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Item Abnormal Accumulation of Reactive Oxygen Species from Pitx2 Mutation Could Cause HLHS(2017) Naik, Anant; Puram, Vikram; Hedberg, JackHypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS) is a highly rare congenital heart defect in which the left side of the heart is critically underdeveloped. At the cellular level, changes in ventricular structure include myocyte growth and myocyte apoptosis. Ultimately, this progressive remodeling can result in heart failure and, in HLHS, premature death. Recent progress in understanding these mechanisms of myocardial remodeling has led to evidence that reactive oxygen species (ROS) and oxidative stress play a central role in regulating the phenotype of cardiac myocytes. We hypothesize that ROS-mediated developmental destabilization due to pitx2 dysfunction in the left ventricle, coupled with the low and high strain placed on the interventricular septum (IV) and left ventricular (LV) wall during cardiac contraction, respectively, causes HLHS. Genetic tests of mouse models and in vitro studies of cardiomyocytes confirm this proposed progression. Further investigation could open the door to curative gene therapy and prevent many years of suffering and complications with surgical procedures for affected infantsItem Can a Culture of Violence Sustain Peaceful Democracy?(International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations, 2013) Andregg, Michael M.Can a Culture of Violence Sustain Peaceful Democracy? Of course, if one is flexible enough with definitions. That gets harder the more idyllic one wants the “peaceful democracy” to be. Most democracies are not all that peaceful now, and some are among the most violent nations on earth. Like, why dodge the obvious, my dear home United States of America. We hold records. We have been involved in more wars and lethal operations in more other countries than any other nation on earth over the last few decades, especially if one includes smaller targets in places like Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan and other countries who have lost one snatched or snuffed. We incarcerate more of our own people than anyone else in the world, by rate and absolutely. Our war on drugs extends to tens of thousands dying in countries like Mexico and Columbia, and to hundreds of thousands in America with near-life sentences for petty crimes. We have more guns per capita than any other nation on earth bar none, and are damn proud of it polls generally show, despite enduring one of the highest murder rates as well. And our mass murderers, about 20 each year, have often been entertained and “educated” by some of the most ruthless video games ever created anywhere. America holds many records! So if you include the USA in the set of “peaceful democracies” then you would have to conclude that it is certainly possible to sustain a “peaceful democracy” with a pretty violent culture by most observers’ assessments. Some of our most ardent weapons enthusiasts, like the NRA, say that we sustain our peaceful democracy because of extensive gun ownership, etc. Their critics say we are on a path to perdition, but so far the Pentagon still owns the path. There are surely more peaceful democracies on earth today, no doubt, and may God Bless every one of them. Most of them have far more restricted access to guns, smaller and less harsh prisons, less militaristic foreign policies, and dramatically lower rates of death by violence. Some examples: Japan, Finland, Costa Rica, South Korea, Singapore and most of Europe. And there are police-states that rigorously repress both free speech and private ownership of weapons. If one expects perfection in definitions, however, you can be pretty confident that no perfectly peaceful democracies exist. Most true pacifists got run out of their ancestral lands long ago, like the Dalai Lama, so almost every government on earth maintains an army to maintain borders. Rare exceptions like Costa Rica rely on the prudence of neighbors too poor to invade. More common are countries built with guns, like China, Russia, the USA and Canada, all successful if variably violent nations today. Remember, North Americans were all Indians 550 years ago. Native populations may have been more or less peaceful, a very mixed record, but that mattered less than their inability to stop invaders with better weapons when civilizations clashed. This is just an opinion not a recommendation, and I welcome any others most sincerely. Michael Andregg, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA, Dec. 28, 2012, for the ISCSC 2013 newsletterItem Can Measurement of Recovery Be Supportive of Recovery?