Digital Commons Network^™

Synthesis, Isolation, And Characterization Of Potentially Carcinogenic Arginine-Based Heterocyclic Amines, Zachary Reichert

Honors Theses

Previous research demonstrates that meat cooked at high temperatures produces heterocyclic amines (HCAs)—a class of carcinogenic molecules—from burned creatin(in)e and amino acids. However, research performed in our lab, as well as in the peer-reviewed literature, suggests that substituting arginine for creatin(in)e may lead to HCA formation. Arginine is structurally similar to creatin(in)e and can be found abundantly in soy-based food products. Therefore, we have burned arginine and phenylalanine to investigate the potential formation of arginine-based HCAs. The present study attempts to isolate and characterize these potential arginine-HCAs.

Mobile Application For Biosensor Colorimetric Analysis, Eui Bin You

Honors Theses

Inexpensive paper-based biosensors can be valuable screening tools to test for various illnesses, but it is often challenging to design them to produce a visual change that can easily be identified by untrained users. This research examines one method of compensating for the lack of distinct visual cues by developing and testing a mobile application that uses a machine learning algorithm (k-Nearest Neighbors) to analyze a picture of a sensor and determine whether it shows a positive or negative result. The machine learning algorithm was trained on a set of labeled sensor images and k-fold cross-validation was used to analyze …

The Effect Of Degrading The Transcription Factor Nf-Kb Subunit Proteins On Nf-Kb' S Oncological Activity, Seongmin Lee

Honors Theses

Nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) is a transcription factor that becomes functional when any two of its five component proteins (p50, p52, p65, c-Rel, and RelB) join together. NF-κB plays an important role in bringing out cell proliferation, or cell growth. When NF-κB malfunctions and becomes hyperactive, excessive NF-κB activity promotes abnormally high cell growth, which is a symptom of cancer. Because of its tie to cancer, NF-κB is commonly subjected to modification to curb cancer growth. In this project, each component protein of NF- κB was degraded via a method called RNAi to see if it would have any negative …

Analysis Of Mammalian Carboxypeptidase O Expression Patterns, Christian Bardan

Honors Theses

Carboxypeptidase 0 (CPO) is a protease that cuts acidic amino acids from the carboxy termini of substrate proteins. This study aims to describe the expression patterns of CPO in small mammals. We have sampled tissue from four different species: thirteen-lined ground squirrel, eastern chipmunk, eastern mole, and northern short-tailed shrew. Samples were analyzed via Western blot using two CPO antibodies. Immunoreactive bands likely to be CPO, with molecular weights approximately 42 kDa, were seen predominantly in kidney, liver, and intestinal tissue samples. This suggests CPO could play a specific physiological function in these organs.

Evaluating The Efficacy Of Educational Games In Promoting Interest And Understanding Of Gravitational Wave Physics, Jonathan Wheeler

Honors Theses

The LIGO Scientific Collaboration Education and Public Outreach group seeks to ameliorate the lack of public understanding of gravitational wave physics. One such effort is Black Hole Pong, a remake of the 1972 arcade classic developed by researchers at University of Birmingham, UK. Black Hole Pong differs from other educational games in that it stretches the laws of physics to make the user experience more exciting. Another effort has been my own work in developing a game called Chickens in Space where players can create mass, which coalesces and eventually forms black holes, which serve as obstacles to the players. …

An Examination Of Control Fraud In Non-Banking Industries, Kaylie Takahashi

Honors Theses

William Black’s (2005) control fraud theory suggests accounting fraud initiated by CEOs is more damaging than accounting fraud that is not. However, this theory has only been applied anecdotally to financial institutions. I test Black’s theory using a sample of manufacturing, merchandising, and service firms that engaged in accounting fraud from 2007-2014. I hypothesize that firms which commit CEO-led fraud will exhibit greater growth, leverage, and have higher CEO compensation. My findings do not show that there is any evidence that control frauds are more damaging than other accounting frauds that do not involve the CEO.

