Digital Commons Network^™

Natural Resource Conflict And Socioenvironmental Resistance In Arctic States: Assessing Domestic Risks To Circumpolar Security, Jen Evans

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

How does climate change contribute to domestic natural resource conflict and socioenvironmental resistance in the Arctic? The literature assumes that developed Arctic nations possess sufficient state capacity to overcome risks of domestic conflict and unrest posed by regional development and environmental change. Arctic policy correspondingly focuses on natural resource competition, disputes, and conflict at the international level. The mechanisms and processes of domestic natural resource conflict and socioenvironmental resistance in the Arctic have thus been largely ignored in the literature, even though 27 cases of contention have occurred since the ‘shock’ sea-ice melt of 2007.

In this study, I draw …

Avoiding Performative Climate Justice, Katrina F. Kuh

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The Article first sketches the contours of precommitment strategies by identifying examples of precommitment strategies in existing climate change law, and contrasting them with other approaches for advancing justice that are not sticky, automatic, and early, and thus would not be considered precommitments. It then contemplates whether and why sticky, automatic, and early precommitments to justice may be an important strategy to advance justice goals in anticipation of and at high levels of warming. It concludes by analyzing the use of precommitments to justice in the context of the expedited siting and construction of renewable energy infrastructure.

The Bell Jars: Smith College, Pelargonium Sidoides, And Sylvia Plath's Botanical Imagination, Colin Hoag

Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Sylvia Plath’s novel The Bell Jar chronicles prize-winning college student Esther Greenwood’s descent into melancholy and attempted suicide. An emerging writer, Esther sees clearly the paths available to her under 1950s US patriarchy: homemaker or eccentric intellectual. Each on its own is untenable, and choosing one precludes the other. The bell jar metaphor conjures a sense of confinement and suffocation, but this essay offers a multispecies reading that shows why such an interpretation is too narrow. The essay looks carefully at the bell jar, its function within her story, and the context within which Plath encountered it, namely, as a …

The Anticompetitive Nature Of Certificate Of Need And Certificate Of Public Advantage Laws In The United States, Caleb Atkins

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

Certificate of Need (CON) laws serve as a major barrier to entry in the healthcare market, which already suffers from a high degree of market concentration. Certificate of Public Advantage (COPA) laws give healthcare providers robust antitrust immunity by allowing a merger to go through that would oftentimes be illegal. These COPAs can lead to a reduced quality of care for patients, reduced access to care in the communities where hospitals with COPAs operate, reduced wages for hospital employees in the relevant geographic market, and increased prices for patients seeking care. Given the essential nature of healthcare services, addressing the …

Herptile Gut Microbiomes: A Natural System To Study Multi-Kingdom Interactions Between Filamentous Fungi And Bacteria, Lluvia Vargas-Gastélum, Alexander S. Romer, Marjan Ghotbi, Jason W. Dallas, Reed. N. Alexander, Kylie C. Moe, Kerry L. Mcphail, George F. Neuhaus, Leila Shadmani, Joseph W. Spatafora, Jason E. Stajich, Javier F. Tabima, Donald M. Walker

Biology

Reptiles and amphibians (herptiles) are some of the most endangered and threatened species on the planet and numerous conservation strategies are being implemented with the goal of ensuring species recovery. Little is known, however, about the gut microbiome of wild herptiles and how it relates to the health of these populations. Here, we report results from the gut microbiome characterization of both a broad survey of herptiles, and the correlation between the fungus Basidiobolus, and the bacterial community supported by a deeper, more intensive sampling of Plethodon glutinosus, known as slimy salamanders. We demonstrate that bacterial communities sampled from frogs, …

Reconnecting A Stream Channel To Its Floodplain: Implications For Benthic Diatoms And Macroinvertebrate Trophic Structure, Patrick M. Edwards, Nicole C. Popp, Yangdong Pan, Christine L. Weilhoefer, Aspen Peterman, Lauren Mork, Matthew F. Johnson, Megan Colley, Multiple Additional Authors

