Honors Projects
Showing 501 - 550 of 662 Items
When is Change Possible? Presidential Power as Shaped by Political Context, Constitutional Tools, and Legislative Skills
Date: 2021-01-01
Creator: Ryan Telingator
Access: Open access
- Many Americans believe that the president is an omnipotent figure who can achieve any political or policy objective if they try hard enough. On the contrary, the presidency was intentionally crafted by the Framers of the Constitution to have limited legislative powers to mitigate the risk of despotism. Thus, this paper seeks to answer the question, when is change possible?, to try to bridge the gap between popular belief and Constitutional powers. Three questions guide this research: 1) What conditions are conducive for change? 2) What Constitutional tools help a president facilitate change? And 3) What skills can a president bring to office to help create change? This thesis seeks to answer these questions by reviewing the existing literature on political context, tools, and legislative skills. Case study analyses of the Lyndon Johnson and Ronald Reagan presidencies are then presented to assess their legislative successes and failures, and the factors behind them. Finally, the thesis concludes by evaluating President Joseph Biden’s first 100 days in office and uses the theory and findings from the cases to predict Biden’s ability to affect change. This research reveals that the political context is the most important factor in determining the possibility of change – successful change relies on open policy windows, resilient ideological commitments, and a mandate to stimulate congressional action. Within the constraints of the case studies, Constitutional tools were not important. Legislative skills helped to pass legislation, however, they were not potent enough to overcome a bad political context.
Characterizing the exhumation path of the first ultrahigh-pressure terrane in North America Access to this record is restricted to members of the Bowdoin community. Log in here to view.
Date: 2015-05-01
Creator: Zachary FM Burton
Access: Access restricted to the Bowdoin Community
An AGN as a Counterpart for Neutrino Event IceCube-220303A
Date: 2024-01-01
Creator: Nur Schettino
Access: Open access
- Cosmic rays have been detected for over a century. While some sources have been confirmed, they cannot explain the high energy of the particles (> 10^15 eV), so it remains unclear where and how they are accelerated to extreme energies. The study of astrophysical high-energy neutrinos may help solve the puzzle. These neutrinos are produced by cosmic rays interacting with other charged particles or photons. Moreover, while cosmic rays do not reveal their sources of origin because they can be deflected by magnetic fields, cosmic neutrinos detected by the IceCube Observatory can be traced back to their sources of origin. We will consider an active galactic nucleus (AGN) as a candidate source for a high-energy neutrino.This thesis examines the AGN WISEA J175051.31+105645.3 as a potential source for IceCube-220303A, a high-energy neutrino with a 78% probability of being astrophysical in origin. Using follow-up NuSTAR and Swift/XRT observations, WISEA J175051.31+105645.3 was the only viable source we found in IceCube-220303A’s uncertainty region. We used follow-up X-ray data to construct a multi-wavelength spectral energy distribution (SED) through which we calculated the AGN’s neutrino energy flux. This calculation yields the number of neutrinos we would expect to detect from the AGN in a given time period. We used this number to calculate the probability that IceCube-220303A was emitted by WISEA J175051.31+105645.3. Finding a statistically significant link between IceCube-220303A and WISEA J175051.31+105645.3 may help us better understand what processes can accelerate particles like cosmic rays to extreme energies and learn more about AGN.
