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The Boko Haram Insurgency and its Impact on Border Security, Trade and Economic Collaboration Between Nigeria and Cameroon: An Exploratory Study
Get PDFThis article examines how sporadic conflicts between bordering states can be used by emerging terrorist groups to advance nebulous religious and political agendas and threaten regional security in various regions of the world. For example, the unconventional activities of ruthless insurgent groups in Africa (such as the Islamic State of the Maghrib, Boko Haram, and Al Shabaab) often thrive on conflicts and instability between bordering states, driven by religious, political or economic motives, to acquire power, territory, and control over innocent populations. Notorious for the violence and mayhem that these groups have imposed on villages and towns along the Northern Cameroon and Nigeria borders, Chad, Niger, Kenya, and Mali, this study seeks to utilize conventional border studies theory as it applies to public administration and human security along the Cameroon-Nigerian border in West Africa to examine the destabilizing activities and the threat to regional security posed by the Sunni Islamist group known as Boko Haram. To that end, attention will be given to the connection between the history of conflict along this border and the rise of regional terrorist groups, particularly Boko Haram with its ability to exert control and power over the region by exploiting porous borders, in its attempts to impose a very radical brand of Islam on parts of Northern Cameroon, Nigeria, southern Chad, and Niger. More importantly, this study also attempts to highlight the pivotal role that cooperation between neighboring states and external partners (such as the United States, Great Britain, and France) can play in the fight against terrorists groups such as Boko Haram. We suggest that governments along border states must engage in strategic collaborative agreements that would enable them to establish long-term border security arrangements that are necessary to contain the expansionist agendas of groups such as Boko Haram
Neighborhood Concerns and Mobilization Patterns of Homeowners and Neighborhood Associations
Get PDFWhat issues and concerns of residential community associations (RCAs) compel them to mobilize and lobby local government? Do these patterns vary by RCA type? We argue that they do, and that neighborhood associations face different concerns than homeowners associations (HOAs). We also believe neighborhood associations are more likely to mobilize and interact with municipal government on behalf of the neighborhood. Using survey and interview data of neighborhood association and HOA presidents in Tallahassee, Florida, we find that neighborhood associations mobilize and interact with municipal government to a greater extent than HOAs. The issues and concerns that compel neighborhood associations to mobilize revolve around business/residential encroachment and crime. On the contrary, when HOAs do mobilize and interact with local government, the issues deal with the typical HOA concern of improving property values
Improving Transgender Policy for a More Equitable Workplace
Get PDFSex and gender categories have become more fluid in recent years. With evolving understandings of sexual orientation and gender identity, public administrators are confronted with questions of how to craft policy and make decisions based on new conceptions of sex and gender for transgender employees. Policy and practice is especially challenging in the workplace where sex and gender encompass both personal and professional dimensions. Within the public sector, the federal government is recognized as a leader on these issues, and this work examines federal transgender policy to answer the following questions: 1) how are federal agencies addressing transgender issues in the workplace through formal policy? and 2) what can be done to improve future transgender policy? To gain a better understanding of what constitutes an effective transgender workplace policy, we conducted a qualitative content analysis of nine transgender plans from the following federal agencies: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Internal Revenue Service, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, United States Office of Special Counsel, United States Department of Interior, United States Department of Labor, United States Environmental Protection Agency, and United States Office of Personnel Management. Our analysis includes the identification of major themes within the nine policy documents. From this analysis, we propose best practices and future policy directions, as well as suggest ways of expanding the limited scholarship on transgender issues in the public sector
A Critical Analysis of the ‘Broken Windows’ Policing in New York City and Its Impact: Implications for the Criminal Justice System and the African American Community
Get PDFThe broken windows approach is an aggressive crime fighting strategy instituted in New York City in the 1990s, emphasizing mass arrest of perpetrators of major as well as minor offenses. The impact resulted in disproportionate arrest of Black and Hispanic youths in comparison with Caucasians. Critics of broken windows strategy maintain that its success is exaggerated and oversold. They argue that the decline in crime in the city was not a consequence of the strategy, but due to improved economy, declining numbers of teenage males, and the decline in crack cocaine use. The broken windows strategy in fact yielded unintended consequences and other collateral effects because of its negative impact on the racial minorities. Furthermore, it created enormous financial burden on the criminal justice system by diverting limited resources for social programs to punishment and incarceration, thus undermining the traditional police-community emphasis of effective policing. The perceived unfair treatment, harassment, and subjection of African Americans to “stop, frisk, search and arrest” has eroded public trust, compromised citizens’ due process rights, and delegitimized the law enforcement in the eyes of vulnerable groups, thus creating an enduring negative perception of the criminal justice system
