Northern philosophies and professional neocolonialism in occupational therapy: a historical review and critique

ABSTRACT In this article, the authors conduct a historical review of recent philosophies influencing the Occupational Therapy profession in the United States (analytic philosophy and Continental varieties such as neopragmatism). Four philosophical categories are explored: epistemology, axiology, ontology, and praxis. The dominant strand of analytic philosophy is characterized by reductionist views of knowledge and reality, with little sustained attention to ethics and practical action. Competing but lesser recognized Continentally-inspired philosophies offer a critical and more phenomenological approach which values human subjectivities, narratives, and social agency. The authors argue that the dominance of analytic philosophy has created the intellectual foundations for neoliberalism to thrive and permeate the profession of Occupational Therapy in its curricula, practice models, reimbursement systems, and research agenda. As this Northern (United States) version of Occupational Therapy expands globally, the danger exists for professional neocolonialism to occur which can negatively influence or contradict more local ways of knowing and doing. The article concludes by offering strategies to unmask, disentangle, and dismantle Occupational Therapy from its Northern roots towards wider acceptance of Southern epistemologies, ethics, and collective action.

Damaged Masculinity: How Honor Endorsement Can Influence Prostate Cancer Screening Decision-Making and Prostate Cancer Mortality Rates

Prior research has established factors that contribute to the likelihood that men seek out prostate cancer screenings. The current study addresses how endorsing the ideology found in cultures of honor may serve as a barrier to prostate cancer screenings. Two studies were conducted which analyzed the impact of stigma on men’s decisions to seek out prostate cancer screenings (Study 1) as well as how prostate cancer deaths may be higher in the culture of honor regions due to men’s reticence to seek out screenings (Study 2). Results suggest that older, honor-endorsing men are less likely to have ever sought out a prostate cancer screening due to screening stigma and that an honor-oriented region (southern and western United States) displays higher rates of prostate cancer death than a non-honor-oriented region (northern United States). These findings suggest that honor may be a cultural framework to consider when practitioners address patients’ screening-related concerns.

Inferring Movements and Staging Locations for Canvasbacks Using Light-Level Geolocators

Understanding the geographic extent and timing of wildlife movements enables resource managers to inform habitat needs of target species efficiently and effectively. We use light-level geolocators—which enable researchers to estimate individual locations from light-level data—to build a more complete understanding of the geography and timing of migratory movements for canvasback Aythya valisineria in the Pacific Flyway. During the springs of 2015–2017, we placed 151 geolocators on canvasbacks using two alternative attachment methods (leg-band vs. nasal-saddle mounts) during spring migration (February–March) near Reno, Nevada. Eight of these geolocators (five males and three females) were successfully retrieved, representing 10 near-complete annual migration cycles (two geolocators contained data for two migration years). Eight of the 10 estimated spring canvasback migrations (five male and three female) ended at breeding sites in the Prairie Pothole Region of southern Canada and northern United States (often via stopover sites in Utah and Montana), whereas one male and one female migrated to breeding sites in Alaska. Notably, one female settled on nesting grounds in southern Saskatchewan and then in central Alaska in successive years. During spring migration, canvasbacks made an average of 3.3 ± 0.5 stopovers, with an average duration of 14.8 ± 2.2 d. Three canvasbacks made a distinct molt migration after breeding. For fall migration, canvasback made an average of 2.7 ± 0.3 stopovers, lasting an average of 12.3 ± 2.5 d, on their way to wintering sites in California's Central Valley and coastal regions near San Francisco Bay. Retrieval rate for nasal-saddle-mounted geolocators was significantly lower than leg band-mounted devices because of failure of nasal-saddle attachment. This study demonstrates the value of geolocators for assessing year-round habitat use for waterfowl species that have negative behavioral reactions to traditional backpack devices. This information complements standard band-recovery approaches and enables waterfowl managers to ensure that the spatial and temporal distributions of individuals are identified so that habitat conservation efforts can reflect the full annual habitat use cycle.

Understanding the Spatial Pattern and Driving Factors Associated with Timberland Ownership Change in the Northern United States

This study analyzes changes in timberland ownership from 2003 to 2012 across the northern United States based on Forest Inventory and Analysis data identified according to five ownership categories. A total of 26,940 FIA plots that were remeasured between selected years were used for the analysis. Publicly available corporate ownership data were investigated and used to differentiate industrial and institutional (timber investment management organizations [TIMO] and real estate investment trusts [REIT]) ownership. Kernel density, Ripley’s K-function, and multinomial logistic regression (MLR) methods were used to study spatial patterns of timberland ownership and to explore statistical relationships. Among FIA plots showing ownership changes, the largest observed shift was from industrial to institutional ownership, with a 45% increase in the number of plots, equivalent to almost 1.4 million acres of timberland area. Bivariate Ripley’s K-function showed significant clustering for shifts between industrial and institutional ownership. A MLR model identified forest type as a significant factor associated with the transition of industrial timberlands to either institutional or family forest ownership. In addition, shifts from industrial to institutional ownership were related to road access and population density. Study Implications For the past few decades, we have seen an unprecedented trend of change in timberland ownership in the United States, particularly the divesture and change of traditional vertically integrated forest product companies into institutional ownership, i.e., timber investment management organizations (TIMOs) and real estate investment trusts (REITs). In this situation, key research questions to ask are where are these changes taking place in spatial terms and what are their possible linkages with different socio-economic and forest related factors. Such knowledge will help devise policy strategies to monitor and understand the affects of changing timberland ownership on future forest resources.

