Digital Commons Network^™

Black Women Community Organizers: Reflections On What We Do, Natalie Hutson

Anthropology, Sociology, & Social Work Undergraduate Honors Theses

Black women community organizers have always been foundational to movements for transformational justice. However, their voices and perspectives have often been ignored, oppressed, and co-opted. I aim to understand their perspectives on the work of community organizing, where conflicts arise, and exploring how they balance transformational work with urgent needs of communities. Using community based research practices to identify the complex issue of defining and understanding community organizing, qualitative methods of data collection and analysis, and lastly, auto ethnographic reflections on my own journey to becoming a Black woman community organizer. Through these methods, I came to understand how Black …

The Future Of Embedded International Law: Democratic And Authoritarian Trajectories, Karen J. Alter

Chicago Journal of International Law

This short Essay explains why deeply embedding international law (IL) directly into domestic legal orders is seen as a helpful democratic legal strategy to make international law more effective. It also describes the logistics of embedding international law into national legal systems. The goal is to then query whether and how authoritarian regimes dis-embed or work around this embedded IL. The analysis raises a fundamental question about how time is important for any conversation about embedded or entrenched international or authoritarian law. The embedded IL strategy is a long-game strategy, and as such it can ultimately outlive periods of authoritarian …

The Limits Of Prodemocratic International Law In Europe, Aslı Ü. Bâli

Chicago Journal of International Law

Tom Ginsburg’s Democracies and International Law explores the ways in which regional human rights regimes have been designed to promote and protect democracy and the degree of their success in an age of democratic backsliding. In this symposium contribution, I examine the impact of the relationship between the European Union (E.U.) and Turkey on that country’s record of democratic backsliding. I argue that European countries’ difficulties in managing multi-racial democracy have limited the depth and effectiveness of the E.U.’s pro-democratic commitments in its dealings with Turkey.

Dark Law On The South China Sea, Stephen Cody

Chicago Journal of International Law

In Democracies and International Law, Tom Ginsburg warns of an emerging post-liberal order influenced by powerful authoritarian regimes and new illiberal laws that repurpose global rights, undermine international courts, and expand executive power. Autocrats and kleptocrats embedded in the global economy increasingly appear to use international law to preserve their power, protect norms of non-intervention, and enhance the global stability of autocratic rule. Legalistic autocrats, for example, exploit judicial deference and vague statutory language in national security laws to circumvent checks on their authority. This process, which I call “dark law,” aids in the consolidation of state power and the …

International Institutions And Platform-Mediated Misinformation, Aziz Z. Huq

Chicago Journal of International Law

The Essay is part of a Symposium on Tom Ginsburg’s insightful book Democracies and International Law. It explores one particular kind of interaction between democratic nation states and international instruments and institutions: how international law and institutions either mitigate or exacerbate harms to democracy from the diffusion of misinformation and hate speech on social-media platforms. I identify three distinct pathways not covered by Ginsburg: (a) international law as an off-the-rack legal regime for content-moderation by such platforms; (b) international contouring of feasible domestic regulation; and (c) ex ante and ex post international regulation of platform-mediated misinformation. Reflection upon these pathways …

The Role Of Transnational Civil Society In Shaping International Values, Policies, And Law, Mariana Olaizola Rosenblat

Chicago Journal of International Law

This Essay suggests that predictions about the character of international law in the context of rising authoritarianism may be nuanced by paying closer attention to the influence of transnational civil society (TCS) on global affairs and normative development. While acknowledging that pro-liberal civil society has faced escalating threats from authoritarian governments in recent years, the Essay highlights the resilience, adaptability, and creativity of TCS, which finds ways to remain active and harness sources of strength despite those threats. However, TCS is not always pro-liberal, and there is evidence of strong anti-liberal civil society influence as well. Whether or not authoritarian …

Clearview Ai, Tiktok, And The Collection Of Facial Images In International Law, Miriam Kohn

