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• 811. [Article] Affect, Abuse, Transgression: Orienting Ambiguity in Early Modern Texts

  This dissertation seeks to articulate how early modern texts formalize their affective qualities in instances of ambiguity. Positioned within the recent turn away from humoral theories of the passions ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Affect, Abuse, Transgression: Orienting Ambiguity in Early Modern Texts Author: Myers, Katie Year: 2016 This dissertation seeks to articulate how early modern texts formalize their affective qualities in instances of ambiguity. Positioned within the recent turn away from humoral theories of the passions and toward the rhetorical underpinnings of affect in early modern criticism, my project offers an interpretive strategy that privileges the perspective of the text by attending to the vulnerabilities of first-person perspectives in ambiguous rhetorical structures and figures. I argue that these forms signal more than sites of critical debate encoded in the text, as Shoshanna Feldman has suggested; they also privilege textual perspective and reveal affect to be a feature of form. I argue that textual ambivalence may be approached through the logic of catachresis in order to examine how these instances may be read in ways that maintain the strangeness of their didactic and disruptive capability. Reorienting how one approaches ambiguity, I suggest, exposes the potential of often ignored textual elements and suggests that early modern literature models an interpretive agenda dependent upon vulnerable perspectives. Reconceiving the interpretive strategies solicited by each text, I argue that early modern literature embraces the benefits of individual and collective vulnerability. I examine how Marlowe’s Edward II disrupts the binary structure of the king’s two bodies in order to turn an accusation of weakness against authority itself. I turn to Donne’s poetry and prose to argue that it models a hospitable interpretive method that uses form to manage ambiguity from the perspectives of his textual voices while orienting readers to welcome the strangeness of his contradictions. I then pursue an analysis of Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part I that reorients Falstaff’s function in the play as its unlikely focal perspective, a position that stages a resistance to the play’s power structures. Finally, I briefly consider how my analysis bears on familial and rhetorical conventions in Shakespeare’s Tempest and Webster’s Duchess of Malfi. Attending to the formal practices that construct literary affect, this project reconsiders the ways in which early modern English literature navigates the intersections of vulnerability that articulate a text’s orientation to the cultural networks in which it was produced. Title: Affect, Abuse, Transgression: Orienting Ambiguity in Early Modern Texts Author: Myers, Katie Year: 2016 This dissertation seeks to articulate how early modern texts formalize their affective qualities in instances of ambiguity. Positioned within the recent turn away from humoral theories of the passions and toward the rhetorical underpinnings of affect in early modern criticism, my project offers an interpretive strategy that privileges the perspective of the text by attending to the vulnerabilities of first-person perspectives in ambiguous rhetorical structures and figures. I argue that these forms signal more than sites of critical debate encoded in the text, as Shoshanna Feldman has suggested; they also privilege textual perspective and reveal affect to be a feature of form. I argue that textual ambivalence may be approached through the logic of catachresis in order to examine how these instances may be read in ways that maintain the strangeness of their didactic and disruptive capability. Reorienting how one approaches ambiguity, I suggest, exposes the potential of often ignored textual elements and suggests that early modern literature models an interpretive agenda dependent upon vulnerable perspectives. Reconceiving the interpretive strategies solicited by each text, I argue that early modern literature embraces the benefits of individual and collective vulnerability. I examine how Marlowe’s Edward II disrupts the binary structure of the king’s two bodies in order to turn an accusation of weakness against authority itself. I turn to Donne’s poetry and prose to argue that it models a hospitable interpretive method that uses form to manage ambiguity from the perspectives of his textual voices while orienting readers to welcome the strangeness of his contradictions. I then pursue an analysis of Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part I that reorients Falstaff’s function in the play as its unlikely focal perspective, a position that stages a resistance to the play’s power structures. Finally, I briefly consider how my analysis bears on familial and rhetorical conventions in Shakespeare’s Tempest and Webster’s Duchess of Malfi. Attending to the formal practices that construct literary affect, this project reconsiders the ways in which early modern English literature navigates the intersections of vulnerability that articulate a text’s orientation to the cultural networks in which it was produced. Close

• 812. [Article] La Revolución de 1952 en la Novela Boliviana Escrita por Mujeres

