America Today Research Articles

Heroes at Home: Honoring our Nation’s Veterans

There are currently 17.42 million veterans living in America today. These heroes dedicated their services in World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam War, and the Gulf War, leaving home and giving up the comforts of stability, family, and guaranteed safety to ensure that America remains a stable and safe place for individuals and families to call home, yet upon returning home themselves, our nation’s veterans have had to face immense hardships. About 40,000 veterans are without shelter in the U.S. on any given night; some of the leading causes of veteran homelessness include PTSD, social isolation, unemployment, and substance abuse. This is why programs such as the Porter County Veteran’s Treatment Court (PVTC), Folds of Honor, Southshore Friends of Veterans, and Disabled American Veterans designed to support our nation’s veterans are so important for our community. This reflection details my research into each one of these Northwest Indiana organizations. In this account, I illustrate the impact of dozens of one-on-one interviews with the heroes running these programs, and veterans a part of these programs themselves. A special focus is placed on the results of the Purdue University Service-Learning grant received on behalf of the PVTC within that treatment community. During interviews, veteran Bob Carnegy stated: “People don’t understand the meaning of the word veteran. Each one is special, yet connected. No matter what branch they serve, each veteran had to raise their right hand and pledge their life to this country. That pledge is what connects us all.” Going off of his words, this reflection marks an overall goal of increasing awareness for the great acts of service our veterans perform, not just overseas, but also when they return home to the community.

Preventing Behavioral-Risks Incidence among School Children: The Role of School-Based Health Promotion Program

This article addresses the important role school health education program can play in reducing youth risky behaviors that lead to incarceration, diseases and fatalities or that impact their academic performance in school. Children growing up are at risks of exposure to different behaviors and common social influences which if unchecked result in unexpected health consequences common among youth in America today. According to US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, the six leading behaviors that cause death, disability, and social problems among American children are: unintentional injuries and violence, alcohol and drug use, tobacco use, unhealthy diets, inadequate physical activities, and sexual behaviors and diseases. This article shows that school health program: 1) can provide the foundation for children to learn desired healthy behaviors in order to preserve life, 2) protects the future of children and that of the nation, 3) can teach students skills to recognize risky behaviors and resist them, 4) can boost community efforts to achieve desired health behaviors, 5) closes socio-economic gaps that interfere with basic nurturing of children, and 6) finally links local stakeholders as partners in promoting community safety. Through review of literature, the authors found that it costs ($588) daily or (214,620) annually to incarcerate a juvenile and only $75 daily for the cost of individualized community-based services. The cost to New York is over $900,000, yet does not address the causative issues. The authors recommend that schools teach comprehensive school health from kindergarten to grade 12 and employ health educators to support teachers teach health promotion and education.

A new book on China's relations with Latin America and the Caribbean

The author reviews a collective monograph on the pages of which international experts analyze the main aspects and principles of China's relationship with Latin and Caribbean America today, right up to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. The chapters of the book cover most of the countries in the region, and the subject of the study is both bilateral and multilateral interaction.

The Importance of Bridge Jobs in America Today

Gradual retirement, consisting of phased retirement, bridge employment, and reentry, has been a persistent feature of older Americans’ work decisions for decades. This persistence is remarkable in light of the many changes to the retirement landscape that have taken place since the mid-1980s, including changes to Social Security incentives, private-sector pensions, and macroeconomic volatility. Our paper addresses two topics related to these retirement transitions. First, using 26 years of data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), we quantify the prevalence of bridge employment among the initial group of HRS respondents. For the first time, bridge job prevalence can be calculated for a large cohort of older Americans who have completed their retirement transitions. Second, we comment on what these findings mean for policymakers, with respect to income inequality later in life, barriers to retirement pathways, and public-private sector differences, and what role public employers might be able to play.

