Digital Commons Network^™

Mitochondrial Genome Sequence Analysis: A Custom Bioinformatics Pipeline Substantially Improves Affymetrix Mitochip V2.0 Call Rate And Accuracy., Hongbo M Xie, Juan C Perin, Theodore G Schurr, Matthew C Dulik, Sergey I Zhadanov, Joseph A Baur, Michael P King, Emily Place, Colleen Clarke, Michael Grauer, Jonathan Schug, Avni Santani, Anthony Albano, Cecilia Kim, Vincent Procaccio, Hakon Hakonarson, Xiaowu Gai, Marni J Falk

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Mitochondrial genome sequence analysis is critical to the diagnostic evaluation of mitochondrial disease. Existing methodologies differ widely in throughput, complexity, cost efficiency, and sensitivity of heteroplasmy detection. Affymetrix MitoChip v2.0, which uses a sequencing-by-genotyping technology, allows potentially accurate and high-throughput sequencing of the entire human mitochondrial genome to be completed in a cost-effective fashion. However, the relatively low call rate achieved using existing software tools has limited the wide adoption of this platform for either clinical or research applications. Here, we report the design and development of a custom bioinformatics software pipeline that achieves a much improved call rate …

Mother Country: Reproductive Tourism In The Age Of Globalization, Lauren Jade Martin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Mother Country is a multi-sited, qualitative study of the United States fertility industry. I analyze the industry in two dimensions: as a particularly American institution and nascent profession, and as a destination for "reproductive tourism." The United States fertility industry, buttressed by lax federal regulation, free market principles, and high technology resources, is organized to benefit certain classes of American citizens and foreign nationals in their quest to have children. As such, the United States has become a prime destination for people seeking assisted fertility services such as commercial surrogacy, egg donation, and sex selection, which are unavailable, inaccessible, or …

Personal Narratives Of Women's Leadership And Community Activism In Cherkasy Oblast, Martha Kichorowska Kebalo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Ukraine's women's movement is part of a complex social field characteristic of formerly Soviet countries, but it also emerges from its own specific political history. Post-Soviet period, (neo-) nationalism, feminism and (neo-) socialism are significant forces shaping women's collective behavior. Their activism resonates with the pre-Soviet liberation struggle while it is shaped also by practices from the recent Soviet past. It also is sensitive to external pressures, including the agendas of Western aid and the Ukrainian diaspora.

This study accepts the emergence of non-state women's organizations as indicative of an incipient movement and examines this field of social activism in …

On The Use Of Log-Transformation Vs. Nonlinear Regression For Analyzing Biological Power-Laws, Xiao Xiao

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Power-law relationships are among the most well-studied functional relationships in biology . Recently the common practice of fitting power-laws using linear regression on log-transformed data (LR) has been criticized, calling into question the conclusions of hundreds of studies. It has been suggested that nonlinear regression (NLR) is preferable, but no rigorous comparison of these two methods has been conducted. Using Monte Carlo simulations we demonstrate that the error distribution determines which method performs better, with LR better characterizing data with multiplicative lognormal error and NLR better characterizing data with additive normal error. Analysis of 471 biological power-laws shows that both …

The Border Mural In The Electronic Age: Xican@ Literacy As Rhetorical Agency, José Angel Maldonado

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Border Mural in the Electronic Age is a project that responds to blanket statements, not only about a people's literacy (or illiteracy), but to the ways in which we define and measure literacy in the electronic age. In this study, literacy is located on the US-México border, and this specific location serves as the social, political, and economic grounds on which to study the types of literacies used by the local population. A cultural ecology approach is necessary when studying niche literacies, and in today's world, traditional literacies coexist among emergent forms of literacy most likely attributed to technological …

Choque Cultural In Higher Education: The Lived Experiences Of Two Transnational Doctoral Students On The U.S. Mexico Border, Lyn Mckinley

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study seeks to develop a deeper understanding of the experience of transnational students in higher education in a U.S. public university. The setting for the study is the U.S.-Mexico border between Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, and El Paso, Texas. While numerous studies examine the experience of transnational K-12 populations in U.S. schools, there is limited research on students in advanced levels of higher education in this context.