Chicago Journal of International Law

Private companies’ collection of facial images is on the rise globally, which has major implications for both economic development and privacy laws. This Comment uses the facial recognition technology company Clearview AI and the video sharing app TikTok as case studies to examine the problems raised by these practices. After summarizing the relevant legal regimes created by the United Nations (U.N.) and the European Union (E.U.), it applies the E.U. privacy regime to TikTok’s most recent Privacy Policy. The Comment concludes by proposing updates to the E.U. and U.N. privacy regimes to more effectively regulate TikTok’s data collection and analogous …

Wipo’S Proposed Treatment Of Sacred Traditional Cultural Expressions As A Distinct Form Of Intellectual Property, Alberto Vargas

Chicago Journal of International Law

For the past twenty years, the United Nations’ World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has been working on what could be a major shift in international intellectual property law. WIPO’s work has uniquely focused on intellectual property protection for “traditional cultural expressions” (TCEs), a term which roughly describes a broad conception of indigenous groups’ intellectual property. Most recently, WIPO published its latest proposed Draft Provisions/Articles for the Protection of Traditional Knowledge and Traditional Cultural Expressions, and IP & Genetic Resources. These Draft Provisions propose a tiered rights system in which the owners of sacred TCEs receive more protective rights than the …

Detection Of Enterotoxin Gene Cluster In Staphylococcus Epidermidis Recovered From Neonatal Liver Abscess, Bishara J. Freij, Barbara E. Robinson-Dunn, Patrick M. Schlievert

Posters

• Neonatal pyogenic liver abscesses are rare • Potential routes of hepatic infection include: portal vein, biliary ducts, hepatic artery during sepsis, or direct spread from infected contiguous structures • Risk factors may include bloodstream infection, abdominal surgery, umbilical vein catheterization, total parenteral nutrition, necrotizing enterocolitis, and/or immune deficiencies • More common in premature infants at present • Variety of etiologic agents for neonatal liver abscess: Staphylococcus aureus (methicillin-susceptible and resistant), coagulase-negative staphylococci (CONS), streptococci, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella, Pseudomonas, Enterobacter, Serratia, and Candida • Umbilical stump and catheter exit site hub often colonized with CONS • CONS colonize nearly all …

Vampirism For The Microbiologist, Joudeh B. Freij, Bishara J. Freij

Posters

Vampirism has been a means to explain the cause of communicable diseases throughout the centuries.

“The Greatest Path To Acceptance Is To Know We Exist:” Capturing Narratives Of Sexually Diverse Latinx In Nebraska: Blog Post, Dumayi Gutierrez

Latino/Latin American Studies Other Publications

No abstract provided.

“The Greatest Path To Acceptance Is To Know We Exist:” Capturing Narratives Of Sexually Diverse Latinx In Nebraska Executive Summary, Dumayi Gutierrez, Daniel Nguyen

Latino/Latin American Studies Reports

Sexually diverse individuals and communities face adverse experiences from discrimination, rejection, and negative mental health outcomes, yet experience high levels of pride, strength, and connection. For Latinx who identify as sexually diverse (i.e., Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Queer, Asexual, Plus (LGBQA+)), these experiences are centered at the intersection of these two identities. Limited research has focused on their experiences and in particular, their experiences of living in Nebraska: a majority White and heterosexual state. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore their intersectional narratives and places of advocacy using an Intersectional Minority Stress lens. This report begins with an …

Democracy And Statehood, Veronika Fikfak

Chicago Journal of International Law

This Essay addresses the relationship between democracy and statehood. The two concepts have been linked since the 1990s, when new entities claiming statehood were expected to have constituted themselves on a democratic basis and to have put in place democratic government structures to be recognized by the international community. Yet, as Professor Tom Ginsburg’s book Democracies and International Law reveals, the rise of autocracies and a general backlash against democracy in the last three decades have led to changes in countries’ behavior. This Essay argues that today, the requirement of democratic process and institutions for international recognition is less stringent. …

Tianxia, Or Another Grossraum? U.S.–China Competition And Paradigm Change In The International Legal Order, Tokujin Matsudaira

