Browsing FAS Theses and Dissertations by Title
Now showing items 2080-2099 of 6136
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Evolutionary history, local adaptation, and reproductive isolation in the Phlox pilosa complex
(2022-01-18)Four evolutionary forces – mutation, natural selection, genetic drift, and gene flow – are responsible for producing the incredible diversity of life. One of these forces, gene flow, is typically understood to counteract ... -
Evolutionary models of clonal expansion and niche construction
(2022-05-11)Heart disease and cancer, the two leading causes of death in the industrialized world, are linked to expansions of clonal cell populations in the body, driven by the evolutionary processes of mutation, selection, drift, ... -
An evolutionary perspective on germ cell specification genes in insects
(2014-06-06)This dissertation investigates the embryonic specification of a specific group of cells: the germ cells. Germ cells, which give rise to sperm and egg, are the only cells in sexually-reproducing animals that directly ... -
Evolutions of fault damage zones and consequences for earthquake triggering
(2021-05-14)Studying the interactions between underground fluid and faults is crucial to help us understand the earthquakes which occur at relatively low driving stresses. In this thesis, I investigate the permeability evolution in ... -
Evolving a Direct Inhibitor of the Ras Proteins
(2013-08-12)In recent years, great advances have been made in understanding the molecular causes of human disease, but our ability to exploit these discoveries for therapeutic benefit is frequently limited by the inability to make ... -
Evolving Models of Ovarian Cancer: Defining the Role of PAX8 in Fallopian Tube Tumorigenesis
(2015-08-07)Ovarian cancer is the most deadly gynecological malignancy in the US. Once thought to be a single disease arising from the ovarian surface epithelium, we now understand that it is in fact a heterogenous disease with origins ... -
Exact Asymptotics of Linear Quadratic Adaptive Control and Population-level Comorbidity Analysis
(2022-12-22)We present two self-contained topics in this thesis: exact asymptotics of linear quadratic adaptive control (LQAC) and population-level comorbidity analysis. LQAC is perhaps the simplest non-bandit reinforcement learning ... -
An Examination of the Own-Race Preference in Infancy
(2012-10-31)The goal of this dissertation was to better characterize the nature of infants’ visual preference for own-race faces, and to test two theories regarding its origin. Chapters I and II assessed whether the race bias in infancy ... -
An Examination of the Relationship between Humans and Animals in the Hebrew Bible
(2013-02-08)The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the relationship between humans and animals in the Hebrew Bible. Although the Hebrew Bible contains a multitude of different perspectives on animals, I argue that there are ... -
Examining Affect and Decision-Making in Relation to Suicide
(2021-09-08)Suicide is one of the most tragic, costly, and perplexing of all human behaviors. Despite millennia of scholarly inquiry and a century of empirical research, we still do not know why people kill themselves. Thus, suicide ... -
Examining Cognitive Impairments in Bereaved Adults With and Without Complicated Grief
(2015-08-10)Grief is a syndrome of cognitions, emotions, and behaviors that commonly arise together following the death of a loved one. It includes intense pangs of emotional pain, yearning for the deceased, emotional numbness, ... -
Examining Health and Economic Outcomes Associated with Pediatric Medical Conditions in the United States
(2013-02-15)The objective of this dissertation is to estimate the health and economic outcomes associated with two prominent child health conditions: autism spectrum disorder and influenza illness. Chapter 1 derives utility values ... -
Examining Mental Health in Black Communities Using Intersectional Approaches
(2021-07-12)Few epidemiologic studies have disaggregated U.S. Black populations when exploring the impacts of racism, at multiple levels, on mental health. Intersectionality theory, as developed by Black feminist organizers and scholars, ... -
Examining Methods Used to Evaluate the Cost-Effectiveness of Childhood Obesity Interventions
(2013-02-08)This dissertation examines methods used to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of childhood obesity interventions in order to help decision-makers prioritize among competing health programs using standardized outcomes. Chapter ... -
Examining the Authenticity of Plato’s Epistle VII through Deep Learning
(2021-06-03)Plato’s Epistle VII, a text in which the famous Athenian philosopher describes his political involvement in the affairs of 4th-century B.C.E Syracuse, has long been considered dubious by classical philologists. In particular, ... -
Examining the Experts: Science, Values, and Democracy
(2017-05-11)This dissertation examines the role of experts in democracies, with a focus on issues that involve the translation and use of science in political decisions. Conventional accounts of the relationship between expertise and ... -
Examining the Organization and Functions of Parallel Association Networks within Individuals
(2022-05-10)In our daily lives, we often recall details of our past experiences, consider friends’ feelings, imagine novel scenarios, and flexibly communicate with others. These impressive cognitive abilities – for memory, social ... -
Examining the Relationships between Stress, Reward Processing, and Bipolar Disorder
(2013-03-08)Bipolar disorder (BD) is a prevalent illness associated with severe impairments in functioning and elusive etiological pathways. Although a strong link between negative life stress and the onset of mood episodes in BD has ... -
Examining the robustness of input-outcome associations in children’s language development and evaluating the effectiveness of a novel assessment in rural Ghana
(2024-01-22)Recent years have seen an explosion of interest in children’s language learning in the home, particularly in how, by talking to their children, parents can help them reach important linguistic milestones. In this dissertation, ... -
Examining the role of succinate signaling in tissue remodeling
(2024-03-12)While the benefits of exercise on systemic health are undeniable, vigorous muscle contraction, like the ones associated with exercise, puts considerable mechanical and energetic strain on muscle fibers. To meet these ...