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Identifying Paternal Behavior in Captive Sumatran (Pongo abelli) and Hybrid Orangutans (Pongo abelii X Pongo pygmaeus)
No full textIn the wild, orangutans live in individual fission-fusion social systems. This semi-isolated lifestyle means females act as sole caretakers of infants. However, recent social media posts from zoos and sanctuaries portray male orangutans engaging in behavior suggesting paternal involvement. In captivity, orangutans are often housed socially, allowing fathers to interact with offspring and raising the question of how orangutans may potentially demonstrate paternal behavior. This study examined interactions among immature offspring and their family groups in hybrid (Pongo pygmaeus x Pongo abelii) and Sumatran orangutans (P. abelii). Focal follows were conducted at two Association of Zoos and Aquariums and one Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries accredited facilities, resulting in 168 hours of observation. Across all sites, male orangutans engaged in direct paternal behaviors such as playing, food-sharing, and contact, and indirect paternal behaviors such as proximity, tolerating, and defending. Across all sites, the immatures initiated significantly more interactions with their adult relatives than vice versa. Significant differences were also observed between interactions initiated by offspring and those initiated by their fathers, suggesting immatures drive interactions
Bob Cernick Video Interview
No full textElsie Bingay interviews Bob Cernick. He discusses growing up in Cle Elum, Washington. He talks about the abundance of outdoor activities his family did when he was young. These include camping, hunting, and fishing in the mountains around the area. He mentions his career working for the state department of transportation. Bob also talks about his love of old cars and how he came to appreciate and collect classic cars.https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/rrcehc_interviews/1023/thumbnail.jp
Braven Bendzack and Arlene Watts Video Interview
No full textEmily Dalvit interviews brother and sister, Braven Bendzak and Arlene Watts. They talk about their family and lives growing up in Ronald, Washington. They talk bout the closeness of the Croation community of immigrants. They discuss how lodges served as a social net to help widows and children of deceased miners. They recall many aspects of life in a close knit mining community. Braven also discusses his time in the Air Force during the Vietnam War.https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/rrcehc_interviews/1024/thumbnail.jp
Using MODFLOW to Assess Groundwater Storage Enhancement via a Floodplain Infiltration Basin
Get PDFDelaying groundwater discharge into rivers until it is critically needed during baseflow conditions provides promise for lowering elevated stream temperatures and improving habitat for aquatic species. Increasing groundwater storage may accomplish this in locations where excess spring runoff can be captured and allowed to infiltrate into the subsurface for later beneficial use, a process known as Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR). Here, MAR via an infiltration basin is considered at a site along the Teanaway River in central Washington State. The effects of simulated ephemeral ponds of sizes varying from 554 m3 to 2430 m3 (0.449 acre-feet to 1.97 acre-feet) on the existing groundwater flow regime are investigated using a transient MODFLOW groundwater flow model.
The groundwater flow model is calibrated against 217 groundwater head observations at the site over a span of 2 years. Secondary calibration is performed by comparing the MODFLOW model to an analytic water balance developed by idealizing the water table with a least-squares plane of best-fit to determine the change in groundwater storage from water table fluctuations. Both the transient groundwater flow model and the analytic water balance model employ specific yield in the calculation of groundwater storage. Coupling of the two models produces a weighted average of specific yield at the site for the shallow alluvial aquifer and upper 10 m of sandstone bedrock of 0.12.
Comparison of head elevations and mass balances between the calibrated groundwater flow model and the different ephemeral pond scenarios indicates that increased infiltration contributes to an increased overall volume of the system in the short term, with the additional water returning to baseline levels by September following the drying up of the pond at the end of April. The maximum increase in groundwater elevation is 0.76 m. The total increase in volume of the system is offset by increased discharge across the downgradient boundary of the site and to the river, with a modest increase in evapotranspiration. For the storage and hydraulic conductivity conditions of the shallow alluvial aquifer at the site, MAR in the spring would not have lasting effects into summer when increased baseflow is desired
The Expected Risks and Exacerbations of Poverty, Mental Health Disorders, and Maternal Mortality from Abortion Bans: A Comparative Literature Analysis
Get PDFBackground. Early termination of a pregnancy (hereinafter referred to as an “abortion”) has been debated in the United States (U.S.) for decades, without much regard to the negative outcomes that forced pregnancies have for those assigned female at birth regarding poverty, mental health and maternal mortality. In 1973, access to safe abortions was protected so long that the procedure was done within the legal gestational period and/or was necessary for the health and safety of the patient (Blackmun, 1972). Unfortunately, in 2022, the Supreme Court took that protection away and made it legal for states to determine the reproductive rights for those assigned female at birth, (hereinafter referred to as “AFAB”) (Alito, 2022). Methods. The aim of this comparative analysis reviewed and utilized existing research in order to identify the themes expected to be causative factors for negative health outcomes from abortion restrictions. Sociodemographic data was gathered from various public domains, including, but not limited to, both states’ 2021 Census reports, their poverty, pregnancy, and maternal mortality rates, as well as their current abortion policies. Results. Results from all of the prevailing research and literature that was utilized for this study showed serious concerns regarding the negative impact that anti-abortion laws will have on increasing the risk or exacerbation of poverty, mental health disorders, and maternal mortality outcomes. Poverty. People AFAB being denied an abortion experience a significant increase in financial distress during the year that they give birth compared to their counterparts who received a wanted abortion. Unpaid debts that are 30 or more days past due more than double in size and negative events, such as evictions and bankruptcies, increase substantially (Miller et al., 2020). Mental Health. Low self-esteem, anxiety and lower life satisfaction were found to be higher for those who were denied an abortion than those who had one (Biggs et al., 2017). For those AFAB who had mental health disorders prior to becoming pregnant, were more likely to seek an abortion and, if denied, were more likely to have their mental health disorders exacerbated post-pregnancy (Steinberg et al., 2014). Maternal Mortality. Pregnancy is associated with a 14-times greater maternal mortality rate in comparison to abortion (Ginsberg & Shulman, 2021). Ninety-percent of pregnancy-related deaths in Texas in 2019 were preventable (DSHS, 2022). Conclusions. Being denied an abortion has large and persistent negative effects on someone AFAB’s financial well-being, mental health, and maternal mortality outcomes
