Organisms Commons^™

Reducing Food Scarcity: The Benefits Of Urban Farming, S.A. Claudell, Emilio Mejia

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Urban farming can enhance the lives of communities and help reduce food scarcity. This paper presents a conceptual prototype of an efficient urban farming community that can be scaled for a single apartment building or an entire community across all global geoeconomics regions, including densely populated cities and rural, developing towns and communities. When deployed in coordination with smart crop choices, local farm support, and efficient transportation then the result isn’t just sustainability, but also increasing fresh produce accessibility, optimizing nutritional value, eliminating the use of ‘forever chemicals’, reducing transportation costs, and fostering global environmental benefits.

Imagine Doris, who is …

Reintroducing Hemp (Rongony) In The Material Palette Of Madagascar: A Study On The Potential Of Hemp Clay Components And Its Impact On Social And Ecological Communities., Henintsoa Thierry Andrianambinina

Masters Theses

When mentioning the word hemp, especially in the local language of Madagascar, the literal translation does not set it apart from marijuana, as they are both called “rongony” - creating the stigma around hemp as the negative stereotype of marijuana. However, the material has been used by the ancestors of Madagascar, as well as across cultures, in its fibrous form to produce fabrication like textile goods and packaging. During colonization, the prohibition of hemp intensified, and since then, any activity related to either of these plants is prohibited and will end in severe punitive measures. This thesis explores the strengths …

Eco-Interoception: What Plants, Fungi And Protista Have Taught My Body, Sara Riley Dotterer

Art Theses and Dissertations

To me, ecology is the relational, full-body awareness that I am made up of and deeply connected to everything around me; and for better or worse, this is reciprocal. I form ecotones, an ecological transitional zone between two ecosystems, with the world around me. I use this ecotonal lens to blur binaries and dissolve boundaries between me and the world “outside my body.” During my Masters of Fine Arts at Southern Methodist University, I have continuously explored and represented the lives of various more-than-human species outside of my body, including plants, fungi and protista through an ecotonal lens. Although these …

The Last Of Us In Therapy: How Mind-Controlling Fungi And Gut Bacteria Affect Your Mental Health, Anastasia Lyon

Journal of Pharmacology & Nutritional Sciences

The "psilocybiome" represents the mutually beneficial relationship between ourselves, our bacteria, and psychedelic drugs. This short review briefly discusses the benefits and limitations surrounding the potential for psychedelic therapy to synergize with gut bacteria to help regulate and maintain proper balance in the immune system, diet, and stress levels. Psychedelic therapy is a novel treatment strategy that has the potential to improve patient mental health, and, by identifying the types of gut bacteria present in patients, it can aid in personalizing medicine by determining how well their "psilocybiome" may respond.

Environmental Enrichment Devices Are Safe And Effective At Reducing Undesirable Behaviors In California Sea Lions And Northern Elephant Seals During Rehabilitation, Kirsten Donald, Amanda Benedetti, Vinícius Donisete Lima Rodrigues Goulart, Alissa Deming, Hendrik Nollens, Grey Stafford, Sabrina Brando

Student and Faculty Publications

Environmental enrichment devices (EEDs) have been proven to promote positive wellbeing in zoos and aquariums, and support animals' reintroduction success; however, their use in rehabilitation centers is still limited. This pilot study investigated the safety and efficacy of three EEDs, Artificial Kelp, Horse KONG™ and Wubba Kong™, and their ability to decrease and/or eliminate undesired stereotypic behaviors or looking at staff/staff areas in seven wild California sea lions (CSLs) and eight northern elephant seals (NESs) undergoing rehabilitation in Southern California. Observers conducted instantaneous sampling once a minute during a 30-min baseline, followed by a 30-min EED implementation on one focal …

Suicide Numbers During The First 9-15 Months Of The Covid-19 Pandemic Compared With Pre-Existing Trends: An Interrupted Time Series Analysis In 33 Countries, Jane Pirkis, David Gunnell, Sangsoo Shin, Marcos Del Pozo-Banos, Vikas Arya, Pablo Analuisa Aguilar, Louis Appleby, S. M. Yasir Arafat, Ella Arensman, Murad Khan

Department of Psychiatry

Background: Predicted increases in suicide were not generally observed in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the picture may be changing and patterns might vary across demographic groups. We aimed to provide a timely, granular picture of the pandemic's impact on suicides globally.
Methods: We identified suicide data from official public-sector sources for countries/areas-within-countries, searching websites and academic literature and contacting data custodians and authors as necessary. We sent our first data request on 22nd June 2021 and stopped collecting data on 31st October 2021. We used interrupted time series (ITS) analyses to model the association between the …

Gosnell, Katherine - Covid-19 Journal, Katherine Gosnell

Personal Journals

No abstract provided.

