Digital Commons Network^™

Informal Institutions And Women’S Rights In Afghanistan, Mariam Amiri

Masters Theses

In political science a lot of attention is given to institutions and their role in shaping behaviors in a polity and society. In this thesis I examine the conflict between formal and informal institutions. I believe in many societies informal institutions play a major role in shaping political behavior. In Afghanistan these informal institutions can easily undermine formal institutions. Many of the studies that are conducted about informal institutions in Afghanistan have prized them for being capable of dealing with different problems. However, it is also important to find out whether the way they deal with different problems and solve …

Owning Our Food System: Urban Community Gardening And Local Food Movements, Paige A. Edwards

Masters Theses

Food is a means of examining culture, including identity, autonomy and power. It creates relationships and memories between people via shared connections. Through food, I explore local food movements and urban community gardening.

We both ingest and produce garden-grown foods. This movement is often described as simple nostalgia. I suggest that it is a response against heavily processed foods within a system reliant on mass produced food. This desire for ownership pushes community gardens and other counter-hegemonic spaces forward in their goals of using social practice to challenge the established food industry and take control within their own lives.

Combined Effects Of Mdma And Ethanol On Locomotor Activity And Place Conditioning In Male And Female Adolescent Sprague-Dawley Rats, Keli A. Herr

Masters Theses

MDMA, ("Ecstasy") is commonly abused in combination with ethanol (EtOH). Relatively few preclinical studies have investigated sex differences in animal models of polysubstance use. The current study employed a conditioned place preference (CPP) procedure to assess the behavioral effects of the co-administration ofMDMA /EtOH in 32 male and 32 female adolescent Sprague-Dawley rats. Following a 15 min habituation trial, eight 30-min conditioning trials were conducted in two- compartment chambers with different environmental cues. Before each drug conditioning trials, rats were administered intraperitoneal (i.p.) injections of MDMA(6.6 mg/kg), EtOH (1.5 g/kg), MDMA (6.6 mg/kg) and EtOH (1.5 g/kg), or saline. Prior …

Noticing Neighbors: Reconsidering Ancient Egyptian Perceptions Of Ethnicity, Taylor Bryanne Woodcock

Theses and Dissertations

Ethnic identities are nuanced, fluid and adaptive. They are a means of categorizing the self and the ‘other’ through the recognition of geographical, cultural, lingual, and physical differences. This work examines recurring associations, epithets and themes in ancient Egyptian texts to reveal how the Egyptians discussed the ethnic uniqueness they perceived of their regional neighbors. It employs Egyptian written records, including temple inscriptions, royal and private correspondence, stelae and tomb autobiographies, and literary tales, from the Old Kingdom to the beginning of the Third Intermediate Period. The textual examples are organized by ethnic group and divided into four regions, beginning …

Polyketide Synthase Iii Isolated From Uncultured Deep-Sea Proteobacterium From The Red Sea- Functional And Evolutionary Characterization, Hadeel Mansour El Bardisy

Theses and Dissertations

Natural polyketide products are one of the major secondary metabolites produced among bacteria, fungi, and plants. They vary from flavonoids, pyrones, and stilbenes to phloroglucinols and resorcinols that are involved in important functions as antimicrobial activity, defense mechanisms and pigmentation. They are biosynthesized from acyl-CoA precursors by polyketides synthases (PKSs) that are categorized into 3 types: I, II and III. PKS type III is considered the simplest in its structure. It was believed that PKS type III was exclusively encoded by higher plants until the enduring efforts of bacterial genomes sequencing revealed the presence of more and more PKSs type …

Identification Of The Critical Cultivation Parameters For Scaling Up The Upstream Process Of Recombinant Human Follicle Stimulating Hormone Production From Chinese Hamster Ovary Cells, Momen Mohsen Amer

