Linking Human-Genetic and Host-Microbiome Associations to Molecular Mechanisms Using Protein-Protein Interaction Networks

Beltran, Juan Felipe Beltran ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Cornell University 2019 해외박사(DDOD)

We continue to better understand human disease through the study of human genetics and the human microbiome. Both fields use cohort study design, where the genes or microbiome communities of patients with a given condition are compared to a group of healthy controls. Systematically performing these comparisons to derive gene-disease associations and microbiome-disease associations is increasingly commonplace, but generating reasonable hypotheses for further study is still a challenge. Overcoming this challenge is vital to understand the causal molecular mechanisms of human disease.Quality-control and prioritization pipelines for human genetic variants from large-scale studies are hard to build, often involving several computational tools, databases, and tuning parameters. In Chapter 2, I present GeMSTONE, an online variant prioritization tool that allows researchers to leverage a large variety of resources to replicate and customize these pipelines without any computational experience or overhead. Understanding the location of disease-associated variants relative to protein interaction interfaces can help us understand whether they are likely to disrupt a protein interaction, thereby implicating a discrete molecular phenotype with the disease. In Chapter 3, I present Interactome INSIDER, an online resource that expands our network of protein interaction interfaces and performs widespread annotation of disease variants in this context.Determining the mechanisms behind host-microbiome disease- associations is particularly challenging, as there are few functional annotations for commensal microbiome proteins as well as sparse microbe- human protein interaction networks not involving extreme pathogens. In Chapter 4, I build a human-bacteria protein-protein interaction network that is used to detect the differential targeting of human proteins by commensal bacteria in association with disease.This thesis presents three different examples of mechanistic hypothesis generation from large-scale association studies. I demonstrate how annotation of variants using biological databases, structural interaction networks, and bacteria-human protein interactions can expand our understanding of the likely actors in human disease.

Temas y tecnicas narrativas en la novela Espanola e HispanoAmericana contemporanea : Spanish text

Beltran-Vocal, Maria Antonia University Microfilms Internatioanl 1985 국내박사

재한 쿠바 이주민의 이주 및 정착 결정 요인 연구

Espinosa Beltran Lien 부경대학교 2021 국내석사

쿠바인의 해외이주는 아주 오래전부터 이어져 왔다. 쿠바인의 해외 이주는 대부분 미국과 중남미 국가를 중심으로 이루어졌으며 서서히 유럽으로 확장하였다. 1990년대 이후 미디어를 통한 한류의 영향으로 쿠바 젊은이들의 한국에 대한 관심이 높아졌으며, 이는 한국으로의 이주를 선택하게 된 하나의 원인이 되었다. 쿠바인의 해외 이주에 대한 많은 주된 선행 연구는 미국과의 정치적 관계 속에 발생한 이주를 중심으로 많은 연구들이 수행되었다. 그러나 아시아 대륙으로의 이주는 생소한 현상이고 극소수에 해당하는 사항으로 그동안 학술적 관심을 덜 받았다. 그래서 본 연구는 아시아 대륙, 특히 한국으로 이주한 쿠바인을 다루는 최초 논문으로 의미를 가진다. 이에 본 연구는 쿠바인의 한국 이민 과정과 한국 사회에 대한 문화적 적응 과정 및 정착 요인에 대해 분석하고자 하였다. 본 연구는 인터뷰를 주요 정보 수집 방법으로 사용했고 한국으로의 이주 경험이 있는 12명의 쿠바인을 심층 인터뷰했다. 이 인터뷰를 통해 쿠바인의 해외 이주의 요인으로 쿠바의 불안정한 경제, 저임금, 주거환경, 사회적 동기 등이 주요 요인임을 확인하였다. 특히 한국으로의 이민을 결정하게 된 계기는 다양하지만 크게는 물질적 관점과 비물질적 관점에서 바라볼 수 있다. 물질적인 측면에서 쿠바 경제의 상황이 심각한 가운데 일상적 어려움에서 벗어나고자 하였다는 것과 비물질적 차원에서 한국 사회에 대한 호기심과 한류를 통한 긍정적 이미지가 작용한 것이라 분석되었다. 그러나 한국사회 적응에 있어 큰 걸림돌로 작용하는 것으로 언어와 다른 문화적 배경인 것으로 확인되었다. 그로 인해 어떤 사람들은 여전히 한국 사회에 완전히 적응하지 못하기도 하였으나 적응에 성공하고 이곳에서 학업, 취업, 혼인 등의 새로운 인연을 맺어 살아가고 있는 쿠바인들도 있다. 본 연구는 국제 이민 현상으로 인해 향후 더 많은 이민자들이 한국행을 선택하였을 때 이민 정책에 대한 기초 선행연구로 기여할 수 있을 것이라 기대하며 이주민들의 경험과 생각을 담았다. 또한 본 연구가 향후 연구의 참고자료로 기여하고, 한국에서 쿠바 이민자의 지위를 향상시키는 데 도움이 되기를 원한다. Cuban immigration has existed since ancient times and has become a natural social phenomenon. In most cases, the main target country selected by Cubans was the United States but immigration was also expanded to Europe, Central and South America countries. However, due to the rapid spread of the Korean Wave, many Cubans, specially young people have become more interested about South Korea and dream of immigration. Therefore, this study focused on Cuban immigrants residing in South Korea as part of an effort to further expand the base of the existing research soil on migration. This study investigated not only the Cuban immigration process and its causes to South Korea, but also the settlement process and the adaptation to Korean society. This research was based on a qualitative approach and used the interview as the main method for gathering information. A total of twelve Cubans were interviewed in detail, including short-term and long-term migrants. Cuban immigration originated from various political, economic and social motives such as Cuba's unstable economy, low wages, and lack of housing. Since the current situation of the Cuban economy is not good, and there are many obstacles to daily life, most of Cubans immigrants decided to emigrate to Korea with the goal of overcoming the difficult situation they were facing in their home country. The results of this study also indicated that although language and cultural difference are the main difficulties for adaptation, migrants in general have a positive vision of the country and although many still do not manage to fully insert themselves into Korean society, many do the attempt to move on by focusing on studies, work, or family life. This study summarized the experiences and feelings of migrants that can contribute as the basis of analysis for migration policy when more immigrants enter in the future due to the phenomenon of global immigration. For this reason, it is desired that the contributions of this study contribute as references for future research, and that they also help to improve the status of Cuban immigration in Korea.

