Showing 151 - 160 of 2039 Items

Civil Society under the Law ‘On Foreign Agents’: NGO Strategies and Network Transformation

Date: 2018-04-21

Creator: Maria Tysiachniouk

Svetlana Tulaeva

Laura A. Henry

Access: Open access

This essay analyses how the ‘foreign agent’ law has been interpreted and implemented by the Russian authorities and examines diverse NGO survival strategies in response to the ‘foreign agent’ label. The foreign agent law has disrupted and transformed resource mobilisation strategies and transnational NGO networks. Based on qualitative research on environmental NGOs, we offer a typology of NGO responses to the foreign agent law, providing examples to show how the organisations attempt to ensure their survival.


The initiation and development of small peat-forming ecosystems adjacent to lakes in the north central Canadian low arctic during the Holocene

Date: 2017-07-01

Creator: Philip Camill

Charles E. Umbanhowar

Christoph Geiss

Mark B. Edlund

Will O., Hobbs

Allison Dupont

Catherine Doyle-Capitman

Matthew Ramos

Access: Open access

Small peat-forming ecosystems in arctic landscapes may play a significant role in the regional biogeochemistry of high-latitude systems, yet they are understudied compared to arctic uplands and other major peat-forming regions of the North. We present a new data set of 25 radiocarbon-dated permafrost peat cores sampled around eight low arctic lake sites in northern Manitoba (Canada) to examine the timing of peat initiation and controls on peat accumulation throughout the Holocene. We used macrofossils and charcoal to characterize changes in the plant community and fire, and we explored potential impacts of these local factors, as well as regional climatic change, on rates of C accumulation and C stocks. Peat initiation was variable across and within sites, suggesting the influence of local topography, but 56% of the cores initiated after 3000 B.P. Most cores initiated and remained as drier bog hummock communities, with few vegetation transitions in this landscape. C accumulation was relatively slow and did not appear to be correlated with Holocene-scale climatic variability, but C stocks in this landscape were substantial (mean = 45.4 kg C m ), potentially accounting for 13.2 Pg C in the Taiga Shield ecozone. To the extent that small peat-forming systems are underrepresented in peatland mapping, soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks may be underestimated in arctic regions. Mean fire severity appeared to be negatively correlated with C accumulation rates. Initiation and accumulation of soil C may respond to both regional and local factors, and substantial lowland soil C stocks have the potential for biogeochemical impacts on adjacent aquatic ecosystems. −2


Conical wave propagation and diffraction in two-dimensional hexagonally packed granular lattices

Date: 2016-01-25

Creator: C. Chong

P. G. Kevrekidis

M. J. Ablowitz

Yi Ping Ma

Access: Open access

Linear and nonlinear mechanisms for conical wave propagation in two-dimensional lattices are explored in the realm of phononic crystals. As a prototypical example, a statically compressed granular lattice of spherical particles arranged in a hexagonal packing configuration is analyzed. Upon identifying the dispersion relation of the underlying linear problem, the resulting diffraction properties are considered. Analysis both via a heuristic argument for the linear propagation of a wave packet and via asymptotic analysis leading to the derivation of a Dirac system suggests the occurrence of conical diffraction. This analysis is valid for strong precompression, i.e., near the linear regime. For weak precompression, conical wave propagation is still possible, but the resulting expanding circular wave front is of a nonoscillatory nature, resulting from the complex interplay among the discreteness, nonlinearity, and geometry of the packing. The transition between these two types of propagation is explored.


Stolen Future, Broken Present: The Human Significance of Climate Change

Date: 2014-01-01

Creator: David A Collings

Access: Open access

This book argues that climate change has a devastating effect on how we think about the future. Once several positive feedback loops in Earth’s dynamic systems, such as the melting of the Arctic icecap or the drying of the Amazon, cross the point of no return, the biosphere is likely to undergo severe and irreversible warming. Nearly everything we do is premised on the assumption that the world we know will endure into the future and provide a sustaining context for our activities. But today the future of a viable biosphere, and thus the purpose of our present activities, is put into question. A disappearing future leads to a broken present, a strange incoherence in the feel of everyday life. We thus face the unprecedented challenge of salvaging a basis for our lives today. That basis, this book argues, may be found in our capacity to assume an infinite responsibility for ecological disaster and, like the biblical Job, to respond with awe to the alien voice that speaks from the whirlwind. By owning disaster and accepting our small place within the inhuman forces of the biosphere, we may discover how to live with responsibility and serenity whatever may come. (Publisher's Description) Freely available online at https://quod.lib.umich.edu/o/ohp/12832550.0001.001


Love is Real & I Just Had Some for Dessert: Legacies of Communal Care & Compassion in Asian Diasporic Women's Food Writing

Date: 2023-01-01

Creator: Miki Rierson

Access: Open access

In this project I work to recover influential yet often erased Asian American female immigrant chefs and food authors from the mid-twentieth century to the present, situating their contributions in a deep-rooted tradition of diasporic women who used cooking as a means of communal agency and care. Immigrant Asian cookbook authors and chefs have long faced internal criticisms from their own diasporic communities of either inauthenticity or engaging in “food pornography,” to use writer Frank Chin’s term—a line of criticism that Lisa Lau has elaborated on as “re-Orientalism.”Though these criticisms should not eclipse the works themselves, I discuss and counter them in my project because they reflect broader challenges faced particularly by Asian female diasporic authors even today. , I seek to address a broader scholarly gap through my project. Presently, much important work exists on the legacies of historical trauma and violence on marginalized communities, work that highlights the insidious ways violence manifests in academia, pop culture, and everyday lives. This project is a personal pursuit to focus on the healing and beautiful aspects of diasporic community and identity, an ode to the parts of us that are not defined by the pain and suffering but that seek self-affirmation beyond them.


