Forced Feminism: Women, Hijab, and the One-Party State in Post-Colonial Tunisia

By looking at the hijab in context in the political, social, and domestic spheres of Tunisia, one gains a clearer understanding of the hijab’s complexity and a clearer understanding of each of those spheres. Politically, the condemnation of the hijab reveals the tension between the dominant, secular party and the Islamist movement, and the political oppression still prevalent in Tunisia. Socially, the wearing of the hijab reveals the tension between Orientalist perceptions of the hijab and the desire of Muslim feminists to create an authentically Islamic meaning of the hijab compatible with feminist ideas. Domestically, the hijab reveals the tension that remains between localized structures of patriarchy and individual women’s pursuit of liberation beyond emancipation and secularization. Despite the reforms established in the Personal Status Code and the secularization campaign by the government, they are not enough to completely alter negative domestic perceptions of women

If Established by Law, Then an Administrative Judge is an Officer

Administrative Judges (AJs) are a large and often overlooked group of federal agency adjudicators. While courts have examined Article II Appointments Clause challenges to Administrative Law Judges (ALJs), courts have yet to encounter a legal challenge to the constitutionality of AJs’ appointment procedures. The constitutionality of any federal government actor’s appointment is dependent upon whether that actor is an “officer” or an “employee” under the Article II Appointments clause. It is apparent that the current “significant authority” test that the Supreme Court has espoused to distinguish between officers and employees is unworkable. This Note endeavors to set forth a bright-line test to distinguish between officers and employees that better serves the purposes of the Appointments Clause and is more easily applicable. The test is simple: if an AJ is “established by Law,” then that AJ is an officer and must be appointed according to the Appointments Clause

Requirement and Function of Hippo Pathway Signaling in the Mammalian Gastrointestinal Tract: A Dissertation

In cancer, aberrant activation of developmental signaling pathways such as the Hippo Pathway has been shown to drive proliferation and invasion of cancer cells. Therefore, understanding the normal function of the Hippo Pathway during embryonic development can provide critical insight into how aberrant activity contributes to tumorigenesis. This dissertation explores the role of the Hippo Pathway members YAP and TAZ in gastrointestinal (GI) development and tumorigenesis. I use mouse genetics to systematically dissect the roles of YAP/TAZ in the endoderm-derived gastrointestinal epithelia and mesoderm-derived gastrointestinal mesenchyme during mammalian development. In the GI epithelium, I demonstrate that YAP/TAZ are dispensable for development and homeostasis. However, YAP/TAZ are required for Wnt pathway-driven tumorigenesis. I find that YAP/TAZ are direct transcriptional targets of Wnt/TCF4 signaling. In the GI mesenchyme, I describe a previously unknown requirement for YAP/TAZ activity during mammalian GI development. YAP/TAZ are involved in normal GI mesenchymal differentiation and function as transcriptional co-repressors in a progenitor cell population. In this way, YAP/TAZ act as molecular gatekeepers prior to Hedgehog-mediated differentiation into smooth muscle cells. This work unveils a previously unknown requirement for Hippo pathway signaling in the mammalian GI tract and a novel mechanism wherein YAP/TAZ function as transcriptional co-repressors to maintain a mesenchymal progenitor cell population

Using Soils to Constrain Past and Future Terrestrial Climate Change.

Future ecosystem and climatic changes due to anthropogenic emissions of CO2 are of increasing importance to society. Soils are the largest terrestrial reservoir of carbon, have the potential to become new sources or sinks of carbon to the atmosphere, and also can record information about climate and environment. In this dissertation, I use modern and ancient soil to constrain past and future climate and environmental change. To better determine the sensitivity of ecosystems to changes in atmospheric CO2 and climate, we must first increase the precision of past atmospheric CO2 reconstructions. I have developed a new proxy for soil-respired CO2 based on its relationship with precipitation to reduce the uncertainties in the soil carbonate paleobarometer, the most widely applicable method of atmospheric CO2 reconstructions. Using this new method of paleobarometry, I have refined previous estimates of atmospheric CO2 and find estimates now support CO2-temperature coupling throughout the Phanerozoic. This new respired CO2 proxy is also useful for predictions of carbon cycle changes. Silicate weathering consumes atmospheric CO2, and the concentration of soil CO2 is an important factor in weathering rates. Here, I couple the newly derived relationship to precipitation simulations from regional climate models to predict future changes to soil CO2 and the concentration of dissolved CO2. I find large increases in dissolved CO2 for the central Great Plains region and moderate decreases for the Southwestern United States for the decade of 2050-2060, indicating that the Great Plains may become a new sink for atmospheric CO2 in the future. While soils may act to buffer anthropogenic CO2 emissions through chemical weathering on short time scales, on longer time scales warming may destabilize the carbon pool stored in soils. Here, I use paleosols from the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum to determine how soils respond to rapid climate warming on thousand year time scales. Carbon isotopic compositions of pedogenic carbonates and soil organic matter indicate changes to soil respiration that likely reduced carbon burial and increased fluxes of carbon to the atmosphere. Results from this dissertation have important implications for changes to climate, environment and carbon cycling in the next century and beyond.PHDEarth & Environmental SciencesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/99832/1/jcot_2.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/99832/2/jcot_1.pd

