Digital Commons Network^™

Long-Term Business Implications Of Russia’S War In Ukraine, Stanislav Markus

Faculty Publications

Following its invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s macroeconomic stability will worsen; foreign trade and Russia-bound investment will dry up; and human capital will become scarce. Russia will not fully compensate these losses with increased economic engagement with China, with particular deficiencies likely in high-tech areas for Russia. Import substitution is also unlikely to allow Russia to innovate its way out of economic isolation or escape the resource curse. As Kremlin-connected elites further dominate the impoverished economy, crony state capitalism and kleptocracy will rise. The global repercussions of Russia’s war will include commodity shocks and the attendant supply chain disruptions and inflationary …

Influences Of Seasonality And Habitat Quality On Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Fish Community Composition And Diets, Sara N. Diller, Anna M. Harrison, Kurt P. Kowalski, Valerie J. Brady, Jan J. H. Ciborowski, Matthew J. Cooper, Joshua D. Dumke, Joseph P. Gathman, Carl R. Ruetz Iii, Donald G. Uzarski, Douglas A. Wilcox, Jeffrey S. Schaeffer

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Great Lakes coastal wetlands (GLCW) have been severely degraded by anthropogenic activity over the last several decades despite their critical role in fish production. Many Great Lakes fish species use coastal wetland habitats for spawning, feeding, shelter, and nurseries throughout the year. The goal of our study was to compare GLCW fish community composition in the spring, summer, and fall months and investigate how water quality relates to fish diversity, the presence of functional groups, and juvenile fish diets. We summarized fish data collected from GLCW across the basin and used the coastal wetland monitoring program’s water quality-land use indicator …

Class Of 2022 Commencement, Lisa Godbey Wood

Graduation Addresses

The School of Law will hold its commencement ceremony for the Class of 2022 in Stegeman Coliseum.

Lisa Godbey Wood, U.S. District Court Judge for the Southern District of Georgia and 1990 alumna, will deliver the keynote address.

An Evaluation Of The Effectiveness, Efficiency, And Equity Of California’S Cap-And-Trade Program, Raphael Yolson Louis

Master's Projects and Capstones

California’s Cap-and-Trade program establishes an aggregate limit on GHG emissions while empowering the regulated firms with flexibility in complying with the emissions reduction mandates. This research conducted three analyses to determine if California's carbon Cap-and-Trade program is effective at meeting its GHG goals, economically efficient, and promotes environmental equity throughout communities within California. First, the SWOT analysis investigated the Cap-and-Trade program features to determine the importance of each of the features within the program. It showed that California’s Cap-and-Trade program’s main threats are leakages, lack of partnerships, and long-term political will. Nevertheless, the program’s features strive to promote environmental effectiveness, …

The Rise Of American Food In China, Shiyan Wang

Master's Projects and Capstones

Over the years, American food has become more and more popular in China. Today, the Chinese are more open to trying new cuisines. To fully understand the forces that have catalyzed the growing presence of American foods in China, my research project demonstrates the complex web of factors that shape how American food businesses’ presence in China has changed over the last decade. Examining a diversity of sources, including existing trend data, my analysis focuses on the domestic and global factors that have facilitated the growing presence of American food restaurants in China. Using this research as a jumping off …

Design And Synthesis Of Fused Pyrimidines As Multi-Targeted Potential Anticancer Agents, Nian Tong

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Dissertation supervised by Dr. Aleem Gangjee

Targeted cancer chemotherapy represents agents that inhibit cancer cell growth by interfering with specific processes that are required for tumor growth. The crucial aim of the treatment administered to cancer patients should be to improve the quality of life and inhibit the progression of the disease. The current failure of conventional cancer chemotherapy is attributed to both toxicities and the development of resistance. There is an unmet need for new cancer therapies of tumor-targeted agents (that work without harming normal cells or tissues) with a low propensity to develop resistance. Multi-targeted single agents with …

What’S Lunch Got To Do With It?: A Case Study Of California Policy, Educational Equity, And The First Statewide Universal School Meals Program, Rebecca Murillo

Master's Projects and Capstones

In July 2021, California became the first state to pass a program which guarantees two meals a day to all K-12 students at no cost. This project examines California’s journey to pass this Universal School Meals Program (USMP) and explores how such a program can provide equity for students. I produce a legislative history which traces how school meals are funded and regulated at the federal level, California’s public education funding system, their state meal program, the policies which created changes that allowed the USMP to pass, and the legislation of the program itself. Framework presented by Tyack and Cuban …

He Had Two Women To Die For, Ireland And The Missus”: Mothers As Abject And Sons As Scapegoats In Edna O’Brien’S House Of Splendid Isolation And In The Forest, Emily Nix

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

This thesis examines the protagonists in Edna O’Brien’s In the Forest and House of Splendid Isolation and applies Julia Kristeva’s theory of abjection and Rene Girard’s theory of the scapegoat. In doing so, I attempt to give a richer understanding of O’Brien’s masculine and feminine characters and how their constructed identities are based on their cultural circumstances and positions in their societies. I use Kristeva’s theory of abjection to analyze the single women in these novels, Eily and Josie, who become metaphorical single mothers by the invasions of young men into their homes. Then, I apply Girard’s theory of the …

The Parthenon, May 21, 1970, Marshall University

The Parthenon

No abstract provided.

