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Religion and Immigrant Outreach Work
No full textReligion and immigration policy are inherently tied together in the modern social and political world. Religion provides a moral basis and justification for both anti-immigration and pro-immigration groups, the extent to which that justification is utilized and grounded in belief depends on a variety of factors. This research project aims to understand the connection between religious upbringings, religious participation, and an individual’s participation in faith-based immigrant outreach organizations. This project will first address the existing research, beginning with how religion can shape an individual’s view on immigration and immigrants and ending with how faith influences and impacts both outreach organizations themselves and the individuals who participate in them. The next section will concern itself with a brief overview of three academic theories that can help explain the results. Additional data, taken from interviews conducted with three current participants in immigrant outreach work, will then be analyzed both by comparing it to the existing research as well as analyzing it through the lens of the previously mentioned theories. This project then concludes by addressing the main themes covered in the research, as well as how it could be expanded upon in the future
Possible Redox Roles for Non-Active Site Cysteines in Yeast Mitochondrial Thioredoxin Trx3
No full textTrade, Aid, and Dependency: The Impact of U.S. Bilateral Food Aid on Trade and Welfare in Mexico
No full textThis Senior Independent Study examines the impact of U.S. bilateral food aid, particularly through Public Law 480 (PL480), on Mexico’s trade structure, agricultural sector, and economic dependency between 1991 and 2024. While U.S. food aid programs have historically been framed as humanitarian efforts, this research argues that they have functioned as realpolitik, tools that have reinforced structural trade imbalances. By analyzing trade policies, economic theory, and econometric data, this study reveals how food aid has systematically weakened Mexico’s terms of trade, increasing reliance on subsidized U.S. imports, and shaped long-term dependency on American trade policies. The senior research integrates dependency theory and the Heckscher-Ohlin model to contextualize Mexico’s economic subordination and provides empirical evidence demonstrating how PL480 disrupted comparative advantage, altered labor productivity, and reinforced asymmetric trade relations. Collectively, this research highlights the geopolitical function of U.S. food aid and its role in maintaining Mexico’s position as a subordinate trade partner, challenging conventional narratives that depict aid neutral tool of economic development
Evaluating The Interactive Effects Of Elevated pH And Hypoxia On Growth Of The Diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana: Implications For Harmful Algal Blooms In The Laurentian Great Lakes
No full textIn the Laurentian Great Lakes, eutrophication, characterized by excessive nutrient inputs from fertilizer runoff, is a major issue. Harmful algal blooms (HABs) which result from eutrophication pose significant ecological and economic threats to aquatic ecosystems. Hypoxia (i.e., dissolved oxygen \u3c 2.0 mg O2 L⁻¹) and elevated pH are adverse environmental conditions which commonly occur in ecosystems facing HABs, however their combined effects on phytoplankton growth are still not well understood. One group of phytoplankton species affected by HABs are diatoms, a critically important type of algae which produce around 40% of Earth’s breathable oxygen. The aim of this study is to investigate the synergistic effects of hypoxia and elevated pH on the growth of Thalassiosira pseudonana, a model diatom species. A laboratory study was conducted to determine differences in cell density, cell size, and specific growth rates between varying pH and dissolved oxygen conditions.
Results demonstrated that pH alone and hypoxia alone both significantly decreased cell density over time, with differences appearing after about 10 days. Additionally, after 10 days, there was a significant interaction between elevated pH and hypoxia. There were no significant interactive or main effects on cell size. The results also indicated that hypoxia alone significantly lowered specific growth rate, and that elevated pH and hypoxia had a significant interactive effect. A major implication of these results is that previous literature, which only tested the effect of a single factor, likely understated the true impact that HABs have on diatom populations. Given the growing frequency and intensity of Great Lakes HABs as well as the importance of diatoms to freshwater ecosystems, my results could be used to develop more accurate nutrient loading targets that account for impacts to diatoms
I Need a Hero: Exploring the Impact of Crisis on Leadership Traits
No full textNumerous studies examining political leadership assume that leadership traits remain static throughout one’s occupation in office. This study aims to reject leadership trait stability by investigating trait changes under crisis. Using Leadership Trait Analysis methodology, this study investigates the shifts in leadership traits before, during, and after crises. The research question asks do political leaders’ traits change under crisis? The study predicts that conceptual complexity, ability to control events, need for power, and in-group bias remain the same before and after crisis but increase during crisis. Four presidents (Kennedy, Obama, Roosevelt, and Bush) are investigated to test the hypothesis, with two examined before and after crisis and two examined before and during crisis. The results indicate that most leadership traits remained stable throughout crises, with some random shifts. However, three out of four presidents experienced an upwards shift in distrust of others. This research signifies that leaders could remain stable despite the context of decision-making under crisis while distrust of others increases as a result of extreme stakes, causing stress and therefore increasing distrust of others
U.S. Strategy Shift in Response to Rising Powers in Africa: A Realpolitik and Neorealism Perspective: Is the Economic and Military Engagement of the U.S. in Niger and C.A.R. Influenced by the Competition from Russia and China?