A nation in your heart: Latino political identity and the quest for unity (Jean-Jacques Rousseau)

Beltran, Christina Isabel Rutgers The State University of New Jersey - New B 2003 해외박사(DDOD)

This dissertation constructs a conversation about the nature of democratic civic practices through an analysis of Latino politics and its theoretical foundations. Drawing on canonical political theory, contemporary democratic theory, literature, social-movement scholarship, feminist theory, and race theory, “A Nation in Your Heart” examines how Latino civic elites in the United States perceive and negotiate the relationship between identity and political agreement. I argue that the political orientation of Latino politics can be more fully understood when characterized as <italic>Rousseauian </italic> in its criticisms and commitments. While both Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Latino civic elites combine a passionate opposition to inequality with a commitment to participatory democracy, they also exhibit the more problematic desire to jettison conflict through their demands for group unity. Both Rousseau and Latino politics display a pervasive anxiety about political speech and the agonism that occurs when citizens deliberate together. The problem of deliberative speech leads both to cultivate civic practices emphasizing identification over public conversation. In the dissertation's second half, I look at two recent developments in Latino political discourse that appear to challenge the Rousseauian tendencies of Latino politics: the emergence of a “pan-ethnic” Latino identity and the concept of “the borderlands” and its hybrid Latino inhabitants. I contend that despite the apparent acceptance of diversity within the Latino body politic, pan-ethnic political practices continue to celebrate a Rousseauian definition of membership, emphasizing identification and equating group unity and harmony with civic health. This transformation from diversity to harmony is theorized as a necessary precondition for pan-ethnic politics—without it, Latino elites are unable to invoke the representative “we.” Similarly, by tracing a genealogy of hybridity, I show how the supposedly “fluid” and “shifting” hybrid subject of Latino political discourse is actually properly ordered and deeply constrained. “A Nation in Your Heart” concludes by contending that the theoretical legacy of Rousseau represents a site of both opportunity and risk for Latino politics. I conclude by proposing a new approach to political identity in which political subjectivity is recognized as inescapably fragmented and in which contestation is understood as foundational to democratic citizenship.

