures Of Unidentified Aerospace Phenomena Through Structured Analytic Techniques, Joshua S. Pierson, Ms, Dss

Journal of Strategic Security

Unidentified Aerospace Phenomena (UAP) penetrate sovereign airspace and sea space with such proliferation that often national security entities are left baffled with how to detect, identify, and respond to such actions. Since World War II, these phenomena were reported to pace aircraft, maneuver at high speeds in an erratic fashion and increase speed to hypersonic velocity when starting from stasis. The study of UAP is shrouded in stigma, perplexing government mishaps, and academic inquiry focusing on the material aspects of UAP, leaving a gap in determining the exhibited capability and intent of these phenomena. The use of structured analytic techniques …

Subterranean Warfare’S Strategic Coming Of Age: The Israel-Hamas War Of 2023-Present, Nadav Morag

Journal of Strategic Security

This article posits the question as to whether subterranean warfare, which has been a tactic used in warfare since ancient times, has evolved to being an operational tactic in some contexts (such as in the Vietnam War and some Israeli-Hamas clashes in Gaza prior to 2023) and has now, for the first time, has “come of age” to the strategic level in the Israel-Hamas war that broke out in October 2023. The article argues that the current war in Gaza is one in which subterranean warfare has become strategic because the outcomes of this form of warfare in this context …

Sofs And Pmscs: Factors Of Stability And Change, Mirko Tasic

Journal of Strategic Security

The legitimacy of special operations forces (SOFs) and private military and security companies (PMSCs) often resides in a legal gray area, especially for those operating under the patronage of states that deviate from neoliberal standards and are sometimes labeled as criminal groups or terrorist organizations. This study aimed to develop a framework for categorizing the organizational and operational models of such SOFs and PMSCs. The three primary categories used were: mercantilistic, ideological, and ideological-mercantilistic. A comparative analysis of Iran’s Quds Force, Russia’s Wagner Group, and FR Yugoslavia’s JSO was conducted to better understand the impact of these and similar actors …

Detecting Drone Threats At Stadiums And Public Venues: Overview, Operational Considerations, And Technical Implementation, Nathan P. Jones, John P. Sullivan, George W. Davis Jr.

Journal of Strategic Security

This article overviews the issue of drone threats to stadiums and public venues. It provides emergency managers and those defending this critical infrastructure with an overview, operational considerations, and a discussion of the technical implementation for defending these sites from drone threats through detection. It provides a discussion of the current limitations of countermeasures and legal frameworks relevant to drones. Throughout, this article uses real drone detection data from the Astroworld concert incident (November 2021) as a notional case study to illustrate the type of drone detection data emergency managers will contend with and what can be gleaned from it. …

Strategic Leadership In Security Media: Enhancing Community Safety Against Drug Abuse In Oman, Raed Awashreh, Saif Alshuhoomi,, Viola Gjylbegaj

Journal of Strategic Security

Rapid global development has led to increased security challenges, particularly regarding drug-related crimes. This study examines the role of strategic leadership in security media to enhance community security, focusing on drug abuse in Oman. Despite ongoing efforts to combat drug-related offenses, these crimes remain a significant threat to societal stability. The qualitative research involved in-depth interviews with 14 decision-makers, including 7 experts from Oman’s security media, police, and related institutions. It explores the effectiveness of security media campaigns in raising awareness and reducing drug use. Thematic analysis of the data revealed key challenges, including limited resources, outdated technologies, and insufficient …

Cold-Shock Protein Scaffold For Engineering Non-Antibody Binding Proteins, Jack Mathew Webster

USF Patents

Disclosed herein are compositions and methods directed to non-antibody protein scaffolds derived from cold-shock proteins.

Crow's Nest, September 29, 2025, Crow's Nest Staff

Crow's Nest

The September 29, 2025 issue of the Crow's Nest.

Nomina Ignota: Dinosaurios, Dinosauroides Y Otros Animales Del Pasado Que Nunca Existieron, Charlie Charmer, Iván Narváez

Alambique. Revista académica de ciencia ficción y fantasía / Jornal acadêmico de ficção científica e fantasía

Aunque desaparecieron hace 66 millones de años, los dinosaurios no avianos y otros grandes reptiles con los que convivieron son un reclamo habitual en las historias de ficción del cómic, cine, literatura u otros medios de expresión artística y/o entretenimiento. A menudo, sirven también de inspiración para introducir criaturas inexistentes cuya imagen y denominación parten de referentes conocidos. En el presente trabajo se analizan los diferentes métodos utilizados para bautizar a estas criaturas, así como las características y funciones que sus nombres pueden tener en los mundos de ficción, acuñando una nueva categoría para la nomenclatura científica, aplicable exclusivamente en …