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Streams systems draining upland landscapes provide valuable ecosystem services, but they are vulnerable to incision and channelization caused by anthropogenic disturbance. Restoring a degraded stream to its pre-disturbance condition by reconnecting the channel to its historical floodplain aims to recover lost hydro-morphological processes and functions. Seeking evidence to indicate whether that aim is met in practice, we examined diatoms and the stream macroinvertebrate trophic structures in three reaches of Whychus Creek, Oregon, United States. Two reaches were reconnected to their pre-disturbance floodplains in 2012 and 2016. The third, control reach, was not restored and was selected to represent the degraded …

Drivers Of Tree Canopy Loss In A Mid-Sized Growing City: Case Study In Portland, Or (Usa), Yunjae Ock, Vivek Shandas, Fernanda Ribeiro, Noah Young

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

The benefits of the urban tree and tree canopy (UTC) are increasingly crucial in addressing urban sustainability. Yet, increasingly evident from earlier research is the distributional inequities of UTC and active efforts to expand tree plantings. Less is known about the dynamics of UTC loss over time and location. This study aims to understand the dynamics of UTC change, especially canopy loss, and to investigate the drivers of the loss. This study draws on a high–resolution dataset of an urban canopy in Portland, Oregon, USA, assessing changes in UTC from 2014 to 2020. By integrating demographic, biophysical, and policy data …

The Cooperation-Infrastructure Nexus: Translating The ‘China Model’ Into Laos, Tyler Harlan, Juliet Lu

Urban and Environmental Studies Faculty Works

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is frequently described as a ‘hard’ infrastructure programme of roads, railways, and ports. But a variety of ‘soft’ development cooperation activities—including trainings, dialogues, research, and development projects—have also been established under the banner of the BRI. We examine how this ‘soft’ cooperation works hand-in-hand with ‘hard’ infrastructure in what we call the cooperation-infrastructure nexus. This nexus works in two parallel ways: cooperation activities establish discursive frames of Chinese development as a model to follow, while also creating channels of exchange and support that validate and facilitate infrastructure investments. These investments, in turn, legitimize …

Voices From Grenada: An Impact Evaluation Of A Community-Academic Partnership., Sade Richardson

Doctor of Social Work Capstone Projects

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of the community-academic partnership between the University of Michigan School of Public Health Office of Public Health Practice and the Grenadian community. Five key informant interviews were conducted to analyze the partnership from the perspectives of the community partners in Grenada to understand the strengths, challenges, and existing opportunities, specifically within the context of a global collaboration.

The findings highlighted the benefits of community-based collaboration, considerations for partnership design, and opportunities for education, practice, policy, research, and leadership. The organizations spoke highly of the partnership, underscoring their desire for expanded …

Image-Based Multiplex Immune Profiling Of Cancer Tissues: Translational Implications. A Report Of The International Immuno-Oncology Biomarker Working Group On Breast Cancer., Chowdhury Arif Jahangir, David B. Page, Glenn Broeckx, Claudia A. Gonzalez, Caoimbhe Burke, Clodagh Murphy, Jorge S. Reis-Filho, Amy Ly, Paul Harms, Shahin Sayed

Pathology, East Africa

Recent advances in the field of immuno-oncology have brought transformative changes in the management of cancer patients. The immune profile of tumours has been found to have key value in predicting disease prognosis and treatment response in various cancers. Multiplex immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence have emerged as potent tools for the simultaneous detection of multiple protein biomarkers in a single tissue section, thereby expanding opportunities for molecular and immune profiling while preserving tissue samples. By establishing the phenotype of individual tumour cells when distributed within a mixed cell population, the identification of clinically relevant biomarkers with high-throughput multiplex immunophenotyping of tumour …

An Exploratory Framework For Benchmarking Vehicle Miles Traveled (Vmt) Estimates Associated With University Campuses, Troy Kawahara

Master's Theses

Although vehicle miles traveled (VMT) has become the standard for assessing transportation related impacts in California, some have concerns that many VMT estimates are not properly grounded or informed by real world data, potentially resulting in flawed estimates and impact assessments. This is especially true of special generators, like college and university campuses, which have complex travel patterns distinct from that of the general public. This thesis attempts to resolve a significant disparity observed between two credible VMT estimates for Cal Poly’s campus wide VMT. As part of a campus master planning effort, a VMT estimate was produced in 2019 …

