Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-87).

Det finns en allmän uppfattning och en starkt förankrad föreställning om att kön är någonting statiskt som inte kan ifrågasättas eller ändras. Språk kan förmedla och upprätthålla diskriminerande åsikter och vara privilegierande för människor som är bekväma med, och följer rådande normer. I denna studie fokuseras prefixet cis-, som beskriver människor som lever som, och identifierar sig själva i enlighet med de normativa föreställningar som råder i samhället. Studiens teoretiska ramverk och metodologiskt tillvägagångssätt bygger på den kritiska diskursanalysen (CDA). Utvalda blogginlägg samt tidningstexter som berör prefixet cis- har analyserats för att få förståelse för vad prefixet cis- betyder för personerna som använder det. Som analysverktyg används innehållsanalys samt korpusanalys. Resultatet av undersökningen visar att ord med prefixet cis- främst används av två aktörer i samhället: transpersoner och feminister. Innehållsanalysen visar att dessa aktörer använder prefixet cis- med olika innebörd och att ord med prefixet cis- är politiskt laddade. Korpusanalysen visar att prefixet cis- är ett produktivt förled som förekommer i olika sammansättningar och används i olika kontext. Ord med cis- som förled fyller en funktion för att kunna belysa normen i samhället och på så vis kan debatten nyanseras kring det som ses som självklara rättesnören. Det vill säga det binära könssystemet och patriarkala maktstrukturer. Vidare visar korpusanalysen att sammansättningar med prefixet cis- har blivit mer etablerade i tryckt press och att ordet cisperson är det mest frekvent förekommande av de undersökta orden i studien.

Members of the tautomerase superfamily are characterized by a [beta-alpha-beta] structural fold motif as well as a catalytic N-terminal proline (Pro-1). Three members of the superfamily are involved in the degradation of the nematocide 1,3-dichloropopene; trans-3-chloroacrylic acid dehalogenase (CaaD), cis-3-chloroacrylic acid dehalogenase (cis-CaaD) and malonate semialdehyde decarboxylase (MSAD). CaaD and cis-CaaD are involved in the hydration of their respective 3-chloroacrylic acid isomers to generate malonate semialdehyde. Subsequently, MSAD is responsible for catalyzing the decarboxylation of malonate semialdehyde to generate acetaldehyde. All three of these enzymes contain an N-terminal proline (Pro-1) that functions as a general acid, in contrast to other tautomerase superfamily members, such as 4-oxalocrotonate tautomerase (4-OT) and macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF), where Pro-1 acts as a catalytic base. Two new members of the tautomerase superfamily have been cloned and characterized; FG41 MSAD, a homologue of MSAD from Coryneform Bacterium strain FG41, and Cg10062, a homologue of cis-CaaD from Corynebacterium glutamicum, with low-level cis-CaaD and CaaD activities. As part of an effort to delineate the mechanisms of CaaD, cis-CaaD and Cg10062, secondary activities for all three enzymes were characterized. The three enzymes function as efficient phenylpyruvate tautomerases (PPT), converting phenylenolpyruvate to phenylpyruvate. The activity also indicates that the active site of these three enzymes can ketonize enol compounds, thereby providing evidence for the presence of an enediolate intermediate. The characterization of FG41 MSAD uncovered an activity it shares with MSAD. FG41 MSAD catalyzes the hydration of 2-oxo-3-pentynoate, but at a rate that is 50-fold less efficient than that of MSAD (as assessed by kcat/Km values). Mutagenesis studies of FG41 MSAD revealed that a single mutation resulted in a 8-fold increase in the activity. The characterization of Cg10062 and attempts to enhance the low-level cis-CaaD activity demonstrated the need for a bacterial screen that could screen a library of mutants. The resulting bacterial screen could be used to screen other members of the superfamily for dehalogenase activity. An in-depth exploration of the Cg10062 and FG41 MSAD activities may lead to a better understanding of the mechanism of cis-CaaD and MSAD and further delineate the evolutionary pathway for the tautomerase superfamily. / text

