Texas A&M International University: Research Information Online (RIO)
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A Study of Social Modernization and Gender Roles in “Their Eyes Were Watching God” and “The Great Gatsby”
Full text linkThis thesis focuses on a study of Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God and Scott F. Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. The research explores the idea expressed within the opening lines of Hurston’s novel; men wait for their dreams to come to them, while women work towards making them reality. Marshall Berman’s All That is Solid Melts into Air: the Experience of Modernity serves as the foundation upon which the central argument of this paper is built. This study applies Berman’s theory to argue that analyzing Gatsby and Their Eyes through the lens of modernity brings the reader to a deeper understanding of the opening lines presented by Hurston. Furthermore, this work presents the notion that in order to attain their respective dreams, the main characters of both novels must become modern, according to the specifications outlined in Berman’s theory. The primary intent is to provide support for the notion that Janie Crawford is successful at achieving her dream as a result of fully subjecting herself to modernization. In contrast, Jay Gatsby is unsuccessful since he struggles to adapt, placing him further away from his dreams. Finally, the application of some of the arguments expressed in Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex to the novels aid in providing insight as to how gender plays a role in determining how an individual works toward making dreams come true. Traditionally, women have had to adapt to survive within the patriarchal system. On the other hand, the patriarchal system was built for and adapts to serve men. These notions may lead one to conclude that Janie Crawford succeeds because she submits to the process of modernization to achieve her dream and Jay Gatsby fails because he does not fully immerse himself in the process
Generation and Characterization of Transgenic Chlamydomonas ReinhardtII Overexpressing the Novel Gene CIA7
Full text linkThe constant increase in environmental pollution, in particular heavy metal pollution is alarming. Cia7, the gene understudy has conserved cysteine residues. These residues could be involved in metal binding; and the CIA7 protein might be associated to metal homeostasis in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. The successful overexpression of Cia7 in C. reinhardtii could enhance its metal tolerance. The core hypothesis is that CIA7 plays a role in metal tolerance and in metal binding. The aim of this research is to characterize the Cia7 gene and to assess its potential role in metal homeostasis. The objectives of the research are (1) to overexpress CIA7 in C. reinhardtii, (2) to perform lead tolerance assays in WT overexpressing CIA7, and (3) to compare cell growth, chlorophyll content and bioaccumulation of heavy metals in CC5013 mutant, CC4425 wild-type and the selected transformants under the presence or absence of lead. The gene was overexpressed in wild-type (WT) and mutant (MT) C. reinhardtii cells. Lead tolerant colonies, the wild-type and the mutant strains were subjected to a chlorophyll content, bioaccumulation and cell growth analyses to determine if there is any difference among them. Chlorophyll content and cell growth do support the hypothesis that CIA7 could play a role in heavy metal tolerance. In the metal bioaccumulation analysis, CC4425 (WT) when compared to CC5013 (mutant), CC5013 shows higher lead bioaccumulation than CC4425. Both the parental and transformant cell consistently showed higher lead bioaccumulation, suggesting that absence or presence of the gene did not significantly affect lead bioaccumulation. However, its absence or disruption in the mutant resulted in an increase in lead bioaccumulation. Thus, it could be inferred that Cia7 helps cells detoxify lead. The findings of this research could provide a basis to further investigate the (1) use of Cia7 as a biomarker for metal contamination, or to (2) make the CIA7 protein be overexpressed in C. reinhardtii or in another organism for use in bioremediation
The Expression of Gender Equality in Three American Narratives The Slum, Sab and Beloved
Full text linkThe pages to follow examine literary representation of people of color, particularly women, in regards to racial and gender equality in a nineteenth century hemispherically American context. The Slum (1890), Sab (1841), and Beloved (1987), though from different countries, and time periods, present a continuum of the intersectional struggle for equality in the ongoing narrative of the Americas hemispherically. “American” and “Hemispherical” refers to North America, Central America, South America and the Caribbean in a political and sociological sense. These novels are set side by side to highlight the historical and societal similarities. The characters in this literature reflect American society in a variety of ways, from surviving slavery to living in relative freedom and from being voiceless in literature to various literary voices expressed. In addition, the novels analyzed create a narrative for the subjugated specific to AfricanAmericans and mixed-race people that highlights the importance of matriarchal voices. Also, the novels analyzed highlight a growing awareness of intersectional themes represented in literature. While Beloved is the “best” of the three works by today’s standards in regards to sensitivity to the intersectional issues at hand, without the kind of representation in the earlier narratives, ideas about race and gender would be stagnant. As a result of the growing literary awareness of intersectional themes one can examine Beloved as it provides profound subjectivity with the various African American matriarchal narratives creating a polyphony of voices. What links the texts are the author’s attempts to confront racist and misogynistic paradigms and express a multitude of realities. The Slum by Aluisio Azevedo, Sab by Gertrudis Avellaneda, and Beloved by Toni Morrison contribute to the dialogue of racial and gender oppression in the Americas by providing a wide spectrum of women\u27s narratives
