Digital Commons Network^™

The Peace Is Uneasy And Needs To Be Won Everyday: Economic Assistance And Peacebuilding Among Marginalized Groups In Northern Ireland And The Border Area, Mehmet Yavuz, Sean Byrne

Peace and Conflict Studies

While Northern Ireland is still recovering from the violent legacy of the 30-year Troubles during a global COVID-19 pandemic, people still experience violence daily. Economic and political inequalities heighten intergroup tensions and insecurity contributing to the promotion of destructive stories. Brexit has escalated the culture wars between the Protestant Unionist Loyalist and Catholic Nationalist Republican communities as Loyalist youth and paramilitary groups protest on Belfast’s streets. Through 120 semi-structured interviews, we explore the experiences and understandings of Civil Society Organization (CSO) peacebuilding and reconciliation workers that liaison with ex-combatants and youth in Derry and the Border area of Northern Ireland. …

Food And Commensality In Non-State Armed Groups: The Case Of The Lord's Resistance Army In Northern Uganda, 1987-2008, Eunice Otuko Apio Dr

Peace and Conflict Studies

The subfield of food and eating practices has registered a significant volume of theoretical and empirical studies. However, there is very limited research targeting non-state armed groups. This article contributes to understanding the nuanced role of food and eating practices (or commensality) in conflict, and its significance in the construction and sustenance of sense of community in non-state armed groups that use particularly elaborate means of indoctrination to build a following. Drawing on the case of northern Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) that thrived on mass abduction of children, youth and women between 1987 and 2008, this article argues that …

The Role Of Local Agency In Peacebuilding: The Case Of The Bawku Inter-Ethnic Peace Committee, Gamel M. A. Aganah Phd

Peace and Conflict Studies

This article explores the failure of top-level interventions in the resolution of local conflicts and the role of local agency in peacebuilding. The article relied primarily on qualitative techniques and instruments to collect data to examine why top-level interventions by successive governments have failed to resolve the Bawku chieftaincy conflict. The article finds that top-level interventions have failed to resolve the conflict because they are introduced with little to no participation by local communities. These interventions are, therefore, unable to garner grassroot support and commitment. In contrast, the BIEPC led peace process has been more successful in the management of …

Front Matter

Kentucky English Bulletin

No abstract provided.

Crt In Schools, Latoya Lee

Kentucky English Bulletin

No abstract provided.

Influence Of Gender Identity On The Adoption Of Religious-Spiritual, Preventive And Emotion-Focused Coping Strategies During The Covid-19 Pandemic In Pakistan, Saeed Ahmad, Sara Rizvi Jafree

Sociology and Anthropology Student Research

Background

Academic research has highlighted the gendered impacts and amplifications of gender disparities of COVID-19. Traditionally, Pakistan is a patriarchal society, where it is a parenthood norm to socialize specific gender social roles.

Objectives

The current research asserts that these normative gender roles may influence individuals throughout their life course, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the present study explored the influence of gender identity in adopting different coping strategies such as religious-spiritual, preventive, emotion-focused and non-constructive coping against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

Due to the lockdown in various areas of Pakistan, data were collected through an online questionnaire using …

A Closer Look At Our Ever-Changing Solar System, Erik Johnson

Natural Science Faculty

What is a planet? It's a question that was controversial when Pluto was reclassified in 2006. The definition has changed over time as people have learned more about the universe. There are still unresolved differences between the cultural usage and its various scientific uses.

The 2023 Zezima Christmas Letter, Jerry Zezima

Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop Blog

Since I am in the holiday spirit (and, having just consumed a mug of hot toddy, a glass of eggnog and a nip of cheer, the holiday spirits are in me), I have decided to follow in that great tradition of boring everyone silly by writing a Christmas letter.

Student Perception Of Crime And The Role Of School Resource Officers, Olivia Dunn

Honors Program Theses and Projects

The increased use of school safety measures and Zero tolerance policies in the United States education system has created a disconnect between perceived and actual school safety. While legislators, school administrators, and the public fuel the creation of school safety guidelines, the voice of the student population these guidelines impact may have been lost. The purpose of this study was to investigate student perceptions of crime, and the role of School Resource Officers (SROs) based on their high school experience. This project was conducted to help understand the factors that contribute to student perceptions and how school security measures may …

Volcanic Gas Quantification Under Suboptimal Conditions, D. Skye Kushner

Geosciences

Volcanic gas emissions are challenging to quantify. Achieving high confidence in gas composition, column concentrations, and emission rates acquired using remote sensing techniques is thought to require optimal atmospheric conditions. These conditions are often not met, creating a reluctance to preform measurements under non-ideal atmospheric conditions with inherent uncertainty about how useful those measurements may be. In the case of volcanic eruptions, the hazardous nature of the volcanic plume creates an environment where it is often not safe to collect measurements. This dissertation presents three projects which aim to constrain the quantity of two specific volcanic gases, mercury (Hg) and …

