8 research outputs found
Traumatic Natures of the Swamp: Concepts of Nature in the Romanian Danube Delta
No full textThis paper focuses on local constructions of 'nature' in governance processes, and the importance of historical and institutional contexts for their genesis and functioning. Through extensive field study in the Romanian Danube Delta, it is demonstrated that the origin and distribution of certain concepts can be credited to a history of conflicts over land and resource use. Considering the implications for participatory natural resource governance, we argue that this capacity of the governance context to produce and transform concepts of nature, poses real challenges. To these challenges can be added legacies of disempowerment and marginalisation, evident in local inhabitants' images and concepts of nature, which we seek to understand by developing a theory of traumatic natur
Forgetting and remembering in the margins: Constructing past and future in the Romanian Danube Delta
No full textThis article investigates the process of social forgetting by relating it to the disintegration of social and spatial networks. Looking at the case of Sulina, a small town on the eastern edge of the Romanian Danube Delta, we analyze how the unraveling of networks caused a process of social forgetting with margin-specific features, a fundamental restructuring of social memory and social identities. An important focus of our investigation is the connection between social memory and spatial planning, as a coordinated effort to look forwards. While forgetting as such is seen as a positive process, constitutive of memory, its local characteristics can create problems, for example, for cooperation and planning. Theoretically, this article adopts a systems theoretical framework, incorporating notions derived from anthropology and geography. Social memory is defined as a continuous process of selection, carried out in various specialized subsystems. Concepts of social identity and network are found to be essential in a localized analysis of social memory. Concluding, we argue that local characteristics of social memory can impede the articulation of viable spatial planning strategies.status: Publishe
Forgetting and remembering in the margins: Constructing past and future in the Romanian Danube Delta
No full textCircumscribing Locals:Transformations of Knowledge/Power and the Governance of the Danube Delta
No full textDelineating locals: Transformations of knowledge/power and the governance of the Danube delta
No full textIn this paper, we adopt a Foucauldian perspective on power/knowledge interactions to investigate the evolution and implementation of policy for the Romanian Danube delta. We argue that a better understanding of the potential for citizen participation in environmental governance can be obtained from a careful analysis of the pathways of emergence, enactment and implementation of policies affecting an area. Policies are seen as temporary conceptual structures coordinating knowledge and power, in constant transmutation because of the confrontation with other power/knowledge configurations. For the Danube delta, it is argued that policies originating at various levels of government co-create a 'local' that is scrutinized, silenced, exoticized, subjugated and marginalized. Finally, we investigate the implications of this and similar processes of delineation of actors for participatory natural resource governanc
Crossing trails in the marshes: rigidity and flexibility in the governance of the Danube Delta
No full textContains fulltext :
95186pub.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access)
Contains fulltext :
95186-a.pdf (author's version ) (Open Access)In this paper, we revisit the utility of the concepts of path dependence and interdependence for the analysis of participatory environmental governance. We investigate the evolution of environmental governance in the Romanian Danube Delta, and, starting from an observation of problematic citizen participation, demonstrate how specific patterns of path and interdependence shaped both the present situation and the reform options. For the Delta, it is argued that direct citizen participation, without working with other institutions, would not solve the problems observed, but would rather reinforce unwanted informal institutions. Theoretically, we utilise a combination of path dependence theory and social systems theory, allowing a grasp of both rigidity and flexibility in the evolution of governance systems. Empirically, expert and lay interviews, long-term observation and analysis of policy documents underpin our analysis.21 september 201
Nanoparticle/biopolymer-based coatings for functionalization of textiles: recent developments (a minireview)