The development of natural grass/scrubland for agricultural use within the Trans-Pecos basins has altered recharge mechanisms and raised questions about groundwater sustainability. Past efforts focused on recharge in arid basin systems used three main assumptions: there is minimal modern recharge, no widespread recharge on basin floors, and no recharge from anthropogenic sources. However, in the Trans-Pecos, nitrate (NO₃-) concentrations have increased in basin groundwater (up by 3-4 mg/l as NO₃- in 40 yrs), refuting the “classic” model and posing water quality risks. Grazing and irrigated agriculture have impacted basin hydrology by altering vegetation regime and the magnitude and spatial distribution of infiltration. This has increased recharge, Cl⁻, and mobile N flux to basin groundwater. A series of spatially-distributed net infiltration models were used to estimate potential recharge from natural and anthropogenic sources. Between 7-20% of potential recharge results from widespread recharge on the basin floors. Additionally, from 1960-2000, irrigation return flow may have contributed 3.0 × 10⁷ - 6.3 × 10⁷ m³ of recharge. These results are supported by field observations. Cores collected beneath agricultural land document changes in water content and pore water chemistry that imply increased downward flux of moisture and solute, and NO₃- and Cl- inventories beneath irrigated land are distinct in amount and profile from those in natural areas. There are significant implications for sustainability based upon the trends in groundwater NO₃- concentrations, core results, and net infiltration models: more recharge may enter the basins than previously estimated and there is a potential long-term concern for water quality. Due to thick unsaturated zones in the basins, long travel times are anticipated. It is unknown if NO3- and Cl⁻ flux has peaked or if effects will continue for years to come. Further study should be undertaken to examine anthropogenic impacts on basin water quality. Additionally, these impacts may occur in similar systems globally and there is considerable evidence for the re-evaluation of the validity of the “classic” model of recharge in arid basin systems. Future studies and management plans should incorporate potential impacts of changes in vegetation and land use on recharge processes and water budgets in arid basins. / text

What is queer? What is queer? What is queer theory? Where can it go from here? This thesis sets out to explore the origins and influences of queer theory before investigating the present and the future spaces (ie, bodies and settlements) it can potentially move into. Three distinct experiments of fieldwork and ethnographic filmmaking test the truths and potentialities of queer theory when relating to queer bodies and settlements. That is to say that each chapter balances a film and its supporting text by embracing the value and urgency of practice led research. The first chapter questions queer history and details the importance of emerging trans politics in the post-gender, leftist, avant-garde, queer activist and militant space of Bologna. Queer bodies, case one: transgender and transsexual perspectives. Settlements, case one: Bologna and Lido di Classe (Italy). The second chapter considers the interface between disability theory and queer theory with particular attention paid to the practical theory of ‘curative education’. Defined by Rudolf Steiner in 1922 and further developed by Karl König with the foundation of the Camphill movement in 1944, curative education privileges the social model over the medical model in the field of disability so that disability is in fact ability. Queer bodies, case two: learning differences and disabilities perspectives. Settlements, case two: Berlin (Germany), Chatou and La Rochelle (France), Barry and Glasallt Fawr (Wales, United Kingdom). The third chapter uses queer perspectives to promote the relevance of quantum physics to the human body, thus involving contemporary dance, physical theatre and the arts more generally to address and redress the chiasm between science and technology on the one hand, and arts, humanities and socio-cultural sciences on the other. Queer bodies, case three: the inescapably queer reality of the physical world. Settlements, case three: multiple locations in Tuscany (Italy), and Thamesmead, London (England, United Kingdom). This thesis brings notions of queer and otherness deceptively close to notions of the self. Otherness and queerness become mirrors in which our own queerness comes into view.

The aim of this essay is to examine the narrated experiences of three Trans- masculine activists in relationship to the emergence of a new term "hembros" as a forum for diverse forms of gender expression and subjectivity. The present study is an attempt to examine gender expression from a nomadic subjective approach and a queer phenomenological theoretical framework. The results of this study have shown that gender expression, although not free from the tensions that social sanctions present, could be proposed from different locations of embodied gender subjectivity. Meaning that awareness about the gender system and the structures of power, and working within those frames, one can create new notions of gender expression, taking the body as a starting point.

No description available.