Modulation of the stretch feedback pathway in the cardiac neuromuscular system of the American lobster, Homarus americanus
Date: 2024-01-01
Creator: Karin van Hassel
Access: Open access
- The cardiac ganglion (CG) is a central pattern generator, a neural network that, when activated, produces patterned motor outputs such as breathing and walking. The CG induces the heart contractions of the American lobster, Homarus americanus, making the lobster heart neurogenic. In the American lobster, the CG is made up of nine neurons: four premotor pacemaker neurons that send signals to five motor neurons, causing bursts of action potentials from the motor neurons. These bursts cause cardiac muscle contractions that vary in strength based on the burst duration, frequency, and pattern. The activity of the CG is modulated by feedback pathways and neuromodulators, allowing for flexibility in the CG’s motor output and appropriate responses to changes in the animal’s environment. Two feedback pathways modulate the CG motor output, the excitatory cardiac muscle stretch and inhibitory nitric oxide feedback pathways. Despite our knowledge of the modulation of the CG by feedback pathways and neuromodulators separately, little is known about how neuromodulators influence the sensory feedback response to cardiac muscle stretch. I found one neuromodulator to modulate each phase of the stretch response differently, one neuromodulator to generally not affect the stretch response, and three neuromodulators to suppress the stretch response. These results suggest neuromodulators can act to produce flexibility in a CPG’s motor output, allowing the system to respond appropriately to changes in an organism’s environment, and allow for variation in CPG responses to different stimuli.
Sexual Knowledge in Late-Colonial Bombay: Contested Authority, Politicized Sciences
Date: 2022-01-01
Creator: Rahul Prabhu
Access: Open access
- Sexuality was at the fulcrum of various issues facing late-colonial India from social reform projects such as child marriage, women’s rights and birth control to concerns of socioeconomic, physical and sexual weakening. The question of sexual modernity became implicated in imaginations of the modern post-colonial nation, setting the stage for a period of energized, linguistically plural projects of sexual knowledge production. While science was used to authorize such projects in the West, where could authority be located in a context where science held plural meaning and authority itself was highly contested? This paper asks how scientific authority was understood, deployed and shaped by the eugenics project of Narayan Sitaram Phadke (1894-1978) and the sexology project of A.P. Pillay (1890-1956). This thesis argues that the mechanics of each figures’ utilization of science captures how the interaction between scientific authority and society was understood by Phadke and Pillay in different ways. While both figures subscribed to the idea that science was universally authoritative in the making of sexual modernity, Phadke’s and Pillay’s projects show the plurality in how science was understood by social reformers. Furthermore, the thesis presents the differences between Phadke’s and Pillay’s projects as a product of the larger movements – British-era birth control advocacy, Hindu nationalism, upper-caste marriage reform and global sexology – that Phadke and Pillay were distinctly invested in or separated from. Scientific authority and the mechanics of its use is proposed as a vivid lens into the complex dynamics of modernization in late-colonial India.
From Bleeding to Breathing: Embodying Violence and Healing in the Performances of Ana Mendieta, Regina José Galindo and Ruby Rumié Access to this record is restricted to members of the Bowdoin community. Log in here to view.
Date: 2021-01-01
Creator: Norell Sherman
Access: Access restricted to the Bowdoin Community
Art of the Profile: Profile Journalism in Theory and Practice This record is embargoed.
- Embargo End Date: 2028-05-18
Date: 2023-01-01
Creator: Halina E. Bennet
Access: Embargoed
Narration, Nation et Nationalisme dans les récits d’enfance de Mouloud Feraoun et Mohammed Dib
Date: 2022-01-01
Creator: Reed Foehl
Access: Open access
- During the mid-20th century, a new form of Algerian literature emerged, thematically detached yet linguistically tied to France. Novelists aligned with this littérature algérienne de langue française used their narrative power to expose the atrocities of the colonial period, while emphasizing the rising nationalist spirit throughout the country. A peculiar aspect of this national literature is the presence of a child protagonist. Many of Algeria’s most prominent authors centered their first novels on a young boy. This leads to my central question: does the récit d’enfance (childhood narrative) possess certain qualities that lend it useful for representing ubiquitous suffering, as well as an imminent national awakening. My research focuses on two Algerian novelists, Mouloud Feraoun and Mohammed Dib, who employ the récit d’enfance for different aims. In this paper, I first define the récit d’enfance and show how Feraoun and Dib implement this literary style. Secondly, I argue that Mohammed Dib’s trilogy is distinctly political. Employing the critical theories of Frantz Fanon and Benedict Anderson, I contend that Dib’s trilogy, published between 1952-1957, is a littérature de combat (combat literature). Although Feraoun’s publication of Le Fils du Pauvre in 1950 inaugurated Franco-Algerian literature, his work is more reflective than political. Comparing Feraoun and Dib’s early work, allows me to expose the disparate narratives arising in the decade prior to Algerian independence. Their portrayal of colonial oppression, as well as the courage and ambition of an exploited people, remains useful when studying models of colonial and post-colonial nationalism and nation-state.
