Digital Commons Network^™

Synthesis Of Montiporynes A And B, Traci Jenelle Speed

Honors Theses

This thesis reports the first complete synthesis of monriporynes A and B. isomeric diacetylenes that bear α, β unsaturated ketone functionalities. Recently isolated from the stony coral Montipora sp. these compounds are reported to possess in vitro cytotoxic activity against several human solid tumor cells. We have synthesized both isomers in three simple steps. In the first step, l-iodononyne was prepared by reacting 1-nonyne with N-iodosuccinimide and a catalytic amount of silver nitrate. This iodoalkyne was then coupled with propargyl alcohol using copper iodide as the catalyst to give 2,4dodecadiynyl alcohol. Finally, the diacetylenic alcohol was subjected to the Swern …

Quantitative Analysis Of Diepoxybutane Damage Within The Chicken Β-Globin Domain, André M. Pilon

Honors Theses

In industrial polymer and synthetic rubber production facilities, workers are exposed to 1,3-butadiene. This compound is converted in vivo to 1,2,3,4-diepoxybutane (DEB) and has been linked to increased incidences of cancer in these individuals. Carcinogenesis has been attributed to formation of DEB induced DNA interstrand cross-links. Previous studies have demonstrated that DEB cross-links deoxyguanosine residues within 5'-GNC sequences in synthetic DNA, in restriction fragments, and in defined sequence nucleosomes. The current study utilized the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to examine DEB damage frequencies within nuclear genes, found within "open" regions of chromatin, as compared to regions of unexpressed sequence that …

Double Stranded Dna-Binding Studies Of Potential Rhodium(Ll) Antitumor Complexes, Amity Elizabeth Burr

Honors Theses

In 1952, Dwyer and coworkers began testing a series of metal complexes for potential inhibition of cancer cell proliferation in animals.[l] The complexes tested were unsuitable for such studies due to their high toxicity. Therefore, no further work was done on the project. However, in 1965, Rosenberg and coworkers revisited the possibility of potential metal-based drugs. Serendipitously, they discovered that cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(lI) (cisplatin) inhibits cell division in E. coli.[2] Further studies of this and other platinum compounds revealed inhibition of tumor cell lines sarcoma 180 and leukemia LI2l0 in mice.[l] Cisplatin was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1970 …

A Blueprint For Environmental Sustainability Along The James River, Trevor S. Macdougall

Honors Theses

The paper is the result of a research project conducted through the University of Richmond, the desired end of which is to produce a Blueprint for Environmental Sustainability Along the James River, a document that provides guidelines for managing the urban riverfront in a sustainable fashion.

The first chapter is designed to outline the layout of this report. The subsequent literature review is divided into four chapters: The Ecological Model, An Overview of Sustainability, Sustainable Practices in Other Cities, and Richmond Development: Past and Present. The first pair of these chapters provide a general assessment of two important environmental paradigms, …

Diversity And Community Structure Of Littoral Zone Macroinvertebrates In Southern Illinois Reclaimed Surface Mine Lakes, Thomas Heatherly Ii

Honors Theses

I sampled fourteen reclaimed surface mine lakes within the Sparta Illinois National Guard training facility for benthic macroinvertebrates in spring of 2003 as part of an overall environmental assessment of the property. The objectives of this research were: (1) to inventory the aquatic macroinvertebrates present; (2) to evaluate the current quality of the aquatic habitats so that the effects of subsequent management and development by the National Guard can be assessed; (3) examine which factors influence invertebrate community structure in these systems; and (4) observe the applicability of several commonly used stream bioassessment metrics to Midwestern surface mine lakes. A …

Fecal Coliforms And Antibiotic Resistance Of Tuckahoe Creek, Catherine C. Parker

Honors Theses

The Tuckahoe Creek has been classified impaired by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) indicating that one of the following parameters exceed the accepted limits: pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO), phosphates, nitrates, and concentration of fecal coliforms. Throughout the course of this study, two selected sites have been monitored monthly in order to measure these parameters. Route 288 is located near a construction site, and Route 621 is near Sycamore Creek Golf Course in a more rural area. The results from this study have shown that the fecal coliforms have been uniformly within the set legal limit of 1,000 …

How The Song Goes: Southern Society Singing The Dual Lives Of Women, Amy R. Roebuck