  DISSERTATION ABSTRACT María Vania V. Díaz Romero Paz Title: La Revolución de 1952 en la Novela Boliviana Contemporánea Escrita por Mujeres This dissertation studies the different discourses ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: La Revolución de 1952 en la Novela Boliviana Escrita por Mujeres Author: Díaz Romero Paz, María Vania Year: 2016 DISSERTATION ABSTRACT María Vania V. Díaz Romero Paz Title: La Revolución de 1952 en la Novela Boliviana Contemporánea Escrita por Mujeres This dissertation studies the different discourses of nation that underlie contemporary novels written by women authors in Bolivia during the period between 1977 and 2007. My primary corpus is comprised of three novels: Gaby Vallejo’s Hijo de opa (1977), Giancarla Zabalaga’s La Flor de "La Candelaria" (1990) and Verónica Ormachea’s Los ingenuos (2007). These novels allude to the Revolution of 1952 at its different stages, either explicitly or implicitly. Written during different time periods, these novels are a product of their respective historical periods and therefore reveal diverse ways of reading the nationalist discourse and the revolution. My objective is to analyze and discuss the concept of nation and how this concept varies among the different novels by focusing on the Revolution of 1952. The Revolution of 1952 is one of the most important moments in the history of Bolivia, when the conditions for socio-political change converge in order to make possible an “imagined community,” of proposing and implementing a nation-building project based on state capitalism. The mestizo is called upon to serve as a vanguard of this revolution. These novels explore how social, economic, and cultural contradictions make the construction of the nation difficult, and transmit a critique of this process of nation-building, and its nationalist discourse. The main purpose of my dissertation is to examine the recurrence of retellings of the revolution from a feminine perspective in which the domestic space is privileged and the house and family work as a metaphor of the country. The three novels I analyze prioritize female protagonists and the female perspective, embracing a feminist critique of the traditionally patriarchal representation of the revolution. Each of them makes the presence of women visible, prioritizes domestic space as a place of enunciation of national imaginaries and portrays the home as a metaphor for the nation. These authors develop their own political agenda in order to become effective political actors, challenge the patriarchal order and claim their space and their right to participate in nation building. This dissertation is written in Spanish. Title: La Revolución de 1952 en la Novela Boliviana Escrita por Mujeres Author: Díaz Romero Paz, María Vania Year: 2016 DISSERTATION ABSTRACT María Vania V. Díaz Romero Paz Title: La Revolución de 1952 en la Novela Boliviana Contemporánea Escrita por Mujeres This dissertation studies the different discourses of nation that underlie contemporary novels written by women authors in Bolivia during the period between 1977 and 2007. My primary corpus is comprised of three novels: Gaby Vallejo’s Hijo de opa (1977), Giancarla Zabalaga’s La Flor de "La Candelaria" (1990) and Verónica Ormachea’s Los ingenuos (2007). These novels allude to the Revolution of 1952 at its different stages, either explicitly or implicitly. Written during different time periods, these novels are a product of their respective historical periods and therefore reveal diverse ways of reading the nationalist discourse and the revolution. My objective is to analyze and discuss the concept of nation and how this concept varies among the different novels by focusing on the Revolution of 1952. The Revolution of 1952 is one of the most important moments in the history of Bolivia, when the conditions for socio-political change converge in order to make possible an “imagined community,” of proposing and implementing a nation-building project based on state capitalism. The mestizo is called upon to serve as a vanguard of this revolution. These novels explore how social, economic, and cultural contradictions make the construction of the nation difficult, and transmit a critique of this process of nation-building, and its nationalist discourse. The main purpose of my dissertation is to examine the recurrence of retellings of the revolution from a feminine perspective in which the domestic space is privileged and the house and family work as a metaphor of the country. The three novels I analyze prioritize female protagonists and the female perspective, embracing a feminist critique of the traditionally patriarchal representation of the revolution. Each of them makes the presence of women visible, prioritizes domestic space as a place of enunciation of national imaginaries and portrays the home as a metaphor for the nation. These authors develop their own political agenda in order to become effective political actors, challenge the patriarchal order and claim their space and their right to participate in nation building. This dissertation is written in Spanish. Close

• 813. [Article] SMILODONICHTHYS RASTROSUS A NEW PLIOCENE SALMONID FISH FROM WESTERN UNITED STATES

  52 pages

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: SMILODONICHTHYS RASTROSUS A NEW PLIOCENE SALMONID FISH FROM WESTERN UNITED STATES Author: CAVENDER, TED M., MILLER, ROBERT RUSH Year: 2016, 1972 52 pages Title: SMILODONICHTHYS RASTROSUS A NEW PLIOCENE SALMONID FISH FROM WESTERN UNITED STATES Author: CAVENDER, TED M., MILLER, ROBERT RUSH Year: 2016, 1972 52 pages Close

• 814. [Article] Understanding the Formation of Kinetically Stable Compounds and the Development of Thin Film Pair Distribution Function Analysis