Music Streaming Services, Programming Culture, and the Politics of Listening

Date: 2015-05-01

Creator: Walker Kennedy

Access: Open access



Liberty and Its Legacy An Analysis of Freedom and Liberty in American Political Rhetoric

Date: 2023-01-01

Creator: Ryan S. Kovarovics

Access: Open access

The concept of freedom has always been central to the American identity, but its meaning has never been agreed on by all and has long been the subject of debate. An abridged explanation of the evolution of liberty’s meaning in political thought and American history is presented in the first chapter of this project. It demonstrates the long-standing importance of individual freedom in America and highlights some historical moments when liberty has come into conflict with other societal values. When used in American political rhetoric today, “freedom” and “liberty” typically take on a “negative” meaning that is focused mostly on individual freedom from government intervention. This is especially clear with regard to issues each party claims to “own” in the context of freedom, including abortion for the Democrats and the covid-19 pandemic response for the Republicans. To verify this partisan ownership of freedom and compare how each party uses freedom in political rhetoric, an empirical analysis was conducted of the uses of “freedom” and “liberty” in candidate tweets and campaign ads from the 2022 midterm elections. The analysis found some support for partisan ownership of freedom rhetoric surrounding these and other issues, but the most interesting finding was that Democrats and Republicans invoked “freedom” and “liberty” in their rhetoric at virtually identical rates. This shows that neither party can lay an exclusive claim to be the “party of freedom.”


Electronic branching ratio of the lepton

Date: 1992-01-01

Creator: R. Ammar

P. Baringer

D. Coppage

R. Davis

M., Kelly

N. Kwak

H. Lam

S. Ro

Y. Kubota

M. Lattery

J. K. Nelson

D. Perticone

R. Poling

S. Schrenk

R. Wang

M. S. Alam

I. J. Kim

B. Nemati

V. Romero

C. R. Sun

P. N. Wang

M. M. Zoeller

G. Crawford

R. Fulton

K. K. Gan

H. Kagan

R. Kass

J. Lee

R. Malchow

F. Morrow

M. K. Sung

Access: Open access

Using data accumulated by the CLEO I detector operating at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring, we have measured the ratio R=( e» e ) 1 where " 1 is the decay rate to final states with one charged particle. We find R=0.2231 0.0044 0.0073 where the first error is statistical and the second is systematic. Together with the measured topological one-charged-particle branching fraction, this yields the branching fraction of the lepton to electrons, Be=0.192 0.004 0.006. © 1992 The American Physical Society.


Inclusive (2P) production in (3S) decay

Date: 1991-01-01

Creator: R. Morrison

D. Schmidt

M. Procario

D. R. Johnson

K., Lingel

P. Rankin

J. G. Smith

J. Alexander

M. Artuso

C. Bebek

K. Berkelman

D. Besson

T. E. Browder

D. G. Cassel

E. Cheu

D. M. Coffman

P. S. Drell

R. Ehrlich

R. S. Galik

M. Garcia-Sciveres

B. Geiser

B. Gittelman

S. W. Gray

D. L. Hartill

B. K. Heltsley

K. Honscheid

J. Kandaswamy

N. Katayama

D. L. Kreinick

J. D. Lewis

G. S. Ludwig

Access: Open access

Using the CsI calorimeter of the CLEO II detector, the spin triplet b(2P) states are observed in (3S) radiative decays with much higher statistics than seen in previous experiments. The observed mass splittings are not described well by theoretical models, while the relative branching ratios agree with predictions that include relativistic corrections to the radiative transition rates. © 1991 The American Physical Society.


Coordination of distinct but interacting rhythmic motor programs by a modulatory projection neuron using different co-transmitters in different ganglia

Date: 2013-05-01

Creator: Molly A. Kwiatkowski

Emily R. Gabranski

Kristen E. Huber

M. Christine Chapline

Andrew E., Christie

Patsy S. Dickinson

Access: Open access

While many neurons are known to contain multiple neurotransmitters, the specific roles played by each co-transmitter within a neuron are often poorly understood. Here, we investigated the roles of the co-transmitters of the pyloric suppressor (PS) neurons, which are located in the stomatogastric nervous system (STNS) of the lobster Homarus americanus. The PS neurons are known to contain histamine; using RT-PCR, we identified a second co-transmitter as the FMRFamide-like peptide crustacean myosuppressin (Crust-MS). The modulatory effects of Crust-MS application on the gastric mill and pyloric patterns, generated in the stomatogastric ganglion (STG), closely resembled those recorded following extracellular PS neuron stimulation. To determine whether histamine plays a role in mediating the effects of the PS neurons in the STG, we bath-applied histamine receptor antagonists to the ganglion. In the presence of the antagonists, the histamine response was blocked, but Crust-MS application and PS stimulation continued to modulate the gastric and pyloric patterns, suggesting that PS effects in the STG are mediated largely by Crust-MS. PS neuron stimulation also excited the oesophageal rhythm, produced in the commissural ganglia (CoGs) of the STNS. Application of histamine, but not Crust-MS, to the CoGs mimicked this effect. Histamine receptor antagonists blocked the ability of both histamine and PS stimulation to excite the oesophageal rhythm, providing strong evidence that the PS neurons use histamine in the CoGs to exert their effects. Overall, our data suggest that the PS neurons differentially utilize their co-transmitters in spatially distinct locations to coordinate the activity of three independent networks. © 2013. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.