Theses (2020)

The Chinese government has steadily increased its interest in Africa, where China's investments in infrastructure and in extraction of valuable resources have allowed it to exert political influence. This paper analyzes the reasons why China has been so active on the continent and the methods they have used to become such an important actor in the area.

During the early and mid-twentieth century, only the wealthy class could consume fashion in mass quantities due to the cost of clothing. The lower and middle classes were limited in their consumption which created a demand for lower-priced clothes. They too wanted to mimic the idea of wealth through mass consumption and mirror the wealthy class. Zara, a well-known Spanish fashion company, saw an opportunity to profit from the middle and lower classes. Zara sought out to create fashion that was affordable, profitable, and disposable. They wanted lower social classes to have the ability to treat fashion as disposable and to "keep up" with the latest trends. This was when the Zara model was created which is now known as "Fast Fashion".

Phannaceutical advertisements have been regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) since 1962, originally used as a method to influence physician-prescribing behavior. Since then, phannaceutical advertisements have expanded to various channels of communication by way of a marketing strategy known as direct-to-consumer advertising (DTC or DTCA). Through this practice, companies can advertise medical products directly to consumers as long as certain instructions are followed. However, companies in the pharmaceutical industry took advantage of relaxed FDA laws in 1997 and rapidly grew in the DTCA market. Though legal actions have been proposed to better regulate DTC advertising, the phannaceutical industry seems to rarely be affected, leaving room for suggestions as to how the FDA and policymakers can rethink DTC policies moving forward.

So what are the inherent problems, within the EU structure, that make it harder for EU Intelligence Agencies to operate most efficiently in sharing information intelligence and ultimately increasing the security of the EU?

Across a multiplicity of philosophical areas-philosophy of human nature, mind, politics, and more-one subject that proves significant again and again is altruism. Serving as a justification for or against many of the most basic aspects of our social institutions, our belief or disbelief in it is not inconsequential. Despite what egoists might say, altruism is a central facet of the human condition; we are all, in one way or another, altruistic. This includes what I will call fairness altruism, as well as a compassion altruism. Advancements in psychology have shown the development of these tendencies in infants & toddlers. In this paper, I will motivate a new altruism that considers our political nature and the mental mechanism that got us here.

Neurodegenerative diseases are incurable conditions that develop when neurons, the cells of the central nervous system (eNS), function abnormally, often causing apoptotic cell death. One major precursor for neurodegenerative diseases is oxidative stress, which occurs when the body's antioxidant defense mechanisms become overwhelmed by high concentrations of free radicals. As a result, transition metals, such as zinc and copper, are liberated from their intracellular stores. Previous studies suggest that zinc liberation is responsible for oxidative stress-induced apoptotic cell death and neurodegeneration. However, the role of copper liberation was still unclear. In this study, we aimed to confirm that zinc, not copper, is the primary transition metal responsible for mediating apoptotic cell death pathways in neurons.

The Syrian civil war is one of the most devastating conflicts that the world has ever seen. It seemingly has shown no sign of ending peacefully, and it is with that problem, that this research attempts to contribute. This paper argues that factors of identity, power and group interaction are vital in determining a successful conflict resolution, however, due to the unique and complex power dynamics of the Syrian civil war, successful conflict resolution is inapplicable in the short term. To answer the first part of the research question, the work situates itself within the greater body of conflict resolution literature. It then examines cases and measures their conflict resolution outcome as successful, moderately successful, and unsuccessful. Then, taking a case of each outcome, it will show support for assumptions related to each of the independent variables. To answer the second question, the discussion is transitioned to Syria, and the support for the assumptions will show support for the thesis.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder causing stiffness, tremors, and dementia. Inherited PD has been linked to mutations in PINKI and Parkin, proteins involved in the clearance of damaged mitochondria. These proteins signal degradation of Miro, an integral protein of the motor adaptor complex. The halting of mitochondrial trafficking prevents depolarized organelles from spreading reactive oxygen species, which cause oxidative damage to membranes, DNA, and proteins. Both Miro degradation by PINKliParkin and formation of myosin-VI mediated F -actin cages have been shown to occur around damaged mitochondria. How these two processes work together to decrease mitochondrial motility is not yet fully understood. We hypothesized that F-actin is responsible for stopping mitochondrial motion before Miro can be degraded.

As teachers, we know that our students are the heartbeat of our classrooms and the basis of our instructional decisions. This project seeks to take that notion and apply it to literacy instruction at the elementary level. Our students deserve to have books that reflect themselves and their experiences, as well as books that broaden their world view. When inclusive and culturally relevant texts are integrated into the curriculum, teachers have the opportunity to foster empathic readers who better understand the world around them. This curriculum design project focuses on how elementary teachers can integrate inclusive and culturally relevant texts into their classroom libraries and literacy instruction through frameworks for critically evaluating texts, as well as a comprehensive curriculum plan. Another facet of the project focuses on how the inclusion of culturally relevant texts affects reading engagement.

The problems of human and environmental well-being are inseparable. In order to protect both, we must understand and target the relationship between the two. Biodiversity is a crucial component of ecosystem health, yet as we degrade land, we undermine and disrupt biodiversity. Though research about the relationship between biodiversity and poverty is still new, there are key clear overlaps between the two-most often, areas of high biodiversity exist in low-income rural areas that experience high poverty. 1 Agriculture contributes to this relationship-it is one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss yet is a crucial system on which rural communities in lower income countries depend. Most often, the economies of these countries depend on natural resources;2 therefore, when we degrade the latter through development, we threaten lives and livelihoods. Sustainable development is the organizing principle by which we can meet human development goals while simultaneously supporting the ability of the natural environment to sustain the ecosystem services on which society, culture and economies depend3

As a first-generation American descending from a village just north of Damascus, Frank Maria (b. 1913) dedicated his life to increasing understanding of the Arab world. Maria was a leading Arab-American spokesperson that regularly found himself in the company of United States officials and Presidents to urge for peace in his former home. Zaid Alnasar and his family sought asylum after being forced to flee Deraa, Syria and were granted admission into the United States in 2014 after 18 months of waiting. The Alnasars have brought with them their traumas of war, but there is no love lost for the land they once called home. While the place Maria's parents and the Alnasar family left is the same nominally and regionally, there is a marked shift on how each view their place of origin and themselves within it. Syria, at the time of Maria's birth only existed as an idea, one fashionable of the time, to fit within a larger Ottoman state. The empire collapsing was an event that few foresaw. By the time the Alnasar's left Syria, the nation was embroiled in a civil war in the name of political and civil rights against a government that had actively repressed the society for half a century. Though they left the same territory, each left different worlds.

Inequality of subjects to teach/learn led me to investigate not only the importance of incorporating inquiry-based science learning into everyday academics, but more importantly the impact that science teachers can have on students' abilities to see themselves as scientists. To guide my questions, I began researching the importance of classroom contexts that teachers strategically create and how those can set students up for success.

Financial market returns and their volatility['" have the utmost importance when investors, business managers, politicians and academics make decisions that impact a company's future financial health or the well-being of a nation's economy and its citizens. Based on stock shares returns and their volatility, businessmen and financial professionals make investment decisions that impact industries. When making these important decisions, there are unforeseen exogenous events - events that happen outside of the United States and are not directly related to a financial decision - that can create catastrophic damage to the financial sector of the United States. These events can cause a realized loss of billions or even trillions of dollars. Exogenous events can instantly cripple a nation's economy by causing businesses to fail, causing shareholders a lot of money, or eradicating consumer confidence.