Digital Commons Network^™

Evaluating Human Pressure On Protected Areas In East Africa, Bailey M. Ytterdahl

Student Publications

Protected areas (PAs) are crucial to achieving effective conservation goals and mitigate the loss of biodiversity. I investigated the following research questions: How does human pressure threaten PAs in East Africa? Is human pressure associated with the factors of country, ecosystem characteristics, size, or governance type of a PA? For this study, I used a combination of a GIS analysis and case studies to evaluate human pressure on PAs in Tanzania and Kenya. For the GIS analysis, I used 589 terrestrial PAs from the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA). Within each PA, I summarized the landform, landcover, moisture level, …

"The Bottom Would Drop Out Of Everything": A Brief History Of The Battle For Blair Mountain, Brandon Neely

Student Publications

In the summer of 1921, thousands of Appalachian miners took up arms and marched in southwest West Virginia. Fighting back against attacks on miners' unions like the United Mine Workers of America, the conflict quickly turned violent. The Battle for Blair Mountain, as it came to be known, was one of the largest labor strikes in American history and impacted the history of the Coal Wars and the United States for decades to come. This analysis uses interviews with people who experienced the battle as well as the speeches of labor leaders Samuel Gompers and John Lewis to discuss the …

Indigenous Pennsylvania: Past, Present, And Future, Sarah E. Gilsoul

Student Publications

Gettysburg College recently adopted an official Land Acknowledgment Statement. However, there is little publicly accessible media that helps students, or the greater Gettysburg community, understand Indigenous presence in our region. This project, Indigenous Pennsylvania: Past, Present, and Future seeks to address the primary question, “How can we represent Indigenous presence within our region to be informative and inclusive of Indigenous worldviews and perspectives?” The study tackles two sub-questions: a) what are the best digital tools to generate a virtual and informative interactive map that can represent Indigenous senses of space, time, and land relations? and b) what aspects of Indigenous …

The Bedouin In Arabia: A Nomadic Success, Cole D. Quinn

Student Publications

This paper analyzes the lifestyle of Bedouin tribes in Arabia prior to the rise of Islam. It looks closely at how Bedouin tribes were able to coexist alongside pre-Islamic settlements and secure a dominant position in Arabia. Specifically, this paper covers the Bedouin's practice of pastoralism, tribalism, and militarism, and explains how Bedouin tribes were able to secure and maintain a dominant position in Arabia despite the pressure of neighboring settlements.

The North ‘Helicoptering’ Into The South: A Meta-Analysis Of Parachute Science In Ecological Field Studies, Alexandros Economou-Garcia

Student Publications

Science is increasingly collaborative, but scientists from the Global North (GN) often fail to collaborate with local scientists or to build local scientific capacity when conducting research in the Global South (GS). This practice is known as “parachute science” or “helicopter science”. In addition to ethical concerns, this practice is problematic in the field of ecology because it may reduce the likelihood that the research will inform local resource management and science policy. I hypothesized that, because research has become increasingly collaborative, there would be a decline in parachute science over time. In addition, I hypothesized that papers that included …

Impacts In The Classroom When Students Take Ownership Of Cellphone Usage Policies: An Investigation Using A Project-Based Learning Design, Melynda Elaine Diehl

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this action research study was to investigate by using a PBL design if giving student more ownership in classroom cellphone policies has positive outcomes. This study looked at not only the behavioral aspect of classroom cellphone usage, but also the impacts of using a PBL design on student engagement, ownership, and knowledge construction. This study was also framed on constructivism. Students built on their own prior knowledge and worked collaboratively to solve a real-world problem. The research focused on answering three questions. The first question looked at how students synthesize and evaluate the literature to construct knowledge …

Gonorrhea: Core Areas And State Policies, Jessica Purser

Theses and Dissertations

This research looked at gonorrhea rates both from a community perspective and at the state level. Using hot spot analysis, means differences, and quantile regression, we found that education, specifically the percent of people over the age of 25 with less than a high school education, was the dominant factor at the state level while core areas of gonorrhea exist in the PeeDee and western Lowcountry regions of South Carolina in 2017 and 2018. Risky sexual behaviors are well-defined in the literature for individual persons, but this shows that looking at societal and community factors is important.