No full text[EN] This minireview presents recent developments in surface nano-structured textiles and their biomedical applications by up-to-date achievements, summarizing the coatings made of biopolymer films and nanoparticles on different textile substrates for enhanced medical applications, diminishing the incidence of the multiple range of hospital-acquired infections in the past 10 years. The combination of metal and metal oxide nanoparticles with biopolymers is an efficient technique to generate enhanced antibacterial, virucidal and antifungal properties to textiles. Only a few review articles offer a comprehensive insight into the surface tailoring of textiles by nanoparticles-biopolymers use as an alternative for surface modification of textiles, granting them biocidal performance. The overview points out the compelling reasons for scientists and experts to enhance the already existing results in the biomedical textiles domain, with an emphasis on antimicrobial responsivity, highlighting: (a) the benefit of the simultaneous nanoparticles-biopolymers deposition on textiles by various deposition techniques, meaning the wash fastness of the antibacterial attributes and the biocompatibility of the material in comparison with only nanoparticle coating; (b) the use of biopolymers to stabilize colloidal dispersions of nanoparticles, granting the nanoparticles functionalities for covalent immobilization on textiles with long-lasting antibacterial effect; (c) the most usual metal and metal oxide nanoparticles and biopolymers for antibacterial textile applications.The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The project was financed by Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu and Hasso Plattner Foundation research grants LBUS-IRG-2021-07.Vrinceanu, N.; Bucur, S.; Rimbu, CM.; Neculai-Valeanu, S.; Ferrándiz Bou, S.; Suchea, MP. (2022). Nanoparticle/biopolymer-based coatings for functionalization of textiles: recent developments (a minireview). Textile Research Journal. 92(19-20):3889-3902. https://doi.org/10.1177/00405175211070613S388939029219-2
University News - Volume 097, Issue 011 (March 8, 2018)
No full text24 pages.Vol. XCVII No. 11 A student voice of Saint Louis University since 1921 March 8, 2018
2 March 8, 2018 News
Ever since their appearance in 2004,
electronic cigarettes have found success by
cornering the market as the safer alterna-tive
to their traditional counterparts. The
assumption has long been that e-cigarettes
are harmless because they contain no to-bacco
and involve no combustion.
However, a new study published by
the Environmental Health Perspectives
journal last month seems to indicate oth-erwise.
The findings of the study indicate
that e-cigarettes could be potentially dan-gerous
sources of exposure to toxic met-als
like chromium, nickel, and lead and to
metals that are toxic when inhaled, such as
manganese and zinc.
The study, which was conducted by a
team of scientists from the Johns Hopkins
Bloomberg School of Public Health in
Baltimore, Maryland, showed that e-ciga-rettes
generate an aerosol by heating a so-lution
with a metallic coil. The purpose of
the investigation was to determine wheth-er
the transfer of metals from the heating
coil to the e-liquid in the e-cigarette tank
was dangerous.
The team, headed by senior study author
Ana María Rule, sampled the refilling dis-penser,
aerosol, and e-liquid tanks from 56
e-cigarette devices of daily e-cigarette us-ers.
They found that aerosol mass concen-trations
for the detected metals exceeded
current health-based limits in close to 50
percent or more of the samples for chro-mium,
manganese, nickel and lead.
The ingestion of these metals can lead
to a number of health issues. According
to the study’s press release, “chronic inha-lation
of these metals has been linked to
lung, liver, immune, cardiovascular, brain
damage, and even cancers.”
There has been a steady growth in e-cigarette
popularity on college campuses
all across the country. Like most things
these days, its popularity has grown rap-idly
thanks to the internet culture popu-larization
such as the trending hashtag
#VapeNation.
SLU introduced a tobacco-free policy
that went into effect on July 1, 2016. The
policy includes e-cigarettes (although it
technically does not have tobacco). How-ever,
college students between the ages of
18 and 24 are still the largest e-cigarette
users over all others.
The popularity of vaping comes from the
nicotine “hit” experienced, while provid-ing
the look and feel of tobacco-smoking.
The assumption that vaping is “safe” has
been contested for a while now, however.
This is just one of many studies that has
been released over the last year that seems
to indicate vaping is not the refuge many
initially thought.
It is within the Food and Drug Adminis-tration’s
ability to regulate e-cigarettes, but
the organization is still considering how to
do so. This recent study could serve as the
most recent development to encourage
the FDA to make it a major focus moving
forward.
Rule wanted to express that “it’s important
for the FDA, the e-cigarette companies
and vapers themselves to know that these
heating coils, as currently made, seem to
be leaking toxic metals—which then get
into the aerosols that vapers inhale.”
Rule and her team are now planning
further studies of vaping with particular
attention paid to how exactly these metal
exposures will impact people.