We're Museum Professionals Too: Exhibitions Development In Library Special Collections And Archives, Carrie Meyer

Posters and Presentations: Leon S. McGoogan Health Sciences Library

In June 2021, the McGoogan Health Sciences Library opened the Wigton Heritage Center on the campus of the University of Nebraska Medical Center. This facility is the first of its kind in the United States and serves as a welcome center and museum for the history of the UNMC campus and explores the history of the health sciences in Nebraska. You read that right—a library opened a museum. Special Collection and Archives (SCA) professionals exist in a unique environment that utilizes three cultural heritage and preservation professions—libraries, archives, and museums. The Wigton Heritage Center project explores how museum practices for …

Formal And Informal Styles Of Clothing In The Assessment Of Female Political Candidates, Erma Kurtovic

Master's Theses

Abstract: This study will research the importance of dress code of female candidates on the confidence in leadership.The research question is: How Important is the Formality of Dress Code in the Assessment of Leadership of Female Political Candidates? It is addressed by using an experimental design carried out in India and the United States, using Qualtrics and Amazon Mechanical Turk. This research gathered 400 responses, 200 from each country. Primary data collection was used, with the implementation of two experiments. The experimental design of the two experiments consisted of two conditions, one in which the main political candidate is dressed …

Using Machine Learning To Analyze Children’S Drawings As Indicators Of Mental Well-Being, Nicholas R. Lawrie

Master's Theses

Human figure drawings are a well-studied diagnostic tool for emotional distress in children. Cleft lip/palate is one of the most common birth defects in the world, and has been shown to negatively impact emotional well-being in childhood which can have negative economic consequences in adulthood. Utilizing a dataset of human figure drawings from children in India and survey data on mental health, this paper will assess the impact of corrective surgery on mental health outcomes, as well as assess the validity of the drawing emotional indicators themselves. The results indicate that while the emotional indicators may not be valid in …

Women's Rights As Human Rights: A Spotlight On Women's Reproductive Rights And Structural Violence In Nigeria, Dominique C. Blakely

Master's Theses

My research aims to shed light on the injustices that women and girls are facing in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Furthermore, my research intends to reveal how international human rights law and human rights law are confronting these violations and show the shortcomings of these laws. Women in SSA have continued to be at the forefront of devastation due to their exposure to gender-based violence (GBV) such as rape (including marital rape), domestic violence, femicide, “feminization” of HIV/AIDS, early/child marriage, and maternal mortality, in addition to lack of access to proper and sufficient reproductive health care. I will use women’s rights …

It Could Be “Win-Win”: The Us-China Bilateral Relationship, Xiaying Huang

Master's Theses

The bilateral relationship between the United States and China is crucial for international relations since these two great power states will influence the global economy, politics, and security. However, the US-China bilateral relationship has not always been stable and peaceful. The trade war was current issue to make the relationship between the two countries tenser and tenser. On the US side, the trade war was thought to promote domestic production, but the reality was the opposite; the trade war just broke the bilateral relationship and provided no long-term advantages to the US economy. In March 2022, the U.S. restores tariffs …

Reproductive Health In Rural Guatemala: Finding A Medium Between State And Ngo Policies, Zayra Rivera

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study is to understand and evaluate the manner in which the NGO sector surpasses state led efforts related to improving knowledge about reproductive health within rural areas in Guatemala. This research focuses on using methodologies from four Adolescent Youth Health Programs within the region of Lake Atitlan as well as state run institutions such as schools and health centers.

More specifically, this case study seeks to analyze the current gaps sexual and reproductive health programming in rural indigenous towns in the Sololá department of Guatemala. It compares four private NGO institutions with two public organizations, specifically …

Borders, Bodies And Abuse: Exposing The Collusion Of Australia And The United States In Transnational Refugee Deterrence, Kaytlin Hancock

Master's Theses

This research explores a comparison of the use and abuse of deterrence policies, namely the externalisation of borders, and spatial control aimed to disallow entry for refugees and asylum seekers arriving by boat to both the United States and Australia. Paying particular attention to the immigration occurrences in the US from the early 1980s and present day responses in Australia, this research explores the rise in offshore detention centres and the ways in which these countries shirk their international obligations in a bid to strengthen sovereignty, by creating zones of exemption that expel refugees and asylum seekers to liminal spaces. …

