361 research outputs found
“Trafficking for a Cause”: Cuban Drug Trafficking Operations as a Foreign Policy
No full textThis paper aims to examine how effective Cuba’s national security services were in working with drug traffickers to obtain their national goals, how exactly the Cuban government was involved and when these drug operations began, as well as the level of culpability on the part of the Castro brothers and legal veracity of the drug trials. Given the extreme lack of academic study into Cuban intelligence and their potential involvement in the drug trade, this research (utilizing interviews with persons who have direct involvement and insight, analyzing declassified files and memorandums) is highly instrumental in determining how effective Cuba has been in making effective foreign policy in addition to offering insights into how Cuba’s military and intelligence agencies have performed covert action operations.Winner of the 2021 Friends of the Kreitzberg Library Award for Outstanding Research in the College of Graduate and Continuing Studies Graduate category
The law and practice of municipal land assembly: fifty years of urban redevelopment and community opposition in Newark, New Jersey
No full textUrban redevelopment involves the renovation of deteriorating city areas through the rehabilitation or replacement of dilapidated buildings and underutilized parcels with new land uses to meet specific economic goals. Municipalities may invoke eminent domain to facilitate land acquisition for redevelopment. However, eminent domain is only one land assembly tool among other processes and strategies - including blight investigation and designation - that municipalities use to assemble land for redevelopment. This dissertation addresses large scale processes and broader issues that impact how municipalities make land available for redevelopment through formal and informal land assembly processes. It is based on larger questions centering on what land assembly and blight determination strategies municipalities use in their redevelopment efforts, how eminent domain factors into such processes, and how regulations and case law influence municipal redevelopment processes. Using a three-pronged qualitative methodology based on semi-structured interviews, archival analysis, and site visits, I conducted case studies of four urban redevelopment projects (two in one neighborhood) in Newark, New Jersey spanning a fifty-year period and revealing several overarching themes. I found that land assembly processes and strategies have been aimed at maintaining municipal control over the redevelopment process. City officials have considered Newark a city for sale in which land is a transferrable, deliverable commodity. The need to chase funding streams has heavily influenced redevelopment efforts. Private sector involvement in Newark’s earlier urban renewal efforts challenges the conventional view that privatization did not emerge in redevelopment until the neoliberalism of the 1970s. After devolution, as private sector initiatives became increasingly important to Newark’s redevelopment efforts, the focus of blight designation shifted from deteriorated outlying neighborhoods to potentially blighted areas downtown where private investment was less risky. Site targeting and land delivery have often preceded blight designation by many months: blight declaration has tended to be a formality. Grass roots opposition has profoundly impacted redevelopment efforts. Finally, much Newark’s land assembly process has centered on formal and informal meetings and agreements between public and private actors who target specific sites, suggesting that the public and the media have overemphasized the role of eminent domain in redevelopment efforts.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Alan Drew Cande
HISTORY, ORGANIZATION AND STRATEGIES FOR GRAIN PRODUCERS AND THE GRAIN INDUSTRY IN MICHIGAN
Full text linkThe grain system (grain producers and the grain industry) in Michigan finds itself in a transition period. Production (yield) and price limitations along with escalating cost factors have left producers in a situation where, without government assistance, many more would have to exit the farm. The grain industry (in this study, the industry refers to the grain handlers and processors), while in a stronger financial situation than producers, would suffer negatively if volume of grains bought and sold through their facilities decreased, and more in the industry would have to exit. A transition is needed to increase profitability of grain producers and the grain handlers and processors in Michigan. Without a transition, the trend of decreasing farms and acres will continue, to the detriment of the Michigan grain system. But how does the system make a transition, and what kind of transition is needed? This study strives to find the strategies, through understanding the