This is a …

Optimizing Automated Kriging To Improve Spatial Interpolation Of Monthly Rainfall Over Complex Terrain, Matthew P. Lucas, Ryan J. Longman, Thomas W. Giambelluca, Abby G. Frazier, Jared Mclean, Sean B. Cleveland, Yu Fen Huang, Jonghyun Lee

Geography

Gridded monthly rainfall estimates can be used for a number of research applications, including hydrologic modeling and weather forecasting. Automated interpolation algorithms, such as the "autoKrige" function in R, can produce gridded rainfall estimates that validate well but produce unrealistic spatial patterns. In this work, an optimized geostatistical kriging approach is used to interpolate relative rainfall anomalies, which are then combined with long-term means to develop the gridded estimates. The optimization consists of the following: 1) determining the most appropriate offset (constant) to use when log-transforming data; 2) eliminating poor quality data prior to interpolation; 3) detecting erroneous maps using …

Field Research In The Era Of The Islamic State And Trump, William Yaworsky, Dawid K. Wladyka, Katarzyna Sepielak

Anthropology Faculty Publications

We survey anthropologists who work in Arab League countries to ascertain their perceptions of fieldwork security conditions. Based on the responses of forty-seven specialists reporting on conditions in 127 field sites, we find the security environment in the Arab League to be diverse. Scholars working in nations such as Morocco, Oman, and Qatar report overwhelmingly favorable research conditions, while their colleagues working in Lebanon and Syria report a largely dismal situation. The paper also queries respondents on their perceptions of the impact that Trump administration policies and rhetoric have on their ongoing field research. Here, we find Arab League specialists …

Biden, Trump, Durbin, And Taxes: The 2020 Election In Illinois, John Jackson, John Foster

The Simon Review (Occasional Papers of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute)

This paper provides a summary of the 2020 presidential race, both nationally and in Illinois. It also analyzes the U.S. Senate race in Illinois and the referendum on the graduated income tax proposal, which was Governor JB Pritzker’s highest policy priority for that year. The results are placed in the larger context of the deep polarization of America and Illinois. The analysis uses the results of the 1996 presidential election (Clinton vs. Dole) and senatorial election (Durbin vs. Salvi) and the 1998 gubernatorial election (Ryan vs. Poshard) as a baseline to demonstrate the profound geographical realignment of the two parties …

Capital City Ventures Towards An Equitable Clean Energy Transition: A Case Study Comparison Between Columbia, South Carolina And Richmond, Virginia, Claire Windsor

Senior Theses

Combatting climate change requires a rapid transition to renewable sources for energy generation. In the United States, the electricity sector alone accounts for 28% of greenhouse gas emissions (28%), with about 63% of electricity generation derived from burning of fossil fuels (EPA, 2020). In order to lower greenhouse emissions from the energy sector, federal, state, and local policies must pave the way for renewable energy and energy efficiency innovations and policies. However, political action to address the effects and combat the causes of climate change have been limited due to political gridlock at the federal level. In addition, under neoliberalism, …

Describing The Impact Of The Sales Of Antibiotics On The Environment And In Population Health, Andrés Gaviria-Figueroa

Theses and Dissertations

The role of antibiotics in human health is of significant importance in the advancement of the medical field. It has contributed to an improvement of the quality of life and the age expectancy of the population. Antibiotic resistance is an expected consequence of the use of antibiotics. Bacteria have developed biological mechanisms that would help them become resistant to antibiotics. The uncontrolled use of antibiotics is significantly contributing to the ability of bacteria to become resistant to those antibiotics. This study, using the model of the Socio-Ecological Coupling of Antibiotic Resistance, explains how social and environmental factors interact and impact …

Alba And Unasur: Back To The Future?, Porrata-Doria, Jr., Rafael A.

Santa Clara Journal of International Law

This essay discusses efforts at creating a unified Latin American region through the lens of different integration attempts. Part I briefly examines MERCOSUR and the Andean Group and how these two efforts failed to achieve promises made under the free trade model that grew under the Washington Consensus. Structural problems and changing political tides left these two groups unsuccessful, and ultimately the election of populist leftwing presidents in Argentina, Brazil, and Venezuela ushered in a new model of integration intended to increase the economic development of Latin America in an equitable fashion. Despite their different ideologies and missions, both Alianza …

Fragile Foal Syndrome: Its Past, Present, And Future, Alena Martin, Alena M. Martin

Honors College Theses

Though Fragile Foal Syndrome (FFS) has been around for some time, the public interest in FFS is recent. The hype spread rapidly from a public media announcement that a stallion at a prominent North American stud farm was a carrier (Brooks, 2021). As with most genetic mutations, FFS likely arose due to the increased inbreeding that results from human selection (Orlando & Librado, 2019). Fragile Foal Syndrome affects the enzyme responsible for developing the connective tissues. Two recent case studies highlighted the devastating effect of FFS on every part of the equine body (Metzger, et al., 2020; Grillos, 2021). So …

Texas Court Blocks Investigation Or Prosecution Of Parents And Doctors For Providing Gender-Affirming Treatment For Transgender Youths, Arthur S. Leonard

Other Publications

This article was originally published in LGBT Law Notes, April 2022.

