Genome Evolution in the Salicaceae: Genetic Novelty, Horizontal Gene Transfer, and Comparative Genomics

Genome evolution is a powerful force which shapes genomes over time through processes like mutation, horizontal transfer, and sexual reproduction. Although questions which aim to explore genome evolution are broad, they are all understood through the discovery and comparison of genetic variation. For example, genetic diversity may explain differences in phenotypes, etiology of disease, and is essential for phylogenomic analysis. Recently, the democratization of next generation and third generation DNA sequencing technologies have allowed for genomics to produce large amounts of sequence data. This has facilitated the capture of genetic variation at species and population scales. Populus and Salix are members of the Salicaceae family and are ecologically and economically important woody plants. Currently, there are multiple high-quality reference genomes available for these two genera. Two important sources of genome evolution that will be explored here are genetic novelty in the form of new genes and horizontal gene transfer from the organelle genomes. In the context of genome evolution, both processes have been shown to contribute to beneficial phenotypes as well as disease. The primary contributions of this dissertation research are to identify and assign putative functions to orphan and de novo genes in P. trichocarpa, identify and compare horizontal transfer from the organelle genomes to the nuclear genomes of P. trichocarpa and P. deltoides, and generate new organelle genome resources for 6 different Salix species

The M. W. Burks Site (41WD52): A Late Caddo Hamlet in Wood County, Texas

While attempting to locate and evaluate prehistoric Caddo archaeological sites in the Dry Creek watershed, Wood County, Texas, that had been originally recorded by A. T. Jackson and M. M. Reese in 1930, the M. W. Burks site (41WD52) was discovered by James E. Bruseth and Bob D. Skiles in June 1977. The site is in the Forest Hill community, about 5 km north of Quitman, Texas, in the East Texas Pineywoods and Gulf Coastal Plain. It is on a small rise in the uplands overlooking a small intermittent drainage that is an unnamed tributary of Little Dry Creek. The landowner, Mr. M. W. Burks, had resided in this part of Wood County since the 1920s, and recalled where A. T. Jackson and crew had spent time excavating the J. H. Reese (41WD2) site. He mentioned that while putting in a fence on his property in the early 1960s, adjacent to the property where the Reese site is located, he had found some pottery sherds in one of the post holes. Bruseth and Skiles placed a small shovel test next to this fence post hole, and a large articulated red-slipped Ripley Engraved carinated bowl was encountered at 65 em below the surface (bs) in tan sand E-horizon deposits. This find demonstrated that the Burks site contained both intact archaeological deposits as well as an apparently undisturbed Late Caddo Titus phase burial or cemetery. Bruseth, Skiles, and Perttula followed up this work with more intensive investigations in the spring and fall of 1978. This research was carried on as an adjunct to the ongoing (and final season of) archaeological work being conducted by Bruseth and Perttula at Lake Fork Reservoir on Lake Fork Creek, a few miles to the west of the Burks site. Our purpose in carrying out archaeological research at the Burks site was to examine in more detail the spatial character of a Late Caddo Titus phase settlement, and also obtain information on the material culture remains (especially the ceramics) made and used by the Caddo peoples that lived at the Burks site some 400-500 years ago

The Carlisle Site (41WD46), a Middle Caddoan Occupation on the Sabine River, Wood County, Texas

The Carlisle site (41WD46) is located on the Sabine River near its confluence with Lake Fork Creek in the Upper Sabine River Basin. As defined by Perttula, the Upper Sabine River Basin includes the area from the headwaters of the Sabine River to the mouths of Cherokee Bayou and Hatley Creek at the western edge of the Sabine Uplift. Lake Fork Creek is one of several large south-southeastward flowing streams within the Upper Sabine River Basin. The town of Mineola is approximately 13 kilometers (km) west of the Carlisle site. The site is situated at the tip of an upland projection overlooking the Sabine River floodplain, but extends into the floodplain to within ca 30 meters of the river bank. The Lake Fork Creek channel is approximately one km east of the site. While the site was an improved pasture for many years prior to 1975 and to the present, it had been previously cultivated. In fact, this cultivation may have contributed to its initial identification in the early 1930s, as well as its subsequent partial burial. The upland sandy soils derive from the Queen City Formation, and these are highly susceptible to erosion and colluvial downwasting. Colluvial deposition seems to have been a prominent factor in the burial of cultural materials along valley margins and lower footslopes elsewhere in the Upper Sabine Basin, and the site\u27s topographic position suggests that both alluvial and colluvial deposition is responsible for the burial of the floodplain cultural deposits at the Carlisle site