No full textThis Independent Study examines how Russian and Chinese investments, military cooperation, and diplomatic initiatives influence United States strategic calculations in Africa. Niger and the Central African Republic (CAR) were selected as case studies due to their distinct profiles—Niger for its economic significance and CAR for its military strategic importance amid ongoing internal conflict.
Drawing on qualitative data from government documents, policy statements, and expert interviews, this research investigates the complex dynamics of geopolitical competition as manifested in African geopolitical landscapes. Grounded in realist theory and realpolitik principles, which emphasize states\u27 pursuit of power and national interests in an anarchic international system, I hypothesize that increased Russian and Chinese engagement in these nations corresponds with decreased U.S. involvement.
Through comparative case studies, interviews with regional experts, and comprehensive analysis of diplomatic, military, and economic interactions, the findings substantiate the hypothesis. The research demonstrates that as Russian private military contractors established a foothold in CAR and Chinese economic investment intensified in Niger, U.S. diplomatic and development initiatives in these regions diminished proportionally, revealing a pattern of strategic recalibration.
The findings support realist theory, showing how states adjust to shifting dynamics to protect national interests. For example, U.S. retrenchment reflects power-balancing behavior. Realpolitik underscores the pragmatic nature of these strategies, while the dependency theory highlights structural economic disadvantages shaping African states’ foreign relations. Together, these frameworks reveal the need for evolved theoretical approaches better to capture the complexities of contemporary global engagement in Africa
Commercial Contract Clause Analysis Using BERTopic Dynamic Topic Modeling
No full textThe increasing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in legal document analysis presents opportunities for improved contract interpretation and study. This research explores the use of BERTopic Dynamic Topic Modeling to analyze commercial contract clauses, identifying evolving trends in legal language and contractual structures. Using the Contract Understanding Atticus Dataset (CUAD), this research examines common contract clauses such as governing law, audit rights, and liability caps to uncover patterns across different industries, time periods, clause types, and jurisdictions. Using transformer-based embeddings, clustering techniques, and topic modeling, this research provides information on legal language shifts, the role of AI in contract review, and potential implications for legal practitioners and businesses. The findings demonstrate the ability of AI to improve contract analysis while highlighting key challenges in interpretability and legal transparency. This research contributes to the growing field of AI-driven legal analytics and suggests avenues for future research on automated contract evaluation
Non-Egyptian Egypt: Uses of Egyptian Imagery in Non-Egyptian Contexts
No full textThis research, in the Classical Studies department, aims to examine the imagery of ancient Egypt and Egyptian emulation in external contexts. Egyptomania in the imperial period of Rome and the early twentieth century act as the time period examples within this work, while imagery of Cleopatra VII and scarabs act as examples not bound by time. This research is conducted through formal analysis of imagery and historical contexts. A series of secondary sources bolster the claims made within this work, including Cleopatra and Rome by Diana E.E. Kleiner, Egypt in Italy: Visions of Egypt in Roman Imperial Culture by Molly Swetnam-Burland, and Egyptomania: A history of fascination, obsession and fantasy by Ronald H. Fritze. Over the course of this research it is concluded that imagery and emulation of ancient Egypt is utilized as a vessel with which to carry new contemporary meanings
Evaluating the crosstalk of Amyloid-β Oligomers, Glutamate and Neurofibrillary Tangles in Alzheimer’s Disease using a Boolean Model
No full textImmunological Transcriptional Regulation Under Hypoxia: A Focus on the NF-κB family
No full textHypoxia is classified as a condition in which a body tissue lacks oxygen. A hypoxic microenvironment naturally occurs within the body, causing the stabilization of transcription factor hypoxia-inducible factor one subunit alpha (HIF-1⍺). Recent studies have shown that HIF 1⍺ stability leads to differential signaling in cells. This is of particular interest in the immune system, which contains cells that travel the whole of the body and must be able to adapt and thrive in every microenvironment. The present study analyzed HIF-1⍺ and hypoxia’s role in differential genetic expression of NF-κB target genes. To examine the difference between HIF-1⍺ stability and hypoxic conditions, cells had the NF-κB pathway activated using PMA and Ionomycin. Cells were then treated for 0h, 1h or 4h, with a HIF-1⍺ stabilizer cobalt chloride (CoCl2) or grown in 5% physiological oxygen. Genetic expression of 22 genes was split into 5 categories: metabolic, inflammatory/cytokine producing, NF-κB inhibiting, cell survival/apoptotic and miscellaneous. These genes were examined using RT-qPCR. Comparison between the treatments suggested that HIF-1⍺ stability alone can differ genetic expression compared to cells under hypoxic stress. Furthermore, genes involving metabolism and inflammation saw upregulation when grown in 5% O2 compared to cells treated with CoCl2 which saw downregulation. Apoptotic genes were found to be downregulated in both cells treated with CoCl2 and those grown in 5% O2. NF-κB inhibiting and cell survival genes saw no change in regulation. These results suggest that hypoxic environments impact genetic expression and that HIF-1⍺ stability is not the only factor impacting genetic expression