Assimilation and Black Immigrants: Comparing the Racial Identity and Racial Consciousness of Caribbeans and African Americans
Get PDFWe evaluate the extent to which Caribbeans and African Americans share racialidentity and racial consciousness. Our argument states Caribbeans will assimilate with African Americans depending on whether they were bam in the U.S. and if they mostly lived in the United States while growing up. We also contend that society treats Caribbeans as if they are African Americans, and therefore, Caribbeans align themselves with African Americans. Using the 2004 National Politics Study, we find that self-reported U.S.-bom Caribbeans are more like African Americans in terms of racial identity and racial consciousness than Caribbeans notbom in the United States. Self-identified Caribbeans who lived in the United States during their developmental years are more like African Americans than Caribbeans who resided elsewhere. Caribbeans reporting they were both born in the U.S. and lived in the U.S. during their formative years are more like African Americans than any other Caribbean group
Strategies for Successful Publishing
No full textThis is a clinic for aspiring authors. Selected experts will be available to share success stories and pitfalls to avoid on the road to publishing a book
Authors Meet and Greet
No full textThis event will connect published authors and readers. Authors are asked to bring two copies of their book and provide a three-minute synopsis of their project
ONZIN Upregulation by Mutant p53 Contributes to Osteosarcoma Metastasis Through the CXCL5-MAPK Signaling Pathway
No full textBackground/Aims: Gain-of-function of mutant p53 is associated with a high rate of lung metastasis in osteosarcoma. To investigate the mechanism of mutant p53-induced osteosarcoma metastasis, expression array analysis was performed, comparing non-metastatic osteosarcomas from p53+/- mice with metastatic osteosarcomas from p53R172H/+ mice. Onzin (Plac8) was identified as one of the genes upregulated in p53R172H/+ mouse metastatic osteosarcomas. Accordingly, we investigated the role of ONZIN in human osteosarcoma metastasis. Methods: ONZIN function and its downstream targets were examined in osteosarcoma cell lines. Assays related to tumorigenesis and metastasis, including cell migration, invasion, clonogenic survival, and soft agar colony formation, were performed in osteosarcoma cells. Additionally, mouse xenograft models were used to examine the role of ONZIN overpression in tumorigenesis in vivo. Lastly, 87 osteosarcoma patients were recruited to investigate the clinical relevance of ONZIN overexpression in metastasis and prognosis. Results: ONZIN overexpression enhanced osteosarcoma cell proliferation, clonogenic survival, migration, and invasion independent of p53 status. Furthermore, ONZIN overexpression induced CXCL5 upregulation and resulted in increased ERK phosphorylation, which contributed to more aggressive osteosarcoma metastatic phenotypes. More importantly, overexpression of ONZIN in human osteosarcoma patients was closely associated with lung metastasis, poor prognoses, and survival. Conclusions: Overexpression of ONZIN promotes osteosarcoma progression and metastasis, and can serve as a clinical biomarker for osteosarcoma metastasis and prognosis
Development of a novel guided wave generation system using a giant magnetostrictive actuator for nondestructive evaluation
No full textAs a common approach to nondestructive testing and evaluation, guided wave-based methods have attracted much attention because of their wide detection range and high detection efficiency. It is highly desirable to develop a portable guided wave testing system with high actuating energy and variable frequency. In this paper, a novel giant magnetostrictive actuator with high actuation power is designed and implemented, based on the giant magnetostrictive (GMS) effect. The novel GMS actuator design involves a conical energy-focusing head that can focus the amplified mechanical energy generated by the GMS actuator. This design enables the generation of stress waves with high energy, and the focusing of the generated stress waves on the test object. The guided wave generation system enables two kinds of output modes: the coded pulse signal and the sweep signal. The functionality and the advantages of the developed system are validated through laboratory testing in the quality assessment of rock bolt-reinforced structures. In addition, the developed GMS actuator and the supporting system are successfully implemented and applied in field tests. The device can also be used in other nondestructive testing and evaluation applications that require high-power stress wave generation
Erratum: Correction to: Moderate Treadmill Exercise Protects Synaptic Plasticity of the Dentate Gyrus and Related Signaling Cascade in a Rat Model of Alzheimer\u27s Disease (Molecular neurobiology (2015) 52 3 (1067-1076))
Get PDFThe original version of this article unfortunately does not include the second affiliating institution of Dr. Munder A. Zagaar. Department of Pharmacy Pracce and Clinical Health Sciences, Texas Southern University, Houston, TX 77004 should have been included on the paper