A Compartmental Model Of Animal Behavior, Saharsh Dass

Honors Theses

Animal behavior is integral to fitness and arises from complex interactions between internal and external factors. An understanding of how external environmental factors drive animal behavior is important for understanding the way organisms adapt to environmental perturbations such as climate change. Glaucous-winged gulls (Larus glaucescens) at Protection Island, Strait of Juan de Fuca, Washington display a variety of behaviors on the colony during the breeding season. The most common gull behaviors are sleeping, preening, and resting. I used a system of four differential equations to predict numbers of sleeping, preening, and resting gulls on the colony as a function of …

The Effects Of Omega-3 Fatty Acids On Intracellular Inositol Levels In Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, Jee Yeon (Joanne) Lee

Honors Theses

Bipolar disorder is a severe and chronic debilitating mental disorder characterized by extreme mood swings between mania and depression. The current medications for bipolar disorder, lithium and valproate, have been associated with numerous negative side effects. Although the therapeutic mechanism by which lithium and valproate (VPA) exert their effect is unknown, a leading hypothesis implicates inositol depletion as a mechanism of action. On the other hand, omega-3-fatty acids have been shown to relieve symptoms of bipolar disorder. In this study, we compare the effects of VPA to the effects of decosahexaenoic acid (DHA) on Saccharomyces cerevisiae growth and intracellular inositol …

Exposure To Video Media And Its Effects On Attitudes Towards Law Enforcement, Amante Gonzalez

Honors Theses

This study examined how exposure to video media (specifically media geared toward a social media platform) depicting either negative or positive police interactions with individuals will influence perception of law enforcement officials. Using a modified version of the Building a Relationship of Trust Community Perception Survey (BRTCPS) subjects (N=43) responses were analyzed using a two way ANOVA. Results indicated a strong main effect for exposure to both the negative and positive police interaction videos in regards to attitudes towards law enforcement. These findings support the thesis that the videos emotional valence is extremely successful in altering individual’s attitudes towards law …

Procrastination, Motivation, & Flow, Reginald Desrosiers

Honors Theses

No Abstract.

Injury-Induced Neuronal Turnover With Zinc Sulfate Affects Cilitated Olfactory Sensory Neurons More Than Microvillous Olfactory Sensory Neurons In The Adult Zebrafish, James Hentig

Honors Theses

Zinc sulfate is a known olfactory toxicant, although its effects on the olfactory epithelium of zebrafish have not been examined. Previous observations utilizing Triton X-100 found selective retention of some olfactory sensory neurons and loss of others. Based on those findings, we hypothesized that the retention of the ability to sense amino acids, detected by microvillous olfactory sensory neurons, and loss of the ability to perceive bile salts, detected by ciliated olfactory sensory neurons, is a universal response to chemical ablation. Fish were treated with zinc sulfate and survived for 2, 5, 10 and 14 days post treatment and processed …

In Bad Taste - Art Show, Katherine Kolean

Honors Theses

A late night of margaritas contrived an innovative and possibly controversial idea that would incorporate sexual innuendos as part of a senior exhibition. It was the later sober conscious though that revealed the true birth of this idea, which was in fact my own personal sexual journey. In Bad Taste is a depiction of my own sexual awakening – a journey that began with my childhood in a conservative small town in western Michigan, and continues to evolve as a young adult in my final years of college. The title of the exhibition is a tongue-in-cheek response to its sexual …

Calibrating The Justice System, Ashley A. Ulferts

Honors Theses

By surveying a pool of judges in the State of Illinois, their rationale within a hypothetical situation is analyzed against the backdrop of recent contradicting court decisions and the history of law. It is through analyzing this rationale that the factors that tip the scales of justice can be identified, so that actions can be taken to correct our legal system to ultimately uphold the standards of truth and justice it claims to support.

The Ethics Of Environmentalism For The Individual Consumer, Molly Collins

Honors Theses

Climate change harms the well-being of humans. It is the poor choices of individual consumers that contribute to climate change. I argue that it is immoral to cause harm to others, thus climate change is an ethical dilemma for individual consumers. I begin with a pluralistic discussion of harm, before discussing the duties of individuals to make choices that will mitigate the current harms of climate change and the wrong moral assumptions that individuals make regarding their contribution to climate change. I discuss the principles of ethical consumerism, specifically in housing, food, and transportation. Lastly, I argue that climate change …

Berlin Opera Wars : Institutional And The Quest For German Identity, Rebecca Robinson

Honors Theses

In October 2000, Berlin’s Minister of Culture Christoph Stölzl proposed a merger of the city’s opera houses. In the midst of German reunification, Berlin was struggling financially and the cost of three separate opera houses was too much for the city to bear. This proposal to combine the former East-German Staatsoper Berlin and Komishe Oper with the former West-German Deutsche Oper under the administration of “The Opera Stages of Berlin” was met with public backlash. Newspapers all over the world reported daily as the directors of both the Staatsoper and Deutsche Oper—Daniel Barenboim and Christian Thielemans— fought bitterly for their …

Fluctuations In Oil Prices And Its Effects On The Usd-Mxn Exchange Rate, Alejandro Velasco

