University Classrooms as Sites of Reentry for Women and Mothers Impacted the Carceral System: An Autoethnography About Teaching, Trauma, and Healing

The United States of America is one of the leading carceral systems in the world for women. Nearly 2.2 million adults are serving time in America’s prisons and jails (BJS, 2016). Over 200,000 of these incarcerated people are women (Sentencing Project, 2018). In Illinois, 2,300 women are incarcerated in jails, most of whom are serving time for non-violent offenses like drug possession and property offenses (Sweeny, 2018). Moreover, in Illinois 8 out of 10 incarcerated women identify as mothers of children under age 18 – most of whom are the primary parent (Sweeney, 2018). Still, over 600,000 people are released from state and federal prisons annually (Carson, 2015). Of those, 81,000 women are released from state prison each year (Sentencing Project, 2018). Given that higher education access reduces recidivism, college and university classrooms are critical reentry sites for women and mothers. Utilizing an autoethnographic investigation, a qualitative research method characterized by the self as subject, this talk will draw on my memories, reflections, and dialogue pertinent to working with students, namely, women and mothers, impacted by the carceral system. Specifically, the following research questions are posed: 1) How does my identity as a state university professor inform my pedagogy with returning citizens enrolled as my student? 2) How does my identity as an African American mother inform my pedagogy when supporting the academic needs of returning citizen-mothers enrolled as my student? This autoethnography will also provide university teachers of varying academic disciplines working in a diverse context with useful tools and tips to support classroom engagement of students impacted by the carceral system. As America’s prison population is disproportionately African American and Latinx; 33% and 23%, respectively; this talk will emphasize the specific needs of students of color. Centering the unique and often marginalized experiences of Black and Brown women impacted by the carceral system, this investigation will draw on the tenets of Critical Race Theory, Intersectionality Theory, and Historical Trauma Theory. This investigation will also explore implications for college teaching and discuss best practices for the implementation of culturally responsive classroom engagement strategies used with returning citizens in the areas of: culturally responsive course readings, fostering equitable group discussions, and developing innovative course assignments that celebrate women and mother’s healing

Developing a Decision-Making Framework for Assisted Migration: Applying this to the American Pika and Whitebark Pine

ABSTRACT Hedayat-Zadeh, Mai Kimya, Degree, May 2020 Environmental Studies Developing a Decision-Making Framework for Assisted Migration: Applying this to the American Pika and White Bark Pine This paper analyzes a novel conservation strategy: assisted migration (AM). AM is the practice of moving a highly vulnerable (i.e., endangered) species impacted by climate change and other exacerbating factors (e.g., land use), out of its historic range to a recipient site. Ideally, this site would be one where the species would have migrated, were there no barriers to dispersal or anthropogenic stressors. The paper is concerned with the readiness of the conservation community—particularly land managers—to implement a decision-making framework for AM. As such, the author reviews existing frameworks, both conceptual and statistical, and presents a step-by-step qualitative framework of her own that encompasses the ecological, legal, social and ethical dimensions of the AM strategy. The framework acknowledges that AM will likely occur in concert with other interventions of varying intensity (e.g., maintenance of habitat quality, restoration, and genetic rescue). The author acknowledges the limits of species distribution models (SDMs), a key tool to assess species vulnerability, which is the prerequisite of candidacy for AM. The author concludes that ecological theory— particularly concepts such as ‘adaptive capacity’ and the ‘evolutionary niche’—must better inform the design of models. An overview of modelling pitfalls, including the coarseness of climate data, data surveyed at differing resolutions or scales, gaps in data, the robustness of varying weighting and sampling techniques, and the need for development of community assemblage forecasts reveals the amount of work to be done, in terms of making confident assessments at finer scales into the future for this conservation strategy, which will likely be more prevalent with time. Finally, the author uses the holistic decision-making framework to assess two vulnerable species: the American pika and the whitebark pine. These case studies provide insights into the orientations of research and management communities to AM currently, and reveals the interplay of values that influence how we prioritize the survival of species, which can often be surrogates for the protection of a host of other species and environments

Higher order mimetic gravity after GW170817

On the 17th of August 2017, the thriving discovery of gravitational waves event GW170817 and its optical counterpart GRB170817A, owing to coalescing of two neutron starts divulged a very small amount of difference around ${\cal O}(10^{-16})$ between traveling speed of light and the velocity of gravitational waves ($C_{T}$). This small deviation can be used as a strong constraint on modified gravity models. We concentrate on the Higher-Order expansion of Mimetic Gravity (HOMimG) model to specify the parametric space of three parameters of our model ($a$, $b$, and $c$ ) utilizing the observational constraint from GW170817-GRB170817A on $C_{T}$, besides two theoretical constraints on $C_{T}^{2}$ and $C_{s}^{2}$ due to assurance of the stability of the model and subluminal promulgation of the scalar and tensor perturbations. Thereafter, we increase the accuracy of the parametric space with the aid of imposing further limitation of $\gamma$ parameter (related to the age of the Universe). In pursuance of determining the other parameter of the model ($\lambda$), the potential of the model is specified, and another observational bound related to the Equation of State (EoS) parameter of dark energy is taken into account. In consequence, we attain a viable HOMimG model confined to numbers of observational and theoretical constraints. At the end, regarding the concluded numerical ranges for the model parameters, and cogitating two different potential (quadratic and quartic potentials) to specify $\lambda$ parameter, we illustrate that the values of the model parameters are independent of the form of potential.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figure

The dynamics of firm growth and failure under alternative forms of ownership.