Prosodic Interactions in Anishinaabemowin Verbs

This research aims to better understand the link between prosody and verbs in Anishinaabemowin by investigating pitch placement in relation to verb placement in Anishinaabemowin utterances. The data is from a story by Ogimaawigwaebiik archived in Dibaajimowinaan; Anishinaabe Stories of Culture and Respect. Anishinaabemowin, also known as Ojibwe, is a member of the Algonquin language family and is spoken throughout Southern Ontario and the Northern United States (Fairbanks, 2017). It is a polysynthetic language meaning it primarily uses affixes to convey meaning, particularly on the verbs. Prosody is the organization of various linguistics units (words, pitch, tone) into an utterance in the process of speech production. It conveys not only linguistics information but also contextual cues, intentions and attitudes (Fujisaki, 1997). This research utilized two audio softwares, Audacity and Praat, to clean and segment the audio into utterances and then token sentences were selected based on verb placement (verb initial, verb second and verb final). These token sentences will be analyzed for pitch placement and then compared to see if verb placement affects prosody, further expanding on the current literature which states that pitch defaults to the verb (Frazier, accepted). This research is particularly important because there is a gap in existing literature on prosody in Anishinaabemowin and there are no experimental studies such as this. References: Fairbanks, B. (2017). Ojibwe Discourse Markers. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. Frazier, S., Déchaine, R.M, & Dufresne, M. (accepted). The Syntax of Discourse: What an Anishinaabemowin Oral Text Teaches Us. 2020 CLA Proceedings. Fujisaki, H. (1997). Prosody, models, and spontaneous speech. In Computing prosody (pp. 27-42). Springer, New York, NY. Ogimaawigwaebiik [Nancy Jones] 2013. Gakina Dibaajimowin Gwayakwaawan. In Dibaajimowinaan; Anishinaabe Stories of Culture and respect; Nigaanigiizhig [Jim Saint-Arnold] (ed.), Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission, 9-10.

The mid-Cretaceous Peninsular Ranges orogeny: a new slant on Cordilleran tectonics? II: northern United States and Canada

The mid-Cretaceous Peninsular Ranges orogeny occurred in the North American Cordillera and affected rocks from Mexico to Alaska. It formed when a marine trough, open for ~35 Myr, closed by westerly subduction beneath a 140-100 Ma arc complex. In Part I we described the features of the orogen in Mexico and California, west to east: back-arc trough, magmatic arc, 140-100 Ma seaway, post-collisional 99-84 Ma granodioritic-tonalitic plutons emplaced into the orogenic hinterland during exhumation, an east-vergent thrust belt, and farther east, a flexural foredeep. In western Nevada, where the Luning–Fencemaker thrust might be a mid-Cretaceous feature, arc and post-collisional plutons occur in proximity. The orogen continues through the Helena salient and Washington Cascades. In British Columbia, rocks of the 130-100 Ma Gambier arc lie west of the exhumed orogenic hinterland and 99-84 Ma post-collisional plutons to collectively indicate westerly subduction. East-dipping reverse faults near Harrison Lake, active from ~100 Ma until ~90 Ma, shed 99-84 Ma debris westward into the Nanaimo back-arc region. Within Insular Alaska, the Early Cretaceous Gravina basinal arc assemblage was deformed at 100 Ma, and flanked to the east by a high-grade hinterland cut by post-collisional plutons. In mainland Alaska, the 100 Ma collision of Wrangellia and the Yukon-Tanana-Farewell composite terrane occurred above a southward-dipping subduction zone as shown by the 130-100 Ma Chisana arc sitting on Wrangellia and southward-dipping, northerly vergent thrusts in the Lower Cretaceous Kahiltna basin to the north. The outboard back-arc region was filled with post-collisional detritus of the McHugh complex.

Contemporary status, distribution, and trends of mixedwoods in the northern United States

As interest in managing and maintaining mixedwood forests in the northern United States (US) grows, so does the importance of understanding their abundance and distribution. We analyzed Forest Inventory and Analysis data for insights into mixedwood forests spanning 24 northern US states from Maine south to Maryland and westward to Kansas and North Dakota. Mixedwoods, i.e., forests with both hardwoods and softwoods present but neither exceeding 75-80% of composition, comprise more than 19 million hectares and more than one-quarter of the northern US forest. They are most common in the Adirondack-New England, Laurentian, and Northeast ecological provinces but also occur elsewhere in hardwood-dominated ecological provinces. These mixtures are common even within forest types nominally categorized as either hardwood or softwood. The most common hardwoods within those mixtures were species of Quercus and Acer and the most common softwoods were species of Pinus, Tsuga, and Juniperus. Although mixedwoods exhibited stability in total area during our analysis period, hardwood saplings were prominent, suggesting widespread potential for eventual shifts to hardwood dominance in the absence of disturbances that favor regeneration of the softwood component. Our analyses suggest that while most mixedwood plots remained mixedwoods, harvesting commonly shifts mixedwoods to either hardwood- or softwood-dominated cover types but more specific information is needed to understand the causes of these shifts.

First report of infection by Debaryomyces spp. in Myotis velifer (cave myotis) in Mexico

Interest in the study of mycotic diseases in bats has increased after the identification of bats affected by white-nose syndrome in the northern United States. In a temperate forest of the community of San Pedro Yolox, Ixtlán in the Sierra Madre de Oaxaca, Mexico, we collected bats of various species, including 13 specimens of Myotis velifer that showed lesions in the plagio- and uro-patagium. Clinical exploration, histopathological studies and molecular analysis were carried out to determine the causal agent of the lesions present in these individuals. It was determined that the cause was the pathogenic fungus Debaryomyces spp. The present study represents the first report of fungal infection in bats in southern Mexico.