The purpose of this study is to provide an in-depth perspective of the experiences of two transnational doctoral students enrolled at the doctoral level at a U.S. university on the U.S.-Mexico border. The …

Pacto Por La Cultura: The Power And Possibility Of Cultural Activism In Ciudad Juárez, Kerry Doyle

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This paper is a qualitative study of Movimiento Pacto por la Cultura , a group of cultural activists that operate in the hyper-violent reality of 21st century Ciudad Juárez. This work looks at Pacto as a case study to explore the possibilities of culture as a tool of activism in a particular time and place, exploring in the ways in which economic development policies, deficiencies in infrastructure, and rising violence both effect and can be affected by cultural processes. Through analysis of the group's original documents and qualitative interviews with organizational members, the paper documents both the successes of the …

Child Development And Child Rearing In Ciudad Juárez, México Colonias: Economic, Social, And Cutural, Alma Angelica Hernandez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Supporting the development of healthy children is a goal for parents. Proper development becomes a challenge when children do not receive adequate health care, educational enrichment, and housing. These challenges are amplified by the continuous rise in violence in the U.S.- México border region. This study looks specifically at child development and child rearing practices in two poor colonias (neighborhoods) in Ciudad Juárez (Chihuahua, México). It relies on and extends from a project conducted by Gente a favor de gente and funded by the Paso del Norte Health Foundation. There were 2 phases in this study: a quantitative phase (N=151) …

Responding To Haiti's Earthquake: Volunteer Health And Community Relationships, Mary Nelan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Disaster volunteers are an important group of workers on the ground after a disaster. International volunteers have not been the subject of much research in the past. Following the January 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti, an American-based NGO set up a base in Leogane, the epicenter of the earthquake. The purpose of this research is to further understand the disaster volunteer population and help inform international NGOs who respond to disasters. This thesis focuses on the volunteers who worked with that organization during 2010. As a volunteer, I witnessed the situations that inspired this research through my own experiences for …

Biblical Sources In The Development Of The Concept Of The Soul In The Writings Of The Fathers Of The Early Christian Church, 100-325 C.E., Thomas W. Toews

Dissertations

The topic of the human soul has seen renewed interest in recent years. Studies have been produced that have looked at the soul in light of modern science and medicine along with a continued focus on the thoughts of the ancients on this topic. The early Church Fathers played an important role in mediating the thoughts of the ancients to more recent times. Because of this role, it is important to understand what function the Scriptures had as a source of authority in this process.

In light of this, the following study researches and analyzes the usage of the two …

A Comparative Analysis Of The Origin And Divine Causation Of Death In Ancient Near Eastern Literature And In The Old Testament, Lazarus Castang

Dissertations

The present dissertation attempts a comparative analysis of both the origin of death in the creation accounts and the divine causation of death in the main flood accounts in the ancient Near Eastern (ANE) literature and the Hebrew Old Testament (OT). Both literatures are examined for their implicit or explicit conceptions of the origin and divine causation of death. The origin of death in the ANE literature is located in the Egyptian Osirian myth and the Mesopotamian Enki-Ninmah myth, Enûma Elish, Epic of Gilgamesh, and the Adapa legend. The divine causation of death is studied in the Eridu Genesis, Atra-Hasis …

The Myth Of Endless Accumulation: A Feminist Inquiry Into Globalization, Growth, And Social Change, Martha Freymann Miser

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This theoretical dissertation examines the concept of growth and its core assumption—that the continual accumulation of wealth is both socially wise and ecologically sustainable. The study challenges and offers alternatives to the myth of endless accumulation, suggesting new directions for leadership and social change. The central question posed in this inquiry: Can we craft a more ethical form of capitalism? To answer this question, the study examines conventional and critical globalization studies; feminist scholarship on standpoint, political economy, and power; and the Enlightenment notions of progress and modernism, drawing on a number of works, including Aristotle on the three intelligences, …

Book Review: Challenging Identities: Muslim Women In Australia, Peliwe P. Mnguni

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Challenging Identities: Muslim Women in Australia, edited by Shahram Akbarzadeh.

Book Review: Global Perspectives On War, Gender And Health: The Sociology And Anthropology Of Suffering, Zitha Mokomane

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Global Perspectives on War, Gender and Health: The Sociology and Anthropology of Suffering, Hannah Bradby and Gillian Lewando Hundt, editors.