This thesis extends the literature on the dynamics of firm growth and failure by testing the robustness of past findings for capitalist firms to alternative ownership structures. While the theoretical results are altered by the internal organisation of the firm, the empirical findings are unchanged. This suggests that the theoretical models place excessive emphasis on the organisational structure and inadequate emphasis on more basic and fundamental factors affecting firm growth. The thesis applies the learning models of growth to the case of the Illyrian labour managed firm, where members maximise profits per worker. The critical efficiency-size relationship is indeterminate under labour management. Thus, the majority of the clear cut empirical predictions of the model for profit maximisation no longer hold. Three possible explanations for the breakdown of the results are examined. One explanation is that the Illyrian model is overly simplistic and does not accurately reflect the actual behaviour of cooperatives. This is rejected using an institutional structure model of the French producer cooperative which yields predictions which are remarkably similar to those of the Illyrian model. The second explanation considered is that the growth and survival of cooperatives in fact substantially differs from capitalist firms. This explanation is rejected in the empirical section which tests the actual growth and survival relationships using a dataset of French producer cooperatives. The estimated survival-size relation is convexly positive and the growth-size relation convexly negative, exactly as they have been found previously for conventional firms. The final remaining explanation is that the theoretical models are structured so as to overemphasize the internal structure of the firm to the neglect of more generic factors affecting growth and survival. This is accepted in a final section which proposes new directions for theoretical research on the growth and survival of all firms

In vitro assessment of cytotoxicity of giomer on human gingival fibroblasts

Root coverage on restored root surfaces has been considered as a challenging issue. The evaluation of cytotoxic effects of restorative materials is a fundamental requirement for sustaining the cellattachment and the clinical success of root coverage. The aim of the present study was to compare the human gingival fibroblast cytotoxicity of the recently introduced giomer composite (GC) with resinionomer (RI) restorative material. Discs (6×2 mm) of GC and RI restorative materials were prepared using sterile Teflon mold. Extracts from the materials were incubated to cell culture medium for 24, 48and 72 h. Human gingival fibroblasts (HGF) were exposed to the extracts of the materials while the unincubated media served as the control group. The cytotoxicity of the materials were evaluated by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. In order to compare the mean values of the measured parameters a Kruskal-Walis test was carried out. MTT assay indicated that human gingival fibroblasts proliferated well in the presence of GC extract. The proliferation rate washigher in cells incubated with GC compared to RI extracts but the differences were not statistically significant (p= 0.09). This in vitro study indicated that GC is a non-toxic material for HGF. However, further studies are needed to assess the other biologic and clinical behavior of this material prior to it being considered as a potentially suitable restorative material to restore the carious root lesions candidated to root coverage procedures

Anti-Carceral Human Rights Advocacy

The theory of carceral abolition entered the mainstream during the 2020 global protests for Black lives. Abolition calls for divestment from carceral institutions like police and prisons in favor of the expansion of social and economic programs that ensure public safety and nurture community well-being. Although there is little scholarship explicitly linking abolition to international human rights, there are scholars and advocates who implicitly echo abolitionist theories by critiquing the international human rights regime\u27s overreliance on criminal law. These critics argue that relying on carceral institutions to address impunity for human rights abuses and promote gender justice does little to combat the underlying causes of human rights violations, unlike interventions that promote economic, social, and political equality. Other human rights advocates also implicitly align with abolitionist theories in calling for the decriminalization of certain behaviors such as HIV/ AIDS transmission, sex work, and drug use; as their criminalization leads to human rights abuses against marginalized communities. This article presents a comparative analysis of carceral abolition, critiques of the carceral emphasis in human rights, and decriminalization human rights advocacy and examines their ideological alignments to provide a theoretical foundation for the practice of what we term anticarceral human rights advocacy. We define anti-carceral human rights advocacy as the de-emphasis on carceral responses to human rights violations in favor of social and economic interventions that prevent abuse, heal survivors, and transform perpetrators. From this comparative analysis, we offer the following guiding principles for the practice of anti-carceral human rights advocacy: (1) document abuses of carceral systems; (2) do not advocate for solutions to human rights abuses that strengthen carceral systems; (3) elevate economic, social, and cultural rights, non-discrimination, and accountability mechanisms that are not based in retribution but rather in healing and transformation; (4) work closely with global anti-carceral advocates and communities directly impacted by carceral systems; and (5) practice and/ or exercise solidarity with decriminalization human rights advocacy. We provide examples of what these guiding principles could look like in practice by analyzing the evolving anti-carceral human rights work of the author-affiliated Walter Leitner International Human Rights Clinic. Our hope is that this article provides theoretical and practical guidance for human rights advocates who question the ability of carceral systems to prevent and address human rights abuses, and who seek an advocacy framework that can deliver a more expansive vision of justice than carcerality allows

