Totipotent cells have the highest developmental potential and can only be created by nuclear transfer into oocytes. Identities of maternal factors that can induce this reprogramming remain a mystery. In this report, we demonstrate induction of totipotency on mouse embryonic stem cells by introducing six factors, Hist1h2aa, H3f3b, H1foo, p-Npm2,...
Wind pollination has evolved from animal pollination at least 65 times in flowering plants, but the reverse transition is rare. Wind pollination is usually accompanied by the loss of traits that attract pollinators, and re-evolving them may be difficult. This dissertation examines this rare transition using Artocarpus (ca. 70 spp.,...
Literary critics typically oppose chronological and anachronistic historiographical schemes. In paired readings of early modern and contemporary poets, my dissertation, “The Shock of the Old: Periodization, Poetics, and Diachronic Exchange between the Renaissance and the Avant-Garde” investigates a series of poetic texts that defy this opposition. The poetic objects I...
What follows is a strictly post-genomic dissertation. Over the past five years, I have strived to leave the nucleus behind, and even the endoplasmic reticulum and golgi apparatus. The human genome was sequenced over 15 years before the submission of this document, and the world changed somewhat less than anticipated—besides...
This dissertation develops a framework to approach musical hybridity by considering style and genre interactions as an analytical layer of combinations of identities. It engages with the structural, contextual, and perceptual aspects of music by mixing perspectives from music studies with postcolonial studies, situated cognition, and genre studies. Hybridity is...
In the past few years, educators have been pushing for an integration of the arts into science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) learning to promote innovation and creativity in these fields. The present study explores the relation between creativity and STEM learning among young children in digital and non-digital contexts,...
The Bcl-2 family is considered the guardian of the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway. While there are numerous endogenous Bcl-2 antagonists that share similar homology, structure, topology, and expression pattern, only the loss of Bim in mice is sufficient to lead to the development of a systemic autoimmunity. Even loss of both...
This dissertation asks how a dynamic of vengeance involving the United States and anti-imperialist political organizations in the Middle East emerged and persisted between the 1967 Middle East war and the battle of Tora Bora in Afghanistan in December 2001. It tracks the construction of channels—ideological, institutional, emotional, and personal—through...
Most lubricants contain a series of additives that reduce friction and wear, and protect contacting surfaces. The design of these additives must be modernized to meet the challenges involved with high operating temperatures, extreme environmental conditions, and increasingly stringent environmental regulations. This research demonstrates three novel lubricant additive strategies that...