The Impact of Security Crises on Political Development: An Analysis of Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, and Senegal

This paper explores the relationship between security concerns and political development in three case studies: Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, and Senegal. It first analyzes the foundations of political institutions within the three states by exploring the creation of nationalist leaders in the pre-independence era, and how their personal development within these years affected their governance style after independence. Afterwards, the discussion separates into the three distinct case studies. The purpose of this analysis is to first outline the major developments within each country in the political field, highlight the major security concerns within the country, and then analyze how these two sectors have affected the other, or if they have not, why there has been little connection between the two

Trying to Act Rightly

My research focuses on the moral evaluation of people’s motivations. A popular recent view in Philosophy is that good people are motivated by the considerations that make actions morally right (the “right-making features”). For example, this view entails that a Black Lives Matter protester can be a good person if she is motivated to engage in protest by the thought that it will bring about equality, or justice, since this is what makes engaging in protest morally right. But this view entails that the protester cannot be a good person if she engages in protest because it is morally right. I think that this is a serious mistake. My view is that it is good to be explicitly committed to acting rightly and motivated by the moral rightness of one’s actions. More specifically, I explore the nature and defend the value of a complex state that I call "trying to act rightly". This comprises (a) wanting to act rightly, (b) thinking about which actions are right, and (c) doing the things that you think are right, because they are right. The three papers of my Dissertation each make part of the case for trying to act rightly. My first paper, “Praiseworthy Motivations”, addresses the view that it is good to be motivated by the right-making features but not good to be motivated to act rightly. I argue that this view rests on poorly-drawn comparison cases that are not genuine minimal pairs, and that well-constructed cases show these two types of motivation to be equally good. I address the worry that trying to act rightly leads people with false moral beliefs to act wrongly, by noting that this also applies to motivation by right-making features, since people can be motivated by a right-making feature while being mistaken about which acts have this feature. I then argue that we should distinguish carefully between motivations, actions, and beliefs when evaluating these well-meaning but morally mistaken agents. The second paper, “We Can Have Our Buck and Pass It, Too”, addresses the view that the fact that an act is morally right is not a genuine reason to perform it, and that our reasons for action are instead provided by the right-making features. I argue that this view rests on a confused picture of moral metaphysics, which would rule out any case in which one reason to perform an act is partially metaphysically constituted by another fact that is also a reason to perform the same act – as, for example, when a salad both is healthy and contains vegetables. I then sketch an alternative picture of moral metaphysics, on which genuine reasons for action can be metaphysically related to one another. My third paper, “Accidentally Doing the Right Thing”, uses general reflections on the nature of deliberate action and its relationship to praiseworthiness to argue that someone is only praiseworthy for acting rightly if she was trying to act rightly. I apply this idea to the philosophical debate on moral worth, defending the Kantian view that actions have moral worth just in case they are instances of someone’s trying to act rightly and succeeding. This is a radical departure from the most popular contemporary view on moral worth, and requires a re-evaluation of the main case discussed in this literature: that of Huckleberry Finn.PHDPhilosophyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145973/1/zoejk_1.pd

Determining the Influence of Hunter Access on Antlerless Elk B License Harvest in Select Areas of Southwest, Central and Eastern Montana

Antlerless elk hunting is a critically important tool for wildlife managers to help manage populations of elk. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) conducted a survey following the 2010 general big game hunting season to determine the effect that hunter access might have on Antlerless Elk B License utilization and associated harvest in select areas of the state where concerns have been expressed about hunting access. A mail-back survey was used to determine, the extent to which respondents were able to gain access to public and private lands to hunt antlerless elk, what types of properties respondents were able to secure permission to hunt, the extent to which respondents were able to successfully harvest antlerless elk, and respondent satisfaction with the Antlerless Elk B Licenses they received in 2010. Questionnaires were successfully mailed to a total of N = 5,297 Elk B License holders and there were a total of n = 2,954 survey respondents resulting in an overall response rate of 56 percent. Survey results revealed several key findings that have significant elk population management implications. While respondents used different hunting access or property types to varying degrees the type of property accessed played a prominent role in determining antlerless elk harvest success rates and antlerless elk harvest distribution. A majority of the survey respondents who hunted or attempted to hunt using their Antlerless Elk B License reported that they were satisfied with the license they received in 2010

Noise, NOISE, Noise Impacts on Plants & Pollinators

Recent studies have shown that anthropogenic noise can have significant impacts on the species composition of ecosystems, plant physiology, and animal behavior. While past studies have examined impacts on different organisms separately and often in the lab, this study compared responses of pollinators and plants exposed to two different locations (HT – high traffic and LT – low traffic) separated by 200 m on the Hollins University campus. Average noise levels at the HT site were 10 dB louder than at the LT site with the average maximum levels greater than 90 db. Unlike previous studies, we found that the above and below ground biomass of plants grown in HT and LT microcosms did not differ nor was there any difference in leaf stomatal density after 58 days. Before harvesting, pollinator activity at the microcosms at the HT and LT site was videotaped simultaneously on five different occasions. Analysis of these videos revealed no difference in visitation rates by pollinators between the LT and HT sites; however, a greater diversity in pollinator taxa was seen on marigolds at the LT site during July. This multilayered field study indicated that noise may have impacts on biological organisms but further study is warranted