  Navigating the synthesis landscape poses many challenges when developing novel solid state materials. Advancements in both synthesis and characterization are necessary to facilitate the targeting of specific ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Understanding the Formation of Kinetically Stable Compounds and the Development of Thin Film Pair Distribution Function Analysis Author: Wood, Suzannah Year: 2017 Navigating the synthesis landscape poses many challenges when developing novel solid state materials. Advancements in both synthesis and characterization are necessary to facilitate the targeting of specific materials. This dissertation discusses the formation of chalcogenide heterostructures and their properties in the first part and the development of thin film pair distribution function analysis (tfPDF) in the second part. The heterostructures were formed by the self-assembly of designed precursors deposited by physical vapor deposition in a modulated elemental reactants approach, which provides the control and predictability to synthesis. Specifically, a series of (BiSe)1+δ(TiSe2)n, where n = 2,3,&4, were synthesized to explore the extent of charge transfer from the BiSe to TiSe2 layers. To further explore the role Bi plays in charge donation, a family of structurally similar compounds, (BixSn1-xSe)1+TiSe2 , where 0≥x≥1, were synthesized and characterized. Electrical measurements show doping efficiency decreases as x increases, correlated with the structural distortion and the formation of periodic antiphase boundaries containing Bi-Bi pairs. The first heterostructures composed of three unique structural types were synthesized and Bi2Se3 layer thickness was used to tune electrical properties and further explore charge transfer. To better understand the potential energy landscape on which these kinetically stable compounds exist, two investigations were undertaken. The first was a study of the formation and subsequent decomposition of [(BiSe)1+δ]n(TiSe2)n compounds, where n= 2&3, the second an investigation of precursor structure for thermodynamically stable FeSb2 and kinetically stable FeSb3. The second section describes the development of thin film pair distribution function analysis, a technique in which total scattering data for pair distribution function (PDF) analysis is obtained from thin films, suitable for local structure analysis. This study illustrates how analysis of the local structure in amorphous precursor films can help to understand the crystallization processes of metastable phases and enables a range of new local structure studies of thin films. tfPDF was then demonstrated on In-Ga-O film materials and compared to traditional powder PDF analysis. This highlights differences between the products, and the utility of tfPDF to determined structural features of amorphous materials. This dissertation includes previously published and unpublished co-authored materials. Title: Understanding the Formation of Kinetically Stable Compounds and the Development of Thin Film Pair Distribution Function Analysis Author: Wood, Suzannah Year: 2017 Navigating the synthesis landscape poses many challenges when developing novel solid state materials. Advancements in both synthesis and characterization are necessary to facilitate the targeting of specific materials. This dissertation discusses the formation of chalcogenide heterostructures and their properties in the first part and the development of thin film pair distribution function analysis (tfPDF) in the second part. The heterostructures were formed by the self-assembly of designed precursors deposited by physical vapor deposition in a modulated elemental reactants approach, which provides the control and predictability to synthesis. Specifically, a series of (BiSe)1+δ(TiSe2)n, where n = 2,3,&4, were synthesized to explore the extent of charge transfer from the BiSe to TiSe2 layers. To further explore the role Bi plays in charge donation, a family of structurally similar compounds, (BixSn1-xSe)1+TiSe2 , where 0≥x≥1, were synthesized and characterized. Electrical measurements show doping efficiency decreases as x increases, correlated with the structural distortion and the formation of periodic antiphase boundaries containing Bi-Bi pairs. The first heterostructures composed of three unique structural types were synthesized and Bi2Se3 layer thickness was used to tune electrical properties and further explore charge transfer. To better understand the potential energy landscape on which these kinetically stable compounds exist, two investigations were undertaken. The first was a study of the formation and subsequent decomposition of [(BiSe)1+δ]n(TiSe2)n compounds, where n= 2&3, the second an investigation of precursor structure for thermodynamically stable FeSb2 and kinetically stable FeSb3. The second section describes the development of thin film pair distribution function analysis, a technique in which total scattering data for pair distribution function (PDF) analysis is obtained from thin films, suitable for local structure analysis. This study illustrates how analysis of the local structure in amorphous precursor films can help to understand the crystallization processes of metastable phases and enables a range of new local structure studies of thin films. tfPDF was then demonstrated on In-Ga-O film materials and compared to traditional powder PDF analysis. This highlights differences between the products, and the utility of tfPDF to determined structural features of amorphous materials. This dissertation includes previously published and unpublished co-authored materials. Close

• 815. [Article] PATTERNS OF MORPHOSYNTACTIC AND FUNCTIONAL DIVERSIFICATION IN THE USAGE OF COGNATE VERBS IN INDO-IRANIAN

