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Accountable Gerrymandering: Why Redistricting Commissions and Special Masters Violate the Guarantee Clause
Full text linkShielding Clients’ Secrets: The Need for a Rigorous Data Security Standard in the Law Practice
Full text linkThe Women’s Emancipation Struggle in Senegal during the 1980s and 1990s: The Case of the “Yewwu-Yewwi” Movement
Full text linkSenegalese women’s socio-cultural and economic status has always been shaped by local customs, religion, and gender structures. During the colonial period, against the backdrop of the opportunity to have a Western education, economic changes and extremely rapid urbanization encouraged Senegalese women to join the political arena in supporting various male political leaders. This trend continued during the post-colonial period, leading to the election of female parliamentarians and women holding high governmental positions in the 1960s and 1970s. The 1980s saw the creation of more vocal and visible women’s organizations such as the Yewwu-Yewwi “Pour la Liberation des Femmes” movement of women, as the country was facing the rapid growth of Islamic fundamentalism and sexism in urban areas. These women decided to fight for the protection of women’s rights such as equality in heritage, the right to land and education, and protection of married women’s rights. However, the Yewwu-Yewwi movement disappeared in the early 1990s. Was the movement not able to mobilize Senegalese women in general because it used a women’s emancipation discourse embedded in a Western paradigm, or were the anti-women’s-emancipation groups, mostly male traditionalists and fundamentalist Islamic groups, too powerful to challenge in Senegal during the 1980s and early 1990s
Transformation of Artisanal Small-Scale Mining (ASM) in Ghana: From Pre-Colonial to the Modern Era
Full text linkLiterature abounds on the nature and impact of gold mining activities in Ghana, but limited efforts have so far been directed at exploring a concise historical account of the transformation of artisanal small-scale gold mining in Ghana from the pre-colonial era to the present. Against this background, this article traces the history of gold mining policies and regulations that have brought about the transformation of the artisanal small-scale mining sector in Ghana. Drawing on archival documents, interviews, newspaper reports, and a review of secondary materials, this study reveals that, unlike the situation in the pre-colonial era, artisanal mining from the late 1980s has been a threat to national safety and security. This problem has been exacerbated by the corrupt activities of individuals within Ghanaian society. This study argues that the limited capacity of government, along with a long-standing trend of bad implementation of the country’s small-scale mining policies, have contributed to the magnitude of the problem
SARS and the Nigerian Youth: Odors from a Decaying System
Full text linkNigeria is home to a thriving contradiction. Here is a country that celebrates its aspirations to greatness—economic success, food security, accountable governance, territorial integrity, internal security, and improved living standards—sabotaging its young and vibrant population. A pseudo-welfarist democracy, Nigeria\u27s young vibrant \u27human capital\u27—the potentially productive portion of its population—must contend with gross insufficiencies, maladministration, corruption, and intimidation in state-owned and administered facilities. In public infrastructure—stable electricity, good roads, and clean drinking water—and public institutions—schools, hospitals, government agencies, and the security outfits—lies a deep and spreading rot; an insufficiency, inefficiency, and inconsistency that constantly mocks any such aspirations to lofty heights. Hence it is reticent euphemism when it is suggested that the odds are stacked high against the Nigerian youth, especially when we add limited employment opportunities to the possibility of being randomly picked-up, harassed, robbed, maimed, or killed by \u27rogue\u27 agents of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), the branch of the Nigeria Police (NP) allegedly set up to check the rampant robbery incidents through discrete operations
Examining Gender and Race/Ethnicity Differences in Self-Esteem: A Birth Cohort Analysis Spanning 46 Years
Full text linkSelf-esteem refers to the overall evaluation–positive or negative–that people have about themselves. Researchers have reported self-esteem to be increasing generationally among the general population. The purpose of the proposed study was to examine the association between race, gender, and self-esteem, to test whether levels of self-esteem vary based on one’s identity. Data from the University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future study was analyzed to test for race and gender differences in self-esteem across generational cohorts. The Monitoring the Future Study questionnaire includes elements of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Over 120,000 responses were collected from 12th graders between 1976 and 2022. Results showed that White females have the lowest self-esteem across all decades, while Not White females, Not White males, and White males have shifting self-esteem across the decades. The findings of the present study have crucial implications for understanding the role that race and gender have on average self-esteem. It is important to understand the factors that may influence self-esteem generationally so that psychologists, educators, and health care professionals can effectively adjust their practices for each gender and race