Theses and Dissertations

Biotechnology industry has experienced a massive development in the production of recombinant protein therapeutics over the past few decades. Stainless steel bioreactors have been considered the gold standards for the upstream processing for a long time. However, over the past decade, the single use technology has gained a big interest in the field especially with the mammalian and insect cell cultures. The single use based processes offered many advantages over the conventional ones. Disposable systems eliminated the need for cleaning in place (CIP), sterilization in place (SIP) and cleaning validation, reduced the risks of cross contamination, and they also offered …

Towards The Characterization Of A Novel Thermohalophilic Antioxidant Thioredoxin From The Metagenome Of The Red Sea; Lcl Of Atlantis Ii Brine Pool, Mohamed Mohamed Gamal Abdelwahed

Theses and Dissertations

Due to the crucial antioxidant role of Thioredoxin (Trx) system in various vital cellular processes; DNA synthesis, oxidative stress defense, protein folding, apoptosis and cell growth, this fundamental system is widely expressed in mostly all life's kingdoms. Thus using metagenomic approaches to characterize novel Trx system in unexplored harsh environment will open the window for understanding the evolution of Trx system and its unique adaptation in extreme habitations. One of the unexplored unique ecosystems is the Red Sea's Atalntis II brine pool, specifically, the lower convective layer (LCL). The exceptional harsh conditions of the LCL; anoxic condition, high temperature around …

Permanent Exile, Permanent Fear? Gender-Based Violence In Refugee Camps, Rosalie Capps

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the structure and maintenance policies of camps as forces driving gender-based violence. People in camps find themselves in a state of utter dependence on UNHCR or whatever state or NGO actor is providing for them. This experience deprives individuals of their identity and creates and environment that exacerbates gender-based violence. In order to effectively address this issue, perceptions of camps must change. While they are often considered temporary reactions to exceptional situations, they are in fact part of a larger policy implemented by developed countries to confine displaced people from the developing world to their own regions. …

Food Security: At What Cost? Dietary And Behavioural Coping Strategies Of Low-Income Households In Cairo And Implications On Children’S Food Security, Radwa Saad

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the dietary and behavioural coping strategies employed by low-income households in urban poverty pockets of Greater Cairo in response to food price fluctuations. It investigates the impact of nutrition-related coping behaviours on the food security of households, focusing namely on children and youth. The study uses qualitative research in the form of in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and key informant interviews with mothers residing in one of the largest informal settlements of Cairo, to arrive at an in-depth analysis of the problem. The research reveals that low-income households employ poor coping strategies in response to high food …

Makings Of Imagination In Alternative Cultural Spaces In Cairo, Mariz Kelada

Theses and Dissertations

To speak of space as a concept, how it is produced, de/reconstructed, and imagined is a process that involves multiplicities of understanding about the makings that take place. My concern is in this research is exploring the dynamic relationships that take place between cultural spaces in Cairo, the subjectivities of their participants and the possibilities that might be offered through these relations for a different social imagination that could be manifested in the details of their everydayness. The main question of my thesis is; In which ways and conditions can some of the contemporary cultural spaces in Cairo situate their …

Interactive Two-Sided Transparent Displays: Designing For Collaboration, Jiannan Li, Saul Greenberg, Ehud Sharlin, Joaquim Jorge

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Transparent displays can serve as an important collaborative medium supporting face-to-face interactions over a shared visual work surface. Such displays enhance workspace awareness: when a person is working on one side of a transparent display, the person on the other side can see the other's body, hand gestures, gaze and what he or she is actually manipulating on the shared screen. Even so, we argue that designing such transparent displays must go beyond current offerings if it is to support collaboration. First, both sides of the display must accept interactive input, preferably by at least touch and / or pen, …

Head Or Foot, Right Or Left: Analyzing The Positions Of Isis And Nephthys On Coffins And Sarcophagi From The Old Kingdom (2663-2160 Bc) Through Ptolemaic-Roman Periods (332bc-395 Ad), Kenaya Camacho

Theses and Dissertations

Isis and Nephthys, two iconic sister goddesses of ancient Egypt are well known for their presence in funerary scenes. In representations of the goddesses as a pair on coffins and sarcophagi dating from the Old Kingdom through the Ptolemaic-Roman Period, there is an alternating dominance between which goddess is placed on the headboard and footboard as well as who is placed on right and left proper of vignettes on these objects. This dissertation will examine what influences the positioning, dominance and orientation of Isis and Nephthys, on coffins and sarcophagi to determine how these positions affect our knowledge of female …