The hidden dangers of vaping
Study finds high amounts of metals in e-cigarette aerosols
INSIDE
SCOOP:
ARTS
OPINION
Lorde at
Saint Louis
University
Page 6
Billiken
Basketball Star
Jalen Johnson
Page 15
The U.S.
Midterm
Elections
Page 20
WE GET IT, YOU VAPE: Recent studies show that engaging in that vape life might have unforseeen consequences.
By TANNOCK BLAIR
Associate News Editor
SPORTS
Nish Gorczyca / The University News
Photo courtesy of Krists Luhaers
News March 8, 2018 3
In the weeks leading up to the SGA
elections this year, it was not uncommon
for a particular SGA campaign group to
speak at a club or organization meeting.
This group was Team Martin, a team of
students campaigning for executive board
roles in the Student Government Associa-tion.
The team was named after and led
by current VP of Finance Katlyn Martin,
who won the election to be the next SGA
president.
Martin has been a part of SGA since the
beginning of her freshman year at SLU, af-ter
running for and winning a senate posi-tion.
Over her last three years, she has held
various roles in SGA, including first-year
senator, senator for the College of Arts
and Sciences, Co-Chair of Student Out-reach,
and the Vice President of Finance,
as well as sitting on several SGA commit-tees.
Martin said that the decision to run
for president in her final year was a natural
one.
“I saw that we have a need for change
in SGA, especially with communication. I
felt that the skills that I bring to the table
were one of the reasons I felt that I want-ed
to run. I feel that I can create a really
good change on campus and in SGA,” said
Martin. “Also I like SGA, so the decision
to find more ways to get involved wasn’t a
hard one.”
Martin made the decision this year to
run with a team of students, as opposed
to running alone. She said that while her
original plan was to run by herself, after
speaking to the students who would even-tually
make up the team, it became appar-ent
that a lot of the issues that were im-portant
to her overlapped with issues that
other candidates felt passionate about as
well. She said that forming the team took
about two months to come together to de-cide
their game plan.
Martin, who presented at 62 CSO meet-ings,
or campaign stops, ran on a number
of key platform points. The first main point
was accessibility of scholarships, especially
for upperclassmen. Martin says that she
wants to make sure all available scholar-ships
are uploaded online and are made
available to each student eligible for them.
The next point was strong communica-tion
between food, facilities and SGA.
“We really want to make sure that
By SAVANAH SEYER
Staff Writer
Katlyn Martin
Introducing SGA’s new president
SGA: Katlyn Martin was elected as new SGA president on Monday, Feb. 26.
Rebecca LiVigni / The University News
Housing and Residence Life knows what
we want fixed,” said Martin. “I’ve noticed a
big disconnect between what we want and
what gets fixed. Some people might not
want new paint but want their pipes fixed.”
On the food side, SLU’s contract with
Aramark will be renegotiated in the next
year, and Martin says that she is focused
on making sure SLU gets the best quality
food out of the contract. She also says one
of her main focuses is making sure that
the current Aramark employees that are
part of the SLU community get to main-tain
their jobs, no matter what contract
the University chooses to pursue.
The third point of Martin’s campaign
is, to use her words, “Chipping away at
the SLU Bubble.” She wants to make sure
that the SGA website and SGA itself is a
resource to make sure that students find
ways to explore and take advantage of the
benefits of living in St. Louis.
“We live in such a great city,” said Mar-tin.
“There are all these really cool places
that we could be exploring and hanging
out at, and many people don’t know where
to start looking.”
Martin also hopes to make SGA more
accessible and visible to all members of
the SLU community.
“One of the things I want to add is a
quarterly report of what’s going on. A con-densed
version of what all has been going
on.” said Martin. “I feel like students don’t
know where they can go to access infor-mation.
I want to be able to direct them
to it.”
As well as winning her position, Mar-tin
said that this year’s election was a win
for her in another way.
“This year we had the highest voter
turnout we’ve ever had since we’ve had
electronic records,” said Martin. “For me,
if we had the highest voter turnout ever
and we [the team] had lost, it still would
have been a win for me.”
Martin says that this year’s election
process felt very successful and more en-gaging
than before. She felt that the elec-tion
commission did a good job, and hav-ing
the candidate debates streamed was a
good move in engaging student voters.
