Deceit of the Promised Land: Sex Trafficking from the Former Soviet Union to Israel

Around the world, there are people who suffer human rights abuses from their government and society and yearn to leave for new opportunities to create a better life. Unfortunately, there are criminal elements that use this desperation to lure people into traps, offering them passage and upon arrival, forcing them into non-consensual work situations with no recourse or exit strategy. Israel and the Soviet Union had a tempestuous relationship, especially with regard to Jews from the republics who wanted to “make Aliyah,” a concept in Judaism that they can “return” to Israel regardless of where they were born. To support this, the Israeli government offers citizenship to Jews. By abusing this law, groups were able to traffic many Soviet women into the sex work industry, turning what appeared to be an opportunity to return to their cultural homeland into an egregious human rights abuse. The overall goal is to understand what mistakes were made in the immigration pathway that made it so susceptible to trafficking, why the Israeli government was adamant about covering it up for so long, and helping the victims get justice and serve as a more universal framework for preventing these atrocities. The first steps are to review immigration information as well as anecdotes collected from official Israeli government sources as well as survivors who have had their stories told in the years following. In addition to this qualitative information, statistical data from the Israeli government and third-party human rights organizations will be collected to provide a quantitative justification. This mixture of information is critical to creating a compelling research project as it ensures that the findings are widespread enough to have practical applications while not ignoring the individual human suffering and emotional damage and support the victims in telling their story and receiving justice.https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_2021/1025/thumbnail.jp

Influencing Well-being: A Study of Childhood Risk Factors as Predictive Indicators for Future Mental Health Difficulties

Previous literature demonstrates common childhood characteristics of adults with mental health problems and children with internalizing and externalizing behavior challenges (Fatori et al., 2013; Jaffee et al., 2002; Koegel et al., 1995; Morrissey et al., 2014). Still, little research exists having associated school-based internalizing and externalizing behavior screening scores with the risk factors described in the literature (i.e., low socioeconomic status, office discipline referrals, homelessness, low academic achievement, low attendance rates, and ethnicity- and gender-based issues). This quantitative correlational study aimed to estimate the predictive value the childhood risk factors had on the results of the Student Risk Screening Scale – Internalizing and Externalizing (SRSS-IE) of elementary-aged students through a regression analysis of secondary data. The secondary data were taken from an urban school district in the Midwest. Guided by the life course theory and the age-graded theory of social control, this study explored the predictive value of several indicators. The findings show that the psychosocial risk factors pulled from the research hold predictive value when combined into a composite score with 45-60% accuracy and with 50-65% accuracy when the risk factors are considered individually. The results hold potential for identifying students who are at-risk for mental health difficulties before severe problems exist, allowing for the provision of early, targeted school- and community-based intervention in the areas of social, emotional, and behavioral wellness for students to reduce the likelihood of future mental health problems. The results, implications for schools, and recommendations for future research are discussed

Finance and fake news

Vogl interprets the structural discrediting of knowledge and the corresponding glorification of mere assertion as nothing less than the tectonics of our time. But this diagnosis presupposes that it makes sense to examine different fields in terms of their epistemology – and to measure them against the same standards

Being-with-uncertainty

 "Being-with-uncertainty" reveals that uncertainty is valuable and generative to teaching-learning. However, an analysis of recent education policies shows how teachers are implicitly guided to resist uncertainty. This construct of certainty is rattled by the ubiquity of uncertainty in the work of teaching-learning. A courageous and considered approach may be key

Meeting Resistance to a Policy of Cadaveric Organ Conscription: A Discussion of the Important Issues and Arguments

Conscripting organs from cadavers represents a radical new approach to the problem of organ procurement for transplantation. As it currently stands, there is a wide disparity between the supply of viable organs and the need for those organs in order to perform life-saving transplantations. There is, therefore, a major problem with the current organ procurement model in the United States. Cadaveric organ conscription avoids the requirement for consent in organ donation; all candidates for organ donation will have viable organs harvested for transplantation under this policy. Organ conscription has the potential to close the widening gap between the number of people who need an organ transplant and the number of people who donate an organ. I contend that conscription of organs from cadavers is the best approach to adopt in order to solve the problem of organ procurement. I defend organ conscription from numerous objections, and attempt to show that is is both a practical and desirable policy. I conclude not only that the benefits of organ conscription outweigh the drawbacks, but also that organ conscription is the most morally desirable approach to procurement

