Browsing by Subject "Abortion"
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Item Abiotic Stress Effects on Physiological, Agronomic and Molecular Parameters of 1-MCP Treated Cotton Plants(2012-02-14) Da Costa, Vladimir AzevedoAbiotic stresses impact cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) affecting physiological, molecular, morphological, and agronomic parameters. One of the main yield components in cotton production is the number of bolls per unit area. However, boll abortion is increased when cotton experiences various stresses during its reproductive development that can consequently reduce lint yield. Prior to abscission, a burst in ethylene is observed which may be assumed to be the signal necessary to initiate abscission of that particular structure. It is desirable to prevent fruit loss that may be induced by the peak in ethylene prior to abscission. One potential option to cope with the loss of cotton reproductive structures is the use of ethylene inhibitors. The overall objective of this research was to establish if 1-MCP would synergize, ameliorate, or overcome the effects of abiotic stresses on physiological, molecular, morphological, and agronomic parameters of cotton plants under abiotic stress conditions in field and greenhouse studies. Field and greenhouse experiments were conducted from 2007 to 2009 as a randomized complete block design with four replications in the field, and as a 2x2 factorial design in a split-block arrangement with five replications in the greenhouse. Field treatments consisted of three rates of 1-MCP (0, 25 and 50 g a.i. ha-1) in combination with a surfactant applied at mid-bloom. One day later, ethephon (synthetic ethylene) was applied as a source of abiotic stress. Greenhouse treatments were two 1-MCP rates (0 and 2.4 g a.i. L-1) during a14-h overnight incubation that were then subjected to two water regimes (control and stressed) as the source of stress. Greenhouse assessments with gas exchange analysis revealed that water deficit stress started to impact plants at a moderate water stress, 5 days after 1-MCP treatment (DAT) and a water potential (?w) of -1.4 MPa. The 1-MCP increased water use efficiency in well-watered plants at 1 DAT. Many of the yield components, plant mapping, and biomass parameters investigated were detrimentally affected by drought. However, drought increased specific leaf weight, chlorophyll content, and harvest index. The 1- MCP improved reproductive node numbers mainly during drought, but did not lead to a better harvest index, since 1-MCP caused high abscission. Ethylene synthesis and molecular investigations in greenhouse conditions showed that at 1, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13 DAT, ethylene production of stressed plants never exceeded those of control plants. As the ?w became more negative ethylene production rate was reduced among stressed plants independent of 1-MCP treatments. However, at 1 DAT 1-MCP caused a transient climacteric stage (ethylene synthesis increase) in leaves. The two primary genes associated with ethylene synthesis, ACS6 (1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid synthase) and ACO2 (1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid oxidase) expression generally showed an identical trend that supported the ethylene synthesis data. The 1-MCP did not ameliorate any of the detrimental effects of water stress on gas exchange at the point where it started to impact cotton plants. 1-MCP had little or no positive effect on plant mapping, dry matter partitioning and chlorophyll content. Field investigations revealed that at harvest, fruit set in the upper portion of the canopy was influenced by 1- MCP. This portion of the canopy had a greater number of full size, yet immature bolls, which potentially could have had a positive influence on the lint yield. However, ethephon caused the highest lint yield since ethephon treated plants had more open bolls and total bolls in the lower canopy at harvest.Item Activist public relations and programs of self-directed change(2011-05) van Gastel, Mario; Anderson, Ronald B.; Henderson, Geraldine R.The principal theory in the field of public relations, grounded in the landmark Excellence Study headed by J.E. Grunig (1992), has moved from viewing activist groups as posing a threat to organizational effectiveness, to recognizing their positive influence on the development of Excellent public relations practices, to incorporating the activist perspective into the main research agenda. The public relations practices of activist groups are similar to those of their target organizations, and research has demonstrated that both parties are more likely to achieve their respective goals if both use symmetrical strategies. Factors that have been found to be critical to the success of activist groups include their ability to maintain the viability and legitimacy of the organization and the issue(s) it pursues, and their ability to build relationships of trust with its members, complementary organizations, legislative bodies, and the press. Since web-based communication has become a principal source of counterbalancing their disadvantage in resources vis-à-vis the targeted institution(s), the ability to take advantage of the potential of online media has also become critical to the success of activist groups. Another important source for counterweighing the “deep pockets” of their corporate or governmental adversaries, and thus a critical factor for success, is the “motivation and fervor” of the members of activist groups. Whereas the public relations behavior of corporations and governments is primarily cued by highly rational and regulated guidelines at the organizational (meso) level, activist public relations behavior is often grounded in highly emotional considerations at the personal (micro) level. This raises the question: how can the public relations practices of an activist group affect its members at the personal level? Bandura’s model of self-directed change (1990) offers a promising framework for addressing this question, as it facilitates the evaluation of an activist group’s public relations campaign in terms of its effectiveness in reinforcing the motivation, social and self-regulatory skills, and self-efficacy of individual members. The model suggests that effective activist public