Chicago Journal of International Law

In this Essay, I try to provide some clarification on the concept of Tianxia from the perspectives of both classical Chinese philosophy and constitutional theory, which Tom Ginsburg nominated as the source of authoritarian international law. My observation is that a paradigm shift is occurring in the international legal order. Tianxia designates the ideal relationships between states in the Chinese classics. And in the new paradigm, Tianxia is expected to integrate the international society. In that sense, I take Tianxia as a regime-neutral ideotype between democratic/Western and authoritarian/non-Western legal order. However, Chinese engagement with international law has shown a tendency …

Evaluation Of The Content Of Ophthalmology Fellowship Program Web Sites, Peter Alsaloum, Matthew Alsaloum, Tyler J. Kim, David X. Zheng, Carolina C. S. Valentim, Justin C. Muste, Jeffrey M. Goshe, Rishi P. Singh

Journal of Academic Ophthalmology

Abstract

Purpose To assess the availability and content of fellowship program Web sites (FPWs) among ophthalmology subspecialties.

Design This is a cross-sectional study.

Subjects Web sites of all Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology-accredited fellowship programs in five subspecialties (i.e., surgical retina and vitreous; cornea, external disease, and refractive surgery; glaucoma; neuro-ophthalmology; and pediatric ophthalmology).

Methods FPWs were assessed for the presence of 26 key content criteria encompassing program demographics (n = 13), features (n = 10), and social life (n = 3). The presence of each content criterion as well as the content criteria groups were compared across subspecialties. …

The Lsu Campus Mounds, With Construction Beginning At ~11,000 Bp, Are The Oldest Known Extant Man-Made Structures In The Americas, Brooks B. Ellwood, Sophie Warny, Rebecca A. Hackworth, Suzanne H. Ellwood, Jonathan H. Tomkin, Samuel J. Bentley, Dewitt H. Braud, Geoffrey C. Clayton

Faculty Publications

Radiocarbon dating of the two LSU Campus Mounds (16EBR6) indicates that the construction of one, Mound B, began at ~11,000 BP, making Mound B the oldest known and intact manmade structure in the Americas. The age analyses preesented here are based on thirty one 14C dates. The older (deeper) parts of both of the LSU Campus Mounds contain many thin, burned ash lenses, suggesting that the Mounds may have been used for ceremonial or cremation purposes. These ash layers are composed mainly of phytoliths, bio-silicate (SiO2) structural compounds in plants that remained after burning of these plants. Analysis of the …

The Nasa John H. Glenn Research Center: An Economic Impact Study Fiscal Year 2021, Iryna Lendel, Georgina Guadalupe Figueroa

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

The NASA John H. Glenn Research Center, located in Cleveland and Sandusky, Ohio, continues to create vast economic benefits within the regional economies of Northeast Ohio and Ohio by employing local labor, paying high wages to their employees who spend most of their income locally, engaging local contractors, and collaborating with local higher education institutions, providing them with research grants and contracts. This study uses a multi-regional input-output (I-O) model to estimate the effect of NASA Glenn Research Center's spending on the economies of Northeast Ohio and Ohio. For the total economic impact in the state of Ohio in 2021, …

A Tale Of Two Regulatory Regimes: Creation And Analysis Of A Bilingual Privacy Policy Corpus, Siddhant Arora, Henry Hosseini, Christine Utz, Vinayshekhar Bannihatti Kumar, Jasmine Mangat, Peter Story, Rex Chen, Martin Degeling, Tom Norton, Thomas Hupperich

Computer Science

Over the past decade, researchers have started to explore the use of NLP to develop tools aimed at helping the public, vendors, and regulators analyze disclosures made in privacy policies. With the introduction of new privacy regulations, the language of privacy policies is also evolving, and disclosures made by the same organization are not always the same in different languages, especially when used to communicate with users who fall under different jurisdictions. This work explores the use of language technologies to capture and analyze these differences at scale. We introduce an annotation scheme designed to capture the nuances of two …

