Alaska

This ranking evaluates the public commitments, formalised procedures and institutional arrangements of oil, gas and mining companies for handling indigenous rights in the Arctic. The purpose of the ranking is to support norm formation and to contribute to improving the performance of companies on indigenous rights by highlighting which companies have made a public commitment to indigenous rights, and to what extent. The ranking covers 92 oil, gas and mining companies involved in onshore resource extraction above the Arctic Circle. Each company is assessed according to 20 criteria related to indigenous rights. The criteria were selected by evaluating the main guidelines and legal instruments related to resource extraction and indigenous rights in the Arctic. These criteria include commitments to international standards, the presence of organisational units dedicated to handling indigenous rights, competent staffing, track records on indigenous issues, transparency, and procedures for consulting with indigenous peoples.

The purpose is to determine breast cancer risk factors and correlates of mammographic parenchymal patterns among Alaska Native women. A retrospective review was performed of mammograms and mammogram records among 528 sequential screening mammogram examinations performed in Anchorage, Alaska. Mammogram density was classified by American College of Radiology (Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System) density patterns 1–4 (fat3dense) and by percent density. Clinical data, including risk factors, ethnic group (Indian, Aleut, or Eskimo), and smoking status were obtained. Results were analyzed by univariate and multivariate analyses. Of 528 women, 164 were Indian, 155 were Aleut, and 209 were Eskimo. Mean age at first birth was lower and parity higher compared with published data in white women. Breast cancer risk factors were similar across ethnic groups. In multivariate analysis, patient age, parity, hormone replacement therapy, hysterectomy, and history of biopsy were associated, and s...

Intestines of dead northern fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus) on St. Paul Island (SPI), Alaska were inspected for specific internal parasites (hookworms and acanthocephalans) in July and August, 2007. Pups (n = 64) were examined for adult hookworms (Uncinaria lucasi) and four (6.25%) were infected. The number of specimens per infected pup was 1, 2, 2, or 408. Low prevalence was similar to that determined in the last investigation (2001) in dead fur seal pups on SPI by two of the present authors (Lyons and Spraker). Subadult males (SAMS—3–4 years old, n = 115) were examined for acanthocephalans and 25 (21.7.0%) were infected. Adult Corynosoma (C. obtuscens, C. strumosum, and C. validum) (n = 56) and immature Bolbosoma spp. (n = 4) were found. Apparently, this is a new host record for C. obtuscens and C. validum. Notes were made on finding tapeworms. in 114 of the 115 SAMs. Examination of some specimens revealed scolices characteristic of Diphyllobothrium spp.

While I am not an advocate of geographic determinism, any discussion of American regional cultures must begin with the land. As I will explore in further chapters the landscape influenced difference between the Native-American culture areas of the Eastern Woodland, Southeast, Great Plains, Southwest, and Pacific Northwest tribes. The desert region of northern Mexico and the American Southwest gave access to the Spaniards to establish a Spanish culture area in the American Southwest. France was able to expand its influence in North America in New France by way of the Saint Lawrence River to the Great Lakes and down the Mississippi River in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Also in the seventeenth century, the Hudson River afforded the Netherlands the opportunity to establish a Dutch culture area in New Netherland. England established footholds along Massachusetts and the Chesapeake bays, from where they expanded their colonies along the eastern seaboard of North America, displacing the French in New France in 1763. After the American Revolution, the United States expanded across the Appalachian Mountains by way of the Great Valley and the Cumberland Pass into Tennessee and Kentucky as well down the Ohio River into what became the Old Northwest Territory. After the Louisiana Purchase the explorers, trappers, and settlers followed the Arkansas and the Missouri rivers and their tributaries across the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountain passes to the Columbia and Colorado plateaus and the Great Basin. Following the Mexican War in 1848 American expansion continued to include the Southwest and California and then the Pacific Northwest. And in the late nineteenth century the United States acquired Alaska and Hawaii along the Pacific Rim.