  This is a study of processes of structural and functional diversification of the uses of three cognate verbs across the Indo-Iranian language family: “do/make”, “be/become”, and “give”. First, this study ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: PATTERNS OF MORPHOSYNTACTIC AND FUNCTIONAL DIVERSIFICATION IN THE USAGE OF COGNATE VERBS IN INDO-IRANIAN Author: Shirtz, Shahar Year: 2017 This is a study of processes of structural and functional diversification of the uses of three cognate verbs across the Indo-Iranian language family: “do/make”, “be/become”, and “give”. First, this study identifies over sixty distinct construction types in which these verbs are used, including complex predicate constructions, nominal predication constructions, serial verb constructions, and several distinct auxiliary constructions. Since the sets of verbs studied here are cognates, and share a common source, crosslinguistic differences in their uses are the result of grammatical change, and especially shared and parallel innovations of similar uses. Then, this study presents a taxonomy of different complex predication types with “do/make”, and shows that there are general patterns in the deployment of different types of complex predication to express different types of situations. These patterns exhibit “transitivity prominence” previously identified by typologists with “heavy” or “lexical” verbs. This study then shows that these patterns are the result of several distinct pathways of grammatical change, often motivated by analogy to existing constructions, giving raise to different types of N-V complex predication constructions. Then, this study shows that despite the fact that Indo-Iranian speakers can potentially deploy distinct constructions to encode each of the six nominal predication functions, sets of such functions are often co-expressed by the same structural coding means, especially clauses with cognate “be/become” verbs. This study uses a novel method, based on bipartite network graphs, to compare of the degree to which nominal predication functions are co-expressed in different languages. Finally, this study shows that the three sets of cognate verbs are more likely to be used similarity within branches and subbranches of Indo-Iranian than across branches. The scope of this branches, however, is different for different verbs: “do/make” and “give” behave more similarly in languages which belong to the same major branch, Iranian or Indo-Aryan, but “be/become” clusters are at different levels of subbranching. This is the result of the different types of innovations attested with these verbs: reanalysis and actualization motivated by analogy with “do/make” and “give”, and metaphorical and metonymy extensions with “be/become”. Title: PATTERNS OF MORPHOSYNTACTIC AND FUNCTIONAL DIVERSIFICATION IN THE USAGE OF COGNATE VERBS IN INDO-IRANIAN Author: Shirtz, Shahar Year: 2017 This is a study of processes of structural and functional diversification of the uses of three cognate verbs across the Indo-Iranian language family: “do/make”, “be/become”, and “give”. First, this study identifies over sixty distinct construction types in which these verbs are used, including complex predicate constructions, nominal predication constructions, serial verb constructions, and several distinct auxiliary constructions. Since the sets of verbs studied here are cognates, and share a common source, crosslinguistic differences in their uses are the result of grammatical change, and especially shared and parallel innovations of similar uses. Then, this study presents a taxonomy of different complex predication types with “do/make”, and shows that there are general patterns in the deployment of different types of complex predication to express different types of situations. These patterns exhibit “transitivity prominence” previously identified by typologists with “heavy” or “lexical” verbs. This study then shows that these patterns are the result of several distinct pathways of grammatical change, often motivated by analogy to existing constructions, giving raise to different types of N-V complex predication constructions. Then, this study shows that despite the fact that Indo-Iranian speakers can potentially deploy distinct constructions to encode each of the six nominal predication functions, sets of such functions are often co-expressed by the same structural coding means, especially clauses with cognate “be/become” verbs. This study uses a novel method, based on bipartite network graphs, to compare of the degree to which nominal predication functions are co-expressed in different languages. Finally, this study shows that the three sets of cognate verbs are more likely to be used similarity within branches and subbranches of Indo-Iranian than across branches. The scope of this branches, however, is different for different verbs: “do/make” and “give” behave more similarly in languages which belong to the same major branch, Iranian or Indo-Aryan, but “be/become” clusters are at different levels of subbranching. This is the result of the different types of innovations attested with these verbs: reanalysis and actualization motivated by analogy with “do/make” and “give”, and metaphorical and metonymy extensions with “be/become”. Close

