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NEGLECTED TROPICAL DISEASES IN AFRICA: GUINEA WORM DISEASE SURVEILLANCE AND ERADICATION IN ABAKALIKI, EBONYI STATE, NIGERIA, 1957-2013
No full textThe prevalence of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) in tropical regions of Africa has impeded the improvement of public health on the continent. Unlike pandemics, which affect the entire society, NTDs are predominant in rural areas and attract less government attention. Focusing on surveillance and eradication of Guinea Worm Disease (GWD), the thesis explores efforts to eradicate the disease in Abakliki, Ebonyi State, tracing it to colonial Nigeria. It contests that guinea worm surveillance and eradication in Nigeria did not begin in the 1980s as argued by existing literature but an event of the 1950s. The neglect of the Nigerian government to eradicate diseases that are not a threat to their survival made guinea worm eradication difficult in the country until the Carter Center intervened. While acknowledging the efforts of the World Health Organization, The Carter Center, and other international agencies in combating guinea worm in Nigeria, the thesis examines the eradication program in Abakaliki in the context of Michel Foucault’s concept of Noso-politics. Using primary and secondary evidence, the thesis further argues that this program helped in improving public health, economic revenue, and human capital development of the endemic villages in Abakliki. It concludes that the strategies used in eradicating guinea worms in Nigeria should be replicated to fight other NTDs
The Growing of Freedom, and the Participatory Methodology of Gardening: An Account of John Dewey’s Conception of “Freedom”
No full textIn this paper I argue that for American Pragmatist John Dewey, freedom is better understood as a verb or gerund— freedom-ing. A distinctive dimension of Dewey’s conception of “freedom” is that part of having freedom is the participation in the achieving of it, a continual process—in Dewey’s account, freedom is never won for good but must be constantly re-won. Persons must have the opportunity of being a part of their creative activity—directing and understanding their activity. Without freedom we stagnate, we are left with empty dictates; we do not inquire, new paths are not disclosed, we don\u27t generate new structures of meaning
Ending the Cycle: A New Approach to Decriminalize Mental Illness
No full textToday, America faces a health paradox: the nation’s largest jails are the nation’s largest psychiatric institutions. In a criminal justice system designed for punishment, solutions like mental health units or mental health courts try to address this contradiction. Yet, if mental illness is a health issue, and not a criminal issue, then increased investments in the criminal justice system seem misplaced. Instead, a more promising approach is to stop the mentally ill from entering the criminal justice system at all.
This article presents just that: a new approach to decriminalize mental illness. Viewed under an overarching “health justice” lens, the approach shows how deficiencies in systemic components outside an individual’s control—called social determinants of health—lead to negative mental health outcomes. The approach encourages a more balanced and nuanced understanding of why the mentally ill end up incarcerated, thereby shifting any disproportionate moral blame on the individual to a broader responsibility found in inequitable systems.
Then, using two unique forms of thinking—systems thinking and upstream thinking—the approach breaks down the systemic components contributing to criminalization of mental illness, which lead to such inequitable results. Under these thinking frameworks, the approach shows how the criminal justice system is an inadequate system for the mentally ill. Finally, the new approach proposes focusing on six leverage points of investment before an individual even enters the criminal justice system, which, working all together, address the systemic deficiencies by intertwining the social determinants of health. In this way, the paradox is alleviated, the mentally ill do not end up in the criminal justice system, and health justice is achieve
Reinsuring AI: Energy, Agriculture, Finance & Medicine As Precedents for Governance of Frontier Artificial Intelligence
No full textFederal reinsurance for advanced artificial intelligence offers a credible foundation for managing risk at scale. Traditional legal tools such as regulation, litigation, and voluntary guidelines, lack the institutional capacity to address deep uncertainty, widespread spillover effects, and low-probability but catastrophic harms. A public financial infrastructure distributes risk, incentivizes responsible development, and enables earlier detection of emerging threats. Precedent exists in nuclear energy, agriculture, healthcare, and finance, where federal reinsurance enabled markets to function despite underlying volatility. The same institutional logic applies to frontier AI.