Martin and her team, which now
makes up the SGA Executive Board, will
be transitioning into their roles during the
next few months, before they assume the
positions in May. Martin says that if she
could give one message to all the students
of SLU, it would be a message of thanks.
“Thank you. This is an incredible op-portunity
for many reasons. I’m very ex-cited,
we have a great team,” said Martin.
“We are ready, and we really want to make
our University a better place.”
Tweets
of the week
@nytimes
Over 5 months after
Hurricane Maria plowed
through Puerto Rico, some
parts of the island are still
in the dark. It is a long,
long way from being back
in business.
@CNN
A ‘man of mystery’ with
ties to Donald Trump’s
team attended secret
meetings during the presi-dential
transition between
the United Arab Emirates
and Trump associates —
and he’s now cooperating
with special counsel Rob-ert
Mueller.
@SLUChaifetzBiz
We’re honored to have
world-class entrepre-neur
and SLU alum @
richchaifetz invest in
transforming business
education for today’s SLU
students and the genera-tions
to come. From all of
us at SLU – thank you Dr.
Chaifetz.
@ABC
JUST IN: Office of Special
Counsel finds Kellyanne
Conway twice violated the
Hatch Act and “submitted
the report to the President
for appropriate disciplinary
action.”
@VP
Gary Cohn did a great job
as @POTUS’s Director of
the National Economic
Council - helping pass
the largest tax reforms in
U.S. history, cutting job-killing
regs & spurring our
economy. Thank you Gary
for your tireless work on
behalf of the American
people.
4 March 8, 2018 News
Combating social norms
Ibtihaj Muhammad visits SLU
Attracted to fencing as a teenager be-cause
the sport was conducive to her
competing in Islamic dress, 2016 Olympic
bronze medalist Ibtihaj Muhammad was
hosted by the Great Issues Committee
at the Wool Ballrooms on the evening of
March 1.
Growing up in a competitive house-hold,
Muhammad and her siblings partici-pated
in sports starting at a young age as
it allowed their parents to keep an eye on
them from 3 to 5 p.m. daily. While fenc-ing
taught Muhammad much about her
mental and physical strength, the sport
also allowed her to foster strong relation-ships
with her peers instead of perpetuat-ing
the idea that girls and Muslims are not
athletic.
After graduating from Duke Univer-sity
in 2007 with dual bachelor’s degrees in
international relations and African-Amer-ican
studies, and a minor in Arabic, Mu-hammad
discovered to her surprise that
a woman of color had never been on the
U.S. Women’s Saber Team. Although she
was not ranked in the sport at that time
and never participated in a senior com-petition,
she trained to qualify for the na-tional
team in order to shatter that status
quo.
Her first step was to convince her par-ents
to send her to world cups; they sup-ported
her decision.
“I got on this ride and never got off,” Mu-hammad
said. “It was never a goal of mine
to qualify for the Olympic team when I
embarked on this journey, but what has
motivated me throughout different parts
of my career was being told no.”
After graduating from Duke, Muham-mad
told her coaches about her goal of
qualifying for the national team – they told
her it was impossible.
“They told me that everyone who has
been on senior teams has been on teams
before,” Muhammad said. She was also
older than the typical competitor. The oth-er
senior team qualifiers were teenagers,
while Muhammad was 21-years-old.
Muhammad was perplexed that her
coaches had little confidence in her po-tential
because of her faith and her later
start in competing nationally. “That has
motivated me throughout my career to
challenge the misconceptions that people
have – not just about my work ethic and
showing people how hard I can work, but
also changing and challenging the miscon-ceptions
that people have about me as a
woman in sport,” she said.
OLYMPIC FENCER: Ibtihaj Muhammad tells her story to Saint Louis Univer-sity
students and answers questions from both Charlie Revord and the crowd.
Rebecca LiVigni / The University News
By MEREDYTH STAUNCH
Managing Editor
See “Olympic” on page 5
SLU’s history on display
“Always at the Frontier”
Rebecca LiVigni / The University News
BICENTENNIAL: Saint Louis University celebrates its 200 year anniversary
with an exhibition that featured a signing of a commemorative book.
By MEGAN ANTHONY
Editor in Chief
Throughout the school year, Saint Louis
University’s bicentennial year has been
marked by several events. The most recent
was the opening of “Always at the Fron-tier,”
on Friday, March 3, an art exhibit at
the Saint Louis University Museum of Art.