Honors Theses

This work explores the lives of black and white Southern women, focusing on their role in Southern society as mothers. It covers a variety of Southern literature from var>'ing time periods concerning women of different races and social classes. In each of the works, I have found that maternal characteristics bring women together with an opportunity to bridge gaps between the races, thus allowing motherhood the pov/er to blend cultures. This work is divided into three sections. The first section is an introduction into the lives of women as mothers. It explores the joys and pains of motherhood, and …

Monte Carlo Simulation Of A Nonlinear Epidemic, Blair Margaret Bannerman

Honors Theses

An event-driven Monte Carlo method is used to simulate a simple, nonlinear epidemic. This model illustrates how quickly and to what degree an epidemic spreads through a population. Moreover, it yields information concerning the uncertainties of the epidemic. Some basic assumptions involving the probabilistic dependence of the rate of change of each class in the population must be determined. The rate of infection and the rate of removal from infection are based on case studies found in literary sources. The evolution of the populations is estimated on a time scale that is advanced based on the waiting time. The waiting …

Application Of The Chan-Evans Diaryl Ether Synthesis To The Formation Of Bis(Bibenzyls), Eric Rosenthal

Honors Theses

Alkene (6) was produced in three steps from 3-hydroxybenzaldehyde (8), and 3-bromobenzyl bromide (10). A variety of strategies were employed to synthesize the desired boronic acid (13), but as of this time none have been successful. The synthesis of this boronic acid is necessary to study the feasibility of applying the Chan-Evans copper mediated formation of diaryl ethers to a bis(bibenzyl) synthesis. In seeking to exploit the advantages of the Chan-Evans ether synthesis over the Ullman ether synthesis, we have encountered some of the associated difficulties. The utilization of an arylboronic acid to produce a diaryl ether first requires the …

The Effects Of Autologous Platelet Gel On The Tensile Strength Of Incisional Wounds, Thomas Matthew Jones

Honors Theses

Autologous platelet gel (APG) is already being used in clinical cases, as are other blood products such as fibrin glue and platelet lysate. Fibrin sealants have been show to stop capillary seepage and so reduce occurrences of hemotoma and edema, while platelets have been shown to contain a host of growth factors that promote healing including TGF-p, PDGF, lGF-1, TNF, and FGF. Platelet gel combines the hemostatic properties of fibrin glues with the growth factors contained in platelets. By harvesting the platelet-rich plasma from autologous blood, the risks of viral transmission and tissue incompatibility that are often associated with blood …

Studies On The Role Of Foldign Of The Cro Protein In The Genetic Switch Of The Bacteriophage Lambda, Chinwendu Chioma Onwubiko

Honors Theses

The Cro protein plays a critical role in the genetic switch, which governs the life cycle of the lysogenic bacteriophage lambda. Cro is a slow folding protein. The aim of this thesis is to test the idea that the folding rate of Cro has a direct effect on the dynamics of gene regulation in living cells. One way to test this hypothesis is to increase the rate of folding inside cells. SlyD is a peptidylprolyl isomerase that increases the rate of Cro folding in vitro. Strains of E.coli with varying levels of SlyD were infected with the lambda virus and …

Spleen Rna Concentration And Male Oramentation In The Wild Turkey, William Wilson Boone

Honors Theses

The spleens of adult wild turkeys {Meleagris gallopavo) are their primary immune defense organ and produce many of the antibodies used throughout the body. During parasitic infection, more antibodies must be produced to protect the body from foreign antigens. This may cause the overall mass of the spleen and/or the concentration of RNA in the spleen, which translates DNA into protein antibodies, to increase. It has previously been shown that male turkeys infected with parasites have less pronounced external head ornamentation (snood length, number of side caruncles) than those left uninfected (Buchholz 1995). This difference in external characteristics may also …

Aspects Of Schooling Behavior In The Golden Shiner, Notemigonus Crysoleucas: Nearest Neighbor Distance, Angle Of Sqimming, And Antiphasic Coupling, Megan Thomas Brown

Honors Theses

Many fish swim in schools at some point in their life. This behavior is beneficial for feeding and safety from predators, and may reduce energy expenditure during swimming. The hydrodynamic theory of schooling states that fish in a school take advantage of the wakes produced by other members of the school. This theory has been both supported and refuted in various studies. Using a swim tunnel, nearest neighbor distance, antiphasic coupling and the angle of swimming were studied in golden shiners {Notemigonus crysoleucas) while schooling. A plexiglass container placed inside the swim tunnel restricted fish to swimming in one plane …