Pollution Trapping By Strong Temperature Inversions In Fairbanks, Alaska, Meeta V. Cesler-Maloney

Chemistry and Biochemistry

In cold climates during winter, surface-based temperature inversions reduce vertical dispersion within the atmospheric boundary layer. Reduced vertical dispersion coupled with stagnant horizontal winds causes pollution emitted near the ground level to accumulate to unhealthy amounts. To study pollution trapping, we measured vertical differences in fine particulate matter and ozone across a shallow 20-meter vertical scale during surface-based inversions in Fairbanks, Alaska and showed that pollution trapping occurs on this extremely shallow scale. In winter 2022, trace gases were measured by long-path differential absorption spectroscopy to probe vertical dispersion on a taller scale, up to ~200 m above the surface. …

Indigenous Self-Determination In Co-Production Of Knowledge, Margaret Hope Rudolf

Anthropology

Analyzing and comprehending co-production of knowledge (CPK) in the context of working with Arctic Indigenous communities on climate change research is the main goal for this interdisciplinary doctoral dissertation. CPK is shared decision-making on every step of the research process with research partners from communities, agencies, or organizations. CPK with Arctic Indigenous communities requires dedicated consideration of equity, ethics, cultural worldviews, and colonization. Key concepts from Indigenous critical methodologies are used to analyze both the CPK theory and implementation. CPK has the potential to be an ethical space to question the status quo of research processes and support Indigenous self-determination. …

Preserving Reflections Of Ourselves: The Past, Present, And Future Of Alaska's Museums, Angela J. Linn

Anthropology

While museums are very good at collecting, preserving, documenting, and interpreting the histories of our communities, we have not done a very good job with our own histories. No comprehensive publication holistically examines the development of museums in Alaska, let alone looks critically at the "big three" (Alaska State Museums, University of Alaska Museum of the North, and the Anchorage Museum) with a goal of establishing a connection between the historical context, the individuals who shaped those museums, and the institutions' current states of being. This dissertation uses the academic fields of history, museology, and ethnography to discover and analyze …

Avian Divergence And Speciation Across Beringia Examined Using Comparative Mitogenomics, K. A. Collier

Biological Sciences

Accurate knowledge of divergence and speciation processes is critical for understanding key aspects of biodiversity. As a well-known, speciose group of vertebrates, an increased understanding of how birds diverge and speciate allows us to better manage extant avian diversity and understand how it develops over time. Additionally, birds often exhibit complex and variable patterns of divergence, resulting in complexes of taxonomic uncertainty. Filling gaps in our knowledge of divergence across time and space increases our ability to correctly identify and understand not just avian diversity but clade-level patterns in speciation processes. These higher-order findings give us tools to compare and …

Eavesdropping On Killer Whales: Distribution, Calling Rates, And Acoustic Abundance Of Fish-Eating And Mammal-Eating Killer Whales In The Gulf Of Alaska, Hannah J. Myers

Marine Biology

The widespread loss of apex consumers in marine, terrestrial, and freshwater ecosystems throughout the world has precipitated profound trophic cascades and switches to different ecological states. However, conserving top predators can deliver broad biodiversity benefits and improve ecosystem resiliency. Effective conservation and management policy is predicated on a species' distribution and abundance in a given area and time. In this dissertation, I provide new insight into killer whale (Orcinus orca) distribution, vocal behavior, and abundance in the Gulf of Alaska using passive acoustic monitoring and advance long-term monitoring capacity for this species. First, I describe the year-round spatiotemporal distribution and …

Uncovering Patterns And Mechanisms Of Paralytic Shellfish Toxicity In Alaska's Geoduck Clam Fishery, Courtney E. Hart

Fisheries

This dissertation explores the patterns and mechanisms of paralytic shellfish toxicity in commercially harvested geoduck clams caused by the toxin-producing dinoflagellate Alexandrium catenella in Southeast Alaska. Alaska's commercial fishery for geoduck clams (Panopea generosa) is a small but lucrative fishery, with annual ex-vessel values averaging US $3.9 million (2010-2022). In recent years, the presence of paralytic shellfish toxins (PSTs) in clam tissue resulted in declines in fishery openings and harvest. PSTs can bioaccumulate in the tissues of filter feeders when A. catenella blooms in the spring and summer seasons. However, high levels of toxicity in geoduck clams occur sporadically during …

Model-Based Estimation Of Juvenile Salmon Spatial Ecology In The Eastern Bering Sea, Alaska, Lilian Hart