history and organization of the system, that will provide direction. This study uses two analytical approaches to understand the grain system from the producer level and the industry level. By comparing the Industrial Organization approach and the Strategic Management approach, a clearer understanding of the problems should be ascertained. That understanding, with a background of the history of the grain system development in Michigan allows a thorough discussion of the possible solutions that can help both producers and grain handlers and processors be more profitable and continue to be an important economic factor in the state. The findings of the study indicate that there are several partial solutions to the problems, depending on the region of the state, the attitude of producers and companies within the industry, and the markets themselves. The situation can be improved by differentiating, coordinating, cooperating and adjusting processes in those areas that can successfully be addressed and changed by individual producers and each firm. Further research could overcome constraints of this study to find alternative and successful adaptations for the system.Crop Production/Industries,
An analysis of DoD Inspector General's statistical sampling plan for Navy repairable item procurements
Full text linkA recent audit by the Department of Defense Inspector General (DODIG) of Navy inventory control points found a high value of purchase requests for repairable items that the auditors labeled as unnecessary or excessive. The dollar figures reported were based on the auditors' use of stratified sampling. This thesis examined the auditors' use of stratified sampling by attempting to replicate the auditors' process of stratifying and sampling. The author then attempted to verf the auditors' claimed confidence level and precision of the final result. This study questions the chosen sample size and sample stratification. In addition, this thesis found that the auditors' actual precision was not as tight as stated in the DODIG audit report. This was caused by the auditors' emphasis on the very high dollar value strata which had only a few purchase requests rather than on the stratum with the largest number of purchase requests. It was this latter stratum which had the highest projected number and total dollar value of excesses.Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.U.S. Navy (USN) authorhttp://archive.org/details/annalysisofdodin109454288
Food security and health security : explaining the levels of nutrition in Pakistan
Full text linkMost influential studies of malnutrition and public policy have focused on energy availability and consumption, tending to equate hunger with malnutrition. But recent studies have explored how other factors - notably infection and levels of maternal education - affect nutrition. Alderman and Garcia's study of nutrition levels in Pakistan shows that raising household food consumption, for example, has less impact on nutritional levels than raising a mother's education does. They found that educating mothers to at least the primary level tends to reduce the level of child stunting 16.5 percent, or roughly 10 times the impact achieved by increasing per capita income 10 percent. (The impact of education is not immediately realized; the diffusion of knowledge about good hygiene and child care associated with learning has a cumulative effect.) Alderman and Garcia found that in Pakistan, food security alone is not enough to improve children's nutritional status. There may be welfare justifications for various food policies, but in rural Pakistan, especially, it is equally important to improve health and reduce infection.Health Economics&Finance,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Early Child and Children's Health,Environmental Economics&Policies,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems
GOTH. Kandak, CROAT. Skorsur, OLD POL. Bagakard, OLD RUSS. *Валгасъ and their alanian prototypes
No full text(en) The paper deals with the etymological interpretation of presumably Alanian personal names, mentioned in works of ancient historians and ancient legal documents. Earlier these anthroponyms either did not become visible to other researchers (Croat. Skorsur, Old Russ. *Валгасъ) or got another explanation in specialized literature (Goth. Kandak, Old Pol. Bagakard). Results of etymological analysis enable the author to reconstruct Alanian prototypes for four anthroponyms: Gothic Candac (in Jordan) = Alan. *Kand-ak ʻyoung manʼ < Proto-Iran. *kanta-ka-, which correlates with *kantī-ka- ʻgirl, little girlʼ; Croat. Skorsur = Alan. *skarrasur[a] ʻthe one who chase beast, preyʼ, ʻchaserʼ; Old. Pol. Bagakard = Alan. *Kard[a]-baγ < Proto-Iran. *Kṛta-baga- ʻcreated by godʼ along withinverted West. Iran. *Baga-kṛta-; Old Russ.. *Валгасъ = Alan. *wal[i]-gas, cf. Osset. wælygæs, wæligæs ‘herdboy tending lambs’.