Security and Sacrifice in Nella Larsen’s Passing
Get PDFNella Larsen’s Passing, published in 1929, recounts the tumultuous reunion of childhood friends, Clare Kendry and Irene Redfield—two light-skinned Black women who have taken dramatically different paths in adulthood. While Irene has married Brian Redfield, a Black doctor and taken on an active role in Black upper-society, Clare has constructed a white identity by marrying, at the age of eighteen, a racist, white man. This article analyzes Larsen’s novel as an exploration into the ways individuals pursue and relate to the concept of security in an unjust society. It argues that the text’s central characters are each passing as a manufactured identity that holds more social capital than their underlying identity and examines the differences in what each character is willing to sacrifice for the security this social capital provides. The article investigates why Irene views Clare as a threat by considering Irene’s marriage to Brian, her queer desire for Clare, and her deep need to access security by conforming to heterosexist expectations. Ultimately, Irene perceives Clare to be threatening because she fears her husband Brian’s attraction to what Clare represents—a rejection of the social norms and expectations of the Black bourgeoisie
Albert Stone Video Interview
No full textAlbert Stone talks about his life. Albert grew up in Ellensburg and recalls working on farms. After marriage he worked in the coal mines in Roslyn. Later he drove trucks and worked on he west side of the state.https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/rrcehc_interviews/1029/thumbnail.jp
Refocusing the Refugee Regime: From Vagrancy to Value
Get PDF[From the introduction]This is an exploration of two moral-political accounts in my search to establish and frame better treatment of refugees. When regarding refugees as human beings whose lives lack sustainable levels of political, economic, and social stability, both of the frameworks I look at stress the importance of providing such persons with succor and alleviation. Martha Nussbaum’s capabilities approach posits the human body as a bearer of elemental rights that ought to be recognized and realized. Judith Butler presents an argument that focuses on life’s precariousness and grievability. Situating the refugee in a normative context will, I think, strengthen the foundation needed for a focus on determining what sorts of actions should be taken to rectify the situations of increasingly protracted refugee populations which, arguably, consist of the world’s most vulnerable political beings. [...
Possibility, Novelty, and Creativity
Get PDF[From the introduction]Genuine novelty is the introduction and creation of new things, relations, and affections in the world. Human experience constantly confronts us with novelty, in surprising, intimate ways (spotting new freckles, a great cup of hot chocolate, budding flowers), and in more time-extended, sweeping ways (invention of the automobile, the Little Ice Age, the development of homo sapiens). And yet things are the same. The novel always contains what has already been as a component, but with some modification.Generically, all novelty is the outcome of some creative act, and all creative acts beget some novelty. Apart from this, the concept of novelty is not homogenous. There can be novel items – individual and unique things. There can be novel kinds: new sorts of things or states of affairs, new types of events. There can be novel problems and questions and concepts. All novelty involves a measure of unpredictability and a measure of breaking from the status quo. And novelty is a pervasive element of human experience.I want to take this aspect of human experience seriously when doing metaphysics; I do not want to make the world of human experience secondary to some ineffable realm. Because our experience is an aspect of the real world, an account of novelty must acknowledge that the novel things that emerge in the course of events are “genuine.” That is, they are metaphysically significant and ontologically real. I want to construct a metaphysic that accommodates pervasive change and novelty, one that accommodates radical novelty.This is, however, a drastic change from much contemporary metaphysical work. Often, the way change is dealt with metaphysically renders our most intimate interactions and feelings an unimportant component of reality (if it is a component at all). Thus the reworking of many fundamental notions is required in order to make sense of the ideas of ‘change’ and ‘novelty.’ One of these notions is ‘possibility.’ Commonly held notions of possibility, such as an existence-less form (a “possible object” – a plaid apple, for example), or possibility as a rearrangement of the elements of actuality (taking what actually exists and putting it in new combinations – horse + horn = unicorn), drain all significance from the notion of novelty. In this paper, I attempt to revise our notion of possibility using Bergson and Whitehead by creating a picture that does not entail “possible objects,” but allows for a creative actuality and radical novelty. This modified view of possibility will provide a basis for understanding higher and more complex and coordinated forms of novelty. [...
The Myth of Broad Naturalism: The Case of Owen Flanagan
Get PDFIn The Really Hard Problem, Owen Flanagan seeks to explain how we can live meaningfully in a material world despite naturalism’s supposed scientific reductionism, which more often engenders disenchantment with reality than the “joyful optimism” he believes ought to be produced by the naturalist position. In this paper I argue that Flanagan’s theory of subjective realism, as well as his faulty identification of consciousness with neurological states, fails to overcome the criticisms he and others have pinned against scientific reductionism, and thus he fails to ever go beyond it. While Flanagan’s intentions to make a case for ethical and political normativity are good, his bridging of the chasm between the empirical and the normative is too weak to be a groundwork for our talk of a “meaningful life” as we actually think of it