Matching Items (385)
Description
The entire history of HIV-1 is hidden in its ten thousand bases, where information regarding its evolutionary traversal through the human population can only be unlocked with fine-scale sequence analysis. Measurable footprints of mutation and recombination have imparted upon us a wealth of knowledge, from multiple chimpanzee-to-human transmissions to patterns of neutralizing antibody and drug resistance. Extracting maximum understanding from such diverse data can only be accomplished by analyzing the viral population from many angles. This body of work explores two primary aspects of HIV sequence evolution, point mutation and recombination, through cross-sectional (inter-individual) and longitudinal (intra-individual) investigations, respectively. Cross-sectional Analysis: The role of Haiti in the subtype B pandemic has been hotly debated for years; while there have been many studies, up to this point, no one has incorporated the well-known mechanism of retroviral recombination into their biological model. Prior to the use of recombination detection, multiple analyses produced trees where subtype B appears to have first entered Haiti, followed by a jump into the rest of the world. The results presented here contest the Haiti-first theory of the pandemic and instead suggest simultaneous entries of subtype B into Haiti and the rest of the world. Longitudinal Analysis: Potential N-linked glycosylation sites (PNGS) are the most evolutionarily dynamic component of one of the most evolutionarily dynamic proteins known to date. While the number of mutations associated with the increase or decrease of PNGS frequency over time is high, there are a set of relatively stable sites that persist within and between longitudinally sampled individuals. Here, I identify the most conserved stable PNGSs and suggest their potential roles in host-virus interplay. In addition, I have identified, for the first time, what may be a gp-120-based environmental preference for N-linked glycosylation sites.
ContributorsHepp, Crystal Marie, 1981- (Author) / Rosenberg, Michael S. (Thesis advisor) / Hedrick, Philip (Committee member) / Escalante, Ananias (Committee member) / Kumar, Sudhir (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The end of the nineteenth century was an exhilarating and revolutionary era for the flute. This period is the Second Golden Age of the flute, when players and teachers associated with the Paris Conservatory developed what would be considered the birth of the modern flute school. In addition, the founding in 1871 of the Société Nationale de Musique by Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) and Romain Bussine (1830-1899) made possible the promotion of contemporary French composers. The founding of the Société des Instruments à Vent by Paul Taffanel (1844-1908) in 1879 also invigorated a new era of chamber music for wind instruments. Within this groundbreaking environment, Mélanie Hélène Bonis (pen name Mel Bonis) entered the Paris Conservatory in 1876, under the tutelage of César Franck (1822-1890). Many flutists are dismayed by the scarcity of repertoire for the instrument in the Romantic and post-Romantic traditions; they make up for this absence by borrowing the violin sonatas of Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) and Franck. The flute and piano works of Mel Bonis help to fill this void with music composed originally for flute. Bonis was a prolific composer with over 300 works to her credit, but her works for flute and piano have not been researched or professionally recorded in the United States before the present study. Although virtually unknown today in the American flute community, Bonis's music received much acclaim from her contemporaries and deserves a prominent place in the flutist's repertoire. After a brief biographical introduction, this document examines Mel Bonis's musical style and describes in detail her six works for flute and piano while also offering performance suggestions.
