published_or_final_version / Comparative Literature / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Comparative Literature / Master / Master of Philosophy

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Abstract not available

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Riverside, 2009. / Includes abstract. Title from first page of PDF file (viewed January 28, 2010). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Includes bibliographical references (p. 100-106).

Genetic association study is a useful tool to identify the genetic component that is responsible for a disease. The phenomenon that a certain gene expresses in a parent-of-origin manner is referred to as genomic imprinting. When a gene is imprinted, the performance of the disease-association study will be affected. This thesis presents statistical testing methods developed specially for nuclear family data centering around the genetic association studies incorporating imprinting effects. For qualitative diseases with binary outcomes, a class of TDTI* type tests was proposed in a general two-stage framework, where the imprinting effects were examined prior to association testing. On quantitative trait loci, a class of Q-TDTI(c) type tests and another class of Q-MAX(c) type tests were proposed. The proposed testing methods flexibly accommodate families with missing parental genotype and with multiple siblings. The performance of all the methods was verified by simulation studies. It was found that the proposed methods improve the testing power for detecting association in the presence of imprinting. The class of TDTI* tests was applied to a rheumatoid arthritis study data. Also, the class of Q-TDTI(c) tests was applied to analyze the Framingham Heart Study data. The human microbiome is the collection of the microbiota, together with their genomes and their habitats throughout the human body. The human microbiome comprises an inalienable part of our genetic landscape and contributes to our metabolic features. Also, current studies have suggested the variety of human microbiome in human diseases. With the high-throughput DNA sequencing, the human microbiome composition can be characterized based on bacterial taxa relative abundance and the phylogenetic constraint. Such taxa data are often high-dimensional overdispersed and contain excessive number of zeros. Taking into account of these characteristics in taxa data, this thesis presents statistical methods to identify associations between covariate/outcome and the human microbiome composition. To assess environmental/biological covariate effect to microbiome composition, an additive logistic normal multinomial regression model was proposed and a group l1 penalized likelihood estimation method was further developed to facilitate selection of covariates and estimation of parameters. To identify microbiome components associated with biological/clinical outcomes, a Bayesian hierarchical regression model with spike and slab prior for variable selection was proposed and a Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm that combines stochastic variable selection procedure and random walk metropolis-hasting steps was developed for model estimation. Both of the methods were illustrated using simulations as well as a real human gut microbiome dataset from The Penn Gut Microbiome Project. / published_or_final_version / Statistics and Actuarial Science / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

In this research, I explore the body life history of six women, interweaving my own, focusing in particular on the "crossroads" between preadolescence and adolescence. 'My' participants and I do a form of memorywork, looking for an understanding of the meaning of body in the construction of girls' and women's subjectivity. Using photographs, the writing of a third person narrative and in-depth interviews, 'my' participants and I generate a biography of the body. I focus on two emerging themes, body commentary and movement or physical activity, and their impact on the lives of adolescent girls. I emphasize the importance of continuing to explore the current discourse on girls, while simultaneously questioning it.

The literature in education is conspicuously lacking in any meaningful or sustained discussion of the body's role in education. This thesis suggests that body and mind do not mutually exclude one another but rather, they are the two aspects that, together, form the whole person. Paradox is a key concept here because it offers a vision of reality that brings together "apparent opposites" into a tensed relationship thereby creating a framework that allows for the integration of body and mind into a cohesive whole. This thesis argues that myth is an expression of humankind's paradoxical nature, and that the hero myth, in particular, points to a path that leads to the embodiment of paradox, and thus to wholeness. This, however, requires a journey into the depths of the body in order to get in touch with the body and the entire range of its feelings. It is further argued that this process reconnects us to our body. To embody paradox, therefore, signifies the integration of body and mind into a unified whole. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)