Etymological analysis is closely linked to formulation and developing of the questions of ethnic history and particularly the question of infiltration Alanian tribes in Pannonia and (at a later period) into the territory of Lithuania as part of Tatarian faction in service to the Lithuanian Duke Gediminas
Poetics of the same: a philosophical poetic recourse into sameness
No full textPhDThis study endeavours to investigate the philosophical and poetological
dimensions, the philological origins, and significant philosophical-literary
representations of the Same. It also assesses sameness as a philosophical and
poetological modus operandi; that is to say, it analyzes the ways in which the
Same operates in different types of discourses both as an object of investigation
and as an agent of (poetic) thought. The concept of the Same or the operation of
sameness as the philosophical question par excellence will be considered in the
development of Continental philosophy and philosophical poetics from classical
antiquity to Postmodernism, and its transposition into poetry.
The elaboration of the issue of sameness encompasses any philosophical
inquiry which seeks to establish the essence of Being and make it susceptible to a
general, unifying principle: as a search for an underlying element; for a
metaphysical unity or universal, preceding division or difference and amounting
to the harmony in the Universe; or for a transcendental absolute totality.
Postulations of the pure conceptual difference are likewise examined as part of the
elaboration of sameness, and will be viewed as indispensable for revealing the
genuine plenitude of sameness.
Part One traces the inception of sameness as a concept of pure identity,
amounting to the harmony of the Universe by virtue of the operations of
belonging (Presocratics), participation (Plato), and emanation (Plotinus), anchored
in the relationships between the One and the many, between the Whole and its
parts, between the Original and the copy. Part Two inquires into the limits of
postulating sameness in terms of pure identity and points to two possible solutions
to this problem: a philosophical-aesthetic digression from sameness (Kant and
related aesthetic theories of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries) and the
return to sameness as an absolute totality in Part Three (Schelling and Hegel).
Part Four investigates the re-postulation of sameness as pure Difference
(Nietzsche, Heidegger, Derrida), hence the entire re-organization of thought in
terms of the other. Part Five analyzes the transposition of sameness from
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philosophy into the poetic language of repetition, using Rilke’s Sonnets to
Orpheus as its prime poetic example.
It will be argued that the philosophical displacement of the Same from a
concept of identity into that of difference does not amount to an abandonment of
its plenitude, but rather points to the need for a precarious balance between
sameness and difference, the simultaneous quest for unity and the absolute
singularity of the other. This balance, it will be argued, must be sought for in
every genuine creation
Purification and characterization of the hydroxylaminobenzoate lyase from pseudomonas pickettii YH105, cloned in escherichia coli
No full textThe hydroxylaminolyase enzyme of Pseudomonas pickettii YH105 (now Ralstonia pickettii) removed the hydroxylamino group from p-hydroxylaminobenzoate with the concomitant formation of protocatechuate. In prior work, Brian A. Koller transferred the YH105 gene coding for hydroxyaminolyase into Escherichia coli now identified as BAK100. Although transferred, the hydroxyaminolyase enzyme was not characterized with respect to protein size and activity.
Utilizing samples of BAK100, the bacteria was grown on Luria-Bertani broth, induced with isopropyl β-D-1-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG), separated by centrifugation, washed and weighed. After suspension in morpholinopropane sulfonic acid (MOPS) buffer, the enzyme was released from the crude cells by processing through a French press. Following centrifugation to remove non-target cell fragments, protamine sulfate treatment was used to remove RNA. The resulting solution was concentrated and non-target protein removed utilizing ammonium sulfate treatment prior to gradient DEAE and Sepharose 6L-6B gel filtration. Other purification techniques evaluated and discarded included dialysis, hydroxylapatite treatment, polyethylene glycol precipitation, and pH precipitation. Overall, the protein was purified relative to the crude cell extract, increasing by a factor of 2.7. The purification steps resulted in a substantial loss of activity. The overall yield was only 5%.
Several SDS electrophoresis gels all showed multiple prominent bands preventing the determination of enzyme size. Kinetic studies utilizing HPLC to quantifying protocatechuate formation provided a Km of 0.079 mM and Vmax of 0.16 µmol/min·mg for protamine sulfate treated crude cell extract.