Mahalaya: Building Community In The Filipinx Diaspora Through Solidarity Journalism, Casey Ticsay

Master's Theses

Unethical approaches to storytelling in professional journalism continue to shape public discourse around the diverse experiences of Asians and Asian Americans. This paper analyzes the origins and impact of ethnic news media, specifically the rise of Filipino and Filipino American press in the United States, and the ways journalists of color continue to challenge traditional practices of professional journalism that perpetuate anti-Blackness and maintain white supremacy. Filipino and Filipino American newspapers in the early twentieth century provide historical insight into the issues, debates, and conversations transpiring at the time and highlight the community’s ongoing response to the misrepresentations of their …

Heterogeneous Effects In Matching Grants, Kaustri Bhattacharyya

Master's Theses

The main objective of this thesis is to apply causal forest to identify the variables responsible for the treatment of heterogeneity without making any prior assumptions. This research is based on a paper based on a natural field experiment and explored how matching grants affect charitable giving.

The Role Of African Non-National Storytelling In Challenging Xenophobic Discourses In Post-Apartheid South Africa, Kelly Allyn Cruchett

Master's Theses

A growing body of literature on xenophobic violence in post-apartheid South Africa has shown that this form of violence targeted towards African non-nationals is closely linked to a xenophobic discourse of national chauvinism that has been deployed by powerful institutions since the nation’s independence. This capstone project seeks to highlight the role that non-national storytelling plays in addressing the issue of anti-African xenophobia and xenophobic violence in post-apartheid South Africa by challenging the discourses that contribute to it. Through the analysis of a NGO’s youth summit that revolved around the stories of four non-national speakers, this study examines the impact …

Understanding The Effects Of Temperature On Electrostatic Dna Denaturation, Jeffrey Taylor

Master's Theses

In this work, the electrostatic denaturation of 18-bp DNA duplexes was investigated via Square Wave Voltammetry (SWV) to determine the extent of melting (∆) and rate of melting (𝝉). Electrostatic denaturation was observed over the temperature range of 20-50 °C, and purely electrostatic melting was defined from 27.5°C. In contrast, electrostatic denaturation for 30 °C was defined as a mixture of thermal melting thiol desorption + electrostatic melting. Electrostatic denaturation is a temperature-dependent process, and the amount of melting of the dsDNA increased with temperature. It was also observed that the ∆ and 𝝉 values increase with temperature further …

"Los De Abajo Reconstruimos": Zapatismo & Indigenous Gender Transformation, Elizama R. Rodas

Master's Theses

Indigenous women's voices have long been silenced in society, including the academic realm. The brutality of colonization toward Indigenous women's gender and racial identities has kept them isolated and suppressed up to the present time. For the last twenty-seven years, the Ejército Zapatista Liberación Nacional (EZLN) of Chiapas, Mexico, has campaigned against the Eurocentric ideologies that permeated post-colonization and influenced the mistreatment of Indigenous peoples significantly the discrimination of Indigenous women and other non-binary genders outside these Eurocentric definitions. This research aims to determine the effects of colonial gender existence and, through its deconstruction, also examines the destruction of environments. …

Does My Skin Tone Really Matter? A Socioeconomic Analysis In Nigeria., Mutiu O. Fakorede

Master's Theses

Abstract: Does my skin tone really matter? If it does, to what extent and direction does skin tone predict socioeconomic outcomes, especially amongst people of color who have experienced colonial rule with its white supremacy agenda? In this research, we examined if skin tone measured in individual typology angle (ITA) does not affect employability, income, partner selection, and political representativeness. With a focus on Nigeria, the most populous black nation, a former British colony, we addressed this broad question through a survey. Using the iterative capability of Qualtrics which randomly picks a set of three pictures with known ITA and …

Violencia En Tránsito: Exploring The Multiplicities Of Violence That Shape Central American Migrant Women's Experiences Through Mexico And The Role Of Albergue Abba, Esmeralda Cardona

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study is to analyze the forms of state and non-state violence that migrant women1 from the Northern Triangle of Central America experience during their migration into Mexico and the role of Albergue Abba in Celaya, Guanajuato in their transit. As migrant women venture northward, they are vulnerable to being coerced and kidnapped while encountering gender-based violence, including rape, sexual assault, and human trafficking. While migrants suffer a multiplicity of violence in this region, this research will focus on the role of smuggling and human trafficking in order to better understand the vulnerabilities women migrants experience in …

Degrowth And Catholic Social Thought: Rethinking Socio-Economics For A Planet In Crisis, Chad G. Baron