Fisheries

Quantitative descriptions of juvenile salmon spatial ecology during the marine phase of their lifecycle are needed to help direct conservation efforts and uncover latent relationships between juvenile salmon and their environment. The NOAA Fisheries Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) program contributes to the conservation of species in the marine waters off of the coast of Alaska by identifying areas of particular importance to reproduction and growth. Salmon EFH definitions have not yet been updated using the species distribution modeling approach taken most recently in defining Alaska groundfish and crab EFH. Current EFH definitions for Alaskan salmon are geographically broad, do not …

From Siberian Dawn To Midnight In Siberia: The Geopolitics Of Anglophone Travel Writing About Post-Soviet Siberia, Benjamin D. Christian

Arctic and Northern Studies

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 opened Siberia as a new "travelers' frontier." Travel writers seeking destinations unspoiled by the encroachment of global capitalism and the resultant "placeless" landscapes made Siberia the subject of numerous travel books. This thesis critically examines the geopolitical discourses embedded in those books. Through a close reading and discourse analysis of three representative samples spanning the post-Cold War period, it highlights the key tropes, images and discourses that Anglophone travel writers have deployed in their constructions of Russia as a geopolitical Other. Travel writers writing about Siberia during the post-Cold War period explicitly …

Movement Ecology, Survival, And Territorial Dynamics In Canada Lynx (Lynx Canadensis) Over A Cyclic Population Decline, Derek Arnold

Biological Sciences

As the quintessential predator-prey cycle, research into Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) and snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus) have led to many discoveries in population biology; however, much remains unknown about the nuances of their populations. In this dissertation, I examined the ways in which population cycles influence survival, reproduction, territoriality, and connectivity. First, I examined ways in which climate change induced shifts in fire regimes have affected lynx persistence in their current refugia. Lynx mainly sought out areas of higher hare density and lower cover, such as intermediately aged coniferous and deciduous forests. This type of forest was predicted to persist …

Effects Of Browser Exclusion On The Willow Leafblotch Miner (Micrurapteryx Salicifoliella): Host Plant Availability, Oviposition, And Survival, Martha M. Cummings

Biological Sciences

Herbivores can affect the quality and quantity of their food plants in ways that indirectly influence the food resources and habitat available to other herbivores present. This study examined indirect interactions between a mammalian browser and an insect folivore that feed on shared plant species during different seasons. On a boreal floodplain in interior Alaska, we investigated how a history of winter browsing by moose (Alces alces) affected the behavior and performance of the willow leafblotch miner moth, Micrurapteryx salicifoliella in summer. Excluding moose browsing for 8 years did not change plant density, but strongly increased canopy height, vegetative cover …

Avian Divergence And Speciation Across Beringia Examined Using Comparative Mitogenomics, K. A. Collier

Biological Sciences

Accurate knowledge of divergence and speciation processes is critical for understanding key aspects of biodiversity. As a well-known, speciose group of vertebrates, an increased understanding of how birds diverge and speciate allows us to better manage extant avian diversity and understand how it develops over time. Additionally, birds often exhibit complex and variable patterns of divergence, resulting in complexes of taxonomic uncertainty. Filling gaps in our knowledge of divergence across time and space increases our ability to correctly identify and understand not just avian diversity but clade-level patterns in speciation processes. These higher-order findings give us tools to compare and …

Microplastics In Spotted Seal Stomachs From The Bering And Chukchi Seas In 2012 And 2020, Alexandria Sletten

Biological Sciences

Microplastics pose a significant threat to marine ecosystems across multiple trophic levels. Spotted seals (Phoca largha) are piscivorous and occupy one of the higher trophic positions in the Bering and Chukchi seas, putting them at risk of ingesting microplastics through prey. This project aimed to determine if microplastics are present in the stomachs of spotted seals harvested for subsistence purposes and compare their presence spatially between two harvest locations, Gambell and Shishmaref, AK. Microplastics are predicted to increase in the Arctic over time due to climate warming and subsequent deposition of microplastics from melting sea ice. Therefore, we examined stomachs …

Smoke Without Fire: Wildfire Smoke Affects Phenolic Composition Of Wild Blueberry Fruits (Vaccinium Uliginosum), Laura G. Weingartner

Biological Sciences

Wildfire smoke can induce changes in plant growth, phenology, and chemical composition. The frequency and intensity of wildfires have increased over the last thirty years in Alaska, and smoke has the potential to affect important wild fruit plants, such as bog blueberry (Vaccinium uliginosum L.), a food source for many Alaskans and wild animals. We exposed bog blueberry plants to wood smoke at different stages in fruit development: early-season when the plants were flowering ("early-smoked"), mid-season when fruits were unripe ("mid-smoked"), and late-season when fruits were fully ripe ("late-smoked"). We measured anthocyanins, proanthocyanidins, and total phenolics in the ripe fruits, …

