The Geopolitics of Refuge and Reproduction: Maternal Health and Healthcare of Congolese Refugees in Flight, Displacement, and Resettlement

The purpose of this anthropological research is to examine and analyze the intertwined geopolitical complexities of the lived sexual, reproductive, and maternal health and healthcare experiences of female Congolese refugees in flight. These experiences are examined at three pivotal points of refugee flight: during protracted conflict and violence, in displacement, generally in neighboring East African countries, and during resettlement in Western contexts. Data were collected using two anthropological methodologies - targeted life history interviews and semi-structured qualitative ethnographic interviews. Supplemental data from related studies, reports, and literature reviews were also used for population-level information. Collected data were analyzed through the lenses of political economy, structural violence, and cultural hegemony. Using these frames of analysis, this research brings new insights to the interdisciplinary fields of refugee and migration studies with particular emphasis on the cultural and social considerations in a political economy lens of analysis. More specifically, it brings new insights to enhance the efficacy, sustainability, and subject-focused nature of East African refugee maternalhealth and healthcare policies. I argue that such policy enhancement must be led by the voices, experiences, and histories of those they are meant to serve - Congolese refugee women. Moreover, I suggest that this approach be protected and funded by a multilateral coalition of refugee-focused women’s health and healthcare agencies and initiatives at the grassroots to the global scale. Thus, an overarching goal of this research is to contribute to the decolonization of the Western-centric knowledge and power structures at play in the institutions and organizations meant to support the health and healthcare of Congolese refugee women and refugee women in general

DESIGNING THE LAST DAYS OF DR. BEARING: INTEGRATING PSYCHOLOGY’S COLOR THEORY IN THE THEATRICAL LIGHTING DESIGN OF WIT

This thesis is a combination of a lighting design, informed by psychology’s color theory, for Angelo State University’s production of Wit by Margaret Edson, directed by Ashley Meyer, and quantitative data on the influence of the lighting design. This thesis presents the question: Can the lighting design impact audiences’ emotional experience of the play? Using a survey, audience members provided feedback on the influence of lighting on both their emotional connection to the content of the play and their overall experience. The results of the survey support that lighting can influence audiences’ emotional connection to a production

Building a Vacuform on a Budget

Theatre design and technology major, Julia McDaniel, researched and built a vacuform to be used in the Angelo State University scene shop. This vacuform will be used to quickly and easily create costume and prop pieces. A typical vacuform is rather expensive, so the goal was to create one of similar quality at a lower cost

From Observers to Participants: Joining the Scientific Community

In this essay, we have integrated the voices of our mentors and students to explore 45 years of undergraduate research experiences and their role in shaping our scientific community. In considering our collective experiences, we see undergraduate involvement in research as a rich source of community development, one that has both touched our lives and influenced our teaching

Combinatorial Histone Readout by the Dual Plant Homeodomain (PHD) Fingers of Rco1 Mediates Rpd3S Chromatin Recruitment and the Maintenance of Transcriptional Fidelity

The plant homeodomain (PHD) finger is found in many chromatin-associated proteins and functions to recruit effector proteins to chromatin through its ability to bind both methylated and unmethylated histone residues. Here, we show that the dual PHD fingers of Rco1, a member of the Rpd3S histone deacetylase complex recruited to transcribing genes, operate in a combinatorial manner in targeting the Rpd3S complex to histone H3 in chromatin. Although mutations in either the first or second PHD finger allow for Rpd3S complex formation, the assembled complexes from these mutants cannot recognize nucleosomes or function to maintain chromatin structure and prevent cryptic transcriptional initiation from within transcribed regions. Taken together, our findings establish a critical role of combinatorial readout in maintaining chromatin organization and in enforcing the transcriptional fidelity of genes

A History of the Book: Disrupting Society from Tablet to Tablet

The written word is arguably one of the most powerful tools available to mankind. This book analyzes the history and social impact of written language from the oldest known writing systems to the rise of electronic media.https://digitalcommons.wou.edu/history_of_book/1015/thumbnail.jp

The bacterial communities of Alaskan mosses and their contributions to N-2-fixation

Background Mosses in high-latitude ecosystems harbor diverse bacterial taxa, including N2-fixers which are key contributors to nitrogen dynamics in these systems. Yet the relative importance of moss host species, and environmental factors, in structuring these microbial communities and their N2-fixing potential remains unclear. We studied 26 boreal and tundra moss species across 24 sites in Alaska, USA, from 61 to 69&deg; N. We used cultivation-independent approaches to characterize the variation in moss-associated bacterial communities as a function of host species identity and site characteristics. We also measured N2-fixation rates via 15N2 isotopic enrichment and identified potential N2-fixing bacteria using available literature and genomic information. Results Host species identity and host evolutionary history were both highly predictive of moss microbiome composition, highlighting strong phylogenetic coherence in these microbial communities. Although less important, light availability and temperature also influenced composition of the moss microbiome. Finally, we identified putative N2-fixing bacteria specific to some moss hosts, including potential N2-fixing bacteria outside well-studied cyanobacterial clades. Conclusions The strong effect of host identity on moss-associated bacterial communities demonstrates mosses&rsquo; utility for understanding plant-microbe interactions in non-leguminous systems. Our work also highlights the likely importance of novel bacterial taxa to N2-fixation in high-latitude ecosystems. &nbsp;</p

Association of Taf14 with acetylated histone H3 directs gene transcription and the DNA damage response

The YEATS domain, found in a number of chromatin-associated proteins, has recently been shown to have the capacity to bind histone lysine acetylation. Here, we show that the YEATS domain of Taf14, a member of key transcriptional and chromatin-modifying complexes in yeast, is a selective reader of histone H3 Lys9 acetylation (H3K9ac). Structural analysis reveals that acetylated Lys9 is sandwiched in an aromatic cage formed by F62 and W81. Disruption of this binding in cells impairs gene transcription and the DNA damage response. Our findings establish a highly conserved acetyllysine reader function for the YEATS domain protein family and highlight the significance of this interaction for Taf14