(2022-04-08) Horgos, Bonnie M; Lowery, Channel L; Krentzman, Amy RRecently, the field has shifted to define addiction recovery not by abstinence but by improvement in well-being. However, there is little research on the impact of measuring well-being. This poster presents a thematic analysis of control-group interviews derived from a randomized controlled trial of Positive Peer Journaling (PPJ), an intervention designed to increase well-being and reduce relapse in early recovery. The control group (n = 39, 52% female, average 39 years old, 63% with income <$15,000, 26% BIPOC, 43% with a legal issue, and 95% with history of trauma) completed daily questionnaires over 1 month. These questionnaires included the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), the Satisfaction with Life Scale, and the Commitment to Sobriety Scale, as well as single-item questions, such as: “In the last 24 hours I did something to help another person in recovery.” Qualitative thematic analyses showed that the survey alone created improvement in cognition, affect, and behavior; for example, the questionnaires encouraged participants to reflect on the past 24 hours, experience a deeper sense of gratitude, and reach out to others in recovery. The discovery that survey questions might support well-being during recovery is of critical importance. If recovery-oriented survey questions foster improvement in cognition, affect and behavior, they can be leveraged as an easily scalable intervention that can support recovery efforts.Item Caregiver Responses to Remote Activity Monitor Alerts of Persons with Dementia(2019) Zmora, Rachel; Finlay, Jessica; Bustamante, Gabriela; Mitchell, Lauren; Nkimbeng, Manka; Gaugler, Joseph E.Item The Challenge of Achieving Wisdom in Intelligence Products and Processes(2016-03-16) Andregg, Michael M.This is a PowerPoint presentation sized for typical, ISA intelligence section panels. Its ~ 20 frames deal with institutional constraints much discussed elsewhere like the perennial desire of policy makers to keep their intel staffs out of policy (e.g. they often discourage anything close to wisdom, preferring "just the facts" so they can make the big decisions. Other common themes are very short time constraints and overreliance on "secret" sources of information that are often tainted in many ways. It brushes on some uncommon themes like the prevalence of psychopaths in secret power systems, but does not go into any depth on those difficult topics.Item Compulsive exercise: Cross-sectional and longitudinal associations with disordered eating and muscle-enhancing behaviors in a diverse population-based sample of young adults.(2020-12-09) Bastian, Lauren L; Hooper, Laura; Hazzard, Vivienne; Neumark-Sztainer, DianneObjective: To examine cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between compulsive exercise and disordered eating and muscle-enhancing behaviors in a socioeconomically and ethnically/racially diverse sample of young adults. Method: Using data from 1,441 participants of EAT 2010-2018 (Eating and Activity over Time), gender-stratified analyses were conducted to examine compulsive exercise during adolescence and young adulthood in relation to muscle-enhancing and disordered eating behaviors during young adulthood. Results: Cross-sectionally, compulsive exercise was positively associated with binge-eating, unhealthy and extreme weight control behaviors and use of muscle-enhancing substances in male and female young adults in analyses adjusted for age, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity/race. In longitudinal models controlling for baseline outcome measures, a one standard deviation increase in compulsive exercise during adolescence was associated with 37% greater prevalence of binge-eating in young adult males. In females, a one standard deviation higher level of compulsive exercise during adolescence was associated with 10%, 22%, and 50% greater prevalence of unhealthy weight control behaviors, binge-eating, and use of steroids or other muscle-enhancing substances during young adulthood, respectively. Discussion: Cross-sectional analyses indicate that compulsive exercise is associated with muscle-enhancing and disordered eating behaviors, suggesting that compulsive exercise may be used as a compensatory behavior in attempt to achieve an ideal physique. Longitudinal analyses suggest that compulsive exercise during adolescence may be a risk factor for unhealthy muscle-enhancing and disordered eating behaviors during young adulthood. Public health messaging regarding increasing exercise, while important, should consider the potential risks associated with compulsive exercise for some.Item Cultural Adaptation of UMN Extension’s Business Retention and Expansion (BR&E) Program(2015-10) Bhattacharyya, Rani; Darger, MichaelIn an effort to better understand the needs of businesses owned by Red Lake Nation members, project leaders within the community worked with UMN Extension’s Community Economics staff to modify the Business Retention and Expansion Strategies Program (BR&E). These modifications were intended: 1) to better fit with Red Lake Nation’s existing community decision making traditions, and 2) collect quantifiable data that could be used by the community partners in addressing the development needs of local businesses. In implementing these changes