Machiavelli, Lincoln, and the Art of Princely Procrastination
Full text linkThis paper examines the phenomenon of procrastination in decision making. In certain circumstances, procrastinating a decision can yield better results in the long term. This paper looks at procrastination and decision making from the point of view of Von Clausewitz and Machiavelli and uses Abraham Lincoln as an example of efficient use of procrastination in decision making. Von Clausewitz looks to find action at the strongest point. The strongest point may not come for some time in the future and thus encourages procrastination. Machiavelli uses procrastination as an offensive capability in decision-making. Through prudence, virtù, and fortune, a prince can use procrastination efficiently and with power. Lincoln procrastinates often in making his decisions. He prefers to have the world move around him rather than to influence events at the earliest opportunity. In this capacity, he operates on a plane higher than his adversaries. Lincoln makes decisions at the time he sees fit. This paper reviews three instances of Lincoln’s successful use of procrastinated decision making in his presidential administration in three scenarios: 1) the sacking of Secretary of War Simon Cameron, 2) the dismissal of General John C. Frémont for insubordination, 3) the manner in which Lincoln handled the Cabinet Crisis of 1862
Gaussian Quadrature Rules Over Triangular Domains
Full text linkIn this thesis, we will be presenting new symmetric Gaussian quadrature rules over the triangle for orders 3, 4, 5, and 6 that have positive weights and nodes that are within the integration domain. In addition to this, we will compare these rule with those found in the literature, specifically by Witherden and Vincent [17], by computing their Lebesgue constants and determining which has the lowest. In order to accomplished these goals, we will go over the theory behind Gaussian quadrature and barycentric coordinates, the coordinate system that will be used in representing our rules. The process by which one derives a quadrature rule involves solving a nonlinear system of equations. For this reason, we will go over Newton’s method and the Gauss-Newton method. We will then go over the Lebesgue constant, first for the general simplex S^m and then for the triangle S^2. Lastly, we will present our rules and compare them with those from [17]
An Eye-Movement Examination of Gender Stereotype Processing
Full text linkThe purpose of the present study investigates how bilinguals comprehend gender, especially when one of their languages is grammatically marked in gender. This study explored influences of world knowledge, lexical representations, and language activation in a bilingual population. Eye-movements were recorded as bilinguals read sentences containing gender-stereotyped nouns (e.g., surgeon) followed by a male or female pronoun (he/she) that served as an anaphoric referent. Language dominance in Spanish and English dominant and balanced bilinguals, the gender of the stereotype noun (i.e., female or male), and congruency between noun and anaphor (match or mismatch) were included as variables. The following eye movements were measured: gaze duration, regressions, and right-bounded durations. Gaze duration showed slower reading times for Spanish dominant bilinguals. Regressions to the antecedent also showed a greater effect for Spanish dominant bilinguals. Right-bounded duration showed longer reading times in the anaphor region and also was found higher for the Spanish dominant bilinguals. The results are supported by an inferential view that states readers infer gender through a mental representation of previously stored gender information. The associations made between Spanish, a language that specifies gender explicitly (e.g., la mesa; Heredia, Cieślicka, & Altarriba, 2016), and English, a language that does not contain a grammatical gender in nouns. The conditions manipulated the pronoun to match or mismatch its stereotyped antecedent. Reading difficulties were quantified as mismatch effect by tracking eye-movements as the participants read each sentence. The anaphor and antecedent regions of interest (ROI) were measured for early- and late-stage effects through eye measurement recordings. Analyses were used to separate the effects in each of the two ROIs. Effects are reported for the early-stage processing through gaze duration and skip percentages, and for late-stage processes through right-bounded duration, first-pass, and regression times. The role of language dominance of bilingual participants in relation to the comprehension of gender in discourse is reported. Bilinguals who were Spanish-dominant showed more processing difficulty effects than English-dominant and balanced bilinguals
Three Essays on Syndicated Loan
