Understanding the Complexities of Violent Extremism In Kosovo, Tunisia, and Kenya

Capstone paper for the fulfillment of the Master of Public Policy degree.In 2015, terrorist attacks resulted in a worldwide average of 2,361 deaths and 2,943 injuries monthly (U.S. Department of State, 2016). More than half of the attacks targeted private citizens and property. These statistics are not only disheartening, but reveal the need for greater study on the causes and attractions of violent extremism (VE), along with methods targeted toward the prevention of violent extremism. This report originated as a Capstone Project Proposal at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs submitted by the staff of the International Republican Institute (IRI), one of four nonpartisan democracy institutes that receive funding from the National Endowment for Democracy to support aspiring democracies worldwide (International Republican Institute, 2017). In accepting this research proposal, our team of five graduate students were commissioned by IRI to explore the web of interdependent factors that contribute to VE within three particular contexts of Kenya, Kosovo, and Tunisia. Additionally, the research proposal called for the recommendations of potential resources, programs, and tools that IRI could leverage for future programming designed to decrease societal and individual susceptibility to VE. Our approach to investigating violent extremism is encapsulated by Douglas Leonard, who states: Intolerance takes root and spreads in failed states where security is lacking, where balances of power are realigning and where fierce competition puts pressure on societies to create inflexible and impermeable alliances defined around the markers of human identity, whether ethnic, religious, linguistic or tribal.... Intolerance is a human tendency in any context of scarcity, whether religious or secular. (Leonard, 2015) As a means of systematically assessing susceptibility to VE across all three contexts (Kenya, Kosovo, and Tunisia) we developed an Assessment Tool that allows the user to identify vulnerable populations within a society. Although we are confident with the assessments made, we recognize that there are limitations to desk research. We believe that using our assessment tool in the location being analyzed alongside local experts will provide practitioners the best systematic means to uncover and assess a society’s susceptibility to VE at the national, local, and individual level

Oiling Of The Continental Shelf And Coastal Marshes Over Eight Years After The 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

We measured the temporal and spatial trajectory of oiling from the April, 2010, Deepwater Horizon oil spill in water from Louisiana\u27s continental shelf, the estuarine waters of Barataria Bay, and in coastal marsh sediments. The concentrations of 28 target alkanes and 43 target polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were determined in water samples collected on 10 offshore cruises, in 19 water samples collected monthly one km offshore at 13 inshore stations in 2010 and 2013, and in 16-60 surficial marsh sediment samples collected on each of 26 trips. The concentration of total aromatics in offshore waters peaked in late summer, 2010, at 100 times above the May, 2010 values, which were already slightly contaminated. There were no differences in surface or bottom water samples. The concentration of total aromatics declined at a rate of 73% y(-1) to 1/1000th of the May 2010 values by summer 2016. The concentrations inside the estuary were proportional to those one km offshore, but were 10-30% lower. The oil concentrations in sediments were initially different at 1 and 10 m distance into the marsh, but became equal after 2 years. Thus, the distinction between oiled and unoiled sites became blurred, if not non-existent then, and oiling had spread over an area wider than was visible initially. The concentrations of oil in sediments were 100-1000 times above the May 2010 values, and dropped to 10 times higher after 8 years, thereafter, demonstrating a long-term contamination by oil or oil residues that will remain for decades. The chemical signature of the oil residues offshore compared to in the marsh reflects the more aerobic offshore conditions and water-soluble tendencies of the dissolved components, whereas the anaerobic marsh sediments will retain the heavier molecular components for a long time, and have a consequential effect on the ecosystems. (C) 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd

Tropical cyclone activity and western North Atlantic stratification over the last millennium: a comparative review with viable connections

Tropical cyclones (TC) are recognized to modify the thermal structure of the upper ocean through the process of vertical mixing. Assessing the role this mixing plays in the overall stratification of the upper ocean is difficult, due to the relatively short and incomplete instrumental record. Proxy records for both TC landfalls and oceanographic stratification are preserved within the geological record and provide insight for how past changes in TC‐induced mixing have potentially affected water column structure prior to the instrumental record. Here we provide the first comparison between previously published paleo‐reconstructions of vertical ocean density and tropical cyclone activity from the western North Atlantic. A prominent lull in TC activity has been observed prior to approximately 1700 CE that extends back several centuries. This interval of low TC activity is shown to be concurrent with the timing of increased ocean stratification near Great Bahama Bank, potentially due in part to reduced TC‐induced mixing. To test whether this relationship is feasible, we present numerical results from a coarse‐resolution ocean general circulation model experiment isolating the effect of TC surface wind forcing on the upper ocean. An anomaly of roughly 0.12 kg m −3 in vertical stratification occurs above and below the mixed layer for model runs with and without TC mixing. This anomaly is roughly 25% of the entire paleo‐density signal observed just prior to 1700 CE. These results suggest that TC mixing alone cannot completely explain the density anomaly observed prior to 1700 CE, but support TC variability as an important contributor to enhancing oceanic stratification during this interval. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/91201/1/1551_ftp.pd

Advanced Technologies in Music Production and Collaboration

My Honors Senior Creative Project was to compose and produce a short album of original music alongside talented musicians here at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) as well as around the world

The Diaries of a Marshall Islands Peace Corps Volunteer

This book has been published for the sole purpose of preserving and sharing my memories of my time as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Marshall Islands

The Middle and Late Holocene Geology and Landscape Evolution of the Lower Acheron River Valley, Epirus, Greece