Testing conservation of an mRNA transport pathway in yeast Access to this record is restricted to members of the Bowdoin community. Log in here to view.
Date: 2021-01-01
Creator: Kyu Young "Kevin" Chi
Access: Access restricted to the Bowdoin Community
Investigating the photoacidic properties of 8-benzylideneamino-2-naphthol This record is embargoed.
- Embargo End Date: 2027-05-19
Date: 2022-01-01
Creator: Oliver M. Nix
Access: Embargoed
The Role of ELMO5 in Arabidopsis thaliana Cell Adhesion
Date: 2022-01-01
Creator: Isabel Kristina Ball
Access: Open access
- Plant cell growth and development relies on proper cellular adhesion. As the extracellular matrix serves as the area of connection between two cells, its synthesis and maintenance are essential for cellular adhesion. The middle lamella region, the layer of the extracellular matrix between two adjacent cell walls, is diffuse with the polysaccharide pectin due to its delivery by Golgi vesicles early during cell division. A Ruthenium Red screen for cellular adhesion mutants identified the family of 5 ELMO proteins that are critical for proper cellular adhesion. To further our understanding of plant cellular adhesion and pathways of pectin synthesis and modification, this work investigates ELMO5. Plants homozygous for a T-DNA insertion in ELMO5 and a new deletion mutant allele generated using CRSPR do not have a cellular adhesion phenotype, suggesting it is either not critical for cellular adhesion or is redundant with another gene. Redundancy within the ELMO family is identified through the analysis of double mutants of elmo5 and each of the other four elmo genes. Both elmo1-/- elmo5-/-and elmo4-/- elmo5-/-mutants have a visibly worse cellular adhesion defect phenotype, suggesting partial redundancy through the ELMO family. The mutants are also rescued by growth on agar, pointing to the importance of turgor pressure and osmotic potential in modulating cellular adhesion. Both ELMO4 and ELMO5 were found to localize to the Golgi using a GFP fusion, consistent with a role for ELMOs as scaffold for pectin biosynthesis.
Characterization of Spaetzle-Toll Ligand-Receptor Pairs in Gryllus bimaculatus Access to this record is restricted to members of the Bowdoin community. Log in here to view.
- Restriction End Date: 2028-06-01
Date: 2023-01-01
Creator: Tabarak Al Musawi
Access: Access restricted to the Bowdoin Community
Literary Stolpersteine that Produce Memory, Identity, and Belonging in Contemporary German Narratives of Migration This record is embargoed.
- Embargo End Date: 2026-12-16
Date: 2022-01-01
Creator: Lauren Katz
Access: Embargoed
Ink This record is embargoed.
- Embargo End Date: 2025-05-19
Date: 2022-01-01
Creator: Andrew MacGregor Nicholson
Access: Embargoed
An analysis and characterization of Sonic Hedgehog and Fgf genes in Danio rerio embryonic tooth development This record is embargoed.
- Embargo End Date: 2027-05-18
Date: 2022-01-01
Creator: Lauren Kanoelani Waters
Access: Embargoed
The influence of Toll 7 on the neuroplasticity of auditory neurons in the Mediterranean field cricket (Gryllus bimaculatus) This record is embargoed.
- Embargo End Date: 2028-05-16
Date: 2023-01-01
Creator: Brooke Asherman
Access: Embargoed
From Shadow to Spotlight: Minoritarian Characters, Representative Failures, and High School Powerarchy in Teen Television This record is embargoed.