within the program with the Red Lake Nation Entrepreneurship Program, Community Economics staff gained greater insight into the integrated nature of development issues within the Red Lake Nation community. Community participants also found the BR&E program a novel and engaging approach by UMN Extension to explore and listen to their needs as business professionals.Item Demographics and Conflict(2016) Andregg, Michael M.Demographics and Conflict Introduction to an Ancient Paradigm: population growth, environmental degradation, rising death rates and conflicts, exodus, war or genocide. People have been killing each other since before the beginning of written history, as recorded by the broken bones of people massacred long before writing was invented. One of the quiet reasons for the really large scale killings called genocides and wars is demographics, the statistics of birth rates, death rates, growth rates and migrations into or out of territories. This dimension is under-covered by those who focus on the statements or acts of key leaders. Commanders of war typically describe their reasons in political, religious or military terms, not demographics. But they were also often driven by forces they barely understood and could not control. The Mayan Empire probably fell that way. Easter Island certainly did. And the deserts of North Africa are filled with ruins from cities and empires that thrived … before the forests and farmable land turned into desert. The Kenyans have a saying: “First came forests, then man, then the deserts.” Therefore this chapter will show how simple births, deaths and migrations lead to an iron law of biology. This law observes that all living populations eventually achieve equilibrium with their environment, which means birth rates equal death rates and the population neither grows nor declines, or they die. Populations that try to grow forever become extinct or suffer catastrophic death rates. The modern case of Syria disintegrating after 2010 will be considered in some detail, because it also shows how global factors like climate change can trigger chaos. Syria’s population growth rate in 2011 was 2.4% per year, but when half its population was displaced by civil wars and about 6 million fled, its growth rate became sharply negative. At least 250,000 people died by violence alone. This will be followed by a short section on “Human Nature, Nurture, Free Will and War” because that topic has generated much commentary over centuries, with large implications if one accepts the simplistic conclusions that people are either born “innately” warlike, or rather “innately” social and cooperative. Truth is that people can be either one or the other depending on circumstances, and that much neglected factor “free will” or personal decisions. Finally we close with how a few more complicated demographics like “pyramidal” vs. “columnar” age distributions, and distorted sex ratios may influence the probability of organized armed conflict on earth today and in the future.Item Diagnostic Key for Distinguishing Potential Terrorists from Peace (& political) Activists(M-STEP, 2010-10) Andregg, Michael M.This is a diagnostic tool to distinguish dangerous terrorists from harmless peace activists. Than can be a problem for some of the lower IQ LE teams.Item Ecosystem Services from Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems - ArcGIS models for assessment and explanatory tutorial(2020-06-04) Dooley, Kathy; Brauman, KateItem Environmental Justice Storytelling Project(2023-10) Lim, Eden; Garvey, Michelle; Loo, Clement; Grant, Samuel; Villasenor, Jose Luis; Harris, JothsnaItem Environmental Stress and Conflict on Earth Today(2006-03-11) Andregg, Michael M.Item Ethics for Spies in an Age of Assassinations, Rationalized Torture, Black, High-tech Propaganda, and Civilizational Breakdown(International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations, 2018-06) Andregg, Michael M.Ethics for Spies in an Age of Assassinations, Rationalized Torture, Black, High-tech Propaganda, and Civilizational Breakdown Michael Andregg, University of St. Thomas, and Vice President of the ISCSC for Young Scholar Development Op-Ed for the 2018 ISCSC Newsletter In my academic life, I do war forecasting and study spies (you cannot be very accurate on causes of wars if you do not pay attention to what the spies are up to). This makes ISCSC conferences a welcome relief to me, because they gather mainly nice, safe, elderly professors and students who are concerned about the great, classical issues. Spy conferences have quite a different ambiance. Anyone who has read Sun Tzu or Thucydides knows that spies have been with us for as long as civilizations, perhaps longer. But spies usually keep a low profile, and you do not have to worry about the assassins unless you are involved in high politics or commerce. Once in a great while, big issues for civilizations and for secret intelligence entities overlap. This is one. So my task today is to convey why creating an ethos for