A roadmap towards a non-detriment finding for Pterocarpus erinaceus in Sierra Leone

XI, 95 páginas.Trabajo Fin de Máster Propio. Tutoras: Dra. Margarita África Clemente Muñoz ; Isabel Camarena. Developing a roadmap towards a Non-Detriment Finding for Pterocarpus erinaceus in Sierra Leone is viewed as a critical and timely intervention for Sierra Leone and other range state who may want to conduct a NDF for the above-named species and other CITES's listed species. It should serve as a guide, steps and directive that could help in the development of a non-detriment finding for the sustainable harvesting and exportation of Pterocarpus erinaceus in accordance with recommendations under Review of Significant Trade (RST) process in line with Resolution Conf. 12.8 (Rev. CoP18). The goal of this research intervention was to develop a roadmap that can inform the development of a non-detriment findings on Pterocarpus erinaceus in Sierra Leone and other range state. This roadmap is applicable to any other CITES’ listed Species. To this end, the specific objectives were: 1. Conduct a systematic review of existing knowledge on ecology, trade volumes, threats, and legislation on P. erinaceus in Sierra Leone. 2. Establish progress and constraints in implementing recommendations for sustainable management of P. erinaceus from previous studies, and from CITES; and 3. Define a roadmap towards producing NDFs for P. erinaceus in Sierra Leone and improve compliance with CITES. To get the desired result expected, a diversified research tools and, methodologies were used including desk review, checklist and questionnaire design approach supported by field visit and observation of the areas where the species is found, review of data on trade volume from internet and CITES trade database. It further shifted to review of previous inventory work and maps to serve as guide in the selection of the study area. etc. Based upon the research findings and literature works reviewed, it was noted that the species in question is indeed harvested without reference to size, height etc. The roadmap shows the above component as missing links for a Non-Detriment finding for Pterocarpus erinaceus. No documented research work has ever been conducted in this country on this species to show the species spread, local use, threats, facing it. The only documented but unpublished academic research work that was conducted by Foray-Musa was not detailed enough to capture the species’ location, spread, characteristics or threats

Indirect determination of mica via rubidium content and direct determination of heavy metal lead in cosmetics

Millions of people worldwide use cosmetics daily and some of these are unwittingly exposing themselves to dangerous levels of toxic elements such as lead. In addition to lead, mica has been widely used in cosmetics for its shimmery and reflective effect. Ground mica powder is pearlescent and satiny, qualities that have made it a common ingredient in cosmetics where it provides a shimmery, glittery, and reflective effects. Though mica is harmless as a solid, its powder or dust can cause both short- and long-term health problems. A means of identifying cosmetics that contain mica would be useful to ensure that measures are taken to avoid inhalation of potentially harmful particles. An investigation was performed on more than one hundred cosmetic samples from countries all over the world checking them for lead and for rubidium ions that commonly contained in mica. The samples were acid digested and then analyzed using an Agilent Microwave Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectrometer (MP-AES). Moreover, these samples were investigated using an EDAX Orbis X-Ray Fluorescence spectrometer as a facile rapid non-destructive method to detect these elements in cosmetics without the necessity of dissolution. This part of the investigation consisted of making lead XRF standards using silica gel and rubidium XRF standards using muscovite mica. It was found that some of the cosmetics samples did contain high concentrations of these elements. Several of the samples exceeded The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) maximum recommended level for lead in cosmetics (10 ppm). In order to avoid the necessity of acid digestion, the XRF spectrometer was calibrated using lead-containing silica gel standards and the same was done for rubidium using mica and rubidium-containing silica gel standards. This allowed the cosmetic samples to be quantitatively analyzed for lead and rubidium (mica) without destroying the samples. The XRF results were compared to the concentrations determined using MP-AES to validate the use of the XRF spectrometer for analysis of lead in cosmetics. A relationship between lead and mica has been identified that explains the mysterious existence of lead as in impurity in mica-containing cosmetics