On The Origin Of Ethics, John Ashley Kimble

Honors Theses

This essay will be an exploration of Darwin’s theory of natural selection and the implications that the theory holds for the field of ethics. It will investigate the intellectual climate of Darwin’s day and discuss how his theory was received both by his fellow scientists and by the general public. It will provide a brief background of Darwin’s life leading up to his famous voyage aboard the H.M.S. Beagle, as well as relevant biographical details from his later life. It will provide a brief history of the gene and the science of genetics and how this science has changed Darwin’s …

Hyperprolactinemia, Dannielle Braund

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Poisonous Plants Of Tennessee, Erica Fritz

Honors Theses

Many poisonous plants occur within Tennessee. These plants may have an evolutionary advantage over competing plants because of the presence of toxic secondary compounds. Consequently, plant species containing poisons may occur more frequently in advanced families than in primitive families. A list was compiled of those plants that occur in Tennessee that are known to be poisonous and these numbers were compared with the total number of species within both advanced and primitive families. Tennessee poisonous plants occur in higher percentages in those families that are primitive and moderately advanced than in those that are advanced.

Ecuador's Indigenous University Movement, Uinpi: Reconstructing Identity In The Search For Equality, Joshua Gerber

Honors Theses

The following chapters address Ecuadorian history, identity politics. and the education system to analyze UINPI's role in the reformation of indigenous identity. To provide a backdrop for UINPI's identity project, chapter one establishes a historical framework of the development of racialized constructions of indigenous identity in Ecuador. It utilizes Plumwood's hierarchical dualism to address the ways in which identity ideology justified and motivated the often-brutal socio-political domination of euro-mestizo peoples in Ecuador. Chapter two addresses the role of identity at UlNPI, arguing that the university's identity project is oriented towards the reformation of indigenous identity, rather than the representation of …

Medicine Men Of The Anti-Progressive Party : Sacred Sites, Public Lands, And The Construction Of Religious Liberty, Jacob Culbertson

Honors Theses

On December 29, 1890 the United States Seventh Calvary descended upon a group of practitioners of the blossoming Ghost Dance religion and killed more than 300 Indians belonging to multiple Northern Plains nations. The massacre at Wounded Knee Creek was the apex of the United States government's violent campaign to win the American west from its original inhabitants, and it marked a transition in strategy in the young republic's assault on Native America. Having essentially won the land battles to annex the bulk of the economically valuable Native territory, the United States turned its attention away from the physical disposal …

Synthesis And Dna Binding Of Cis And Trans-Rucl2 (Dmso)4, Thomas Curran

Honors Theses

The synthesis of both cis and trans-RuCl?(DMSO)? has been reported in literature, and is currently the only way of acquiring these compounds. Because these metallodrugs have shown similar antitumor properties to cisplatin, they are currently under investigation for use in clinical trials as potential chemotherapeutics. It is believed that these drugs act in a way similar to cisplatin by causing intrastrand crosslinking of adjacent guanine residues in DNA. In an attempt to better understand any Ru/DNA interaction for these compounds, both cis and trans-RuCl?(DMSO)? were synthesized with reasonable yields (~40%). The compounds were then characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), …

Hero Twins: Explorations Of Mythic And Historical Dichotomies, Bethany J. Myers

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Locating Postmodern Epistemology, Organizational Structure And Postcolonial Workers In The Knowledge Rhizome, Viren Mascarenhas

Honors Theses

The three excerpts from Amitav Ghosh's novels find the main characters speculating about the relationship between organizational structures, epistemology and knowledge production. In the first excerpt, Arjun tells Dinu that he does not believe that the colonial bureaucracy known as the British Anny will continue to exist if the policy of separating Indian and British officers persists. Anticipating the problems created from Indians holding leadership positions, he doubts that the British Anny "can go on." Murugan explains how the counter-scientists operate in the second excerpt, noting that members were revising epistemology by distorting knowledge through mutation. They were not following …

Western Michigan University Occupational Therapy Department Web Page, Holly Pietrzak, Melissa Byrne

Honors Theses

Website designed for WMU's Occupational Therapy department.