spies is important to civilizational survival. You all have read something about the attempted assassination on March 4 of the Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Great Britain by exotic nerve agent. This is part of a larger “Warm War” between current Russia and “the West,” which could become much hotter. Since nuclear weapons hover in the background, most of this is done “asymmetrically” through “hybrid warfare” and “active measures” which include extensive “information operations” and cyberattacks. Oops, the Brits chose Brexit (partly therefore) and we got Putin’s Poodle for a president. NATO, the EU, the United States and the world will never be the same. Propaganda always was more powerful than many know, but the techniques available in World War II were trivial compared with the techniques and technologies of information warfare and psychological operations today. Disinformation and black propaganda always were Russian specialties (well, the Brits and Israelis are pretty adept at these also). The problem is that spies learn from each other like any other professionals do, and sophisticated technique is spreading. Kim Jong-un also used an exotic nerve agent to kill his half-brother Kim Jong-nam in Malaysia, to prevent China from cultivating an alternative for the throne. North Korea got their VX from Russia. Meanwhile China has shown the world new heights of industrial espionage, and learned excellent brainwashing techniques from the North Koreans. These contribute to trade tensions with the US and the West, while China also develops the world’s best facial recognition software and social control technologies, like continuous video surveillance guided by novel AI software of people suspected of impure thoughts. Since China and North Korea have near total control of their media, this can have large consequences for concepts like freedom and human dignity. The West is far from pure in this domain. We invented Facebook, in the news a lot recently, the NSA and CIA, while the Brits built GCHQ and Cambridge Analytica. We also invented the term “psychological operations” during our war with North Korea (and China) in the early 1950’s. So when we of the ISCSC visit China for the 48th annual meeting of our gentle, professorial society, I will be pushing for a “Great Harmony” between the “Middle Kingdom” (China) and the “Beautiful Country” (USA). I will be remembering wise words from ancient Chinese masters, especially from Sun Tzu whose incomparable work will be cited extensively. This “clash” of civilizations must be managed as constructively as possible, lest everything under heaven be threatened with general thermonuclear war (among other bad options). Therefore, the dark arts and dark artists must be tended to, at least watched very carefully, so they do not throw monkey wrenches into everyone else’s peace plans. North and South Korea must be encouraged to pursue the sunshine policies of constructive reunification instead of war hawk dreams of containable wars with merely millions dead. And China must rise without feeling a need to wage war against western values, which will not surrender as easily as national armies may. Therefore, I have been agitating spies around the world to create a professional “ethos” for spies, complete with codes of conduct and such. You may laugh – its oxymoronic aspects are obvious. But consider, do you really want everyone’s spies to be as bad as the worst among us? That is a short path to global war, so I say step aside Sisyphus, we have work to do!Item Evidence based strategic planning toolkit(2022-07) Aspinall, Erinn E; Tomlinson, Carissa; Johnson, Catherine RItem Experiences of Recovery from Alcohol and Substance Use Disorders and Access to Recovery-Oriented Systems of Care in Rural and Small-Town Minnesota(2019) Krentzman, Amy R.; Tillman, Nicole; Staab, Lanae; Banerjee, RekhaMethods: In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 34 long-time (average 30-year) residents of the region. 56% were in recovery from AUD/SUD, 15% were treatment providers, 29% were both. We explored their perspectives of, and experiences with, small-town and rural ROSC. Data: The data were comprised of 34 hour-long, audio-recorded interviews which were transcribed verbatim and coded using thematic analysis, a qualitative data analytic technique. Participants were 56% female, 51 (SD=15) years of age with 14 (SD=3) years of education. 