Uppsatsen syfte är att undersöka vilka normer om funktion och funktionsnedsättning som reglerar när, var och hur personer med icke-synliga funktionsnedsättningar upplever att de kan passera som icke-funktionsnedsatta. Författaren analyserar förståelser av passering hos personer med icke-synliga funktionsnedsättningar utifrån en intersektionell förståelse av funktion, kön och genus. Med hjälp av transteoretiska tankar kring passering som praktik finner författaren flera likheter mellan hur tillfällen till passering skapas och förstås hos personer med funktionsnedsättningar och transpersoner både i en social och medicinsk kontext.

Biogeographers have long searched for common processes responsible for driving diversification in the Holarctic region. Although terrestrial flora and fauna have been well studied, much of the marine biogeographic work addresses patterns and processes occurring over a relatively recent timescale. A prerequisite to comparative biogeographic analysis requires well-resolved phylogenies of similarly distributed taxa that diverged over a similar timeframe. The overall aim of my Ph.D. thesis was to address fundamental questions in the systematics and biogeography of a family of Holarctic fish (Osmeridae) and place these results in a broad comparative biogeographic framework. With eight conflicting morphological hypotheses, the northern hemisphere smelts have long been the subjects of systematic disagreement. In addition to the uncertainty in the interrelationships within this family, the relationship of the Osmeridae to several other families remains unclear. Using DNA sequence data from three mitochondrial and three nuclear genes from multiple individuals per species, I reconstructed the phylogenetic relationships among the 6 genera and 15 osmerid species. Phylogenetic reconstruction and divergence dating yielded a well-resolved phylogeny of the osmerid genera and revealed several interesting evolutionary patterns within the family: (1) Hypomesus chishimaensis and H. nipponensis individuals are not reciprocally monophyletic, suggesting that they are conspecific and H. chishimaensis is a recently evolved freshwater ecotype that invaded the Kuril Islands following the last glaciation, (2) The trans-Pacific sister relationships in Hypomesus based on lateral line scale counts are not supported, implying that this phenotype evolved in parallel on each side of the North Pacific Ocean, (3) The Plecoglossidae are the Osmeridae sister group, (4) Over half of the characters from previous studies show evidence of parallel evolution; however, 27 traits reflect ancestral relationships, (5) Multiple divergences within the Osmeridae date to both the mid-Miocene cooling period and the Pliocene Bering Seaway opening, suggesting these events were important in the evolution of these fishes, and (6) Divergences in many marine taxa for which dated phylogenies are available are also correlated with these time periods. Future research should target additional Holarctic marine taxa for further comparative analysis.

Hate crime laws in both Canada and the United States purport to promote equality using the language of antidiscrimination law. National criminal codes in both countries authorize enhanced punishment for crimes motivated by “sexual orientation” but not “gender identity” or “gender expression.” Cities and states in the United States have also adopted hate crime laws, some of which denounce both homophobic and trans-phobic crimes. Hate crime penalty enhancement laws have been applied by courts in both Canada and the United States to establish a growing jurisprudence. In both countries, moreover, other hate crime laws contribute to official legal knowledge by regulating hate speech, hate crime statistics, and conduct equivalent to hate crimes in schools, workplaces, and elsewhere. Yet, despite the proliferation of hate crime laws and jurisprudence, governmental officials do not control all legal knowledge about hate crimes. Sociological “others” attend criminal sentencing proceedings and provide support to hate crime victims during prosecutions, but they also frame their own unofficial inquiries and announce their own classification decisions for hate-related events. In both Canada and the United States, nongovernmental groups contend both inside and outside official governmental channels to establish legal knowledge about homophobic and trans-phobic hate crimes. In two comparable Canadian and American cities, similar groups monitor and classify homophobic and trans-phobic attacks using a variety of information practices. Interviews with representatives of these groups reveal a relationship between the practices of each group and hate crime laws at each site. The results support one principal conclusion. The availability of local legislative power and a local mechanism for public review are key determinants of the sites and styles of nongovernmental contention about hate crimes. Where police gather and publish official hate crime statistics, the official classification system serves as both a site for mobilization, and a constraint on the styles of contention used by nongovernmental groups. Where police do not gather or publish hate crime statistics, nongovernmental groups are deprived of the resource represented by a local site for social contention, but their styles of contention are liberated from the subtle influences of an official hate crime classification system.