Differences In Covid-19-Related Testing And Healthcare Utilization By Race And Ethnicity In The Veterans Health Administration, Aanand D Naik, Christopher I Amos, Venkata Bandi, Amir Sharafkhaneh

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

IMPORTANCE: Recent reports indicate differences in COVID-19-related care and outcomes between Black and White Americans.

OBJECTIVE: We examine the COVID-19-related healthcare utilization and mortality by race and ethnicity of patients tested for SARS-CoV-2 in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA).

DESIGN: A retrospective cohort study.

SETTING: We used the VHA COVID-19 shared data resources between February 1 and June 30, 2020.

PARTICIPANTS: Veterans tested for SARS-CoV-2 virus by VHA.

EXPOSURE(S): Three racial-ethnicity groups of Black, Hispanic, and White (as reference) veterans.

MAIN OUTCOME(S) AND MEASURE(S): Main outcomes are testing rate, positivity rate, hospitalization rate, ICU admission rate, and in-hospital mortality. Controlling …

Popular Information: An Analysis Of Foi Use And Behavior, A.Jay Wagner

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

A substantial amount of freedom of information research exists, though a majority is focused on U.S. laws' outcomes and FOI's shortcomings. But little is known about who makes requests and why requests are made in the United States. The exploratory study addresses these gaps via a nationally representative survey across key demographic variables of 1116 U.S. residents. Analysis found advanced education to be a strong, positive predictor of FOI familiarity and request submission. Malegender and a belief that FOI improves government accountability were also found to be significant predictors of FOI knowledge and use. The survey sampled U.S. residents, but …

Bargaining For Abolition, Zohra Ahmed

Faculty Scholarship

What if instead of seeing criminal court as an institution driven by the operation of rules, we saw it as a workplace where people labor to criminalize those with the misfortune to be prosecuted? Early observers of twentieth century urban criminal courts likened them to factories.¹ Since then, commentators often deploy the pejorative epithet “assembly line justice” to describe criminal court’s processes.² The term conveys the criticism of a mechanical system delivering a form of justice that is impersonal and fallible. Perhaps unintentionally, the epithet reveals another truth: criminal court is also a workplace, and it takes labor …

Redbird Scholar, Vol. 7, No. 2 (Spring 2022), Illinois State University, Office Of The Vice President For Research And Graduate Studies

Redbird Scholar

No abstract provided.

Openline Newsletter, April 2022, Civil Service Council

OpenLine Newsletter

A monthly newsletter for Civil Service employees, April 2022.

Mechanistically Informed Data-Driven Modeling Of Cyclic Plasticity Via Artificial Neural Networks, Daoping Liu, Hang Yang, K.I. Elkhodary, Shan Tang

Faculty Journal Articles

A mechanistically informed data-driven approach is proposed to simulate the complex plastic behavior of microstructured/homogenized solids subjected to cyclic loading, especially to simulate the Masing effect. Our proposed approach avoids the complicated mathematical construction of an appropriate yield surface, and does not require a large amount of data for training, by virtue of its mechanistic character, which couples the methods and tools of data science to the principles of mechanics. Specifically, a data-processing method is herein advanced to extract specific internal variables that characterize cyclic plastic behavior, which cannot be measured directly via physical experiments. A yield surface, represented by …

Treasures From Rowan University Archives And Special Collections, Sara A. Borden

Library Workshops

Learning objectives:

• Participants will learn what primary sources are in a university archives and special collections
• Participants will examine and learn details from historic Rowan University artifacts such as: maps; incunabula and rare books; one-of-a-kind manuscripts detailing southern New Jersey history; and other incredible treasures from the region, the nation, and the world held in the collections
• Participants will understand that archives contain materials that are not only useful for work in humanities and social sciences but archives hold documents and objects of interest to those in STEM studies as well as other fields

Description:

