Digital Commons Network^™

Beacons Of Peace And Tolerance: The Politics Of Memory In Judeo-Moroccan Cultural And Historical Institutions, Audrey Ming An Hirsch

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Bayt Dakira, a historical, religious, cultural, and academic institution located in the heart of Essaouira’s old medina, seeks to conserve Jewish-Moroccan memory and promote values of peace and tolerance as exemplified by the city’s history of Jewish-Muslim coexistence. As an institution dedicated to conserving the culture of a people that have all but virtually emigrated from Morocco, Bayt Dakira’s purpose is initially unclear. This study uncovers the ways in which Bayt Dakira is an example of a seemingly apolitical institution being wielded to advance national and international political agendas. As an officially apolitical place of cultural and academic exchange, Bayt …

“Antes ÉRamos De Tierra Firme”: Community Perspectives On The Past, Present, And Future Of Isla Narganá And Isla CorazóN De JesúS, Comarca Guna Yala In The Face Of A Changing Climate, Izabella R. Klosterman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The objective of this research was to learn about Isla Narganá and Isla Corazón de Jesús, Comarca Guna Yala residents’ perspectives on climate change and, to learn about what needs to be done to mitigate the effects of climate change on the islands. In April 2022, eighteen semi-structured interviews were conducted in Spanish with residents of the islands. Interviews revealed that flooding caused by sea level rise, intensification of precipitation events, extreme heat, and biodiversity loss were the most reported impacts of climate change on participants’ lives. Poor waste management opportunities were also discussed as a critical environmental issue affecting …

Comparing Amphibian Species Diversity And Abundance In Natural Forest And Cacao Agroforest At Finca La Magnita, Changuinola, Bocas Del Toro, Panamá, Lake Barrett

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Amphibians are currently undergoing rapid and drastic biodiversity loss worldwide, largely due to the disease Chytridiomycosis. Because of this, efforts to conserve amphibian biodiversity are urgent and have been given increasing importance. However, studies investigating the effectiveness of agroforestry systems, a commonly used agricultural method in which trees and other elements of forests are retained on land used for agriculture, for amphibian conservation are uncommon. As a result, the capacity of agroforests to serve as a tool for amphibian conservation is unclear. To determine if agroforests can serve as a habitat for amphibians and a tool for their conservation, this …

“One Aims At The Officers First”: Reassessing The Relationship Of C. S. Lewis And T. S. Eliot, Ben Reinhard

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

This article challenges the received account of the relationship between C. S. Lewis and T. S. Eliot, arguing that Lewis's antipathy towards Eliot was a defining feature of his career as a scholar, critic, and literary artist. By attending to the anti-Eliotic strain in Lewis's thought, we gain new insights into the development of his imagination and the creation of his own works, including The Chronicles of Narnia.

The Tao Masters Who Walk Away From Omelas, Sabina Schrynemakers

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Le Guin primarily intended to portray Taoist enlightenment in “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” rather than a moral contemplation or lesson. She first describes Omelas as the pinnacle of human flourishing from a Taoist perspective, then how the residents of Omelas have achieved moral maturity through coming to terms with the necessity of evil, and finally she describes the even greater transcendence of those who have achieved detachment from the goods of Omelas, the Tao Masters. This interpretation is supported by parallels with the Tao Te Ching.

Abolishing Man In Other Worlds: Breaking And Recovering The Chain Of Being In C.S. Lewis's Ransom Trilogy By Courtney Petrucci, Deeper Heaven: A Reader's Guide To C.S. Lewis's Ransom Trilogy By Christiana Hale, And A Compass For Deep Heaven: Navigating The C.S. Lewis Ransom Trilogy, Edited By Diana Pavlac Glyer And Julianne Johnson, Josiah Peterson

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

No abstract provided.

Bigotry, Civil Rights, And Lgbtq Child Welfare, Jordan Blair Woods

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Who’s the Bigot? Learning from Conflicts over Marriage and Civil Rights Law. By Linda C. McClain.

The Truth About Property, Jessica A. Shoemaker

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Federal Ground: Governing Property and Violence in the First U.S. Territories. By Gregory Ablavsky.

Responding To Abolition Anxieties: A Roadmap For Legal Analysis, Jamelia Morgan

Michigan Law Review

A Review of We Do This ’Til We Free Us. By Mariame Kaba.

Reconstructing Rural Discourse, Bailey Tulloch

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Where the Crawdads Sing. By Delia Owens.