A PRISMA-driven systematic mapping study on system assurance weakeners

Context: An assurance case is a structured hierarchy of claims aiming at demonstrating that a given mission-critical system supports specific requirements (e.g., safety, security, privacy). The presence of assurance weakeners (i.e., assurance deficits, logical fallacies) in assurance cases reflects insufficient evidence, knowledge, or gaps in reasoning. These weakeners can undermine confidence in assurance arguments, potentially hindering the verification of mission-critical system capabilities. Objectives: As a stepping stone for future research on assurance weakeners, we aim to initiate the first comprehensive systematic mapping study on this subject. Methods: We followed the well-established PRISMA 2020 and SEGRESS guidelines to conduct our systematic mapping study. We searched for primary studies in five digital libraries and focused on the 2012-2023 publication year range. Our selection criteria focused on studies addressing assurance weakeners at the modeling level, resulting in the inclusion of 39 primary studies in our systematic review. Results: Our systematic mapping study reports a taxonomy (map) that provides a uniform categorization of assurance weakeners and approaches proposed to manage them at the modeling level. Conclusion: Our study findings suggest that the SACM (Structured Assurance Case Metamodel) -- a standard specified by the OMG (Object Management Group) -- may be the best specification to capture structured arguments and reason about their potential assurance weakeners

GT198 Expression Defines Mutant Tumor Stroma in Human Breast Cancer

Human breast cancer precursor cells remain to be elucidated. Using breast cancer gene product GT198 (PSMC3IP; alias TBPIP or Hop2) as a unique marker, we revealed the cellular identities of GT198 mutant cells in human breast tumor stroma. GT198 is a steroid hormone receptor coactivator and a crucial factor in DNA repair. Germline mutations in GT198 are present in breast and ovarian cancer families. Somatic mutations in GT198 are present in ovarian tumor stromal cells. Herein, we show that human breast tumor stromal cells carry GT198 somatic mutations and express cytoplasmic GT198 protein. GT198(+) stromal cells share vascular smooth muscle cell origin, including myoepithelial cells, adipocytes, capillary pericytes, and stromal fibroblasts. Frequent GT198 mutations are associated with GT198(+) tumor stroma but not with GT198(-) tumor cells. GT198(+) progenitor cells are mostly capillary pericytes. When tested in cultured cells, mutant GT198 induces vascular endothelial growth factor promoter, and potentially promotes angiogenesis and adipogenesis. Our results suggest that multiple lineages of breast tumor stromal cells are mutated in GT198. These findings imply the presence of mutant progenitors, whereas their descendants, carrying the same GT198 mutations, are collectively responsible for forming breast tumor microenvironment. GT198 expression is, therefore, a specific marker of mutant breast tumor stroma and has the potential to facilitate diagnosis and targeted treatment of human breast cancer

The Last Decade in Review: Tracing the Evolution of Safety Assurance Cases through a Comprehensive Bibliometric Analysis

Safety assurance is of paramount importance across various domains, including automotive, aerospace, and nuclear energy, where the reliability and acceptability of mission-critical systems are imperative. This assurance is effectively realized through the utilization of Safety Assurance Cases. The use of safety assurance cases allows for verifying the correctness of the created systems capabilities, preventing system failure. The latter may result in loss of life, severe injuries, large-scale environmental damage, property destruction, and major economic loss. Still, the emergence of complex technologies such as cyber-physical systems (CPSs), characterized by their heterogeneity, autonomy, machine learning capabilities, and the uncertainty of their operational environments poses significant challenges for safety assurance activities. Several papers have tried to propose solutions to tackle these challenges, but to the best of our knowledge, no secondary study investigates the trends, patterns, and relationships characterizing the safety case scientific literature. This makes it difficult to have a holistic view of the safety case landscape and to identify the most promising future research directions. In this paper, we, therefore, rely on state-of-the-art bibliometric tools(e.g., VosViewer) to conduct a bibliometric analysis that allows us to generate valuable insights, identify key authors and venues, and gain a birds eye view of the current state of research in the safety assurance area. By revealing knowledge gaps and highlighting potential avenues for future research, our analysis provides an essential foundation for researchers, corporate safety analysts, and regulators seeking to embrace or enhance safety practices that align with their specific needs and objectives