STUDY OF THE LIGHT REDUCTION SENSITIVITY OF THE MAIZE (ZEA MAIZ L.) TEXAS MALE-STERILE CYTOPLASM TO THE T-TOXIN PRODUCED BY BIPOLARIS MAYDIS RACE T

BELTRAN HERRERA, JAVIER DARIO THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY 1999 해외박사(DDOD)

<italic>Bipolaris maydis</italic> race T (<italic>Helminthosporium maydis, Cochliobolus heterostrophus</italic>) affects maize genotypes carrying Texas male-sterile cytoplasm (cms-T), but not the normal (N) cytoplasm. To understand the interaction of <italic>B. maydis</italic> with the maize plants, the toxin of the fungus was used to infiltrate maize leaf tissue to evaluate this type of plant-pathogen interaction. This study evaluates the toxin effects under dark or light conditions at given temperatures providing additional information to understand mechanisms of host-parasite relationships. This work reports the effect of light on the reduction of the susceptibility of the cms-T cytoplasm to the T-toxin. This reduction was associated with the ability of light to induce the formation of C₄ acid metabolites or the generation of active oxygen species (AOS) compounds, like hydrogen peroxide, capable of reducing partially or completely T-toxin activity. This study evaluated the effect of temperature, light, malate, aspartate, oxaloacetate, alfa-ketoglutarate, and the AOS hydrogen peroxide on the activity of T-toxin. Under intermediate incubation temperature (28°C) was possible to distinguish the resistant (N) from the susceptible cytoplasm (cms-T), in base of their amount of electrolyte leakage. The exposure of the toxin infiltrated maize leaf tissues to light reduced the electrolyte leakage in the cms-T cytoplasm by 74.8% for inbred B37 and 86.0% for inbred OH43. Dicarboxylic acids like malate or oxaloacetate reduced the electrolyte leakage in more than 42% and 37%, respectively, by the inbred B37 cms-T cytoplasm. Also, light and dicarboxylic acids stabilized oxygen depletion rates by maize leaf segments when incubated in the dark. The effect of hydrogen peroxide (24 μmol or more) on the reaction of cms-T maize leaf tissues treated with T-toxin was to reduce electrolyte leakage by 60.5% in B37, 80.4% in OH43, and 59.9% in W64A. The hydrogen peroxide effect was reversed by catalase. The capacity of H₂O₂ to reduce the T-toxin activity suggests that hydrogen peroxide levels my play a role in the susceptibility of the cms-T cytoplasm to the T-toxin. The overall and direct effect of dicarboxylic acids and hydrogen peroxide on the reaction of cms-T cytoplasm to the T-toxin indicate a close relationship with the effect of light in reducing the susceptibility of the cms-T cytoplasm to the T-toxin.

University autonomy in the Colombian public universities

Beltran, Yolima Ivonne The Pennsylvania State University 2003 해외박사(DDOD)

In 1991 university autonomy was introduced in the Colombian higher education as a constitutional principle, which affected higher education. The changes were mandated with the 1992 Law # 30, whose implementation has caused tensions between the concepts of university autonomy based on self-regulation verses the control and vigilance from the government, and the notion of free trade of private universities and the economic dependence of public universities, an enormous growth of the Colombian higher educational system; a lack of efficient quality control mechanisms, and the politicization of the election process of university authorities. Some of these effects may be attributed to confusion in the interpretations of the autonomy concept, which generated the interest for the study. It was done under Neave's and Van Vught's (1994) conceptualization and Berdahl's (1990) conceptualization to analyze the relationship between the government and the higher education institutions regarding autonomy; and Levy's (1980) areas of autonomy to identify the repercussions of exercising autonomy at organizational level. The methodological approach involved a historical analysis focusing on the history of Colombian higher education with the purpose of revealing the evolution of educational policies, and the origins of university autonomy; and a multiple case study of two public universities located in the Andean region. The case studies involved members of superior councils of the two institutions, as well as a dean, professor, rector, ex-rector, student, and an administrative employee of each university. The results revealed that throughout history, the concept of university autonomy in the country has been a rhetorical issue, since it has been so far from the notions of democracy, participation, and intra-university power distribution, which characterized the claims of the <italic>Movimiento de Córdoba</italic>. The concept has been linked to the political parties in power and the policies of international funding agencies who impose their agenda on Colombia, which in turn has impacted the organizational level of the universities. During the last decade the government has oscillated between two opposite extremes for mechanisms of coordination without success, being the market and the rigorous control over public universities. As a consequence, the public universities have limited academic, administrative, and, financial autonomy.