Lasting Lessons And Legacy Influences: Christian Leadership Characteristics Of Southern Baptists Who Overcame Jim Crow, Aabram G. Marsh

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The legacy of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement was the social change its protests inspired. However, its leadership and moral compass were set by Christian theologians and ministers. These leaders moved the nation to recognize the humanity of African-Americans, demonize the sin of racism, and motivate their fellow Americans to oppose Jim Crow segregation. The purpose of this qualitative grounded theory study was to examine and identify the Christian leadership characteristics of influential legacy leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention (Henlee Barnette, Billy Graham, Thomas Maston, Acker Miller, and Foy Valentine) who supported desegregation during the Civil Rights Movement. Further, …

Immunomodulatory Effects And Clinical Benefits Of Intravenous Immunoglobulin In Myasthenia Gravis., Marinos C Dalakas, Andreas Meisel

Department of Neurology Faculty Papers

Introduction Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an antibody-mediated disease that develops in the majority of patients mainly as a result of acetylcholine receptor (AChR) autoantibodies. This process is mediated by a series of immunoregulatory events. Therapeutic targets for MG include suppression of circulating antibodies or antibody production, suppression of complement activation, and immunomodulation of cytokines or T cells. Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) has an effect on all of these mechanisms. Areas covered This narrative review explores the broad immunomodulatory effects of IVIg in MG and provides an update on IVIg treatment for MG. Expert opinion IVIg has a range of immunomodulatory effects …

Combination Of Sulindac And Eflornithine Delays The Need For Lower Gastrointestinal Surgery In Patients With Familial Adenomatous Polyposis: Post Hoc Analysis Of A Randomized Clinical Trial, Francesc Balaguer, Paul E Wise, Et Al

Open Access Publications

BACKGROUND: Colectomy and proctocolectomy are the initial standard of care for patients with familial adenomatous polyposis. Pharmacotherapy to prevent the progression of polyposis and surgeries in the lower GI tract would be beneficial to patients with this disease.

OBJECTIVE: This analysis aimed to evaluate the impact of eflornithine-sulindac combination versus monotherapy in delaying time to disease progression in the lower GI tract of patients with familial adenomatous polyposis.

DESIGN: This is a post hoc analysis of a randomized phase 3 trial.

SETTING: This study was conducted in 21 hospitals in 7 countries treating patients with familial adenomatous polyposis.

PATIENTS: Adults …

Socioeconomic Risk Markers Of Arthropod-Borne Virus (Arbovirus) Infections: A Systematic Literature Review And Meta-Analysis, Grace M Power, Aisling M Vaughan, Luxi Qiao, Nuria Sanchez Clemente, Julia M Pescarini, Enny S Paixão, Ludmila Lobkowicz, Amber I Raja, André Portela Souza, Mauricio Lima Barreto, Elizabeth B Brickley

Open Access Publications

INTRODUCTION: Arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) are of notable public health importance worldwide, owing to their potential to cause explosive outbreaks and induce debilitating and potentially life-threatening disease manifestations. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to assess the relationship between markers of socioeconomic position (SEP) and infection due to arboviruses with mosquito vectors.

METHODS: We conducted a systematic search on PubMed, Embase, and LILACS databases to identify studies published between 1980 and 2020 that measured the association of SEP markers with arbovirus infection. We included observational studies without geographic location or age restrictions. We excluded studies from grey literature, reviews and ecological …

Failed Targeted Muscle Reinnervation: Findings At Revision Surgery And Concepts For Success, John M Felder, Stahs Pripotnev, Ivica Ducic, Rachel Skladman, Austin Y Ha, Mitchell A Pet

Open Access Publications

Although it was initially described for improved myoelectric control, targeted muscle reinnervation (TMR) has quickly gained popularity as a technique for neuroma control. With this rapid increase in utilization has come broadening indications and variability in the described technique. As a result, it becomes difficult to interpret published outcomes. Furthermore, there is no literature discussing the management of failed cases which are undoubtedly occurring.

Methods: This is a retrospective case series of two patients who underwent revision surgery for failed TMR. The authors also review the current literature on TMR and outline technical and conceptual pitfalls and pearls based on …

Global Variation In Studies Of Articular Cartilage Procedures Of The Knee: A Systematic Review, R. Garrett Steinmetz, J. Jared Guth, Matthew J Matava, Matthew V Smith, Robert H Brophy

Open Access Publications

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine whether there are significant differences in terms of indications, techniques, patient variables, and objective and subjective outcome scores as a function of the geographic locale of published studies of knee articular cartilage surgery.