ContributorsDaum, Jenna Elyse (Author) / Buck, Elizabeth (Thesis advisor) / Holbrook, Amy (Committee member) / Micklich, Albie (Committee member) / Schuring, Martin (Committee member) / Norton, Kay (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
ContributorsMatthews, Eyona (Performer) / Yoo, Katie Jihye (Performer) / Roubison, Ryan (Performer) / ASU Library. Music Library (Publisher)
Created2018-03-25
ContributorsHoeckley, Stephanie (Performer) / Lee, Juhyun (Performer) / ASU Library. Music Library (Publisher)
Created2018-03-24
Description
Haiti has witnessed high deforestation rates in recent decades, caused largely by the fuel needs of a growing population. The resulting soil loss is estimated to have contributed towards a decline in agricultural productivity of 0.5% -1.2% per year since 1997. Recent studies show the potential of biochar use through pyrolysis technology to increase crop yields and improve soil health. However, the appropriateness of this technology in the context of Haiti remains unexplored. The three objectives of this research were to identify agricultural- and fuel-use-related needs and gaps in rural Haitian communities; determine the appropriateness of biochar pyrolyzer technology, used to convert agricultural biomass into a carbon-rich charcoal; and develop an action-oriented plan for use by development organizations, communities, and governmental institutions to increase the likelihood of adoption. Data were collected using participatory rural appraisal techniques involving 30 individual interviews and three focus-group discussions in the villages of Cinquantin and La Boule in the La Coupe region of central Haiti. Topics discussed include agricultural practices and assets, fuel use and needs, technology use and adoption, and social management practices. The Sustainable Livelihoods framework was used to examine the assets of households and the livelihood strategies being employed. Individual and focus group interviews were analyzed to identify specific needs and gaps. E.M. Rogers' Diffusion of Innovations theory was used to develop potential strategies for the introduction of pyrolysis technology. Preliminary results indicate biochar pyrolysis has potential to address agricultural and fuel needs in rural Haiti. Probable early adopters of biochar technology include households that have adopted new agricultural techniques in the past, and those with livestock. Education about biochar, and a variety of pyrolysis technology options from which villagers may select, are important factors in successful adoption of biochar use. A grain mill as an example in one of the study villages provides a model of ownership and use of pyrolysis technology that may increase its likelihood of successful adoption. Additionally, women represent a group that may be well suited to control a new local biochar enterprise, potentially benefiting the community.
ContributorsDelaney, Michael Ryan (Author) / Aggarwal, Rimjhim (Thesis advisor) / Chhetri, Nalini (Committee member) / Henderson, Mark (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
ContributorsMcClain, Katelyn (Performer) / Buringrud, Deanna (Contributor) / Lee, Juhyun (Performer) / ASU Library. Music Library (Publisher)
Created2018-03-31
Collective action among non-governmental organizations working in maternal and child health in Haiti
Description
This mixed-methods research study examined the level of collective action that is occurring among non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in maternal and child health in Haiti. This study takes the view that health, and by extension, maternal and child health, is a global public good; global public goods are most efficiently provided by the means of collective action. Therefore, to the extent that maternal and child health services are provided efficiently in Haiti, collective action should be occurring.
This study utilized a semi-structured interview approach to gather both qualitative and quantitative data. A total of 17 participants who were managers or executives of NGOs working in maternal and child health in Haiti were interviewed. The interviews also gathered quantitative data that characterized types of cooperation that were occurring among NGOs. The qualitative data that were collected in these interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis, and quantitative data were analyzed using social network analysis. The findings concluded that while there is cooperation occurring among NGOs in Haiti, the cooperation levels are low, networks are not very dense and there is overall general consensus that more cooperation is needed
This study utilized a semi-structured interview approach to gather both qualitative and quantitative data. A total of 17 participants who were managers or executives of NGOs working in maternal and child health in Haiti were interviewed. The interviews also gathered quantitative data that characterized types of cooperation that were occurring among NGOs. The qualitative data that were collected in these interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis, and quantitative data were analyzed using social network analysis. The findings concluded that while there is cooperation occurring among NGOs in Haiti, the cooperation levels are low, networks are not very dense and there is overall general consensus that more cooperation is needed
ContributorsMcCool, Sarah (Author) / Gaughan, Monica (Thesis advisor) / Wutich, Amber (Committee member) / York, Abigail (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
ContributorsHur, Jiyoun (Performer) / Lee, Juhyun (Performer) / ASU Library. Music Library (Publisher)
Created2018-03-01
Description
