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Beavers: Nature’s Architects Rebuilding Our Ecosystems
No full textBeaver reintroduction has emerged as a promising nature-based solution to address ecosystem degradation, enhance biodiversity, and mitigate the impacts of climate change. This thesis explores beaver reintroduction\u27s economic and ecological potential, focusing on its role in addressing water scarcity and enhancing ecosystem restoration in North America and Europe. As ecosystem engineers, Beavers create wetlands that provide critical habitats for various species, regulate water flow, improve water quality, and sequester carbon. Their ability to restore hydrological functions, such as groundwater recharge and streamflow stabilization, has significant implications for regions facing water shortages, such as the Colorado River Basin in the U.S. and drought-prone areas in Europe. Additionally, beaver-engineered wetlands promote biodiversity by supporting fish, amphibians, birds, and other wildlife while helping reduce the impacts of floods and droughts. This thesis presents case studies from Oregon, Nevada, and Scotland, illustrating both the challenges and successes of beaver reintroduction projects. It also discusses the economic benefits, including the potential cost savings compared to traditional river restoration methods and the growing eco-tourism opportunities linked to beaver habitats. Despite the ecological benefits, beaver reintroduction often faces resistance, particularly from agricultural communities concerned about flooding and crop damage. Effective management strategies, including non-lethal approaches and stakeholder collaboration, are essential for balancing the benefits of beavers with human interests. The findings of this thesis highlight the importance of beavers as a cost-effective, sustainable solution for ecosystem restoration and climate resilience, advocating for their broader inclusion in environmental management policies
Reimagining Relationships and Boundaries: A Cross-Sectoral Analysis of the Namami Gange Programme and the Persistence of Cholera in the Ganges River
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Effects of synesthetic photisms on visual cognition: Investigating the temporal organization of grapheme-color synesthesia and object trimming in the visual processing pathway
No full textThe present study aims to determine the order in which object trimming and synesthetic associations occur during visual processing and examines the way that these two phenomena may influence each other. The first two experiments used grapheme-color synesthetes and flashed a numeral with an adjacent two-dot mask on a screen. Participants were asked to identify the synesthetic color triggered by the target (Experiments 1 and 2) as well as the number they saw during each trial (Experiment 2). Results showed strong evidence that trimming occurs before synesthetic associations in the processing pathway, as participants responded with the color of the trimmed number in all trials where trimming occurred. A third experiment, similar in design to the first experiments but allowing for the addition of non-synesthete control participants, used colored two-dot masks and asked participants to identify the color of the dots as well as the number that they saw. Findings suggest that object trimming has the ability to alter the speed of visual processing, and even modify the way that different streams of visual processing interact with each other
Combating Human Rights Abuses in the Democratic Republic of Congo
No full textThis article focuses on human rights abuses stemming from the mining industry of the Democratic Republic of Congo, particularly in the country\u27s eastern region. It argues that the United States (US), European Union (EU), and China should strive to uphold human rights in DRC because of their significant global presence and involvement in the country\u27s mining industry. It begins with an overview of the conflict, including its historical origins, relevant actors, and current status quo. It continues by describing two unsuccessful strategies that have been tried to protect human rights. It concludes with a recommendation to the US, EU, and China to begin providing comprehensive security aid to DRC so that its legitimate authorities can end the conflict on their own terms
Ethnic diversity and voting behavior at scale: Evidence from Uganda
No full textThis study constructs a novel dataset on the ethnicity of individuals in an ethnically diverse country in sub-Saharan Africa. We measure ethnicity using a machine learning algorithm that exploits variation in surnames across ethnolinguistic groups. We apply this approach to voter registration data from Uganda’s 2016 general election. The resulting data capture local variation in ethnicity over a wide geographic scale. We pair these data with election outcomes from polling stations throughout Uganda to estimate the relationship between ethnicity and voting behavior. Our regression analyses both control for location and include interactions between ethnic groups within the same polling station. Local variation in ethnicity is associated with voting behavior at the level of the polling station, and these relationships vary with the presence of other ethnic groups at the polling station. The results suggest the importance of studying ethnic voting using local variation in ethnicity at scale
Educated out: How rural students navigate elite colleges—and what it costs them
No full textThrough the stories of nine rural, first-generation students and their families, Educated Out shows how geography shapes college opportunities, from admission to postgraduation options. A former third-grade teacher in rural Tennessee, education researcher Mara Casey Tieken watched as her former students graduated high school. She was shocked at how few were heading to college—and none were going to elite four-year schools. These students were representative of a larger national phenomenon: In 2021, 31 percent of rural adults aged twenty-five and older held a postsecondary degree, compared to 45 percent of urban adults, and rural students are especially unlikely to pursue degrees from private, selective schools. Why, Tieken wondered? And what happens to the handful of rural students who do attend elite colleges, colleges that may feel worlds away from home?Tieken addresses these questions in Educated Out—a study that shows how geography shapes rural, first-generation students’ access to college, their college experiences, and their postgraduation plans and opportunities. Tieken closely follows a group of nine students for their college years and beyond at an elite New England private school that she calls Hilltop. Interviews with these students reveal the critical moments in the students’ educational careers when their rural origins mattered most: when applying to college, she shows how students are hindered by limited college counseling resources. Once on campus, they learn that many of the school’s opportunities are not available to them: they cannot access spring break trips, job networks, or low-pay-but-important internships. These students discover that home and college are very different worlds with different academic, social, and political climates—and, over time, they start to question both. As they near graduation and navigate a job market in which the highest-paying and most prestigious opportunities are located in urban centers, they begin to feel the complicated burden of their schooling: they’ve been “educated out.” Their stories show the costs of college for rural students: If they do not pursue higher education, they lose the opportunity for social mobility; if they do, they face a more permanent departure. These costs are individual, but rural families and communities also suffer—they lose young people with talent and skills.In addition to advocating for a higher education landscape that truly includes rural students, Tieken critiques a system that requires people to leave their rural homes in search of opportunities. Our current economy depends on inexpensive rural labor. Without meaningful change, some students will have to make the impossible decision to leave home—and far more will remain there, undereducated and overlooked. Both engaging and accessible, Educated Out presents important and timely questions about rurality, identity, education, and inequality.https://scarab.bates.edu/books/1018/thumbnail.jp