- Embargo End Date: 2028-05-18
Date: 2023-01-01
Creator: Paloma Ada Aguirre
Access: Embargoed
Onkel Toms Hütte: Translation, Intervention, and Nation This record is embargoed.
- Embargo End Date: 2028-05-18
Date: 2023-01-01
Creator: Sofie Brown
Access: Embargoed
The Roles of Personality, Internalized Stigma, and Shame Proneness as Barriers to Mental Health Treatment Access to this record is restricted to members of the Bowdoin community. Log in here to view.
- Restriction End Date: 2026-06-01
Date: 2023-01-01
Creator: Grace Cross
Access: Access restricted to the Bowdoin Community
Examining the Predictive Value of Anxiety, Depression, and Suicidal Ideation Screening in Determining Psychosis Risk This record is embargoed.
- Embargo End Date: 2028-05-16
Date: 2023-01-01
Creator: Tara M. D. Mullen
Access: Embargoed
The Politics of Seeing: John Ruskin As Political Thinker This record is embargoed.
- Embargo End Date: 2027-05-16
Date: 2024-01-01
Creator: Hayden D. Redelman
Access: Embargoed
Modeling the Development & Expression of Political Opinion: A Zallerian Approach
Date: 2024-01-01
Creator: Avery C Ellis
Access: Open access
- Research focused on John Zaller's famous RAS model of political opinion formation and change from "The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion" (1992). Analyzed the mathematical and psychological underpinnings of the model, the first paper to do so in over fifteen years and the first to do so through an analysis of motivated reasoning and Bayesian reasoning. Synthesized existing critiques of Zaller's model and other literature to suggest ways to build on Zaller, utilizing fundamental reunderstandings of opinions and messages from political and mathematical perspectives. Found verification for Zaller's model, confirming its value, but also found support for the proposed RAIS model, which suggests foundational changes in the way citizens interact with information in the current political environment. Confirmed the utility of a Zallerian framework for analyzing shifts in mass opinion over time and suggested ways to improve the creation of surveys and polls for understanding elections and reported opinions on issues.
A phylogenomic approach to the blue-barred parrotfish (Scarus ghobban) complex across the Indian and Pacific Oceans This record is embargoed.
- Embargo End Date: 2025-05-17
Date: 2024-01-01
Creator: Eban Charles
Access: Embargoed
The Role of Pectin Methyl Esterase in Pectin Activation of WAK Regulated Stress Response in Arabidopsis thaliana Access to this record is restricted to members of the Bowdoin community. Log in here to view.
Date: 2014-05-01
Creator: Nicholas J Saba
Access: Access restricted to the Bowdoin Community
The role of modulation on the pyloric neurons and the neuromuscular junction in a pattern generator-effector system
Date: 2023-01-01
Creator: Jackie Seddon
Access: Open access
- Neuromodulation, the process of altering the electrical outputs of a neuron or neural circuit, allows an organism to control its physiological processes to meet the needs of both its internal and external environments. Previous work shows that the pyloric pattern of the kelp crab (Pugettia producta) stomatogastric nervous system (STNS) neurons responded to fewer neuromodulators than the Jonah crab (Cancer borealis). Since the kelp crab diet primarily eats kelp, it is possible that the movements of the foregut that control digestion may require less flexibility in functional output compared to an opportunistic feeder. To determine whether a reduced flexibility is correlated with diet, this study compared the modulatory responses in Pugettia to two other species of majoid crabs: Chionoecetes opilio and Libinia emarginata, which are both opportunistic feeders. Pooled data for this study found that Libinia and Chionoecetes responded to all twelve modulators tested. When considering the effect of modulators on stomatogastric ganglion (STG) motor outputs, we must consider whether these modulators also alter the excitatory junction potentials (EJPs) at the neuromuscular junction (NMJ), and whether there are differences in responses across species. To test this, the dorsal gastric nerve (dgn) was stimulated while recording intracellularly from the muscle fibers of the associated gm4 muscles. The NMJ of the gm4 in Cancer borealis did not appear to be broadly modulated, as only RPCH and CabTRP showed increases in amplitude, and RPCH decreased facilitation at 5 Hz.