Congressional Debates Over Prisoner Education: A Critical Discourse Analysis

The United States has the highest incarceration rate of any country. The causes for the large number of prisoners can be traced, in part, to a politicized war on crime that resulted in harsh sentencing and high recidivism rates. Prisoner education provides the potential for slowing the revolving door of prison by helping to create engaged citizens, who are committed to bettering themselves and their communities. However, there is a paucity of support for programs such as Pell Grants, which could facilitate emancipatory education in prisons. The purpose of this work is to examine why prisoners are provided few meaningful educational opportunities while incarcerated. This study seeks to understand the genealogy of prisoner education policy through an examination of the debate surrounding the 1994 Omnibus Crime Bill and its prohibition of Pell Grants for prisoners, as well as the 2008 Second Chance Act and its reentry programs. The study analyzes the ideological underpinnings of key decision makers and how their values are often embedded in the narratives of neoliberalism. In addition, the work examines elite stakeholders’ discursive attempts, both manifest and subtle, to influence and maintain social policy through the creation of legitimizing myths, including the viewpoints that prisoners are hopelessly flawed or that they have potential only as human capital. Counter-hegemonic discourse is also described. The study methods are critical discourse analysis which looks at the ways text and talk maintain inequities in society and critical policy analysis. Utilizing transcripts from legislative debates, the study analyzes the discourses of members of Congress to expose the tropes that often lie beneath the surface of the debate over prisoner education. Their rhetoric appears to generate and maintain widespread support for legislation that is frequently deleterious to marginalized out-groups. The study should add to the literature examining the role of legitimizing myths that maintain inequities in educational access

Does an adoptee’s race affect the probability of an interracial adoption?

I estimate the effect an adoptee’s race has on their chance of interracial adoption. I use data provided by the 2007 National Survey of Adoptive Parents for the linear regression, one of the only sources of individual data on adopted children. The study tests the idea that adopting outside of one’s race provides greater utility to the adopter since it is perceived as more altruistic relative to adopting within one’s race. For the purpose of the study, any circumstance where at least one adoptive parent differs in race from the adoptee is considered an interracial adoption. Ultimately, the results indicate that race was statistically significant. White adoptees were the least likely to enter into an interracial adoption, and Hispanic adoptees were the most likely to be adopted into an interracial family. However, the adopters’ level of poverty was a more significant factor in determining the likelihood of an interracial adoption

The Intimate Collaboration: Prints from Teaberry Press (Exhibition Catalogue)

Catalogue produced to document the exhibition The Intimate Collaboration: Prints from Teaberry Press. This exhibition documented the significant contributions to contemporary printmaking by Teaberry Press, an independent intaglio press owned by San Francisco-based artist, Tim Berry. Artists represented in The Intimate Collaboration were: William Allen, Terry Allen, Robert Arneson, Charles Arnoldi, John Baeder, Timothy Berry, Roger Brown, Squeak Carnwath, Christo, Gordon Cook, Robert Cottingham, Laddie Dill, James Ford, Rupert Garcia, Oliver Jackson, Jacob Kainen, Tom Knechtel, Don Nice, Jim Nutt, Claes Oldenburg, Deborah Orapallo, Sabina Ott, Ed Paschke, Philip Pearlstein, Ed Ruscha/Jim Ganzer, Irvin Tepper, Pat Steir, Anne Thornycroft, Jom Torlakson, Jack Tworkov, Beth Van Hoesen, and Willia, T. Wiley

Archeological Investigations at the Hudnall-Pirtle Site (41RK4) An Early Caddo Mound Center in Northeast Texas

The Hudnall-Pirtle site (41RK4) is situated on a large T-1 alluvial terrace of the Sabine River in northern Rusk County in Texas. This area of the state, commonly called Northeast Texas, is part of the Southern Gulf Coastal Plain, a relatively level, sloping plain formed by the pre-Pleistocene embayment of the Gulf of Mexico. From a biogeographical perspective, the site is located in the Oak-Hickory-Pine forest of eastern Texas, otherwise known as the Pineywoods. This area represents the western extension of the southern coniferous forests and is dominated by shortleaf and loblolly pine trees. Hardwood trees, including various oaks, hickory, elm, and gum, are the dominant vegetation in the floodplains of rivers and major creeks in Northeast Texas

ALCOA #1 (41AN87): A Frankston Phase Settlement along Mound Prairie Creek, Anderson County, Texas

The ALCOA #1 (41AN87) site is a Frankston Phase (ca. A.D. 1400-1650) site located on a high alluvial terrace of Mound Prairie Creek, about seven kilometers northeast of Palestine, Texas. Mound Prairie Creek, a perennial stream, flows southeast to east across the county and drains into the Neches River. The site is approximately 10 meters above the Mound Prairie Creek floodplain, and the creek channel is 300 meters to the south. Although the investigations at the site have been rather limited to date, it appears that the ALCOA #1 site is a single component Frankston Phase homestead, or possibly a small hamlet. Other Frankston phase sites are known on Mound Prairie Creek, Hurricane Creek, Walnut Creek, and Brushy Creek, all Neches River tributaries, and the possibility exists that these may be part of a larger related Caddo community and settlement system

Five Principles to Make and Multiply Disciples through the Small Group Ministry

The unchanging command of the Great Commission is to make disciples of all ethnic groups of the world. Unfortunately the church has struggled with her primary mission and has been grossly negligent in equipping church members to become Great Commission leaders. Therefore, this author will develop a small group training manual consisting of five principles to make and multiply disciples through the small group ministry. This manual will provide a laser focus on how to intentionally develop and deploy the common layman within the local church in order to reproduce disciples who reproduce disciples. As a small group pastor, this author will test and verify the five principles in the laboratory of Lewis Memorial Baptist Church in Barboursville, West Virginia