88% were white. Roughly one third were never married (35%), married (27%), and divorced (29%). Length of abstinence for those in recovery ranged from 11 days to 36 years. Providers had 17 (SD=11) years practice experience. Results: Participants described a range of challenges to recovery in rural communities: long distances to travel; scant 12-step meetings; lack of gender, ethnic, and age diversity in recovery communities; difficulty avoiding friends who still drink/use drugs; and social stigma derived from normative small-town gossip. Participants also described strategies for success. They accessed ROSCs such as 12-step meetings, recovery community organizations, recovery churches, and Celebrate Recovery. They carpooled with others to attend recovery-oriented celebrations, joined recovery social groups such as motorcycle clubs, and traveled to distant towns to support fledgling meetings. Some small towns served as “recovery hubs” featuring numerous 12-step meetings, established treatment centers, and sober living homes, while other communities offered less. A local recovery community organization provided recovery celebration events and telephone outreach, which were seen as valuable and sustaining. A number of local churches established “recovery ministries” with special programming and outreach to individuals in recovery, which were also deemed valuable. Surprisingly, online recovery communities were not accessed to fill the gap in service. Conclusions: Features of small-town and rural-community life such as population dispersion, ethnic and age homogeneity, and limited recreational options presented obstacles to recovery, but individuals readily employed strategies to access what is available locally and at a distance, and worked to expand and diversify ROSC in the region.Item Gratitude and Positive Activity Planning to Support Recovery from Alcohol and Substance Use Disorders(2018-06) Krentzman, Amy R.; Goodenough, Karen E.; Banerjee, Rekha; Daughters, Stacey B.Purpose: Enhancing quality of life during early abstinence is a compelling strategy for reducing relapse. Gratitude practices have been shown to improve affect, and activity scheduling has been shown to promote enjoyment of daily activities. A simple practice for gratitude and activity scheduling is needed to encourage its regular enactment throughout recovery. We developed a ten-minute-a-day journaling practice to encourage gratitude, goal setting, and positive-activity planning to improve quality of life in recovery and reduce relapse. Methods: In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 33 individuals (57% in recovery from AUD/SUD, 14% treatment providers, 29% both) to ascertain their perspectives of the journaling practice. The journaling practice was presented to and briefly practiced by participants, who were then probed for subjective, qualitative impressions of it. The journaling practice uses standard journals printed with column headings under which individuals make bullet-pointed lists. On the left-hand page, the past 24 hours is recalled via column headings to promote gratitude: “good things that happened” and “things I am grateful for.” On the right-hand page, activities for the upcoming 24 hours are planned via headings representing valued life domains, i.e., work, social, health, joy, household, recovery, spirituality. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, analyzed for themes, and interpreted for relationships among themes. Results: Participants were 57% female, mean age 50 years, length of abstinence 11 days to 36 years. Participants found the practice acceptable and easy as well as useful to recovery. Participants stated the practice would enable them to express gratitude, plan activities, and set goals; and also to notice change over time, guide self-discovery, identify issues to work on, gain emotional relief, and acknowledge successes. Negative impressions included that for some, setting multiple daily goals might feel overwhelming, failure to follow through on planned activity might produce negative emotion, and weaker writing skills might cause embarrassment. Conclusions: For many, the journal would function as a mirror, providing perspective on past, present, and future self. Sharing the journal with another person would allow the authentic self to be known. Future work will examine the efficacy of integrating gratitude journaling into existing standardized behavioral activation therapy for substance use, namely LETS ACT.Item Grocery Shopping Habits in a Rural Food Desert(2015-10) Pesch, Ryan; Bhattacharyya, RaniItem How Are Recovery-Supportive Cognitions and Behaviors Associated with Positive and Negative Affect?(2022-04-08) Krentzman, Amy R; Horgos, Bonnie MNegative affect is strongly associated with relapse. Few interventions are designed to improve mood during recovery and little is known about the effect on mood of incremental, recovery-supportive cognitions and behaviors (IRSCB), such as wishing others well or writing a gratitude list. In this study, 81 individuals in addiction treatment (52% female, average 39 years old, 26% BIPOC, average 13 years of education) completed surveys for 30 days assessing 16 different past-day IRSCBs and current-moment mood assessed via the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule. Multi-level models showed significant main effects of 15 IRSCBs on increased positive affect and significant main effects of 14 IRSCBs on decreased negative affect. The IRSCBs that had the strongest effect were “I did something enjoyable,” “I felt able to get things done,” “I realized that more good things than bad things were happening,” and “I realized that there is a lot I am grateful or thankful for.” These IRSCBs were associated with both a 2-3 point increase in positive affect and a 1-2 point decrease in negative affect. These results suggest that providers should reinforce pleasant activities and gratitude practices and help clients meet short-term goals. This study shows that IRSCBs have significant association with improved mood, which could protect against relapse.Item Intelligence Ethics: Oxymoron or Hope for the Future?