Имя Сидни Мортимера Лоуренса знакомо каждому уроженцу Аляска, однако за ее пределами об этом живописце мало кому известно. Увиденные и запечатленные мастером северные пейзажи в сознании местных жителей являются единственно верным художественным образом штата. К сожалению, творчество региональных мастеров часто имеет небольшое значение в масштабе страны, что, однако, не умаляет достоинств их произведений. В местной литературе, на Аляске, Лоуренса часто называют «национальным героем». Сегодня новые поколения живописцев, стремящихся выражать собственное видение, вынуждены бороться с ностальгическими условностями, заложенными творчеством мастера. Проводя параллели между жизнью и творчеством Лоуренса и историей покорения Америки, а также основополагающими течениями американской пейзажной живописи, автор анализирует феномен его популярности на территории штата. Это первая публикация на русском языке, посвященная Сидни Мортимеру Лоуренсу.

All Alaskans are familiar with Sydney Mortimer Laurence (1865–1940)
and his work, however, he is hardly known outside of the state. The local community
considers his northern landscapes as the only true artistic image of Alaska. Regretfully, the
oeuvre of regional masters is quite often regarded as being of little significance nationwide,
though this by no means diminishes the merits of their works. Laurence is, undoubtedly, such
a figure for Alaska, where he is often referred to as a «national hero» in local literature.
Interestingly, the new generations of artists who strive to express their own vision are
compelled to cope with those nostalgic approaches that are typical of Laurence’s artwork. The
author, by drawing parallels between the life and work of Sydney Laurence and the history
of the Conquest of America and the fundamental trends of American landscape painting,
analyses the phenomenon of his popularity in Alaska. This is the first publication in Russian
devoted to Sydney Mortimer Laurence.

The purpose is to determine breast cancer risk factors and correlates of mammographic parenchymal patterns among Alaska Native women. A retrospective review was performed of mammograms and mammogram records among 528 sequential screening mammogram examinations performed in Anchorage, Alaska. Mammogram density was classified by American College of Radiology (Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System) density patterns 1-4 (fat-->dense) and by percent density. Clinical data, including risk factors, ethnic group (Indian, Aleut, or Eskimo), and smoking status were obtained. Results were analyzed by univariate and multivariate analyses. Of 528 women, 164 were Indian, 155 were Aleut, and 209 were Eskimo. Mean age at first birth was lower and parity higher compared with published data in white women. Breast cancer risk factors were similar across ethnic groups. In multivariate analysis, patient age, parity, hormone replacement therapy, hysterectomy, and history of biopsy were associated, ...

The risk of infanticide may alter foraging decisions made by females, which otherwise would have been based on nutritional requirements and forage quality and availability. In systems where meat resources are spatially aggregated in late summer and fall, female brown bears ( Ursus arctos) would be faced with a trade-off situation. The need of reproductive females to accumulate adequate fat stores would likely result in a decision to frequent salmon streams and consume the protein- and lipid-rich spawning salmon. In contrast, aggregations of bears along salmon streams would create conditions of high risk of infanticide. We investigated consumption of salmon by brown bears on Admiralty and Chichagof Islands in Southeast Alaska from 1982 to 2000 using stable isotope analysis and radiotelemetry. While nearly all males (22 of 23) consumed relatively large amounts of salmon (i.e., >10% relative contribution to seasonal diet), not all females ( n =56) did so. Five of 26 females for which we had reproductive data, occupied home ranges that had no access to salmon and thus did not consume salmon when they were mated or accompanied by young. Of females that had access to salmon streams ( n =21), all mated individuals ( n =16) had δ15N values indicative of salmon consumption. In contrast, 4 out of 16 females with cubs avoided consuming salmon altogether, and of the other 12, 3 consumed less salmon than they did when they were mated. For 11 of 21 females with access to salmon streams we had data encompassing both reproductive states. Five of those altered foraging strategies and exhibited significantly lower values of δ15N when accompanied by young than when mated, while 6 did not. Radiotelemetry data indicated that females with spring cubs were found, on average, further away from streams during the spawning season compared with females with no young, but both did not differ from males and females with yearlings and 2-year-olds. Females with young that avoided salmon streams were significantly lighter indicating that female choice to avoid consumption of salmon carries a cost that may translate to lower female or cub survivorship. The role of the social hierarchy of males and females, mating history, and paternity in affecting the risk of infanticide and foraging decisions of female brown bears merit further investigation.