Urban Family Planning In Sub-Saharan Africa: An Illustration Of The Cross-Sectoral Challenges Of Urban Health, Trudy Harpham, Moses Tetui, Robert Smith, Ferdinand Okwaro, Adriana Biney, Judith Helzner, James Duminy, Susan Parnell, John Ganle

Obstetrics and Gynaecology, East Africa

The multi-sectoral nature of urban health is a particular challenge, which urban family planning in sub-Saharan Africa illustrates well. Rapid urbanisation, mainly due to natural population increase in cities rather than rural–urban migration, coincides with a large unmet urban need for contraception, especially in informal settlements. These two phenomena mean urban family planning merits more attention. To what extent are the family planning and urban development sectors working together on this? Policy document analysis and stakeholder interviews from both the family planning and urban development sectors, across eight sub-Saharan African countries, show how cross-sectoral barriers can stymie efforts but also …

Fetal Movement Trials: Where Is The Evidence In Settings With A High Burden Of Stillbirths?, Natasha Housseine, Joyce Browne, Nanna Maaløe, Brenda Sequeira Dmello, Sam Ali, Muzdalfat Abeid, Tarek Meguid, Marcus J. Rijken, Hussein Kidanto

Obstetrics and Gynaecology, East Africa

No abstract provided.

Provision Of Labour Analgesia And Its Related Barriers Among Maternal Health Care Providers In Kenya: An Institution-Based Descriptive Survey., Gabriel Ouma, Elkanah Omenge, Edwin Were, Kimbley Omwodo

Obstetrics and Gynaecology, East Africa

Background: Although pain relief is a key component of modern obstetric care, it remains a poorly established service in sub-Saharan countries, such as Kenya. Maternal health care providers have an extensive role to play in meeting the analgesic needs of women, during childbirth. This study sought to examine the practice of labour pain relief and its deterrents among Kenyan maternal health care providers.

Methods: This was an institution based, cross-sectional, descriptive survey. The study population included midwives, obstetricians, and anaesthesiologists working at the second largest tertiary facility in Kenya. A structured, self- administered questionnaire was used. The patterns …

Effects Of External Decontamination Of Methamphetamine In Juvenile Hair, Rebecca Mitrani

Student Theses

Methamphetamine is a common illicit substance abused in the United States. Hair is one matrix that is analyzed to determine the presence and concentration of methamphetamine. When hair is analyzed, an external decontamination step is commonly performed prior to drug extraction to avoid a potential positive result from environmental exposure in someone that has not ingested the drug themselves. In child-custody scenarios, however, it is important to know if a child is often around such illicit substances. This study serves to assess if there is a significant difference in methamphetamine concentrations in samples from children up to 12 years old …

Examining The Effectiveness Of Misinformation Warnings To Alter Stereotypes For Public Figures And Memories For Public Events, Madalyn P. Prince

Student Theses

Social media allows individuals to share, receive and engage with information and content on an international scale, often with other likeminded individuals and relatively few restrictions (Carr & Hayes, 2015). However, with this access comes the likelihood of engaging with and disseminating misinformation (Allcott et al., 2019), a form of information that may seem true initially but is later revealed as false (Cook et al., 2015). Misinformation is often disseminated by those whose political ideology matches that of the misinformation (Kahan, 2017; Kahan, 2013). The current study aims to expand on the extant literature to examine how misinformation warnings impact …

Biological Factors Affecting Dna Shedding Propensity, Ines G. Cedillo-Cruz

Student Theses

Recovery of trace DNA is important in forensic casework because it is the main type of biological evidence found in both violent and non-violent crimes. Researchers have been trying to determine if there are individual differences in shedding propensity, or how much DNA an individual leaves behind. A model for determining this would benefit evidence interpretation if passive transfer scenarios are being considered, as it can affect the probative value of DNA evidence. This study compared the amount of DNA collected with adhesive D-Squame tape disks from the fingers of individual’s washed non-dominant and dominant hands after 30 minutes of …

Understanding Rapid Intercalation Materials One Parameter At A Time, Wessel Van Den Bergh, Morgan Stefik