The South Will (Not) Rise Again: The Religion Of The Lost Cause Meets The Politics Of Confederate Monument Removal, Jonathan C. Augustine

University of Richmond Law Review

According to the Supreme Court of the United States’ rulings in Pleasant Grove City v. Summum and Walker v. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Inc., there is a fundamental difference between government speech, where a governmental entity expresses its own political views on its property, and private speech on government property wherein the government only facilitates a place for private actors to speak. One key difference is the anticipated duration of the “speech.” No matter how long-winded an individual orator might be, at some point, the orator will become fatigued and stop. Thus, even when speaking on government property, …

Exploring The Dynamics Of Cross-Boundary Interactions In Qinglinkou, China: The Perspective Of Networks Of Second-Home Owners, Meiling Wu, Mengqiu Cao, Jiuxia Sun

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Cross-boundary interactions between second-home owners and local are complex over time–networks form and evolve within second-home owners and between owners and locals, each with its deliberately selective inclusion and exclusion. However, little attention has been paid to this phenomenon in the literature. This study, based on social network analysis alongside qualitative interviews, explores the dynamics of interactions between second-home owners and locals by analysing the networks formed by second-home owners in Qinglinkou, China. The ways in which second-home owners maintain and strengthen pre-existing networks with other owners and forge new links with locals, shape the cross-boundary interactions between the two …

Climate Zoning, Christopher Serkin

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

As the urgency of the climate crisis becomes increasingly apparent, many local governments are adopting land use regulations aimed at minimizing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The emerging approaches call for loosening zoning restrictions to unlock greater density and for strict new green building codes. This Article argues that both approaches are appropriate in some places but not in others. Not all density is created equal, and compact multifamily housing at the urban fringe may actually in- crease GHG emissions. Moreover, where density is appropriate, deregulation will not necessarily produce it. And, finally, green building codes will increase housing costs and …

Culture, Politics, And Economics: Alcohol And The Dynamic Social Environment Of Celtic Europe, Trevor Davidson

Undergraduate Student Work

Celtic culture in Iron Age Europe set the stage for many modern European nations and their cultural geographies. This paper seeks to question the connection between historical accounts of Celtic culture and the production and consumption of alcohol. In particular, the interactions between alcohol and the cultural, economic, and political of Celtic Age European populations is explored through modern archaeological sciences and geographic interpretation. From this research, a clear connection between regional environments and trends of alcohol production, trade, and flavor preference is demonstrated from thematic artifacts and bioarchaeological remains. Interactions between the southern Celtic tribes and Mediterranean cultures is …

Association Between Medication Adherence And Asthma Among Latinos In The United States, Denisse Silva

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Prior research has shown that Latinos in the United States face disproportionate challenges in managing their asthma symptoms. Therefore, this study aimed to identify factors that may influence medication adherence and asthma episodes among Latinos in the United States and was guided by Andersen’s health behavior theory. Data from 2020 Latinos who participated in the National Health Interview System in 2020 were analyzed. Findings indicated that nearly 23% of respondents reported an asthma episode. Approximately 25% of the sample reported an asthma episode during the last 12 months. A total of 43.6% of the sample reported not taking medication every …

Rural Student-Home Community Engagement Impact As A Result Of Study Abroad Experiences: From Preparation Through Return, Todd M. Karr

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

This qualitative study utilized a constructivist grounded theory approach to understand how rural students engaged with people in their home community as it related to before, during, and after their study abroad experience and what impact that engagement had on their experiences. Participants included 15 students who self-identified as being from a rural background that studied abroad for a minimum of one semester. Participants included students from one of two large, public universities in the state of New Mexico. Data collection included two semi-structured, in-depth interviews with each participant.