The impact of plastic contaminants and neuroprotectants on spinal neural circuits controlling vertebrate locomotion This record is embargoed.
- Embargo End Date: 2026-05-18
Date: 2023-01-01
Creator: Violet Louise Rizzieri
Access: Embargoed
CRISPR Mutagenesis of the WAK Locus Access to this record is restricted to members of the Bowdoin community. Log in here to view.
Date: 2016-01-01
Creator: Cody P Woods
Access: Access restricted to the Bowdoin Community
The role of pubertal hormones on female rats' sensitivity to acute ketamine treatment in an early-life-adversity model Access to this record is restricted to members of the Bowdoin community. Log in here to view.
Date: 2024-01-01
Creator: Nuanxi (Sissi) Feng
Access: Access restricted to the Bowdoin Community
New Institutional Economics: Political Institutions and Divergent Development in Costa Rica and Honduras
Date: 2022-01-01
Creator: Maynor Alberto Loaisiga Bojorge
Access: Open access
- For most of their histories, Costa Rica and Honduras were primarily agricultural societies with little economic diversification. However, around 1990, after the implementation of Washington Consensus reforms, the economies of both nations began to diverge. Costa Rica’s economy rapidly expanded for the following 30 years, while Honduras remained stagnant. Through a New Institutional Economics approach, I argue that institutional differences between Costa Rica and Honduras are responsible for the impressive economic growth Costa Rica has been able to achieve in the past few decades. Specifically, early political developments in Costa Rica have deeply imbedded relatively egalitarian values into the population, helping shape formal and informal inclusive political institutions. Meanwhile, Honduras experienced the development of extractive political institutions, as political and economic power was heavily concentrated in the hands of a select few. These political institutions were crucial during the implementation stages of Washington Consensus reforms, as strong and inclusive political institutions attracted Foreign Direct Investment that helped propel the Costa Rican economy and materialize its position as an outlier in the region. In contrast, lack of institutional guarantees discouraged foreign investors from investing money into the Honduran economy. Through a deep dive into the political histories of both nations, from European discovery to modernity, I conclude that the political institutions of these Central American nations have determined their economic growth paths.
Characterizing variation in enhancer usage within and between natural populations of Drosophila by comparing chromatin conformation in non-coding DNA This record is embargoed.
- Embargo End Date: 2027-05-19
Date: 2022-01-01
Creator: Serena Jonas
Access: Embargoed
Greening the Market: Natural Groceries from the Countercuisine to Whole Foods Access to this record is restricted to members of the Bowdoin community. Log in here to view.
Date: 2022-01-01
Creator: Livia Kunins-Berkowitz
Access: Access restricted to the Bowdoin Community
Empire of Horror: Race, Animality, and Monstrosity in the Victorian Gothic
Date: 2022-01-01
Creator: Grace Monaghan
Access: Open access
- This project examines Victorian England through the analysis of three Victorian gothic novels: Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897) and The Jewel of Seven Stars (1903/1912), and Richard Marsh’s The Beetle (1897). The end of the nineteenth century and the final years of the Victorian era brought with them fears and uncertainties about England’s role in the world and its future, fears that the Victorian gothic sought to grapple with, but inevitably failed to contain. In examining this genre, I draw on “Undisciplining Victorian Studies” (Chatterjee et al, 2020), which calls for the field of Victorian studies to center racial theory. As such, I foreground race and whiteness in these novels, in conjunction with animality, empire, and sexuality, all of which were crucial tools in the imperial gothic’s project of constructing the monstrous Other. The British empire relied on the establishment of a physical and moral boundary between itself and the colonized Other, in order to justify its imperialism and maintain its own perceived superiority. Yet, ultimately, this project demonstrates that the boundaries between the self and the Other, between morality and monstrosity, and between mainland England and its empire, were dangerously porous.