Part I explains how general-purpose and frontier AI models work, and why they have become a major policy concern. Part II reviews extant legal responses, including regulatory efforts in the European Union and California, recent developments in tort law, and the role of voluntary frameworks. Part III identifies a deeper structural gap: existing institutions are not equipped to govern fast-moving, high-stakes risks of this kind. Part IV draws lessons from historical cases where federal reinsurance helped manage similarly complex and uncertain domains. Part V develops a concrete proposal: a three-tiered system combining required private insurance, a shared industry risk pool, and a federal reinsurance backstop. The Conclusion shows how this structure limits financial fallout and creates both the incentives and information needed to govern advanced AI in a serious, adaptive, and forward-looking way
SOME SIMPLE HIGH DIMENSIONAL ONE AND TWO SAMPLE TESTS
No full textConsider testing the hypothesis versus using a random sample where the are p times1 random vectors and p may be much larger than n. Several one sample tests use the same test statistic T_n with different estimators of the variance V(T_n). Rather simple theory from U-statistics is used to find V(T_n), resulting in an estimator that is quick to compute when is true. Some two sample tests for are also considered
Trainee Experiences in Multicultural Neuropsychology Supervision: A Qualitative Study
No full textNeuropsychology researchers and practitioners have emphasized the importance of cultural considerations in practice, as culture can influence cognition, and factors associated with belonging to marginalized groups can affect neurocognitive outcomes. Despite this recognition and the existence of practical recommendations for conducting culturally responsive assessments, the integration of multicultural issues into neuropsychological tools, training, and supervision remains limited. Training and supervision are critical methods for fostering culturally responsive care, yet little research has examined how multicultural topics are addressed within neuropsychological supervision, both in relation to patient care and to trainees’ own identities. There is limited information about the experiences of trainees from marginalized backgrounds, a group that remains underrepresented in the field of neuropsychology. This study sought to better understand current practices in multicultural neuropsychology supervision. Using grounded theory methodology, I conducted qualitative interviews with seven trainees. The analysis revealed four axial-level categories comprised of 19 open-code categories and subcategories, highlighting the complexity of trainees’ experiences. From this analysis, a grounded theory model, Pathways to Culturally Informed Supervision in Neuropsychology, was developed. This model illustrates how trainees’ experiences in supervision both shape and reflect the field’s ongoing multicultural development
OPTIMIZING WINTER CEREAL RYE MANAGEMENT: PRECISION PLANTING, SEEDING RATE, AND CULTIVAR SELECTION FOR BIOFUEL AND FORAGE PRODUCTION
No full textWinter rye (WR; Secale cereale L.) is recognized as a versatile and resilient cover crop that significantly enhances environmental sustainability and farm profitability in corn (Zea mays L.)–soybean (Glycine max L.) rotations. Its rapid fall growth, winter hardiness, and adaptability to a variety of soil types make winter rye an optimal choice for mitigating soil erosion, minimizing nutrient losses, and yielding biomass that can be used for forage or biofuel production. As a winter cereal, winter rye offers a multitude of ecological advantages, including the enhancement of soil organic carbon, nutrient recycling, improvement in soil quality, suppression of weeds, and reduction of runoff. These ecosystem services are essential for addressing nutrient loading in the Upper Mississippi River Basin (UMRB), where challenges such as nitrate-nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) losses persist. Despite these advantages, adoption of WR prior to corn remains limited in the U.S. Midwest due to economic and agronomic constraints. The costs associated with planting WR, combined with potential yield penalties in subsequent corn crops, discourage many farmers. These penalties are often linked to N immobilization, interference with corn establishment, and increased pest or disease pressure. To improve adoption, we propose harvesting WR for forage or biofuel to offset input costs. The focus of our research was improving WR management systems to offset the costs of WR implementation, while maintaining forage and biofuel qualities necessary for WR harvest and processing. We hypothesized that implementing novel WR planting techniques (Chapter 1), lowering WR seeding rates (Chapter 2), and using an open-pollinated WR cultivar (Chapter 2) would yield the necessary forage and biofuel qualities in WR biomass with the most economic benefits. Within Chapter 1, the novel planting approach, precision planting (skipping the cash crop row; STCR- to create non-intersecting zones of WR and corn growth), was studied. This approach was implemented to reduce the costs associated with planting of WR and to alleviate the negative impact of WR on following corn. We conducted five site-years of field experiments in southern Illinois to compare the impact of STCR versus conventionally planted (intersecting rows of WR with cash crop; NP) WR on biomass, biofuel and forage quality, and economic benefits (potential savings in seed costs with potential for increase in quality of biomass for sale). Our results indicated that STCR had a similar leaf area index (LAI) (1.96) and biomass yield (2.52 Mg ha-1) to NP (1.72 and 2.33 Mg ha-1, respectively). Cellulose and holocellulose (cellulose + hemicellulose) concentrations of WR, which are associated with higher ethanol production, were increased by STCR relative to NP. However, hemicellulose and lignin