Evaluating Climate Change Impacts on Water Resources and Food Systems - A Global Perspective With Insights From Africa and California

Beltran-Pena, Areidy Aracely University of California, Berkeley ProQuest Disser 2023 해외박사(DDOD)

This dissertation focuses on evaluating the hydrological impacts of climate change on water and food systems through integrated assessment models at various scales (global, country, and regional). The first chapter explores the future of global food self-sufficiency analysis in the 21st century under sustainable intensification of agriculture. By integrating biophysical, hydrological, climate, and societal models, the study considers factors such as sustainability, diet changes, population growth, agricultural intensification, and climate to project future scenarios. The findings reveal a concerning trend, indicating a probable decline in global food self-sufficiency within the middle-of-the-road and business-as-usual trajectories. In the second chapter, the focus shifts to Africa, a region experiencing high levels of food insecurity due to climate change and population growth. By assessing the impact of irrigation expansion on agricultural productivity and climate adaptation, the study highlights the limitations of irrigation alone in achieving food self-sufficiency. Under a 3°C warmer climate, Africa's total food production would only be sufficient to feed 1.35 billion people, while the population is projected to reach 3.5 billion. This underscores the need for additional strategies beyond irrigation alone to achieve food self-sufficiency, such as cropland expansion or increased reliance on imports. At a regional level, the third chapter employs Earth system models to assess the vulnerability of California's water-food nexus to changing snow regimes due to climate change. With a majority of snow monitoring sites showing declines in snowpack depths and earlier snowmelt onset, the study highlights the potential consequences of declining snowmelt on water availability for crop production, raising concerns about food security in a region already grappling with increased demand. This dissertation provides a comprehensive understanding of the complex dynamics influencing global food security. The findings emphasize the importance of sustainable practices, the limitations of irrigation expansion in addressing food deficits in Africa, and the vulnerability of water resources to declining snowpack in California. These insights contribute valuable knowledge for policymakers and stakeholders in formulating effective strategies to ensure a sustainable and secure food future for the global population.

Nature, Nation and Animality in the Discourse of Literary Indigenismo: Case Studies in Peru, Mexico & the American Southwest, 1920-1974

Beltran, Carolina ProQuest Dissertations & Theses University of Cali 2021 해외박사(DDOD)

This dissertation examines the ways that indigenista writers from Mexico and Peru used animals in their representation of indigenous peoples, particularly in proposing a “new type of being” as the privileged subject for the nation. Literary indigenismo is a genre of narrative fiction produced by non-indigenous writers interested in the place and condition of indigenous peoples in the context of larger concerns regarding nationhood and modernity. This dissertation underscores the role nature and animals can and did play in these literary representations of the "indigenous question," which is to say of integrating indigenous peoples or indigenous world-views into non-indigenous milieus. This dissertation argues that indigenista writers used animals in ways that exemplify a tension between perceptions of indigenous views on the inherent connections between nature and the human, and Western discourses on animality—as the attribution of animal traits—that presuppose the hierarchical superiority of the human over nature. I coin the term "indigenista animality" to propose a reinterpretation of literary indigenismo that pays as much attention to the literary representation of indigenous human-animal cosmologies as it does to Western discourses on race and species. Through an animal studies approach—an approach that questions the premise that animals are to be understood as “less than human”—this dissertation studies instructive cases in Peru, Mexico and the Southwest of the United States to explore some of the ways that indigenista literature engaged with animality in the contexts of national, international, and hemispheric tensions, in which discourses on indigenous peoples are central.Chapter 1 analyzes the ways that Peruvian indigenista writers of the 1920s, Enrique Lopez Albujar and Jose Carlos Mariategui, used animals in their discussions of modernization and indigenous peoples within the context of Fordism, industrialism shaped by mass production and consumption of automobiles. Mariategui's historical account of the apogee and retreat of the horse in human life contends with the emergence of a new indigenous type as the proletarian chauffeur. Lopez Albujar's allegory "El fin de un redentor" ironizes debates over indigenous liberation through disagreements between various species of livestock animals as to the revindicatory nature of the automobile. These works contest the “progress” of state-sponsored modernization policies, e.g. mass road expansion, in their concern over the emancipation and labor of indigenous peoples by way of animal representations. Chapter 2 examines Mauricio Magaleno's novel El resplandor and how its approach to nahualismo, as an indigenous world-view, according to which the human and the animal are co-essential, are central to his critique of the postrevolutionary Mexican state. Magdaleno’s literary approach to the indigenous is premised on a peculiar and negative synthesis of indigenous and Spanish lineages, in which his central mestizo character employs the powers of nahualismo (supernatural abilities to "possess" or shape-shift into an animal) against his indigenous brethren as a tool to grab state power. His representation of Otomie peoples as cattle bring into relief salient questions over indigenous political consciousness that echoes the "Enlightenment" semantics of the novel, while also signaling the environmental historical tensions between European livestock and indigenous populations in Central Mexico. Chapter 3 focuses on the ways that Carlos Castaneda advances the “man of knowledge” as a “new subject” in his series of books on the Yaqui teacher figure of don Juan. Evasive of his Peruvian origins, Castaneda nonetheless weaves Peruvian indigenista discourses and combines these with aspects of Mexican tropes such as nahualismo, making his exploration of Yaqui indigenous knowledge along the Arizona-Sonora borderlands a noteworthy example for the American Southwest. In his books, animals play an important role in the "inner journey" of Castaneda’s literary alter-ego, where encounters with animals aid him in becoming a "warrior." Castaneda reconfigures nahualismoin a way that erases the animal-human links of its Mesoamerican origins while infusing it with Eastern and Western philosophical traditions in his proposal of a new universality as a response to countercultural trends and U.S. military interventions.This dissertation concludes with the suggestion that literary indigenismo is ripe for a more comprehensive reassessment based on the animal studies approach to literature, which offers us new ways of interpreting animals and animality that deepen our understanding of discourses that seek to "naturalize" the contours of the nation, revealing race and species tensions in regional and nationalist imaginaries.