This thesis examines the problems that occur when the politics and practices of social services, specifically maternal and prenatal care, are guided by a distorted understanding of immigration. It compares the politics and practice of this care across two international borders: the U.S.-Mexico and that within Hispaniola. In an ideal world, care would be extended to all individuals regardless of citizenship. However, since every welfare state has its limits at the national border, citizenship matters to both federal governments and medical professionals. Government-provided resources play an integral role in the current immigration debate, as these programs are a collective investment in which all individuals contribute in order to sustain it. The United States developed the welfare state in order to provide necessary resources to those who could not afford it. Its creators did not view these services as a handout, rather as a support for the future workforce of the country. However, health care was and still is not provided on this model of economic and social citizenship. Current U.S. healthcare policy dictates that no one can be turned away in an emergency situation because someone cannot pay their medical bill, including undocumented immigrants. But for immigrant mothers carrying children across the border, maternal and prenatal care does not qualify as an emergency and the federal government aid typically does not extend to them them as citizens. When care is extended to undocumented immigrants in the United States at all, it typically is provided to the child through Medicaid, who is by dint of the Fourteenth Amendment considered a citizen after birth. The relation between the Dominican Republic and Haiti offers a more complex situation, as the idea of birthright citizenship has recently been revoked. Following the Haitian Earthquake in 2010, the only healthcare to which many Haitians had access was across the Hispaniola border. Haitian women who give birth to children in the Dominican Republic are often not evaluated by a doctor until they are entering the delivery process, and even then health-care is complicated by or denied because of racial prejudice and unclear legal situation. In September of 2013, the Constitutional Court of the Dominican Republic issues a new ruling which declared that any immigrant born between 1929 and 2010 without documentation of their own or of their ancestors does not have citizenship, rendering many Haitians born in the Dominican Republic essentially stateless. To be born to a non-citizen mother typically means the child will likely be born with little or no prenatal care, and the mother will receive poor or inadequate care. Prenatal care is one of the most inexpensive elements of a care-model that carries huge returns relative to its costs. All governments would benefit from improved access to maternal and prenatal care because its future citizens who receive such care would be born healthier and have fewer expensive chronic illnesses. Fewer chronic illness among a population would have huge returns on the welfare state because fewer people would be utilizing it for expensive medical treatments. Though most medical professionals condemn the extreme act of denying care to pregnant women or infants (documented or not), the Dominican Republic and the United States have a popular politics that embraces this cruelty, despite the fact that both pride themselves on a multi-ethnic population. It is easy for policymakers to incriminate undocumented immigrants and claim that they are responsible for an illegitimate share of the consumption of the country's resources. Therefore, it seems likely that the host country's perceptions of immigrant natality and maternity help construct a negative image of the immigration "problem" in such a way that laws and policies are designed without accurate rationale. This thesis examines how the United States and the Dominican Republic might improve the relationship between the culture of healthcare and the role of the legal system for immigrants and their children. It seeks to understand the reasons, motivations, and consequences for denying immigrants services on the account of their citizenship status. The social, economic, and health consequences of being an undocumented citizen will be examined. Current legal policy and what political roadblocks and cultural prejudices must be overcome in order to implement a successful policy will be reviewed. Finally, the best practices prenatal care as a national investment will be discussed, as will the problem of cross-cultural perception of natality, maternity, and immigration.
ContributorsPrassas, Alexandra Rose (Author) / Oberle, Eric (Thesis director) / Vega, Sujey (Committee member) / Oberstein, Bruce (Committee member) / College of Letters and Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
This project will demonstrate that international aid organizations' relief efforts after the cholera epidemic in Haiti are misguided, and the publications the organizations release are somewhat deceptive to the public. The Haitian ministry of health underreported cholera incidence, international organizations use the January earthquake as a scapegoat, and Haitian contempt for UN involvement is disregarded. By looking at various narratives from Haitians present during the epidemic, one can contrast the perceptions of the epidemic from the local perspective and the outsider perspective. A content analysis will identify the popular themes of the juxtaposing view points and illustrate how priorities are misaligned. Dedoose 4.5.91 is the computer software tool used to analyze qualitative data.
ContributorsHotchkiss, Kinzi (Author) / Jehn, Megan (Committee member) / Maupin, Jonathan (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2013-05