Feeling Images: Subjectivities And Affective Experience In The Egyptian Revolution, Brice Woodcock

Theses and Dissertations

During the Egyptian Revolution, beginning in 2011 and continuing throughout this project,, images were used to garner support for or against various movements. When viewers disagreed with the version of events suggested by the images, these viewers remained unmoved by them even if the image depicted violence or death. In order to understand how this is possible, this work undertakes a study of the intimate relationship between affect and the viewer's point-of view, also known as their “subjectivity" in the context of images from the Egyptian Revolution. The participants of this project were not passive observers, but rather almost instantaneously …

Language Attitudes In An Egyptian Discourse Community, Emily Reigh

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates language attitudes in an elite university in Egypt, addressing all codes spoken in the community: Fusha (Classical Arabic/Modern Standard Arabic), Egyptian Arabic, English and Egyptian Arabic-English code-switching. Some attitudinal research in the region has been conducted (e.g. Bentahila, 1983; Chakrani, 2011; Lawson & Sachdev, 2000), though most neglects to position the discourse community in larger society and uses limited methodological approaches. In this study, attitudes are interpreted with attention to prevailing language ideologies, including the notion of a standard language, tension between modernity and tradition and language as symbolic capitol. Overt and covert attitudes in terms of …

Transcriptomics Of Iron Limitation In Phaeocystis Antarctica, Mariam Reyad Rizkallah Issak

Theses and Dissertations

Phytoplankton, the hidden trees of the ocean, are responsible for nearly half of global oxygen production. Phytoplankton growth and productivity in high-nitrate low-chlorophyll (HNLC) regions have been demonstrated to be limited by iron availability. One of the most important HNLC regions is the Southern Ocean, as it regulates Earth system climate due to its unique hydrography and consequently its phytoplankton assemblage drives the global carbon cycle. Iron fertilization experiments were conducted to understand the response of its photosynthetic assemblage to iron addition, and the nanoflagellate Phaeocystis antarctica has been reported the first to bloom. P. antarctica is ecologically important due …

Participation Of 414dddd417 And 432kpar435 In The Thermostability Of Mercuric Reductase Isolated From The Deep Brine Environment Of Atlantis Ii In The Red Sea, Ayman Eid

Theses and Dissertations

Mercuric reductase (MerA) is an essential enzyme for the survival of microorganisms that reside in environments containing mercuric compounds. The enzyme converts the extremely toxic mercuric ions (Hg2+) into the less toxic volatile elemental mercury form (Hg0). A novel MerA molecule that has undergone multiple evolutionary adaptations to allow its host to cope with the harsh multiple abiotic stressors of the lower convective layer (LCL) of the Atlantis II (ATII) brine environment in the Red Sea has been recently characterized catalytically and structurally (JBC, 2014, 289,1675–1687). The brine pool at Atlantis II Deep covers an area of about 60 km2 …

The Impact Of Nutrition And Feeding Time On The Regulation Of Gene Expression In The Central Circadian Clock Of Drsosophila Melanogaster, Arwa Diab

Theses and Dissertations

The circadian clock plays an essential role in most organisms by allowing their adaptation to the daily environmental changes mainly light/dark cycles and also temperature. Circadian rhythms persist in constant conditions indicating an auto regulatory molecular circadian clock. Here, we investigated the possibility that the circadian clock of Drosophila can also be entrained by scheduled feeding. Cycles of 12 hours feeding and 12 hours starvation could entrain the molecular circadian oscillation in key pacemaker neurons of Drosophila. Clock proteins CLOCK (CLK) and PERIOD (PER) showed a 24 hour oscillation in the small and large ventral lateral neurons after entrainment by …