Dreaming in the Delta

Abstract In 1990, in Indianola, Mississippi, there was a catfish-processing plant owned by 178 White male farmers. The workforce inside the plant was ninety percent Black and female. Led by an ordinary working mother turned union organizer named Sarah White, the women at Delta Pride led the largest strike of Black laborers ever to take place in that state, and won. Kristal Brent Zook, an award-winning journalist, traveled to Indianola to meet with White and others in an effort to understand the plight of working class women in the modern-day South. What she found there taught her as much about herself, as it did about human rights and dignity in America today.

Insight into the Adsorption of Methane on Gas Shales and the Induced Shale Swelling.

Shale gas resources are highly abundant in the world. They can provide sustainable energy supply and have the potential to reduce energy prices. Therefore, shale gas has become one of the most important resources for oil and gas exploration and production, especially in North America today. Adsorption and desorption of methane gas are some of the important physical and chemical processes involved in the accumulation, transport, and production of shale gas. The shale matrix will shrink or swell due to the desorption or adsorption of methane gas, which will impact the recovery of shale gas reservoirs. The main purpose of this investigation is to quantitatively ascertain how the adsorption of methane gas affects the volumetric changes of the shale matrix. Based on the adsorption potential theory, a modified Dubinin–Astakhov (D–A) equation was employed to describe the adsorption of supercritical methane gas on shale. Then, a coupled adsorption–strain model was established to investigate the volumetric strain of shale induced by the combined effects of methane gas adsorption and stress compression. The methane adsorption and the induced shale swelling were measured on a black shale sample from the Sichuan Basin at 303.15 K and pressure up to 10 MPa, and the proposed models were employed to interpret the experimental data. The results demonstrate that the proposed models show good applicability and provide a reliable prediction. The swelling moduli of shale samples were obtained by fitting the experimental data using the coupled adsorption–strain model. The results indicate that the swelling modulus of shale in this study is generally greater than that of coal. The calculated ratios of Young’s modulus to the swelling modulus do not show great variation from shale to shale in this study, which is similar to coal. This study can be incorporated into the numerical simulation of the production process of shale gas reservoirs.

Distinctive HR Policies and Practices to Create a Workplace “Where Working Is a Pleasure” amid the Covid-19 Pandemic: The Organizational Culture of Publix Super Markets, Inc.

Publix Super Market is relentlessly committed to creating employment opportunities for the communities it serves, especially in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic. Amid ever increasing exogenous pressure, Publix has anchored itself in its world-class Human Resource Management, e.g., staffing protocols, performance management, and employee-management relations. Based on research as well as the personal work experiences of the authors with this organization, this paper and case study offers an in-depth view of how Publix has positioned itself—and remains positioned as—one of the top companies to work for in the United States. Rather than view HR as a cog in its operational engine, Publix holds its HR department as a strategic partner. This has been instrumental in maintaining a finger on the pulse of staff’s needs and creating a nurturing culture that champions every professional. Publix is not only a place where ‘shopping is a pleasure,’ but where working is a pleasure also.More than 150 years ago, the Civil Rights Act of 1866 affirmed that U.S. citizens are entitled to equal protection under the law. Over 50 years ago, the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination. However, despite over a century of legislation and activism, discrimination remains a pressing issue plaguing America today. Despite racial turmoil that afflicts our society, Publix has announced they will not stand for injustice by emphasizing, “Let’s end the injustice. Let’s stand together.” Publix has made a $1 million contribution to the National Urban League affiliates across the Southeast, as they continue to support their civil rights efforts.Publix offers its associates career growth, and the necessary training for equitable promotional opportunities for all their diverse employees. Furthermore, it invests in its associates' health, with a benefits package that encourages wellness, smoking cessation, and provides primary care, vision, and dental plans. Using a qualitative process based on personal experiences and documented literature, this case study will guide you through some of Publix’s hallmark human resource policies, how the company has embraced them, and how it works daily to encourage and incentivize its associates' career growth.

The Blooming Risks - At Whose Cost?