Studies of blood pressure among various Inuit (Eskimo) populations in the Arctic have given inconsistent results. Most studies reported lower blood pressure among the Inuit as compared with the predominantly white national populations. This has been attributed to traditional subsistence practices and lifestyle. This study compared the blood pressure among the major Inuit population groups with other populations and examined the associations with factors like age, gender, obesity and smoking. The study comprised four Inuit populations from Alaska, Canada, and Greenland with participation rates ranging from 51% to 73%. In a cross-sectional design, 2,509 randomly selected adults from 31 villages were examined. Blood pressure, anthropometric measurements, smoking, and medication were recorded. Mean systolic blood pressures ranged from 116 to 124 mm Hg among men and 110 to 118 among women in the four populations. Mean diastolic blood pressures ranged from 75 to 78 mm Hg among men and fro...

Despite its relatively recent introduction in the 1890s, reindeer herding has had a substantial impact on the Alaskan cultural landscape. Today, it represents not only an important part of the livelihood and subsistence lifestyle of many communities but has also established itself as a commercial reindeer industry in Alaska. The introduction of reindeer herding has further affected human-en­vironment relations, in particular those associated with caribou, that is, wild reindeer. Caribou have historically been and still are hunted in some regions in Alaska, where they play a major role for the communities. To understand peoples’ relation to these animals, an examination of the inter­twined history of reindeer herding and caribou hunting is therefore crucial.

While they belong to the same species, Rangifer tarandus, perceptions of reindeer and caribou are polarized. It can be argued that this differentiation is in line with several dichotomies, such as wild versus domestic, nomads versus settlers, cash economy versus subsistence. Whereas “caribou people” prefer the wildness and freedom that these animals represent, others are attracted to rein­deer because they can be handled more easily. The “reindeer enthusiasts,” as one might call them, might even view caribou as predators, which take with them entire reindeer herds that revert to wildness. In light of my analysis of newspaper articles and based on expert interviews and partici­pant observation during fieldwork, I argue that one’s preference for reindeer or caribou could be indicative of one’s general orientation with regard to human-environment relations.

Although microbes associated with shallow-water corals have been reported, deepwater coral microbes are poorly characterized. A cultivation-independent analysis of Alaskan seamount octocoral microflora showed that Proteobacteria (classes Alphaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria ), Firmicutes , Bacteroidetes , and Acidobacteria dominate and vary in abundance. More sampling is needed to understand the basis and significance of this variation.

Publication date: 2019 Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Citation for published version (APA): Gad, U. P., Jacobsen, M., & Strandsbjerg, J. (2019). Introduction: sustainability as a political concept in the Arctic. In U. P. Gad, & J. Stransbjerg (Eds.), The Politics of Sustainability in the Arctic. Reconfiguring Identity, Time and Space. (pp. 1-18). London; New York: Routledge. Routledge Studies in Sustainability

Between 1945 and the early 1970s, both Indian Health Services in Canada (IHS), and the Alaska Native Health Service (ANS) initiated programs and activities aimed at recruiting and training nurses/nurses aides from Canadian and Alaskan Native communities. In Alaska, the Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital in Sitka acted as a training facility for Alaska Native nurses' aides, while in Canada, the Charles Camsell Hospital served a similar function. These initiatives occurred prior to the devolution of health care to Aboriginal communities. The histories of these two hospitals provide a comparative opportunity to reveal themes related to the history of Aboriginal nurse training and Aboriginal health policies in the north. The paper outlines the structure and function of two main hospitals within the Indian Health and Alaska Native Health Services, discusses the historic training, and role of Aboriginal nurses and caregivers within those systems using both archival and oral history sources.

Despite broad agreement that the Americas were initially populated via Beringia, the land bridge that connected far northeast Asia with northwestern North America during the Pleistocene epoch, when and how the peopling of the Americas occurred remains unresolved. Analyses of human remains from Late Pleistocene Alaska are important to resolving the timing and dispersal of these populations. The remains of two infants were recovered at Upward Sun River (USR), and have been dated to around 11.5 thousand years ago (ka). Here, by sequencing the USR1 genome to an average coverage of approximately 17 times, we show that USR1 is most closely related to Native Americans, but falls basal to all previously sequenced contemporary and ancient Native Americans. As such, USR1 represents a distinct Ancient Beringian population. Using demographic modelling, we infer that the Ancient Beringian population and ancestors of other Native Americans descended from a single founding population that initiall...