The norovirus NS3 protein is a dynamic lipid- and microtubule-associated protein involved in viral RNA replication

Norovirus (NoV) infections are a significant health burden to society, yet the lack of reliable tissue culture systems has hampered the development of appropriate antiviral therapies. Here we show that the NoV NS3 protein, derived from murine NoV (MNV), is intimately associated with the MNV replication complex and the viral replication intermediate double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). We observed that when expressed individually, MNV NS3 and NS3 encoded by human Norwalk virus (NV) induced the formation of distinct vesicle-like structures that did not colocalize with any particular protein markers to cellular organelles but localized to cellular membranes, in particular those with a high cholesterol content. Both proteins also showed some degree of colocalization with the cytoskeleton marker β-tubulin. Although the distribution of MNV and NV NS3s were similar, NV NS3 displayed a higher level of colocalization with the Golgi apparatus and the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). However, we observed that although both proteins colocalized in membranes counterstained with filipin, an indicator of cholesterol content, MNV NS3 displayed a greater association with flotillin and stomatin, proteins known to associate with sphingolipid- and cholesterol-rich microdomains. Utilizing time-lapse epifluorescence microscopy, we observed that the membrane-derived vesicular structures induced by MNV NS3 were highly motile and dynamic in nature, and their movement was dependent on intact microtubules. These results begin to interrogate the functions of NoV proteins during virus replication and highlight the conserved properties of the NoV NS3 proteins among the seven Norovirus genogroups

Extracorporeal life support in pediatric trauma: a systematic review

Introduction Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) was once thought to be contraindicated in trauma patients, however ECMO is now used in adult patients with post-traumatic acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and multisystem trauma. Despite acceptance as a therapy for the severely injured adult, there is a paucity of evidence supporting ECMO use in pediatric trauma patients. Methods An electronic literature search of PubMed, MEDLINE, and the Cochrane Database of Collected Reviews from 1972 to 2018 was performed. Included studies reported on ECMO use after trauma in patients ≤18 years of age and reported outcome data. The Institute of Health Economics quality appraisal tool for case series was used to assess study quality. Results From 745 studies, four met inclusion criteria, reporting on 58 pediatric trauma patients. The age range was <1–18 years. Overall study quality was poor with only a single article of adequate quality. Twenty-nine percent of patients were cannulated at adult centers, the remaining at pediatric centers. Ninety-one percent were cannulated for ARDS and the remaining for cardiovascular collapse. Overall 60% of patients survived and the survival rate ranged from 50% to 100%. Seventy-seven percent underwent venoarterial cannulation and the remaining underwent veno-venous cannulation. Conclusion ECMO may be a therapeutic option in critically ill pediatric trauma patients. Consideration should be made for the expansion of ECMO utilization in pediatric trauma patients including its application for pediatric patients at adult trauma centers with ECMO capabilities

Technological innovations in mental healthcare: harnessing the digital revolution

Digital technology has the potential to transform mental healthcare by connecting patients, services and health data in new ways. Digital online and mobile applications can offer patients greater access to information and services and enhance clinical management and early intervention through access to real-time patient data. However, substantial gaps exist in the evidence base underlying these technologies. Greater patient and clinician involvement is needed to evaluate digital technologies and ensure they target unmet needs, maintain public trust and improve clinical outcomes

Multi‐century stasis in C3 and C4 grass distributions across the contiguous United States since the industrial revolution

AimsUnderstanding the functional response of ecosystems to past global change is crucial to predicting performance in future environments. One sensitive and functionally significant attribute of grassland ecosystems is the percentage of species that use the C4 versus C3 photosynthetic pathway. Grasses using C3 and C4 pathways are expected to have different responses to many aspects of anthropogenic environmental change that have followed the industrial revolution, including increases in temperature and atmospheric CO2, changes to land management and fire regimes, precipitation seasonality, and nitrogen deposition. In spite of dramatic environmental changes over the past 300 years, it is unknown if the C4 grass percentage in grasslands has shifted.LocationContiguous United States of America.MethodsHere, we used stable carbon isotope data (i.e. δ13C) from 30 years of soil samples, as well as herbivore tissues that date to 1739 CE, to reconstruct coarse‐grain C3 and C4 grass composition in North American grassland sites to compare with modern vegetation. We spatially resampled these three datasets to a shared 100‐km grid, allowing comparison of δ13C values at a resolution and extent common for climate model outputs and biogeographical studies.ResultsAt this spatial grain, the bison tissue proxy was superior to the soil proxy because the soils reflect integration of local carbon inputs, whereas bison sample vegetation across landscapes. Bison isotope values indicate that historical grassland photosynthetic‐type composition was similar to modern vegetation.Main conclusionsDespite major environmental change, comparing modern plot vegetation data to three centuries of bison δ13C data revealed that the biogeographical distribution of C3 and C4 grasses has not changed significantly since the 1700s. This is particularly surprising given the expected CO2 fertilization of C3 grasses. Our findings highlight the critical importance of capturing the full range of physiological, ecological and demographical processes in biosphere models predicting future climates and ecosystems.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/139065/1/jbi13061.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/139065/2/jbi13061_am.pd