Full text linkSyndicated loans have become common around the world and are used frequently for various corporate purposes. The growth of syndicated loans has been phenomenal. This dissertation explores topics on syndicated loan market.The first chapter examines how firm’s corporate social responsibilities affect syndicated loan structure. Using two different measures of syndicate structure (proxies by lead bank share and Herfindahl-Hirschman index (HHI)) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) score as our main independent variable, I find loan syndicates are less concentrated when the borrower is more socially responsible. Specifically, a one standard deviation increase in the CSR score is associated with a 0.06 standard deviation decrease in the lead lender share. The results are robust to using an instrumental variable and alternative CSR measurements. The second chapter provides new evidence on the role of physical distance between bank and bank regulator in syndicated loan structure. The geographical distance is used as a proxy of the information asymmetry and the cost of soft information collection in literature. A shorter lender-regulator distance indicates a more effective regulator supervision on lenders because of reduced information asymmetries between lenders andregulators. My results provide evidence on how the lender-regulator distance affect syndicated loan structure. Specifically, a one standard deviation increase in the lender-regulator distance is associated with a 0.08 standard deviation increase in the lead lender share. That is, syndicated loan structure is less concentrated as lead banks get closer to the regulator. The third chapter examines whether borrowers manipulate 10-K report readability before receiving syndicated loans to gain bargaining power. I find that firms’ 10-K report file size is 5.9% larger one year before receiving syndicated loan. But only poorly performing firms do so, better performing firms make their reports easier to read. One example for this manipulation is that poorly performing firms want to hide their poor performance, while superior performing firms seek to highlight their performance
Darkest Before Dawn: The Social, Economic, and Political Change in Crystal City, Texas After the Rise and Fall of the Raza Unida Party
Full text linkThis thesis examines the consequences of the Raza Unida Party’s tenure in the 1970s in Crystal City, Texas. Following the party’s demise in the beginning of the 1980s, Crystal City’s social, political, and economic aspects were drastically changed by Raza Unida Party policies during the decade prior. While many scholars have focused extensively on the rise and fall of the Raza Unida Party itself, there is almost no study focusing solely on the consequences of its policies in Crystal City. Did these policies improve the life of the party’s constituents in the years that followed? This thesis will complete the picture of the legacy, if any, the Raza Unida Party left behind, and will argue its policies served as a double-edged sword for the people of Crystal City
Transferencia de relevancia desde medios independientes cubanos hacia la prensa oficial
Full text linkEl objetivo del presente artículo es comprobar la existencia de transferencia de relevancia a nivel de eventos, atributos y encuadres desde los medios independientes cubanos hacia la prensa oficial, así como identificar las estrategias que emplean los medios oficiales para dar tratamiento a los hechos provenientes de las agendas de la prensa no oficial. Para ello se realizó un monitoreo durante tres meses a medios no oficiales y oficiales para determinar aquellos sucesos que luego de ser publicados por los primeros eran tratados por los segundos. Utilizando como técnica el análisis de contenido cualitativo se comprobó la transferencia de relevancia a nivel de eventos y de la dimensión sustantiva de los atributos; no así en la dimensión afectiva y a nivel de encuadres. Pudo comprobarse el empleo de seis estrategias por parte de los medios oficiales para abordar los eventos provenientes de las agendas de medios independientes. La principal causa de la transferencia de relevancia encontrada es la posición de enfrentamiento de los medios oficiales con un sistema concebido como opuesto y que en la actualidad le disputa la hegemonía informativa y de construcción de sentidos en sectores de público específicos
Secondary metabolites, antibacterial and antioxidant properties of the leaf extracts of Acacia rigidula benth. and Acacia berlandieri benth.
No full textThe use of plants as sources for novel antimicrobial as well as antioxidant agents offers advantages. Plants are readily accessible and inexpensive, extracts or compounds from plant sources often demonstrate high level of biological activities. Previous studies have reported antibacterial and antifungal activities within the Fabaceae family that included Acacia species. This study aims to determine presence of antibacterial activity, antioxidant activity, and the secondary metabolites of sequential solvent extracts (acetone, methanol, and acetic acid) of Acacia berlandieri and Acacia rigidula leaves. The antibacterial activity was investigated using a disc diffusion assay. The ferric thiocyanate method was used to assess the ability of all extracts to prevent oxidation. Qualitative phytochemical tests, NMR, IR, and UV–Vis spectroscopy were done to identify potential secondary metabolites. P. alcalifaciens (p \u3c 0.001), E. faecalis (p \u3c 0.01), S. aureus (p \u3c 0.001), and Y. enterocolitica (p \u3c 0.001) were significantly inhibited by A. rigidula extracts when compared to A. berlandieri extracts. A. rigidula’s acetone extract exhibited the significantly (p \u3c 0.001) highest inhibition of peroxidation, 42%. Qualitative phytochemical tests showed positive results for presence of phenols, flavonoids, saponins, terpenes and tannins. NMR, IR, and UV–Vis spectroscopy revealed chemical structures found in flavonoids, saponins, terpenes and tannins, supporting the results of qualitative phytochemical tests. A. berlandieri and A. rigidula leaf extracts have revealed presence of medicinally valued bioactive components. The results of this study provide a basis for further investigations of the A. rigidula leaf extracts. A. rigidula leaf extracts have the potential to serve as a source of novel antimicrobial and antioxidant agents. Graphic abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.