The Lay Judge System: Following a Tradition of Maintaining the Status Quo or Forging a Path Towards More Reformation of the Justice System? Access to this record is restricted to members of the Bowdoin community. Log in here to view.
Date: 2015-05-01
Creator: Alexandra Mathieu
Access: Access restricted to the Bowdoin Community
Surface Soil Stocks: Peat Development and Soil Carbon Storage on South Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada This record is embargoed.
- Embargo End Date: 2028-05-18
Date: 2023-01-01
Creator: Ana Gunther
Access: Embargoed
Songs for Birds: An Exploration of Climate Change and the Changing Soundscape Access to this record is restricted to members of the Bowdoin community. Log in here to view.
Date: 2023-01-01
Creator: Logan Paige Gillis
Access: Access restricted to the Bowdoin Community
Diatom blooms in Harpswell Sound: seasonality, succession, and origin
Date: 2023-01-01
Creator: Charlie Francis O'Brien
Access: Open access
- Harpswell Sound (HS) is an inlet in northeastern Casco Bay that exerts control on Gulf of Maine ecosystem health, yet its complex phytoplankton community dynamics have not been characterized with sufficiently detailed analyses. In this research, high-resolution automated microscopy and current velocity observations were used to test the seasonality, ecological succession, bloom origin location, and potential toxicity of populations in HS between 2020 and 2022. Winter months could exhibit slow accumulation of diatom biovolume. Cold, salty surface water has net outflow in winter as nutrients from depth are replenished during net upwelling conditions, and populations could be exported from the inlet at the surface. Extreme current velocity variability in spring due to the Kennebec River plume in HS destabilizes spatially uniform populations. Warm, low-salinity surface water with net inflow in summer (net downwelling which retains populations at the head of the sound) corresponds with temporally separate dinoflagellate and diatom blooms. Large, multi-peaked spring and fall diatom blooms are recurrent, contrasting small, short-lived blooms in summer. A successional pattern from diatoms to dinoflagellates is confirmed for summer but refuted for other seasons. The hypothesis that diatom succession during all blooms in HS is characterized by large centric cells preceding small cells or pennate cells was explored but no clear pattern in decreasing cell size was observed. Observed tidal effects on biovolume concentration could mask that blooms develop at coherent times but spatially separated. A diverse community of toxic phytoplankton, including dinoflagellates and Pseudonitzschia, are observed throughout the year.
Eroding the Bedrock: The Future of Public Administration Without Chevron Deference
Date: 2024-01-01
Creator: Rose Keller
Access: Open access
- When Congress passes a bill, it produces words on a page. Who decides what those words mean? Historically, the onus of a statute’s interpretation has rested with the federal agencies charged with its implementation. The Chevron doctrine, a two-step standard that affords federal agencies significant latitude in interpreting their own enabling legislation, has been the applicable deference regime in statutory interpretation cases since 1984. Contrary to this tradition, recent Supreme Court jurisprudence has reasserted the primacy of the judiciary in statutory interpretation cases, often ignoring Chevron entirely. In 2023, the Court granted certiorari to Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, a case that explicitly asked the Court to consider overruling Chevron vs. NRDC, a foundational case in the field of administrative law. This thesis explores the implications of eroding deference to federal agencies through a case study of the Food and Drug Administration and two of its responsibilities. Ultimately, there are potentially negative consequences to limiting agency jurisdiction via eviscerating judicial deference that counsel a more discerning approach.
Blockholders and Their Effect on Project Value: An Empirical Approach of Understanding Ownership Concentration and Firm Value Using an Event Study Framework
Date: 2017-05-01
Creator: Xuanming Guo
Access: Open access
- This study uses an event study framework to find the relationship between ownership concentration and project value. I find that project value first increases with ownership concentration when block size, the percentage ownership of the largest blockholder, is smaller than 10%, then declines with ownership concentration when block size gets larger, and finally rises again when block size exceeds 30%. However, my research only suggests an ambiguous relationship between ownership concentration and firm value. Additionally, ownership concentration seems to affect both the timing of market responses and the market’s interpretation of large investment projects.