The trajectories of Obesity across the U.S. today and around the world could be much faster than earlier projected. Current data in the U.S., confirms the rates of Obesity prevalence are heightened. Without further strategic interventions, it is expected that a vast majority of U.S. population could be at higher risk of being overweight or obese by 2030. Yet after decades of surveillance and interventions, the rates of Obesity prevalence continue to rise with no end in sight. Is this a case of risk mismatch? Can society continue to ignore the trends of dismissal results in Obesity prevention whilst the epidemic continues to rip across communities? Obesity continues to rise across America today, and around the world leading to series of needless deaths, especially among at-risk population groups. These risks are too high to be ignored. Given the opportunity, the author seeks to be a contributing partner to assist in mitigating these impending risks. This paper by literature reviews, seeks to add to current understanding plausible strategic insights for the prevalence of Obesity in the U.S., and reasons why they cannot continue to be ignored. *The Blooming Risks: At Whose Cost? (2018) was recently updated in 2020, with new data in light of the current COVID-19 Pandemic.

Life, Death, Hurricanes, Covid-19, and American Financial Inequality

This paper, on the basis of objectively verifiable social outcome data, describes the increasingly grotesque financial inequality that obtains in the United States of America today. It shows how the wealth difference between rich and poor has become so great that these two demographics essentially live in different worlds, different realities. It also presents data showing that this wealth disparity has had a negative impact on the nation’s democracy, and American society’s ability to respond to crises like hurricanes, and pandemics. Finally, it proposes, again based on social outcome data, how non-violent social change that emphasizes wellbeing provides an optimal path to the future.

Origin of non-native Xylosandrus germanus, an invasive pest ambrosia beetle in Europe and North America

Xyleborine ambrosia beetles (Coleoptera: Scolytinae: Xyleborini) are among the most important and destructive pests in forests, tree nurseries and plantations worldwide. Their cryptic lifestyle, fungal mutualism, inbreeding and broad host range have predisposed them to become remarkably successful invaders and colonize novel habitats across the world. The black timber bark beetle, Xylosandrus germanus (Blandford), is native to East Asia, but now established in North America and Europe. It is an economically significant invasive pest in North American nurseries and orchards, and European forests. Managing and preventing the spread of exotic species such as X. germanus requires an understanding of invasion pathways and mechanisms associated with their source populations. In this study, we sequenced the mitochondrial gene COI and nuclear gene ArgK from six native and 24 non-native X. germanus populations to identify their origins. The genetic structure of X. germanus in non-native habitats is highly uniform and points to introductions from Honshu and/or Hokkaido, Japan. However, different haplotypes of the inferred Japanese source lineage, which dominate in North America and Europe today, together with temporal incidence of records of X. germanus indicate that these continents were invaded independently. While European populations were probably introduced only once prior to 1951, the genetic pattern of North American populations suggests that X. germanus was introduced several times.

Decoding the mystery of American pain reveals a warning for the future

There is an expectation that, on average, pain will increase with age, through accumulated injury, physical wear and tear, and an increasing burden of disease. Consistent with that expectation, pain rises with age into old age in other wealthy countries. However, in America today, the elderly report less pain than those in midlife. This is the mystery of American pain. Using multiple datasets and definitions of pain, we show today's midlife Americans have had more pain throughout adulthood than did today's elderly. Disaggregating the cross-section of ages by year of birth and completion of a bachelor's degree, we find, for those with less education, that each successive birth cohort has a higher prevalence of pain at each age-a result not found for those with a bachelor's degree. Thus, the gap in pain between the more and less educated has widened in each successive birth cohort. The increase seen across birth cohorts cannot be explained by changes in occupation or levels of obesity for the less educated, but fits a more general pattern seen in the ongoing erosion of working-class life for those born after 1950. If these patterns continue, pain prevalence will continue to increase for all adults; importantly, tomorrow's elderly will be sicker than today's elderly, with potentially serious implications for healthcare.