relations practices are not only successful in preserving viability and legitimacy at the meso level, but also enhance empowerment at the micro level.Item Demographic characteristics and their relationship to attitudes toward abortion(Texas Tech University, 1978-05) Ross, Debora AnnNot availableItem "The most dangerous place" : race, neoliberalism, and anti-abortion discourses(2012-05) Briggs, Katherine Charek; Fuller, Jennifer; Perez, Domino R.Crisis pregnancy center advertisements like billboards that ask whether a downcast woman of color is "Pregnant? Scared?" appear to be a locus of the overlapping factors of United States racial politics, bodily control, and a neoliberal sensibility. In order to investigate these relationships, I situate analyses of anti-abortion media products alongside current U.S. political discourses. What is the relationship between the elements of racism and bodily control in CPC visual rhetoric and growing neoliberal culture? This project brings these factors into a dialogue by analyzing the anti-abortion rhetoric shaped by CPC organizations and the white U.S. mainstream. As I discuss in Chapter One, anti-abortion organizations target specific communities and use large-scale media advertising to retain disproportionate control over the image of abortion in the U.S. cultural imaginary. The second chapter details how that imaginary and the current political situation overlap in immigration, population, and border panic that reduces Latinas to sexualized stereotypes. In Chapter Three, I report on the U.S. medical and political systems' shameful oppression of black women's reproductive freedom in order to situate the advertising rhetoric of three more anti-abortion organizations. The discourses these groups perpetrate are all reflected in the moral individualism of a growing neoliberal social politic. In sum, anti-abortion organizations use neoliberal rhetoric and racialized advertising to perpetuate destructive discourses of what it means to be a person of color in reproductive crisis. These discourses approach race with entrenched stereotypes, paternalistic moralizing, and euphemistic concern for low-income people of color. A critical feminist lens helps draw serious attention to dangerous patterns in anti-abortion rhetoric and the politics of race and reproductive justice.Item Short-Term Emotional Reactions to Abortion(Texas Tech University, 1973-12) Anderson, BettyNot Available.Item Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America : a framework for non-profits beginning and ending a relationship with another organization(2013-05) Clemons, Althea Nicole; Anderson, Ronald B.; Greiner, Corinne LThis Professional Report explores the history of the relationship between Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and ways in which this can inform other non-profits attempting to enter into a relationship. The report starts with an analysis of the history of both organizations, their relationship, as well as the environment for non-profits at the time. The report then outlines the details of the Public Relations crisis faced by Susan G. Komen for the Cure when they attempted to end their relationship with Planned Parenthood on January 31, 2012. The report concludes with recommendations for steps to follow for any organization attempting to commence or terminate a relationship with another organization.Item The influence of sexuality/gender schema on attitudes toward legal abortion(Texas Tech University, 1993-05) Kennedy, MartiThis study addressed gaps in prior research regarding attitudes toward legal abortion. It was guided by a feminist perspective that casts the issue as a symbolic politic. Interweaving social perception and cognitive schema models, sexuality/gender schema was conceptualized to include dimensions of females' sexual behavior, motherhood role, and character evaluation and was analyzed in relation to individuals' legal abortion attitudes. Respondents included 459 adults between the ages of 18 and 77. Simultaneous analysis of demographic and ideological variables was conducted by path analyses. It was found that traditional sexuality and motherhood ideologies are positively and significantly related with one another and are related similarly to disapproval of legal abortion. Empirical evidence supported the hypothesis that the ideologies coexist as a sexuality/gender cognitive schema. Factor analyses revealed sex-specific construction of sexuality and motherhood ideologies. Path analyses also revealed sex-specific relationships between the ideologies and legal abortion attitudes. When all variables were controlled, religious fundamentalism was the only demographic variable that was related consistently to disapproval of legal abortion.Item Women's health care needs in Texas : an analysis of the Healthy Women, Healthy Families project(2010-05) Garrett, Lauren Danielle; Osborne, Cynthia Anne, 1969-; Greenberg, SherriHealthy Women, Healthy Families is a survey collection and story sharing project spearheaded by NARAL Pro Choice Texas. The reproductive justice based project asks survey respondents to rate how urgently their community needs a variety of health care services. While all Texas women are invited to participate, special attention was paid to targeting low income and minority women. In this report, I analyze the survey data and make both policy and internal recommendations for NPCT. Overall the survey results show that while all of the services in question are needed by women in Texas, there are differences in the strength of this need based on race and income. General health care services were most valued by all demographics, but NARAL’s priority services were valued most by upper class white women, while low income and minority women were more likely to support services aimed at specific populations (non-English speakers, women in prison, undocumented immigrants, those without transportation, etc.). Based on these survey results, I recommend that NARAL conduct follow up surveys as a way of illuminating some still unanswered questions. In addition, I recommend that NARAL reach out to coalition partners who advocate for the most needed services, expand outreach into low income and minority communities, and use outreach and messaging to try and frame NARAL’s services in a larger, more general health care context.