The exhibit, which will run through Dec.
30, 2018, is based off of a book written
by Dr. Dolores Byrnes, commemorating
SLU’s 200 year-long history.
The opening was attended by Jesuits,
students, faculty and alumni, who were
greeted by a wall of past presidents, dat-ing
back to Francois Niel in 1818. Among
the guests was one of the men on the wall,
Fred Pestello, president of Saint Louis
University.
From his spot in the center of the gal-lery,
Pestello thanked the Bicentennial
planning committee and praised Byrnes
for her dedication. He called the school
special because of its status as the oldest
university in the Midwest. “It has survived
and thrived, not without difficulty,” he ac-knowledged.
Between the discoveries, speakers and
hors d’oeuvres, attendees mingled with old
friends as they admired the collection of
the past. Petruta Lipan, director of SLU-MA,
says the purpose of basing the ex-hibit
off of the book was to transition the
visitor from the pages of the book through
the history of Saint Louis University. Her
thinking process while planning the layout
was to balance that engagement and to
make the book come to life.
Detailed on the walls is SLU’s journey,
from a small band of Jesuits to the open-ing
of Grand Hall, and artifacts and pho-tographs
are laid out to guide patrons
along. The exhibit also features the Uni-versity’s
accomplishments and advance-ments.
Starting with social justice, SLU’s
history of combating injustice is depicted
with photos from all decades of students
and faculty protesting segregation, rac-ism,
police brutality and violence in South
America.
From there, the exhibit moves to medi-cal
findings, technological advancements
and athletic achievements. The exhibit
ends with a collage of current students
with a quote that reads: “Our future is in
good hands. Our students’.”
The exhibit is not only a showcase of the
construction of buildings, but a showcase
of the people that have made the Universi-ty
what it is today. Such as Emory Webre, a
parishioner of College Church, who spent
much of his career researching Jesuits, as
well as John Waide, who works in the li-brary
and graduated from SLU in 1973.
Byrnes, in her closing remarks said, “The
stories are so powerful. Be proud of SLU
and be proud of your association with it.”
News March 8, 2018 5
Trenton Almgren-Davis is one of the
UNews’ fresh photography editors. It’s his
first year of SLU, but he is technically a
junior. All of his college credits were ob-tained
in Trenton’s time in high school.
When asked how he achieved such a feat,
he simply said, “a lot of AP classes.” When
he registered for SLU, “they accepted pret-ty
much everything.” Even though he only
By TANNOCK BLAIR
Associate News Editor
Let Us Introduce You:
Trenton Almgren-Davis and Becky LiVigni
started college this year, he will technically
be graduating in December 2019.
He’s studying communication here at
SLU with a concentration in journalism.
Specifically, his interest in journalism lies
in photography. “I love photography. It
sounds cliché, but I like to tell stories. You
can take a picture of an event and it will
change the way you look at that event,”
said Trenton. “I like to look at the different
perspectives of things.”
Some of his photography role mod-els
include Ted Forbes from the “Art of
Photography” YouTube channel and Pete
Souza, Obama’s photographer. Trenton
said his favorite photo is the one of Obama
bowing to 5-year-old Jacob Philadelphia
who touches the then-president’s hair.
Trenton is particularly interested in
sports photography. He first worked for
the UNews sports section last week. “It’s
a lot faster than high school,” he said. “A
lot more ball movement.” He explained
his process: “You definitely want to pay
attention to the audience— when they’re
pumped up, you want to get their reac-tions.
Pay attention to the coach, [and] to
the bench. You take different parts, put
them together and that tells the story.”
Olympic fencer visits SLU
LiVigni poses in her senior portraits.
THE SLU SCOOP
All Information Provided by Department of Public
Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Be a Responsible Billiken
STOP. CALL. REPORT.
314-977-3000
witness.slu.edu
dps.slu.edu
Tuesday, March 6
1:50 p.m. PROPERTY DAMAGE / NON CRIMINAL
DPS Officers responded to a report of a hole in the western brick
wall of the Scranton Parking Lot, along the property line of the Crazy
Bowls restaurant. The officers were unable to determine the cause
of the damage, and the ownership of the wall was unable to be
determined.
