The Schnitzel Squad

Postcard from Cruz Morey, during the Linfield College Semester Abroad Program at the Austro-American Institute of Education in Vienna, Austri

The Off Season: Masculinities, Rurality, and Family Ties in Alaska Commercial Fishing

This study explores the intersections of masculinity, rurality, the family, and ecology through the experiences of commercial fishermen in Alaska. By understanding the plurality of masculinities and how men operate within a rural space, this study investigates the relationship between the masculine rural and the rural masculine and how that relationship pertains to commercial fishermen. This study examines existing discourse about Alaska and the masculinity of commercial fishermen in light of the concepts of cultural and economic capital, as well as local ecological knowledge (LEK). It further examines how fishermen describe their experiences in the industry as ones that are rooted in family influence and economic gain, while also believing that in order to make money, a “true fisherman” needs to be able to learn fast and endure what the industry throws at them. By exploring these parallels, this study reveals that Alaska commercial fishermen shape their gender identities on the notion that only a “true fisherman” is capable of achieving success through hard work, family support, and the utilization of local knowledge

Vertical Integration in Multi-commodity Energy Markets

In a simple energy-market structure consisting of natural gas and electricity suppliers, suppliers exercise market power by adjusting their production levels to influence the market price. This is done with the aim of maximizing their individual profits. This paper examines the impact of vertical integration, whereby firms supply both natural gas and electricity, on market efficiency. Market equilibria, which is the point at which no firm has incentive to deviate unilaterally, was modeled using a computational approach. Stylized profit-maximization problems were examined with vertically integrated and dis-integrated firms using a quantity-setting Nash-Cournot framework. Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) conditions are used to characterize optimal solutions to the firms' profit-maximization problems. Combining the KKT conditions of all of the firms allows us to compute market equilibria efficiently. The complementarity framework is used to examine the incentives of integrated and dis-integrated firms to exercise market power in one or both of the markets. Comprehensive case studies that are reflective of real-world energy systems are used to examine the impacts of potential mergers between natural gas and electric firms on market efficiency. This work can inform policy makers and regulators in determining how markets should be structured to ensure increased efficiency. Policy makers and regulators could employ a modeling technique, such as the one developed in this paper, to screen potential vertical mergers in energy and other market settings.No embargoAcademic Major: Industrial and Systems Engineerin

The Off-Season: Masculinities, Rurality, & Family Ties in Alaska Commercial Fishermen

The purpose of this study is to explore the intersections of masculinity, rurality, the family, and economics through the experiences of commercial fishermen in Alaska. Understanding masculinity as plural and the rural space as a sphere in which individuals operate, this study examines the relationship between the masculine rural and the rural masculine and how it pertains to commercial fishermen. I focus on the discourse already present about Alaska and commercial fishermen and combine this approach with notions of cultural and economic capital, as well as the local ecological knowledge (LEK). The fishermen describe their experiences in the industry as ones that are rooted in family influence and economic gain, while also believing that, in order to make money, a “true fisherman” needs to be able to learn fast and endure what the industry throws at them. This study adds to the body of knowledge already put forth about rural masculinities and offers a different approach to understanding a subculture that is rarely looked at today

Maintaining binding in working memory: Comparing the effects of intentional goals and incidental affordances

Much research on memory for binding depends on incidental measures. However, if encoding associations benefits from conscious attention, then incidental measures of binding memory might not yield a sufficient understanding of how binding is accomplished. Memory for letters and spatial locations was compared in three within-participants tasks, one in which binding was not afforded by stimulus presentation, one in which incidental binding was possible, and one in which binding was explicitly to be remembered. Some evidence for incidental binding was observed, but unique benefits of explicit binding instructions included preserved discrimination as set size increased and drastic reduction in false alarms to lures that included a new spatial location and an old letter. This suggests that substantial cognitive benefits, including enhanced memory for features themselves, might occur through intentional binding, and that incidental measures of binding might not reflect these advantages. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

A Lower Bound For Depths of Powers of Edge Ideals

Let $G$ be a graph and let $I$ be the edge ideal of $G$. Our main results in this article provide lower bounds for the depth of the first three powers of $I$ in terms of the diameter of $G$. More precisely, we show that \depth R/I^t \geq \left\lceil{\frac{d-4t+5}{3}} \right\rceil +p-1, where $d$ is the diameter of $G$, $p$ is the number of connected components of $G$ and $1 \leq t \leq 3$. For general powers of edge ideals we showComment: 21 pages, to appear in Journal of Algebraic Combinatoric

Embedded Associated Primes of Powers of Square-free Monomial Ideals

An ideal I in a Noetherian ring R is normally torsion-free if Ass(R/I^t)=Ass(R/I) for all natural numbers t. We develop a technique to inductively study normally torsion-free square-free monomial ideals. In particular, we show that if a square-free monomial ideal I is minimally not normally torsion-free then the least power t such that I^t has embedded primes is bigger than beta_1, where beta_1 is the monomial grade of I, which is equal to the matching number of the hypergraph H(I) associated to I. If in addition I fails to have the packing property, then embedded primes of I^t do occur when t=beta_1 +1. As an application, we investigate how these results relate to a conjecture of Conforti and Cornu\'ejols.Comment: 15 pages, changes have been made to the title, introduction, and background material, and an example has been added. To appear in JPA

Exertional sickling: Questions and controversy

Sickle cell trait (SCT) occurs in about 8% of African-Americans and is often described to be of little clinical consequence. Over time, a number of risks have emerged, and among these are rare but catastrophic episodes of sudden death in athletes and other individuals associated with physical activities which is often described as exercise collapse associated with sickle trait (ECAST). Despite an epidemiologic link between SCT and sudden death as well as numerous case reports in both medical literature and lay press, no clear understanding of the key pathophysiologic events has been identified. Strategies for identification of individuals at risk and prevention of ECAST have been both elusive and controversial. Stakeholders have advocated for different approaches to this issue particularly with regard to screening for hemoglobin S. Furthermore, the recommendations and guidelines that are in place for the early recognition of ECAST and the prevention and treatment of the illness are not well defined and remain fragmented. Among the cases identified, those in collegiate football players in the United States are often highlighted. This manuscript examines these case studies and the current recommendations to identify areas of consensus and controversy regarding recommendations for prevention, recognition and treatment of ECAST