Locke and Tocqueville on Religious Foundationalism

In this article, I offer a fresh perspective on John Locke’s and Alexis de Tocqueville’s religious statesmanship that sheds light on the moral and political problems facing America today. Both thinkers maintain that a firmly held set of religious beliefs must ground the popular mores, or character traits, that support liberty. According to most scholars, Locke considers popular enlightenment the best means for promoting these beliefs. I argue, however, that Locke mistrusts intellectual freedom and seeks to use authority to promote the core doctrines of reasonable Christianity, which is his preferred faith. I also compare Locke’s version of religious foundationalism with Tocqueville’s more well-known case for this concept and show how Tocqueville modifies reasonable Christianity to strengthen it against democratic skepticism. I conclude by briefly reflecting on the weakening of America’s religious foundations today and on what this portends for the future.

Fossil evidence from South America for the diversification of Cunoniaceae by the earliest Palaeocene.

Cunoniaceae are woody plants with a distribution that suggests a complex history of Gondwanan vicariance, long-distance dispersal, diversification and extinction. Only four out of ~27 genera in Cunoniaceae are native to South America today, but the discovery of extinct species from Argentine Patagonia is providing new information about the history of this family in South America. We describe fossil flowers collected from early Danian (early Palaeocene, ~64 Mya) deposits of the Salamanca Formation. We compare them with similar flowers from extant and extinct species using published literature and herbarium specimens. We used simultaneous analysis of morphology and available chloroplast DNA sequences (trnL-F, rbcL, matK, trnH-psbA) to determine the probable relationship of these fossils to living Cunoniaceae and the co-occurring fossil species Lacinipetalum spectabilum. Cunoniantha bicarpellata gen. et sp. nov. is the second species of Cunoniaceae to be recognized among the flowers preserved in the Salamanca Formation. Cunoniantha flowers are pentamerous and complete, the anthers contain in situ pollen, and the gynoecium is bicarpellate and syncarpous with two free styles. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that Cunoniantha belongs to crown-group Cunoniaceae among the core Cunoniaceae clade, although it does not have obvious affinity with any tribe. Lacinipetalum spectabilum, also from the Salamanca Formation, belongs to the Cunoniaceae crown group as well, but close to tribe Schizomerieae. Our findings highlight the importance of West Gondwana in the evolution of Cunoniaceae during the early Palaeogene. The co-occurrence of C. bicarpellata and L. spectabilum, belonging to different clades within Cunoniaceae, indicates that the diversification of crown-group Cunoniaceae was under way by 64 Mya.

The Assault on Parental Rights in America

It is a well-established constitutional principle protected as fundamental that parents have the right to direct the upbringing of their children. A fit parent is presumed to be the best authority to accommodate the best interests of his or her children. The United States Supreme Court has traditionally protected parental rights, but today in America governments and third parties are interfering with fit parents exercising their rights over their children in caring for their best interests. What is happening in America today to parents is an assault on their rights as parents, resulting in the law being used as a vehicle of opposition to those rights, toward deconstruction of parental authority and America’s best interest legal structure. This article considers these concerns, highlighting recent attacks on parental rights and authority in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, in life support, in education, in gender dysphoria, illustrating that parents have been undermined and denied their rights to protect the best interests of their children. Section I details recent events surrounding Covid-19, and then illustrates that long before the pandemic parents have been fighting for the very lives of their children, and losing. Section II discusses state efforts to protect parental rights in statutory code and legislative measures, in the context of constitutional authority already granted to parents to protect the best interests of their children. Section III then examines the difference between children’s rights and parental rights to protect the best interests of the child, and why emerging international notions on children’s rights should never replace constitutional parental rights in America. They do only to the harm of children and their parental protection. By examining these concerns, this article raises and explains some of the most important policy debates on parental rights, children’s rights, and families today. It will reveal the unwitting if not active deconstruction of the family, and how we think about rights and duties between family members, while arguing that the relationship between a parent and child is a constitutionally protected liberty interest that deserves renewed protection under parental rights.

The Importance of Gradual Retirement in America Today

The Importance of Gradual Retirement in America Today

Bolivia: el golpe de Estado y la encrucijada nacional-popular en el corazón de América del Sur

El presente artículo analiza la reconfiguración de las derechas en América Latina, tomando como ejemplo lo acontecido en el golpe de Estado de Bolivia durante el año 2019. Hace hincapié especialmente en analizar los aspectos simbólicos del golpe, tratando de vincularlo con otros procesos de derechización de la actualidad latinoamericana.