Tuesday, March 6
11:16 a.m. AUTO ACCIDENT
A Saint Louis University student who was driving her personal ve-hicle
collided with another vehicle on Grand. Both vehicles sustained
damage, but no one was injured. The Saint louis Metropolitan Police
Department was notified and responded.
Continued from Page 4
Muhammad could respond, her friend
interjected to say that Muhammad was
not an Olympian.
“In that moment, I saw myself in this
little girl,” Muhammad said. “She saw me
as an Olympian, and I thought that this
was something I could do. In that mo-ment,
I decided to dedicate my life over
the next four years to qualifying for the
Olympic team. The decision was born
out of proving people wrong and proving
to myself that with hard work I could do
it.”
Muhammad’s Olympic qualification in
2016 came at a paramount time as the
presidential election reached its climax.
“We as a community of Americans need-ed
to see a Muslim woman in that space,”
she said. “There was so much negative
rhetoric around the Muslim community
from a lot of the presidential candidates
to a point where it was becoming nor-malized.”
By qualifying for the team, Muhammad
made a statement to show the strength and
resilience that Muslim women encompass.
She never thought she would bring home
an Olympic medal, but she saw her qualifi-cation
and the medal as wins more for the
Muslim community than herself.
“I wanted the Olympic team for the lit-tle
girls out there who had been told they
didn’t belong,” Muhammad said. “For peo-ple
who have been told this isn’t a space
that they’re welcomed in simply because
of the color of their skin.”
In moments of being challenged based
off of skin color or religion, Muhammad
stressed the importance of remaining true
to character. “We will each be challenged
in our lives, and someone will make you
upset,” she said.
But, combatting these microaggressions
is not solely a task for minorities. “Minori-ties
need to be vocal,” Muhammad said.
“It is just as important, though, for white
males to be allies in these moments and to
say this is not okay. To be silent in these
moments is a crime.”
Rebecca LiVigni is a freshman from Mo-kena,
Illinois. With a talent and passion for
photography, she is currently one of the
UNews’ photo editors and is involved with
the Honors Learning Community on cam-pus.
LiVigni is a well-rounded academic
individual, majoring in neuroscience and
pursuing a minor in English.
LiVigni chose to major in neuroscience
because of her fascination with the brain,
saying, “There’s so much to find out and
know about the brain and its cognitive
processes, and there’s enough to keep me
interested my whole life.”
At the same time, LiVigni chose to pur-sue
an English minor because of her love
of reading and her belief in a well-rounded
education.
“I’m a total book nerd,” LiVigni said.
“I love reading and talking about books.
I didn’t think I could get through college
without taking multiple English classes,
and the only way to do that without my ad-visor
yelling at me was to declare a minor.”
In her free time, LiVigni is a huge
book lover. Her favorite book is “To Kill
a Mockingbird,” which she first read in
By EM MILLER
News Editor
high school. When asked why she liked
the book so much, LiVigni commented,
“I think the really fascinating thing about
‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ is that it deals with
these very complex problems that can be
hard for adults to truly understand, but the
novel is from the perspective of a younger,
innocent individual.”
Jean Lachat / Jean Lachat Photography
Almgren-Davis poses in the Busch
Student Center for a photo.
Rebecca LiVigni / The University News
Saint Louis University The-atre
played host to “Rhinoceros,”
a play by Eugene Ionesco. While
the play ran March 1-4, the pro-duction
boggled and entertained
the opening night audience.
The play opens on a small
French town and the protago-nist,
Berenger (Andre Elsami-an),
is portrayed as a drunkard,
uncoordinated, and someone
unable to function in ‘high class’
society. Berenger and Jean (Zach
Bakouris) are arguing about
how to stay ‘high class’ when
a rhinoceros suddenly barrels
through the town (portrayed by
a crew member walking in front
of the stage and letting out two
puffs of dust). The townspeople
all gather and mingle about the
rhinoceros, before exclaiming
“Of all things!” and returning to
their normal lives.
By this point, a logician (Ca-leb
Vetter) and an old woman
(Erica Withrow) begin ponder-ing
the logic of life, with the logi-cian
and Jean often echoing each
other. The old woman and logi-cian
draw a hilarious conclusion
that Socrates was a cat,