The study used a constant comparison method to generate a theory …

An Analysis Of China’S Perceived Geographic Locations Of Interest By Use Of Value Informed Facility Location Models, Layton C. Hedge

Theses and Dissertations

This research examines China and derives insights specific to it and the First Island Chain and the Second Island Chain. In doing so, this research demonstrates a methodology to examine other competitors and their geostrategic interests. In the first phase of analysis, it develops a value hierarchy to depict objectives within subregions of the area of interest and considers four alternative weightings of the value hierarchy. In the second phase of analysis, it applies four location-covering models to assess how the competitor would emplace a range of limited resources to deter and/or control points of interest. Results indicate that land-based …

Simulating Human-Autonomous Aircraft Teams In An Anti-Access Area Denial (A2ad) Environment, Michael Kaminski

Theses and Dissertations

The role of autonomy has evolved recently, demanding tighter integration between human and autonomous systems, particularly in highly contested A2AD environments. Near-peer adversaries have modernized their integrated air defense systems (IADS), diminishing the current advantages of the United States Air Force. To regain air dominance, efforts like the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program are underway, aiming to deploy unmanned autonomous alongside manned next-generation fighter aircraft. This research assesses various operational concepts, focusing on autonomous tactics post-manned fighter loss, strike timing of independent teams, and weapon configuration observability. Using the Advanced Framework for Simulation, Integration and Modeling (AFSIM), an agent-based model …

Optimizing Hub And Spoke Selections For Adaptive Basing In Agile Combat Employment, Alan Heng

Theses and Dissertations

Advancing technologies and emerging competitors within the Indo-Pacific region have rendered the use of fixed installations for United States Air Force (USAF) operations less than optimal for generating airpower. The adoption of Agile Combat Employment (ACE) is imperative and emphasizes a hub-and-spoke model. However, the methodology for selection of contingency locations remains undecided. Current selection of optimal sites hinges on an optimization framework, employing either rank-based or mathematical approaches that consider various criteria to assess and quantify each location. These criteria are then addressed through objectives and constraints, forming the basis for an effective decision-making process. This paper introduces two …

Predictive Analytics For Military Construction Overruns: A Machine Learning Approach, William D. Hunter

Theses and Dissertations

This research focused on analyzing cost and schedule overruns in a specific set of Air Force MILCON projects. Using data from the Built Infrastructure Common Operating Picture (BICOP), several advanced machine learning techniques, including LASSO regression and Random Forest, were applied to uncover patterns and build predictive models. The work sought to enhance the decision-making capabilities and efficiency of project managers within the Air Force through data-driven insights. A key finding from the models indicated that location was the most important factor in influencing a project’s tendency toward cost and schedule overrun. The best model for predicting schedule overrun achieved …

Personal Dosimeter Testing For High Altitude Air Crew, Seth D. Bacon

Theses and Dissertations

In 2014 the Thermo Scientific N2 electronic personal dosimeter became the aircrews’ sole means to record ionizing radiation dose. The production of this dosimeter was discontinued in July of 2021, motivating the Air Force to seek a flight-certifiable replacement. The Thermo Scientific Trudose NG, Mirion DMC 3000, and Fuji NRF-51 electronic personal dosimeters, as well as the Landauer InLight optically stimulated luminescent dosimeter, were subjected to mixed gamma and fast neutron fields simulating a high-altitude flight environment. Dosimeters are evaluated on their consistency and accuracy in reporting dose and compared to the current N2 dosimeter’s reported dose.

Measuring The Menu, Not The Food: “Psychometric” Data May Instead Measure “Lingometrics” (And Miss Its Greatest Potential), Jan Ketil Arnulf, Ulf Henning Olsson, Kim Nimon

Human Resource Development Faculty Publications and Presentations

This is a review of a range of empirical studies that use digital text algorithms to predict and model response patterns from humans to Likert-scale items, using texts only as inputs. The studies show that statistics used in construct validation is predictable on sample and individual levels, that this happens across languages and cultures, and that the relationship between variables are often semantic instead of empirical. That is, the relationships among variables are given a priori and evidently computable as such. We explain this by replacing the idea of “nomological networks” with “semantic networks” to designate computable relationships between abstract …

Unraveling The Falkland Dispute: Is The Sea Lion Oil Field The Key To A Compromise That Would Establish The Falkland Islands' Uncontested Sovereignty, Eden Kataev

Journal of International Business and Law

No abstract provided.