(2007-02-15) Andregg, Michael M.Intelligence Ethics: Oxymoron or Hope for the Future? There is much to-do about intelligence failures prior to the war, prior to 9/11, or in other disasters related to ethical failures among intelligence professionals. A cottage industry has arisen searching for whom to blame how. This is why people gathered at the second “International Intelligence Ethics” conference in Springfield Virginia in January 2007. It attracted a couple of hundred analysts, internationals, professors, military inteI vets, active duty and even a few operators, who stayed murky on the fringes like they do. Almost every one of the participants has heard a hundred “oxymoron” jokes, because that’s just the natural reaction to putting those two words together. If you speak or write about intelligence ethics, you will become well versed in oxymoron jokes. But, the moral zealots protest, “Ethics is good for you!” Right. Like lots of fiber, heavy exercise and prostate exams. But I pester colleagues; the case for ethics even in this strange domain is stronger than it may appear at first. The cases that ethics in intelligence serve the national interest, and that attention to intelligence ethics can be healthy even for operators in the field, are very strong when carefully reviewed. First, alliances are critical to power on our vast planet, whether that power is democratically guided or imperial in style. Alliances fray when the center becomes untrustworthy or corrupt. Second, cohesion within the state is essential to maximum power at war. And nothing corrodes internal cohesion faster than a rotten core or visibly incompetent and immoral leadership.Item Introduction to a special edition of the International Journal of Intelligence Ethics(International Journal of Intelligence Ethics, 2012-09) Andregg, Michael M.IIEA Journal fall 2012, Draft 1, Entry 2: Published as: Vol. 3, No. 2 / Fall/Winter, 2012. Introduction This journal edition began with an essay that Jan Goldman wrote in 2007 titled: “Ethicsphobia and the U.S. National Intelligence Community: Just say ‘No’” (1). In this he claimed there was an actual fear of ethics among some parts of the bureaucracy that he knew well as a professor at what is now called the National Intelligence University (NIU) and as a former practitioner for the Defense Intelligence Agency. So I arranged a panel to look at this question specifically in 2012, “Do Intelligence Bureaucracies Fear Ethics, and if so, Why?” All but one of the papers to follow are products of that panel, and the outlier was created by teams working on ethics issues under guidance from Dr. Goldman’s successor at NIU, JD and retired Army Col. Christopher Bailey. It begins with a view from Britain by Mark Phythian of Lancaster who has been a real pioneer of intelligence studies in the UK, followed by a focus on Africa and “Authoritarian State Security Apparatus” by a former Ambassador to the African Union, Cindy Lou Courville, now another professor at America’s NIU. Then comes Bailey’s exposition on U.S. intelligence community ethos, and defense of oversight in what he claims is “a closely regulated profession.” We will debate that a bit here, but this is certainly the common view among people inside the security clearance cocoon. No doubt they see all the inefficiencies, like we dwell on the victims of error. That is followed by what was the most interesting paper to me, a brief look at “Codes of Ethics” across America’s IC including 6 quite different and interesting proposals generated by teams of students at NIU. Those are typically mid-career intelligence professionals from the uniformed services, Majors and Captains mostly, with a few civilian employees of our Pentagon related intelligence agencies. They took their task seriously and the range of ideas they came up with is especially instructive and engaging. Then comes my paper, the dullest no doubt, but also the most pointed critique of assumptions and blind spots that come with the classified Kool-Aid. Book reviews round out this edition of the International Journal of Intelligence Ethics, by Stephen Kershnar of Alhoff’s “Terrorism, Time Bombs and Torture: a Philosophical Analysis,” by Professor Bailey of Christopher Perry’s edited “In the Balance: The Administration of Justice and National Security in Democracies,” and by Ian Fishback of Fried and Fried’s “Because it is Wrong: Torture, Privacy and Presidential Power in the Age of Terror.” Now, a bit more detail on the substantive papers.