Computational modeling of synthetic-fiber ropes

Beltran, Juan Felipe The University of Texas at Austin 2006 해외박사(DDOD)

The objective of this research is to develop a computational model to predict the response of synthetic-fiber ropes under both monotonic and cyclic loads. These types of ropes are believed to offer a better alternative to more traditional mooring systems for deepwater applications. Of particular interest for this study are the degradation of rope properties as a function of loading history and the effect of rope element failure on overall rope response. A computational tool developed specifically for this research accounts for the change in rope properties as it deforms and the change in configuration of a rope cross-section due to the failure of individual rope components. The software includes both geometric and material nonlinearities, and it incorporates a damage index so the strength and stiffness degradation of the rope elements can be modeled. Following the failure of rope elements, the software considers the possibility that the failed rope elements can resume carrying their proportionate share of axial load as a result of frictional effects. Using the computational model developed under this research, several rope geometries are studied. Virgin (i.e., undamaged) ropes and initially damaged ropes are considered. In all cases, experimental data for a monotonically increasing load are available for comparison with the analytical predictions. For most of the cases analyzed, the proposed numerical model accurately predicts the capacity of the damaged ropes, but the model overestimates the rope failure axial strain. A three-dimensional finite element analysis is performed for a particular rope geometry to validate some of the assumptions made to develop the proposed computational model. If failed rope elements resume carrying their proportionate share of axial load, numerical simulations demonstrate the existence of strain localization around the failure region. Based on the damage model, damage localization occurs as well. This damage localization can cause the premature failure of rope elements and reduce the load capacity and failure axial strain of a damaged rope. Possible extensions to the computational model include the treatment of variability in rope properties and a lack of symmetry of the cross-section. Such enhancements can improve the accuracy with which damaged rope response is predicted. With the availability of validated software, engineers can reliably estimate the performance of synthetic-fiber moorings so that the use of these systems can be used with confidence in deepwater applications.

Gender Differences in the Links between Alcohol-related Consequences and Perceived Need for and Utilization of Treatment

Beltran Gonzalez, Iris Arizona State University 2013 해외박사(DDOD)

Past literature has indicated that the majority of people with alcohol problems never seek treatment and that this is especially true of women. Relatively few studies have investigated how different types of alcohol-related consequences longitudinally predict men and women's perceived need for treatment and their utilization of treatment services. The current study sought to expand the literature by examining whether gender moderates the links between four frequently endorsed types of consequences and perceived need for or actual utilization of treatment. Two-hundred thirty-seven adults ages 21-36 completed a battery of questionnaires at two time points five years apart. Results indicated that there were four broad types of consequences endorsed by both men and women. Multiple-group models and Wald chi square tests indicated that there were no significant relationships between consequences and treatment outcomes. No gender moderation was found but post-hoc power analyses indicated that the study was underpowered to detect moderation. Researchers need to continue to study factors that predict utilization of alcohol treatment services and the process of recovery so that treatment providers can better address the needs of people with alcohol-related consequences in the areas of referral procedures, clinical assessment, and treatment service provision and planning.