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The Examination of How Intra-Community Social Identities Differ in Contexts of Coastal Flooding Adaptation and Vulnerability
Full text linkThis thesis explores discrepancies in degrees of vulnerability within coastal communities to flooding events, and the impact adaptive measures may have on these vulnerabilities, as well as analyzing the success or maladaptiveness of adaptive action and the consequences of not incorporating adequate local knowledge. Through a review of academic writings, news outlets, governmental policy websites, and census data, a contextual understanding of Phippsburg, Maine is outlined establishing a connection to theory. The document analysis revealed that approaching adaptation, a grounded consideration of vulnerability is essential in avoiding maladaptive consequences and negatively impacting resilience. Applying conducted interviews and a policy review, the overall research identified five emerging themes. The findings highlight the spectrum of vulnerability, and subsequent resilience, present within Phippsburg, as individuals are more or less vulnerable dependent on their identities. Additionally, the findings highlight how maladaptation can cause shifts in power dynamics and how property ownership equates to the obtainment of power. The study advocates for more cohesion and collaboration amongst coastal communities, as divisive separation equates to inaccurate holistic depictions of community vulnerability and silences perspectives that do not occupy power positions
Navigating Climate Change in the Gulf of Maine: An Ethnographic Portrait of the Ecological, Social, and Political Effects of Climate Change on the Maine Lobster Industry and Communities
No full textThis thesis centers around the question of how climate change will not only affect lobstering in Maine ecologically, but also how it may create social and political tensions amongst lobstering communities. Through academic literature research and 14 original ethnographic interviews with Maine lobstermen, topics surrounding ecological changes to the Gulf of Maine; the biological effects of climatic changes on lobsters; right whales, offshore wind, and the effects on the lobster industry; and working waterfront access in Maine have been discussed. Research findings were analyzed through resilience, adaptation, and political theory frameworks to contextualize these issues within Maine lobstering communities and climate change policy. In summary, hyperlocal fishery regulation policies will be crucial moving forward to compensate for the spatially variable effects of climate change in the Gulf of Maine, along with compromise, collaboration, and innovation regarding issues such as right whale protection and offshore wind development. Lastly, government-lobstermen relationships generally suffer from decades of mistrust on the state and federal level, thus more work is intensely needed to repair these relations in order for a successful and proactive response to the threat of climate change in Maine
Individual-level Data to Accompany “Recovery of Ventilatory and Metabolic Responses to Hypoxia in Neonatal Rats After Chronic Hypoxia”
No full textRat pups were exposed to 3 days of chronic hypoxia (12% O2) beginning shortly after birth. Ventilation (head-body plethysmography) and metabolic CO2 production (respirometry) were then measured in normoxia (21% O2, balance N2) and during an acute hypoxic challenge (15b minutes in 12% O2, balance N2) immediately following chronic hypoxia and after 1, 4-5, and 7 d in room air; different individuals were studied at each age. The linked data files contain the individual-level ventilation and CO2 production data. The full methods and summary data are available in the peer-reviewed article:
Bavis RW, Lee DI, Kinnally AC, Puxton PE., 2024. Recovery of ventilatory and metabolic responses to hypoxia in neonatal rats after chronic hypoxia. Respiratory Physiology and Neurobiology, 329: 104317. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resp.2024.104317
This article will be freely be available to download from PubMed Central on 11/1/2025 here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39187051
Environmentally Relevant Concentrations of Triphenyl Phosphate (TPhP) Impact Development in Zebrafish
Full text linkA common flame-retardant and plasticizer, triphenyl phosphate (TPhP) is an aryl phosphate ester found in many aquatic environments at nM concentrations. Yet, most studies interrogating its toxicity have used µM concentrations. In this study, we used the model organism zebrafish (Danio rerio) to uncover the developmental impact of nM exposures to TPhP at the phenotypic and molecular levels. At concentrations of 1.5–15 nM (0.5 µg/L–5 µg/L), chronically dosed 5dpf larvae were shorter in length and had pericardial edema phenotypes that had been previously reported for exposures in the µM range. Cardiotoxicity was observed but did not present as cardiac looping defects as previously reported for µM concentrations. The RXR pathway does not seem to be involved at nM concentrations, but the tbx5a transcription factor cascade including natriuretic peptides (nppa and nppb) and bone morphogenetic protein 4 (bmp4) were dysregulated and could be contributing to the cardiac phenotypes. We also demonstrate that TPhP is a weak pro-oxidant, as it increases the oxidative stress response within hours of exposure. Overall, our data indicate that TPhP can affect animal development at environmentally relevant concentrations and its mode of action involves multiple pathways
Planning for Coastal Resilience in the Small Point Community of Phippsburg, Maine