METHODS: An electronic database search was performed of clinical studies evaluating knee articular cartilage procedures from 2000 to 2021. Studies were separated into global regions (Europe, Asia, North America, and South America) based on the study country. All cartilage-based treatments in each region were recorded. Patient age and sex, mechanism of injury, cartilage lesion size and location, follow-up …

Vision, Values, And Virtue: Forging A Moral Basis For Emerging Economies, Yeomin Yoon

KAUPA Letters

No abstract provided.

The Mental Noise Hypothesis: A Relation Between Neuroticism And P3 Latency Variance In A Stroop-Style Reaction Time Task, Jeremy Lawrence

All NMU Master's Theses

Neuroticism is a relatively stable personality dimension characterized by tendencies to experience negative thoughts and affect. Its empirically related outcome measures range from anxiety and mood disorders to increases in mortality. Traditional theories of neuroticism, link the construct to greater threat sensitivity, however, these conceptions fail to account for certain salient features of neuroticism, such as negative affect in threat benign environments. The mental noise hypothesis posits that neuroticism results from a more variable mental control system, with support coming from behavioral, psychometric, and neuroimaging paradigms. To assess whether this more chaotic mental control system would variably disrupt the stimulus …

Child Of Empire, Sheila J. Nayar

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a review of the VR short film, Child of Empire (2022), created by Project Dastaan, which includes the artists Sparsh Ahuja, Erfan Saadati, Stephen Stephenson, and Omi Zola Gupta.

Computableviz: Mathematical Operators As A Formalism For Visualization Processing And Analysis, Aoyu Wu, Wai Tong, Haotian Li, Dominik Moritz, Yong Wang, Huamin. Qu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Data visualizations are created and shared on the web at an unprecedented speed, raising new needs and questions for processing and analyzing visualizations after they have been generated and digitized. However, existing formalisms focus on operating on a single visualization instead of multiple visualizations, making it challenging to perform analysis tasks such as sorting and clustering visualizations. Through a systematic analysis of previous work, we abstract visualization-related tasks into mathematical operators such as union and propose a design space of visualization operations. We realize the design by developing ComputableViz, a library that supports operations on multiple visualization specifications. To demonstrate …

Burdening Assignees With Arbitration Agreements Via ‘Conditional Benefits’, Chee Ho Tham

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In this article, the author compares two concepts that seek to explain why an assignee of a chose in action may be burdened by an arbitration agreement to which it is not privy. He posits that, of the “conditional benefits” concept and the “subject to equities” principle, the latter provides the better explanation.

Gamification Via App-Based Rewards Systems: Behavioral Changes And Effects On User Interactions, Eric Michael Halfacre

Research Papers

User retention and consistent engagement can be difficult with many applications vying for our limited time and attention. Finding innovative ways to draw in new users while appealing to current users also causes many developmental and marketing hurdles. Incorporating games, especially for those who have grown up with a controller in their hands, can be an incentive to gamify activities that award users just for participating. These processes can incentivize and reinforce participatory habits to better the users' lives or can also be a detriment with unforeseen effects.

This research aims to analyze and assess game-based systems used to change …

Behold The Beasts Beside You: The Adaptation And Alteration Of Animals In Lxx-Job, James Wykes

Dissertations (1934 -)

“Behold the beasts beside you; they eat grass like cattle” (LXX-Job 40:15). The first translator for the book of Job into Greek was faced with a difficult text, replete with archaisms, corruptions, and convoluted Hebrew. He produced a distinctive – and often misunderstood – translation. Though its central characteristic is one of omission, its general approach to the text has proven hard to categorize. This study continues this trend by following one feature of Job that a casual reader cannot overlook: the book of Job’s zoological panoply. The LXX-translator handles these creatures in a variety of ways, often contextually-sensitive and …

The Ethical Functions Of Deuteronomic Laws In Early Second Temple Judaism, Paul Cizek

Dissertations (1934 -)

This study is about the ethical functions of Deuteronomic laws in the 3rd–1st centuries BCE: what they were and how to study them.Since the 1980’s boom in Hebrew Bible ethics studies, at least eight theses regarding the ethical functions of Deuteronomic laws in antiquity have become prominent. Though the scholars who advance these theses employ diverse methods, they commonly make the Deuteronomic laws themselves their direct objects of analysis, basing conclusions about how the laws functioned on the structure, logic, form, or historical and literary contexts of the laws. As Henry McKeating noted in 1979, however, how a law actually …

