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Signal Transduction Pathways In Volvox Carteri, Heide Girardin

Honors Theses

The green alga Volvox carteri exhibits a virtual absence of protein synthesis in the dark, but begins synthesizing proteins necessary for growth and development almost immediately after exposure to the light. The regulation of protein synthesis in this system is known to be translational since extracts prepared in the dark have identical pools and quantities of mRNA as extracts prepared in the light (Kirk and Kirk, 1983). Exploration of the mechanism of translational regulation has led us to consider the importance of signal transduction pathways. By using a variety of commercially available drugs that affect specific components of known signaling …

Power Of The Party: An Assessment Of Political Party Impact On The Nomination Processes For The U.S. House Of Representatives, Cary Gibson

Honors Theses

In 1942, prominent political scientist E.E. Schattschneider said of the importance of the nomination to political parties: "Unless the party makes authoritative and effective nominations, it cannot stay in business...The nature of the nomination procedure determines the nature of the party; he who can make nominations is the owner of the party."l Statements such as this articulate the importance of the nominating power to political parties: the ability to make effective nominations is an integral part of their function in the electoral system. However, throughout this century, American political parties have been witness to a startling decline in their ability …

Celluloid Blackness : Race, Modernity, And The Conflicted Roots Of American Cinema (1915-1939), Lincoln Farr

Honors Theses

Introduction: "The Problem of the Twentieth Century" In a full page interview in the New York Times on May 29, 1912, the Swiss psychiatrist Dr. Carl G. Jung told the American people, "It seems to me that you are about to discover yourselves. You have discovered everything else-all the land of this continent; all the resources, all the hidden things of nature."Jung used the interview to address the American people, at a moment which he somehow recognized as crucial in the development of human civilization. America, the "tragic" country which he struggled to comprehend, would soon become the harbinger of …

Calcium Metabolismn In Volvox Carteri, Bridget Anne Neville

Honors Theses

Calcium metabolism is involved in many ways in the cellular activities of the colonial green alga, Volvox carteri. Various drugs that are known in other systems to cause specific changes in calcium metabolism, gave rise to various visible metabolic effects in this study. These effects provide evidence for calcium's role in Volvox growth and development and in its cytoskeleton. Another way that calcium exerts its effect on Volvox is by acting as a second messenger in a G-protein/inositol phosphate signal transduction pathway.

This study also supports the fact that cytoskeletal components are important for development in Volvox. Both microtubules and …

Suspended Particulate Matter And Sediment Of Penobscot Estuary, Craig M. Pochini

Honors Theses

An automated scanning electron microscope with an energy dispersive spectrometer was used to gather morphological and chemical information on individual particles from the suspended particulate matter of the Penobscot Estuary and the sediment of Goose Cove/Pond. The goals of the Penobscot Estuary study were to investigate the transport of particles into and through an estuary, the speciation of elements, the abundance of heavy metals, and the background levels of heavy metals. The majority of particles were aluminosilicates originating from a riverine source. Heavy metals were not abundant in the Penobscot Estuary. The objectives of the Goose Cove/Pond study were to …

Computational Studies Of Hydroboration: Remote Functional Groups And Ring Size Effects, Sarah Liberty Olbrich

Honors Theses

This study is a preliminary computational study of the energies of complex molecules. We are looking at the roles of remote heteroatoms in the hydroboration of propellane systems and ring size effects in the solvolysis of cyclic alkyl halides was examined using computational methods. Geometry and transition state optimizations were done using semi empirical (MNDO. AMI) and ab initio (STO-3G, 3-2IG, and 6-31G*) methods. Attempts to correlate computational results with previously reported data will be presented.