A Thesis submitted to the faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Minnesota by Mark Richard Besonen in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, August 1997.The lower Acheron River Valley, Epirus, Greece, hosts a rich, archaeological heritage dating back to the Lower Palaeolithic (Dakaris, 1971). Beginning with the Odyssey of Homer in the eighth century BC, numerous ancient authors make reference to the valley and describe a landscape configuration that is significantly different from that of the present. Three notable discrepancies concern: 1.) the size of the Glykys Limen (modern Phanari Bay), 2.) the nature, geometry, and evolution of the Acherousian lake, and 3.) the course of the Acheron River with respect to Kastri during the Classical Period. Are these ancient authors incorrect in their descriptions of the valley, or can a natural sequence of geomorphic evolution account for such discrepancies? To answer this question, an examination of the changing paleogeography and paleoenvironmental configuration of the valley during the past 4000 years was undertaken. Twenty-eight gouge auger sediment cores were taken from various locations in the valley between 1992 and 1994. Selected sediment samples underwent analyses of microfossil assemblages, organic carbon content, grain-size, magnetic susceptibility, and anhysteretic magnetization. Results from these analyses were used along with stratigraphic data and eight radiocarbon dates to reconstruct the middle and late Holocene paleogeography of the valley. The reconstructions suggest that the accounts given by ancient authors are correct, and that the discrepancies are the result of natural landscape evolution. In fact, the picture that emerges shows that recent geomorphic change in the valley has been quite significant with nearly six kilometers of shoreline progradation having occurred during the last 4,000 years

Vacuum Hoisting Vs. Traditional Hoisting

The goal of this Undergraduate Research Project is to compare all of the factors that a project manager would, when comparing which type of hoisting will be done with all precast concrete on any given project. This is a very important topic in the construction industry because hoisting is involved in almost every type of project. Most people wouldn’t consider this an important topic, but time, money, and any safety concerns that are involved in hoisting precast concrete units to their desired location can ultimately impact the total cost, duration of the project, any safety protocols that need to be met before breaking ground, as well as if your company is awarded the project. My goal is to analyze all of the factors that are needed when deciding whether a company should or should not use vacuum hoisting or the traditional hoisting method. The results between vacuum hoisting and conventional hoisting proved that vacuum hoisting has indeed reduced production costs, have higher production speed on a job site, reduces ware on hoisting equipment, uses less man power, and lower power and energy consumption, which will lead to saving money from the engineering department through the field erection process. Compared to the conventional method that requires equipment like lifting pins and anchors, chains and slings, shackles and cable hooks. It is very apparent that after the initial investment in a vacuum hoist will save your company time and most importantly, money

A 1,000 year high-resolution hurricane history for the Boston area based on the varved sedimentary record from the Lower Mystic Lake (Medford/Arlington, Massachusetts)

The Lower Mystic Lake (Medford/Arlington, MA) is a 24 m deep, ectogenically meromictic, low elevation (1 m a.s.l.), coastal lake directly connected to Boston Harbor by the Mystic River. About 1,000 years ago, steadily rising sea level in the Boston area finally reached a point at which occasional marine water delivery events via the river channel could actually reach the lake basin. Since then, such events have continued with enough frequency to maintain the meromictic condition. Meromixis has allowed the Lower Mystic Lake to accumulate an exquisitely laminated, annually resolvable (i.e. varved) archive of sedimentation in the lake over the last 1,000 years. A varve chronology was developed from this record. Multiple lines of robust evidence verify and validate the accuracy of the chronology. A series of anomalous, graded beds was found in the stratigraphy, and they show excellent coordination with known historic hurricanes that have affected the Boston area. The graded beds appear to be the result of intense, hurricane-strength rains which cause erosive overland flow that entrains sediment which is carried into the lake where it is deposited as a graded bed. This is enhanced by hurricane-strength winds which disturb vegetation, and uproot trees to expose fresh, loose sediment. By analogy, similar graded beds in the prehistoric portion of the stratigraphy probably represent similar hurricane events. This record of hurricane activity was compared to a record of sand layers in nearby Belle Isle Marsh (Boston Harbor) which are presumably the result of storm surge overwash events. Such sand layers in low resolution coastal archives are the main form of proxy evidence that paleotempestology studies have used to piece together longer term records of hurricane activity. Even when using multiple techniques, chronologic control in such archives is difficult, and linking sand layers to any particular storm is only tentative at best. Importantly, the Belle Isle Marsh record shows an apparent 600-year quiescent period. However, this is not due to a lack of hurricanes or storms, but to an unknown geomorphic change which affected the marsh, and it therefore serves as a cautionary note for the use of such archives

How to Purchase an Existing Construction Company

For your business, it is a good idea to have a general understanding of what you are looking to accomplish in a certain amount of time. This concerns anyone who wants to start a business or purchase a company. Several companies go bankrupt from unknowledgeable purchases of a company. The reader should know, or have an understanding of smart investments into an existing company. It is unwise to go into a business blindly with the intent to purchase a company; it will likely backfire. Our goal is to provide the reader’s simple steps and ideas on how to successfully purchase an existing construction company. We researched through scholarly articles that are about existing construction company purchases. We also called family members in the construction businesses that have already had their construction company purchased from someone else. Our results show that unknowledgeable purchases of construction companies often end in financial loss of the company. Our findings from two main articles proved to us that you have to be knowledgeable of the business that you are entering in or it’s best to retain a quality work force and managers who can maintain financial success and run the business. You also have to make sure you purchase the assets