No full textCoastal communities worldwide are grappling with the escalating impacts of sea level rise (SLR) and coastal flooding, necessitating action for coastline adaptation. Coastal communities are under pressure to conduct comprehensive coastal vulnerability assessments to identify areas at high risk and to explore effective flood mitigation strategies. Phippsburg, Maine, like many other coastal communities, has endured increasing critical damage to their coastal infrastructure and shoreline due to SLR, particularly in the recent and record-breaking winter storm surge of January 2024. This study aims to evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of green infrastructure as a key strategy for mitigating coastal hazards in the Small Point community, located within Phippsburg. In this study we conduct an exploratory review of green infrastructure projects, and analyze community-based resilience for Phippsburg, ME. Our central research question asks: given the environmental challenges of rising sea levels, what nature-based resources might be implemented in Small Point, Maine to reduce flooding vulnerability and increase future resilience? Through a mixed methods investigation relying on observation, interviews and comparison with existing projects, we identify marsh reinforcement and living shorelines as the most suitable green infrastructure intervention for Small Point
The Great Breach: Populism and the Undermining of the Public Sphere with the Logic of the Private One
Full text linkWhat can explain the remarkable electoral successes of populist leaders across the world in the last two decades? This article contributes to the growing research on possible answers by proposing a new perspective. Modern societies have long featured, and largely benefited from, a split between the private and public spheres. Each sphere has functioned according to its own logic. Populist leaders have attacked and delegitimized the public sphere by destabilizing it with the logic of the private one. Since large numbers of citizens have increasingly felt left behind by the public sphere and unable to make their voices heard, they have seen in populist leaders daring representatives of the thoughts and emotions that they have for too long been unable to express openly. This explains their visceral and emotional attachment to those leaders, and their votes at the polls. Evidence comes from some of the most important cases of populist leaders across the world. The paper concludes with reflections on who in society can actually assume the roles of populist leaders, and on the consequences of such a breach of the public sphere for the functioning of the political system
Say YES to the Text: Exploring the Open Textbook Landscape
Full text linkThis presentation was given at Bates College during Open Education Week 2024.
Textbook affordability is a perennial concern for our students and one that we as educators have the power to address. The Center for Inclusive Teaching and Learning along with Ladd Library explored the open textbook landscape, and (a) reviewed college costs, textbook market trends, and the impact these have on our students; (b) learned about Open Educational Resources (OER) and where to find materials that suited thier courses; and (c) worked with Research Liaisons to search for open materials. Faculty came with a course in mind, a laptop/tablet AND left with a new open textbook they could read, review, or adopt for thier course
Anarchism, Dreaming, and Technology as Cures to Sexual Violence in Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed and The Word for World is Forest
No full textThis thesis explores the depiction of sexual violence in Ursula K. Le Guin’s Hainish Cycle, which includes The Left Hand of Darkness (1969), The Word for World is Forest (1972), and The Dispossessed (1974). Viewed through the perspective of Second Wave Feminism, which emerged in the 1970s and saw heightened attention to rape, these texts provide valuable insights into how science fiction explores sexual violence and where Le Guin situates herself within the feminist discourse. Chapter One examines an understudied scene in The Dispossessed that illustrates, with sensual language, protagonist Shevek’s sexual assault of a woman. I contribute to the limited literary discourse, including writer Samuel Delaney, that processes and attributes meaning to this scene. I also address and contemplate the novel\u27s swift transition from the scene. I argue that Le Guin casts her hero in a new light–or darkness–to accentuate her ambiguous utopia to the degree that it is vague. As Le Guin paves her protagonist’s downfall, she simultaneously presents a redemption for his sexual assault: the collectivity of anarchism. In this chapter, I turn to Le Guin’s androgyny experiment, The Left Hand of Darkness, which offers her proclivity towards gender essentialism. Her perspective on gender elucidates Shevek’s capacity for masculine violence. His eventual embrace of anarchism signifies a shift towards androgyny. I assess the novel’s delicate and tender treatment of sex and love as a foil to the worlds of The Dispossessed–Urras and Anarresti. Chapter Two tackles The Word of the World is Forest, which offers an examination of inter-group violence originated by acts of rape. Does rape cause the Althsheans’ metamorphosis into violent individuals? World is Forest, I argue, suggests that sexual violence is an innate male trait that requires another cure: dreaming and technology. Le Guin’s texts demonstrate how science fiction operates as an outlet to portray the pernicious consequences of sexual violence. At the time and years later, critics struggled to assess or interpret Le Guin’s feminism. A focus on sexual violence helps to understand how her detailed utopias interact with contemporary science fiction and 2nd Wave Feminism
THE SELF AND THE NATION: NEW YOUTH AND EDUCATIONAL REVOLUTION IN CHINA, 1911 TO 1925
Full text linkThe project will get at the change in the principles of education system from the Late Qing Empire to the Republic regime as well as the impact of the modernization movement on China’s education system reform from 1911 to 1925, focusing on how Chinese scholars declared the transformation of China’s education system from a system based on the social hierarchy of Confucian orthodox as well as Civil Service Exam to a nationalism, independent-thinking based, and universal education