Intangible Cultural Heritage: A Benefit To Climate-Displaced And Host Communities, Gül Aktürk, Martha B. Lerski

Publications and Research

Climate change is borderless, and its impacts are not shared equally by all communities. It causes an imbalance between people by creating a more desirable living environment for some societies while erasing settlements and shelters of some others. Due to floods, sea level rise, destructive storms, drought, and slow-onset factors such as salinization of water and soil, people lose their lands, homes, and natural resources. Catastrophic events force people to move voluntarily or involuntarily. The relocation of communities is a debatable climate adaptation measure which requires utmost care with human rights, ethics, and psychological well-being of individuals upon the issues …

Tagtmeier, Daniel - Covid-19 Journal, Daniel Tagtmeier

Personal Journals

EIU student, Daniel Tagtmeier writes about the effect of the pandemic on his learning and homelife, particularly his relationship with his grandmother and the inability to see her in the early stages of the pandemic.

Parillo, Sophia - Covid-19 Journal, Sophia Parillo

Personal Journals

Personal diary of EIU college student and junior Elementary Education major with a minor in orchestra. Her journal documents the holiday season of 2020 and includes documentation that illustrates life during the pandemic.

Arguelles, Ceci - Covid-19 Journal, Ceci Arguelles

Personal Journals

Personal diary of EIU student Ceci Arguelles documenting her early experience with the Covid-19 pandemic. Submission includes photos and a description of the images.

Elliott, Santasia - Covid-19 Journal, Santasia Elliott

Personal Journals

Personal journal of Santasia Elliot that includes images of business signs a snippets of social life in the Fall of 2020 as it relates to the effect of the pandemic on communities. In this instance, the documentation is from Danville, IL.

Stutzman, Kelsi - Covid-19 Journal, Kelsi Stutzman

Personal Journals

Personal journal of Kelsi Stutzman, a student in Dr. Laughlin-Schultz's HIS3810 History of Illinois course during Fall, 2020

Drake, Benjamin - Covid-19 Journal, Benjamin Drake

Personal Journals

EIU student Benjamin Drake (freshman at the time of his journal writing in Spring, 2020), and History of Illinois (HIS 3810) student, reflects on the early months of the pandemic. He discusses the frustrations of the disruption of social life, not being on campus with friends, and also experiences with activities like playing virtual Dungeons and Dragons.

Messer, Braden - Covid-19 Journal, Braden Messer

Personal Journals

EIU student Braden Messer recounts the transition from Spring Break to online classes. He talks of quarantine life at home, and his stepmother's role as an attorney working with forced quarantine orders.

Osborne, Ethan - Covid-19 Journal, Ethan Osborne

Personal Journals

EIU student Ethan Osborne recounts in detail the experience and frustration of living at home and working on his family farm in the early months of the pandemic, March-May 2020. He also details his observations of and feelings about the news coverage of the pandemic as well as the disregard (particularly by young people) for shelter in place mandates.

Klepzig, Logan - Covid-19 Journal, Logan Klepzig

Personal Journals

EIU student Logan Klepzig documents travel from Charleston, IL to Mohomet, IL (approximately 1 hour) to deliver groceries to, and visit his grandparents. He also describes the difficulty of not being able to celebrate birthdays, and see family. His journal also includes a number of links to regional and national news stories from the months of March and April of 2020, as well as images documenting pandemic restrictions around the EIU campus.

Zamora, Celeste - Covid-19 Journal, Celeste Zamora

Personal Journals

EIU student Celeste Zamora recounts life while quarantining in Charleston, IL while maintaining her studies and also working at a local hotel. She details Covid policies as they develop, including hotel practices such as the constant wearing of gloves, putting in place a new glass window, and no admittance of out of state people.

Mchale, Marguerite - Covid-19 Journal, Marguerite Mchale

Personal Journals

Marguerite McHale, and EIU student in Professor Mark Dries' HIS 1595 class maintains an upbeat journal documenting the challenges of the pandemic. Of particular note, she describes the growing divide between those supportive of the social distancing and masking initiatives, as well as the impact on high school students who she maintains friendships with as one who graduated a year early from high school. She includes a number of pieces of high school student commentary as well as memes related to the pandemic, and links to news stories. She also describes her home life, and finding ways to keep busy …

Spencer, Julia - Covid-19 Journal, Julia Spencer

Personal Journals

EIU student Julia Spencer describes the challenges adjusting to the new normal of the pandemic as it sets in. In particular she writes about struggles staying motivated to keep up with her studies, and the oddity of having classes on zoom. Her experience is compounded by health scares involving her mother and a friend.

Impact Of The Affordable Care Act On Referral To Care For People Living With Hiv In Appalachia, Cameron A. Wade, Timothy N. Crawford, Nicole Leedy, Alice C. Thornton

Journal of Appalachian Health

Introduction: The Affordable Care Act (ACA) enacted on March 23, 2010 significantly impacted access to healthcare for people living with HIV (PLWH). Expansion of care was accomplished in three areas: eliminating exclusions for pre-existing conditions, elimination of lifetime caps on healthcare expenditures, and expansion of Medicaid eligibility.

Purpose: This study evaluated the impact of state implementation of the ACA Medicaid expansion on referral to HIV care at a Ryan White federally funded clinic in Kentucky (University of Kentucky Bluegrass Care Clinic [UK BCC]).