Herding Behavior In The Egyptian Stock Market, Noha Allam

Theses and Dissertations

This paper tests for the existence of herding behavior in the Egyptian stock market using daily and monthly data of listed companies on the Egyptian stock Exchange. We follow the methodology of Christie and Huang (1995) and Chang, Cheng, and Khorana (2000) to test for the presence of herding behavior in general, during up and down times (times of stress in the market), and during bearish and bullish market phases. We also split the sample into pre-revolution and post-revolution periods to test the effect of 25th January, 2011 revolution on herding behavior in the market. We found that: first, the …

Amethyst, Apotropaia, And The Eye Of Re, Laurel Hackley

Theses and Dissertations

Two specific aspects of Middle Kingdom Egyptian apotropaia, amethyst amulets and inscribed ivory wands, are connected by their religious, magical, and mythological connotations. The shared significance of these objects is made clear by iconographic similarities and textual references. The wands in particular are shown to represent a particular mythological moment, the return of the Solar Eye of Re to Egypt. Both amethyst objects and ivory wands reference this important mythological event in ways that illustrate the multi-level importance of the myth in the cultural landscape of the Middle Kingdom Egyptians.  

Racial Classifications, Biomarkers, And The Challenges Of Health Disparities Research In The African Diaspora., Latrica E. Best, John Chenault

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Current scholarly research, both sociologically and biologically based, continues to be inundated with notions of race operating as a biological construct and as a proxy for poor health outcomes. Medical research and practice have fostered an environment where diagnostics, treatment, and the creation and dissemination of drug regimens often are influenced by a patient’s skin color and ethnicity. The emergence of biological markers in social science-based surveys has fueled recent health disparities research that is shaping the meaning, interpretation, and policy of the health of people of color. Using hypertension as an example, this paper focuses on ways in which …

Using Ipads For Extension Presentations, Kevin W. Zobrist

Journal of Extension

Tablet computers like the iPad have numerous potential applications for Extension, one of which is as a wireless device for delivering presentations. The iPad can connect to a projector via a cable or wirelessly through a laptop or directly to a wifi-enabled projector. Using an iPad allows an Extension educator to control the presentation, view notes, and incorporate on-screen annotations. Depending on the presenter's teaching style, these capabilities can both enhance or diminish presentation quality.

U.S. Dietary And Physical Activity Guideline Knowledge And Corresponding Behaviors Among 4th And 5th Grade Students: A Multi-Site Pilot Study, Jennifer W. Bea, Stephanie Martinez, Traci Armstrong-Florian, Vanessa Farrell, Cathy L. Martinez, Evelyn Whitmer, Vern Hartz, Samuel Blake, Ariana Nicolini, Scottie Misner

Journal of Extension

Knowledge of U.S. dietary and physical activity recommendations and corresponding behaviors were surveyed among 4th and 5th graders in five Arizona counties to determine the need for related education in SNAP-Ed eligible schools. A

Windsor Beyond Marriage: Due Process, Equality & Undocumented Immigration, Anthony O'Rourke

Journal Articles

The Supreme Court’s recent decision in United States v. Windsor, invalidating part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, presents a significant interpretive challenge. Early commentators have criticized the majority opinion’s lack of analytical rigor, and expressed doubt that Windsor can serve as a meaningful precedent with respect to constitutional questions outside the area of same-sex marriage. This short Article offers a more rehabilitative reading of Windsor, and shows how the decision can be used to analyze a significant constitutional question concerning the use of state criminal procedure to regulate immigration.

From Windsor’s holding, the Article distills …

How To Protect A Literary Character Through Copyright And Trademark, Annie Provenzano

Journalism

This paper is about finding the best practices in which to protect a literary character as an individual and help authors keep the rights to their characters when the characters are taken out of the original work. It focuses on the basic copyright and trademark laws, how they apply to a literary character, what is afforded to the character for protection, and the lack of protection by the courts. The research helps facilitate ideas and advice on how to better protect a literary character before and after the process of copyrighting or trademarking the work.