Transformasi Dan Marginalisasi Masyarakat Adat: Suku Ata Modo Di Tengah Hegemoni Pengembangan Pariwisata Taman Nasional Komodo (Transformation And Marginalization Of Indigenous Communities: The Ata Modo Tribe's Experience Amidst The Hegemony Of Komodo National Park Tourism Development), Arif Putra Pratama, Avicenna Elang Chandra, Noor Risa Isnanto, An Nuur Khairune Nisa

The Indonesian Journal of Socio-Legal Studies

The massive development of tourism in Komodo National Park (KNP) has had a signi;icant impact on the local community there, in this case the Ata Modo Tribe. This tribe is a local tribe that has remained silent for a long time and was formed on Komodo Island long before the Komodo National Park was established. They have also lived side by side with the endangered Komodo dragon for decades and tried to maintain their culture and customs amidst the existence of KNP tourism development. This research tries to answer what cultural potential is still maintained by the Ata Modo Tribe, …

Pakistan's Dependence On China For The Second Phase Of Cpec Cooperation In 2020-2021, Agnes Deandra Bangkur

Jurnal Politik

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), an important component of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), has been a landmark project since its inception in 2015. The project aims to develop a modern Silk Road that increases China's economic reach by capitalizing on Pakistan's strategic geographic position. However, this cooperation has raised concerns about Pakistan's growing dependence on China, posing a risk to the country's long-term stability. Artiel examines the implications of Pakistan's dependence on China within the framework of Dependency Theory, particularly in the continuation of the second phase of CPEC cooperation. By analyzing a wide range of literature and …

Cultural Context Index: A Geospatial Measure Of Social Determinants Of Health In The United States, Linda Highfield

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Minority populations will continue to grow in the United States. Such pluralism necessitates iterative, geospatial measurements of cultural contexts. Our objective in this study was to create a measure of social determinants of health in geographic areas with varying ethnic, linguistic, and religious diversity in the United States. We extracted geographic information systems data based on community characteristics that have known associations with population health disparities from 2015 to 2019. We used principal component analysis to construct a Cultural Context Index (CCI). We created the CCI for 73,682 census tracts across 50 states and five inhabited territories. We identified hot …

Utilizing Hyperspectral Remote Sensing For Saline Soil Assessment In The Emirate Of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Alya Hassan Aldhaheri

Theses

This study presents the application of hyperspectral remote sensing techniques to measure soil salinity. Soil salinity is a major concern in many arid and semi-arid regions, affecting crop productivity and ecosystem health. In most arid and semi-arid areas various levels of salinity can be encountered including sabkhas. Sabkha (salt flat) is a geological feature composed of saline and salt marshes that typically occur in shallow or coastal environments within arid and semi-arid climates. Traditional methods of measuring soil salinity are time-consuming and labor-intensive, making remote sensing techniques an attractive alternative. This study employed a hyperspectral sensor specifically the SVC-XHR-1024i to …

Migration And Resource Misallocation In China, Xiaolu Li, Lin Ma, Yang Tang

Research Collection School Of Economics

We structurally estimate the firm-level frictions across prefectures in China and quantify their aggregate and distributional implications. Based on a general equilibrium model with input and output distortions and migration, we show that the firm-level frictions are less dispersed and less correlated with firm productivity in richer prefectures. Counterfactual exercises show that reducing the within-prefecture misallocation increases aggregate welfare, discourages migration toward large prefectures, and reduces spatial inequality. Moreover, internal migration alleviates micro-frictions’ impacts on aggregate welfare and worsens their effects on spatial inequality.

The Distributional Impacts Of Transportation Networks In China, Lin Ma, Yang Tang

Research Collection School Of Economics

We document that the quality of roads and railroads vary substantially over time and space in China, and neglecting these variations biases the distributional impacts of transportation networks. To account for quality differences, we construct a new panel dataset and approximate quality using the design speed of roads and railroads that varies by vintage, class, and terrain at the pixel level. We then build a dynamic spatial general equilibrium model for multiple modes, transportation routes, and forward-looking migration decisions. Our findings demonstrate that disregarding quality differences leads to a median bias of approximately 31% in estimating real wage growth rates …