• 816. [Article] Local Languages: The Forms of Speech in Contemporary Poetry

  Robert Frost’s legendary description of “the sound of sense” to define his poetics has for decades sounded like little more than common sense. His idea is now taken to be fairly straightforward: the inflections ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Local Languages: The Forms of Speech in Contemporary Poetry Author: Fogarty, William Year: 2016 Robert Frost’s legendary description of “the sound of sense” to define his poetics has for decades sounded like little more than common sense. His idea is now taken to be fairly straightforward: the inflections of an utterance resulting from the tension between demotic speech and poetic form indicate its purport. However, our accepted notion of Frost’s formulation as simply the marriage of form and meaning misconstrues what is potentially revolutionary in it: if everyday speech and verse form generate tension, then Frost has described a method for mediating between reality, represented by speech, and art, represented by verse form. The merger is not passive: the sound of sense occurs when Frost “drag[s] and break[s] the intonation across the metre.” And yet Frost places speech and verse form in a working relationship. It is the argument of this dissertation that poets reckon with what is often understood as discord between poetry and reality by putting into correspondence forms of speech and the forms of poetry. The poets I examine–Seamus Heaney, Gwendolyn Brooks, Tony Harrison, and Lucille Clifton–are concerned with their positions in local communities that range from the family unit to ethnic, religious, racial, economic, and sexual groups, and they marshal forms of speech in poetic form to speak from those locales and to counter the drag and break of those located social and political realities. They utilize what I call their “local languages”–the speech of their particular communities that situates them geographically in local contexts and politically in social constructs–in various ways: they employ them as raw material; they thematize them; they invent idiosyncratic “local” languages to undermine expectations about the communities that speak those languages; they devise generalized languages out of standard and nonstandard constructions to speak not just to and from specific locations but to speak more broadly about human experience. How, these poets ask, can poetry respond to atrocities, deprivations, divisions, and disturbances without becoming programmatic or propagandistic and without reinforcing false preconceptions about the kinds of language suitable for poetry? They answer that question with the living speech of their immediate worlds. Title: Local Languages: The Forms of Speech in Contemporary Poetry Author: Fogarty, William Year: 2016 Robert Frost’s legendary description of “the sound of sense” to define his poetics has for decades sounded like little more than common sense. His idea is now taken to be fairly straightforward: the inflections of an utterance resulting from the tension between demotic speech and poetic form indicate its purport. However, our accepted notion of Frost’s formulation as simply the marriage of form and meaning misconstrues what is potentially revolutionary in it: if everyday speech and verse form generate tension, then Frost has described a method for mediating between reality, represented by speech, and art, represented by verse form. The merger is not passive: the sound of sense occurs when Frost “drag[s] and break[s] the intonation across the metre.” And yet Frost places speech and verse form in a working relationship. It is the argument of this dissertation that poets reckon with what is often understood as discord between poetry and reality by putting into correspondence forms of speech and the forms of poetry. The poets I examine–Seamus Heaney, Gwendolyn Brooks, Tony Harrison, and Lucille Clifton–are concerned with their positions in local communities that range from the family unit to ethnic, religious, racial, economic, and sexual groups, and they marshal forms of speech in poetic form to speak from those locales and to counter the drag and break of those located social and political realities. They utilize what I call their “local languages”–the speech of their particular communities that situates them geographically in local contexts and politically in social constructs–in various ways: they employ them as raw material; they thematize them; they invent idiosyncratic “local” languages to undermine expectations about the communities that speak those languages; they devise generalized languages out of standard and nonstandard constructions to speak not just to and from specific locations but to speak more broadly about human experience. How, these poets ask, can poetry respond to atrocities, deprivations, divisions, and disturbances without becoming programmatic or propagandistic and without reinforcing false preconceptions about the kinds of language suitable for poetry? They answer that question with the living speech of their immediate worlds. Close

• 817. [Article] Structure-Stabilizing RNA Modifications Prevent MBNL Binding to Toxic CUG and CCUG Repeat RNA in Myotonic Dystrophy