An Analysis Of The Zone Of Proximal Development As A Practicable Learning Theory Of Organizational Culture In The Workplace, Patricia Ann Gonzalez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study analyzes and tests Lev Vygotsky's theory of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) as a practicable learning model of organizational culture in the workplace. The ZPD poses a possible clarifying theory of the individual internalization of organizational culture in the workplace that enhances current theories of organizational assimilation and learning. Qualitative methods were quantified to test this theory using five categories of organizational culture and a 4-stage model created by Roland Tharp and Ronald Gallimore presented in their book Rousing Minds to Life (1988) to organize a 30-question survey that was administered to a representative sample of employees …

Inhibition Of Calcium Oxalate Calculi By Ndga - A Spectroscopic Study, Preethi Dacha

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Formation of calculi in urinary tract leads to kidney stones. This process is known as Urolithiasis. Some of the causes of urolithiasis are metabolic disorders, genetic factors, and anatomic abnormalities in the urinary system. Nowadays, urolithiasis is very common disease in population of all over the world. The present study strives to understand calcium oxalate calculi formation as well as its inhibition by using Nordihydroguaiaretic acid (NDGA), which is a chemical extract of the Larrea Tridentata bush, a plant that is traditionally employed in the El paso region as a natural treatment for kidney stones and bladder diseases. Thus, in …

Is Silence Golden? Experiences Of Silence, Stigma And Cultural Violence Among Lgb People In El Paso, Tx., Elias Gonzalez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Stigma not only affects how one is treated within a society; it is also one of the factors influencing social identity and sexual behavior. LGB individuals, as part of a stigmatized group, form their sexual identities in a culture and society that is hostile to or ignorant of them. This project synthesizes 14 ethnographic interviews with LGB individuals in El Paso, TX. The interviews focus on the formative years of the individual's life on the U.S.-Mexico Border, namely their school years and early formation through family socialization. They also focus on LGBT individuals' perceptions of their community and the city …

A First Step Toward Assessing Organizational Identification In A University Setting, Didier Hernandez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Organizational culture research has been steadily growing during the last two decades, and has become an essential component for assessing an organization's capacity to adapt and survive. Discovering the underlying assumptions within an organization offers a more accurate insight on how its members perceive, think, and feel about the environment they work in, thus providing the opportunity of assessing the group's cohesiveness and culture strength. This study was designed to establish an initial assessment of an organization within a university setting, and to provide insight to its membership sense of identification. The study reflects the analysis of different information made …

Exploring Organizational Culture And Leadership Styles In El Paso Nonprofit Organizations, Milena Murta

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study focuses on two non-profit organizations in the El Paso region to document the communication processes by which they maintain their culture across their units. The study also explores leadership styles, both what are they and how they are employed in these organizations. This study involves three research methods, including: content analysis of organizational documents, interviews with leaders, and ethnographic observation. The findings of this study suggest that managing non-profit organizations is a challenge but yet rewarding duty. Moreover, managers explained that mission management is facilitated through four major ways: through documents, through the delivery of services, through training …

Alcohol Production And Consumption Throughout U.S. History, And More Particularly In El Paso, Texas, As It Relates To Social Norms Theory, Jennifer Matthews

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This thesis traces the history of alcohol production and consumption throughout U.S. history by following the course of the four major periods of relative equilibrium in social norms that the country has experienced. It uses this socio-historiography as a platform to understand how national trends in alcohol production and consumption were experienced along the border in El Paso, Texas, in a very unique fashion. The thesis aspires to augment El Paso's pride and sense of identity by building on knowledge of local history, customs, and norms.

Perceptions Of Disabilities Amongst The Tarahumara In Northern Mexico, Carolyn Raynor Trussell

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This research focuses on the perceptions of disability amongst the Tarahumara, known amongst themselves as the Rarámuri, in the Sierra Madre region of Northern Chihuahua. This population of individuals has typically lived in isolated areas in communities in the Sierra Madre where medical and specialized educational services were rare. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions, knowledge and beliefs related to disabilities, as well as the access and beliefs related to educational and medical services.

The study focused on the individual and the society to examine how bodily conceptions influence perceptions of others. The target group for …

First Elderly Client In Therapy: Factors That Influence Student Interest In Geropsychology, Cristina E. M. Filippelli

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

In the coming decades, the elderly population in United States (U.S) is expected to grow significantly (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1996). Consequently, the number of older individuals seeking mental health services will be greater than at any other time in the history of the U.S. The field of clinical psychology, however, is unable to meet the mental health needs of the current elderly population, and this gap is expected to widen in coming years. There is an ongoing discussion within the field of professional psychology as to how to train more clinicians to work with the elderly population (Gatz …

Teachers Perspectives: An Understanding Of Adhd In A Predominantly Hispanic School District, Heriberto Jesus Oronoz