Bone-to-bone and implant-to-bone impingement : a novel graphical representation for hip replacement planning

Bone-to-bone impingement (BTBI) and implant-to-bone impingement (ITBI) risk assessment is generally performed intra-operatively by surgeons, which is entirely subjective and qualitative, and therefore, lead to sub-optimal results and recurrent dislocation in some cases. Therefore, a method was developed for identifying subject-specific BTBI and ITBI, and subsequently, visualising the impingement area on native bone anatomy to highlight where prominent bone should be resected. Activity definitions and subject-specific bone geometries, with planned implants were used as inputs for the method. The ITBI and BTBI boundary and area were automatically identified using ray intersection and region growing algorithm respectively to retain the same ‘conical clearance angle’ obtained to avoid prosthetic impingement (PI). The ITBI and BTBI area was then presented with different colours to highlight the risk of impingement, and importance of resection. A clinical study with five patients after 2 years of THA was performed to validate the method. The results supported the study hypothesis, in that the predicted highest risk area (red coloured zone) was completely/majorly resected during the surgery. Therefore, this method could potentially be used to examine the effect of different pre-operative plans and hip motions on BTBI, ITBI, and PI, and to guide bony resection during THA surgery

FlowerNet: a gene expression correlation metwork for anther and pollen development

Floral formation, in particular anther and pollen development, is a complex biological process with critical importance for seed set and for targeted plant breeding. Many key transcription factors regulating this process have been identified; however, their direct role remains largely unknown. Using publicly available gene expression data from Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), focusing on those studies that analyze stamen-, pollen-, or flower-specific expression, we generated a network model of the global transcriptional interactions (FlowerNet). FlowerNet highlights clusters of genes that are transcriptionally coregulated and therefore likely to have interacting roles. Focusing on four clusters, and using a number of data sets not included in the generation of FlowerNet, we show that there is a close correlation in how the genes are expressed across a variety of conditions, including male-sterile mutants. This highlights the important role that FlowerNet can play in identifying new players in anther and pollen development. However, due to the use of general floral expression data in FlowerNet, it also has broad application in the characterization of genes associated with all aspects of floral development and reproduction. To aid the dissection of genes of interest, we have made FlowerNet available as a community resource (http://www.cpib.ac.uk/ anther). For this resource, we also have generated plots showing anther/flower expression from a variety of experiments: These are normalized together where possible to allow further dissection of the resource

Healthy Minds Study Pre- and Post- Covid Onset Years: University of Oregon Mental Health Needs and Access

Single page posterThe University of Oregon (UO) participated in the 2017, 2019, 2021, and 2023 Healthy Minds Study (HMS), a survey-based assessment of mental health status and service utilization among college students. A trend analysis of HMS data was done by UO University Health Services and Student Services and Enrollment Management Research and Assessment teams. This trend analysis includes two pre- and two post-COVID onset years. A qualitative review of UO data suggests increased student need for mental health services, decreased student flourishing when comparing survey results pre- and post-COVID onset years, and increased student self-efficacy to seek services. Increases in anxiety and depression rates, academic impairment, and need for mental health support when comparing survey results pre- and post-COVID onset demonstrate an increased need for mental health services. Already low flourishing levels decreased after COVID onset. Increased rates of help seeking behavior and desire to access services since COVID onset illustrate higher self-efficacy rates. The Health Equity Action Project of the Student Health Advisory Committee recommends UO implement changes to increase access of on campus mental health resources given that students need and actively seek care to create a community of students who are supported and share resources with others

Mental health of adolescents:variations by disability and borderline intellectual functioning and disability

Adolescence is a period of elevated stress for many young people, and it is possible that the challenges of adolescence are different for vulnerable groups. We aimed to document the mental health, emotional and behavioral difficulties and suicidal/self-harming behaviors among adolescents with borderline intellectual functioning (BIF) or a disability, compared to those with neither disability nor BIF. Data was drawn from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, a nationally representative Australian study. Participants were 2950 adolescents with complete data for Waves 3-6 (years 2008-2014), aged 14-15 years in 2014. Mental health items and self-harming/suicidal thought/behaviors were self-reported. Emotional-behavioral difficulties items came from the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, and were parent-, and adolescent-reported. Results of logistic regression analyses indicate that the emotional-behavioral difficulties of adolescents with either a disability or BIF, was worse than for those with neither disability nor BIF. Additionally, adolescents with a disability reported more symptoms of anxiety and depression, and were more likely to report self-harming/suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Adolescents with BIF or a disability are at higher risk of emotional-behavioral difficulties than those with neither disability nor BIF. There is some evidence that adolescents with a disability are at higher risk of anxiety, self-harming/suicidal thoughts and behaviors than adolescents without a disability