Marine Methane: Sources And Potential Adverse Effects, Sadia Mahmuda

Engineering

Recently, there has been an increase in the occurrence of incidents involving spills of oil and natural gas, such as methane. The world experiences at least one major spill in each decade. An illustrative case is the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster in 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. This catastrophe resulted in the discharge of about 205.8 million gallons of oil and 225,000 metric tons of methane gas into the Gulf of Mexico. More recently, in 2022, the Nord Stream pipeline leak occurred, which was the largest single methane release ever recorded. It released up to 500K tons of methane …

Icy Insights: Decrypting The Depths With Novel Stochastic Techniques To Model And Mitigate Arctic Under-Ice Oil Spills, Kelsey A. Frazier

Engineering

The retreat and thinning of Arctic sea ice, driven by climate change, have increased the potential for maritime navigation in the region, thereby heightening concerns about the environmental impacts of potential oil spills in the Arctic. This dissertation, with a focus on the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, seeks to develop a remote predictive method for assessing the subsurface features of Arctic sea ice, thereby facilitating rapid responses to Arctic oil spills without depending on time-consuming in situ measurements. The first paper of this dissertation addresses the need for oil spill modelers to understand oil movement along the subsurface of sea …

Making Space For Adolescents Of Refugee Background In Public Libraries, Danielle S. Dejonge

Masters Projects

Refugee adolescents go through multiple transitions that affect identity while settling in their new country of relocation. The ability to recognize the complexity of identity in a healthy way is fostered by safe spaces of belonging that encourage agency. Libraries, as spaces already effectively serving diverse populations including refugee youth, have the resources to be a safe space for these adolescents. One resource that has been trending in libraries is a makerspace. Makerspaces offer multimodal activities, whether they be arts-based or STEM-based, that not only encourage critical thought, but also allow for development of belonging and agency for healthy dynamic …

Emotional Labor In Front-Facing Jobs In University Settings, Khushboo Jain

Student Theses and Dissertations

This research aims to investigate how employees in front-facing/public-oriented positions engage in and experience the effects of emotional labor. Emotional labor is the unpaid, frequently unseen work a person must perform to manage their emotions for other people (Resnick, 2021). This kind of labor can manifest in multiple settings such as the workplace and interpersonal relationships. Emotional labor is often a problem in organizations because there is more focus on how the employee is representing them in customer interactions than the employee’s well-being. During face-to-face or voice-to-voice interactions with customers, employees are required to express proper emotions as a job …

What's Going On In There? Canadian Government Policy Labs And Public Value Management, Adam Wellstead, Nora Ottenhof, Bryan Evans, Anat Gofen

Michigan Tech Publications

Government-based policy labs have established themselves across the Canadian policy landscape. This article argues these labs contribute to public value management. We begin by reviewing the public value management literature, followed by Canadian contributions to the policy lab literature. Then, our inventory of 35 current Canadian government-based policy labs is descriptively analyzed, including trends in spatial concentration, the tools and methods employed, their focus areas, the number of years in existence, and their primary role in the policy process. We randomly selected nine of these labs, provide more details of their activities, and present a preliminary public value management typology …

Rare Presentation Of Postpericardiotomy Syndrome After Left Atrial Myxoma Removal, Jessy Feng, Shyama Appareddy, Yaman Gibran, Aryana Garza, Jacqueline Luevano, Gustavo Garcia

School of Medicine Publications

Postpericardiotomy syndrome (PPS) is a known complication of cardiac valve surgery, but it has not been commonly reported as a postoperative complication of cardiac myxoma removal. A 78-year-old female with hypertension and atrial fibrillation presenting with angina was found to have a large left atrial myxoma (7.5 cm × 4.4 cm). The myxoma was resected; however, 1-week postoperation hemoglobin and blood pressure decreased with elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactive protein (CRP). Limited transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) showed moderate pericardial effusion, confirming the diagnosis of PPS. This case highlights the importance of monitoring patients postremoval of myxoma for symptoms of …

Tuftelin1 Drives Experimental Pulmonary Fibrosis Progression By Facilitating Stress Fiber Assembly, Caoyuan Niu, Kai Xu, Yanan Hu, Yanling Jia, Yuexia Yang, Xiaoyue Pan, Ruyan Wan, Hui Lian, Qiwen Wang, Juntang Yang, Yajun Li, Ivan Rosas, Lan Wang, Guoying Yu

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Background: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive interstitial lung disease (ILD) with unknown etiology, characterized by sustained damage repair of epithelial cells and abnormal activation of fibroblasts, the underlying mechanism of the disease remains elusive.

Methods: To evaluate the role of Tuftelin1 (TUFT1) in IPF and elucidate its molecular mechanism. We investigated the level of TUFT1 in the IPF and bleomycin-induced mouse models and explored the influence of TUFT1 deficiency on pulmonary fibrosis. Additionally, we explored the effect of TUFT1 on the cytoskeleton and illustrated the relationship between stress fiber and pulmonary fibrosis.

Results: Our results demonstrated a significant …