This virtual workshop will clear …

Issues Of Context, Capacity And Scale: Essential Conditions And Missing Links For A Sustainable Blue Economy, Holly J. Niner, Noel C. Barut, Tom Baum, Daniela Diz, Daniela Laínez Del Pozo, Stuart Laing, Alana Malinde S.N. Lancaster, Kirsty A. Mcquaid, Tania Mendo, Elisa Morgera, Payal N. Maharaj, Ifesinachi Okafor-Yarwood, Kelly Ortega-Cisneros, Tapiwa V. Warikandwa, Sian Rees

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

The blue economy has roots in the international arena of sustainable development and sets out to unlock opportunities for economy and society whilst protecting and enhancing marine environments. To date there has been no analysis of how this overarching intention for sustainability has influenced the rapid development of blue economy policies at national and regional scales. In this article, we analyse the synergies and conflicts between blue economy policies from a diversity of national and regional policies and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We show that to maintain critical alignment with targets for sustainability, place-based contextual development of blue economies …

No Justice, No Pleas: Subverting Mass Incarceration Through Defendant Collective Action, Andrew Manuel Crespo

Fordham Law Review

The American penal system is a system of massive, racially unjust incarceration. It is also, to quote the U.S. Supreme Court, a “system of pleas.” The latter drives the former, as coercive plea bargaining makes it possible for the state to do two things that are otherwise hard to pull off at once: increase convictions and sentence lengths. Mass incarceration is a predictable result. But while plea bargaining is intensely coercive when leveraged against individuals, the system of pleas has a structural weak point. That Achilles’ heel is exposed once we see people facing prosecution not as isolated individuals but …

Racial Allies, Atinuke O. Adediran

Fordham Law Review

Racial allies are white individuals and institutions that actively work to dismantle systems of racial inequality and the consequences of poverty that disproportionately impact communities of color and that are willing to both confer and share power with members of subjugated groups. There is no other sector of the legal profession that professes to be racial allies more than individuals and institutions within the public interest law sector. Yet, these institutions that address structural racism and disproportionately serve communities of color appear not to share power with racial and ethnic minorities. The public interest law sector has been at the …

The Firearm Preemption Phenomenon, Rachel Simon

Cardozo Law Review

Forty-five states have adopted express preemption statutes curtailing or entirely prohibiting local gun regulation, and several jurisdictions now threaten localities with penalties for violating such restrictions. These measures have been remarkably effective in reducing the breadth and variety of gun laws nationwide, but their consequences have only just begun to attract attention. Public debates over guns tend to center on the Second Amendment while overlooking state-level obstacles to local lawmaking, and the scholarship on state-local preemption lacks an analysis devoted exclusively to the gun-policy space.

To fill these gaps, this Article provides a comprehensive account of the firearm preemption phenomenon. …

State: The Magazine Of Illinois State University, Spring 2022, Illinois State University, University Marketing And Communications

State: The Magazine of Illinois State University (1999-present)

Illinois State University alumni magazine

Key Factors Impacting Success Of Omnichannel Retailing: A Managerial Perspective, Anuradha Narasimhan

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Omnichannel retailing has revolutionized consumer behaviour with consumers seamlessly flitting between offline and online channels as they explore, shop, buy, receive, and exchange or return products and services. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated digital and omnichannel adoption by consumers as retailers and brand owners create strategies and deployment to stay ahead. Omnichannel retailing is about seamless channels from the consumers’ perspective and about integrated channels from the firms’ side. This firm-focussed study examines the key factors driving success of omnichannel retailing using a mixed-methods approach – we conducted twenty-five depth interviews and received 146 responses to the quantitative survey from …

"Contextualizing The 'Theses On Socialist Education:' Lessons For Revolutionary Pedagogy Today" In Socialist Education In Korea: Selected Works Of Kim Il-Sung, Derek R. Ford, Curry Malott

Education Studies Faculty publications

From Publisher: Publishing the selected works of Kim Il-Sung on education is a controversial move in the United States. In fact, there’s almost a proportional relationship between the demonization of the DPRK and the level of ignorance one has about the state, the country, its government, its people and society, and its history. This is particularly striking given the recent interest in decolonial and anti-colonial education, in socialist and communist educational methods, and in socialism and communism more generally. Given these recent activist and scholarly interests, Riley Park and Cambria York’s new collection, Socialist Education in Korea, is a welcome …

The Bridwell Quarterly. Issue 15, Spring 2022, Michelle Ried

Bridwell Library Publications

No abstract provided.