  Myotonic dystrophy is a genetic neurodegenerative disease caused by repeat expansion mutations. Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is caused by a CTG repeat expansion in the 3’ UTR of the dystrophia myotonia ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Structure-Stabilizing RNA Modifications Prevent MBNL Binding to Toxic CUG and CCUG Repeat RNA in Myotonic Dystrophy Author: Delorimier, Elaine Year: 2015 Myotonic dystrophy is a genetic neurodegenerative disease caused by repeat expansion mutations. Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is caused by a CTG repeat expansion in the 3’ UTR of the dystrophia myotonia protein kinase (DMPK) gene, while myotonic dystrophy type 2 (DM2) is caused by a CCTG repeat expansion in intron 1 of the zinc finger protein nine (Znf9) gene. When expressed, these genes produce long CUG/CCUG repeat RNAs that bind and sequester a family of RNA-binding proteins known as muscleblind-like 1, 2 and 3 (MBNL1, MBNL2, MBNL3). Sequestration of these proteins plays a prominent role in pathogenicity in myotonic dystrophy. MBNL proteins regulate alternative splicing, and myotonic dystrophy symptoms are a result of mis-spliced transcripts that MBNL proteins regulate. MBNL proteins bind to a consensus sequence YGCY (Y = pyrimidine), which is found in CUG and CCUG repeats, and cellular RNA substrates that MBNL proteins bind and regulate. CUG and CCUG repeats can form A-form helices, however it is hypothesized that MBNL proteins bind to the helices when they are open and the YGCY binding site is single-stranded in nature. To evaluate this hypothesis, we used structure-stabilizing RNA modifications pseudouridine (Ψ) and 2’-O-methylation to determine if stabilization of CUG and CCUG repeat helices affected MBNL1 binding and toxicity. We also used Ψ to determine if the structure-stabilizing modification affected MBNL binding to single-stranded YGCY RNA. CUG repeats modified with Ψ or 2’-O-methyl groups exhibited enhanced structural stability and reduced affinity for MBNL1. Ψ also stabilized the structure of CCUG repeats and rigidified single-stranded YGCY RNA and inhibited MBNL1 binding to both of these RNAs. Binding data from CCUG repeats and single-stranded YGCY RNA suggest that both pyrimidines in the YGCY motif must be modified for significant inhibition. Molecular dynamics and X-ray crystallography suggest a potential water-bridging mechanism for Ψ-mediated CUG repeat stabilization. Molecular dynamics simulations suggest that Ψ increases base-stacking interactions, and reducing the flexibility of single-stranded RNA leads to reduced MBNL1 binding. Ψ modification rescued mis-splicing in a cellular DM1 model and prevented CUG repeat toxicity in zebrafish embryos. This dissertation includes previously published and unpublished coauthored material. Title: Structure-Stabilizing RNA Modifications Prevent MBNL Binding to Toxic CUG and CCUG Repeat RNA in Myotonic Dystrophy Author: Delorimier, Elaine Year: 2015 Myotonic dystrophy is a genetic neurodegenerative disease caused by repeat expansion mutations. Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is caused by a CTG repeat expansion in the 3’ UTR of the dystrophia myotonia protein kinase (DMPK) gene, while myotonic dystrophy type 2 (DM2) is caused by a CCTG repeat expansion in intron 1 of the zinc finger protein nine (Znf9) gene. When expressed, these genes produce long CUG/CCUG repeat RNAs that bind and sequester a family of RNA-binding proteins known as muscleblind-like 1, 2 and 3 (MBNL1, MBNL2, MBNL3). Sequestration of these proteins plays a prominent role in pathogenicity in myotonic dystrophy. MBNL proteins regulate alternative splicing, and myotonic dystrophy symptoms are a result of mis-spliced transcripts that MBNL proteins regulate. MBNL proteins bind to a consensus sequence YGCY (Y = pyrimidine), which is found in CUG and CCUG repeats, and cellular RNA substrates that MBNL proteins bind and regulate. CUG and CCUG repeats can form A-form helices, however it is hypothesized that MBNL proteins bind to the helices when they are open and the YGCY binding site is single-stranded in nature. To evaluate this hypothesis, we used structure-stabilizing RNA modifications pseudouridine (Ψ) and 2’-O-methylation to determine if stabilization of CUG and CCUG repeat helices affected MBNL1 binding and toxicity. We also used Ψ to determine if the structure-stabilizing modification affected MBNL binding to single-stranded YGCY RNA. CUG repeats modified with Ψ or 2’-O-methyl groups exhibited enhanced structural stability and reduced affinity for MBNL1. Ψ also stabilized the structure of CCUG repeats and rigidified single-stranded YGCY RNA and inhibited MBNL1 binding to both of these RNAs. Binding data from CCUG repeats and single-stranded YGCY RNA suggest that both pyrimidines in the YGCY motif must be modified for significant inhibition. Molecular dynamics and X-ray crystallography suggest a potential water-bridging mechanism for Ψ-mediated CUG repeat stabilization. Molecular dynamics simulations suggest that Ψ increases base-stacking interactions, and reducing the flexibility of single-stranded RNA leads to reduced MBNL1 binding. Ψ modification rescued mis-splicing in a cellular DM1 model and prevented CUG repeat toxicity in zebrafish embryos. This dissertation includes previously published and unpublished coauthored material. Close

• 818. [Article] Stability, Reactivity, and Constituent Interaction in TiSe2-Based Metastable Misfit Layer Compounds Synthesized from Designed Amorphous Precursors