Wordsworth, Ruins, And The Dialectics Of Melancholia, Colin Dekeersgieter

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The concept of melancholia as it pertains to Romantic poets is often relegated to its simpler meaning of gloomy or depressed. This work provides an analysis of the motifs of melancholia in the work William Wordsworth as an allegory of the artist's relationship to their art. I am interested in melancholia as the tension between the melancholic's acute awareness of his temporal actuality and the grave desire for transcendence as a poet. Operating within this dialectic fractures Wordsworth's interiority as he struggles to ground himself in both realms. This dialectic is most often reconciled when the poet finds a …

Certain Adenylated Non-Coding Rnas, Including 5′ Leader Sequences Of Primary Microrna Transcripts, Accumulate In Mouse Cells Following Depletion Of The Rna Helicase Mtr4, Jane E. Dorweiler, Ting Ni, Jun Zhu, Stephen Munroe, James T. Anderson

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

RNA surveillance plays an important role in posttranscriptional regulation. Seminal work in this field has largely focused on yeast as a model system, whereas exploration of RNA surveillance in mammals is only recently begun. The increased transcriptional complexity of mammalian systems provides a wider array of targets for RNA surveillance, and, while many questions remain unanswered, emerging data suggest the nuclear RNA surveillance machinery exhibits increased complexity as well. We have used a small interfering RNA in mouse N2A cells to target the homolog of a yeast protein that functions in RNA surveillance (Mtr4p). We used high-throughput sequencing of polyadenylated …

Misconstruing Notice In Eeoc Administrative Processing & Conciliation, Angela D. Morrison

Faculty Scholarship

Federal courts have misconstrued notice in the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's ("EEOC" or "Commission") administrative processing and conciliation of charges of discrimination. By requiring that the notice given to employers during the Commission's processing of a claim be equivalent to that of notice in civil litigation, courts have conflated the purpose of notice in the former with the latter. Some of this conflation may be a consequence of the Supreme Court's tightening of pleading standards, class certification requirements, and other procedural requirements, which are primarily focused on providing adequate notice to a defendant regarding the scope of the plaintiffs' …

The Development Of Sleep-Wake Rhythms And The Search For Elemental Circuits In The Infant Brain, Mark S. Blumberg, Andrew J. Gall, William D. Todd

Faculty Publications

Despite the predominance of sleep in early infancy, developmental science has yet to play a major role in shaping concepts and theories about sleep and its associated ultradian and circadian rhythms. Here we argue that developmental analyses help us to elucidate the relative contributions of the brainstem and forebrain to sleep-wake control and to dissect the neural components of sleep-wake rhythms. Developmental analysis also makes it clear that sleep-wake processes in infants are the foundation for those of adults. For example, the infant brainstem alone contains a fundamental sleep-wake circuit that is sufficient to produce transitions among wakefulness, quiet sleep, …

Venom Yield, Regeneration, And Composition In The Centipede Scolopendra Polymorpha, Allen Michael Cooper

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

In this dissertation, I investigated yield, regeneration, and composition of centipede venom. In the first of three empirical studies, I investigated how size influenced venom volume yield and protein concentration in Scolopendra polymorpha and S. subspinipes. I also examined additional potential influences on yield in S. polymorpha, including relative forcipule size, relative mass, geographic origin, sex, time in captivity, and milking history. Volume yield was positively linearly related to body length in both species; however, body length and protein concentration were uncorrelated. In S. polymorpha, yield was most influenced by body length, but was also positively associated …

Exosomal Survivin-T34a: A Novel, Potential Cancer Therapeutic, Jonathan Richard Aspe

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth most common cause of cancer fatality in American men and women with a less than 5% survival rate. Currently, if diagnosed early, surgical resection remains the only viable cure. However, only 20% of pancreatic cancer patients meet these criteria. It is therefore necessary to discover new therapies or therapeutic combinations in order to impact significantly this deadly disease. The anti-metabolite agent Gemcitabine is currently being employed to treat pancreatic cancer. While Gem-citabine has shown significant benefit in clinical applications, its ability to more than modestly impact pancreatic cancer is limited. It has been speculated that …