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The current study examined problems that teachers encounter when trying to cope with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in the classroom, teachers' perceptions and beliefs about ADHD, as well as their ideas for how to improve services to children with ADHD. To do so, ten in- depth interviews were conducted with teachers from the Canutillo Independent School District in El Paso, TX regarding these topics. Findings reveal that teachers encounter difficulties defining ADHD, dealing with ADHD in the classroom, establishing the proper chain of command for diagnosing children, and with inadequate parental involvement. Further, the study found variability in teachers' …

The Exploratory Value Of Agent-Based Models In Social Science, Ricardo Andress Rivera

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

N/A

Bab Edh-Dhra', Numeira, And The Biblical Patriarchs: A Chronological Study, Kris J. Udd

Dissertations

Problem. Bab edh-Dhra' and Numeira have been identified by archaeologists as possible candidates for two of the biblical cities of the plain, but their existence in the Early Bronze Age III is too early to match the biblical narrative (Gen 19) by many chronologies of ancient Canaan. This study sought to determine if there is sufficient flexibility in the archaeological and biblical chronologies to make the identification of Bab edh-Dhra' and Numeira with the cities of the plain a viable interpretation.

Method. The range of dates possible for both the archaeological data and the biblical narratives was analyzed. …

A Missiological Study Of The Phenomenon Of Dual Allegiance In The Seventh-Day Adventist Church Among The Yoruba People Of Nigeria, Paul Adekunle Dosunmu

Dissertations

Problem

Many Africans and members of other traditional societies of the world who still hold to a supernaturalistic and spiritualistic worldview visit diviners, shamans, spiritualistic herbalists, and the traditional medicine men and women who use enchantments, divination, charms, invocation of the spirit world, etc. They engage in such practices for various reasons which include, to diagnose and treat various ailments, both physical and psychological which plague their clients, a quest to know the future through divination, and also for the preparation of different kinds of charms and medicines. Christians, including some Yoruba Adventists, also engage in such consultations, a practice …

Twenty Years Of Critical Race Theory: Looking Back To Move Forward, Kimberlé W. Crenshaw

Faculty Scholarship

This Article revisits the history of Critical Race Theory (CRT) through a prism that highlights its historical articulation in light of the emergence of postracialism. The Article will explore two central inquiries. This first query attends to the specific contours of law as the site out of which CRT emerged. The Article hypothesizes that legal discourse presented a particularly legible template from which to demystify the role of reason and the rule of law in upholding the racial order. The second objective is to explore the contemporary significance of CRT's trajectory in light of today's "post-racial" milieu. The Article posits …

Engels Tentang Evolusi Manusia: Catatan Pendahuluan Atas Gagasan Fridriech Engels (1820-1895) Tentang Alur Evolusi Manusia Dan Peran Kerja Di Dalamnya, Dede Mulyanto

Antropologi Indonesia

This paper represents Engels’ theory of human origin with more modern facts and theories from contemporary fossil record. In Engels' theory, brain and cognitive ability is not the essential attribute of humanity. Brain capacity is not a cause; it is result or effect of evolution of more essential attribute in hominid evolution, that are terrestrial-bipedal life style and the use of tools by which labour social organisation emerge in hominid evolution.

‘Nothing But Wind’? The Past And Future Of Comparative Corporate Governance, Donald C. Clarke

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Corporate law scholarship has come a long way since Bayless Manning some four decades ago famously pronounced it dead. Not only has doctrinal scholarship continued its project of critique and rationalization, but empirical and economic approaches have injected new life into the field.

Recent years have seen the rise of comparative corporate governance (CCG) as an increasingly mainstream approach within the world of corporate governance studies. This is a function partly of an increasing international orientation on the part of legal scholars and partly of an increasingly empirical turn in corporate law scholarship generally. Different practices in other jurisdictions present …

Do Fast Food Restaurants Cluster Around High Schools? A Geospatial Analysis Of Proximity Of Fast Food Restaurants To High Schools And The Connection To Childhood Obesity Rates, Hilary Nixon, Lauren Doud

Faculty Publications, Urban and Regional Planning

Nationwide, approximately 30% of children consume fast food on a typical day, and caloric intake from fast food has increased fivefold over the past three decades. Our analysis adds to a growing body of public health and planning research through a geospatial analysis of fast food restaurants in Santa Clara County, California. We selected 41 high schools, representing 97% of enrollment in the county, and examined proximity to fast food restaurants within 400 meters (437 yards) and 800 meters (875 yards) of the schools. Our results indicate that fast food restaurants are clustered near high schools with higher obesity rates. …