  A series of intergrowth compounds with the basic formula [(MSe)1+δ]m(TiSe2)n are reported. The compounds are prepared from modulated elemental reactants and display interesting structural and electronic ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Stability, Reactivity, and Constituent Interaction in TiSe2-Based Metastable Misfit Layer Compounds Synthesized from Designed Amorphous Precursors Author: Merrill, Devin Year: 2016 A series of intergrowth compounds with the basic formula [(MSe)1+δ]m(TiSe2)n are reported. The compounds are prepared from modulated elemental reactants and display interesting structural and electronic behavior. Section 1 of this dissertation outlines initial attempts to characterize constituent interaction. The first member of the SnSe based subclass is reported and displays the highest Seebeck coefficient of any m = n = 1 compound reported to date, and a surprising amount of order is observed, compared to previously reported compounds. With properly established deposition parameters, the synthesis was extended to included the m = 2-4 compounds. These compounds display interesting electronic behavior that suggests the band structure shifts considerably as the SnSe block is expanded, affecting the interaction between the constituent layers. The first compound based on BiSe is then reported, suggesting that the Bi structure donates more conduction electrons to the band structure. Targeted substitution through kinetic control is the focus of Section 2, and a family of (PbxSn1-xSe)1+δTiSe2 is reported over the entire range of x, even though a miscibility gap exists in the bulk PbxSn1-xSe system. The resulting alloyed intergrowth compounds also display equal or higher mobility than the end members, suggesting modulation doping could be used to affect transport properties. As a proof of principle, the analogous system based on a BixSn1-xSe constituent was prepared to attempt to systematically affect carrier concentration. It was found that while carrier concentration can be controlled, the evolving structure affects the doping efficiency of the Bi atoms and mobility in the structure. Section 3 outlines attempts to form higher order TiSe2-based heterostructures and the important chemical considerations observed during the preparation of these materials. The 3 component systems in the Pb-Sn-Ti-Se system can be formed at low temperature, with SnSe2 rather than SnSe. While at higher temperatures, topotactic reactions occur, causing rearrangement to the alloyed rocksalt structure. Compounds within the alloy system with m > 1 are presented which show surface segregation of Pb atoms, and a designed experiment suggests this is a thermodynamic effect. This dissertation includes previously published and unpublished coauthored material. Title: Stability, Reactivity, and Constituent Interaction in TiSe2-Based Metastable Misfit Layer Compounds Synthesized from Designed Amorphous Precursors Author: Merrill, Devin Year: 2016 A series of intergrowth compounds with the basic formula [(MSe)1+δ]m(TiSe2)n are reported. The compounds are prepared from modulated elemental reactants and display interesting structural and electronic behavior. Section 1 of this dissertation outlines initial attempts to characterize constituent interaction. The first member of the SnSe based subclass is reported and displays the highest Seebeck coefficient of any m = n = 1 compound reported to date, and a surprising amount of order is observed, compared to previously reported compounds. With properly established deposition parameters, the synthesis was extended to included the m = 2-4 compounds. These compounds display interesting electronic behavior that suggests the band structure shifts considerably as the SnSe block is expanded, affecting the interaction between the constituent layers. The first compound based on BiSe is then reported, suggesting that the Bi structure donates more conduction electrons to the band structure. Targeted substitution through kinetic control is the focus of Section 2, and a family of (PbxSn1-xSe)1+δTiSe2 is reported over the entire range of x, even though a miscibility gap exists in the bulk PbxSn1-xSe system. The resulting alloyed intergrowth compounds also display equal or higher mobility than the end members, suggesting modulation doping could be used to affect transport properties. As a proof of principle, the analogous system based on a BixSn1-xSe constituent was prepared to attempt to systematically affect carrier concentration. It was found that while carrier concentration can be controlled, the evolving structure affects the doping efficiency of the Bi atoms and mobility in the structure. Section 3 outlines attempts to form higher order TiSe2-based heterostructures and the important chemical considerations observed during the preparation of these materials. The 3 component systems in the Pb-Sn-Ti-Se system can be formed at low temperature, with SnSe2 rather than SnSe. While at higher temperatures, topotactic reactions occur, causing rearrangement to the alloyed rocksalt structure. Compounds within the alloy system with m > 1 are presented which show surface segregation of Pb atoms, and a designed experiment suggests this is a thermodynamic effect. This dissertation includes previously published and unpublished coauthored material. Close

• 819. [Article] The Axiology of Necrologies: Using Natural Language Processing to Examine Values in Obituaries