Methods: Retrospective chart review of all newly enrolled patients at the UK BCC between March 2010 and …

The Current State Of Migrant Health In Morocco: Pre-And Peri-Covid-19 Pandemic, Layla Babahaji

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In the early 21st century, Morocco transitioned from being a predominantly transit migration country into both a transit and destination country for migrants. In 2013, the Moroccan government took significant steps to adapt the healthcare system in better integrating migrants in its policies. The government implemented the National Strategy on Immigration and Asylum that improved access to public health care for migrants. Recently, in March of 2020, Morocco declared a state of medical emergency due to the current COVID-19 pandemic that continues today. This paper addresses the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the current state of migrant health in …

Cleveland, Alex - Covid-19 Journal, Alex Cleveland

Personal Journals

In this journal, EIU student Alex Cleveland in the Spring 2020 History of Illinois (HIS 3810) documents the beginning period of the pandemic, including initial reactions to the shelter in place order.

Arjun Kukreja - Covid-19 Journal, Arjun Kukreja

Personal Journals

EIU History of Illinois (HIS 3810) student outlines personal impressions of the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Of Rats And Men, Thomas S. Walsh

Capstones

This capstone is a data-driven investigation into New York City's rat problem. By using publicly available government data to map rat activity in NYC, I identified several socio-economic variables that correlate with rat populations at the community district, borough, and city-scale. I used these findings (mainly that rat problems are linked to lower incomes) as the basis of an investigation, which includes interviews with residents, experts, and city officials. Prof. Bobby Corrigan, urban rodentologist and formerly with the NYC Department of Health criticizes the city's efforts for the first time on the record.

https://thomasseiyawalsh.wixsite.com/ratstone

Why “Good Welfare” Isn’T “Good Enough”: Minding Animals And Increasing Our Compassionate Footprint, Marc Bekoff

Marc Bekoff, PhD

In this brief essay I take a broad perspective on the notion of unraveling welfare and consider animals living in different conditions ranging from caged individuals in laboratories and zoos to free-living or almost free-living wildlife. I’ll step outside of the laboratory because billions of animals are slaughtered for food in an industry that tortures them on the way to their reprehensible deaths and at the places at which they are slaughtered. Furthermore, government agencies around the world kill millions of free-living and wild animals because they’re supposedly “pests”. This is a different sort of essay but I hope it …

The Evolving Animal Rights And Welfare Debate In China: Political And Social Impact Analysis, Peter J. Li

Peter J. Li, PhD

In the past few years, a new debate has erupted in mainland China. This debate focuses on animal rights, animal welfare and animal treatment in general. In the not too distant past, such subjects were conveniently rejected as unworthy of serious academic attention. China’s rapid economic changes, increasing societal activism on environmental issues, continuous influx of foreign ideas and a rising societal awareness of the rights for the disadvantaged, including the nonhuman animals, are impacting the agendas of public discussions. Directly triggering this public debate were several highly publicized animal cruelty incidents involving, for example, five bears at Beijing Zoo …

Culture, Reform Politics, And Future Directions: A Review Of China’S Animal Protection Challenge, Peter J. Li, Gareth Davey

Peter J. Li, PhD

Incidents of animal abuse in China attract worldwide media attention. Is China culturally inclined to animal cruelty, or is the country’s development strategy a better explanation? This article addresses the subject of animal protection in China, a topic that has been ignored for too long by Western China specialists. A review of ancient Chinese thought asks whether China lacks a legacy of compassion for animals. The article then considers how China’s reform politics underlie the animal welfare crisis. Through its discussion of the welfare crisis impacting nonhuman animals in China, this paper sheds light on the enormity of the country’s …

Personal Reflections On Russell And Burch, Frame, And The Hsus, Martin Stephens

Martin Stephens, PhD

The coincidence of anniversaries associated with the publication of William Russell and Rex Burch’s The Principles of Humane Experimental Technique, the founding of the Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments (FRAME), and the establishment of the collaboration between FRAME and the University of Nottingham, provides an opportunity to reflect on Russell and Burch’s legacy and how it was carried forward by FRAME. The Principles, published in 1959, was the pioneering work in what later became the alternatives or Three Rs field of replacement, reduction, and refinement of animal use. Such was the book’s initial and undeserved obscurity, …

Moral Emotions And Social Activism: The Case Of Animal Rights, Harold A. Herzog, Lauren L. Golden

Harold Herzog, PhD

Why do some people and not others become involved in social movements? We examined the relationships between a moral emotion—disgust—and animal activism, attitudes toward animal welfare, and consumption of meat. Participants were recruited through two social networking websites and included animal activists, promoters of animal use, and participants not involved in animal-related causes. They took an online survey which included measures of sensitivity to visceral disgust, attitudes toward animal welfare, and frequency of meat eating. Animal activists were more sensitive to visceral disgust than were promoters of animal use or nonaligned participants. Disgust sensitivity was positively correlated with attitudes toward …