Honors Theses

Do oil prices affect exchange rates? There is a strong correlation between the changes in oil prices and the fluctuations of the exchange rates. What is the effect of the oil prices on US Dollar- Mexican Peso exchange rate? The US Dollar depreciates whenever the oil prices rise, meaning that the oil prices have an impact on exchange rates (Amano, 1998). Financial analysts and oil industry expertise have seen how prices started to decrease in 2014, and this caused uncertainty affecting other markets and consequently exchange rates. The intention of this research is to demonstrate the correlation that exists between …

The Effects Of The One-Child Policy On Household Financial Decisions, Sylvia M. Xu

Honors Theses

The Chinese One-Child Policy, enacted in 1979, was an attempt to decrease the population growth rate following a period of massive social and political confusion and uncertainty. While the policy was beneficial to curbing the population growth in China, it also introduced unintentional consequences, including sex imbalance, and other demographic differences. The goal of this paper is to examine the economic behavior and financial decisions of son-families and daughter-families across different provinces and regions of China, which have varying levels of sex imbalance, as a result of a cultural preference for sons. These financial decisions include the household saving rate, …

Missing The Trees For The Forest: The Socioecological Significance Of Dispersed Farmland Trees In Northern Ethiopia, Jacob A. Wall, Travis W. Reynolds

Honors Theses

Scattered trees are prominent features in the agricultural landscape of the Ethiopian highlands. The dry Afromontane forests of the Amhara Region in northern Ethiopia have faced centuries of deforestation - the FAO estimates only 3% of the region is forested today. The remaining landscape has been largely converted into agricultural and grazing lands, with the exception of some limited government-protected lands, as well as thousands of small forest fragments left around Orthodox Churches (“church forests”). But while a growing body of scholarship has highlighted the ecological and cultural importance of church forests and other natural forest fragments, the roles of …

Defensive Ability And Salary Determination In Major League Baseball, Christopher B. Shorey

Honors Theses

The process of salary determination in Major League Baseball (MLB) includes multiple levels of bargaining power and performance determinants. Previous studies of MLB salary determination have used a variety of measures of player performance. This paper examines the effect defensive ability has on salary determination for arbitration eligible players and for free agent players. Specifically, it will analyze player salary/contract data negotiated during the 2012-2015 period along with performance data from past seasons to examine the extent to which fielding percentage, errors, and the more recently developed measures of defensive ability affect player salary. Particular attention is paid to matching …

Follow Me Robot, Victoria M. Edwards

Honors Theses

The idea of a personal robotic assistant, while once made up the tales of science fiction, is now moving closer and closer to reality. It is easy for two humans to walk together where one person knows the directions and the other person follows along. However, it is not a trivial problem for a robot to recognize a human, and follow side by side along with them. There are three key parts to this problem: 1.) Detection of a human, 2.) Tracking the human, and 3.) the robot's Motion strategy. Using baseline assumptions, I can simplify the detection process allowing …

Missing The Trees For The Forest: The Socioecological Significance Of Dispersed Farmland Trees In Northern Ethiopia, Jacob A. Wall

Honors Theses

Scattered trees are prominent features in the agricultural landscape of the Ethiopian highlands. The dry Afromontane forests of the Amhara Region in northern Ethiopia have faced centuries of deforestation - the FAO estimates only 3% of the region is forested today. The remaining landscape has been largely converted into agricultural and grazing lands, with the exception of some limited government-protected lands, as well as thousands of small forest fragments left around Orthodox Churches (“church forests”). But while a growing body of scholarship has highlighted the ecological and cultural importance of church forests and other natural forest fragments, the roles of …

Police Impunity In Mexico: Creating Openings For Justice In A New Democracy, Emily Boyce

Honors Theses

In this project, I investigate why police impunity has persisted in Mexico, and why the application of justice, when it does occur, happens unequally. Mexico has undergone a democratic transition with a specific focus on increasing accountability in the judiciary. These persistent trends of police impunity and unequal application of justice are especially puzzling in the face of these recent shifts. Existing literature argues that the institutional changes that occur as a result of democratization should yield changes that further the individual rights of citizens. A majority of the scholarly work regarding police impunity and justice in Mexico focuses on …

Health Care Agency: Statewide Awareness Of Patient-Centered Care In Maine’S Mental Health Care Facilities, Holly Hogan A

Honors Theses

This research project focuses on patient-centered care (PCC) in the context of inpatient acute psychiatric units. Hospitals have been claiming their renewed outlooks on health-care via PCC. It has become an increasingly popular term to use on hospital websites and in presidential statements. The technologies and practices surrounding psychiatric care have evolved in such a way that patients are more welcomed to have an input in their care. This project discusses the discourse around PCC at Mental Health Care Facilities in Maine. There is no consensus on the definition; the meanings ascribed to it are derived from the individual institutions. …