concentrations were similar between the two planting methods. The STCR decreased forage quality, potentially through increased tillering due to the reduction in seeding rate by skipping the cash crop row. Relative forage quality (RFQ) was lower with STCR than with NP. However, the RFQ in STCR was high enough (\u3e151) that it did not influence its economic value. Thus, we recommend STCR over NP for biofuel and forage production. Similarly, in Chapter 2, we conducted two trials in southern Illinois to evaluate the effects of seeding rate and cultivar on WR yield, quality, and economic benefits. Study A tested four seeding rates (34, 56, 84, 112 kg ha-1) with six replicates, while study B evaluated two cultivars (Guardian open-pollinated rye vs. PROGAS hybrid rye) at two seeding rates (67 vs. 101 kg ha-1) with four replicates. Results of study A showed that every 10 kg ha-1 increase in seeding rate increased WR biomass yield by 0.07 Mg ha-1. However, higher seeding rates reduced forage quality, decreasing crude protein (CP), total digestible nutrients (TDN), and relative forage quality (RFQ), while increasing cellulose, hemicellulose, and holocellulose contents, which are desirable for biofuel production. In study B, PROGAS (hybrid rye) generally outperformed Guardian (normal rye) in yield, particularly in 2021, across seeding rates, with taller plants exhibiting higher lignin, cellulose, hemicellulose, and holocellulose but lower RFQ. Hybrid rye was less cost-effective for forage production compared to normal rye. We recommend lower seeding rates of normal rye for forage production to optimize quality and hybrid rye at higher seeding rates for biofuel production to maximize biomass yield. These findings highlight the trade-offs between yield and quality in WR management, offering producers tailored strategies to enhance the profitability of their operation. Together, these findings demonstrate that WR management in corn-soybean systems involves balancing trade-offs among biomass yield, quality, and profitability. Farmers targeting forage should prioritize Guardian rye at lower seeding rates to maximize nutritive value and cost efficiency. Conversely, those seeking biomass for biofuel should consider the PROGAS hybrid rye at higher seeding rates to capitalize on increased lignocellulosic content. The STCR planting method presents an innovative, cost-effective approach that maintains yield potential while improving biofuel quality and reducing input costs. Overall, integrating optimized seeding rate, cultivar selection, and precision planting strategies can make WR a more economically viable and environmentally sustainable component of corn–soybean rotations. These management adaptations not only support profitability but also contribute to soil and water quality goals in the Upper Mississippi River Basin, aligning agronomic performance with regional conservation priorities
EVALUATING STREAMBANK AND IN-STREAM EROSION AS ACONTRIBUTORS TO WATER QUALITY IN TWO ILLINOIS AGRICULTURAL WATERSHEDS
No full textThis study investigates its contribution to sediment and phosphorus (P) export in two agriculturally dominated watersheds in south central Illinois—Lost Creek and East Fork Shoal Creek (EFS). Using cross-section surveys, and erosion pin measurements over a two-year monitoring period, we quantified bank erosion rates, sediment yields, and associated phosphorus loads. Hydrologic data from the Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS), alongside local precipitation and soil data, were utilized in the interpretation of erosion dynamics in the study watersheds. Key findings from this study show spatial and temporal variability in erosion rates, which is driven by seasonal flow events, riparian vegetation type, and local geomorphology. This study also sheds light on riparian buffer vegetation influence on streambank P retention, as streambanks mainly bordered by riparian forest vegetation had lower P concentration along the vertical profile compared to those bordered by grassed vegetation. Also, P concentration was found to be higher in streambanks adjacent to agricultural land than those bordered by riparian forest. This points to the lasting impact of past fertilizer use and the influence of surrounding land use on how phosphorus builds up and moves through streambank soils. These findings show how hydrology, vegetation, and land use influence erosion and nutrient dynamics in agricultural watersheds. The research supports targeted management strategies, especially riparian forest restoration and improving natural water flow regulation, to reduce erosion and improve water quality.Over a 2-year period, this study quantified the watershed-scale contributions of streambank erosion to total sediment and phosphorus (P) exports using both erosion pin and cross-section data, benchmarked against estimates from the Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS). Results show that streambank erosion in East Fork Shoal Creek (EFS) accounted for 32.8% of watershed sediment and 5.3% of P. In contrast, streambank erosion within Lost Creek contributed 22.3% of sediment and only 0.7% of P. As such, findings from this study suggest that while these watersheds are significant sources of sediment, the same is not true for phosphorus. Therefore, management efforts should focus more on investigating and controlling phosphorus loss from other non-point sources, such as agricultural runoff within these watersheds. Despite certain analytical limitations in the study, a better understanding of streambank sediment and phosphorus contributions will prove beneficial for natural resource managers and policymakers when making recommendations for effective conservation practices aimed at reducing sediment and phosphorus loading to waterbodies, thereby enhancing water quality in Illinois’ agricultural landscapes. This study is among the first to investigate streambank sediment and phosphorus loading at the watershed scale within the state of Illinois