Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on Feb 17, 2010). The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Thesis advisor: Dr. R. Lee Lyman. Includes bibliographical references.

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Indonesia, a vast archipelago nation and home to a wide range of cultural, linguistic and genetic diversity, has been a navel of intercultural and interregional interaction between the Asian and the Pacific worlds since prehistoric times. By analyzing the genetic profile of Indonesian people across the archipelago, this dissertation aims to elucidate the colonization history of Indonesia and to assess the effect of social practices on the Indonesian gene pool. Genetic diversity has revealed the complex settlement history of the Indonesian archipelago, starting from the initial colonization of Indonesia ~50 kya, multiple migrations by hunter-gatherers from mainland Asia during the Paleolithic era, followed by a major Neolithic expansion of Austronesian-speaking farmers from a putative homeland of Taiwan, and historic era migrations that involved several foreign invasions via trading and the spread of major religions. The survival of older lineages in western and eastern Indonesia showed that these later expansions into the archipelago did not replace the gene pool of the previous inhabitants. Although most Indonesian communities today practice patrilocality, which is supported by genetic diversity and population structure analyses, matrilineal descent systems are thought to have dominated ancestral Austronesian societies. Preserving a rich Austronesian cultural heritage, such as matrilocal marriage practices, has particularly affected the genetic diversity and population structure of Timor. The dominance of Asian female lineages is apparent on the X chromosome compared to the autosomes, suggesting that female migrants played a leading role during the period of Asian immigration into Timor. Matrilocality may have been a driving force behind this admixture bias during the Austronesian expansion. This finding provides support for an Austronesian `house society' model in which the Austronesian expansion led to the dispersal of matrilocal societies with small numbers of neighboring non-Austronesian males marrying into Austronesian matrilocal, matrilineal houses. This study has revealed that the colonization history of Indonesia does not seem to comprise merely a Melanesian substratum with a single expansion of Austronesian speakers, yet rather involves multiple waves of human migration, coupled with an extensive admixture process.

Mulloway are a large native inshore marine fish that are currently being evaluated by NSW Fisheries for their potential in aquaculture. The current study developed and applied molecular genetic markers to assess the geographical scale at which future hatcheries should be developed for the species. In addition, it evaluated the impact that current breeding practices in NSW have had on genetic diversity in culture cohorts. The study showed that wild Australian populations of this species constitute a single management unit (genetic stock), but that current hatchery practices employed in NSW are eroding natural genetic diversity. Thus a single hatchery could provide cultures stock to the whole Australian industry without compromising wild populations but that hatchery management practices will need to be modified in the future, to minimise levels of inbreeding.

Studies in a number of human tissues have revealed that the activities of mitochondrial respiratory chain enzyme complexes decline during the aging process. Other studies have suggested that aging increases the frequency of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutation and leads to the accumulation of mutant mtDNA species, mainly those with large deletions and point mutations. Although the mitochondrial theory of aging may be more applicable to post mitotic tissues, abnormalities of mtDNA have also been reported in tissues which retain a mitotic capacity. Fresh tissues from elderly patients are difficult to obtain and only a limited number of studies on biochemical examination of respiratory chain enzyme complex activities have been carried out. Prostate tissue is readily available in elderly male subjects because of the high prevalence of benign prostatic hypertrophy in this sub-group of the population, and endoscopic surgery is routinely performed for excision of the diseased prostate. In this study, mitochondrial respiratory function and the mtDNA mutations in prostate tissues of elderly patients (aged from 56 to 92) were studied in 24 subjects. This included the measurement of the activities of the respiratory chain enzyme complexes and screening for mitochondrial point mutations and deletions at sites commonly affected in neurodegenerative diseases. (For complete summary open document)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on February 28, 2008) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Anthropology Dept., 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Honors Project--Smith College, Northampton, Mass., 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 45-48)

Thesis (M.S. in biochemistry)--Washington State University, August 2009. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on July 21, 2009). "School of Molecular Biosciences." Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri--Columbia, 2004. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-102). Also issued on the Internet.