Discovery of Novel Mechanisms During the Biodegradation of Polymer Coatings by an Environmental Strain of Aureobasidium
No full textTo create novel sustainable and biodegradation resistant coating formulations that do not include toxic additives to humans and/or the environment, the mechanistic complexity of the biodegradation process has to be simplified into general categories and knowledge gaps. This approach will identify where active biodegradation stops by microorganisms and where purely chemical hydrolysis and degradation begins. The specific research focus of my project is on the essential role of water and secreted hydrolytic proteins play in the movement and activity of polymer degrading fungi. The result of this focus could ultimately identify if degradation may be attributed to thermodynamic potentials of the organism, polymer coating, or both the microorganisms and polymer coating. My project will focus on a strain of yeast (Aureobasidium melanogenum W12) isolated and identified from degraded polymer coatings inside of Air Force cargo aircraft. I will determine the culture conditions that stimulate the release of hydrolytic proteins from A. sp. W12 and then use defined polymer coatings and techniques to understand how these proteins are affecting the degradation of polyester polyurethane coating over time as biofilms or facilitate the condensation of water on the surface below the relative dew point during the degradation of the coating. The result of my summer project should be the first identification and key hydrolytic enzymes and mechanisms used by A. sp. W12 in the degradation of polyester polyurethane coatings
Gender in Math: The Short and Long Term Effects of Bias in the Math Classroom
Full text linkThere are many different narratives that are thrown around regarding math with little ill intent but with little regard to the serious impacts that the phrases can have. The one that will be focused on in this project is the idea that “math is a male subject” or that men are inherently better at math than women. This project will attempt to draw a connection between the narratives and the fact that there is a significant lack of women in STEM fields or pursuing higher level math. By reaching out to both students and teachers, the goal is to learn about the ways that people have experienced the effect of these narratives in the classroom. In addition, it is to see the difference in the ways that people of different genders understand math and its purpose in the world. The other purpose of this project is to take the findings from the survey and pair that with research on creating an equal and ethical classroom environment in order to propose solutions to these issues. By giving teachers a way to get ahead of these narratives, they can help make sure that all genders are given equal chances to learn and understand and later pursue math. This way the connection between the narratives and the classroom environment can be exploited to help equal out the gender representation in higher education math classes
Building Bridges to Math Success: Exploring Children’s Flexible Attention to Numerical and Spatial Magnitudes
Full text linkThe study analyzes how children in early childhood engage with number books and how they influence mathematical abilities such as flexible attention to magnitudes (FAM) and executive functioning. It was hypothesized that the number of books consisting of mathematical language will lead to an increase in math ability. It was also suggested that number books will engage children using mathematical language and real-world settings. 80 participants between the ages of three and five years old recruited from daycare centers and preschools in the Dayton and Bloomington area will complete 6 one-on-one sessions with an experimenter in their school.
The pretest consisted of the following assessments: Woodcock-Johnson IV Tests of Early Cognitive and Academic Development, Give-N, and FAM task. The intervention involved participants, who were randomly assigned to one of two conditions, completing 4 reading sessions with an experimenter. The mixed condition involved number books with questions about size and number language, while the control condition had questions about special colors. Each condition had a farm and restaurant setting. ANCOVA analysis found there was not a statistical significance between FAM ability and the condition. Therefore, an exploratory analysis was completed suggesting that participants who have high language ability will more likely have high book accuracy and be more engaged during the book interventions