A Neighbor’s Impact: The Influence of Emotional Valence on Visual Word Processing Access to this record is restricted to members of the Bowdoin community. Log in here to view.
Date: 2014-05-01
Creator: Marissa C Rosenthal
Access: Access restricted to the Bowdoin Community
The Power of In-Person Digital Repatriation: Returning Historic Photographs to West Greenland Communities This record is embargoed.
- Embargo End Date: 2029-05-15
Date: 2024-01-01
Creator: Agnes Macy
Access: Embargoed
Activation of Hydrogen by Sterically Modulated Coinage Metal Catalysts via Mutual Quenching of Hard/Soft Acid/Base Mismatches
Date: 2024-01-01
Creator: Zach Leibowitz
Access: Open access
- To mitigate the devastating environmental impacts of climate change in the coming decades, it is imperative that we replace the use of fossil fuels with renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and hydroelectric. As these renewable energy sources are inherently intermittent, there exists a need for sustainable mechanisms to store renewable energy for later use. While the direct use of dihydrogen (H2) as a combustible fuel would allow for energy storage without the harmful release of carbon dioxide (CO2) upon combustion, the practicality of H2 as a synthetic fuel is limited by its low volumetric energy density. Combining sustainable H2 production (e.g. electrolysis using energy from renewable sources) with subsequent carbon fixation (e.g. the hydrogenation of CO2) represents a promising pathway to the sustainable production of high-density synthetic fuels. We hypothesize that such a process could be catalyzed by an IPr**-supported catalyst containing a hard/soft acid/base (HSAB) mismatch, with a polarizable coinage metal acting as a soft acid. As such, the aim of our project is the construction of a catalogue of IPr**-supported copper, silver, and gold catalysts that we anticipate will facilitate the heterolysis of dihydrogen and subsequent hydrogenation of CO2. In the present paper, we report the synthesis and characterization of an IPr**-silver complex which will serve as a precursor to many of our proposed HSAB mismatch catalysts and discuss next steps as we construct our catalogue of catalysts.
Looking Ahead With the World in Their Hands: The Postsecondary Aspirations of East Island Youth
Date: 2016-05-01
Creator: Abby E Roy
Access: Open access
Modeling Strategic Behavior in the U.S. Senate Using Ideal Points with Social Interactions Access to this record is restricted to members of the Bowdoin community. Log in here to view.
Date: 2017-05-01
Creator: Tucker Gordon
Access: Access restricted to the Bowdoin Community
Hunter-Gatherers: The Survival of the Foraging Practice In Modern States Access to this record is restricted to members of the Bowdoin community. Log in here to view.
Date: 2015-05-01
Creator: Tristan C Van Kote
Access: Access restricted to the Bowdoin Community
*dhéĝhōm,*héshr, and *wek (earth, blood, and speech): an archaeological, genetic, and linguistic exploration of Indo-European origins
Date: 2017-05-01
Creator: Lara Bluhm
Access: Open access
- This project investigates strategies for learning about prehistoric languages that have left no written records. It focuses upon the origins and expansion of the Indo-European language family (the world’s largest by total speaking population, today including most of the languages between Iceland and India) and its associated speakers, who likely emerged during the Neolithic from someplace in eastern Europe or western Asia. There are two primary hypotheses regarding the origins of these languages and the so-called Indo-Europeans themselves. In one, it is argued that they arose via the expansion of agriculture out of Anatolia and into Europe, c. 5000 BC. The other, and leading, hypothesis suggests instead that the languages spread through migrations of highly mobile pastoralists outward from the Black Sea steppes at the end of the Neolithic, c. 3000 BC. This project will explore the developing interface between archaeology, genetics, and linguistics in prehistoric resarch. There are three main chapters: (1) some background and historical context about Indo-European studies; (2) an examination of methodological interaction among archaeology, linguistics, and genetics; and (3) a survey of various archaeological, genetic, and linguistic data as they pertain to the Indo-Europeans and the above two hypotheses of their origins.