Impact Of Corrosion Inhibitors And Metals On Antibiotic Resistance In Drinking Water Distribution Systems, Lee Kimbell

Dissertations (1934 -)

Drinking water distribution systems are important for transporting clean drinking water. Antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in drinking water may pose risks to human and environmental health. Aging infrastructure such as metal pipes can experience significant corrosion, which can have impacts on the chemical and microbial water quality inside of drinking water systems. Chemicals are commonly added to drinking water to prevent corrosion (i.e., corrosion inhibitors). The metal pipe materials and corrosion inhibitors containing metals may have impacts on the bacteria and ARGs in drinking water systems. This research investigated the presence of ARGs in real-world …

Pituitary Adenylate Cylase-Activating Polypeptide Receptor: Multiple Signaling Pathways Involved In Energy Homeostasis, Brian Maunze

Dissertations (1934 -)

Pituitary adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide (PACAP) exerts pleiotropic effects on ventromedial nuclei (VMN) of the hypothalamus and its control of feeding and energy expenditure through the Type I PAC1 receptor (PAC1R). However, the endogenous role of PAC1R’s in the VMN and the downstream signaling responsible for PACAP’s effects are unknown.To determine the endogenous role of PAC1Rs and signaling that may explain PACAP’s pleiotropic effects, we knocked down VMN PAC1Rs and pharmacologically inhibited PKA, PKC and PAC1R trafficking. Knocking down PAC1Rs increased meal sizes, reduced total number of meals, and induced body weight gain. Inhibition of either PKA or PKC alone …

Born In Defiance: The Public Career Of Virgil C. Blum, S.J., William M. Fliss

Dissertations (1934 -)

This study examines the life of the American Jesuit priest, political scientist, and political activist Virgil C. Blum (1913-1990). Blum was a leading Catholic advocate for public funding for children attending non-public schools, expressed most clearly through his writings and his leadership in Citizens for Educational Freedom (CEF), a parental lobby founded in 1958. In 1973 Blum founded the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. Modeled on the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, the Catholic League opposed what it saw as an entrenched anti-Catholicism in U.S. society, and it sought to protect the religious freedom of the nation’s Catholic …

Negotiating Ideology, Self, And Classroom Instruction: A Framework Of Critical Text Selection For High School English Language Arts Curricula, Abigail Bautista , '22

Senior Theses, Projects, and Awards

No abstract provided.

Nutrient And Organic Carbon Losses By Erosion, And Their Economic And Environmental Implications In The Drylands Of Kenya, Nathan O. Oduor, Monicah Mucheru-Muna, Jayne N. Mugwe, Isaya Sijali, George Nyabuga, Daniel N. Mugendi

Graduate School of Media and Communications

Erosion causes soil nutrients and financial losses, and negatively impacts the environment. We sought to assess the effects of integrated soil fertility and soil & water management practices on nutrient losses, their equivalent economic losses, and environmental disturbance in the drylands of Tharaka-Nithi County. An experiment was set in a randomized complete block design with four replications. Six treatments implemented included manure + fertilizer + tied ridging under 120 kg ha−1 and 30 kg ha−1 nitrogen (N) application rate, manure + fertilizer + minimum tillage with crop residue mulch under 120 N kg ha−1 and 30 N kg ha−1, Managing …

Sex-Specific Effects Of Hatching Order On Nestling Baseline Corticosterone In A Wild Songbird, Madison A. Rittinger, Rachel M. Bowden, Logan A. Sauers, Ryan T. Paitz, Christine J. Poppe, Charles F. Thompson, Scott K. Sakaluk

Faculty Publications – Biological Sciences

Variation in nestling growth and survival is often influenced by hatching order, with first-hatched offspring having an advantage over later-hatched younger siblings. In house wrens (Troglodytes aedon), this effect of hatching order is especially evident in asynchronously hatched broods and can lead to sex-specific differences in the size and condition of nestlings. Females appear to allocate the sex of their offspring across the laying order to capitalize on these differences. We hypothesized that levels of circulating corticosterone, the primary metabolic hormone in birds, mediates these sex-specific effects in nestlings. We predicted that: i) baseline levels of corticosterone in nestlings should …