Faculty Publications

Demand for fast, energy-dense storage drives the research into nanoscale intercalation materials. Nanomaterials accelerate kinetics and can modify reaction path thermodynamics, intercalant solubility, and reversibility. The discovery of intercalation pseudocapacitance has opened questions about their fundamental operating principles. For example, are their capacitor-like current responses caused by storing energy in special near-surface regions or rather is this response due to normal intercalation limited by a slower faradaic surface-reaction? This review highlights emerging methods combining tailored nanomaterials with the process of elimination to disambiguate cause-and-effect at the nanoscale. This method is applied to multiple intercalation pseudocapacitive materials showing that the timescales …

Machine Learning Fmri Autism Classifier, Nicholas Luckenbach

Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is typically understood by observing patient behaviors. Advances in neuroimaging research and data collection have made it possible to investigate the neurobiological basis for ASD, and differences between subjects with ASD and healthy controls (HC) have been found using a variety of methods. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in particular has provided evidence for and against certain cognitive models of ASD based on measuring the functional connectivity of subjects’ brains. Various techniques have been explored for applying machine learning (ML) to fMRI data in order to find unique patterns and differences between ASD and HC subjects. …

Community Bank Liquidity: Natural Disasters As A Natural Experiment, Kyle D. Allen, Matthew D. Whitledge, Drew B. Winters

Finance Faculty Publications and Presentations

We examine how community banks respond to liquidity shocks created by natural disasters. We address community banks’ responses to liquidity shocks due to their focused geographic and economic presence, which coincide with their communities’ exposure to the disasters and the ability of the local banks to meet their needs. We find that community banks respond to liquidity shocks by managing their balance sheet, rather than any single balance sheet account. In particular, we find that they respond to the liquidity needs of their communities by increasing loans as deposits are withdrawn.

Gdf5+ Chondroprogenitors Derived From Human Pluripotent Stem Cells Preferentially Form Permanent Chondrocytes, Azim Pothiawala, Berke E Sahbazoglu, Bryan K Ang, Nadine Matthias, Guangsheng Pei, Qing Yan, Brian R Davis, Johnny Huard, Zhongming Zhao, Naoki Nakayama

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

It has been established in the mouse model that during embryogenesis joint cartilage is generated from a specialized progenitor cell type, distinct from that responsible for the formation of growth plate cartilage. We recently found that mesodermal progeny of human pluripotent stem cells gave rise to two types of chondrogenic mesenchymal cells in culture: SOX9+ and GDF5+ cells. The fast-growing SOX9+ cells formed in vitro cartilage that expressed chondrocyte hypertrophy markers and readily underwent mineralization after ectopic transplantation. In contrast, the slowly growing GDF5+ cells derived from SOX9+ cells formed cartilage that tended to express low to undetectable levels of …

Proyecto De Traducción: Compartiendo Cultura A Través De Historias De Latinoamérica, Diana P. Beas

World Languages and Cultures

This project attempts to cultivate awareness of ethical and professional perspectives that reflect linguistic and cultural heritage. In other words, creatively share the culture and history of Latin American countries. To achieve this, this project consists of two short stories I have translated. The stories were originally written in Spanish and I have translated them to English. Furthermore, each story is from a different Latin American country (one is from Argentina and the other is from Guatemala). To carry out this project, I began by researching simple background information of each country to which the stories belong to. Afterwards, I …

Assessing Psychosocial Factors That Influence Water, Sanitation, And Hygiene Behavior In The Amhara Region Of Ethiopia, Kimberly Kamara

Dissertations and Theses

Background: The absence of potable drinking water from an improved source combined with inadequate sanitation and hygiene contributed to an estimated 1.9% of the global burden of disease in 2016. The estimated number of diarrheal deaths in 2016 was 1.4 million, of which 829,000 could have been prevented through improved drinking water and sanitation services, and hand-washing with soap. Despite the clear link between poor water and sanitation access and hygiene practices, 785 million people do not have access to water and two million do not have access to basic sanitation services. However, access does not automatically result in increased …