A Failure To Cooperate: Why Canada, The United States, And Mexico Have Not Developed A Regional Energy Strategy, Timothy Dutton

Honors Theses

Given the push from the private sector, as well as the resource complementarities among the three countries of North America, it is somewhat surprising that North America has not developed an integrated energy strategy based on traditional, non-renewable energy (2000-2016). How should we understand this puzzle? The answer lies in domestic forces and the structure of national preferences. Using liberal international relations theory, this thesis presents a two-step argument: first, the election of pro-green political parties has in each country led to a convergence of preferences for climate action. Essentially, as each one came to power, the win-set for a …

Detecting Stock Market Bubbles: A Price-To-Earnings Approach, Austin F. Murphy

Honors Theses

To this day, economists argue about the existence of stock market bubbles. The literature review for this paper observes the analysis of four reputable bubble tests in an attempt to provide ample qualitative proof for the existence of bubbles. The first obstacle for creating an effective bubble detection test is the difficulty of estimating true fundamental values for equities. Without adequate estimations for the fundamental values of equities, the deviation between actual price and fundamental price is impossible to observe or estimate. Additionally, these tests are reliant on strong underlying assumptions, which tend to cloud results.

This thesis applies a …

Entering Into Dialogue With Pope Francis' Laudato Si: On Care For Our Common Home, Sarah Jeanne Shimer

Honors Theses

Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home brings together the spheres of science and religion. In this document, Francis puts forth a call for action towards religious and non-religious communities alike to address climate change. The strength of the document lies in the way Francis expresses his call. By drawing on scientific and religious tradition, he situates the encyclical in a broader conversation about the moral obligation for humans to care for the environment. This thesis explores the reception of Laudato Si by religious and environmental communities through political cartoons, written critiques, and personal interviews. …

Negotiating Order In State-Funded Care: Examining The Salience Of Sponsoring Agencies In Maine's School-Based Health Centers, Susan M. Fleurant

Honors Theses

The rising costs of healthcare and increasing awareness about poor health outcomes in the United States has brought the issue of access to primary and preventative care to the forefront of the national public health agenda in recent years. While still a relatively small part of the U.S. health care delivery system, the integral place of school-based health centers is becoming increasingly apparent, particularly in low-income, medically underserved communities. Previous scholarship that using quantitative measures demonstrates that school-based health centers are effective and address the stark racial and socioeconomic health disparities that persist. Yet, this work neglects many of the …

Campaigning On Youtube: Messaging And Online Communication In The 2016 Presidential Nomination Process, Abraham Krieger

Honors Theses

The Internet has become an important media environment in the context of political campaigns. This research examines YouTube, the most popular website for video content, in order to understand how the platform fits into the broader media landscape and analyzes the messaging content of leading candidates seeking the 2016 nomination. It tests several hypotheses about the YouTube content posted by the campaigns of Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, Bernie Sanders, and Hillary Clinton, during the period from the announcement of their candidacies through February 10, 2016. The research finds that campaigns upload varying amounts and types of content and that they …

Phenanthrene...With A Twist!, Nicholas S. Kim

Honors Theses

The twisted and sterically hindered 4,5-dibromophenanthrene, was synthesized from 2,6-dibromoiodobenzene in a four-step pathway, or from 1,3-dibromobenzene in a three-step pathway. Then, 4,5-dibromophenanthrene was subjected to a Kumada coupling, leading to the synthesis of an even more twisted 4-bromo-5-tert-butylphenanthrene. Computational studies using density functional theory were performed to compare experimental and theoretical characteristics of these compounds, such as dihedral angles, optimized structures, and transition state energy barriers.

The purpose of these experiments is to fill gaps in chemical databases, synthesize more pronounced twists in normally planar phenanthrene molecules, and to ultimately synthesize 4,5-bis-tert-butylphenanthrene, which may have …

Pharmaceutical And Personal Care Products Concentrations In The Belgrade Lakes: A Possible Threat To Aquatic Ecosystems And Human Health, Serena Haver

Honors Theses

Pharmaceuticals and active ingredients from personal care products (PPCPs) include prescription and over-the-counter drugs, sunscreen, fragrances, and soaps. Recently researchers have detected PPCPs in surface waters, posing a threat to aquatic biota and human health. These compounds can enter the environment through dumping, direct excretion, or sewage effluent streams. We tested 14 water samples from East Pond, Great Pond, and Long Pond in Maine for the presence of 23 different PPCPs. Of those, we only detected significant levels of caffeine, 1,7-dimethylxanthine, and amphetamine all below 1µg/L. There were no significant differences between any of the three lakes for any of …