Visions of Unity, Memories of Violence: American Civil Religion and the Japanese American Incarceration
Date: 2018-05-01
Creator: Brigitte Helene McFarland
Access: Open access
Benchmarking Ab Initio Computational Methods for the Quantitative Prediction of Sunlight-Driven Pollutant Degradation in Aquatic Environments
Date: 2016-05-01
Creator: Kasidet Trerayapiwat
Access: Open access
- Understanding the changes in molecular electronic structure following the absorption of light is a fundamental challenge for the goal of predicting photochemical rates and mechanisms. Proposed here is a systematic benchmarking method to evaluate accuracy of a model to quantitatively predict photo-degradation of small organic molecules in aquatic environments. An overview of underlying com- putational theories relevant to understanding sunlight-driven electronic processes in organic pollutants is presented. To evaluate the optimum size of solvent sphere, molecular Dynamics and Time Dependent Density Functional Theory (MD-TD-DFT) calculations of an aniline molecule in di↵erent numbers of water molecules using CAM-B3LYP functional yielded excited state energy and oscillator strength values, which were compared with data from experimental absorption spectra. For the first time, a statistical method of comparing experimental and theoretical data is proposed. Underlying Gaussian functions of absorption spectra were deconvoluted and integrated to calculate experimental oscillator strengths. A Matlab code written by Soren Eustis was utilized to decluster MD-TD-DFT results. The model with 256 water molecules was decided to give the most accurate results with optimized com- putational cost and accuracy. MD-TD-DFT calculations were then performed on aniline, 3-F-aniline, 4-F-aniline, 3-Cl-aniline, 4-MeOacetophenone, and (1,3)-dimethoxybenzophenone with CAM-B3LYP, PBE0, M06-2X, LCBLYP, and BP86 functionals. BP86 functional was determined to be the best functional. Github repository: https://github.com/eustislab/MD_Scripts
Fact vs. Faction: Polarization in the Information Age
Date: 2016-05-01
Creator: Noah Finberg
Access: Open access
- How can individuals in the contemporary media and political environment form better political beliefs? In chapter one, this thesis considers what it means to say American politics is polarized. It evaluates the extent of polarization in American politics. And it presents original evidence that suggests that just as the public and members of Congress have polarized, so too has American political discourse. Through the lens of political psychology, chapter two investigates how America’s polarized politics has influenced the quality of individuals’ beliefs. Chapter three explores the role that the media plays in encouraging or minimizing the biased information processing practices identified in chapter two. Finally, I conclude by arguing that individuals need to fundamentally rethink how they consume political information; advocate for the creation of a completely new social media platform specifically designed to encourage political deliberation; and outline what such a platform might look like.
Characterization and distribution of allatostatin type-C (AST-C) neuropeptides and receptors in crustaceans Access to this record is restricted to members of the Bowdoin community. Log in here to view.
Date: 2016-05-01
Creator: Tess Lameyer
Access: Access restricted to the Bowdoin Community
Investigating the Effects of Student Debt on Career Outcomes: An Empirical Approach
Date: 2019-05-01
Creator: Gideon Moore
Access: Open access
- High student debt has been hypothesized to affect career choice, causing students to desire stable, high paying jobs. To test this hypothesis, I rely on plausibly exogenous variation in debt due to a federal policy shift. In the summer of 2007, the Higher Education Reconciliation Act (or HERA) expanded the cap for federally subsidized student loans. I examine how variation in debt affects career choice and eventual salary of students using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 Child and Young Adult Cohort of students who were of college age during the implementation of the policy. I find that student debt has no impact on salary two years after graduation; however, it does seem to shift students’ career choices, leading some to avoid careers in public service industries such as teaching and social work.