Rape Myths Among A Sample Of Utc Students, Nicolette Mendenhall

Honors Theses

Rape has a tremendous impact upon victims. The victim has to come to terms with the reality that she was raped,as well as face the new perceptions that other people will have about her. These perceptions will be a result of conceptions about rape that are not realistic. These unrealistic beliefs are called 'rape myths.' There has been much research on rape myths for the following reasons: they may upset the victim, they provide justification for rapists to rape someone, and they may affect a woman's behavior because she may avoid activities she believes will lead her to be raped. …

Time Of Pachakutik: An Examination Of The Ecuadorian Indigenous Movement, Eliza Cooke Kittredge

Honors Theses

The Ecuadorian indigenous movement has emerged in the last decade as the most important social and political movement in the country. The driving organizations behind the movement, CONAIE (Confederadon de Nacionalidades Indigenas del Ecuador), a social organization. and Pachakutik Movimiento Pluri-Nacional (Pluri-national movement), a political organization, have taken different approaches to fortifying indigenous identities, challenging the policies of the Ecuadorian government, and uprooting the subtle but persistent racist ideologies that have been discriminatory and exclusionary for over 500 years. I argue that Pachakutik's involvement within the political system has a greater chance of effecting long-term change for indigenous peoples in …

Effects Of Melatonin On Hemolymph Glucose And Lactate Concentrations In The Fiddler Crab, Uca Pugilator, Kathryn M. Dalton

Honors Theses

Melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine) is an indolamine hormone produced by the pineal gland that works to regulate sleep/wake cycles and activity rhythms. The effects of melatonin in metabolism are far from understood. Melatonin was injected into the fiddler crab, Uca pugilator, to investigate the effects of melatonin on hemolymph glucose and lactate levels. Following injection at t=O, hemolymph samples were collected at t=O.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 5.0 hours. Melatonin caused a decrease in the stress response to injection and also caused delayed hyperglycemia. Melatonin-injected crabs also retained the glucose and lactate rhythymicity when compared to saline-injected crabs. Glucose and lactate rhythms followed …

Complement Resistance In Agrobacterium Tumefaciens Isolates, Michael E. Mccormick

Honors Theses

The word "pathogen" ofen brings to mind morose images and other words such as "illness," "malaria," and "outbreak": words associated with animal pathogens, in particular, the ones that make us humans sick. However, some pathogens also affect another major kingdom, plants, and one of the more devastating pathogens to the plant kingdom is the bacteria Agrobacterium tumefaciens. This organism has a Type IV Secretion System that allows it to transfer a piece of t-DNA into the host cell; this DNA integrates into the eukaryotic genome and establishes in ction by utilizing the host's transcription machinery. This unique and effective means …

Effect Of 6-Thioguanine And Methyl-6-Thioguanine On Stability Of Dna Duplexes, Mabaera Rodwell

Honors Theses

6-Thioguanine (65G) has been used for the past thirty years as an anti-cancer agent in maintenance chemotherapy for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia as well as acute myeloid leukemia. Despite its long-standing clinical use, little is understood of the molecular basis of the cytotoxicity associated with ?sG. Research has shown that ?sG is incorporated into DNA during replication after which it may exert its cytotoxicity by inducing rapid mutation or by affecting DNA-protein interactions. 65G has also been shown to impair HIV replication by inhibiting HlV-l reverse transcriptase and to inhibit human telomerase activity. To further understand the structural changes associated …

Purification Of The Hmg1 Protein And Investigation Of Its Interactions With Diepoxide Cross-Linked Dna, Gayle Pageau

Honors Theses

HMG1 is a nonhistone chromosomal protein that binds preferentially to some types of globally modified DNA. HMG1 has been implicated in the cellular response to the anti-cancer agent cisplatin, functioning to block excision repair of specific distorted platinated DNA lesions and resulting in enhanced cytotoxicity. We have investigated whether other DNA-binding agents also produce lesions that are recognized by HMG1. Specifically, we used polyacrylamide gel shift assays to monitor the potential HMG1 binding of diepoxybutane interstrand cross-links, which have been suggested to induce DNA bending. We isolated the native protein from chicken erythrocytes and expressed engineered HMG domain proteins in …

Cultural Alchemy: The Lacuna Of African Philosophy And Political Theory Towards Cultural Separatism, Tommy J. Curry

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Prescott V.A. Medical Center, Megan E. Edwards

Honors Theses

Discusses therapy techniques, including MOHO, COTE, and KidCOTE, and their implementations. Also presents the case of fictional patients and their proposed treatment plans.