Substrates other than p-hydroxylaminobenzoate were tested to evaluate enzyme specificity including m-hydroxylaminobenzoate, 3-methyl-4-hydroxylaminobenzoate and
p-hydroxylamino phenyl acetic acid. Only 3-methyl-4-hydroxylaminobenzoate showed slight conversion, suggesting a high level of enzyme specificity.M.S.Includes bibliographical references (p. 33-34)
Revolutionary education: Cuban Americans' perceptions of literacy education
No full textThis dissertation investigated the effectiveness of literacy education in the post-revolution Cuban Education System, and in particular, how Cuba has maintained exceptional literacy rates since 1961. These results are surprising because for many years Cuba had maintained literacy rates despite the obstacle of abject poverty. Previous research has shown that low levels of literacy are correlated with low socioeconomic status (Berliner, 2013; Fernald, Marchman, & Weisleder, 2013; Green, 1997; Lareau, 2003; and Ripley, 2013). Cuba’s literacy rates from 1961 to present have surpassed those of the world’s most powerful countries, including the United States. This dissertation was motivated by three goals: (1) to understand the role of each player in the multi-level Cuban education system which oversees successful literacy; (2) to understand the goals and functions of Cuban literacy education; and (3) to understand what (if any) best practices can be applied to the United States educational system. This results of this study showed that although Cuba did maintain a successful program for many years after the Cuban Revolution, the participants of this study detailed an education system that was crumbling as they were students and have since worsened.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesIncludes vit
Wood microsites at timberline-alpine meadow borders: implications for conifer seedling regeneration and alpine meadow conifer invasion
No full textThe importance of climate warming on forests is recognized worldwide and has increased attention on the significance of both timberline advance and alpine meadow invasion by forests. Successful seedling regeneration in alpine meadows depends on availability of suitable substrates, or microsites, for seedling establishment. We sought to determine whether wood microsites (i.e., nurse logs), which are regeneration sites in Pacific Northwest subalpine forests, promoted regeneration at timberline-alpine meadow borders. To determine the ecological role of wood microsites, we examined mechanisms forming wood microsites; compared density, survival, and percent nitrogen content of seedlings growing on wood microsites to adjacent soil substrates; and compared substrate moisture, temperature, and percent nitrogen content. Wood microsites, at 13 of 14 randomly selected sites, were characterized by highly decayed downed wood (> 75% decay class five) originating from tree fall (66%), snow avalanches (17%), forest fires (15%), and by human cutting (2%). Although no differences in percent nitrogen content were detected, greater seedling densities, greater seedling survival, higher temperatures, and higher moisture contents were found on wood microsites compared to adjacent soil. We suggest that greater seedling density and seedling survival on wood microsites was associated with factors including heightened moisture and increased temperature. Assuming sustained downed wood input from timberline trees and continued viable seed input, we expect wood microsites will facilitate accelerated alpine meadow conifer invasion via wood microsites associated with climate warming.Field operations were facilitated by Regina Rochefort, Science Advisor, North Cascades Park Complex. Field work assistance was provided by Wilhelmina Bradley, Elizabeth MacWhinney, Stephanie Engelbrecht, Kate Freund, Michael Liang, Mignone Biven, and Aubrey Hekkers. Michael Hekkers and Kristina Thorneycroft created the maps. John Chase, USDA Forest Service, conducted GIS work integral to creation of a random set of field sites. Laboratory work was supported, in part, by use of equipment from the University of Alaska Southeast and USDA Forest Service, PNW Research Station, Forestry Sciences Laboratory in Juneau, Alaska. Heather Erickson, Jason Fellman, Rick Edwards, Michael Hekkers, Dave D'Amore, and Paul Hennon increased the clarity of the manuscript through discussions and helpful comments. Statistics advice and review was provided by Ashley Steel and Pat Cunningham, PNW Research Station. Anonymous reviewers from the Northwest Science Journal increased scope and rationale of the study through both careful editing and by advocating a major reorganization of the manuscript. The use of trade names in this paper is for the information and convenience of the reader and does not constitute endorsement by the USDA.https://bioone.org/journals/northwest-science/volume-87/issue-2/046.087.0206/Wood-Microsites-at-Timberline-Alpine-Meadow-Borders--Implications-for/10.3955/046.087.0206.shor
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