Encountering the Affective in Latino Immigrant Youth Narratives

AbstractThe authors argue that attending to the affective dimensions of everyday life for Latino immigrant youth offers a disorientation away from the circulation of fear around immigration in the United States, and a new orientation that links together the intimate affective images and narratives of the everyday that are less oppressive and rooted in and branch out to hope and solidarity. To demonstrate the importance of the affective, the authors conducted a post‐qualitative research inquiry interested in animating lifeworlds of seven Latino immigrant youth living in the context of North Carolina. The authors used process and nonrepresentational affect theories to analyze the data, tracing the rogue intensities and surface tensions of ordinary affects across and through the different students and their writing to highlight the students’ fragments of experience as Latino youth in America today. Specifically, the authors drew on Ahmed’s affect theory of sticky objects and sweaty concepts as they analyzed students’ words against the discourse of fear and hate. In tracing the affects that circulate around three sticky objects—immigration, families, and America—the authors witnessed and experienced the moments of tension in students’ affective lives. Doing this work with narratives of first‐generation immigrants exposes the effect that embodied memories have on present‐day experiences. The authors maintain that attunement to the affective realm produces a humanizing practice of literacy research and provides counteraffects of hope, gratitude, and life that speak to the more‐than‐representational written narratives.

Effects of CHD8 mutations on the intestinal dysmotility and peristalsis rate in a larval zebrafish (Danio rerio) model of autism

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is one of the fastest-growing disorders in America today. While ASD is primarily known as a developmental disorder that affects communication and behavior, comorbidities like constipation from restrictive gut movement also exist. Our work explores gut motility and quantifies the difference in the rate of flow of food in the gut and the smooth muscle movement. Many genes have been associated with ASD our lab is focused on CHD8 as it is one of the prevalent mutated genes. CHD8 is a chromatin helicase involves in brain development and nerve cells, which affects communication and proliferation. To study the CHD8 mutation, we are using Zebrafish to model Autism Disorder. With an intestinal transit assay, 7 days post-fertilization larvae are fed with a diet containing fluorescent beads for 1.5 hours and imaged it for five different time points over the next 24hours. With videography, we blindly recorded the larvae for 5 min at one frame/sec and capture the peristaltic events in the gut. Intestinal measurements of regions of interest were quantified for peristalsis timing and sequence. Larvae were then genotyped. This work was supported by NIH Grant P20GM103434 to the West Virginia IDeA Network for Biomedical Research Excellence and NIH Grant P20GM103434 awarded to Bluefield State College.

The COVID-19 Crisis: Latin America and Mental Health Today and Afterwards

The COVID-19 Crisis: Latin America and Mental Health Today and Afterwards

Women at the Operatic Helm

The representation of women in opera, both on and off stage, has been an issue for all of opera’s 400-year history. In her now famous book Opera, or, the Undoing of Women (1979), Catherine Clement was one of the first to bring feminist theory to bear on opera scholarship, revealing true problems in the representation of operatic women on the stage in opera’s canon. But as I explore in this project, the same can be said for opera’s women behind the scenes. According to 2018 stats from OPERA America, out of the 786 total leadership positions held in North American houses, only 34.5% of administrative roles were occupied by women. 
 
 In this proposed poster presentation, I will analyze the data from 1990 to the present with respect to the lack of gender parity in the opera industry in North America. I will also report on a series of interviews I conducted with several prominent female-identifying leaders in the opera industry, revealing currents in their narratives, and lessons for future women in this field. I will use this data to outline possible steps towards a more equitable opera industry. As Francesca Zambello, the most distinguished female director/general director in North America today, shared in a recent speech: “Opera needs truly excellent leadership to thrive, and when women are discouraged, it halves our pool of possibilities. We need leadership that is representative of the diverse audience we have and hope to grow.”