Master's Theses

It is assumed within both degrowth literature and the social teaching of the Roman Catholic Church (CST) that socio-economic transitions and transformations are needed due to the failings of the dominant capitalist paradigm. Both bodies of thought engage with issues of socio-economic transitions by considering what constitutes globally just development, and by outlining key principles they espouse to be foundational to global justice. By highlighting these principles, and locating the affinities between the two, these theories of socio-economic development can benefit from engaging with the other’s promoted framework. What could follow is a more coherent and holistic approach to development, …

Inaccessible Interpolated Imagery: How Coffee Farmers In The State Of Chiapas Might Access Political Economic Opportunity Through Representation, Paolo Fiann Bicchieri

Master's Theses

Here is a useful parable to boil down the idea of this project and set the tone: when one goes to the bar to tell a story about a fight at the bar, they would never venture to place themselves as the hero of the brawl, taking out three drunkards in a single punch, unless they were really in the bar, at that time, fighting a good fight. One would never do this as the bartender, locals, and regulars would all know if this were the case or not. Yet transnational corporations, governments, and even consumers do this all the …

The International Criminal Court And Civil Resistance, Anne E. Yamamoto

Master's Theses

There has long been work and research on international criminal justice in the face of great and tragic atrocities. One mechanism established to confront these atrocities and create international criminal justice is the International Criminal Court. Since its inception the court has drawn criticism both for its infringement on state sovereignty and its focus on Africa. My research looks at how the International Criminal Court can best work to address these critiques and continue to provide international criminal justice. I believe one facet of this can be found in the adoption of the normative framework of a Right to Assist …

Covid-19 Information Needs And Seeking Behaviour Of Undergraduates Of Federal University Otuoke, Bayelsa State, Nigeria, Jerry Eyerinmene Friday Mr, Motu-Ere Justina Atema Ms

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The study examined Covid-19 information needs and seeking behaviour of undergraduates of Federal University Otuoke, Bayelsa State, Nigeria. Specifically, the study identified Covid-19 information needs, Covid-19 information sources, strategies of seeking Covid-19 information and Covid-19 information seeking challenges encountered by the undergraduates. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. The population of the study comprised all the undergraduates of Federal University Otuoke who were in 300, 400 and 500 levels of study. Convenience sampling was adopted and three hundred and sixty-nine (369) undergraduates, consisting of 76, 73, 74, 71 and 75 undergraduates, each constituent drawn from the Faculty of Education, …

Dedifferentiation-Mediated Stem Cell Niche Maintenance In Early-Stage Ductal Carcinoma In Situ Progression: Insights From A Multiscale Modeling Study, Joseph D Butner, Prashant Dogra, Caroline Chung, Javier Ruiz-Ramírez, Sara Nizzero, Xiaoxian Li, Shu-Hsia Chen, Vittorio Cristini, Bulent Ozpolat, George A Calin, Zhihui Wang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

We present a multiscale agent-based model of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) to study how key phenotypic and signaling pathways are involved in the early stages of disease progression. The model includes a phenotypic hierarchy, and key endocrine and paracrine signaling pathways, and simulates cancer ductal growth in a 3D lattice-free domain. In particular, by considering stochastic cell dedifferentiation plasticity, the model allows for study of how dedifferentiation to a more stem-like phenotype plays key roles in the maintenance of cancer stem cell populations and disease progression. Through extensive parameter perturbation studies, we have quantified and ranked how DCIS is …

Mutational Activation Of The Nrf2 Pathway Upregulates Kynureninase Resulting In Tumor Immunosuppression And Poor Outcome In Lung Adenocarcinoma, Johannes F Fahrmann, Ichidai Tanaka, Ehsan Irajizad, Xiangying Mao, Jennifer B Dennison, Julian Casabar, Qian Peng, Muge Celiktas, Jody V Vykoukal, Soyoung Park, Ayumu Taguchi, Oliver Delgado, Satyendra C Tripathi, Hiroyuki Katayama, Luisa Maren Solis Soto, Jaime Rodriguez-Canales, Carmen Behrens, Ignacio Wistuba, Samir Hanash, Edwin J Ostrin

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Activation of the NRF2 pathway through gain-of-function mutations or loss-of-function of its suppressor KEAP1 is a frequent finding in lung cancer. NRF2 activation has been reported to alter the tumor microenvironment. Here, we demonstrated that NRF2 alters tryptophan metabolism through the kynurenine pathway that is associated with a tumor-promoting, immune suppressed microenvironment. Specifically, proteomic profiles of 47 lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) cell lines (11 KEAP1 mutant and 36 KEAP1 wild-type) revealed the tryptophan-kynurenine enzyme kynureninase (KYNU) as a top overexpressed protein associated with activated NRF2. The siRNA-mediated knockdown of NFE2L2, the gene encoding for NRF2, or activation of the NRF2 …

A Mile Away, A World Apart: Life Expectancy Inequality In The United States, Scott A. Budow

DePaul Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.