  This dissertation is centrally concerned with exploring obituaries as repositories of values. Obituaries are a publicly-available natural language source that are variably written for members of communities ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: The Axiology of Necrologies: Using Natural Language Processing to Examine Values in Obituaries Author: Levernier, Jacob Year: 2017 This dissertation is centrally concerned with exploring obituaries as repositories of values. Obituaries are a publicly-available natural language source that are variably written for members of communities that are wide (nation-level) and narrow (city-level, or at the level of specific groups therein). Because they are explicitly summative, limited in size, and written for consumption by a public audience, obituaries may be expected to express concisely the aspects of their subjects' lives that the authors (often family members living in the same communities) found most salient or worthy of featuring. 140,599 obituaries nested in 832 newspapers from across the USA were scraped with permission from *Legacy.com,* an obituaries publisher. Obituaries were coded for the age at death and gender (female/male) of the deceased using automated algorithms. For each publishing newspaper, county-level median income, educational achievement (operationalized as percent of the population with a Bachelor's degree or higher), and race and ethnicity were averaged across counties, weighting by population size. A Neo4J graph database was constructed using WordNet and the University of South Florida Free Association Norms datasets. Each word in each obituary in the corpus was lemmatized. The shortest path through the WordNet graph from each lemma to 30 Schwartz value prototype words published by Bardi, Calogero, and Mullen (2008) was then recorded. From these path lengths, a new measure, "word-by-hop," was calculated for each Schwartz value to reflect the relative lexical distance between each obituary and that Schwartz value. Of the Schwartz values, Power, Conformity, and Security were most indicated in the corpus, while Universalism, Hedonism, and Stimulation were least indicated. A series of nine two-level regression models suggested that, across Schwartz values, newspaper community accounted for the greatest amount of word-by-hop variability in the corpus. The best-fitting model indicated a small, negative effect of female status across Schwartz values. Unexpectedly, Hedonism and Conformity, which had conceptually opposite prototype words, were highly correlated, possibly indicating that obituary authors "compensate" for describing the deceased in a hedonistic way by concurrently emphasizing restraint. Future research could usefully further expand word-by-hop and incorporate individual-level covariates that match the newspaper-level covariates used here. Title: The Axiology of Necrologies: Using Natural Language Processing to Examine Values in Obituaries Author: Levernier, Jacob Year: 2017 This dissertation is centrally concerned with exploring obituaries as repositories of values. Obituaries are a publicly-available natural language source that are variably written for members of communities that are wide (nation-level) and narrow (city-level, or at the level of specific groups therein). Because they are explicitly summative, limited in size, and written for consumption by a public audience, obituaries may be expected to express concisely the aspects of their subjects' lives that the authors (often family members living in the same communities) found most salient or worthy of featuring. 140,599 obituaries nested in 832 newspapers from across the USA were scraped with permission from *Legacy.com,* an obituaries publisher. Obituaries were coded for the age at death and gender (female/male) of the deceased using automated algorithms. For each publishing newspaper, county-level median income, educational achievement (operationalized as percent of the population with a Bachelor's degree or higher), and race and ethnicity were averaged across counties, weighting by population size. A Neo4J graph database was constructed using WordNet and the University of South Florida Free Association Norms datasets. Each word in each obituary in the corpus was lemmatized. The shortest path through the WordNet graph from each lemma to 30 Schwartz value prototype words published by Bardi, Calogero, and Mullen (2008) was then recorded. From these path lengths, a new measure, "word-by-hop," was calculated for each Schwartz value to reflect the relative lexical distance between each obituary and that Schwartz value. Of the Schwartz values, Power, Conformity, and Security were most indicated in the corpus, while Universalism, Hedonism, and Stimulation were least indicated. A series of nine two-level regression models suggested that, across Schwartz values, newspaper community accounted for the greatest amount of word-by-hop variability in the corpus. The best-fitting model indicated a small, negative effect of female status across Schwartz values. Unexpectedly, Hedonism and Conformity, which had conceptually opposite prototype words, were highly correlated, possibly indicating that obituary authors "compensate" for describing the deceased in a hedonistic way by concurrently emphasizing restraint. Future research could usefully further expand word-by-hop and incorporate individual-level covariates that match the newspaper-level covariates used here. Close

• 820. [Article] Whakapapa as a Mäori Mental Construct: Some Implications for the Debate over Genetic Modification of Organisms

  28 pages

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Whakapapa as a Mäori Mental Construct: Some Implications for the Debate over Genetic Modification of Organisms Author: Roberts, Mere, Haami, Brad, Benton, Richard, Satterfield, Terre, Finucane, Melissa, Henare, Mark, Henare, Manuka Year: 2017, 2004 28 pages Title: Whakapapa as a Mäori Mental Construct: Some Implications for the Debate over Genetic Modification of Organisms Author: Roberts, Mere, Haami, Brad, Benton, Richard, Satterfield, Terre, Finucane, Melissa, Henare, Mark, Henare, Manuka Year: 2017, 2004 28 pages Close